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strangelysamantha · 3 years

Text

crumbled cookies ☆

jj maybank x plus!reader (fem!reader)

warnings: abuse/hitting, hate speech, fat shaming, bullying, insecurities, swearing, fighting, jj’s dad, luke (yikes!) mad jj, mention of pills.

words: 3,365.

summary: you decide it would be a good surprise to stop by jjs house quickly to drop off some of your homemade cookies, since you believe he isn’t feeling the best. then, unexpectedly jj's dad comes home with an unwelcoming embrace, which ruins the surprise.

request? nope, but requests are open :)

a/n: i randomly thought about this, i obviously don’t believe that us plus size baddies should ever be insecure, but i thought it would be a nice little angst imagine with fluff at the end! if you could, please comment and like if you enjoyed it, thank you! after i write a few requests i will proofread my stories :)

my masterlist

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jj hadn’t answered any of your texts, usually this would worry you, but you understood that sometimes he just needed some space to be alone. you surprisingly were used to this because he always disappeared, and if he genuinely needed you, he knew where to find you. it also wasn’t bothering you because he had only been MIA for a few hours.

you, assuming that jj was just overwhelmed, decided to stay home and bake homemade cookies. jj always complimented your cookies, he loved taste testing them, and more importantly, he loved how you put so much effort into making them perfect, even if you were only making the cookies for him. jj wouldn’t admit it, but he definitely didn’t see you as just a friend. he didn’t know how he viewed you. he was too confused for his own good with his emotions. all he did know was that he depended on you, and that he never wanted to lose you. it would ruin him, especially if he had done something to intentionally lose and hurt you.

you preheated the oven, excited to use a new cookie flavor for jj. you danced lightly to the music playing in the background of your kitchen, softly humming along as you gathered the dry ingredients, mixing them together. it was a fun little game you guys played, where he’d try and guess what extra ingredients you added that affected the cookie's flavor. he almost always got it wrong, but he was so cute sitting there always trying to guess it right, when he didn’t even know that much about cooking anyway.

unbeknownst to you, you were completely unaware of his feelings, despite the same feelings bubbling in your heart too. jj was your best buddy, and obviously you guys had flirtatious banter but it was nothing too serious. it didn’t help that every girl jj had a one night stand with, was the complete opposite of you. how could he like you, when every girl he fucks was not only skinny, but also rich, and mysterious?

pope wasn’t on your side either. he would always express how nauseated he felt when jj would jokingly flirt with you, and openly play with your feelings. he was quite vocal in scolding you when you would tell him that jj blew you off, or jj had pissed you off. deep down you did agree with pope, he wasn’t wrong.

a beep was heard from the oven as it was fully preheated. you had fully completed the cookie dough, now adding the most important ingredients. you decided to be nicer, and chose an easier flavor for jj to guess. you did this just in case something was seriously wrong he could at least be lifted up for guessing it right. m&ms and hershey’s kisses would be mixed together, creating a chocolate m&m hershey cookie, with added caramel on top. you quickly evenly separate the dough, before placing it in the oven waiting for it to rise.

the timer in the kitchen went off as you pulled the cookies out of the oven, careful to not burn yourself. you stick a knife into the cookie to ensure it was fully cooked before smiling contently to yourself. you let them cool off as you got dressed and prepared to go to jjs house.

you added caramel before sliding four cookies into a ziplock baggie. the cute baggy had a drawn on heart and a nice message for him. you didn’t expect to stay long, and you honestly didn’t even know if he would be home.

when you arrived to jjs house it looked vacant and abandoned. the nerves finally catching up to you as you realize he hasn’t talked to you all day. you knock on the front door, waiting for a response but you are left standing there waiting. you frown before hesitatingly walking down the steps. you look up when you hear a car approach, and a glimmer of hope flashes your mind as you thought it was jj, but instead it was his dad.

your heart was beating fast, and you didn’t know what to do. you waited to see if luke would talk but he just looked at you confused, and obviously annoyed. you shook your head quickly, “i’m so sorry, i was just going to drop these off for jj, but he’s not here so i’ll be on my way.” you smile softly, and start to walk away but his strong arms grab yours. you’re startled since his reaching for your elbow was quite unexpected.

“well you are already here. might as well get it over with.” his voice was unrecognizable as his emotions weren’t clear. you nod shyly. “no really i don’t want to inconvenience you, i can come at another time.” he shakes his head before walking to his door, opening it as the door loosely opens entirely, hitting against the wall to its side. you walk behind him being extra cautious in case he tries to grab you again.

you walk straight to the kitchen to set the bag of cookies on the counter, which was no use since right when you placed the bag, luke had scooped it into his hand reading the note. “oh, so you are the one dating my son?” your face twists in confusion. “no, no. jj and i are just friends.” you laugh awkwardly, swaying from feet to feet. the floors creak beneath you causing you to stop shaking back and forth. “okay good.” his eyes look up and down your figure as his mouth forms into a line. “i wouldn’t want him dating someone like… you.” his words hurt, but you didn’t want to break down in front of him.

you feel uncomfortable under his intense stare so you hurried to put an end to the conversation. “uhm. okay, welll thank you for letting me drop them off, i appreciate it mr. maybank.” you nod softly before he states, “no.” you turn over to him, “no?” you repeat as more of a question. your patience wears thin as you notice the cookies are still in his hand, and he is carefully undoing the ziplock that concealed the cookies.

he pulled a cookie out, before admiring it closely. “chocolate chip m&m caramel cookie. very yummy, very good choice.” you avoid eye contact, trying to focus on anything else displayed in the room. “and it’s still warm.” he stares at you as he takes a bite of the cookie, its crumbs slowly falling from where he sunk his teeth in. “it’s quite good.” you smile softly, “thank you… but-.” he cuts you off completely. “of course you, of all people, would be bringing him cookies. i’m not surprised, i can see you are trying to fatten my son.” his words stung you because this wasn’t what you were expecting. his father seemed intoxicated, and before you could leave it seemed like he still had stuff to say to you.

“yes the cookies are good, but they don’t excuse you for lying to my face. you are just like my ex wife… lying, scheming, going behind my back, but still creating delicious snacks.” you stumble back a little, as shock sets over you. “how did i lie?” you ask, quite confused as you hadn’t even talked to him that much. “i know you’re dating jj! i see his hickies i see that when he leaves this house it’s always to meet with your fat ass.” his words hold no meaning, he was just a lousy drunk taking his anger out on the closest thing to him. you stayed silent, when he suddenly shook his head before grabbing the rest of the cookies and throwing them on the floor, jumping on the bag, completely squishing them.

the once yummy cookies, now downgraded into a small pitiful pile that was brutally smeared against the kitchen's tile. your heart speeds up as his eyes are focused on yours, as if trying to read your emotions. “i’m sorry, but i’m not sure what i did to deserve you ruining my cookies?” your tone comes out sassier than intended which definitely didn’t help your case.

“pick it up.” he threw paper towels towards you, as he waited patiently for you to clean up his mess. you silently obeyed scooping your mutated bakery treat up. you got most of it cleaned, but you ran out of napkins. you bite your lip trying to think of a quick solution to finish picking it up so you could possibly leave, but it’s too late because he’s already grabbing your arm forcing you up. tears stream down your face, while you contemplate your choices.

before you could even register what had just happened, his hand had collided with your cheek, as he screams hurtful comments. “you are good for nothing. i honestly hope that jj didn’t choose you, because if he did, that would make him an embarrassment to this family.” he pushes you to the floor, and you quickly try to stand up so you can leave. you hurry to the door, but he catches you before you could get in your car and drive away.

“you can't tell anyone about this. i swear if you tell anyone...” his tone is laced with venom and your face scrunches up in confusion. “dont act stupid! god this is why people treat you the way they do.” you look at him one last time before he sends a fast fist to your face, that hits the side of your nose, and your eye. your face begins to pulse as the blood rushes to the quick forming bruise. you couldn't think straight as everything had happened so fast. all you wanted to do was drop off cookies, but somehow you were now being punished just because you resembled this man's wife. your breath is shaky as your tears are starting to slow down, but they are still evident on your cheeks.

jj’s dad stumbled backwards as if he had finally realized what he had done, before he eventually collapsed on the couch and fell asleep. as he landed on the couch, multiple loose pills fell from his pockets ensuring you that he wasn't mentally in the right place, and he was very obviously intoxicated.

you avoided jj at all costs, which was actually easy since he hadn't even contacted you. you were dreading his routine appearance that was bound to happen soon. you knew it was inevitable, he hasn't missed a nightly check in once, and you had been doing it for months. when you first met the pogues you were slightly scared since you were new in town and you didn't have any friends. so, jj took you under his wing. he quickly became protective over you, which is why he created this elaborate plan to sneak into your bedroom before bed every night. whether it was to just chat, talk about your day, or even just cuddle. you could always expect him at your window at around the same time every night.

usually you would confide in jj, ask for his advice. granted his advice isn't the greatest but it does help that he listens to your problems. not tonight. that wasn't the case. if anything, you wholeheartedly hoped that he would forget, or he would be too busy. he hadn't seen you since before your whole encounter with his father. you wondered if his father had told jj about what he did, and if he did, how did jj react?

you glance at the clock noticing that in the next ten minutes jj would be climbing his way into your window. your body was shaking with nerves as you glanced in the mirror. your black eye was a dead give away that something had happened. could you even tell him the truth? what if you lied, and then he called you out on it saying he already knew about it because his father told him. you contemplated every outcome of the future event that you weren't even ready when he slightly tapped your window. you quickly pulled on sunglasses that easily blocked your eye.

you smile widely, sliding your window up as he gracefully lands on your floor without making a noise, a talent he had perfected. “hey princess!” he has a huge grin on his face, his goofy smile is reason enough as to why you can't break the news to him about what his father did. “hi!” jj pulls you into a hug and you gladly take it. you wrap your arms tightly around his abdomen, as his arms are rubbing your hips. the hug ends and he slowly pulls away, his hands lingering on your hips before he grabs your hand to move to the bed. “do you want to be the big spoon or the little spoon?” jj asked. you waited, contemplating your choices. “either way is fine, you can choose.” you smile as he immediately gets into the little spoon position.

“hey i forgot to ask you why you are wearing those stupid glasses inside.” he laughs lightly as he reaches for them and you completely jump off the bed, scared he actually grabbed them in time. luckily, you were fast enough and the glasses were still settled on your face. “i have a horrible headache, that's all.” you nodded as his face slowly fell, he stood up, moving to sit on the edge of your bed. he glanced up at you. “we can turn the lights off so it isn't as bright in your room.” you shook your head at his compromise. “princess, i need to see your pretty face before i can declare that you are okay.” you hesitated, trying to piece together a quick story that you could tell him to explain how you wounded up with a gruesome bruise. he wasn't going to leave unless he knew you were okay.

he watched you intently, trying to see what you were hiding. “before i show you please promise me you won't freak out.” you reach for his hands and he grabs them in return, slowly nodding. “no, that's not going to count. please tell me that you won't be angry at me.” his heart swiveled up inside his chest as he heard that you thought he would be mad at you. “i promise that whatever you are about to tell me won't make me upset, and that i could never stay mad at you.” you nodded to his words. “okay so you know what you just said?” he tilted his head confused, “yeah?” you breathe in, trying to calm your nerves. “remember that.”

you hesitantly reach your arm up to expose your once hidden eyes. at first it doesn't register so he stares at you blankly. but the moment he saw it, he was already standing up, and freaking out. “hey you said you wouldn't be mad!” he ran fingers through his blonde hair, his eyes wide. “what the fuck…? i said i wouldn't be mad if YOU did something, i never said anything about not getting mad when it involves someone else!” he looks back at you and immediately investigates your eye. his jaw clenched as he looked above you, his hand gripping your chin. “who the fuck did this to you?” you stayed quiet, until he looked down at you waiting for an answer.

silence fills the room leaving it eerily silent. “i can't tell you jj,” he laughs, shaking his head, “that's a funny joke, now tell me what happened and who the fuck hit you?” you looked away. “jj there's nothing you can do.” he followed along with your shenanigans. “and why is that?” you couldn't look at him so you looked at the floor. your silence was only making him more worried. “who was it actually? who are you protecting!?” he was getting frustrated. “fine. i'll tell you, only because i know you'll find out sooner or later.” he pulled you onto his lap, one hand holding your thigh, while the other grabbed your curvy hip. you took a deep breath before continuing. “okay. earlier today i baked you cookies and i stopped by your house so i could drop them off. but your dad was there, and i was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. it was my fault. okay?”

he shook his head, his grip on your thigh tightening. “you're telling me that my father gave you a black eye?” his tone was shockingly low as he absorbed every word you said. “yes. and he stomped on the cookies i made you.” his chest started heaving. “i fucking hate him! everything in my life he has to ruin. you, you mean so fucking much to me, and he’s over here throwing punches at you!” you stayed quiet. “jj?” he looked down at you, trying not to get too worked up because the last thing he wanted to do was scare you, “yes princess?” you hesitated with what you were going to say. you leaned your head to rest onto his shoulder.

“i- okay, i really appreciate you, but i can't have you getting hurt because of me. you're not my boyfriend, and you don't have to protect me anymore. i know you feel obligated with that pact we made when i first moved here, but you don't have to inconvenience yourself by coming over here every night, or by fighting people who harass me, or anything. jj, i feel so bad that you are roped into this position because i never intended for this to happen.” he stays silent, “no way am i leaving you. princess, please throw that thought away right now. i’m here for you always. and i am going to continue to protect you because even if i'm not your boyfriend, that doesn't mean i don't want you safe.”

you are so stunned by his response that your breath gets caught in your throat. “what do you mean?” he smiles looking down, his hands finding themselves comfortable around your hips. “what i'm saying is, that i do want to be your boyfriend. i want people to know how much you mean to me, and i want the whole world to be jealous that i have you, and they can't have you. i want to be the one who protects you. so, if you'd want me too, i'd love to be your boyfriend, if not that is completely okay.” you stared at him, “jj, you'll never know how long i've wanted to do this.” he looks at you confused before your lips connect to his. you run your hand through his hair, while the other hand is sitting on his jaw. his hands hungrily grasp your hips as he pulls you closer to enhance the kiss. you both pull away, smiling.

you asked jj to spend the night with you. he agreed, which resulted in him laying on his back as your head lay still on his chest. one of his hands was always touching you, so he could ensure you weren't going to go anywhere. as you slowly fell asleep beside him, he started to think about what his father had done. with anger clouding his better judgement, he stealthily slipped out your grasp, and climbed out your window, set to fulfil the goal in his head.

eek i hope this was good <333. perhaps a part two...???

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linkspooky · 3 years

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idk if ur taking asks abt jjk but i was curious on ur thoughts abt gojo i haven’t rlly heard this around but i’ve been thinking abt the fact that gojo desire to basically indoctrinate children to fit his ideal sorcerer society is a bit strange and i saw this on your meta on how the schools only see these kids as tools but doesn’t gojo do the same idk my thoughts are everywhere and i get that gojo was raised in this system so it’s normalised in his eyes but idk gojo’s ideology is lowkey fucked imo and i was curious what u thought

I think Gojo is a product of the same society that raises up kids to be used as tools, and he unintentionally passes that lesson onto his students.Gojo knows that the system is wrong for using kids that way, but he’s such a fundamental part of the system, he doesn’t really know how to overcome it works inside of it instead. I think what he said to Megumi is pretty telling of how he treats these kids in general, he tells him you better get strong or else you’ll get left behind.” He thinks he’s teaching them what’s best, because that’s how Gojo understands the world works, but at the same time he’s telling a five year old kid if he fails to protect his sister it’s all his fault.

Gojo teaches his students to “get stronger, get stronger” as a response for all of their problems. He takes responsibility for their development as sorcerers, but nothing else really, and especially not their well-being as individuals. Gojo basically treats his students like mini-adults, friends he can pal around with, and that makes sense if you think about it, he’s raising them all to be political allies. He’s not really trying to raise a bunch of healthy adults. I think Gojo genuinely does care for these kids and stick out his neck to protect them, and his goal is entirely an altruistic one to prevent the childhoods of other children from getting destroyed like his did. However, Gojo is fatally a selfish person just like Geto is fatally selfless, he doesn’t offer help out of the goodness of his heart, he barters. He always expects something in return from these children.

So, on one level I believe Gojo yes is intentionally using these children. He only extends help when he gets something in return from them, his helps is always conditional on the fact that he’ll gain another ally. However, at the same time I think the problem more lies in the fact that Gojo doesn’t see individual people as individuals, and therefore doesn’t want to pay attention to the indivdual emotions of his students that he ends up using his students this way. He thinks it’s fine. This is how he was used growing up, but this time, Gojo is using them for good ends instead of a bad one.

I think Gojo’s inability to take care of their needs as individuals, especially attending to their emotional needs is why Tokyo Students are so strong indivudally, but weak as a group. Gojo’s only interesting in fostering their strength as sorcerers, not their emotional health, or their interpersonal relationships, because he doesn’t view those things as necessary. I mean he’s only had one best friend his whole life, and look at him, he’s fine.

To give evidence to my argument though, here’s a comparison between the Tokyo Kids and the Kyoto Kids.

1. Tokyo vs Kyoto

Gojo can be a fantastic teacher when he wants to be, but it requires him paying attention to a student’s individual needs, which he almost never does. When he designs a lesson plan raound Yuji, he does two things that make him better than most Jujutsu Sorcerers already. First, most traditional teachers teach that cursed technique is everything, and would have rejected Yuji outright. Whereas Gojo sees Yuji’s strength as a brawler. He’s willing to go outside the box, and buck tradition to focus on a student’s individual strength and emphasize those rather than telling Yuji he’ll never be a strong sorcerer without strong techniques. The second is he comes up with a method extremely suited to Yuji’s learning style.

However, I think it’s important to note that Yuji and Gojo are actually really similiar. He’s a really receptive student who hangs off of Gojo’s every word. For Gojo it’s like him teaching a younger version of himself, someone who believes that strength is everything, and wants to become the strongeste to be a pillar of support to others. You don’t really get good teacher points for spending the most time with someone who’s easy to teach.

And even with Yuji whose really really receptive to Gojo’s highly individual focused learning style, there are several things that Gojo just neglects to teach or even mention. Basic, fundamental things, that every sorcerer should know.

Nanami has to go out of his way to give Yuji the 101, because Gojo neglected to tell him all the basics. Children are smart of course, especially adolescents who are capable of thinking for themselves, but they also generally know what they’ve been taught up to this point. Yuji is a complete newcomer to the sorcerery world, it makes sense he’d basically be a blank slate having to learn all of this from scratch, but Gojo himself either doesn’t know this, or doesn’t bother with it because it’s too troublesome. He thinks of the kids as miniature adults so, it would make sense that he just assumes they know everything he knows already.

That’s the entire point of introducing Nanami into the story. Gojo teaches Yuji to be a better sorcerer, but not to be an adult, and it’s because he doesn’t really see him as a child to begin with. Gojo thinks becoming a strong sorcerer is the way to teach these kids to be good adults, but he neglects the emotional half of having to teach because Gojo doesn’t deal with emotions well. I mean, even in his training of Yuji, he designs a training method where Gojo doesn’t actually have to be there, and present with him most of the time. He can lock him in a room, and go run off to do Gojo things while Yuji teaches himself. As opposed to a mentor like Nanami who constantly watches and monitors his development.

This is where we start to get to the comparison with the Kyoto students. Because even in the creaive way Gojo taught Yuji, there were some things that Yuji just learned wrong, and internalized wrong from Gojo’s lesson.

Gojo explained the theory behind Yuji’s divergent fist, but Yuji learned it wrong, because he didn’t understand the way cursed energy flowed through the body. If Gojo was paying attention, he would have caught it and corrected it, but Gojo’s teaching style is sink or swim, let students learn or fall entirely on their own. Whereas, when Todo actually sees Yuji’s flawed divertgent fist, he’s able to point out the problem.

Todo actually acknowledges that there’s a difference between beginners and elite sorcerers, that their’s a learning curve to these things, and rather than leaving Yuji to learn it on his own he guides him through these things. While at the same time, expecting Yuji to figure out some things naturally. Todo never once goes easy on Yuji, I’d say his standards for people are as harsh as Gojo’s. You either learn it or you don’t. You’re either strong or you’re not. However, there’s a distinct difference between Todo and Gojo’s teaching styles, and it’s that Todo is emotionally intelligent, and Gojo is not.

Todo pays attention to people, he notices when they’re off, when they’re going through something, and rather than just ignore it, he almost immediately addresses it and tries to talk them thorugh it. It’s not perfect of course, but having his emotions paid attention to, helps Yuji develop as a person moreso than a sorcerer.

The Kyoto students have a teacher who pays attention to their individual needs. A teacher who actually teaches. While we may not know much about Utahime as a character yet, you can see the direct impact she has on her students compared to Gojo.

Gojo’s students are individually strong, but weak as a team,. Utahime’s students are much weaker individually, but can come together.

It shows both in the Kyoto Battle Event, but also the Shibuya arc. The Kyoto kids are all unstable it’s true, they’re all prone to lashing out, but because they’ve dealt with such dark emotions rather than repressing them they’re also way more capable of talking about their feelings to others.

Yes, the Kyoto kids don’t deserve to lash out at whoever they want. Yes, lashing out is a bad way to attempt communication. However, it’s also true that the Tokyo kids respond with what basically amounts to self-righteousness. The Kyoto kids are lashing out because they are going through something, because they’re suffering, yet the Tokyo kids don’t really try to understand those feelings.

Kamo was seperated from his mother at a young age. Maki left Mai behind in an abusive household. Nobara has never experienced the same abuse that Mai has so she’s not really in a position to judge which twin she thinks is the good twin, and which is the bad one. Mechamaru is chronically ill and in constant agony, and then instead of getting him medical help he’s just being used as a toy soldier.

So. The problem is. Gojo’s style of teaching. He wants these kids to be political allies. He wants them to try to make a better world than the one he experienced growing up. However, Gojo doesn’t really teach them to think for themselves. He doesn’t teach them to look at the situation, and the way the Jujutsu World is designed to manipulate and use these children.

Individual responsibiltiy is a good lesson to teach. Individual responssibility can help someone get over themselves and their issues and work towards self improvement, but it’s also, not the only solution. It’s also, impossible to overcome these circumstances all on their own.

Mai can’t be strong like Maki. She’s not weak for folding under the pressure of being in an abusive household. You could even argue that Maki isn’t stronger than her abuse, because emotionally she’s weak, she can’t even maintain a relationship with her own sister she has to cut herself off from everyone.

Kamo has to follow the clan’s orders, he’s terrified they’ll hurt his mother and he’ll never see her again. She’s actively being used as a tool to manipulate them.

Mechamaru is already strong as a sorcerer, that’s not going to stop the fact that he’s chronically ill.

Basically, in this regard Gojo’s students repeat what Gojo himself always says. “Have you tried getting stronger?” We can see why this approach doesn’t work with Kokichi, because he did do what Gojo would always reccomend. He didn’t want to burden others with his emotions so he tried to be strong and solve everything on his own, and that resulted in his death.

Think if Mechamaru had been supported. If he thought it was okay to confide his problems with others, if it was okay for him to be weak, and ask for help when he didn’t know what to do on his own.

However, when he tried to do that with panda he just got slapped with a “Your behavior is wrong.” It’s why even when telling people, especially children their behavior is wrong you also need to be sure to take care of their emotional needs as well. Especially teenagers, because teenagers are literally all emotions, they’re not minitature, fully-developed adults. Kokichi was wrong to lash out, but his emotions were right. He has every right to be in pain. When he’s told off, he also takes that as a message that he’s weak for trying to confide anything in others, that him complaining about his victimhood made him weak in the first place, so what does Kokichi do. He retreates into himself, he quiets down about his problems, he tries to solve everything on his own and he fails at doing that because you can’t. You cannot solve all your problems by simply being stronger than them.

Gojo’s students aren’t raised as emotionally healthy individuals, and because of that they also can’t really relate to the emotions of other people, especially the negative one. They are, strong willed individuals yes, strong sorcerers, yes, but they’re not really a team.

I think that’s illustrated in how they all fall apart in Shibuya. All of Gojo’s students basically make the same mistake, they don’t listen to the adults, they charge into battle because “I’m strong enough.”

Nobara, the adults literally all told you not to fight. Nobara: Nah it’s fine I’m strong.

Look at how Nobara loses. The second she starts fighting with Yuji as a team, she makes a sloppy mistake because she 1) underestimated her opponent and 2) was never taught how to fight in a team.

It’s not just Nobara though it’s every single one of them.

Yuji runs off on his own, fights on his own, and loses to Choso. Megumi suicide attacks to take down one (1) opponent whose just a regular curse user when he reaches his limit.

This is what they are all taught. They all have to fight on their own, be strong on their own, and if they’re strong enough they’ll win, if they’re not strong enough oh well. The Tokyo Kids genuinely like each other as a team but they’re always running away from each other. They all overestimate themselves and what they’re capable of handling and get in over their heads.

And it does go back to the Kyoto Battle arc, because the Tokyo kids are just as emotionally disturbed as the Kyoto kids, they just are repressed about it. Take Megumi for example, Megumi has been abandoned and neglected all of his life, and Gojo never really offered him any support or healing for that abandonment.

There’s no canon indication that Gojo ever raised Megumi or did anything with him other than provide for housing, and protect him from the Zenin clan on the condition that Megumi STILL BECOME A SORCERER, JUST ONE POLITICALLY ALLIGNED FOR HIM AND NOT THE ZENIN.

He didn’t offer Megumi a chance at a normal life, or even help him grow up as an individual because Gojo’s not interested in these things. Gojo’s help is conditional on the fact that Megumi work hard to pay him back, and reach his full potential as a sorcerer. As a result, Megumi is walking around with completely unaddressed abandonment issues as a result of never having a stable adult in his life, and this goes, completely unnoticed, which leads to him constantly risking his own life, endangering and harming himself. Megumi’s just as unstable as the Kyoto kids, he’s going to do something dangerous someday soon. It’s just Megumi’s been taught from a young age, he has to be the responsible one in his household, and he has to take responsibility for everything on his own by working to become stronger, and look like where that has led him.

Hmm, I wonder why Megumi always feels like it’s his responsibility to sacrifice, what could have possibly led him ot that conclusion? Why does he feel so responsible for the actions of other people around him? It’s a geuine mystery.

However, the Kyoto kids are capable of doing something the Tokyo kids can’t do. They can cry and be weak in front of other people. They can support each other as a group. Not only did they help Miwa at her lowest point, but Yuji would have given up, had Todo not shown up when he did.

Yuji actually wasn’t capable of handling it all on his own. He couldn’t defeat Mahito just by being stronger than him, or having a strong will.

Individualism like Gojo teaches is important, but it’s also incomplete. It’s only half the solution. The Tokyo kids need the camraderie of the Kyoto kids, the same way the Kyoto kids need to learn to take responsibility for themselves.

That’s why the Shibuya arc ends the way it does. The Tokyo kids failing as individuals, and the Kyoto kids coming together as team. However, since both sides only have half the answer, neither side is able to defeat Kamo Sr. totally.

However, Gojo’s mistakes are shown even more clearly after the arc resolves. Gojo doesn’t actually teach people to think for themselves, because he’s raising them up to follow his politics. Now, look at what his students are doing in his absence. Gojo wants to fix the broken world, but Yuji’s conclusion he comes too after suffering is that he doesn’t want to think about fixing the world. He just wants to become another cog in the machine.

What was the greatest mistake the previous generation made?

Geto. Not only in exposing him to the trauma of Riko dying in front of him. But also, offering him no support a year afterwards. Yaga completely neglecting him and failing to see what was going wrong. Then, when Geto finally did break, sending another student to kill him.

Yaga really can’t understand why this eighteen year old would hestiate to kill this other eighteen year old, that’s been his best and only friend for three years. Why is this child not comfortable with an execution mission? It baffles the mind.

Gojo, by failing to raise his students as emotionally healthy individuals repeats the same mistake.

Yuta and Yuji both don’t really care about the world around them, or politics. They don’t pay attention to those things, they weren’t raised to do that. However, now because of that, because both are willing to become cogs in the machine they’re both letting themselves beused right now.

They refused to think for themselves, so now the elders are manipulating them into a conflict against each other. Yuta because he doesn’t see the situation at large, he only wants to protect his friends. Yuji, because the only way he thinks he has value is by killing curses, he’s just going to keep blindly executing them until Yuta comes to kill him. Gojo’s students are divided specially because of that reason. They’re not together as a group, they’re just a group of particularly strong individuals, and Gojo never even thought that these strong individuals with no particular connection to each other might turn against each other. They might lie to each other. They might keep secrets from each other. They might fail to communicate. Because, Gojo doesn’t really pay attention to complex relaitonships like that. He’s only had his one friend his whole life.

Even though that’s also exactly what happened to his one and only friend, his emotional needs were neglected by the system around him until he completely fell apart. Geto and Gojo’s problem wasn’t that they weren’t “the strongest” when they were together. It’s that they were never “together” again after a certain point.

#Anonymous #gojo satoru #suguru geto #okkotsu yuta #itadori yuji #metasks #jjk meta

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blueskrugs · 4 years

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In Between Being Young and Being Right | Mat Barzal

this is for @yes-he-mccann and the @hockeynetwork fic exchange! I hope you like it!

this was written on a stack of looseleaf over the course of about four hours and I used up like half of a brand new pen on it.

length: 4.1k words

the torture of small talk with someone you used to love

You met Mat Barzal the summer after his rookie year, fresh off the high of winning the Calder, all good looks and a quiet confidence.

You fell in love under the fireworks over Lake Okanagan.

It was a whirlwind summer romance, and you both knew it. It was one of those relationships that usually came with an expiration date, when the sun set earlier and the nights were colder. You and Mat didn’t care, though, because you fell so hard and fast for each other that you couldn’t imagine a life without the other one in it. Besides, you heard the whispers of all your friends and family, the way they said that you and Mat were made for each other.

It certainly seemed that way to you too, because you saw the love in Mat’s eyes when he looked at you, the way his face lit up when you laughed with him, and you knew that love was reflected in your own eyes, even when Mat pushed you off the dock and into the lake.

The summer passed in a humid haze. You talked about the future as you laid in the grass under the stars, hands tangled together between you. About Mat’s career. About you graduating college in a couple of years. Moving to New York. Following Mat and his dream.

You sat around bonfires with your friends, sitting on Mat’s lap and wearing one of his hoodies, watching the sparks fly into the dark sky and feeling Mat wrap his arms around your waist.

The end of summer was creeping ever nearer, but you and Mat were as inseparable as ever. Until you weren’t, until Mat went back to Long Island for training camp.

You felt the 3000 miles between you as you talked on the phone each night. You could feel Mat pulling away as the distance stretched between you. You also knew there was nothing you could do about it.

“I think we should break up,” he said one night just after the season started. The Islanders had won, and Mat had scored a goal, but he sounded tired, exhausted in a way that was more than just the hockey game. You choked back a sob, but Mat continued on. “I just don’t think this long-distance thing is working.”

It wasn’t working because Mat didn’t want it to. There was more to it than that, you knew, but you didn’t push as Mat hung up the phone. You stared at your phone long after the screen went dark. You were wearing an old Thunderbirds sweatshirt of Mat’s, and it still smelled like him, but instead of being comforting, it was suddenly cloying. You pulled the hood over your head to sleep, letting the familiar scent wash over you as the tears fell onto your pillowcase.

Life went on. You learned to paste on a smile and laugh when someone told you that they’d thought you and Mat had been perfect together, that you would have been together forever. You’d thought that, too. Last summer seemed like a lifetime ago.

Summer rolled around again. You hadn’t spoken to Mat since that last phone call; you wondered vaguely what you would say to him if you saw him again. You went back to the Lake with your family and hoped you never had to find out.

You bumped into Tyson Jost, literally, one day in July in the middle of the lake. He was in a kayak, and he was definitely intentionally trying to knock you off your paddleboard. You splashed him with your paddle as he laughed.

It was nice for a moment, familiar as Tyson pouted at you and tried to fix his curls, like it was last summer again. Except nothing was the same, and Tyson must have realized it at the same time as you, because his smile fell.

“Hey,” he offered quietly.

“Hey, Tys,” you said back, sitting down on your paddleboard, letting one leg hang over the side and into the water.

It was quiet for a moment, neither of you knowing what to say next, just the sound of cicadas filling the air.

“Haven’t heard from you in a while,” Tyson said.

You shrugged, tilting your face up towards the sun so you didn’t have to meet Tyson’s eyes. Tyson had always been nice to you, and you two got along, but he’d always been Mat’s friend, not yours.

Tyson nudged your leg with his paddle. “Miss playing Spikeball with you on my team,” he added. “We never lost when we were together.”

You laughed, looking back at Tyson, “That might have been because we’re ‘too competitive.’”

Tyson was grinning at you. “Nah,” he said. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

You laughed harder; you weren’t sure when the last time you had laughed this hard was. “Wanna join me out here for a while?” you asked when you caught your breath.

“I’ll race ya,” Tyson said, already turning his kayak around for a head start.

You beat him anyway.

You didn’t see Mat at all that summer; you couldn’t decide if you were relieved or disappointed. His sister texted you once, but you didn’t respond. Mat still followed you on Instagram, too, would like your posts within a couple of hours, but he never interacted further than that. Your thumb hovered over the “remove follower” button on more than one late night, but it never actually got pressed. You still wore one of his hoodies to sleep sometimes. It no longer smelled like him, and it left you lonelier than ever come morning.

When your work offered to send you to an important conference in New York City as a representative for the Vancouver area, you didn’t hesitate to say yes. You didn’t think about the fact that it was the middle of November, that hockey season in full swing, until a week later. You were in the middle of packing when your phone lit up with a notification that told you Mat had just scored a goal.

You looked at the Islanders hoodie that you had absently folded and placed at the top of your suitcase.

New York was a big city, right? What were the odds that you would see Mat?

The odds were really fucking high, it turned out.

You’d barely been in New York two days when you crossed paths with Mat. You were standing in line in a coffee shop, because your relationship was still a walking cliche, even after not seeing Mat for over a year. You heard his laugh before you saw his face.

You could never forget that laugh. You still heard it in your sleep, in the dark when you couldn’t chase the memories away. Except in your dreams it was never followed by a giggle that wasn’t yours. Like it was now.

You resisted the urge to turn around, instead kept your eyes glued to your phone screen, but you weren’t really reading any of the words on it.

A barista called out Mat’s name, and then he was brushing past you, murmuring an apology as he went past. He didn’t look at you, not really, more focused on getting his coffee. Not until he turned around, coffee now in hand, and you thought he was going to drop the cup for a moment as he did a literal double take. Frozen in the middle of a coffee shop in Manhattan. You would’ve laughed, but instead you felt like you couldn’t breathe.

“Y/N,” Mat breathed. You almost didn’t hear him over the din of the conversations around you.

His hair had grown out some, you couldn’t help but notice.

Someone else bumped into you, but you didn’t pay them any mind. Mat was still staring at you, but at least he’d closed his mouth. The barista called your name, and you moved to grab your cup from the counter. Mat grabbed your arm as you turned to leave but jerked back quickly, letting go like he’d been burned.

You didn’t have enough caffeine in your system for this, and you didn’t have time for it, either. You were going to be late at this rate, but you paused anyway, looked into Mat’s eyes. You were both saved from speaking by a girl coming over and draping herself over Mat.

“Mat, baby, what’s taking you so long?” Mat shrugged the girl off of him, looking annoyed. She turned her attention to you then. “I’m Clara, Mat’s girlfriend,” she told you, her smile turning a little mean, as if she knew exactly who you were. She didn’t offer a hand, and instead, wound her arms around Mat’s bicep.

She was tall, model-thin and model-pretty. Blonde in a way that was too perfect to be real. You were suddenly acutely aware of your own chipped nail polish.

Mat didn’t say anything, but he refused to look at you.

You gripped your coffee cup tighter, turned, and fled, the bell over the door tinkling cheerily. It mocked you as you felt your heart break all over again.

Mat had moved on; you hadn’t. And that was fine. Or, at least, that’s what you told yourself as you sipped your coffee and walked through the crowded streets of New York. Your phone vibrated with a text in your hand, but you turned it off without looking at it and threw it in your purse.

When you turned your phone back on later that night, back in the safety of your hotel room, the text at the top of your screen was from Mat.

“I’m sorry,” it read.

Then, several hours later, another: “she’s not you.”

You scoffed. You felt a little bit like throwing your phone at the wall.

Another text from Mat came through. You wondered if he’d been checking his phone all day, waiting for the little “read” to appear under all of his messages to you. “It’s just easier with her.”

You blocked Mat’s phone number through your tears.

That night as you fell asleep, you couldn’t help but wonder if Clara was the reason Mat had broken up with you. You wondered if she laughed at all of his stupid jokes like you always had. You wondered if she was friends with Tito, or if she had come to B.C. last summer and taken your place by Mat’s side. You wondered what would have happened if you had followed Mat to New York last year.

You would’ve followed Mat anywhere in the world once. Now, you were in the same city again, but you felt like you were worlds away from each other. You hoped whoever was on the other side of your wall couldn’t hear you crying.

The Islanders came to Vancouver in February. You didn’t bother watching the game.

Soon, it was July again. You were going to a Canada Day party at a friend of a friend’s, and you were excited for it, for the chance to have fun on the lake for the day, just drinking and tanning.

You didn’t know what impelled you to put on your cutest swimsuit, but you did it anyway.

You’d barely walked into the backyard when someone barreled into you from behind, wrapping their arms around your waist and spinning you around. It took you a second, but you recognized the cheering voice as none other than Tyson Jost.

“Tyson, let go of me, holy shit,” you gasped.

He did, but only long enough to turn you to face him and place his hands on your shoulders. He was out of breath and wasn’t wearing a shirt, but he was smiling at you.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” he said excitedly.

You had forgotten that your mutual friends at the lake overlapped. And if Tyson were there, Mat probably was, too. In spite of yourself, you peered over Tyson’s shoulder. You didn’t know if you were looking for Mat so you could avoid him or because you wanted to talk to him.

“I need a drink,” you muttered when you finally spotted him, down near the lakefront.

Tyson raised an eyebrow at you, but pointed you in the direction of the alcohol anyway, before you were being dragged across the lawn to meet his sister.

Kacey was in a conversation with Mat, because of course she was, and you stood by and awkwardly sipped your drink as Tyson jumped straight into the conversation. They seemed to be arguing over whether or not a hot dog could be considered a sandwich.

Kacey was sweet, and she seemed fun, especially when you teamed up to roast Tyson, but soon she was being called by someone else, and Tyson followed, leaving you with Mat. You glared at his back as he went.

“Hey, Y/N,” Mat said quietly, dragging his bare toes through the grass.

“Hey,” you said, taking another sip of your drink. “You had a great season,” you offered. It was true; Mat had put up great numbers, and the team had made it into the second round of the playoffs again.

Mat looked up at you, startled, like he hadn’t expected you to still keep up with him and his team. He flushed a little and ran his hand through his hair. It was shorter again, you noticed. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

It was awkward, and you hated it. You could hear all the voices of your friends and family in your head, telling you that you and Mat were meant for each other, would be together forever, but right now it was like talking to a stranger.

“How’re your parents?” Mat asked.

You forced a smile. ��They just got a puppy.” You had pictures of him on your phone, but you had left it inside the house. “Where’s Clara?” you asked, willing your voice to stay even.

Mat flushed again and wouldn’t meet your eyes. “We, uh, broke up,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Before Christmas,” he added.

Not long after you’d been in New York, you thought, but you knew better than to hope that you’d had anything to do with it.

“Y/N! Barzy!” Josty yelled then, effectively ending your conversation. “Come play Spikeball!” You both groaned good-naturedly.

Your hand brushed Mat’s as you walked towards Josty, but he flinched and took a step away from you.

You glared at Tyson again as you moved to stand next to him. “I hate you,” you hissed.

Tyson feigned innocence and tossed the ball to you.

You and Tyson beat Kacey and Mat, because it had been a while, but you weren’t undefeated as a team for nothing. You let Tyson pull you into a hug and tried to ignore how you felt Mat’s eyes on your back.

Mat and Kacey moved on from the game, but Tyson was already busy trying to pull in your next opponent. You ended up staying on Spikeball for a while, long enough that you were sweaty and in desperate need of water as the sun beat down from overhead.

You left Tyson and wandered off in search of the cooler filled with water bottles. Mat was already there, and you nearly turned around. He was about to twist the top off of a water bottle as you approached, but he paused.

“Here,” he said, holding it out to you. “I think I took the last cold one, and I think you need it more than me.”

You resisted the urge to stick your tongue out at him, and instead just muttered a grateful, “Thanks,” as you opened the bottle and gulped some down.

“You and Tys were tearing it up out there,” Mat commented. You narrowed your eyes at him as you screwed the cap back on your water bottle. There was a note to his voice that sounded a lot like jealousy.

“Yeah, Tyson’s great,” you said casually. “I’ve missed hanging out with him.”

Mat’s jaw tightened. “I think I’m gonna go get a beer,” he said, brushing past you before you could respond. You blinked bemusedly after him.

You didn’t see Mat again for a while. It seemed like you were both trying to avoid each other now and succeeding.

You were laying out in the sun on one of those giant lake rafts, catching up with a friend from high school when a boy took a running leap off the dock and hit the water with a spectacular splash. Mat surfaced near you a moment later, flipping his wet hair out of his eyes. His chain was backwards, and your fingers itched to reach out and fix it.

“6.5,” you deadpanned instead. “Good form, too much splash.”

Mat latched onto the raft you were on and rested his chin on his folded forearms. He grinned at you, and it hurt a little bit to have that blinding smile directed at you again.

“You wound me,” Mat laughed.

“You got me wet!”

“You’re in a lake, babe, you’re gonna get wet,” Mat said. To prove his point, he grabbed your ankle and dragged you off the raft and into the water.

“Mathew!” you shrieked, only just managing to close your mouth before you went underwater.

Mat was laughing when you came back up for air. You pouted at him, but you couldn’t help but grin as well when you heard the rest of your friends laughing too.

“Just like old times, eh?” Mat said, quietly so only you could hear. He was still smiling, but his eyes were sad. One of his hands had come up to rest on your waist as you both treaded water.

You placed your hands on his shoulders and dunked him.

It was after dinner when you crossed paths again, though it wasn’t by coincidence this time. The sun was setting over the lake, and you were settling on a blanket to watch the fireworks with your friend. Mat came over, stood awkwardly in front of you for a moment before he spoke, his words rushed.

“Y/N, can we, uh, can we talk?”

You shared a look with your friend. Mat was picking at the label on his beer nervously.

“Sure,” you sighed.

Mat held out a hand to help you up, but you ignored it and clambered to your feet on your own. He still waited as you brushed yourself off before he started walking, and you fell into step beside him. Mat led you away from the party, back up to the mostly deserted deck overlooking everyone.

Mat looked out over the railing, still fidgeting with the label on his beer bottle. You rested your elbows on the rail and matched Mat’s pose.

“You blocked me, didn’t you?” Mat blurted. You bit your lip but didn’t respond. “Because I tried calling you after I saw you in New York, and I texted you when we were in Vancouver, but I could never get through.” Mat’s voice sounded accusatory now, and you felt a rush of anger surge through you.

“What else was I supposed to do, Mat?” you asked. “You moved on, and then you have the fucking nerve to text me and tell me you dumped me because some other girl was ‘easier?’” Your voice rose, but no one turned to look at you. You took a deep breath. Your hands were shaking, and you gripped the railing tightly to steady them.

“What were you even doing in New York, anyway?” Mat spits back, definitely angry now, too. “What were you planning on doing?”

Oh. Mat thought you’d come to New York to beg him to take you back. You laughed, but it came out bitter. “I was there for work, Mathew. The world doesn’t revolve around you, asshole.” Except yours did once, and still did a little, but you weren’t about to admit that.

You pushed off the railing and spun around, wanting to be as far away from Mat and this conversation as possible. But Mat grabbed your arm tightly, kept you in place. His fingers wrapped around your bicep entirely. His hand was warm against your bare skin, and you shivered in spite of yourself.

“Wait,” Mat said. His voice had softened. “This is so not how this was supposed to go.” He still hadn’t let go of your arm, and you made yourself meet his eyes. In the twilight, they were dark grey, closer to green, that wonderful shade you used to wake up to in the mornings when he had snuck into your bed. The wind blew, and you shivered again. “Here,” Mat said, shrugging off his jacket and draping it over your shoulders.

It smelled like him, and you closed your eyes and let yourself breathe it in.

“How was this supposed to go then, Mat?” you whispered.

Mat sighed. “I got scared,” he said. His eyes were on the stars as they appeared overhead. “Which is a terrible fucking excuse, I know. But we were 20 years old, and I’d never been in love before, and then suddenly everyone is saying we’re soulmates or whatever. And we’re talking about the future, and I just got scared. Scared I’d fuck up and lose you, which I did anyway. Scared of never knowing anything else, but it turned out I didn’t want anything else.

“I went back to New York without you, and I missed you. I broke up with you, and I missed you even more. But I didn’t know what to do to get you back. I can’t tell you the number of times Beau called me an idiot.” Mat broke off, shaking his head. “And then I met Clara, and, yeah, it was easier. But only because no one, not even us, saw a future there. I didn’t have to listen to everyone saying that we’d be together forever, but that’s all I wanted to hear.”

You had been quiet while Mat rambled, playing with a loose thread on the cuff of his jacket. He broke off then, took a swig of his beer, then made a face because it had gotten warm. You couldn’t help but laugh, and Mat looked surprised, but pleased.

“I missed talking to you on the phone every night,” you started. “Even when you called, you weren’t there, not really. I could tell something was off, but we were on opposite sides of the continent. I wanted to believe that you were just busy or something, but there was nothing I could do about it.” Mat’s face twisted, into something sad and pained, and he made a move like he wanted to take your hand. He didn’t, though, just rested it next to your arm on the railing. “I still sleep in one of your hoodies sometimes,” you admitted.

It was Mat’s turn to laugh. He wrapped an arm around your shoulders and pulled you in, and you didn’t resist.

“God, I was so stupid,” Mat groaned. You hummed in response, and Mat pinched your arm. “Do you think we could ever try this again?” he asked.

You looked up at Mat. Everything about his face was familiar– his jawline, his nose, his eyes– but older now. A lot had happened since the last time you felt like you really knew Mat, for both of you. Neither of you were the same person you’d been before.

“I hated all that fucking small talk earlier, by the way,” he added. “I can’t believe I did that to myself. Asking the only girl I’ve ever loved about her parents as if we barely know each other.”

You leaned into Mat more. “What about you being jealous of Josty,” you teased. “Can we talk about that?” Mat’s arm tightened around your shoulders, but when you looked up at him he was smiling. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about,” Mat said. You giggled, and Mat’s face relaxed.

“Did you mean it?” you whispered.

“What? That you’re the only girl I’ve ever loved?” Mat pressed a kiss to your forehead. “I have loved you since I was 20 years old, Y/N, and I think I’ll still love you in another 20, and another 20 after that.” He brushed a kiss against both of your cheekbones.

His face was very close to yours, and even in the dark you could see that his eyes were suddenly full of hope. He brushed his nose against yours. You surged forward to press your lips against his. Mat smiled into the kiss as you turned and wrapped your arms around his neck. He tasted like beer and sunscreen, like summer and coming home.

The first firework went off above you; Mat’s hands tightened on your hips. Below you, people cheered. Mat pulled back and rested his forehead against yours.

“I love you,” you murmured, and then Mat was kissing you again, his hands warm against your lower back where they had slid under your shirt.

And just like that, you felt yourself falling in love under the fireworks over Lake Okanagan all over again.

#cait writes things #mat barzal #new york islanders #mat barzal fic #mat barzal imagine #mat barzal fanfiction #nhl imagine #nhl fic #hockey fanfiction #nhl fanfiction #hockeynetwork

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forhereyesonlyyy · 3 years

Text

(i) lean on me. // gfriend, cyn. // one-shot.

in which you were feared by everyone in your school due to your violent nature, but one curious girl just can't stay away from you.

word count: 7.0k

author's note: i would like to apologize for the radio silence... but anyway, here she is! my favorite girl, yuju! 🥺 i didn't expect this to be so long so this will have several parts 😆 part two will be posted next week so make sure to stick around for that if you want to see more! i hope you guys enjoy reading this! btw, i did a lot of changes while i was writing this so if you see any strange mistakes, that’s me not proofreading properly,,,,

tags (overall): high school au, slow burn, angst, fluff, enemies to friends to lovers.

warnings (overall): violence, injury, bullying.

next: (ii) lean on me.

You stared at your reflection in the mirror, staring deeply at your right arm that was wrapped in a cast. It has been weeks since your little incident, and you’ve told both your parents and your doctor that you feel fine but they still advised you to wear the cast just in case you ‘get into trouble’ again. You rolled your eyes hearing your older brother’s stern voice calling you an ‘immature, reckless brat’ in your head. It’s not like you were made of glass. Hell, the reason you got injured in the first place is because you tried to prove that you weren’t made of glass. It was indeed stupid but at least you’re not the one still sitting idly in a hospital room.

Just as you came out of the restroom for female students, the bell rang throughout the halls, indicating the start of the day. Fortunately, your locker was just in front of the restroom and it didn’t take you long to walk to your first class since it was only a few doors away. You could feel several pairs of eyes on you as you made your way to your usual seat which was right in the middle of the room.

A kind soul pulls out the chair for you and you raise your head to see Jung Eunha, the school sweetheart, smiling at you. “Welcome back, (Y/N). Good to see you again.” She said. Now, you and Eunha weren’t the closest schoolmates, but you’ve shared a couple of conversations before. She was one of the only people you would willingly hang out with for a whole weekend, and that says a lot since you’re known to mostly keep to yourself. Eunha is really the only one who was genuinely nice to you in the school, and unlike most, she’s not completely terrified of you.

“Thanks and uh, you too.” You said as you sat down on the chair. The teacher wasn’t present yet, he always takes too much time in the staff room and unknowingly allows his first class to cause havoc for the first ten minutes of class. Eunha sits near the back with her lovely girlfriend and her self-proclaimed sister-in-law who were complete polar opposites. You pay them no mind, they’re not that important to you. You were pretty sure that Eunha’s girlfriend hates you, for obvious reasons, and the sister-in-law is just not into troublemakers.

It was a shame. Kim Yewon was cute.

You still felt eyes on you and if it weren’t for your teacher suddenly walking inside the classroom, you probably would’ve picked a fight and either ended up in the principal’s office or the infirmary, again. This time though, you managed to control yourself and keep your eyes forward. Looks like those anger management ‘classes’ weren’t a waste of your time after all.

“It seems like today is the day of warm welcomes! (Y/N) is back after her well-deserved recovery break and we have a new student joining us,” The teacher says enthusiastically. His comic-worthy optimism has always pushed the wrong buttons, but today you were more annoyed that everyone is in your business. It’s like they’ve never seen a girl deck someone and win. “Come in. I promise these kids don’t bite.”

“If you’re an idiot, that could be arranged.” Eunha’s girlfriend, Kim Sojung, mutters to which everyone who heard chuckles at. You hear Eunha smack the taller girl lightly, but she couldn’t help but giggle too. It’s true. You lean your back on your chair, trying to relax since you felt a little too uncomfortable with your casted arm. You didn’t know how to work around it, where the hell should I even rest it at?

Your attention was soon stolen by the not-so-subtle chorus of ‘wow’s and the obvious atmosphere change in the classroom. You lift your eyes from your arm to the front and standing there was this unfamiliar girl clad in pink, black, and white. Her lustrous black hair sits on top of her shoulders, reaching just nearly below her breasts. She was wearing socks that extended to her knees and white shoes with heels that made her taller than she already looked.

Jesus, she was pretty. Like really pretty. Your mouth was half open as your eyes shamelessly roamed this stranger’s figure. Other than her shining orbs, there was just one more thing that stood out to you.

This new student shared the same casted arm as you, but at least it wasn’t on a stupid arm sling like yours. And she still looked beautiful despite the injury. She also just looked at you and smiled, which caused you to suddenly force yourself to stare down at your desk, suddenly finding the cover of your textbook interesting.

“Would you kindly introduce yourself to your new friends?” The teacher says, gesturing to the countless pairs of intrigued eyes focused on the tall girl at the front.

“My name is Yuju,” You slowly lift your head and oh, were you not prepared to find this girl staring intently at you. She wasn’t hiding her interest in you very well either. Some students at the front have allowed themselves to follow the new student’s gaze and were surprised to find out that they were on you of all people. It was like she was telling you her name instead of the whole class. You awkwardly turn your head somewhere else, it was too early in the morning for you to deal with weirdos. “Glad to be here.” The girl in the front said.

“And we’re happy to have you,” The teacher scans his classroom for a vacant seat and finds one right next to the window. It was three seats away to your left, thank goodness. “You can sit right there, in front of Jung Chaeyeon. Chaeyeon, please raise your hand.”

Yuju smiles kindly at Chaeyeon and walks towards the seat without another word, politely greeting her other classmates on the way. You intentionally put your attention into something else, but that didn’t stop Yuju from greeting you and smiling at you. Not even thirty-minutes in this classroom and she’s already on my ‘avoid forever’ list. That’s a new record. I’m impressed, new girl.

“Damn, I guess you’re not completely deprived of game after all,” The girl sitting behind you, Jung Yerin was her name as far as you cared. You shoot her a confused look. You genuinely did not know what that meant enough to get offended. “I don’t know if you noticed but that girl totally got into you as soon as she spotted your admittedly pretty face.”

You avert your gaze to the girl in question. Yuju was chatting with Chaeyeon, you guessed that they were going to be getting along pretty well. Amidst her small talk with the eye candy right behind her, Yuju managed to turn her head a little towards your direction and she winked before going back to talking with Chaeyeon.

She winked. At you. In front of everybody! Your mouth fell open at the sheer lack of shame of this new student. (As if you wouldn’t have done the same if she hadn’t rendered you speechless first.) Who the hell does she think she is?!

“Careful, (Y/N). I don’t want to lose you to the dark side too. Don’t fall in love!” Yerin exaggeratedly shakes your shoulders, faking panic and desperation in her voice.

You rolled your eyes, “Shut up.”

It was lunch time and normally, you would be wandering the hallways looking for some unlucky freshmen to pick on, but not today. You were sitting in a nearly empty classroom with several students who often stirred up trouble wherever they went. Your kind of people, but they were way too boring and standard for you so you never really hang out with them.

Technically, you weren’t a stranger to the detention supervisor. You’ve been in her ‘punishment’ room more than your own classes. Her way of torturing the troublemakers is by forcing them to do childish tasks that are supposed to be relaxing and therapeutic. For a long time, all the exercise has done for you is to annoy the living hell out of you until you were nearly pulling all of your hair out, but you’ve found a way to have fun. If it weren’t for detention, you would’ve never found coloring enjoyable.

“Aw, who knew you had a talent for coloring?” Jung Yerin emerges from behind you and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes, having forgotten that she was indeed here as well. Yerin wasn’t nearly as bad as you, she just liked pulling pranks and messing with the wrong people, that would be the teachers. You’ve heard that she was trying to impress one of the cool girls, Hwang SinB was her name, but you couldn’t care less.

“Girls, finish your task first and then you can chat.” The supervisor said, her eyes not even leaving the novel in her hands. Yerin sits back down on her seat, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at the clock sitting in the front of the classroom. You quietly continued finishing the rest of the page on the coloring book. Time always seemed to move slowly in this particular classroom but you adjusted to it pretty well. You weren’t sure about Yerin though, she always wanted to be doing something. It was impossible for her to stay still.

And that was exactly why she threw a balled up paper in your desk.

The supervisor didn’t seem to notice, she was way too engaged in her novel. You threw a glare towards Yerin, but she didn’t even flinch. Now, you don’t really get angry when you try to scare someone and it doesn’t work, it just makes you feel irritated. Because that’s not the same as getting angry, right?

Can we get out of here right now was written on the paper. You wrote a quick stop bothering me with red crayon and threw the paper behind you, hitting Yerin directly in the forehead. Upon reading your message, Yerin sighs deeply and presses her head against her desk. It was going to be a long lunch time.

“Excuse me,” A now familiar voice manages to steal your attention from the coloring book and when you looked at the direction of the door, you saw the face you’ve been trying to avoid since that eventful morning. Yuju stands by the door, seemingly surprised to see you sitting inside the room. You don’t exactly know why, but you couldn’t keep your eyes off of the tall girl. When you cocked your eyebrow and hardened your eyes, Yuju switches her gaze from you to the supervisor. You could hear a faint whistle coming from the back. It wasn’t Yerin. “I was told that you would be the one to show me where my locker is?” Yuju asked.

The supervisor closed her novel and nodded, “Ah, I’m assuming you’re our newest student then! Follow me.” She said, standing up from her chair and grabbing a single sticky note from one of the drawers in her desk. Before trailing behind the supervisor, Yuju once again looks at you and flashes you a tight-lipped smile before walking away.

“She has a nice body, don’t you think?” Yerin asks. You ignore your classmate to dwell on your own thoughts. You were getting pretty annoyed by the attention this new student was giving you. You haven’t stopped thinking about how she literally did not even hide her interest in you earlier in the morning, so now everyone is just looking at you more than ever.

The fact that you tend to get flustered around someone who has the hots for you is not unknown information to everyone as well, so now they can tease you to no end, and that just makes your blood boil. You had little to no control of your temper and often thought that violence is the answer to everything, but you weren’t completely heartless! Of course you’d be a blubbering mess when someone makes it obvious that they like you.

But you don’t know a single thing about Yuju, so you weren’t even sure if she was being serious or not. If this is her way of embarrassing me then I’m not gonna be so nice.

“If you won’t date her, then can I?” Yerin snaps you out of your thoughts. She was now sitting on the chair beside you, and you’ve just noticed that she was wearing this shit-eating grin that you hated so much.

You barely stopped yourself from throwing crayons at her direction, “Seriously, shut up.”

“Hello,” Oh, fuck me. “I’m Yuju.”

It was nearly time for the next round of classes to start. What the hell is this girl doing here?

You slammed your locker shut and leaned your shoulder on it, you winced slightly but you recovered quick enough for Yuju to not even notice it, “I’m aware. What do you want?” You hoped that your tone would drive her away. You really didn’t want to help her, you just wanted to go to class.

Instead of coming up with a dumb excuse to leave as you had initially expected, Yuju only looked as if she had won the lottery, having your attention and all. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling and you just wanted to get out of there. You came up with the conclusion that this girl just does not know enough about you to be scared, or maybe she’s just plain stupid and persistent.

“Could you show me where Mr. Lee’s English class is?” Yuju asked. She was holding a piece of paper in her hand, which you assumed was her schedule. You find yourself a little confused. This girl could’ve just walked around the hallways until she found the right room. Or she could have asked one of the teachers to show her around! Why would she— wait.

You look at this girl and her charming smile and realize that wow, she was really bad at subtlety. This is her way of getting me to be alone with her and talking to me? It wasn’t the oldest trick in the book, you admit, but it gets the job done. Probably.

Not with you, though. You’d never give her the impression that you were interested. Because you really weren’t.

“It’s this way.” You said, turning around and walking away from the lockers.

Yuju quietly follows you as you lead her to one of the school’s infamous areas, the science hallway. Of course, Yuju doesn’t know a thing about the school yet so she doesn’t know that you were leading her to nowhere. Mr. Lee’s English class was on the other side of the building. A part of you just didn’t want to go all the way over there, and you also just wanted to mess with this new girl.

Yuju doesn’t seem to notice anything strange, she was just admiring the scenery beyond the window. It was just the garden. Obviously the garden would be seen from the science building, how convenient. You briefly look over your shoulder to see if Yuju was starting to become aware of what you were trying to do, but she was completely mesmerized by the field of flowers below.

Now I kinda feel bad… but I also don’t care.

“You can find it somewhere around here,” You gestured to the hallway filled with giant lab rooms. You looked at the taller girl beside you and yeah, she was completely clueless. It nearly made you crazy how much Yuju trusted you with something like this. There was no way she never felt like she was going to be kidnapped or killed while being led to this place. “I’m late. Knock yourself out in your English class. See you never.” You muttered before walking back to the opposite direction.

Not even halfway through the hallway, you hear Yuju calling for you, “Wait.” Her voice was like a whisper, but you hear it loud and clear. You stopped in your tracks, waiting for Yuju to continue.

“What’s your name?” Yuju asked, pulling on the ends of her skirt anxiously. You find it hard to believe that none of the gossips in the school has told Yuju about you and your unpleasant behavior, but seeing that she was eager to follow you without an ounce of hesitation, you could believe it too.

Well, (Y/N), let’s find out just how willing she is to keep her guard down around you.

You started walking back towards Yuju with your chin slightly tilted up. You cracked your good knuckle, it was a form of intimidation. It usually worked. You had no doubt that you looked like an idiot instead of a monster because of your injury, but seeing Yuju slowly become more and more uncomfortable tells you that it’s working somehow.

Eventually, you were standing right in front of Yuju, leaving almost no space for God. She smelled like fresh strawberries and mint. Yuju’s eyes were darting everywhere from your eyes, to your nose, to your lips. You couldn’t help but smirk. So she is scared, that’s hot.

“(Y/N).” You said, running your tongue across your upper lip before turning around and finally leaving. You didn’t look back. Somehow, you just knew that you left Yuju a blushing mess after that stunt you pulled.

And you were right.

“(Y/N),” There was fifteen minutes before the first classes started and you found yourself standing in front of the detention supervisor’s desk. She was waiting by your locker when you arrived, and you just knew that Yuju was the one behind this. I guess she’s got guts after all. “I’m very disappointed in you. After the countless hours you’ve spent in this classroom, I thought you’d have developed a less foul behavior, but I guess I was mistaken.”

The supervisor shakes her head. She irritated you so much. “You’re not my mother, you know.” You replied.

She ignores you, “Yuju was thirty minutes late to her English class yesterday after you dragged her to the wrong place. I know your main source of entertainment is to mess with your peers but this was taking it too far.” The supervisor said.

You couldn’t help but laugh, “What does that even mean? So what if I tricked her? I do it to everyone else and you don’t give me much shit for it, what’s so different now?”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, Yuju is injured too,” You couldn’t find words to spit back. You had forgotten about that. “I told her to come to you if she needed help because I assumed that being around someone who shared your pain, and someone who seemed like a decent person, would allow you to stop being so difficult all the time.” The supervisor confessed, sighing deeply. You stared at the fake plant sitting on her desk quietly. You wondered why you hadn’t stormed out of the classroom yet.

Whoa, do I actually feel bad?!

“Please stop talking as if you really know what happened with me,” You spoke calmly, not wanting anything to get out of hand so early in the morning. “That girl and I do not ‘share the same pain’. Her injury is so much more simpler than you think.”

You walked towards the door, ready to leave and forget this specific event forever, but the supervisor’s voice stops you. “Apologize to Yuju, okay?”

“Fine.” You replied without much thought before exiting the classroom.

“You snitched on me.”

Yuju jumps at the sound of your chilling voice. She turns away from her locker, which you now just realized was right next to yours unfortunately, and faces you with confusion evident on her face. It annoyed you. You were starting to lose patience after that encounter with the supervisor and it was only seven fifty-five in the morning. And the fact that Yuju still hasn’t caught on to what you were implying after you’ve given her a second to do so makes your blood boil even more.

Now you really needed to control yourself.

Taking a deep breath, you clenched your good fist and slowly stretched it out as you exhaled. You narrowed your eyes at the taller girl once again and spoke softly, “About yesterday. To the supervisor.”

Yuju shakes her head, “Ms. Kwon? No, I didn’t. I never said a word to anyone. I think she figured that out on her own.” She replied. She smiles at everyone that passes by, and bows her head to any teachers that she sees. If it was any other person, you would be scoffing at how pretentious they were, but you noticed that Yuju was just genuinely polite, so you didn’t bother to comment on it.

It just occurred to you that you hadn’t replied, but truthfully, you didn’t know what to say with the new information. Why am I even staying here? This is a waste of my time. I gotta get to class.

“Okay, well, just trying to make sure you’re not getting too brave.” You said and walked away, not even bothering to bring any of what you might need for the class. You could just ask Yerin for anything anyway. She may not look like it, but she’s actually really smart. Maybe she’s learning something from constantly hanging out with Yewon and her little group of kiss asses.

“Can I walk to class with you?” Yuju asks, although she had already caught up to you. That look in her eyes was back. The one that makes her look like she had just found the greatest treasure in the world. You don’t exactly know why this girl is still sticking around you after what you did, and you wished you could tell her off, you really did, but something about that look was stopping you.

“What the hell is your deal?” was the only thing you could say at the moment. As far as you’re concerned, that was as close as you can get to telling Yuju off. The two of you stop walking in the middle of the hallway, just staring at each other as if your life depended on it. And because of that, you didn’t see the wave of students coming towards you.

Before you knew it, you were being pushed into the wall. No, that was wrong. You were being pushed into Yuju as the horde of students passed by. Yuju’s back was already pressed against the wall, and with all your might, you try not to move your head forward because if you did, you’d be kissing your newest enemy.

But you couldn’t deny that Yuju was so much prettier up close. As you stared up at her, you could clearly see how her eyes slowly absorb every single detail of your face and when she stops at your lips, pauses, and looks back up at you as if to let you know of her intention, your heart skips a beat.

What is wrong with me?

“Ain’t that a pretty sight,” As if on cue, the literal Devil makes her entrance. Sojung stands behind you with a smug look on her face, and beside her stood Hwang SinB, her partner-in-crime, who shared the same said smug look on her face. “I think we got our school’s hottest new couple, after me and Eunha of course, what do you think Bi?” Sojung teases, nudging her best friend in the arm.

“I don’t know, Sojung. Maybe if (Y/N) cleans up her act then she would be perfect for our innocent little Yuju, but I guess they’re good the way they are now.” SinB joined in, grinning. You felt your ears heating up with all the teasing and you continued walking along the hallway without a word, making Sojung and SinB laugh from where they were standing.

If only your other arm was working… and if only Eunha wasn’t your friend, you probably would’ve pulled out a strand of Sojung’s hair or two.

“Are you okay? I hope you didn’t crush your arm back there.” Of fucking course, she’s still here. Yuju stops you just before you both reach the door of your first class. A lot of students were already trickling inside the classroom with only five minutes left until lessons start and since Yuju has wasted so much of your time, now you just feel like skipping the whole period and have some time for yourself.

“I’m fine,” You replied in a monotone voice. Yuju doesn’t seem convinced although you were telling a half-truth. Sure your arm was throbbing a little but it doesn’t hurt that bad. You sighed deeply, just wanting this morning to finally be over. “Could you leave me alone now? I don’t have time to play with you today.” And with that, you made your way inside the classroom without another word. You spot Yerin sitting on her seat, waving at you and frantically gesturing for you to hurry and come over.

Finding no other choice, you walked towards your seat and almost immediately, Yerin pulled you down. “The streets are saying that you and Yuju did a little something in front of everybody earlier, is that true?!” She says excitedly.

“By ‘streets’ you mean these loudmouths who are so bored that they stick their noses up in someone else’s business,” You gestured to your classmates. Those who heard threw a dirty look towards you but you ignored them, they were the kind of people who cowered in fear with one look from you so you were sure that they wouldn't actually try to grab you or talk back at you, that made you feel powerful. Yerin nods at your statement. “Nothing happened.” You said as you swiped the notebook on top of Yerin’s desk.

“Dude, that’s mine,” Yerin complains. She tries to snatch it back, but you were fast to turn around and place it at your desk. “I really preferred it when you had two hands because then I could punch you and get away with it.” The girl behind you says, officially giving up and allows you to borrow her notebook.

You grin, although Yerin can’t see it, “I prefer me with two hands too because that would mean that I can wrestle you to death.” You said. You were pretty sure that Yerin already had the whole lesson covered anyway. You have no doubt that she spends most of her free time getting ahead of everybody else so she can sleep while classes are going. I wish I had that much dedication.

While reading your friend’s notes, you felt a chill run down your spine suddenly. It was a weird thing your body does, it was like a warning. Someone with devious plans to take me down is looking at me and if it’s Sojung… then I’m sorry, Eunha!

You slowly turn your head to the direction of where you felt your ‘enemy’ was and lo and behold, Yuju was sitting prettily in her chair staring at you with nothing but the look of an absolute lovestruck person in her face. When she realized that she was just caught staring, she scrambled to find something to do but ultimately failed. You couldn’t help but giggle to yourself, what an idiot.

You feel Yerin lean close to your ear, “You will never admit it so I’m gonna say it. Her charms are really working on you, huh?” She teased, her smile increasing bit by bit when she saw how red your ears have gotten.

“Yerin, I swear, sh—”

“Shut up? No, thank you.”

Your first class was math, and as if that wasn’t enough to drive you crazy early in the morning, your second class was science. Now you really felt like skipping classes. You thought about inviting Yerin, but felt that you needed to be alone and plus, you’d never give her the chance to tease you about how you’re slowly adjusting to her presence all the time. You hated how she is always talking about Yuju though, and the way she was talking about the new student rubbed you the wrong way.

You shake your head at your thoughts. Everybody thinks she’s hot and I don’t give them shit for it. Yerin is Yerin! She’s always talking about girls. Still though, Yuju—

“Oof.”

A strong force nearly knocks you down on the ground, but you manage to regain your balance in time and stay up. You glared at the poor soul that dared to cross your path, but you immediately soften up at the sight before you. It was Yuju, rubbing her behind after she got knocked down. Several textbooks were on the floor and you realized that it was probably your fault that this happened since you were so lost in your thoughts.

“The hell are you doing here?” You say instead of apologizing like a normal person. You clench your good fist, refusing to let yourself succumb to the guilt that was slowly creeping up inside you. Yuju looked surprised to see you. She takes a second or two to process what was going on before she finally blurts out a reply.

“I needed textbooks for my classes. I was just on my way back to Ms. Kwon to have her check them out for me in the library so I can use them tomorrow.” Yuju said, her cheeks beginning to get pink because of her embarrassing position. You looked around, it was empty, not a soul in sight. You squatted down and inspected the textbooks, looking like she has the right ones at least. You take one with your free (only) hand and put it on top of another, stacking them neatly.

Yuju scrambled to stop you, “I-It’s fine. I got it. I don’t want you to get hurt.” She said. You huff, feeling irritation bubble up your stomach but you push it down, but you don’t respond. After you stacked all of Yuju’s textbooks, you looked at her for the next step but she seemed to be distracted.

“You’re staring.” You said, as you stared back.

Yuju blushes, “Sorry. You’re just really pretty.” She whispers the last part, but just like the previous day, you heard it loud and clear. Now usually when someone tells you things like that, you would roll your eyes, but something about Yuju being the one saying it made you smile. Yuju herself smiles upon seeing yours, completely proud of herself for doing the near impossible.

“Any idea how you’re going to pick this up? You don’t exactly have the sufficient amount of hands to do so right now,” You gestured to Yuju’s casted arm and then your own. “And neither do I.”

Yuju shrugged. For a second, it looked like she wanted to say something, but instead, she leaned her back into the wall and sat there quietly. Once again, you look around the hallways and of course, it was still empty. You didn’t want to risk being seen by any teachers because they’d immediately know that you were intending to skip class, but you also didn’t want to leave Yuju all alone.

What? Why the hell do I even care? This is so stupid. I’m going.

“See you never.” You said and stood up, turning around to leave.

“You say that but you know we’ll end up meeting again. One because we’re literally in the same school and two,” Yuju paused. You wanted to hear more, so you turn around, and you find her smiling up at you. “I don’t think I can leave you alone now.”

You cringe, and you laughed albeit barely, “That is so not the romantic punchline you think it is.” You said. Yuju spaces out for a second. She was only staring at you in bewilderment, you didn’t know that she felt like air was knocked out of her. She wanted to hear your laugh again because she couldn’t believe the first time. Did she actually do that? You asked that question yourself too.

Eventually, Yuju snaps out of it. “I… um, maybe not. I’ll do better next time.” She said with a sheepish smile. You find yourself finding this girl’s smile, all kinds of it, rather heartwarming and sometimes… adorable. And it annoyed you so much that you’re feeling this way. You almost forgot about that whole scene in the hallway from earlier and now that you’re thinking about it again, you wondered if Yuju would’ve done what she was thinking if you had encouraged her.

For fun, and not because you wanted the same thing.

Definitely not.

“(Y/N)? Why are you here… with Yuju?” You turned around and saw Eunha with her demonic girlfriend standing there. Eunha was genuinely curious, meanwhile Sojung looked like she was going to do or say something malicious. This morning could literally not get any messier.

“Don’t tell me you’re brainwashing her into being a bad girl. She’s only been here for a day.” Sojung said, dramatically shaking her head and clicking her tongue. Eunha rushes to Yuju, who was still sitting on the ground for some reason, and helps her up. Meanwhile, you stood in your spot, glaring at Sojung who was now keeping an eye on her girlfriend. You don’t know why, but out of all the people you could be scared of, Sojung terrified you the most. Maybe because of the fact that she can quite literally plunge you to the depths of hell if you pushed the wrong button. Nah, I can probably take her on a good day.

Sojung carries the stack of textbooks in her arms while Eunha talks to Yuju, “We can help you with these. Were you going anywhere specific?” She asked. You pulled out your phone and saw that it has been exactly five minutes since classes started, and now that you weren’t in the mood to skip the period, you’ve decided to just drop everything and go to class.

And you didn’t want to be scolded by Eunha and made fun of by Sojung. Especially when Yuju of all people was around.

“No goodbye kiss for your new girlfriend?” Sojung teased as you started walking away. You raise your middle finger without looking back, only earning a loud laugh from Sojung which rang throughout the hallway even when you disappeared into another one. Oh how you couldn’t wait for this day to end.

“Hello,” The next day, it was you who was surprised by Yuju’s voice. Lunch time had just ended and you miraculously survived another one of Ms. Kwon’s detention periods. Yerin had already moved on to her next class feeling all giddy because SinB was her classmate, and for some reason, she wished you good luck on your ‘love life’ before skipping away. Weirdo. And now here comes Yuju whose smile just seems to get brighter every single day. “You have history next, right?” The tall girl asked.

You went back on preparing whatever you need for the aforementioned class, “Did I not make myself clear yesterday? I think I made it obvious that I don’t wanna be friends.” You said as you pulled out a textbook that was so unnecessarily thick and heavy. Have I always been this weak? You remember being able to carry all of your textbooks in one arm just fine before, so all of this was weird. I gotta recover quickly.

“Yes, but I also don’t give up easily.” Yuju replied, her smile not showing any signs of faltering or disappearing any time soon. Her backpack was bulky, you guessed that she was carrying her necessities for her next class and now you wondered which class this was since holy cow her backpack is really big at the moment. I guess she’s not afraid of breaking her back, damn.

Yuju takes your history textbook without another word, ignoring your sharp glare. You think back to what she said the other day, when you were both on the floor after she bumped into you.

I don’t want you to get hurt.

She was being nice of course, and you managed to not say anything about it since you busied yourself by cleaning up her mess, but that you were reminded of it, you feel the same irritation taking over and this time you didn’t feel like holding back or keeping up the nice act. Well, you haven’t been nice at all, you’d just realized, so now you were going to be even more cruel. No exceptions anymore.

You snatched back the textbook with your only hand, surprising the taller girl, “I’m not made of fucking glass. Leave me alone.” You said. Then you slammed your locker shut and started walking away, suddenly feeling hot after your outburst. You were halfway through the hallway when Yuju jogs up right next to you. You bite your lower lip to prevent from saying anything, you were really not in the mood for anything ridiculous.

Yuju awkwardly adjusts the straps of her backpack, “Why are you so angry all the time?” She asked carefully. You clench your jaw, pondering whether to reply to her question or not. There were other students in the hallways that stared at the two of you, some would whisper to themselves and you just know that it was mostly about you.

You reached the door of your history class and before she allowed you to leave merrily, Yuju asked another question, “How did you even get hurt?”

This time, you decided to answer instead of completely ignoring her, purely out of the desire to finally scare her away, “Because some idiot kept treating me as if I’ll break even with the slightest of touch, so I proved them wrong.” You said, and by the end of your sentence, you had Yuju with her back pressed against the wall. Yuju stares at you for a second, and if she wasn’t so obvious about deeply thinking about your words, you would’ve thought that it completely went over her head.

How is it taking her this long to know that she’ll end up like that idiot I beat if she sticks around? Slow or stupid, I can’t even figure her out.

“Proved them wrong? Eunha told me got hospitalized for nearly a month,” Yuju finally speaks. She gently touches your casted arm with the utmost concern in her eyes. You blinked, looking down at your injury. Now you were the one processing your own words in your head. “You literally have a broken arm. You didn’t prove shit.” The taller girl continues.

Hearing the most innocent looking girl in the school so far swear right in front of you makes this whole situation infuriating and the fact that she was right ticked you off so much, but you managed to hold on to the tiniest bits of your patience to step back and create some distance between the two of you. You had to remind yourself that Yuju was injured too, and that hurting her would be the worst thing you could ever do even though you were so angry you could literally throw someone over the roof.

It only occurred to you that a small crowd had already formed a circle around you and Yuju, excitedly anticipating a heated brawl. You opened your mouth to reply, but no words came out. What can you even say after that? Yuju did have a point and since you not just realized that everybody else might be thinking the same thing, you were more embarrassed than angry.

I’ve been looking like a freak this whole entire time… God, I am the idiot.

“What is going on here?”

Somewhere along the way, Eunha, Sojung and Yewon squeezed through the crowd and found themselves in the middle of the circle along with you and Yuju. Sojung wasted no time and stole the pen from your hand, you didn’t even realize that you had it out. Your eyes were glued to the ground, you wouldn’t be able to bear the disappointment in Eunha’s eyes.

“What the fuck is your deal, (Y/N)?” Sojung asked. You couldn’t find the energy to respond, so you kept staring at your shoes. She doesn’t know anything of what happened here and yet I can’t even tell her that. Coward.

Yuju steps forward and pulls Sojung back, “This is a misunderstanding. It was my fault. I provoked her, Sojung.” She says, attempting to ease the older girl’s anger.

While Eunha and Yuju worry over Sojung, Yewon steps forward and talks to you with her soft voice, the softest you’ve ever heard, “Why don’t you just go to class, (Y/N)? We’ll take care of everything here.” She said, patting your shoulder. You heard her voice tremble a little despite her attempts at trying to be calm. Of course she’d be afraid of me too. You felt tears form in your eyes, surprising Yewon and yourself. You blinked your tears away and pushed through the crowd, glaring at anyone who dared to look at you in your current state.

Before you completely walk away from the scene, you hear Eunha and Sojung bickering, just barely.

“We told you she’s bad news, Yuju. Why are you so obsessed with her?”

“Sojung, that’s not true. (Y/N) is just going through a lot right now.”

“That doesn’t give her the excuse to be a dick to everyone. She needs to grow the hell up and accept that she’s not invincible.”

Grow the hell up.

Even after the end of the day, Sojung’s words never left your head. The more you thought about how you’ve treated Yuju, and pretty much everyone else, the more you realized that maybe your older brother was telling the truth about you being a brat.

You laid silently on your bed that night, wondering just how you can fix the mess you’ve made. The mess that was you and yourself.

#gfriend imagines #gfriend scenarios #gfriend reactions #gfriend oneshots #gfriend x reader #yuju imagines #yuju scenarios #yuju reactions #yuju oneshots #yuju x reader #girl group imagines #girl group scenarios #girl group reactions #girl group oneshots #girl group x reader

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spencerspecifics · 3 years

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This is chapter two to that fic I posted a few months ago! I'm calling this fic "Technical Analyst". Enjoy :)

Technical Analyst (ch.2)

Chapter one here

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Derek started his search for more information at the beginning, the FBI database. He knew Spencer’s first and last name, plus his old division, he should be able to find it easily.

And he did, it wasn’t a lot of information, though. All Spencer’s personal information was blacked out, only could be opened by a unit chief or anyone else higher up. Which meant he’d have to go crawling back to Hotch to learn anything about the guy.

Damn, he was almost back at the start of his search, knowing nothing. But he wasn’t, he still had a bit of information on Reid, but not a lot, not enough. So he read all he could on the guy.

He’s a doctor, but in what, medical training? That seemed like the most reasonable answer, but if that’s the case- what’s a medical professional doing working on their computers? Derek wanted to learn more about that.

Past that, all Derek could see about him was his previous work in domestic terrorism. And he had an okay record. The chief unit agent had a few notes about him on the reports from their cases, such as; “While Dr. Spencer Reid is a bright individual, we found the information he does hold to not always be the most helpful. With that being said, we’ve set him on the research end of our work, to help him learn more and to help our field agents stay focused.” “Dr. Spencer Reid is an amazing researcher for the domestic terrorism unit, but he doesn’t socialize strongly with the rest of the group.” “Dr. Spencer Reid seems more interested in the scientific behavioral aspects of why our unsub’s do what they do, while that is helpful for de-escalation when we encounter our unsub’s, (which our other agents take care of, as Dr. Spencer Reid isn’t in the field much.) it is not necessary, as he is not a profiler, even though he has trained with SSA Jason Gideon. We have now set him on research full time.”

Derek kept scrolling, similar notes kept showing up, Dr. Spencer Reid was smart- but not always conventially, he was specifically interested in behavioral studies- so why wasn’t he with Garcia? Or on the field with the BAU? Not to mention he had trained with Jason Gideon, one of the BAU’s best agents. Morgan had only met Gideon briefly before he retired, and since then he hadn’t heard much of the guy (except for what Rossi would say once and a while.)

Derek had enough bread crumbs about the genius to put his next move together, he was going to ask the genius about his favorite behavioral cases (if he had looked over any, which Derek had a feeling he had). He was also going to try and apologize, Derek didn’t know if he upset the guy about the domestic terrorism unit question, but it was just plain curiosity. He wasn’t trying to upset or offend, he was just curious. He had no open cases, after all, what was he supposed to do? Finish logging his cases like a normal person? No, and he had already had that done (the last thing he had needed was Spencer putting them through VICAP, which he did at that insane speed of an hour). So Derek was making work for himself, investigating this genius he had never heard of before.

Spencer had made it back to his way too small office, practically shaking from an overwhelming feeling that he couldn’t pinpoint as he did his best to shut the door behind him (which sadly took a few tries, as his hands were shaking a bit too much for him to get a hold on the handle. He ended up pushing the door shut with the toe of his shoe instead).

Was it anxiety? Stress? Anger? He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t angry at anyone, more at the bureau as a whole. He was mad he was demoted, but he had been living with that for six months now, the time frame for being reasonably mad had long been over by now.

But as soon as Derek had asked him why he was out of domestic terrorism, something flipped inside Spencer’s head. He never had to explain why he left before. Not to his mom in his letters to her, he just told her he was transferring to a different unit- to which she said that was good, and the less scary work he had to do was better for him (and for her piece of mind).

And when he had met Garcia, he didn’t have to explain himself, she never really asked. Hotchner or Strauss must’ve told her in advance why Spencer was now going to work alongside her and Kevin, but she kept her curiosities surrounding Spencer’s career path to herself. Kevin was the same as Garcia in that regard, he never asked. And Spencer wasn’t that close to Kevin, anyways. All their conversations revolved around computer work, or the occasional conversation about Doctor Who. But that was it, it never got personal.

Point is, Reid never had to explain to anyone why he was out of domestic terrorism. No one asked, no one dug deep. No one was curious. And Spencer couldn’t just answer Derek by saying; “They kicked me out because I didn’t click, I didn’t have any field hours. And because I wasn’t important enough to them to be saved. They let me go, budget cuts.” No, Spencer couldn’t say that.

It’s not that Spencer couldn’t admit defeat. He could, it’s just in this case, these people didn’t need to know about his defeats. He was working with them for a week. A week, that’s all. He didn’t want to tell them his life story, he didn’t want to tell them all the bad parts about his life. He didn’t want them to know about his failures, especially this one. It embarrassed him. The less the BAU agents knew about him, the better, in his opinion.

Spencer was standing in his office, still having not moved from where he pushed the door shut after he had entered. He just needed a second, he was still slightly shaking.

Maybe he should start seeing a therapist again. But maybe not, it’s not like he was having an attack of any kind. He was just overwhelmed. The thought of explaining why he left domestic terrorism was too much, the anxiety behind the explanation, then the embarrassment, not to mention his anger towards the bureau, and the stupid stress he felt of his daily job of being a glorified IT worker- it was just too much.

Spencer took a deep breath in. The shaking was slowing down ever so slightly, a good sign. He stepped towards his desk chair, sitting down while he kept trying to slow his breathing. God, he felt pitiful. He was shaking over having to explain himself, and while his reasoning was valid for not wanting to explain- this response his body was doing was not normal.

Spencer just kept breathing, counting off the digits of pi he could remember as he went. Numbers always helped him clear his head.

Spencer had continued counting, all the way to the forty-seventh digit of pi, before he fully felt calm again. Good, he breathed a sigh of relief as he tapped back onto his computers.

Now, hopefully, he could get some work done.

And Spencer did, he was able to help transfer a bunch of completed cases to Strauss, before another knock at his office door pulled him out of his work pace.

“Yes?” He said, turning around in his chair once again to see who was at the door. This time, it was Kevin who pushed the door open slowly as he entered, stepping in a bit to the room, but leaving the door open. “Hey, how’s your first day with the BAU going?” He asked curiously, just making small talk. He was probably trying to get out of work he was being told to do, either that or he was on break and bored.

“It, uh, it’s going okay. Nothing’s happened, really. I met agent Prentiss and agent Morgan.” He told Kevin casually as he turned back to his computer to finish logging in the files information, he knew Kevin wouldn’t mind if he turned away to do work while they talked. Kevin knew he was good at multitasking.

“Oh dude, Morgan-“ Kevin groaned, shutting the door behind him quickly as he entered the room to lean against Spencer’s desk, so Spencer could keep working and see Kevin. “Garcia loves him, and he’s a nice guy. But should I be jealous?”

Spencer wasn’t good in this conversational aspect. Ask him what the most poisonous frog in North America is, and he could answer you no problem (it’s the poisonous dart frog, no surprise there.) but this? Spencer couldn’t navigate this. So he took Kevin’s question scientifically.

“...I don’t think so. Garcia is a good person, she wouldn’t ever intentionally hurt someone. Especially you.” Spencer answered after a moment of thinking, turning to look at Kevin to gauge his reaction, “Right,” Kevin nodded in agreement, as that answer did make sense to him, “But should I-“ Kevin started, then stopped himself quickly.

He smiled down at Spencer sheepishly, “Sorry. I know you aren’t a therapist, my bad, man.” He apologized simply, Spencer just gave him a polite small smile in return, it’s all he could muster. “How did the meeting with IT go?” Reid asked, changing conversation topics easily.

“Stupid. I know how to fix my keyboard, so does anyone else here with basic understanding of computers. I bet the janitors could do it.” That elicited a small laugh from Spencer in return, as it was true. Fixing a keyboard definitely wasn’t complicated. It was just stupid nonsense that Kevin had to talk to IT, but that’s what they dealt with, day in and day out.

Kevin left quickly after that, he had just been on break, and before Spencer knew it kevin had to go running off to the child abduction unit to help them with their computers.

Though Derek had devised a plan on what he was going to say to spencer, he still had no clue how he should go back to the genius and start the conversation. He had no work related reason to go back, all of the files that needed to go through VICAP were sent.

Maybe Derek should get a paper cut, ask for the doctors help? No, a paper cut doesn’t require a doctors expertise. Not to mention he wasn’t even sure if Spencer was a medical doctor.

So Derek was stuck, looking over files at his desk that he most definitely was done with, as he messed with pens on his desk absentmindedly.

Emily noticed his mood shift into restless boredom pretty quickly, but she had her own work to do, too. So as she watched him tap away on his desk, she was doing her best to work. She had to get these cases filed correctly, after all.

Her urge to stay focused on work didn’t last long, though. Derek’s mood was just too much to not pay attention to, she would rather talk to him than do file work, anyways.

“Okay- what’s wrong with you? Drink too much coffee?” She asked him as she set down her case file onto her desk, Derek stopped tapping his pen to make eye contact with her. “Hm?” He asked simply, he hadn’t heard her, he was absorbed with thinking of what to do to get to Spencer and talk to him.

“I said,” Prentiss said, as she leaned forward a bit in her chair, “What’s with you?” Yeah, she was totally more interested in bugging Morgan than doing her cases. Derek just shrugged, he wasn’t about to tell her what he was actually thinking. That would just make her even more sure that Derek thought Spencer was cute, which wasn’t the case. He just was curious about the guy, and now he had struck a nerve in spencer, so he had to make it right and apologize. It was a normal thought process to have, but he knew Prentiss wouldn’t see it that way.

“Nothing,” Derek lied easily, gesturing to his finished case files as he spoke, “It’s just.. finished all my cases, and I can’t leave yet. So, I’m bored.”

Emily took his answer and nodded, “Wanna do mine?” She joked with him, gesturing to the short stack she had on her desk. Derek chuckled in response, shaking his head slowly.

“I don’t know ‘bout all of that.” He said, the stack, though short, had at least fifteen files, and as much Derek was bored (which was true, he was just stuck thinking.) he wasn’t bored enough to warrant work.

“Aw, c’mon, help a girl out. Here.” Prentiss said, grabbing a few off the top and passing them across her desk to his, setting them on the edge of his desk. “Just do these for me, please.”

Derek nodded, giving in. “Okay, sure. What’s left on these to do?” “I don’t think much, just finish filling out the descriptions on how we profiled the unsub, then get them into VICAP for me.” Emily specified, looking back to the rest of the stack of files.

VICAP. Derek couldn’t get them into VICAP, he didn’t know VICAP well enough. But Spencer did, and it wouldn’t take Spencer long. Perfect. He now had an excuse to get back to Spencer and talk to him more.

Derek just nodded, even though a small amount of excitedeness was now growing inside of him. Because now he had an excuse to keep talking to this mysterious genius.

“Yeah, I can do that.” He told Prentiss simply, she gave him a smile in return, along with a “thanks”, before turning back to the file she had sat down on her desk originally in favor of talking to Derek.

Now, all Derek had to do was fill these cases out. Easy.

And it was easy, as expected. Derek got them filled out no problem, writing the profile explanation had been something he’d been doing for years.

And it was always easy for him to do, it was just explaining the order of events- from ‘we spoke to local law enforcement’ to ‘we surveyed the area the victim was found in’ to ‘we looked at recovered evidence at the scene’, all the way to the end goal which usually was something like; ‘we figured our unsub was most likely a male in his 30’s with a menial part time job and bad temper’.

It was that, rinse and repeat. Except of course, every case was different. But the bullet points were all oddly similar.

But still, it didn’t matter. Derek had a reason to go back to Spencer now, to apologize, say “sorry I struck a nerve, doc.” And he wanted to. After all, he didn’t wanna piss off the computer genius the BAU was employing for this week.

So, Derek finished the case files as quickly as he could humanly manage, before making his way out of the bullpen. Thankfully Prentiss wasn’t there to ask him where he was going, as she was in a meeting with Hotchner. And double bonus, J.J. and Rossi were both at some profiling seminar for today. So the bullpen was practically empty. It was beautiful.

So, Derek made his way out of the glass doors, down the hall, back to Spencer’s office. He hoped to redeem himself of his earlier fuck up.

Spencer had his soundproof headphones on, totally oblivious to the outside world. After all, he had finished all his work for the day, now he just got to read, just as he had hoped for. So while Bach played through his headphones, his mind was focused on the thick Russian translation copy of the crucible. He was excited to see how Russian people viewed such an American phenomenon of the Salem Witch Trials.

He was ecstatic to say the least, translating the Russian letters to English in his head at lightning speed while he kept reading along. It was only when he was tapped on the shoulder that he got pulled out of his methodical pace. He pulled off his headphones as fast as humanly possible, turning around in time to see agent Derek Morgan back in his office. Crap.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt-“ Derek started, gesturing at the thick book in Spencer’s hands. “Oh- um, you’re fine. Sorry.” Spencer spoke quickly as he set the book down on his desk, leaving his headphones wrapped around his neck awkwardly, Bach’s light piano melodies could be heard very softly.

“What’re you reading?” Morgan asked Spencer politely, “The Russian translation of The Crucible. I’ve already read The Crucible, but knowing the Russian word choices and ways they choose to phrase such a strictly American experience is something fascinating to me, I notice that their word choices often-“ Spencer started on a tangent, only stopping when he looked up to see Derek’s face in the classic stare many people gave Spencer over his lifetime. A mixture of ‘slow down’ and ‘what the hell’ and ‘all I did was ask a question, I didn’t wanna hear him rant’.

Spencer slowed himself down, “Sorry. Uh-“ he looked down at Morgan’s hands, there were files. Perfect. “Have work for me?” Spencer asked politely, Reid’s swift change in conversation seemed to surprise Derek as he gave him a perplexed look.

“Uh, yeah- these just have to go into VICAP.” He said as he handed them over to Spencer. There were only four this time, Spencer could probably finish these in fourty five minutes, an hour tops. That meant Spencer would still have plenty of time to read, perfect.

“Okay, I can do that.” Spencer nodded as he took the files from Derek’s now outstretched arm. Derek let his arm fall back to his side once Spencer had taken the files and set them on his desk, next to his now empty coffee thermos and computer mouse.

“Hey- I also just wanted to say sorry about asking about your work in domestic terrorism earlier. Wasn’t my place to ask.” Derek spoke up awkwardly, after Spencer had started to look over the files. Spencer looked back up at Morgan when he said that, though. He wasn’t sure how to respond.

He never had to explain himself before, and now someone was apologizing to him. Normally, people wouldn’t. What was Spencer supposed to do now? He hadn’t ever been in a situation like this before. He felt like his IQ was going back down drastically, and not just because Derek was an attractive male, standing in Spencer’s office, wearing a short sleeved t-shirt that showed off his muscles in a way no one should ever show them off.

Well, it was partly that. But Spencer was doing his best to ignore that part of his brain. But now his entire brain was in the pitfall. Not sure what to do.

So Spencer muttered a ‘thank you’ and nodded quickly, pulling eyes back down to the files and not on agent Derek Morgan, because Spencer didn’t know what to do.

They were stuck in an awkward silence, for what felt like forever. But Derek didn’t want to leave it his way, that’s the last thing he wanted. After all, Spencer was a friend of Garcia’s, which makes them acquaintances by default. Plus, this guy was gonna be running the computer tech side for the next week or so of the BAU. He couldn’t make it awkward, what if a case happened and they had to go out there and work together?

Derek was overthinking this, but only because he cares so much about Garcia. That was his reasoning on why. Not like his reasoning mattered, though. He still hadn’t said anything to Spencer past the awkward apology. He had to say something new, now. Either that, or he should just tuck tail and leave Dr. Spencer Reid’s office that was the size of a walk in closet.

Derek wasn’t about to dip out, though. So he spoke. “I saw in your file that you worked with agent Jason Gideon, what was he like?”

Spencer’s eyes went back up to Morgan’s again. “He taught me a lot, he’s very simple and to the point. I thought you knew him- since you’re on the BAU?” Spencer responded to Derek’s question with a question.

Derek shrugged as he made himself more comfortable, leaning up against the file cabinet that was behind him. He was hoping to stay for a while and talk, and it seemed he was getting that. Spencer watched him as he did so, “I only met him once before he retired, I’m more familiar with Rossi and Hotch.” He spoke in return.

“I’ve read Rossi’s books, they’re phenomenal. I’ve wanted to approach him and talk about his work on some of the cases he’s done- but I never get the opportunity to.”

“You’re working with the entire BAU, you’ve got the opportunity now. You realize that, right?” Derek asked Spencer curiously. Spencer nodded, “I do. But I checked his schedule, he’s at a seminar right now:”

Derek chuckled, he didn’t know Spencer well enough to make presumptions about the guy, and he had agreed with the BAU a long time ago not to profile each other- and by that logic, he had also agreed not to profile Spencer. Not that he’d want to, though. That’s just not fair.

But oddly, Spencer checking Rossi’s schedule sounded like something this guy would do. He’s too smart to be working as a technical analyst in a small ass office. Derek still wanted to ask him so badly ‘why are you here?’. But he knew he shouldn’t. So he redirected the conversation again; “What’s some of your favorite behavioral cases?”

Spencer hadn’t meant to keep Morgan in his office for over an hour, explaining in depth about his favorite behavioral cases. It just happened on accident.

Usually Spencer stopped himself when he rambled, but Derek didn’t seem to mind. And once Spencer started talking, it was near impossible to stop. It was only when Prentiss knocked on the office door, peeking her head inside- did Spencer realize how much time he had taken away from Derek.

“Hey, I was looking for you, Morgan. You finish those files?” She asked him innocently, “I did, just getting our new tech analyst to put them in for me.” He responded easily, Spencer looked back down at the case files. Yeah, he needed to do them.

“I’ll get started on them now,” Spencer nodded, “Sorry.” He told Derek after Prentiss had left, leaving the office door cracked open.

“No worries. I enjoyed talking to you. Hope we do more work together.” Derek told him with a small smile. Crap, Spencer didn’t like this guy one bit. He was too nice, too handsome, too charming. This was a dumpster fire of a situation.

Thankfully, this seemed to be the end of it, at least for now. These were Prentiss’ files. He could finish these and leave them on her desk. No more interaction with Derek Morgan, which is definitely what Spencer needed.

“I’ll see you, doc. Thanks again.” Derek told him, that smile still on his face as he exited, shutting the door behind him. Spencer didn’t respond as Morgan left, he was just feeling his face blushing red, goddamnit. He was going to curse at Penelope garcia for having such an attractive best friend. This just wasn’t fair. This was going to be a problem, a nagging, buzzing fly around Spencer’s mind until the week was over.

Thankfully this was just a week long ordeal. Spencer could handle that. He wouldn’t know what to do if he was a permanent worker on the BAU.

Reid brought himself back to focus, working on the files. Which he did at record speed, like always.

“Dude, I was looking for you for like- an hour. Were you with the doctor the entire time?” Prentiss asked Derek curiously as soon as he sat down in his desk chair again.

Morgan shrugged, “I gave him your files, we were just talking.”

“For an hour? About what?” Prentiss asked him, surprised because Derek wasn’t that big on long conversations.

“Spencer used to work with agent Gideon. He told me about that.” “No shit, really? That’s cool.” Prentiss muttered, definitely a tinge of jealously in her voice, “I’m gonna ask him for whatever tips Gideon taught him.”

“Maybe I know those tips.” Derek joked, wagging his eyebrows up and down as a way to piss emily off. She rolled her eyes at him, “No way you remember all he said. You were probably too busy staring at his face.”

“For the last time, he isn’t cute.” “Uh, yes he is.” Prentiss scoffed at Derek for such a weak rebuttal. Now it was Morgan’s turn to roll his eyes, “I’m done talking to you. I got your files done, Prentiss.”

Now, emily was sarcastic; “Oh and thank god you did four of my fifteen files. I never would’ve finished without you- seriously, thank you so much Morgan.”

Derek just continued rolling his eyes, deciding to roll around in his office chair to face the other way, facing his filing cabinent. “What’re you even doing?” Prentiss asked him, “Ignoring you.” He replied easily, eliciting a giggle from Prentiss, before hearing her reply; “Whatever man.”

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taglist: so far just @electricsockhead bc they commented a while back they wanted to know of any more chapters coming out. If you want to be on my taglist send me a message :)

#fanfic #fic #writing #Dr. Spencer Reid #Moreid #Derek Morgan #criminal minds #cm #BAU #Emily Prentiss #Aaron Hotchner #jennifer jareau #Penelope Garcia #angst #Spencer Specific Fics #Spencer Reid #criminal minds fanfiction #this is for the anon who asked abt this fic #I see u bb

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obeyme-kaidii-writes · 3 years

Text

Smile

Mammon x gn!MC

Words - 3545

Content warnings - though nothing is actually depicted, there are quite a lot of references to, and implied, emotional/verbal abuse that happened while MC was a child. a decent amount of angst, but lots of comfort too, post Lesson 20

Prompt/Inspiration - none

Summary - You and Mammon take a trip to the human realm to visit your family, where he soon learns why you prefer to keep your distance from them.

AO3

Mammon was excited. Nervous, but also excited. It had been awhile since you had arrived in the Devildom, and you had requested special permission from Lord Diavolo to go back to the human realm to visit your family for your mother’s birthday. And Mammon was getting to come with you.

This was his chance to make an amazing first impression with your parents. Humans that had no idea who he was, or his reputation. And he’d be with you and you alone - none of his obnoxious brothers hanging around to put ideas into your parents’ heads, or find ways to humiliate him.

You had been somewhat anxious about introducing Mammon to your family, but his enthusiasm was contagious and it was hard not to smile seeing him fidget nervously in the passenger seat of your car, as you were parking on the street in front of your parents house. You knew he was looking forward to this, and the thought warmed your heart. He could be doing anything else right now, but instead he was spending his time with you, wanting to become part of your family like you were a part of his.

Your father was who you had to truly worry about. He was...how could you describe it? Well, it wasn’t until relatively recently that your relationship with him had improved enough to begin to call it friendly. Growing up, he was strict, and critical, and it didn’t help that he was smarter than average and liked to think that made him somehow superior to the plebeians around him. As an adult, you were now able to put your foot down and enforce your own boundaries, and since you weren’t living at home anymore, he was forced to accept them. Which he did, albeit after much grumbling.

But now that you were coming back for a visit, and bringing Mammon with you, you were concerned about how exactly your father would behave. You saw this going one of two ways - either he loved Mammon and adored his quirkiness and sense of humor and infectious energy, or he absolutely detested him and would spend the entire visit reminding him of his “place”.

“Just reminding you again that if my father is an asshole, don’t take it personally. I’m pretty sure he’d self-destruct if he didn’t pick a fight with someone at least once a day,” you said, pausing on the front porch to your parents home.

“Ya got nothin’ to worry about. The Great Mammon’s got this. It’ll be cake,” Mammon replied, slipping his arm around your neck and pulling you to him so he could kiss your cheek.

“Well, The Great Mammon should probably not refer to himself in the third person while he’s here or my father will never let him live it down.”

“Alright, alright. Got it,” Mammon laughed. He was determined to show you just how easily he’d be able to impress your parents. By the time the day was over, you’d be so proud of him that you wouldn’t stop bragging about him to anyone that would listen. Yeah, today was going to be a good day. He just knew it.

DING DONG

Taking a deep breath, you slipped your hand into Mammon’s, waiting for someone to answer the door. When the door finally opened, your younger sister was who greeted you, immediately flinging her arms around your waist.

“Oh thank god you’re here! I thought it was going to be stuck with them, alone, all day.”

You returned your sister’s hug, relieved to see that she was already here and you’d have another person on your side.

“Oh Mammon, this is my sister,” you offered him a brief introduction after seeing the look of confusion on his face.

“Oh.my.god. I forgot you were bringing your boyfriend,” your sister said, releasing you and checking out Mammon, from head to toe, “He’s really hot isn’t he?” she whispered, though you were sure she intentionally said it just loud enough that Mammon was still able to hear. Mammon’s face flushed scarlet, sending your sister into a fit of giggles.

“Alright stop it. Leave him alone. Let’s get inside before someone comes looking for us.” You shoved your sister back inside the house, Mammon following behind you, your hand still securely in his own.

“She’s almost as bad as you,” he whispered, once he was sure she couldn’t hear.

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

You heard Mammon snicker behind you, and turned to smile at him. Things were going to be ok, you just had to believe that. You all would sit down, eat some cake, talk, and then leave and everything would be fine. There wouldn’t be any drama. No fighting. Just a nice, quiet afternoon with your family. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it?

————

Your mother fell in love with Mammon almost instantly. He was just too charming to resist, as far as she was concerned. And you had to admit the two of them got on pretty well. Seeing him all smiles while he talked with your mom gave you some relief and helped you relax a little more. So far, things were going well.

Mostly.

As expected, your father was a tougher nut to crack. He’d occasionally asked Mammon an oddly personal question, probing him and trying to get a feel for what he was like. But your mother was always swift to interject her own thoughts, which would lead to her and Mammon rambling on for a good while. There was never really much time for things to get more serious, the conversation staying light and carefree.

When your mother got up to get herself and your father another slice of birthday cake, you didn’t think anything of it. Mammon turned his attention towards you, beaming. Things were going way better than he had hoped. Talking with your mother, he could easily see where you got all your bright, cheerful energy from. You gave him a grin in return before resting your head on his shoulder.

“So son, I don’t think we’ve talked about what it is you do for a living yet,” your father said, breaking the peaceful silence. You sat up immediately, eyes laser focused on your father, whom you were sure was about to do something you wouldn’t like.

“Oh, um, I’m a model actually.” Mammon could feel you tense up beside him, and he wasn’t sure why. The question was innocent enough wasn’t it? It’s not like you were embarrassed by his job or anything, right? So why were you acting so bothered?

“A model? Is that so…”

“Dad…”

“What? I’m just getting to know your boyfriend. That’s why you brought him here isn't it?”

You glared at him. There wasn’t anything you could say to that, not yet. He was still playing innocent, and even though you had a horrible feeling in your gut about how this was going to play out, there was nothing else for you to do.

“I guess being a model you don’t have to be very bright, do you? It’s just one of those jobs where looks and effort matter more, huh?”

“Err...yeah, I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

“Heh, well you definitely have the looks, so I guess you don’t have to worry too much.”

“Uh, thank you.”

“Mammon, can you come help me with something in the kitchen?” you said, standing up suddenly, looking at him with pleading eyes. Please just come with me , you thought.

“Yeah sure, babe.”

Mammon didn’t understand why you would need his help with anything. Wasn’t your mother already in the kitchen anyways? He figured between the two of you, you could get whatever it was taken care of. So why did you interrupt him when he was finally getting a chance to talk to your father?

Instead of leading him to the kitchen, you pulled Mammon down the narrow hallway that led to the garage and the laundry room. You just needed a moment with him, that’s all. Just so you could explain yourself and warn him. Because as it stood, he was playing right into your fathers hands and you did not like the thought of that.

“Ok, here’s good,” you said, stopping and standing in front of Mammon before taking his hands, “Please listen to me. It might seem like it, but my father is not being nice right now.”

“What are you talkin’ about? He’s just askin’ about my work.”

“I’m telling you those are not friendly questions.”

“He’s just ribbing me a bit. It’s fine. You don’t need to worry about me,” Mammon replied, leaning forward to press a kiss to your forehead.

“No, I’m serious. You’ve got to listen to me. This isn’t going to end well.”

“C’mon, I know the difference between bein’ teased and being mocked.”

“With your brothers maybe, but I know my father.”

“What, you think I’m too stupid to be able to figure it out? Is that it?”

“Woah! I did not say that at all!”

Mammon was getting irritated now. Did you really think he couldn’t handle himself? He wasn’t a child. He had centuries more experience than you, especially when it came to dealing with people trying to insult him. Didn’t you have any faith in him? Or did you just not want him getting close to your father? Was this your way of keeping him out of your family? That thought stung.

“Then stop doubtin’ me. I ain’t a child.”

“Mammon...that’s...I just...ughhhh,” what were you even supposed to say to that? Of course you knew he wasn’t a child. But you still wanted to protect him. You loved him more than anything and didn’t want him to get hurt.

And you knew your father. You spent your whole childhood learning his ways, the keywords he’d use just before he’d turn on you, the trick questions he’d ask so that he could twist your responses. You had to learn these things, it was a matter of self preservation. Why couldn’t Mammon just trust you on this? What did he think he had to prove by going through so much trouble to befriend your father?

“Whatever. I’m goin’ back out there. Don’t come back until you’re ready to let me handle this,” he snapped, leaving you behind in the dim hallway as you fought back tears of frustration.

Why wouldn’t he listen to you? Did he really think that you saw him that way? Like he was some overgrown child you were stuck looking after that couldn’t be trusted to tie his own shoes? Nothing could be further from the truth. You believed in him more than he believed in himself. Did he not realize that?

Just as you had decided to stop feeling sorry for yourself and head back out to the family room to at least witness the conversation, even if he didn’t want you intervening, you heard raised voices and then a full belly laugh from your father. You hurried down the hall only to have to stop dead in your tracks to prevent yourself from colliding into Mammon, as he stomped past you to get to the front door. When you looked back from where he came, you saw your father wiping tears of glee from his eyes, while your mother and sister looked at you absolutely horrified.

“What did you do?!” you yelled, entering the family room once more.

Your father was too busy laughing to answer, so you turned your sights on your mother, who now was refusing to look you in the eye. Your sister finally spoke up, trying to explain what happened.

“Dad…”

“Shut up.” Your father had stopped laughing now and was glaring at your sister, who immediately snapped her mouth shut.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

“Nothing. I was just teasing your boyfriend and he couldn’t handle a joke. That’s all.”

“Whatever you did wasn’t teasing. I tease him. That was not what that looked like.”

“Well, I guess he’s just a bit of a pansy then isn’t he? If he can’t handle a good joke, that’s not my fault.”

“You know what? I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. You were an asshole. That’s all I need to know. Sorry for leaving early, Mom,” you said, holding your hands up in mock surrender as you left. Your father wasn’t worth your time. You knew this song and dance. It was one you were intimately familiar with. You had more important things to worry about now, like finding Mammon.

————

You hoped it wouldn’t be too hard to find him, seeing as your car keys were still in your pocket. And you were right. As soon as you opened the front door, there he was sitting on the step leading to the porch, elbows resting on his knees.

“Hey,” you said softly, sitting down beside him.

“Hey.”

“Why are you here?”

“...I was going to get in the car but then I remembered I didn’t have the keys. So…”

“Oh.”

“Bet you really want to say it now huh? ‘I told ya so!’”

“Mammon...no…” you gripped his arm closest to you, giving it a reassuring squeeze. There was so much you wanted to talk to him about, but this wasn’t the place for it, “Come on, let’s go sit in the car.”

He didn’t object as you tugged him to his feet and led the way, though he was a bit confused when you opened the back door and motioned for him to slide in beside you. He didn’t feel up to arguing about it though, and took his seat before closing the door.

No sooner had he closed the car door than you had wrapped your arms around his neck and slipped into his lap, all in one smooth motion. The only thing he could do was hug you back. He was so stupid. He yelled at you. And for what? So he could impress your father? It wasn't worth it.

“I’m sorry,” you said, burying your face into his neck, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Yes it is. I should have been there. I should have made him stop the first time. I should…”

“You tried. This was me. I was stupid. I shouda listened. Shoulda known better than to think I could do this…”

“No, no, no, no, no,” you pulled away so you could hold Mammon’s face in your hands, “Please, please don’t say that. This had nothing to do with you. This is my father. He’s an awful, miserable person. Don’t you dare let him make you feel bad about yourself. Please.”

You were looking right into his eyes, begging him to believe you. How could you make him understand?

“You talked to my mom didn’t you? She really liked you, I could tell. That’s how it’s supposed to work when you talk to a normal person. My sister liked you too. YOU are not the problem here.”

Mammon offered you a weak smile. You were right in a way. Your mom and your sister did seem to like him. And he enjoyed talking to them too. But that didn’t change the fact that things had gone horribly with your father because he was too stupid to see what was right in front of him.

“Mammon, this is what he does. He makes you doubt yourself. And if you call him on it, he plays it off as a joke and implies it’s you that has the problem. But it’s not you at all. It’s never you. Please believe me.”

You pulled Mammon close to you again, kissing his cheek, before burying your head in your arms. Growing up, you had thought that being on the receiving end of your dad’s verbal abuse and manipulation was bad enough. But nothing could have prepared you for how excruciatingly painful it would be to watch someone you loved be subjected to the same treatment. All while you were powerless to stop it from happening.

“...is that what it was like for you…?” Mammon asked. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before. He sorta figured that a father would treat their own child better. You had told him stories, sure, about what your childhood had been like. But saying “My father is an asshole” is still pretty vague and open to interpretation. He couldn’t have imagined that how he was treated today would have been normal for you.

“Yeah.”

“Oh.” He tightened his arms around your waist now, wanting to hold you as close as he could manage. You had to deal with that? Every day? For years? And all while you were still a child? He was used to his brothers giving him shit, but he was at least an “adult” by human standards, so he was able to defend himself if he wanted or ignore them altogether. But as a child, you wouldn’t have been able to do that. You would have been helpless but to listen and to take it.

“...’m sorry for yellin’ at ya and not listen’...”

“It’s ok,” you said, snuggling closer to him. Some very old wounds of yours had opened up again this afternoon, and you really couldn’t bring yourself to care about a small fight with Mammon right now. You just wanted to hold him and to be held. You needed that reminder that you weren’t trapped anymore.

As Mammon started to rub your back, you finally began to cry. You usually did a good job of compartmentalizing things, but watching how your father was with Mammon brought back too many vivid memories that you would have rather forgotten altogether. And you were surprised at just how much they still hurt too.

“I love you,” you sniffled, “So much. I’ve never once thought of you as a child. Please, please believe me…”

“I know babe, I know,” he replied, rubbing your back, “You were just lookin’ out for me right?”, you nodded in response, it was all you could manage right now, “Then it’s ok. I got ya.”

What had you done to deserve such an amazing partner? When you first arrived in the Devildom you were certain that it was just your bad luck acting out again. But after getting to know everyone, especially Mammon, you quickly realized it was the best thing to have ever happened to you. You felt like you had a family again. A real family. The sort of family you would want to see on holidays and would go out of your way to spend time with. Not like the toxic mess that was your childhood home.

It wasn’t that his family didn’t have problems of its own, but in the short time you had known them, they had all worked hard to improve their relationships with one another. What did it say about your father, you wondered, that a bunch of literal demons had better relationships with their siblings than he did with you? That they could make you feel more loved and more valued than he ever did?

As you cried into Mammon’s neck, he continued rubbing your back soothingly, occasionally turning to kiss your cheek or neck (whichever was easiest to get to). He had never seen you this upset. Even after everything with Belphegor and the times Lucifer literally tried to kill you. You handled those situations with grace he didn’t think possible. Though he guessed it's different when a family member intentionally attacks you on a daily basis than when a pissed off demon tries to retaliate. Not that it made those things any easier for him to deal with.

After awhile, your tears had finally dried and you tried to move off Mammon’s lap to the seat next to him, but he wouldn’t let you go. You smiled at him as you wiped at your eyes and dried off your face. And he just watched you, the softest look in his eyes. The sort of look that made your heart skip a beat.

“Sorry, I think I got snot all over your jacket.”

“Eh, it’ll wash. If not, I can just buy another,” he said, eliciting a small laugh from you.

“Are you ok? I came out here to check on you and I ended up being the one crying.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I got someone more important ta worry about than a grumpy old man.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, so long as you’re ok, I’m ok.”

His response made you smile even more, and you pulled him into a quick hug before pressing a sweet, soft kiss to his lips, one he was all too happy to return. Just like you thought meeting him was the best thing to ever happen to you, he felt the same about meeting you. He couldn’t imagine his life without you, without your smile, in it now. And knowing what your family was like made that smile all the more precious to him. He might not be able to go back in time and prevent you from ever being hurt in the first place, but he could protect your smile now. And he would, for many, many years to come.

#gn!mc #obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me mammon #mammon x mc #obey me fanfic #obey me angst #mammon fanfic #mammon angst

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kae-karo · 3 years

Note

May I request Kaeya “well this is a predicament”

this did not in any way go the direction i was expecting but i hope u enjoy it lmaoooooo tysm as always bb 💜🐙💜

[send me a dialogue prompt from this list and a genshin character!]

tags: canon divergence, grompy diluc, a lil bit of zhongluc at the end there for funsies

----

“And I won’t do you the service of assuming you’re intelligent, so let me tell you about the lovely chains currently binding you!”

Diluc huffs out a breath of irritation - really, they get it, Dottore’s a mad genius and has some incredible plan that likely involves his and Kaeya’s untimely and rather gruesome deaths, probably at the behest of some scientific research or other.

“Oh, these? Do tell,” Kaeya prompts - an entirely unnecessary thing, but he seems to be having quite a lot of fun bantering with the doctor. Diluc squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, feels the full weight of the chains wrapped tight around his chest and waist, binding him back to back with Kaeya.

The chains wrap his wrists and ankles as well, and his hands are starting to ache from the angle and pressure.

“These incredible feats of engineering are infused with electro energy!” Dottore announces as though he expects a round of applause. Diluc turns to stare at him, impatient. “If either of you archons-blessed Vision-wielders happen to activate your wonderful powers, you’ll be-”

“Hit with the impacts of the elemental reaction, we understand,” Diluc deadpans, and the doctor’s wide grin falters for a moment. Drops into a dangerous sort of grimace that Diluc only quirks a brow at.

“Watch your tongue,” he hisses, “or I’ll cut it out myself.”

“Quite an impressive threat, and a rather impressive invention as well,” Kaeya says with honey in his tone. Diluc should probably be grateful for the way Kaeya attempts to smooth things over, but he did not ask Kaeya to follow him here. Did not ask for his help, and wouldn’t need it. He’d probably be out of these chains and halfway home by now if Kaeya hadn’t spent the past ten minutes egging Dottore on, keeping him around and chattering on about his fabricated plans.

It’d be one thing if the man had said anything of value, but it has become painfully clear that he intends only to hold Kaeya and Diluc hostage, perhaps perform some arbitrary - if disturbing - experiments on them and their Visions. They will not die, at least not yet.

“Now, I simply must ask-” Kaeya starts again, and Diluc elbows him hard in the back of his ribs. To his credit, Kaeya only coughs out a heavy breath, then hums a sound like he’d simply paused to think. “I must ask what you intend to do once the Knights determine our whereabouts?”

Diluc rolls his eyes - perfect, keep the man talking and continue to prolong their opportunity to escape. If they do, in fact, escape this, Diluc might very well take these chains with him. Perhaps that would prevent Kaeya from finding a way to interfere in every one of his intentionally clandestine activities.

His hands clench tight in fists, and he relishes the ache it brings to his wrists - at least he still has feeling there, though he can’t determine how much longer that will last.

“The Knights of Favonius?” Dottore laughs, a sharp sound. “Oh, I have no concerns. The Knights’ ineptitude is rather well known.”

“On that, we can agree,” Diluc grumbles under his breath, but the doctor seems still acutely focused on Kaeya.

“Do you expect your dear heroes to save you? I can assure you, they will not find head nor tail of either of you,” he says with what Diluc can only describe as immense pleasure at the prospect. His own jaw ticks with barely-bridled rage.

His attention sharpens at the sound of footsteps, and he turns as far as he can manage. But the newcomer must be directly behind him - and directly in Kaeya’s line of sight - because he can’t turn quite far enough to see.

“Il Dottore, sir.” A low tone, deferent, so likely some underling of the doctor’s. “It seems some of our other...guests require your...attention. It’s rather urgent,” they add, and Diluc watches Dottore for any sign of what they might be referring to.

A wicked grin curls his lips, though, as he watches this newcomer.

“Of course, of course.” His eyes flash when he turns back to Kaeya and Diluc. “And with that, my dear friends,” Diluc flinches at the word, “I must depart. Please, remain here,” he says with a manic sort of laugh, then rushes off beyond Diluc’s field of vision.

Diluc exhales slowly at the sound of a door closing, then squeezes his eyes shut. Considers their options.

“Well,” Kaeya starts, tone infuriatingly light. “This is a predicament.”

“Is it,” Diluc deadpans, glares at the wall across from him because he cannot turn to glare at Kaeya properly. “And do tell, what on Teyvat was the purpose in delaying Dottore like that?” His tone takes on an edge, both from his increasing discomfort and latent irritation at Kaeya’s unrequested company.

Unrequested interference.

“No reason really,” Kaeya says, and Diluc growls low in the back of his throat. “Oh, don’t get so worked up. I’m sure we’ll figure a way out before he returns.”

“I assume you expect me to figure a way out, is that it?” Gods, he can’t imagine how Kaeya’s kept any ranking with the Knights with this attitude. Once upon a time, he cared fiercely for ensuring his - and Diluc’s - success. Would do anything under the sun to make it happen, no matter the cost. And yet, he leans back into Diluc’s shoulders with a contented sort of sigh, like he’s relaxed on a beach somewhere.

Like he’s just waiting to be rescued instead of making an effort to rescue himself.

“When did you become so insufferable,” Diluc grits out, mostly to himself as he tests the strength and tightness of the chains around his ankles. They pull the second he shifts, and he can feel a prickle of something dancing through the metal. It seems Dottore was quite serious about the elemental infusion, then, and Diluc is not stupid enough to risk testing his fire against it.

“I’ve always been insufferable,” Kaeya says easily, clearly amused. “When did you stop putting up with it?”

Diluc bites his tongue - they both know the answer to that. A heavy sort of silence falls around them, then, and Diluc shifts his focus pointedly to the chains binding his wrists.

“I do not intend to make you do all the work of finding a way out of this predicament,” Kaeya says, tone unexpectedly flat. Resigned, almost, and Diluc frowns down at the chains.

“Excellent. You have an idea?” Better not to get caught up in it, whatever Kaeya’s thinking. Planning, manipulating. Why else have that tone of voice?

“Don’t need one.”

Diluc blows out an exasperated breath. Why does he even bother? He should know better than to get his hopes up with Kaeya.

And yet, at every opportunity, he can feel that tiny spark - maybe this time will be different, maybe Kaeya will prove himself trustworthy, maybe he’ll return to acting like he used to, maybe-

Maybe Diluc is only deluding himself, but try as he might, he’s yet to quash that tiny spark, and disappointment awaits him every time. Disappointment in himself, too - it’s his own fault for expecting Kaeya to act differently.

A hinge creaks, then, and Diluc straightens up, clears his head of pointless thoughts and focuses on what he’s able to learn from the sound of footsteps approaching. They’re quiet, not loud, and he suspects that it is not Dottore that visits them.

“Ah, right on schedule,” Kaeya says with a smirk that Diluc can hear even if he’s unable to see it. Unease twists through his stomach - an ally of Kaeya’s, perhaps? That’d explain his disinterest in trying to escape, though how he’d planned this, Diluc remains uncertain.

“Naturally. Ah, what an interesting invention.” Diluc doesn’t recognize the voice, and the person remains somewhere behind him and out of sight. Irritation flickers through his head - could Kaeya not have simply mentioned that he had someone coming to find them? That’d certainly have saved Diluc the irritation and concern, at least partly.

“You can take them with you, if you want,” Kaeya says disinterestedly. “Just neutralize the electro energy-” An abrupt snap, most certainly metallic in nature, and Kaeya hums an impressed sort of sound. “Or that.”

As he speaks, the chains tying Diluc to Kaeya loosen and pool in his lap, and Diluc pulls away from Kaeya the moment he’s able. Kaeya falls back into him, but only for a moment before he rights himself, and Diluc extracts himself from the loose chains to find-

A very tall man staring down at him, and not at all bearing the appearance of one of Kaeya’s usual acquaintances. This man is refined and dignified, undoubtedly - nothing short of regal - and he extends a hand as though he means to help Diluc to his feet.

When Diluc reaches for it, though, the man instead grabs for the chain still binding Diluc’s wrists. It takes a very concerted effort to remain in control of his surprise when the man pulls at the chains, rips them apart like they’re little more than paper.

“Your legs?”

Diluc’s lips part at the question, and he bites back a dumbfounded ‘what about my legs?’ Naturally, the man intends to remove the chains binding him there as well. He crouches down to Diluc’s level, though Diluc notes that he remains nearly a head taller, even like this.

The man tips his head, then, and Diluc rushes to swing his legs around. Again, the metallic snap, and the chains fall from his sore ankles. He rolls them experimentally, pleased to find them mostly unharmed, and the man straightens up. Behind him, Kaeya wanders the room, and Diluc might care a little about what he’s doing - or planning - except that this unknown man continues to stare down at him.

Extends a hand, and Diluc takes it this time. Why he’s surprised at the ease with which the man pulls him to his feet, he can’t quite say. Can’t say much at all, when he’s all but frozen chest-to-chest with the man, and Diluc tips his head back.

Gold eyes stare unabashedly into his, warm and bright, and Diluc stumbles a step back. Clears his throat.

“We’re leaving?” He doesn’t mean it as a question, but uncertainty slips into his tone. Neither Kaeya nor this...acquaintance? Friend? Whoever he is, though Diluc intends to do some research once they’ve returned to safety. In any event, neither of them seems in any particular rush, though Kaeya hums what might be an agreement at Diluc’s words.

“Oh, ah, by the way,” Kaeya adds as he returns to where Diluc and their mysterious rescuer stand in the center of the room. “Diluc, please meet my dear friend and ally, Zhongli. Zhongli, Diluc.”

“I’ve heard quite a lot about you, Diluc.” Oh. His voice is quite...smooth. Pleasing to listen to. Diluc blinks a few times, attempts to focus.

“I’ll admit, I’ve heard nothing at all about you.” This, for some unknown reason, makes Zhongli’s lip tick up at the corner - almost a smile, and Diluc finds himself unexpectedly warmed by it.

“You can continue flirting another time, Zhongli. I believe we have places to be?” Kaeya’s tone drips with teasing, and Diluc swallows, feels heat flood his veins and rush to his cheeks. If Zhongli is bothered by this assertion, he does not give any indication. Gods, he doesn’t even deny it.

Was he, then? Flirting? With Diluc?

“Namely, not here?”

Zhongli’s smile widens just a fraction at Kaeya’s words before he turns, and Diluc stares for a frankly inordinate amount of time before Zhongli’s - and Kaeya’s - disappearance through the door startles him forward.

Right, they need to worry about getting out of here first. Diluc can concern himself with Zhongli’s...maybe-flirting another time.

#genshin #genshin impact #zhongluc #diluc #kaeya #revyourriley #ask

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pact-with-faith · 3 years

Text

How Faith Earned Her Pacts: Mammon

When I think about how things might be different if there were more... Faith-like options? How she gets pacts would end up different in some cases! So I've been picking at drabbles to explore this, and here's Mammon's!

Mammon never thought he’d ever even consider making a pact with a human. He’s the Great Mammon! Second eldest of the Avatars of Sin! One of the strongest demons in the entire Devildom! What need would he have for a lowly human?

And yet… he realizes that he does need her. Just not in the way he expected.

Faith was...a strange human. So different from Solomon. She was more like an angel. So focused on taking care of others and helping them, going out of her way to do so. Obedient, and she seems genuinely scared to get in trouble. Not that Mammon can relate! It makes sense for her to not make a fuss though, since she’s surrounded by demons who are just waiting for a chance to eat her and take her soul.

However, there is one way to make her throw her sense of caution to the wind, and raise hell. Not that Mammon knew, at first.

He only realized it when he happened to hear the human talking to Satan, the two in the kitchen, working together on who knows what. Mammon only peeked in long enough to see who was there, and make sure she was safe. He didn’t want Lucifer going for his head if she got hurt, after all. Though he didn’t announce his presence either, because he heard his name, and didn’t want to interrupt the conversation. Surely they were singing his praises!

“...glad to see that Mammon hasn’t been too terrible of an influence.” Satan was saying, chuckling at the end. Asshole.

Mammon heard the human let out a huff, putting down a glass she’d been holding. “You’re all too mean to him.”

Damn straight! But… is she actually defending him? Or just playing into some grander joke?

Satan’s amusement did subside some. “Hardly. He’s a moron, and comes up with the stupidest schemes that hardly ever work out. He makes a fool of himself regularly, and never learns his lesson.” He argued matter of factly, his tone carefully even. No sign of him getting angry yet.

His brother’s words stung, even if he’s heard it a million times. Sure, he tends to act the fool, but… he’s not that stupid. He’d never admit it, (Pride may not be his primary sin, but hell if he doesn’t try to preserve it) but it tears him up that his brothers genuinely think so little of him. And if it’s all some joke, they do a terrible job at showing it.

He honestly expected the human to drop the subject there. She had a habit of avoiding conflict, especially with his brothers. Not that he blames her, they could snap her like a twig if they felt so inclined. And were willing to face Lucifer’s wrath.

“He’s not as stupid as you think,” the human countered, glancing at the blond out of the corner of her eye before fidgeting with her glass, anxiously tapping her nails against it, a habit of hers that Mammon had noticed early on in her stay. She likes the sound. “He may not be the most tactful at times, he may be at the ready with insults, but… he’s not that bad. He’s actually been a huge help, doesn’t seem to really judge me if I get lost at RAD. He actually keeps an eye out for me, and I don’t know if he does it intentionally or not, but his interruptions when I’m doing homework are always perfectly timed, he shows up when I’m getting too frustrated to make any progress, and drags me off to do whatever, and when I get back to work I’ve got fresh eyes.”

There was a heavy silence in the room, and Mammon was so tempted to go in finally, not daring to peek in to see if Satan was getting worked up or not. Knowing that he’d been eavesdropping would make him pissed, whether he was originally or not.

It felt like an eternity before anyone said anything, the silence so thick that Mammon could faintly hear the human’s… Faith’s… heart pounding in her chest.

“I see…” Satan said slowly, clearly trying to choose his words carefully. Why was he being so cautious? It’s not like Faith posed any threat, especially to the Avatar of Wrath. “Even with all of that in mind, it doesn’t change the fact he’s greedy, and stupid to keep stealing from all of us to sell things.” He tried, though Mammon noted a hint of curiosity in his younger brother’s voice. The hell?

There was another pregnant pause, and the shift of fabric as Faith turned to Satan, an eyebrow quirked. “You’re calling him out… for being greedy?” She asked. When Satan gave a nod, curious where this was going, she asked the question again. “You are upset… that Mammon… Avatar of Greed… is greedy?”

The absurdity wasn’t lost on either demon, Satan opting for silence. But by the furrow of his brow, Faith knew she’d have to tread lightly.

She turned back to the counter, picking up her glass and drinking some of the water from it. “I may not know much about how this whole Avatar thing works, or demons, or anything like that…” She started. “But it just… doesn’t make sense to me. Punishing someone for something that they can’t control. Sure, you guys get frustrated with each other when your sins get the better of you. Asmodeus’ constant flirting and innuendo, Beel’s never ending hunger, and so on.” Clearly avoiding any mention of Satan’s Wrath or Lucifer’s Pride. “But you never seem to go at each other half as bad as you do Mammon… and it’s not the fact that his greed is affecting everyone. Beel’s hunger wiping out the kitchen of food affects everyone too.” She added, before Satan could even try to argue that.

With a sigh, she finished off what was in her glass and washed it, her hands shaking lightly. She was too hesitant to face Satan, who clearly hadn’t been expecting such a genuine argument in defense of his older brother. And Mammon hadn’t either. Damn if she wasn’t observant. His first thought was how he could try to take advantage of that for any number of schemes he had cooking, but he dismissed the thought as quickly as it came… it wouldn’t be fair to take advantage of her like that when she’s putting herself at risk to defend him from his own family.

“Why are you defending him so much?” Satan asked, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms as he watched Faith closely. This was clearly intriguing him, though he almost radiated the aura of a cat playing with it’s prey…

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard him refer to you by name. Always ‘human’, typically accompanied by some semblance of an adjective to put you below him. Stupid, puny, et cetera.” Satan tried.

“Well… he isn’t wrong.” Faith shrugged, drying her hands slowly. “I am, in fact, a human,” she started with a small snort as she gestured to herself. “I’m not always the brightest crayon in the box, and typically when he’s calling me out for it I deserve it. And I am shorter than all of you. I’m just a human, one without any magic for that matter. So technically, I am below everyone else in the Devildom, even the Angels and Solomon. So his behavior is technically warranted.”

“The fact that you think it’s right makes it okay?” He questioned, shaking his head.

“It’s more okay than the rest of you insulting him inaccurately.” Faith said, immediately flinching as she realized what she said, even moving a hand towards her mouth as if to cover it.

Oh well, she’s already started digging, why not keep going so she at least gets her point out there before she dies? So with a sigh, she moved her hand to rub at her collar bone anxiously, not daring to look Satan in the eye, focusing instead on the floor.

“Everything you pointed out that he says to me, it’s things you’ve said to him. Stupid, moron, idiotic, useless, pathetic… For all I know, he’s just mimicking what you’ve been saying to him for who knows how long.”

Mammon figured this was as good a time as any to finally make himself known, to keep Faith from actually getting herself killed. Satan doesn’t have the same concern about pissing off Lucifer that the rest of the brothers do. He walked away a few paces, and came back towards the kitchen door with heavy steps to announce himself, knocking on the door frame with his other hand on his hip. “Oi, human!” He called to get her attention. Though… perhaps he really should get better about calling her by name.

Faith looked over quickly when he came in, clearly a bit startled by the sudden noise. But she just let out a sheepish giggle, giving him a grin and a small wave. “Hey Mammon! What’s up?”

“Weren’t ya just whining the whole walk back from RAD that you had a ton of homework to do?”

Faith groaned in complaint, even tilting her head back to emphasize the action, but started over to him to head up to her room. “Shit, yeah… thanks for the reminder.” She pouted, though he was well aware it was a pout at having work to do, not that he reminded her. “Where would I be without you?” She asked him, her tone playful.

“Probably either eaten by a lesser demon within your first few hours down here, or under the watch of one of the others. Probably Asmo.” He mused, ruffling her hair as a makeshift noogie, grinning at the giggles that got.

Faith just snorted and rolled her eyes, but paused in the doorway, turning back to Satan and giving him a sheepish smile. “Just… please, think about what I said.”

Satan gave a small nod, watching the duo head off.

“What was that all about?” Mammon asked, an eyebrow quirked as he stared down at her, his hands in his pockets. He was curious if she’d tell the truth or if she’d try to deflect.

Apparently it was deflect, as Faith reached up and tightened her ponytail some, adjusting the bow. “Just some talking about interacting with demons and stuff like that.”

So she wasn’t going to tell him what she actually did… not trying to get brownie points with him, huh? She sure was a strange one…

Deciding to move on from that whole conversation, he tilted his head a bit. “What’ve you gotta study right now that’s so important anyways?”

“The history and methods of making pacts.” Faith answered after a moment of hard concentration. She’d just been learning about it in class not a few hours ago and she was already struggling to remember what she’d spent over an hour hearing about. He could absolutely relate to that. No wonder she understood him so well.

But pacts, huh…?

Maybe it’s about time he considered one himself. Because people like Faith don’t come around every day… he’s already gotta protect her anyways, and clearly she’s willing to do the same. A pact just seems like the next logical step.

He can trust that she won’t abuse it.

#text post #fic #obey me #obey me!#mammon #faith #mc #my mc #my writing #obey me mc #obey me oc #how faith earned her pacts

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hanadolphieron · 3 years

Text

loona when jealous~

*based on astrology

a/n- i put this in order of most to least likely to become jealous/whose jealousy is the worst :)

son hyejoo;

hyejoo is such a scorpio and i am scared to go into this but here we go

her scorpio mercury conjunct her venus can make her mind prone to seeing disloyalty in situations when it isn’t even there

this can cause some trust issues, but if hyejoo uses her talent of speaking about emotions from her libra moon, these issues can be resolved

wants her s/o to talk to her!

and reassure her!

about these things

begins to become more light-hearted with her jealousy, instead of keeping it to herself and fuming over it while listening to angsty songs

it can come up randomly though

her aquarius mars is prone to becoming irritated by misunderstandings or injustices

which can relate to jealousy through hyejoo feeling as if her s/o is not understanding her feelings and is disregarding them

may have trouble coming to terms with the fact that she is an individual, and her feelings will never be truly related to or understood :(

which makes her sad, but she does find originality attractive?

send help

jealousy is just something she’s going to have to deal with throughout her life

jo haseul;

please don’t ever make haseul jealous

she will be dramatic, no doubt about it

knows how to step back from problems and see them from other’s perspectives easily, but envy can cloud her vision

most jealous of friends, people who she doesn’t know that hit on her s/o don’t bother her too much

haseul feels so proud of herself because she knows she has you all to herself

but with friends she can begin to get insecure

but her libra venus makes her keen to become friends with the people her s/o knows

depends on her mood and how her day has gone

wants an apology and milks a crunchy bunch of hugs out of you

will tell stories about when she was jealous over you as funny memories

in the end, she’s not too bothered by it

especially if your relationship has been stable and is long-term

but in the beginning she could feel as if you’re not committing (she’s likely not completely committed either tho)

loyalty is required, but is a big step for haseul and any of her potential partners

jeon heejin;

scorpio mercurians are more likely to perceive situations with feelings of jealousy or envy

they could project their own fears into what they see, and bend the truth a bit

and most of the time? it’s not even in their favor, they will see the worst of a situation before anyone else

but! heejin is a libra, and places beauty and good over everything else

so, in a circumstance where her s/o is causing her to feel jealous or possessive, she will hold back her feelings slightly and try to see the light in the situation

heejin will inevitably envy a person if her s/o’s attention is focused mainly of them at some point

but she will address these feelings in a civilized way

talks to her s/o about it, and makes sure they’re not in any way feeling pressured or accused

wants to know if her s/o was aware of how heejin was feeling or didn’t even notice before she continues on with her interrogation

really, heejin just wants an apology

unless her s/o noticed her jealousy and didn’t make any attempt at changing their actions to make her feel better

then, well, heejin won’t be too happy

but you know scorpio venusians, they love it when their partner “sacrifices” something for them and shows their loyalty

kim hyunjin;

hyunjin is more mentally strong in terms of jealousy compared to most other scorpios

her capricorn venus keeps her cancer moon in check, and helps to make her emotions seem more mature and educated

adapts to her partner’s personality easily, and understands if they are a touchy, more affectionate type

won’t restrict their freedom, it’s the last thing she would ever want to do

capricorn venusians take pride in how well they take care of their lovers, so hyunjin would never feel the need to impose accusations of disloyalty upon her s/o

the only reason she would feel jealous is if her s/o was letting someone else protect/take care of them

hyunjin wants to be the only one who does that

will steal her s/o away from that person, and try to show her partner how much she cares and adores them

so wholesome even when she’s hurt i can not

her cancer moon heightens her need to protect

so just let her, don’t try to make others do things for you, hyunjin will happily bake you bread or something or whatever else you need

im yeojin;

i get the vibe that yeojin doesn’t get jealous too easily

well, maybe she does, but just keeps it to herself

distances herself from the situation and her feelings in order to stay grounded

which sounds counterproductive but she makes it work in some magical way

this can make her feel detached from feelings that she needs to confront, however, and can create resentment and grudges without her realizing

it will most likely be her s/o that brings it up, after seeing yeojin be so detached and zoned out for such a long time

yeojin will have been thinking about her feelings regarding envy for a while, which creates the zoning out/distanced vibe

honestly has no idea how to deal with it

her s/o will have to like walk her through jealousy

talking about problems does help yeojin work through them though, and will come to lots of conclusions during the conversation

enjoys learning and maturing through her emotions too

so it’s a win-win

fixes the problem immediately, either works through jealous thoughts or removes the situation that is making her have them

jung jinsoul;

poor baby gets so upset over this

jinsoul’s biggest dream is to have a completely secure relationship

cancer venusians have a tendency to hoard their lover and never let anyone else receive attention from them

they do hold back sometimes though, and keep their feelings to themselves in order to not be hurt by the opinions and reactions of their significant other

jinsoul just wants a loyal s/o who won’t intentionally make her jealous just to mess with her

would feel so betrayed by the “make your s/o jealous and see what they do” trope

although might be prone to at least attempting it on her s/o

she loves the feeling of being wanted

will give up half-way through though, and demand hugs

she just wants cuddles that’s it

a little bit of angst is a favorite of her’s though, and she honestly wouldn’t be too bothered by feelings of jealousy

just as long as they’re not consistent or a major issue

however, she might tend to fall for people that prey on her caring nature and jealousy could be a theme in her love life

she has to learn to step back, stop blaming herself, and find people who are as sincere and loving as her

ha sooyoung;

sooyoung isn’t affected by jealousy as much as her members (cough cough the scorpios cough cough)

is most likely not even going to notice if her s/o is acting more affectionate to others

like you could try and try to make her jealous to see her reaction but like

she doesn’t even realize what you’re doing

her pride is hurt if her s/o does try to do that though, so please don’t attempt that

venus opposition moon can cause unrest in terms of emotions related to love, so jealousy in a relationship would mess up sooyoung’s mind

she would feel uncomfortable and get “bad vibes” from the other person

needs clear communication and not body language/facial expressions used to convey feelings

sooyoung loves people with strong opinions to debate over, and would not be impressed if her s/o didn’t make a stand if someone was hitting on them

doesn’t want the whole watersign-esque way of showing loyalty and stuff

would much rather have their s/o laugh it off, with a little explanation of like “uh i have a girlfriend”

but she wants others to know her s/o is dating her, and is not available

someone hitting on her s/o is like one of two things that make yves jealous

the other being her s/o spending a bunch of time with someone else that isn’t a close friend/family member

park chaewon;

is more protective than jealous, but she has her moments

can subconsciously hurt her own feelings because she focuses on all the tiny details of a situation and observes every movement of you or the person she is jealous of

avoids talking about feelings that are uncomfortable or she thinks you won’t accept

so consequently squishes her jealousy into a tiny ball and tries to throw it away

but it’ll come up at some point

and when it does, it won’t be too bad too be honest

gowon will probably end up confronting you after her virgo moon blows a situation out of proportion while still focusing on all the details

and explodes for like two seconds

then recovers extremely fast and sits there like ?? why was i so mad

hopes you forget the whole situation

and jealousy most likely won’t come up again, now that she got it all out

and guilt will override it

doesn’t remember it after a while, but her mind keeps her thoughts away from jealousy now that a bad experience is tied to it

but before she blows up, her jealousy could be almost like a night terror, she thinks about it constantly and it haunts her for a few days

but as i said, once she lets it out, she’ll be fine

wong gaahei;

naturally, gaahei isn’t that jealous

however, romantic relationships is where her envy comes out the most, due to her scorpio venus

these sorts of situations only happen after you’ve been together for a long time

at first, vivi isn’t too protective and doesn’t want to scare you

observes how you react if she starts to be more protective and possessive

then acts accordingly

although she’ll probably get jealous at some point no matter what

if you’re the type of person who isn’t bothered much by your s/o being overly loyal and attached, then vivi feels more comfortable expressing her feelings in the envy department

gets annoyed at too much unnecessary physical contact

keeps her feelings hidden until she has you alone

doesn’t want to be embarrassed by making a huge scenes (although the daggers in her eyes aren’t helping her attempt at hiding her emotions

talks to you afterward and can be a bit critical ):

but as long as you y’know, do the apologizing thingo and show your loyalty (this sounds real toxic but i promise it’s not, vivi just wants to be overdramatic, such a hopeless romantic)

kim jungeun;

jungeun tends to lose herself inside her head when she experiences feelings of jealousy

her pisces venus in relation to her aquarius sun can make her love style separate from her identity

this means serious insecurity that she doesn’t even notice can squeeze into her relationships and make her seem insincere at times

then, her sagittaiurs moon immediately tells her to run away for fear of being in a situation that traps her and that she can’t escape from

feelings of intensity and revenge scare her

envy is a controversial topic in her eyes and she tries to avoid it at all costs

however, she also has a scorpio mars

so whenever she lets the jealousy in, it blows up since she’s been repressing it for so long

like i mentioned earlier, jungeun will lose herself in her mind and let her emotions take the reins

this can cause serious damage to her lover and leave them feeling incredibly and untrustworthy

like jungeun will make them question their entire existence for a few hours/days

then she’ll be back, thinking “what the heck did i just do”

choi yerim;

the least jealous out of the twelve

her mars opposes her sun, (sagittarius and gemini,) which creates a struggle between anger and ego

her “triggers” are different than her personality in a way, and unless she was already in a bad mood, jealousy isn’t an emotion she would feel often

however, her gemini sun can make her flip a switch within a few seconds, so changing to a more irritable mood could be easy

but, she doesn’t want to be in a bad mood obviously, so she stays away from hard feelings and almost runs from them

she has a lot of mutable energy in her personal planets, which can cause choerry to look for her s/o’s reaction before acting on her feelings

unless her s/o looks uncomfortable by physical affection/time spent with another person, yerim won’t do much

she’ll stand back and let things happen

might bring up envy at some point, but only in a casual confrontation

her taurus mercury doesn’t like to be challenged, but unless she has a serious reason to bring up conflict she will keep it to the side

laughs about it if she talks to her s/o about it, doesn’t want to make it into a deep situation, just wants some clarification

kim jiwoo;

barely gets jealous, is more protective than anything

will just be confused by situations where she feels jealous, chuu might not even recognize what emotion she’s feeling

talks to her s/o about it though

doesn’t make a huge deal of the whole situation

just wants a small explanation

her capricorn mars can cause her pride to be hurt at some point in time

for example, if her s/o is making her jealous and she realizes how disloyal her s/o is being

she’ll tell them, and that’ll be the end of it

but, if they don’t listen to her, chuu will be really mad

might give the silent treatment

will legit scold her s/o like a parent

might never get over it, capricorn marsians tend to hold onto feelings of grief or betrayal for a long time because they feel as if they could have handled the situation better

it’ll be one of those experiences that chuu slams her pillow into her head over at 2 a.m. because she just remembered it

finds anger to be embarrassing at times? if her s/o isn’t in the same head-space/mood and doesn’t understand her

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byeoltoyuki · 4 years

Text

Release my heart ⇾ Ch.2

↳ Pairing: Jimin x You

❧ Genre : Fluff / Smut / angst / gang au

❧ Warnings : violence, prostitution, mention of drugs, spanking, oral (f), thighs riding, unprotected sex

❧ Words: +11k

❧ Summary: Your world is turned upside down when your father decides to sell you to the infamous gang in order to pay his debts.

Masterlist | Previous | Next

✼

You stared blankly at your reflection in the mirror and you decided that you really didn’t like what you saw. The woman you saw was you and yet your own face, your own body felt foreign to you. You didn’t like how you looked, too much makeup for your liking, and you liked even less the clothes that were chosen for you for your first time, for your first night. You felt exposed, almost naked and cheap. This wasn’t you.

You wore a nightgown. It was sexy there was no doubt about it, but it was provocative too which was obviously the whole point of your new job; you needed to sell your body, needed clients to want you and this piece of clothes was supposed to do the job. And it would, undoubtedly.

The red nightgown was barely covering your body, the split on both sides didn’t help since it showed pretty much everything. Your thighs were completely exposed, so was your ass since the panties did a poor job at covering it. But so were your breasts; the top of the nightgown was fully see-through and to add to the nice effect, a red ribbon circled your breasts. You were a pretty present to men. The only thought of their eyes on you made you shiver in both fear and disgust.

You winced as you applied the red lipstick, the last needed touch on your face. A face that had suffered a lot since your attempt to escape. You didn’t remember who brought you back to this hell hole, but you sure as hell remembered the beating you got for it. Jack showed you no mercy and made sure you learnt your less. And you sure as hell did. Never again you wanted to face Jack’s wrath. If you could call it wrath. From the way he looked at you, cowering on the floor before him, trying to protect yourself, you realized that it was something he enjoyed doing. That night, you made a promise to yourself to never piss Jack again. At least not intentionally.

It was one week ago.

The purple mark on your face had faded a little since, but it was still visible. How exactly were you supposed to look appealing to a man with this? You could only hope that the man would only concentrate on your body and not your face.

A knock at your door made you glanced over your shoulder; Yoojin came inside, bringing presents for you. She remained at the door for a short moment, eying you from head to toe before coming inside your room and closing the door behind her.

The first thing you noticed was the oh so pretty (at least it looked like at that moment) bottle of vodka that you looked at almost with need. Of course, you didn’t want to get drunk but this option didn’t seem that bad considering what was waiting for you.

"I thought you’d need it." She shook the bottle before your eyes. "You look like you need it." And she handed you the bottle.

Without wasting a minute, you opened the bottle and took a sip. Bitter, sharp, burning your throat, just what you needed. "Bless you."

"Don’t mention it."

While you busied yourself with taking sips of vodka (you didn’t want to start feeling dizzy too soon after all), Yoojin checked every detail of your outfit, of your hair, before halting on your face. By the way she looked at you, you guessed she pitied you.

"Don’t." You told her as you averted your eyes from her face to the mirror. "Don’t look at me with pity. Not when you had warned me about escaping."

Yoojin didn’t comment and instead took two other things from her pockets. White powder (you guessed easily what it was) and to your biggest surprise a knife. How did she manage to get a knife, you didn’t know and didn’t want to, but giving it to you was probably a very bad idea.

"I won’t say ‘I told you so’, I think you regret it already enough." Her eyes were glued to your reflection in the mirror, on your bruise. "That won’t do."

Yoojin took the foundation from your hands and started putting some more in order to hide the purple bruise on your cheek. It stung but you refused to show your pain to someone else, even to someone like Yoojin. Instead, you observed her, the frown on her face as she was both concentrated on the work she was doing on your face, and worried.

"Why did you get me a knife?" You finally asked

"I don’t know." She admitted with a sigh. "Maybe I wanted to give you a chance to end things if it gets too overwhelming. I can’t assure you that the man they chose for you is a nice one. Jack wouldn’t tell me."

End things, you shivered at the words. The only mention of this outcome caused your stomach to sink.

✼

You expected Yoojin to be the one to bring you to the room where your torture would start, so when you saw Jack standing proudly, smirking at you, at your door, you paled. What was he doing here?

You had imagined many scenarios for the night to come, and yet, you had never considered the possibility that Jack would be the client for the night. No, there was no way he could be your first client. You refused to believe it for the sake of your own sanity.

Jack eyed you from head to toe, eyes lingering a little longer than acceptable on your exposed thighs before moving to your breasts; he licked his lips before humming in satisfaction. "Red really suits you."

If he expected a reaction from you, he got none.

Jack approached you without a word, his eyes focused on your breasts. He took his hand out of his pocket and grabbed your left breast, giving it a strong squeezed (you wanted to throw up and possibly slap him but you could do neither) before letting it go. He didn’t stop bothering you however, his fingers traced a line from the valley of your breasts to your bare, tender neck.

"What a pity he booked you tonight. I should have done it earlier." He confessed

Your heart leapt into your throat at his confession, imagining all too easily what kind of things he could have done to you if it was him. It was a close call you realized and you almost was thankful to whoever booked you tonight for doing it before Jack could.

Jack sighed, disappointed. "I’ll bring her to the room." Jack addressed Yoojin. "I believe you have work too."

Yoojin rolled her eyes and it was the first time that you saw her openly showing her emotions before Jack which made you wonder what kind of relationship they had. Didn't he dislike people with attitude? But Jack didn't get angry, he only stared darkly at her before averting his attention to you.

"Come on. He doesn't like waiting."

You glanced one last time at Yoojin before following Jack.

The walk to the other room wasn't long, but the tension between you and Jack was so thick you could cut it with a knife. He didn't talk to you and you didn't try either, still wary of what he could do or say to you.

He brought you to a red room. A red damn room that reminded you Christian Grey's secret room. Red walls, wooden furniture, red bed with silky red sheets. It was some kind of bad porn and somehow you were right in the middle of it. But to your surprise, the man that was supposed to be waiting for you wasn’t in the room. You prayed for him to have changed his mind and decide not to see you (but then again another could easily take his place) but that would be too naive of you.

"You better behave." Jack warned you before leaving you alone. "The man is a very important one. Fuck things up with him and you can consider yourself good as dead." And with that he left you.

How comforting.

You felt the cold metal of the knife against your skin. Its presence was disturbing but in a way it was also comforting. Of course, you knew it was a very bad idea; the client could find it even before you had a chance to use it, or you would be too scared to use it.

Because scared, you were. No, terrified. More you waited alone in this red room and more you wanted to run away. From the beginning, you knew you wouldn’t be able to do this job, you weren’t a hooker to begin with, and knowing that a man you had never met before would use you, disgusted you.

What should I do? It was the only question that remained on your mind for the past hour. Yoojin had left you a choice, one that would help you to get the job done without feeling anything, or you could use the knife. But could you really hurt someone willingly? Who were you kidding? You weren’t a killer, not like them.

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath. This was an endless nightmare.

While you were too immersed in your own thoughts, you didn’t notice a man entering the room. You didn’t see him watching you curiously and you certainly didn’t see him getting closer to you. He put his warm hands on your hips while his lips latched to your exposed neck. The contact of his lips against your skin startled you - you wanted to get as far as possible from him and yet you couldn’t. Despite his grip on your hips being gentle, it was strong too and he held you against him.

"I heard you’re new." He whispered against your skin, his lips travelled from your neck to your lobe, tugging gently at it with his teeth - you shivered in response. "I’ll take good care of you."

Now that didn’t sound so comforting. You clenched your first, your choice made the moment he uttered those words.

You turned in his arms, wanting to see to who belonged the melodic voice but what you saw was far from what you expected. The man before you was ridiculously handsome, to the point you couldn't comprehend what the hell he was doing in a place like this. With a face of a model, he didn't need to go to a brothel to get laid, any women would want a man like him. Black hair, pushed back revealed a perfect forehead, perfect brows, perfect nose, perfect lips and terribly intense eyes. You couldn't help but stare, admiring him even, you completely forgot what you wanted to say.

"Hi." He said amused with your sudden lack of reaction.

You gulped nervously, slapped yourself mentally and tried to regain your composure. There was no time getting distracted. No matter how handsome the man was. He was in this place and this alone should make you question him. Don't get deceived by his looks, Y/N!

"Don't be scared." He gave you a comforting smile, "Let me help you."

You wished he could help you to escape instead of something else but you couldn't possibly tell him that. And would he even believe you if you told him your story? You doubted it.

He walked to the bed and sat, legs spread, watching you expectantly. If only the circumstances were different, you wouldn't hesitate to get on your knees for a man like him, but tonight you had other plans.

You joined him. Standing between his legs, you put your hands on his strong shoulders and pushed him right on the bed and straddled him. He didn’t say a word, observing your every move. He put his hands on your hips, stroking your exposed skin, gently, drawing invisible circles. It almost distracted you from your plan. Almost. You bit on your lips and maybe for him it looked sexy but in reality you were just trying to gather your courage.

"Why did they hit you?" He took you off guard with question. He reached for your face with his hand, rubbing softly the bruise that was supposed to be hidden and yet he saw right through it.

You froze right on top of him and looked at him. Why must he look so concerned? So gentle? He made it hard for you.

"I deserved it." You simply answered (you couldn’t possibly tell the truth) and straightened up on top of him, hands splayed across his chest to steady yourself. "It doesn’t matter."

"Are you sure you deserved it?"

You didn’t want to talk about it. To distract him, you started grinding, slowly, but it did it work - he stopped asking questions and instead let a low growl out of his mouth. It was a risky game; he was getting turned on as you felt him hardening under you, but it didn’t mean it left you completely indifferent. There was no way you could ignore your own body’s reaction; you were all too aware of how wet you were getting.

Do it now, Y/N.

He was completely distracted, charmed by you. He closed his eyes to enjoy the friction - he pushed on your hips, pressing you harder against his bulge and you had to bite on your lips to prevent a very unwelcome moan that threaten to leave your lips.

You leant closer, lips barely touching and just when he thought you would finally kiss him, you took out the knife and brought it right against his throat.

"Sorry buddy, not gonna happen." You tried to sound composed, fearless but your hands betrayed you, shaking as you threatened him.

He snapped his eyes open and you expected him to be at least a little bit surprised. He wasn’t. He simply looked at you, unfazed, before chuckling. "So this is what the knife was for."

You froze at his words. He knew. He saw the knife from the moment he stepped into the room and yet (and you couldn’t comprehend) he hadn’t said a word. Was he testing you? Was he trying to see what you were made of?

"I did hear you are a rather feisty one."

"Shut up!" He sounded just like Jack and you didn’t like it.

"Or what?"

In fact you had no idea what you were going to do.

He took advantage of your silence and the moment of hesitation to grab your hand, the one holding a knife, to press it much harder against his skin. It freaked you out. Just a little more and you would pierce his skin. It was obviously your intention and yet his action gave you the goosebumps. How could he act so carelessly?

"Nice try, love." His voice sounded soft and so pleasing to the ears, but there was a hint of mockery behind his words.

"Shut up!"

"You’re not a killer." He pressed your hand harder, piercing this time his own skin.

At the sight of blood, you jolted and threw the knife away. He, on the other hand, smirked and with a simple move of his hips, you found yourself pinned under him. One leg between your thighs, hands pinning your wrist above your head. You were left powerless and sweating in fear.

"Did you really think it would work?"

He was mocking your lack of wits - you refused to answer but he had none of it. He grabbed your chin, his grip tight as he forced you to look at him. "Thought so." He stroked your lips with his thumb, rubbing gently before forcing your lips to part and slid his thumb between your lips. "So pretty."

Save me, you shut your eyes tightly, tears pricking in the corner of your eyes.

"I’m suddenly glad your father offered you as a payment."

This made you snap from your trance. How dared he say that? This time, angry tears were rolling down your cheeks. You felt powerless in this situation, a situation that seemed to amuse the man on top of you.

"Are you angry love?"

So infuriating! Furious, you spit on his face, startling him with your action. He let go of your wrist for a moment, his hand wiping away your spit from his face. His eyes darted back and forth between his wet hand and you. He had to give it to you; you were interesting. Despite being petrified, you had the guts to oppose him. He was impressed.

"I guess, you are angry." He laughed, a laugh so cold that it froze your blood. "But," and before you could fight back, he was pinning you back with his whole body; a hand squeezing your cheeks he stared right into your eyes. "The faster you accept your new reality, the better it will be for you, you know?"

You shook your head, trying to get rid of his grip, in vain. "Are you really asking me to accept sleeping around with people I don’t know?"

"It can be fun you know!"

"You’re disgusting."

"Now that’s a lie and we both know it."

Yes but you would rather die than admit it to him.

He laughed at your stubbornness. There was something about you, different, quite refreshing. You weren’t the first newbie he welcomed in this place, but you were certainly the first to threaten him with a knife (he noted to himself to find out who gave it to you later). Smirking proudly, he didn’t resist the urge to indulge in at least one of his wishes: he kissed you.

"Stay here for the night. They won’t bother you."

And with that he let go of you and started walking towards the door.

"Who are you?"

He stopped and glanced over his shoulder. "Right. Rude of me. I’m Park Jimin."

✼

"Come on sleepy head, wake up." Yoojin nudged your arm gently trying to wake you up from a rather pleasant dream. You dreamt about a nice brunch at your flat along with your friends, laughing, joking around. Nice dream but sadly, it was time for you to crack your eyes open and to meet Yoojin’s friendly face.

Yoojin sat on the bed beside you, glancing around before her eyes were back on you. She frowned noticing that you were still wearing your nightgown and that you didn’t look as messy as you were supposed to.

"What time is it?" You asked and stretched in the bed. You could mock the room all you wanted but the bed was damn comfortable, way more comfortable than in the room they gave you and even more comfortable than the bed at your place.

"Five in the morning." She replied automatically, her frown growing. "How did it go?"

Right. Jimin’s face popped in your mind at the question. Biting your lips, you wondered who he was and why was he almost nice to you when he had paid for you. "Weird."

"Weird how?"

You sighed and brought your knees closer to your body, wrapping your arms around them you looked at her. "He didn’t try anything." You weren’t completely sure how you could describe Jimin’s behavior. Nice wouldn’t be the right word considering how infuriating he got and how hurtful his words had been. However, he was nothing like you had imagined your first client to be. "He was hot and out of place and was kind of a dick to me. But he was I guess not so bad? I don’t know how to define him to be honest."

"Weird indeed." Yoojin approved before pondering on the question. After working for so long in this place, she knew almost all the clients and none of them fit your description. Some of course were nice in their own way but none of them would leave without getting something in return. It didn’t make sense and it bothered Yoojin. "Did you get his name?"

"Yeah. Park Jimin."

Yoojin turned her head in slow motion to look at you, her face paler than usual which meant nothing good for you, you believed. "What? I don’t like how you’re looking at me right now. Do you know him?"

"Park Jimin?" She repeated, biting on her lips, looking awfully troubled with your words.

"Yes. You know him, don’t you?"

"I do." She nodded her head, "But are you really sure it was Park Jimin?"

"Yes!"

"Black hair, plump lips, model-like looks?"

"Okay, you’re freaking me out. Yes, the description fit him." You were ready to pounce at her and shake her like a tree so she would stop asking question and would finally tell you who exactly he was. "Should I worry?"

"He’s the big boss." Yoojin confessed

Oh.

Oh shit. No wonder nobody dared to disturb your sleep after he had left you alone in the room. Who would go against an order from the big boss himself? You felt even dumber for threatening him with your tiny knife. You probably looked like a joke to him but threatening the boss meant so much more trouble for you to come. You’re so stupid Y/N.

All you could do was to laugh.

"What’s so funny?"

"Oh nothing." You managed to say between two laugh, "Except I tried to kill your boss."

✼

Maybe trying to kill your boss was a very bad idea. And just maybe, for a short moment you regretted your stupid choice. What were you thinking? Even if the one you tried to kill wasn’t Jimin, what would it have changed? Nobody could help you to get out of this place. Yet.

Now you were left alone, pacing around in your room and biting on your fingernails, anxious and heart ready to explode with all this pressure. Ever since you got back to your room, you couldn’t go back to sleep, your brain playing over and over again the encounter with Jimin. You prayed for him to be nice enough and not tell Jack about what happened; praying that you wouldn’t have to deal with another beating. Praying was the only thing you could do while waiting for your sentence.

"He can’t be worse than Jack, can he?" You wondered out loud, stopping in the middle of your room. You didn’t want to think about the worst case scenario but it was hard not to.

Speaking of the devil, Jack entered your room without knocking, startling you in the process. He looked at you with a raised brow, surprised to see you up - but he didn’t comment. You, on the other hand, felt a huge wave of panic raising inside you. And yet, the moment you had a proper look at him, you couldn’t stop the gasp that left your mouth.

"The hell happened to your face?!" You half-yelled, forgetting for a second that this man was your worst nightmare and that his presence in your room only meant trouble.

"Nothing." He quickly dismissed your question.

Yeah sure, whatever floats your boat, you wanted to say but decided for the sake of your body not to test his patience. You waited for him to speak or maybe to yell at you or mock you, you weren’t really sure. But to your utter surprise, Jack didn’t say a thing, he simply stared at you, judging you - but for what? You didn’t know and weren’t sure you wanted to.

"Is there something on my face?" You asked and instantly slapped yourself mentally. Of course there was something on your face, for example the bruise that mirrored his own. Except his looked way much worse which made you wonder what happened to him in a space of few hours only.

"I don’t get it." Jack finally declared with a long and exasperated sigh. More he looked at you and less he understood Jimin’s decision. There was absolutely nothing special about you, in his opinion at least. Yes, you were a pretty girl, yes you were feisty and witted (what could become a problem later, but apart from that, he didn’t understand.

"Can you be more specific?"

"Jimin asked to see you right now."

Oh. Was it a good, you weren’t so sure. But seeing how Jack was speaking to you, you realized that maybe he wasn’t here to beat the crap out of you after all, maybe he wasn’t even aware of what you had done - it was somehow comforting. But why would Jimin want to see you again?

"Why?" You said more to yourself than to him.

"Exactly my point." He groaned and ruffled his hair in frustration. "What did you do to impress him so much?"

You hesitated between lying and telling him the truth. You chose the latter. "Actually, nothing."

Jack blinked, confused. "Nothing?" It seemed unlikely to him. He knew his boss and he had a hard time believing that he wouldn’t try something with a newbie. "Nothing at all?"

"Nothing exciting." You confirmed

"No?"

"Except if talking for you is exciting." There was one thing exciting about that night but you couldn’t possibly tell him, mainly because you didn’t know how he would react.

✼

On your way to Jimin’s office, Jack kept glancing at you, nervous clearly which didn’t help to sooth your poor nerves. You believed, it wasn’t a very good sign that Jimin ordered to see you. What if he wanted to punish you himself? And what kind of punishment? Better not to think about it.

Jack brought you to the highest floor of the building which made you wonder just how big this place actually was. You didn’t have a chance to see it from outside, but from inside it was already huge. You knew for instance that the bar was underground. The rooms where you and the rest of the girls stayed were on the second and third floor - lowest level and lowest level in ranks you guessed.

Jack knocked at the door, he looked too anxious, hand shaking as he waited for a reply.

"Come in."

Your body reacted first, jolting at the sound of his familiar sweet voice (that didn’t sound so sweet anymore but maybe it was just your imagination). You followed Jack inside but stayed far behind him, hiding the best you could from Jimin’s eyes. You looked everywhere but at him. And what a sight!

Jimin’s office was big, luxurious and quite comfortable too. Huge wooden desk by the window, wooden bookshelves that covered a big part of the walls. A black leather couch in the middle of the room along with two leather armchairs, a wooden coffee table and a beige rug (which looked nice and soft but you bet if anything bad happened in this room it would be a pain in the ass to clean). All in all, Jimin had great taste.

"You can leave us." Jimin ordered and Jack gladly obliged, all too eager to leave the room. Then, Jimin’s attention was fully on you. Jimin observed you from behind his desk, amused that you refused to meet his eyes.

"Are you nervous, Y/N?" He asked despite knowing already the answer.

"Should I?" You asked instead, still not looking at him, you found the rug particularly interesting.

"Look at me when I’m talking to you."

You averted your eyes from the floor and looked at him. Jimin was smirking, enjoying a little too much your sudden obedience.

"I presume you know who I am."

"I do."

Jimin left his place and walked towards you, hands in his pocket, he looked just as good as in your memories except this time his eyes were dark and you were fully aware of how dangerous he actually was.

Your body moved on its own once more, taking a step back as he got closer to you. You were so close to turn your back and run away as fast as you could; an attempt that would lead you to even more trouble but Jimin’s presence was overwhelming.

He stopped right in front of you, too close for your liking. "You’re scared."

Of course you were. What did he think?

"Are you going to kill me?" You finally dared to ask the question that was haunting you ever since your learnt his identity.

"Kill you? Why would I kill you, Y/N?" He reached out a hand and touched your cheek - you flinched, unable to control yourself. "I paid for you, remember?"

You didn’t like how he and Jack sounded alike, talking about you as if you were a thing, a toy to play with and not a human being. It annoyed you to no end - you slapped his hand and glared angrily at him.

And here you thought Jack was bad.

Jimin was taken aback with your daring behavior (it was a second time now and he didn’t want it to become a habit) and if it was someone else he would have punched the person. It amused him to see that despite being scared of him, you managed to get over it as soon as he mentioned some sensitive topics. It should have annoyed him, he didn’t have time for those games and yet he found himself wishing to find out more about you. He wanted to push you and see how far you could endure.

Without a warning he grabbed the back of your head and pulled you closer, grabbing a fist of your hair he made you look at him. Jimin’s face was so close to yours, his warm breath ghosting over your lips. His eyes darted back and forth between your eyes and your lips.

"Let’s make things clear, Y/N." He almost growled at you, his voice low and rough. "You’re now working for me and you have absolutely no saying in that. You can resist all you want but I can promise you that you won’t like the consequences. Am I making myself clear?"

Asshole, you thought. "Yes."

"Yes what?

He pulled at your hair and you winced - you closed your eyes for a second, refusing to let the tears spill. "Yes sir."

"Good girl." He hummed in satisfaction. "Play by my rules and no real harm would be done to you."

Jimin let go of you. You hurried to put some space between you two in case he would try something else.

He didn’t.

Don’t judge a book by its cover they say. It worked so well for Park Jimin. With his looks, he deceived you and you fell right in his trap.

✼

Two days.

You hadn’t seen or heard from Jimin or even from Jack for two whole days. You weren’t complaining. While they stayed away and more importantly left you by yourself, without asking to work, it left you time to think.

Obviously, this whole situation didn’t please you; you still wanted to leave. But you weren’t stupid and you learnt your lesson. No, running away was not for today or tomorrow. But you believed it was possible. It would require a lot of patience, of wits, of strategy and above all you needed to accept to sell your body.

You felt sick to the stomach but you needed to be strong, you needed to hope in order to survive. They would need to get more creative if they wanted you to crack.

You plopped down on your bed, tired but determined to make it work. Tonight was the night, you decided.

✼✼✼

When someone knocked at your door, you supposed it would be Yoojin since she was the only one in this place bothering to knock. Instead, you were met with a man whose face seemed familiar and yet you couldn’t pinpoint from where.

He stood stiff, awfully awkwardly, his eyes looking everywhere but at you which made you raise a brow at him. It was a first; someone was actually nervous around you. Before you could ask him who he was and what he wanted, he handed you a bag, shoving it almost in your arms. Clearly, he wanted to be far from you and you didn’t know why.

"You’re expected tonight. Wear what’s inside." He blurted out

"Was about time." You mumbled to yourself. There was definitely something fishy about them not making you work for two days. But then again, maybe Jimin decided to give you time to think. Unlikely.

"I-Ehrm" He stuttered, "Yoojin will help you." And with that he ran away. Literally.

You stood at your door, tilting your head to the side, you really didn’t understand where this sudden nervousness came from. Why would someone be afraid of you?

"What a weirdo."

Closing the door, you took few steps before checking what was inside the bag. You presumed it would contain another too provocative nightgown, however what you found inside was a dress , a pair of black high heels and a note. You took them out of the bag but your eyes kept glued to the note.

"I’m sure it’ll look good on you. Show me what you can do. - Jimin."

An exaggerated sigh escaped your mouth. No pressure. At all.

The dress, Jimin had chosen for you, was black and short. Extremely short, to the point you were sure everybody would see your ass. The dress was sleeveless, plain but with a nice touch of lace on the back, making it see through. If only it was longer, you would have truly loved it.

✼

"Where are we going?" You asked Yoojin as she led you through halls and stairs that were unfamiliar too. Weren’t you supposed to work tonight? Wouldn’t she bring you back to the stupid red room?

"Last time, you were brought straight to the room but usually we first meet in the club, it’s right under the building."

"So this place isn’t really a brothel."

"No. It’s hidden and only elites know about this place."

"So your clients are usually rich, influential old geezers?" You hoped not.

Yoojin chuckled at that as you got inside the lift. "Some. But not all of them. Some are even cute."

You had a hard time to believe that. You crossed your arms over your chest, judging her. "With some weird kinks, I’m sure."

"No." Yoojin first replied, but then, seeing your unconvinced face made her reconsider her answer. "Fine. Some do have weird kinks. But hey, no kink shaming in this place."

You rolled your eyes but agreed silently. "So. How does it work?"

"Depends. It will be different for you. I usually see the same men. But for you, I suppose Jack will introduce you to some and from there we’ll see who will ask for you."

"Then I hope they won’t like me."

Yoojin eyed you from head to toe before laughing at you. "Yeah, you can hope but it won’t happen."

✼

The moment you stepped in the club, you were particularly surprised by its size. Other the fact that it was underground, it was huge, luxurious, loud. Instead of having a dance floor, there was a bar. Couches were all around the places with men wearing expensive clothes (no doubt, they were the elite Yoojin was talking about), young, old, she was right. Women were either already sitting on some men’s laps or were dancing for some. But what grabbed your attention almost instantly was the area at the back: Jimin was here with a girl sitting on his laps, laughing, touching him while he drank whiskey.

"Why is he here?" You mumbled more to yourself than to someone in particular but Yoojin heard you and knew right away who you were talking about.

"He comes often. Mainly to see his favorite toy." By the way Yoojin said the word ‘toy’, you realized whoever she was talking about was someone she didn’t like. More like she hated this person.

"But I don’t see her." She finished, glancing all around the place.

You were about to ask her some more questions, she awoke your curiosity after all, but before you could do it, your eyes met Jimin’s and suddenly your questions didn’t matter anymore. He was looking back at you, ignoring completely the girl on his laps, instead he licked his lips, thumb rubbing the edge of his glass.

Shit. His sight should have annoyed you, made you angry even, after all you were forced to be in this place not only because of your father but because of this man too, but instead you found yourself checking him up.

"Y/N?" Yoojin waved her hand before your eyes to interrupt your staring contest with Jimin.

You averted your eyes from Jimin to look at a very disapproving Yoojin, she wasn’t approving the little game that you were playing. "What."

She shook her head. "Follow me, you’ll need a drink."

A drink could be some good, you agreed. You followed to the impressive bar in the middle of the room. Some men turned their head on your way, checking you out. You ignored their stares, clenching your fists you tried not to show how their eyes on you bothered you. You reminded yourself what you were here for but it wasn’t a big help.

"Hey Myungsoo, two shots of vodka please." Yoojin asked the cute barman.

The so called Myungsoo did his job right away, handing you the shooters before winking playfully at you. You had to admit that to see some friendly faces in this place was somehow comforting.

"I suppose you’re the new girl?" Myungsoo asked knowing already the answer.

"Y/N." You simply answered and grabbed the shooter, emptying it in one go.

He whistled, impressed and filled your shooter right away. "I like her."

"Too bad she’s not for you." Yoojin pointed her shooter at him. "You’re too poor."

He put his hand over his chest, feigning hurt. "You’re breaking my heart sweet Yoojin." Then, he looked at you. "Don’t become like her please."

You actually laughed at their antics. Maybe, just maybe, you could make some friends in this shit hole after all.

Holding your second shooter of vodka you turned your back to the counter and leaned back against it, watching the people around you before your eyes couldn’t stop themselves but wander to Jimin. You expected him to go back to his business with the girl, instead he was now alone and watching you. You quirked a brow at him, wondering what he was doing.

But maybe staring at him for so long wasn’t your brightest idea. You were supposed to show him tonight that you accepted your fate and would work for him and yet here you were, drinking and looking at him.

You licked your lips, eyes still on him, before emptying your shooter. His face twitched and a frown formed on his face.

"Stop." Yoojin scolded you. "Don’t provoke him."

You batted your lashes innocently at her, feigning not understanding her when in fact she was perfectly right. You were provoking him. Why, you didn’t know yourself, or maybe you wanted to prove him something.

"He’s not someone you should mess with."

"Yeah. I noticed."

"Y/N."

You ignored her. Not because she was nagging at you. Hell, she was the only person in this hell hole who was actually nice to you, but it was time to work and you had an idea of what you would do to get yourself your first client. You winked at her as you took off your high heels that were killing your feet and would get in your way.

"What are you-" She started saying but stopped right in the middle as you got on top of the bar counter, attracting already some attention as you did so.

"Hey Myungsoo, do you mind moving some bottles-"

"And change the music?" He finished for you, guessing immediately what you were about to do. "You better do as good as in Coyotte Girl."

"But a more sluttier version right?"

He laughed at that and followed your request right away. The music got louder which made people look around, feeling like something was about to happen but they didn’t know what.

Yoojin, however, understood. She shook her head in amusement. She stepped back to let some men take her spot, crossed her arms over her chest and waited patiently for the show to begin.

Dancing on a counter wasn’t your first time. Back in college, whenever some parties got too wild you would join your friends on the counter and would dance, sometimes just for the sake of dancing and being seen and sometimes to get yourself a guy for the night. But you never had to dance wearing a tight dress that shower pretty much everything.

As the music played, you took few steps, swinging your hips, you passed by Myungsoo who gave you a reassuring smile - whenever he was sincere or not it didn’t matter because it still gave you the push you needed to lose yourself.

Your body moved with the flow of the music; you forgot all about the place you were, you forgot about the people gawking at you. Instead, you imagined being back at one of those wild parties.

While you danced, some gathered around, admiring closely how you moved your body, trying to reach for you. If at first, it almost broke your concentration, you remembered quickly why you were doing it in the first place. So you played with them. You approached one who looked like the calmest and almost out of place, just like you. You smiled at him, as innocently as you could, before sliding easily from the counter to get to him.

At first, you brushed his arm with your fingertips, liking how he shuddered with just a light touch. then, you got bolder, getting closer to him, turning your back to him, you pressed yourself harder against him, grinding shamelessly against him. You felt his bulge right against your ass - he put his hands on your hips, hesitant but you helped him by grabbing his hands and putting them on you.

Turning around in his arms, you smiled sweetly until someone else grabbed your attention. Jimin was no longer at his place, instead he stood behind Yoojin. He held his drink tightly, knuckles turning white as he stared at you, eyes darker than ever. He looked intimidating and you would have cowered before him if it wasn’t for the man holding you. No, you wouldn’t let him scare you this time.

You pecked the young man’s lips, thanking him (you weren’t sure for what) before leaving him. When you looked back at Yoojin, Jimin was gone. You ignored the uneasy feeling and joined Yoojin.

"How was it?" You asked, willing to hear any comments, critics. It was your first time after all.

"It got their attention." She shrugged nonchalantly but she kept smiling. "You did a good job."

And you couldn’t help but smile back.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Jack interrupted you, clapping his hands. "That was very interesting."

Despite it being a compliment (at least it sounded like one but you couldn’t know for sure with Jack), you decided not to comment.

"The guy you danced for, I’m sure he’d want to book you." Jack ignored your silent treatment, unfazed.

Good, you thought. At least he looked like a decent guy. Well, as decent as this place allowed to be.

"But sadly for him, someone else already asked for you." He cut short to your trail of thoughts.

Yoojin frowned beside you while you were left speechless.

"Who?"

"You’ll see."

"Please tell me it’s not Jimin." You didn’t mind having him watching you but you weren’t sure you would be able to handle him in private a second time.

Jack laughed. "It’s not Jimin. But I’m not sure he’s any better."

"Wonderful."

✼

Jack told you it wasn’t Jimin who asked for you and yet the moment you got inside the room, only one thought lingered in your mind: either Jimin had a long lost twin or Jack lied. Probably the latter.

"Not Jimin my ass." You mumbled to yourself as you got inside the room, only to be met with no other than Park Jimin, sitting on the bed and watching you with a smirk. "What are you doing here, Jimin?"

You closed the door behind you with a sigh. You were determined to follow your plan but Jimin’s presence shattered your resolution. Of course, he was good looking and tempting but you knew what he was and you couldn’t forget his words. Would you be able to ignore your anger and please him? You doubted.

"You surprised me, Y/N." Jimin confessed as he got back on his feet and approached you. "I enjoyed your little show."

Yeah you looked pissed as hell. You chose not to comment.

Jimin reached out his hand and moved a strand of your hair behind your ear. His eyes were on your face, watching your reaction (or lack of it); he seemed different from back at the club. Less angry, eyes more gentle. It was quite unsettling.

"Are you going to be good, Y/N?"

Tempted to say no, you decided not to act on your emotions, instead you grabbed him by the collar, grip tight around it, eyes on him. You wanted him to stop talking and get over with it – you pulled at him harshly, forcing him at your level, you crushed your mouth to his. Jimin chuckled at your sudden eagerness, knowing all too well how you truly felt about your situation but he admired your determination.

Wrapping his arms around you, he brought you even closer to him, leaving absolutely no space between your bodies. He deepened the kiss, tongue sliding easily between your parted lips as his hands moved from your back to your ass – he gave it a strong squeeze and you couldn’t stop moaning into the kiss. He sure knew how to make a woman go weak for him. You were no exception.

Jimin’s lips felt divine against yours, you had to admit it to yourself at least. Despite you kissing only to shut him up, Jimin had turned it into something more. His lips, his tongue dancing with yours, it was slow and gentler than you expected. He made you feel things you didn’t want to feel in a place like this.

‘It can be fun.’ He told you once. He was right but it didn’t make it easier.

“Let me take care of you.” His request sounded like a plead; his forehead pressed against yours, you were both left breathless, panting, dizzy and yet wanting more.

Best word to describe Jimin? Tempting.

You closed your eyes, pondering over his words. It was too damn tempting and yet so dangerous. “Stop.” He was being too much, acting all sweet. “Don’t act all sweet.”

“Why not?” He asked genuinely confused. Wasn’t it after all what you wanted? What you preferred?

“Because we both know that tomorrow you’ll be back to your old self and I can’t handle it.”

Jimin closed his eyes for a short moment; he understood what you were trying to say but he couldn’t stop himself. You were a temptation, a sweet sin he wanted to indulge himself in. He couldn’t ignore those pretty big eyes nor could he resist it.

When he opened his eyes again, he pecked your lips. “You’re right. But I can’t help it. You bring out the soft side of me.” He lifted you from the floor and you wrapped your legs tightly around his waist. Jimin looked with fondness at you. “Must be your pretty eyes.” And he kissed them. “Or those pretty lips.”

You were left speechless with his gentleness. You let him carry you to the bed, unable to speak, unable to think straight, you were lost in his eyes, with his soft kisses. Your heart raced, excited, overwhelmed – park Jimin was a dangerous man for your poor heart.

Jimin dropped you on the bed. You were all too aware of what was going to happen tonight but instead of shivering in fear, you found yourself actually wishing to see what Jimin could do to you. It was pure madness and probably you would feel guilty about it in the morning but now? You couldn’t ignore the handsome man standing by the bed, looking at you with so much lust and hunger in his eyes. He wanted you, all of you and for tonight you were willing to give it to him.

Biting on your lips, you shoved the little voice in your head in a mental locker, making sure it wouldn’t disturb you for the night. To hell the consequences. To hell this place. Tonight, you wanted to make it all about yourself and this man.

Without breaking the eye contact, Jimin got on the bed, crawling slowly to get to your feet. He grabbed your right ankle, his hand feeling hotter than ever against your skin, as he pulled at it, bringing you closer to him. He put his hands on your knees, gently parting them to make room for him – you let him do it.

“Should I worry?” He smiled, hands stroking your knees with feather like touches.

“About what?”

“You being so calm and obedient?”

In response, you playfully kicked his thigh with your knee which only made him laugh. “Here, I’m not obedient. Happy?”

Jimin pinched your skin right under your right knee, shaking his head in half disapproval and half amusement. “Better.”

You waited for his next move, expectantly, heart beating even faster as his eyes darkened and he lowered himself to the level of your knees. Jimin pressed first his cheek to your knee, eyes still on you, staring right into your soul. You were completely captivated, under his spell, your breath hitched in your throat and then he pressed his lips to your knee, kissing it once, twice. It felt too intimate, leaving you breathless and begging silently for more. And more he gave you.

Jimin’s lips travelled from your knee to your thigh. He took it slow, covering every inch of your exposed skin with kisses, biting your tender flesh here and there, making sure to leave marks on your body. His lips explored your body, drawing an invisible map on your skin. He hiked your dress up, exposing your now completely ruined panties. Instead of taking them off, he smirked and bit right at the curve of your hipbone – an almost inaudible moan escaped your lips as you arched your back at the sting. Jimin was having his way with you, going slow just to rile you up, pushing all your buttons to see how long it would take you to actually beg him to take you. Maybe, if you weren’t already so needy, you would have realized it.

“Jimin.” You looked at him upset and yet pleading him with your eyes.

“What is it?” He hummed, his warm breath hitting your covered heat. You felt it, whining, wanting more, wanting to feel those plump lips on you. Jimin understood it but wanted to play more. He hovered over you, smirking. “You want something?”

You bit on your lips “Touch me.”

“And what exactly am I doing?” He attacked your neck, peppering it with kisses to distract you from whatever you were trying to say.

“Not enough.” You tried to sound upset but your body betrayed you by shivering as he bit on your collarbone.

“Hm, aren’t you the one who supposed to be pleasing me?”

You little shit. Got me all bothered only to change your mind! You almost wanted to punch him. Instead, you grabbed his forearms that felt incredibly firm under your palms, and with a strong and swift move of your hips you switched positions. Jimin was now laying under you, looking amused and pleased with your sudden reaction.

“You’re so infuriating!” You complained, “I hope you know that.”

“Usually, they cower in fear before me and beg for mercy.” He replied smugly and gave your ass a nice slap.

You jolted at the spank before rolling your eyes at him and choosing not to answer his provocation. No matter how tempting it was. You grabbed his belt, struggling to get rid of it as you were in rush. You threw it on the floor, then you tug at both his jeans and boxers, exposing his body. You were curious to see if his body was just as good as his face.

Sadly, it was.

Mouth watering, you let your hands wander on his legs, halting on his impressive, strong thighs; you let your hands feel his muscles that tensed under your touch. Jimin really didn’t disappoint. But then, your eyes fell on his cock. Pretty cock. Half hard, waiting for you. You licked your lips, imaging just how good his cock would stretch you.

"Like what you see?" Jimin’s voice interrupted your contemplation. "It’s all yours."

You chose not to respond and got back on top of him, sitting right on top of his throbbing cock that wanted all your attention. Soon. There was still one unsatisfying thing: this stupid half opened shirt. Mercilessly you ripped/torn the shirt, buttons flying in all directions.

Yes, Jimin was perfect from head to toe. How fair was that?

You ran your hands across his toned chest, like how warm, soft and firm his skin felt.

"Hm, I think you really like what you see."

"I haven't decided yet."

"Liar." He dug his fingers into your skin but it didn't bother you, quite the contrary, you liked the slight burning sensation that it brought.

"Don't think so."

You cupped his face between your hands and captured his lips, making sure he wouldn't make any more unwanted comments. You had found a very nice way (for both of you) to shut him up. At least it was what you told yourself when in fact you just wanted to kiss him again.

Kissing Jimin was like kissing fire. Hot, dangerous, intoxicating and terribly addicting. He kissed you back just as eagerly, just as needy.

Jimin grabbed the edge of your dress and pulled it over your head, breaking the kiss (only for a second but a second that seemed like eternity), freeing your body. The fresh air of the room hit your skin that was set on fire with just his touches, with just his lustful gaze. You shivered and pressed yourself harder against him, wanting to feel more of his warmth.

"Jimin." You mewled against his lips, "Please touch me."

Jimin actually obeyed (only because he couldn't stop himself anymore). He reached for your breasts and God they were so perfect, perfect size for his hands. You were a nice addition to his girls, he knew it from the start, but seeing you naked on top of him, lips beautifully swollen, hair messy, pupils blown, he found you beyond gorgeous. And he didn't feel like sharing you with any other man. With this thought on mind, Jimin shifted under you, now sitting, he captured one nipple between his plump lips, sucking, flicking his tongue over it. You arched your back, hands immediately latching on his soft hair, pulling his face even closer to your chest.

"Shit." You moaned, slowly losing yourself. "Jimin."

"Mmh?" He hummed and bit lightly your nipple earning this time a moan much more louder.

As you moaned for him, you felt his cock twitching under you. The only thing that still separated you from him was your pretty much ruined with your arousal panties.

"I want you." You admitted

Jimin smiled against your skin, lips travelings from the valley of your breasts to your neck, kissing your delicate flesh, nipping at it, leaving more marks on you.

"Mine." The first 'mine was a whisper but followed by a bite. "I won't let anybody have you." And here came another bite. "Mine." He whispered to your ear. "My beautiful girl, let me ruin."

"Jimin!" You whined, his words echoing in your head, affecting you so badly. Simple words that sent a shock of arousal between your legs.

Maybe if you weren't feeling so light-headed you would have got mad over his possessiveness but now you were too needy. You didn't know whenever he really meant his words or if he too was lost in his own pleasure - it didn't matter anymore.

With little strength that was left in you, you pushed him from you, only to slid your hand in between your bodies and grabbed his cock. Giving him few pumps, you led him to your heat, pushing your panties to the side, you coated him with some more of your arousal. The tip brushed lightly your clit but it was enough to make you gasp and shudder at the feeling. God, you couldn't wait any longer. Your body was craving him just as badly as your mind.

"Baby." Jimin groaned as his hands found your hips right away, fingers digging into your skin.

Inch by inch, you guided him inside you, relishing in the feeling. His cock stretched you nice and good, filling you slowly. You bit your lips, trying desperately to control your body, control your shaking. You held Jimin's arms to support yourself as you completely sank down on him, your pussy taking all of him.

You both groaned.

"You're so tight." His hands moved to your ass, kneading it before giving a harsh slap - you cried out his name and clenched around him.

You weren't sure what made you lose your mind. Was it his hands? Was it his cock that filled you to the brim? Or was it his sexy growls? Either way, you couldn't think straight and you couldn't hold back your moans.

Wrapping your arms around his neck, you leant to claim his lips. You lifted yourself till only the tip of his cock was still inside before lowering yourself back. More deeper, more stronger.

"You feel so good." You mewled as you started moving.

At first, you set a slow, delicious yet torturous pace. With every move, you felt him reaching deeper inside you, hitting all the right places. You moaned softly, face pressed against his shoulder.

"Jimin." You breathed, "God, you feel so so good."

Jimin, on the other hand, had to fight back the urge to take control over your hips, wanting to thrust harder and faster. He wanted to completely owe you. His grip, instead, on your hips tightened as you clenched again around him. He was slowly losing it, drowning in pure pleasure; your soft whimpers, your wetness and tightness was driving him mad.

"Shit Y/N, faster." Jimin growled

And you obeyed willingly; moving faster now but still not enough for Jimin's liking. He pulled at your hips, making you move to the pace he wanted.

"Jimin!" You gasped as a particular strong thrust made you throw your head back and close your eyes in pure bliss. You knew that if Jimin kept this pace you wouldn't last. There was no way you could.

"You're so good for me, baby girl." He praised you, peppering your face with kisses.

"Do you want to cum, love?"

"Yes." Your voice came out weak and desperate.

Jimin smacked your ass, hard. "Louder."

"Yes!" You cried out, desperately holding on his shoulders. "Yes Jimin. Please!"

"Such a nice girl." A praise that didn't match his doing - he smacked your ass once, twice, you stopped counting and it didn't matter. You were so close, walls tightening around him until you felt it. A shattering release. Your walls convulsed around him, unable to stop, coating his cock with your release.

"So pretty." Jimin coed at you

He stopped moving, letting you come down from your high. His hands were now splayed across your back, caressing your skin, soothing your body. "And all for me."

You heard him and yet his voice wounded far from you. You tried to gather your thoughts, to concentrate on his voice but your mind was clouded with pleasure.

Jimin brushed his lips against yours, slowly resuming his thrusts, seeking for his own release. You whined against him, body too sensitive after coming so hard. You wanted to push him away, to let you a moment but one look at his handsomely fucked up face was enough to silence you. You let him used you as he wanted.

He was close and now that you looked like a mess, lips beautifully swollen, teary eyes and all sensitive, he couldn't hold any longer. With a loud and animalistic groan, he poured himself into you.

None of you moved, you stayed on top of him, head pressed to his shoulder, panting you tried to calm your aching body without much success. Jimin chuckled, without you understanding why, but his arms circled your body and he pressed you closer to his chest. He buried his face into your hair, inhaling your scent.

"You're okay?" He asked, voice gentle, soft, such a contrast after all his growls.

Unable to find your voice, you only nodded your head and looked at him. You couldn't think Jimin could look any hotter but he did. His sweating face, wet hair sticking to his eyes you couldn't refrain yourself from moving strands of hair from his eyes. He didn't look that intimidating anymore. And yet.

You rolled to the side, plopping on the bed beside him, resting on your stomach, eying him from the corner of your eyes, curious at what would happen next. You showed him that you could do this job (even if deep inside you knew you couldn't, Jimin was the exception) but you had no clue what to expect next.

Noticing your staring, Jimin laid facing you, raising a brow at you, he smiled. "What?"

"Mmh." You hummed, hesitating. "What's now?"

Your mind was now much clearer, reminding you of the words he said, reminding you of how possessive over you Jimin got. But did he mean it? And could you accept to be his? I can deal with him, you told yourself.

"How about we rest?" He pretended not understanding.

You huffed and turned your face to the other side, refusing to meet his eyes since he wanted to play coy with you. But your attempt to sulk didn't quite work on him, instead, Jimin pulled at your arm and rolled you on your back before getting on top of you.

"I know what you're trying to do." He told you, eyes twinkling in amusement.

"I-And what exactly am I trying to do?" You slapped yourself mentally for stuttering. If you wanted to show him that two could play this game you needed to toughen up and not lose to his dark eyes.

"You," Jimin grasped your chin, tilting it up he looked delighted with this game, "Are trying to drive me crazy." That wasn’t what he was planning to say but seeing your annoyed expression was just too fun.

"Now, that sounds like something you are trying to do. Not me." You objected

Jimin laughed heartily at that. "Maybe." He pecked your lips once, twice. Biting gently your lower lip, you wondered what made him suddenly so playful.

"You’re giving me a headache." You confessed

"And why is that?" Your confession didn’t seem to have much effect on him, instead his nipped at your jaw, smiling against your skin as if he knew exactly what you were about to say.

"Jimin. Seriously." You slapped his back, "You need to decide whenever you want to be an asshole or a nice guy."

He sighed and put some space between you two. You thought you had finally his attention and ready to have a nice talk. You wished. Jimin winked at you, taken you off guard before he slid down taking down the last piece of clothes that were still on you. All alarms rang in your head, Jimin, however, was faster and spread your legs widely and before you could even think of what to say, he settled face right between your legs.

"Jimin!" You protested.

Or at least tried to.

Whatever you were about to say vanished the moment Jimin buried his face in your heat, giving your pussy an experimental lick. Your body jerked forward, still sensitive and absolutely not ready for his attack.

"Not so coy now, are you?" He chuckled, enjoying how easily he managed to silence you.

"Sh-shut up."

"I will. You won’t." He promised and got back to business.

Jimin swept his tongue over your wet, hot and aching core, up and down, slowly, teasing you, tasting you. He knew from the moment he watched you riding you, he wouldn’t be able to resist, he wanted you in all possible way.

"Jimin, don’t." You begged and grabbed a fist of his hair, trying to push him away but he didn’t budge. Nothing could stop him.

He flicked his tongue, running circles around your swollen clit, giving you no time to breathe, to rest. You arched your back in response, your body acting on its own, disregarding all your mental protest.

Jimin grabbed your ass and pulled you closer to his face, pushing his tongue deep inside you.

"Jimin!" You cried out his name as you threw your head back, grabbing the sheets beneath you tightly, you held for your dear life.

He pulled out only to swirl his tongue over your clit causing you to gasp loudly and shudder. His tongue brought pure bliss to you with every flick, with every suck - your mind turned blank.

"Nothing to say suddenly huh?" He teased, sliding easily a finger inside your dripping cunt. "Look at you. It’s still not enough for you, is it?"

How were you supposed to answer that? You barely registered his words as he drew out another particularly loud moan from you. Jimin added a second finger, stretching you once more, curling his fingers deep inside you, massaging the delicious spot that had your toes curled. He let you absolutely no moments to recover, each move of his fingers rougher and stronger, each suck on your clit harsher.

You were a crying mess. "Jimin, please."

"Hmm?"

"I-" But you couldn’t say it, drowning in pleasure.

Tears pricked at the corner of your eyes as you felt another powerful orgasm getting closer. "Please, let me cum."

"Do you want to now?" He teased

"Yes, yes, please!" You were so close and Jimin happily obliged.

You shuddered uncontrollably as you came apart hard, vision fading to black. You thought your first orgasm was powerful enough and yet Jimin proved you that he could wreck you, ruin you with just the power of his magical tongue and fingers.

Jimin took out his fingers and brought his fingers closer to his mouth while watching you completely wasted. He licked his fingers, slowly, sensually; his eyes were dark and still filled with lust - you almost came again.

"Tasty." He hummed in satisfaction and leaned to kiss you, sharing your taste with you.

You were in trouble.

#jimin #bts #bts smut #bts fanfic #bts fic #bts x reader #jimin x reader #jimin smut #bts scenario #bts imagine #chapter 2 #release my heart

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one-boring-person · 4 years

Text

I Trust You.

Marko (The Lost Boys) x Chiraptophobic!reader

Warnings: very vague mention of abuse, but they do not apply to the reader necessarily.

Context: The reader suffers from chiraptophobia (the fear of physical human contact/touch) and has somehow found themself in a friendship with Marko, who has somehow managed to understand how to not constantly need to touch his friend to show affection, until they take a ride on the Ferris wheel.

A/N: This was interesting to write, so j hope it's turned out alright. I guess I took a little inspiration from Death Stranding's Sam, but I thought it would be fun to do which it was. I hope it's enjoyable!😊💛

Masterlist

It took Marko weeks to finally figure out why I always shied away from his advances, why I'd stared uncomfortably at his offered hand until he withdrew it when he'd tried to shake mine in greeting, why I always wore gloves even in the suffocatingly hot summer air (despite him doing the same), and why I wouldn't go near people I don't know personally, often doing my hardest to steer clear of others in general. Rather than ask, he tried to work it out for himself, observing my behaviour and mannerisms for hours on end, though he still couldn't get what was up with my actions. He'd had to ask for some help from the others, though only David and Dwayne could offer any plausible reasons as to why: maybe I'd been abused in my past and was now averse to unfamiliar human contact, or maybe I was a germophobe. When the young vampire had asked me about both, I'd quickly denied them, thinking that it is unlikely he'd understand the real reason for my odd behaviour. It was only when he saw another person try to shake my hand that he finally noticed the emotion passing through my eyes at the prospect, at which point it all clicked into place. I was afraid of the contact.

Explaining to him what chiraptophobia is was surprisingly easy, though he was a little disappointed by this fact, being a very touch-driven person when around others, even when not in a relationship, though he did manage to take it in his stride, taking time to inform the boys of this as well, in case one of them accidentally made me uncomfortable. He'd nearly ripped Paul's head off when the taller vampire tried to wrap his arm around my shoulders, only letting up when I told him it was alright, that there was no harm done, despite how uneasy I felt afterwards. Since then, Marko has become almost like a bodyguard for me, making sure no one ever comes into my personal space, all while keeping his distance, too, respecting my limits.

We became fast friends, so much so that he eventually told me his secret, revealing his true self to me on one of the nights we chose to hang out together, alone, on the beach, a night I'd never forget. Naturally, I'd been shaken by this revelation, but soon grew used to the idea, knowing that my friend would never hurt me, not intentionally. After a few months, I finally felt comfortable enough to let him touch my gloved hand, though it still made me feel a little uneasy, the sensation of another person's fingers on mine unfamiliar and disturbing to me, but it made the vampire unbelievably happy, a bright smile plastering itself across his face for the rest of the night. He tells me he had to fight off the urge to hug me, for which I'm very grateful - touching a covered hand is very different to being enveloped in an embrace. Since then, he's taken any chance he can get to hold or touch my hand, always beaming like a beacon when he does so, my discomfort in the contact fading a little over time, though I'd soon found that it was only with the curly haired blonde that my body reacted like this, having asked Dwayne to try at some point, to see if it improved overall. Having come up negative in this test, I gave contact one last try with David, who never seems to take off his gloves, only to find that his touch made me uneasy as much as Dwayne's had, despite the two layers of cloth between our respective fingertips. The memory still sets me on edge, though I am well aware it has nothing to do with either David or Dwayne, rather my own mentality.

A shiver goes up my spine as I feel a hand slip into mine, though I quickly recognise the young vampire stepping in beside me, my stance relaxing again when my body realises whose touch it is, though my arm still remains a little tense, out of habit. Reassuringly, Marko swipes a thumb over the back of my glove, glad that I haven't rejected the contact yet, meaning I'm doing better than normal.

"Hey Stranger." He greets, grinning widely at me.

"Hey Blondie." I reply, smiling back at him in return, before casting a quick glance around for the others, "What'd you do with the other three?"

"They're around. Not sure where." The young vampire shrugs, dismissing the question quickly, "How was your day?"

"Not too bad. I didn't get much work done though, I was too preoccupied."

"Preoccupied? With what?" Marko inquires, raising an eyebrow at me in confusion, though his lips are still quirked up into an amused curve.

"That's for me to know, and for you to figure out." I chuckle, tapping the side of my nose secretively.

"Challenge accepted." He smirks, eyes lighting up at the prospect.

I smile at him as we walk, knowing he'll figure it out eventually, the answer being a little closer to home than he thinks.

"Anyway, how'd you sleep?" I question him, eyeing the Ferris wheel off to the side of the Boardwalk.

"Better than usual, actually."

"Oh yeah? How come?"

"Paul didn't snore so much for once, and David wasn't muttering in his sleep either, so it was pretty quiet, altogether." He explains, smiling when I laugh at the mention of David.

"Wait, David talks in his sleep?"

"Yeah, but you can't tell anyone! And especially don't tell him that I told you, or I'll have my ass kicked to the moon and back." Marko grins, biting his thumb as if nervous, though I'm aware that this is one of his signature mannerisms.

"That's a lot of ass-kicking. Probably quite impressive to watch. " I muse, noticing his arm lift slightly, as if to give me a playful slap on the arm, as he normally would've done with someone else, only to briefly squeeze my hand instead, shaking his head in mock exasperation. I grin at him, before turning my gaze back towards the Ferris wheel, admiring the glittering lights in the black night sky, wondering what the view is like up there.

"Wanna take a ride?" Marko interrupts my thoughts, eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Huh?" I blurt out, not having heard his question, quickly snapping my eyes back to his.

"Do you wanna go on the wheel with me?" He repeats, gesturing with a nod of the head to the great circular structure a little way away.

"I would love to, but I don't have any money on me tonight. I forgot my change." I say, somewhat remorsefully, using my free hand to pat my pockets to check for any loose coins, though I'm well aware I have none, having spent it all on food earlier in the evening.

"Who said anything about you paying? Come on, it'll be fun!" The blonde vampire promises, pulling me into the crowd, which parts around us thanks to his reputation (and choice of company), meaning no one comes into touching distance. At one point, my arm brushes past some surfer's bare bicep, which sends uncomfortable shivers and goosebumps through my body, the bitter, irrational fear that comes with it soon biting at the back of my mind, my pulse picking up slightly in response, my muscles turning rigid under my clothes. Marko notices this, briefly stopping to make sure I'm ok, before turning to memorize the surfer's face, most likely intending to take it up with him later, before we continue on, swiftly reaching the shortening queue for the Ferris wheel. Beside me, Marko fidgets and shifts in place, clearly eager to get on the rotating structure, his thumb between his teeth as usual, doe eyes focused on the ticket booth.

"Calm down, Blondie. The wheel isn't going anywhere." I laugh, watching the people around us as they amble to and fro, inching out of the way as a group of made-up girls push past, wincing as I brush against Marko, only to feel surprised when I don't feel the usual discomfort rising up in me from the contact, setting a train of thought into motion. I barely notice as the queue diminishes, only really returning to the present when we reach the booth, at which point Marko buys two tickets and leads me into one of the seats. An attendant comes over to help us secure ourselves, but Marko quickly stares him down, doing the job himself with efficiency.

Not too long after, we've reached a decent way off from the ground, our feet swinging gently in the air as we watch the Boardwalk from above, grinning and joking with each other as we take it in turns pointing out random individuals, making comments about them until the other laughs. At one point, the young vampire manages to spot David, Dwayne and Paul, making some sort of remark about how the leader's hair "looks like a pineapple from the top", before comparing the latter's to a mop. I do my best to hold back my laughter, but it only results in me nearly choking as he starts pointing out more and more likenesses between his friends and everyday objects, tears threatening to spill as I struggle to contain myself. It is only in this moment, that I realise one thing, but it takes me a couple more minutes to act on the thought that has sprung to mind.

Slowly, I pull off my left glove, teasing each finger out of their designated space with a deliberate hesitation, wriggling them a bit once I've exposed them to the air, enjoying the sensation of the light breeze around my heated digits. Marko makes a point of ignoring this, turning his gaze up to the star-strewn sky instead, only to snap his eyes back to mine when he feels a single finger touch the skin of his hand. Gingerly, I trace it over his knuckle, expecting to feel a rush of discomfort, my movements careful and calculated, knowing this is the first time in years that I've had deliberate contact with another person's skin. From my fingertip, it feels as if an electric shock has travelled through me, butterflies suddenly appearing in my stomach. Biting my lip when nothing bad happens, I continue this movement with the rest of my fingers, cautiously slipping my hand into his, enjoying the feeling of his icy cold palm against my warmed one, my eyes finding his shocked ones as our fingers intertwine. In them, I find a tonne of questioning, though he makes no move to actually ask, instead remaining quiet, carefully tightening his grip around my hand as he tries his best to feel as much of my soft skin as he can, the calluses from the handlebars of his bike rubbing slightly.

"What does this mean?" He eventually queries, elated that he can finally hold my hand without a glove being in the way.

"It means that I trust you. I've had no reaction to your contact, and I think it's because I enjoy being with you, and also because you've increased my confidence levels a lot since we first met. I've been trying to figure out why I'm ok with you touching me and no one else all day, which is why I was too preoccupied to work, but I finally worked it out." I inform him, telling him part of the truth - in reality, my trust goes a lot further than wanting a platonic friendship.

Marko is quiet for a moment, as if not quite understanding what I've told him.

"You trust me?" His voice is laced with disbelief, eyes fixing on mine again.

"I do."

Eyes widening again, he smiles, his other hand coming up, as if to try and wrap me in a hug, but the awkward positioning of the barrier, as well as the reminder of my usual discomfort, stop him in his tracks, his hand tightening around mine instead .

"I'm really glad you feel that way, (Y/n). Not many people do." He chuckles, referring to the naturally predatory air he gives off, being a vampire and all, still surprised that I let him touch me.

"I feel safe around you because I know you're my friend, but not many people can have the same claim." I point out, watching the view a little, enjoying the sight of the many glittering lights sprawled out before me, admiring the tiny orange specks of fires on the beach, as well as the rapidly moving headlights of a train passing through the outskirts of Santa Carla, most likely heading out towards the Bridge.

"Fair point." Marko agrees, still staring at our joined hands, which he continues to do until we reach the bottom of the wheel again, at which point he has to let go in order to remove the barrier from our laps. As soon as we're back on the Boardwalk, however, I slip my hand back into his, a small feeling of warmth welling up in me as I see the bright smile splitting his face, clearly happy that I've willingly made contact with him again.

A whistle behind us draws our attention, the sound belonging to a grinning Paul, who approaches us, along with David and Dwayne, who are both smiling at the sight of us, the latter more so than the former, though both seem glad to see their friend happy. As they come closer, I make eye contact with Dwayne, who lifts an eyebrow in questioning, a smirk making its way onto his face when I silently give him a nod, knowing he understands what it means.

I've fallen hard for the blonde vampire who's helped me get over my fear.

#the lost boys #joel schumacher #vampire #david(thelostboys)#paul(the lost boys)#dwayne(the lost boys)#marko(the lost boys)#santa carla #star(the lost boys)#alex winter

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