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eryiss · 3 years

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Chapter Three - The Visitor

Summary: Freed and Laxus live incredibly different lives. Freed is a corporate lawyer in the capital city, and Laxus works as a handyman in a countryside hotel. Despite their differences, their lives collide when Freed inherits a house in Laxus’ village, and hires him to make the derelict building liveable. But the closer they get, the more they seem to offer each other. [Fraxus Multi-Chapter]

This was written as my admission for Fraxus Day 2020, hosted by @fuckyeahfraxus. This is the third chapter, and you can find the rest in the masterlist below.

You can read this under the cut, on Fanfiction, or on Archive of Our Own. You can find the chapter masterpost here.

Chapter Three – The Visitor

"Here. I wasn't entirely sure what you wanted, so I hope you don't mind black coffee with sugar."

As he spoke, Freed placed the coffee cup onto the splintering kitchen counter, taking a step back and looking down at Laxus. The blonde was lying face up under the sink, a wrench in one hand and a torch in the other. He made a slight noise of affirmation to let Freed know that he had heard him, but didn't make a move to leave his spot under the counter. Freed stepped back, watching the man with a slight raised eyebrow as he grunted.

A moment later, a creaking, snapping sound filled the quiet room and Laxus let out a sound of approval. The wrench was dropped, and after some further grunting and movements that Freed couldn't see, a large crack sounded. Freed winced, but Laxus seemed pleased with it.

"Ha," Laxus almost cheered as he shuffled from under the sink. "Got ya, rusty fucker."

After removing himself entirely from below the kitchen sink, Laxus presented a large curved piece of piping, made presumably out of tin but rusted to the point where it was unrecognizable. Flecks of orange dust fell from it as Laxus tossed it into the large bucket he was using in place of a trash can. He sat up straight, rolled his shoulders, and looked to Freed with a satisfied grin.

"Was working on the bastard all morning," Laxus explained. "And black coffee's great, thanks."

"I assume by the fact you've been working on a single piece of piping all day, we're progressing well?" Freed joked, laughing slightly resignedly at his statement. Laxus sent him an amused grin as he cracked his back and stood up.

"This was keeping them all in place," He nudged the bucket containing the pipe. "The rest 'll be a lot easier. I'll have them all out before lunch and the new ones in by mid-afternoon."

Freed nodded, silently thankful that actual noteworthy work was taking place. He had been in Magnolia for a week at this point, and he and Laxus had spent a lot of time together trying to make any real progress on the house. It was an overwhelming thing to start, and when Laxus had written out a full list of what needed to be done after he'd looked through the place for the first time, the task seemed practically undoable.

But they were working on it. They had decided to take things room by room, starting first on the kitchen as it was both an important room and needed the most work. It was a coin toss between starting there or in the bathroom, and Freed was fairly certain the deciding factor was Laxus' lack of trust for the upstairs floorboards.

The lawyer wondered if Laxus yet regretted it, given he now had a fifteen-minute walk to the nearest public bathroom.

Once they'd started, they'd gotten into a quick routine. Laxus had made it clear that he needed to prioritise his work at the hotel, given that was his more permanent job, and Freed had been fine with it. But apparently Fairy Tail was better managed than Freed had given them credit for, because there had only been two instances where Laxus had been called away from his work at the house, so they had actually managed to do a good amount of work so far.

Not that it looked like that, of course. The kitchen wasn't as derelict looking as it had before, but that was born out of practicality. Laxus couldn't do anything technical with bricks, shattered tiles and awful smelling trash bags covering the floors. Once it had been cleaned to a workable state, Laxus checked over the electrics and the gas to make sure that nothing was going to electrocute them or set off an explosion; he joked that it might damage the property value slightly had someone been enveloped in a fireball.

Freed laughed. Laxus had a good sense of humour.

The sink was the first thing he'd decided to work on. Already he'd installed new faucets, which were working as intended. Unfortunately, this had caused an issue in that the drainage pipe was completely corroded to the point where it was completely useless. This wouldn't have been a problem, had it not been for the fact the water pressure was so high that the faucets wouldn't turn off, and thus the kitchen was flooded with an inch of cold, slightly dirty water.

It hadn't been a good day, but at least it had confirmed that Laxus was the perfect employee for Freed. Because, as Freed angrily stomped through the water and snapped his anger at both the blonde and the room alike, Laxus had openly laughed at him and mocked him for getting so 'pissy about a little bit of water' and claimed 'you are definitely helping when we get to the toilet.'

Freed couldn't work with people who couldn't deal with his temper, as rare as he might show it.

"Didn't think you were gonna be here today," Laxus continued, picking up his coffee and raising it to his lips.

"Evergreen's train got delayed," Freed explained, drinking his own coffee; he would have preferred something a little more interesting, but branded coffee shops apparently hadn't broken into Magnolia yet. "I told her to get a taxi and come here, since she so clearly wants to see the place."

"You know you really ought to be more houseproud," Laxus said in a teasing tone. "A guy your age on the property ladder, ain't nothing to be ashamed of."

"My house is a large gust of wind away from being knocked over and making me liable for the manslaughter of an entire flock of sheep," Freed deadpanned. "And the only reason she's even considering coming here is purely so she can make fun of the fact I now have to deal with this place."

"You don't know that."

"Her last text said she 'was looking forward to seeing the house that the big bad wolf ignored because it was so shit no self-respecting pig would use it,'" Freed said, though a little smile did fight its way onto his face. "She has a habit of being oddly specific when she wants to annoy you or get under your skin. I think it's a trait in all prosecution lawyers. She won't be in here for long though, so don't worry. No doubt she'll start missing the luxuries of the city and demand I take her to the nearest branded store. Unfortunately for her that's a McDonalds, which she hates."

"You can tell you really like all yer friends," Laxus grinned. "The compliments are just flying out of ya."

"She's a wonderful person, but she's definitely a city girl," Freed chuckled. "She probably memorised the map of the subway before she saw an animal that wasn't a pet or in a zoo."

"Big talk coming from a guy who wears Armani to a building site," Laxus smirked, placing his empty coffee cup on the side counter. "You own any clothes that ain't a suit?"

"No," Freed said plainly, and Laxus looked shocked and amused in equal parts. "I wear them for work, I work most days and long hours. Why waste money on things I would only wear in my apartment?"

"I would pay a lot of money to see you in some ratty grass-stained jeans and a fraying old sweater," Laxus laughed, crouching down, and looking at the pipes again. "Just to see what your like without all that city-boy armour and shiny shoes."

Freed frowned a little at that.

He was being judged; that much was obvious. But the flippant way in which Laxus did it, as well as the lack of malice in his tone felt as though it wasn't with ill intent. There didn't seem to be any sense of class-based antagonism, rather just some kind of observation Laxus had made. Of course it was entirely possible that Freed was accustomed to arguments being open and without subtlety because of his work, and Laxus was actually-

"You wanna know how to take out a pipe?" Laxus spoke up again, cutting off Freed's thoughts. "Might save you some money on a plumber if you're ever having trouble at home."

"Of course," Freed said, forgetting the possible insult as he lowered himself to beside Laxus.

The blonde gave a quick explanation as to what Freed needed to do, and what everything under the sink was. There was no level of patronising to his words, and he didn't treat Freed with anything similar to kid gloves. Apparently Freed had proven his practical worth already, and Laxus saw him as something of an equal when it came to getting his hands dirty. He just needed to understand what he needed to do, and he could do it.

Freed found himself quite enjoying some of the practical work that Laxus was teaching him. He had no doubt he was getting the easy jobs – taking out the pipe only required the turning of a wrench at this point – but it was rather satisfying to do something like this.

If nothing else, it was a good distraction.

Under Laxus' instructions, Freed managed to remove the remaining rusted pipes from under the sink. This no doubt took longer than it would have if Laxus had done it himself, but the blonde had seemed willing to act as some kind of plumbing mentor to Freed when he felt it right. A small voice in Freed's mind told him that perhaps Laxus was doing so to get out of working himself, but he shut that thought down quickly. Without Laxus, the work wouldn't be getting done at all. And if Freed ever did need to do any plumbing in his actual life when he returned to the city, he would have the skills to do it himself.

After the pipes had been removed, they both left the shelter of the kitchen sink and stood up again. Laxus went to discard the useless plumbing while claiming he was going to call his supplier to check when the new pipes were coming in. Freed nodded, and walked to the front garden of the house to wash his hands; the hosepipe was working, and the grass was the closest thing to plumbing they had.

As the cold water removed the dirt, he heard a car approaching. The road, he'd found out, didn't lead to much past Albion House, and therefore few cars drove it. When he saw the Taxi's insignia, he smiled. Evergreen left the car a moment later.

"Freed," She shouted with a grin. "Well… holy shit! This is not what I expected."

"Is it better or worse than you thought," Freed smiled, looking over his shoulder at the house.

"I meant your clothes actually," Evergreen laughed, walking forward, and dragging her suitcase behind her. She looked over the house and smiled. "This is pretty much as crappy as I thought it would be, though."

Freed snapped his head up, having been looking down at his outfit and wondering what Evergreen meant. He wasn't wearing anything different from what he normally would, though he had left his jacket over the back of a chair in the kitchen, and he'd rolled his sleeves up so that he could work on the plumbing. But other than that, he wasn't any different to- why were his pants so stained? What even was it? Oil? Where had that come from?

"This is the most presentable part of it, I'm afraid," Freed said, trying not to focus on the oil.

The garden was cleaner than it had been when Freed first saw the house. Just as with the kitchen, practicality dictated that the garden be cleaned up to a point where it wasn't a hazard. There had been lots of thorns, thick grass, and uneven paving. Walking through it was bad enough, but when it came to the point where they needed to bring things into the house, it would be unusable.

Now, it was just an ugly patch of dirt with small patches of badly trimmed grass. Cleaning it, oddly, had been one of the most satisfying things he'd done. It also seemed to be what made Laxus respect his potential for practical skills. Freed was oddly effective with a chainsaw when called upon it.

And Laxus was rather… distracting while wielding a hatchet.

"Would you like a tour, so you can make your mocking accurate?" Freed suggested, snapping his eyes away from the mound of dried dirt. "Laxus is working today, but as long as you don't get in his way it won't matter."

"Sure," Evergreen grinned. "Anything to get away from the smell of manure. How do you deal with it?"

"I suppose I'm getting used to it," Freed shrugged.

He guided his friend into the house, and up the stairs to begin the tour. It didn't take long to show her all of the rooms, all the while explaining what he had planned for each of them while also pointing out anything that could either collapse or hurt her in some way. It was an annoyingly large list; Freed had forgotten just how much needed to be done on the upper floors. Hopefully, it wouldn't be as intricate as the work downstairs at least.

With every room they went into, Evergreen had a comment purpose built to annoy him; all of which he found annoyingly funny. Between the comments, she was informing him on the few things that he had missed both at work and personally. It was nice to have her here, even if just for the day.

"And, as I've mentioned, this is Laxus," Freed made a motion with his hand as they entered the kitchen. "Laxus this is- oh you're under the sink again."

"Give me a second," Laxus muttered from under the sink. He shifted out, standing upright, and looking towards Evergreen with a pleasant smile. "Hey, nice to meet ya. I'd shake your hand, but I've got rust and shit on it, don't wanna give you tetanus or anything."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too," Evergreen smiled. "I hope you don't mean you've got literal shit on your hands."

"Well, I don't think so," Laxus laughed. "But I'm pretty sure a bird was living in the sink at some point, so bird crap is a real possibility."

Evergreen laughed, and Freed found himself smiling slightly. He didn't question why, and instead walked to the shoddy old table that was barely standing, picking up his suit jacket from the chair it was resting on and slipping his arms through it. As they walked through the house, Freed had realised that the charm of the rotting old house – her words, not his – was wearing thin, and she would want to go into the town again. He planned on taking her to a nice tea room, a perfect little middle-class café that she would love. Freed had visited it when the coffee shop had been closed on Sunday; Laxus had recommended it. It was good.

They probably wouldn't allow him to get inside in the state he was in. He really had to wonder exactly how he had gotten in such a state of disrepute. He was normally rather image conscious, as was required of a lawyer. How he'd gotten covered in oil – if that's what it was – was something he couldn't yet fathom.

"We should leave you to your work," Freed interjected as he shucked his jacket to have it better rest on his shoulders. "If you need anything, you know how to reach me."

"Sure," Laxus nodded, reaching for a towel, and rubbing his hands. "Have fun, and it was nice meeting ya Evergreen."

"You too," Evergreen smiled.

After saying their goodbyes, Freed guided Evergreen out of the house and towards the car that he had hired for his time in Magnolia; getting taxis to and from the house every day would be impractical. They climbed into the car together – he even had oil on his face, he realised when he glanced at the mirror – and Freed started the engine.

"I need to go to my room before we go anywhere, make myself more presentable," Freed explained as they left the driveway.

"Sure, that's absolutely fine," Evergreen said, her voice smugger than Freed wanted it to be. "You make yourself nice looking, we'll get some tea and scones, get into a private little corner of the tea room, and then we can talk about the handsome little treat that you've hired for yourself."

Freed's hands clenched around the steering wheel, and let out an annoyed sigh. He supposed this was inevitable.

~~~

The tea rooms were almost painfully middle-class. They wouldn't look at all out of place were they in a soft crime drama shown in the early afternoon of a Sunday. Tablecloths were neatly strewn across tables, with ornate china set before each customer. The smell of freshly baked pastries and cakes, and the gentle heat of a teapot placed before them was a nice treat for Freed's senses; particularly after a morning of smelling mould and dried out dirt.

It would have been ideal, had it not been for the company.

While driving back from the house, Evergreen hadn't been even slightly subtle with her enjoyment of the situation. She was… a good friend to Freed, but often used that position to strongarm her way into his life a little too far. Bickslow did it too, and no doubt that, had he been there with them, he would be just as joyful as Evergreen was.

Freed didn't understand why she was fixating on Laxus in the way she was. Yes, the man was handsome in a conventional way. Yes, they did have something of a rapport between them. Yes, Freed had once confessed he had an odd attraction to men of practicality.

Oh dear god, she was going to be unendurable.

As a member of the staff brought them over their orders – two teas, a slice of chocolate gateau and a cheese scone – Evergreen began grinning unabashedly at Freed. The lawyer looked back at his colleague with an unimpressed expression as he cut into his food. He hoped that his uninterest and distain for what she was doing would be enough of a deterrent to stop her from bringing up Laxus, but obviously luck wasn't on his side.

"Your workman seems nice," She smiled, leaning forward and picking up her teacup. "How did you meet?"

"He works for the hotel," Freed said simply. "He wants to expand his portfolio, I needed assistance. It made sense."

"Well, he certainly seems to be filling your briefs," Evergreen grinned – and oh dear, she was making pseudo-sexual puns. Unendurable indeed. "Almost as well as he was filling out that shirt he was wearing, actually. You could actually see his-"

"I think it's best we begin this conversation by setting up some ground rules for how we can converse when it comes to Mr Dreyar," Freed began, ignoring the muttered 'lawyer voice' under Evergreen's breath. "You may not objectify him, whether in his presence or not. You may not do or say anything to him that would make him uncomfortable or consider ending his employ with me. You may also not imply anything about our relationship, which I feel the need to add, is entirely platonic. He is my employee, we get along well enough, but there is nothing more than that," Freed then glared a little. "And I do not have a lawyer voice. Stop telling people that I do."

"I'll agree to the first two terms without addendum, so long as the latter too are stricken from the record," Evergreen spoke in an actual 'lawyer voice,' unlike Freed, who only had one voice. "Because that is an infringement of both my freedom of speech-"

"Oh for goodness sake."

"My freedom of speech," Evergreen repeated calmly. "As well as a flagrant disregard of my god given right-"

"You're an atheist."

"To annoy my best friend in whatever way possible," Evergreen concluded, and Freed attempted to chastise her with a levelled expression.

"Bickslow is my best friend," Freed said flatly. "You just won't leave me alone."

"If you'd like I can call Bickslow and we can see how he reacts to finding out you've hired the reincarnation of Adonis and made him work on your faulty plumbing, putting him at a high chance of getting wet while he wears jeans tight enough to show off the crease of his ass."

"You're objectifying him again," Freed said, a little firmer this time. "And how closely were you looking?"

"I retract my previous comment," Evergreen nodded, but then smiled without malice and laughed to herself. "Do you think anybody else thinks that our little lawyer arguments are as funny as we do?"

"I doubt it," Freed said, grinning.

They both relaxed into their seats, and Freed brought a small piece of the gateau to his lips. He had been to a good many of the luxurious patisseries in the city, and this was seemingly a good rival for their infinitely more expensive cakes. Though, he wasn't anywhere near an expert on baking, and had someone who knew what they were doing tasted it they could no doubt list off everything wrong with it. But Freed didn't care about that. Those people were miles away.

Evergreen slowly began to nibble away at her own food, and they fell into a comfortable quiet. It was something Freed appreciated with his friends, that they could both allow for silence without seeing it as conversational failure. Their jobs were stressful, it was nice that they could be allowed to decompress around one another.

Though, he knew that Evergreen's teasing wouldn't end. It was just pushed back temporarily.

For a while, that was true. They spoke pleasantly about what Freed had missed while in Magnolia; not much, really. The most interesting thing was that Bickslow had gotten a new case where he would be suing the city for the treatment of children in state funded care homes. Evergreen hadn't been able to give many details of this, however, as they worked for different offices; Bickslow had long since left corporate law and was working for a children's charity as legal counsel. It worked for him, even with a significant pay cut. It was an admirable thing to do.

Unfortunately, news from the city was a limited distraction, and eventually the topic of Freed's new workman reared its ugly head.

"So, let's talk about Laxus," Evergreen began with a smile.

"If we must," Freed gently placed down his fork with a sigh.

"He seems like a nice man," She spoke with an insulation in her voice, but Freed didn't care enough to find out what exactly it was insinuating. "A good sense of humour, he seems to take problems in his stride, good with a tool," Freed raised an eyebrow in warning. "I meant wrenches and hammers and the like. No need to get defensive."

"I wasn't being defensive, I was just maintaining the 'no objectifying' part of our agreement," Freed replied, calmly. "And wondering where exactly you're going with this."

"Well, he's your type," Evergreen shrugged. "I was only joking about you hiring him because of his looks, you know. But, if you wanted to try something with him, I can see why."

"You spoke to him for less than five minutes; you hardly know anything about him."

"I know that you're still here, so you must like him a little bit. Even if it's just platonically," Evergreen smiled. "You're a workaholic Freed, the fact you had a day off to deal with the house at all is kind of surprising. And now you've nearly had two weeks here, and I know that's mainly because of the house but, if you couldn't stand Laxus or he just wasn't interesting, then you would have come back to the city by now."

"So you're implying I should start a relationship with a man because he isn't annoying me to the point where I'll leave him alone in my property just to get away from him?" Freed laughed slightly. "Your view on relationships is concerning."

"Fine fine," Evergreen waved a hand. "I'll let it go. But you could do a lot worse."

Freed, thankful that the topic had been abandoned, lifted the tables teapot into the air to fill his cup again. For the rest of the afternoon tea, they spoke about everything and nothing. Freed, as petty as it might have been, decided to inquire into Evergreen's own relationship status. This was made significantly easier when he saw her eyes wander to a waiter while they were talking. Oddly, after that, she was rushing her drink and wanted to leave. She was red as well.

Her return train was soon arriving at the station, so Freed decided to drive her there rather than making her get another taxi. The traffic was forgiving, meaning that they didn't need to rush. As they walked towards the station, Evergreen hooked her hand between Freed's arm.

"I know you don't like talking about it, but how are you?"

Freed paused for a moment, before speaking. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Evergreen said in an insistent tone. "Because it's okay if you're struggling, or if you don't know-"

"I'm fine," Freed repeated.

"She was your mother, Freed," Evergreen said in a tone so gentle that Freed found himself wishing for the return of her teasing about Laxus. "I know you're not the most… open man with your emotions, but it's overwhelming."

"It's not like we were close," Freed shrugged a little as he spoke. "I'm not going to have a break down because of it. I'll grieve, I'll visit her grave, and I'll be sad. But I won't become an inconsolable mess."

"You can call me if you need to," Evergreen promised, and Freed smiled.

"Your train is coming," He said in response.

Evergreen sighed, accepting that Freed wasn't going to stop being defensive about the situation. She leant up and kissed the man on the cheek, allowing him to do the same in place of a goodbye. She quickly walked towards the train and climbed aboard it, and Freed watched as she left. He smiled, watching as the train went but deciding not to wave as it left. It was pointless to do so, she wouldn't see him. It wasn't that his hand was shaking slightly.

Swallowing slightly, he turned and began to walk back to his car. He busied his mind with the plans of what he would do tomorrow with the house. He didn't have long left before returning to the city, he had to make it count. As he walked, his finger drew patterns on his palm, a habit he started after his father's death, and thought he'd stopped.

#Fraxus Day 2020 #Fraxus Day #Fraxus #Freed Justine #Laxus Dreyar #Fairy Tail #Fanfic #Writing #Event #Multichapter #Word Count 4.5k #Fuckyeahfraxus

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minyoongijjangjjangmanboongboong · 6 years

Text

Arranged Chapter Eight

Description: Y/N is a struggling student in Seoul: working multiple jobs, living in a broom closet apartment, and often sacrificing her dignity for the sake of her livelihood. What happens when a handsome stranger presents her with an offer she cannot refuse at the moment she needs it most?

Pairing: Min Yoongi x (f) Reader

Word Count: 6,661

Tags: Non-Idol!Au, Chaebol!Au, Company!Au, Arranged Marriage!Au

Warnings: Coarse language, although not frequently.

A/N: Hi guys! I’m very excited to give you guys this chapter! I’m so grateful for all of you. The support of this story has been incredible. Truly, it’s more than I could have ever dreamed of. I’m honored and humbled that you guys enjoy the story and enjoy my writing. That said, here’s the next chapter! As always, my asks are open for anyone who wants to chat! (Especially if you want to chat about that selfie Yoongi uploaded on Twitter yesterday because I think he’s trying to fight me.) I’ll respond to every message I receive within the day! If you have any feedback, critique, questions, or anything please feel free to send me a message. I hope you guys like the update and please stay healthy and rest up!

–Mercury

Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine, Chapter Ten, Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twelve, Chapter Thirteen, Chapter Fourteen, Chapter Fifteen, Chapter Sixteen (END)

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“Namjoon what…what the hell are you doing here?” I asked, shaking my head as my hand fell from Yoongi’s.

Namjoon approached me, his grin never faltering, as he chuckled. “I just got a job here last week! Trust me, I’m as surprised as you are. I heard you got married?” he said, smiling.

I nodded. “Yeah. Uh…this is Yoongi. My…,” I paused as I took a moment to think about how to introduce him. Namjoon and Yoongi had met before, after all. “My husband.” My heart fluttered as I spoke the word.

Namjoon bowed politely, the papers he held close to his chest slipping slightly. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Min,” he said before the stack of papers on top, the one held together by a loose paperclip, slid from his grip entirely.

I gasped and fell to my knees, grabbing the stack before it hit the ground and fanned out everywhere. Namjoon’s eyes went wide at the sight of me on all fours on the hardwood floor. We met gazes and I took a moment to search his expression. Had he really forgotten the experience with Yoongi from a few weeks before? In his face I saw only concern and quickly righted myself, standing to my feet slowly and denying Yoongi’s hand as he offered it to me to steady me.

“Here you go, Namjoon,” I said. I handed him the stack of papers with a soft smile.

He returned it. “Thank you,” he said. “Ah, I guess I’ll see you at lunch?” he said, raising his brows as his smile deepened, revealing his dimples.

I nodded. “Sure.”

Namjoon bowed to Yoongi once again before walking off down the hallway and into the office itself. I peered up at Yoongi and his expression, much like Namjoon’s, was unreadable. I pouted slightly as he refused to meet my eyes, all previous nervousness replaced now with confusion and frustration.

“How can he be here?”

“He works here.”

“I got that,” I said with a sigh. “But…why?”

Yoongi peeked at me from above and shrugged before walking ahead into the office. “I hired him personally,” he said, his back growing distant as he disappeared into the sea of cubicles, searching for mine.

I had so many things to ask him, but settled for just following behind him with an angry sigh.

The supervisor appointed to me, Yoongi’s own assistant Jaehee, showed me the ropes and before long I was logging files into Excel sheets and reviewing reports from the different departments. I’d had very few expectations when I agreed to taking this job, but I certainly hadn’t expected for it to be so tedious, so dry. Was this the sort of thing Yoongi did all day?

Occasionally, I took secret looks over the back of my chair towards where his office was situated, right at the corner of the floor, giving him the best view. Every time my eyes found the clouded glass that separated us, I felt a pang of frustration and…something else. He’d held my hand so tenderly before, with so much care and softness. I’d never been touched that way.

But he’d also brushed me off when I’d asked about Namjoon. Once again, it seemed that he was making decisions and calling shots without my knowledge or consent. If Namjoon was qualified for the position here and he’d applied, then far be it from me to stand in the way. But if he’d been hired under insidious circumstances, possibly to protect my secret with Yoongi…

Then I didn’t want to stand for my friend being manipulated like a pawn in a chess match.

It was with this cocktail of emotions that I stood from my desk to grab a drink of water at the fountain, several of my new coworkers gathered there. Each of them bowed to me and I responded in turn, but we didn’t really speak. That seemed to be how the workday went: each of us performing our own individual tasks and mingling as little as possible.

“Miss Y/N,” said a voice I’d become far too familiar with from behind me.

I sighed as I turned to see Jaehee, the young short guy, who was standing stiffly beside me. “Hello,” I said to him.

He nodded. “Mr. Min would like to see you,” he said.

I raised my brows. “He would?”

“He wants a report on the analytics you’ve analyzed today,” he said.

“But I’ve hardly analyzed any. I’ve only been working for four hours.”

Jaehee nodded. “I understand, Miss, but he wants to see you.”

The coworkers on my other side chuckled together. “How scandalous to call his new wife to his office on her first day,” whispered one woman to another.

The second woman stared me up and down before setting her lips thin in an effort to conceal her laughter. “I’m sure he wants to do more than just see her,” she said.

I cleared my throat. Suddenly, an enclosed space with Yoongi sounded far superior to an open space with these women as they teased me. I turned on my heel and brushed past Jaehee with a soft smile his way.

“Did you need something?” I asked as Yoongi’s white door clicked shut behind me.

He had removed his suit jacket and was sitting at his glass-topped desk now, fingers folded and eyes turned to the side to gaze out the window. He’d rolled the sleeves of his button-down up to his elbows. I could see the latticework of veins beneath the porcelain of his skin and had to force my eyes away. His dark eyes slid to the chair in front of his desk and I followed his silent cue, backing the chair slightly so I wouldn’t be too close. He looked at me slowly, almost lazily, and sighed as he took in my expression.

“You’re mad at me,” he said.

I nodded. “A little.”

“Why? Because I hired Namjoon?” he asked, his brows furrowed.

I shook my head. “Namjoon has an IQ of 148. He has experience working for a small business. He has incredible people skills and he’s a Yonsei graduate. He’s obviously an incredible candidate for a position here,” I said. “I want to know if there are any reasons besides his qualifications for his hiring.”

Yoongi sighed and his expression softened slightly. He stood to his feet and reached for something in one of his drawers. He rifled through it for a moment before coming around to the front of the desk and, to my great shock and chagrin, crouching down in front of my knees. I wondered what he was up to, what he might do, but his eyes lifted to meet mine and I felt some of my anger melt. I wanted to run my fingers through his well-styled hair, to touch his neck where the collar of his shirt met his skin. He seemed so soft below me, and it was difficult to restrain myself.

But before I could feel too embarrassed about my urges, his fingers were on my exposed knee, his eyes falling there too. I jerked away from him. “What are you doing?” I asked.

He chuckled softly, his fingers hooking around the back of my knee to pull me back towards him. Carefully, he pulled a bandaid from the item he’d produced from his drawer, an item I could now see was a first-aid kit. He peeled the tape off both sides and gently smoothed the adhesive down on the top of my knee. As I watched him, I became aware of a dull stinging there and was startled to see that I’d been bleeding slightly from a wound I must have acquired when I dove for Namjoon’s papers.

I flushed as he continued to smooth the bandaid, giving the top of my knee a soft squeeze once he was done. He packed away his first aid kit and set it to the side on the floor, sitting up and leaning back against his desk so he could face me properly.

“I hired him before we got married,” he said.

I raised my eyebrows at him. “You…what?”

He nodded. “We got talking that day at the instrument store. Turns out he’s a business major. He wants to climb the corporate ladder and open his own business someday, like his dad did,” said Yoongi softly, slowly. His voice was low and deep as his eyes focused somewhere behind me.

“So you…,” I edged, trying to get him to reveal more.

He smiled gently. “I asked him about you and he spoke very fondly. He said you’re smart, but a little impulsive. Strong, but stubborn. He mentioned that you were a kind person,” he said.

“He’s too generous,” I said with burning cheeks.

Yoongi shook his head. “No, I think he’s right,” he said. “Anyway, I gave him my business card and said if he was ever looking for a job he could come to me.”

“So it was…innocent?”

He shook his head. “Not entirely. I offered him the position because he seemed like a smart kid. But when you agreed to the marriage, I became a little nervous. I thought he might become trouble, since he was there the day we met, one of the only people who saw us. So I offered him a job on site when he came in for an interview a week or so after you called,” said Yoongi. “I didn’t want loose ends.”

“Loose ends…,” I said. What a way to talk about a human being…

“But I wouldn’t have hired him if he hadn’t spoken so highly of you. By then, I knew you were the person I wanted to partner with. I’m a good judge of character, and I knew you were a good person. So if he could see that in you, then he must be a good judge of character too. That’s what I thought.”

I blushed. “Now you’re being too generous.”

“I still disagree,” he said with a smile my way. “Anyway, mostly I figured that if you were to work for me you might want to have a familiar face around. This workplace can be a little…,” he started, then chuckled and shook his head.

I nodded. “I know what you mean,” I said as I recalled those women at the water fountain. I wrapped my arms around my torso with a sigh.

“You don’t look pleased.”

I shook my head and chuckled to myself. “No, it’s not that. I’m…I’m glad you hired him. You’re right about him. He’s smart and he could do a lot of good for your company,” I said. “But hiring him so that I could have a friend…isn’t that too kind?”

He smirked. “I’m a very kind man, Y/N,” he said, touching my calf with the tip of his polished shoe, almost like he was teasing.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” I said, gazing up at him as the city glittered in the afternoon sun behind him. “Sometimes I think you’re the most compassionate person I’ve ever met, and other times I think you’re just…pragmatic.”

“Can’t a person be both?”

I blushed as I pondered this. “I…suppose.”

He smiled and pushed off the desk, coming to stand before me. Softly, as if I may break at his touch, he pushed an unruly hair from my face, guiding it to the side of my cheek. My skin burned and my heart raced as I saw the softness in his chocolate eyes, trained on my face. His lips were still parted in a lopsided grin, and it was all I could do to sit still as he backed away.

“We’re friends,” he said, tilting his head to the side. “I take care of my friends.”

Friends…

“Hey, Y/N,” said Namjoon as I entered the break room in a daze. I was still thinking about Yoongi, about his hands on my skin, about his eyes looking at me with all that softness…

About what it meant to be his friend.

I shook my head and smiled at Namjoon. “Hey. How come you didn’t tell me you were working here?” I asked.

He smirked and took a bite of his sandwich. “How come you didn’t invite me to the wedding?” he asked, raising a brow.

I blushed and shook my head. I sat in the chair across from him. The break room was nearly empty, leaving the two of us to sit comfortably. “I wasn’t really…in charge of the guest list.”

He chuckled. “You don’t have to explain. I’m assuming your relationship is…nonconventional.”

“That would be one way to put it.”

He offered me the other half of his sandwich, a triangle of white bread and also a triangular white flag. I accepted it graciously and began to nibble at it. “You like him at least?” asked Namjoon.

It was clear the two of us were in an understanding of sorts, but neither of us were putting it to words. Neither of us could. “Yes,” I said with a sigh.

He grinned and patted my arm, his dimples sinking into his cheeks. “Hey! You guys were holding hands this morning. Don’t look so sad.”

“I don’t know what any of it means.”

He pondered this for a moment. “Have you tried talking to Hana about it?” he asked.

I smiled. “The way you said her name just now…,” I said, raising my brows.

He rolled his eyes and glanced away with a smile. “Leave me alone. I have just as much of a right to have a crush as you do.”

“At least I’m married to mine.”

He scowled at me. “But honestly. I feel like she’d know how to help.”

I shook my head. “I feel…distant with her. Every day there are more things I can’t tell her about. I don’t know how to face her.”

“How about facing her honestly?”

“I don’t know if I can…,” I said. “I don’t know where I’d begin explaining things to her. And I don’t know how much I can explain. I’m in a…weird circumstance.”

He nodded. “Well, all I know is she was mopey at the store when she found out you were engaged. I think you’d be kind to at least spend some time with her. Just her.”

I sighed and set the sandwich down again. I didn’t have much of an appetite when I thought about Hana. “What if I wanna be selfish? What if I don’t want to drag her all the way into this? What if...what if I’m scared?”

He thought for a moment before smiling at me gently. “Then you have to be okay with the consequences.”

The rest of the day passed pensively as now and again my fingers would brush the top of that bandaid or my eyes would linger on the clouded glass of Yoongi’s office. I was focused, of course. I wasn’t the kind of person whose work performance was so easily shaken. But I was preoccupied, dazed, and thinking too much for my own good.

Every time Namjoon passed by he offered me a smile and while on one hand I found it extremely comforting, on the other I felt heavy under the weight of his eyes. He was right. Hana deserved to be treated with at least my respect — respect enough to talk to her and tell her how I was feeling. Tell her what my life looked like now that it was completely different.

I had to be okay with the consequences, huh?

“Are you ready to go home?” asked Yoongi from over my shoulder, causing me to jump and turn towards him.

I rubbed my dry eyes and gazed out the windows onto the dusk outside. Had the day already passed? “Uh…yeah. I’m ready.”

He smiled just barely and nodded, his jacket hanging over his forearm. “Want to grab something for dinner before we go home? To celebrate your first day?”

I pondered this. “No drinking?” I asked.

He laughed and nodded. “Not if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t.”

He offered me his hand to help me from my seat and held onto it for a fraction longer than a friend would. He released my fingers and nodded towards the elevator. I glanced around the office. It seemed Namjoon had already left. Most everyone had already left, actually. We walked out to the street and without stopping Yoongi continued to the left of the building, following the well-lit sidewalk down into the heart of Gangnam. He seemed to know his way and, veiled in the anonymity of the city lights with the daylight’s final display of colors playing out behind his head, he seemed in his element. Natural even. I couldn’t stop looking at him.

But I had to.

Friends don’t gaze longingly at friends.

“Where are we going?”

He peeked at me out the corner of his eye and smiled. “We’re getting pork belly.”

I raised my brows. “You like stuff like that?”

He laughed and nodded. “Don’t sound so surprised. Just because I was born with a silver spoon doesn’t mean I don’t like delicious food.”

“Delicious and…cheap.”

He nodded and a smile danced on his lips, lights danced in his eyes, my heart danced in my chest. He ran his hands through his hair and it softened at his touch, falling gently into half-held waves. He inhaled and exhaled slowly, lazily, before he reached his fingers out toward mine, wiggling them.

“What?” I asked.

“Give me your hand,” he said.

I blushed. “My…my hand? Why?”

“Why else? I want to hold it,” he said. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Like it was natural.

He continued to wiggle his fingers, the gesture far too cute for someone as serious as him, and raised his brows. “O-Okay,” I managed to say before lacing my fingers with his.

He sighed and nodded with a chuckle. “You did really well today,” he said.

I shook my head. “I’m just following directions.”

“I looked at you a few times today. When I had to get coffee or use the bathroom,” he said, nodding with a slight pout. “You looked focused. Jaehee praised you.”

I rolled my eyes. “With the way you talk about Jaehee that’s hardly a compliment,” I said.

He nudged me with his elbow. “I’m trying to be nice to you,” he said.

“Why though? You don’t need to.”

He thought for a moment, his hand warm against mine, and shrugged. “I guess I’m thinking about what you said. A few things you’ve said.”

“Which things?”

“You said you couldn’t tell if I was kind or not,” he said slowly. “For some reason…I guess I want to prove to you that I am.”

I chuckled. “It was never a question of kindness. I know you’re kind.”

“You said you didn’t think I was a bad person…I don’t know if I agree, but I want to try, you know? To be a person that journalists write good things about,” he said then laughed. “If nothing else, then just for your sake. It’s not good being associated with me, is it?”

I shrugged. “It’s not bad,” I said. “And I don’t really care about any of that. People can say whatever they want, but it doesn’t change your character.”

“Do you think you know my character pretty well?” he asked.

I pursed my lips as I thought. “No,” I said, and I thought I saw his expression fall only slightly. His grip on my fingers loosened by a fraction, but it was too precious a moment to let go of so I held tighter and gave him a smile. “But I’d like to.”

He turned to me, surprised, and a smile spread across his face very slowly. “Then you’re one of the few,” he said with a chuckle, leading the way inside a smoky restaurant.

“No! No, God. I’ve never,” said Yoongi through laughter.

I joined him. “What-why? I’ve heard skinny dipping is really fun!” I exclaimed, pointing to him with my chopstick as he cooked our second round of meat.

He rolled his eyes, still laughing, and shook his head. “You say that like you know what it’s like…,” he teased with a smirk.

I gaped. “No! I haven’t!”

He continued laughing for a long moment and I joined him. We’d been playing some sort of lazy 20 Questions game for half an hour, laughing and eating. Something about sharing a meal at a tiny table, watching our food cook, sitting in the hazy restaurant where conversation was so loud we both needed to shout to be heard…something about it had made us loosen up. Like we could afford to have a little fun. God knows we needed it.

“Okay, okay. I have a question,” he said, placing a piece of lettuce to his lips before shoving a slice of pork into his mouth, lettuce and all. It was his strange way of eating meat wraps. I’d tried doing it during our first round only to puncture a hole into the lettuce and earn the incessant teasing of Yoongi. “If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with all your free time?”

I chuckled and wrapped my food like a normal person, giving him a pointed look as I did. “What if I like sleeping?”

He smirked. “So if given more free time, you’d still sleep?”

I shrugged. “Probably.”

He laughed loudly and nodded. “When you say it so seriously like that…I kind of agree.”

“Mm,” I murmured as I chewed. “I’ve got one.”

“Fire away.”

“I saw this on a website once when I had to research ice-breaker questions for a work dinner once,” I said with a laugh. “It’s a good one.”

“I’m ready,” he said, bracing himself against the small round table and setting his chopsticks down to offer me his undivided attention.

“If you had a clock that would countdown to any one event in your life, like an event that hasn’t happened yet, what event would you want it to countdown to?” I asked with a smug smile. This had always been my favorite question.

He chuckled before he became overcome with thought and his expression changed from playful to stoic. He sighed and pouted his lips, furrowed his brow, set his jaw. He was serious again. “I would want…I’d want it to countdown to the moment when I’m truly content.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Content?”

He nodded. “When I feel like I’m not sprinting anymore. When I can finally rest.”

I peeked at him nervously. He was looking at the meat as it sizzled on the grill between us. “Do you always feel that way? Like you’re sprinting?”

He nodded again. “Ever since I was a kid, there was a lot that was expected of me,” he said, then looked at me with frantic eyes and waved his hands. “Not that I’m complaining! I’m very fortunate.”

I shook my head. “But that doesn’t mean you’re immune to bad things. You can still go through hard times like the rest of us.”

“Yeah,” he said, swirling his beer. “I grew up hearing that I’d be CEO someday, that I’d have to take over. I heard that if I ever slipped up, if I ever showed a face that wasn’t poised and perfect and professional, that I’d risk ruining it all.”

“That’s a huge amount of pressure,” I said.

He chuckled. “I know,” he sighed. “It put a lot of strain on possible friendships. I can count on one hand the amount of people I have in my life who genuinely care for me,” he said. I remembered what Jungkook said. That people seemed to stick around because they had to, not because they wanted to. I felt an odd cocktail of pity and outrage for Yoongi. “I felt like…I don’t know, like I didn’t have any right to drag other people into the stress of my life. Like they didn’t deserve it.”

“So…you isolated yourself?” I asked.

He nodded. “I did. I do,” he said. “There was…there was one girl when I was twenty. In college. She didn’t care about my background. She didn’t mind that I had these…circumstances, these expectations. She was wonderful,” he said with a smile so fond it made my whole body ache. “But she wasn’t from a great family. In the end I pushed her away…because I felt I would be doing her an injustice by bringing her close to me if she’d never be able to stay.”

I blushed. I’d never heard this story before, never even considered it. It hadn’t occurred to me that Yoongi may have been in love before, may have given his heart away before, may have wanted someone like I wanted him before. My heart clenched a little at the way his eyes went distant, like he could see her if he focused hard enough on the crack in the wooden table. Maybe he could…

“That’s no way to live,” I said, then blushed and shook my head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say something like that. It slipped out.”

He smiled, almost sadly, and shook his head. “Don’t worry. I won’t fire you.”

“Isn’t it…aren’t you ever lonely?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I suppose,” he said, then chuckled and turned a few pieces of meat over with his tongs. “Not as much lately.”

My heart raced. Was that possibly because of me?

No. I had to stop thinking things that made me hopeful.

“Hm,” I said, mostly to fill the dead air between us.

Yoongi peeked at me from across the table and raised his eyebrows. “I figured you might understand. You have things you can’t tell people. About us, about…this,” he said with a nod. “It can be lonely holding onto so many secrets.”

Hana.

I cleared my throat and nodded. “What choice do I have?”

He took another bite of meat and chewed on it. He also chewed on my words. After a moment he sighed and gave me a smile. Another one that seemed a little sad. “All I know is that I wouldn’t wish it on someone. Least of all you.” He returned his attention to the meat as it sizzled between us, leaving me to sit in a smothering mixture of indecision and melancholy.

I awoke the next day smelling of smoke. It was in my hair, in my shirt, in my skin. And as I exited my bedroom and found Yoongi sipping his coffee with a bowl of fruit before him, I could vaguely smell it on him too past the sharp pine of his cologne.

He glanced at me over his glasses and smiled. “Ready for work?”

“I don’t know if ‘ready’ is the word I’d choose,” I said with a laugh.

He smiled and patted the chair beside him. “You can have my grapes. I noticed you eat them in the middle of the night.”

I blushed as I sat down. “You…you saw?”

His smile turned to a playful smirk and he shrugged. “It’s my apartment. I see everything.”

I swallowed hard and stared at him with wide eyes. “E-everything?”

For a moment he stared at me, smirking, before his facade broke and he was in stitches, laughing at me with his eyes pleasantly scrunched up. He leaned back in his chair and offered me a comforting nudge on the calf with his slippered foot. “I’m teasing. I sometimes get up at night to drink some juice or milk and I notice the bag is open and your light is on. I just figured you liked them.”

I popped one in my mouth slowly and nodded. “I do,” I said.

He smiled. “Good. Because I’m not a fan. Eat them for me, okay?”

I nodded and grabbed for another. “If you say so, Boss.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes. “I’m packing a lunch today. Do you want me to pack you one too?” he asked.

Lunch.

Who would I eat lunch with today? I couldn’t bear the thought of Namjoon lecturing me about Hana again, since his voice was starting to sound eerily similar to the voice of reason. And I couldn’t very well hop into Yoongi’s office uninvited and eat there…

I remembered for only the briefest moment the expression on Yoongi’s face as he told me the story of that girl, a memory I regarded with a pang of sadness in my stomach for a number of reasons. He’d pushed her away because he was scared. He mentioned before that he pushed most people away. He didn’t feel like he had the right to collect kind people in his life, like he would be dragging them down by associating with them. And, as much as that guilt of his made me upset on his behalf, I could understand it.

But his eyes had seemed so somber, so sad.

And he’d said he didn’t wish that on me…

“No,” I said, my voice starting me with its clarity. “I’m, uh…I’m gonna catch up with Hana at the instrument store. Catch up.”

He glanced at me and I was sure he understood what I meant. It was one of those rare moments when I felt more similar than different to Yoongi. He nodded his head with a gentle smile. “I think that’s an excellent idea. Do you know what you’ll say to her?”

“Well…she already knows this is…arranged,” I said.

He nodded. “I figured. She was there that day too, right?”

“Yes. But there are things that I…haven’t told her,” I said, twiddling my thumbs. Like my feelings for Yoongi, or the fact that his father knew too. Like Jungkook. Things that might possibly complicate things for her in the future. “I don’t know…how to proceed. You know the saying, ‘The less I know the better’?”

He ate around his grapes, letting me pick at them, and speared a strawberry with his fork. “Mhm.”

“Isn’t that appropriate here?”

He shrugged. “Do what you think is best. I trust your judgement.”

“I don’t want her to be used as a pawn someday,” I said, my brows etching into a furrow.

Yoongi smiled. “I’ll protect whoever is close to you, Y/N. I give you my word.”

But could he protect someone from his own father?

I sat on the table in the instrument store, Hana sitting beside me as we closed the shop down for lunchtime. It had been a few days since we’d seen each other, and a few more since we’d really talked, and a few more since things had felt normal between us. She peered at me from beside the cash register, her eyes warm and soft as they scanned my features.

I turned to look at her and gave her a smile. “I’m sorry.”

She raised her brows. “What? What for?”

“For being so distant. For avoiding you.”

She shook her head. “You’ve been busy.”

“I’ve been scared.”

Hana’s soft features went sharp with confusion. “Scared of what? What’s so scary that you can’t even tell me?” she asked.

“I love Yoongi,” I said. “And I don’t know what to do about it.” The truth came tumbling out before I could stop it.

She stared at me with wide eyes. “And how does he feel?”

I hesitated before responding. If someone ever found out about my feelings, about their lack of reciprocation, it might come back to Hana. He might come back to Hana. “I don’t know.”

She laughed and rubbed my back. “Well, that’s nothing to be scared about! So what if you love your husband?”

“And his father…he knows. About everything. I really don’t know how…maybe he ran a background check on me or something. Who knows,” I said with a humorless laugh. “I don’t know what he might do if he finds out you know too. If it gets out it…it would devastate the company. I think he might do anything to keep that information under wraps.”

Suddenly, realization came over her features and she nodded. “That’s why.”

“That’s why.”

“You were trying to protect me?” she asked. “Well, let him try to scare me. What can he take away from me?”

I laughed and wiped beneath my eyes. “Everybody has something to lose. Trust me on that.”

She sighed and nodded. “Jeez. I never thought being the wife of a millionaire would be so complicated,” she said with a laugh, digging her elbow into my side.

I turned to her, her beaming, happy face. I only ever wanted her to wear that expression, that carefree, joyful one. I wanted her to live a life as beautiful as she was.

But what if the only way for her to have that life was if I wasn’t in it…?

“The store looks nice,” I said, glancing around the dimly lit floor. “Mr. Kim rearranged the brass.”

She sighed. “Hey, I…I never really apologized. For what happened.”

“Why would you need to apologize for that?” I asked with a smile. I took her hand in mine, like Yoongi had done to me, and began rubbing circles. “You didn’t do anything wrong. And I made my choice.”

She shook her head and sighed, pushing her dark hair behind her ears with a shrug. “I still feel like…if I’d just taken the blame like I should have you wouldn’t be in this mess.”

I pondered this. “You say that like I’m not happy.”

“Well…you’re not, are you?”

I chuckled as I recalled all of the memories I’d already accumulated in my new life: writing thank you notes with Yoongi, dancing to Kendrick Lamar at my wedding, sitting on the swings with Jungkook as he revealed something he otherwise never would have. Even though things were confusing and difficult, I wasn’t unhappy. I was sure, at least, of that much.

“I am, actually,” I said with a laugh and a nod of my head. I squeezed Hana’s small hand. “Happy, I mean. I’m actually…kinda happy.”

She scoffed. “And all it took was marrying a stranger.”

“I guess so.”

“God, well tell me all about it! Tell me about him! What’s he like at home? What’s the apartment like? Have you guys…done anything?” she asked, sitting criss-cross on the counter to face me with a grin.

I laughed and shook my head. “No! Nothing like that has happened and, the way things are going, nothing will,” I joked with a sigh. “And he’s…kinda soft.”

“Min Yoongi. Soft,” she repeated with a smirk.

I nodded. “Believe it or not! He’s actually pretty sweet if I’m being totally honest,” I said, then pouted. “But he teases me. And he’s really straightforward. Normally that’s a good thing, right? But like…he scares me with how honest he is sometimes.”

She laughed. “Tell me more.”

“And sometimes he can be kind of cold. Like a corporate heir, you know? And I have to think to myself, ‘Shit, we are in different leagues’. But then the next minute he’s stuffing lettuce wraps in his mouth and his glasses are sliding down his nose and it’s like…ugh, it’s like he’s cute, you know?” I had begun to speak with my hands, waving them around as I thought of more and more things to say. I could have filled a book with my thoughts on Yoongi.

But before I could write even another page, the bell above the door to the store tinkled and the both of us turned towards the noise to see what had caused it. Standing in the doorway, shutting the glass door quietly behind him, was a man maybe in his fifties, wearing a well-tailored vest and slacks. On his right arm I recognized a watch similar to one Yoongi owned. Something and Mercier was the name, if I remembered correctly.

He turned to us with a smile and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Hello. I’m sorry to intrude,” he said. His voice was low, but lilting. Almost like music.

Hana hopped off the counter and I joined her. She offered him a warm smile. “I’m so sorry, sir, but we’re actually closed for lunch right now.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Oh? I’m so sorry. I must have missed the sign,” he said, laughing. How had he missed it when it was printed boldly right on the door he’d just walked through?

Something about the man put me off and put me on edge. I watched him carefully as he and Hana exchanged more words. Everything about him from his salt-and-pepper hair to the strong set of his jaw seemed sharp, and his eyes flashed around the room in a way that felt calculated. Hana was a pleasant as ever, and yet this man seemed only to be meeting her in politeness, not sincerity. He seemed to be taking in the store, looking for something that I couldn’t know.

“Ah, well, excuse me. I’m so sorry to have been a bother. I’ll come back during work hours,” he said, bowing his head to Hana.

She returned it and smiled up at him. “You can stay if you’d like! If there’s something in particular you’re looking for, then you can try it out while we continue our lunch.”

The man’s eyes went wide and he nodded. “Would that really be okay?”

“Of course. We don’t turn away business here,” she said with a laugh. He returned it, but his eyes never narrowed. He made me so inexplicably uneasy…

“Well, I am looking for something, if you’d care to help,” he said, finally slinking his gaze over to me. We locked eyes and I felt my whole body freeze.

“Sure. What can I help you find?”

“It’s not really a what, but more of a who I’m afraid,” he said, smiling her way again.

Hana cocked her head to the side and nodded. “Um…I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but I’ll give it my best shot,” she said, grinning.

The man nodded. “Well, I’m looking for a young woman who used to work here. She recently got married and the articles said she is a former employee,” he said.

I stiffened and took a small step back. Hana and I exchanged a charged look as her eyebrows knit. She and I were surely thinking the same thing. There was no way he was referring to-

“Her name is Y/N,” he said.

The overwhelming urge to run overcame me. I had to tell my body to remain still in order not to sprint out that front door. Who was this man? And why was he looking for me? I took a moment to settle my nerves and think. If I ran, then I seemed guilty. What if he knew about the arrangement? What if he was trying to exploit me for money — money that wasn’t mine to give? If I ran, he may get more ammunition on me, more proof to use against me.

But if I stayed…

If I stayed I might be able to convince him otherwise. I might be able to understand his motives and ask him what he wanted with me. I might be proven wrong about his intentions.

Or I could be proven right.

And if I was proven right, then I would be in deep, deep trouble.

I remembered what Yoongi said before I left the house. He said he trusted my judgement. I sincerely hoped I could trust it too…

I stepped forward, a large enough step to see the man up close, and cleared my throat. “That’s me, Sir.”

He met my eyes nodded. “I know,” he said. For the first time since he’d come into the store, he smiled and it looked real. But as he did, I realized that I recognized that smile.

It was mine.

#bts #bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #min yoongi #yoongi #yoongi fanfic #suga #bts reactions #bts au #bangtan #arranged bts fanfic #bts imagine #bts scenarios #bts reader insert

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every1studio · 6 years

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“our 10 year secret base” [stray kids: 3RACHA]

genre: ANGST + drama + mentions of death/after life

ficstyle: bulletpoints + LOONNGG

summary: based on the anime: Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, it will make you cry and you can look up the general summary of the anime as always I will put my twist into action. I was just inspired by the anime!!!

note: non-requested and you might cry or have some sort of feels by the end of this read -> THIS SONG COMES WITH IT (here)

Chan, Changbin and Jisung all unexpectedly met one another as they were all walking to the park right after their last day of school

they haven’t seen each other in 10 years

“are you heading to the park?” Chan asks the other two

and they both nod before silently walking to the park

the park was in the middle of their way to school and home; it was a pretty small park since all there is a little forested area, a running road but it had a nice view of the whole city below

there was a river that flowed at the base of cliff into the city; it was truly a beautiful sight with every sunrise and sunset

there was a secret base near the park; a treehouse that was encased in the middle of the tree, it was in the middle of the street and the forested part of the park

they used to be friends since they are 8 years old; it wasn’t always the 3 of them though.. they used to be known as 3RACHA+M; standing for 3 Kings + Muse

so who was their muse?

they all walked into the base; everything was left the way it was on the last time that they were there

4 chairs facing each other with a table in the middle; there was a ladder that led up to a rooftop-like studio kind of space that they had to record music; a guitar, a toy keyboard and a cassette recorder

they all reminiscence the time they had in this base of theirs

WHOOSH

they feel a gust of wind

“whoa did you guys feel that?” Jisung rubs crosses his arms to keep in his warmth

“that came out of no where..” Changbin looks up at the sky

“what if it was a ghost?” Chan jokes around

“AYE STOP THAT, THAT’S NOT FUNNY!!” Changbin pushes Chan

“YEAH! YOU SHOULDN’T SAY THAT KIND OF STUFF!”

“YE-yeah?? who said that?” Jisung looks around

the three of them turned around and saw you standing there

“hi guys~ it’s been a while yeah?”

at first they rubbed their eyes and looked at each other

once they looked at you again; they went hysterical

“BUT DIDN’T SHE...?” Chan looked at Changbin and Jisung

they both nodded vigorously

“SO HOW...???” Jisung yelled as he tried to hold Changbin, who was on the verge of fainting

“ummm....” you spoke up

they all rushed into the corner of the base and huddled

“usually ghosts can’t move on with the afterlife unless they fulfill their last mission on Earth right?” you said

Jisung pulled all the courage he had, “so what’s your mission?”

you smiled at them

“I don’t remember~”

they all collapse in despair

“that’s y/n alright..” Changbin says as he gets up, “but after 10 years.. why now?”

10 years; that’s how long it’s been since the accident; the accident that took your life

Chan, Changbin, Jisung and you were playing “kick the can;” where Jisung was the kicker and everyone else was hiding

Jisung caught you and was holding onto your hand while trying to find the others

Chan and Changbin came to your rescue and you all ran away from Jisung

you went a little too far and fell off the cliff and into the river as you were trying to avoid getting hit by the car

“I think it has to do something with meeting each other again in 10 years...” Jisung says

Chan gets up, “I know it’s bad to see you like this..but it’s good to see you again..”

they all took the time to realize that you grew up in time even though you were last seen when you were 8 years old

“I’ve missed you guys~” you smiled as you said to them

it was like they all fell in love with you again

and never did they think that they would become friends with each other again

everyday after that, it was hard

they could only have you stay at the base or whenever anyone of them were free to take you around

it would be weird for them to look like they are talking to themselves, so it was always at least two people on both sides of you

for old time’s sake, they would fill you in on what they’ve been doing for 10 years

how many songs they’ve made.. how they were doing study-wise... how their families were doing...what they wanted to do after high school...

“summer’s 1 month away from being over and we still don’t know what you want us to do..” Changbin says as he throws a paper plane of scribbled out lyrics across the river

they’ve done just about everything they could’ve thought of; re-visiting your family (although your mom blames them for what happened, your father and brother understood that it wasn’t their fault and it was just an accident) or even going back to where the accident occurred

but nothing happened

“hmm... now thinking about it.. didn’t you say you wanted to make our own 3RACHA+M firework?” Chan says

you nod as you hugged your knees, “that sounds familiar...”

“was it that?” Jisung says, “actually, I know someone who crafts artisan fireworks!! let’s go see what we can do~” he ushers everyone out the door of the base

although they all seemed happy, they didn’t want you to go.. even though you weren’t physically there with them.. you were their in spirit

literally

the artisan was willing to help them design but that it was going to be pretty expensive and that it was going to take a little longer than a week

the three boys agreed; they all pitched in to do some type of part time work and asked for their allowances in advance

since they were all busy at work, you took the initiative to watch them in full on action

Changbin was working hard; cleaning up around the broadcasting station

Jisung was working at a fast food restaurant; always making sure he’s putting his smile into every order

Chan was exhausted working at as a construction worker

they haven’t been at the base as often but they would at least check in with you before and after they work

you would see bruises, band aids, and just bottles of energy & sport drinks

“are you okay?” you’d asked each and every one of them but the answer was the same

“don’t worry, y/n~ I’m fine”

you wished that there was something you could do for them, you vaguely remember how they always looked after you and to this day.. they are still looking after you

sometimes, they would take you out on walks at night.. not together as a whole but like 1 v 1

leader Chan was the most caring guy ever

even though you were a wandering spirit, he always looked out for you

“there’s a pole right there y/n..” he makes you feel human again

every time you remind him of an old memory, he has the impulse to whip out his composition book and write down inspirations for his next song

talking to Changbin alone was quite soothing... you knew that he tried to be a “dark” man back in the day and to this day he tries to keep with that concept..

“Changbin I bet you do a killer aegyo~” you joke around

he turns and pouts, “y/n calling me out is an ANDWAEYO”

legit heart attack

although he was more on the reserved side; he always started your guys’ conversations

with Jisung, it was like he never changed, he’s always the energetic vitamin of the group

he’s always making you laugh

“geez how much energy do you have?” you’d say after wiping a tear from laughing

“I don’t know.. lately I’ve been getting more energy,, maybe it’s cause I’m with you...”

you were forever grateful for them

the thing is.. how long can they keep this up? aren’t they sick of you? you didn’t want to feel like a chore.. but you didn’t want them to see you so upset so you always put forth your signature smile

it’s been a little more than a week or so since you’ve seen everyone together

“those guys at the broadcasting station were FILTHY I tell ya.. so glad that I was only working for a while..” Changbin plops into the seat next to you

“yo the guys at the construction site were so nice!! they let me have beer and fried chicken with them~” Chan jeers at Changbin

Jisung was the last one to sit down, “so do you guys have it?”

the three of them looked at you then at each other

SLAM

they all slammed the wads of cash onto the table

“y/n~ we’ll finally be ready to watch you go!” Jisung says as he feels a clench in his heart

Chan and Changbin smiled, but it wasn’t a happy one.. they wanted to be happy for you to move on.. but they can’t seem to move on

“alrighty dighty then. let’s go guys~” you jumped up from your chair

all four of you were waiting by the edge of the park with the firework all set up and ready to go

“y/n.. thank you for giving us closure and thank you for staying true to who you are.. we wouldn’t have grown up to be who are now if it wasn’t for you..” Chan says

“you never cease to disappoint me y/n.. you are still as airheaded as ever but it’s what makes you, you.. we’ll miss you a lot..” Changbin couldn’t lift up his head

Jisung walks up to you..”you will always be our muse.. y/n, you were the one that started our music career.. you’ll always be remembered.. and loved”

you gave them your signature smile before Chan lit the firework

the last thing you want to give them is another reason to keep on holding on to the past

FFHHHEEEEW

BOOM

CRACKLE

the design was something that they made themselves; they’ve always customized everything to their style.. but this one was a little different

usually the 3RACHA+M; had three chickens and an iris (flower of hope)

but the fireworks only displayed the three chickens

BOOM

there was another display right after that

it was a you with your signature smile that they managed to use from an old photo

as the fireworks disappeared into the skies and the street lamps came on again..

you were still standing there, right in front of them

Jisung falls back onto the ground “wh-what?”

“what happened..you’re still here..” Chan runs his hands through his hair in stress

“wasn’t this what you wanted?” Changbin says quietly..

you turned back to look at them

“I guess not~”

they couldn’t say that they were happy that you didn’t pass on yet but the more you stayed the more they wouldn’t want you to leave

Changbin gets up, “well tomorrow’s our last day of summer... so let’s celebrate it? together? at the base?”

Jisung and Chan nodded in unison

“I’ll bring the food!” Jisung says.. then realizing that you can’t eat any of it..”AND THOSE FUN SPARKLERS SO WE CAN LIGHT IT UP YEAH?”

(nice save) Chan whispered

“hey you know... maybe we should do something special for us! 3RACHA+M has assembled after 10 years! let’s do a live perfomance”

“yo I was just thinking the same thing!” Changbin would say as he gives Jisung a high five

“I’m stoked!!” you’d jump in happiness

THE NEXT DAY

it might’ve been your imagination.. but you began to feel weaker..

“let’s play it safe..” you mumbled as you tried to write them a letter

at this point you couldn’t even lift a pencil with even one hand; with the support of the other hand you managed to write at least one thing you always wanted to let them know and shoved the letters in your pockets

you just sat there in fear.. just waiting for them to come

Jisung was the first to come, “good day to you, y/n~ how are you feeling?”

you cheerfully smiled at him even though you were feeling more weak than usual, “better than ever, now that you’re here~”

“what about me?” Changbin comes into the room smiling

Chan follows him after, “she’s only saying that because she was too excited to see me so she said it to the first person who walked in”

you all laughed as they playfully jab each other with pokes

they made you sit down and performed an array of songs; RUNNER’S HIGH, P.A.C.E., DOUBLE KNOT, MATRYOSHKA, TIK TOK and other called 10 YEARS UNTITLED

as they rapped and sang to you; you felt an overwhelming amount of saddness

the lyrics spoke to you; how it’s been 10 years since you left.. how they separated ways and came back to start making music with each other again.. and how you’ll always be their muse

you clapped as you cried

“you guys are truly so amazingly talented...why aren’t you guys famous yet?”

the three of them looked at each other..”we were going to tell you but.. I guess we can tell you now..”

Jisung breaks the anticiapation, “WE GOT CASTED WHEN WE WERE BUSKERING TO GET THE LAST OF THE PAYMENT FOR THE FIREWORKS!!”

Chan and Changbin smacked him, “I WANTED TO TELL HER THAT!!”

moments like these were to cherish for

“good job guys!!”

there was silence in the room

“did y/n go outside?” Chan says

“gu-guys.. I’m right here...” you’d say

“she would’ve said something..” Jisung says as he dashes out the door

“Y/N!!” Changbin yells as he follows after Jisung

“you guys.. stop playing around..” you fell to your knees as you saw Chan’s tears stream from his eyes

“she can’t leave... not like this... not now...” he runs out of the room as well

you tried to run after them but you had no strength

with all your might.. you followed after them

“Y/N! Y/N! WHERE ARE YOU!?” they’d all call one after the other

“I’m right here...” you were in so much fear but you persevered to keep on moving

they were running all around, calling out for you

night already fell for a while but they weren’t going to stop until they found you

every time you would hear their echos calling for you, you would respond in a teary, shaky voice.. “guys.. I’m right here..”

you saw a thin line of the sun rising as you sat down on a bench that had the best view of the whole city

you were trying to find the letters for wrote for them but they were no where to be found

Chan, Changbin and Jisung were all out of breath; they were walking back to the park...

“she’s really gone..” Jisung wipes his tear-stained eyes

Changbin notices 3 folded paper on the ground

he walks over to pick them up and realizes that each letter had one person’s name

“GUYS!”

he handed the letter to the guys

Chan; “I love how hardworking you are; remember to sleep!”

Changbin; “I love how bright you can be even though you are “dark”!”

Jisung; “I love how much energy you have; keep on smiling~”

Chan looks up and sees you sitting on the bench as the sun is almost over the mountain

“Y/N!!”

Changbin and Jisung immediately look up to see you resting on the bench

“hi guys~” you’d say weakly

they dash over to you but as the sun rises; they can visibly see the light since through you

“YOU CAN’T LEAVE YET!” Chan runs and almost trip

“WE HAVEN’T EVEN DEBUTED YET!” Changbin chokes on his tears

“WE CAN’T LOSE YOU AGAIN!” Jisung screams his lungs out

“I really love you guys...” you mouthed

by the time they got to the bench, you were gone

and a gust of wind rushed by

will they ever see you again?

but will they ever forget you?

never

END

#yenni writes #yenni posts #stray kids #stray kids scenarios #stray kids reactions #stray kids imagines #stray kids angst #stray kids 3racha #3racha #stray kids bang chan #stray kids chan #bang chan #stray kids seo changbin #stray kids changbin #seo changbin #stray kids han jisung #stray kids jisung #han jisung

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thiscelestialglow · 6 years

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Everything in between...

A summary post of the last month featuring a house build, Hobbitenango, San Vicente Cimientos, Playa Quilombo, and Semuc Champey.

//HOUSE BUILD// 03.21-24.18

Our group had the opportunity to work with ConstruCasa to build two homes for two families who live in Alotenango, a neighboring town of Antigua. I went for around four hours each day in the morning to help. I only worked on one of the houses, but I really enjoyed it because I was with the same workers and family every day so it made it possible to build a small relationship with them. Here are some photos from the days spent there:

The alley we walked down to the house each day. One day we had to carry a truckload of cement blocks down it and I wanted to die. The volcano in the back is Volcán de Fuego. It is an active volcano that is constantly letting out gases and lava.

These kittens had my heart and I would have given the world to bring them home with me.

My personal favorite job was chipping blocks with a hatchet, and not to brag, but I only broke two blocks. I would rather do this for 48 hours straight than mix cement one time. Photo creds: Hannah (for this one and the next two)

This is what the work site looked like on the first day...

...and this is what it looked like on the second or third day (???). It was so long ago I can’t remember.

This photo is from our last day when we dedicated the houses and gave handed the keys over to the families. Unfortunately, I don’t have photos of the finished houses, but I shared a video from ConstruCasa on Facebook that shows more of the process and has final photos.

//HOBBITENANGO// 04.07.18

On a Saturday morning some people from our group decided to take a shuttle to Hobbitenango, a small restaurant/park type of thing up in the mountains near Antigua designed to look like the Shire. The food there was AMAZING and it was such a cute little place.

I ordered the second breakfast, which included pancakes, eggs, bacon, and fruit. And MY GOD that was the best egg I have ever had in my life. I haven’t stopped craving another one since.

Our breakfast view.

They also had carnival-like booths set up with games to play. This one was for archery and hatchet-throwing.

This was such a nice unique place to go to and roam around.

We had to ride in the back of a pickup up to the top, which also meant we had to go back down in one.

I was holding on for dear life and my face shows it. Photo creds to Hannah

//SAN VICENTE CIMIENTOS// 04.15-17.18

San Vicente Cimientos is a Mayan community a few hours away from Antigua. There was a decline in elevation so it was MUCH, MUCH hotter than what we were used to in Antigua. The weekend was kind of a retreat from urban life into nature. Our time there was made up mostly of hikes.

This was the view of Volcán de Fuego from our house. It was incredibly active while we were there. There were multiple eruptions that rattled the windows and shook the entire house; it sounded and felt almost like a bomb had gone off. We were also able to see lava flow down the side, which you rarely see from Antigua. Photo creds: Cas

We had the opportunity to climb this mountain while in the community. This thing was MASSIVE and incredibly intimidating. (Photo creds to Cas.) We were driven up to the base and then had to walk up to where the rock face (yeah, a literal rock face) began. It was relatively okay up until that point. I have kind of a fear of heights, and when we got to that point, I looked down and over the valley and it hit me just how high up we were and if I fell I would probably die. What I thought was a small fear that I could control blew up and I began to hyperventilate. I sat down and got my breathing back under control while the rest of the group started to climb up the rocks via rungs someone had cemented into the rock. I thought I was okay to go again so I got up and tried to go, but my mind was still freaking out. Our guide thought it was best that I turned back and I couldn’t argue with him. He helped me back down and I sat a waited for the rest of the group to return. I was a little bummed that I didn’t get to the top because I really wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, but I just wasn’t in the mental state to conquer it.

After the mountain, we hiked down the valley to a waterfall where we were able to swim.

It was so beautiful and incredibly refreshing after hiking in the heat all morning. Photo creds: Rachel

Our last day we woke up and went on one last “walk” before we left.

We rode up to the beginning of the path in the back of this badass pickup and I kind of really want one now. Photo creds: Cas, otra ves

//PLAYA QUILOMBO// 04.20-22.18

AND THEN THE DAY CAME FOR THE BEACH!!!! I had been looking forward to this trip the entire time I have been here, and as the weeks went by and the weekend got closer, my anticipation grew. I was so ready to get my tan on.

We arrived when it was already dark out, so we couldn’t enjoy the ocean, but our hotel had an amazing pool which we put to good use after dinner. The next morning we got up nice and early in order to take advantage of our only full day at the beach.

We noticed a sea turtle in a kiddie pool a few bungalows down from ours so naturally we had to go check it out.

We went for a walk along the beach a little later, where we stumbled across some bones of a still unidentified animal.

My friends are really photogenic.

I was pretty bummed Saturday night because I had been looking forward to the sunset here the entire semester but it was really cloudy so it wasn’t as grand as I was hoping it would be. Still, the pink colors in the sky were beautiful.

Las chicas de la Casa de Cindy, con Cindy *insert heart-eye emoji here*

It was so nice to sit out in the sun all weekend and though I was burnt like a lobster, I am finally turning tan.

//SEMUC CHAMPEY// 04.27-29.18

A group of ten from our semester group organized a trip to Semuc Champey over our last free weekend in Guatemala, and I am so glad we did.

The trip started on Friday morning with an eight hour bus ride from Antigua to Lanquín, a town about 10 KM from the park. In true Guatemalan form, our bus was around 20 minutes late picking us up. We drove maybe 30 minutes outside of Antigua only to stop at a random gas station for no apparent reason. We asked what we were doing and were told that we needed to change buses. We still don’t know why that happened, but we spent almost two hours sitting on the pavement of that gas station waiting for the other bus to show up. When it finally did, the new driver whipped in to the lot and that should have been our first clue that this was going to be a drive straight out of hell.

The new bus was smaller and contained even more people than the last. I was lucky to get the spot I got, and I will never stop being thankful for it. The driver of this bus was easily the worst driver I have ever encountered in my life. I told Morgan it felt like sitting in a rollercoaster simulator in an arcade, only we were actually moving forward, and she couldn’t believe how accurate that was. So just imagine one of those simulators but on steroids. We made a stop at a gas station around lunch time, and were told we would stop in a couple hours for actual lunch, so all I got were some oatmeal cookies that I wasn’t even sure I liked. (I did like them, for the record.) It was four more hours until we stopped for a half hour lunch. We stopped for lunch at 4 PM. I’ve gotten used to eating a late lunch here, but not that late.

After we stopped, we were told we had another two hours until we arrived in Lanquín. Then our driver decided to stop at his house and change his clothes, then run an errand that took us about five minutes off course. I was incredibly annoyed and frustrated. However, his driving for the majority of the rest of the trip was better than before, so much so we weren’t sure it was the same guy.

Saturday we woke up, got breakfast, rode in the back of a pickup to Semuc, and headed to the pools. Our first activity of the day was hiking up to the lookout to see all of the pools at once. Never in my life have I sweat as much as I did on that hike, and the sunscreen I had put on before only made it worse. Hiking up I complained the whole time because I just hate inclines and stairs. When it was over, though, I knew it wasn’t that bad, and I could admit that.

The view from the lookout.

Seumc Champey is a series of natural pools that a river runs under. The river enters under the pools here:

and it exits on the other side. When we hiked down from the lookout, we were able to swim in the pools, slide down a natural (aka rock) waterslide, and go into a “mini cave” where there was just enough room to tilt your head back so you could breathe through your nose.

We then went back for lunch, and after that, went “tubing” down the river. I put quotation marks around tubing because it wasn’t even 30 minutes long. Then we got a candle and entered a cave. It was only slightly terrifying. There was a series of ladders we had to climb and a waterfall we had to walk over, and I was very nervous.

The walk through the caves ended at a pool where you could climb up the wall and jump into it. I did not, because it seemed like a lot of work and I simply didn’t want to. While this was happening, my candle was burning intensely and I was so nervous I wouldn’t make it out with it. I was mostly concerned for the ladders, which I would have to climb with a light. I made it back through two of the ladders until my candle was so small it was only going to burn me if I kept using it, so I put it out. Unfortunately, this was right before the ladder I was most afraid of.

Another girl from the group, Rachel, had accidentally put out her candle earlier, so we stationed Morgan (who still had a candle) between us so we could use her light. I was so cautious going down that the guide there literally started grabbing my feet and placing them on the rungs. When I got down, the other people we had been with had already kept on going through the cave, so we had one candle between three of us and it was pitch black. We basically just held on to the ropes until we saw the light. To be dramatic, we probably wouldn’t have made it out without the ropes.

Sunday morning we got up, got breakfast, rode in the back of a pickup to Lanquín, and got on a bus for another 8 hour trip back to Antigua. This ride was much more enjoyable because it was a different (better) driver and we made really good time. I was a little car sick at the beginning, but I took some dramamine and ate some food and felt fine the rest of the trip. While it was a lot of traveling for one day of adventure, I’m really glad that I got to witness the beauty of Semuc Champey first hand.

//MISCELLANEOUS// Just a few photos of things that have happened outside of these events. Enjoy.

Anderson’s 14th birthday!

Cindy’s birthday!

Just some old ruins around Antigua

Meet the next hit girl band

We also just moved houses last week, and this new one is SO NICE, especially in comparison to the old one. There’s a WALL OF WINDOWS in my room now!!!! This weekend we take another trip into Guatemala City, and then that Thursday, May 10th, we fly back to the States. It’s crazy how fast this semester has gone by, and I know this next week and a half will be over in the blink of an eye, so I plan to enjoy it all, and do everything one last time.

#guatemala #semester abroad #blog

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sivellelavellan · 6 years

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Apricity: Chapter Two

Read it here or on AO3 if you’d like.

Liam Kosta x fem!Ryder

Description: The irrational emotion of the moments between the big milestones are the warmest, tinged like gentle hands on cold reddened cheeks. Apricity (n): the warmth of the sun in winter. About earning names and finding heart and maybe home in the vastness of an uncertain galaxy. These are those little, vibrant moments.

It turns out the rain was bound to return regardless of their efforts in the vault, jungle planets were lush for a reason. The clouds moved back in as the week progressed and swelled into a full-blown storm. The ceaseless downpour was enough to drive restlessness into the heads of anyone and the entire Tempest crew had taken to helping the Havarl research team from the Nexus establish outposts along the river leading away from the vault. She hadn’t even had a moment to return to the ship, feeling exhaustion beginning to settle in as much as the unpleasant constant soaking had.

With a considerable amount of arguing, and by that it really came down to a lost game of poker, Kiasa had been convinced to let Gil join them to install particle barrier generators at each of the sites. It was new tech, bits and pieces that she had found scattered all around his workbench in the engine room. While she trusted her headstrong engineer, she was wary to allow anything that had a chance of malfunctioning potentially explode on their newly befriended Angaran scientists and cause a diplomatic incident. Cora had reassured her that it would reduce the need to station a heavy amount of security to protect the stations from Kett or leftover Remnant.

She stood on the roof and squinted past the water that caught in her eyelashes at Gil climbing the thin metal rungs towards the apex of the antenna where he could attach his generator.

He flashed her a winning smile when he caught her gaze and waved the pistol she gave him, “You can stop hovering, Ryder. This is the last one. All’s gonna go smoothly.”

“I’ve seen you try to join Cora in target practice.” she said, “You holding a gun does nothing to make me feel better.”

“Well, installing these is going to make it that much less necessary for the people here to even have to partake in things like target practice.” he winked, “Security is a thing we need more of in Heleus.”

She shook her head, “You sound like Liam.”

“He’s got a good head on his shoulders, but his eyebrows betray what he’s got in his hand every time we play cards. Poor guy couldn’t hide what he was feeling if he tried.” Gil began shaving down a wire.

She looked over the researchers moving boxes and rifling through samples below, waving at Kiiran who disappeared back into the shuttle to retrieve more equipment.

“Speaking of Liam,” Gil wiggled his eyebrows, “Scuttlebutt has it something’s going on?”

She crossed her arms, “Since when did you care about gossip?”

He shrugged and began twisting two clipped wires together, “Since you decided you wanted to be friends, kiddo. I like it when you come down with coffee and casual talk. But I’m wounded. Seems Vetra’s got something on you I don’t know.”

“Vetra likes to get a rise out of Liam when she can.” she let out a relieved breath when saw him close the panel and begin making his way down, “And if there was anything ‘going on’ you’d be the first to know, Gil.”

“That’s my girl.” he grinned as he hopped down and stood by her side, “Want to do the honors?” He activated his omni-tool and offered his forearm towards her.

She reached over to press the remote activation key when a steaming red beam erupted through the curtain of rain and hit the antenna square where the generator was installed. A powerful explosion blasted both of them back in a shower of bright orange sparks and black smoke. She felt a moment of panic as her back was met with empty air, then slammed her hand on her omnitool, feeling her jump jets activate centimeters from the ground as she shot back into the air.

She ripped her rifle from her back as she hovered, seeing smoke rising and scientists running as Remnant observers converged on the outpost.

“SAM! Open a line to the Tempest camp receiver!” she pushed her scope to her eye and hit an observer advancing on a Salarian, “Guys I need backup! Remnant ambush at the closest outpost! Anyone read me?!”

Cora’s voice sailed out over the pops of gunfire from a pistol, “I’ve got you, Pathfinder. On my way with Liam, Drack, and Peebee! Five tops.”

She saw Gil’s outline out of the corner of her eye climbing back up the roof as she shut off her jets and pointed her asari sword downwards and slammed into the head of a nullifier, creating a biotic blast that caused two unseen explosions to her right.

Kiasa began sprinting after him, “Gil what the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

He peeked his head over the edge of the roof when she reached the base of the maintenance ladder, “We have to get the barrier activated so that the Remnant can’t get in! No one has to leave!”

“That should be the last thing on your mind! We need to get the scientists and ourselves out of here!” she growled as she began climbing after him.

“No, Kia, this will work! I can fix it!” he fired at an assembler that had jetted up onto the roof and it tumbled backwards.

“Gil it’s not worth your life!” she leaned out from the ladder rungs and fired two imprecise shots at a Breacher attempting to chase down a mechanic making their way to the shuttle.

A roar erupted from the compound entrance and Drack came charging full speed into the courtyard kicking up a spray of muddy water, wrapping his arms around an Assembler and crushing it with ease. Peebee came running out behind him as Cora’s blue biotic aura pulsed through the smoke near the shuttle where she was trying to help load up and get off the ground. Where was Liam?

The next few moments seemed to slow into a crawl as she saw two simultaneous things occur. She whipped her head around and behind her a Breacher had its arms wide open and ready to clamp down on Gil’s head. But by the shuttle, an Observer had broken through Drack’s shields and was pummeling his front head plate with a beam of energy, leaving black singe marks on the natural armor.

“GIL!” she shrieked, breathing was like raking glass up her throat as she hoped she had given him enough of a warning to draw his pistol. She snapped a disruptor ammo clip in and took three precise shots at the back of the Observer, watching it shudder and erupt into a ball of electricity before Drack.

She turned, expecting to have to launch herself at Gil to pull the Breacher off of him when she saw Liam leap from the neighboring building’s roof. A frenzied yell erupted from his lips as he threw himself onto the bot and they went spiraling, missing the edge of the roof and hitting the ground with an explosion of flames and smoke. She didn’t realize the wordless scream had ripped from her chest before it was ringing in her ears.

A light blue sheen erupted from the antenna and enveloped the compound and the shuttle, destroying any Remnant that it came into contact with. The field was suddenly too quiet, the hum of the particle barrier replacing the sounds of gunfire and the deep thrum of active biotics.

She leapt off of the ladder, boots hitting the dirt as she took off towards the smoldering mess that marked where Liam fell. As she neared she found him on his back, dropping to her knees and tearing off sparking pieces of the Breacher from his torso. He was unconscious, raindrops pooling at the corners of his lips and beading on his forehead, but as she ripped off her gloves and hastily pressed two fingers to the crook where his jaw met his neck, she felt a choked sound escape from her mouth as she felt a steady beat beneath her fingertips.

She felt her hands reach for the deep tear in the front of his jacket, then find the zipper at his neck, trying to yank it down so she could assess the damage.

“You never can keep a shirt on and now I can’t get it off you?” she hissed.

She finally managed to open up his jacket and quickly tore through his underarmor to reveal angry burns across his chest. She yanked several medigel packs out of her hip belt and tore them open with her teeth, letting the soft-green substance ooze over the injuries. She exhaled slowly as she watched as the skin turned into the soft pink of early scar tissue and willed her hands to stop shaking. This would leave a thick, veinous marks on his chest. She cupped both sides of his face with her palms and dropped her forehead to his, wet hair forming a curtain between themselves and the compound, feeling herself dangerously close to uttering a prayer.

His eyelids fluttered and his warm brown eyes focused on her as his lips pulled into a small smile, “Oi, if you wanted to undress me this badly you could have just asked.”

She sucked in a breath, feeling her vision blur with stinging, relieved tears and crushed her lips to his. He tasted like rust and smoke, like blood and salt from her cheeks. She felt his hand tangle in her hair as he leaned into the kiss, hard. It was electricity and heat and aching everywhere. Tearing herself away, he looked shocked, her own fingertips lifting to touch her lips. She hadn’t even thought to lean in, she had just been glad to feel his breath across his cheeks. His eyes were scanning her face, as if looking for some sort of confirmation for what just happened.

She smacked his shoulder as she came to her senses and he yowled, “Liam, I’m going to fucking kill you.”

He winced, “Ryder, relax, I’m fine.”

Her eyes traveled to his limp left arm in the grass, deep purple bruising blooming across the exposed skin by his wrist, “I can almost bet you that’s broken.”

He looked sheepish, “Yeah probably.”

She felt anger flare, her ears getting hot, “I swear to God, twice in one week is absolutely unacceptable—“

His index finger brushed away a remaining tear that had settled in the corner of her eye, “Hey, hey look at me.”

She grit her teeth and met his eyes, “I’m not saying you shouldn’t have—“

His palm cupped her face and he stilled her, “Look, it’s just a bloody nose.”

She felt her lips quirk up as she wiped away the small trickle of blood that had trailed onto his upper lip with the sleeve of her underarm that was poking out beneath her armguard.

“Now that doesn’t look like nothing going on.” Gil had sauntered over with a devious expression.

“You.” Kiasa jumped to her feet and began stalking towards him, “You should be a smear on the roof. You are going to be cleaning the fucking bathrooms for the rest of your life.”

He staggered several steps back as her accusing finger came to prod him square in the chest. She saw Peebee, Cora and Drack walk up out of the corner of her eye. Peebee’s voice came from beside Liam as she began bracing his arm on a slab of Remnant metal, “Shit. Ryder’s mad.”

“That’s Pathfinder to all of you because as the idiot that ended up in change of this circus I’m responsible for all of your deaths!” she turned around and gave them all the most poisonous glare she could muster.

Gil rolled his eyes, “Can you imagine having so much faith in us that you expect us all to die?”

Cora put her hands on her hips, “It’s a lot of paperwork, I can understand wanting to avoid that.”

“At least Cora is making sense.” Kiasa backed up to address all of them, “Look I’m serious. We’re dealing with a lot but we have to be a team here. And we really haven’t been acting like one. Trust me I’m the first one to run headfirst at things—“

Liam grunted as he stood, leaning on Peebee’s shoulder with his bad arm in a makeshift sling, “Ain’t that the truth.”

“Please, Liam. Tell me more as you wave your broken arm around” she shot back.

He glared at her. Gil burst out laughing.

“I’ve made the mistake about caring about all of you because we’re the most unlikely people to come together and yet we keep trying to make it work.” she pushed her face into her hands and dragged her cheeks downward, “Because we all have the same vision and this dream that we can make this place our home. So please. Just stop trying to die.”

“Okay, okay.” Peebee walked over and put a hand on her shoulder, “Just don’t start crying or anything?”

Drack scratched his jaw with his shotgun, “I might.”

Kiasa couldn’t stop the short laugh that escaped from her lips as she gave in and Peebee gave her a short pat on the back, “Since we saved the day and Gil got the thingy he wanted installed, I think I’ll head back and try to get dry.”

“Yeah, I’ll get Drack to Lexi to have this scorch mark looked at.” Cora called as she placed a little bit of medigel on the charred scales near Drack’s eye.

“Take Liam with you.” Kiasa sighed.

“Wait, shouldn’t we—“ he protested.

“Liam, please go with Cora.” she tried not to notice the flash of hurt that crossed his expression, “We can talk once Lexi has you sorted out.”

He hesitated, then nodded and turned around and caught up with Drack who place a large hand on the top of his head and that effortless smile reappeared on his face.

“So were you serious about bathroom duty?” Gil stepped up to her side.

She looped her arm through his and leaned her head on his shoulder, “I don’t know Gil. I won’t force anyone to do anything. I’m not here to run a military vessel. I just want this to work.”

“I’ll do it.” he chuckled, “I earned it all on my own.”

“I’m glad you’re fine, Gil.” she said quietly, “I really thought it was you or Drack for a second.”

“I’ll take you saving Drack as trusting me to save my own ass. Appreciate the confidence.” he offered her, her pistol back and she replaced it in his holster by her hip, “But it’s a good thing Liam stepped in.”

She didn’t say anything. Just stewed in silence. She wasn’t sure what Liam was to her at this point. All the harmless flirting had spilled over into territory she wasn’t sure she was ready to embrace.

“You know he’s a good man.” Gil nudged, “And everyone’s been taking bets to see how long it would take you to notice his obvious crush. I’m going to win of course.”

“Obvious?” she looked up at him.

“You’re so dense, Kia. He adores you.” he shook his head in disbelief, “But it seems there’s something definitely more than nothing going on, on your end as well.”

“You’re just starstruck cause he saved your life.” she teased.

He smirked, “Maybe. But you kissed him first from what I saw.”

“What would I do without you pointing out the obvious, my dear engineer?” she groaned, “Why are you hell-bent on matchmaking? What about finding yourself a handsome soldier on the Nexus?”

“I get it from Jill. But do you like him?” he insisted.

“More than I think I should.” she sighed.

“Good.” he began walking towards the shell-shocked scientists that were finally beginning to disembark from the shuttle, “Let the poor man know.”

“Right.” she unhooked their arms and kissed him on the cheek, “I’ll see you back at camp.”

She sat at the bank of the river that night after dinner, glad that the rain had finally taken pause and left behind only a thick cottony layer of clouds. The moon would peek out every so often, leeching the purples and blues of the plant luminescence from their color. She was a meter or so away from a bonfire that the crew had started, Gil making a boisterous show of winning hand after hand of poker over bitter tasting tea from some native species that Suvi had deemed edible. She was wearing a ratty old T-shirt, Citadel Ramen logo faded. It didn’t smell like Scott anymore, but the little holes by the droopy collar marked every bit of his ownership on the item of clothing.

A loud growl of Jaal’s name from Drack suggested a particularly grievous loss and she saw Peebee throw some illegally acquired popcorn from her foil holder at Lexi. They were dysfunctional, undoubtedly. But they were her kind of dysfunctional.

She felt a hand in her hair and a warmth rose within her as she looked up and saw Liam smiling gently at her. The Initiative crewneck he donned looked brand new, almost too white in the dark. She noted with affection that his lack of upper body clothing was serial enough that she doubted he had any shirts that were as well-loved as Scott’s. He was holding two steaming metal cups and he passed one to her. She was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t the strange, purple tea that Jaal had offered her earlier but something rich, dark, and sweet-smelling.

“How much did you have to pay Vetra for this?” she breathed in the comforting scent of chocolate.

“I’m taking her kitchen cleaning shifts for the next month.” he took a sip and sighed contentedly, “Worth it. Hot cocoa makes everything hurt less.”

She enjoyed how the warmth seeped into her icy hands, “Not body-slamming enemies would also reduce the amount of pain.”

“I even brought you a peace offering!” he replied, feigning offense, “Mum’s magic doesn’t even work on you.”

She smirked and looked up at him as she took a sip, “I’m stubborn. You might have to sing too.”

“I’m still putting together your playlist.” he said, “Tell you what, you pick a song you like the best off it and I’ll give it my best shot.”

“This playlist is getting a lot of hype.” she gave him a sidelong glance, “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Starchaser…” he slowly sat down on the bank beside her, “Be real, are you still mad at me?”

She shook her head and he seemed to relax, “How’s the arm?”

“Dr. T’Perro thinks it’ll heal within two weeks if I make sure to not overuse it and show up for my injections like I should.” he looked down at the sling, “I hate needles.”

She giggled, “Somehow I’m not surprised.”

He offered his cup forward and she clinked the rim of hers against it, the pleasant metallic sound lingering in the air. They lapsed into comfortable silence as they drained their cups. She noticed he was rubbing his thumb and index finger together at his side as he stared out towards the gently flowing water.

“Do you always play with your hands when you’re thinking?” she asked.

“More like when I’m nervous.” he flushed and dropped his eyes to his lap.

She scooted closer, knocking her knee against his, “I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier.”

He turned and their eyes locked, “But not for kissing me?”

She felt her cheeks get hot, “Um, no? Should I be? I mean I don’t know what this even—”

He let out a relieved laugh and what seemed to be a held breath, laying down on his back in the riverweed as he rested his cup on his stomach, “Don’t get me wrong, I know stuff like this happens. Close quarters mean closer encounters. But I’d be a little sad if you thought it was a mistake.”

“Maybe it was.” she looked over at him, his hand behind his head, elbow sticking out, seeming effortlessly carefree, “Not because it was bad or that I didn’t want to— but because there’s so much going on. There’s so much stuff we still have to accomplish and I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

“Whoa, slow down.” he motioned with a tilt of his head for her to lean back and join him, “I don’t need you to hold my hand and tell me you want to go steady. I just like knowing where I stand.”

She set her empty cup down laid down on her side almost tucked in against him, “No bullshit. I like you. But I barely know you?” He was looking at the sky and she noticed it had been a little while since he shaved, stubble darker over the straight line of his jaw than it usually was.

“Sometimes when two people meet it fits. I don’t believe in fate or anything. Odds are there’s so few of us we were bound to cross paths at some point.” he turned his head and his gaze was soft, “With you, it fits.”

“Your romantic is showing, Liam.” their noses were almost touching.

His silent laugh brushed in a warm exhale over her lips, “Theres no one I’d rather have been thrown out a shuttle with.”

She wanted to kiss him, there was something so magnetic about being this close. He would taste sweet. Like chocolate and easy praises. But she was also content to lay there beside him, “Hah. I could have done without the life-threatening encounters.”

“You’d be bored otherwise.” his eyes settled on her lips and she almost let him lean in.

She quickly sat up and she heard him exhale in a little disappointed sigh, “I’m going to be hard to convince on this whole more-than-casual-flirting thing.”

He shook his head and chuckled as he sat up and tossed his cup aside as well, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Kiasa motioned for him to look as she inched closer to the water, “Look what I discovered earlier, though.”

She dipped her fingertips into the water and it pulsed with a white-blue light in the wake of her touch. The bioluminescent bacteria in the water grew more intense with disturbance and left light trails that held a hidden kind of beauty that she had been delighted to discover. She traced out her name, water cool on her skin and let it fade back into a muted pulsing ebb of the current.

“Oh wow.” Liam sounded excited as he crouched beside her

She laughed as he drew a happy face and then a poorly defined star on the surface, “I just noticed it when I was wading in the shallows trying to pick up one of the glowing river stones.”

He tiled his head quizzically, “That’s why you disappeared after dinner?”

She shrugged, “I collect little things on the planets we visit to bring back to Scott.”

He was doing it again— that intense, depthless look he gave her that she couldn’t understand. She blinked and it was gone, but for a moment there was an intimacy she couldn’t ignore.

“Does it get stronger the more you fuss with the water?” a mischievous glint had settled in his eye.

“I have no idea.” she said.

He grinned, “One way to find out!”

He charged into the river as she let out a surprised laugh. She heard the bickering of the crew around the bonfire had stop as Liam cupped his hands into the water and threw it into the air, blight, glowing droplets raining like white-hot embers around him. She felt her chest almost ache at the unbridled joy in his face as he called for her to join him, scattering beads of light in arcs away from him. Kiasa snorted and splashed into the river, almost tripping on the soft bottom but feeling him reach out an arm for her to grab and steady herself. There were little glowing droplets in his hair and on his cheeks, looking like liquid moonlight. She slapped the surface and sent a spray of water at him which he shouted at, retaliating until they were soaking wet and in a splash war.

“I could go for a swim!” a deep rumbling voice cut through their laughter and she froze as she felt the ground shake as she turned to her right to see Drack also charging into the river with Peebee swinging off one of his back plates.

“Shit.” she heard Liam say before a massive wave came barreling at them. She barely had time to dive into it before she felt herself tossed around. She surfaced gasping and found Liam making his way back to her, winding his arm around her waist below the surface. They looked at each other and then started laughing, deep full bodied sounds filled the air as the rest of the crew onshore waded in as well. It felt freeing to be able to just let go, letting the lightheartedness erase all the responsibility and anxiety that had followed them since first docking on the Nexus. Peebee was now sitting on Drack’s shoulders as she used her biotics to drench Cora and Gil. Vetra was only standing ankle deep but was smiling as she kicked her legs around and watched the trails of light that she created.

“Why won’t you call me, Kiasa?” she mused, resting her chin on his chest and looking up expectantly.

He paused, looking unsure, “I dunno. I guess I’m used to call-signs? My squad in HUS-T1 just fell into nicknames, it was easier to recognize over the noise of firefights. Unique. Ours.”

“What was yours?” she asked.

“Only the coolest” he looked embarrassed, “My turian mate came up with it.”

“That bad huh?” she teased.

He closed his eyes and mumbled, “Sharky.”

She almost choked trying to hold back a laugh, “Oh, that’s perfect.”

“It’s cause I prefer double omni blades!” he groaned, “They’re like jaws!”

“Very intimidating, Sharky.” she laughed when he placed both hands on the side of her face and he squeezed her cheeks in frustration.

She saw Jaal still standing by the bonfire from behind him, the deep orange flames casting soft shadows on his face. But she could see the wide smile that he wore and she quickly tapped Liam on the chest, “Look over at Jaal.”

Liam’s face lit up and he beamed, “See this is what I came out here for. That expression is what makes all this struggling and diplomacy worth it.”

She yelped as he tightened his hold on her waist and lifted her partially out of the water, whooping as he spun her around. She perched her hands on his shoulders and really took in the way the glowing made the moment feel surreal but more grounded than anything she had yet experienced in Andromeda. All she really could see was him, the familiar freckles on the bridge of his nose, the slightly lopsided way he showed his teeth when he grinned.

“It’s the little victories, Starchaser.” he set her down and pressed a light kiss to her temple, “We’re on his homeworld and he doesn’t see us quite so much like outsiders.”

They both hadn’t notice Jaal approach and Liam jumped a little when he spoke from next to them, “No, in fact you look like my good friends.” He then charged upstream with ease and tackled an unsuspecting Cora who shrieked as she crashed under the surface.

Peebee’s voice sailed out, “Hey Kosta, Ryder! Get a dang room already!”

She stuck her tongue out at Peebee who graciously flipped them both off as she slipped off Drack’s back and into the water with a glowing splash.

“We’ll shape up to be a crew worthy of you” he chuckled as he rested his chin on the top of her head, “I know it.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him, “You guys already are. Just a little dangerously reckless.”

He leaned back and made eye contact, “We’ll take this a day at a time, yeah?”

She nodded, “Yeah. Okay.”

“Now if you’ll excuse me, Vetra needs a soaking.” he winked and started shoving towards the others.

She chased after him, just happy to finally be cutting loose with her band of misfits “It’s your head, Kosta!”

#rydam #liam kosta #liam x ryder #femryder #mass effect andromeda #kiasa ryder #starchaser

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fanscrit · 7 years

Text

To the Rescue

Fandom: Overwatch Pairing: Mchanzo Rating: Teen and Up Prompt: Superhero AU (Day 2) Warning: Angst

A/N: Sorry, it’s what I do best. Sorry for being late

Since he was a small child, Jesse McCree loved to watch the Gibraltar news reports of the superheroes going out to save the day. Seeing his favorite heroes like Striker 76, Lionheart, and Angel go out into battle to save innocent lives was inspiring. He dreamed of one day getting the chance to fight side by side with them, but he knew it would never be. You had to have powers, and he was nothing like them. Didn’t quench the fire burning in him to do good, though.

Jesse joined the police force and put his shooting skills to the test. He made first response and excelled. No one could match Jesse when it came to the gun. He never missed if he could see you. Some of the guys on the force joked that he was a Super himself. They even gave him his own name: Deadeye.

Jesse complained and said it sounded more like a crook than a hero. Secretly, he loved it. Captain Reyes agreed, and whenever he used the dispatch, his boss never failed to joke around about it either. Here, he felt at home. He truly felt like he was where he needed to be… but something was missing. He couldn’t understand what it was.

Half a year into his time on first response, he was accustomed the ins and outs of Gibraltar. The dispatch crackled as the word came out.

“We have a robbery on 6th and Hanamura Avenue, Payload Industries. All patrols, converge on the site. I repeat…” Jesse drowned out the sound of Orisa dispatch interface. Putting the lights on so he could avoid traffic, Jesse made for the destination.

When he arrived, there were two visible figures among what appeared to be hostages. One was a Hispanic woman in a purple jacket and leggings. He’d read up on her, Sombra was an elite hacker, and with her powers she could control anyone. The other man was new, though. Asian, by the look of it, with black hair, rugged features, blue attire with an asymmetrical chest cut, and a bow.

Jesse looked to his hostage negotiator, Lucio, who looked like he was about at wits end. The poor thing was new, just into his second week, and while he was good in normal circumstances, Supers were a whole other breed. This was his first time with them too. Jesse patted him on the back.

“What’s going on here, partner?” Jesse quipped. Lucio looked close to tears when he turned to face Jesse.

“Deadeye, she’s impossible! I’ve tried everything, and she just tosses it around and leaves me all tongue tied. Nearest Super is 20 min away, but she’s gonna set her hound on them in the next 10. I don’t like it,” the man whined.

“Now I don’t think Hana would like hearing about you getting tongue tied by another woman,” Jesse joked, “so let’s see if we can wrap this up before time’s up.”

Lucio’s dark skin grew heated, “Yeah, okay. There’s a roof entrance accessible by ladder, you can sneak in and get them that way.”

“Gotcha, keep Sombra busy while I head in. If I can get rid of the muscle, we should be fine,” Jesse took off in the direction of the building, avoiding the glass walls on the second floor.

Jesse got in easily enough. The building was three floors high, so he needed to head to the stairs and wait for the signal from Lucio. He saw terrified employees on his way through, innocent people waiting to be saved. All he could do was give them a fighting chance till a Super would show up.

He made it to the stairway door and tested the knob. It was unlocked, good. He needed it to be accessible to make this work. Jesse took a deep breath and turned the handle, gun in hand. He had not been expecting someone on the other side, but within seconds, a bow notched with an arrow was pointed in his face.

“Hey partner, now let’s just take a minute to think about what we’re…” Jesse’s words trailed as he took in the intricate Dragon tattoo on the man’s exposed left arm.

“What is your business here?” The strong Eastern accent made Jesse focus on the man in front of him again. He stared the man down, watching his stern, solid gaze for weakness.

“I reckon I take issue with that question,” Jesse laughed, “seeing as how you’re the one not meant to be here.”

The archer’s eye twitched in annoyance, “I will play no games with a cop. State your business or die.”

“But we were getting to know each other so well,” Jesse poked, hoping for a response.

“No we were not.”

“But we could, if you wanted,” Jesse gave the man a winning smile. He watched the man’s brow furrow for a momemt.

Jesse coughed, “Let’s start with names. The name’s… uhhh… well most just call me Deadeye.”

The eyes narrowed, as if looking for a trick. After a tense moment, the reply came.

“Stormbow.”

“Well, sounds nice and tough if you ask me,” Jesse eyed the tattoo again, “What’s with that on your arm?”

“Why do you care?” Stormbow questioned. He was getting suspicious. His gaze turned to a clock on the wall. He needed to hold out for a few more moments. He needed a bold move.

He relaxed his grip on his gun and pocketed it in his holster. He held his hands up a took a step forward. Stormbow backed into the wall.

“Come on, I’m sure your girlfriend down there is nice, but a friend couldn’t kill ya, right?” Jesse mused.

“She is… we a have strictly professional relationship,” the man corrected. Jesse would deny that his heart did a flip when he heard that. He had assumed they were a power couple. It wasn’t uncommon. Why was he so happy to hear that…?

Jesse through caution to the wind and took a few more steps until he was right in front of Stormbow, “Well maybe we can have one a little more… off the books?”

Stormbow turned a shade of red that was completed confusing to Jesse until he went over what he’d said. His cheeks burned as he tried to back track his words.

“I mean, not like that! Not that there’s anything wrong with that at all, I mean I just don’t know you well enough! You’re probably a great guy and all but I just got away from a bad break up and I’m in no position to-”

“Storm, we need to go, did you get…” the voice, belonging to none other than Sombra, trailed as it looked up at Jesse. Immediately, her eyes went wide and she threw up her hands, glowing a dark purple.

Jesse suddenly found himself on the floor in a crumpled mess. He couldn’t move his limbs at all. Sombra must have hacked him! He struggled to move but failed again and again.

“I’ve got you in my sights!” The call denoted the arrival of Striker 76. Stormbow and Sombra whipped around and the man himself was at the door to the second floor steps. Sombra cursed.

“Mission failed, we need to go. Say goodbye to you friend,” she snarled as she typed into the holopads she created.

“He is no friend of mine,” Stormbow snapped. He did, however, look back at Jesse with a look of confusion.

“Whatever, translocating,” and with that they disappeared. Seconds later, Strike 76 appeared. Jesse craned his neck to look up at him

“Does this wear off or am I stuck like this?”

Jesse started running into the pair all over the place. And each time, he would run into Stormbow again and again. He had to admit it was something he looked forward to. Jesse was man enough to admit he was smitten with the man. Just a crush, though, nothing more. It wasn’t like anything was gonna come out of it.

Each time they talked, he learned a little more about the man. Like that he loved seafood and cheese, that he had recently discovered jazz and was quite fond of it, and that he’d been trained in archery since he was a child. Each time, Jesse fell for Stormbow harder and harder.

It got to the point that at the last time they had a run in, Jesse had yelled dinner reservations at the archer as he sped away. He’d received no confirmation about if Stormbow would even be there, but he made the reservations anyways. His friend’s mother, Ana Amari, owned a four star Egyptian cuisine restaurant that he convinced her to get them a table at instead of waiting weeks for the reservation.

Jesse made the reservation under Deadeye since he hadn’t given Stormbow his actual name. He was smitten, not an idiot; he still had his gun on him. It was the longest hour of his life. So many feelings went through him, from anxiety to fear, disappointment to embarrassment.

When we was all but ready to call it a night with he head in his hands, Jesse heard a chair being pulled back. He looked up to see the refined archer in all his formal attire. Jesse had never been a man to have a particular interest in a man in a suit, but the one before him truly made him reconsider it.

“You came…” Jesse was not a fan of how surprised and afraid he sounded in that moment.

“You made it sound so important, I decided to see what this was about,” Stormbow quipped back. The familiar banter helped ease Jesse’s nerves.

“Well, I guess you could say that, but it’s not really-”

“Ah, so I was right then. Good,” The Asian pulled a wicked smile and Jesse’s face turned beet red, “So Deadeye, tell me-”

“Actually, it’s Jesse,” he hadn’t meant to go there, but some part of him wanted this to feel real and Deadeye was a joke. Stormbow laughed.

“Hanzo. So Jesse, tell me,” his ears burned and the sound of his name coming from Stor- from Hanzo. He could get drunk off the sound alone, “what is it that you want? Info on my partner? Her powers? My cooperation in a takedown on her?”

Jesse’s eyes widened, “No, no, nothing like that. I just wanted to get to know you a little better… see where things go. I’m sorry if you got the wrong impression from what I was looking for here.”

Hanzo didn’t move, didn’t speak. Thankfully, the waitress saved him from embarrassing himself further by ordering wine and some appetizers. When she left, he turned back to Hanzo to see a face of stone. Jesse panicked inside. What had he done? Was this a mistake? Maybe he should go?

“I can leave if you-” he made to rise and leave the building but Hanzo stopped him with this hand.

“I am not opposed to getting to know you,” he started.

“Good,” Jesse breathed, taking his seat again, “cause I wanna know all about you.”

They spoke on many things. Hanzo would laugh when he told a joke, and Jesse would let Hanzo try what he ordered since Hanzo wasn’t as familiar with Egyptian food.

Halfway through, a storm kicked up and Hanzo excused himself to the bathroom. As soon as Hanzo turned the corner, Jesse broke out in a sweat. He was hooked. Everything about Hanzo made him desire the man more and more. He was obsessed. He wanted the chance to really know who he was.

After several minutes had passed, Jesse got up himself and went to check the bathroom to make sure Hanzo was okay. When he found the restroom to be empty, Jesse became immediately concerned. He found Ana in the kitchen and asked if she had seen anything. She shook her head and said to check the upstairs hall before the doorway too the roof.

Jesse hopped up toward the roof and came to the door. He put his ear to the door and listened for words. Maybe Hanzo was making a long phone call, or maybe he was just as nervous as Jesse was. He could pick up distant yelling.

“What are you doing,?” It was Sombra… Jesse’s heart skipped a beat in panic.

“I never wanted this! I did not ask to be here with him,” It was Hanzo, and what he was saying… Jesse was close to tears. He really was stupid if he thought this would work.

He kicked the door in and pointed his gun at Stormbow, “Sorry, didn’t realize I was that bad of a date.”

“Jesse…” Stormbow took a step forward but Jesse fired a warning shot into the ground in front of him.

“Don’t you dare!!” He lost it, “so what was it, huh? Bad conversation, poor food, or was I just a side piece till the main course came back around?”

“Jesse, please, let me-” the archer tried again, but another warning shot fired closer to him.

“It was from the start, right? All the talking and back and forth was a lie, right?” Jesse couldn’t tell if it his blurred vision was from the rain or the tears, but his heart snapping in two definitely felt like it was the tears.

Sombra laughed, “What, you thought you would make him fall in love with you, make him leave everything behind to be with you and you both would love in peace? How small minded. Stormbow, kill him and let’s go. I’ve had enough of this.”

“No one moved, Jesse pointed his gun at Stormbow’s head, waiting for him to make a move. Slowly, he notched an arrow onto his bow.

"Jesse, please understand…”

“Understand what, that you made a fool of me? Did you get a good laugh? Did it make you feel like you were a man? I’m done talking, I don’t wanna hear anything you got to say. You make me sick,” with each word, Jesse’s voice began to break. He was all but sobbing. He was worth less than nothing foretting the enemy use him like this. He was more angry with himself than anyone else.

Stormbow didn’t make a move to shoot. He turned to Sombra, “No.”

Sombra whipped around at him, “What was that?”

“I refuse. I will not take his life, I will not make the same mistake twice. We will go and-”

“No, you will do as I say and get rid of him, he knows too much. My operation will not fall because of some cliche romance,” Sombra snapped.

“I said-”

“No I SAID he dies!” Sombra ensnared Jesse in her hack. The cop glowed a sickly purple as he dropped his gun to the floor. He felt as if he had to retch.

Stormbow made as if to shoot Sombra, but she was one step ahead of him. She pulled her own gun from her side and aimed at Jesse. Stormbow hesitated.

“Nope, not gonna happen,” Sombra cackled. She made Jesse wall to the end of the building. He stood, overlooking the busy street below.

“Now, let’s have some fun, since you don’t seem to understand who’s in charge here." She released Jesse from her control. He turned to see Stormbow glowing a sickly purple, bow drawn at him.

The first one launched, embedding itself right into the crook of his elbow. Jesse hollered in pain while Sombra laughed.

"Stop this!” Stormbow yelled.

“I can. But you have to ask me to kill him. Otherwise, I’ll turn him into a cowboy pin cushion,” Another arrow went into his shoulder. Jesse buckled down onto his knees. His vision was hazy. He couldn’t feel his arm at all.

Another hit his thigh, and a fourth one punctured a lung. He was all but dead on his feet. Jesse was a mess of tears and blood being cleansed in the rain.

“Just, may I have a moment? Please, I wish to say goodbye,” Stormbow pleaded.

“Sure thing, cabrón. Hurry it up.” She walked Stormbow over to Jesse, who lay there on the ground, breathing heavily.

"I am forever sorry, I never intended to hurt you. I merely deluded myself into thinking I could have something I always wanted,“ Jesse turned his head and looked deep into Hanzo’s eyes. He could feel something just beneath the surface.

"Huh, what’s that?” Jesse coughed.

“Happiness,” tears fell from Hanzo’s eyes and he brought himself down to kiss Jesse. It was sad, as if two long lost lovers were saying goodbye once more. Jesse sighed into the kiss and reached to hold Hanzo’s hand. The sound of the rain seemed to stop as he lost himself in were his final moments.

He felt something enter his grip and looked down. It was his gun! Jesse barely had enough time to think before Hanzo whispered in his ear “Shoot me.”

Whatever was beneath Hanzo’s skin started to roar, to Jesse it felt like the world was shaking.

“Do you feel that?” Jesse sputtered.

“Do not worry, it is of little consequence. Just do what you know you must,” Hanzo smiled as he squeezed Jesse’s hand.

He could feel in inside him, begging to burst free. He needed to let it free.

Jesse leaned leaned up into Hanzo’s face, “Let the dragon consume.”

Hanzo looked at him in shock. Jesse shook his head. Where had that come from? But his hand burned with raw energy. It wanted out.

“I’ll point and shoot, you just say the words,” Jesse coughed.

“They speak through you, with you…” Hanzo closed his eyes. When he opened them, he had a look of determination, “Very well.”

Jesse gripped the gun and with what little strength he had left, aimed the barrel at Sombra.

“Now Hanzo!” Jesse screamed.

“Ryuga Waga Teki No Kurau!”

Electric power rushed through his entire body, traveling through him all the way out through the barrel of the gun. Jesse pulled the trigger, but no bullet came out. Instead, a dragon the size of a baseball sped out of the pistol. It moved so fast, one would mistake it for lightning. It hit Sombra dead in the chest, causing her to stumble back in agony.

Hanzo took the distraction, took Jesse in his arms, and ran for the hallway. Jesse faded in and out of consciousness. He remembered seeing Ana and her scream. The police and ambulance carrying him into the van. Hanzo praying ‘please do not leave me, please, not when I am finally ready to be happy again.’

When he fully awoke, he was in a hospital bed. He looked over to see Hanzo passed out beside him. His fingers were intertwined with his. Jesse smiled as he felt sleep try to take him once more. He whispered to Hanzo in his sleep.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m gonna be right here, with you. Always.”

#mchanzo #mchanzo week 2017 #day 2 #fanfic #overwatch #overwatch fanfic #hanzo shimada #jesse mccree #fanscrit

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kingjaffejoffer · 7 years

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Joseph Thomas thought he had it made when he landed a $170,000 job as a software engineer at Uber’s San Francisco headquarters last year. He and his wife, Zecole, had just bought a Spanish-style house in Pittsburg, where they were living the American dream with their two young sons. A handsome and accomplished man, Thomas reminded some people of Tiger Woods for both his good looks and his drive to succeed.

But his time at Uber turned into a personal tragedy, one that will compel the ride-hailing company to answer questions before a judge about its aggressive work culture.

Always adept with computers, Joseph Thomas worked his way up the ladder at tech jobs in his native Atlanta, then at LinkedIn in Mountain View, where he was a senior site reliability engineer. He turned down an offer from Apple to go to Uber, because he felt he could grow more with the younger company and was excited about the chance to profit from stock options when it went public.

But at Uber, Thomas struggled in a way he’d never experienced in over a decade in technology. He worked long hours. He told his father and his wife that he felt immense pressure and stress at work, and was scared he’d lose his job. They urged him to see a psychiatrist. He told the doctor he was having panic attacks, trouble concentrating and near-constant anxiety. All suggested that he leave his job, but he was adamant that he could not.

“He was always the smartest guy in the room,” said his father, Joe Thomas. But while working at Uber, “he went down the tubes. He became someone with very little confidence in himself. The guy just fell apart.”

“It’s hard to explain, but he wasn’t himself at all,” said Zecole Thomas. “He’d say things like, ‘My boss doesn’t like me.’ His personality changed totally; he was horribly concerned about his work, to the point it was almost unbelievable. He was saying he couldn’t do anything right.”

One day in late August, Zecole came home from dropping their boys off at school. Joseph was sitting in his car in the garage. She got into the passenger seat to talk to him.

Then she saw the blood.

Joseph had shot himself. He died in the hospital two days later, a week before he would have turned 34.

His father and widow are convinced that the work environment and stress at Uber triggered his suicide. Zecole Thomas has filed a workers’ compensation claim seeking to hold Uber accountable for her husband’s mental decline.

Joseph Thomas, who was African American, may have experienced racism as well, according to his loved ones and their lawyer. Like many Silicon Valley companies, Uber employs only a handful of black people in technical jobs. Blacks account for 1 percent of its tech workers and none of its tech leaders, according to Uber’s first diversity report, released in March.

Some of this hits hella close to home

#silicon valley

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thomas-riggedup-lukashow · 7 years

Text

Why Team Liquid Is not going to make playoffs and why it could get worse.

We are heading into the halfway point of the split and Team Liquid attempting to triage their team with new hires. It is not uncommon for organizations to make hires in the middle of the season when things are looking bleak. The grasp of relegation is becoming all too real and Team Liquid will most likely be trying everything to avoid the unfavorable format of relegations. Although additions to the squad may result in some sort of improvement, I think it is quite unlikely we see Team Liquid walk away with an admirable performance this split. More so, I am willing to say things could easily result in their appearance in the promotion tournament. The amalgamation of issues Team Liquid has to break through to even reach past the middle of the pack seems far too daunting of a task. This may seem too brash considering there are plenty of games to be played this split, but when you break things down Team Liquids future looks bleak.

So let’s look at it from the start.

Before the start of the Spring split Team Liquid made a number of promising moves. Team Liquid was now backed by powerful investors allotting them a number of resources and was able to nail down the heavily prized Reignover to the roster. This promising new beginning to the organization’s League of Legends team was then enough to convince Piglet to return to the starting line-up. Matt would of course be brought back on as Piglet’s duo partner due to their past success together. Lourlo returned based on his untapped potential and the final piece to the squad was Goldenglue who had received the title of “Scrim Faker”.

Team Liquids intentions of how this team would play out appeared to be rather straight forward. Reignover would secure advantages early to provide the necessary tools Piglet needed to come online while everyone else stayed afloat. Admittedly, not a terrible plan considering Piglet’s proven ability to carry games nearly to the point of going 1v9.

Furthermore we learned this roster would be bolstered by an impressive supporting staff mentioned by Steve “LiQuiD112”Arhancet in an interview during week 1 of the Spring NALCS.

“We invested heavily this year. We have a head coach, a strategic coach. We have a head analyst. We have two full time remote analysts and in addition to that we have an in house chef. We have a sports psychologist and their all on site making sure that this team, kind of adapts to that new meta, that we’re going to stay on top”

It sounded like Team Liquid had their act together, but fast forward and now TL is standing at a 2-6 record. This amazing staff seems to have been unable to shore up its players lackluster performances;

· Lourlo is still far from living up to his supposed untapped potential.

· Goldenglue has been such a disappointment this split that the only way I fathom the title of “scrim Faker” is that Faker must historically perform horrendously in scrims.

· Reignover has been improving week to week, but is a far cry from his performances last split.

· Piglet has had numerous positional mistakes and made it clear utility carries are not his forte.

· Matt’s impact in game feels nonexistent,

Player performance is one thing, but having to cater to the current meta doesn’t do Team Liquid any favors. Team Liquid just happened to make their master plan of playing through Piglet at one of the worst times. The strongest champions within the AD role offer little on the side of hard carrying a game. Perhaps a pivotal Enchanted Crystal Arrow creates the game winning pick, but this doesn’t represent the type of play Piglet is known for. For crying out loud the guy has a Vayne skin.

The era of aggressive carry junglers is making things difficult for Reignover as well. Again, although he has been showing improvements this is not his meta. Reignover is known for his control style jungling and ability to keep his enemy in check. The guy doesn’t even play Lee Sin, of course he is going to be overshadowed by the slew of aggressive junglers competing in the NALCS right now.

Someone may throw out the argument that a potential meta shift could bring about the change Team Liquid needs, but I would say the odds are against them.

The last major patch we saw hit during a competitive split involved the elimination of the lane swap. The fortification changes on turrets left a few lane-swap proficient squads out to dry as they were forced to reconstruct everything they had worked on for an entire split. Some teams who had looked like potential threats in playoffs fell disastrously hard trying to adapt to the unfamiliar game state. The usual, “they needed to adapt” phrase tagged along with a team’s failures were gradually overpowered by discussions of overworked players. A public feud broke out for about a week before discussions were swept away behind a curtain to hash out negotiations.

Long story short: Big changes make people unhappy.

What I would gather from this event is that Riot is by no means eager to create another swell of public outcry. If significant changes to the game are slated, they will most likely be done at less fragile times and completed outside the scope of competitive play. This being the case I think we should expect to see game altering patches appear sometime between the end of the Spring split, and start of the Summer split. Heck, we have essentially had this trend running since last year and perhaps even longer. In 2016 we had the Mid-Season Mage update and this year everyone is already frantically talking about the Mid-Season Tank update.

Perhaps I have convinced you to think of Team Liquids chances of getting to playoffs as unobtainable, but we are not quite done. I actually think things will get worse.So far I have been reasoning out why Team Liquid is not going to be able to climb the competitive ladder this split. What I haven’t mentioned is why I think they should be expecting to fight their way out of relegations. But before we talk about Team Liquid I want to give a brief history lesson of Echo Fox’s existence in the NALCS. Don’t worry, let me explain.

Echo Fox’s first year in the LCS was far from stellar. Going from 7th place in the spring split to fall even harder to 10th in the summer split created abysmal expectations for the team. During the break, the organization cleaned up their roster and dedicated a considerable number of resources to their League of Legends team. The inevitable downfall of Echo Fox actually looked like a foregone conclusion when it was revealed they had been unable to find scrim partners. Despite this hardship, Echo Fox have demonstrated improvement week to week and have just taken off a dominating win against TSM.

What I am trying to get at here is that I think it could very well take Team Liquid up to a year to create something that can even produce results. The reason being is that TL needs to learn how to spend money. No, you did not read that incorrectly I do mean money. Of course Team Liquid is an older organization, but their vast access to resources is new. This happened to several teams last year as big investors were entering the scene and throwing money at teams. Echo Fox, alongside Immortals and now deceased NRG were the most notable. Echo Fox took that first year to create an identity and hash out an infrastructure. Even Immortals with their immensely impressive regular seasons could not make it to worlds and many argue this was due to a lack of infrastructure.

Assuming it could take Team Liquid up to a year to create a convincing frame for the squad to exist is not good. Relegation is a very real possibility and I do not think Team Liquid can just skate by. In a way Team Liquid is in a race against the clock. If TL were to fall to the promotion matches they could potentially get kicked out by another financially backed team that knows better and prepared to dismantle them.

In the end there is a good deal of variables at work. The teams intended structure, the meta, and even Team Liquid’s infrastructure should be considered and weighed when considering their possible future. From my perspective I just see a number of these things causing the end of Team Liquid. But hey, I could be entirely off by the end of the split. Team Liquid may just end up claiming their “forever fourth” title once more.

#NALCS

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