#even i could get 10k words out of a 'well this is obviously gonna end in civil war' scenario right? right??

[nostalgia-tblr]

when i finish the Sylki Adultery AU thing THEN i shall allow myself actually make a start on the Loki-rules-Jotunheim AU, where my goal is to top 10k words in a fic that doesn't have even a single baby in it.

#he's gonna fuck a frost giant tho obviously #AND NOT THOR. THIS ISN'T A THORKI FIC THEY'RE JUST TWO BROTHERS WHO CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER BROTHERINGLY. #(have had to remind myself of this fact once already D:) #this one too is based on reading Too Many Historical Novels because the basic plot is 'SUCCESSION CRISIS TIEM NAO' #it'd be real wars of the roses shit but not because in my plan loki only has three (3) allies on Jotunheim and one of those is thor :( #(see this is why he has to fuck a frost giant. to get himself some friends.) #even i could get 10k words out of a 'well this is obviously gonna end in civil war' scenario right? right?? #thanks to recent Tumblr Discourse there will absolutely be some discussion of Lauffey being too incompetent to murder a literal baby :) #(i said i wasn't making a start on it i didn't say i don't have Extensive Notes for it. i can't just not write the thoughts down.) #(i'd forget some crucial plot point and then get mad at myself) #(like the fun prologue that explains What The Fuck Was Odin Thinking. and then none of the other characters know. idk if that'll work?) #but first i have to get that adultery thing finished! ONE EPIC TALE OF SUCCESSION IN A MONARCHY AT A TIME! #PLANS!!!!!! #don't believe the hype #fic related

[hexalianrebel-blackfeathers]

 (Tickle) Fight Club

Panda's Notes: Hello, hi, yes, I have been slightly obsessing over this AU for the past few months, and I finally finished...a part. >w< Buckle in, kids, this is a lot longer than I first thought it would be. You can once again thank the lovely @rosileeduckie for facilitating my nonsense.

...What? No, I totally don't have recent commitments that have an encroaching deadline. What are you talking about?!

[Ao3] || [Commissions] || [Ko-fi]

Warning: ~10K words about Miles brutalizing some folks. Enjoy. >w<

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miles had a terrible habit of getting drawn in by Ganke’s nonsense.

“Hey, that character looks sick; you make that?” turned into binging episodes of an anime every night through junior year. He wasn’t complaining, but somewhere between the third movie and the 700th episode, it was a miracle his grades hadn’t completely tanked.

“Dude, nice shirt! Do those, like, spell something, or…?” became an entirely different binge through half of senior year. And Miles maybe fudged the truth a bit with one of his art teachers when he submitted a project that was only loosely inspired. Again, not complaining!

“Oh, nice mash-up, man; I loved that song when I was a kid, but I don’t know where it’s from.” You’ll never guess what happened after that. Those games were fire, though, and at least this time, he could move at his own pace, even if Ganke was nagging him over text every few days while he was away at college to geek out.

When Freshman year ended—finally, thank the gods—and Miles returned to New York, he was met at the train station by Ganke and immediately dragged to the apartment he was sharing with—

“You moved in with my brother?!” He asked in disbelief. “Wait, I didn’t even know he left home!”

“Well, technically… Your parents don’t entirely know yet—”

“What?!”

“—And he hasn’t actually moved out. I did. We just split rent here. Both of us have jobs and projects going pretty well, and he kinda just tells them he’s hanging out at my place, which is technically still true; they just don’t know my parents aren’t here—”

“Hold up, wait—” Miles flailed a bit to interrupt Ganke’s rambling. “Gross; is this like ya’ll’s love nest or something?”

Ganke’s arms dropped to his sides, a bright blush coloring his pouting face as he glared at Miles. Miles just snickered and crossed his arms tauntingly. “I’m not hearing a no, Mr. Lee~”

“Y’know, when he tossed out the idea of letting you borrow his room while he’s at school—just, like, use it as an extra little art room or whatever—I thought ‘wow, just like when we were roommates at Visions; how funny!’. But now, I’m gonna tell him you’re banned.”

“Pfft, what?!” Miles giggled, following Ganke toward the back of the apartment.

“Yep, calling him right now…” Ganke pulled his phone out of his pocket all dramatically, pretending to scroll through it.

“Ooh, I bet you have him saved under something dorky~” Miles had lunged forward, hands squeezing playfully at Ganke’s sides as he made obviously fake efforts to peek at his phone. He had a sort of squawking-type laugh whenever he was caught off guard, and Miles loved it. Even when they first met back in high school, Miles had made a habit of sneaking up and prodding him. They liked to get into little fights, usually ending in Miles wrestling Ganke into an easy pin while sneaking scribbles up his sides.

This is important information, because today, and today alone, Ganke suddenly wrenched his arm out from under his own weight, hooking Miles by the arm and rolling both of them into a reversed position. He sat heavily on Miles’ waist, his hands quickly moving to try and worm fingers into his armpits. Miles’ legs kicked as he hugged his arms tight to his sides, and his voice was tangled in nervous squeaks and giggles.

“Someone’s awfully squeaky for starting a fight with the one who knows your weak spots.” Ganke sneered, pressing lightly along the edges of Miles’ ribs to try and slip through his defenses.

“W-When did you get good at wrestling?” He asked through clenched teeth, trying to twist to one side.

“Hm, probably around the time you started sucking at it.” Ganke taunted, raising his hands slightly and wiggling his fingers.

“I do not!” Miles argued with a laugh, his leg kicking out when a few fingers traced along his neck. There was a jarring thump, and despite Miles apparently not feeling pain all of a sudden, both of them were concerned when a few things fell off of the dresser he’d kicked.

“Goddamn, you have been here for ten minutes, and you’re destroying the place!” Ganke teased, pushing himself up off of his poor guest.

“That was not my fault, and you know it.” Miles giggled as he sat up, picking up the picture frame that had fallen beside him. He glanced at it as he stood up, curiosity taking over his face as he realized something.

“Hey, wait a second; I’ve never seen you wear this!” He noted with a laugh as he got to his feet. Ganke peeked over his shoulder, and a chuckle slipped out as he remembered the photo. He was in some costume, mostly purple and some bright green. Looked like a cut-off t-shirt under a biker jacket. There was a paw print drawn on his stomach and whiskers drawn on his cheeks, and he was grinning like a champion as he held up what looked like a gold medal. If it was the same medal dangling from a hook next to the mirror, it was definitely plastic.

“Haven’t worn it in a while either.” Ganke shrugged, taking the frame and setting it just so under where the medal hung. “I should probably bring it home and wash it, actually.” He reached up and pulled the medal off the hook, smiling fondly as he ran his thumb over the feathers embossed in the plastic. He smirked slightly as he caught Miles staring at it in that all-too-familiar way.

“You wanna know how I got it~?” He asked almost tauntingly, and he laughed as Miles slapped his arm and pouted.

He seemed to be physically struggling with himself, crossing his arms as he kicked childishly at the carpet. “…Yeah.” He admitted, smiling in defeat.

-----------

“Okay, so, final checklist: the safe word is Blackout.” Ganke explained as he led Miles down the hall from the changing room. “It’s the real deal though; we basically shut the whole thing down. Very different from tapping out. Do not confuse the two. What’s the safe word?”

“Blackout.” Miles said firmly, wrapping the last loop of tape around his hand and cracking his knuckles softly.

“Nice.”

Miles was wearing a slightly loose t-shirt—kindly loaned by Ganke—and some old basketball shorts. Ganke had been pretty coy about what all this was supposed to be. He seemed to struggle with what to tell Miles without giving the whole thing away. He eventually settled on saying it was somewhere between wrestling and improv club. And, coincidentally, there was an “open tournament” coming up. It was one of the ways they invited new members; the “hands-on” way, so to speak.

“Let me see your nails…” Ganke murmured, taking each of Miles’ hands for a moment as they walked. “Okay, so, we have a little side room you’ll be waiting in. You’ll know the signal when you hear it. You’re still cool with the audience, right? It’s just the theater dorks from the other side of the building; twenty people, max.”

“I’m fine with a little crowd.” Miles chuckled, shifting closer to elbow him gently. “You still haven’t told me what’s going to happen though.”

Ganke laughed lightly and shrugged. “What’s to know? You either pin your opponent for ten seconds or you tap out if you can’t handle it. Nothing else at all~”

“You are awful.”

They chuckled with each other for a moment before quick footsteps suddenly approached from behind them. Two people jogged past them with hoods up, laughing casually as they waved at Ganke and kept running.

“Hey, you guys are late!” Ganke scolded playfully as they disappeared through a door.

“Oh, we’re late?” Miles almost flinched at the sound of a third, heavily accented voice, and someone purposefully shouldered past him. More like elbowed past him, really, which Miles realized when he turned to see a man at least a head taller than him sauntering by. “Shouldn’t you be in the booth then, mate?” His hair was done up in thick locs, and those were tied back behind his head. The man’s dark eyes fell on Miles like a weight, but he smirked as he lifted a hand from his pocket and lightly tapped Miles’ shoulder with the back of it. “Ey, you brought a new fish. Looks like he won’t last a minute.”

Miles scoffed silently, managing to contain his offended face as the man sneered and stepped away. “What’s his problem?” He asked Ganke, trying not to smile.

Ganke shrugged and snickered. “We wonder that every day, man.”

“He thinks he’s the final boss or something?” Miles asked just a bit louder than necessary, a grin pulling his lips as the man stopped and looked pointedly back at them.

Ganke looked between them for a moment, grinning a bit himself as he moved to block them. “Okay, I see where this is going. Save it for the ring, you nerds!” He teased, pressing his palm to Miles’ chest and shooing the other man away. “On ya bike, then!”

The tall man snorted, throwing his hands up as he turned and went through the door the others had used. Ganke smirked as he nudged Miles to a different door.

“You go in through here. There’s an exit on the other side. Like I said: you’ll know the signal when you hear it.” He instructed, giving his shoulder a squeeze. “Good luck! You know I’m rooting for you—Oh! Real quick, uh…” He pulled his hand back with an apologetic wince after grabbing Miles’ arm. “Since this is just a trial thing, we usually don’t use challengers’ real names. Privacy; just in case. You, uh, got a name in mind?”

“Geez, put me on the spot, why don’t you?” Miles wrung his hands a bit, looking away as he itched the side of his head. “I…I kinda like New Fish…” He admitted a bit hesitantly.

Ganke snorted, almost giggling. “Seriously?”

“Shut up…”

“Hey, I’m not judging~ Much.” He taunted, shoving Miles playfully before starting to pull the door closed. “What’s your safeword?”

“Blackout.” Miles spoke with an audible pout as Ganke still smirked at him.

“This is going to be great.” He snickered, motioning to Miles with one hand. “No shoes in the ring, man. See you out there.”

Miles rolled his eyes, pulling his sneakers off as he sat on a bench to wait for this supposedly obvious signal.

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

There was always something about the ring. Okay, look, it’s not actually a real fighting ring or anything, but just—Here, try to imagine:

There’s the timbre of the crowd: the rhythm of applause and little echoes of folks calling out their favorite cheers. When Ganke jogged into the room and the cheers redoubled, he couldn’t stop himself from basking with a grin before continuing his rush to the “Commentators’ Booth”. Frankly, they owed the theater club a lot for being such good sports; it almost felt like it was grander than eighteen chairs situated around a large square arrangement of blue gym mats.

“Little late, aren’t we, Mr. Lee~?” The young lady in the chair beside him taunted as Ganke slid into the booth. “I almost wanted to start without you.”

“Very funny, Margo.” He chuckled, leaning under their table to fiddle with the volume knob on the boombox their microphones were plugged into. “I wouldn’t miss tonight for the world; not with this turnout either!”

The audience cheered in response. They knew their roles well for not being around in a while.

“Ooh, I do love a good crowd.” Margo readjusted the cat ears clipped into her braids. “More importantly, though, we finally have a challenger again. Feels like it’s been forever.”

“Hasn’t it been, though?” Ganke sighed dramatically, resting the back of his hand on his forehead. “Reminds me of our time in the ring; those were the days.”

“Ganke, that was only, like, four months ago.”

He leaned back in his chair, draping his whole arm across his face as he pulled his microphone closer with the other hand. “An eternity in my heart, Margie.”

Margo rolled her eyes and snuck a poke at his exposed side. “Anyway, I hear this one’s a friend of yours. Any details you can sneak us?”

Ganke snickered and bat her hand away. “Nah, you’re not getting anything out of me that easily. Just know I’m betting on him. Honestly, I can’t believe he didn’t join sooner.”

“Only thing I can’t believe is that he actually let himself be called New Fish.” Margo murmured intentionally into the microphone, earning chuckles from the crowd. She blinked as her watch buzzed against her wrist. “Ooh, the gang is getting restless. Make noise; make noise!” She hit the table with open palms, signaling the audience to clap and stomp while she stood from her chair. “Yeah, get hype! And let’s welcome our newest challenger!”

Right on cue, the “challengers’” locker room door opened, and the audience cheered as Miles walked out into the small gym. He seemed just a bit nervous, but he smiled as he walked, fidgeting with his hands while he approached the mat.

“Ooh, you didn’t tell me he was cute!” Margo giggled as she sat back down. “Looks a bit familiar though, doesn’t he~?” She’d placed her hand slightly over the microphone, sneering at Ganke as she elbowed his side.

“You shut up.” He shot back, looking away as he blushed. “Absolutely irrelevant. Although, actually, I don’t really know why he never came until now.”

“Did you tell him what we’re all about?” She glanced between him and their guest waving shyly at some audience members.

Ganke leaned back in the chair, unable to keep the mischief out of his grin. “Oh…I told him enough.”

She laughed softly, giving him a little kick under the table. “Terrible.”

He smirked, letting his chair’s legs thump on the floor as he hopped to his feet. “Alright, Fish!” He called, motioning Miles over to the so-called ring. “Let’s get you in the tank, because we’re bringing out your first opponent!”

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

The second locker room door was pushed open, and the small crowd cheered excitedly. Miles watched warily as one of the robed figures they’d passed in the hallway casually walked out. Halfway to the mat, they finally lifted their hood off, revealing a young man just about Miles’ height with light brown skin, the brightest, most joyful eyes, and some amazing shiny hair that he started to tie under a gold headband after handing his robe over to Ganke.

He was dressed almost identically to Miles in terms of shirt and shorts style—which he was quick to point out as he stepped onto the mat—but he had several different spider shapes tattooed—or maybe just drawn—up and down his arms in glittery gold ink.

“If I had known we were going to dress the same, I’d have asked Claw to give you a color to match, machhalee.” He spoke with an Indian accent, and he took a few steps slowly to hint Miles to do the same. His eyes seemed to light up as Miles matched his circular movement, but he schooled his expression and casually set his hands behind his back. “Sooo, New Fish, since you’re new, Fish, we’ll be using our names too. They call me Sona here. Well, they call me a lot of things, but Sona’s the one I picked out.”

Miles chuckled softly, resting his hands in his pockets as they circled each other. “Sounds nice. Kinda like it means something when you say it like that.”

“Oh, it does.” Sona grinned playfully. “If you survive, I’ll tell you what it means.”

“Survive?” Miles brought a hand on his chest, letting his face act shocked. “Oh, it’s a death match, eh? I see you.”

Sona paused, giggling as he started to walk again. “He didn’t tell you, did he?”

Miles shrugged with a grin. “Well, I’ve known…Claw?” He glanced over at Ganke, who nodded smugly. “I’ve known him a while. ‘No Spoilers’ is one of his Nerd Laws.”

“Hey!” Ganke called as the audience chuckled. “Pretty sure I didn’t drag you out here to insult me!”

Sona snickered. “Ah, I don’t really know how I feel about them hiding stuff from challengers, buuut, I admit I like a little surprise. So, I guess I’ll give you a hint.” He stopped, and Miles grew wary as he closed a bit of distance with slow steps. “…Tickle fight!” He laughed as he lunged.

Miles flinched, nervous excitement shooting through him at the call before he really processed what had just been said. He planted his feet firmly, catching Sona’s hands in his own and holding him back. “W-Wait; what?!” He asked in disbelief.

“Ooh, subtlety be damned; let’s go!” Ganke called as the audience cheered them on.

“Shine bright, Golden Boy!” The girl beside him—Margo, he was pretty sure—laughed, picking up her microphone.

“You’ve got some reflexes on you, huh?” Sona teased, curling his fingers where they were caught between Miles’.

“Were you actually serious?” He felt like he’d been blindsided, and, well, he had been. “It’s a tickle fight?!”

“Well~ We try not to be too serious around here.” Sona giggled. “But I wasn’t kidding.” He leaned suddenly to one side, and Miles stumbled as he yanked his hands back and shoved them against Miles’ sides. Sona followed him as he fell to the mat, kneeling beside Miles and scribbling across his stomach.

“Little early in the game to be floundering, isn’t it, Fish?” Sona teased, grabbing at Miles’ wrist as he giggled loudly. The audience groaned around sparse snickers, and Sona nearly giggled too.

Miles let out a harder laugh of his own, trying to pull his hand back. “Oho, he’s got jokes, huh? I—Hey!” He squeaked and twisted as Sona’s hand moved to squeeze up and down his flank.

“You what?” Sona smirked a bit as Miles’ free hand caught his wrist, letting his fingers scratch insistently at his hipbone as he squirmed. “You’re ticklish? You still seem a little shellshocked.” Sona walked his hand up Miles’ side, clawing quickly into his ribcage.

Miles tried to glare up at his opponent, but he couldn't fight the grin on his face. Sona was goofy and gentle; he didn’t seem to weigh much—Miles tested with weak pulls on his wrist. Oh, this was definitely going to be fun. In a quick, fluid motion, he let go of Sona’s hand and grabbed ahold of his shirt, pushing off the mat with one foot as he pulled Sona down. The audience cheered excitedly when Miles managed to roll them over, and he boxed his knees firmly against Sona’s shins.

Sona’s eyes were lit up with panic, and his cheeks ran a bit red as he laughed nervously. “Hi…” He giggled, holding his hands close to his chest.

Miles smirked, resting his hands on Sona’s wrists. “Hey.” He pulled the other man up suddenly, wrapping him in a hug and squeezing tight to pin his arms against his ribs.

“Oh, my God.” Ganke snorted, holding the mic away from his face for a moment. “I know this one.”

His cohost sat up straighter, leaning to nudge him with her shoulder. “Yeah? You want to clue us in?”

He started to say something when Sona let out a loud squeak and writhed.

“Aw, seriously?” Miles chuckled just a bit overdramatically, drawing one finger slowly back down Sona’s spine. “You totally seem like the type to have Angel Wings. Hm, maybe…” He shifted both of his hands, scribbling his nails across his shoulder blades and grinning as Sona giggled brightly and seemed to try more not to move.

“Ohh, I see now~” Miles teased right in Sona’s ear, smiling brighter at the way his giggles escalated. “That’s almost a shame.”

“N-No talking!” He whined halfheartedly, just barely managing to twist his hands enough to scribble at Miles’ waist. This quickly backfired when Miles’ flinch made him squeeze Sona closer.

“But if I don’t talk…” Miles nearly bit his tongue as he stifled a squeak. “How am I going to count these ribs of yours?” He pressed circles against the highest bone on his ribcage, sneaking his hand to that spot right under his armpit.

Sona let out a loud laugh, wrenching his arms out of Miles’ hold—almost as if he wasn’t holding him at all, actually—and shoving against Miles’ shoulders. The effort wound up pushing Sona’s back against the mat, and Miles was happy to reward him with all ten fingers digging into his ribs without a hint of mercy. This time, he didn’t even bother to grab at Miles’ hands, his arms wrapping loosely around himself as he laughed loudly.

Miles chuckled and shook his head, kneading along his lowest ribs and smirking when he squealed. “Shine bright, Golden Boy~!” He taunted, grinning brightly at the incredulous noise he heard Margo make behind him.

Sona blushed and put one arm over his face, the other flailing light slaps on Miles’ shoulder.

“That’s a tap!” Ganke called excitedly, standing up as the crowd applauded. “Sona is out!”

Miles blinked, letting his fingers go still as he glanced around the room. They were cheering for him—for both of them, really. Sona smiled up at him as he giggled and caught his breath.

“Don’t clap too hard now,” Margo snarked a bit teasingly while Miles was pulling his opponent to his feet. “Literally everyone beats Sona.”

Ganke scoffed, clearly in disbelief. “Oh, yeah?! Where was that energy when he had you on the mat last week?”

They took their time with their playful argument, and Miles took the opportunity to shake Sona’s hand, which he returned excitedly.

“You were amazing.” He said in a near whisper, his eyes bright as giggles still lined his voice.

“Yeah?” Miles said coolly, leaning a bit closer to him. “Well, next time, I want a real fight.”

Sona visibly prickled, his face running a bit redder before he just…smirked. His eyes had gone from playful to almost devious. “Oh, I don’t know if you’re ready for all that, Fish.”

It gave Miles a bit of pause. He might have just been hooked. Sona grinned again, bright as the sun, and caught Miles in a hug before taking his walk of shame. He grabbed his robe off of Ganke’s chair as he passed it and slung it across his shoulders, speeding up to a jog as he went back through the locker room door he’d originally come from. Miles stood just a bit awkwardly alone on the mat, a slight smirk pulling his lips as he fidgeted with his hands.

“Someone looks proud of himself~” Miles shot a slight glare at Margo, and she sneered back tauntingly. “Hey, keep that attitude, tough guy. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together; because we’re giving up the Ghost!”

The audience was suddenly loud and talkative; Miles could hear playful teases and jabs—particularly some coos about Ghost being adorable—under the clapping as the door opened again. Sure enough, it was the second character he remembered passing in the hallway. Pale-skinned hands came up to pull the hood back and…Miles was definitely not going to survive today unscathed.

“Ghost” was a blonde with bright blue eyes and one side of her head shaved down, and when she grinned over at Miles, he caught the piercing on her eyebrow. He gave an internal pout as he remembered his studs were with his jacket. She seemed to whisper something to Margo before letting the robe drop from her shoulders and handing it off. She was wearing a cropped t-shirt, cut just above her stomach, a loose long-sleeved jacket that stopped under her chest, and, frankly, Miles was pretty sure those were just pajama pants. Something that quickly caught his eye was the spider drawn on one side of her stomach in blue and pink. He couldn’t help but grin as she stepped onto the mat, stepping back slightly as she took a mark and rested her hands in her pants pockets.

“Eyes are up here, thanks.” She teased with a little wave; he could tell she couldn’t resist.

Miles almost laughed too, resting his hand slightly over his mouth as he tore his gaze from her little tattoo. “I’ll have you know I’m actually terrible at eye contact.”

She snickered, shaking her head as they started to circle each other, and Miles already knew he had to hear her laugh.

“Ooh, she’s hooked him.” Miles had a feeling he and Margo would get along.

“That quick? No way.” Ganke snickered.

“That’s Ghost; she’s a cutie!” Margo laughed. “It’s why everyone loves her.”

Miles pouted as he felt his face heat up, and Ghost chuckled, twirling casually as they continued to walk.

“Don’t worry, Li’l Fish,” She called playfully. “You learn to ignore the peanut gallery.”

“Excuse the hell outta you?” Ganke said firmly, causing Ghost to freeze, and Margo and the audience “Ooh~”-ed teasingly.

Ghost cringed and blushed, covering her face with both hands as she giggled.

Miles had kept walking, and he let his shoulder nudge against hers as he spoke. “So…how’s that ignoring thing workin’ out for you?”

She gave him a playful shove as the audience snickered, putting the distance between them again and smirking. “You hush.”

Miles smirked back, resting his hands on his hips. “So, why Ghost? You don’t seem so scary.”

“You think that now, sure.” She fished under her sleeve and pulled a hair tie off of her wrist, pulling her hair up into a ponytail before putting one hand back in her pocket. “But I’m told I can be haunting.” She wiggled her fingers teasingly, showing off brightly painted nails, and Miles chuckled.

“Okay, okay; you’re cute. Is that what you want to hear?”

She nearly froze up again, hints of red filling her cheeks as she smiled shyly. “Am not.”

“You so are, though. And besides, between the two of us, I’m not the one with their weak spot all exposed.”

She eyed him warily, giggles lining her voice. “You’re asking for it, huh?”

“Why don’t you come over and give it to me, then?” Miles was glad his back was to the crowd by now, but he found himself smirking as they shouted playfully. Margo and Ganke watched him with shocked smiles, and she pawed at his shoulder.

“Where were you hiding this guy?! Definitely my new favorite.” She laughed.

Ghost, similarly, had laughed in disbelief, and Miles almost sneered as he shrugged.

 “Hey, if she giggles herself half to death before I even get my hands on her, do I still win?” He snickered as Ghost looked absolutely offended.

“I’m gonna say yes!” Ganke said quickly, grinning as Ghost glared at him.

“You guys can’t just change the rules!”

Ganke looked to Margo. “I think we can.”

Margo nodded with a shrug. “I think we should.”

He smirked back at Ghost. “Just for you. Since we love you so much.”

As they spoke, Miles had inched forward, lifting one hand to aim a poke at her very exposed stomach.

And she sidestepped him easily, her hand clutching tightly on his wrist. She grinned toothily as he looked up at her, and she yanked him off balance as she swept his legs with one foot. Well, this felt familiar. He managed to keep his chin from hitting the mat, and he felt Ghost’s hand press on his back as she leaned over him. He glanced up at her, but as he made eye contact, she smirked and pushed herself away.

He felt her weight settle on his thighs, and before he could try to twist, he burst into loud laughter as her nails snuck under his shirt to scribble against his lower back. He pulled his hands in close to his chest to keep himself from flailing before reaching to grab at one of her wrists. She seemed perfectly fine to let him, and her other hand was quick to zip up his spine and pinch gingerly at the back of his neck. Miles would definitely deny the shriek he let out, but he laughed and tried to push himself over. Ghost chuckled, twisting her wrist to get ahold of his while she stood up again. She pulled him quickly onto his back, straddling his waist this time as she slipped her wrist suddenly out of his hand by pulling it back through her sleeve. She snatched his wrist with her free hand when he tried for her stomach again, and she grinned nervously as he sneered up at her.

“I’m so gonna get you~” He taunted, laughing lightly as her face went red again.

There was a hint of a stalemate, with Miles trying to read her eyes while she watched his face. All of a sudden, her sleeve was yanked out of his grip, and her hand was shooting to scribble her nails against his neck. Instantly, he cracked, laughing loudly and flailing to grab ahold of her wrists. Even when she let go of his wrist to get both hands against his neck, he couldn’t help but focus on trying to block her, and, dammit, she was much stronger than she looked.

He could hear the audience going wild as he tried to struggle, and Ghost giggled softly as she leaned closer to him. “What happened to all that big talk, Li’l Fish~?” She whispered into his ear. “Not so tough now, are we?” She took a breath before blowing gently into his ear, and Miles kicked against the mat as he practically shrieked again. The audience got a bit louder as Ghost looked expectantly at the judges.

“Aw, he kicks; that’s so cute!” Margo laughed, only for a bit of panic to shoot through her expression when Ghost turned to them. “Wait, does kicking count?! We didn’t talk about that.”

Ganke had bit his lip, glancing between the two women and the audience, and he realized he wasn’t containing his smirk very well. “I’m gonna say kicking doesn’t count today!”

“Wha—Since when?!” Ghost’s voice was pretty close to real outrage as her hands suddenly stopped, and a select few audience members backed her up with jeers.

“Since I said so!” He said more firmly, chuckling. “Consider it a perk of being in the peanut gallery.”

The audience laughed, and Ghost rolled her eyes before looking back down at Miles. As she did, he’d moved his hands, managing to land them on her waist and pressing his thumbs into her hips. She squeaked and shoved herself back, stumbling slightly as she scrambled out of his reach.

“Now she wants to run, huh?” Miles snorted, his hand catching around her ankle only for her to slip his hold before he had a full grip. She was quick to return the gesture, yanking his ankles before he could try to get up and kneeling on one of them. He struggled to push himself up onto his hands, only to nearly fall again when she dug all ten fingers into his socked sole. Keeping his hands still now was definitely nearing impossible, but he tried to also keep in mind to not kick her off of him. But, wow, she was merciless.

“So, toes are bad, huh?” She teased over his laughter, scratching under his toes as they curled tightly. “Not your weak spot, but you might get along with—Eek!”

Miles couldn’t tell if she actually didn’t expect it or she just got cocky, but she didn’t duck away this time. He’d pushed himself forward, snatching the back of her hoodie and pulling her into his arms before falling backwards. The audience was loud again as she tried to flail out of his grip, her voice already tangling itself in giggly protests as he fought to wrestle both of her arms against her sides without losing his grip on her.

“Quit that!” He giggled along with her when she kept trying to shove his face. “And what are you laughing about? I haven’t done anything yet!”

“Shut up!” She squeaked, laughing softly as she tried to catch her breath.

“You tired now, li’l fish? Flopping all over the damn place like that.” Miles taunted into her ear, smirking as she cringed and giggled. He spoke a bit louder as he heaved them both upright while keeping her square in his lap. “I’ve figured you out, by the way, they call you Ghost ‘cause you’re slippery, right? You ‘phase through’ grabs like that a lot?”

Ghost turned her head, not that she could really look at him from this angle, but he saw her grin as she shrugged casually. “Well, y’know, it’s what stuck.”

Miles scoffed, squeezing her a bit tighter. “Stuck like you, huh? I’d love to see you slip this one.” Without any more hesitation, he let one of his hands drop to her stomach and skitter across her bare skin, and he was definitely not disappointed. She squealed and immediately started to struggle again, giggles jumping to loud laughter within a fraction of a second.

“No, no; I wasn’t ready!” She whined through her squeals.

“Oh, she’s not ready…” Miles huffed with a roll of his eyes, letting his fingers go still as he dragged his hand slowly.

“You bastard…” She spat in a giggly half-whisper.

“Ghost, be nice!” Margo called down to them.

Miles teasingly blew into her ear again, dragging his nails softly before sneaking a few squeezes on her side. “Tell me when you’re ready for tummy tickles, okay?”

She blushed, shaking her head as she whined and squeaked at each little pinch. “You’re terrible! N-No…”

“Mm-hm?” He curled his fingers and tapped them against her stomach before tracing one slowly around her bellybutton. “If I press this button, will you be ready then?”

She’d had a full-body flinch at the tracing alone, kicking against the floor as she giggled loudly. “Don’t you dare!”

“Aw, c’mon~ You have to work with me here.” Miles poked her a few more times. “You ready now~?”

“Stop teasing!” Her head tipped back on his shoulder, and she yelped when he blew across the side of her neck.

He laughed, smirking softly. “You said you weren’t ready! I do have to tell you, though…” He let his fingers walk to about where he remembered that little drawing on her skin. “You’ve had this spider on you this entire time and it hasn’t moved at—” He suddenly started scribbling his fingers, absolutely relishing in the surprised shriek it got out of her. She kicked hard, knocking them both over, but he didn’t dare let her go. She barely got a chance to protest between her squealy laughs, and Miles could hear her feet flailing against the mat under the cheers of the crowd.

“Think she’s happy we let them keep the kicks now?” Ganke asked playfully, leaning on one hand.

“Yeah, she looks like she’s having fun.” Margo snickered. Both of them flinched a little when Ghost squealed again.

“Hey, do you think he can get one?” Ganke asked with a smirk.

Margo let out a cackle. “If he gets her that bad in his initiation, she will hate him.”

Miles, meanwhile, was starting to have a little bit of pity on the poor Ghost. She seemed to have tired herself out again, having stopped kicking in favor of trying futilely to curl up. She was tough; he could admit that in a heartbeat, but, frankly, his arm was getting tired.

“I’m still wondering what this does, you know.” He mused, and the only bit of mercy he offered her was slowing his fingers down just a little as he finally focused his tickling on her bellybutton.

She absolutely lost it, breaking into loud cackles as she struggled to move her arms. “N-Not there! Please, I-I can’t—!” She squealed, snorts breaking through her laughter as her cheeks ran red. The crowd went wild with cheers and teases, and Miles was pretty sure his heart was melting.

“Tap! I tap! Let go…” She cried out through squeaks, and Miles lifted his hand away and let her go. She curled up beside him, pulling her hood up to hide her face as a few more snorts slipped into her giggles.

“Ghost is out! Make some noise!” Ganke shouted, grinning as they already clapped excitedly. Miles smirked back at him, softly rubbing one hand on Ghost’s back while she caught her breath.

“You good?” He asked quietly, trying not to tease too much. “Need a hand?”

“You’re a natural.” She whispered back, smiling a bit tiredly as she looked up at him. “But you’re not ready for Spider-Punk.”

“Wha—?” He was about to ask, but she started to get up, and he stood quickly to help her.

“And anyway,” She spoke up this time, for the others to hear. “You wouldn’t have won if you weren’t pals with the judges.”

“No, honey,” Margo called back. “You might not have lost if you didn’t run your mouth off.”

Ghost pouted, crossing her arms as she levelled a glare. “Fuck you both.” She huffed, rolling her eyes and smirking.

“Ooh, Swear Jar. Five seconds.” Ganke said quickly. Without being told, Miles grabbed at her sides. He made sure to be gentle this time, barely scribbling with his nails, but she still burst into giggly squeals as she tried to push away from him. It was definitely more like three seconds, but Miles didn’t mind giving her some grace, except for the poke he landed on her bellybutton before pulling his hands back. She didn’t snort this time, but she did punch him in the arm while she grinned at him, and he could settle for that.

“Make nice, you two, let’s get moving.” Margo insisted. Miles offered his hand to Ghost, smirking broadly when she actually hesitated to take it. He might have itched the palm of her hand with one finger when he went to shake it, and she snickered and shook her head.

“You might want to think about whether you want to stick around, because I’m getting you back.” She said softly, grinning.

“Yeah, alright, Tickle Button.” He taunted playfully, laughing as she punched his shoulder again. She squeezed his hand as she turned to do the walk, snatching her robe off of Margo’s chair and flicking the side of Ganke’s glasses.

“I’ll see you in the ring next week, asshole.” She growled with a sneer, and Ganke smirked back at her.

“That’s ten seconds, Ghost.” He chuckled, covering the microphone. “I’ll see you too.”

Her face nearly faltered, but she ruffled his hair, and the audience cheered as she walked back to the locker room.

Margo stretched her arms over her head—Ganke smirked knowingly toward Miles and the audience, but he didn’t do anything—and she shook her hands out with a sigh. “My, oh my, Mr. Lee. Our first challenger in months, and he’s tearing through us. Maybe we should have gotten back in the ring instead of letting these cute little bugs handle it.”

There were claps and murmurs from the crowd, and Miles couldn’t help but be curious about that story.

“At this rate, I think you might be right, Kitty.” Ganke sighed dramatically. “But, then again, if we destroyed him first try, we wouldn’t have anything for this great crowd!” The audience cheered, and Miles couldn’t help but clap along. “And you all really have been wonderful tonight; thank you all so much for coming out—”

“You do know we’re not done, right?” Margo asked playfully.

Ganke pulled a face and pretended to wince. “Are you sure we can’t be done now?” He groaned, resting an arm over his eyes. “You know how he gets.”

Margo smirked, thumping a rhythm on the table that the audience was quick to copy with their hands. “Ladies and Gentlemen—and, of course, our dear New Fish—I want you to give me your best!” The volume grew louder, and Miles felt tingly with the energy swelling. “It’s down to the wire; the last roundup; this one’s for all the marbles! Let’s hear it for Spider-Punk!”

The audience roared—as much as, like, twenty people could compare to a roar—and a good number of them stomped as they clapped. The locker room door opened, and, predictably, Miles saw the tall British man that had inspired his dumb stage name. He bounced a bit on his toes, smiling excitedly as he watched his approach.

Spider-Punk walked confidently, with his robe already thrown over his shoulder instead of being worn. He was also wearing a cropped shirt, funny enough, but it was underneath a battle vest covered in cool patches. He wore a pair of pajama pants too—much more obvious than Ghost’s just by the pattern—and they were cut off just below his knees. He was wearing black lipstick, which he definitely hadn’t been the first time Miles had passed him. He motioned to the crowd with one hand as he purposefully draped the robe over Margo’s head, encouraging them to get louder before he stepped onto the mat.

“Well, well, well…” He practically purred, and Miles felt like a shock ran through him. “Big fish in a small pond, aren’t ya?”

Miles’ eyes lit up, and his hands flapped a bit as his brain failed to process a response.

“You’re doing the thing.” His opponent half-whispered to him, gesturing to his hands, and Miles flinched just a bit nervously. Spider-Punk grinned, chuckling. “Not sayin’ you should stop, love. Ghost’ll get you wound up like that, she’s pretty fun.”

Miles let himself giggle at that and nodded. “I mean, yeah, she’s pretty cool for a ghost.” He said coolly. “Shrieks like one, too.”

Spider-Punk snorted, shaking his head as he smirked. “Fair play, fair play.”

Miles crossed his arms as they started to circle each other. “So, turns out you actually were the final boss, huh? What was that about me not lasting a minute?”

“Oh, you remember that, eh?” He laughed just a bit mockingly, his eyes scanning over Miles before his grin somehow grew even more smug. “I still stand by it.” He asserted with a shrug, resting his hands on his hips.

Miles scoffed, mimicking his little pose and rolling his eyes. “You really want to say that when you know I just wrecked two of your friends?”

Spider-Punk suddenly broke from his path, walking straight toward Miles and spooking him into a half stumble. “Do you really want to ask that when you don't know why they saved me for last?” He reached out quickly to grab Miles by his shirt to stop him from falling, pulling him sharply into a tight hug. Miles flailed slightly, bringing his hands to rest on his opponent’s arms where they squeezed softly around his neck. His own arms were completely free, but his brain also might have been overheating. He could hear the sneer in Spider-Punk’s voice when it tickled his ear. “Your freckles pop up when you blush~”

Miles fell into squeaky giggles, pulling at Spider-Punk’s arms as best he could, and his opponent only hummed casually at the effort, rolling his eyes as he rested his chin on Miles’ head and scribbled gently at his shoulders. Miles quickly switched tactics, digging his fingers into the punk’s armpits. The taller man flinched pretty hard, half a snort slipping out as he let himself laugh. Or, actually, he kind of giggled. It was rough and bass-sounding, almost scratchy, like he was just barely resisting. The crowd behind him murmured softly.

“Oh, not this again.” Miles chuckled teasingly, keeping his voice mostly low this time. “You just want to get tickles, tough guy?” He squirmed just a bit when long fingers trailed down the center of his back.

“Wouldn’t you like to kn—” Spider-Punk’s voice hitched on a louder laugh when Miles dropped his hands to scribble on bare skin and squeeze his sides, and he flinched backwards when Miles pressed his thumbs against his hipbones. Miles grinned a bit smugly as the punk stepped back, and he crossed his arms as he stepped forward.

“I wouldn’t have thought someone so cool would be so cute when he gets a few little scratches.” He taunted before faking a pout. “I expected more fight out of you though, punk.”

Spider-Punk chuckled lightly, making a bit of a show in slightly covering his sides. “You sure know how to make a girl feel special, don’t you?” He teased right back, setting his chin on one hand and batting his eyes. His nail polish matched his lipstick perfectly. “You should watch yourself though~ Could be in bigger trouble than you think.”

 Miles laughed, cracking his knuckles. “Well, the bigger they are…”

“That doesn’t even work for—” Spider-Punk didn’t put up much resistance when Miles hooked his arm and more or less dragged him to the floor, and he laughed brightly Miles tickled across his stomach.

“Ooh, he’s got him on the ropes, huh~?” Margo asked playfully, nudging Ganke with her elbow.

Ganke shot her a sideways glance, pout set on his lips. “Shut up.” He huffed with a chuckle, and she laughed.

Miles’ focus was stuck on Spider-Punk, his grin turning more playful as he let his fingers skitter lightly on his opponent’s back and relished the giggles it brought out of him. He had pulled Spider-Punk’s arm across his shoulders, clutching his wrist in his left hand while he tickled along his back and opposite side.

“Y’know, ‘Spider-Punk’…” Miles mused softly. “If Claw had told me that I’d just be thrown into a fake tournament to tease a bunch of adorable lees to death, I probably wouldn’t have even believed him. I’d say I’m disappointed, but it’s been pretty fun.”

The punk huffed out a laugh, sounding much more derisive than ticklish all of a sudden. “Is that what you think?”

Without any warning, Spider-Punk shifted the hand in Miles’ grip, his fingers managing to scratch along his ribcage and chip some startled giggles out of him. His other hand shot to dig into Miles’ side, completely exposed with how his arm was wrapped around the punk’s back. Miles yelped, immediately letting go of the wrist he held to flee; his opponent snickered, keeping his arm hooked across Miles’ shoulders and holding him close as he pulled some squeaky laughs from his side.

“And there it is.” Ganke fake-pouted as the audience started to get riled up. “Every time with this one.”

Margo was absolutely ecstatic, giggling brightly as she leaned on his shoulder. “If it ain’t broke, y’know? Maybe you should have warned him~”

Miles laughed and tried to flail, but the tickles he landed on the punk’s ribs were hardly distracting him. Instead, Spider-Punk leaned back, pulling his arm from around Miles’ shoulder while his other hand shoved him down to the mat. He was strong. Like, way stronger than Miles expected. When Miles tried to grab at his arm and pull, he couldn’t move an inch, and he wasn’t even sure if Spider-Punk was using his full weight. The giddy sort of panic must have shown in his eyes, because the taller man sneered as he loomed over him.

“Caught in a web, poor thing.” He taunted as he locked his knees around Miles’ legs, ruffling his hair with his free hand before leaning close. “You got a lot to learn, New Fish. For example…” He took a deep breath, and Miles didn’t even get time to panic before he was squealing with laughter as a loud raspberry was blown into the crook of his neck. His legs tried to kick, but his opponent gave him zero leeway. It didn’t help at all when he tried to push him away, only to get scribbling fingers in both of his armpits as another raspberry hit him.

Miles might have broken a little under all that; sue him.

“Oh, yeah, he’s dead.” Margo snickered as their challenger shrieked and writhed under Spider-Punk’s hold.

“Yeah…” Ganke admitted, but he glanced at Margo with a smirk. “You would know though, wouldn’t you? You have a thing or two in common with him.” He snuck a poke just under her arm, and she nearly whacked him with her microphone with how hard she flinched.

Miles, meanwhile, was trying his best to be tough, his hands gripping Spider-Punk’s sleeves to keep from flailing. Those long fingers drilled right into the center of his hollows, and his head fell back against the mat as he cackled. Spider-Punk chuckled over him, finally pulling away from his neck to whisper in his ear again.

“So, who’s the adorable little lee here again, bruv~? You talk so big, but I break brats like you.”

Miles tried to shove the punk’s face, earning some faster scribbles whenever his arms moved an inch. Spider-Punk sneered and pulled one of his hands back, catching Miles’ wrist and blowing another raspberry against his palm. His reaction was much squeakier than attacks on his weak spots, but Miles more or less collapsed in a slight daze. The punk slowly lifted his hands, chuckling a bit deviously as the poor fish tried to catch his breath.

“I’ll give it to ya, mate; you’re a tough one.” Spider-Punk taunted, slipping his hand into his pocket. “Or you’re a hypocrite. Hopin’ it’s the former, since a funny thing happens to hypocrites around here~” He drew his hand back up, and it was covered by a strange-looking glove.

“Oh, Murder Claw!” Margo shouted, and the audience went wild.

“You actual cheating bastard!” Ganke scolded with a grin. “I told you not to bring that!”

“Murder Claw! Murder Claw!” Half of the audience chanted with Margo leading on her mic.

“Margo, don’t encourage this!”

She elbowed him teasingly before playfully punching his side. “Aw, c’mon, Tiger, where’s that Panther blood?!”

“We're supposed to be behaving!” Ganke couldn't help but laugh as the energy swelled.

Miles watched nervously as Spider-Punk wound a little dial on the wrist of the glove. Something about the sound of the mechanism clicking felt…familiar. Coiling springs? It all happened within a few seconds; Miles tried to grab Spider-Punk’s sleeve, only for him to snatch his wrist and pin it firmly over his head. The pure mischief on his face was going to kill Miles before his hands did.

“Go on and give ‘em a show, lovely.” He whispered, showing off the glove on his hand before pressing one of the fingers to the side of Miles’ neck. He felt a sort of click, instantly followed by rapid vibrations that had him nearly screeching. It was barely more than two seconds, but it was almost worse than the raspberries. When the four other fingers pressed into his armpit all at the same time, Miles knew it was over. Quick as it was, that buzzing sensation had him hysterical, and his free hand flailed against the mat as he tried to writhe.

“The Fish is cooked! It’s all over!” Margo shouted over the roar of the crowd.

Spider-Punk gave him another smirk and a cheeky-bastard wink before pushing himself onto his feet, except Miles caught him gently by his wrist.

“That…was definitely more than a minute.” Miles said softly through quiet breaths.

Spider-Punk seemed to light up, barely stifling an incredulous laugh. “You don’t quit! I like it.” He said softly, taking Miles’ hand in a quick handshake before letting it fall. He grinned smugly as Margo ran to his side and hugged him with one arm.

“Your reigning champion, folks!” She called out to the audience. “Give it up for Spider-Punk!” The tall man raised his hands dramatically as the crowd clapped excitedly, seeming to relish in the attention as they started to get up and talk to him and each other.

Miles was content to stay on the mat for a moment with his tired giggles, and Ganke approached to offer him a hand. He might have gotten a little dizzy when he was heaved to stand up, but he played it off with a smirk. Ganke ruffled his hair and snuck a tickle behind his ear, and Miles shouldered him playfully as he went to do his walk of shame. But Ganke grabbed him by his shirt, pointing him toward the locker room door that his opponents had been entering from. Miles glanced at him for confirmation, getting a quick nod and a shooing motion before Ganke went to stand beside Spider-Punk.

“What a freakin’ upset, huh?” Margo said teasingly, leaning to look at Ganke.

“Yeah, I’m upset!” He insisted exaggeratedly, shaking his head as Spider-Punk hugged him to his side. “Should have known you’d let him cheat again.”

Margo laughed right back. “Well, since you want to be boring all of a sudden, and the crew’s on leave, someone has to keep up the Panther vibe, yeah?!”

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

Miles let them and the crowd’s chatter fade behind him as he entered the locker room. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous. It wasn’t even any different from the first one. Except, well, this one had a ghost leaning in from the door leading to the hallway. She quickly motioned him to follow her, holding the door open before jogging away.

They wound up at a meeting room upstairs, where Sona opened the door after they knocked.

“Told you so.” Ghost said playfully as they entered the room, and Miles rolled his eyes as Sona laughed. There were six pizza boxes on the tables in the back and a cooler stashed underneath next to what he assumed were their bags and things.

“He cheated, didn’t he?” Sona asked once the door was closed, playfully nudging Miles with his elbow.

“Is it really cheating when we know he’s going to do it though?” Ghost rummaged in the cooler for a juice pouch before also snatching a half-finished water bottle from the edge of the table.

“I feel kind of cheated.” Miles said with a shrug, crossing his arms.

The pair of them looked at him with wary expectation, seemingly worried about him.

“I mean, I had a whole fight with you—” He looked pointedly as Ghost. “—And I didn’t even know raspberries were legal. Seems unfair to me.”

He let a taunting grin spread across his lips as Ghost glared at him with a rising blush. Sona had burst out laughing, patting him on his shoulder.

“I really hope you stick around, Fish; you’re hilarious.” He giggled.

“Yeah, you’ll be laughing, all right.” Ghost pouted for a moment, but she started to laugh along with Sona.

“Oh, that reminds me!” Sona stood in front of him, resting his hands on his hips as if he was a superhero or something. “My name is Pavitr. Forgive me if it’s forward, but you’re Miles, right? It’s so cool to finally meet you!”

Miles was a little surprised, but he quickly realized what had happened. “I take it Ganke talks about me a lot?” He asked with a chuckle.

“Oh, definitely.” Ghost nodded, smiling as she leaned slightly on the circular table in the middle of the room. “And somehow, he neglected to mention that you’re a five-alarm tease.”

“Well, time and place, y’know.” He shrugged, chuckling. “Although, I guess I haven’t teased him in a while~”

“You are something else.” Ghost said, playfully flinging the now empty water bottle at Miles’ head before offering a handshake. “I’m Gwen, by the way.”

Miles accepted it without any mischief this time, and she smiled much more genuinely this time. Pavitr approached him from the side, pressing a cold bottle of water against his arm and giggling as he snatched it from him.

“You can grab a plate, by the way.” He offered, opening his own water bottle to take a drink. “We kind of got them for you. Oh, except those two big ones on the end.”

“Oh, yeah?” Miles chuckled, as if he hadn’t been eying the table since he’d walked in. Of course, he had to have been raised to never take the first plate.

Gwen nodded, pushing herself up to sit on the table. “We haven’t had a tournament in a long time, and it’s been even longer since we had a new challenger. We’re celebrating a little, and since somebody didn’t win, it’s more a little party for all of us.”

“You really do snark a lot for someone in a crop top.” Miles grinned and shook his head.

“Maybe, but at least I’m not the one with spider bites on my neck.” She taunted, and Miles could feel his face heating up as he realized what she meant. She laughed teasingly as he covered the side of his neck with one hand.

The door opened suddenly, and a very loud Spider-Punk burst in with Ganke, Margo, and a couple of faces from the audience in tow. “Oi, oi, what’s up, losers?!”

Gwen sighed loudly. “There goes the neighborhood.” She rolled her eyes and smirked as he approached her first.

“Love you too, Gwendy~” He said playfully, ruffling her hair as he leaned to kiss her forehead. His smile widened as he spotted Miles, and he strode up to him like he could definitely tell Miles’ head was spinning. “You stuck around, huh?” He offered his hand and that stupid wink. “Hobie Brown, at ya service, love.”

Accepting the handshake was apparently the wrong decision, because it ended in Miles being yanked into a tight hug as Hobie laughed a bit mockingly. He wasn’t even doing anything, but Miles couldn’t help laughing with him and trying to squirm away, only for Pavitr and Gwen to pile on the two of them.

Ganke had placed Miles’ shoes and things under the table with the others’ stuff, and Margo had done the same with their boombox and microphones. She grabbed the two set-aside pizza boxes, handing them over to the theater club members along with heaps of gratitude for their presence. They happily accepted both before waving to all of them as they left. As soon as they did, the pair of former hosts turned to the interesting little hug-fight their four friends had gotten into.

“Guys!” Margo called, managing to get their attention. “You were all fantastic out there! Miles, they loved you! Hell, we loved you!” She stepped forward, and Hobie let Miles go so she could grab onto his hands excitedly as she spoke. “I wasn’t even kidding, Ganke, where on Earth were you hiding this one?!”

Ganke shrugged, crossing his arms. “What can I say? I like to have an ace or two up my sleeve.” He said with a smirk. “It has been a while since I’ve seen you go all out like that though, hasn’t it?”

Miles grinned a bit proudly. “You know I like to make a good first impression.”

“I have literally never heard that about you, but go off, I guess.”

Miles pouted a bit as the others laughed.

Within minutes, they were all around the circular table, plates piled with pizza slices and cracking soda cans. Miles leaned on his hand to look Ganke in the eye.

“So, how long has this been going on anyway?” He asked, just a bit incredulously. “You never mentioned it while I was gone.”

Ganke nearly glared at him halfway through a bite of pizza. “I told you I made some new friends after you left! And I definitely remember telling you I joined a club.”

“Yeah, and I thought you meant a robotics club or something, not, like, tickle tournaments! You didn’t think I’d be interested in that part?”

Ganke chuckled. “It’s not that I didn’t think you'd be interested.” He set down the slice and leveled a sneer at him. “I just know you get weak around too many cute people.”

Miles nearly choked on the sip of water he’d taken, and he could feel eyes on him as the table got quiet. They were all smiling, some more smugly than others, and Miles buried his face in his hands.

“Asshole…” He groaned, only to flinch a little when Gwen poked his cheek. He glanced at her, and she giggled, and Hobie smirked, and Pavitr grinned.

“Especially cute lees~” Ganke whispered, blowing across the side of his neck, and he barely stopped himself from jumping out of the chair. The others stifled laughter as Miles felt like he was going to melt from the heat rushing to his face, which he promptly dropped into his arms on the table.

“You’re all rosy, mate.” Yeah, like Hobie really needed to tell him that.

He recognized Ganke’s hand patting him on the back. “Sooo~?”

“’M free on Friday…?” He offered.

“We’ve got an Initiation Day!” Ganke shook him by the shoulder as the whole table cheered, and Miles felt himself smiling as hands ruffled his hair and pat his back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Panda's Extra Notes: Some minor things for consideration.

*I might go back and retcon it, but I'm considering using one of Hobie's beta designs for this AU. Specifically the one with his long braids.

*Miles falls under the Ace umbrella here, hence the joke Ganke makes toward the end. He is very vulnerable to "tickle-crushes", though. And actual crushes, obviously, but we'll get to that later. >w<

#tickling #a panda writes a thing #hobie brown #atsv tickle #miles morales #across the spiderverse #gwen stacy #pavitr prabhakar #ganke lee #margo kess #atsv tickling #spiderverse tickle

[gr444nde]

i cant help—

falling in love with you

part one

vinnie hacker x fem!reader (lwrcase intended)

TW: angsty chapter

vinnie was distant with you, a lot. you never understood why, but because you had a really big heart, too big for your own body, and you really liked vinnie, so you kept trying.

“vinnie, hi!” you call his name from afar. he quickly turns his head away to exhale and roll his eyes before turning back to your direction as you’re walking towards him. “oh y/n.. what’re you doing here?”

you and hundreds of other people were at a social media event. everyone there ranging from influencers with 10k followers to youtubers with over a million. with you being a content creator with a large platform and hella subscribers, of course you were gonna get an invite. and of course you were gonna show.

“i got invited! i’m only here with a couple of my friends though. who’re you with?” you say with a big smile plastered on your face. “just with jett and jordan, they’re just off somewhere..” he’s been paying more attention to his phone than you. it seems like he wants this conversation to be over. you took the hint and decided it was best to leave him alone. “right right..” you look off to the side awkwardly before speaking up again. “alright well I don’t want to keep you here all day. i have to go catch up with my group. it was nice talking to you though, vinnie.” “mhm. see you.” was all he replied back with as you turned away and left. “tough crowd..” you mutter.

you’re walking around different areas with your friends as you see vinnie again. you want to try to talk to him again but you knew it was no use since he obviously didn’t feel like talking to you. that was until jett noticed you and your group of friends as he called out and they all waved at you. well, all except for vinnie. he just kinda stood there awkwardly frowning like a grump. even when you gave him the most sweetest smile. god, was he made out of fuckin sadness and despair? you quickly turn your head away in embarrassment.

vinnie’s pov

i watched as she looked away in what seemed to be disappointment. i felt horrible knowing that she probably thought she was doing something wrong, when it was me who was trying to get away from her. all because i couldn’t stop thinking about her. there’s absolutely nothing wrong with her. she’s everything anyone could ever want if i’m honest. i’m just too scared to love. how do i even approach her after all this?

end of pov

as vinnie’s mind was racing with thoughts, it didn’t occur to him that his friends were talking to him, asking if they wanted to stay for the after-party. vinnie not being able to find his words, just nodded and on they went.

surprise surprise, you and your friends are staying for the after-party too. you and vinnie’s group decided you all were gonna attend the party together. which meant you’d be around vinnie for like..basically the whole night. his “hatred” for you can’t be that deep, right..?

PLEASE READ ‼️

this is my first writing so please be kind and im very open to criticism! thank you for reading and part two will be out on the 25th. thank you again ❤️‍🩹

#vinnie hacker #scenarios #vinnie x reader #vhackerr #x reader #fanfic #vinnie imagines #gr444nde

[rivercityrabbitsbro]

God there's a short list of things that immediately fill me with frustration-induced-rage, and one of them is how I put a lot of thought into what I'm doing almost always, and the willingness of people to immediately assume I'm just dumb/careless/inexperienced.

For example, I will often phrase an email or request in a specific way as to show that someone's request was lazy and pushing the work off on to me, and a 3rd person often comes in and goes "You know we can just [do the work that that person was trying to push on to me]" like I don't know that.

An account manager sent an email with a client name as a subject line and "We're marketing this and being asked for details on all claims over $10k" Which lines of coverage? (there's like 10) Over how many years? (we've had them for 20 years) What kind of details? (the description or how the claims played out?) Do you have a list of those claims? When do you need it by? All things I asked, in more words, copying others in the dept bc they'd be involved.

My exec responds: We could just pull up the most recent loss reports in the file and check them

Yeah I know! I literally was doing exactly that as I was drafting my email because I like to give myself ammo when I'm making a point. I am obviously not going to wait for the response bc that hinges my work on when someone else gets me something. I could also check her files to see who specifically is asking to see what specific lines of coverage they're asking about. I could never speak to this person and still find a way to get every piece of information I'd need!

But the point of my email was not "I don't know what to do", the point of my email was "You are asking me do you a favor (implicitly on a short timeline), but you can't even do me the decency of providing the information I need to do so, therefore lengthening how much time I have to spend on this favor for you"

Like, the sales side of the company does this to us CONSTANTLY, and my dept just throws up their hands and goes "it's no use fighting it they're gonna make us do it anyway" and it's like.......haven't we been trying to prove how busy we are because quantity of claims doesn't begin to show our workload? Wouldn't correspondence showing how much work is being offloaded onto us by lazy managers go toward proving that? Like yes we might end up doing the work anyway, but the exchange is important.

And not just for paper trail reasons! It's helpful for in-person communication too! Because when someone comes complaining that something's not done yet, it's not just me listing off excuses and "I haven't had time" in a vacuum, it's me going "Well you didn't say it was an urgent request and you didn't actually provide me the list of things you need updates on, so I haven't gotten to it yet because I need an hour to set aside to compile the initial list". Whether or not I sent back questions on this SPECIFIC request, a history of me going "Sure I can do that, [itemized list of questions that are almost always the same]" on requests in the past is something I can defend myself with when allegations come in that I'm not doing my job.

And wouldn't you know it! An allegation was made recently that I wasn't doing my job, and this helped me defend myself.

Oh boy oh man it's almost like I'm not paranoid or "looking for problems", I'm just trying to lay the groundwork to defend myself and maybe even improve things down the line. What a concept!!!

#personal #I had to walk away from my desk bc my face was so red from how mad I got watching these email exchanges #once again righteous fury coming in as one of the only Angry feelings I feel #the same people who tell me I overthink everything also routinely assume I haven't had the most basic fucking thought about a thing #like if my mom went 'hey could you pick me up some groceries' 'sure do you have a list' #and my brother went 'we could go check their pantry ourselves' #yeah I sure could but if she's gonna ask for groceries shouldn't she give me the list instead of making me do inventory??? #JESUS FUCK okay I'm calming down I just needed to vent

[nastybuckybarnes]

Of Kings and Beasts  -  Ten

Pairing: King!Bucky X Princess!Reader X King!Steve

Summary: Born a bastard of the King of Orlen, you’re thrust to the West to marry the Kings. However, the greeting you get is anything but warm, and your life with the King is far from enjoyable. He knows it isn’t your fault his husband is gone, but that fact alone won’t prevent him from taking it out on you.

Warnings: Angst, Injuries, Fluff, Language, Violence, 

Word Count: 2K

A/n: Okay y’all THANK YOU AGAIN SO MUCH FOR 10K FOLLOWERS IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MCUH OMG Anyway ahem here is part 10 and I hope you enjoy! We’re gonna have a more intense part coming next but until then, enjoy!

THIS SERIES CONTAINS SMUT AND DARK THEMES THAT MAY BE TRIGGERING TO SOME AUDIENCES!!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

Series Masterlist

“We make for Asgard.”

~*~

“You look lovely. The colours of Asgard suit you well,” Thor says, his eyes raking over your figure from behind.

Adorning your body is a soft linen gown, the colour of cream. It is cut low in the front, a style Thor assured you is common in his kingdom, and has many different folds and layers to it, making it flow with every step you take.

The fabric itself is lightweight, and the straps lie thinly on your shoulders. The waistline is decorated with gleaming golden gems and is cinched rather tightly.

Over your shoulders is a dark red cape, the same colour as Thor’s.

Your hair is tied up away from your face intricately and elegantly, and a dainty diamond necklace rests around your neck.

You turn to face him, a deep feeling of unease settling in your stomach.

“What is to happen now?” You wonder aloud, eyes fluttering past his face and around the chambers that he’s deemed to be yours for the time being.

“Now we wait. The kings should be here soon, and then we will inform them of the letter you received. I promise you’ll be safe here, Petal.” He cups your cheeks and you swallow hard, nervous about the change in his attitude towards you.

“Thor?” You ask softly, taking a half-step backward in an attempt at removing yourself from his grip.

He surges forward, one hand dropping from your face to wrap around your waist as his lips crash against yours in a fierce and dominating kiss.

Your heart races in your chest and you shove against his face, trying to force him away from you.

Helplessness fills you as you realize that you’ll never be able to overpower him, and dread settles in your gut as he pushes you back until you’re pressed against the wall.

Your muffled cries for help, for him to stop, fall on deaf ears as his lips continue their assault against yours, prying yours open to give his tongue access to your mouth.

Thinking quick, you grip his bottom lip and bite down as hard as you can, drawing blood and successfully making him pull away from you.

He jumps back, one hand coming up to his mouth while you scramble back and away from him, chest heaving and eyes full of betrayal.

His jaw clenches and he takes a step towards you, only to stop when the doors to your chambers burst open.

“(Y/n)!” A familiar voice calls, two men rushing into the room and searching for you.

The tension in the room is palpable and the two Kings pick up on it instantly, their guards raising as they see the way you’re cowering from the blond King before you.

“Are we interrupting something?” Steve asks, his voice ringing with authority.

“No,” you say quickly, regaining your composure and squaring your shoulders as the words of the Valkyrie ring in your ears.

“Thor was just taking his leave,” you say pointedly, staring the King down for a long moment until he nods, bows then spins on his heel and leaves without a word.

You take a deep breath, power and fear chasing each other through your veins while your heart races in your chest.

“(Y/n), are you alright?” Steve asks softly, taking a step towards you and reaching for your hand. You yank it back towards your body, levelling him with a glare.

“If my purpose was solely to bear children, then why are you here if I failed?” The blond glances over at his husband, unsure of how he should address this.

“It is obviously not a secret. I have been threatened even since my departure, and the truth has been brought to my attention. So I ask again, why are you here?” James takes a careful step towards you, and then another, and another until he is standing just directly in front of you.

You keep your shoulders squared and your head held high, refusing to back down.

“(Y/n), there are things we must tell you... things we have not been completely honest about... things that involve our union, and our actions towards you. Will you allow us time to be honest with you?” You swallow hard but nod, wanting nothing more than the truth after all this time in the dark.

James takes your hand delicately in both of his and ushers you to the bed, sitting down beside you while Steve sits on your other side.

The brunet speaks first.

“We were told... by our council that we needed to find a wife. When they heard of our plans to join the two kingdoms of the North and wed each other... they tried to find any way to stop it. But upon seeing our power they relented until they realized that our reign would end if we did not have a queen.

“They gave us a timeframe to find a queen. One that could give us heirs and continue the lineage of both of us. We were presented with many women but you... you stood out from the many faces we saw.”

You frown, brows drawn together tightly as you ponder this.

“My purpose... right from the beginning was nothing more than what you had told me. What you said was true. What I was told is nothing but the truth,” you whisper to James, fighting back the tears that prick at your eyes.

Steve shakes his head, leaning closer to engage in the conversation. “No. Your purpose was... is to be our wife. A queen to our people and the mother of our children. You are meant to rule alongside us, not be behind or beneath us. You are our equal, although we have not treated you as such.”

You sniffle, shaking your head as if trying to shake your feelings away.

“Why have you treated me the way that you have? Why? What have I done to deserve such hostility?”

The two exchange long glances before James sighs and takes your hand, leading it to the thin scar at the base of his skull.

“Someone has operated on me. Altered me in a way that makes me hostile towards you and Steven. We do not know who, but we know that they are close enough to be near me without raising suspicion. I will never be able to apologize enough for my actions. I have hurt you far more than I ever could have imagined myself capable of. But with the help of doctor Banner, we were hoping to have more clues as to who is responsible for this. However, he is still in quite an unstable condition.”

You swallow hard, this new information having you beyond overwhelmed.

“Who would conspire against you in such a way? Who would have such hatred in their heart for the two of you that they would take it out on me?” The two kings sigh, their hearts heavy and their eyes filled with sadness.

“We do not know. But one thing is certain: we will not rest until we figure out who it is and until they are brought to justice.”

~*~

The two Kings settle in the guest chambers for the night, having insisted that you get your own space and that you are welcome to join them if you feel so inclined.

Your mind is still in shambles, thoughts scattered and emotions all over the continent as you prepare for bed.

A knock on your door pulls you from your thoughts and you softly call for them to enter, your guard raising in an instant.

“How may I help you, Your Majesty?” You ask, jaw clenched tightly.

Thor takes a deep breath then lets it out, pacing slowly around your chambers.

“I stepped very far out of line, (Y/n). I let my emotions get the better of me and I was foolish. I apologize sincerely for my actions.” You watch him with furrowed brows, not sure if you should trust him.

“You have... entranced me. Bewitched me. Your husbands have not treated you fairly and, even in the short time that I've known you, I can tell that you are a woman deserving of the world. And if the world cannot be given to you then you deserve everything in it. And yet here you are, cowering from your own kingdom because they failed to protect you.” You want to interrupt. To tell him that he is not aware of the extent of the trauma that the Kings themselves have faced, but you hold your tongue instead.

“I can only hope that one day you will be able to forgive what has transpired today. For I value your company and your companionship and I would be devastated to lose it in any way. However, I will not blame you if you were to push me away. I was out of line and I allowed myself to be weak in a moment when I should have been strong. You needn’t give me an answer tonight, but I am offering my sincerest apologies. While you are here the Palace is yours. Anything you require will be brought to you promptly.”

He’s quiet for a moment before clearing his throat, his eyes on the ground.

“I bid thee goodnight, and I hope pleasant dreams find you tonight.” He turns to leave and you sigh, shaking your head.

“Thor, wait.” He does, turning back to look at you with those soft blue eyes of his.

“I appreciate and accept your apology. I do not look at you any differently because of what transpired, and I am grateful that you came to explain it. I appreciate your friendship and I am glad to have found solace in you, and it would be a shame to squander it over something so trivial.” He smiles, relief and happiness plain as day on his face.

“Good. Thank you for your understanding, (Y/n). Goodnight.” He leaves without another word and you put your head in your hands, beyond confused and frustrated with the feelings stirring inside of you.

You would be lying if you said that the Asgardian King wasn’t attractive. And he has been a friend in times when you’ve otherwise had none.

Shaking the intrusive thoughts out of your head, you exit your chambers and pad softly down the hall, stopping in front of the chambers that have been set aside for your husbands.

You knock twice, butterflies finding a home in your belly as you wait for one of them to allow you entrance.

The door gets pulled open and James stands in front of you, the formal look on his face dropping to give way to a soft smile.

“May I join the two of you tonight?” You ask quietly, looking between him and Steve. The blond looks on eagerly from his spot on the bed, nodding his head quickly.

“Of course, My love.” You bow your head in thanks and enter the room, oblivious to the eyes following your every move from a dark corner of the hallway.

The door shuts behind you but you continue to the bed, crawling on next to Steve while James extinguishes the lanterns lighting the room.

Steve makes room for you in the centre of the bed, pushing the blankets aside to allow you to get comfortable. James climbs on behind you, waiting until you’re settled to get comfortable himself.

Neither of the Kings touch you. No, they stay a respectable distance away.

“I am not so angry that I will not allow my husbands to embrace me,” you say softly, eyes closed as the events of the day catch up to you.

You’re then being held on either side by strong arms and right then and there, in that very moment, you feel the safest you have ever felt in your life.

#dark!bucky x reader x dark!steve #Stucky x reader #stucky x reader royal au #bucky x reader royal au #Steve Rogers x reader royal au #dark royal au #dark fic #tw dark fic #tw dark content #stucky/reader #Stucky x reader dark fic #stucky x reader dark au

[weirdthinkingdragon]

Dragons’ Biggest Treasure

Yandere dragon shifter erasermic x reader

Fantasy AU

Here’s a long one for you guys! (10k) FINALLY WROTE A FIC AGAIN! YAY!(hahaha I’m so exhausted)

Warnings: Swearing, graphic fights and scenes, multiple character deaths (not EraserMic or reader), harm towards reader (again, not by EraserMic. Well, mostly), burn mentions (with dragons it’s gonna happen), and a handful of times about eardrums bursting (the harm towards reader by EraserMic). As well as dragon abuse. This does have much darker stuff than I usually write. Also a slow start for the yandere stuff. Pretty happy with the details in it. Hope you guys like it!

dragonerasermicdragonerasermicdragonerasermicdragon- *gets smacked*

These two as yandere dragons will now forever rot in my head. Hng, why have I not thought of it sooner!? Just THINKING of them as yandere dragons makes brain go brrr. Obviously going to write them as yandere dragon shifters again at some point. More than once too.

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

I’m close to the entrance gates to the kingdom ruled by a man that calls himself All For One. No one knows his real name. He’s a sick bastard that no one wants to be around, but no one can do anything since he’s a lot smarter than he looks with that damn mask over his head. My job by him is to heal dragons after their fights he forces them into, like the most recent one who is incredibly injured in front of me. He likes them by the entrance to torture them with the taste of freedom they will never get from the enchanted chains wrapped all over them. 

While using my natural healing abilities that are actually a pretty rare thing, there is a commotion over towards the gates. The large metal doors open to reveal many men on horses and even a few on their feet holding ropes, pulling something large behind them. I sadly already know what’s being brought in. A saddened sigh escapes me at the sight of two new dragons that are heavily wounded being dragged in through the gates at the end of the ropes. More dragons that are bound to reach their unfortunate fate until they die. 

Looking a bit closer, there are arrows sticking out of the two of them, and blood trailing on the ground. Both of their bodies are black, but one has everything black but a grey underbelly. Instead of spines, it has a feather-like long mane that is also black. The skin on their wings matches the grey of their underbelly. It’s impossible to know the eye color since they’re asleep for the moment. 

The other quite possibly has the largest yellow spines I have ever seen. The same with his horns, they’re curved upwards at a slight angle. Their underbelly, as well as their wings match the color of the spines and horns. There are odd scales around their eyes with orange closer to the center, and a white outer rim, almost like it’s wearing sunglasses. 

The dragon I was tending to just curls itself as much as it can away from me after healing it a small amount. I was ordered to only heal them enough for their wounds to not need stitching so they will still be rather weak to even try escaping. Why he would need enchanted chains then I have absolutely no clue. He takes a sick pleasure in his favorite dragons having such an advantage in the arena. 

I lock eyes with Masura who gives me a giant sadistic smile in return. He enjoys hurting dragons way too much. A few have even ended up dying on the way here from wherever he and the others keep finding them. 

“Brought some fresh meat for you to take care of. These two put up an incredible fight. Can’t wait to see what they will do in the arena.” 

He and the others go to the line of chains near me and hook them all over the two dragons, including the specially created muzzle. Specially created by it having holes so they can dip their snout in the trough of water and get it in that way, and fire can’t get through. Feeding is still a bit of a problem though. Especially since I’m stuck being in charge of that as well. So many times being bitten or burned from having to remove it for that time. 

I gently rub the scarred burn on my right forearm from a problem with an incredibly feisty and almost explosive yellow dragon before. Miraculously, he was the first and only dragon to escape alive. Then again, it was the turn of a different caretaker that night who ended up sentenced to death for it. 

They quickly leave to let me tend to the injured duo. I sigh and quickly finish up the one in front of me with a rather large wound on its right hind leg. The bucket of healing water I enchanted helped the wound close up to a point. It can sadly easily be ripped open, which it obviously will tomorrow in its next fight. I would love nothing more than to be able to heal them better than I have to. There are serious consequences if it’s found out I did though. Emi was proof of that. Despite her joking personality, she really cared for the dragons. That was her downfall when a dragon was healed too much and almost overpowered one of All For One’s most prided dragons. Can’t remember which, but I’m pretty sure it was the female dragon named “Toga”. She- no. Don’t think about Emi’s final screams of pain. 

I scan over the two dragons to see who is worse off. By far it seems to be the black one with the mane instead of spines. The most concerning is the arrow that seems to be in one of its lungs. It’s going to die if I don’t do something. I don’t want it to die so soon. Well, I do, yet I don’t. Do just so they don’t have to suffer fighting in battles, but don’t since they have such a long life to live yet. I just wish they’d be able to really be free after being caught. 

Damn it, I might get into so much trouble for this… 

A bright green glow comes from my hands as I wrap one around the arrow and one on its underside right next to the arrow. A quick and firm tug is able to get it out. I quickly enhance my healing power further to fully heal this one wound. 

Not even a scar is left behind. Hopefully, they forgot the arrow was around there when they brought the dragons. I lean on the wall to steel my groundings from being exhausted from it. Ugh, it’s been too long since I’ve done that. My body is no longer used to my own powers. How sad. I’m the only one known for being born with such power. Emi was gifted it by enchantment by All For One. How he has the power to do that no one wants to know. We all just know he does, and he gets whatever he wants since no one can stop him. 

After collecting myself for a moment, I scan the rest of their injuries and find out both of them are male. The maned one has more slashes on him than arrows, but the other has an incredible amount of arrows. Luckily, none of them are in vital places though. 

The already reddened bucket shows it doesn’t have much more healing capabilities. I’m going to have to get a new one for healing. As long as it’s clear, the water covers the rag in a way it can close wounds. It’s an odd thing that somehow works and helps the healer keep more of their energy. 

I decide to leave for a minute and refill the bucket. After dumping out the blood water, I refill it from the rather clean river that runs through this place. Using my healing ability, I stick my hand in the fresh freezing water and stir it around to leave a green glow for a moment. It will quickly warm up in this rather hot weather. 

I go towards the two again to finish up their wounds. What surprises me is both have already woken up and are glaring at me greatly upon entrance. The maned one has the most piercing steel-white-like eyes I’ve ever seen. The other has bright green with an odd circle swirl in them I’ve never seen before. Have to say they almost seem a bit hypnotic. 

The wonder doesn’t last long though as the green-eyed one lets out a noise that greatly hurts my ears. With that sound and this close proximity, my eardrums more likely than not just burst with the severe pain that came with it. A few tears threaten to escape with a pain I’m not used to.

The mask wasn’t made for dragons with a sound ability! We’ve never had one of these! Why didn’t Masura warn me!? Or more importantly, how wasn’t he heard before being dragged here with how loud he is!?

With my hands instinctively on my ears to try preventing it from bursting my eardrums again though it would be useless, All For One enters right after. Out of nowhere he summons another enchanted chain that wraps around his snout, preventing him from doing the same… Screaming? Shouting? Whatever that ability is to be used again. 

He waits for a minute for me to heal my eardrums before attempting to speak to me. 

I nearly start shaking as his head turns towards the non-wound area on the maned one. Masura must have informed him or slipped up talking about it. 

Quick, I have to save my own skin! “I had to remove the arrow and fully heal it, otherwise it would have died from the arrow puncturing its lung, as you most likely knew already. I understand that’s no worry for you, but it would have been rather annoying if he died before being in even one fight to watch, right?” Oh please tell me that works! 

A dead silence looms for a second before All For One turns towards me and gives me a curt nod. I almost heaved a sigh of relief. Almost being the key word. I held it in to make sure it wouldn’t annoy him. Probably wouldn’t, but it’s safer to not take a chance. 

He creates another muzzle that’s more fitting for this dragon. He removes the chain around the snout and puts it on before he can get snapped at, or possibly screamed at? By said dragon. The belt part is wrapped rather tightly around his snout, making it look impossible for him to even move his jaw. At least the other has a bit of loose room for it to open ever so slightly so it doesn’t become stiff. That one is going to be a lot harder to take off for feeding them.

As if All For One could read my thoughts, which is terrifying to think, he glances at me. "You have a healing ability. If it screams with the muzzle removed, heal yourself. Don’t disappoint me." He then walks off. Probably to his dragons that he treats like gods to keep them loyal to him. Even one of them being obsessed with blood getting a human a week to feast upon. Usually, it’s prisoners that have tried to kill All For One or “dragon liberators” that caught wind of how he treats most of the dragons and tried to free them. Obviously with no succession. 

I let out the unknown breath being held. Man, he’s terrifying and can suffocate someone by just his presence alone. The maned one looked almost worried at the other one while he almost seemed to be panicking with the tight muzzle around his snout. Can’t blame him. Imagine being in something similar. I’d be scared too. 

His glance shifted from the still-panicking dragon towards me, glaring ten times worse than before. I sigh. “Don’t look at me like that. I don’t want you two to be here anymore than you do.” Can dragons even understand human speech? The explosive one that burned me before almost seemed like he did, but maybe it was just my imagination. The other turns towards me and tries to scream, or whatever it is again with no succession. Makes me wonder if he hasn’t had a similar experience somehow in the past. Ugh, thinking of that just makes me feel worse. Finally free only to be dragged back to somewhere that will probably be worse. 

Saying “probably” because there are no branding marks or dents in their wrists from ropes that are usually on dragons from other places.

They’re probably already going to be fighting in the arena tomorrow. Thinking about that reminds me of how exhausted I am from healing the maned one. It’s going to be good for them to get names tomorrow in the arena. Already tired of trying to think of what to call them separately. 

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

I was right. Miraculously, All For One wanted it to be the last fight of the day involving those two. He wants me to be there to take off the loud one’s muzzle for every fight now and in the future. Starting to hate my healing ability now. 

The chains are still wrapped around the two, and they’re led into different stalls for the arena. Of course, I was left alone with the loud one. Don’t know how that could POSSIBLY go wrong. Note the sarcasm. At least All For One was able to make it where the chains are held on the sturdy walls until he can let them leave. His sound should be plenty enough signal for All For One to release him. 

He looks at me as I reach up to take the muzzle off. He stays quiet for a moment once it’s off, moving his more than likely stiff jaw around. There’s already a slight dent around his snout and jaw. 

I shake my head disappointedly. “This is beyond fucking inhumane.” Leaving him waiting, my body goes towards the doors in front of him and opens them. They lead into the arena, which has a net high up in the air so dragons can’t fly away. Not like they could anyway with how fast All For One can summon chains to drag them to the ground. 

The peace wasn’t kept long though as he uses his ability again. The chains snapped free off of him and he immediately charged out into the arena, where the other already was. Wait, he’s having double dragon fights? That’s new. He’s never done that before. On the other side of the arena, The wounded one from yesterday and a very feisty solid white one were on the other side. The white one looked like it was too eager to try to kill. The two closer to me were more on edge and almost seem like they really don’t want to fight the other two. 

They didn’t get the chance to reject though as the white one immediately lunges towards them. They separate and dodge out of the way of it. It keeps snapping and blowing ice towards the maned one. He slams his front claws on the snout of it to prevent the ice from freezing him or the other. He screams at the ice dragon. It’s not as loud as it was when he yelled at me yesterday. 

It’s almost as if… They’re more humane? This doesn’t make sense. Dragons are usually down to fight to the death, even when not healed much. At least, that’s what seemed to be until these two. 

I look towards the other one who doesn’t seem to want to fight, but it knows as well as I this fight will go on until at least one dies. 

As the two new dragons kept easily dodging and not striking too hard back, the crowd watching are not too happy with the lack of injuries. Some booing, and others even attempting to throw their held items like food at the dragons. The loud one snaps and uses his ability towards the crowd, almost or possibly even louder than yesterday. At least that shut them up. 

I lean against the right door and snicker. “Serves them right.” For a quick second, the loud one turns his head towards me. There’s no way he could have heard me, right? Especially with that ability. Or maybe his body was born with being able to stand it? Super hearing yet super loud yelling doesn’t make sense to have though. Dragons are incredibly strange in the ways their bodies work. It’s also quite possible to just be thinking too much. 

Fuck it, don’t think too much about that. 

The wounded one from yesterday half-heartedly swipes at the maned one.  Even he seems to notice the odd behavior of the wounded dragon. Then again, three out of the four are acting a way I’ve never seen before. I look up towards the “throne” All For One has. He’s shaking his head and points towards the other side of the arena. The male with glasses sitting next to him nods and lifts one of the levers next to him. 

Oh no. Not already. 

Two familiar dragons exit the cell they were comfortably kept in. They’re not his top ones, but still get the job done in killing dragons when given the chance. He calls them Spinner and… I think the other was Moon something if remembered correctly. He’s not used as often as others, so his name isn’t exactly remembered. Calling him Moon is enough for me. 

The crowd goes wild for the two. They know things get messy when Moon gets let out because of his freakish weird teeth ability. And… How he eats parts of dragons he kills. 

In speaking of killing, immediately those two go for the kill. The wounded one didn’t stand a chance and had its neck snapped instantly by Spinner. Moon something lashes its teeth out and almost punctures the ice dragon. 

Just watching the moon one move is quite unnerving. He’s so insanely fast and agile. Still wondering why he’s basically bound in a way. Then again, he’s at least twice as unhinged as Toga. I fear how fast he might be if he wasn’t bound. 

In the blink of an eye, these two were much more defensive as the teeth blades went to strike them again. The ice dragon stopped going for them, and tries going after Moon Something. Ugh, what was that something? MoonFresh? No. MoonFlesh? I don’t think so. 

He makes his teeth curve like a hook and tries again towards the ice dragon. It dodges again. Wait, hook… Fishing… MoonFish! That’s what it was! 

I feel like slapping myself stupid for forgetting that. 

Spinner jumps onto the wall and tries to use that to sneak up on the loud one. It doesn’t work as he was focused on Spinner as soon as the two new ones entered. He moves out of the way and instead of screaming, screeches this time. It’s much higher and worse than any sound he’s made yet. The maned one doesn’t even flinch, but the other three definitely do. Spinner was right beside the loud one. He recoils in obvious pain and stands there shaking his head. 

It hurt my ears as well, but this time it didn’t make them burst, surprisingly. I don’t think the same could be said for Spinner. They have internal ears, so I’m not exactly sure if they burst, or whatever it is their species’ ears do. 

I look up to see All For One leaning a bit forward in his chair, now taking slight interest. Moonfish recovers incredibly quickly and lunges his teeth again. This time it punctures right through the ice dragon’s chest as they did a final ice breath. At the same time, a few land on the other two, causing some decently deep cuts. The ice breath freezes the rest of MoonFish’s body. 

The maned one wastes no time in swiping his tail towards the frozen body, shattering it upon impact. 

The crowd goes eerily quiet. Looking at All For One, he remains indifferent. It’s too hard to tell his emotions about what just happened. Spinner tries again to sneak behind the two and breathe his fire. The two seem so focused on the death of three dragons in one fight. Are they not used to it? 

They still haven’t noticed Spinner on the wall. At least I thought. The loud one instantly turns and rears onto his back legs and slams Spinner onto the ground with an almost punch-like move of his right talon. 

Before anything can be done, these two are chained again. The loud one being yanked off of Spinner, who instantly retreats back towards the open gate he came from. I’m honestly a little disappointed he wasn’t finished off as well. 

I sigh and go towards the stalls again, preparing to heal them. An already created healing bucket sitting in the same spot I used for them yesterday. 

It doesn’t take long for the two to be dragged in again by Masura and the bunch of… well, meatheads to say the least. I swear none of them even think half the time about anything. The two are definitely fighting and struggling with the men. 

The loud one goes to use his ability again. “Pipe down you overgrown lizard!” Masura punches the dragon in the jaw as hard as he can. It makes a sickening “crack” noise. 

The maned one gets pissed and starts snapping at him as well. The only reason I can think of why he’d do that is he knows the other one. Why didn’t I make the connection sooner? These two must know each other! 

Masura rolls his eye at them. So glad some good dragons before were able to take out one of his eyes. If only they could have taken out both. The chains get put where they were before, making the two unable to move much again. 

I’d put the muzzle on the loud one, but with his now broken or dislocated jaw it wouldn’t be the best and needs to be healed first. I can tell Masura is itching to punch one of them again. 

He stands there and smirks with his arms crossed as I dip the rag into the bucket. The loud one’s jaw is first. That’s now by far the most concerning injury. Looking a bit closer, it is definitely dislocated. I shake my head in disapproval at Masura while remaining eye contact with the dragon. It almost feels like he’s able to read me. “Did you seriously have to dislocate his jaw?” 

“Heh, the damn thing deserved it for trying to use their voice at me,” I roll my eyes at his comment. Of fucking course he’d try to use his ability. We kidnapped, or more like dragonnapped him and are forcing him to fight other dragons. I’d use anything I could too. “Not everyone has a goody-perfect healing thing like you either,” he continued. 

I shrug, then gently try to grab his lower jaw to try setting it back in place. “I’d just have to heal your sorry ass.” 

“Tch, my sorry ass? You’re the one who always seems to get all buddy-buddy with dragons. You heal them too gently. You’re the one with a sorry ass.” 

Cue my sarcastic mode. “Oh, I’m sorry for calling you a sorry ass. I must so clearly be the worst one since I’d rather not have dragons fight me all the time like you,” There was another sickening “crack” as its jaw was put back into place. The dragon hisses in obvious pain. I bring up the rag to the side of his jaw to try quickly relieving it. “Easy bud,” I try to whisper to make Masura not hear. Thankfully he didn’t seem to since he didn’t comment on it.  “We can’t all think with our muscles rather than with our brains. Nothing would get done right,” I continue, but this time out loud. The loud dragon lets out a snort. 

His footsteps go away, indicating he left. Probably upset. Good. I roll my eyes at him as I look over the dragon’s jaw. Good as new. Good thing about that is there’s not really any way to tell if I healed it all the way or not. Broken or dislocated bones are crazy enough easier and faster to heal than wounds. How that works with leaving the layer right under cut open and easily able to tear open again, but heals bone instantly is beyond me. 

Looking around and closing any other wounds, I then go to the maned one. He nips at me to try getting my hands away. It’s far more gentle and human-like than the others that have tried to bite me before. Almost like he’s telling me he doesn’t want to be healed by human hands. Understandable. 

… wait a minute. Bite, or opening jaw… I look towards the loud one and flinch, preparing for his voice. Of course I can heal, but it still hurts. My shoulders even tense upwards. It never comes. Looking at him, he still just looks at me. 

Well, now I’m in a dilemma. Do I put on the muzzle now, and possibly break this trust or whatever he seems to somehow already be giving me, or leave it off and possibly get yelled at later by him, or even someone coming in to see him without his muzzle? 

Ugh, I might regret this. Might as well risk it for now. I can just lie that it was forgotten to be put on if someone asks about it. Turning back to this one, I heal him anyways. He makes a slight hissing fuss but accepts it after a moment. After finishing, I leave to get them some raw meat to eat. Sadly, the biggest thing available is some moderately sized fish. They don’t seem like river or ocean dragons, so chunks of deer will have to do. It gets placed down not too far from them. They look at me warily for a bit. Maybe they don’t want me to watch them eat? It’s time for me to leave anyway. 

Ugh, but the muzzles… Hopefully, they’ll eat when I’m away for a bit. I have a stupid idea I’ve never done before. Sleeping beside the dragons. Walking out lets me give that a little more thought. At least one night to see how they do couldn’t hurt. But first, there is a need to talk to All For One about their names.

I enter the area he usually is with his prized dragons. Most are pretty indifferent to me, except for Toga who has tried to stab me more than once with her blade-like tail. 

I stand behind him awkwardly while he pats Spinner’s right shoulder. “They’re both… Interesting to say the least. A shame for Moonfish, but the ones tomorrow will be entertaining as well. Let’s see if they can handle Toga and Dabi.” Dread slightly seeps into me. He’s already making them face all his most dangerous ones? 

“What about their names if you decide to manipulate them after and keep them as pawns?” 

He shakes his head. “I have enough pawns. The audience has decided on Shatter for the loud one, and Lion for the other..” 

… What? “Lion?” 

“Must be the hair on it. I don’t name the things. The people do. The one thing they do have control over.” Which is beyond sad. Fucking tyrant. 

I nod in reply. “Sounds good.” After that, I leave before he could say or do anything else. The less around him the better, even if he hasn’t done anything negative towards me yet.  

Upon entering the same place again, they did eventually eat the meat while I was gone. That’s good. There’s an open area a bit to the left and away from the dragons. I plan on laying there for the night. It’s only to make sure no one comes in and sees them without their muzzles. No one but me knows a feeding schedule so it’s a good lie saying they were just fed. I’ve decided to think they can understand human speech, even if they don’t. They’re more pleasant to talk to than most people around. 

“All right you two, I normally don’t do this, but I’ll be sleeping in here a bit away from the both of you for a few nights. My back won’t appreciate it, but I sure hope you two do. It’s only because I’d rather not put those muzzles back on,” I look at the still slightly dented skin of Shatter. Damn, and that was only for like what? Half a day of him wearing it? “But if someone comes in, I will have to temporarily put them back on. Please don’t fight it too much.” 

Shatter tilts his head in an almost cute type of way. Well, that’s certainly unique. I go over to the corner and sit down against the wall. Leaning slightly back so my back fully touches it, and tilt my head up. My ass won’t be too happy tomorrow either. Maybe bringing my pillow for tomorrow night or something will help. 

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

I am rudely woken up by something sharp stabbing my foot. Looking down, it’s a feisty Bombay kitten biting and clawing at it. Where did it come from? Another thing noticed is my body is now fully laying sideways on the ground. “Ouch! Hey there you little feisty thing.” I go to grab it, and it notices. It then takes off towards the dragons, making my heart sink thinking it’s about to become a tiny snack for one of them. Strange enough, neither do. Lion just looks at it in an almost caring way. Shatter looks at Lion in a way I can’t fully understand. 

Looking outside, the sun is just starting to fully show. That means in just a few hours the arena fights will begin again. Knowing All For One, he’s going to save these two for last again. Turning back to the two, Lion has one of his claws gently extended for the kitten to play with. That is once again extremely odd behavior for a dragon. Maybe everything known about them is wrong? 

“Be careful today. I was informed of who you two will be fighting. They’re much more dangerous than the other two yesterday. One has fire hot enough to burn scales off dragons. The other is agile and very good at injuring.” 

They just look at me. 

A few fights have already passed, and my anxiety increases for the two. I’ve already had to heal the other dragons that fought today. Except for the ones that died. Getting really tired of seeing so many die for no cause other than the sick entertainment of humans. 

The muzzles were already temporarily put back on the two. Shatter’s is rather loose, just to help him not freak out again, and he obviously doesn’t deserve something like that. Luckily once again, I’m the only one taking care of Shatter. He doesn’t scream at me as I quickly take it off. I risk it and pat his shoulder. “Good luck out there. You’re going to need it. He doesn’t bite me! Man, this is crazy.

Again, the gate opens and his chains come off of him. Lion bolts out of the stall next to us, and glares inside it, probably involving Masura. 

Straight to the chase, Toga and Dabi are released from their places. Dabi almost gets a grin on his face from his teeth being shown in what seems to be a smile. Or maybe even a sneer with how stuck up he seems to be. Toga immediately poises her sharp tail above her. 

It feels like everyone holds their breath for a second as the four stand still in the arena. Toga is the first to charge for Shatter. He immediately jumps out of the way, and tries to swing his tail towards her legs to make her fall off balance. She jumps over his tail and stabs it in the process. She then licks the blood off of the blade of her tail. 

Shit! I forgot to warn about her transformation! The one thing though it could still be easy to tell which is the real shatter from his ability, and he wouldn’t attack Lion. I don’t think All For One knows they care about each other. Wait… But if she fights Shatter in his form and Lion tries to help… Oh no. 

Dabi starts using his fire towards Lion. It slightly grazes him before he can get out of the way. He lets out a growl in slight pain as smoke comes from some of his scales. Shatter goes to use his ability at Dabi, but stops abruptly as Toga transforms into him. She goes to attack him again. She might remember his ability from listening and possibly watching yesterday. They’re able to watch for an even better chance at winning. 

She swings her claws at his throat, making him go to the defensive and try to back away. 

While that is going on, Lion is too busy being focused on Dabi’s fire, and constantly jumping from it. It gets to the point Lion is facing me, and the back of Dabi is visible. He glares at Dabi, and I see his eyes turn red. Why the FUCK are these two dragons so much stranger than most!? What is up with his eyes changing color!? Dabi goes to use his fire, but… It doesn’t come out? 

… !!! A cancellation ability!? 

Now that seems to catch the attention of everyone, especially All For One. He leans a bit forward in his chair. I can’t see Dabi’s face, but I bet it’s one of surprise judging by his tensed body. He freezes for a moment, giving Lion the chance to strike first. He’s able to manage a pretty deep slash onto Dabi’s side when he tries to move away. One quick glance shows Lion’s eyes are back to his steel or whitish color. He only manages another rather deep slash to Dabi’s shoulder. He tries to use his fire again, and succeeds. With the close range I worry that Lion was burned to a crisp immediately. 

He glares again to cancel the fire again before it can do serious damage to him. Ah, so there is a timer-like thing for it. He slams his tail into Dabi, knocking him towards his back. He’s able to manage another slash onto Dabi’s exposed stomach. It’s easy to tell Dabi is slightly panicking, not used to never being hit so much before. Probably the cancellation as well. 

Presumably Toga notices Dabi having a hard time, meanwhile, she’s giving Shatter a surprisingly hard time, and a lot of injuries. She charges towards him still as Shatter and manages to get a clean deep swipe to his right eye. My heart sinks to my stomach. 

Lion hardly gives it a chance though since he notices Dabi trying to get back up. He claws again at Dabi, striking his chest. There’s now a good pool of blood being trailed onto the ground from all Dabi’s wounds. Now that Shatter has a bit of freedom, he’s able to scream. Just like yesterday, it’s much more of a screech than a scream. Again like before, Dabi and Toga flinch in pain at the sound. It gives Lion the chance to injure the Shatter that attacked him, making the transformation wear off. 

Before anything else can be done, chain envelops the two again, allowing Dabi and Toga to get away freely. Of course the coward would do this when his precious pawns are losing. “Cheating bastard.” I mumble with obvious frustration. Shatter looks towards me again. 

That’s the least of my concern now though. Lion’s eye needs to be looked at ASAP. I go back to their stalls to prepare for their return. 

Again, it doesn’t take long. Neither are wearing muzzles, but Shatter doesn’t scream, possibly in fear of his jaw being dislocated again. Masura almost seems disappointed when he and the others drag them in. It was almost too much to wait for all of them to leave before rushing towards the two dragons, especially Lion.

When reaching up for his head, I almost yank it down to my eye level to see the damage to his eye. They almost seem surprised by my concern. Thankfully, his eye was missed, just barely. My foot nervously taps onto the ground for a second while in thought. It’s still a really deep wound, but fully healing it would raise suspicion, and All For One already isn’t too happy with these two defeating so many of his favorites. Not many have been able to beat Dabi and Toga. My hand gets its familiar glow and comes into contact with the wound. I don’t heal it all the way. There’s a giant scar left instead. They gave me a look. “I’m sorry. I really badly want to heal it fully, but I don’t want to die by healing you guys too much like the last person did,” I look towards the burned scales as well. “Those can’t be fully healed either. Some reason my healing doesn’t really work on burns.” 

Their eyes almost seem to widen. 

Shatter looks towards the entrance instead a moment later and hisses. I rush for the muzzles. Obviously, they’re really resilient to them being put on. 

I get Shatter’s on just in time for All For One to enter. He goes right up to Lion. “A canceling ability. Simply magnificent. I wonder, how many can he cancel at once? Guess tomorrow we will see,” He almost seems to glare at Shatter. “Although I do not trust that one to not get in the way. Tomorrow will be just Lion, or now given the name Suppress.”

He goes to touch the now named “Suppress”, but he smacks his head against All For One’s hand, making him pull it away. “Ah, still got good fight as well. Good. Tomorrow will be interesting.”

“Uh, S-sir? If I may ask, what is your plan for him tomorrow?” Damn it, why did I have to stutter? 

He turns his masked head towards me. I can almost FEEL his grinning under the thing. “He’s going to fight Tomura as well tomorrow.” 

I’m pretty sure I stopped breathing. There’s no way he can fight Dabi, Toga, AND Tomura at the same time without being killed! 

He doesn’t say anything else as he turns and leaves. I quickly take their muzzles back off. There’s nothing that can be done. I can only hope he’s strong enough to survive. No dragon has survived Tomura though. I sigh heavily and look at Suppress. “I hope you can handle a lot at once. If I’m right, you might be against three tomorrow. Be as ruthless as you can. They won't be holding back.” 

I leave and grab food for them again. This time, they eat it with me there. I sit in the same spot as before. 

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

The next day comes too soon. This time I’m woken up to the sun shining right on my face. That means it’s much later than yesterday. I go to sit up, and nearly groan in stiffness. Yep, here comes the pain and stiffness of laying on the floor. The two of them are staring at me while growling, or probably talking to each other. Well that’s a little weird. 

I get up lean backwards, giving my back a good crack. It felt satisfying and did relieve the tiniest bit of discomfort. Using my healing, it doesn’t take long to feel fully normal again. I look at the giant scar still under Suppress’ eye. Pity courses through me at it. Well, at least she didn’t strike slightly higher, permanently losing his sight. Judging that Suppressor might be taken soon for a final fight today, I get up and grab the muzzles yet again. I’m so sick of even seeing these damn things. Suppressor’s gets put on properly, but I keep Shatter’s a bit loose again. He almost seems appreciative of it. “When they come to take you, save your energy for the fight. You’re going to need everything you can get.” 

They were put on just in time too since Masura comes in with a few others to take Suppress. “Already?” I question. 

“Yeah, he wants this to be the only fight today. He couldn’t wait to see what this thing is made of.” 

This “thing” is a he, you overdeveloped rotten cabbage. 

The dragon must have been able to understand me since he doesn’t fight them that strongly as they drag him out by the chains. I sigh and look towards Shatter. “I hope he’s strong. He’s going to need everything he can get.” 

I follow Masura into the stall. It’s odd being in a different one for once, and I’m horrified with how roughly they throw him around with the chains. I go up front and take off his muzzle yet again, allowing him to snap at the people. I smirk as he gets dangerously close to his teeth meeting the flesh of one of the men close to me on my left. He shrieks and stumbles far away. 

He then gets shoved forward out of the stall into the arena. Masura and the others quickly leave, probably to the stands to get a better view of the fight higher up. 

It’s dead silent in the stands. “Now, I know there are usually a few every day, but this is a chance that can’t be taken up. Today is a one fight only, and three against one. Now, that usually doesn’t happen with the lack of action that would normally cause, but this dragon has an incredibly special ability I want to see how they fare on their own,” three separate gates open, revealing what I feared. He’s given them a higher advantage by not all being together to have their abilities eliminated. Now, Toga’s not really a problem since Suppress doesn’t have an ally, but she’s still incredibly agile and dangerous. 

Tomura is probably one of the oddest dragons. His scales look incredibly dry, despite not exactly being a desert dragon. Bright red eyes glowing with hate, and talons of dead dragons latched onto his body. Don’t know why they’re there, but it’s still such a sickening thing to see. 

Dabi looks good as before with no slash wounds to be seen. Of course the fucker is willing to fully heal his dragons whenever they’re injured. 

Toga is in front, Dabi on Suppress’ left, and Tomura on his right. There was an eerie stillness for a moment, almost like they're all waiting for something. That something was Tomura. He hissed something, and they all lunged for him. He manages to dodge all three. Tomura is trying to get a grip on him for disintegration, or decay, or whatever terrifying thing it is he does. Suppress is trying to keep an eye on him and ducks down in time to avoid Dabi’s fire. Toga tries to stab him with her tail while he’s lowered against Dabi’s fire and watching Tomura.  

Turns out he was somehow also able to keep watch of Toga. He brings his tail in front of him and pushes Toga up without her realizing. Dabi’s fire hits her for a moment, making her let out a sound that makes Dabi stop. Even from here smoke is coming off of her back. 

She jumps out of the way for Dabi to continue. He uses his ability to stop Dabi from using his hot fire. Since he’s so distracted by keeping his sight on Dabi, and ends up focusing more on Toga’s location. Tomura is able to get up on him again. He manages to grab Suppress' right arm. It’s not for long as he seems to notice immediately what the dragon’s ability does. It stops decaying as he glares at Tomura instead. 

Dabi notices and tries to use his fire again. It works. So his ability must need to keep his eyes in contact with a dragon to stop their ability. Chunks of his arm fall away, leaving his arm to start bleeding rather heavily. Suppress flinches is obvious pain. He’s able to keep a level head and use Tomura’s grip on him to pull him in front in the path of Dabi’s fire. Really clever using a long-range foe’s ability to harm its allies. 

Dabi doesn’t stop in time, greatly charring Tomura’s already bad scales as well. 

All For One isn’t too happy of his favorite pawn being injured so quickly already. Well, it’s obviously his fault for the other two joining in the first place. 

A sick pleasure grows in me at his frustrated stance of tight grip on his chair. Though pity courses through me as well looking at his partially decayed arm. Should have warned him about that. 

Toga manages to ignore the pain of her burned scales and attempts to attack Suppress again. He swipes his tail as hard as he can, making Toga go flying and crash into the wall from her rather small size. Especially compared to the others. The back of her head hit the wall as well, and she slumps to the ground, unmoving. She doesn’t seem to be dead though, her stomach still slightly rising. 

Now All For One seems to be getting angrier. He doesn’t seem to be the only one. Tomura lets out a rather angry growl. Suppress is facing me again, and blinks, though he really didn’t seem to want to. That’s all the two needed to go all-out on him again. 

Tomura tries to grab him again but wasn’t able to. Suppress grabs right above his two front talons to prevent more decay. One thing going for him is he’s much stronger physically, so he’s able to manage quite easily keeping him pinned down. 

With Dabi’s fire consistently being shot at him, he does something his body shows he didn’t really want to do. He tilts his head and leans down, biting into the sides of Tomura’s neck. He slowly continues to bite down harder as Dabi doesn’t cease using his fire at him. Tomura is visually starting to panic at this point.

I think I know his plan, but it probably won’t work. Dabi doesn’t really care about the others but tolerates them for his own enjoyment of the arena. 

Looking at All For One, I freeze. He’s angrier than I’ve ever seen him. I can swear I see his hands shaking from here. Huh, he’s not usually the type to have strong visual emotion besides slight interest. 

Eventually, there was a sickening “crunch”, indicating that Suppress must have bitten into bone. Tomura’s neck slumps to the side, and he can’t seem to pick his head back up. 

All For One had enough as he stood up from his chair for the first time and I can see the chains going for Suppress again. The chains yank Suppress so harshly that he drops Tomura, and ends up being slammed into one of the walls himself. 

My body freezes completely as All For One’s head turns to look directly at me. I’m happy Suppress was able to survive, but now I’m dreading what All For One’s going to do to him. 

I rush back to Shatter since I can tell All For One is about to come in this time. He seems desperate to have the muzzle off again. His eyes almost light up as I enter. “Sorry, I can’t take it off yet. Your friend is in pretty bad shape though and will be coming shortly.” 

I almost waited with bated breath for a good few minutes. This time, instead of Masura and the others, it was All For One himself, easily dragging the dragon along. The chains pull him back by the other and latch back onto the walls. He has chains wrapped around his snout like the other did before. He’s between me and the dragons, and I can see their expressions behind him. Suppress is still flinching in pain from his decayed flesh. 

He turns his head to me. “Kill them both.”

I was in shock. I have never been demanded to kill a dragon, yet alone two before. He won fairly! Even with injuries! He and Shatter deserve to be let free! 

I notice the two dragons tense behind him. 

“I will not repeat myself. They nearly killed my best pawn. Nothing gets to pass my pawn. That will not stand, so they will be killed,” He looks at Shatter’s loosened muzzle. Fuck. “I noticed they seem to be trusting of you, so I’m making you do it. You have one hour,” he turns around and leaves. 

I look at the wounds of his fight from earlier. You know what? Fuck him. If I die, I die. 

“I think you both more than earned your freedom by now. Hell, neither of you should have been here in the first place. Do me a favor and warn the others to not come near here ever again.” Shatter tilts his head at me again as I take off his muzzle and the chains around Suppress' snout.  Here’s to hoping they can understand me. The sword hanging on the wall out of reach of the two dragons should be able to break the chains. 

My first priority is to fully heal that decayed part. The scar under his eye is sadly permanent now though. My hand glows its familiar green and it hovers over the wound. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be fully healed either, but the scar is much smaller than it would have been. I try my best with the burns, but it doesn’t do much. 

The longer my hand hovers right above his scales and heals him, the more drained and tired I feel. It gets to the point my body tries to fall forward. I push my hand onto him to try keeping my balance. “Whew. Not quite… Used to using so much energy. Haha.” His shoulder that I’m leaning against twitches. I take it as my cue to step away and end up leaning against the wall not far behind me to catch my breath. Looking towards Shatter, he’s still in pretty good shape, but the wounds from before can be healed a bit more to make sure they don’t reopen. 

I trudge over to him and do the same, ending up leaning on him like Suppress. This time even more tired though. I can’t rest yet. There’s so little time to get them free yet. I push myself off him and go to grab the sword. With my tired state it’s almost too heavy to be lifted. 

The first thing was their wings with metal being wrapped around them and pulled outwards. I grab the chain closer to him to try preventing it from pulling. The sword gets slammed down as hard as possible, making the chain break. One by one, the others were broken too. Eventually, all were broken off of both. My arm is so sore from lifting the sword so many times, and being drained in the first place. My breath is incredibly ragged. 

After dropping the sword after the final chain, I close my eyes and lean against the wall. It’s hard to stay awake. “There. Now… Get going before someone returns.” 

Both of them stop towards the entrance and look at me. “Go!” I yell at them and point forward. They stay for a moment longer, then bolt out. 

I stay leaned for a few minutes. That was beyond exhausting. Two familiar sets of footsteps enter.

“You damn traitor. I really thought you’d be better than the last. I should kill you now!” 

I look towards the entrance. All For One and Masura. Guess just get it over with then.

All For One stops him with an arm in front of him. “No. They deserve much worse than death for their betrayal.”    

Well shit.

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Locked in a dark cell for a good week. Hardly any food, and quite possibly the bare minimum of water given for me to stay alive. At least it wasn’t permanent. Almost wish it was with that happens after leaving the cell. After leaving, he gave the others free rein to injure me whenever they pleased. Masura was more than happy to oblige, leaving me with some rather problematic injuries that made me so tired to heal I could barely heal dragons if I tried. Of course, now someone is always watching me when it’s my time to heal the dragons. My job is only partial now though since he wants someone more “loyal” for the job. Hopefully, those two are happy at least. That’s all that matters. 

In speaking of that, today was a day I wasn’t in charge of it. But Masura sure as hell had a lot of fun tossing me around like a ragdoll. Many show pity for me, but they know not to help. I can’t blame them no matter how much it hurts. A younger one with green curly hair looks like he wanted to deck Masura himself. Same with the dual-haired one beside him. Another rather tall one with glasses stops them and uses a chopping motion to tell them something, making them not intervene. They were a bit too far to be heard. My body is too tired today to heal the recent wounds from him as well. Pretty sure my right eye is a black eye from it being stuck partially closed and obviously the pain. 

While looking around to make sure he’s not near me or any of the others for now today, I stumble upon a rather intimidating-looking man. His back is facing me as someone with really long blue hair is talking to him. He just radiates a strong and uncomfortable type of feeling. Never seen them around before. He doesn’t even turn around. “Sorry, sir.” Some reason that seems to catch his attention. The other two, which is a rather pretty woman. Rather long and messy black hair turns around to lock steely-gray-like eyes with mine. 

That scar reminds me too much of the dragon from before. Wasn’t the scar about the same place too? Huh, he must have been too interested in that fight and lacks self-preservation or something. His eyes widen for some reason. He must have been told by others to not even come near the now outcast. 

I don’t even get to blink when he grabs one of my arms to pull me towards him again. My body instinctively flinches and gets prepared to be hit again. It never comes. My eyes open to see him staring at small cuts still bleeding slightly. His sight then immediately goes towards my swollen eye. There’s an odd fury that grows in his eyes the more he sees. Too tired to think what that must be about. I try to pull my arm free from his grip. ‘I’m sorry sir, but could you please let me go? I’m really tired and just want to go home for the day.” 

He doesn’t. If anything, his grip gets slightly tighter from me trying to pull away. Not painfully so, but it’s there. The other turns to look, and her eyes widen a substantial amount. She looks at him. “They the one? They’re not looking so hot.”

“We got what we need. Tell Zashi and the others.” 

She nods and pushes something hidden against her ear. “We found the target.” She says something else too, but my mind is too caught up in the “target” part. 

T-target!? That snaps me to attention. What did All For One tell them? Are they looking for something and he pinned the blame on me that I have it? Did he hire them to make my life more insufferable?  

A set of footsteps comes up rapidly. They must be running as fast as they could. It’s another male. He has incredibly long hair and some rather odd facial hair. He suddenly hugs me. “So glad to have finally found you! The week has been terrible! Sho! We shoulda taken then with us!” 

I don’t know you weirdos. What kind of sick prank is this? I try to push him away. “You must have the wrong person. I don’t know either of you.” He latches on tighter. “C’mon, we’re not dragons now, but you gotta recognize us! Especially Sho’s scar! 

...What? Looking closer, the blond one seems to have small scales poking at his clothing. That… This cannot be possible. I shake my head in disbelief. “There’s no way! Dragon shifters aren’t real!” 

“Oh, we definitely are, dear- what happened!? Why do you have so many injuries!?” 

“That Masura man I’m guessing. Problem child informed me of it not too long ago.” 

Problem child? 

The blond one almost seems to growl. “Don’t regret our decision for today then.”

“Decision?” I question. 

They both grow a rather sadistic smirk. I can’t tell which is more unnerving. The blond’s is bigger and shows more of his teeth, but there’s just something about the black-haired one’s that seems more unnatural.  

“Well, we’ve been lookin’ for ya for about a week now. We were starting to think he did kill you, and we weren’t happy. Besides! A dragon killer like him can’t live anyway. He’s a danger to our kind!” he turns towards the woman. “Give everyone the signal,” He turns towards this ‘“Sho” or whatever he is. “You should take them. Don’t want any more damage to our poor lovely healer, huh?” He smiles at me. 

I’m… still trying to wrap my frazzled mind and body around this. I don’t get to though from the sudden thing of many of the people around suddenly growing rapidly in size, and obtaining dragon qualities. 

It doesn’t even take a minute for them all to be full dragons, and ripped clothes everywhere. As well as the two familiar ones right in front of me. Shatter and Suppress. 

Shatter picks me up and flies up a bit, being careful with his claws. He places me on Suppress’ back. 

Can things please stop for two minutes to let me think!? Again, I don’t get to as Suppress takes off into the air. There’s nothing to really grab onto to not fall off, so I grab his hair. It’s surprisingly soft. Wasn’t expecting that. My hands make the hair wrap around my hands a few times to not have to clench it so tightly. I’d rather not fall to my death. 

He either dosn’t feel me pulling on his hair or doesn’t care. I lean closer to ignore the air whipping by as he speeds around flying. The screaming of the people is also a bit too much. They have nothing to fend themselves since dragons have never attacked this place before. Usually they get caught before they do.  

There’s the familiar screaming or yelling of Shatter in the distance. I look over to see him with multiple other dragons against All For One. He’s gotten a few chained to the ground, but the sheer amount of them that keep using their abilities against him is making it really hard for him to focus. 

A familiar exploding dragon zooms past to fight one of his prized dragons he must have let free to help. They’re not helping much. They can’t. There are too many. Toga tries to stab him with her tail, but the exploding one is relentless. He has a sick smile, almost like he’s enjoying the fight. He almost too quickly manages to pin her to the ground and slams explosion after explosion onto her face. 

Dabi is being managed by an oddly colored dragon that reminds me of the red and white-haired one from earlier. With him fighting Dabi is a green one with an oddly long tongue, and a pink and brown one who somehow can move large buildings to fall onto Dabi, making him constantly jump around to avoid being hit. 

Tomura doesn’t seem to be having much luck either. The two must have informed the others of his ability. He’s against multiple with long-ranged abilities like Shatter. 

Despite all the noise around, I’m getting even more tired with the rocking of his body with the movement of his wings. Same with his oddly warm scales being rather comforting, and hair draping around me like a blanket. Exhaustion overtakes me as the sounds of screaming people, roaring dragons, and crackling fire of houses slowly fades to silence with me drifting off. 

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Not edited to the fullest capability. We die like captains with their sinking ships. Will be doing a part two with better yandere stuff...

….. Eventually…...

#yandere erasermic #yandere dragon erasermic #x reader #mha au #dragon shifter au #hizashi yamada x reader #shouta aizawa x reader #yandere hizashi yamada #yandere shouta aizawa

[prfctethereal]

bloodline. | james potter

thank u, next x marauders

alexa, play bloodline by ariana grande

pairing: james potter x reader (fake dating au)

summary: after lily breaks up with james, you offer to pretend to be lily over the christmas holidays

word count: 10k (i deeply apologise)

warnings: language, mentions of food and eating, sexual jokes and innuendos (nothing explicit or smut), a whole lotta angst but a whole lotta fluff

a/n: a can't believe i wrote so much for this man. anyway, this is probably my favourite thing i’ve ever written to enjoy - Kennedy

***

The common room was a ghostly quiet, but that was expected at this time of year. Tinsel decorated the mantelpiece by the fireplace, the smell of nutmeg and cinnamon wafting through the air. In the corner, a large, oak tree sat, it’s leaves standing tall and proud, juxtaposing against the scarlet walls. Christmas was the reason for this tranquil atmosphere.

Except, that wasn’t the case for everyone. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t be going home for the holidays this year, opting to stay at Hogwarts to get in more study time. It felt like nearly all students were going away this year and the ever growing loneliness was catching up to you, weighing your mind down, a foggy haze resting over your eyesight.

You turned your head, looking up at the clock on the wall. It was nearly one in the morning, which meant that there were usually more students in the common room. The train was leaving back to London tomorrow - well, today - so you assumed that they would all be getting some rest. The only sound that filled the common room was the fire crackling and some light whimpering.

Light whimpering?

That definitely caught your attention. Straightening yourself up on the chair, your eyes scanned the dim room, searching for the source of the noise. It was quiet, but prominent, and it definitely sounded like someone crying. The sniffling painted a picture in your mind of someone’s broken face, eyes red and puffy.

There was something wrong though. Your intuition was getting the better of you. You recognised that voice, but you just couldn’t put your finger on it. Sure, you had friends, but you weren’t close to anyone, close enough to know what they sounded like when you cried.

By now, the crying was loud enough to attract the attention of anyone that would pass by. Your book, laid forgotten on your lap, was brushed aside, as you sat up, ready to find the source of the crying. There weren’t many places to hide in the common room, so it struck you as odd that you couldn’t see anyone.

Following the whines, you crept to the corner of the room, where the cries never stopped and seemingly carried on through the wall. A smile stretched across your face, a mystery forming in your head. Pressing your palms against the wall, your tenacious fingers searched the wallpaper for anything, small incisions, lumps, maybe a door handle. In the lack of light, you didn’t notice the small hole in the wall, letting your finger slip through the wallpaper. Curling around your knuckle, you tugged slightly, opening the secret door you had just found in the wall.

Letting the light slip into the tunnel, you noticed the figure curled up in a ball. His suave messy hair, paired with the thin, round glasses on the ground gave away that it was James Potter who was crying in a secret tunnel at one in the morning.

Your heart broke in an instant. James was actually a very close friend, having helped him and his marauders out multiple times on their pranks and overall mischief. You had met James in the first year and you were the bestest friend he had outside the marauders; he had told you multiple times. Many times you had laid together in the common room, shoulders touching, staring up at the ceiling, enjoying each other’s presence. It was comforting. He was comforting.

But right now, he needed comfort.

A lone piece of parchment was peeking out of his arms, which you carefully plucked away, not focusing on the ink scratched in. Soothing his shaking muscles, you ran your hands up his arms, him immediately calming down at your touch. When you felt like he was feeling better, you reached down, sitting against the wall next to him, placing your arm around his quivering figure. Your fingers found his lonely glasses on the ground, bringing them up to his face, trying to coax his hands away from his reddening cheeks.

The moment you met his eyes, you could feel his pain. His normally bright, cheerful eyes were filled with salty tears, staining his freckle-covered cheek in a sheen of sadness. It was the envisionment of pure anguish.

“Jamesie,” you started, voice quiet as to not shock the obviously patronised boy, quivering next to you, “can you tell me what’s wrong? I want to help you, love.”

“It’s-” He sniffed, voice croaky, “Lily. It’s Lily.” He struggled to keep his gaze on your face, opting to look at his fiddling fingers in this lap. “She broke up with me. A few hours ago.”

Your heart failed. Lily broke up with James? But they were perfect together. For the past two years, it was always James and Lily, Lily and James, high school sweethearts. They were so happy, so why would she end it?

The sadness creeping up inside of you soon turned to wrath, a fire burning wildly in your chest. Red clouded your vision as you felt your fist curl up in anger, fingernails digging into your skin. You only stopped when you felt James’ hand resting on yours.

“Why?” You asked. It was a dumb question, but it was the only thing that came to mind, wanting to keep the attention off of your growing asperity.

“Dunno,” James shrugged, turning back towards his corner. “She said that she wanted to take a break. Had no idea why though. Thought everything was going swimmingly.” His voice was laced with sarcasm, a nice contrast to his tearful expression.

“What a bitch, right before Christmas.” The words fell out of your mouth without you registering it, your eyes scanning the room as you chew thoughtfully on your bottom lip. You didn’t know how James' face grimaced at the mention of Christmas, a pink tint growing on his face, but not from the tears.

Turning around, you saw James with his head in his hands, an excreted groan vibrating from his vocal chords. “Fuck!” He swore, “She was supposed to be coming to meet my parents this Christmas. Now, I have to owl Mum to tell her that’s she’s not coming, oh no-”

He paused, rubbing his eyes together. “This is going to ruin Christmas. Mum and Dad are going to be fretting over me all Christmas. I wish she could’ve just waited until after the holidays.”

It really did seem like James was in a predicament. You had never met Euphemia or Fleamont Potter, but you did know that they were described to be some of the most lovely people to be blessed on this Earth. Even through your tight friendship, you hadn’t met them yet.

Then, another problem rushed through your mind. Lily was now going to be staying at Hogwarts during the holidays, and your blood was boiling. It was going to be difficult to stay in the same room as her without lashing out in defence of James.

“I don’t want to have to deal with Lily for a whole week.” You muttered under your breath, unaware that James was hanging onto every word you said.

“You’re not going away over the holidays?” James asked, eyebrows furrowed together as he scanned your face for any insight. Sighing, you shook your head in response.

“Nah, normally stay.” You pondered for a moment. “Do you think that Lily is gonna be unbearable over Christmas? I might as well just stay in the Room of Requirement all Christmas.”

Then, a thought came to your head. It was almost genius, a bright light twinkling in your eye, your mouth slightly agape. You sucked in a small breath, watching as James eyed you curiously, before a slim smile stretched across your face.

“I have an idea James, but please, I want you to stop me at any point if you feel uncomfortable with this. You are grieving in a way and I don’t want to undermine that. Promise me you’ll shut me down if you don’t like it, okay?” You noted that his head nodded up and down, letting you continue.

“What if I pretend to be Lily? Your parents have never met her before, right? Or me, for a matter of fact. I can come to yours for the holidays and pretend to be Lily to keep the Christmas cheer. When the week is up, we can stop fake dating and you can send a letter to your parents a few weeks later saying that Lily broke up with you. Christmas saved, no pestering parents, and I don’t have to spend a week with the insufferable Lily.”

There was a silence that followed, James gawking at the ground as his mind churned over what you had just said. Then, he spoke.

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“If that’s okay with you. I mean, it’s just fake dating, right? For like a week? Are you okay with that?”

You exhaled a deep sigh of release, followed by a hearty chuckle. “Of course I’m okay with it. I suggested it, remember? And besides, we’re friends. Best friends, if anything. Everything will be fine.”

“What about Sirius and Remus? They’re staying over the holidays too. Are you sure they can keep the secret? That, you know, you’re not actually Lily Evans. You’re Y/N L/N.”

“Yeah, I think they can.”

***

“We can’t keep that secret.”

You and James and just explained what the plan was. It was the morning of December 21st, a fresh layer of snow had just been laid on the ground. Wrapped carefully in many layers, students of Hogwarts had bundled up into the crimson train, ready to go back to London for a week.

After explaining to Professor McGonagall that last minute plans meant you could go away in the holidays, she had let you onto the train, where the four of you sat in a carriage, laying out the details of you and James’ awkward plan to fake date for the Christmas holidays.

Sirius had found the whole prospect of the situation immensely funny and had been laughing ever since you told him. Remus - the more serious one of the two, ironically - wasn’t too keen on the idea, a look of disappointment plastered on his face like an angry parent.

“You can’t just lie to Euphemia and Fleamont. They’re your parents, James. Surely they’ll know you’re lying?”

“That’s the brilliant thing!” James had surely brightened up overnight. After talking for a bit, you helped James into bed, hoping that a good night sleep would change his mood slightly. Unexpectedly, his mood changed more than slightly; almost drastically. He was cheerful, his teeth glowing in the daybreak sun, enthusiastic talks from across the common room. It was a rather stark constraint from the glum Lily Evans who was moping around, as if she was the one who got dumped only the night before. “They’ll never know! They haven’t met Lily, nor Y/N! Sure, they’ve heard about both, but they won’t connect the dots.”

Anxiously, Remus looked at Sirius for guidance, except Sirius hadn’t stopped laughing, glistening tears of joy beading at his waterline, a hand clamped over his chest. You rolled your eyes at his tomfoolery, focusing your attention on the still uncertain lycanthrope.

“Remus, please?” You begged, pouting your lips. “It’s just one week. Please just lie for one week.”

It seemed as if his brain was clicking into place because after a moment, a smile replaced with frown, with him sticking his hand out. Eagerly shaking it in agreement, your mood lightened significantly.

The rest of the train ride, you went over everything that you needed to know about James and Lily’s relationship, if it came up. Firstly, they got together in February of year five, 1976. You fake barfed at the fact that their relationship sprouted from Valentine’s day, an opinion that the others giggled at. Secondly, James had told his parents that Lily was a muggleborn, so you would probably get bombarded with questions about muggles. You didn’t mind though; you were muggleborn yourself.

Next, you had to make some rules to keep boundaries between James and yourself. First, let James answer questions about the relationship, while you have to make notes and remember. Second, only refer to you as Lily in communal spaces, as Euphemia or Fleamont could appear at any moment. Three, physical affection is fine, almost encouraged, but no kissing on the lips.

As everything was settled, the train pulled into King’s Cross Station, the horn blasting through, grabbing the attention of the energetic students, ready to stretch their legs. Nervously, you kept still in your seat, an anxious stomach ache coming on. You felt sweat beading at your forehead as you finally realised how nervous you actually were.

James took note of this though, grabbing your hand and rubbing the back of it soothingly, calming your tense nerves. It seemed impossible, this task at hand looming over you, but you had to keep calm. You knew you could; in all honesty, you didn’t know why you were feeling so worried all of a sudden. Giving in, you took James’ hand and followed the three boys out onto the platform.

You followed the gaze of the three of them before your eyes landed on an older looking couple. A lady was standing there, dark brown hair pulled tightly into a ponytail, streaks of grey peaking through. Harsh smile lines protruded through her skin, a warm and inviting look on her face. Next to her, a taller looking man stood proudly next to what you assumed to be his wife. His feathery hair was combed back and the same round glasses as James sat comfortably on his peaky nose. You could only assume that this was Euphemia and Fleamont Potter.

Walking over, you stayed quiet as James greeted his parents first, pulling them into a tight hug. Immediately, you noticed how much of a mummy’s boy James was when you saw him unconsciously seeking comfort from his mother. It hurt to see him not being able to get what he needed in the moment. You looked away, afraid that you might’ve started to cry if you continued looking for any longer.

Fleamont greeted Remus and Sirius like they were his own sons, engulfing them in a hearty hug, lovingly slapping them on their backs. You watched as the affection oozed from James’ parents, a warm feeling growing in your chest. It was admiration.

Then, you felt a tug on your sleeve, looking back to see James’ trying to grab your attention. Giving him an inquisitive look, you noticed Euphemia, arms open, a beaming smile on her face.

“You must be Lily. Come in, dear.” It felt wrong as you dove into her arms, letting her motherly love wash over you like a tidal wave. Pulling apart, you felt the guilt twang in your chest, the name of Lily echoing in your mind.

That wasn’t you.

But you continued to smile. You smiled through your greetings with Fleamont. You smiled through the light banter they shared with James’ friends. You smiled through the small talk. You smiled through aparating to the Potter’s house.

As you stepped through the front door, you were greeted with an adorning archway, the walls endlessly covered with family photos. Everything about the house was inviting. A lingering smell of fresh baking settled in the house, as the light from the window perfectly captured the chandelier, a thousand rainbows dancing around the room.

As you stepped into the entrance way, you watched as Euphemia gestured the four of you up the staircase, down a hallway littered with doors. She stopped at a room, a sign with ‘Sirius’ on it, labelling you it belonged to. You beamed, remembering how this was now Sirius’ new home.

“I hope you don’t mind Remus bunking with you Sirius. I pulled out a spare mattress.” Euphemia addressed the two boys, who eagerly piled into the bedroom, grinning like a kid in a candy store.

“You too, this way.” You looked over to James, but his face was contorted into something unreadable, only smiling when he noticed your staring, giving a reassuring squeeze of your hand. You brushed it off though, your mind blurred by the thought of following Euphemia.

“Here’s James’ room,” Euphemia stopped in front of a door that was decorated by a Gryffindor flag. “Make yourself at home, sweetheart. I hope you’re still okay with sharing the bed? James said that was fine in our last letter.”

You inhaled tightly through your nose, clenching your jaw. You looked back at James, whose face was once again turning a bright red, his lips slightly parted as stutters started to spill out. “Well- I- actually-”

“Sounds great, Euphemia. Thank you so much for your hospitality.” Impatient to leave the awkward situation, you gestured to James to enter his bedroom, trailing in behind you, keeping a faux smile on your face, up until the door closed behind you.

In an instant, apology after apology spluttered from James, trying to explain. You were vaguely listening, although you were more focused on the room around you. You liked the detail and the Gryffindor pride. Moving posters of different Quidditch players lined the walls, covering the red and white wallpaper. In a corner, a pile of muggle vinyls were stacked together, tied together by a pink ribbon, which you could only assume was gifted by Lily. The room was surprisingly tidy, different to the state of James’ dorms back in Hogwarts.

“I like your room.” You finally spoke, dragging a finger across a chest of drawers. A thin layer of dust rested on the pad of your finger, which you rubbed off on your skirt before turning back to the panicked boy before you.

“Did you hear anything I said?”

“Don’t worry about it, James.” You comforted him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You forgot; that’s okay! I honestly don’t mind. It’s sort of what I signed up for anyway.” You laughed, hoping James would join in. He did.

***

Dinner went alright. You stayed quiet most of the time, only speaking when spoken to. You didn’t think Euphemia or Fleamont noticed, but you did get a peculiar look from Sirius, seemingly smirking at the way James and your seats were placed so close together.

After excusing yourself from the dinner table, you helped out in the kitchen with Fleamont, drying the dishes and putting them away in the cupboards. You were lost in your own thoughts, drifting off, keeping a smooth rhythm as you stacked plates.

“Lily, can you pass me the soap dispenser please?” You almost didn’t register what he was saying, a muted hum escaping your lips, until you realised you were being addressed. After apologising profusely for your tardiness, you handled the soap bottle to Mr Potter and carried on, hoping he wouldn’t start a conversation.

He did anyway.

“How’s James been treating you?” Fleamont quipped, a sly grin on his face. You knew what he was implying and shook it off, trying to keep the conversation as ambiguous as possible.

“Good. He’s been good.” He didn’t seem to buy it. “Lovely as always.” You gulped discreetly, disguising your nervousness as a yawn, which wasn’t missed by Fleamont.

“My dear, you look tired. You better retire for the night.” Nodding and saying your goodnights, you trod up the stairs, into the bedroom, where you were met by James, where only pajama shorts, reading Quidditch Through The Ages on his bed. You smiled, knowing that it was one of his favourites. He looked up when he saw you enter, smiling sheepishly, pointing towards the ensuite door.

“You can get changed in there, love.” Humming in agreement, you took a spare change of clothes into the bathroom and quickly returned, having brushed your teeth and washed your face as well. It wasn’t that late, but you felt inordinately tired, feeling as though you could pass out.

Collapsing on the soft bed, you pulled the duvet covers over your torso, letting your head hit the soft pillow. You nearly missed James whispering a small “goodnight darling” before falling into a dreamless sleep.

***

Tuesday 22nd December

Day two of whatever this was supposed to be had begun. Sunlight was streaming in through the windows, not uncommon as James had always been an early bird and must’ve opened them himself. He wasn’t in bed when you rolled over, but you did notice the harsh sound of running water and an overwhelming smell of apple shampoo seeping into the bedroom.

Getting into some fresh clothes, you heard the water stop, buttoning up the last button on your blouse as James waltzed back into the bedroom, before seeing you. He stood like a deer in the headlights, water running smoothly down this toned skin, wearing only a towel around his hips.

“Why is it that I always catch you shirtless?” You tried to end the awkwardness by making a joke, reaching into James’ drawers and pulling out the first shirt you saw, throwing it across the room.

Because of James’ Quidditch skills, his fast reflexes caught the soaring shirt, catching it in one hand, unintentionally flexing his biceps. You shouldn’t have been staring, but the situation was too hard to read.

After standing still for a moment, you regained intelligence, snapping yourself out of your gaze. Muttering a quick apology, you dashed out of his bedroom, closing the door behind you. Pressing your back to the newly closed door, you shut your eyes tight, trying to forget the fresh memory in your mind.

“Trouble in paradise?” You opened one of your eyes to see Remus standing there too, novel in hand, also having his back pressed against the closed door.

“Shirtless.” The only words that could fall out of your mouth, making Remus bark with laughter, before clamping his hand over his mouth, an inch of sympathy showing in his eyes.

“Can’t be that bad of a sight, can it?” He joked, egging you on. You clutched your hands up to your face, trying to hide the blush on your cheeks. It was so embarrassing, but the worse past was that there was still so much more to come.

“Shut up Lupin.” You stuck your tongue out playfully at Remus, before bolting down the hallway, hoping to help Euphemia out with breakfast, like you said you would last night at the dinner table.

You were efficient in the kitchen, once again keeping talk to a minimum. Except today, you were feeling more comfortable with Euphemia, a more natural conversation gracing your time. It felt easier to speak. Maybe it was the fact that you had just had a good sleep, or maybe it was that you were actually feeling somewhat at home at the Potter’s residence.

Just as the bacon seemed to be completely cooked, James bursted through the door, Sirius and Remus in tow. James seemed to be the only one nervous, as the other two boys sat down at the table gleefully. Dishing up the breakfast, you handed the plates out to everyone.

Lastly, you handed a plate to James, trying your hardest to not make eye contact. You only stiffened when you felt James’s soft fingers accidentally brush against yours, tensing your muscles immediately.

“There you go,” you spoke in a voice so everyone could hear, “sweetheart.” You hissed the last word out in gritted teeth. Instead of sitting next to James like last night, you opted to sit directly in front of him, something that didn’t go unnoticed by James himself, who gave you a curious look at your choice in seating arrangements.

But before he could talk with you about it, you had finished your breakfast, immediately bouncing back into the kitchen, avoiding all signs of the messy haired brunette who was lurking around the ground floor.

The rest of the day followed a similar pattern. Mundane tasks, followed by awkward conversation, and running away. It wasn’t what you had thought when you offered the idea to fake date, but you realised how hard it actually was to pretend to be madly in love with someone.

It wasn’t until later in the night, when you were getting ready for bed, that you overheard James talking with Remus and Sirius. You knew you shouldn’t, but after hearing him say your name, you were too curious not to eavesdrop in. Pressing your ear against Sirius’ door, you prayed that Euphemia or Fleamont wouldn’t walk past any moment now.

“How’s it going with the whole fake dating thing?” It was Sirius’ voice, and there was a cheek to his voice. You rolled your eyes at his blatant teasing.

“Honestly, I don’t know.” It was James speaking this time. “Everything was going so well, especially yesterday, but after today, I’m a bit worried that my parents won’t believe.”

“What do you mean?” Remus’ voice held a question, an obvious inflection at the end of the sentence.

“I just wish she was a little more, you know,” a pause, “tactile. At least, a little more affection. She’s not playing the part well.”

You should’ve been hurt by James’ words but instead, you felt immense anger, and for what? You didn’t understand why you felt so annoyed by James’ harmless comment, but you did.

Begrudgingly, you languidly stomped back to James’ room, burying yourself under the covers, pretending to be asleep. You didn’t want to talk to him at the moment, in fear that you would just snap at him for the comments that he was making behind your back.

When James came back in about half an hour later, you felt a feeling of pressure being lifted from your chest, breathing easily as James tucked himself on the other side of you. You didn’t know why, but you felt like it was so much easier to sleep now that you knew that James was beside you. And so you did.

***

Wednesday 23rd December

It was an accident. You didn’t mean to wake up at the piss crack on dawn, wrapped in James’ arms. Sometime during the night, your sleeping form must’ve found its way to James. Your head was tucked in the crook of his neck, the soothing sound of his heartbeat rippling out. You felt safe.

Until you remembered that you were supposed to be mad at James. Carefully so you didn’t wake him, you slipped out of his arms, letting yours legs fall off the edge of the bed. Your warm toes made contact with cold hard wooden floors, making you jolt up in surprise. Looking back, you saw that James was still asleep, so you sighed, peeling out of the bedroom.

It was winter, so it wasn’t even that early in the morning. The grandfather clock in the living room was showing that it was just about to be seven, and that was good enough for you. Taking initiative, you decided to start cooking breakfast yourself, remembering the open invitation Euphemia gave you to use the kitchen whenever you want.

Cozying up to the stove, you placed the palms of your hands just over the radiating heat of the stove top, reveling in the delicious warmth that was defrosting every muscle in your body. Your mind was working overtime, trying to remember what James’ favourite breakfast was.

If James wanted an affectionate girlfriend, then he was going to get himself an affectionate girlfriend.

Mixing together a sweet pancake batter, you welcomed Euphemia into the kitchen. Praises filled the room, as you poured the dough into the pan, letting the bubbles rise to the top. In the meantime, you took out the bowl of fresh strawberries in the fridge, letting them come to room temperature on the kitchen counter tops.

Once again, James entered the kitchen right as you were serving up. Making sure it was as noticeable as possible, you sent a massive wink his way, catching him off guard. Grabbing a chopping board from the cupboard, you started slicing the tops off of the strawberries, to which James stopped you.

“Let me help darling.” He spoke, his morning voice making you feel something in your stomach that you weren’t expecting. Butterflies? Surely not. You shook the thought away, focusing back on flipping the pancakes on the stove tops.

After serving another freshly cooked pancake, your attention was pulled to James, a dopey smile on his face, strawberry juice staining his lips. “Y/- Lily, come over here.”

A bitter feeling rose in your chest at hearing Lily’s name, but you pushed it away, walking over to James’ workstation. He had a strawberry in his hand, beckoning you over to taste it. An idea sprouted in your head as you sashayed over, swinging your hips slightly.

You did what James wanted you to do, bending over slightly to place your lips around the sweet berry, letting your loving ‘boyfriend’ feed you. What he didn’t expect was after you had eaten the strawberry, you latched into his hands, wrapping your mouth around his fingers and gently sucking off the rest of the strawberry juice. It had caught him off guard but that’s what you wanted.

Today he was going to get all the affection you could give him.

At the breakfast table, you sat beside him, resting your hand on his thigh as you ate, leaning into him as you laughed at a joke Sirius had made. It wasn’t that funny but you wanted to prove a point. You wanted to prove that you could play the part of the doting girlfriend.

Soon, after breakfast, the Potter’s decided to go for a walk, so everyone joined in. Wrapping each other up in as much warm clothing as possible, everyone bundled outside together, minding the brisk breeze that was blowing through.

Holding James’ hand, you strolled calmly together, leaning your cheek against his arm and shoulder. He didn’t seem to mind, but he didn’t keep sending you strange looks as you continuously clutched his arm, running your fingers up and down his skin. You couldn’t tell if the goosebumps were from hesitation or the cold.

It started snowing quite heavily so they decided to head back inside. James and Remus had been caught up in conversation for most of the walk, about who was better at wizard’s chess and had agreed to a competition to decide for once and for all.

Curled up on the couch, you sat beside James, one and curled around a mug of cocoa and the other places upon James’ thigh. He let you, nodding when you hesitated on placing your hand there the first time.

About an hour into their little competition, you felt a haze settle upon your eyes, rendering you tired. It was late afternoon though, not a good enough time to go to bed. Yawning, you placed your mug down on the coffee table, and stretched out over the couch, placing your head down on James’ lap. Subconsciously, his left hand followed the movements of your head, latching onto a piece of your hair and twirling around his finger.

You never slept, but you rested your eyes. You didn’t know for how long until you felt the familiar sound of Euphemia’s dream-like voice, calling you to dinner. Hurriedly, you placed a mushy kiss against James’ cheek and sat in the usual spot at the dinner table.

By now, conversation flowed more easily than it did the day before. You were now beginning to feel safe in the Potter environment, opening up to everyone more, letting yourself join the conversation.

When you were going off the bed, you placed one last public kiss on James’ cheek before lacing your hands together, pulling him up to the bedroom and winking at Sirius and Remus, knowing full well what it was suggesting.

Once you got behind the doors though, you were off him in an instant, searching through your bag for a spare change of clothes for the night. A comfortable silence settled between the two of you, getting ready for bed in your own separate bubbles. It wasn’t like you didn’t want to speak to James, it was more that you didn’t know what to say to him after today. You were afraid that you had crossed a line.

“What was that today?” James finally broke the silence, a crack in his voice as you spoke. You spin around, a fake smile creeping onto your face.

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean.” His voice was cool, sending shivers down your spine. Your smile dropped, replaced with a frown. You could almost feel a few tears edging at your waterline, threatening to spill over if you weren’t careful.

“I’m sorry.” You started, fiddling with your fingers. “It was just- I overheard what you said last night. You said you wish I was being more, uhm, tactile.” You felt embarrassed to say the word. “I just wanted to put in a bit more effort. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

James stayed quiet as he settled into bed. You followed suit, getting it just behind him. You faced away from him though, as your cheeks were now being stained by your tears.

“Y/N?” You heard James call from behind you, but you didn’t turn around.

“Hm?”

“You didn’t make me uncomfortable. It was just strange seeing so much affection from someone who wasn’t Lily.” He paused. “Thank you.”

“Goodnight Jamesie.”

“Goodnight Y/N.”

***

Thursday 24th December

Once again, you woke up in James’ arms. Once again, you weren’t sure how you got there, but you weren’t complaining either way. Once again, you moved out of his arms before he noticed.

A new occurrence this morning though was he woke up by your movement.

“Oh, good morning love.”

Your heart fluttered at the nickname, although you didn’t know why. You kept your eyes closed, as they were still heavy from last night’s sleep. Unfortunately, it was plagued by fluffy dreams, all lead by a familiar bespectacled boy. You shook the thought from your mind, trying to open your eyes, but you couldn’t. You could barely mutter out a greeting.

“Hmm.” You grunted in acknowledgment, burying you head in the pillow. It smelt like James. A smile crept on your face without you realising.

“Tired?”

“Hmm.” You let out another whine, this one more pitiful, as you nuzzled you head against James’ arm, wanting to feel his warmth once again. Chuckling, he wrapped an arm around you before placing a calculated kiss on top of your head.

“Stay here darling.” You didn’t have to be told twice. As James left the bed, you stayed put, falling down where James was previously sleeping, laying horizontally along James’ bed as you fell back into your slumber.

You didn’t know how long you were out for, but you didn’t wake up to the sound of the creaking door opening and the clinking off ice against a glass of water. You tentatively opened one eye, letting in as much light as you would allow, adjusting to the new found sunlight. Slowly, you opened the next eye, so you could properly see what James was doing.

In his hands, he carried a breakfast tray, adorned with fresh ciabatta bread, yogurt, and a bowl of strawberries. The clinking sound before was coming from a glass of icy cold water, sitting next to a vase of peonies. Your favourite flower. You flushed at the fact that James had remembered something so miniscule.

“Breakfast in bed for the princess.” James joked, letting you sit up filling before placing the tray on your lap.

“What does that make you then? A prince?” You continued the joke, folding back a bit of the duvet to let James hop back into the bed too. There was double of everything on the tray, so you assumed one helping was for James.

You gave him a plate of breakfast as you slowly miches on yours, your mind too preoccupied to think about breakfast. All you could think about was why you were feeling so nervous around James. Why was your heart racing? Why were your cheeks flushing? Why were your hands clamming up?

“Open wide.” You whipped you head around to see James with a goofy grin on his face, holding a strawberry in his hand. Remembering what happened yesterday, you took a bite of the berry, purposely not continuing how you did yesterday and licking his fingers.

A disappointed pout returned to his face. “No finger sucking? Aww what’s wrong?”

“Did you want me to suck your fingers, Prince James?” You poked him playfully on his side. “It would be highly inappropriate. We aren’t even married yet. What a scandal.” You spoke in an over the top British accent, mimicking stereotypical royal figures.

“Oh, don’t worry Princess Y/N, I wouldn’t mind have you in my bloodline.”

“Hm, Princess Y/N of the Potter residence.” You jokingly thought for a moment. “Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

As you giggled together, you heard a knock at the door, followed by a “I’m coming in.” The doorknob turned and Euphemia emerged from behind the door. “How is my happy couple going?”

You kept the smile on your face, not letting it falter and break character. A little voice in the back of my mind was angry, upset that Euphemia had interrupted the moment, but ultimately you thought that maybe it was for the best. You needed to keep the flirting for the public eyes only.

“Hey Mum.” James cheered. You looked back to him and noticed the same smile on his face, like it hadn’t fallen. Like, he hadn’t even noticed that Euphemia had called us a couple.

“It snowed again last night so we’re snowed in for the day. Do you two have any plans?” She asked, her eyes flickering from between us.

“I have a lot of homework to do so I might do that today.” You spoke quietly, a little embarrassed that you wanted to do homework. You didn’t actually want to do homework, but you felt like you need to be occupied by something, to control an inner urge that was bubbling inside of you.

“Come on!” James whined, letting his head fall down on your shoulder. You got immediately warm from his touch. “It’s the holidays! You can’t seriously be doing homework?”

“I have stuff to catch up on.”

“Like what?”

“Like, um, stuff.”

“Would you kids like to do some baking for Christmas tomorrow?” Euphemia suggested, to which James lit up like a Christmas tree, completely infatuated by the idea.

“Yes, yes, yes.” James repeated, rushing out of bed, but carefully enough to not spill the tray everywhere. You followed suit, pulling on a dressing gown and entering the kitchen with an enthusiastic James.

That’s how the rest of the day went. You and James stayed in the kitchen all day, still wearing your sleeping pajamas, fooling around and baking.

You started with making Christmas cake, but soon found out that James was rather good at baking himself. He took the reigns, busily working as you helped out, doing the chopping and measuring for him.

At one point, James’ eyebrows were furrowed together in concentration for over two minutes. You were getting restless, the perfection needed for baking boring you, so you decided to have some fun. Pinching your finger together, you gathered up a handful of flour, flinging it at an unsuspecting James. He turned around slowly, his cheek covered in white powder, before an evil grin consumed his face.

“Oh, you’re on, L/N.”

That’s how most of the baking went with James that day. Joking around, flinging ingredients at each other. By the end of it, you could hardly tell the difference between the kitchen floor and your aprons.

At the end, you had made Christmas cake, gingerbread cookies, and a loaf of bread. Happy with your haul, you went into the living room to call the rest of the members of the household to inspect the food.

“Come see what we made.” You and James called, standing underneath the archway from the kitchen and the living room. As you were about to step away, you heard a halting sound.

“Uh uh, wait up.” You turned back around to see Fleamont with a cheeky smile on his face, pointing at the two of you. You didn’t know what he was pointing at but Euphemia, Sirius, and Remus did, following Fleamont’s arm and laughing when they saw it.

Gazing upwards, you looked to see what the big fuss was about. Your face fell in an instant. Hanging above you and James was a freshly picked mistletoe plant.

You grimaced at the thought, feeling guilty. It was one of the rules you had set. No kissing on the lips. Surely Remus and Sirius knew that, but they were too busy laughing their asses off to remember.

Looking back at James, you gulped. You stared up at his cerulean blue eyes, your hand shaking beside you slightly. James’ eyes were raking your face, searching for any sign of consent. You nodded soon after realising what he was doing and you let him cup your face, bringing you closer than you’ve ever been.

“Are you okay with this?” James whispered for only you to hear. You kept leaning forward until you were only millimetres away from touching when you breathed out your last word of consent: “yes.”

Your lips met in the middle. It was soft and sweet, not wanting to push what was already fragile. James’ left hand stayed cupping your cheek, holding you face still as his right hand wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to his chest. It was magical, as if all your happiness you had ever felt was wrapped together and given to you right there. You had your hands resting on his chest, feeling his racing heartbeat underneath you like a song from the heavens.

When you pulled away, your eyes lingered a little longer in James’, the eye contact you were holding inescapable and passionate. Your head felt heavy, your eyelids weighing you down as a wave of exhaustion hit you like a freight train. Discreetly, you yawn behind you hand, a gesture that wasn’t missed by James, who reached out for your wrist, running his thumb up and down your hand.

“Let’s go get you some sleep, hm?” An affirming sound escaped your mouth as you trailed behind James. Back in his bedroom, you collapsed on the bed, your lips still tingling from the sensual kiss just moments before.

The two of you were silent as you got ready for bed. Working harmoniously beside each other, you changed, and did your repetitive nightly routine, just to end up in the same place as always; on opposite sides of the bed, unable to make conversation. Luckily for you, James was onto it.

“I’m so sorry,” he started, but when you tried to butt in, he cut you off, continuing his rant. “I knew that was one of the rules and I broke it. I should’ve just said no and I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you like that. You didn’t deserve to have your boundaries crossed. I’m sorry for pressuring you into something you weren’t ready for.”

You stayed silent for a moment, soaking in his words before you began yourself. “James, I didn’t mind. You didn’t take advantage of me. It’s completely okay. And what’s that famous saying, rules are meant to be broken.”

Your pathetic attempt to joke was shut down as James didn’t say anything, nor move, just staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought. Huffing, you rolled over, trying to let slumber take you away, but you couldn’t. There was a chill in the house tonight, another snow storm heading your way. You shuddered as a draft blew through.

“You’re cold.” James finally spoke, yet it was an obvious statement, as you were still shaking under a blanket, your teeth starting to chatter.

“Come here.” You turned around, seeming as if you had misheard him, but you saw what you were afraid of. James’ arms were wide open, beckoning you to fall asleep with him wrapped around you, keeping you safe.

So you did.

***

Friday 25th December

Christmas morning was perfect. As you fluttered open your eyes, you once again found yourself situated in James’ arms, the only difference was that he was awake too, his radiant smile beaming down on you, making you feel warm and cuddly on the inside.

Breakfast was simple, as everyone was mostly preparing for Christmas lunch. You tried to help out as much as possible but Euphemia always shut you down, insisting that you had helped out enough and that you needed a break. So, you sat patiently on the couch, munching slowly on an apple, the juice running smoothly down your face.

“Good morning Lily.” James had appeared beside you, placing a soft kiss on your temple. The words falling from his mouth were more acidic than the juice dripping from your chin. Your returning smile was filled with bitterness, something James picked up on, his nose scrunching up as he surveyed your emotions.

“G’morning Jamesie.” You slurred, gritting your teeth together, detesting the name you were just called. Still unable to figure out why, James gave you a look, a look that just said “what?” It hurt, knowing that he wouldn’t know why it spurred you on so much.

Fleamont soon joined you in the living room, taking the armchair in the middle of the room, burying himself in the comfort. Politely, you nodded towards him, acknowledging his presence, but there was a glint of mischief in his eyes.

“How did you two sleep?” He asked, gesturing between the two of you, to which you both smiled.

“Just fine, thank you, any you?” You responded for the both of you, feeling James’ hand curl around you own, his fingers intertwined with yours.

“Just fine, although, I was walking down the hallway during the night and I noticed something peculiar.”

Unsure of what he meant, you egged him on. “What did you notice?”

“Your bedroom door was open, son; the pesky draft must’ve opened it. There was moonlight streaming in from the window, and I noticed the two of you curled up together.” Fleamont looked directly at you. “I didn’t realise the two of you were at that stage of your relationship.

As Fleamont winked at the two of you, your mouth fell open, appalled, as James was laughing like a maniac beside you. It wasn’t until Euphemia came into the living room to break apart their banter to get together for Christmas lunch.

It was a peaceful meal of casual conversation and light jokes. You stayed quiet most of the time, actually rather enjoying listening in on the fascinating stories that Euphemia and Fleamont were telling about James when he was a child. Soon, the conversation turned towards the future, and all eyes were on you.”

“Dear, what would you like to do when you leave Hogwarts?” It should’ve been an easy question to answer but you were stumped, unsure if you should answer as Lily or as yourself. Unable to think of something Lily would say, you decided to answer as you would.

“Actually, I want to study in a muggle university. Literature, or maybe anthropology. I’ve always been interested in learning about the world and my heart has always been somewhat attached to the muggle world. It’s where I want to flourish.” Embarrassed by your little monologue, you flushed a deep red, before turning back towards your ham.

“How inspiring,” Euphemia said, clapping her hands together in delight, “and what about marriage? Have you thought about settling down?”

You almost choked on your food at the question, catching you completely off guard. All eyes were on you and James now, with Sirius and Remus trying not to disturb anyone as they laughed in the distance.

“Uhm,” you looked at James for guidance but he also seemed just as uncomfortable as you were. “I haven’t thought that far through, to be completely honest.”

“Oh, but dear,” Euphemia looked positively thrilled. “We would be absolutely delighted for you to join our family. Lily Potter, my beautiful and caring daughter-in-law.”

“Okay, how about we clean up now, yeah?” Thankfully, James had broken up the conversation, offering to clean up the plates. Eager to leave the uncomfortable situations you helped bring in the stacks of food, offering to split it up, and repackage it for later consumption. You worked efficiently, avoiding anyone with the last name Potter at all cost.

When everything seemed to be tidied up, the Potter parents insisted that everyone sit around together for the gift giving portion of Christmas. Quietly, you rushed back to the bedroom, getting out the small gifts you had brought everyone for the Christmas season while you were out the other day.

Sitting amongst everyone, it felt like everything was back to normal. No more awkward conversations about the future plagued the atmosphere, just joyous laughter and pure happiness circling the room.

Firstly, you gave small presents to Sirius and Remus, including some quills for school, and gunpowder for pranks. You gave Euphemia and Fleamont some Christmas fudge that you had found, as well as a thank you note, thanking them for letting you stay over the Christmas season. Lastly, you handed a small box to James, a lacy ribbon decorating it.

“Open it.” You spoke in an almost whisper, as James’ fingers fiddled with the ribbon. As it fell open, you heard the small gasp from James, as he took the chain out of the box.

It was a small silver bracelet, yet it was decorated by a tiny, dangling gem, the colour of the deep blue ocean, something that seemed to have enchanted the bespectacled boy.

“It’s a sapphire.” You said, running your fingers over the cold chain. “It’s supposed to represent honesty, trust, loyalty. Everything that embodies you.” You spoke with so much weight in your chest, speaking from the deepest depths of your heart. Everything you said was true.

Swooping down, James pressed a kiss to your cheek, whispering a hushed “I love you” under his breath, so faint that you weren’t even sure if you were supposed to hear it.

The rest of the presents were handed out, until there was only one left underneath the Christmas tree. With a smile on his face, Fleamont reached down underneath the tree, grabbing the package and passing it to you.

It should’ve been a happy moment, a moment where you truly felt like you belonged in the Potter house. It did at first as the smile seemed to never be able to falter, until you stared down at the packaging, noticing the name ‘Lily Evans’ written in cursive. A single tear ran down your face as you realised something harsh in that very moment. It was always going to be Lily Evans, never Y/N L/N.

The feeling got worse as you carrot undid the wrapping paper, revealing a collection of polaroid photographs. They were all different shots of you and James throughout the holidays. Curled up on the couch, baking in the kitchen, out on the walls, sucking the juice off of his fingers. The last one made you laugh as you remembered the memory that had now turned fond.

“I love them. Thank you so much.”

The day was mostly mundane, just filled with more activities, like chess, or cleaning to fill in the time. It seemed like everyone was just waiting for the snow to melt, so they could all go back outside again. You knew James was just itching to play with his Quidditch set outside.

Strangely enough, you found yourself outside in the snow, wrapped up tight from the weather. The snow had stopped falling for a peaceful moment, so you thought it would be the perfect time to get some fresh air, away from the overwhelming company.

You were soon joined though, as you heard the front door open and close from behind you. You didn’t even have to guess who it was as they stood beside you, taking in a deep breath, exhaling visibling in the frosty air.

“How are you doing?” James looked over to you, his eyes laced with concern. You shrugged, smiling that he seemed to care about you. It warmed you.

“Overwhelmed, but you’ve been perfect. All thanks to you, I think they might actually believe it.” You were now completely facing James now, looking up into his deep, aquamarine eyes, watching as the tint changed when the light hit the irises at a different angle. It was mesmerising.

You weren’t the only one mesmerised though. James couldn’t stop staring at your beauty. The way your eyes sparkled in the light. The way your skin catched the light snow that was starting to fall. Your lips.

“Can I kiss you?”

The question caught you off guard, but it left you feeling unsatisfied. Before you could even respond, you had James by the collar of his sweater, pulling him down ever so slightly so your lips could meet with his. It was light fire and electricity, a thousand gusts of wind blowing through you, spilling into you like an endless thunderstorm. You kissed him like it was the last time you were ever going to see him, hungry, desperate, passionate.

You were in love.

***

Saturday 26th December

You had fallen asleep on the couch, slumped with James as he cocooned your sleeping body between his limbs. Unfortunately, your slumber had been awoken in the early hours of the morning by banging on the front door. Groggily, James got up, rubbing his head with his hands.

Running your fingers through your hair, you got up with him, putting on a sweater to make yourself look more presentable. James’ sweater, to be exact.

The four other residents of the house had now awoken from the persistent knocking and had joined us downstairs. It was just after sunrise so everyone was sort of dazed and out of it. With one last eye rub, James swung the door open to reveal the person standing there.

Lily Evans, with her hair like a roaring fire, cheeks naturally rosy, and eyes glinting like a morning sunrise, she stood there, clutching her hands nervously. As soon as she saw James though, she flung her arms around his neck, burying her head in the crook of his neck.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” A string of apologies came out of her mouth as tears started running down her cheeks, dark mascara staining her porcelain skin. A confused look was shot my way as Euphemia just stared between the two of us, unsure of what to do.

“Hello darling.” Euphemia’s motherly voice was out to play. ”If you don’t mind me asking, who are you?”

“Oh sorry for not introducing myself.” Lily removed herself from James’ figuring, wiping her eyes on her sleeves, as she stuck her hand out to be shaken. “I’m Lily Evans, nice to meet you.”

Then, Lily noticed your looming form sending a curious look your way. It wasn’t the only look of confusion. Euphemia and Fleamont were almost unreadable as you flicked between the two of them.

It was time to come clean.

“This is Lily Evans, my ex girlfriend.” James had the same idea as you, introducing the red headed girl to his parents finally.

“And this is Y/N L/N, my close friend.”

Friend.

That’s all you were. That’s all you would ever be, compared to Lily.

It took a bit of explaining and sitting Fleamont and Euphemia down to fully explain the plan. You started off with the breakup and then talked about the devilish plan, saying that all you wanted to do was keep Christmas light and cheery. All you got were uncomfortable looks from James’ parents.

When everything was laid out on the table, Fleamont got up and left, obviously disappointed in the choices you and his son had made. Euphemia looked as though she had just swallowed a bee, lips pursed as she contemplated the next move.

“Well, Y/N,” the name fell bitterly for her lips; it sounded so foreign, so unnatural. “You are happy to stay with us until tomorrow. It was nice to finally meet you.”

That was the full extent of the conversation. For the rest of the day, it seemed as though Fleamont and Euphemia were keeping James and you away from each other, always asking one or the other to help with chores, or to do a mundane activity with them.

It wasn’t until night time dawned on the residence. The atmosphere had unfortunately changed after Lily’s short and unexpected visit. Her exit was speedy after her unprompted entrance, an uneasy ripple of tension in the house.

When it was time to sleep, Euphemia had shown you to a spare room, taking initiative to set you up somewhere separate, now knowing that you weren’t actually dating James. It was cold though, empty and alone, and as you tried to sleep, your hands kept trailing to James’ side of the bed, searching for him.

You took it upon yourself to take matters into your own hands. Creeping through the house, you found yourself outside of James’ bedroom door. Quietly, you knocked, waiting a few seconds before entering. James was lying in bed, eyes wide open, staring at the open curtain which was letting in trickles of moonlight. When you entered, he looked back at you, his lips parted slightly in shock.

“Can I…?” Your voice trailed off as you couldn’t bare to finish your sentence in embarrassment, but James seemed to know what you were alluding to, pulling back the covers almost immediately.

“Of course.”

***

Sunday 27th December

You woke in early hours of the morning. It was intentional, not wanting to be found in James’ bed again. It would be scandalous. You laid back in your new bed, closing your eyes for a moment, hoping you could go back asleep, but sleep couldn’t find you.

Before breakfast had started, you had packed you bags, ready to catch the train at ten o’clock. An early breakfast run was needed as you munched some Christmas leftovers, opposite sides of the table from James. You still hadn’t talked about what had happened. Even last night, you had only just cuddled until you both had fallen asleep. Your feelings till needed to be addressed.

Hurriedly, the four Hogwarts students were aparated back to King’s Cross Station by Euphemia and Fleamont, both with sorrowful looks on their faces. They were hugging their son goodbye, then moving onto Sirius and Remus, hugging them like they were also their children. You shifted awkwardly in the group.

“And we can’t forget you, now can we, Y/N?” It was still strange hearing your own name come from their lips, but you welcomed it, slightly happy to be the only receptor of the love now. As you were pulled into a jug by Euphemia, you could hear the last words she spoke to you. “Thank you for looking after my son. I’d be happy to have you as my daughter-in-law.”

Last minute goodbyes were said as you all bundled up onto the train, finding a carriage right in front of where Euphemia and Fleamont were standing. You waved cheerfully at them as the train pulled out of the station, a chapter of your life closing.

You hadn’t noticed Remus and Sirius had stepped out of the carriage, giving you and James some much needed privacy. There wasn’t much that needed to be said though. Everything that needed to be communicated had already been done through awkward glances and small looks.

“Hey.” His voice was almost silent.

“Hey.”

A pause.

“What are we?”

“Whatever you want to be.” You eventually said. James hummed in agreement, resting his head in his hand.

“Onwards?”

You smiled.

“Onwards.”

#James potter #James potter x reader #James potter fluff #James potter angst #harry potter #marauders #marauders era

[seyenna]

Philza and/or Techno and/or Ranboo fic recs

just some of my fav dsmp fics, mainly phil, techno or ranboo bc i’m biased but also a bunch of sbi and others

this one goes out mainly to zablr discord my beloved

pls tell me if the links don’t work

all of these are on ao3

rating\status(complete/ongoing)\warnings\word count\misc tags

ichor flows free amongst the iron by summer_rising

T\o\violence\13k\series\gods AU

Summary:

A gods and goddesses AU of the Dream SMP, dramatized for all our benefits.

First work:

  "Two gods meeting on a mountaintop overlooking the stormy sea? Very classy, Dream, I appreciate your taste."

  Dream didn't turn to look at him, but the faint shake of his shoulders let Techno know he had heard.

  "Scar's healing up nicely, I see," Techno mumbled with a light nod of his head.

  "Mhm. Cut nice and clean. Not that I expected any less from you, of course."

   ~~

   The god of power and the god of luck meet on a mountaintop to discuss Luck's standing in the ongoing political disaster.

We're Only Young by ImperialKatwala

G\o\-\66k\series\Dream & Technoblade

It's easy to forget amid the chaos and bloodshed how similar - and how young - Dream and Technoblade really are.

And when the sun comes up, you'll find a brand new god. by SkyboxZoo

M\o\violence\19k\gods AU

Summary:

The wounds from the fight had healed nigh instantly, but the golden blood still soaked Techno’s shirt. His cloak had gotten torn off and his hair had fallen out of its pony-tail. Ichor pooled in his boots. The man left a trail of golden, bloody footprints in his wake.

old gods (new gods) by WriterWinged

T\o\-\9k\series\gods AU

Summary of first work:

Survival, Blood, Madness. Philza, Technoblade, Wilbur Soot. Three gods who have never cared for mortal life, who play with them when they want to, who kill their toys just as easily. How, then, did a mortal end up in their hands?

This House Is A Fucking Nightmare by SilverWing15

T\c\-\17k\series\sbi

Summary:

AU Where Phil isn't quite as willing to stand by while his sons drop like flies

Summary of third part (my fav):

Does lingering too long in the shadow of a god make you a god? The voices in his head seem to think so.

His brothers know he's older than them but they don't know how much

OR: Technoblade doesn't think his brothers realize how different they are from ordinary men. After all, ordinary men may fight the gods, but they don't win.

It's been a long day. by BecausePlot

G\c\-\3k\Philza & Ranboo

Summary:

Sides are bad: he knows that much. He’s seen it tear people apart time and time again, so when he decided to separate himself from Tubbo and keep his distance, he knew he was in the right.

Well. He thought he was in the right, at the time. Sitting all by himself on the steps to the Prime Path, he’s not so sure anymore.

Yes, the sides might have torn the others apart, might have made them so weak that they have no choice but to fold under Dream’s hand, but at least they aren’t lonely.

So are sides bad?

‘I don’t know.’

~*~

Or, Ranboo looks out at the ruins of L'Manburg, feeling more lost and lonely than he ever has.

But, as he soon finds, he's not as alone as he thinks.

the voices in my head, they say a lot of things by rosyasteria

-\c\violence\1k\Technoblade-centric

Summary:

Some days the voices didn’t listen. They didn’t let up. They screamed instead of whispered, relentless, assaulting his ears until they bled.

tell them i was the warmest place you knew and you turned me cold by rosyasteria

-\c\-\2k\Techonblade-centric

Summary:        

Technoblade cared. But in the end it just fucked him over.

For the majority of his life, Techno felt like less of a companion, less of a family member, and more like a weapon to be wielded. 'The Blade' they called him; never 'friend'.

It Leaves Little Time for Anything Else by mirandible

M\c\-\1k\part of series\Dream & Technoblade

Summary:

   A young man aims for the top, but fate has other plans for him. So does Technoblade, apparently.

   (Or: answering the question of “Why does Techno hide his scars if they’re supposed to be some sort of trophy? Why keep your point of pride a secret?”)

the best requiem is a bar of silence (and I'll sing it, even if I must hold back my tears) by jello12451

T\o\-\10k\Philza & Technoblade

Summary:

   He can’t help the noise of celebration that escapes him. Techno- this means that Techno’s free, and he got his horse back, and everything is alright-

  Tubbo, filled with rage at Phil’s cheers, turns and impulsively shoots an arrow.

   He doesn’t expect to hit his target.

---

  Alternatively: What if Phil didn't have a bucket of water when Tubbo shot him?

Change fate by being aggressively kind by sircantus

T\o\-\13k\sbi, Philza-centric

Summary:

   “You do understand that you’re caring for the thing meant to bring destruction and chaos to our world, right?” The woman asks, Phil looking behind him fondly as Techno grabs at the ends of his wings.

   “He’s just a child.” Phil answers distractedly, humming as his wings get gently yanked at.

   “He’s the first of three to destroy life as we know it! Shouldn’t we, well, get rid of him?!”

   “Oh, no.” Phil raises his eyes with a sharp glare. “Believe me, I have my own way of preventing the apocalypse.”

   ---

   Or, Techno, Wilbur, and Tommy are basically chaotic forces of nature, destined from birth to end the world and bring destruction. Most who hear of the tale of them are trying their best to track them down, and to end the monsters while they’re still young, still just children.

   Phil has a different plan.

   (In which Phil raises the minecraft equivalents of the anti-christ with love and support, so much so to the point where the world ending is really just a funny thought, and Phil has three kids who casually have powers that are bit more extreme than anything else in the world)

I promised you that everything would be fine by findingkairos

G\c\-\6k\Technoblade-centric

Summary:

   manifestation: (n.)

1.     an event, action, or object that clearly shows or embodies something abstract or theoretical;

2.     a version or incarnation of something or someone;

3.     an appearance of a ghost or spirit;

4.     the Blood God.

When he's young and still alone, still establishing his reputation as the immortal warrior, Technoblade makes up an imaginary friend.

Years later, the blood god is very real and very much a god: one that is prepared to do anything for their first and only friend.

the inner mechanism of a black box by Bee_4

T\c\violence, self-harm\Technoblade-centric

Summary:

   Technoblade lets himself get imprisoned for Philza’s sake. He doesn’t plan on being there long. Unfortunately, he’s underestimated Pandora’s Vault.

   There are things that will make even the Blade fall apart in due time, as it turns out.

carry all my sins by BananasofThorns

T\c\-\4k\Ranboo-centric

Summary:

Ranboo swallows. “All my armor and weapons and stuff are missing. Fundy and I were gonna go looking for them after the festival, I think.”

“I see.” Tubbo smiles again, but this time it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Well, I’m sure it’ll be fine, it’s just a festival. We could probably find someone to lend you a sword or an axe or something.”

He starts towards the stage, waving at people when they call his name, and Ranboo follows. The original panic has dulled to a cold buzz in his chest, but apprehension still wraps itself around his body like chains. He doesn’t like being without his armor and tools; he feels too exposed, and if something happens, he’ll be helpless.

“Ranboo?” Tubbo calls, glancing back.

Ranboo shakes his head and hurries to catch up. “Yeah, it’ll be fine,” he repeats. “Everything’s gonna be fine."

Tubbo grins. “That’s the spirit.”

Rule 5: be loyal. L'manberg doesn't do well with supposed traitors. Ranboo deals with the consequences.

Sojourn by Lacy_Star

T\o\-\13k\Ranboo & Technoblade & Philza

Summary:

“Well…” Ranboo started slowly, “You see, uh… I kinda… don’t have a house anymore, obviously. Um… Phil found me in—“ He paused, cutting himself off and squinting at the floorboards— very discreet, “Phil… found me. And… um… He said I could stay by you guys. Like, um, by the dog house he wants to build?” He paused, then began to ramble, “But, uh, if you don’t want me here, I understand— and I’m sorry for coming in your house when you weren’t here, I swear I didn’t touch anything— it was just cold outside and—“

Techno just stared at him. And how, how was this the second time this had happened to him? How was this the second time he returned home after battle to discover an injured teenage boy waiting for him, seeking assistance with nowhere to go? And how badly had that ended last time, in nothing but betrayal and insults?

---

AKA: Phil drags a half-enderman home after Doomsday, and Techno decides that they can keep it. For now.

can an axe count as rent? by aboutfivebees

T\c\-\4k\Ranboo & Technoblade & Philza

Summary:

Ranboo’s struggling to settle into his new life on the Arctic Anarchist Commune, but at least he’s got bread.

or the struggles of an enderman hybrid to come up with a housewarming gift to give to his friends, who are just trying to adopt him

The Caged Bird Sings of Freedom by StarPrince_Punk

T\o\-\25k\Ranboo & Technoblade & Philza

Summary:

The Blade's stance was still tense, his body prepared to fight at a moment’s notice if need be. “What’s your name?” Phil asked “My… name?” The Blade asked. “Yeah. Your name isn’t actually The Blade, right? That’s like a stage name?” Phil tried to keep his tone light. “What’s your real name?” The Blade hesitated. “No one… No one’s called me by my name in a long time.” ------- When Phil comes across Ranboo in his panic room after L'Manberg's destruction, it reminds him of when he first met Technoblade. And just like when he met Techno, Phil's first instinct is that he has to help this kid. While living together, Techno and Ranboo learn that they're much more similar than they had previously thought, and Phil learns that it's not too late for him to be a better dad.

This already feels like more of a home by H3118ENDER

T\o\violence, death\18k\Ranboo & Technoblade & Philza

Summary:

As the ashes of L'Manberg settle the conflict continues to come to life setting the stage for a new wave of blood shed. Stuck slam in the middle of past and present friends Ranboo is coming to learn that even without nations to their names feelings and feuds don't die but people, people do.

A Shadow of a Shadow by unappetizingegg

T\c\-\4k\ Ranboo & Technoblade & Philza

Summary:

There were a few beats of silence, and then- “What are your plans, now? Do you need a place to stay?”

That caught him off guard. Surely he’d heard incorrectly. Phil was offering him a home, right after he’d orchestrated the destruction of his past one? It didn’t make any sense, none of it did. Why would Phil say that?

Then he remembered, he remembered Techno stopping him in the fight. He remembered being handed his book, the question in Techno’s gaze. He swore, in that moment, Technoblade, the Technoblade, had been worried about him. He remembered that he had been told to leave, to run, to get away and preserve himself. He had spared him, he remembered that Techno had spared him.

Techno had helped him. Phil had tried to protect him, to get him away from the danger.

They were there for him.

 ---

alternatively:

Ranboo is alone. But he really isn't.

Meritocracy by oddsbodkins

G\o\-\18k\Dream & Technoblade, sbi, medieval AU

Summary:

Dream is more successful than he'd ever imagined - but there's one thing that's been bothering him. Technoblade, his biggest rival, the Acolyte of the Blood God and King of the Arena, went missing last spring, just before Dream got the chance to duel him. Without that one achievement to pave his way, all the following victories have felt cheap.

So, Dream hired some goons to dig Technoblade up and pester him into coming back to the Capitol, for one last showdown. Easy enough, right?

Interlude I: "Promises to Keep" by Ozzyyy

T\c\-\1k\part of a series\Technoblade & Philza

Summary:

These woods are lovely, dark, and deep But I have promises to keep

And miles to go before I sleep And miles to go before I sleep.

--

Techno has a plan. It's crazy. It's insane, it's actually just batshit bonkers. But if chaos cannot be enjoyed together, then what's it worth, yeah? There's a certain beauty in watching the world burn from the center of the flames. Phil intends to be there.

I Don't Want To Start A Fight (wouldn't you rather start a riot?) by KryOnBlock

T\c\violence, death\15k\Technoblade & Philza & Ranboo

Summary:

An universal ping rang out from behind him, the third and final he knew, and Phil sobbed, clutching the body tighter.

Techno didn’t move.

It always has been Technoblade and Philza, Philza and Technoblade. Take on half, and you shall never go back.

Sheltered by Lulatic

G\c\-\6k\Ranboo & Technoblade

Summary:

It was cold outside. But Techno never heard Ranboo complain.

That was the best excuse he could muster to keep him out.

Antarctic Princes 'verse by BirchWrites

T\o\-\15k\series\sbi

Summary:

Loosely-connected one shots set in an AU where the Antarctic Empire and the Dream SMP are in the same world. Ordered chronologically, but each fic can be read as a standalone thing

Summary of first part:

Oh shit. Forget arrested; Dream’s going to have to tell Wilbur that he watched Tommy get stabbed for being terminally stupid.

May we cross paths again by QueenLunaFreed

G\c\-\1k\Dream & Technoblade

Summary:

“Even if tomorrow it’s just us versus the entire server, Dream, I’m telling you right now - I have confidence.”

---

Dream couldn’t comprehend the pacing contradiction in front of him, the weakness he could clearly see, but would never comment on. Because this man has been defying Dream's expectations since they first met, because despite them not being friends and having no reason to trust each other, Dream knew that Technoblade is the only person who he’d trust to do this right. To destroy L'Manberg alongside him yet again, this time for real.

leave me your starlight by findingkairos

T\o\-\18k\Technoblade & Philza

Summary:

For you the world, Phil.

Once upon a time, Philza Minecraft is the only person who does not shy away from the bloody teen that regularly turns the tide of war.

This cements a friendship that will last wars, empires, worlds, and lifetimes.

 ---

(Featuring: Back to Back Badasses, healthy relationships, accidental deification, intentional world domination, and Phil's past coming back to haunt his best friend.)

#fanfic #dsmp #technoblade #philza #ranboo #zablr #fic recs

[missyasf]

Game Of Hearts

| 4 | 

↳ Summary: Your life is in monotonous tones of grey, day in, day out. Nothing matters besides your sister, the only thing you remember is seeing fireworks before waking up to Tokyo abandoned . Soon enough you are properly introduced to the deadly Borderlands where you must fight for your life in Games to survive. When things can’t possibly get worse soon division arises and rivalries are made. No matter what though, you are constantly plagued by a blonde who, no matter how hard you try, just can’t seem to go too far without.

↳ Pairing: Chishiya/Reader

↳ Genre: Angst, smut, thriller

Word Count: 10k

Previous | Next

Trigger Warning: ⚠️ much like the manga/Netflix adaptation this will be a dark fic which includes mentions of prostitution, attempted murder, child ab*se, sexual harassment, heavy grief and attempted suic*de among other things. Additional warnings will be added for chapters when triggers are brought up. Please read with caution if these are triggers for you or just skip all together!

15th Day Sojourn 

“Nanami!?” You opened the curtains of her room, your face screwed in anger as she groaned curling into her bed, “What the hell!? You have one day left on your visa and you got hammered!? And what?” You waved at her as she pulled the blanket up upon realization she wasn’t dressed. At all, “Decided to get railed while you’re at it!?” 

She groaned as she collapsed back against the bed, “Sorry I don’t have a death wish like you do,” She sneered making your lips part as you scoffed at her words. Death wish!? You understood, going out when it wasn’t required wasn’t something most chose to do. But you had a good dynamic going with Ryu, Hiroko and Akari. You all made a good group together, and it wasn’t every night!

It was just a few times a week! It had been a little over, two? Three weeks at most now? That you had been at the beach? Life was about as good as it could be given the circumstances of your living space. But you made it work. 

Truthfully, you weren’t sure what direction your relationship with Nanami was headed, you understood you saw one another less but...It was like this before you had arrived at the Borderlands, what had changed? You felt confused and a bit lost, Nanami had only gotten more and more annoyed recently well...anytime you spoke to her truthfully.

You glared down at the empty bottles, obviously the Beach was the problem here. It was a gateway to all kinds if bad habits that Nanami had clearly taken up. You hardly saw her anymore because she was either too busy partying with her new friends or completely wasted, “This…! Nanami! This isn’t you.” You threw the bottle onto the ground next to her bed as you threw up your hands, “At all! You’d never be this tardy on the day you prep for a game!” 

Nanami groaned loudly as she got out of bed, holding the sheet up as she grabbed her clothes, looking irritated at your presence as she growled, “Since when do you care about my games!?” She fumbled as she got dressed as best she could, “All you ever do is try and throw your life away! You never even tell me when you’re going out! One of these days you’re gonna go out and it’ll be the last time I ever see you! Do you realize how stressful that is!?” 

Pulling up her bikini top she immediately shoved the door of the room open as your lips parted quickly chasing after her, “You don’t think I try to tell you!?” You shouted back, people immediately making way through the hallway as your brows pinched, “You were too busy getting fucked against a wall when I tried to tell you last week! What the fuck! This is not completely my fault! I could be better about it sure but you…!” 

Nanami paused at the end of the steps, now in the lobby as she turned to face you, “But me!? There’s nothing about me! You are so fucking suffocating! I’m not a child Y/n!” An indiginant hurt panged through your chest at her words.

Hopping off the last step you followed after her as your fists curled, “I wouldn’t if you stopped acting like one!” You shouted back, anger coursing through your veins at her accusations, what was with her behavior!? You’d lay back if it meant she’d stop this...these destructive habits! 

If she wanted to drink that was fine, if she wanted to sleep with someone it was whatever, she was an adult but this was way too excessive! “All I see is someone trying to prove she's an adult when all she is, is trying way too hard to be someone she isn’t!” 

You didn’t care how half the people in the lobby looked awkward and somehow a lot of people were quickly finding the exit. Nanani gasped as she turned around, you could almost see the steam coming out of her ears as her fists curled, “You…! You have no idea who I even am!” She snarled back, “Other than looking at me like a baby! You’ve always been too busy with your friends or school or work and half the time you lied! Why is it I got to hear from somebody other then you that you fucked people for a living. That you were a whore for money!” 

You immediately looked away from her as you crossed your arms defensively, hurt beginning to throb in your chest at her words, feeling somewhat caught off guard at that being brought up. You weren’t embarrassed, ashamed? Maybe a little despite your mind telling you that you shouldn’t be. 

“Y/n you are NOT mom, you will never be mom. Ever since she died you’ve felt the need to be some fucking savior for me and you don’t! You have no idea what I need. So push off and stop acting like you do!” Nanami snapped, her eyes burning with an anger that looked a lot like hate.

That...You wouldn’t deny that stung. You could hear footsteps quickly walking away as you looked at your feet, your eyes stinging and your vision blurring as your lips quivering and your expression contorted somewhat painfully in an attempt to try to not let the sting of pain burn too deep. 

She was just angry, you told yourself in an attempt to lick the wounds that were already in your heart to begin with. It was like being reopened and salt being doused onto it. 

You only felt more angry as you furiously rubbed away the warm trail of liquid on your cheeks, irritation blossoming in your chest at the feeling of eyes on you as you hissed, “You can stop staring!” Turning to face the white hood that had been leaned against the wall, previously on his phone but much like everyone else it was hard for Chishiya to not stare at the drama unfolding five feet away.

“Well,” Chishiya clacked his tongue, a semi amused expression his face as he spoke, “What did I tell you?” He quickly shut his mouth at the glare you sent him, wiping your cheek once more, your lips pathetically quivering, he probably thought that and hey, you’d admit it was pretty pathetic. 

“I get it you don’t really care about my feelings but I really don’t appreciate the ‘I told you so’ right now,” You waved towards your face as you sniffed wrapping your arms around yourself as you waved a hand at the door, “You know, I never intended to…” 

You pressed your tongue into your cheek as you sharply inhaled, “It doesn’t matter,” You sighed looking low, as you rubbed your eyes, “You were right. But I never meant for it to come off like that. Everything I ever did in my life was so that she’d never have to go through what I did.” 

There it was again, the bitter tears that threatened to escape your eyes as you stared down at your blurry hands, “To have that kicked back in my face- excuse me for being human, but I feel like the tears are justified.” You looked up at him again as you sniffed, rubbing your eyes again that glossed with wetness.

“And I would never hold that above her or against her. I know she didn’t ask for that, but that’s how much I love her. She is all I have. She would never need to thank me for what I’ve done. I’d do it again no questions asked. But that? That was uncalled for.” You wrapped your arms around yourself, trying to not let yourself get anymore upset then you already were. 

“Well, you can’t control how she reacts, obviously.” Chishiya shrugged, having been, maybe a little too used to your random bursts of emotions as he spoke in a sing-song voice, “But the more power you give her the more it’ll make you upset. You should really just drop it.” 

You puffed a breath as you rubbed your eyes, “I can’t stand you some days.” Your lips quivered into a pout making Chishiya scoff, probably due to how pathetic you looked.

“Because I’m right?” He spoke as he stepped off the wall, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he raised his brows. You didn’t reply to him as you crossed your arms. Things between you both had been...interesting to say the least. 

You by no means considered yourself close friends but...ever since the three of hearts games, you could only assume, that you both had come to a certain understanding of one another. Most days you had never even meant to talk to him. You just always happened to be in the same place at the same time.

Finally you rolled your eyes, feeling a little more composed as you huffed, “There's no debating with you about whether or not you’re right.” You glanced up at him and it was his turn to stay silent before a cocky smirk curved on his lips making you throw your head back with a sigh to try to cover the urge to laugh, yes that was a very familiar sight, “Your ego is gonna get you killed one day.” 

You turned to start walking as Chishiya replied, “Maybe, if someone actually takes the bluff. But I don’t think anyone will.” You clacked your tongue, shaking your head as you said nothing in return. In some ways, you even believed him.

If there was anything you had learned about Chishiya it was that he truly was an insane combination of cold and calculating, mixed with a sense of naiveness that others falsely perceived him as, with a dash of, menacing playfulness? But just enough chaos mixed to keep anyone from truly figuring him out. 

Still to this day it was difficult to read him. But in some ways, you really enjoyed it. And some parts of you, deep down, did enjoy his company. He always had some dry or witty remark to make, no matter how unpleasant he could be at times.

“Are we still on for tonight?” You looked up at him, a small smile on your face as you both exited to the pool yard where music was blasting and it was permanently summertime, who would’ve thought you were in the Borderlands here, honestly.

Chishiya raised a brow as he spoke, “I’d assume, unless you’re gonna be useless and sulk the whole time.” You rolled your eyes at him, an amused snort escaping you.

“No…! But,” You paused making him pause, “Ah, who knows maybe I’ll just get hit by a car and I won’t have to deal with that anymore.” You waved towards Nanami with her friends as you snickered, making Chishiya roll his eyes at your theatrics, forever the drama queen in his opinion.

“Y/n!” Your gaze shot to where Ryu and Hiroko were laid out in lawn chairs next to the pool where Akari was sitting at the edge. You glanced to Chishiya as you sighed with a shrug, he had attempted to part ways only for Hiroko to glare, “You too sour ass!” Chishiya’s gaze cut into Hiroko who didn’t budge in the slightest at him making you sigh as you rubbed your neck.

Truthfully, you couldn’t help but wonder if Chishiya actually made the effort in talking to anyone outside of you. And that could be argued that you generally initiated conversation. Had it not been for you, you doubt Hiroko would be able to stand Chishiya at all. 

“What’s up?” You asked as you both stood in front of their chairs, Hiroko crossed her legs, a margarita in hand despite it being lunch time at best but hey, you couldn’t exactly blame her given the state of where you all lived. 

Her expression crumpled a little as she looked between you and Nanami who was on the other side of the pool, “You two good? We ah...heard some yelling?” She raised a brow making you huff as you crossed your arms, looking away from them, “Okay…” Hiroko clacked her tongue, “Well we’re getting ready to go out to get some supplies, food stock is getting low in the back and we needed some help.” 

Chishiya’s expression twisted just by a hair making Hiroko’s eyes sharpen on him as he looked away giving a very loud sigh as if inconvenience by this, “Is there an option to decline?” 

“No.” 

“We’d be happy to help.” You glanced at Chishiya briefly before given a smile to Hiroko and Ryu, “I’ve never done a supply run before so you’ll have to show me the ropes though.” Truth be told you kept yourself fairly busy. You often enjoyed exploring in your off time, and while sitting at the pool was nice, it got fairly boring by yourself day in and out. 

So you went out to the parks you knew, you’d go to the ocean front when possible, you had even taken up the hobby of going on a jog each morning. Anything to remind you that you were alive. Contrary to how some perceived it, you felt almost numb in a way to your life being put on the line. To be put into extremely perilous situations, it had taken a toll on your mental health. 

Even if you couldn’t recognize it at the moment, and so you had tried your best to pick up hobbies to keep you occupied and away from the addictive sensation of Games. So you often took walks now and explored around the city in your free time. 

“It’s easy!” Hiroko stood up as she smiled brightly at your enthusiasm compared to the sour grey cloud that crossed his arms while rolling his eyes, “We have a masterlist written out of what we need to get, you’re free to pick up anything you’d like while we’re out!” 

“Anything…?” You tilted your head before a smile tugged on your lips, “Alright! Lemme just go get something to change into on our way out!” Everyone thought you were either vain or insecure but truthfully, you just really hated the swimwear rule. 

The moment you stepped off beach property was the moment you were wearing sweatpants and something comfortable. After you had gotten changed the four of you set off as you looked down the long list, mainly canned goods were needed, some dry goods as well and…”Are these farm locations?” 

“Mhm, we can get a lot of fresh produce from there! It took awhile of searching but it’s a pretty good spot! We’ll get that on our way back though!” Ryu answered chipperly as he leaned back in his seat up front looking the exact opposite Chishiya who was slouched in his seat looking bored. 

You actually quite enjoyed the ride, they used the CD player in the car to play music and briefly, you were taken back to a time in life when things weren’t so intense. It’s hard to believe you ever had a problem in your old life before you came to the Borderlands, everything in comparison now seems so...Childish, in a way, your problems weren’t as bad as you ever thought. 

After helping gather canned goods and whatever snacks were on the list you had made your way through the store, stray shopping carts were abandoned and remnants of life still remained, not a lot, but just enough for it to feel eery, it really did make you wonder what happened to everyone. 

“There’s a cart right there, you’re gonna break the ones you already have if you keep that up.” You snapped your head to glare at Chishiya as you fumbled with the canvases you were holding, “You know that used to be someone's cart right!” You rolled your eyes as you set them down in the empty cart that had been rolled towards the notebook section. 

 “And now it’s yours. You’re so emotional.” He sighed in exasperation, his eyes sharply looking down at all the paint material before he snorted as if amused by something making your brows furrow in suspicion. 

“I’m not! It’s just having human decency, you know people used to live in this place before whatever happened,” You crossed your arms, tutting as you kneeled down, grabbing a jar of paint in each color, “Although I won’t lie, the cost of living has effectively gone down since then.” 

You briefly looked at the expensive price tag that was placed under the paints before placing them into the cart carefully as you twisted back around, rolling the cart towards the brushes. 

“Just at the cost of living now,” Chishiya puffed as he crossed his arms, “Shouldn’t you be buying psychology books or something more useful?”  His gaze narrowed as you looked over your shoulder at him, now annoyed at his presence that was endlessly judging your every move. 

“Shouldn’t you be helping Hiroko find the chip aisle?” Chishiya’s gaze turned cold making you snort, a smile of amusement dancing on your lips as you plucked the first brush from it’s container, “Okay...I guess not. You two really don’t like each other huh.” 

“She’s an idiot that thinks she’s smarter than she is,” Chishiya replied, that loose cold tone of his as always making you roll your eyes, “I’d rather be here then in her insufferable presence.” a bit harsh but this was Chishiya, he often rolled between seemingly innocent and scheming to downright cold hearted at times. 

“I’m flattered that you’re so interested in my hobbies then!” You replied with a fake peppiness as you swirled around to face him, dumping a pile of brushes into the cart, “Also, just because I’m a psych major doesn’t mean my whole life revolves around it. It’s like saying just because your a med student all you know is how to OD someone and that’s all you do.” 

Chishiya clacked his tongue as he raised his brows while shrugging making your expression crumple as you huffed, crossing your arms, “Have you killed someone before coming here? Seriously? I would NOT want you to be my doctor.” 

This made somewhat of an amused smirk quirk on his lips as he looked down at you, “I haven’t, but I supposed if it made you feel better I can say I have.” You rapidly blinked, staring at him as if he was insane, “How is that supposed to make me feel better? That just makes me even more uneasy, you could be lying through your teeth and I’d never be able to tell.” 

You flailed your arms as you rolled the cart out of the aisle, Chishiya following behind making no effort to show he was in a hurry as he snorted, “For a psychology major I guess I just thought you’d be better at reading people. Guess you’re dumber than you look huh.” 

“Do you have some kind of god complex with being smart?” You turned to face him as your expression contorted, “Because yes! I fully admit I’m an idiot, that's not an insult to me. My power is not in my brain but my heart, unfortunately.” You pointed at your heart before wincing a little, truthfully it wasn’t always what it was cracked up to be, “You know what- What’s with that anyways?” You furrowed your brows as you leaned your arms against the handle of the cart, “You really value intellect that much?” 

You had noticed that pattern in Chishiya’s speech, an insult he regularly used was among demeaning to someone's intelligence, but not in the childish way it was often used, he meant it literally. As if nothing could be more embarrassing to someone then being dumb, to which you didn’t understand or hold any value too. He was proof that intelligent people were not always the most kind hearted. 

Chishiya stared at you for a long minute, his expression unchanging as you shrugged pushing the cart as you peered down the next aisle, “I view life as a game I intend to win,” He relented making you pause as you looked back at him, your head titled, his smile looked viscous as he spoke, “And anyone who doesn’t have any wit to play is destined to lose. And I will win, because nobody is smart enough to beat me.” 

You puffed a breath as you raised your brows with a breathy chuckle, “You sound like you need a good group therapy session, is all I hear when you speak. But hey, I guess you’re doing great now considering our lives are being turned into literal games now. I guess every mentality pays off in it’s own way.” 

You picked up the pack of prism colored pencils from the end cap as you flipped them to look at the back of the package, “And all I hear is a defeatist mentality from you.” You peered up at Chishiya with an amused expression at his words as you shook your head, all he did was talk but never made any point, was he trying to figure you out in the elusive way possible? 

“I’m not a defeatist, I’m just not as ruthless as you, in the way I view life that is. Why? Are you curious about my take on the world?” You teased a little, knowing this would immediately disengage him and just as you thought you watched him puff a breath, his arms crossing and his gaze becoming narrow. 

“Why would I have any interest in someone who openly admits to being an idiot?” Chishiya replied, that irritated cat-like expression on his face  and that annoying sing-song tone of his, you sighed, rolling your eyes, having learned to not take his cold words so seriously anymore, “If anything, the more you speak, the more confirmation I have that you’re right, you’re a total moron that has no clue what she’s ever talking about.” 

Your face scrunched a little as you placed the pack of pencils in the cart before turning to face him, “Then why are you still talking to me?” You asked, raising your hands a little, and when he didn’t reply you smiled, “I mean really, if I’m so obnoxiously stupid, to the point of even admitting it, Wouldn’t it make sense that you’d just ignore me?” 

Chishiya sighed as he glanced up at the ceiling, “Because you’re the most tolerable out of everyone here. But even you just open your mouth and shit flies out, I thought maybe with you being in an intellectual major you’d be more prophetic than you are?” 

He stopped in a look of mild confusion at why you were giggling so much at his words, you had to cover your mouth as you raised your brows in delight, “Awwh! I didn’t realize you thought of me like that! I would’ve tried harder to psychoanalyze you more if that was the case!” 

You laughed as you pushed your hair back leaning against the cart as you shook your head in amusement, “No but seriously, I think you’re getting psychology and philosophy mixed up here. I still only have one functioning braincell, sorry to disappoint.” Your nose scrunched as you smiled before pushing the cart into the next aisle. 

“To answer your original question, since wifi isn’t a thing and the internet virtually doesn’t exist anymore I’m trying to find new hobbies to keep me out of games from boredom.” Admittedly, it wasn’t that, you’d say you were addicted to the feeling of putting your life on the line. You hadn’t been in the Borderlands that long. 

But something about the adrenaline and the peril need to solve something, it kept your mind active and buzzing for a good few days, even after clearing a game. You already had over two weeks on your visa so there wasn’t really a need to go out and do something as reckless as playing a game. 

Truthfully, you were very grateful you had run into Hiroko and Ryu in your first game, and admittedly also Chishiya who had found the Beach in the matter of hours after being told. Because of them, you weren’t nearly as fearful as you could have been, even now. 

Being with your friends who were more experienced, it gave you confidence that you’d all solve everything and things would turn out okay. And maybe to some degree that mentality was dangerous.

More than anything, you knew you needed to become desensitized to the games and the cruel reality of the Borderlands if you wanted to last long. That was the real reason you had been pushing yourself to clear games every few nights. You weren’t addicted to the sensation, you just needed to push yourself into an indifferent state of mind. 

It wasn’t healthy, you above anyone else knew that, but you knew it was necessary for your mind to adapt to survive. 

 “What about you med boy? Don’t you have any hobbies outside of fucking with people and making kids cry?” Your lips curled into a smile as you looked over your shoulder, watching Chishiya clack his tongue, rolling his eyes as you snorted. 

“What makes you think I talk to children?” You raised your hands in surrender, “Fair enough,” You glanced at him, the silence loud for just a brief moment before you tried to fight the smile on your face as you pressed your tongue into your cheek as he continued, “I’m like anyone else, I can go for a good game of mahjong, chess and on occasion I enjoy building an taser gun-” 

You paused as you whirled around, “A what gun?” Your brows crinkled together in confusion at how his sentence jumped from zero to one hundred as quick as it did. 

Chishiya made a noise that sounded something between a scoff and snort at your contorted expression, his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the shelf, “I was in robotics as a kid and straight A’s in science and chemistry. I build things.” 

“Like...weapons?” You rubbed your head as you frowned, looking away from him as you let out a somewhat wry laugh, “Jeez, so you’re basically saying you’ve always been this intense even before the Borderlands huh.” You puffed a breath as you puckered your lips, suddenly a childish smile on your face, “Wait! So in theory…! Could you...build like a- a slingshot?” 

“What are you a child?” 

“Well...what about...a bing-bag gun?” 

“Already did that in grade school.” 

“Stun gun?” 

“Vague description but yes I’ve built things similar in function.”

Your lips twisted into a pout as you let your chin rest on the handlebar of the cart, “...Flamethrower?” 

Chishiya’s eyes squinted a little as you smiled in victory before he sighed, “No but that’s theoretically the easiest to build.” You crossed your arms, he was just giving excuses now! 

“How? How could a flame thrower be easy to build!?” You threw up your arms now annoyed at his confidence. 

“Ah, any flammable spray can and lighter, next question?” He quirked a brow, now looking semi amused at your expression as you huffed, now out of ideas, to be fair, just how many weapons could be built from scratch anyways? Impressive sure, but before the Borderlands, just how useful was it anyways? Let alone legal? 

“Okay well I’m out of things to ask,” You clacked your tongue, looking away from him briefly before smiling, “Oh…! It’s probably a bad idea but we should go find a spray can, then, I’ve never tried that before!” 

What’s the worst that could happen anyways?

“You...burned the store down…?” Akari rubbed her head in disbelief as you pouted, Hiroko having thoroughly chewed your ass out on how irresponsible you were as you sat in the pool chair, your hands on your face and your cheeks puffed. 

“How was I supposed to know the flames traveled up to seven feet! It’s Chishiya’s fault, he should’ve at least given me a fair warning!” You threw up your hands as you accused the unbothered blonde.

“I tried, didn’t I?” Chishiya laid out in his chair next to you, a pair of black aviators covering his eyes and this had to be the first time you had seen him without his jacket on, his hair shockingly tied up into a bun and away from his face aside the two strands hanging down as always.

“But like always you wouldn’t shut up and stop to listen. So I thought experience would be the best teacher,” Chishiya shrugged casually, a smug expression on his face as he spoke, “Fortunately for me that’s the last time Hiroko ever asks us to go out with them again. It's a win-win if you look at it like that.”

You whined as you bounced in your seat, leaning back as you sighed, “Hiroko was so pissed off she said she didn’t wanna see me the rest of the day. She really could be a mom.” 

“Awh’ does that mean you ain’t coming tonight for the game?” Akari flicked her hat up a little as she raised a brow making you slump with a sigh, you were sure you could go, Hiroko wouldn’t actually stick to her word but...You admittedly felt kinda bad, you just wanted to kill a little time while Ryu and Hiroko finished up. 

“I’ll probably sit tonight out, it’s not like I need to clear a game anyways, my visa has nearly two weeks on it and I don’t wanna do a game by myself.” You crossed your arms with a sulk, you didn’t feel confident enough in yourself to attempt a game without anybody else, and if you died nobody would ever know. 

Akari whistled as she pressed the beer bottle to her lips, “That sucks,” She took a long chug as your nose wrinkled a little, “But hey! Maybe you could talk to Nanami, she’s been pretty sour the whole morning. I tried talkin’ to her earlier but she was pretty snippy.” 

You curved a brow in curiosity, sure Nanami had been mad at you but Akari? They were probably closer friends then you and Akari were any day of the week, “Why?” You rubbed your head, maybe she was just in a mood altogether today. 

Akari’s face twisted as she snorted, “Because of you.” 

Your head collapsed against the chair as you inhaled sharply, “If she’s still mad about this morning then I’m gonna need a drink before I even try to talk to her. Do you know what’s going on with her? Because I’m extremely lost as to what her problem is.” 

Akari placed a hand on her hip as she sighed in exasperation, “I dunno’ other than maybe that group of friends she’s with. They’re all pretty bad apples in my humble opinion, ever since she started hanging out with them she's been pretty moody.” 

You placed a hand on your forehead as you sighed, “Right, of course, it’s always the friends,” You collapsed back into your chair as you stretched out, “Listen, don’t get me wrong,” you placed a hand in front of you to block out the sun as you looked up at Akari, “I love Nanami, and I want to work things out with her. I do, but right now?” 

You clacked your tongue in semi disappointment, “Me trying to talk to her is only going to make her push me away even more and make even dumber choices. If she needs to go through this, then she’s gonna have to go through it. I’ll be here for her regardless.” 

You had known your sister long enough to know that anytime she acted like this, you trying to talk to her would only push her further away and that’s not what you wanted to do. The only difference was you had never seen her go so...extreme before…

And the last thing you wanted was for Nanami to go off the deep end because of you and possibly...you shuddered at the idea, the possibilities were endless here in the Borderlands where there were no laws for people to abide by. 

Akari sighed as she took her hat off, fanning it over her face as she rubbed her head, “Hey, it’s not my place to tell ya what to do with your sister, all I’m saying is it may be beneficial to at least try.” She shrugged as she walked away making you groan. 

You could try again but you had a feeling it wouldn’t get you anywhere with her. It felt odd to think about, because one part of you felt like you had nothing but time now except for the constant loom of imminent death. You wouldn’t deny the fear that constantly set inside you at the idea of Nanami going into a game and never coming back. 

But what could you really do? Outside irritate her and push her to continue doing harmful things? You supposed, in some ways, you were a hypocrite, you were putting your life on the line for nothing other than out of wanting to break the cycle, to remember truly what it means to live, without it even being necessary. You wouldn’t blame her for being angry at you for that. 

“Hmm, I didn’t realize you actually let people dictate what you do in your free time, you’re a pretty big push over.” You slowly twisted in your seat to glare at Chishiya’s lounged out figure looking like a cat in the sun as he spoke in a sing-song tone. 

“...Do you ever shut up?” 

“Not particularly.” 

You clacked your tongue, huffing as you collapsed back in your chair, “Well what? You wanna do a game together? I just…” You held up your hands, looking at them as you scrunched your nose, “Feel like if I went with you, there’s a good chance you’d probably use me as bait or something and I’d end up getting killed.” 

“Wasn’t that your goal this morning?” Chishiya lifted his aviators as he turned to look at you from his laid out position, you squinted a little, crossing your arms once more as you leaned back in your seat.

“Well- yeah…” You fumbled before squinting even harder at Chishiya’s expression, “But now that you said it like that I have to not die out of pure spite, you didn’t answer my question by the way. I doubt you wanted to do a game with Hiroko anyways.” You rolled your eyes, still not understanding why Chishiya had such a distaste for her. 

Sure she was a little accusative and Hiroko obviously didn’t trust him, but could Chishiya, genuinely say that wasn’t for good reason? You had figured out that this man, if anything, was self aware of how he came across from an outside perspective. That was the part that baffled you, how could he blame someone for distrusting him? 

Even you distrusted Chishiya to a certain extent, and you had no problems letting him casually know such as now. Truly, you couldn’t rule out the possible idea of being used as bait in a game by him and not even realizing it. 

Honestly, given the environment you lived in, you could at least appreciate that he kept you on your toes. And you supposed that was the difference between you and Hiroko, she wanted to trust all of her friends. You weren’t so caught up in that. 

Because really, even in the outside world, before the Borderlands, friends could hardly be trusted fully. And those he believed in such, were always disappointed, friends lied, gossiped, went behind your back, slept with previous boyfriends. You hardly trusted anyone fully, in that sense, it wasn’t hard for you to just let go of some of Chishiya’s less then morally good behavior 

Chishiya only waved a hand, “If you think we’ll find someone more interesting than your dry friends.” 

“My dry friends,” You raised a brow as you twisted to look at his unbothered figure, “Act like you’re unassociated all you want but that doesn’t make you not part of the group. You are so weird. Anyways yeah sure, they just got word today that a new venue opened up at the bridge, we could go there.” 

“You’re still a pushover.” 

“What the fuck.” You replied deadpan as you stared him down, watching in annoyance at his sunglasses being put back on as he leaned back in his chair but the unmistakable cheshire smirk on his face as you rolled your eyes, “You're just asking to be torn apart.”

“So then why don’t you do it?” Chishiya challenged you casually, evening daring to lift his drink as he took a long sip before speaking up once more, “All you do is threaten people. How am I supposed to take you serious when you never follow through?”

“Last time I did it I made a man commit suicide.” You replied dryly, something in your tone lingering as you glanced out over the pool where everyone just pretended like they didn’t see people slaughtered night after night.

Escapism, was a very raw and primal way of coping with a shitty reality, you understood the concept well enough before the Borderlands, but ever since coming here, it became more and more apparent to you just how common it really was. What were you supposed to do with blood staining your hands.

Red caught your attention briefly as your eyes flickered to your hands that were clean as always. Staring down at them in wonder you couldn’t help but think, that some parts of you would never be the same after this. No amount of therapy or inner healing would bring you back to a time in your life where you hadn’t witnessed the atrocities you had. 

Some parts of you, were amazing at blocking out the Borderlands, taking the days you were alive for granted until the moment your heart was pounding and scared for your life, it was an addictive type of feeling in the most terrifying way. 

“It was hardly suicide,” Chishiya snorted, not at all perturbed like you were, you looked at him, staring into his figure that drew his attention as he raised a brow, looking unbothered, “You don’t feel the same? All human life is parasitic and is temporary, he would’ve died here anyways, it’s like you said, it doesn’t take much to break the weak link.” 

You smacked your lips together as you sighed, some parts of you not surprised at how much of a nihilist Chishiya was, “It doesn’t matter whether his life was baseless and humans are parasitic,” You looked away from him again as you muttered, “It doesn’t change the fact I was the one who manipulated someone into killing themselves.”

Staring down at your hands they trembled only if you looked close enough, briefly you could remember a broken bottle in your hands, sticky wet substance covering them and- “Doesn’t change the fact he would’ve died. It was us or him.” Chishiya shrugged, that snarky yet innocent look on his face as he spoke, “Maybe it’s you who needs therapy.” 

“Probably.” Your eyes traced down your fingers before sighing, running a hand through your hair, “If you’re gonna be a nihilist then I’ll see myself to the bar.” Chishiya waved a hand unbothered as you got up from your seat. 

If you ever escaped the Borderlands you were absolutely going to be the one at the sitting end of a therapy office instead of the listening side. 

----

“You’re a horrible driver.” Your nose was scrunched and you had a death grip on the side of the door of the car, you’d think for someone who was so analytical they’d be more careful. Chishiya? No, he was aggressive with sharp turns and fast pace making you hold on for dear life.

“I never got a license.” Chishiya replied in a sing song tune that you were beginning to find extremely annoying, that stupid smirk on his face as you opened the door the car, stepping out as you grabbed your neck. 

“You know,” You turned to face him now standing just before the bridge, “If I’m gonna die here-” Chishiya sighed exasperated as you held up a hand, “What is your fascination with wanting to die?-”  “No listen- I’m not saying I will but if,” You stressed the word, “If I die here, I really don’t want it to be from your shitty subpar driving skills.” 

Chishiya snorted, rolling his eyes as you both stepped past the platform to which you had been informed awhile ago that there really was no turning back from games, you had...subconsciously assumed that, never having even thought it would be possible to go back from a game, but it was just another stressful reality you’d have to navigate. 

You notice three other people who stood around all looking unsure of each other and you both included. You weren’t sure what type of game would be held on the bridge, there were plenty of cars still and you couldn’t help but wonder. 

“What if there’s only one survivor to this game? Is that a thing?” You leaned a little towards Chishiya who had stuffed his hands into his pocket, his eyes flickering to you as he raised a brow. 

“Does your brain only function on one memory at a time?” Your expression twisted somewhat indignant making an amused half smile curl on Chishiya’s face causing your childish anger to further as you crossed your arms, “Yes they exist, and for that matter I’ll just let you die since you’re so determined to let it happen prematurely-” “It will with the way you drive.” “Stop being so dramatic.” 

You puffed a breath as you shifted your weight, “No seriously, what if only one persons survives?” You asked, you hadn’t really thought about it truthfully, you had done games where it was possible but you supposed you had just been lucky, most games if not close to all, many could survive. Was that something you should be worried about. Chishiya only shrugged, not having an answer as you hummed. 

It was only six o’clock and the sun was beginning to set, was anyone else going to, “Oh jeez, this doesn’t look promising.” You turned to where someone stood having just arrived. Oh...oh wow, this woman was tall and attractive. It looked like a cigarette was hanging from her lips and she sported nothing but jeans and a bikini top. 

Your gaze flickered ahead where you frowned, “I really hate games with props.” You muttered, looking at the anklets that could be doubled as probation bands, seriously? Attaching it to your ankle you inspected that metal loop that dangled from the back, “Do you think they’ll blow our legs off if we move too fast?” 

“Doubt it,” The woman spoke up cut in between you both as she grabbed on, inspecting it as she scoffed, “Especially given what we’re doin’. Looks like we’re gonna get real cozy now.” 

You looked at the laptop that sat out as you tilted your head.

Game:

Difficulty: 5♠

“The game you will be participating in is, Seek and Destroy”

“That sounds...not fun.” Your nose wrinkled, it was a clubs game, meaning at least you could all work as a team to finish the objection, but...Seek and destroy? You briefly glanced at Chishiya but he remained expressionless, his full undivided attention on the screen. 

“In this game there are cars sectioned across the bridge and within five cars, bombs have been planted. One bomb will be activated at a time, you will have five minutes to find it and disarm it. Should you be in the vicinity of the car bomb by the time it goes off you have two choices, Game Over or Test Life.” Your brows furrowed as you listened carefully, “Cables are attached to the bridge, should you be near one you may attach your anklet to it and choose to jump off the bridge to safety.” 

“There are five car bombs all total, once the first bomb had been deactivated, the next will start. If you disarm all five, it’s a Game Clear, if you fail to disarm all five, it’s a Game Over.”

Rules

All players must remain on the bridge unless they choose to Test Life

You will have five minutes to plan your course of action, after the siren, the first bomb will be set

If all five bombs aren’t disarmed it’s a Game Over, the only exemption from this rule is if a Life Test is passed in trade.

If someone Tests Life and succeeds, they will make their way back to the bridge and return here as proof of success or it’s an automatic Game Over for them.

“Ha...ha! This should be easy!” A woman spoke up as she grabbed her head, “Guys! If we just chose to test life, we can all escape down, not break any rules and clear the game!” You heard a few others excitedly agree with her but you felt...unsure…

You glanced at Chishiya who remained stoic, the only other person who seemed to also not be sold was the woman next to you, who practically towered over you and looking up you only just realized her cigarette was fake, “You into women or something?” She winked causing you fumble a little as you stepped away, “I don’t judge.” 

“I’m into not dying,” You replied as you looked at the laptop, the countdown having already started, Chishiya only shrugged as he spoke up, “Could’ve fooled me.” You rolled your eyes at him, he seemed curious as he followed the other three. 

“It’s simple, I’ll just attach this and! Just look for some others!” She excitedly clipped the bungee cord to the metal hoop before she stood up on the ledge, lifting her arms as she breathed in a deep breath, “I’ll see you guys on the way down!” 

Your eyes were wide at her blind faith as she fell down, Chishiya peered down as everyone watched in baited breath, “It’s dumb to assume things would be that easy on a Spades game which is based around physical exertion, true bungee jumping matches the energy, but that would be too easy.” Chishiya spoke, shrugging as you glanced at him briefly before back at the woman who had finally hit the bottom of her cord, you had expected her to bounce but you gasped a little as she jerked before you could only assume her anklet broke and she smashed straight into the water.

She...she had to die from the impact with nothing to break the fall from here to there, “Just as I expected,” He sighed in exasperation, everyone turned to Chishiya who appeared only semi annoyed, “Anyone who believed a game value of five would be that easy is truly an idiot,” He offered a snide smile, “Just as I thought, Test Life is meant literally and meant to be a last resort, either you die by a car bomb or you take a chance with a possible faulty cord or band. The only way we clear a game without disarming all five bombs is if one goes off and someone chooses to test life and doesn’t die, it’s not only risky but stupid to rely on.” 

“Talk about cold,” The woman beside you spoke up, making Chishiya shrug loosely, “You couldn’t have said that five seconds sooner and we’d have a sixth player?” Her lip lifted a little in annoyance at Chishiya’s callous nature. 

Chishiya offered a cold smile, “A hypothesis without any evidence is just an assumption.” 

The woman had no words, probably taken aback at just how cold Chishiya was, you leaned in a little as you whispered, “You get used to it. Y/n,” You introduced yourself briefly with a weak smile, admittedly you had just accepted and gotten used to Chishiya’s nihilistic views. 

“Harsh,” She snorted, “Kuina. You two seem acquainted.” 

Your lips fell back into a grimace as you briefly looked at Chishiya who raised a brow at you, “Somehow...” You shook your head, truthfully, no matter how hard you tried to get away from this man, you always seemed to end up talking to him, or in situations like this with him, “So what’s the plan Spock?” You shrugged as you looked at Chishiya, half your time of planning already over. 

Chishiya didn’t reply at first and admittedly you wouldn’t consider him the embodiment of a leader, but you did think if anyone had a good calculation and strategy to go through this without messing up, it was him, “The rules stated nothing about having to disarm them in sequence, only that after the first was disarmed, a second would start and so forth.” 

You frowned at his words making him sigh in exasperation as he looked away from you, “Which means if we broke into pairs we can just search all the cars and disarm them all within a reasonable amount of time and least amount of panic. You know,” Chishiya sneered, “They’re being quite charitable for a 5.” 

“Okay great,” You sneered back in unappreciation giving back the same energy you were annoyed at being given at the moment, sure, you were dumb, you could admit it, and you had a feeling it really grated on Chishiya’s nerves that you in fact, did not consider it an insult in the least. You worked in the realms of irrationality of human nature, not the laws of logic like him. 

In some ways, you considered yourself a polar opposite of him sometimes, “I’m glad this is easy for you. Just tell us what we need to do, jerk.” 

Chishiya rolled his eyes at your expression, not surprised in the least at your attitude which he, just as always, ignored it, “There’s six of us- or was…” His lips curled into a menacing smirk, “There’ll be two pairs and one single person, one pair will go towards the back of the bridge and search the cars back to front, a bomb will most likely be placed in the hood of the car if the engines have been taken out or in the trunk. Another pair will search the beginning of the bridge starting from here and work their way towards the middle. Lastly the person by themselves will search the middle which won’t be as hard to go through alone.” 

“Alright, then I’ll pair up with the blonde twink, I have a few words to talk to him about.” Kuina shrugged, making Chishiya’s gaze snap over, his expression briefly looking confused for a second at her wording as she offered a sharp smile, “What? Are you intimidated?” 

Chishiya’s expression melted back into a cool tone, his gaze briefly looking over to you which you only observed the two, already getting the feeling you and Kuina were going to get along and hey, if you all survived this, you’d totally tell her about the Beach, “Hardly,” Chishiya snorted, “But in case you couldn’t tell I already have a partner.” You raised your brows looking around, wow, he was fast at deciding who would help him the most, “It’s you idiot.” 

“Oh,” Your lips parted a little, admittedly feeling a little dumb forgetting, but honestly, who could blame you? You just assumed Chishiya would pair with the person most beneficial to him, after a second your lips curled into a smile as you shrugged, “Oh?” You raised your brows a little making Chishiya’s expression go a little exasperated as your smile turned into a grin, “Oh I don’t mind!” You spoke, smiling at Kuina as you waved her over to him, “Have fun with him, he’s a real blast! I can partner with one of you if you’d like, I’m a go with the flow kinda person.” 

“I was a cross country runner! I can go by myself.” A girl, who looked like she was fresh out of highschool spoke as she volunteered herself, leaving you with only one partner, the male who...definitely looked like he could use a shower. He gave you a grimy smile which you weakly returned, “This just leaves us. I’m Daichi, and you m’lady?” 

You could hear a strained laughter from two people as you looked over your shoulder, harshly glaring laser beams out of your eyes at Chishiya who had pulled his hood up to try and pretend like he totally wasn’t smiling while stifling his laughter while Kuina was more then openly laughing at your obvious short straw hand here, but hey...You did forfeit your partnership with Chishiya out of spite, this was in some way...deserved. 

“Y/n. if everyone is sorted out, let’s take the far end of the bridge, it’s least likely they’d start the first bomb there right?” You looked towards Chishiya who shrugged, “What do we do about the bombs? I don’t exactly have any experience in the reams of demolition work.” 

“It’s possible, as for the bombs I doubt they have anything complex. It’s probably made of some akin to a battery pack. Just rip the wiring from the pack and not the bomb.” He replied making you cross your arms, an amused expression on his face as he answered.

“...And if it’s not that simple...?” 

“I guess we’ll find out.” He used that sing song tone you groaned at, unhelpful as always as you groaned, “Cheer up Y/n, it keeps things interesting.” What was his deal with things needing to be interesting...

“Well, let’s get going while we still have time,” You nodded to Daichi who nodded eagerly as you both began walking out onto the bridge, cars were scattered all across the bridge and this was admittedly going to take a lot of stamina to do, it was a Spades game, it was expected, but still.

You briefly felt uncomfortable, you could feel Daichi’s stares and he seemed like an okay guy but...Sometimes, more days than you wished, you could just feel a person’s energy and their intentions, Daichi was a perfect example of this. He was easy to read, from the way his eyes kept coping a feel at your body which wasn’t even in anything revealing besides the plain t-shirt you wore and sweatpants as per usual, “So Y/n, what were you before all of this.” 

Your eyes briefly glanced at Daichi before ahead again, “I worked as a barista at a coffee shop,” You answered with a neutral expression, not wanting to come across bitchy or too nice. 

Men in society, are told from a young age that so long as you’re nice, a good guy, doing the right thing, you’ll always get the girl. It twists the perception of reality for them, suddenly a women being nice is considered flirtation, a date to get to know one another will be rewarded with sex, there’s almost always a goal in mind when it comes to a Nice Guy. 

You don’t think Daichi is one of these men, you could tell by the way he fidgeted and he seemed to hesitate and drag his words out a little, he was too insecure to truly feel that type of superiority. But he had that energy of a guy, who felt these things internally and therefore, if provoked, would probably end up saying the exact same things. 

“Oh?” Daichi perked up a little, his smile was sincere if not a little awkward as his eyes lingered below your stomach, “Like at a maid cafe?” 

“Like at a coffee shop,” You repeated yourself, not being too nice but not too mean, just neutral as you internally sighed, maybe you should’ve stayed partners with Chishiya, you knew he was an ass, but at least he didn’t act like this, or most men for that matter. You could at least appreciate his authenticity even if he was hardly honest, “Uh, let’s just focus on disarming these car bombs.” 

You didn’t give Daichi a chance to reply as you heard the siren go off, breaking off into a sprint because you weren’t even halfway across the bridge yet. You needed to be to the end of the bridge within five minutes if the first bomb was there. Though the chances were low, they weren’t zero. 

You weren’t someone considered extreme fit but you did walk a lot and it seemed you made a lot better head way then Daichi as he was out of breath and had his hands on his knees as you arrived at the end of the bridge, the first car bomb had to be disarmed by now and it had taken a good few minutes to even get here, “Okay, let’s separate and start looking at cards, hoods first then trunks.” 

Daichi nodded, still out of breath as you started on the first car, popping the hood as you searched in before going to the trunk. Leaving it open so you wouldn’t confuse it later on as you had a lot of cars to go through. You hoped Chishiya and Kuina were at the very least, having better luck then you. 

…

“So I’m guessing you two have probably fucked.” Kuina clacked her tongue as she watched you in the distant sprinting off, in her opinion probably running away from that creep, not that she could blame you, it did give her a good laugh. 

Chishiya’s gaze remained neutral as he ignored Kuina’s comment. Tch, Chishiya made the exception of tolerating your idiocy purely because, to some degree, he’d admit, you were one of the few people he found interesting, he wasn’t sure he could do that for someone else who he wouldn’t consider as such, especially as self entitled as this woman, “I wouldn’t fuck someone like her. You aren’t good at reading people. Let's start searching and not waste time.” 

Kuina raised her hands up, flicking the wooden cigarette in her mouth as she shrugged, “Alright but you can’t fool me with those eyes. It’s clear you two got some chemistry,” She snorted at his lack of reply, “Anyways, what’s your deal?” She asked, furrowing her brows as they both separated, searching through the hoods before popping the trunks, “Bit cold to just let someone die like that.” She called out. 

“In case you’re inferior mind couldn’t tell,” Chishiya leaned against the back of the car as he smiled coldly, “We needed hard proof that Test Life was literal and not only this, but if this equipment is even stable. Which it isn’t, obviously.” Chishiya shrugged casually, “And we wouldn’t have known if someone dumb enough didn’t want to try,” He let out a sing song tone as he smiled in that false innocence of his, “I just consider it natural selection in the Borderlands.” 

Kuina grimaced a little, talk about borderline inhumane, ���Oh look what we have here,” Chishiya looked delighted at the sight of the first bomb, it’s quiet tick ever impending to it’s explosion, Kuina quickly came over as she scratched her head, “So we know we’re supposed to disarm them, but we were never told how...Is it really as simple as you said?” She rolled her eyes. 

Chishiya snorted, “This is a basic homemade bomb, and surprise, surprise, it has a battery pack attached, it doesn’t take a genius to know to just pull the wiring and there won’t be any energy to dispense to the denotation.” And just like they, he yanked the wiring from the remote pack and the ticking stopped.

Kuina felt a breath of relief escape her, obviously not confident in his abilities and who could blame her? For as smart as Chishiya was, it was difficult to trust the man, nor would it be wise of anyone. 

“Great, glad we got a bomb expert on our side,” Kuina sighed, pushing her hands into her pockets before yelling out, “We got one!” As loud as she could, it echoed off the bridge and she was sure at least the highschooler heard her, “Anyways that’s boring. So you consider it natural selection huh- harsh. What ‘bout her then? Seems like you only wanted to be with her.” 

“What about her?” Chishiya, now annoyed, turned to Kuina, who was truthfully, only stirring the pot because she enjoyed getting under people’s skin, this blonde’s in particular, “We entered the game together? I guess?” He raised his brows, that dark, yet low innocent expression on his face as he spoke, “I’d assume it’s natural isn’t it? To stick to what one knows? But instead I’m stuck with you.” 

Kuina only offered a menacing smile in return, “In full glory,” She gestured down to herself proudly, “Listen- I’m only stating what I see, that and this is pretty amusing to listen too. It’s not often I get put in a game that isn’t high intensity.” Admittedly, while Kuina would never openly admit to it, Chishiya being here had definitely calmed things down a little, had it not been for his pure cut logic, things would probably be more hectic. 

“I got one!” Kuina looked up at the sound of the highschool girl screaming out, echoing distantly as Kuina curled her fists in victory, “Alright, just three to go, we’ll be done in no time.” Chishiya only looked over his shoulder, saying nothing as he continued searching through cars, “For someone so smart, you sure don’t look victorious.” 

“It’s foolish to assume victory during a battle,” Chishiya spoke, “At least that’s something Sun Tzu would’ve said, we only have two done in a field of cars. They were forgiving with the obvious rules but not so much in the size of the game. It’ll be a tight fit trying to find the last one within five minutes.” 

Kuina rubbed her head, that was true, she guessed, but she didn’t see it like that. The faster they looked and disabled these bombs, the quicker they could find others. It couldn’t be that difficult. 

“But we don’t know where they’re placed, it could be to our advantage that most of them are clumped togeth- Oh…” Kuina paused at the sight of a ticking bomb just inches away from her, apprehension in her face as she stepped away, she could fight with her fists any day of the week but a bomb? No thanks, “Disarm this so I don’t kill us on accident.” 

Chishiya looked smug as she rolled her eyes and with in moments he disarmed it as Kuina called out, the third one finished and only two left to go, if all went well just as planned, then they would have an easy night. 

“Whatever the case is, as long as nobody screws up this will be easy,” Chishiya’s lips twitched into a smirk as he spoke, “They’re pretty stupid to label this a five when it’s really a three.” He supposed, at least this was another build up on his visa which was extending more and more by the day. 

It wasn’t, that Chishiya was interested in death. No, it was quite the opposite, he was fascinated in why there was so much death, what was the reason? He hadn’t come up with a solid theory yet, but it was in the works. And furthermore, games and their mechanics were quite interesting, death being a punishment was only an added twist which was, admittedly beginning to get a little dull in his opinion. 

After all it was difficult to threaten someone with death when they had no fascination in life whatsoever, “Well, just a little more to go and we’ll be finished.” Kuina yawned out, admittedly ready to eat a hot boil of ramen after this before crashing. 

What neither of them expected was the loud booming echo of an explosion black smoke blooming the air both of them were taken a back as they ran to the side railing of the bridge attempting to look for where the explosion was, only to watch you being blasted off the railing straight off the bridge. 

This was not going as planned.

...

Three Minutes Earlier…

Searching through the car trunk you rubbed your head, you had heard some shouting earlier indicating that the highschool student had already found a bomb and you had heard previous yelling as well, twice, once before the highschool student, another just a minute ago. This game was going fast. You sighed as you shoved your hands into your pocket, it would be bullshit if there wasn’t a single bomb at the back of the bridge.

You supposed it would very fortunate but, you ran all the way here, for nothing if there wasn’t. 

Not to mention you and Daichi had gotten through quite a few cars in minimal time, he has just finished car and was making his way towards the edge of the bridge where on the last few cars of this little sliver were at, you admittedly, still had a long way too go.

You sighed walking over to a Mercedes which looked extremely expensive- maybe you could get someone from the Beach to fix it up…You groaned at the sound of heavy breathing, was Daichi trying to run again?

You peered over the hood of your car until to see him stiff as a board in front of a hood of a white Sudan. 

Sometimes, you can just tell, when something is wrong. Nothing needs to be said, or heard. This was one of those moments where you felt a deep pit in your stomach. You made your way over in a hurry only to head an impending tick and Daichi’s hands were on the bomb making you almost immediately back away, “Uhh...okay cool you found it…” Daichi’s hands trembled and his breath was heavy as you watched a bead of sweat drip down his neck.

 “Just uh...disarm it now.” You frowned a little, peering behind his shoulder to see the timer at was at a minute. Shit this must’ve been the next one activated, “Quickly.”

Daichi’s hands shook harder as he spoke hurriedly, “I...I don’t know how!” He freaked out sweat dripping off his chin as you backed away a little further, finding the edge of the bridge behind you and stepping on something.

“Just...do it like Chishiya said! Daichi we only have forty seconds!” You urged him, trying not to freak him out any further, “Ah here I’ll do it!”

“No!” Daichi screamed out, clutching it further as he spoke harshly, “If- if it’s moved it’ll explode!” He cried out, your heart rate was spiking and if he didn’t do anything you both were going to get killed, “Just rip off the wiring from the pack. Just like Chishiya said.” You shuffled a little, looking down only to see a cord piled up beneath your right foot. 

Swallowing you carefully walked closer to him as you offered a weak smile, “Listen to me,” Daichi trembled and shook as his gaze flickered between the bomb and you, “Just…” twenty seconds left, “Take the wiring and pull it out.” You urged gently.

“How do we even know if we can trust that guy!?” Daichi cried out, “He- he just let a woman die just to see if he was right! We can’t trust him!” Daichi screamed out as you tried to calm your wild heart rate. He needed to calm down and at least try, a try was better than letting the timer go off. 

“Chishiya is an expert with chemistry, science and medicine. If anyone knows how to disarm something I’d place my life on him.” That was a very bold claim you weren’t sure you’d actually put into practice but it was true. 

Ten seconds.

You fumbled backwards as Daichi hyperventilated, “He practically killed someone! If I do something! It’ll be by my own choice!” He screamed out making you jump as you fumbled to lean down, grabbing the metal hook as you attached it to the cuff of your anklet, but it was too late. Daichi ripped the wiring not from the pack, but the bomb. 

You don’t see it, you only see vivid hues of orange and red and blistering heat as the force of the explosion blew you right off the edge. The sky, truly was beautiful, even in your last moments. 

-

Note: If you guys would like to form a taglist, just let me know so you can keep up to date when I post a new chapter! Hope you enjoyed and let me know your thoughts!! :)

#alice in borderland #aib imagine #chishiya x reader smut #chishiya x reader #aib x reader #aib smut #alice in borderland x reader

[azucanela]

Could you do another Sokka with the fire nation reader and maybe something domestic? Something after the war potentially? Please and thank you!!!

SERENE SHORES | SOKKA X READER

SUMMARY: after years of chaos, Y/N can’t help but feel weird when everything is peaceful. but hey, weird can be nice. especially when weird is with sokka.

WORD COUNT: 2.5k

WARNINGS: kissing, soft, pretty basic.

A/N: this is gonna be the least heartbreaking thing i’ll ever write super domestic 10/10 soft. also it feels wrong to not write something thats like 10k words of pining askhdkjsah also this is weirdest title ever im sorry

The sun poured into the room, indicating that Sokka had in fact, awoken, and opened the curtains, much to Y/N’s dismay. They were on vacation and yet he still insisted on waking up at the most ungodly of hours to work. Y/N had no doubt that he’d heard the whispers in the Southern Water Tribe, he’d done so much for the small nation that Y/N wasn’t shocked when rumors of Sokka potentially becoming the next chief came about. He was still young, but that didn’t stop people from talking, and maybe thats why he was putting so much pressure on himself.

But it was vacation, on Ember Island, alongside the rest of their friends. They’d agreed to head out later in the day together, to the beach to catch up with one another. Regardless, Y/N couldn’t help but groan, running a hand through her hair when she realized Sokka had gotten up early for no reason. Y/N had searched him prior to their departure to the island, ensuring he had no work at all, and yet here they were.

Sitting up in the bed, she stretched out her arms, allowing the sun to hit her face. Y/N squinted at the sudden brightness as she moved to stand, a wave of dizziness washed over her momentarily, causing her legs to wobble as she took her first few steps of the day. Y/N quickly recovered as she made her way outside of the room, bringing a hand to her forehead as she sighed. The Ember Island rooms were like small homes at this point, so Y/N wasn’t shocked to find Sokka in the kitchen, cutting up some fruits into the bowl. 

He looks up at her, a smile on his face as he put the knife down and tries his best to lean against the counter alluringly, only for his elbow to miss the edge of the counter. Sokka stumbles slightly, causing Y/N to laugh as she greets him, “hi there.”

“Hey, beautiful.” Sokka greets, recovering from his fall as he jogs over to press a kiss to her cheek, wrapping his arm around her waist to pull her closer.

Y/N hums in response, wrapping her arms around his torso, “why are you out of bed?” She presses a kiss to his jaw before resting her head on his chest.

“I was making breakfast, per usual.” Comes his reply. Y/N had found that Sokka was actually a great roommate, he tended to wake up early to handle his duties in the Southern Water Tribe. Which meant he’d cook breakfast for the two of them, and get his fair share of cleaning done. 

Y/N is pulling herself away from him to grab his hand and pull him towards the bedroom, “let’s go back to bed.” It was vacation, and they could probably order some sort of room service seeing as Ember Island was practically a resort.

“We have to meet the others later.” Sokka reasoned, resisting her aggressive yanks at his arm, feet remaining firmly planted on the floor.

Y/N playfully glares at him, “yeah, later. Not now, we have time. I don’t know why you woke up so early.” She’s scolding him, mostly because he’s been having trouble sleeping lately, and refuses to drink the tea she offered him. Iroh had kindly taught her how to make a ‘proper’ cup of tea, as he’d put it. 

“It’s midday.” He points out, causing Y/N’s eyes to widen a fraction, her eyes flickering over to the windows momentarily as she tries to understand how she managed to sleep well into the middle of the day.

Her mouth opens and closes for a moment, brows furrowing in confusion as she looks to Sokka, “are you serious?”

Sokka blinks once before throwing his head back in laughter, “yes!” 

With a rather aggressive tug at Sokka’s arm, Y/N pulled him closer bringing her free hand to his cheek as she pulled him in for a kiss. Sokka melted into it, bringing both his arms to hand loosely around her waist

It was peaceful. Watching him look so happy, the way the sunlight gleamed on his face as Y/N practically tackled him onto the bed, the bright smile on his face lit up the room more than the sun ever could. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen these things and she certainly hoped it wouldn’t be the last. And given how few threats of war and death and chaos there had been lately, Y/N had a feeling that she wouldn’t have to worry about losing Sokka to some insane enemy anytime soon. 

Y/N hated how weird it felt. Being able to relax for once because there’s no threat of impending doom, no need to be alert despite the habit she’d developed to always have a hand ready to grab the knife at her side. Y/N hated that she couldn’t allow herself a moment of peace even though there was nothing to worry about. 

Even when the war had ended, Y/N had to be on her toes for all the riots that started across the world. She and the rest of Team Avatar weren’t necessarily prepared for all the diplomatic work that had to be done to repair all the damage that had been done to the world during the 100 years of war. Aang had a lot of other issues to handle as the Avatar, Katara and Sokka had to work on rebuilding the Southern Water Tribe, Toph had to handle her parents though she had favored spreading the wonders of metalbending instead. Zuko was rebuilding the Fire Nation was simultaneously tearing down the century’s worth of brainwashing. And as for Y/N, she was just trying to figure out where she fit in to all this.

For the first time in a long time, nothing was going on. Y/N didn’t need to bring her weapons, and she didn’t need to look over her shoulder ever moment for potential enemies. And it felt weird.

They’d returned to Ember Island for a vacation, a reward to themselves for everything they’d done. And it had been a while since they’d been able to actually catch up, Y/N wouldn’t deny it, though they saw each other fairly frequently when it seemed the world was about to end, time to talk was rare. And now that they could talk, she didn’t know what to say.

Yeah, it felt weird.

Sokka’s arm had wrapped around her waist, and Y/N found herself watching as he threw his head back in laughter at something Toph had said. The girl in question seemed pretty pleased with herself, Zuko on the other hand was looking rather embarrassed. Not that Y/N was really paying attention to the conversation. They had gotten to the beach not too long ago, and Y/N had a feeling they would stay awhile, but she was a little busy getting lost in her own thoughts. 

Was it wrong of her to wonder what happened next now that they had entered what would —hopefully— be an era of peace? The only person who could probably remember such a time was Aang, seeing as he was born before the war started, officially started that is. 

Pushing away those thoughts, Y/N returned her attention to the conversation at hand, “you know what, the rest of you never grew up with Sokka’s whining in the mornings— Y/N knows what I mean, right?”

Y/N found herself straightening beside Sokka, “actually, Sokka cooks me breakfast in the mornings, and he’s surprisingly neat, so I have no complaints.” She lets out a small laugh, and Y/N can feel Sokka’s eyes on her figure as everyone else laughs once more.

“Thank you Y/N, see I can be a fantastic roommate.” Sokka asserted, throwing a playful glare to Katara as he squeezed Y/N’s side gently. She and Sokka had gotten together shortly after the war, and they’d been living together for a while. Seeing as they travelled together for over a year, there wasn’t really much of an adjustment period if Y/N was honest, and Sokka was a model roommate. 

Sokka sits up suddenly, causing Y/N to raise a brow at him as she shifts in her seat, only for him to extend a hand to her, “I’m going for a walk, wanna come?”

She takes his hand, offering him a smile as she sits up as well, “yes.” 

From the corner of her eye, Y/N can see Aang move to speak, only for Toph to swat at his chest when he tries to stand, and Katara to glare harshly. Zuko simply watches the interaction in confusion, brow furrowing as Katara beams up at the couple, “have fun!”

Sokka fought the urge to roll his eyes as he took Y/N by the hand and began to drag her away from the campsite. He’d noticed her behavior, something was bothering her. Of course, Katara was reading into things again, she and Gran Gran had grown a little obsessed in regards to his relationship with Y/N. Mostly because Gran Gran insisted that she had to live to see the wedding.

Oh god, Katara must’ve thought he intended to propose—

Y/N had gathered that much as well, it wasn’t something the two had discussed yet, mostly because they’d never had time. When they officially got together, everything was so chaotic they just never had the time, and now that they had the time, well neither of them had tried to broach the topic. Katara on the other hand seemed to continue her meddlesome ways, trying to put the idea into Y/N’s head time and time again during their conversations.

Y/N did not approve.

The pair walked silently across the coast line, water washing up against their bare feet as Sokka comically swung their hands back and forth, earning a small laugh from Y/N. She came to the realization that as badly as she wanted to avoid this conversation, it was necessary. Looking up at him, her brows furrowed as she spoke, “don’t let Katara... pressure you into anything, okay?”

Sokka frowned, pausing as he walked, “don’t tell me she’s been talking to you about-”

“Marriage.” They both muttered, simultaneously. The pair burst into laughter, and Sokka simply shook his head. Katara had obviously been discussing the subject with the both of them.

Sokka simply facepalms, and Y/N finds herself smiling as she watches him, “I’m sorry that she’s been bothering you about that, even though I told her not to.” He turns back to look at the camp, that’s still visible in the distance, Katara is giving him a thumbs up alongside Toph, though the young girl is facing the wrong direction. A show of support as he attempts to ‘propose’ to Y/N, though he didn’t intend to, not today at least. 

Y/N offers him a nervous smile, pulling his attention away from their friends as they continued to walk, “it’s fine.” Another silence consumes them, and Y/N finds herself biting her lip as her gaze returns to Sokka, “have you thought about it though?” 

“Marriage?” Sokka asks, looking to her with wide eyes, “of course, I have. But we’re still young...” He trails off, tilting his head at Y/N as he mumbles, “have you?”

She shrugs, looking to the horizon, where the sun is slowly disappearing and the night sky begins to reveal itself, “honestly? Not really, no.” Y/N can practically feel Sokka deflate beside her, and quickly continues, “not because I don’t want to marry you. I just... I don’t know I never had...”

“Time. To think about it?” Sokka offered when she trailed off. He understood, in a way. They weren’t able to think much of the future while on the run, mostly because the future was a luxury that they were unsure they’d ever get. 

Y/N simply looks to him, nodding slowly she can feel her cheeks warm as she exhales deeply. “I want to though.” Her voice is quiet, probably because its the first time she admitting it to herself, that she does want to marry Sokka. There was always a small part of her that wondered what that would be like, and maybe moving in with him solidified the idea in her mind. Y/N didn’t know.

Maybe it was cliché but Sokka had known since they’d met. 

“I’ve thought about it for a while.” He mumbles, fidgeting with her hand. 

A smile graces Y/N’s face as she raises a brow, “what have you thought about?” She can’t help but feel curious, she’s well aware of how meticulously he plans things, and if he’s thought about their potential wedding it means he not only sees her in his future, but he also likely spent a lot of time considering minor details about the wedding. 

Sokka’s eyes are glued to her hands as he responds, “you would look really pretty in a wedding dress.” If Sokka was honest, she looked pretty in everything, but the idea of marrying her? It had crossed his mind in the past, several times.

She’s never seen him this shy and subdued before, and Y/N can’t help but feel shocked at how soft his voice sounds when he speaks. So, she finds herself considering what this imaginary wedding would be like. Yet all she manages to say is, “I was thinking about how I would never get married on a beach.” 

A small laugh escapes Sokka, “you hate sand.” They’d learnt that the hard way the last time they were at Ember Island, just before the end of the war. Sokka had spent about an hour convincing Y/N to come down to the beach despite her hatred of sand. She ended up agreeing— more accurately being forced to head down to the beach seeing as Sokka practically threw her over his shoulder and carried her there. Y/N vividly recalled the violent words she’d yelled at him when he threw her into the ice cold water.

Y/N is laughing alongside him, nodding,  “I do.”

She’d be saying those words again, not too far in the future. And maybe this possibility is why Y/N decides that she likes this whole peace thing, standing on the serene shores of Ember Island. Life is good when you aren’t worried about impending doom all the time, and its even better with Sokka in it. Y/N wouldn’t mind spending the rest of her life with him.

“Let’s prank Katara into thinking you proposed.” She suggested, grinning at Sokka. If the girl was so insistent on meddling with their relationship, then why not get a little revenge?

Sokka seemed to like this idea, as his eyes iit up at her words, “I love you, so much.” He exclaimed, grabbing Y/N’s face with both hands and pulling her into a kiss. 

Y/N finds herself smiling into the kiss, pulling away to say, “I know.”

“You’re supposed to say it back.” Sokka is pouting now, trapping her in his arms as he awaits the response he wants. 

Y/N hummed in reply, a pensive look on her face as she pretended to consider his words, “I guess I love you too.”

“You guess?!”

Hopefully their honeymoon would be far less chaotic, and further away from sand. 

A/N: lol writing something happy when you are sad is not it so im sorry that this is bad but i tried 🥺

​

#sokka x reader #sokka atla x reader #atla sokka x reader #atla x reader #atla #avatar the last airbender #lok #lok x reader #legend of korra

[wild-aloof-rebel]

Some Favorite Fics from 2020

Like last year, I want to end 2020 by highlighting some fics that have become favorites over the last twelve months. Before I dive into it though, I just want to take a minute to send some love to all of the authors writing in this fandom.

As of the end of 2019, there were about 8.8 million words of fic on AO3 for this fandom. This year, more than 450 authors have added another 15 million more. That’s so incredibly impressive, especially in a year this difficult. Thank you, thank you, thank you to every single person who contributed to that, whether you wrote one fic or a hundred, a drabble or a novel. Thank you for giving this fandom the gift of your creativity and voice. Your work is so, so appreciated, and you’ve helped to create joy in a year where it was often in short supply. 💗💗💗

*

Okay, on to the fics. I’ve limited myself to no more than one work for any individual author to spread the love around as much as possible, and I’ve bumped up the number to 25 this time around because there was just too much fic this year for me to cut it down any further. 

So here we go. These are 25 fics I loved this year, and what I love about them...

Your heart is keeping time with me by yourbuttervoicedbeau • rated E • 33k+ confession before i start: i’ve never actually seen 50 first dates. but i thought this AU based on it was delightful. patrick’s love for david is so big, right from the start, and i love seeing david lean into trusting himself (and patrick) over and over again

will this ever get old? by startswithhope • rated T • <1k i just like seeing them domestic and soft and happy, okay? and while most of dee’s fics are like that, this particular one is a fave because of them thinking about their future and how they’ll change over the years but love each other right on through

Just to Hold the Hands I Love by DesignatedGrape • rated T • 20k+ it’s like a warm christmas hug, full of musical trolling, gentle pining, domestic nights in, and careful attention to fashion details, which are all absolutely the kinds of things i appreciate

A Case of You by DoubleL27 • rated T • 6k+ patrick is an absolute menace in exactly the way you would expect every valentine’s day. it’s funny and sweet and ends with them in exactly the kind of future we all want for them

Dulce by another_Hero • rated T • 1k+ original characters can be hard to do right. they have to be compelling enough to fit in with these characters we already know so well, and dulce is the kind of character who grabs you from the start. the whole series is lovely, but this first interaction with ronnie is my favorite of them

Tea-Kettle Love by ArabellaStrange • rated G • 5k+ even though this coda to “the pitch” isn’t technically canon compliant now, it still feels a lot like it is. it’s about the sacrifices we are and aren’t willing to make for the people we love, taking the new york discussion into more depth than we get in the show and still arriving in largely the same place

Vanquished by Codswallop • rated G • 3k+ if you’re looking for soft, fluffy sickfic, this is not it, lol. patrick is sick here but won’t let anyone take care of him. he’s stubborn and basically minor chaos ensues. it’s funny and sweet but not schmaltzy. the characterization is 👌, and it feels like the kind of thing that fits perfectly into the world of the show

To Come Out the Other Side by unfolded73 • rated T • 4k+ • warning for major character death i don’t want to read sad things about david and patrick very often, but sometimes the mood strikes. this one is definitely sad right from the start, but there’s hope and resilience through grief, and i think this year especially, there’s something to be said for stories that can make you feel like there is still good to be found after the bad

Hold Me Like You’ll Never Let Me Go by moodlighting • rated T • 21k+ i never would have thought that a fic would make me WANT to be trapped in an airport, but it’s 2020 and anything is possible, lol. this is what meet cute dreams are made of

Your mother keeps a spreadsheet by upbeat • rated G • 3k+ obviously i love a good spreadsheet, so this one was up my alley from the start, lol. but really it’s moira and patrick bonding through the cataloguing of her wigs (and all the stories that go with them) that makes this one an easy favorite

keep me in the pulses, keep me in the sound by dinnfameron • rated G • 2k+ this sweet little slice of a summer vacation made me ache to be with friends. plus, sometimes you just need some overwhelmingly happy david rose. he deserves it, and so do we

eggs and the flour, no higher power by withkissesfour • rated T • 1k+ i’m pretty sure this fic is the definition of sweet, in more ways than one. it’s a short piece, but the writing is lush and indulgent in all the right places, just like the cakes being described

sustineo by rockinhamburger • rated E • 10k+ before i was even done reading this fic, i wanted another 50k words set in this universe. the conversation between david and patrick is sharp in all the right ways, and because this david has such a hard shell to crack after being hurt in such a horrible and heartbreaking way, it’s that much more satisfying watching patrick break through it

All-Natural Care, Locally Sourced by Siria • rated T • 2k+ siria’s fics are always funny, with banter that’s so perfectly on point, and that’s certainly true here. but there are also care packages and photos and just so much love. it’s a perfect balance, just like the show

hold on to me as you go by helvetica_upstart • rated T • 3k+ i love a good look at just how long patrick has been head over heels in love with david and how much he was in this for life all along. this fic does just that through the framework of times that they saw their new house before they bought it, and it’s everything that you would want that concept to be and more

Exposed Brick by swat117 • rated M • 9k+ this is such a lovely look at david and patrick a few years into their marriage, steady in all the right ways, even when old fears try to rise up between them. it gives david a chance to be the solid and supportive one in the relationship, something i never get tired of reading

We Could Turn the World to Gold by middyblue • rated T • 27k+ as someone who also did c25k at one point, i def empathize with david’s plight in this fic, lol. as much fun as that part of the story is, it’s really the house and everything related to that part of the story that makes this a favorite in my book. this was posted very early in s6, so it’s not the house from canon, but it’s beautiful either way to see them so excited about building their future together there

Waiting on the Day by High-Seas-Swan • rated E • 22k+ this is another fic that makes me absolutely ache for things i couldn’t have this year, namely my favorite local brewery and all the nights spent there with friends. beyond that, it’s just a very sweet AU, and the scene with their first kiss and the rest of that night live in my head rent free

Pot o’ Gold by ahurston • rated E • 22k+ where is the leprechaun/love of my life who’s gonna take me out to eat all of the best foods that my city has to offer? this one is a slow burn but their relationship is so much fun to read right from the start that you definitely don’t mind taking your time getting there. also, the palm reading scene. good grief.

there is no design by the_hodag • rated T • 12k+ this fic gives us a look at some of david’s art, and all the loneliness and love that inspires it. it’s poignant and painful and hopeful and sweet in turn, and i think it does a marvelous job of capturing so many of the facets of david’s past that have made him who he is

A Little Broken, A Little New by nameless_bliss • rated G • 3k+ i’ve read this fic several times now, and david and johnny having a conversation about their own relationship through the guise of talking about patrick and his parents never fails to make me cry

Une très bonne table dans sa catégorie by cromarty • rated T • 23k+ just the concept of this one alone would have sold me on it—like, hello? michelin reviewer and chef? sign me the fuck up—but it’s written with the kind of attention to detail i always expect from claire’s writing, and the fact that it practically starts with a first kiss but then pulls back makes for a delicious dynamic as they build a friendship over that foundational attraction, both tempering and intensifying the wait for them to find their way back into each others’ arms

happy golden days of yore by blueink3 • rated E • 17k+ i literally stopped in the middle of this fic, sat down on my kitchen floor, and had a good cry. i hate thinking about them ending up divorced in the first place, but even as exes, they’re so careful and gentle with one another and so, so clearly still in a forever kind of love. that makes it bearable to see them apart because even if it weren’t tagged for a happy ending, there’s such a feeling of inevitability to it, you know exactly how it’s going to end and just get to enjoy the devastating ride it takes to get there

Fifteen Hundred Miles by MoreHuman • rated M • 30k+ this is one of those fics where everything comes together just right and achieves a perfect balance of introspection and action, courage and fear, despair and hope, forthright honesty and cautious reservation... MoreHuman makes it all look easy, which says so much about all the care that had to have gone into the planning and writing. this fic does everything well, and it’s an absolute pleasure to read from start to end

840 Havenwood Road E by Distractivate • rated E • 10k+ we barely see david and patrick’s new house in the show, so it shouldn’t be possible for me to be as emotional about it as this fic makes me, every single time i read it. but it’s the home they chose, the place they decided to build a life together, and getting to see flashes of that life through the years and how much love they clearly had for each other within those four walls just makes me cry again and again

#schitt's creek #schitts creek #fic recs #long post

[hsungies]

annual wars.

pairing. lee haechan & reader

trope & warnings. fluff, maybe light angst / bakery, rivals to lovers. swearing, mutual pining, tons of teasing and bickering, help they kiss, reader is awfully envious!

wc. 10k i think, maybe a bit more :]

the pleasant new energy haechan carries with him, might just be what the people want in your small town and what could mean his win of the best bakery in town this year.

Your back is cold against the counter and your attention fixated to the announcement that Seo Johnny, the radio announcer, transmits via the small radio on the surface you rest against. He chatters about the approach of the annual competition that always takes place around late August. In your mind you plan what you could be doing for this year's contest. To your misfortune though, the thoughts that were once decent, drift to Lee Haechan alias Donghyuck.

You're sure of his name and what it brings along with it, because- oh god, you cannot forget the grin he shoots at you, when he talks about the fact that the people stand kilometres in front of his 'so modern bakery'.

Though, despite him being new in town since spring, you have distanced yourself from even the simple thought of trying out his pastries, bread and cakes whatsoever. His ways piss you off to your limits and it might be because you're not the only one in town anymore.

Yves, who's your best friend started bragging about how good his stuff is recently as well and it wouldn't be such a problem, if baking wasn't your whole pride and passion, you must admit.

You can remember being the winner of the contest since always, or at least since you were Sixteen.

You wouldn't even think of just losing your title as the best baker in town, to someone that is this excessively confident.

The door opens so subtly that the little bell up there doesn't even ring, so you miss the person entering until you look up at the motion and recognise Donghyuck. Of course it's not the first time he's standing there. You wonder if he has mesmerized your schedule already. He comes by after his shift ended or during breaks.

Something inside of you wants to find out if he just wants to get on your nerves and mock you or if there's more to the act.

You watch Donghyuck talk but it takes a while until words come out that you can comprehend

Hyuck's hands intertwine on the bar of your simple bakery.

"Are you listening?", is what you get first since he entered the door.

"No. I was kinda in thoughts, sorry." You mutter, confusion obvious in your expression. Your arms are folded and Donghyuck's chest leans against the bar that seperates you two, from probably fighting the next second.

"You're only thinking about the contest, am I right? Scared you'll lose? Or is it just that you can't stop thinking about me?" The man in front of you doesn't even try to hide the smirk.

You try to be obvious with the way you stifle your laugh incredulously. "I doubt that, Haechan. You know I have a lot of other things to do."

To your luck today, a young woman enters the shop. She's around your age and her beauty doesn't go unnoticed.

"So if you'd excuse me, Donghyuck, I'd love to handle my other customers too." You finish lastly with the kindest smile you can manage and attempt to serve the woman. She buys one of your famous strawberry cheesecakes for her grandma. Donghyuck doesn't want to miss the chance and obviously flirt with her, complimenting 'how sweet it is of her to take care of her grandma, as such successful woman she is'.

You manage to suppress the sigh of relief that threatened to leave you in the second she finally leaves.

You do your best to suffocate the tiny bit of your mind that questions if you're jealous.

You decide to force your attention to, yet again, the man in front of you. "Are you just gonna stand there, or..?"  You inquire, and Hyuck is able to sense the stress that lays in the air, he knows too well how much you loathe him and that you're too hard on yourself with everything. That's why he settles on leaving you be. "Well- Actually, no. I'll be going. See you, Y/N," he murmurs. Something about his aura is not like usual, it's more calm and tender. It's different to his normally nagging tone and then the common smirks and chuckles.

"You too, Hyuck." After the smile you secretively send into his direction, (and he catches that,) he is gone through the door.

☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎

A week is left until the festival.

It's Saturday and your fingers go over the different baking supplies and ingredients sorted in the shelf. But the last essential ingredient is missing. It seems like someone was faster than you and bought the last one before you had arrived. You can't help but let out a groan at that misfortune.

"Are you perhaps searching for this?" The voice startles you a little but a face appears rather quickly. Haechan holds the dear item in front of your face with a significantly much speaking grin now. The act isn't necessarily triumphant, however you understand him to be almost glad he had it in his possession first.

"Fancy meeting you here, Donghyuck. It must be my lucky day," the ironic tone in your greeting makes him chuckle. After all there aren't many supermarkets around here anyways.

"Lovely to see you as well. Who would've thought I'd catch the best baker in town, in such a common store?"

Was that even flirty or was he insulting you? God why did he have to be like that? You wonder. Regardless there won't be an answer to that probably.

"Are you planning on doing something with poppy seed paste?" You question, tone not particularly triggered but a little challenging perhaps. And to your delight, he shakes his head. "I heard you recommend it. Or at least, use it once in a while. So I wanted to try it out!" He admits, which makes your heart feel warm in a way you never felt for him in particular before. You shake your head, trying to conceal the way your heart flutters at his warm smile. It seems like a genuine act so you appreciate it.

"Still have some things on my list. You know it when duty calls." He gestures to the opposite direction, already on his feet to head to his cart, not giving you the chance to say goodbye.

☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎

The door falls into the lock before Donghyuck turns the keys around another time to secure his bakery completely for tonight.

It's a Tuesday and a glance at his phone tells him it's 05:58 in the evening, five days left until D-Day. But Hyuck knows he has something to tell you before the big day.

The sun begins to fall below the horizon and the hour you usually start to gather your things in your bakery as well. Knowing that, his feet take matters into it's own hands and direct him to your street.

Tuesdays weren't tiring for you, in fact it was one of the quieter days. But today your mind is cloudier than usual.

You're still at the draft of the pie you'll be baking, but your mind stays empty of ideas.

Donghyuck on the other hand can catch a glimpse through the jalousies and sees the light that still burns in your bakery. He makes out how you struggle to tie a knot to keep the apron tight around your waist.  Donghyuck's heart feels somewhat heavy as he sees how hard you're working and how you tend to beat yourself up. So he simply knocks on the door.

You softly hop to the door, unlocking it before being met with a smiling Haechan. "Working hard as always, I see." He sneaks his head through the door and you sigh at his words in agreement; You could use a good rest some time. You don't say anything though, instead you gesture him to come on in.

To say the kitchen is a mess is a clear understatement and so is your head.

But Haechan isn't particularly taken back, though he doesn't say something for a while, it seems like he's thinking of what to say. He decides to break the ice, "will you ever take a break?" Good job, that came out way more mocking than intended, he tell himself.

Like always, you fold your arms in front of your chest for more comfort and exhale deeply.

"Will you ever stop getting on my nerves all the time?"

And the beige bar might really be what keeps you from fighting him, especially when he presses his tongue against his cheek and chuckles insufferably at your comeback. "Touché."

"There's actually something I've came here for today." He starts off and you give him the go to start with a nod.

"Look, Y/N, I know in your eyes we were never more than rivals and all that, but I am honestly not here for war. Quite the opposite actually. I seriously admire you," he takes a short pause to collect thoughts and breath before continuing with his confession, which is harder for him than he had expected. "I honestly admire you. Your ideas, your determination and your passion. I admire you with everything you got. And that's why I never searched to compete with you in any way, but you were so passionate about the festival, I thought we could grow closer?" You don't miss how he anxiously clears his throat. "Can we decide on peace between our bakeries and I give you the win? I don't wanna fight you anymore. Ever."

A sigh.

You gulp, gulp because of guilt (and it's an obvious one.)  A gulp that's so silent but screams so loud, 'Oh, very much did not see that one coming!"

Think of something that doesn't appear awkward, your mind tells you. But you are tight lipped. You're not sure what to think and he sees that.

No matter how silent it was, his voice was able to put an end to it.  "You know what, just let it sink in. It's still a few days until the festival."

With a quiet 'please  think about it.' He leaves.

You shrug off your apron, hoping the feeling leaves your body too.  It doesn't leave and you feel bad. Uncertainty stays on you like a second skin.

When he left through your door that day, he never showed up again.

☀︎︎☀︎︎☀︎︎

He doesn't show up again until the day. It is the day you waited for all year. Though, the air is different today. August air reminds you of fresh flowers, soft breezes and blue skies.

You slide down the wall and pull your legs to your stomach.

Today is not like last years festivals, Hyuck's request lingers in the air this time. You wish you could just sway your hand around and make it leave, but the devil himself comes just around the corner of the tent you hid behind, with his cheeky grin.

"Oh, it's you," his sudden appearance catches you off guard, you watch him as he sits down next to you.

"It's just me." The man in front of you mumbles a tad quieter than planned.

The tent projects its long shadow onto you two and it makes your view a bit poorer but you can still discern that he looks all dressed up.  His brown-blondish hair falls in front of his eyes, with a loosely fitting white shirt complimenting his body at the best places. You don't know what band his shirt says but you just know it couldn't look better.

"You know, I couldn't stop thinking about it." You admit. "Like, I spent days, Hyuck. Days, mad at myself because I interpreted the whole thing completely wrong. I kept believing you hated me and wanted to destroy the only thing I was ever good at. I just couldn't let another person into this little circle of mine." Your throat aches at this point, the air is almost gone and Haechan just looks at you. He waits for you to finish.

"But I realised that's far from what actually happened."

You feel somewhat silly. Like in some sort of coming of age movie with dramatic script and thrown in feelings, acted out by awkward teen-agers.

For a good second you're afraid you blew it. That he thinks you're strange for feeling this way, but that's not the case.

Donghyuck nods reassuringly.

He doesn't say anything, because the nod speaks more than he could have said in this second.

The looks you exchange aren't familiar between you both. Not looks you would usually give someone after confessing embarassing misinterpretations. His chestnut coloured eyes searching for the consent in yours.

You close the distance between you two, planting an innocent kiss onto his lips. He waited so long that he almost loses his cool, softly grabbing your cheek to deepen the kiss. Your foreheads are pressed together, creating a proximity that is so fond, you could melt in it.

Almost disappointed the affectionate moment stopped, he slowly stands up. "I really didn't wanna kiss you behind some tent for the first time. I rather imagined something a tiny bit more romantic, you know?"

"We should get going. After all, you got a contest to win, Y/N." Haechan takes your hand and leads the way.

#kpop #kpop imagines #nct fic #nct scenarios #nct writing #nct fluff #lee haechan #haechan fluff #haechan #donghyuck #donghyuck scenarios #haechan writing #fic #kpop fluff #nct heachan #writing #claires.writings

[turning-dreams-into-chaos]

Banished (Part 54)

~Banished Master~

Word Count: 4.4K

~Master~

*Based off episode 4x09 of the 100, DNR*

*Bold/Italics are Trig!*

A/N: PLEASE READ! So, I’ve made the decision to go back to only writing the parts of the episode that Y/N’s in or parts I deem necessary. I’m just getting tired of writing out 10K parts and not hitting 100 notes. It’s too much work. I haven’t hit 100 notes for this series in a while. I can’t promise when the next update will be (PLEASE DON’T ASK) because it depends on the response I get to this one. Thanks everyone and thanks for being patient with me!

Previously...

---

The ride off the island and back to Polis was an almost silent one. You hadn’t said anything to Abby since she destroyed the radiation chamber or to Clarke with her constant glances between you and her mother. Roan was silent as well as he sat next to you, obviously annoyed with the tense situation happening in the back of the rover. When the vehicle stopped, he was the first to jump out, sticking a hand to help you out but you didn’t accept it, sliding out anyways.

“Clarke!” Abby called out as the girl started to follow out behind you, only to stop. “I need to talk to you.” You glanced back at her, Roan waiting back as well when Clarke paused and told you both to go. You nodded, following behind Roan as Abby and Clarke spoke. The snow on the air and in the air made you shiver as you realized you left your jacket back in the rover.

“Hey!” You called ahead to Roan who stopped walking and looked back. “Left my jacket, I’ll be right back. You can keep going, I’ll meet up.” He gave you a look before nodding, watching you rub your arms against the long-sleeved shirt that did nothing against the cold. Clarke and Abby didn’t get far into the conversation as you returned, stopping yourself before they saw you as you listened in.

“What about Roan?” Clarke asked as you pressed yourself against the rover, trying to hear better.

“Trikru would rather go to war than share the bunker with Azgeda.”

You could hear confusion in Clarke’s words as she questioned her mother. “Mom, Roan is our friend. Y/N made a deal with him, he’s our Ally.”

Abby just shook her head. “Not anymore.”

You didn’t know the full story but it was obvious Trikru knew about the bunker and your people were planning on keeping it from Roan’s. “They’re gonna kill him.” Realizing Clarke was right, you ran as fast as you could back to where you left Roan. When he wasn’t there, you kept going, pushing tree branches out of your face until you came into the clearing

“Don’t do it!” you shouted before you everyone looked at you. Kane was the only one you could see who didn’t come with you and by how far back Roan stopped walking, he could tell something was up. Roan pulled out his sword, holding it in the air as Trikru emerged from the trees behind Kane and Clarke and Abby came running in behind you. Abby was clinging onto Clarke as she shouted much like you.

“What is this?” Roan growled out as the men approached him, throwing a look back at you as Abby grabbed your arm as well, trying to hold you back as you fought against her.

“Let me go!” you seethed at her but she refused to let go. Kane shouted, telling everyone there didn’t need to be any violence, but the moment he had, the Trikru men fell with arrows sticking out of them. Abby let you go and you started towards Roan, wanting him to know this wasn’t you, but it was Azgeda’s turn to surprise everyone as they came out of the woods pushing and fighting your people to the ground. “Roan!” you shouted moments before you were forced off your feet, the side of your face shoved into the cold snow as you groaned and tried to pushed yourself back up. Roan turned to look at you, not sparing any help. “This wasn’t me.” You tried to tell him before your hands were pulled behind you and you gave up, realizing the rest of your people did as well.

---

After the ambush, you and everyone else were taken to Polis as prisoners, brought right to their cells and locked in the cuffs. You didn’t fight back, hoping Roan would have a shred of decency and hear you out. Once the grounders cleared out you turned to Abby, putting a fake smile on your face. “So, was getting captured part of the grand plan?”

“Y/N.” Kane started to chastise you before you sent him a glare.

“Don’t even get me started with you.” You snapped and made the already tense atmosphere unbearable. Kane didn’t say anything, realizing you weren’t in a mood to speak kindly.

“Skaikiler.” One of Azgeda’s guards came back inside, heading straight to you and unlocking you from the wall, but binding your hands in rope once again and gagging you. You followed him out, not looking at anyone expect Clarke, knowing she found out when you did. He led you right up to Roan, who looked completely pissed as you walked in and Echo walked out.

“How long have you known?” He asked once you both were alone and he pulled your gag out of your mouth.

You took a deep breath, crossing your arms in front of you. “I just found out, Abby was telling Clarke in the rover, I overheard them when I went back for my jacket.”

Roan looked at you for a moment, remembering how you came running before. “Thank you for trying to warn me.”

“Just be thankful I left my jacket.” You grumbled and held your hands up, motioning to the ties as Roan pulled out his knife and cut you free. “Thanks.” You let the rope fall to the ground before looking up at him. “Their plan sucked, but this doesn’t have to be a war.”

“It already is a war. Your people betrayed me.”

Roan started to walk away before you tugged his arm, keeping him from going far. “But I didn’t!” You reminded him as he looked over his shoulder, knowing you had a point. “Let me go and talk to Indra and Kane. Call a summit, let me talk to the people!”

Considering your offer, Roan shook his head before walking towards you, making you step back out of the small fear. “Fine, but I’m holding your people.”

“Roan.” Your words were pointed as you crossed your arms. “Kane needs to be there and you know it.”

“Your chancellor's lucky he still has his head.” You narrowed your eyes at him before he sighed. “If anyone can convince mortal enemies to move in together, it's you. I'll call for the summit.” Roan passed you, heading out the door and leaving you alone in the room. You let out a groan before leaning against the table, letting your head fall in your hands.

“Well, this is gonna be great.” You said to yourself sarcastically before removing the gag from around your neck and waited for the King to return.

Upon his return the two of you went to the temple, only making you more irritated as you were searched not only once but twice. “If you didn’t find something the first time, what are the odds you’re going to find something the second time?” No one answered you, knowing your question was out of annoyance.

“If I’m not back in an hour, my army will attack.” Roan threatened to a Trikru guard as another searched you. A girl was kneeling on the ground as you and Roan approached.

“You’re Gaia?” you spoke out, interrupting her prayers as Gaia’s eyes opened but she didn’t turn around. You cleared your throat. “I’m-“

“I know who you are.” She interrupted you before standing up, getting a look at you. “Skaikiler.” You averted your eyes, putting a smile on your face to hide.

“I heard you helped my people find the bunker. Thank you.” You told her but she continued to remain unhappy, her glare letting you know this wasn’t going to be as easy as you hoped.

“And your people gave the Flame to an unworthy King who saw it destroyed.” She said and your eyes widened slightly. “For that I am not as grateful.”

Yeah. This was going to be interesting.

“Let’s go see what all the fuss is about.” Roan said and you cleared your throat, meeting his gaze before he started to walk away. You paused, looking back to Gaia to see her stone faced before you followed Roan. You both stood in front of the bunker, looking at the stairs to head down.

“Cozy.” You muttered sarcastically before feeling Roan’s eyes on you and you turned.

“After you.” He said with a smirk and you rolled your eyes jokingly. You did enter first though, finding yourself in the airlock as you took a deep breath. Roan clambered down the ladder behind you as you moved out of the way, waiting until he was off before you entered into the bunker. You were struck by how large it was, and unlike the last bunker you found, how it wasn’t covered with blood and dead bodies. You were almost halfway down the long ramp to the floor, your fingers brushing against the metal grates on the fans attached to the wall before Roan stopped you with a gentle grab on your elbow. You turned to him, but caught sight of Indra coming down a hallway with other grounder men and women behind her. “All my enemies in one place.” Roan grumbled sparing you a glace.

You furrowed your brow as you recognized the war chiefs from your stay at Polis. “Indra was supposed to be alone.” You whispered, meeting Roan’s irritated eyes.

“What fun would that be?” You didn’t say anything as Roan and you finished your walk down and Indra and Roan were immediately at each other’s throats.

They argued back and forth, Indra claiming Roan was only here to make peace because Trikru holds the temple and with Azgeda surrounding the temple, Trikru wouldn’t live to see the inside. It wasn’t until Indra brought up war being inevitable now that Lexa was gone, did you manage to step in and put an end to the argument.

“Stop.” You said as both leaders fell silent, but didn’t back down from their positions. “Praimfaya is in 6 days and that’s the only thing that’s inevitable, alright?” You said looking to Indra as they both turned to you. “Anyone not in this bunker will be dead.”

Indra and Roan both looked at you and you thought they were coming to terms with what you were saying, until a war chief spoke. “Then we should get to it!” She declared, aiming for the prospect of war. You met Roan’s face, realizing you were losing.

“Roan. You know I’m right.” You said, sparing a look of anger to the woman. Roan shook his head.

“We talked.” He began as you stared him down, hoping he’d take your side. “Now we fight.”

“No!” you yelled and grabbed his arm keeping him from walking away. You tried to get them to listen. “1,200 people. This bunker can fit 1,200 people! We can share it and all the clans would survive.” You looked at Indra, swallowing harshly before carrying on. “That’s what Lexa would’ve wanted.”

Indra’s face faltered slightly at the mention of Lexa, but she didn’t give up. “You’re right. And if she were here, the clans might have obeyed her, but seeing as there’s no commander to rule us,” Her speech paused momentarily as she stood directly in front of you. “war it is.”

When it was time to leave the bunker, you fell behind, trying to think of a way to save people. It wasn’t until you saw Gaia did a plan click in your brain.

If they wanted a commander, you’d give them a commander.

Trikru men led Roan outside, clearing out the temple as you slowed down, ultimately finding yourself behind everyone and when the coast was clear, you closed the temple doors with you and Gaia inside.

“What are you doing?” Gaia asked, her brows drawn as she stood away from you.

“I know you have the flame.” You started walking her way, making her backup in fear but you didn’t care. “I know Octavia gave it to you.”

“Leave.” She threatened but you shook your head.

“No. I can’t let this war happen, Gaia.” You told her, stopping in front of her and shaking your head.

Gaia scoffed. “Not you or even Wanheda could stop the clans from killing each other.” She told you, meeting your eyes with a glare.

You licked your lip, raising your brow. “What if I offered you something better than Skaikiler or Wanheda?”

Seeming interested, Gaia motioned for you to continue. “What would you have to offer?”

“Make me the Commander.”

“You?” Gaia asked in distain. “You’re not a Natblida. I won’t have a red-blooded commander-“

Before she could finish the sentence, you reached forward and grabbed her knife. Gaia immediately withdrew another dagger and pointed it your way. You, however, never pointed your stolen blade at her and instead brought it to your palm. Gaia looked on confused as you drug the blade across your skin and you winced slightly at the feeling, but watched as your newly black blood slowly came from the cut. Gaia looked between you and the cut, unaware of the science behind your blood.

“Make me the commander.”

---

Planning their strategies, Roan, Echo, and a few of Roan’s men stood around a table, trying their best to obtain the bunker. They were struggling with their attempts, finding time to be an issue, but their work was cut short at the sound of a horn filling Polis. The room went quiet, everyone turning to the window as Roan quickly walked over.

“The ascension call?” Echo said as she followed Roan and they both saw the fire atop the tower, indicating the rise of a new commander. “The flame was destroyed, how is this possible? You said you saw it.”

Roan nodded his head, brows drawn together tightly in fear. “It was shattered.” He said briefly before his eyes narrowed and he was beginning to catch onto what was happening. “I saw what they wanted me to.”

“A new commander is bad for us.” Echo pointed out needlessly. “Let me stop this ascension, at least until we know who the Natblida is.”

Roan was furious, glaring at the fire sitting brightly atop the tower mocking him. “I know who it is.” He mumbled. He knew of only one person who would take the throne from him with Nightblood. He knew it was you.

---

Gaia stood at the front of the throne room watching as the clans and leaders entered, each one showing faces of confusion and disbelief in the ascension call. Indra snuck behind everyone, managing to stand behind her daughter as she spoke.

“Are you presiding?” Indra asked her in a hush tone, hoping to find out what was happening.

“Yes.” Gaia spoke without turning to face her mother. “The Flame chose me as its protector and our scouts honor that.”

Indra only grew more curious. “Did one of them find a Natblida?” She asked and only received a sharp ‘obviously’ from Gaia in return. Ignoring Gaia’s ignorance, Indra kept pushing. “What clan are they from?” Gaia turned and shot Indra a look, not answering Indra’s questions. “This is highly unusual, Gaia. With no conclave, there are questions to be asked.”

Indra would her answers soon enough as Gaia stepped forwards with plans to continue the ascension. Roan shook his head as Gaia spoke and the ceremony commenced. “Let the commander ascend.” Gaia said before you walked into through the door of the throne room with your head held high.

Immediately, you heard sounds of confusion and disgust from the room as you approached Gaia. “Skaikiler is no Natblida!” Someone shouted from the crowd as Indra stepped up in an outrage.

“What is this?” She demanded to know, but Gaia and you stayed silent. Gaia took your hand and held it over the Flame, previously set in a ritual bowl. Everyone watched on as Gaia brought a knife up and sliced your skin before squeezing your hand, letting your blood cover your hand and hers.

Sounds of shock were heard all throughout the room as people kneeled to you. “The blood of the commanders is your blood.” Gaia said as she dipped her fingers into the mix of sand and blood in the ritual bowl. She brought her hand up to your forehead, making a line down the center as she spoke. “May the spirit choose wisely.”

When Gaia was done, it was your turn. “May the spirit of the Commanders guide me.” You turned around, slowly kneeling on the ground and took a deep breath. You were about to look down before seeing Lexa standing in the crowd behind the scouts. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t even smile. She just watched you kneel there, preparing yourself for the familiar feeling of the Flame in your head. Hearing Gaia approach, you bowed your head, but peaked up to find Lexa gone again.

Gaia cleared the back of your neck from your hair and jacket, letting her see your faded old scar. She brought the Flame up, whispering to it. “Ascende.”  The stems from the Flame revealed itself as you closed your eyes, waiting for the insertion.

“Lies upon lies.” Roan spoke, pulling the attention as your head snapped his way. You hoped he wouldn’t say anything, you needed him to stay silent, but it doesn’t look like he would. He stepped forward, threatening to ruin the ceremony.

“Step out of the sacred circle.” Gaia snarled as she came face to face with the man.

“There’s nothing sacred about this.” Roan told her, looking over her shoulder at you who shook your head. “Skaikiler is making a mockery of our faith.”

Ignoring the murmurs and gasps of the room you stepped forwards. “I’m trying to save everyone, Roan. Praimfaya is in 6 days.”

He just smirked at you. “Then don’t waste our time.” He told you before turning to the door. “Bring in the healer!”

You looked immediately passed him, seeing Clarke and Abby escorted in by Echo and Clarke pushed past people to you. “What are you doing, Y/N?”

“What I have to, to make sure everyone doesn’t go war with each other.” You told her, lowering your voice between the three of you, although you didn’t spare Abby a glance.

“We don’t know if this would work, the Flame could kill you.” It was Abby who spoke up and finally you looked at her, narrowing your eyes and clenching your fists.

“Well, we had another plan.” You reminded her, seeing her advert her eyes. “But you destroyed it.”

“She might’ve saved your life.” Clarke mumbled after having spent the day in the cell with her mom, briefly seeing her point of view.

You scoffed at her, trying to come to terms with what she was saying. “You don’t know that! I could’ve been fine. Everyone could’ve been fine.” You stressed, trying to keep your voice low again as you remembered the dozens of others in the room.

“Enough!” Roan yelled out, making the three of you look at him. Your eyes plead to him, but he refused to look at you. “Tell them, healer, how Skaikiler became a Natblida.”

“Abby.” You whispered, seeing Abby’s head turn slightly towards you. “Please. Don’t.” Abby stayed quiet, her eyes darting back and forth as she tried to decide what to do. She already took away one chance at saving everyone, could she take away another?

“Through science.”

“Clarke!” you gasped in disbelief, not prepared for Clarke to be the one to speak. She turned to you, reaching for your hand but you pulled it out of her grasp. “How could you?”

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, never breaking eye contact. “I couldn’t let you put it back in your head, not if we don’t know what will happen to you.”

You stared at her, feeling betrayed before shaking your head. Gaia brought you back to the ceremony as she spoke to Abby. “You made her a Natblida?” Abby nodded.

Roan, smirking at the small success, turned to the crowd of scouts. “If anyone can be a Natblida and take the Flame, then we can no longer trust the blood.”

You heard quite a few declares of agreements as Indra stepped in, looking at you in disappointment before the scouts. “What we can still trust is the sword.” She shouted. “We’ve delayed this war long enough.”

You felt defeated, the one thing you had been trying to prevent all along was happening and you failed. Roan looked at you, seeing your eyes trained to the ground before he stopped himself. “Wait.” He said, getting you to look up and meet his eyes. “Y/N was right about one thing. Fighting a war is a bad way to decide who gets to survive.” You didn’t wait to get your hopes up. Roan was all for a war, there’s no way he’d turn it down now. He faced Indra, standing taller. “You summoned all your scouts here for an ascension, but you left out the best part.”

Indra paused to think before realization struck her. “A conclave.”

Roan nodded, turning to the scouts as his eyes briefly met yours and he smirked. “A final conclave. One champion per clan.” He announced.

You knotted her brows. “One death instead of thousands.” You said, seeing him nod.

“Whoever wins gets the bunker.” He finished. Indra agreed, along with the other clans. You looked around, realizing the other 12 clans were in. Roan made his way to you slowly, listening to the talking of the others as he stood in front of you and Clarke. “Will you fight,” he began pausing as you tried to hide your nerves with a swallow, “or will you burn?”

You turned to Clarke with fear written in both of your eyes, but you knew what had to happen. For your people.

“Skaikru will fight.”

---

“Bellamy!” you shouted as you saw his flop of curly hair jump out of a rover. His eyes immediately darted around, looking for you. His shoulders fell in relief when he saw you running towards him. He dropped the bag in his arms right in time to catch you, feeling your head bury itself in the crook of his neck as his arms held you tight.

“Thank god, you’re okay.” Bellamy mumbled, cradling the back of your head. After the day he’s had, the goodbyes he’d had to make, he wanted nothing more than to hold you and never let you go. He pulled away briefly, only enough to kiss you deeply before you were hugging again.

“A little help?” A man called from the rover as Bellamy and you broke apart. You quickly helped carry the bags from Arkadia into the tower. You never left Bellamy’s side, but you did glace around, looking for your friends you left behind in Arkadia.

“Where’s Jasper?” You asked, not seeing Bellamy’s face fall slowly. “And Monty and Harper?” You felt Bellamy’s hand grab yours as you stopped looking around and finally saw the look on his face.

“Come on.” He said, throwing an arm around your shoulder and pulling you into his side as you walked to the tower. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Bellamy and you spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the rest of the kids back at Arkadia- your friends- staying behind until Praimfaya’s radiation killed them. You couldn’t believe what they were doing. You weren’t even going to get to say goodbye and you just lost more of your family.

“They just gave up?” You whispered as Bellamy and you sat on a couch in the tower alone, your legs draped over his lap as you played with his hands. You couldn’t look away from the wall, finding your emotions too hard to handle and do anything but that. “Did you try and stop them?”

Bellamy stayed silent, making you look at him with wide eyes. “It’s what they wanted.” You didn’t know what to say, so you stayed silent. Bellamy, already feeling guilty over not trying harder, didn’t pressure you to speak. He just focused on your hands and the loose bandages barely wrapped around them. Slowly he unwrapped them, feeling your head rest gently on his shoulder as he looked at the cuts from today. “So, a final conclave?” he asked, looking at you through the corner of his eyes before wrapping your bandage tighter.

You nodded against his shoulder, slowly rising your feet and pulling him with you as you headed out to the balcony. The cold air felt good against your skin as you looked out below. “The whole city is the battlefield.” You told him, feeling him lean over the ledge with you. “No time limit and no guns. Just one warrior from each clan until only one remains.”

Bellamy seemed skeptical. “And the winner takes the bunker, just like that.” You nodded again, groaning as you dropped your head into your hands, feeling Bellamy wrap an arm around your waist and pull you closer. “Without guns and without anyone trained in grounder combat, there's no way we can win.” He muttered. You nodded again, both of you falling silent before you lifted your head up, turning to meet his eyes. “What?” He asked, unsure of your change of emotion.

“Lexa trained me in grounder combat.”

His eyes grew wide at your whispers. “No. That’s not an option.” He said before beginning to head back inside but you grabbed his arm.

“Bellamy.” You said, getting him to pause. He hesitated before turning to you, licking his lips out of worry. “We fight or we die.” You reminded him. Bellamy was about to object before you watched him furrow his brows, coming back to look over the ledge. You followed suit, trying to see what he was looking at before seeing a familiar face riding in on a horse. “Octavia?” you whispered, feeling Bellamy grip your hand tighter as he remembered the last he saw of his sister, running away from him for what he had hoped wasn’t forever.

Octavia stopped her horse when two men approached her, her eyes flying up to see you Bellamy looking down at her with two very different expressions. As the men got closer, her attention shifted and she got her mind back on track as she spoke to them. “I’m here for the war.”

---

ALL TAGLISTS CLOSED

Sorry if I forgot anyone! Reblogging with series tags!

Permanent: @literal-fand0m-trash @nathaliabakes @colored-confetti @btsiguess-kpop @galacticstxrdust @independentgirl @hollymac79 @emcchi @rauwz @chewymoustachio @smilexcaptainx @faith-quake @johnmurphyisqueer @kettnerjanea @teenagereadersciencenerd @ladykxxx08 @annasofiaearlobe @mytreec @ananad1 @agentnataliahofferson @the-unmanaged-mischief @wonderful-writer @theonly1outof-a-billion

Bellamy: @jodiereedus22 @mysterioustruffle @danielabetancourth @a-sweet-little-fangirl @werosies @brxghtlelune @gxvrielle

#Bellamy Blake x reader #Bellamy Blake imagine #bellamy blake series #Bellamy Blake fanfiction #Bellamy Blake #the 100 x reader #The 100 imagine #The 100 fanfiction #The 100 #Banished #banished new part #part 54 #new part

[botwstoriesandsuch]

Kip v Age of Calamity

For someone who writes tough shit on Age of Calamity, you sure don’t see me writing a better story. So maybe I should stop complaining and be satisfied with what was given to me. 

...or...

...maybe we can dedicated a few hours of my time to spite an ask. 

Even though the entire argument of “why are you mad if you can’t write a story yourself” is inherently flawed and pointless considering that’s the equivalent of telling me I should chug spoiled milk because I’ve never milked a cow, I’ll fucking step up to the plate here, I’ll put my money where my mouth is. 

So here is Part 1 of your residential Kip approved rewrite of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. Or as I like to call it: 

Ok so before I get into it, a couple things I wanna establish. First, I know I just said I’m doing this out of spite, but I’m actually also doing this for fun. I really enjoy and am passionate about the writing process, so if you were looking for an angry rant about how terrible everyone’s opinions are about everything, this isn’t that. I don’t think that I am a better writer than anyone, or than the professionals that made this game, or that I am somehow superior to Nintendo. I am someone with the benefit of hindsight, I don’t have the constraints of producers and mandated directives and executives rubbing their hands in the story to make it more marketable or dumbed down or any of the other chaos that goes into crafting a videogame. So while obviously I think the people involved in this could have done a much better job, this isn’t a bash to say, “look how easy it is to make a story” because there’s a ton of unseen drama that goes into development that I have the luxury of avoiding, and it’s a miracle that any games are coherent and enjoyable in the first place. I’m just a lil Kip doing a fun lil exercise. 

This little series is also not going to be a fanfic. I’m going to be telling the story chronologically as if you were playing for yourself, but it’s going to be from my omniscient perspective because 1) I need to relate the story to the gameplay 2) That would take way too much time to actually make this into a fanfiction as it already takes a hell of a lot of time to even plan out the beats of this rewrite and 3) This is less going to be a telling of a story, and more of a fun little exploration on the Three Act Structure and The Hero’s Journey. In fact, I am going to try and keep the given story of Age of Calamity as intact as possible. 

The general ending is going to be the same, the characters used are going to remain roughly unchanged, (there will be no new characters, or removal of characters) and characters that live or die and where they end up are going to be mostly the same with how the original game is written. I know, I know, we all would love to see the Champions die brutally or to get us that sweet sweet Link angst or to have a game with multiple endings. And even though I personally would change some of those premises in Age of Calamity, I’m going to strive to keep it all as intact as possible, just to prove wrong the misconception that the story was only bad because of the writer’s choices for the general arc. I am a firm believer that biggest weaknesses of this game are in its methods of conveying its story, a problem in the storytelling process, and not (necessarily/only) the story product itself. 

If you want to use any of the ideas that I present, go for it! I release them into the public domain, I have no plans whatsoever to write a fanfic for this myself, in fact I already have my own separate Pre-Botw fic story that I am pouring myself into, so I give the people full permission to take these ideas off of me. 

Alrighty! With all that out of the way, let’s get into:

HERE IS THE VERSION IN A GOOGLE DOC FORM BECAUSE TUMBLR HATES YOU MOBILE PEEPS

Spoilers! Obviously. I’m going to act on the assumption that you know the full story of Age of Calamity to save myself some time, capiche?

Ok so we start out the game roughly the same, with eggbot being chased and forced to time travel into a portal. But, there is going to be some important differences in details. 

We have the part of the scene where Zelda awakens her powers, and at the same time, something else in Hyrule Castle glows with the same aura. However, this glow is not coming from the Princess’ Tower, but instead, the camera pulls back from the fields of Fort Hateno, sweeps over Hyrule (where you can see the Guardians and the sense of destruction and all that) and the camera eventually flies over Castle Town, then within the Castle, weaving through the halls, until the camera stop and focuses on the entrance of a destroyed room, slowly creeping in. It’s a room that’s been demolished, stone rubble from Guardian blasts ruin the floor and cave in from the ceiling, there’s a small fire in the corners of the room, and from the props that you can make out, it seems to look like some study or office of some sort. The room is small, but domed and circular, signifying that it’s of a bit more importance than you might think . The desks and books and all buried beneath this collapsed stone brick. But as the camera focuses on that pile of rocks, from within that rubble, you see that same glowing aura that Zelda has, glowing brighter and brighter until finally out pops, eggbot.

Now, you can have that same sequence within the game where he runs around all cute, the outter wall of the room is broken so eggbot can look outside and see the Calamity’s destruction. Then that cut to Zelda saying “I want to save...everyone,” and this is important because I need the fade in between Zelda’s line and the fade back to eggbot to wordlessly imply that he is hearing these words, something that’s already done pretty well in the original cutscene. Anyhow, then the Guardian Stalker pops from behind, prepares to shoot, and eggbot can escape into its little time portal, and then the malice follows or whatever.  

However, I’m not gonna immediately cut to the title, but instead, we have the music build to eggbot’s little jump in a pretty climactic way. But then the music still lingers slightly, and rests in suspense, camera is still looking out the window where eggbot jumped. It pulls back, turning back into this room that eggbot emerged from. Music is still relatively silent. Then, from the corner, you see some of the fire suddenly catch onto something. Flattened between the rocky rubble, just a few feet where eggbot emerged, is a purple cloak, trimmed with gold, flapping just slightly in the wind. [Said flapping being what causes it to catch] The fire catches, burning through the cloak, and underneath it, is a fallen copy of the Sheikah tapestry of 10k years ago. Camera zooms into that art of the Calamity, music suspends, merge to title card, then the music hits that climax and BOOM, “Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.” Main Theme plays. Let the opening title roll.

Now the reason I changed this slightly is because 1) I wanted to earlier set up some of the plot points that I have planned for this (some of which you might already guess or maybe not who knows *wink wink*) and 2) I think that the original opening could have been much stronger with its hook. Yes, the element of mystery is established with eggbot’s existence and that element of time travel, but then the opening immediately goes into saying “This is the tale of champions, a diminutive Guardian who traveled backwards through time, and the Great Calamity they faced.” So...you just dampened that hook you established two seconds ago because you explained it all. Sure, it doesn’t completely ruin it, but I think the impact would be much stronger if that text wasn’t there at all, and the music and hype of the tapestry moving and coming alive is all there was. I’d much rather that element of time travel just be explained through the cinematography itself, because you can already understand that perfectly with that scene where you see the portal lead into birds flying around a beautiful Hyrule Castle.

Also, the music in this game is fantastic! So letting moments that really let you soak it in, I think would be very beneficial. So now this scene serves as a much more effective hook before we get into the actual plot. The mystery of eggbot’s identity is heightened and left a bit more unexplained, you have this mysterious circular room that you’ve never seen before, and the set up of details that will eventually serve later revelations in the plot, cough cough. 

Then you hit Chapter 1, Link gameplay, eggbot and the tower, that’s all the same. I got no changes for the story there, it’s a great introduction. However! I know my strength here is writing and I am by no means a game developer or designer, but I need, I absolutely need to add one aspect to the gameplay.

Near the end of the first stage, where there are those three moblins at the end, I want to add something that I’m going to call, a gambit. The game already introduced you to the special meter and “press a to use special attack” thing, but I want Impa and Link to use a gambit to defeat this last horde of moblins. Essentially, you press A to use your special attack, BUT, if another character is in proximity, the attack is even more powerful. Every pair of characters has a special little attack, that does tons of damage, and during said sequence, there are voiced lines, or at the very very least text boxes that comment on it. And with this gambit, while a regular solo special attack still does a lot of damage, I’m gonna nerf it slightly to encourage players to use this gambit feature. 

Now, why did I add this? Because I need to better connect this gameplay to the story on more than an external “lets defeat this and go from point A to point B” type of way. I need something in the gameplay to better serve to the game’s main theme of “teamwork makes the dreamwork” and all that. The CURRENT gameplay, although absolutely fun and fantastic, just doesn’t do this. I need just one element to serve this theme while ALSO having the dual purpose of serving as character interaction. The current structure of Age of Calamity works where the sidequests and battle serve as your character interaction, development, and banter, while the cutscenes serve the main story beats, and important plot revelations. The cutscenes just aren’t crafted to support the weight of these dozens of characters while also giving them all interesting interactions, and that’s fine! So I’m just adding this feature to the gameplay, because being able to customize different lines for different characters for different stages that are voiced will go a long way into making the character development seem more fleshed out. And this gambit feature doesn’t necessarily change the way you play the game drastically, as you can still have four character slots and have them split up to take on the battlefield, but now you can split them off into groups of 2. And also, because I’m not completely blind to game design, the damage percentage boost of these gambit attacks will not increase as much, just slightly lower, than the damage boost of a solo attack when you level up. So what I mean is, when your character is weaker level, you are forced to rely on others in order to defeat your enemies, but, with the way the leveling up percents work, your characters can still reach a point where they can defeat big bosses all on their own without gambits. THAT way, when certain events happen in later chapters, when your character is all leveled up, (and maybe they awaken a sacred power or two) it feels all the more powerful when you can go off on your own. You can feel how your character has grown in strength because you can contrast it with your teamwork gameplay of earlier levels. AND it still highlights the importance of that theme of companionship, because you would never have gotten to this level of strength had you not relied on your friends. 

OK, so the stage 1 ends with a gambit attack, Impa compliments Link’s fighting style or something that shows her admiration or respect for him. And then stage 2 for the Road to the Royal Lab is the same, but gambit dialogue for that stage is Impa complimenting Link, Impa being protective of Zelda, and since this is Zelda’s first playable area, Zelda’s gambit lines can be about kinda brushing Link aside like “I want to capable to hold my own in battle but thank you” to Link (cause I never really got that same “I don’t really like you” vibe that is established in botw for this game) and then to Impa Zelda’s gambit lines can be like “is this thrill what you always feel when battling?” and Impa is like “yeah isn’t it great we should do it more often!” and then you can allude to that with a sidequest for Zelda’s training or something. I just want to better connect sidequest stories with this stuff. And also, gambits are obviously optional so that’s why this is all just banter and character development and not actually plot points, and I’m going to stick with just one-on-one dialogue, although it should be theoretically possible to have gambit boosts of three and four, but I feel that would be too much as I don’t want to ruin the gameplay balance and encourage you to keep all four character slots close together, because splitting them up is an important part of the game. Anyhow!

So Chapter 1 is done, my changes being almost purely in the gameplay because this is the start of the story and the character set up is important. Chapter 1 to Chapter 2 is basically the establishment of the ordinary world, and in the Three Act Structure it’s basically Act 1. Act 1 is all about set up. I need to really focus this chapter on both introducing the player to the mechanics of the game, having them connect to the characters and the characters connect to each other through the gameplay, and I need to establish this tone so that when I rip it away, and change the tone during the threshold, it feels more meaningful and suspenseful. 

As you can see from the diagrams, Act 1 has something called the Inciting Incident. The Inciting Incident is going to be the Yiga attack in Chapter 2, where our heroes first experience the true dangers of their journey, and there is no turning back. BUT I’m getting ahead of myself.

Chapter 2 is also exactly the same. I would literally change nothing about the Champion’s sections (other than my addition of gambit interaction of course) because they’re all pretty great. For the record, yes, evil egg is still a thing, and yes, Zelda and the gang can still discover those pictures of the Calamity in eggbot, yes you beat up Revali, and the Divine Beast sequences are the same. I just really need that gambit dialogue to help establish character relations. Revali quips at Link, Mipha protects him, Daruk is his buddy [I thought a cool gambit attack for Link and Daruk to better show that they are old friends could be them both chewing down on some rocks, before striking an enemy simultaneously. Because they never eat rocks together and I just want this ok] Kohga is the same, Sooga is the same, BUT, for that scene when you first meet Astor in the Yiga base, I need two things to happen. 1) The camera reveal for Astor starts at his cloak, which is intact and NOT tattered like how his design is in game. It’s a deep purple with gold trim, the camera pans up to the back of Astor’s head. Now 2) When the camera moves to look at Astors face, I need him to be standing in front of and staring solemnly at the evil eggbot. He’s frowning, and his eyes suggest something like he’s deep in thought of something in the distant past. That’s how the scene starts, and in the background is Kohga recounting the events of his failure to beat Urbosa and the gang. Then, Kohga can say something funny to annoy him, Astor’s face changes to your classic villain disgust. Then, he can get a bit pissed and go on his little rant about how pathetic the Yiga are and how the Calamity is trapped within the evil eggbot and how he will use his powers to end the Kingdom of Hyrule. Then he can take his little astrolabe and be all “My harbinger, show me the future!” and all that. IMPORTANT LINE CHANGE,  Astor’s motivation here is not “The future, as it will and must be. I will not allow anyone to alter its course.” Instead, I need to tweak it slightly to be, “The future, as it was fated to always be. The pathetic stories and legends of children and false kings cannot waver this course. I will not allow it, for my sake…” camera pans to the broken evil guardian, Astor’s voice lowers just slightly. “...and yours.” The slightest, almost silent bits of the harmonies (not the melody) of the Hwaoc Main Theme play before fully fading back to Astor’s theme. And the final shot of that scene is Astor, looking down at the heap of Sheikah tech, with a neutral expression, but then looking back up at the malice stars, and the future visions of the Calamity. He just ever so slightly smiles. 

[Also I JUST realized that the harbinger is actually slightly above Astor, because it’s supposed to show that the power dynamic is really Calamity Ganon is in control, so ignore the “looking down” parts I talked about, and just think in the broad direction of Astor looks at the guardian, and then looks further up at the ceiling with the Calamity and the future and then he smiles]

For that scene, I also need to remove any characterization where Astor is laughing and being joyous at the impending destruction, I only need that smile at the end. There is no villainous cartoon laughter, at least, not yet. Also the part where Sooga calls Astor a fool for thinking he can control the Calamity is GREAT I need that, that absolutely needs to stay in.

And then Chapter 2 closes off with that Yiga ambush. That’s the inciting incident, so I need the tone at the end to be slightly different. Instead of ending on that cute little thing where eggbot points angrily at Link, (like that part can still EXIST in there BUT) I need it to end on a more serious note. 

Referring back to the Hero’s Journey, the Call to Adventure is the parts of each of the Champion’s recruitment. They each have their initial reasons for joining the fight, whether to protect their people, to feel validated for their skill, to get closer to the ones they love etc etc that’s all established in their respective stages.

This Yiga stage, however, serves as the official barrier between Act 1 and Act 2, the threshold between the known world and the unknown world, where the heroes prepare to seek out the obstacle that stands in the way of their goal. It’s important that this threshold establishes a sense of urgency, because that better gets you invested in the stakes, and helps the story's momentum to move forward. IT shows that the journey and adventure that these characters want/need to take is outside the safety of their home/known world.

In the original game, the threshold ends with that cute scene of eggbot and Zelda and Link and the Zelink vibes. That’s not bad, but it’s also not good. The momentum towards the later confrontation in Korok forest needs to feel more important, because this is a major turning point in the story. SO, I am going to add one more scene at the end. It’s just after the ambush, after the fires have died down, and Zelda (and in the back the Champions) discussing the events with the King. I want King Rhoam to a few things. First, I need him to kinda berate the Champions for falling for the Yiga’s “splitting them up trick” and leaving his daughter vulnerable. This 1) establishes doubt within the party, which makes for better uncertainty for the future and later internal conflict. This was supposed to be the dream team but the King is already kinda telling them off. 2) This also still characterizes the King as someone who cares for his daughter’s safety. That care for his daughters safety is layered in the subtext of him saying something like “Your priority must be to protect the only person capable of sealing the Calamity. You were so concerned with victory and glory in battle that you forgot that the fate of this kingdom lies on my daughter’s survival.” and blah blah blah. The King can also congratulate Link for keeping Zelda safe, and this is GREAT because that can add further to Zelda’s slight resentment for him, as he’s getting the approval from the King that she has yet to receive. But like overall the King is like “don’t leave my daughter alone cause she almost got killed if it weren’t for Link wtf.” and then that can also be a further excuse to hurry to korok forest to find the wielder of the sword so that they can better protect “not just the Princess, but the entire world,” something something fancy kingly dialogue. 

Also when the Champions leave THIS can also be the time where Zelda gives that Sheikah device thingy to Rhoam and also where he sees eggbot. I know that happens a bit later, but for pacing purposes and for the sake of the story changes that I made, it better serves to place it here. That interaction itself can stay mostly the same as it is in the game.

So now, the threshold ends with a bit more tension. The Champion squad is powerful, but also has flaws in how they were split up by the Yiga, (cough cough I wonder if that serves the themes of the game in some way cough cough) and it’s not just “smooth sailing” into the search for the Master Sword, and the stakes are a bit rocky as we finally enter into the story’s Act 2.

= = = = = 

And that’s Part 1 of my rewrite. Not really a lot, cause again this is mainly character set up, and establishing stuff, but personally I think it’s already a bit stronger than how Age of Calamity did it. Stay tuned for Part 2 either tonight or tomorrow, mwahaha. 

Predict the future if you can...

#yes that is a allude to Nando v Movies #hwaoc spoilers #Hwaoc: The Kip Cut #honestly not TOO much rewritten for the First Act because the First Act is actually one of the strongest and best written parts of the game #hwaoc #age of calamity #hw age of calamity #hyrule warriors age of calamity

[lady-grace-pens]

Wip Excerpt: HTKAG

In light of this wip hitting another 10k word goal recently (currently sitting pretty at a whopping 120k/150k 😅), another excerpt is due! This babe I wrote today, buut I actually loved it so much I knew I had to share it with y'all right away. That all being said, let's stop wasting time and get straight into it!

Our scene begins with Allister entering a restaurant to have dinner with Mikko, Fingal, and Perci, but Perci is late.

—

Upon telling the hostess Fingal’s name, she leads me away to the right half of the room. Off in a booth stowed away in the corner sit Mikko and Fingal jabbering away mid-conversation. Once they notice me, they stop and smile.

“Hey! There’s the man of the hour,” Mikko exclaims, throwing his hands in the air.

“Not late, am I?” I grin, taking a seat beside him.

“Nope. Right on time to get some drinks,” Mikko starts smouldering at our hostess.

“With what money?” Fingal retorts with a glare.

Mikko blinks, struggling to come up with a defense. It seems he mustn't have anticipated Fingal to interrupt his attempt at flirting…

“Wha - With our money, of course,” he laughs, trying his best to make a smooth recovery.

“Aye. Which is why we’re not using my money to buy alcohol while a minor is here.”

Mikko doesn’t reply. Then again I suppose he doesn't need to, his confusion is written all over his face.

“Don’t tell me you forgot about Perci. He’ll be here any minute.”

“Oh! Fuck, that’s right. Him. Well obviously he won’t be getting any. And come on! You know how fast I can down a beer Fin! It’ll just be a few. Just a few rounds! Don’t be an ass.”

“Watch yourself Mikko, it's not polite to use such language in the presence of a lady.” I chime in, giving the hostess a polite smile.

“Oh I’ll show you what’s not polite-” Mikko says before slapping my head.

I try to hit him back, but he catches my hand before I can. Before we know it, we’re caught in a ridiculous slapping fight, both laughing our asses off.

“Not in a restaurant, not in a restaurant!” I speak through gasps, trying to end things.

Mikko obliges, tossing his hands back in his lap.

“A waiter will be right with you,” the hostess makes a case to look at each one of us except for Mikko before finishing her sentence, “... gentleman.”

Much to my surprise, Mikko doesn’t seem to be affected by that backhanded insult. Instead he kicks his knees up against the table and rests his head back, totally listless.

“Mikko, I would’ve thought you’d be more offended by that.”

“Huh? Why would I be offended at something when it’s true?”

“I’ll say. You and Al couldn’t be any more opposite. If there’s anything larger than the truth, the fact that you’re not a gentleman is way beyond it.”

“Exactly. And Mikko, you are aware of the fact that she was just a hostess, right? It isn’t even her job to serve us drinks.”

“I... “ Mikko laughs before leaning over the table again. “Listen. You two just don’t get it, do you? No. You don’t. Allow me to be the one who graces your palettes here, eh? Let me tell you what I’m gonna do. Okay? I’m gonna give you a tip. A piece of advice that will change your lives forever. All for free! You don’t even have to pay me. All you gotta do is listen. Got it? You both ready?”

Fingal and I share a look. I can tell we’re thinking along a similar vein of confused intrigue. We should most likely stop Mikko here, as whatever will come out his mouth won’t be anything good. However, we’re both too stunned to stop him, so…

Mikko beckons us to lean closer to him. Fin and I oblige. We’re almost touching heads when at last our dear mentor speaks once again, in a hushed voice. “It’s not about what you say. It’s about how you say it.”

…

There are no words. For about a minute straight Fingal and I are just staring at each other wearing the same expression that exudes two questions. ‘What the fuck? You’ve heard that too, haven’t you?’

Soon after that’s established and our shock subsides, we burst back to life. Fingal starts us off with, “Dammit Mikko. What the fuck? Where did you learn that? Who taught you that?”

“Some guys from the bar! Why, what’s wrong with it?”

“Which guys from the bar?”

“I don’t see how it-”

“Mikko. Which guys from the bar taught you this?” Fingal insists, a flash of anger showing in his eyes.

Mikko seems to notice this, and complies straight away. “Leo, John, Peter and Paul!”

Fingal buries his head in his hands. This sparks my curiosity. I haven’t heard these names before, but Fin clearly has.

“I can’t say I’m familiar with them, who might they be?”

“Bar friends-” Mikko starts, only for Fingal to finish for him.

“Jokesters. Jerks. Cheapskates always looking for a laugh. Assholes. Can’t wait to give them a piece of my mind.”

Mikko shrinks away from Fin. His head is turned away from me, but I don’t need to see it in order to know how stunned he is. It’s expressed flawlessly through the abnormal quietness of his voice. “Fin? What’s up, why’d you-”

“Because those dicks have been filling your head with shit like this every damn time I turned my back, Mikko! Dammit, this - this is why you always get rejected! Universe, I just wish you would’ve checked with me first about things like this. Not some strangers you barely even know, yet idolize them anyway.

You wanna know how you get a girl Mikko? Huh? You be nice. You be nice to them, you talk with them, and you listen. Compliments and flirting, all that helps, of course, but not forever! And you sure as hell can’t build a relationship strictly off of it. Okay? Standards and expectations vary from girl to girl, but with each and every single one there are a few things that you just have to do. Be nice, have respect, help them just for the sake of helping them! Don’t expect anything in return. Overall just - just be a decent fucking human being. That is how you get a girl.”

Mikko sits there, staring at his brother. I can’t help but do the same. In every respect, Fingal is right. Of course he is. It’s just… rare that we see him so worked up. I can hardly believe my eyes. I can hardly believe my ears, I… I can’t imagine how Mikko must be feeling.

Oh so gradually his head sinks down into his lap. He slumps over, and I swear I can see fractions of tears reflect the golden light radiating above us.

“Can’t believe I’m actually telling you this when you’re eighteen. Fucking eighteen,” Fingal scoffs, crossing his arms.

“I’m sorry-”

“Don’t be. I’m not mad at you. This is my own fault, I blame myself.”

“Aw, come on man! That’s even worse,” pouts Mikko.

Fingal then turns to me with an abruptness that makes me jump. “Al, what’s up? You’ve been quiet for a while. You can back me up on this, can’t you?”

“I…” I force a chuckle to try and lighten the air some. “I don’t think that I’m currently in a position to give advice like this, to be honest with you.”

Fingal leans his elbows on the table, holding his head with one hand. “Why? Something happen with Maddie?”

“Oh, did it ever,” I shake my head.

—

Aand that's all you guys get for spoiler reasons! Lmao

(also because that's all I've written today but shhhh don't tell anyone)

Buut yeah. Legit I swear I didn't mean to go so hard on feminist Fingal 😂 I mean don't get me wrong here, he's absolutely right and I'm keeping it in. But still, the words just kept on coming and coming and we ended up with this

so

y'know

yeah

writing is super fun sometimes

Plus tbh, writing the part where Mikko is stroking his ego and whispers his ‘top secret trick to get women’, I was literally laughing out loud 😂 like he's just so wrong, and I love how horribly Mikko fails in life. It's just super funny to me, I enjoy it a lot.

Fingal, however, clearly does not enjoy it, lmao. Legit I had no clue he could be so protective until today! Especially over Mikko. I mean I always knew their dynamics, but today… it really hit home for me.

Go back and look at the line of dialogue Fingal says right after Mikko apologizes (a rare occurrence, actually).

It’s just one little piece of dialogue, barely a few sentences! Yet I feel like it hits you. You know? It reveals so much about his and Mikko’s vibes, their situation. A pair of brothers poor and orphaned by their birth parents and raised by their grandmother, who is only growing older and weaker each year. Fingal, the eldest, having to take responsibility often. He feels pressured to raise his little bro, and feels like he's failed when Mikko turns out to be the way he is. Ya know? It's just one little thing of dialogue but I feel like it makes you feel the pressure Fin has to bear in a situation like theirs. Even if it’s only for a moment.

And Mikko! While he does incite a lot of the comic relief in HTKAG, I wouldn’t call him a strict comic relief character because that's never what I had in mind while writing him. He and Fin actually play a vital role in the plot of the story! Much more than what I can currently reveal to y'all.

Buut anyways, I'll stop rambling now. I really hope you guys enjoyed this little excerpt just as much as I adored writing it :)

—

taglist (let me know if you want to be added or removed!): @vampire-with-a-pen @writingonesdreams @justyouraveragewriter @kazenokaori @dahladahlabills

#creative writing #writing #my writing #my wip #my writing wip #wip #wip excerpt #writblr #writeblr #writers of tumblr #writeblr community #writing excerpt #writing community #wip: htkag

[alicanta77]

Chapter 4: Maze of Memories

Pairing: y/n x Haechan

Themes: angst, fluff, suspense(?)

Warnings: swearing, zombies, blood, violence, death, virus, illness, anxiety, mentions of abusive family, needles (two injections)

Words: 10k

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Finale

——————————————————————————

Inspiration from my friend @2-cute-4-school and her story called ‘Evanescent’. This girl is such an incredible writer and honestly seems to be able to write anything beautifully and I can't praise or recommend any of her work enough! Thank you to the ends of the earth for letting me use it as a starting point xx

——————————————————————————

Doctors and nurses bustled around you, taking your temperature, checking your breathing levels, heart rate, and pressing different buttons on the countless monitors that surrounded you. You just lay there, still in shock from the last thing you had heard Jeno say before he was removed from your room.

‘You’re finally out of the simulation.’

You hadn't had time for ask for any sort of explanation before the doctors rushed in and shooed him out. You tried to listen to what the nurses were telling you, discussing certain things about your health, but you couldn’t focus.

It was a simulation? Were you the only one in it? Were Hyuck and the others still there?

Hyuck...

Your throat closed up as the memories of his broken screams clouded your mind. You would do just about anything to see him, to hold him one last time, to kiss him and tell him that everything will be alright.

You weren't sure how much time had passed until the doctors and nurses eventually emptied out of your room, leaving you alone in the monochrome, sterile white walls. 

There was a small knock at your door and it slowly began to open. You pulled yourself up so that you were sat in a more upright position and turned your head in order to see who was entering. Jeno’s head peaked out from behind it, causing a smile to spread across your face. 

Even though you were scared and confused beyond belief, seeing your friend alive and smiling at you was an easy thing to feel happy about.

He made his way closer to you, pulling up a chair before speaking.

‘Hi... Sorry, I guess I should have started with that earlier, rather than dropping the whole simulation thing on you like a bomb.’

You opened your mouth to speak for the first time since you woke up, but his eyes went wide and he quickly continued to talk.

‘No! No, don’t try to speak until you've had some water. Your throat is gonna be really dry and it’s going to hurt.’

You shut your mouth and nodded, watching as Jeno stood up and walked into the adjoining bathroom. He came back with a full glass of water and gave it to you before sitting down next to you again. 

‘I woke up in this room too. Doctors and nurses were crowding me, but they only stayed for a few minutes before they left me alone. Finally a female doctor came in and gave me a glass of water. Then she explained everything... it didn't make a lot of sense, and it’s really overwhelming... are you sure you want to know it all now?’

Jeno looked at you, concern clear on his face. It was obvious that whatever he needed to tell you wasn't easy, but you had to know. The uncertainty was driving you insane and your heart was screaming for you to find out if you could find Hyuck. You nodded, fast, making Jeno sigh before taking your hand.

‘I don’t really know where to begin, but I guess there’s one thing that you need to know more than anything. The apocalypse, everything we went through over the past few months, none of it was real. It was all a simulation.’

You brain was running at a million miles an hour, none of this making sense. You were glad that Jeno kept talking because you were sure that you couldn’t form a complete sentence to respond to him if you tried.

‘There was a virus that hit the world, it was called Harmless Deterioration, that much of the simulation was true. We were lucky that HD was only incredibly infective and not that fatal. Very few people died, but the world leaders came together after a medical report was released that showed HD mutating. This time into something much more fatal. Scientists realised that they had only two years maximum to prepare the population for the next wave, a much more dangerous wave. So the world leaders decided to create a simulation. They put people of all ages, sizes, backgrounds and ethnicities into the simulation to study how they reacted in a similar but different environment. Obviously the virus isn’t going to raise people from the dead, but studying brain activity in such a harsh environment can give them an idea as to what it is that makes people immune or less at risk.’

Jeno paused for a moment, giving this time to sink in.

‘Do you have any questions so far?’

You raised an eyebrow at him and croaked out a small reply.

‘Yes. Just shy of a million.’

You were glad Jeno had made you drink that water because even after having a large glass, your throat still felt like sandpaper. Jeno smiled sympathetically.

‘But I’m sure I’m going to have more so just keep talking.’ You replied, too confused and dazed to even think about where to begin. Jeno grabbed your now empty glass and moved to refill it for you. When he reappeared, he took the same position as before, sitting close to you and holding your hand.

‘Okay, here’s the next part. Tell you what, squeeze my hand really tight if it gets overwhelming and I’ll stop talking for a minute.’

You smiled at that, his small yet thoughtful action was something so typically Jeno that the realisation hit you again, this time with much more force. He was actually alive and sat in front of you. Before you could stop it, tears started to gather in your eyes, making sheer panic spread across Jeno’s face.

‘Oh no, no, no, no, no. Please don’t cry, I’ll stop talking. Are you okay?’ He moved closer, leaning over you slightly as you nodded.

‘You’re here...’ You whispered, not trusting yourself to say anymore than that for fear that you would completely break down. Jeno’s smile broke out across his face, the eye smile that you had missed so much and you moved up slightly on the bed, making room for him to lie next to you. As soon as he got comfortable, you threw your arms around him and held him as tightly as he did to you when you had woken up. You started to realise that you were finally safe, you would never have to wake up at 3am for a lookout shift, never have to risk your life for a supply run, never have to hurt anything or anyone ever again.

‘Where’s Donghyuck? And the others? Can I see them?’ You asked, turning your head to look at Jeno, the picture of him slightly blurry through the tears that you were furiously trying to blink away.

Jeno stayed silent, opening his mouth to speak but quickly shutting it again. He looked away from you and down at the covers, his grip around your shoulders tightening.

‘I’m really sorry y/n... But you’re not gonna be able to see any of them for a while.’

‘Why?’ You asked, the tears starting to gather again.

‘Because they’re still in the simulation.’

In that moment, the world stopped. It felt like the longest second of your life had passed by the time Jeno started speaking again.

‘In order to leave the simulation, you have to die. That’s why I got out after our final day at Mark’s and you left it after you were bitten. As long as the boys are still alive, they are still in that simulation.’

You said nothing, not knowing at all what to say. You just waited for Jeno to continue speaking.

‘In order for scientists to gain accurate results from us, we couldn’t know that it was an experiment and all fake. So they removed parts of our memories before we went into the simulation. You should be getting yours back any minute, or at least that’s what happened to me. After about half an hour they came back in, put some wires on my head and gave me a few injections and electric shocks and all was good.’

Jeno turned to look at you expectantly, as if asking you to agree and say everything was fine. You didn’t quite say what he was hoping.

‘Hold on, my brain is melting. How long are the others going to be in the simulation for?’

‘I don’t know...’ Jeno admitted. ‘It depends on how long it goes on for or how long they survive.’

‘Well they’re pretty secure at the army base so I’m sure they’ll be fine.’ You said, remembering the security measures that you had all taken.

Jeno smiled to himself.

‘Yeah, you guys did a good job with that. I saw... I saw the grave too, I was really touched.’ His arms tightened again around you, but you managed to turn yourself so that you were looking at him.

‘You saw that?’ You asked, in complete shock.

‘Yeah, there are monitors here that show a live feed of the simulation. I would spend all my time watching what you guys were doing. Other scientists are taking down data but, I would just watch over you and pray that you would be okay.’ He admitted, avoiding your eyes slightly.

You curled into his chest once more, relishing in the knowledge that he was alive and with you right now. Nothing else made sense, but you planned to figure it out later. And in this moment, all you cared about was that you had Jeno back.

However, the reunion was short lived as your door quickly opened and two doctors walked in. Jeno moved himself off your bed, giving them room to see and attend to you.

One of them held a simple t-shirt and trousers, which he placed on your bed and the other a clipboard. She began to speak first.

‘Hello y/n. I understand that all of this may have come to a complete shock to you. There is no pressure on you to understand everything straight away and there are many of us who will gladly answer any questions that you may have. I trust that Jeno has filled you in on all the details?’

You nodded silently, sending a small smile her way. She smiled back at you, a much larger and warmer one than what you had managed to produce.

‘If you would like to get your memories back, just change into these clothes and there will be someone waiting outside to guide you to where you need to be. There is no pressure on timings, so please, only go when you’re comfortable to.’

With another smile, both of them left. Jeno walked up to your bed once more and moved the clothes so that he could sit down.

‘When do you think you’ll want your memories back?’ He asked, watching your response carefully.

‘As soon as possible.’ You replied honestly. ‘If my memories can help me make sense of this situation, then I’d like them back as soon as possible.’

Jeno nodded and gestured that he would wait for you outside, before leaving your room and shutting the door behind him.

You stood slowly, finishing off the last bit of your water as you did. You were careful when standing up, as the room began to spin slightly. You sat down again on your bed and reached out for the clothes that were there. You pulled off your hospital gown and slid on the white t-shirt. You pulled the dark blue tracksuit bottoms over you legs and prepared yourself to stand again.

You pulled open your door and saw Jeno sitting in a chair opposite it, he stood up when he saw you and offered an arm for you to steady yourself on. You gently held onto him and he guided you towards where the doctor was waiting.

‘There’s only one chair outside that room and I wanted to be the one waiting for you.’ He explained, making you smile.

The doctor saw you approaching and gave you a friendly smile and nod. He then gestured to his left, at a door marked ‘Lab 4F’. You looked up at Jeno for reassurance and he quietly informed you that this was where he got his memories back too.

So you entered.

---

Donghyuck rolled over in his bed, pulling the duvet further over his head as the persistent knocks on his door drilled into his brain. He attempted a weak ‘Go away’, but his throat was so sore from crying last night that it only came out as a feeble groan.

The door opened anyway and but Donghyuck didn’t roll over to face whoever it was. He didn’t care. He just wanted to be left alone. Whoever it was could screw themselves. That was until he heard Renjun’s broken voice.

‘Hyuck?’ Renjun’s voice cracked in the middle and Donghyuck realised that he was crying. He summoned all the energy he could and rolled over to face the boy in his doorway. 

‘We’ve got time off our chores, they said that it’s okay for any of us to take whatever time we need. I- I know it’s only been two days, but, I- I-’ His voice cut off completely and Hyuck simply pulled open his duvet, a silent invitation and plea for his friend to join him. Renjun wasted no time in climbing in and Hyuck rolled over to hug him.

The boys had never had that much of a touchy friendship, preferring to make fun of each other and rile them up instead, but in this moment, all they wanted to do was hug the closest friend that they had left.

---

The final electric rod was placed onto your temple as the doctor prepared the injection. He placed a light hand on the top of your head and tilted in to the left slightly so that he could have access to the vein in your neck. You winced slightly as the needle pierced your skin and the liquid was injected.

You immediately felt yourself begin to be taken over by the darkness that was surrounding you, the doctor’s voice only just cutting through the haze.

‘Just relax, and let the memories change you.’

You didn’t have time to question what he meant before you fully blacked out.

~~~

You, Renjun, Donghyuck and Jeno were sat at your normal lunch table at school. Renjun and Donghyuck were arguing over something unimportant when you felt Jeno’s hand slip into yours under the table. You interlaced your fingers and sent him a smile, getting one back. Donghyuck noticed first.

‘Oh look at the lovebirds.’ He teased, suddenly cuddling up to Renjun in an attempt to imitate the two of you.

Renjun stared down at him in disgust and pushed the younger boy off of him.

‘I still can’t believe that you guys are actually dating. It’s weird, we’ve known each other for years.’ He stated, Donghyuck nodding in agreement.

Jeno shrugged.

‘I guess sometimes things change. You can wake up one morning and look at a person you’ve known your whole life in an entirely different light.’

Both Renjun and Donghyuck groaned loudly at that, the bell that signified the of lunch cutting through. They both jumped out of their seats, not wanting to be around the two of you for much longer.

You and Jeno both laughed, enjoying this newfound power over the rest of your group. You both began to head off to your afternoon classes as well, Jeno pulling you in for a quick kiss on your forehead when you had to go separate ways.

~~~

You were lying on your bed, scrolling through your phone when Jeno’s head popped around the door frame. You immediately sat up, a smile stretching across your features. But when the smile on your face wasn’t mirrored on his, you began to worry.

‘What’s wrong?’ You asked, watching as Jeno shut your previously open door and moved to stand next to the bed.

‘I volunteered to go into the simulation.’ Jeno said bluntly. He couldn’t meet your eyes, not being able to quite predict what your reaction would be. Both of you had decided over a month ago that you wouldn’t do this, you didn’t know the risks and the idea simply terrified you.

‘What do you mean?’ Your eyes never leaving Jeno, even though his were fixed on the duvet underneath him.

He said nothing.

‘You’re leaving me?’ Your voice trembled slightly at the thought of going without him for who knows how long.

Jeno’s eyes snapped up at the sound of your voice shaking, not hesitating at all to pull you into his chest for a hug.

‘I don’t want to. But I have to do this, I want to be able to help and say that I had a part in preventing the spread of a disease capable of wiping out humanity. I’m sorry, but, I’m not changing my mind.’ His words were quiet but calm, a determination behind them that you knew only came from Jeno.

You nodded, hugging him tighter as if he was going to slip away in that moment. Jeno gently repositioned you both so that you were lying on him. He leaned down and kissed the top of your head as you turned to place a kiss on the small bit of his collarbone that was exposed by his t-shirt.

‘You’re gonna lose your memories.’ You whispered.

‘I know.’ He whispered back, taking a deep breath as if to calm himself from the simple thought of it.

‘What if you forget me?’ You knew it may be selfish to ask but it was all you could think about.

Jeno chuckled at that.

‘We’ve known each other our whole lives, they’re only going to erase the memories of the virus and things to do with it.’

‘But we started dating at the beginning of the virus... remember we both stayed at mine for that month while my parents were stuck at my grandparents and that... that was when everything changed.’ You realised. 

Jeno went silent at that. He swallowed, trying to collect his thoughts before replying.

‘I hadn’t thought of that...’ He pulled you even closer. ‘I’ll get them back, I won’t forget you forever.’

With that thought neither of you had the courage to ask or answer any more questions. You just enjoyed one of your last fews nights together and went to sleep.

~~~

You sat next to Jeno on what would be his final day before heading into the simulation. Not a single word had been spoken, the words left unsaid being much heavier than anything you could have anticipated. The tears that were welling up in your eyes began to fall down your cheeks, Jeno trying desperately to blink his away. Finally, he spoke.

‘I’m going to miss you so much y/n.’ He said, his voice breaking as he turned to look at you.

‘But you won’t.’ You replied, your voice as equally full of emotion. ‘That’s what so scary about this whole thing. I’m going to miss you, but you’re not going to have any idea that that isn’t me in there with you.’

Jeno shut his eyes and lowered his head to the ground, the tears falling freely. When he looked up again he raised one hand to you cheek.

‘Then come with me.’ He pleaded. You opened your mouth to disagree but he continued. ‘Please, we can get through it together, if I have you by my side then I am not going to be scared to go into it. I can do anything if you’re with me.’

You were silent. You had never wanted to go into the simulation and you watched as all your close friend chose that path, leaving you alone.

‘As much as I hate the thought of going into that simulation, the thought of being on the outside and watching you all without being able to help, is much worse.’ You said slowly.

Jeno’s eyes shot up, begging you to repeat what you had just said.

‘So, yes. I’ll go into the simulation too. I’m not going to leave you guys alone.’

Jeno burst into the biggest smile possible at your decision. And, as terrified as you were, you couldn’t help but smile back at the boy in front of you. He pulled you in for a happy kiss and grabbed your hand saying that you needed to sign up as soon as possible and that you had to tell the other boys.

~~~

You opened your eyes and the doctor’s face slowly came back into focus. 

‘Take it easy. After five minutes you should be back to normal and you can head off, Your brain is just processing all the new information.’

The doctor’s voice cut through the blurry surroundings and you gradually felt yourself becoming more grounded. The room soon fully came into view and you registered the doctor pulling all the rods off of your head. He then placed a glass of water next to you, which you took some small sips from.

It didn’t take long before you were up and walking and being guided down a new corridor towards another door labelled ‘Examination room 3′.

‘Nothing to worry about, they’re only going to conduct a few tests to see how you’ve changed while in the simulation.’ The doctor turned to you, before opening the door and showing you in.

You were greeted with a large open room with monitors all around you. There was a treadmill to the left side and a large glass pane sectioned off the right half of the room. A group of half a dozen doctors came up to you, explaining certain procedures and what they were going to be testing.

It all went in one ear and out the other with you. You were still overwhelmed with the memories you’d received that you were quite looking forward to just being put on a treadmill so that you could think. Luckily for you, that was exactly what they started with. They attached wires to your chest and hands and measure your breathing and blood levels.

Then you began running.

While you were running all the beeping from the monitors and quiet chatter from the doctors faded into nothingness as you became lost in your memories again.

Were you and Jeno in love before the simulation?

All you knew was that you needed to speak to him about it. If he was the reason that you had gone into the simulation in the first place then you must have really loved him.

But why didn’t you have feelings for him in the simulation? Surely they can’t erase actual emotions? And you didn’t remember feeling any kind of romance for Jeno before the simulation, you’d only ever remember caring for Hyuck. But, they were still your memories... They were probably the only trustworthy thing you had.

---

Donghyuck sat by Y/n’s grave, his knees pulled up to his chest as he cried. He kept whispering the same two sentences over and over again, loud enough for only the wind to hear.

‘Why did you leave me? You promised.’

He reached out a shaky hand and placed another wild flower by her headstone.

‘You promised. Why did you leave me?’

He wiped away his tears with one hand and held his knees tight with the other. Then he began to sing.

‘You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.’ His quiet voice starting out clear, but shaking as he progressed onto the next line.

‘You make me happy, when skies are grey.’ Hyuck thought back to all the times he had relied on you when he had been struggling. But now, with you, his sister and Jeno all six feet under, his skies had never been greyer and there was no one left to show him how to get through it.

‘You’ll never know dear, how much I love you.’ His voice began to break as he thought back on all the wasted and unsaid words. He thought about the fact that you died without knowing how loved you were, and how he would do anything, literally anything to have you back.

‘Please don’t take my sunshine...’ Hyuck trailed off, the sobs taking over him as he struggled to finish the chorus of the song that you have sung to him countless times. He missed his sunshine, he needed it. He was dying without it, the grief slowly poisoning him from the inside out. He put his head fully into his knees a he whispered out the final word.

‘Away.’

Donghyuck let himself break down, a state he was used to being in at the moment. He mourned the girl he had always loved and appreciated but never told her just how much. 

And he was blissfully unaware of that same girl, watching him mourn her, through a screen.

---

You stood awkwardly in your room. The layout was eerily similar to your room at the army base and it was only provoking memories of your time there. You couldn’t help but think of Hyuck and what you had just seen.

You had been walking towards the lobby to be shown to your room after your tests. You were glad that the directions were clearly marked as it gave you a chance to walk around without an escort. On the way there you had seem a door labelled ‘Camera room 2′. Curiosity took over you and when you headed in you were immediately greeted with the sight of Donghyuck crying over your grave.

The scene pulled at your heartstrings more than you thought was possible and all that was occupying your mind was the desire to hold him close, kiss his head and whisper that you’re never going to leave him again.

That song had always been important to the two of you. But when he sang ‘you’ll never know dear, how much I love you’, there was so much emotion in that single line, that it shook you to your core.

You remembered the moment before leaving to try and find his sister, when you had nearly kissed. Why was it, when you sure that you should be in love with Jeno, that kissing Hyuck was all you wanted to do?

At that moment, Jeno knocked on your open door.

‘Hi...’ He said, seeming more nervous than before. ‘Are you okay?’

You nodded. ‘I guess so. Things are really confusing right now and I don’t know what to make of anything.’

Jeno took a step forwards. ‘I know what you mean. When I got my memories back, for a short while I didn’t think they were real. I mean, I couldn’t recall ever having romantic feelings for you.’

You chuckled slightly at that.

‘No offence!’ He added quickly, scared of upsetting you.

‘No, it’s okay, I feel the same way.’ You reassured him.

‘But, at the end of the day, these are our memories. And surely they’re the only things we can trust right? Cause they’re ours.’ Jeno reasoned.

You nodded again. Jeno did make a lot of sense. It wouldn’t be strange for you to be confused when suddenly hit with a whole string of new memories.

You turned towards the bed, exhaustion from the day catching up with you quickly and, all you wanted to do was go to sleep and face everything else in the morning. You took a step but stumbled, your legs sore from the treadmill earlier.

Jeno moved forwards swiftly and caught you, supporting you as you climbed into bed. He tucked you in gently and whispered one last sentence before leaving you.

‘I mean I entered the simulation for you so it must have been real.’

You were too tired to ask what he meant as he placed a kiss on your forehead and left you to sleep.

---

Jeno led you through a maze of corridors, the silence between the two of you was comfortable but unusual. You never usually found yourself with nothing to say to him, but, since you got your memories back, it was like you had to look at him in a whole new light. And you weren’t sure you wanted to.

Jeno slowed to a stop outside an unmarked door, placing his hand on the door handle before turning to you.

‘I know that it’s difficult, coming out of the simulation. So I thought you might want to talk to some people who have gone through the same thing you have.’

With that, he opened the door in front of him and you were greeted with two boys around your age. You turned to Jeno with a confused look but he simply nodded at you to move forwards.

You were wary as you didn’t recognise either of them, but, soon enough, one of them stood forwards.

‘Hi.’ He said with a friendly smile.

‘Hi?’ You answered, really unsure of what to say.

The same boy suddenly took a step even closer and pulled you in for a tight hug. You had no idea how to respond so you just hugged him back and asked if he was okay.

‘Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Sorry that may have seemed weird.’ He chuckled to himself. ‘I just wasn’t sure how to thank you.’

‘Thank me?’ You questioned. You couldn’t be any more confused than you were at this moment.

‘Yeah. For looking after my friend in the simulation. For looking after San.’

Suddenly it dawned on you who the boy in front of you was.

‘Wooyoung?’ You breathed and watched as he nodded in confirmation. You turned to the other boy. ‘So that must mean you’re-’

‘Jeong-in. But you can call me I.N.’ He interrupted you with a grin. ‘Welcome back.’

You turned back to Jeno, a look of absolute amazement on your face and saw that he was smiling. I.N. began to talk again, drawing your attention.

‘Jeno mentioned that you had been struggling with adapting to your memories and, we just wanted to say that we understand.’ 

‘Yeah and if you ever need anyone to talk to, we’re also here for you.’ Wooyoung said, placing a hand on your shoulder.

‘Oh my god, I just- I can’t believe it’s really you. The guys-’ Your tone turned slightly more serious. ‘The guys really miss you both.’

Both the boys looked slightly to the floor, sadness dancing across their feature.

‘We know. We’ve had to watch them grieve and mourn us. Just as Jeno watched you.’ I.N. said, gesturing to the boy behind you. ‘That’s why we were so glad that your group found the army base and they managed to move on slightly through the new friendships they made.’

Wooyoung nodded.

‘Yeah. I suppose it was easier for you and San though.’ He said, making I.N. nod and you frown in confusion. ‘You know, cause you guys are old friends.’

You looked between the boys in front of you, who both seemed to think that this was true.

‘What- what are you talking about? I only met San in the simulation.’ You said, staring as I.N. and Wooyoung’s faces both changed to confusion.

‘No y/n.’ Wooyoung said, never breaking eye contact with you. ‘You and San have known each other for a really long time.’

You opened your mouth to argue, to tell him that you had no memory of ever knowing San outside of the simulation, but a voice cut through. A voice that you never thought that you would hear again.

‘y/n?’

You stopped in your tracks and turned to your left, praying that she was really there and that this wasn’t your mind playing tricks on you.

It wasn’t. She was alive. Donghyuck’s sister was alive and standing in front of you.

‘Oh my god.’ You whispered before you ran towards her and pulled her in for a hug. 

She wrapped her shorter arms around your neck and you felt her tears start to wet your shoulder. You whispered to her that it was okay and she shouldn’t cry, but you weren’t in a better state yourself. You were almost sobbing into the little girl’s shoulder, so filled with relief that she was alive.

‘Donghyuck is going to be so happy when he wakes up.’ You said to her, placing a kiss on her temple.

She looked up at you with the biggest smile on her face. 

‘I can’t wait to see him. I didn’t get to see mum but it’s okay. I’ll see her another time.’

You smiled at her, fresh tears filling your eyes.

‘You’re so strong, never forget that.’ You told her, proud and amazed by the attitude this young child had.

‘I bet you can’t wait to see Donghyuck either. He misses you.’ She said to you, making you remember the scene you had saw the night before.

‘I know.’ You said, sadness filling you slightly. But she only frowned back at you.

‘No, you don’t. Hyuck never told you how much you meant to him. He always said he would and whenever he didn’t he would tell me how much he regretted it. I remember telling him he was being stupid cause you obviously feel the same way.’

You stuttered a bit as you tried to deny it and defend yourself but she was having none of it.

‘What are you talking about? You’ve always loved Hyuckie.’ Her words hit you like a ton of brick. Your mind was a complete mess and you felt as though you couldn’t sort out which memories were yours and which people thought were yours. It felt as though you had three different version of the past year of your life swirling around your head at the same time.

A bell sounded throughout the building, alerting people to head to their jobs. After giving you one last hug and asking you to see her again later or tomorrow, Hyuck’s sister climbed off you and headed off.

Both Wooyoung and I.N. gave you their room numbers before leaving as well, and then, finally, Jeno approached you.

For the first time in your lives, the silence between the two of you wasn’t comfortable. He had clearly heard what was said and you were both struggling to find any words to say.

‘What did you mean when you said you entered the simulation for me?’ You asked suddenly, remembering the words he had spoken to you the night before and praying that his answer would help solve some of your problems. 

Jeno raised an eyebrow.

‘I meant, I entered the simulation for you. I’m not sure what else you want me to say.’ He answered, not understanding where you were going with this.

‘No...’ You trailed off, trying to find the right words. ‘I mean, how do you remember that day, choosing to go into the simulation?’

‘Oh...’ Jeno’s features relaxed as he shrugged. ‘I mean, you had told me that you were going to go into the simulation about a month earlier, and within that time both Donghyuck and Renjun decided to join you. I didn’t want to watch helplessly from the sidelines, so, even though it meant risking forgetting our relationship, I decided to join you guys the night before.’ He looked at you, expecting a reaction but you were frozen solid.

Something had felt wrong ever since you had gotten your memories back, and this was the final straw.

‘We need to go somewhere private to talk. Now.’ You said, trying to convey how urgent this was to him.

‘What do you mean? I don’t under-’

‘Now!’ You cut him off.

Jeno’s eyes went wide and he nodded once before grabbing your hand and pulling you into the corridor. He led you down the corridor before bringing you into the same room where you got your memories back.

‘Huh, how fitting.’ You commented, missing the confused look that Jeno shot you as he shut the door. ‘And you’re sure that no one will hear us?’ You asked, knowing that it was vital that this conversation was kept between the two of you.

‘One hundred percent.’ Jeno stated firmly. ‘They only use this room for returning memories and no one has woken since you, so there’s no reason to use it. Apart from out bedrooms, it’s also one of the few rooms with no cameras or microphones in.’

You nodded, feeling much more reassured with this fact.

‘Right.’ Jeno said, moving closer to you. ‘Now will you please tell me what is going on?’

‘Yeah, okay.’ You took a deep breath, unsure of how to start or say any of this without hurting him. ‘Something has felt off ever since I got my memories back. At first, I just thought it was me getting used to the feelings for you that I’d forgotten I had, but now, I’m sure that I never had them in the first place. No, wait, that’s not what I meant, that sounded really mean. I’m sorry. I- I’m- I think- wait I don’t know how to say this.’

‘Y/n! For the love of god, spit it out!’ Jeno raised his voice at you, the tension levels high in the room and his frustration clear.

‘Our memories aren’t real!’ You almost shouted at him. ‘None of them are real.’

You watched as Jeno physically deflated at your sentence. You could tell from the look on his face that he wasn’t sure if he believed you so you continued, praying that you would be able to get through to him. And the more you talked, the more sure you were that you were right.

‘Think about it. Our memories claimed that we got together at the beginning of the disease right? Because my parents were away visiting my grandparents? But, that doesn’t make sense because my grandparents haven’t spoken to my parents in three years. And I only have one living set of grandparents so it was definitely them that we were referring to. And then don’t forget Wooyoung. He said that I’ve known San for a long time, but I have zero memories of meeting the boy before the simulation. I did not know him when I was growing up. And you can vouch for that can’t you? I never had a friend growing up who you didn’t know about and approve of. And then the final straw. The memory of how I entered the simulation is different to you. I remember you volunteering and me being the one who changed my mind the night before. The details are exactly the same, the roles are just reversed. You have to admit that something doesn’t feel right. Jeno... be honest. Do you have feelings for me?

Jeno seemed to be left without words after your speech, but you needed him to talk. He needed to talk, to understand, to realise that this isn’t what you thought it was.

‘Jeno! Do you have feelings for me?

He caught your eye, his mouth open and moving slightly but no words coming out of it. Then you snapped.

‘Jeno! Are you in love with me?!’

‘No!’ He shouted. ‘No, I’m not! I have no romantic feelings for you whatsoever and the thought of having those feelings is really weird because you’ve always been like my sister. I couldn’t love you like that if I tried.’

Both of you stood there in silence, you heavy breaths being the only thing to break the thick levels of tension in the air.

‘No offence.’ He mumbled.

‘Yeah no offence to you either, but I feel exactly the same way.’ You said honestly, both of your voices much quieter than before.

‘Our memories aren’t real...’ Jeno mumbled, the reality of the situation sinking in.

‘Our memories aren’t real.’ You repeated, confirming all that had been tormenting you since you woke up.

---

The silence that hung over the two of you was heavy. The recent revelation was not an easy thing to accept and figuring out what to say next was almost impossible.

But then a sudden thought hit you.

‘Jeno?’ You asked as he looked up at you. ‘Did you say that no one has woken up since me?’

‘Yeah, why?’ He replied.

‘I don’t know it just, I would have thought that someone else must have.’ You said, shrugging slightly.

‘You’ve only been awake for around 48 hours y/n.’ Jeno reminded you.

‘I know, god it feels like longer. How many people would you say have woken up entirely?’ You asked instead.

‘I don’t know y/n.’ Jeno replied, clearly tired with your questions and overwhelmed with what you had both previously figured out. ‘I haven’t met all of them but I’ve met most and I’d say that there’s around twenty of us here, maximum.’

‘Twenty? Is there another facility where people wake up?’ You were shocked with his answer.

‘No, I don’t think so... y/n what’s wrong now?’ Jeno turned to you, not wasting time and just wanting you to tell him the truth.

‘Just... how is it possible for so few people to have woken up? I know I was only in there for a month and a bit, but… it doesn’t make sense. There are so many zombies, surely all of them used to be people who should have woken up by now? How can they not? They’re dead.’

‘They can’t be dead then.’ Jeno said, already tired of this conversation.

‘But they are dead. Those people are zombies and zombies literally are the dead.’ You said back, your mind starting to run again.

‘Technically zombies are the living dead.’ Jeno said offhandedly. Suddenly, he straightened up and stared straight at you. ‘That’s it! They’re the living dead. Zombies are dead but, to an extent, they’re still living beings. They must be to be able to move, breath, make noise and understand that humans mean food and that they need food to survive. Those who are zombies, aren’t completely dead.’

‘But if they’re still living in some form, and you need to die in order to leave the simulation, then that means...’ You trailed off as the answer hit you, Jeno finishing your sentence.

‘That they’ll never wake up. What if that’s the plan?’ Jeno’s sentence caused a chill to run down your spine as you turned to him, fear in your eyes.

‘What the hell is really going on here?’

The rattling of the door handle stopped either of you from saying anything, sharing a quick panicked look before Jeno pulled you around the side of a long cabinet.

You quietly pulled open the door of the one to your right, relieved to find it empty. You crawled in the space at the bottom, Jeno following afterwards, gently swinging the door shut after him.

The door of the cupboard shut with a quiet but audible click and the footsteps stopped.

Both you and Jeno held your breath as they approached your hiding place.

‘What’s wrong?’ You heard a muffled voice ask.

‘I just thought I heard a noise, nothing else.’ Another replied, his voice much closer.

‘Don’t be ridiculous, nobody is going to be in here. Now, can we please finish our conversation?’

The voice closer to you sighed. ‘Fine, speak your mind.’

‘With all due respect doctor, as brilliant as your plan is, there is one fatal flaw. The subjects are waking up. Aren’t you concerned that once all of them become the undead, and wake up, you will have a lot of questions to answer when a deadly virus doesn’t sweep across the globe?’

Both you and Jeno shared a confused, fearful look. Whatever conversation these two men were having, you were not supposed to be hearing it.

‘No, not at all actually.’ The doctor sounded almost bored.

‘How can you be so sure?’ The first voice asked in confusion.

‘Because, my paranoid friend, those who are infected aren’t fully dead.’

You and Jeno stared at each other with wide eyes as the doctor went on to confirm everything that the two of you had just figured out.

‘These zombies have functioning lungs and hearts to breath and keep them alive to an extent. Their brains are formed enough to be able to move, and understand the concept of food. The are programmed to know that human flesh means food and that they must eat it in order to survive. We have created these zombies so that they are not just the dead, but rather the living dead. Therefore, as long as they are a zombie, they can never leave the simulation.’

A silence fell over the room as neither of the men moved and you and Jeno sat in terrified silence, learning the true nature of the simulation.

‘Well, what about those who have already woken up?’

The doctor hummed.

‘Yes, a shame about a few of the earlier deaths. The two boys from the army base come to mind. However, they were useful as it helped us to understand that we must programme the zombies to bite and not kill. We can learn from each death and alter the simulation to ensure that the same mistakes don’t get made twice.’

‘How about the most recent one. Who woke up two days ago?’

You heart stopped at the mention of you, Jeno grabbing you arm from where he was sitting next to you.

‘I agree that was annoying... Her friend’s death was as well. I guess sometimes there will be some who wake up due to sacrifices and loyalty. It’s the same as how some zombies will wake up once they’re killed by a human. But I wouldn’t worry about those two humans. The recent one may be asking questions now, but once their memories settle in they’ll become a pawn. We could probably even convince them to go back into the simulation.’

The doctors laughed at that, making you feel sick to your stomach.

‘A genius idea to use fake memories to tie them together.’ The first one said.

‘Yes, I was proud of that.’ The doctor replied. ‘And don’t worry about the other survivors, we can simply mutate the virus again to make it more infectious. They won’t last much longer.’

The doctors laughed again, before you heard their footsteps getting quieter, signalling that they were headed towards the door. You waited until the door had shut before you let out the breath that you were holding.

You weren’t, by any means comfortable in that cupboard, but you couldn’t move even if you wanted to. You were also sure that the corridor was going to have people walking down it, so escaping without being seen would be a challenge.

Jeno turned his head to you and opened his mouth to say something when you heard the door open again and two pairs of footsteps ran in. However, this time, the door was locked behind them.

You and Jeno, huddled together, positive that the doctor’s had come back to find you and you where going to have your memories wiped and probably be put back in the simulation.

That was until the people in the room started to speak.

‘I thought you said you knew what you were doing?’

‘No, I said I thought I knew a way I could do it? Wooyoung, this is stressful enough, please just go and get y/n and Jeno.’

‘Do you think that they’re going to believe us without proof. Unless we are sure that you can do this, I.N., I’m not getting them.’

You and Jeno shared a look of relief and, in sync, burst out of the cupboard you were hiding in, surprising both of the other boys. You had to hand it to them, as neither of them screamed. They did both freeze in fear and I.N. almost dropped the screwdriver he was holding but they didn’t give away their position to people who may be walking nearby.

‘Trust me.’ Jeno said. ‘After what we’ve learnt today, there is nothing you can say to us that we will not believe.’

---

Donghyuck stood from his spot by your grave, placed his final wildflower and headed inside. He visited you at least three times a day, just talking, singing and crying. Saying all the things he wished he had said before you were taken from him. On the way back inside he stopped to trace his fingers over the carving of your name into the wall. He didn’t regret asking San to do that, in fact he was glad. 

He was in the middle of doing this when San turned the corner. The two boys held silent eye contact for a second, a heavy silence over the two of them. They hadn’t spoken, hadn’t even seen each other since your death. San choosing to keep himself busy and going out on longer runs every day, and Hyuck only moving from his bed to your grave, both of them only ever thinking about you.

Hyuck finished tracing the last letter of your name before turning around to face the other boy head on. He wasn’t going to speak first. If San wanted to find him, to see him, San could speak first.

And he did.

‘I’m sorry... I didn’t know you’d be here.’

Donghyuck only raised an eyebrow.

‘I come here, after every run. Just to tell her how it went and apologise.’

San voice was shaky, but it was nothing compared to the hoarse and broken sounds that left Donghyuck.

‘What for?’ He asked

‘For leaving her. For letting her get bitten. For letting her die. It’s my fault.’ San’s head dropped and Hyuck could see the tears that were falling from his eyes. Hyuck knew he probably should be crying, but he had cried so much that day he wasn’t sure if he had the strength to cry anymore. So instead he spoke.

‘Look up.’ 

San kept his eyes on the ground.

‘San, look up.’ He said more forcefully, and the other boy did as he was told.

‘You didn’t kill her.’

San went to shake and drop his head by Hyuck continued.

‘No, look at me. You didn’t kill her.’

‘But I did. I didn’t help her when I could have. I left her to die.’ San argued.

‘No you didn’t.’ Hyuck said with such conviction that it surprised both San and himself. ‘She sacrificed herself. She sacrificed herself to save us, her friends, her family. Don’t take that away from her.’

San nodded, and with that, Donghyuck left. He walked all the way back to his room before he proved himself wrong.

He did have the strength to cry.

---

You and Jeno stared at Wooyoung and I.N. in disbelief. The four of you, in your two pairs, somehow figured out the same thing, and decided to act on it. So far all you knew was that your memories weren’t real and you weren’t safe here.

‘But here’s the good part.’ Wooyoung said, grabbing both your and Jeno’s attention. God knows you could do with some good news, however small. ‘I.N. thinks that he might know a way to get our actual memories back.’

Your eyes shot to I.N. as he fiddled with the computer that was connected to the electronic rods.

‘How?’ You asked, praying that this was true.

‘I had a revelation. With risky operations such as fake memories, the best way to make them seem realistic is to keep them as close to the truth as possible. So they must have kept our real memories somewhere, so that they can consult them if they ever run into difficulties or irregularities. Now, if I can hack into here... Got it! Now all I need to do is find their folder and then we go through the same process as before, only I can give you your real memories back.’ I.N. explained.

‘And you’re sure you know how to do that?’ Jeno asked, looking warily at the syringe and electronic rods. 

‘Yeah.’ I.N. said casually. ‘I don’t really know how to describe it but it’s like downloading something from your computer onto a memory stick. The actual process isn’t too difficult, it’s just finding the right memories that proves a slight challenge.’

‘Okay, be quick about it cause we haven’t got a lot of time.’ Wooyoung mentioned, looking quickly over his shoulder at the locked door. ‘Someone will eventually come looking for us and we need to be out of here when they do. So how can we help?’

I.N. rattled off a few instructions to you and you all ran around looking for certain solutions that you needed in order to calm your mind. Apparently you didn’t want to be fully blacked out but rather on the brink, so that your mind is still awake but there is nothing else occupying it but your memories. After a short while, you had everything gathered and I.N. seemed to have found everyone’s real memories. He asked you all to check that what you saw was the truth. You check on the screen and saw one of the last times that Hyuck had run over to your house because of his father. You were curled up together in your bed and you were singing ‘You are my sunshine’.

‘Yeah, that’s real.’ You said quietly, trying to avoid your voice cracking with emotion.

Jeno watched you from the side, having already confirmed his memory. While I.N. and Wooyoung were looking through theirs, he pulled you to the side for a second.

‘What are you doing?’ You asked, confused. ‘You know we don’t have time for a casual chat right now.’

Jeno just placed both his hands on your shoulders and quietly spoke.

‘When we get out of this, you and Hyuck need to tell each other the truth about how you feel. I think it’s stronger than you realise.’

‘Jeno, I-’

‘No.’ He cut you off. ‘No excuses. We have only got here because you couldn’t forget how much you loved him, even when your brain was reconditioned into thinking you loved somebody else. Tell him. You two deserve a happy ever after.’

You just looked up at Jeno before wrapping your arms around his waist for a quick hug.

‘I promise.’ You whispered into his chest.

I.N.’s voice came through, calling the first person up.

‘Y/n, we have your memories on the screen do you want to go first?’

Nerves filled you to the brim but you nodded. They were your memories, and you wanted them back.

You sat down on the chair you were in before, waited while Wooyoung and Jeno placed the electronic rods on your head, and then I.N. approached you with the syringe.

‘Are you sure?’ He asked, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder.

‘Do it.’ You replied, ready to feel like yourself again.

He put the needle by your neck and slowly pushed in. You winced slightly in pain, but it was quickly over and the darkness slowly began to envelop you.

---

To say that you woke up feeling like a new person would be an understatement. You mind felt clearer than it had in the past two days and all the other boys claimed to feel the same. However, you knew that this wasn’t the end.

After getting your real memories back, you and Jeno had brought Wooyoung and I.N. back to your room. You all sat on your bed, and you and Jeno replayed the conversation that you had overheard earlier that day. 

Wooyoung and I.N. sat in shocked silence at the revelation.

‘We need to shut down the simulation.’ I.N. said immediately.

‘Well, it’s all good saying that but how are we actually going to do it? It’s not as if they’re just gonna have a kill switch that we can push.’ Jeno said, making you groan at how difficult this was going to be.

‘Wait...’ Wooyoung said, slowly, as if he was struggling to remember something. ‘I think they do.’

You all looked at him in disbelief as he continued.

‘It was my first few days here after waking up. I had snuck into the camera room to watch the boys, to see if they were okay. I heard people coming so I hid under the table. They were talking about this self destruct button, they said it could shut the whole simulation down. They didn’t say where it was, but they did say that it was the same thing. Whatever that means.’

After Wooyoung had finished you all just stared at him in shock. He had just given you the key to shutting down the whole simulation.

‘Why didn’t you mention this before?’ You asked, laughing slightly out of disbelief.

‘I don’t know.’ Wooyoung said, laughing himself. But his smile quickly disappeared and he frowned slightly. ‘No, I do. They found me. They found me under that desk and took me into the memory room. They must have wiped my memory, that’s why I can only remember it now. Because we’ve got them back.’

None of you knew what to say. Jeno placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, but Wooyoung just nodded to say that he was okay.

‘Lets shut this thing down.’ A new determination laced Wooyoung’s voice, making you all nod in confirmation. I.N. spoke next.

‘Here’s the problem though, it will take us ages to search this entire place for the button. And not to mention, there is no way we could do that without getting caught’

‘No, I don’t think it’s here. If they had a control switch to shut it down, they wouldn’t put it just anywhere one of us could randomly find it.’ Jeno reasoned. ‘Especially if you think about how much we’ve managed to get into and away with so far, finding a door or room that we weren’t allowed in at any cost would have rang some alarm bells.’

Wooyoung nodded in agreement.

‘Jeno’s right, its gotta be somewhere no one would ever think of looking, somewhere dangerous, somewhere deserted-’

‘Somewhere not real?’ You said looking up at the others. They all just stared back at you blankly.

‘What do you mean, not real?’ Wooyoung asked.

‘I mean, not real like, a simulation. What better place to hide a kill switch than in the thing it kills. That’s got to be the last place you’re gonna look for it.’ You explained.

‘It’s inside the simulation...’ I.N. whispered, before Jeno piped up to be the voice of reason.

‘Ok, wait, again, it’s all good to assume that but where? I don’t know about you guys, but, I’m not exactly excited to risk going back into that again to chase something that may not even be there’

You all sat in silence before another idea popped into your head, this one causing a cold shiver of fear to run down your spine.

‘I.N., not to bring back any bad memories, but when you were killed wasn’t it by a random zombie in the army base?’

I.N. blinked in confusion before answering. ‘Yeah, why?’

‘Didn’t you completely search the place from top to bottom and clear it out?’

‘Yeah, we were sure that we had got them all. I guess not. Well, obviously not.’

You looked him dead in the eye while asking him your next question.

‘What if you had?’

Another short silence spread over the group before Wooyoung spoke. 

‘What are you saying?’

You took a deep breath.

‘I’m saying, what if there’s a spawn point? Like a pace where they can add more zombies if they need to? There’s no way that a zombie could have got into the base, let alone that far, without being detected. There must be a place where they can create new ones, to attack survivors who think they’re safe. Maybe that’s where the kill switch is.’

‘Oh my god.’ I.N. suddenly breathed, drawing all of your attention.

‘What?’ You all said in unison.

‘I know where it is. There’s an old training room, that we had plans to turn into a shooting range to train new recruits, but we didn’t have the ammo for it so we simply shut the door. y/n its by the showers do you remember?’

You shook your head apologetically, but suddenly Jeno spoke up.

‘I remember it. From my camp, I know exactly what your talking about. But I think there’s more to it than you realise.’

‘What do you mean?’ I.N. asked, not knowing the bombshell that Jeno was about to drop

‘Well, in case the army base is ever taken out from the inside, there is a secret route under an old training area. It leads to a chamber, kind of like the one at Mark’s house but with a self destruct button to blow up the whole building. I don’t think it was a spawn point, I think a zombie must have got in there and been stuck until you found the room. Just beyond that button is a tunnel that leads five miles out into the forest for the troops to use to escape. If they’ve got a self destruct, I’m sure they’ll have reprogrammed that button.’

‘It makes sense. Who’s going to hit a self destruct button on your only safe haven?’ You said to no one in particular.

‘The same thing.’ Wooyoung whispered.

‘What?’ I.N. asked, not quite hearing what he had said.

‘The same thing.’ Wooyoung repeated. ‘That’s what the guys in the camera room said before they caught me. The self destruct button is the same thing. I thought they were pointing to an object like a keyboard and talking about that, but now I realise, they meant the exact same thing. It’s still a self destruct button.’

‘And it’s in the army base. Where all our friends are.’ Jeno said, silencing the rest of the room until you spoke.

‘We’re going back into the simulation.’

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