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starsstuddedsky · 2 years

Text

Blown Up Love

reader x wonwoo

summary: gaming is all fun and... well, games, until you start crushing on the only person that takes pity on you and saves you from mobs.

genre: fluff, university au, gamer!wonwoo

warnings: swearing, death (but it's fake)

wc: 7.1k

a/n: i wrote this so long ago i forgot all my jokes - i haven't played minecraft in forever but i imagine playing with wonwoo would be so much fun - there will be a bonus eventually bc this somehow isn’t enough fluff for me

You run as fast as you can, hearing the groans behind you, a constant reminder of what followed not far behind you. You swerve to the side as another monster appears in front of you, a flash of white and the cracking of bones snapping against each other. You can’t help but scream as you hear a twang and realize that you’ve been shot.

“Are you really leaving me like this?” You cry, praying one of your friends will take pity on you.

“Don’t you have armor?” Jihoon asks. “Why didn’t you make a weapon?”

“I just wanted to hide underground, I didn’t realize it was night time already!” You scream as you take another hit, trying to dodge trees and what feels like hundreds of monsters converging on you. “I'm literally outside the base, can someone please come help me?”

“You’re so dramatic,” Seungcheol says. You don’t have to see him to know he’s rolling his eyes.

“I’m about to die!” Your hands are shaking. You know that one more hit means death.

You can see the light of the base, your last hope. If you can just make it a little bit farther, maybe you’ll make it. A figure moves toward you in the darkness and you instinctively turn away, though a moment later you’re sprinting toward it because you realize that it’s not a monster but one of your friends. Wonwoo.

“Wow, you were not kidding, there’s so many,” he says. He charges in front of you, practically glowing in diamond armor. No, literally glowing. When had he enchanted his armor?

You can hear him slaughter them behind you as you make a last ditch effort to make it inside. Just before you can open the door you hear another whizz, and something slams into. Everything turns red

Respawn or return to main menu.

You stare at the screen.

“I got your stuff,” Wonwoo says, voice as calm and even as ever. You sigh and click respawn.

“Thanks for trying,” you mumble as you return to the game, your character waking up deep inside the base.

“Sorry, I was in the middle of mining so I couldn’t really make it in time,” he says. You meet his character by the entrance to the base. You can’t help but smile at his skin, mostly covered by the glowing armor. You can still pick out the glasses he’d added to his skin, just like the ones he wore in real life, big and as round as he could make them in the pixelated game. You can almost see him in your mind, probably sitting in complete darkness in his room, wearing one of the three sweatshirts he cycled through.

He gives you your items, tossing them in front, then vanishes into the base, probably to return to mining.You thank him again and wander around the interior of the base until you end up in the room you made for yourself. You had spent the last couple days dedicatedly designing the base, carved into the side of a mountain with rooms for all five of your friends to return to and put their stuff in. It was hours of work that was nowhere near being done, but you were enjoying every second of the rather monotonous work.

What made you even happier was that your friends were actually using the rooms you set aside for them, each of them designing it a little to their own tastes. You might be absolutely terrible at fighting mobs, but you could at least build, and it felt nice that they weren’t totally disregarding that. Even if Wonwoo was the only one who would help you when you inevitably had to face the mobs.

“Yn, are you still in the base?” Wonwoo asks. When you say yes, he asks you to meet him in the main entrance.

You find him waiting, feeling inferior in your iron armor. He tosses you something. When you pick it up, you find out it’s an enchanted pickaxe, complete with unbreaking, mending, and fortune.

“I figured it might be easier to work on this if you have, like, actually good tools.”

“Thank you?” You can’t say you’re not surprised by Wonwoo’s generosity. You don’t know him very well. He’s Mingyu’s friend, and though you’ve hung out with all five of the guys many times this semester, he tended to be quieter and you weren’t convinced he didn’t hate you. Still, he was the only one on the server that didn’t bully you.

“When did you get enchants,” you ask as you both go your separate ways. It’s finally daytime outside, so you deem it safe to continue working on the farm you were trying to design along the edge of the base.

“It was pretty easy once I finished the villager farm,” he says. “Though I haven’t gotten around to reviving villagers to get cheap enchants. It’s on the list.”

You frown as you climb the side of the mountain halfway up and continue designing what would hopefully be a sprawling pumpkin patch. “How did you have the time for that?”

“I haven’t exactly logged off,” he says.

“We started the server two days ago!”

“It’s fall break,” he says. “I didn’t want to waste my time.”

“I fear you.”

“Hey, you guys are aware there are other people in this voice chat, right?” Mingyu says.

“Shut up,” you say.

“Get a room,” he says, pretending to cough.

You can feel the blush spreading across your cheeks. It wasn’t that you had a crush on Wonwoo. He was just tall, and objectively attractive, and really nice, and smart, and he had saved your life more than once. Okay, maybe it was a small crush.

“Can we set a time to kill the ender dragon,” Seungcheol asks. “I’m getting blaze rods right now.”

“Okay, I think I have enough ender pearls,” Wonwoo says. “Want to try tonight?”

“You are aware it’s already almost nine, right?” You say.

“It’ll take like two minutes with all of us,” Jihoon says.

“I’ll text Jeonghan and see if he wants to join,” Mingyu says.

“I’m guessing no one cares that I’m not ready at all,” you grumble.

“It’s not our fault you care more about picking flowers than playing the game,” Seungcheol says.

“Hey! I have not been playing with flowers! I am an integral part of this server, if it weren’t for me you all would be living in dirt shacks!”

“Yeah, but we’d still have diamond armor,” Jihoon says.

“Why don’t you just ask Wonwoo for some armor.” Mingyu snickers. “I’m sure he can afford to support you.”

You’re glad that it’s just a voice chat because otherwise you’d never hear the end of their teasing.

“I do have an extra set of armor,” Wonwoo says. “Also, I have a ton of leftover books from enchanting that you guys should use.”

“Maybe you have spent too much time on this,” Mingyu says.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“You’re an English major,” Mingyu says. “Don’t you have an essay or some books to read?”

He laughs. “If you can find an English major that actually reads, I’ll log off.”

“Do not log off until we’ve beaten the dragon!” Seungcheol says.

“We could do it without him,” Mingyu says.

“Sure you could,” Wonwoo says. “Yn, are you getting the armor or not?”

You’ve been working on the farm outside, but as the sun starts to set, you begin to go back inside the base, not wanting a repeat of the previous night. “I’ll just die if I go with. Can’t I just stay and work on the base?”

“Nope, you have to come,” Mingyu says. “Server rules.”

“You can’t just make up rules on the spot,” you say.

“ Jeonghan is coming, so no excuses.”

You groan, knowing there’s no way out of it now. Jeonghan had joined exactly once, decided he was bored because Jihoon wouldn’t make him a “god” and hadn’t been on since. But it seemed like Mingyu was going to dictate friendship rules through Minecraft, so you were stuck.

“Here,” Wonwoo says, appearing in the halfway-finished room that you made for yourself. He tosses you a full set of armor, and when you pick it up you find that it has full enchants. He must not have been lying about spending his entire break on this game.

“I owe you!” You say. “Pretty much all I own is cobblestone and seeds but I will return this armor with only, like, minimal damage.”

“Unless you fall into the void,” Seungcheol said.

“Don’t even joke about that!” You say.

Wonwoo laughs, his deep voice almost melodic. “You’re just scared because it’s a very real possibility.”

“Not you bullying me, too,” you say, switching out the armor. “I thought you were on my side.”

“I am,” he says. “And honestly if you really do fall into the void it’s fine, I can make a new set in probably ten minutes. Probably less.”

“Can we make a rule about flirting in the main voice chat?” Seungcheol asks.

“Fine, Wonwoo, join me in VC-2,” you say. Your heart is pounding a little as you pause the game and switch voice chats. It’s painfully quiet for two seconds as you wait but finally you hear the ding of someone joining you.

“I’ll pay you real money to kill Seungcheol,” you say.

Wonwoo is quiet for a moment. “Right now?”

“Okay my bank account is a little empty, but next week I can buy you lunch?” You say.

“Are you… hiring me as a hitman?” He asks.

“Yes?”

“Two lunches and it’s a deal.”

“Done.”

You switch back to the main voice chat, and hear the second half of Mingyu explaining that there is no way you are bold enough to actually be flirting. You hate that he’s right.

“Back so soon?” Mingyu asks, cutting himself off mid-sentence. “Seungcheol, you owe me five dollars.”

“I really just live in your head rent free, huh?” You say. “Making bets on me now?”

“Actually, the bet was about the enchants that Wonwoo just gave me,” Mingyu says. “None of us believed you were actually flirting, but feel free to keep that inflated ego of yours.”

You wonder if you’re going to be able to stop embarrassing yourself in front of Wonwoo. With Mingyu and Seungcheol around, probably not.

The voice chat is mostly quiet as everyone goes to their own individual tasks. You are back to developing the farm (during the day). Jihoon and Mingyu are mining together and chatting about their spring schedule, while Seungcheol says he’s still getting blaze rods because he wants to make potions. Wonwoo is silent.

You are starting to think he was giving up, when suddenly Seungcheol shouts. “Hey, what the hell?”

“What’s wrong?” Wonwoo asks.

“Something is shooting me.” He curses.

“A blaze?” You ask, hoping your voice doesn’t sound as giddy as you feel.

“No, what the fuck, it’s coming out of nowhere.”

You’re struggling to stifle your laughter.

“Oh my god, I’m gonna die,” Seungcheol says. “I’m actually gonna die what the fuck, I’m at two hearts, where is this coming from? I’m actually dying, I-”

kkakkamori was killed by VvWonwoovV.

“What the fuck, Wonwoo?”

“Nothing personal,” he says as you finally burst into laughter. “Just doing business.”

“You just killed me!”

“I got your stuff,” he says.

“Keep talking shit about me and I’ll make sure you never see a day of peace,” you say, cackling at Seungcheol’s curses. You can hear Mingyu and Jihoon laughing, too. You wonder how many lunches it would cost to take them out.

“I won’t forget this,” Seungcheol says. “I’ll get revenge.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Wonwoo says.

“I can’t believe you killed me,” he says again. “Were you invis?”

“Yeah, I used some arrows of harming and spectral arrows, too, just in case.”

“Dude, you killed me in like five shots.”

“Okay, Wonwoo is no longer allowed to be hired as a hitman,” Mingyu announces. “It’s not fair.”

“Hey! Can’t I choose how to sell my services?” Wonwoo asks.

“Was it worth betraying me?” Seungcheol pretends to be hurt. “How much did my life cost?”

“Two sandwiches,” you answer.

“I’ll never forgive you.”

You laugh, and then smile even more when you see Wonwoo has texted you a smiley face.

Me: Good job, partner, you send him.

Wonwoo: Just doing good business.

You turn back to your computer. There’s still another hour until Jeonghan could get on to beat the ender dragon, and it occurs to you that you’ve been playing for nearly four hours. You tell the guys you are going to come back later, signing off and getting out of your chair and stretching.

You check your phone as it dings.

Wonwoo: don’t forget to refill your water!

You frown. You must have mentioned it to him while playing. You grab your water bottle, trying not to overthink the fact that he remembered when even you forgot. The more time you spend around Wonwoo, the harder it is to deny how lovely he is.

You stare at the options. You wish Wonwoo hadn’t trusted you to get him something, or that you could have remembered to ask him what he likes, at least what he dislikes.

You finally choose a BLT and a chicken sandwich and pray he isn’t vegetarian. You scout a table out and snag it, laying your backpack across the seats opposite you to save them. A few minutes later, you see Wonwoo making his way through the crowd of people filling up the dining hall. As he gets closer, you see Jeonghan and Jihoon at his sides. You tell yourself you didn’t notice them because Wonwoo is so much taller. No other reason.

You wave them over, grabbing your backpack as they slide into the seats, Jeonghan next to you while Wonwoo sat directly across from you. You point to the sandwiches. He frowns but ends up picking the chicken sandwich.

You slap Jeonghan’s hand away from the BLT. “That’s my lunch!”

“Why does Wonwoo get one, then?”

“It’s his payment,” you say, picking up your sandwich.

“You’re telling me Seungcheol hasn’t whined about his murder to you yet?” Jihoon asks.

“You know, I sort of tune him out when he starts talking about Minecraft,” Jeonghan says.

“He is being a little dramatic about it,” you say.

“You can’t say anything, you're the one that ordered a hit on him,” Jihoon said. “I’d watch your back.”

“It’s a video game!” You say.

“You know Seungcheol,” Jeonghan says. “He can hold a grudge when he wants to.”

Seungcheol and Jeonghan were your first friends in college. Technically you went to high school with them, but you didn’t really become friends until last year, when the three of you somehow ended up at the same school.

That’s how you know Jeonghan was exactly right. You glance around, suddenly worried that he was going to appear and exact his revenge in the middle of the dining hall.

“Was it worth it?” Jeonghan asks Wonwoo, who is somehow almost finished with the sandwich.

Wonwoo shrugs. “I’m not going to lie, the sandwich was a little subpar.” He checks his watch, then nudges you with his foot. “We’re going to be late to lab.”

You groan. “Why did we let Mingyu convince us to take this horrible class with him?”

He laughs as you stand up and follow him, grabbing your half eaten sandwich and waving goodbye to Jihoon and Jeonghan. As you walk beside him, you realize this is the first time you’ve been alone with him since you realized your tiny crush. Trying to match pace with his long stride is even more difficult when you are also trying very hard not to think about the way his arms hang on his sides, the way his hands are so close to yours and how easy it would be to slip your fingers in with his. Luckily he seems to notice you struggling to keep up because he starts taking smaller steps. So sweet.

“So was the sandwich really that bad?” You ask.

“It’s campus food,” he says. “It’s never good.”

“That’s true.”

He glances at you, glasses glinting in the sunlight. “I’m not sure I can really count it as payment.”

You freeze. “This is extortion! I’ve paid you for your services, you can’t demand more!”

“I don’t think that’s what extortion means.” He says. “And I’m not saying the sandwich doesn’t count. Just, maybe, a better second payment.”

“You’re going to make me go broke,” you say. “Well, more broke.”

He laughs. “Nothing expensive.” He holds the door to the science building open for you and you try not to read into it.

“What about the café? It’s better than the dining hall,” you say, heading into the stairwell. You catch a glimpse of a grimace across his face as you turn up the stairs. “What is it?”

“Jihoon’s ex works there and apparently being friends with him means that I’m hated too.”

You snort.

“What is it?”

“I can’t believe Jihoon dated before I did.”

“It surprises us all,” Wonwoo says. “Though I’d barely call it dating. They broke up after a week because Jihoon is Jihoon and realized his feelings were just superficial and no one really takes it well but his ex… It’s safe to say we mostly just avoid the café on principle.”

“Noted,” you say. You’re in the hallway outside the classroom now. You really don’t want to go inside, because, seriously, why do three hour long classes exist? Chatting with Wonwoo was an added bonus to avoiding the torture. You idle outside a couple minutes longer but you really are in danger of being late and Wonwoo is starting to look antsy.

You finally step inside, waving at Mingyu who is already sitting at the table. He’s grinning, as he always is.

Mingyu was the reason you really had friends. Though you knew Seungcheol and Jeonghan in high school, it was only because of Mingyu that the friendship lasted past your first semester, hanging out with them throughout the spring semester, keeping in touch with them over the summer, and even taking a class with Mingyu.

Mingyu is the reason you ever met Wonwoo, and, sitting in class and definitely paying attention to the lab introduction and not staring at the back of Wonwoo’s head, you can’t decide if that’s a good thing or not.

You can’t remember who suggested it first, but it was Jihoon who ended up making the server, the first day of fall break. It practically belonged to Wonwoo now, since he was by far the person that played the most. You have no idea how he finds the time to play and do his work and sleep, but every time you log on, he has something shiny and new.

It has been two weeks since the server started. You spent too much of fall break playing and generally leeching off of Wonwoo, but have only logged on a couple times since then. It’s Friday, though, and you even did one of your readings, so you feel like you can afford to spend a few hours working on the base. You aren’t surprised when you log in and Wonwoo is on.

You’re prepared to play on your own, but Wonwoo asks if you want to join a voice chat and there’s no way you’ll say no.

“It’s been so lonely,” Wonwoo says as soon as you join. “No one ever plays.”

“It’s like we’re college students,” you say. You wander around the base, deciding you would keep working on designing the interior with the new types of wood that someone “anonymously” gifted you (you knew it was Wonwoo).

“The trick is to not do anything until the last possible second,” Wonwoo says.

“I can’t say that sounds appealing to me,” you say. “What are you doing right now, anyways?”

“Just prepping for my next project,” Wonwoo says.

“That sounds vaguely suspicious, should I be concerned?”

He’s quiet for a moment. Finally, he asks in a low voice, “Can you keep a secret?”

His voice is just serious enough that you can’t tell if he’s joking or not. “Is this real life or in game?”

Wonwoo laughs. “This is in game, though I guess the question technically applies to both.”

“Well, no one knows about the Incident, so at least Mingyu would say yes.”

“He made a fool of himself, didn’t he?”

“I’m sworn to secrecy.”

You decide if making Wonwoo laugh was all you did for the rest of your life it would be worth it. Something about the way his deep voice echoed in your ears made your heart skip a beat.

“Okay, come to Seungcheol’s base,” he says.

“The secret one?” You start heading there when Wonwoo says yes. The second day, Seungcheol decided he wanted to have a secret base, which meant in two minutes everyone had figured out where it was.

At least, where it used to exist. When you get there, Wonwoo is standing around the blown up remains of the Seungcheol’s base, a giant crater created by TNT in the middle of a flower field.

“What happened?”

“Jeonghan,” Wonwoo says.

“You know what, that actually makes sense,” you say. “Didn’t he say he’d only join if Jihoon let him play in creative?”

“Yeah, that was not happening,” he says.

“Is Seungcheol’s stuff still there?” You wander around the crater, seeing the remains of what Seungcheol had built, a few chests that remained.

“I can’t tell,” Wonwoo says. “I’m not really sure what he had to begin with or whether Jeonghan bothered to save his stuff, but the chests that survived seem to be pretty organized.”

“Wait, I still don’t get how he blew up Seungcheol’s house.” You emerge from the hole, standing at its edge beside Wonwoo’s character.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out,” he says. “I’ve been on this server, like, almost twenty four-seven and I haven’t even seen him on, so I really have no idea how or when he did it.”

“Someone must have helped him,” you say. “Oh my god, there’s an entire conspiracy. We have to get to the bottom of this!”

“Conspiracy?”

“It’s obviously not Seungcheol,” you say. “He’s going to be so mad when he comes back on.” The sun is starting to set. “Can we sleep through the night? I really don’t want to hide for the next ten minutes.”

“Sure,” he says. You return to the base with him, mind still racing trying to figure out who was enabling Jeonghan.

“Obviously it’s not your or me, so that leaves Jihoon and Mingyu.” You think about your two friends. You could see Mingyu doing it, because he was bullied by Seungcheol at least once a day, but usually Jeonghan was also involved, and you know Mingyu’s too busy being a STEM major to really dedicate his time to the game.

So Jihoon? You don’t think he has much motivation, but he has been playing a lot and maybe he had some unknown score to settle with Seungcheol.

“We should set up a stakeout or something,” you say. “Figure out who his supplier is.” The iron door swings shut behind you as you and Wonwoo return to the base.

“A stakeout might be kind of intense,” Wonwoo says.

“Okay, less of a stakeout and more of ‘you keep playing all day every day and find out if anyone is suspicious’ kind of thing.”

“This sounds like I’m going to be doing all the work.”

“Do you not spend most of your time here anyways?” You say. You go into your room and lay in your bed. “Bed!”

“Okay true,” Wonwoo says as the screen fades. “But I actually have an essay due tomorrow and next week so I can’t really be on as much.”

“Wonwoo? Being responsible?” You pretend to be shocked but when he laughs and your heart pounds so loud you forget that you were teasing him.

“So how do we find out who’s helping him?” You ask. “It seems like we don’t have many options.” With the sun back in the sky, you decide you want to work on a tree farm with the generous saplings that had been donated to you.

“We'll investigate together,” Wonwoo says. “Maybe next time Mingyu or Jihoon will leave evidence.”

You nod in approval, though he can’t see you. “Sounds good. I’m going to grind resources for a little while if you want to go back to whatever you were doing.” He’s quiet as you both play, the silence between you not awkward but strangely peaceful. He doesn’t complain when you ask him to sleep every night, even reminding you to get back before the sun sets.

Though you know he’s not nearly as invested as you are, it’s also fun to be in on a conspiracy with him. Maybe it’s just the fact that you have a secret between the two of you, but it makes you feel a tiny bit closer to him. You are finding that everything you learn about him just makes you like him more.

“Should I be worried about how much time you’re playing on this server?” You ask as soon as you join the server.

“No time for that!” Wonwoo says. “I’ve been hit!”

“No way!” You sprint to his section of the base, and indeed, it’s been blown up. Wonwoo had spent hours personalizing what had initially just been a hole in the wall, designing a bunch of rooms with resources from the nether and the end and creating redstone machines that you didn’t even try to comprehend.

Most of that is gone now, a crater even larger than the remains of Seungcheol’s base.

“Oh my god,” you say. “You’ve been nuked.” You join Wonwoo and Seungcheol at the sidelines. It’s been a week since the last attack, and Seungcheol has joined your party of justice. You’re a bit sad that it’s no longer something you had just between you and Wonwoo, but looking at the remains, you couldn’t deny you needed the help.

You take a step forward and there’s an ominous click.

“Yn, run!” Wonwoo shouts. You try to run but you panic, pressing the W instead of the S. You hear hissing and it only worsens your panic.

The first explosion doesn’t kill you but it scares the crap out of you and you can’t help but scream. “Help, help, help!”

“You’re running the wrong direction!” Seungcheol says.

“Stop laughing at me!” You groan as you die in the third explosion. Seungcheol doesn’t stop laughing, but what pains you is you can hear Wonwoo chuckling, too.

“I guess not all of the TNT was blown up,” Seungcheol says through his laughter.

“Evidently,” you say. “I kind of hate this game.” You click on respawn, heading back to the remains of Wonwoo’s base. You stay as far back as possible.

“I’m sorry,” Wonwoo says. You can tell he’s still trying not to laugh. Traitor.

“It’s not your fault,” you say with a sigh. “Though Jeonghan better watch his back.”

“I’m sure he’s really scared,” Seungcheol says. He wanders carefully around the interior but there doesn’t seem to be any more traps.

“I have our high school yearbook from freshman year.”

“Have I mentioned how much I like you? Really, you’re one of my favorite people, ever,” he says.

“Very convincing,” you say. “Tell Jeonghan to watch his back.”

“Are the pictures really that bad?” Wonwoo asks.

You cackle. “I’ll send them to you.”

“Wait, why does he get them?” Seungcheol whines.

“We’re partners in… not crime,” you say. “Partners in solving crime? Justice?”

“That doesn’t sound right but I want to see the pictures, so, whatever you say.”

“Did you both forget I’m still here?” Seungcheol asks. “Third wheeling?”

“You’re not a third wheel, you’re a part of the team, too!” You say. “Partnership plus Seungcheol.”

“That’s literally a third wheel.”

Wonwoo bursts into laughter.

“Why am I even here?” Seungcheol sighs. He logs out of the game. “I’m going to do actual homework.” He leaves the voice chat.

“Did we just annoy him into doing actual homework?” You ask. You are still standing in the wreckage of Wonwoo’s base as he tries to fix it.

“I guess so,” Wonwoo says. “I don’t think we were actually excluding him or anything, were we?”

“I didn’t think so,” you say. The problem was, when you talked to Wonwoo, you didn’t exactly pay attention to what you were saying to anyone else. Maybe you should work on that.

“So, Mingyu or Jihoon?” You ask because it’s been quiet for too long.

“What?”

“Which one do you think did it? Or, helped Jeonghan, same difference.”

“Oh, right,” Wonwoo says. “I’m still not sure, I didn’t notice anything suspicious about either of them.”

“You aren’t the best at investigating, huh?”

Wonwoo laughs. “No, I’m really not.”

“I guess we could just interrogate them.” You wonder if you’re taking this too seriously, and maybe that’s why Wonwoo isn’t answering. “Or, I mean, it is your base that’s been blown up, so we don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to.”

Wonwoo is quiet a second too long.

“Sorry, I guess it’s really not that big of a deal,” you say.

“It’s not that-”

“It’s okay, I just thought it was funny, I didn’t mean to take it so seriously.”

“Yn-”

“I actually probably should go do some homework too.” You leave the voice chat as quickly as possible, logging out of the game immediately after. It was silly of you to think that Wonwoo wasn’t just entertaining you the entire time, but it still hurt to realize.

You sigh and turn away from your computer, despite the fact that the homework was not just an excuse and you really did have a lot of it. You just didn’t feel very motivated, instead thinking of how you had to somehow face Wonwoo tomorrow and pretend like you didn’t just get heartbroken over a video game.

There’s a gentle poke to your cheek. “You can’t sleep here.”

“Comfy,” you mumble, burying your face deeper into your arms.

“Come on, wouldn’t you rather sleep in your own bed?”

“Sleepy.”

“Come on.” The hand on your shoulder is gentle, but relentless, shaking you until you finally blink awake, sitting up. You instantly feel sore, stretching the arm that had been your pillow.

“How long was I out for?” You ask with a yawn.

“I’m not really sure.”

You freeze. You are 100% that when you fell asleep studying earlier you had been with Mingyu but that was definitely Wonwoo’s voice. You turn your head slowly, finding Wonwoo standing a couple steps behind you. Your heart does its usual gymnastic routine, though it’s worse because you’ve been awake for all of two seconds and Wonwoo looks picture perfect in his sweatshirt and perfectly combed hair.

“What are you doing here?” You try to smooth your hair, praying there’s no red marks on your face.

“Mingyu called because he had… actually he didn’t say what he had, he just said he had to go and that he didn’t want to wake you up, and he just told me to come here and study but the library closes in ten minutes, so we should probably go.” He folds his arm over his chest.

“Right,” you say. You stand up and stretch a little more, still blinking sleep away. You hate finals week. You stuff your computer into your backpack and try to organize the papers around you. Wonwoo steps beside you, trying to help.

“Is there an order to this?” He asks, trying to read your scribbled notes.

“There was once, it doesn’t really matter now,” you say. “The exam is tomorrow and I think I’ve stared at those as much as I can.” He doesn’t say anything else as he helps you gather them and shove them into a folder, sticking it all into your backpack. You turn to leave but he stops you, pointing to the outlet.

“Is that yours?”

“Yes, oh my god.” You grab the charger from the wall, tossing it into your backpack. “Thank you, I would have cried if I lost that.” You do a final sweep of the room, not seeing anything else that’s yours.

“Ready to go?” Wonwoo asks. You make the mistake of glancing at him, leaning against the doorframe with his backpack on his shoulders. He’s been so patient with you it doesn’t feel fair.

You nod, following him out of the room and falling into step beside him. The sleep is finally starting to wear off, and you are beginning to feel awake. The library is beginning to clear out, though you’re surprised at how many people there still are.

“How many tests do you have tomorrow?” Wonwoo asks.

“Just the one.” You sigh as you walk down the steps. “It’s a major requirement but it’s so dumb, it’s not helpful at all.”

“I’m just happy the science class is over,” he says. “No offense,” he adds quickly. “It was really fun to see you twice a week but I’m never letting Mingyu convince me to take a class with him again, that class was horrible.”

You shudder, remembering the final. You can only pray that you passed the test. Your memory is so bad you almost miss Wonwoo’s half compliment. “We should celebrate being free!” You stop in your tracks, just before the exit. “Oh my god, I forgot!”

“Did you leave something in the room?” He asks, turning to face you.

“No!” You grab his sleeve. “I forgot to pay you!”

He frowns. “For Seungcheol?”

You nod.

“That was just a joke,” he says with a laugh. He tugs your hand off of his arm, pulling you to the library doors. “I felt bad even taking the sandwich.”

“I can’t believe I forgot!” You say, ignoring his dismissal. The December air is chilly as you step outside and you pull your jacket tighter around your shoulders.

“You don’t actually owe me anything,” Wonwoo says. “Seriously, it was a joke.”

“No, but I feel bad, I promised you I would do something for you and I completely forgot about it!” You stop him under a streetlight, laying a hand on his wrist. Your breath makes little clouds in the air between you, dissipating quickly in the frigid air. Whatever you were going to say, you forget because Wonwoo is staring at you and he’s practically glowing in the bright light, and you are suddenly reminded of the day he tried to save your life. Knight in shining armor is the phrase that comes to your mind.

Your heart is pounding as you stare at him, unable to look away. His dark eyes, magnified just a little by his thick glasses lenses, stare back at you. Though he’s only a couple of feet away from you, the distance feels like miles.

His lips look a little chapped in the cold air, and you wonder what it would be like to step a little closer and press yours against his, whether they’d be rough or soft, whether he’d kiss you back.

You clear your throat. “I’m sorry anyway.” You’re not sure why you say it, but you finally tear your eyes from his, dropping your hand from his arm when you remember it’s there. You wish you could hold his hand. You stumble back for a couple steps before finally convincing your feet to work. You’re vaguely aware of Wonwoo mumbling, “Don’t worry about it,” and falling into step next to you.

He walks you to your car, neither of you daring to say anything after the strange moment. You’re struggling to think straight, especially with him still at your side. More than anything, you need your bed.

“I’ll see you later,” he says when you open the door. You force yourself to smile and wave goodnight to him before getting into your car. You lay your head against the wheel, wondering why you can’t just pretend like these feelings don’t exist.

There was no way Wonwoo didn’t think that was awkward, and you were now going to spend the rest of the night wondering just why you couldn’t stop staring at him when you should be studying for finals.

Maybe you should just drop out.

“It’s not what it looks like!” Wonwoo says. You join the voice chat before your game loads, but before you can say anything, he’s stammering. “I swear, it wasn’t supposed to happen like this!”

“What are you talking about?” You say, but a second later your game loads and you have no words. When you left a couple days ago, you had been in the middle of your base, logging off after spending a couple hours perfecting the hallway design (the trick was to mix and match the different types of stone).

It’s all gone now. You spawn in a crater of what you hand spent all your time on, barely recognizable amidst the remains. You see Wonwoo character appear and realize that the explosion had just happened, blocks littered around you.

“Wonwoo,” you say slowly, trying to understand what was happening around you. Everything you had worked on, gone.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he says again.

You start to understand, though it doesn’t make sense. “It’s been you? All this time?”

He says nothing, character in front of you as frozen as you feel inside.

“I can explain,” he finally says.

“No, I get it,” you say. “Actually it makes way more sense, you’re the only one who spends enough time to really supply him.” You try not to let the hurt show in your voice. It made perfect sense, really. What you didn’t understand is why he lied, why he played along with you when it was him all along. How many times had you talked to him about thinking it was Jihoon today, or Mingyu the next? You feel embarrassed, now, knowing how stupid you sounded.

“Jeonghan wasn’t supposed to destroy everything,” he says softly.

“Is that why you think I’m upset?” You’re not being fair, but you don’t particularly care right now. It shouldn't hurt, but it does. “Because my shit got blown up?” You log out of the game, staring at the discord chat. You and Wonwoo are the only ones online, which is good because you really don’t want anyone walking in on this conversation.

“You spent the entire time on the server working on it,” he mumbles.

You laugh. “I spent my entire time on the server hanging out with you,” you say. It’s good you're behind a screen because otherwise you would never have the confidence to do this, even if that made you a coward. “I really don’t care about Minecraft, Wonwoo. I like you.”

It’s so quiet you can hear your heart pounding over your headphones. You’re frozen, unable to click out of the voice chat though you know the silence is your answer, and every second that he doesn’t say anything means is him trying to figure out how to say that your feelings are unrequited and you just ruined the friendship.

Okay, completely ruined might be an exaggeration but it won’t ever be the same and it made you sick to your stomach that you had just blurted it out because you were butthurt about a dumb game.

“Did you really just confess to me over discord?” Wonwoo says. It's always been impossible to decipher how he feels from his voice but you’re going crazy trying to figure out if he really doesn’t sound mad or it's just your wishful thinking.

“Um. I guess so?”

He laughs, that stupid laugh that makes your heart flip in spite of the fact that you’re terrified. “I’m sorry, this is just the worst way to do this, you seriously couldn’t wait one more week?”

“You really don’t have to make me feel any more stupid than I already do,” you say.

“Oh my god, no, that’s not what I mean!” He says quickly. “Yn, I like you, too.”

“Oh.” Oh.

“I just didn’t think it was the best idea to tell you over discord,” he says.

“Yeah, that would be really dumb,” you say, trying to get your brain to comprehend anything other than I like you, too.

“If you waited literally one week, I would have told you in person,” he says. “I had a plan and everything. Actually, I had a plan to do it after finals but I sort of chickened out and then we both went back home and I had to reschedule, but I swear I was actually going to do it.”

“Right,” you say. “Wait, what? I really have no idea what’s going on, I can’t believe you actually like me back.”

“You’re an idiot,” he says. “How could I not?”

You have no answer to that, realizing that any insecurity you tell him would be shot down.

“I can’t believe this is how I told you,” Wonwoo says.

“I can pretend I didn’t hear you?”

You smile at his laugh, his voice sending a shock straight to your heart. “Or we could just meet up the second you’re back?”

“Like a date?”

“If that’s what you want,” he says. “It’s what I want, if I’m not being clear,” he adds quickly.

You wonder if you’ll ever stop smiling. “Yeah, I definitely want.” Eventually your vocabulary will return. Hopefully.

“So it’s a date?” Wonwoo asks.

You open your mouth to answer but there’s a ding and someone else joins the voice chat.

“Hey, perfect!” Jeonghan says. “Yn, I’m supposed to apologize for blowing up your base, that wasn’t supposed to happen. Actually, that’s what Wonwoo told me to say but honestly I’m really tired of listening to the both of you flirt without actually doing anything and I blew it up on purpose so that I can now say this: yn, Wonwoo likes you. Wonwoo, yn likes you. Have fun!” There’s another ding and he’s gone.

“I don’t know if I’m more mad that he planned that or that it sort of worked,” Wonwoo says.

“Yeah, he actually makes no sense,” you say.

“And yet it worked,” Wonwoo says. You wish you could see the face he’s making now, wondering if he’s smiling like you are.

“So, it’s a date?” He asks again.

Yes,” you say. “It’s a date.”

#🌟 stars galaxy #seventeen #seventeen x reader #svt #svt reader #seventeen fanfic #seventeen fanfiction #seventeen fluff #svt x reader #wonwoo #jeon wonwoo #wonwoo x reader #reader x wonwoo #svt wonwoo #wonwoo fluff #seventeen wonwoo #svt jeon wonwoo

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 4 months

Note

am i the asshole for cutting off my mentally unstable friend without any explanation whatsoever?

(🧠🌩️ so i can find it)

tw for abuse and cheating mentions

ok typing out that title makes me feel like i might be TA to, like, some degree but just hear me out first.

i (19, f) was in my first semester of college when i met rachel (20). we shared a class and grew to be friends over our shared nerdy interests. i admittedly didn't really like her that much at first and didn't consider her to be that close of a friend. she was really just someone to talk to when class got boring or we had a break or something.

i was actually kinda regretting talking to her at all because i clocked that she was a little unstable almost immediately; she was very quick to anger and constantly talked about fighting people that had ""wronged"" her (which included our professor who she was convinced was out to get her for some reason?? idk why our prof was a really nice lady), constantly trauma dumped without asking (i'm talking like early into our relationship too. first day we met she was ranting about her abusive mother and her childhood trauma and stuff), and always found a way to turn the focus of the conversation about her any time i tried to talk about myself or anything that wasn't our shared interests. the only reason i gave her my number is bc she asked for it and i didn't know how to turn her down without hurting her feelings--i'd been planning on ghosting the second our class ended.

so we continued to talk/text for like a year and (at her insistence) met up for lunch in between class the following semester. i warmed to her a little at this point so it wasn't too bad; at the very least her constant drama gave me something to talk about with my real friends, and like i said i didn't really know how to cut her off in a way that wouldn't start something.

so time goes on and she shuffles through a few boyfriends--all who either cheated on her or were inattentive/verbally abusive. she constantly asked me for advice, which was confusing bc she never listened to it? like she asked me if she should take back her ex who cheated on her 3x and i said "no that sounds like an awful idea" and then she exploded at me and screamed that i could 'go fuck myself' and to 'stay the fuck outta her business bc it's her fucking life and not mine'. but then the minute he (predictably) cheated on her again and dumped her guess who had to sit with her on the phone for 2 hours while she cried? yep. me!

this kinda bullshit continued all the way up to a few months ago. she met a new guy, told me all about how he was "the one" and "he's gonna be different this time" blah blah blah. at this point i genuinely stopped giving a fuck about her and her problems. the only reason i hadn't cut her off was because my other friends loved hearing about her drama secondhand and i admittedly did enjoy making fun of her with them. which i know is kinda shitty but at least she'll never find out about it?

anyways, shit starts to get particularly juicy bc two months into rachel's relationship with this new dude he proposes. and she accepts (?!!) not only that but she informs me (not asks. INFORMS) me that i will be a bridesmaid. and i panicked and just said "uhhh cool i'm so happy for you!!" so this is the point where i decide that i need to end this relationship bc having to attend her wedding is just not something i wanna be apart of and i felt that if i went through with that it would solidify our ''friendship'' in her mind and i'd never be rid of her.

so i stop responding to her texts as frequently and began ducking her calls. didn't have to stop initiating bc i never initiated convos with her in the first place. i'd answer every once in a while bc she would start spamming that she was having ""emergencies!!!"" which. they never were true emergencies; she just wanted to vent about her fiance and his shitty family or something his ex-wife did to piss her off (her fiance was like 20 and divorced twice with three kids. YIKES) and i'd listen until she got tired of talking and ended the call. not once did she ever ask about me btw. at this point she wasn't even to pretend to care about me or my life; i was just her dumping grounds for all her trauma and venting.

i thought she might've got the message that we were done bc she hadn't texted for like a month, but a few days ago i recieved a message that said something like "omg i haven't heard from you in a while, are you okay??" and. i'm not sure if i can put into words the sheer amount of exasperation and annoyance those words filled me with. like i could tell right off the bat it was just a ploy so she could get me talking and then vent and saddle me with all her stupid emotional bullshit. so i blocked her, finally. this shouldn't cause any problems bc she dropped out of school last semester (she was failing so she decided to start her own business).

the thing is, i know that she's mentally not well. she is very erratic and immature, add that to the fact that she's gone through a lot of trauma throughout her life and the end result is a deeply flawed person. at the same time i'm not responsible for her mental health and continuing to play friends with her what i don't even like her in the first place seems disingenuous. but she's got abandonment issues, so me doing this is probably gonna hurt her. although me being honest and saying that i can't stand her and her drama anymore probably wouldn't feel any better.

AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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fivestar-outlaw · 8 months

Text

New Horizons (Park Seonghwa) (Ch. 2)

Chapter 2: Wishes

Pairing: Park Seonghwa x Fem!Reader

Words: 3.2K+

Warning(s): Mentions of rude customers, MC is stressed(tm), use of time jumps

A/N: Chapter 2 is here! I hope you guys enjoy it. I think its my favorite of the four <3 Not much else to say other than tadaaa and thank you for the love for the first chapter.

Reader is implied to be living in the US bc uh TIMEZONES ARE FUCKY and i didnt realize how reliant i was on mine (PST) when looking up KST

Summary: Attempting an all-nighter while playing Animal Crossing alongside your bias, you didn't expect your turnip prices to be such a high amount... nor did you expect Park Seonghwa to actually accept your offer to sell his turnips on your island.

Series Masterlist | Navigation

You got out of your last class for the day in the afternoon and ready to get your shift done at the bookstore next. It was a warm Thursday but you were glad it was slowly starting to cool off. Shifting your bag your shoulder you pull out your phone and see you got a message while in class. You smile and press the kakaotalk app. Seonghwa had sent you a message.

'Good afternoon for you, (Y/N). I just woke up. I hope classes have been well.' Followed by a cute emote of a cat yawning in bed.

After inviting Seonghwa to your island to sell turnips and take Marshal, you two began playing together. This was initiated by him, saying that he wanted more Animal Crossing friends. You and him swapped gifts for a few days in the game when he asked if you'd like to message through kakaotalk and here you both were now. At first most of your conversations pertained to Animal Crossing but gradually it shifted to you two learning about each other and talking.

And not just over text either.

When Seonghwa learned you were learning Korean he offered to help you out with verbal conversations if you helped him with English. At first you wanted to decline since you knew he would be busy and the time zones would make it difficult. He talked you into it, however, saying on the weekend when he has a shorter practice day and on your Friday nights when you could stay up layer you'd both video chat to show the progress you've both made for the week. Though, soon that would lead to sporadic video chats when either of you had free time.

'Good morning to you. I just got done with classes and I'll be heading to work in an hour. :)'

You replied and a few moments later he responded.

'Want to have a quick video call before I need to leave for practice?'

'Sure, let me find a spot to sit at.' You quickly found a small picnic table in the shade under a tree and put in your earphones. You hit the video call button and wait for him to pick up.

The screen shifted and you see his face. He seems to be at his deak with his phone set up to perfectly capture his face. You could faintly hear his Animal Crossing game in the background. You couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"Hey, Seonghwa. How did you sleep?" You greeted.

"Hello, (Y/N). I slept good." He smiled. "Were classes good today?"

"A bit boring. We just did lectures today and got a good chunk of reading to do for homework. Did you have breakfast yet?"

"I grabbed something small." You watch as he reaches over off screen and he holds up a bowl of cereal in one hand and an apple in the other. "I'll pick up more food when we get to the building." He lightly chuckled.

"Ah, yeah. I was running behind so I didn't have much to eat this morning." You saw him give you a playful scold. "But I'll be sure to pick up something at the café by my job. I have some left overs from last night that my roommate made for us that I am looking forward to after my shift."

"Oh, Redd is at my island and the real artwork is one I already have, the beautiful statue, do you want it?"

"That would be great, Seonghwa. I am missing that one. Man, it seems like Redd really likes visiting your island. He rarely ever comes to mine."

"Well, you've been having the better turnip-"

"Hyung!" Three loud, distinctive voices cut him off and soon you're seeing San, Mingi, and Wooyoung bust in behind him. Seonghwa was clearly flustered as he stared at you then looked back at the three men in his room.

You haven't gotten to speak to the other Ateez members before, nor were you ever begging or asking to. You'd let your friend decide when you'd be introduced to them. Seonghwa frequently mentioned the antics Ateez gets up to and he's mentioned that he has brought you up to them before. You were curious to see how this video call would go.

"Is that (Y/N)?" You see Mingi bend down into frame, looking at the phone. Wooyoung and San crowd around the elder male, who's ears were turning red.

"She is pretty, hyung." Your faces flushes with warmth when you hear Wooyoung not so quietly say. You smile though when you hear his words.

"It's nice to meet you finally. Seonghwa-hyung is always talking about you." San smiled brightly next to a mortified looking Seonghwa.

You chuckle, "It's nice to meet you three too! I hope you've heard all good things."

"Only good things. Hyung never shuts up about you." Wooyoung said playfully, rolling his eyes.

"Want to swap KaTalks?" Mingi asked while already pulling his phone out. San and Wooyoung quickly follow suit.

"Hey-!" Seonghwa tried to speak but the youngest in the room cut him off.

"We want to talk to and get to know (Y/N) too, hyung. And she can help us with our English. Right, (Y/N)?" Woo smiled at you and you can see a hint of mischievousness in his expression.

"Will the schedule Seonghwa and I have for those work for-"

"Yes, it would." San interrupts. "So KaTalk?"

You simply chuckle and immediately exchange numbers with them. You start to see notifications pop up on your screen of them texting you their names and emotes as well.

"Let's be friends." Mingi excitedly said with San nodding along.

"I look forward to talking to you guys."

"I look forward to talking to hyung's pretty friend-"

"Okay, out you three." Seonghwa cut Woo off and glared at the three of them as he stood up from his chair. You watch him shoo San, Wooyoung, and Mingi away, who were all very vocal in wanting to stay in his room and talk to you. You heard the door close loudly and then see Seonghwa sit back down in front of his phone. His ears, cheeks, and the sides of his neck were blushing.

"They seem fun." You tease.

"Try living with them. I'd never get peace if Woo was living in the dorm too." He rolled his eyes but still kept a soft expression. "I do love them despite the teasing."

"So you talk about me to them?"

"W-well, yeah. I consider you a friend and all-"

"Seonghwa!" Suddenly you heard Hongjoong's voice in the call. "Woo told us you were speaking to your game friend!"

You see Hongjoong and Yeosang flank Seonghwa and kneel on the ground while Jongho and Yuhno stand behind them, leaning down a bit to be in frame. The eldest male looked so embarrassed as they started to greet you and asking you to exchange numbers, making sure to tell you how much Hwa has mentioned you.

----------

It was late one Friday evening as you got home from work. You were feeling especially exhausted from dealing with rude customers and from staying up late the night before getting homework done. Your professors must be collaborating to make your homework levels as stressful as possible with all the assignments on top of the readings and the studying for finals next week.

And you swear customers must have planned to be the worst this week with their rudeness or staying in the store way past closing. Today alone you had a lady almost hit you with a book she tossed directed at your head and had a group of teens stay an hour past closing trying to see if they could stay in the store over night.

It hasn't been a good week. You've been so tired and drained, you've hardly been able to really communicate with Seonghwa or the rest of Ateez at all.

You slowly trudged to your room, saying hello and goodnight to your roommate on the way there. You wanted nothing more than to get into comfier clothes and sleep, but you knew your mind was too stressed to fall asleep immediately. Maybe some catching up on youtube or some Animal Crossing will help.

You close your room door and immediately toss your bag in the corner. You quickly grab some clothes to relax in before peeling off the outfit you'd been wearing all day. Almost instantly you felt some of the tension leave your body. You let out a sigh and roll your neck, stretching your limbs in hopes it'll help.

Your phone started ringing.

You look at the screen and see that it was Wooyoung wanting to video call.

Despite it two months since you got to officially meet the rest of Ateez, you were close with all the boys. Though, outside of Seonghwa, you talked with Wooyoung and San the most. Both were very sweet with you and you appreciated them and Seonghwa in integrating you into their friend group with ease.

You go and sit down at your desk and press answer, but didn't turn your camera on. You see Woo and San. They seemed to be outside somewhere, snacking on something. Both smiled.

"Ah, turn on your camera. We haven't seen or heard from you all week." Woo pouted. You really didn't want them to see how haggard you look, but you've come to learn you couldn't say no to him.

"Fine." You say, dragging out the word. You tap the button and see you are now on camera. Bother either could speak you sigh, "I know, I look like a mess. I just got home ten minutes ago."

"Weren't you supposed to get off an hour ago?" San's brows scrunch in concern.

"You look really tired, (Y/N). Are you taking care of yourself?" Woo's voice was gentle. "Have you eaten yet?"

"It's...been a hard week." You bite your bottom lip, feeling tears sting your eyes. "Just a lot of school work and then bullshit from customers. I'm just happy its the weekend tomorrow for me."

"Do you want to cancel the language catch-up lessons?" You felt your heart drop at Sannie's question. "Practice ended a few minutes ago, we just wanted a moment on the roof the relax. After we are done up here we are going back to the dorms soon, we can let the others know for you if that's the case."

"I'm sorry guys. I completely forgot." You couldn't help prevent the tears from finally spilling over.

"No, (Y/N), don't cry." Woo coos. You hastily wipe the tears and make sure to take steady, deep breaths.

"Don't worry about today, yeah? It's okay, we understand." San's kindness and his smile made you feel a little better. "The others will understand."

"Thank you both." You shakily say with a wet smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cry-"

"Don't apologize for that." Wooyoung tsk'd. "I wish we were there, I would be giving you a big hug right now."

"Me too, (Y/N)." Sannie spoke, his tone and face exuding sweetness.

"I wish you all were here too."

"Now go eat something. We'll let the others know about tonight." The younger male smiled.

"And we won't tell everyone the details either. Just that it was a tiring week for you." San assures. "Take care of yourself, (Y/N), and remember all of us are here for you."

"You both take care too. Thank you again."

They both smile and wave. The call ended and you let out a soft sigh, feeling a little better. You sit at your desk a little longer just to further decompress from the day. You were mindlessly scrolling on social media for a bit, letting your brain shut off.

---

Wooyoung and San returned to the dance studio a few minutes after their call with you ended. When they walked through the door they saw the others lounging around on the ground, some looking at their phones while others chatted.

"Woo and Sannie are back!" Mingi grinned and got up from the floor. "Now we can head home and talk to (Y/N)."

The two glanced at each other and then back at the others, who were getting up and grabbing their things to leave.

"We actually talked to (Y/N) while we were up on the roof." Wooyoung started. Seonghwa perked up when he heard they spoke with you. He and the others haven't heard much from you this week, which had them a bit worried.

"Is she alright?" The eldest couldn't help but ask, stepping closer to them. Everyone else looked at each other with knowing looks at his concern.

"She can't do the usual language lessons today. She told us she hasn't had a good week so we suggested she just rest tonight." San said. Everyone pulled out their phones and sent various supportive messages to the group chat you were in.

"That's too bad. I hope she is fine." Hongjoong crooned.

"She will be. Like we said, it was just a rough week." Woo nodded, his lips quirked up in a smile. "She needs rest."

"Let's get back to the dorms then." Hongjoong clapped his hands together.

Everyone let out several spunds of acknowledgment and started making their way out of the dance room to the garage to go home. Seonghwa lingered a bit, still looking at his phone before following the others at the back of the group. Wooyoung decided to move to the back with him to walk along side him.

"Are you messaging her?" The younger male asked.

"Yeah, she and I are going to video call and play Animal Crossing when we get back to the dorm and after she eats dinner." Seonghwa hummed, typing a few more things before putting his phone in his pocket.

"You care for her, don't you, hyung?" Woo's voice got lower so the others couldn't hear them.

"I do." Hwa smiled sincerely.

"Do you like her?"

"Of course I do. She's been nothing but a good friend."

"No, I mean as in you have a crush on her." Seonghwa looked to the younger males face, trying to discern if he was teasing him but saw nothing of the sort.

"No, I don't, Woo." The older male said softly. Wooyoung eyed him, but decided not to speak further on the matter. He could recognize Hwa was telling some truth, but he also could tell his friend wasn't completely aware of his budding feelings.

Wooyoung wasn't stupid and neither were the others.

Everyone else began picking up small things that gave it away. Seonghwa has gotten very happywhenever you two texted or video called. Whenever they took breaks during rehearsal, he'd immediately check his phone for any messages. He'd often laugh and tell the others a funny story you told him about your day before you told any of the others. Overall, he just seemed very happy.

And they were happy for him.

The boys were obviously wary at first and had expressed this to Seonghwa. He assured them that you've been nothing but genuine to him. And after them getting to know you on their own they came to that same conclusion. They just hoped Hwa could come to terms with his underlying crush and Woo hoped you could as well.

Only Wooyoung knew you had feelings for his oldest hyung and he hoped the two of you wouldn't drive him crazy.

---

The second Seonghwa walked through the door to his dorm, he immediately rushed into his room to wash up. He grabbed some comfier clothes and walked back into the shared space were Mingi and San were.

"I'll shower first." He smiled to them and didn't wait for an answer as he went into the bathroom. Mingi and San looked at each other before smiling while shaking their heads.

Seonghwa took the quickest shower he has ever taken. He felt less sweaty, clean, and relaxed from practice. He rentered his room and booted up his switch before he unlocked his phone. He sent a quick text telling you to call him when you were ready then got his phone set up for the video call. He did some fishing and bug catching as he waited.

When he heard the ringtone he quickly answered it.

You seemed to be lying on your stomach with your phone propped up at an angle, your switch in your hands. Seonghwa could see exhaustion clear on your face and he could see some puffiness to your eyes. Concern immediately filled his being.

"Hello, (Y/N). I'm sorry the week hasn't been kind to you." He crooned.

"How much did Woo and Sannie tell you?" There was almost a hint of worry in your voice.

"Only that it was a tiring week and you needed some rest." He gently smiled. "If... you want to talk about it, I am here for you. Only if you want to of course, don't feel like you have to share."

"It wasn't anything major. I've just been assigned a lot of homework, finals are next week, and customers have been a nightmare to deal with." You exhale. "I think today, though, stole the show with rude customers."

"What happened?"

"A lady tossed a book at me because we wouldn't accept it as a return and then some teens made me stay an hour late after closing because they wanted to hide in the store over night." You snort at the absurdity of it.

"I am so sorry its been hard for you. At least your weekend starts now."

"At least I get to play Animal Crossing with you. My mind hasn't been able to relax yet- Oh! And there is a meteor shower happening on my island!" Your face lit up and Seonghwa attempted to ignore the flutter in his chest. "Let me open up the airport for you so you can get some wishes too."

Seonghwa quickly had his avatar fly over to your island.

"Enough about me. How have you been, Hwa?" You lead him to a good vantage point on your island to wish on stars.

"The week has been good. We are practicing a lot for the various performances coming up and we've all been working hard. Sannie almost started a fire in the kitchen." He smiled when he heard you chuckle at that. "I'm glad to see you again, (Y/N)."

"I'm glad too. Sorry for being inactive-"

"You don't have to apologize for that. Life gets busy, we all understand. I just hope things in your life get less stressful for you."

"I'm already feeling better talking and playing Animal Crossing with you, Hwa."

"Good."

"Anything else happen this week? I know you can't say specifics but any antics with the guys?"

Seonghwa smiled as he focused on making his avatar make wishes. "Well, Jongho's been progressing nicely with his vocal training and practice. You didn't hear this from me, but he's been wanting to do a video call with you to show you that. Wooyoung and I did a home-cooked dinner for everyone on Wednesday this week. We all wished you could have joined for that. Hongjoong, Mingi, Wooyoung, and Yeosang engaged in a brief prank war from Monday to Tuesday. I had to put an end to it when the rest of us became collateral. And then Yuhno and San put together everyone in teams for a small free style dance battle..."

He was about to continue on but when he glanced back up at his phone, he saw that you had fallen asleep. His features soften at how adorable you looked, one arm supporting your head while the other outstretched with your Switch still in your loose grasp. He could faintly hear soft snores from your parted lips.

Seonghwa felt a tightness in his chest. He could feel his face and ears flushing with warmth. These are things that he has experienced lately when talking with you. His mind suddenly went back to Wooyoung's earlier question, making his eyes widen.

Oh.

Taglist: @stopeatread @hee0soo @pocketjoong-reads @seonghwaddict @tridkeys

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jben073 · 4 months

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Grace Chasity headcanon rambles!

Some silly Grace hcs for @nighthaterfrfr!! I tried to mostly avoid any of mine that you mentioned something similar to in yours bc we had a good deal of overlap! :D

(Just to preface, one of my biggest headcanons is that Grace is autistic so there’s a good chance that some of these may be influenced by that! I did try to pick ones that are more applicable to canon though! [But if anyone wants any of those, I have about a million :3])

When Grace was a young child in elementary school (or Sunday school), she very innocently kissed Alice Woodward and felt something™. (She entirely represses this memory for YEARS.)

^ During her eventual sexuality crisis, despite not having talked to Alice for years outside of polite conversation if they ran into one another, Grace reaches out to her for support/to ask questions because she was the only out queer person that Grace knew and trusted enough not to out her. (Alice big sister mode activated.)

^ (They’re so silly, they’ve literally never interacted outside of a throwaway line about them knowing and possibly disliking each other but to me they're friends who fell apart and eventually find each other again when they're both more grown as people.)

^ Also, ignore me indulging my other biggest hc which is that Grace is a lesbian.

Grace took piano lessons as a child and is actually quite good because she wanted to be the pianist for her church’s masses when she got older! She stopped taking lessons in high school, but she keeps up with playing in her free time to maintain the skill and occasionally help out with music at her church.

^ Richie constantly tries to convince her to learn anime openings and music from games that he plays for him (he begged her to learn Megalovania for weeks until she finally gave in).

She has never celebrated Halloween because her parents think it’s satanic so Ruth and Richie (who definitely still go trick-or-treating in high school) make a point to bring her some of their candy on the following school day.

^ She definitely doesn’t cry about this gesture later when she goes home!!

She is an absolute monster while playing board games, like she gets REALLY aggressive about them.

^ (definitely influenced by Angela's chaos on smosh games, especially the “be a little more gentle!! >:(” clip)

She can’t go to sleep (intentionally) without getting a kiss goodnight. At home, her parents kiss her on the forehead before bed and if she’s at camp, she has to get a kiss on the head from Girl Jeri if she wants to sleep well.

^ It disrupts her routine which makes it harder for her to wind down!!

^ I like to think that before the events of Abstinence Camp, she thought of Boy Jerry and Girl Jeri as older sibling figures.

She has never been to a sleepover because she’s never had good enough friends to be invited to one :(

^ The nerds + Steph very quickly remedy this!!

^ (quick ramble related to the last hc) During the first group sleepover, Steph wakes up in the middle of the night to get a drink, realizes Grace is still up, and after Grace sheepishly admits her dilemma following Steph’s prompting for an explanation, Steph very casually plants a kiss on her forehead and then goes back to sleep. Grace’s face is beet red after this and now she can’t sleep for an entirely different reason.

^ They're in love to me!!!

LIB related

(Based almost entirely on Blinky’s line about watching Grace and the nightmare about Max/Richie that implies she has the gift.)

^ Grace has been connected to the Lords in Black since long before we see her, Steph, and Pete summon them in NPMD.

^ Much like Lex was friends with Webby as a child and forgot, Grace was friends with the LIB when she was young but grew out of it.

^ (I have a whole little overanalysis/hc set of things for this hc if anyone wants to hear :3)

After she starts using the Black Book, her appearance starts to very slightly change so that she always looks just a tiny bit off.

^ Her teeth are just a touch too sharp, her ears have the slightest point to them, and her eyes almost seem to shift in colour (depending on which LIB is influencing her).

^ But hey, it must just be a trick of the light!! She's so normal!! Dw about it!!!

She will occasionally feel the sudden compulsion to bite others (Nibbly is feeling silly!!)

^ She does not act on this… most of the time :3

One more silly one to end on

She once owned a Tamagotchi and became so deeply stressed over the state of this virtual creature that she made herself sick from anxiety.

^ Karen and Mark confiscated the toy very shortly after this.

Anyway ramble's over now but my 45 page google doc of Grace hcs continues to grow every day bc I am fixated hard on this silly little show :3

edit: had to add the '^' thing because the bullets didn't indent properly for some reason!! every one that has that is attached to the previous one without it!

also idk why on mobile the sleepover hc and the Alice hc got cut short?? The sleepover one is supposed to say that now she can't sleep for an entirely different reason and the end of the second bullet says (Alice big sister mode activated).

#grace chasity #nerdy prudes must die #npmd #starkid #hatchetfield #nightmare time #stephanie lauter #lautity #stephgrace #starkid hcs

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ploxpoke · 4 months

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Izana X fem!reader

Tw- Smoking, mentions of violence, bad words (lmao)

Fluff with Izana bc I love him <3

Title: ♥ Out Of My League ♥

Izana was in your grade, and despite the two of you being in vastly differing social circles, Izana was interested in you. He’d been watching you for a while now, but he knew better than to approach you head on. He didn’t know what made you attractive to him but all he wanted was your attention. He wanted to make sure you were safe, comfortable, and protected.

One day Izana saw you walk up to the roof, presumably to eat lunch. He followed you up and he watched you sit down and begin to eat your lunch and took this as an opportunity to talk to you. He walked towards you, his face fixed into a cold and calculating expression. He looks down at you and asks “Who are you?”

You were shocked by his sudden appearance and felt your heart skip a beat. You turned around slowly and looked at him with wide eyes. Your cheeks were flushed from both embarrassment and surprise and you hesitated before answering

“I-I'm Y/n”

You say quietly, trying not to sound too timid. You glanced back towards your food before speaking again

“And uh- I came here to eat my lunch today, since it's pretty empty up here and all... “

You pause for a second before you feel a pang of guilt, you were probably bothering him you told yourself.

“Do you eat here? Am I in the way?”

You asked while looking up at him nervously, wondering if he would react negatively to your presence. “I'm sorry- I can just leave if you'd like.” You quickly stand up, about to leave. You feel a sense of dread and you hope he's not too mad at you. “I'm sorry-”

Izana raises an eyebrow at your response, clearly surprised by your reaction to his presence, but he maintains his cold demeanor nonetheless. He leans against the wall beside you, crossing one leg over the other as he observes you carefully. His eyes narrow slightly, taking note of your nervous behavior and the fact that you seemed to be struggling with whether or not you should stay.

“You’re not in the way,Y/n. You can stay here if you want to, I don’t mind.” He says simply, causing your heart to flutter “So, why do you come up here to eat alone?”

You felt a surge of relief upon hearing him say that you could stay, but then you noticed how his tone had changed and he asked you why you were alone. You froze for a second, unsure of how to answer him.

You didn't want to seem rude or disrespectful, but at the same time, you didn't want to give him an honest answer, since the truth was that you were ruthlessly bullied. “Uh... I don't really have many friends, so I thought it would be better to be alone. I like the quiet mostly” You said quietly, not meeting his gaze and keeping your eyes glued to the ground. You had tried to keep your answer short and sweet, hoping that he wouldn't pry more into your personal life and prayed he'd leave you alone instead of messing with you.

You felt some guilt for not telling the whole truth but you couldn’t bring yourself to.

Despite saying that, you still hoped that he wouldn't think you were some kind of loser or something, even if you were to most people, because you really did like him and he was quite popular with the girls at school.

Izana listened intently to your response, his expression remaining impassive, but internally, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pity for you. He had always been fascinated by those weaker than him, and now that he had identified you as someone who needed protection, he found himself drawn to you even more.

However, he knew that he couldn't let anyone see this vulnerability, especially not someone like you.

“Fine, I understand, Y/n.” He said softly, still maintaining his cold exterior but somehow making it sound more gentle at the same time.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, offering you one without actually asking if you wanted one. “Would you mind lighting mine for me?”

You were taken aback by his request, feeling your cheeks turn bright red from both shock and embarrassment. You’d never smoked a cigarette before nor did you plan to, but despite that, you agreed to light his cigarette for him.

“Uhm- sure, I guess I can”

You lit his cigarette, your hands shaking slightly as you did so having never used a lighter.

You don't exactly like smoking, but you don't say anything about it. you can smell the smoke and your face scrunches a little from the smell. You keep your eyes focused on the ground and you try to ignore the fact that you hate the smell of smoke

Izana watched you closely as you lit his cigarette, noticing your discomfort with the scent of the cigarette smoke, but he maintained his cold exterior. He took a deep drag from the cigarette, exhaling slowly, causing the smoke to swirl around him. He then leaned forward slightly, reaching out with his free hand to take yours, pulling you closer to him and placing the cigarette between your lips.

He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you tightly against him while whispering into your ear

“Take a deep breath, Y/n.. Inhale deeply.” He commanded, his voice low and firm, but also strangely gentle at the same time.

Your heart raced as you felt his strong embrace and you took a deep breath, inhaling the cigarette smoke that fills your lungs. You coughed slightly, trying to hide your discomfort and you looked up at him through your lashes, but still not daring to look into his eyes. You quickly look back down, not wanting him to notice you staring at him.

Your cheeks were flushed and your eyes were wide, but your body relaxed slightly against his as he held you close. The scent of the cigarette filled your nose and made you slightly nauseous, but you didn't complain. You feel a slight burn in the back of your throat and you hate the sensation.

You coughed a little more and the taste of tobacco and smoke was stuck in your mouth and you hated it but you didn't dare say a word about it. You never wanted this moment to end.

The cigarette smoke mixed with the scent of his cologne and you breathed it in deeply, savoring every moment of being close to him, even though you knew you shouldn't. You tried to focus on everything but the disgusting smell and taste of the cigarette. You can't bring yourself to look at him but you can feel him staring at you.

Izana watched you closely as you took a deep breath, taking note of your discomfort with the cigarette smoke. He saw your hesitation and decided to pull the cigarette away from your lips, putting it out on the roof of the building before he placed it back in his pocket.

He then wrapped his arms around you even more tightly, pulling you against his chest and resting his chin on top of your head.”You don't like it, do you?” He asked softly, his voice full of concern.

Despite his dominating nature, he genuinely cared about your comfort and well-being. His arms tightened around you, squeezing you reassuringly as he whispered into your ear. “It's alright if you don't like it.”

He could tell you were worried about something and he murmured to you, his voice honey sweet, “Don't worry, y/n. You're safe here with me.” His tone was low and soothing, but also possessive, as if he was claiming you as his own.

You nodded against his chest, not looking at him, but feeling his strong arms around you and his warmth. You could feel the heat radiating off of his body and it made you feel safe, despite the fact that he was a stranger to you.

You couldn’t bring yourself to care that you didn’t know him that well, you just felt protected. You felt his lips near your ear and you turned your head slightly, wanting to look at him but something in your mind told you you didn’t deserve to so you don't and instead you stare at the ground

“Yeah... I really don't like it.” You whispered back, not meeting his gaze. You felt his chin on your head and smiled slightly. You could tell he was smiling but you still don’t look up at him.

“The taste is gross and the smell makes me want to throw up... reminds me of things I don't want to remember like...-”

You trailed off, not finishing your sentence. You shudder a little and you open your mouth to say something else when you hear people walking up the stairs to the roof. You realize that it's people you usually see Izana with. Other students say they're all in a gang, and you hold your breath for a second nervously. You know those people, and they're not the nicest. You always tended to believe that at least some of them were in gangs.

Izana heard the footsteps approaching and immediately recognized the sound of his friends, the members of the Tenjiku gang. He tightened his arms around you slightly, pulling you even closer to him as he glanced over his shoulder towards the source of the noise.He spoke softly into your ear

“Don't worry, Y/n”.. They won't bother us right now.”

He said reassuringly, even though he knew that wasn't entirely true. His friends often came to the rooftop to hang out with him, and occasionally they would get rowdy and start fighting or arguing with each other. But for now, he wanted to keep you safe from their prying eyes and judgmental gazes.

"Well, they won't bother you... maybe each other but I won't let them bother you…”

You listened to his words and felt a sudden surge of relief. You didn't know why, but the thought of his friends seeing you with him, especially since he’d never really spoken to you before made you feel extremely uncomfortable.

You didn't understand why, but your gut told you to be wary of him and you couldn't help but listen to it. As the footsteps grew closer, you held your breath and felt his arms tighten around you. You knew he was protecting you, but there was something in his demeanor that told you that he wouldn't let anything bad happen to you.

You hide your face, not wanting anyone to see you at all anymore. You knew the people weren't going to leave and you knew Izana wouldn't let you leave so you did your best to avoid eye contact and kept your eyes on the ground

The footsteps stopped and you heard voices, and you recognized two of them as people you’ve seen Izana talking to quite often. you know who they are, Rindou and Ran Haitani .

The two brothers were calling out for Izana, and when they saw him, they didn't notice you at first. Several other boys joined them before they realized you were even there. Izana kept his grip on you tight and the boys just stared at you for a second, not knowing how to react to your presence.

Rindou and Ran, stopped in front of Izana, their faces filled with surprise as they noticed him holding onto you. Rindou glanced at you briefly before turning back to Izana, his eyebrow raised in question.

"Izana... Who's this? You've got a grip on her like you don't want her running away. Did she do something?"

Rindou asked curiously, while Ran frowned in confusion, clearly not understanding why Izana had brought someone up here with him.

"She looks pretty frail, you might break her if you're not careful" Ran jokes

One of the other members of the gang; Kanji, walked over to join them, his eyes narrowed suspiciously as he looked at them. "What's going on here?" He demanded, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared.

"What'd she do huh? We need to kick her ass or something?" He glanced at you with an unimpressed expression.

You flinched as the boys started asking questions, and youI felt extremely vulnerable and exposed, but Izana's tight grip around you and his reassuring presence gave you strength.

You didn't dare speak up, and you didn't move an inch. You felt like a doll in his hands, and you hated it, but you also knew that if you moved or tried to run away, nothing good would come out of it. So, you remained silent, trying to stay as calm as possible

You gripped part of Izana's coat in reflex when you heard them mention you doing something. You could feel the fear bubble up from your chest and tears begin to prick the corners of your eyes but you will yourself not to cry in front of them. A small whimper left you as you closed your eyes, trying not to panic.

You looked around and you saw a few people who you knew because they had bullied you but, you weren't worried about that. You were more worried about Ran, Rindou and especially Kanji's words.

You didn't know what was going to happen, let alone if Izana decided you did do something to deserve being beat up. You tremble slightly and you feel Izana's grip tighten even more

Izana scowled at the implication that anyone might hurt you from Kanji's comment, his grip on you tightening even further as he glared at the member of the gang. Ran and Rindou exchanged confused glances, not understanding why Kanji would immediately decide to choose violence.

"Fuck off, Kanji," Rindou snapped "She hasn't done anything wrong yet you dickhead." Ran nodded in agreement, looking at you with concern yet still had an amused grin on his face

Kanji rolled his eyes at their comments, unimpressed by their defense of you. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall, glaring at all of you.

"Oh yeah? Then what's she doing clinging onto him like a lost puppy then? Looks like she's scared of something"

Ran scoffed and shot him a dubious glance "She's afraid of you asshat. You're not nice to anyone and you just threatened her..." Ran spoke casually and his words were long and drawn out.

Izana's hand tightened around your waist as he sensed your fear, and he whispered softly into your ear so that only you could hear him, "Don't worry, Y/n. Trust me, they won't hurt you. I won't let them."

He spoke reassuringly, even though he knew that he couldn't guarantee your safety completely. He hoped that his words would comfort you enough to ease your fears somewhat. The three members of the gang approached you cautiously, sizing you up as they studied your appearance.

Rindou and Ran exchanged glances, their expressions hardening slightly as they took note of your trembling and the way you clung onto Izana's coat while Kanji just looked angry. The three of them watched you and the way you responded to their stares with interest.

You heard Izana's words and felt a little more confident, but you were still very much scared. You look up at him and see that he said something to the guys, but you didn't quite hear what. You look back at the guys and you see how they study you. You think they look like they want to hurt you, but Izana's words made you feel safer, so you trusted him.

You believed him.

You slowly let go of his coat, but you kept your hands on it since it made you feel safer. You heard Rin and Ran talking, and looked at them with wide eyes, they seemed to be having a disagreement. You couldn't understand what they were saying, but you knew that they were arguing about something related to you.

You see Kanji glaring at you from the corner of your eye and you feel your panic come back but as your breathing picks up you feel Izana's hand lift your chin up to make you look at him.

He smirked and leaned closer to you slowly. This got the attention of everyone.

Ran and Rin stared with grins on their faces, as if they knew what Izana was going to do and Kanji looked even more angry. You open your mouth to say something to Izana only to be shushed by his lips on yours. Your whole body freezes up and Izana smirks into the kiss before pulling away and looking at the members of Tenjiku. He noticed how their expressions changed from anger to curiosity to realization as they watched him kiss you.

He knew that this would catch their attention and distract them momentarily from their plans to intimidate you as well as show why he was so interested in keeping you close. His hand rested on your cheek, caressing it gently with his thumb while his other hand wrapped around your waist, holding you close to him.

He saw the confusion and surprise on everyone’s faces, including yours, as they realized what had just happened, and he enjoyed every second of it.

Ran and Rindou exchanged amused glances, their earlier argument forgotten as they observed the scene unfold before them. Ran elbowed Rindou and grinned widely at him and Rindou handed him something that looked suspiciously like money.

Ran snickered softly, "Well fuck, looks like someone's got themselves a girlfriend already"

Rindou just chuckled, and gave Ran a playful nudge. “Don’t act surprised. You called it.”

You stare up at Izana who just grins down at you and you can't help but to flush from his gaze. You look back down at the ground and you mutter something so quiet that not even Izana could hear.

Izana came closer to you and you see him still smirking. He says something to the members of Tenjiku again, this time he was more direct. You heard him say "You better not try to fuck with her, you better not even think about laying a finger on her. She’s mine"

He emphasized the word 'mine' with a slight growl, making it clear he wouldn’t hesitate to protect you from anyone who dared to even consider hurting you. He lowered his hand to the small of your back and he grinned at you sweetly before leaning down and pressing another kiss to your lips.

"Is now a bad time to ask you to be my girl?" He says in a teasing tone before whispering in your ear "I've been waiting for a chance to ask and I doubt there will be a better time than now" He kissed you all over your face.

You just nodded and whispered yes over and over to him until he kissed your lips again and laughed with you. He smiled at you and held you close to him and said with the sweetest smile

"God, you're out of my league"

#izana kurokawa #izana x reader #tokyo rev x reader #tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers fluff #izana fluff

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spencereid-reads · 28 days

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the language of you | s. reid

wc: 2.1k // warnings: english isn't my first language! an extreme amount of italics, meet-cute, love at first poem sight kinda thing. poems that i found on either google or pinterest. a few swear words, maybe? // a/n: my first time writing for reid and cm in general. i'm in the middle of season 9 and idk where this idea came from. also i don't know anything about poetry, the last quote is as far as my knowledge goes. if you think you know me from my other writing blog no you don't<3but ily also idk if i'll keep writing, i just wanted to post it bc of world poetry day, i think it's a nice coincidence.

i use she/her pronouns//fem!reader in almost all of my fics!

the cold hallways of the university building aren't as big and intimidating as he remembered. and this time, they welcomed him with open arms. he was just a kid when he first set foot here, and now here he was, being invited by a member of his team to teach the young minds of college kids.

spencer reid had never been a great public speaker, sure, he had the qualities of one, but he was also known to ramble on and on about a specific subject if he was interested enough in it, most likely overwhelming and quite often scaring the class attendees.

he followed dr. blake through the crowded halls, she'd invited him along to one of her lectures, she needed someone with vast knowledge about, -well, everything-, and a quick mind, and he was the perfect addition to her classes.

it was weird, being on the other side of the lecture hall, with dozens of eyes set on him as he spoke, he wasn't nervous per se, more... aware of the situation. but luckily the students were focused, paid attention and asked good questions. he considered that a win in his book. without noticing, the 90 minute class was over, and he approached blake after gathering his things and crossing his signature leather bag over his shoulder.

"ready to head back?" he asked.

"not quite, there's a friend of mine giving a lecture next door, it's her first class, actually. thought we'd stop by for a bit, wish her good luck." she said, sliding her black blazer back on.

"sure, what's it about?"

"you'll see. i think you'll enjoy it." she gave him a sly smile, making her way up the steps, he stood there for a second, wondering what the subject might be. there were a lot of things that he enjoyed, physics, math, science.

spencer caught up to her just as she opened the door to the other lecture hall, sliding in behind alex as his eyes adjusted to the change of lighting. compared to the room they'd just left, this felt nothing like a classroom. it felt more like a theater.

the lights were off, the room being lit up by fake candles lining both sets of steps on each side of the room, and he noticed real candles on the front stage, the flames dancing with the subtle change of pressure as a girl, maybe as young as he was, walked on stage. a book in her hand, but she didn't need it, whatever she was saying was from memory, the worlds flowing effortlessly out her mouth.

he stood frozen in his spot, it took him two seconds to recognize and figure out what was going on.

"lines fall on the soul like dew on the grass. what does it matter that i couldn’t keep her. the night is fractured and she is not with me." she recited, eyes closed as she stopped walking, even from his spot at the top of the steps he could see her facial expression, a frown on her face as her eyebrows furrowed, lips pursed as if she was the one feeling the pain the author was describing.

neruda. poetry.

spencer had never been the biggest fan of poetry, but maybe he just hadn't found the right person to teach him about it.

what an incredulous thought, someone teaching a subject to genius spencer reid? but he couldn't help but be drawn to the soft voice that spoke with love, sorrow and rhythm.

"my voice tried to find the breeze to reach her. another’s kisses on her, like my kisses. her voice, her bright body, infinite eyes."

she was savoring each word in her tongue, and spencer's ears perked up at every sound that left her mouth.

"wonder boy, come on," alex's whisper brought him out of his thoughts, as he followed her down the candlelit steps to one of the first rows.

how he wished he could've stayed up there, hidden within the shadows, since he couldn't take two steps without his eyes having to find the young lecturer again, slowing down his legs.

but from down there he noticed the way the candles lit her face, casting a soft golden glow, and now he found himself thanking the small flames scattered around the stage.

she threw the two fbi agents a look, a knowing gleam in her eye as she recognized the female doctor. it was fleeting, she didn’t let the interaction distract her from the verses and the words slipping from her lips.

“loving is so short, forgetting is so long,” she breathed the words, barely audible as she felt every syllable in every bone of her body.

as she finished the poem, deafening silence fell upon the room, and spencer realized how quiet the room had been since he arrived, yet her soft voice seemed to fill it effortlessly.

“has anyone here ever felt emotions as strong as the ones depicted in the poem? joy, sadness, anger?” she asked, somehow leaving aside the ‘character’ she’d slipped into as she recited the words written by neruda. “love? has anyone ever experienced this… deep, unshakeable need to absolutely possess someone? to keep them all for your own, locked in a room to look, touch, admire as much as you wish?” she continued, eyes scanning the room, and spencer’s breathing hitched when she placed her eyes on him. “i know how it sounds like, but- poetry and language, is quite possibly the best way to express those intense feelings.”

“what about sex?” a voice from the crowd asked.

“that’s a great way too,” she nodded, laughing along with the class, “but have you ever stood in front of a girl, a boy, a person you truly feel like you’d die for, and told them exactly that? how just the touch of their hand holding someone else’s would rip your soul out of your body, or how you’d swim oceans just to get to hear their laugh one last time? i don’t know about you, but i feel like that’s a hundred times better than sex.” she continued, walking from one side of the stage to the other, using her hands and changing the tone in her voice to emphasize what she wanted to say. “i promise you that by the end of this semester you’ll be able to put all of that into your own words. read, everyone. please, read and do your research, and i promise you that you’ll get your chance to be neruda, dickinson. anybody can be a poet. poetry is about feelings, thoughts, the things that keep you up at night, and being able to put all of that into words. read, even if you don’t understand what they’re saying, but think about what they want to say. i know it’s our first class but i’ll leave you some work for friday. just pick a poem, learn it and present it here, i want to see what we’re working with. that’s it for today, thank you.” she vowed her head like an actor who’d just finished a play, walking around the stage as she blew the candles off.

“come on, let’s go say hi,” alex stood up, prompting spencer to do the same, and he had to swallow the feelings inside of him. his mind repeating every word the girl onstage had just said. he knew the importance of poetry, he had a few favorite poets, and he knew about all the hard technical work that was behind writing a good poem, but he’d never taken the time to think about the personal aspect of the work.

“dr. blake, great to see you here,” she greeted the older woman, who embraced her in a hug.

“you too. you were great there, no one would’ve thought it was your first time teaching,”

“well, what can i say, i learned everything from you.”

“please, our fields are as far apart as they could be. it’s all thanks to that big brain of yours. which, speaking of, meet dr. spencer reid, we work together.” alex stepped aside, revealing a tall man, hands fidgeting with his leather bag and long strands of hair covering his forehead. alex always had a soft spot for spencer, the young genius reminded her of herself, once upon a time.

“pleasure to meet you, dr. reid,” the young girl smiled at him, offering her hand.

“likewise,” he said, taking her hand in his. alex’s eyebrows raised, she’d been expecting a speech about germs and pathogens but got none.

“so, what’d you think? was it too much? think i scared the kids?”

“today’s youth doesn’t take things too seriously, they prefer one night stands and lack of commitment.” spencer explained.

“think i’m reaching for the stars for trying to get them to channel their emotions and actually feel them?” the young professor asked him, a smile on her face told him that she’d already thought about that.

“not necessarily, studies have proven that people who can feel and acknowledge their emotions are happier, live longer and have better relationships with themselves and others. also, they have more confidence in themselves and can make lasting relationships, but physical and emotional.” he continued, and this time dr. blake spoke.

“so if you do your job right you’ll get lots of people laid,”

“ah, if only i could make that work for me,” she replied, heat creeping onto her cheeks as she looked down. her words made spencer stop breathing.

“i’m sure someone with your wits and… well, you could get anyone you want,” the words slipped out before he could control them.

“sounds easier said than done, but i’ve decided to devote my life to my work and books, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone coming anytime soon to change that. i’m alright with that, life is more than that.” she shrugged her shoulder.

“not enjoyment, and not sorrow, is our destined end or way; but to act, that each tomorrow find us farther than today.” spencer recalled from memory.

“you speak my language, doctor,” the young professor breathed. and the older woman took the opportunity to interfere.

“like i said, genius. you two should talk, he’s got a very interesting brain that i’m sure you’d love to pick,” she reached toward her friend, wrapping her in a quick hug, “i’ll meet you out there, reid, i have a few things to do.” with that she walked out of the lecture hall, leaving the two young brilliant minds together.

“sorry about her, she’s been trying to set me up with someone since we met. i was her t.a back when i was a grad student.”

“you worked with her?” spencer asked, internally rolling his eyes at himself, she’d obviously just stated that.

“yup. i know, how could someone go from linguistics applied in criminology to poetry? it’s a big leap, but… she’s helped me more than anyone in my entire career.” she spoke with fondness in her voice. “anyway, she was right. i would love to pick that brain of yours.” she said, “sorry, that sounded weird, but-”

“no, no, it’s- fine. i- i’d like to talk to you, more, as well.”

“it’s a date, then.” she smiled, even wider when she noticed the slight blush creeping on his cheeks,

“if only i could recollect it, such a day of days. i let it come and go as traceless as a thaw of bygone snow; it seemed to mean so little, meant so much-” spencer started, the words taking over his mind and mouth before he could even think about it.

“if only now i could recall that touch, first touch of a hand in hand- did one but know,” she finished for him.

“i-i,” he started, surprising himself by the way he stuttered. “i don't speak your language, not like you do, not yet. i'm not a poet. but… i want to learn… i want to.”

she breathed out, all the air leaving her lungs, his wild eyes scanned all over her face, not profiling. but learning, taking in her cues, and a pressure left his shoulders when she saw her lips twitching, breaking for a smile.

“i may be the writer, but you'll always be the words.” she took a step toward him, his eyes settling for her own, it helped him calm down. “it's like i said, anybody can be a poet.”

“i-i’ll see you friday?” he said.

“friday?” she raised her eyebrows.

“yeah, you-you said you had to see what you're working with?”

“i do.” she nodded, a playful gleam in her eyes, “i guess i’ll see you friday. we can get coffee, before coming here.” she suggested.

“is that special treatment, professor?” one more time, he surprised himself by the way he spoke to her, like it was the most natural thing to do. we wished it never stopped, he wanted to hear her amused laugh again.

“maybe.” she bit her lip as she laughed.

****

“this could be the start of something new, and it feels so right to be here with you.”

-high school musical

#i finished this a few days ago #i didn't know if i wanted to post it #but #i just read that today is world poetry day #and wow #spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid fic #spencer reid one shot #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds oneshot #criminal minds imagine

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autisticlancemcclain · 1 year

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fic rec friday 13

welcome the the tenth fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

1. i was always yours (even before you knew it) by paladarns

Lance thought Keith was just an asshole. Lance has always thought of Keith as an asshole, all throughout traveling into space in a large mechanical lion, all throughout bonding moments. All throughout becoming closer as teammates and friends.

Even now, with his hands pinned above his head and Keith’s thighs straddling his waist, Lance thinks Keith is an asshole.

Lance had always thought he could see right through people, but now he’s starting to think he has a bad judgement of people.

---------- a fic in which keith is obvious and lance is a bit of a gay nervous wreck

takes place as if season 1 is the only season to exist but its now years later

so many things to love about this fic. so so many. so i am going to list them. a) secret relationship bc i love that shit and eat it up every time, b) ‘takes place as if season 1 is the only season to exist but its now years later’ -- paladarns my love thank you for this truly excellent description of where i write my fics like 80% of the time. c) keith has game, and d) HE WAS ALWAYS KEITHS EVEN BEFORE HE KNEW IT IM SOBBING BEST TROPE BEST TROPE

2. Wake Up, Sleephyhead! by @transbakugou

Keith has never loved someone like he loves Lance. Lance is his sun, his stars, his happiness. Their hands fit together like they were created to do nothing but hold each other, and he fits perfectly inside of Lance's arms. But he can never let anyone find out how much he loves this boy, how wholly and endlessly. Who knows what the Galra would do with that kind of information?

One morning, the lie comes crashing down around them.

Maybe it won't be as bad as they feared.

i love gay whipped klance and truly every single fic that has ever been written based on a vine is truly amazing, this fic is no exception. also secret relationship lol i am a sucker

3. Something Secret by @kingswriting

It was funny at first. Their arguments became more banter than actual disagreements, yet the entire team continued to assume they were at each other’s throats.

And Lance knows they’re not. He is fully aware that every sharp word, every sly smirk, every heavy handed push, and everything in between is anything but malicious.

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss the softer side of things.

Or, Lance and Keith are in a secret relationship, but honestly want to omit the 'secret' part.

okay u can always tell what tag im following obsessively at certain times lol. for yall i present yet another secret relationship fic. ahem. this one is cute! banter and flirting and misleading and kisses and GOD its so sweet

4. Things Held Sacred by yarrie

So maybe, just maybe, Pidge was right. Maybe, just maybe, Keith had shot himself in the foot with his first attempt at resolving the blanket-hogging situation, because now Lance seemed to think it was a game and the rules were: steal the blankets, get sex.

To be fair, Keith hadn't exactly been...dissuading him very well.

okay so heres how this works. every fic rec friday so far has been from a specific collection of mine called ‘rereadables’, which was literally started because of this fic. i dont even know what specific part of this fic gets to me so hard, but you know when you read something that makes your stomach go all swoopy? and you can’t stop smiling? thats this fic! i remember i finished it for the first time and then i scrolled right back up to the top and read it again, then again, and again. like i cannot get over this fic. it gives me butterflies every time

5. Communication is key, they say by @ellana17

They already had communication issues before… Or: a malfunction with a healing pod leaves Lance able to speak only Spanish for a few days.

the idea of lance getting stuck in spanish and then almost immediately using that to flirt with keith without him knowing. like. i love that SO much that is quite possibly one of the funniest concepts to exist

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!

#secret relationship focused bc i am annoying #fic rec #fic rec friday #vld #voltron #lance #lance mcclain #keith #keith kogane #klance #secret relationship #cuban lance #longpost #queue

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decent0distraction · 3 months

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Hi! You may know me as the person who does all of those Our Flag Means Death AUs, theories, and posts that either ruin your day, make you laugh, or both. Mostly both.

But I have something else for you.

My take on family!Sanders Sides - based off of the whole family roles the Sides gave themselves in the Five Years video.

To refresh your memory, Patton labeled himself as the dad, Logan as the mom, Roman as the son (the hotshot), Virgil as the (gay, emo) cousin, Janus as the (sassy) aunt (who talks shit about everyone), and Remus as the (fresh out of jail) uncle.

BUT

This AU of mine is… messed up.

Ok ok ok SO

We begin with Janus Duke, who has just moved back to the town of Sanders Bay, a lovely seaside community.

Janus has spent the last 10 years raising their son (Janus uses they/them pronouns bc I said so), moving from place to place for reasons that Virgil doesn’t know about yet that we’ll get into later. Stay with me.

Virgil is 16 and on his first day at Sanders Bay Secondary Academy (what a name, huh?), his dad, Remus, is getting out of jail.

When Virgil was about 6, Janus and Remus had decided to walk from their house into town to pick up their son from the babysitter. They were about halfway there when someone attacked Janus, cutting his face (resulting in scars on one side of his mouth, eye, and cheek, resembling a snake like face). Remus reacted violently towards the person who just hurt his spouse, the cops are called, and it’s made out to look like Remus had hurt Janus, who was unconscious.

When Janus finally came to, they were in a hospital, being told that their husband had been arrested and arranged.

Cut to present day, Virgil’s first day is met with a slight complication when an idiot threatre-jock hybrid accidentally knocks into him, causing him to hit his head.

Roman Hart insists that Virgil allow him to escort him to the nurse, who just so happens to be his dad, Patton Hart.

Roman’s other dad is their home room and history teacher, Logan Hart.

By the end of the school day, Roman and Virgil are sort of friends. But when Roman asks Virgil if they’d want to hang out or something, Virgil explains that he has to get home because his dad is finally home.

Roman just assumes that Virgil’s dad is in the military. He doesn’t even actually get to ask, because Virgil is too busy running out to Janus’s car.

Everything is going fine for a little while. Virgil studies with Roman after school, or they go to the mall, eventually going to Roman’s house.

The Harts are the nicest people in town, and Patton simply adores having Virgil around.

Janus, one day, is waiting with Remus in the school pick up lane for Virgil. The two of them are having a nice, causal conversation that is interrupted by Janus seeing their son talking to them.

“Oh, my God!” Janus slammed his foot on the break and put the car in park. “It’s them! It’s them!”

Remus looked to see their son standing with another boy, while the boy’s parents talked to Virgil.

They were Patton and Logan Hart, two people the Duke parents were happy to never see again.

When Patton put his hand on Virgil’s shoulder, Janus struggled to rush out of the car. Remus followed.

“Virgil!”

The anxious teen turned to watch his mom run to him and pull him away from the Harts.

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

Virgil was beyond confused. “What? No! I’m fine. What are you-“ He stopped when Remus started to approach.

“Dad? Dad, I don’t know what’s happening, but nothing happened. Dad!”

But the man ignored his son in favor of getting in Logan’s face. “You’d do right by you and your family to stay the fuck away from mine.”

Logan didn’t even flinch. “And it would be correct for you to avoid threatening my family.”

Virgil was ready to try to defuse the situation before Janus began to have a panic attack. “Mom?”

Remus is then distracted by his spouse needing his help. He gets his little family in the car and they get home, where the parents sit down and finally tell Virgil the truth.

The truth is, Patton Hart and Janus Duke were friends. When they were 20, and Janus had a child and Patton didn’t, he got upset. And when he saw baby Virgil, he decided that he needed that child.

He acted like everything was fine. He offered to babysit Virgil so the new parents could have some time to themselves. He paid for Janus to be attacked, for Remus to be framed.

But when Janus woke up, he called Patton, screaming, begging. He knew Patton had the baby.

And Patton knew that if he kept Virgil, everything could be traced back to him eventually.

So he returned Virgil, acting like he was just watching the child for his friend.

But Janus moved away, moving from place to place so that they couldn’t be found.

Janus was so desperate to have their husband and their son’s father back that they believed Patton and Logan had moved on.

But to see that man anywhere their baby, Janus couldn’t handle it.

Virgil knows the truth now. How can anything be the same?

Before they can try to figure it out, the doorbell rings.

Janus flinches and Virgil is still busy hugging his Mom to bother with the door.

“I got it,” Remus tells them, answering the door to a man in all black and sunglasses.

“Look, whatever you’re selling, we’re not interested. Try the neighbors across the street. A lot of packages. Maybe they like sunglasses, or whatever you’re situation is-“

“-I’m not selling anything, sir. I’m looking for Remus Duke.”

Turns out, this guy isn’t a salesman. He’s Detective Remy Dormir (idk, I got the name from a human!AU fanart), hired by Roman Hart to find his birth family. (He arranged for this a year before the Dukes moved back to Sanders Bay)

This eventually leads to the discovery that Remus Duke’s father, Romulus King, got a woman pregnant before his passing. By this time, his son Remus had moved far away and changed his name, never successful at pleasing the man.

So yeah, Roman and Remus are half brothers. Which means Virgil’s only friend in Sanders Bay is his half uncle, since Virgil is the biological son of Janus and Remus Duke.

Yeah, there’s no romance between Roman and Virgil. Sorry to disappoint you Roman/Virgil shippers. There’s nothing wrong with that ship, it just doesn’t work for this AU.

That’s all I have so far. If I find that I missed something, I’ll add it later.

#sanders sides #virgil sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #remy sanders #I’m probably forgetting something #sanders sides au #sanders side fic #human au #family au

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thelibrarian1895 · 11 months

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The Bats Are Trolls

I toy with the idea but haven’t figured how I want this as a full fic so tossing it into the ether, do with it what you will

Concept: Stupid magic user erases knowledge of Bat family from world as part of very dumb plan, Gotham only knows them as rumors and that’s because they’re Gotham’s heroes and Bruce has TONS of magic neutralizing things scattered around Gotham just in case, Justice League knows something is off but can’t quite figure out what’s going on and Batman’s annoyed with everyone questioning him while he’s trying to clean up the mess and the Robins (Robins will be a term that includes Cass even though she’s possibly the only one that never wore the R which is sad and needs to be fixed) decide now is a good time to troll the league (possible dash of angst because Tim’s friends don’t know who he is and the poor boy needs his friends or Tim takes this time to troll them more than he’s been able to for years and Tim is my favorite Robin)

Featuring Batman on Watchtower and for some reason the majority of his kids decided to follow, because they’re all chaotic trolls, and that includes Batman

When JL asks where Batman got all these heroes to follow him

Dick: I’m his love child with Vengeance (Bc one of the driving things that got Dick to be a vigilante was wanting vengeance for his parents’ murder)

Jason: I was told there’d be candy

Tim: Batman and Gotham had an accident and I’m the result, they’re being much more careful now

Stephanie: I was told there’d be candy

JL: Do kids in Gotham not understand that taking candy from strangers is a bad thing? Red Hood said that too

Steph: Have you ever been to Gotham? If you want candy you can actually eat instead candy that’s absolutely drugged and probably full of razor blades or ground glass, Batman’s basically the only source.

Damian: I am the son and heir of Batman

JL possibly a Flash: So Batman had another kid with Vengeance? Or Gotham? How? Are there other heroes named Vengeance and Gotham?

Tim: No, Nightwing’s parent was the concept of Vengeance, mine was the personification of Gotham. *Gestures to Damian* His is the Night, her parent *gestures towards Cassandra* is Justice

JL probably a Lantern: Didn’t Batman ever learn to wrap it up?

Stephanie: Dude, gross, do you ask your dad that kind of thing?

Tim sweet stalker boy who has weird sense of boundaries: He had a vasectomy ages ago, it’s in his medical files, but that wouldn’t really stop someone like the brat’s mother, or certain others

JL possibly Diana: Others?

Tim: Did you really think we’re Batman’s only children? *ignoring implication JL wanted to know about Batman’s theoretical baby mamas*

JL possibly a very worried Clark: How many others? How many other children does he have I mean?

Dick: Good question

Jason: Depends on the day

Tim: I have the current list with me *pulls out book the size of a dictionary*

JL: Why does it say “Hit List” on the front?

Dick: Robin started it and we haven’t had the time to think of a better name that we can all agree on

This is true on several levels, Tim started to put together the book after the nth new kid from a different multiverse to try to help keep things straight for everyone since some of the kids were great like Terry or Father Todd while others were Joker Jr. or a Talon, none of the Robins will admit who named the list and all of them have a terrible sense of humor

Dumb mage’s mistake is eventually undone, JL realizes they’ve met more of Batman’s kids during that point than they have…ever, they really only interact with Nightwing on a regular basis and Red Robin sometimes

#batfamily #tim drake #bruce wayne #dick grayson #damian wayne #signal #stephanie brown #jason todd #justice league #I forgot Duke's last name I'm so sorry #I Remembered! Duke Thomas! I'm so sorry Duke Thomas!

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ratherbefangirling · 2 years

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Will you be mine ?

Pairing: Yandere Taehyung x Bodyguard Foreigner Reader

Genre: Yandere💀, Idol AU🎤, Bodyguard AU 🔫, 🔥🐌 *slow burn* 🦥 🔥

Based on request:

can I request a yandere taehyung x bodyguard OC? where Tae needs a new bodyguard...The female OC is very intimidating and everyone is easily scared of her but at the same that she's very pretty , she always do her job successfully(which is protecting tae) ,very professional, she's witty and very smart but she's extremely hard to get, she's not the girl you can fool and always stands uo for herself,etc. While Tae is secretly attracted to her(sexually and romantically) , and there's a lot of sexual tension too? thank uu I'm a new follower🙇‍♀️💞

Warning ⚠️: Yandere Content, Abuse of power, Gaslighting,( Implied )Murder, Lockdown *it's not covid related- bc even I'm traumatised about that*, panic attack, suicide, past trauma, ptsd, Stalking, mentions blood. [I think that's it.]

~°~°~

The city of Seoul was new to you.

Tired of your life, you had decided to find a place for a fresh new start. Numbering the countries of the world and going to Google for a random number generator.

South Korea.

Flashed infront of your eyes as if the city was calling to you. You spent a year in preparation for it. Informing your friends and family of your decision. Learning Korean and looking for possible jobs.

With a job of airport security at hand. You left for the country.

The first few months were lonely and confusing. Despite knowing the language you never really fit in with your new friends.

To top it off before the year passed you lost your job. They fired you for unexplained reasons. You suspected that it was because the manager wanted to give his niece your position.

Maybe it was for the better because instead of accepting defeat it brought forth the competitive side of you.

Being a trained security personnel as a female was never an easy job. You had to be tough as a nut.

So you found yourself day in day out in the employers agency of Itaewon, the place where you lived. It had the most foreign popularity which made you feel amazing. As it offered you exactly what you were looking for... a change of pace.

Eun Sang the girl at the employment agency had become familiar with you. Infact she almost felt sad for you while she was happy to see you knowing that you didn't have a job wasn't what she wished for you.

The opening of the door brought the outside air in. You held some snacks. Even bringing some for Eun Sang. Currently you were working as a part timer at different jobs.

"Hello, do you have anything for me.... well other than the gym instructor job. No offense it looks like an undercover brothel." You say.

"I have one you might be interested in, actually. There's this agency looking for a live in Bodyguard for their artist. It has a decent pay too"

"When's the interview?" You ask interested.

"It's tomorrow. And before you ask I already submitted your CV."

"Thanks Eun Sang you're the best once I get the job I will treat you to a meal."

"I will count on it." Her eyes land on the clock. "Hurry Y/n your shift starts soon."

You nod. Hopefully your visa problem would be solved.

Taehyung was very uninterested in letting any one invade his private space. Being a public figure. Fans knew a lot about him. While he loved sharing his life sometimes it did get overwhelming and he wanted to hide in his own shadow. To worsen things he had been receiving death threats. He almost had to cancel a lot of his schedules. The management suggested he get a live in Bodyguard.

It was where he randomly picked up the most interesting resumes.

There was a school guards, a person with actual experience protecting idol and then yours, a pretty foreigner.

"Taehyung ssi, are you sure these are your selections." The staff whose name he hasn't bothered to learn asks him.

"The fans will be so sad if they get to know how the management forced someone I didn't want in my living space... we don't want fans angry do we?" He says not even looking up from his phone.

Taehyung's manager entered with an iced tea for Taehyung.

The staff left.

"Be nice Taehyung-ah."

"Ah hyung you know why I keep distance with the staff. You know how many girls left because they had their sights on me."

The manager sighed. It was true a lot of staff had caused trouble mistaking Taehyung's bright and friendly nature for something more.

The managers only hope was that things don't go bad now. It was the peak of Taehyung's career after all.

~°~°~

You couldn't sleep the night before the interview. Worry for your future stealing away sleep. It wasn't the end of the world. If worst came to worst you'd move back home. Still this city with all its disappointment was dreamy. The lights and racing life. The city was awake and it spoke to you.

Of your life so far you've has the best and the worst moments here. You know you can never belong here. Seoul would never be home to you still it felt like the city called to you, like some fragment of your soul resonated and felt alive in this city.

You walk aimlessly in the busy streets and around 3 am you find yourself hungry and infront of a foodstall.

You search your pocket for change. You don't have enough money to buy the fish shaped bun the lady is selling.

"Do you want some child." The lady asks.

"No ahjumma. I dont have enough money on me." You tell her.

"Ah you're from outside but your Korean is so good. Consider it a gift from me." She says handing you a paperback filled with the snack.

You find yourself tearing up at the kindness shown by this stranger. You thank her and decide to eat at the park.

You sit on a bench keeping the bag by your side. You realise the walking has awoke thirst. You spot a vending machine and decide to get something to drink.

Once you return to your bench, you find a man eating your snack.

"Excuse me.. sir thats my packet you're eating from."

The man looks up, at the corner of his mouth bread crumbs are stuck but they do nothing to take away from his handsome features.

"How do you know its yours not mine?"

He was right.

"So is this.. yours?"

"Haven't you heard finders keepers." He says grinning.

"'Hey." You exclaim as he picks up the packet and trys to escape. Not knowing he messed with the wrong person. You rush after him. Manage to catch his hoodie.

He raises his hands in defeat with not an ounce of shame on his face but an amused grin.

Psycho. You think.

"You win. " He says.

"Does this look like a game to you."

"Maybe." He says acting innocent and if you were someone else you'd fall for that.

"Aren't you too old to be playing such childish pranks."

"I apologise." He says bowing.

"It's fine. I'm not hungry anymore you can have it."

"Thank you. If we meet again I will surely buy you a meal." He says.

You nod not believing a word that escapes him. It's late and you have an interview tomorrow.

~°~°~

You take great care to check for creases in your formal pants and shirt. You'd dressed simply as possible. Only applying a bb cream on your face to even out your skintone and a non coloured lip balm. Standing out never did any favours in a job of bodyguards. Blending in was often necessary.

You change multiple buses reaching your destination. Your CV in a file kept in your bagpack. Along with a few snacks and water bottle. Through the ride you pray that get the job.

Entering the building, you are given an interview pass and directed to sit with others. There's a decent amount of people already present and as you wait a few more come in. Other than you all applicants belong to the male gender. This doesn't surprise you. Its tough for females to be bodyguards. You found it to be your true calling.

Soon It's your turn.

"Ms Y/N L/N." One of the interviewer asks.

You nod.

"Can you speak Korean?" The man asks.

"Yes, Sir." You reply confidant

"Good, good."

The second man looks up from your CV. He looks like he's the Head of security from his strong build.

"What brought you to Korea."

"I wanted to experience new opportunities and develop my skills so that I could further my career."

"Do you know who you'll be guarding?" The second man asks suspicion apparent in his tone. You feel like you're being interrogated for a crime you didn't commit. Still you stay calm.

"I'm aware the person is going to be a celebrity but I don't know who?"

"Are you sure?"

You are confused by the questioning.

"Yes, we weren't informed about the client."

"'Tell me Ms. Y/N . Doesn't it seem strange that a foreign lady who recently arrived to Korea that too in a job at the airport which she left earlier than the original contract is trying to apply to a job to guard a celebrity who's being harrased by a Sasaeng from *home country* ."

When he put it like that it did sound too logical to be coincidental .

But if there was one thing you really couldn't stand was someone disrespecting you for who you were and from where you came from.

"Respectfully speaking, Nothing gives you the right to criminalise me. I came here for a job interview and not to be insulted or have my home disrespected. I will tell you sir keep your job to yourself and scrap my name from that list. If you had no intention of hiring me you shouldn't have wasted my bus money. Good day and good bye."

You say and walk out. You could burst a vein at how angry you were and because of that you almost crashed into someone.

The someone who had stolen your food last night. You looked up.

Why me.

"Oh hey girl from last night what are you doing?"

"I came to get a job but got interrogated instead." You answer without thinking.

"Come with me." He say catching your wrist.

"'Hey" You say holding his hand and twisting his arm so that he is pressed into the wall with his arm behind your back.

"Let me go. I can get you the job." He offers.

"FYI I no longer want this job." You reply

"Come on. Give me a chance. I will even get you a raise."

You leave his hand, pausing to reconsider.

" Look more money never hurt nobody. You couldn't sleep yesterday because of the job.. why not trust me?"

"Fine." You conceded.

You follow him to the interview room.

"Taehyung... Miss..?" The first guy said.

"'Manager Hyung, I want her." He says whining cutely and you want to slap yourself for finding it .. him cute.

"Taehyung ssi bit she might be.." the head of security says.

"It's decided now. Anyway she didn't know me and if you're that worried there's always the probation."

You didn't like that you weren't a part of the conversation involving you. Still you kept quiet.

"Also raise her salary. I already promised." He says.

A woman comes in "'V-ssi, its time to meet the director and then you have to get ready for your photoshoot. Please accompany me." She says.

He nods in acknowledgement. "See you later sayonara." He says and walks away.

The atmosphere of the room is tense and awkward.

The manager let's out a defeated sigh.

"Welcome to Hybe. Miss L/N. I'm Lee Hyun .. Taehyungs manager and you'll be closely working with me .. and this gentleman is Song Kang, head of security. Also your boss. He will brief you of your schedule and I will inform you of Taehyung's... now let's discuss further about your contract."

You were a bit shocked throughout the whole affair. Still processing the last 24 hours. Never in your wildest dreams could you imagine it.

Your new job gave you a chance to closely observe the entertainment industry. From fittings to recordings and driving and staff meetings. Shoots and fan events. That was how the first fifteen days went by.

After you were acclimatised to the schedule and were off the constant monitoring of the head of security. You were to do your real job. Pretend to be a normal staff to keep the stalker away. For which you learned to do Taehyung's makeup, check various lists, help organise his schedule, wardrobe etc.

Between all that you got used to Taehyungs hot and cold nature. Watching the smiles his fans saw to a cold uninterested expression. Watching him act cute for the camera and then scream at someone who got him coffee instead of his iced tea.

"You must think Taehyung is so confusing." Hyun says as you wait in the car for Taehyung to be dropped by the other bodyguard as you would take over his shift.

You say nothing. Your job didn't include passing judgements. The amount of things he does and having to smile all the time on top of that sounds torturous.

"He joined the industry young. Things haven't been easy for him. He is a very soft and sensitive person. People have used him for his fame on multiple occasions... and if that wasn't enough one of his closest friend died in an accident and he won a trophy the next night the category his friend was also nominated. Netizens blamed him for being the reason of his friends suicide and called him heartless for doing his job.. Since then he hasn't been the same."

For the first time you consider things from Taehyung's perspective. You wonder how tough it must have been to go face so many people like nothing had happened when your friend died.

One of the production staff rushes to your car. You perk up immediately. Hyun looks in the direction where your eyes are trained at.

"It's Taehyung-ssi. There was animal blood left on his door ... he uh." The staff is wheezing.

You immediately get out of the car.

"Manager nim please get towels and inform Kang Sir."

You rush towards the scene. Everyone is crowding the area.

"Please everyone. Clear the area. Let him breathe." You say using the director's microphone.

The crowd disperses a bit. Everyone buzzing with the gossip. There would be hell to deal with luckily it wasn't your shift but Bang Chan's shift.

Taehyung is streaked in red. His pretty clothes ruined by the blood. He looks sinister, like a devil instead of a victim.

He has been given wet wipes. Chan has made everyone keep their distance. He breathes a sign of relief after you arrive. You take one of the wet towels.

"May I?...V-ssi."

He nods. His eyes empty. You're scared. An apparent reaction is better than an internalised one.

You carefully clean his visible body. Taking care not to startle him. You start with his hands, neck and reach his face. His eyes meet yours and you find yourself intoxicated by them.

The managers voice in the background startles you. .

"What happened, Chan?" You ask your coworker.

"'I don't know I was with him at all times and I ... I had checked his room before the shooting so I didn't think it would be a problem.. uh I don't know y/n... just thanks to you I was able to handle the situation better."

"You would have done fine. Let's be more careful next time." You say.

He nods.

Hyun informs you that you would stay with him overnight and he will be given the evening off.

You go to check up on him in the car to tell him of the development.

He nods and once again you're left wondering if this man even has a heart in his body.

You drive to the apartment building. Once you park. You check the surroundings to make sure there's no immediate threat.

You open the door of the van.

"It's safe you can come out now." You tell him. You find tears streaming down his face. You feel sorry for having judged him previously.

You wrap your hands around him before you know it.

"It will be OK. You'll be fine. No need to worry. I'm here.. its alright... I'm here with you." You comfort him the best you can. You feel worried as sobs wreck his body. He holds you tight.

After a while the sniffling quietens.

"Let's go home. Alright?"

He nods wiping his tears with his sleeves.

He's latched onto you bit you don't mind. You just keep an eye on the surroundings just in case.

He opens the door of his apartment with the pincode. It's the first time you're here. It's straight out of a magazine but it's strange vintage cartoon aesthetic makes it seem more lively.

"Sit down on the couch and let me bring you some water. We don't want you to be dehydrated afterall." You say.

Its an open kitchen. You bring water and he gulps it down almost spilling.

"You might want to take a shower. I'm going to check all the rooms first alright?"

He nods.

You check out the rooms and bathrooms and there is nothing out of place.

"'I've completed checking. I will stay here unless you need me." You say.

"Can you stay with me inside."

"I.. don't think that's necessary." You say softly.

"I will just feel better if you do." He says.

"Ok then."

He goes to his room to get clothes and you follow him.

"You can use that chair." He says.

You place it in the bathroom.

It's a very huge and luxurious place with glass walls providing a beautiful view there's a big bathtub that might even fill two people.

You sit facing the door and you have the urge to laugh because this seems a lot like timeout. You're thinking of these things because you don't want to think of Taehyung who is naked behind you.

"'Do you mind listening to music?" He asks.

"No its fine."

He puts low instrumental music.

"What kind of music do you like?" He asks after an interval. You can hear the sound of water filling the tub and sloshing sounds that indicate his movements.

"A little bit of everything but mostly something that makes me sway a bit as I listen to it." You reply.

"You're from *home country* .. can you tell me what it's like?" He asks.

"To me it's my home... its a big part of who I am.. if you ever end up going you must try *regional food* it's the best. Korean food is nice and there is this restaurant which serves decent *regional food* but its not quite as tasty as when it's eaten in *home country* "

"So you like food"

"I really do both eating and feeding."

"You want to eat then."

"'Never say no to my favourite food." You say jokingly.

There's silence and then a thud.

"'Are you ok.. v ssi." You ask standing up.

"Don't worry, it was the shampoo bottle."

The music in the background turns off.

"Can you please get me a towel?"

You nod and get up to pick one.

"Do I..turn around.... how do I?" You say confused.

"Don't worry I am here." He says.

You close your eyes. He takes the towel from your hands.

"I'm decent now. You can open your eyes."

You open your eyes. His naked torso leads you to have thoughts that are far from decent.

You mentally smack yourself. He's your boss. Your very hot, very sexy and half naked boss.

"Please wear something." You say hiding your face.

He laughs. It's a rich sound. Beautiful. Melodious.

Taehyung wears his joggers and T-shirt. As fun as it was to fluster his cute bodyguard. Catching a cold would turn his work into a nightmare.

"I'm dressed now. You can look." He says.

Carefully you peek through your fingers.

"Can you dry my hair?" He says yawning.

You nod slowly accepting the strange nature of your boss's requests.

Carefully you dry his hair. It's rough and fragile perhaps due to being dyed multiple times. Still you enjoy running your fingers through his scalp lightly massaging like a friend had taught you.

Taehyung's eyes were droopy he hadn't felt this safe and comfortable in a long while. He wanted to keep you with him forever. It would be so nice, if you were always with him. You took such good care of him. After Jiminie no one had talked to him in the bath. No one had hugged and comforted him in a long while. His family barely had time for him. Always asking for more. More time with him on the holidays, more money, always complaining he didn't spend enough time and enjoying things as he slaved away. On top of that they had hated his Jimin. Told him he should hang out with better people, people who don't struggle with mental health.. Not like he listened to them.

"Taehyung ssi.. Taehyung ssi." You say softly shaking him.

He opens his eyes partly. It's then you notice the difference between his eyes. You're both staring into each others eyes when the bell rings startling you.

"It's the delivery guy." He says. "I ordered some *favourite dish*"

Your face glows immediately.

"Seriously."

He nods. "I told you I'd buy you a meal."

"Thanks boss. You're the best. Let me go get it." You say smiling brightly.

He watches you go and decides he can never let you leave.

The next few weeks don't involve much unexpected activity. You and Chan take care that incident like the blood bath doesn't occur again. Since the incident your interpersonal relations are improving. You've become more friendly with Chan, going as far as having food together when your shifts overlap or you have time together. Even Taehyung has become sweeter. Telling you to use his card for an extra cup of coffee. Asking you for opinion on his outfits. Taking help in choosing his jewellery.

Today the schedule was pretty busy. You cant wait to finish your shift. You just had to drop Taehyung to his home and then you'd be free.

"Y/n." He calls from behind.

"Yes?" You say looking at him through the mirror.

"Stop by the Encastle. I've made reservations I'm hungry." He says.

You nod.

Taehyung's strict diet scared you. Sometimes you felt he was too thin. You sometimes felt like a grandmother does wanting to feed her grandkid. It was undeniable you'd grown fond of him and even though it was the worst you were emotionally attached.

"We've arrived." you tell him.

You both enter through the backdoor to avoid paparazzi. You are led towards the private seating rooms.

You check the room and step outside.

"It's safe. You can go sit."

"Come have food with me. I dont want to eat alone." He says grabbing your wrist and tugging you in.

The dinner passes in silence. The food is impeccable. You engage in a bit of small talk but Taehyung is too tired to talk even if he is enthusiastic about talking. So he let's you talk. You talk about your childhood, about your school days, about things you like about living in Korea and things you miss from back home. Anytime you stop or pause he refreshes the conversation.

The drive back to his house us filled with conversation too.

"Can we watch the stars?" He asks.

"Huh?" You ask focusing on driving.

"I want to go to the rooftop will you come?"

"It's." My job why are you phrasing it like a question. You think. "Yes ofcourse but remember to wear proper clothes." You say.

"'OK." He says grinning.

So you and Taehyung watch the stars from the top of the building. You feel free. The sky is clear and there's an occasional light breeze. In other words it's the perfect weather. You keep an eye out for trouble though its unlikely. You look at Taehyung and take time to observe his ethereal looks. Even without makeup or dressing up he looks angelic. His face holds a sombre expression. That's how he looks when he isn't watching how he looks.

He turns to you offering you a smile. A smile no less brilliant than a star.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

You hope your heart isn't racing.

"Very." You reply and you notice that the smile doesn't leave his eyes.

You and Chan often catch up with each other drinking coffee in Taehyung's kitchen in the morning. Which he had kindly offered to you both for this use.

"You're so funny." Chan says as you tell him one of the incidents that had happened to you after you first came to Korea.

"I mean.. I didn't know ok."

He laughs louder.

"That's what makes it funnier."

When you first came to Korea because of the newness of the language instead of saying paegopha (I'm hungry) you kept saying pogoshipda(I miss you) for a while.

"When I first saw you you looked intimidating and two pretty to be a bodyguard but now I know how big of a dork you are Y/n."

"No that's just the sleep deprivation talking. Anyhow the schedule just involves company meeting and shooting for the drama right?" You confirm.

"Yes, take care on the set though." He says.

"Don't worry. I am always careful." You reply.

"I'm ready, let's go." Taehyung says not looking up from the script in his hand.

Even in the car he doesn't look up from it.

"Taehyung ssi, you'll hurt your eyes if you keep reading." You tell him.

"Call me Taehyung please I feel old being called Taehyung ssi all the time."

"I dont think that's a good idea, Sir."

"'Consider it an order then"

"Ok, Taehyung."

"'Good Girl." There's something about the way he says it that sends shiver down your spine.

You turn down the AC.

Waiting for Taehyung to come out from his bosses cabin. You enjoy sitting on the chairs near the window. The sunlight coming in is pleasant. You almost miss Taehyung leaving the cabin. You're back on your feet and by his side but Taehyung is still looking at the view you were looking at moments ago.

"The weather is nice." Taehyung says.

"It is. Did your meeting go well?"

"Hmm... he said I needed to post more pictures to let the fans know I'm ok."

"Oh... do you want me to help?" You ask.

"No its fine. I just look go--."

"What are you saying you always look incredible, it's the rest of us mortals who suffer."

He looks at you wide eyed, it's the first time you've interrupted him. While he doesn't appreciate you talking over him. He's gonna let you off free this one time.

The rest of the day is uninteresting except for Taehyung taking pictures. He posts some online. And if you would have looked closely one of them has you in it.

When the time to change shifts come you wait for Bang Chan. He comes in, the smile lighting his face when he sees you is missing. You grow concerned.

"Are you ok, Chan?"

"'Oh yeah yes. I mean nothings wrong. How are you? There wasn't any trouble right?"

"Yes yes I'm fine. You sure... you can talk to me if you want I won't mind?"

He looks at you puppy eyed.

"Uh.. the thing is that .. I uh like you.. and like more than a colleague or a friend like like you and I know it's not professional and I just wanted to let you know and for this reason I am thinking about changing jobs.."

You take a step back.

"I .. um .. don't know what to say." You reply.

"Don't worry I won't let it come between us. I'm just... I had to let you know." He says.

You feel panic clogging your pores. What strange situation had you landed in being liked by a colleague and falling for your boss.

~°~°~

You decided to go home for a week and took leave. Taehyung wasn't pleased and insisted you message him daily and Chan ever since then has avoided looking into your eyes.

The first few days of your vacation pass by peacefully. You receive good morning and good night messages from Taehyung which have you giggling like a school girl. He also informs you that Chan resigned but you don't know how to feel about that. Contrary to what people think being pretty and being liked for that was very burdensome.

You and Taehyung chat more often than ever. He gives you updates about Korea, sends you selfies. He even called you once.

Before your vacation ends things go downhill.

Head of Security Mr. Song called you informing about the death of Chan. You book the next flight to Seoul leaving in a hurry. Despite your limbs aching and jet lag. You drop your luggage to your apartment and rush to the office. On your way you call Hyun sunbae.

"Hello, I'm back. How's everything? Is Taehyung ssi well ??" You ask.

"We are at the company. There's a frenzy here. This is unprecedented. If you can right now come here."

"I'm on my way."

You hurry towards the meeting room where you were told the meeting was taking place. You take a deep breath to calm yourself before opening the doors. There's a heated discussion but you pay no heed to it. Your eyes searching for Taehyung and when you see him you finally breath. You go sit next to him. He intertwines your hand with his.

"The best course of action is to have someone live with V-ssi." Kang says.

"But who both of us are married." Hyun replies.

You feel Kang's gaze on you. You remove your hand from Taehyung's.

"I think it'd be the best if Miss Y/n moved into Taehyung-ssi's apartment."

"Are you both alright with this?" Hyun asks.

You nod. The urge to keep Taehyung in your line of sight strong. You didn't doubt you'd be unable to protect him.

"It's decided. Move as quick as possible. Right now if you will." Kang instructs you.

As the meeting concludes you and Taehyung along with two company guards accompany you. You feel embarrassed when Taehyung enters your apartment so you hurriedly packs.

Taehyung on the other hand is delighted to see this part of you which he might not have otherwise known. He sees the things you've used to decorate your apartment and decides to buy you those so you feel right at home with him. He also notes your clothes and decides to buy you more.

Hmm maybe you could do with more lace , his pretty pet... or satin or velvet or silk anything a girl could want for. The possibilities were endless. Had he known eliminating that Bang Chan had been corrupting his precious pet he would have done it sooner.

You dont feel him sneak up on you distracted by the jet lag and packing. His breath hits your ear as he speaks.

"'Are you done? Do you need me to help."

Before you answer he places his arms on yours and helps close the zip of your bag. You grow fascinated by his sexy hands. You shake your head. You turn bur he still hasn't moved. Face to face. You're so close that you could move slightly and your lips might touch. The thank you on your lips is swallowed. Up close he's even more handsome. He has slight fuzz on his skin but otherwise it looks soft. That your hands reach to touch. You hesitate. He grabs your hand and places it on his cheek. He leans into your touch eyes half close half open. Sultry. And it leaves butterflies in your stomach.

Looking at your flustered state he smiles.

One of the guards from outside calls your name. You almost jump back falling on your bed. You feel flustered. Taehyung gives you a smile you cannot comprehend and picks up your luggage.

Your stay at Taehyung's house creates chaos inside of you. On one hand it's comfort and luxury and you know longer come back to an empty house. You also don't have to get up earlier. On the other hand your feelings for Taehyung keep growing. He is sweet and considerate and touchy. Always requesting to cuddle when you watch a movie together. Acting cute to get his way. He even asked to sleep in your bed because he couldn't sleep. Which you refused but suggested instead to sit beside him till he slept. Still those were the things you could handle what you couldn't handle was him roaming shirtless or in those short shorts which exposed his strong thighs.

One evening he knocks your door couple of packages in his hand.

You open the door and take a few because they might topple over.

"I just ordered some jewellery for my mom and sister. Can you help me decide who to give what?"

"That's sweet." You say.

He flashes a boxy smile that strikes right at your heart.

The evening and late night are spent trying on the jewellery. Some of the pieces are very questionable though.

"What's this you ask." Holding a long chain.

"Oh it's very cool it's supposed to be put on your tummy."

"I dont think that's a good idea. This is something you buy for yourself or your partner."

"Hmm still try it on. I've already ordered it so you might as well... unless you want to see me try it." He says and pulls the hem of his shirt.

You put your hands in his stopping him.

"Taehyung. No."

"Fine." he huffs. "Atleast put on that choker no?"

You give in but its harder to put then you anticipated. As Taehyung sees you struggle with putting it on he holds your hair first.

"'Hold your hair Y/n. Let me do it to you." His low voice singing in your ears raises goosebumps on your flesh. You use both your hands to hold up your hair. Despite that he struggles to close it or so it seems.

Watching your neck and touching your skin is an almost holy experience. If loving you meant going to he'll he was ready to bear the heat. The temptation to kiss your neck after he was done was strong. If he had his way flowers would bloom across the expanse of your skin. Then everyone would know who you belonged to.

He sighs. For now he would have to content himself with watching you in a choker that had his name weaved into the design.

"Y/Nie!!" he calls you sitting on your bed.

"Are you free this weekend?"

"Why?"

"Jin Hyung has invited me to have dinner with him and his wife."

"Is 'jin hyung' the Actor Kim Seokjin." You confirm.

"Yes.. so are you."

"I guess. Do I have to wear something specific or is the uniform fine?" You ask.

"You're going to dine with us as for the clothes. I have a friend in the fashion department who sent me some options."

You are both surprised and shocked by his statement. Surprised because he was so considerate and shocked because your relationship with him was becoming more unprofessional by the day.

"Taehyung I appreciate it but you shouldn't have. It's wrong."

"I can't believe you're being so ungrateful. I just tried to make your job easier. Can't you see how tough it is to have people in my life and I'm trying to be helpful and you just threw it on my face. I'm done." He says angrily and storms of locking himself in his room.

You think about apologising when you have dinner. You even cook his favourite dish. He doesn't come out. The food grows cold and you grow concerned.

"Taehyung.. Taehyung ssi. V ssi. Taehyung please. I'm sorry. I really am sorry. I should have been better. Please come out. I'm getting worried... please at least answer me."

Taehyung opens the door. His eyes are red. You feel guilt clogging you.

So you find yourself sitting across Mrs. And Mr. Kim Seokjin in the private room of one of the most expensive and private restaurants of the city if not the country. His wife is polite and well mannered as is Jin. You almost feel intimidated. You're profession involved intimidating but despite his charming smile you could tell Kim Seokjin was not to be trifled with. You found yourself staring at the meal for the most part. It was a pity your appetite was dead because it was a rich delicious meal.

You get to see another side of Taehyung, a softer more childlike side of him. Taehyung and Jin were the ones who kept the conversation going mostly.

"Would you like some dessert?"

You nod and point at a random thing on the menu chocolate au something. Fancy words really gave you a headache.

Seokjin to orders a dessert his wife tries to speak up but he shuts her off with a look. She looks away and your eyes meet and she looks gown pretending to dust off her dress. You feel discontent. Still you brush it off.

You leave the restaurant after finishing with your meal. You're just saying goodbye when a waiter comes with a handbag in hand. It's Jin's wife's.

"Madam your purse." The waiter calls out.

In the corner of your eye you see Jin's jaw clench. It's a dangerous expression, you'd forgotten your discomfort but it returned more stronger than before.

Jin's wife hid behind Jin. "Stay Away.. S-Stay A-away. STAY AWAY. I'm sorry sorry sorry."

Taehyung took the purse from the waiter and tipped him.

Jin turned to his wife. "I'm sorry Jagiya. It's going to fine as long as I'm here nobody is going to hurt you ok."

His wife looked like oxygen escaped her. Tears streamed down ruining some of the makeup.

Jin cupped her face. "Focus on me, love. Breathe in breathe out. Yes just like that my sweetheart.youre doing good. Let's go home. Say bye to our guests and we'll leave."

She finally seems to be calming down. "G-good by-ee Taehyung and Y/n. It was nice to meet you." She says meekly.

The couple disappears into the night.

As you sit in the car which Taehyung is driving, your mind booms with questions. What, How, Why?.

"What's going inside your head y/nie."

"I..."

"Jin hyungs wife? You're worried about her."

"How did you know. I just know you're a nice person?"

"In the beginning of their relationship fans got to know about her, saesangs released information about her, she was fired from her job and assaulted. Since then Jin Hyung doesn't like her coming out and doesn't bring her out unless absolutely necessary. They got married and they live in a beautiful country house at the edge of the city. Since then Hyung only takes a limited amount of dramas and spends the rest of the time with her."

You can only imagine what she must have faced trying to save her life when her only fault was falling in love with someone who was loved by everyone or rather making such a person fall for her.

You were still in the car when the message came.

Public Service Announcement : It is to be noted that due to security threats the public except essential government workers are to quarantine. Taking effect from 12 hrs tomorrow.

What little peace there was was discarded.

It was a rush of calls, taking supplies. Instead of driving you home. Taehyung drove you to the supermarket but seeing the rush you decided it was better to order delivery instead. Still Taehyung drove you to the mall so you could get some clothes since you hadn't brought that many of yours.

The next day started as any other until the delivery came and it was multiple boxes.

Instead of doing anything about the boxes Taehyung returned to sleep. You didn't say anything knowing he barely got time to rest. You on the other hand decided, setting the items according to use and expiry dates would be good. So you set about your task.

The head of security and Taehyung's manager dropped by to give shooting equipment, diet plans and makeup for Taehyung's use.

You made sandwich for lunch and extra for Taehyung.

The night had set when you were done with the supplies.

It was the beginning of a first nightmare. Days passed by watching news or playing games. Sometimes Taehyung would do a love to talk to his fans. You tried cooking a few different things. Luckily you could still access the gym.

Living with Taehyung wasn't bad. You had come to terms with his different moods. Whimsical and sad and flirty and excited. He changed within the drop of a hat. Still you enjoyed his company. Too much some times. You tried to stop yourself but there was no escaping from the vortex called Kim Taehyung.

Finally it was the last day of quarantine and you were so happy finally you could be free to go out. While you didn't hate how you passed the time. You couldn't wait to be free.

As you tell Taehyung about the announcement he gives you a strange look. You're confused by the lack of positive response but you push it aside. Taehyung was and probably would always remain a mystery to you.

He checks his phone. There are multiple messages.

"Could you please put up the equipment for the live" He requests. You nod and set it up.

LIVE: CONFESSION

Hello beautiful people, it's me. Yes today is a happy day the restrictions are lifting. How are you doing?... let me see the comments. Looks like all is well. All front line workers, thank you for your hard work.

For a while it continued like usual.

Now since I a lot of you are here you must be wondering why I titled the live as confession. Its because I have a confession to make. As you all know its been a year since Jiminie left and since then I've been lonely and after him you're my best friends and my protectors so it's only fair that you know about her. The girl I love. She joined the staff recently and she's my bodyguard and took care of me. We fell in love with each other. Y/N is very precious to me I hope you'll treat her preciously too and I hope you're happy for me.

You waited for the him to end the live. Fuming in anger and confusion. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Isn't this what you want?"

"What even.. when did I even?"

"Don't act dumb sweetheart I'm not blind I've seen the way you look at me."

"That doesn't mean a thing?" You try to deny.

"You sure like to play hard to get.. don't you know it makes me want to own you even more."

"I am not a thing you can own. As soon as this is over I'm leaving." You say anger rising and shame.

"To where?"

"Back home."

"You're so cute darling. Who's going to pay your bills once you are blacklisted in a celebrity scandal. And it really would be a pity if your home burned down or if something happened to Eun Sang."

"'Are you threatening me?"

"Of course not I'm just explaining things to you."

"I will go to the police." You threaten. He just calmly sits on the sofa.

"I wonder who they'll believe a foreigner who had been fired under mysterious circumstances or an idol who had been stalked."

The gravity of your situation hits you. Taehyung has you trapped. You wonder how far he'll go to ruin you if you don't listen. You can't live with the guilt of ruining the life of the people you love.

You're silent and Taehyung takes it that he's put his point across to you.

"Now love you have two options, to be my lover and live happily with all the luxury and love or be my stalker and end up a criminal. It will be a pity if something happens to your mom who is finally coming to surprise you, right?" He says addressing you who is completely at his mercy.

Could you ever escape? Did you even have a chance.

"So tell me will you be mine or will you be mine?"

The End.

Taglist : @mwitsmejk ; @yuikitty ; @hoseokslefteyebrow ; @darkuni63

Feedback Appreciated.

Authors Note 📝

The request did take time but then the length fixes it... I hope.

Anyone who wants to request. This is your sign. I also write non-yandere.

I don't actually know how employment agencies work or other things I hope it's not to terrible.

Also like Jin is a yandere if you didn't figure it out.

Hope you like the banner. I'm bad at editing but I'm proud of it.

Have a good day

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gojuo · 1 year

Note

what are ur fave sunfyre headcanon mine is that he laughs like a fox

ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEEEEEE I LOVE THIS SO SO SOOO MUCH OMG SO REAL SO TRUE .... 😭😭😭

Sunfyre and Tessarion are brother and sister and Dreamfyre is their mother #real

Sunfyre's egg hatched the exact same day Aegon was born #soreal #sotrue

Helaena claimed Dreamfyre first from all the Targtower kids and Aegon was jealous so he claimed baby Sunfyre immediately after and also named him Sunfyre in order to match with Dreamfyre bc kids just be like that (he thought he could upstage Dreamfyre's name lol loser)

Sunfyre is The Most Beautiful Dragon In The Known World™️ and he knows it. He's annoying as all hell in the Dragonpit, swinging his tail at the other dragons, breathing a lil fire in their direction in order to vex them, snap at the bigger dragons' wings bc he just feels like annoying some dragons that day.

Tried to get Tessarion in on his shenanigans but then he had to leave for Oldtown :(

Had Sunfyre lived and not been injured, he would have been in the Dreamfyre/Caraxes/Meleys size bracket. He was a young dragon but he grew exceptionally fast and he would have grown as big as Meleys within a few more years.

He likes to climb mountains. Like, not fly over them, but put his claws into the rocks and just walk vertically along a mountain. It feels good on his claws.

It was the bond between him and Aegon which kept him alive for so long. He should have died after Rook's Rest but after Jaehaerys' murder, for the first time in both Sunfyre and Aegon's lives, they felt a feeling of anguish in a way that was inexplicable to the two of them. Sunfyre couldn't die before he got his rider what he wanted: Rhaenyra's death. And so Sunfyre stayed alive for so long against all odds because of their bond, because Sunfyre couldn't pass on before he could make Aegon finally find his peace... A part of Aegon was lost when Sunfyre died, because their bond was beyond anything any other Dragonrider had in all of history #REAL !!!!!!

Sunfyre truly was the only golden dragon that had ever lived in all of Planetos history. Not a single dragon in all of Valyria was golden-colored.

On the left side of his jaw, at the place where his fleshy neck and bony mandible meet, there is this one place which always itches and Aegon is the only one who knows where to scratch it. When he does, Sunfyre purrs and stretches his entire neck out and also wags his tail.

Sometimes Sunfyre just likes to stand on his hind legs, stretch his torso and arms out, and stay on the ground as he flaps his wings. He doesn't go flying, he just likes to flap his wings and feel the wind rise and also to annoy the people that come close to him.

Sunfyre loves to be close to the sun so he always searches for the highest peak to rest on. However, because the further you are away from the ground, the colder the air gets so Aegon can't always come along with him because it's just too cold for a human to be that high up.

His breath never smells #canon

Likes to fly around meemaw Vhagar's head and nip at her ears. Vhagar never does anything to him except growl and roar when it gets too much.

Sunfyre likes to fold his paws under his chin and sleep with his head resting on his hands.

He likes to go against everything the Dragonkeepers say. They think it's cause he can't understand them, but actually he understand them perfectly he just doesn't care about what they want and loves to irritate them. They need to call Aegon in those moments bc he's the only one Sunfyre will listen to even if he pretends not to follow his orders at first.

Aegon always tells him that he is his one and only friend and Sunfyre understands this sentiment. Whenever Aegon is upset with his family (which is like, all the time) Sunfyre will be the first thing he seeks out. Aegon doesn't have to say anything to Sunfyre for him to know that his rider just wants to get away from it all, so when Aegon is all saddled in, crying because he thinks no one in the world loves him, Sunfyre just takes the reins and flies to wherever Aegon can be alone.

Sometimes he licks Aegon's face lol although his tongue is way too big.

He doesn't like to be stuck in the Dragonpit, he wants to fly free under the sun. Aegon is almost always seen flying him out of King's Landing in the morning, disappears for the entire day, and then comes back late at night when darkness has already fallen.

Sunfyre likes to bump heads with Aegon, especially when he feels Aegon's sadness though their bond.

He has a mean stare and his eyes are a pale red color.

He gets his horns from his momma (Dreamfyre).

#OKEY ENOUGH i could write a whole 10k words dissertation about my hcs on sunfyre fr fr #THANK YOU FOR ASKING I LOVE YOUUUUUU <33333333 I LOVE THINKING ABOUT SUNFYRE !!#sunfyre #aegon ii #hotd spoilers #anonymous #answered

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apersonwholikeslotus · 8 months

Note

Ok so GerAmeLietIta really intrigued me. I'd love to get a better feel for them, can you give us some headcanons or scenarios?

ABSOLUTELY

So anyway, in an rp I have as a side plot (yes you heard me this isn’t even the main plot of the story), but i think it can be kinda universially applied to how they got together.

we had AmeLiet and GerIta, Al and Tolys are married and I don’t even remember Ludwig and Feli’s relationship status but they were together.

anyway; along the way Alfred is like “haha yeah, I had a crush on Ludwig way back in the day” and someone (cough France cough) is like “used to??? USED TO???” bc apparently Al’s crush on Lutz is evident to this day. blah blah blah argument where Al is basically like “I can’t have a crush on someone else, I’m married and I adore the person I’m married too!!” And François goes “PLEASE I’ve been betting on you being polyam for YEARS”

it gets dropped for a few months until; Alfred holds his Christmas party everyone is more than a few drinks in and François can’t help but tell Ludwig about Alfred’s crush.

Alfred spends a few weeks freaking out, and even getting to the point where he tells Tolys about his century old crush. followed by a spurt of “maybe Ludwig was too drunk to remember what François said, maybe it’s fine”

another months or so passes: Ludwig was not too drunk to remember what was said. He just uh, well, he didn’t know what to say. Especially considering he was dealing with the same situation…

eventually Al and Lutz end up on a phone call, for four hours. Talking about the elephant in the room.

After talking to Tolys and Feliciano about it they end up on a date of sorts, all four of them. It's cordial and awkward, until Tolys gets tired of dancing around it leans over to Feliciano and they have this exchange "I hear your husband has a crush on mine" "oh! I heard the same about yours!" Al and Ludwig immediatly go beet red, they were not expecting that, it was so funny to rp.

Anywho, some conversation goes by somehow just stating it made everything go from cordial and awkward to casual and not-so-awkward. We find out there was some miscommuntion and uh, well, Feliciano somehow got the idea that they were entering a swingers arangment and was slightly disappointed to find out otherwise :(

skipping random convos; they're walking back to Alfred's house and Feli decides to make a joke about how he was excited to sleep with someone other than Ludwig; while Lutz is busy being (jokingly) offended Tolys gives Alfred a Look(TM) and they have this whisper convo

A: Are you serious?

L: I won't unless you're okay with it.

A: I guess I don't care?

L: you have to straight out say it's okay or I won't do anything.

A: Yes, it's fine. I really don't mind.

L: you sound hesitant

A: I'm not! I'm surprised! who are you and what have you done with my timid husband???

(heads I am not going through every single convo even if it is technically important)

So, Feliciano and Tolys end up, y'know. Alfred and Ludwig however end up sitting in the living room with their romantic tension, they talk and at some point play chess. It’s lovely.

so anyway, after that the dynamic goes AmeLiet and GerIta are in their original marriages still, Ludwig & Al are dating, Ludwig, And Feli are Tolys’ friends with benefits. (Side note that the running joke is Alfred is super ace and kinda aware of it but doesn’t call himself ace solely cause “I don’t have time for more self discovery rn”)

anyway, they all end up in a relationship with the confessions not even being confessions :\ Ludwig accidentally introduces Tolys as his bf once and is just never corrected. Alfred and Feli just simultaneously start referencing each other as being “my partner” (Feliciano is actually enby no I don’t make the rules). The only actual confession (disregarding GerAme) is LietIta :\\\ it’s very dramatic and comedic they’re standing by a pond under moonlight Feli is like “I have fallen for you, our love shall endure the ages, people will sing of it” “what about Alfred and Ludwig?” “Fuck I forgot about them”

anyway they’re goofy I love them, their favorite movie is 50 first dates they watch it together all the time :)

#Geramelietita #Hetalia #hws germany #hws veneziano #hws lithuania #hws america #apersonwithsomeanswers

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little-lego-ninjas · 6 months

Text

lightning in a bottle (burning full throttle)

Guess what I just posted on AO3 guys???? Are you excited, because I am! I'm actually really proud of this monster (it's 12.6k words h e l p), and I hope you guys like reading it as much as I liked writing it!

Fair warning, this is filled to the brim with queerness (as a queer myself, I could not resist the fruit ninja), so read with caution ig lmao.

Gun tw, and some minor injuries (somebody gets shot, but it's minor), slurs (not actually written bc i am too soft for it but wanted to include it bc i have had bad race-related encounters lately, and i protect my friends from toxic people as much as possible), ptsd, anxiety, anxiey/panic attack, gender issues, y'know the works.

There's probably a few more i can't think of rn, but all the tags are on AO3 if you feel the need to check! Nothing super insane happens (no weird age stuff or sex), so enjoy!!

AO3 link in case you wanna read it over there or leave a big comment or something i dunno. For you <3.

Fic below the cut bc it's too damn long.

"Okay, have we all got our roles down?" Lloyd asked at the head of the dining room table, papers and maps and blueprints scattered around him. His hair was a mess, blond waves tangled together and falling into his face. No doubt from staying up all night, finalizing and piecing everything together.

Cole nodded, his arms crossed over his chest. "I've got mine."

"I do as well," Zane added, his fingers threaded together atop the table.

Kai sighed before anyone else could say they had everything ready. "Why do I have to go in disguise? Shouldn't we let Zane do it?"

Pixal answered before Lloyd could open his mouth, her green eyes hard. "Kai, we have already discussed why you and Jay are going in disguise. Zane's cloaking software is down, mine is nowhere near the level his is, and Cole is going in disguise too."

She arched a brow at him. "I don't see the issue."

Kai gestured around the table, chest tight. "I'm going to be in a party while Nya, Lloyd, and you," he shot a blatant look at Pixal, "try to stop an assassin."

"Sorry for worrying like a good brother would," he grumbled as an afterthought.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, making him glance over to see who it was. Nya looked mildly annoyed, but mostly sympathetic, which was a good sign. "Kai, you know you aren't just going to a party."

"I know, I just-"

"Get worried." Jay finished, his chin resting in his hands. "We know. But this is serious stuff, me and you are going to protect Cyrus Borg."

When his name was uttered, Pixal looked down at her hands. Zane reached across the table, taking one of her hands. "We will not let anything happen to him, Pixal."

Pixal looked up, nodding. She didn't say anything though. Kai could understand her concerns, considering it was her father that they were attempting to save from an untimely death. Kai couldn’t imagine having to be in her position, and it only gave him more empathy towards her for being so strong about the entire subject. It couldn’t have been an easy thing to listen to, or talk about.

Cole nudged Zane’s shoulder, his expression a mixture of his usual soft one and a slightly more serious one reminiscent of his younger days of leading the team. “Besides, we have more help too. Skylor and some of the other elemental masters, right Lloyd?”

Lloyd nodded, digging through the scattered papers until he could find the one he had written all their names on. “Most of them helped with the resistance, so we’re in good hands. That assassin won’t know what hit them, Pix.”

Pixal pursed her lips, then stood. “Fantastic. I’ll go ensure my weaponry is ready and functional.”

Nya’s gaze followed the girl who had taken up her old mantle, the blue in her eyes holding a depth Kai had begun to notice whenever his little sister looked at Pixal. Nya sighed, pushing her chair away from the table. “I feel so bad for her.”

Zane nodded, his fingers threaded together again, something the nindroid had begun to do after his time in the NeverRealm. “I do as well, but we mustn’t let our worries consume the mission. We cannot fail.”

Cole rubbed Zane’s shoulder. “We won’t, Z. We won’t.”

Zane didn’t look convinced, but he did shoot Cole a smile that the other boy returned. Kai watched them all silently, his chest still tight with the idea of letting them risk their lives while he stayed inside at a party. It felt wrong and like he was slacking off, even though he knew he had an important role to play. A hand ruffled at his hair, snagging his attention. He shot a glare at Jay, who had an impish little smirk on his lips.

“Don’t you ruin this for me, Kai. It’s the anniversary of Borg’s empire!” Jay sighed with delight, earning several eye-rolls that he ignored. “What a legend.”

Kai scoffed, standing up. “Remember that we’re there to protect Cyrus, not party.”

Jay waved his hand. “Duh. Just think it’s neat.”

Lloyd hummed, shifting through his papers again. “Since it’s a pretty exclusive party, I think you two should really dress the part. High-class and stuff.”

Kai grinned. “I have just the suit.”

///

Kai tugged at his tie in mild annoyance, shooting a glare at his reflection. He didn't like the idea of just sitting on the sidelines while everyone else ran around playing hero. It didn't sit right with him to not be in the heat of the matter, but rather going incognito to better blend in.

Granted, Zane was pretending to be the intern who double-checked invitations, and Cole was one of the guards at the entrance, but still. If the news from Skylor handed down to her through the pipeline of elemental masters was true, which it was, Cyrus Borg was set to be a prime target to be assassinated tonight during his company's anniversary party.

Kai wanted to be the guy beating up the assassin, not hiding in a crowd of rich tech-heads, but he had to begrudgingly agree with Lloyd's plan. It was the best course of action, the best set-up to ensure Cyrus Borg and everyone attending the party would be safe. He just hated the idea of his family risking their lives without him beside them.

Heaving a sigh, Kai glanced at his reflection again, tugging at the cuffs of his sleeves. He had to admit, he looked nice. The suit was a bit darker than he would have chosen for himself, but it wasn't too terrible. It was fitted just enough to benefit his shape, but not overly so. His hair was what was bothering him the most, if he was being honest.

Instead of its usual spiked style, his hair looked much like it did when he was wet, falling into his eyes enough to bother him. Kai scrubbed his fingers through his hair again, grumbling under his breath as he did so. Maybe Nya was right when she said he needed a haircut.

"Kai."

Kai met his sister's eyes in the mirror. She was in her gi, only serving to remind Kai of the danger she was about to put herself in. "Yeah?"

Nya's lips twitched, as if she was fighting off a smile. "Have you been brooding this whole time?"

Kai opened his mouth, then clicked his tongue. " No ."

His sister stepped closer to him, turning him away from the mirror. "I know what you're stewing over, okay? But I think you need to see your boyfriend."

Kai knit his brows together. "Is Jay not helping me survey the party in disguise?"

"No," Nya said with a shake of her head. "He's still helping you, but I meant see like look at him because, uh."

Her cheeks pinkened. "He looks great."

Kai snorted, elbowing Nya. "You are such a bi disaster."

"Wha- says the pan disaster!" Nya sputtered as Kai left his bedroom, heading for Jay's.

He chuckled under his breath at the sound of Nya's grumbles, stopping before Jay's door. Knocking, Kai opened his mouth to ask if he could enter, but Jay interrupted him.

"Come in!"

Kai pushed the door open, a smile on his face and words on his tongue, only for his mouth to go dry at the sight of Jay in front of his bedroom mirror. Now, Kai had no doubts in his mind that Jay was attractive- and super fucking adorable -but he'd always seen Jay as pretty, or cute.

Drop-dead gorgeous was not a term he used lightly, and in this case, he meant it as if it was a precious sacred statement by the First Spinjitzu Master himself, which was to say, he was not anywhere close to joking about it. Jay cleaned up nice, and Kai had never really gotten to see it before.

Now though, Jay was fiddling with a silver hoop earring as Kai openly gaped at him, eyes drinking in every inch of his boyfriend. When Lloyd had suggested that Kai and Jay go together as a rich couple, Kai hadn't disputed the rich couple part, but he had figured it would be him and Jay in suits and showing up holding hands or something.

He had not expected to find Jay in a dress.

Not just any dress, no. Jay had found the most beautiful shade of midnight blue to ever exist, the color making his eyes that much more electric and enticing. The dress itself was fitted all the way down to the hemline, going to the top of Jay's toes. It had a sheath neckline, the material lying around Jay like a necklace, forming an upside down v that covered his chest entirely, but left part of his collarbones free.

Where sleeves would be, fingerless gloves of the same material encased his wrist up, stopping at the middle of Jay's biceps, freckled shoulders on full display. Jay smiled at his reflection, fingers playing with his silver hoop earrings before he noticed Kai had stepped inside of his bedroom. Jay's cheeks colored. "O-oh. I thought you were Nya."

Jay turned to face Kai, and Kai got a wonderful view of the thigh-high leg slit the dress had. If his mouth had been dry before, it was dust now. Just the sight was doing something to him, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Is it too much?" Jay asked, fingers playing with each other. "I figured fancy party meant fancy, and this is the fanciest thing I've really got so…"

Kai found his voice when Jay trailed off, looking so defeated that Kai wanted to punch whatever had made him feel that way. Since he was pretty sure he had done that, Kai decided that punching himself before going undercover was a really stupid idea. He didn't want to sport a black eye and draw attention to himself.

"No!" He exclaimed, grabbing Jay's hands, noticing blue nail polish on his nails, matching his dress. "No, you look… wow."

Jay's blush worsened, his smile a little embarrassed. "I thought you'd think my hair was stupid."

Kai knit his brows, studying the usually messy curls that were in some semblance of order. And they were longer than Kai recalled them being just three hours ago. Curious, he shifted his fingers through the chestnut hair, amazed that the curls stretched down to the base of Jay's neck before springing back up to rest lightly under his earlobes.

"It's beautiful."

Kai cleared his throat when he saw how soft Jay's gaze had turned. "Uh, I mean, not as good as mine, you know. Still good though."

Jay's smile shifted into a smirk. "Uh-huh."

Not wanting to give Jay more ammo than he already had, Kai gestured at Jay's dress. "So, any particular reason for that? Asides to be sexy, I mean."

Jay flushed terribly at that, swatting at Kai's shoulder. "I figured a guy and a girl would be less attention-grabbing than two guys for us going undercover."

Kai must have made a sour expression because Jay shook his head. "No, I made the choice, I'm fine."

Kai pursed his lips. "I know you, Jay. If you look the tiniest bit uncomfortable, we're finding you the manliest suit ever to bash any dysphoria, got it?"

Jay laughed at that, drawing Kai's attention to his face, the way his freckles bunched up whenever he laughed, along with the delicate black lines surrounding his boyfriend's eyes. Jay had actually gone and put makeup on, which Kai hadn't seen in a very long time. Heat pooled into Kai's body, his lips itching to meet Jay's. "I- I'm serious. No dysphoria will ruin your night on my watch."

Jay nodded, a small smile on his lips. "Thanks, but I'll let you know if it gets to be too much, okay?"

Kai sighed, but relented at the lightning ninja's pointed gaze. "Alright, fine. But seriously, if you get misgendered, I might hit someone out of reflex alone."

Jay snorted, moving around Kai to get to his bed. Kai watched him, unsure of what else to say. Another compliment? Jay tugged a pair of strappy black heels out of a box from under his bed. "Restrain yourself, babe."

Kai stiffened at the word, every nerve alight with want. In the end, he was a weak man, a man who just wanted Jay to feel comfortable in his skin, to kiss on Jay and touch him reverently, and breathe promises of love against freckled skin. Kai crossed the room to Jay easily, the lightning ninja still busy putting on his heels.

(Which were also unfairly attractive on Jay, but Kai would circle back to that later.)

Jay glanced up when Kai tapped his bare shoulder, his expression playful. "Hm?"

Kai scowled at Jay, nudging his boyfriend backwards until he could pin him against the mattress. "You know what you're doing."

Jay laughed softly, twining his arms around Kai's neck, fingers playing with his hair. "You look hot too, by the way."

Kai winked, "You know it."

Jay rolled his eyes and Kai locked their lips together, not entirely aware of the world around him anymore. Jay was more important than the world, clearly and obviously. He pulled back only to dive right back in, tongue running along the ever-soft lips of his lover, Jay making a delicate sound underneath him. Kai felt a heel nudge his hip, hands tightening in his hair.

The kiss deepened, Kai's tongue tracing the inside of Jay's mouth, small shocks crossing from Jay to Kai, barely there moments of electricity that made Kai shudder and kiss Jay harder, eager for a bigger reaction. Before he could cross that line, Jay pushed him up and away from his lips a little, blue eyes meeting amber.

"Kai," Jay whispered, lips so pink and plump and Kai really didn't want to stop. "The mission?"

Kai pursed his lips, then kissed Jay again, a soft peck instead of the passionate one he wanted to continue. "After, if we aren't exhausted, I'll pick up where we left off."

Jay nodded, cheeks flushed but his eyes bright with excitement at the promise. "Sounds like a plan."

Kai crawled off of Jay, halting halfway off at the sight of Jay's leg being mostly uncovered from the slit in the dress. Teasingly, Kai drug his fingertips against the soft skin as he finished crawling off of Jay, hearing his boyfriend gasp prettily. Kai adjusted his suit jacket, then ran his fingers through his hair again.

He shot Jay a puzzled glance that was mostly fake. "Are you coming?"

Jay looked breathless, cheeks even darker than before. "You- You fucker."

Kai, unable to help himself, shot Jay a wink as he made his way out of the room. "I do try."

Kai got smacked upside the head with Mr. Cuddlywomp, but hey, it was worth it in his eyes. He needed something good to keep his mind away from the dark thoughts of potential failure tonight.

///

Kai had to gape at the light show that was occurring at Borg’s tower, the building glowing in prismatic colors and holographic words that screamed the reason for the party. He had to admit it was pretty, but with Jay on his arm, it wasn’t comparable in the slightest. Shooting a glance at his boyfriend, he found Jay’s electric blue eyes alight with wonder, his lips shaping words that Kai could barely hear.

“What was that last bit?” He asked, grinning when Jay flushed.

“O-oh.” Jay twirled one of his curls around his finger, nervous. “Just… it’s pretty.”

Kai nodded, nodding towards the line of equally lavishly dressed individuals, pointing Jay in the right direction. His boyfriend was a little overwhelmed by the lights and the people, and Kai was one-hundred percent okay with being the grounding point for him. Quietly, Kai ducked his head to whisper against Jay’s ear as they got into the line. “If you feel bad, let me know.”

Jay nodded, his eyes darting from one head to another, analyzing and categorizing them the way he did. Kai hadn’t understood it at one point in his life, thinking Jay was just easily distracted (which was true), but now he knew it was how Jay dealt with getting overwhelmed. He counted how many other people he might have to interact with, how many blinding lights would flash, how they spoke or reacted so he could match them.

It was how he coped, and Kai could see why. He had done it a couple of times, only to find it very helpful. Granted, he sucked at mimicking other people, but he did try his best if his unhoned skills would be useful. Sometimes he looked back to the time he pretended to be his father and cringed. How Nya had perfectly emulated their mother’s voice was lost on him, but it was impressive all the same.

Turning his attention back to the line, Kai found two security guards only a few people ahead of them. One was a nindroid, the other was Cole. Cyrus Borg was only loosely aware of the threat looming over him when Lloyd had contacted him prior to the party about the lead they had, but he hadn’t disagreed with anything the ninja had suggested they do. As long as they didn’t destroy his tower or harm his guests, the scientist was okay with them playing dress-up.

Kai understood why Lloyd had ultimately decided against telling Borg the entire reason they were attending his anniversary party incognito. If Cyrus Borg knew about the threat, he would cancel the party and force the assassin to try another time, which would leave Borg paranoid and the ninja in the dark about when the assassin would try again. That didn't mean Kai liked withholding information though.

When Jay tapped at Kai’s arm, he felt a brief second of worry, only to find a small smile on Jay’s lips. The lightning ninja was holding back a giggle. “Kai, look behind us.”

Curious, Kai did as he was instructed, almost laughing himself. Directly behind them stood Dareth, dressed surprisingly nicely with an invitation in his hand, holding a conversation with a rather wealthy-looking elderly couple that looked entertained by him. Kai snickered under his breath, setting off Jay’s giggles. “How on earth did he get an invite?”

Jay shrugged. “I think he won the civilian raffle for invitations? He’s like Borg's biggest fan.”

Kai arched his brow. “But baby, I thought that was you?”

Jay’s blushing cheeks were a perfect reward, and he didn’t get a chance to retaliate before they reached security. Kai showed both Cole and the nindroid their invitations, then pocketed them again. The nindroid studied them, then shared a glance with Cole, who shrugged.

“Hate to be that guy,” Cole started, pushing off of the door jam he had been leaning against, “but I need to check for concealed weapons.”

Kai made a big show of sighing loudly, unlinking his arm from Jay’s. “Oh, if you must.”

Jay opened his purse, revealing a rather nice wallet and some miscellaneous items. “Nothing but my emergency make-up.”

Kai almost jerked his head around at the sound of Jay’s voice, so light and airy. Cole looked momentarily stunned too, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Er, yeah. You’re good.”

The nindroid nodded, gesturing to the open doors. “Please enjoy your evening.”

Kai shot him a grin, sliding his arm around Jay’s waist. “I’m sure we will.”

The entryway had been filled with streamers and balloons, all sorts of people wandering around and laughing together before they headed for the elevators. Before he and Jay could get that far though, their invitations would be checked for authenticity by the intern at the front desk, who happened to be Zane in disguise. It wasn’t as effective as his cloaking device, but he still looked every bit the part of the nerdy guy who ran the desk.

Zane had even modulated his voice to better fit the role, slightly nervous at being handed so much power and responsibility by someone so high above him. “May I see your invitations?”

Kai handed the papers over, feigning indifference while Jay looked around with wide blue eyes. Zane nodded after a moment, “You’re on the list, thank you for attending!”

Jay smiled sweetly and Kai nodded, both of them making for the elevators. The party was held at the top floor, normally Borg’s office but remodeled for a skyline view and filled with hors d'oeuvres and champagne for the occasion. Kai couldn't quite understand how the assassin could get a shot with all those windows, but he wouldn't underestimate the possibility.

He hoped everything was going well on the other end of the mission, and that Lloyd, Nya, and Pixal had managed to get into position with no issues. He wouldn’t be able to check his comm until later, after he could make for the bathroom without drawing suspicion.

When the elevator doors closed, Kai slumped slightly. “Who knew I would already be tired?”

Jay shrugged, a tube of mascara in hand, squinting at his reflection in the elevator’s mirror. “Pretending is hard.”

There was a depth inside those words that Kai wanted to understand, but he decided to broach the topic later. Instead, he watched as Jay messed with his eyelashes, even though they were fine. “Jay?”

“Hm?”

“Don’t be nervous.”

Jay laughed, capping the tube and dropping it back inside of his purse. “That’s difficult for me.”

Kai nodded, taking one of Jay’s hands, pressing a kiss to his palm. “I know.”

Jay rolled his eyes, watching as they climbed floors. “Ready to do some more pretending, hot stuff?”

Kai laughed, pulling Jay flush against him for a split-second, relishing in the closeness before he shifted their positions again, arm around Jay's waistline. “Always.”

Jay was flushed when the doors opened, shooting Kai a dirty look that made him grin. His grin faltered when he caught sight of Cyrus Borg, falling back into mission mode with ease. The inventor was holding a glass of champagne in one hand, laughing with a group of people Kai had seen around the building, no doubt some of his employees.

Kai and Jay stepped out of the elevator, and Kai skimmed the room, mentally labeling anything that could be useful. He faltered at the crowd though. There were so many people all dressed so nicely that it left Kai reeling, so many sparkling bits of jewelry and finery that was foreign to him.

If he felt broke, he had no idea how much worse Jay felt. Kai knew how the lightning ninja got sometimes, wishing he had enough money to give his parents everything they deserved to have. Kai felt the same way sometimes, but he knew it lurked in the back of Jay's head more than his own. After so much time, Jay still felt as if he had something to prove, to show he wasn't just some kid from a junkyard.

Why? Kai wasn't entirely sure. Kai tightened his hold around Jay's waist, getting his boyfriend to look up at him, inquisitive eyes meeting his own.

“Split up?" He suggested, watching Jay closely for any sign of distress.

Jay nodded, nudging Kai towards the table with hors d'oeuvres and flutes of champagne. “Go be a gentleman and get me a drink.”

Kai bowed playfully, taking Jay’s hand and pressing a kiss to his ring finger. “Of course, darling.”

Jay laughed softly, shoving Kai away. Kai watched him for a second, then made for the table, scanning the faces around him. Any one of them could be the person after Borg, even if they would have had hell getting past both Cole and Zane. He couldn’t let his guard down, not even for getting in-character. To passerby, he would simply look a little nervous, something many people around him would relate to.

The table held more than just drinks and hors d'oeuvres upon closer inspection. It also held all sorts of pastries that made Kai's mouth water. It took more restraint than he had hoped it would to prevent himself from sampling them all. Maybe it had been for the best that Cole wasn't at the party, considering his rather glaring weakness for desserts.

Kai snagged two flutes of champagne, then glanced out at the sea of posh strangers, his heart beginning to thud against his ribs. What happened to his charisma? He could handle this. It wasn't hard, putting on a fake front, he had done it multiple times over the years. Somehow though, the idea of faking for multi-millionaires felt… dangerous.

It hadn't stopped Jay from immediately becoming popular though, several ladies dressed in their own stunning finery had surrounded him, complimenting his dress and asking him questions that he answered easily. Kai pursed his lips, glancing back at the table before he snagged one of the pastries, shifting the glasses to one hand as he placed it on a napkin to take over to Jay.

Jay tended to do better if he felt secure and had someone he cared for close by. Kai knew the pastry would be an added bonus, considering Jay's love of desserts. The champagne was a pretense, something that might be sipped once or twice, but ultimately ignored. Kai scanned the crowd again, plotting out the exact path he would need to make it to Jay.

"Huh, didn't think you'd be here."

Kai flinched at the words, nearly spilling champagne on the floor. His gaze landed on an all-too familiar face, one that made him a little happy, a little angry, and mostly confused.

"Ronin?"

///

Cole tried to maintain his focus as he watched Jay and Kai vanish inside of the building, but it was hard. He had no clue what to expect, and honestly the evening had been borderline boring. It would have been completely boring if the adrenaline from the idea of an assassin trying to kill Borg wasn't at the forefront of his mind, but still. He was growing impatient just standing in place.

He almost choked when he saw who was next in line, Dareth grinning at him before his brows dipped together. Cole watched as the nindroid examined Dareth's invitation, assigning a name with a face, but the brown ninja's gaze remained locked on Cole the entire time. Cole couldn't help but think of the last time he had seen Dareth in disguise, how easily the older man had seen through it.

This time, it seemed, was no different. Dareth snapped his fingers and pointed at him. "Cole! I knew that was you!"

Cole pressed his lips together tightly. "Hey Dareth."

"When'd you get a side gig?"

Cole shrugged, gesturing for Dareth to come closer so he could check for weapons, which he heavily doubted he would find, but protocol was protocol. After ensuring the man was weaponless, he gestured through the open doors to the desk where Zane was stationed. "Have fun Dareth, you're cleared."

Dareth grinned at him, happily crossing the threshold. "Thanks dude!"

Cole shook his head with a small smile. Sometimes Dareth was just the thing that helped them ensure everything went according to plan. Maybe this was one of those times. After all, Dareth was the man who had done everything in his power to help them anyway he possibly could, no matter the risks he faced because of it.

"A hem."

Cole snapped his attention back to the world around him, rather than the one inside of his head. He found an elderly couple sharing aggravated looks between one another, and his nindroid companion looking exasperated.

"Sir, it's only protocol," the nindroid started, only to be cut off by the man, who flicked his hand at both the nindroid and Cole.

"Nonsense is what it is! An over-analytical farce that is as unnecessary as it is uncouth."

The woman by his side nodded, her expression pinched. "We never carry weapons." She said the word as if she could think of nothing fouler in the world, which made Cole bite back a sigh.

While he agreed weapons were a last result form of attack, that didn't mean they were inherently bad. It was a tool, depending on who used the knife made the knife either good or bad. That didn't make the knife inherently evil if it was used to harm someone, but some people just couldn't see it the way he did.

Different opinions were important, but not over something that was simple protocol. Now, if the protocol had the couple stripping down to their underthings? That Cole could see as bad. This was more of a minor annoyance, rather than something truly terrible.

"Sir, ma'am, this is simply to ensure not only Mr. Borg's safety," Cole looked pointedly at both of them, "but also yours."

The man looked downright insulted, tugging at the cuffs of his sleeves. "You have no right to speak to me."

Cole knit his brows, entirely lost for almost three seconds. It hit him when the man's wife moved to hide behind him slightly. A stab of guilt jabbed its way into his chest, even though he shouldn't have felt it at all. It wasn't his fault his skin was darker than theirs, or that he was taller than them, or stronger and more muscular.

It hurt though, to be looked at and only seen as a threat rather than a person too. Even the nindroid looked stunned, but the man continued. "Not only are you going to place your hands upon me and my wife, but you are asking for us to let you do that. My answer is no ."

"Would you change your mind if he was white?"

Cole snapped his gaze back, finding Dareth in the doorway, looking more furious than Cole had ever seen him. The commotion and hold up had snagged a lot of attention, the people in line whispering to each other and shooting glances at Cole. It made him nauseous to have so much attention on him, and not for the first time, he wished he was smaller.

The man looked stunned. "I- what are you implying?"

Dareth stepped forward, moving to stand between Cole and the wealthy man. "If I were the guard, would you listen?"

The man shrugged. "I do not rightly know, since you aren't. I do not feel safe with-"

"Do not say that ." Dareth hissed. "Don't you dare."

Before the man or his wife could speak again, the nindroid stepped forward, his hands raised placatingly. "If you will not allow us to check for hidden weapons, then we must decline your entrance to the building. Deeply sorry."

The man huffed, snatching his wife's arm. "I am as well, for having to deal with that -"

Cole's ears were ringing after the word was uttered, one he hadn't heard in a very long time. It reminded him of the first time he had learned what it meant when he was little, how his mother had clutched him close and whispered that it was just a word while his father raged at the parents of the little girl who had said it. While he didn't remember her name, he remembered her smug face when she had said it.

Almost like she had a right to call him that, to tear him down because he looked different than she did.

The world slammed back into focus when he felt a hand on his arm, the touch that normally would be grounding painful. There were so many voices, all saying different things, and his vision was a blur at best. Cole closed his eyes tightly, trying to breathe, but it felt like he was seven again, trembling when the teacher snapped at him for missing the "very easy steps", the words he muttered unkind and as horrible as what the little girl had said.

It was part of the reason he ran away.

The world around him was falling in and out of focus every time he opened his eyes, so just kept them shut, trying to control his breathing. Everything began to shift though, the loud voices falling away and the touch that had felt like fire now a more bearable presence, one he accepted readily now. He knew he was moving, the hand on his arm a guiding light, but he still didn't open his eyes.

He was almost afraid too, after what had happened the last time he had opened them. He had to get his head back in the game, back into the role he was playing for the mission, but if he opened his eyes and could only see the past, how could he help in the present?

///

Perched on the edge of the roof, Lloyd surveyed the city below and around him, the lights always brighter than needed. They never bothered him too badly though, so he didn't mind them. Better lighting made it easier to track down the villains than poor lighting did anyway. Unable to find anything out of the usual, Lloyd lowered his binoculars with a sigh.

Minus Cyrus Borg's anniversary party happening across from the skyscraper he was perched on, the city was in a normal state of function. Families were eating dinner, shifts were being switched, the neon lights alive with the night and the city they lit up. There was no sign of an assassin who wanted Pixal's father dead for reasons no one had managed to crack.

Lloyd shook his head, turning his gaze down to his sleeve, which he pushed up and out of the way. Tapping twice at the bracelet on his wrist, he watched the holographic main menu pull up, which he swiped through until he found contacts and communications. He double-checked that his settings were correct and ready to go, then he patched himself into the comm network he, Pixal, Neuro, and Nya had thrown together.

"Anyone hear me?"

Several voices answered, little blips showing their positions on his digital map. Lloyd felt a little of his tension ease at the sight, everyone was in position and ready to go. "Give me sights, what've we got on our hands guys?"

Nya's voice crackled to life, her words sure and holding the annoyance that came with her impatience. "Nothing but traffic, it's driving me up the wall."

Lloyd almost laughed, but refrained, recalling that he was supposed to be the leader right now, not Nya's little brother with a bad sense of humor.

"Nothing here, Lloyd," Skylor said, her words carrying an easy flow that he had grown accustomed to hearing.

"Nothin' here either, kiddo." Turner added quickly, not wanting to be the last to speak. The man was rather competitive when it came down to it.

"Karloff has nothing- ah!" Static flooded the line for a second, and Lloyd's feet were already in motion when Karlof said, "False alarm, sorry friends."

Lloyd skidded to a stop before he leapt off of the skyscraper he was perched atop, sighing. "Thanks Karloff. Anyone got anything?"

"Hate to break it to you," Tox said, "but I think your lead sucks."

Lloyd pursed his lips, unsure how to respond. He was almost thankful when Neuro's voice drowned out everyone else's. "I am afraid that the target may know we are onto them," Neuro's voice warned, his tone grave and serious. "I can't read too terribly far out, but everyone within twenty-clicks of my position isn't a threat."

Neuro was just outside of reading Lloyd and probably Pixal, who was driving her car down back alleys and checking for any trace of a threat. She was anxious and doing her best to hide it, and Lloyd could understand the feeling entirely. Hell, he felt anxious just thinking about his own father. With a shake of his head, he detached from that thought. The last thing he needed was to be distracted.

Lloyd sighed again, glaring at Borg's tower across from him, the large windows betraying the exact floor where the party was being held. He could almost make out the faces and people inside of the room without his binoculars, and his chest tightened with anxiety. If the assassin succeeded in killing just one person, they would fail. Lloyd refused to let that happen.

It didn't help that no one had checked in from the tower, not even Zane, who had promised to check in every half hour. It had been almost an hour since the last check in. Surely the last of the guests should have been inside of the party, freeing Zane to help them scout around the outside of the tower along with Cole. It was part of their plan, and Lloyd couldn't act on it if Zane wasn't responding.

They were running out of time, and Lloyd couldn't wait around for Zane and Cole, or Jay and Kai. They were busy with something else, no doubt important. Or their comms had been shut off, or glitching. Maybe they didn't work with Cyrus Borg's fancy Internet servers or something. The point was, Lloyd needed a new strategy, and he needed one pretty fast.

"Pix, get Neuro in your ride." He flicked through his holographic map, finding Pixal and Neuro relatively close to one another. "Help him survey the city for our hitman."

"Affirmative, moving now."

"Understood."

"Lloyd?" Nya asked, and Lloyd could almost see her expression. "What are you thinking, talk to us."

Lloyd opened his mouth, only to freeze. Something had moved behind him, and it wasn't the wind. He made no sudden moves, hoping to keep the other being on the roof thinking he had no clue of the other's presence. He slowly reached for the hilt of his sword, flinching into action when he heard something behind him go click ka-chunk.

"Lloyd?"

"What's goin' on, kid?"

"Lloyd, what was that noise!?"

Lloyd turned just in time to make out a dark-clothed figure with a rifle in hand, followed by a bang that made him instinctively reach for his ears and duck. That was not the right choice when one is holding a sword or being shot at apparently, because something made his world rock, pain shooting from somewhere and making everything blur for a second.

Lloyd forced a breath through his gritted teeth, blearily finding the person across from him reloading, a gruff voice shooting curses rather than bullets. At least he hadn't gotten Cryus Borg. Lloyd glimpsed at himself, finding blood on his upper arm. He could handle a flesh wound. Switching sword hands, Lloyd shouted, "Found him!"

///

Kai was still reeling at the sight of the thief, but he managed to find enough of his words to actually speak. "How did you even get invited?"

Ronin shrugged languidly, nabbing one of the pastries off of the table. "'Invited' is a strong word. Let's go with 'got let in'."

Kai opened his mouth, but Ronin continued on. "Helps if you know your forgeries and the guard at the front entrance, along with the intern at the front desk."

Kai knit his brows. "Why'd Zane let you in if your invite was fake?"

"Because I have some info that might keep Borg alive tonight."

Kai shifted the glasses in his hand slightly, boring his eyes into Ronin's form. "I feel like I should ask you to dump your pockets, but if you actually have something helpful, I'd love to hear it."

Ronin swallowed his bite of pastry, nodding. "There's more than one guy gunnin' to put a bullet in Borg's head. It's a group, as far as I know."

Kai stiffened, the situation far worse than it was moments prior. If there was more than one, that changed the entire mission. "Does Zane know?"

The second the words left his lips he knew Ronin already had told Zane, or else he wouldn't have been let up to the top floor. If Zane knew, that would mean the nindroid could alert Lloyd to the growing danger. "Nevermind, if you're up here he knows."

Ronin studied him for a second, making Kai's hackles raise slightly. The older man nodded towards the crowd. "Who's the dame headin' for you?"

Kai shot him a puzzled glance and Ronin sipped at his own glass of champagne. "Just askin', not trying to steal her from you."

When an arm slipped into his own, Kai knew exactly who Ronin had meant. His boyfriend's cheeks were flushed, and there was a smile on his face, but Kai could feel how tense Jay was against him. Jay offered Ronin a darling smile, then Jay's facade of a rich girlfriend disappeared when his blue eyes found Ronin's, his expression slipping into shock. " Ronin?"

Ronin's eyes widened, then he looked between Kai and Jay for a second. "I- Jay? That you?"

Jay nodded, curls bouncing. "Yeah."

"Damn."

Jay snorted, then beamed at the sight of the pastry Kai was still holding. He took it, along with one of the flutes of champagne Kai had in his other hand. "Thanks, also how the hell did you get in?"

Kai answered before Ronin could. "He had info, Zane let him in, there's more than one."

Jay froze, pastry halfway in his mouth. After a second of debate, Jay bit off the bite, his brows knitted together as he mulled the situation over. He swallowed, tilting his head. "How do you know that, Ronin?"

Ronin sighed. "I'm not in on it, before you even ask because I can tell where this is going. I don't do murder."

Kai was acutely aware of the eyes and ears around them, so he chuckled as if Ronin had made a joke, then dropped his voice to a murmur. "Talk later."

Ronin shot him a wink. "You got it."

Jay nodded, smiling politely at Ronin as Kai led them away from the table. Kai opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted before he could even make a sound.

"Oh! Albie, bring your partner over here!"

Jay's head swiveled around, making Kai follow suit, finding a group of well-dressed twenty-something-year olds. The group looked like a few couples who were all friends, beckoning Jay over. Kai let Jay take charge, ducking his head to whisper, "Albie?"

Jay smiled awkwardly. "Fake name," he murmured, but something in his tone indicated it was more than that.

Kai wasn't entirely sure what was said after that, or who was speaking to him. All he could hear was the little wobble in Jay's voice when he had said it. The way he was acting as if nothing was out of place, as if he wasn't a boy pretending to be a girl, falling back into his repertoire of jokes and fronts to hide any of his true feelings from the world.

Kai could feel his temper flaring, but he wasn't upset with Jay. Downing the last of his champagne, he ducked his head to whisper against Jay's ear. "I'll be back in a minute."

Jay smiled at him, and then shoved him off. "Oh, get lost already, you'll be back in like two minutes!"

Kai laughed, but his heart throbbed in pain at how Jay had fallen back into that airy voice, so delicate and so unlike himself that it hurt. Kai made his way to the bathroom in the corner, making sure it was empty before he locked the door. Shoving his sleeve out of the way, he tapped at his comm. "Lloyd? Nya? Anybody?"

"Hey, hot stuff," came Skylor's slightly labored voice. There were shouts in the background, making her voice difficult to hear through the din of battle. "How's the party going?"

"Guess you know about how there's more than one guy now, huh?"

A shriek, followed by Skylor's muffled laughing. "Oh, you bet ."

Kai chewed his lip, then glanced around the bathroom. "Do you need backup?"

"Zane and Cole should be here in a minute, I think you and Jay need to focus on Cyrus Borg. We have no idea how many-"

" Sky !"

A shink of metal, ending with Skylor calling out a thanks. Kai closed his eyes for a second. "Please be safe."

"I'll try."

Kai closed the line, mind whirring with options. It was then he realized that the comm hadn't exactly been quiet. Someone surely would have gone to check if anyone was being murdered. Kai unlocked the door, eyes going wide when he registered the shrieks and shouts of alarm. Kai dashed out of the bathroom, finding the window shattered and people with guns moving through the partygoers, a flash of green darting after them.

The sight alone was alarming, but finding no sight of Cyrus Borg anywhere might have been more so. Kai slammed his fingers against his comm, tapping furiously until he managed to hit the right numbers on the digital keypad. “Ninjago City Police Department, what’s your-”

“Borg’s tower, top floor, armed and dangerous individuals attacking, send help!” Kai didn’t wait around to hear the response, diving head-first into the fire of battle, heart thundering inside of his chest. He hoped Jay was okay.

///

Zane turned to Cole, who had been sitting in the office chair that had been Zane's to begin with, but was offered when Cole had started to fall apart. After admitting the last guest, Zane knew it was crucial to proceed with the next phase of the plan, but he couldn't just ignore what had happened with Cole.

It was difficult to have such a righteous sense of morals, torn between saving Cyrus Borg and saving Cole, both from vastly different things, but both important in their own ways. Zane shot a worried glance at Dareth, who had stayed beside Cole the entire time, helping the earth ninja remain calm while Zane all but speed ran the last invitation background checks.

He still ensured they were done correctly, but still. He had moved fast. Dareth smiled at Zane, nodding towards Cole as he stood up. "I think I'm going to head upstairs, hope you guys work everything out."

Cole mumbled something, no doubt a show of gratitude for what Dareth had done. Zane voiced his own gratitude, taking one of Dareth's hands. "Thank you, you did not have to do that."

"That's the thing, kid." Dareth patted Zane's hand, something in his expression sorrowful. "I really did have to."

Zane watched his friend head for the elevator, then turned his entire focus onto Cole, who hadn't looked at him yet. "Cole?"

Cole hummed, but otherwise was unchanged in his position. Zane pursed his lips, then knelt down before Cole, placing his hands on Cole’s knees, catching his attention. “Darling?”

Cole’s cheeks pinkened slightly, which Zane took as a win considering it was a reaction. “Z?”

Zane nodded, ducking his head a bit to meet Cole’s gaze. “Yes, Cole. It’s me.”

Cole pursed his lips, then shook his head slightly. “Sorry for shutting down, I-” Cole sighed, cutting himself off. “I don’t know what happened.”

Zane didn’t like that answer, so he stood up, feeling Cole’s eyes on him. “What happened was you were treated poorly, and reacted the way anyone would in that situation. It was wrong and rude, and I am happy it did not require a physical fight.”

If Dareth hadn't intervened, Zane would have, and he was pretty sure one of the outcomes involved a version of himself he had tried to bury. He couldn't help but wonder if Borg needed some very realistic ice sculptures in the future.

Cole sounded tired. “But, I just-”

“You got upset, and when you get upset you shut down.” Zane turned to look at his boyfriend again. “It is how you function. You cannot blame yourself for that.”

Cole opened his mouth, but Zane covered it with his hand. “Correction, I will not allow you to blame yourself.”

Cole’s lips moved into a smile against Zane’s hand, his eyes locked onto Zane’s. After a moment, Zane removed his hand from Cole’s lips, only to have Cole reach out and snag his hand. Cole pressed a kiss to his inner wrist, making Zane flush himself. “Thanks, Zane.”

Zane cleared his throat. “Yes, well, we should con-continue with the mission.”

Cole looked much happier, as if making Zane flustered was a mood booster. Perhaps it was. Whatever the case, Zane forced himself to refocus on the current issue at hand. He and Cole would talk more after Cyrus Borg and his guests were all declared safe. Zane was not about to let Cole just shut down the topic and never bring it up again.

It was a nasty habit his boyfriend harbored, and it broke Zane's heart watching Cole continuously shelve his agenda for the sake of others, but never take any time to deal with what he had shelved. Zane suspected it was from how he had been raised, which only served to make him feel sadder anytime he thought about it.

Zane rolled back his sleeve, unable to meet Cole's eyes as he spoke. "We should check in with Lloyd, then follow through-"

A crash shook the building, making Zane stagger into Cole, the pair of them falling against the office chair, which cried in protest at their combined weights being forced upon it. Zane shot a worried glance up at the ceiling. "What do you think that was?"

Cole copied Zane's motion, his eyes flicking upwards before they landed back on Zane. "Probably the guy who wants Borg dead."

Zane bolted to his feet, pausing for a second when he realized where he had been sitting was not the chair. Rather, it had been Cole's lap he had been resting upon. His face felt far too warm, as if his cooling units, along with his elemental power, had left him. He allowed himself a second of flustered shock, then shoved the emotions out of the way.

Zane leapt over the front desk, using spinjitzu mid-jump to change into his gi. When his feet hit the floor, he was fully geared up, Cole landing a second after him, dressed accordingly. Cole flipped open the comm channel, chaos sounding. "Uh- Nya? How's it going?"

A shout followed by a pained grunt was the response, making Cole and Zane share worried glances. While Cole tried to get a response on his end, Zane tapped directly into Pixal's comm. "Pixal? What is happening?"

"Zane! Get to the top floor now. "

Zane flinched at her tone, chest tightening with worry. He tugged Cole's arm, already moving. "Heading up, but-"

"Lloyd's got six or- or seven- they're all armed -"

Her voice slipped out of range, leaving Zane panicked. "Pixal!"

Cole's comm chose that moment to send a voice through, Nya's usually collected voice left in stressful tension. "Get Borg outta there!"

Cole broke into a sprint for the stairs, Zane right beside him. As they flew up the steps, Zane could only hope his brothers could handle the chaos before back-up arrived.

///

Jay ducked when artillery fired, tugging down the people closest to him. "Dammit," he muttered, peeking over the overturned table to try and get a read on positions, only to find a gun in his face, making him yelp. That was the wrong move, the owner of the gun lowering the muzzle, their face hidden by their ski mask. Jay watched the mask move though, and knew the thug was smiling.

Major ew.

Jay did his best to play the panicked rich person, but it was difficult when he could have the guy disarmed in seconds. Kai wouldn't hesitate the way he did, he would have already knocked the guy out and moved to the next lethal target. Kai didn't play a role when he was needed, he didn't sit and wait for the action to come to him.

But Jay wasn't like Kai, he wasn't out to the world. People saw the lightning ninja and said he was a man who could wield lightning, that he was funny and friendly. They didn't know he was trans, they didn't know he hid himself everyday or battled against his reflection continually. Jay wasn't brave enough to even think about coming out to the entire world, and if he disarmed the gunman before him, he would.

So he stayed still, heart beating against his ribs. The thug's eyes drifted to his lips, then the gun was in Jay's face again. "Get up."

Jay swallowed and did as he was told, nervous. His words were failing him, and for once, he couldn't think of anything to say. The gun was pressed under his chin, jerking his head upwards to meet the other person's eyes, which twinkled with mischief. Those eyes then drifted lower and lower, tracing Jay's shape as if he wanted to touch him. The thought made Jay light-headed.

He could almost hear the hearty laughter of pirates, the silky voice of a djinn, the constant hum of The Misfortune's Keep. Jay squeezed his eyes shut, but that just made it worse, phantom sounds shifting into memories that shouldn't exist, but they did and they scared him. Jay forced his eyes open, chest heaving as he tried to gulp down a breath, making himself count anything.

The gun went flying and Jay counted how long it flew. Four seconds. He turned his attention back to the owner of the gun, finding them unconscious on the floor, Kai standing over him. Kai turned to Jay, and Jay burst into tears, unable to stop the flow. Kai hadn't been on the ship, he hadn't been there, he was here. He was real and alive, not a timeline that never existed.

Kai's arms were around him, his voice gentle. "Oh baby, no I'm sorry I wasn't listening. I'm sorry."

Jay realized Kai was responding to his words, which had finally come back to him. He was apologizing, no doubt for being so scared and useless and-

"Jay no, you're so brave, stop."

Jay sniffled against Kai's shoulder, then shoved him back, panicked. "Wh- Cyrus Borg!?"

Kai pressed his lips together just as the stairwell door flew open, Cole and Zane dashing in. Jay suddenly realized that the threat had been neutralized while he had spiraled, Lloyd standing a bit behind Kai. When their eyes met, Lloyd waved. Jay waved back, sniffling. Zane made for Lloyd, immediately asking him questions, while Cole made for him and Kai.

Cole's arms wrapped tightly around him, and it took all of his willpower not to cry again. Cole pulled back, then yanked Kai in for a tight hug too. "You guys are okay, right?"

Kai nodded. "There's a few wounds, but nothing grievous. I got 9-1-1 punched and dialed before I went to bashing heads."

Lloyd then joined the conversation, asking what Jay had a moment ago. "Where's Cyrus Borg?"

Kai looked torn between smug and upset. "Ronin took him out while me and Jay were running survey."

Jay gaped, then snorted wetly. "Sounds like him."

Lloyd looked lost. "Ronin? Why was he here?"

Cole shook his head. "Who cares as long as he helped?"

Zane looked the tiniest bit sheepish, and Jay shot him a smile, knowing that feeling all too well. Zane had let Ronin up, and Jay wasn’t about to snitch on him. It had served to help in the end, and that was what really mattered. Instead, he straightened his dress out a bit, still feeling the phantoms of other hands against his skin, even though it wasn’t real. “Where’s everyone else?”

Nya chose that moment to fly in through the window, landing right beside Lloyd with a flip. She glanced around then took her hood down. “Uh, am I that late?”

Lloyd giggled. “A little bit, yeah, sorry.”

Nya groaned and Kai laughed. Jay found himself grinning too, relieved to be done with the chaos of the evening.

///

Lloyd had never been so done with people in his entire life, which was saying a lot because he despised big crowds all vying for his attention at the same time. This situation wasn't any different though, which only served to heighten his already overly tense mindset. He needed a minute to collapse and regroup, not be thrust into more crowds and answer more questions.

How Gayle had even shown up before the ninja had left was beyond him, but then again, Cyrus Borg's anniversary was a pretty big deal, so maybe she had already planned to cover it on the news. The other newscasters though? They had definitely only shown up because of the disaster that had struck during the party, getting witness reviews along with the police.

Lloyd had hoped to avoid the microphones and the probing questions altogether, but wearing green tended to stand out a bit too much to most people, considering the color was correlated with him now.

"Were you aware of the threat beforehand?"

"Why were these gunmen after Mr. Borg?"

"Were they all captured?"

Lloyd opened his mouth to answer one question, only to be thrown off by another. He was tempted to ask them to take turns, but he was pretty sure his voice would be drowned out by their own questions, their voices loud and demanding his attention. He couldn't give it to them, however, not when his team was tending to the finer details while he played newsfeed.

It didn't help that he couldn't answer half of the questions anyway, since he didn't know the answers. He didn't know why the men were after Borg, other than the hunch of them wanting to throw his company into chaos. He wasn't sure how many were involved to begin with, so he didn't know if they had all been captured. Sure, he was aware of the threat beforehand, but that really didn't mean much.

The questions started to blur together, the voices melding into one annoying hum that made him tempted to flee the scene entirely. But he couldn't do that, he was the green ninja, he was a beacon of hope and everything good in the world.

At least, that's what everyone said.

A gruff voice cut through the din, the police commissioner moving between Lloyd and the reporters. "Alright, you had your fun. Now please stand back ."

Gayle narrowed her eyes. "I am only trying to ensure the people are aware of any danger."

The commissioner didn't look too impressed. "We have taped off Borg's tower for security reasons. You are crossing the boundary. For your safety, stand back."

The reporters grumbled for a moment, but eventually backed up to the sidewalk. The commissioner adjusted his lapels, then turned to Lloyd. "I hope that helps."

Lloyd nodded. "It does, thanks. But I really don't have a lot of answers, and no one will until we interrogate the criminals."

"Exactly." The commissioner adjusted his hat. "News can't have news until the truth is out. I don't know why they try to rush things."

Lloyd shrugged, regretting the motion almost instantly because ow. He forgot he'd been shot at, and maybe even successfully struck with a bullet. He would have to get Zane to look at him later. Speaking of, Lloyd stood on his toes in an attempt to see over the crowd, trying to spot his team anywhere. He found Skylor's burst of red hair, which he decided would be a good start.

"Is everything under control, Commissioner?"

The old man nodded. "If you and your ninja are needed elsewhere, go ahead. We have the gunmen taken into custody, and Cyrus Borg is safe and well."

Lloyd smiled. "I'll have to thank Ronin for that."

The commissioner looked torn between respect and like he had eaten something very sour. "Yes, I should too."

Lloyd offered the commissioner a wave, then made his way through the crowd. He was slowed down by police escorting party guests out of the way, several of the guests breaking away and thanking Lloyd profusely for his efforts. Lloyd did his best to smile and keep going, but there were so many that he started to feel trapped. It felt like every single guest was out to thank him personally.

Lloyd darted his gaze around, realizing he was all but surrounded by thankful guests and disgruntled police officers. His heart was pounding so loudly he was sure they could all hear it, and he knew he must look far too pale because he felt dizzy, like he might pass out. That wouldn't be very green ninja-y. Someone would take a video and post it, and then he'd be a meme forever, a joke.

Just a kid trying to save the world, passing out from… anxiety? Stress? Claustrophobia? He had no clue, actually. Something.

"Hey, hey."

Lloyd blinked when something moved in front of him, a wall of muscle and a sleeveless gi before him.

"Let's not suffocate him, yeah?" Cole said to the crowd, shooing them back a bit.

He took Lloyd's arm (not the injured one) in his hand, leading him away from the crowd, toward the rest of the team, who were all by the police cars. Lloyd let himself breathe a sigh of relief at the sight, the elemental masters and his family all getting along well and congratulating everyone on a job well-done.

"Thanks Cole," he said softly. "I didn't mean to just stand there."

Cole stopped walking, and turned to face him. He offered Lloyd a smile. "We've had a pretty crazy night, stress'll really mess you up. I'm happy I could help."

Lloyd nodded, then kept going toward the police cars. "You all did great."

Toxikita rolled her eyes. "Of course we did, we aren't losers."

Kai snickered. "Yeah."

Zane rushed forward at the same time Nya did, both of them zeroing in on the red coloring his green gi. "What is that?" Zane asked.

"Who's blood is it?" Asked Nya, her eyes searching his face for an answer.

Kai gasped softly, then rushed forward too. Lloyd did his best to hold back a sigh, already tired of the eyes on him. "Guys, yes it's mine, I'm fine."

Cole knit his brows, concern etched onto his features. Jay wasn't any better, his big blue eyes shimmery with worry. The rest of the elemental masters didn't look much better. Pixal was by Nya's side, her green eyes laser focused on his arm, no doubt scanning him for damage or something. Unable to handle the upsetting looks any longer, Lloyd backed up a few steps.

"Let's just call it a night and go home!"

He tried for a happy tone, but it came out strained, anxious sounding. He winced at the sound, trying again. “Look, let’s just go home.”

Nya pursed her lips, looking like she was about to say something when Pixal stepped forward, pointing to the entryway of Borg’s tower. “My father is inside with Ronin, and I would like to ensure he is well before I return to the monastery.”

Lloyd nodded, waving her off. “Go for it. Message if anything goes weird.”

Pixal smiled, then glanced back at Nya for a second, then looked away. Nya sighed, then rubbed Lloyd’s uninjured arm. “I’ll stay with her.”

Kai opened his mouth, then shook his head. “Yeah, go on sis.”

Nya jogged for a second to catch up with Pixal, the pair of them sharing soft smiles before they vanished inside of Borg’s tower. Cole scrubbed a hand through his hair, then turned to the other elemental masters. “Thanks guys. Head home, okay?”

Skylor nodded, shooting Lloyd a smile. “Be safe guys.”

Karloff made certain to hug them all before he left, leaving Jay gasping as he always did. Everyone else simply left with waves or well wishes, heading home after the evening of fighting. Lloyd couldn’t blame them because he felt three seconds away from collapsing entirely. He couldn’t do that though, so he forced himself to stand upright. “Let’s go.”

“Lloyd,” Jay said. “Maybe you should sit for a second?”

Lloyd shook his head, typing into his comm to bring his car over. “I’ll be fine.”

Kai shook his head, snatching Lloyd’s arm. “I’ll come with you then.”

Lloyd sighed, but nodded, too tired to even argue with Kai. He just wanted to be home.

///

Zane sighed softly as he dug through the medical supplies in the monastery, feeling Cole’s anxious hovering more than seeing it. The Earth Elementalist wasn’t even inside of the med bay, yet Zane couldn’t shake his presence. Perhaps his sixth sense was just deeply attuned to his surroundings today. (Pixal would laugh at him and say it was because he liked Cole, quite a bit actually, and Zane would quickly find a way to reroute the conversation. She was far too good at teasing him, and he was starting to wonder if she secretly enjoyed making him flustered.)

“I have brought the tea,” Master Wu intoned, drawing Zane’s attention towards him. He watched as the old master handed his nephew the cup, his expression torn between conflicting emotions.

Zane understood the feelings well, he was very proud of Lloyd, but he had gotten shot and didn’t think he needed to tell anyone about it. He was never exactly not worried about Lloyd, not after everything the poor boy had been through, but he still hated to think too much about the reasons behind Lloyd hiding injuries. He wondered if there was a way he could phrase a conversation that wouldn’t cause the blond to build higher walls.

Lloyd smiled at his uncle, “Thanks.”

“Master, could you go see what we have in the kitchen for a meal?” Zane asked, if only because it had just crossed his mind. “Even if it is something quick and easy we need to eat before bed.”

“Of course,” Master Wu said, patting Lloyd’s knee before he left the med bay.

Zane did his best to appear calm and like he didn’t want to ask any questions that could rock the already rocky state of Lloyd’s mind, but unfortunately, he was glaringly obvious to literally everyone else. That sadly included Lloyd.

“Zane, just spit it out,” Lloyd grumbled, sipping at his tea slowly, cringing after every sip. “I know you’re upset with me.”

“Not with you,” Zane quickly soothed, setting his medical supplies down beside Lloyd, picking up the scissors so he could get to Lloyd’s arm. “Just that you got hurt. I am sorry you got wounded, not mad at you.”

Lloyd arched a brow, looking strikingly like his mother. “Really? I figured you’d be upset that I didn’t mention I was wounded.”

Zane huffed out a half-laugh, half-sigh. “Well, not exactly. I admit to a bit of anger about you trying to brush off your injury, but I expect it from you. You’ve never enjoyed the med bay.”

Lloyd stuck his tongue out teasingly, and Zane laughed as he cut off Lloyd’s sleeve. The younger ninja mourned his gi, watching Zane fold up the ruined sleeve with a sort of detached sadness. “I liked that sleeve, damn it.”

“Hey, no cussing in front of Zane,” Cole said, stepping into the med bay. “He’s sensitive.”

“I am far older than either of you, I have heard much cursing.” Zane set the scissors down, moving back to the medical supplies, gathering the cleaning liquids. “I just choose to use it sparingly, to further showcase my intelligence to others.”

“He just called Kai stupid in like five languages,” Cole stage-whispered to Lloyd, who broke into a fit of giggles.

Zane smiled softly at Cole, silently thanking him for boosting Lloyd’s mood with a well-timed wisecrack. Cole smiled back, returning to heckling Lloyd until the blonde could scarcely bleed. He was so distracted by Cole that he missed Zane cleaning and bandaging his wound, which was better for everyone involved. Lloyd wasn’t a bad patient, but he was…

Zane would say traumatized by his many, many, many runs into the med bay from normally near-fatal injuries. Or comas. The poor guy had been through a lot.

“All done,” Zane said, patting Lloyd’s knee to get his attention. “You can go.”

Lloyd looked mildly confused, then he grinned. “Cool. I’m gonna go call Nya and Pix, make sure everything’s still good.”

Cole waved as Lloyd left, turning to Zane the moment the door was closed. “I wanted to talk to you.”

Zane balked, in the midst of putting the med kit away. “Oh? About what?”

There were certainly many intriguing topics they could discuss, anything pertaining to the evening, or maybe something entirely different as a palate cleanser. To be honest, Zane had no clue what Cole was going to ask. He was unpredictable sometimes, despite his steadiness.

Cole rung his hands together, leaning awkwardly against the examination table. “Uh, I was wondering… Well, maybe hoping, I guess, if you’re cool with it, of course! If you would like to, uh, shit.”

Zane watched as Cole dug himself into a stuttering hole, voice going lower and quieter as he tried to talk to himself. It was cute, in a silly way. “Darling?”

Cole flushed, jaw clicking from the force he shut his mouth. Zane rolled his eyes, putting the kit away so he could take one of Cole’s hands. “I would enjoy snuggling, if that was your suggestion. Perhaps a movie to wind down?”

Cole beamed brightly, and Zane knew he had understood exactly what the Earth Elementalist was asking. “Yeah. That’d be nice.”

The moment was destroyed when Lloyd threw the door open, panting. “Guys! Uncle Wu’s trying to fucking cook .”

( Somewhere nearby, Kai had an aneurysm at the feeling of his baby brother cussing. )

Zane felt faint at the mere thought, and Cole actually shuddered. “Oh hell no, Lloyd stop him!”

Their fearless leader made a pathetic whimpering sound, dashing back down the hall. Cole was right behind him, shouting orders. Zane hadn’t personally eaten any of Master Wu’s cooking, but he knew Cole had lived with him before anyone else had, and the experience was apparently… an adventure , to say the least.

Then Zane recalled Cole’s own culinary skills and fell over laughing, unable to stand any longer. The irony was not lost on him, and that made everything even funnier.

///

Jay stretched, flopping back against his bed with a sigh. It was far too late at night, somewhere between three and four in the morning, but he was over the world. He couldn’t sleep though, which was really annoying. He rolled onto his side, tucking his arms under his head, staring at the wall. He really should be sleeping, but he just couldn’t get his mind turned off.

He grumbled under his breath, sitting back up, resting his hands in his lap. With another sigh, he climbed out of bed, bare feet silent as he walked over to his dresser. If he couldn’t sleep, he might as well just start his day, right? That sounded right to him anyway. Jay tugged out a shirt and pair of sweats, then paused for a second.

Should he wear his binder too? Jay chewed his lip, torn. He didn’t really feel terrible, but he knew he’d circle back to the more traumatic moments from last night, and then he’d really want his binder on. He grabbed it too, heading for the bathroom. Since it was so early, no one else would even be awake yet, unless they were struggling too, so he could have his morning rather peacefully.

He stopped when he spotted Kai leaving his bedroom, the fire ninja running a hand through his messy hair. Kai stopped when he saw Jay, knitting his brows. “Hey, babe?”

Jay jerked his gaze to the floor, clutching his bundle of clothes tight to his chest. “H-hey.”

Kai moved to him, gently ruffling his curls. “You okay?”

Jay shrugged. “Was gonna shower.”

“You feeling bad?”

Now how did he answer that? Sure, he didn’t feel fantastic, but he didn’t feel like trash. Maybe. Ish.

“I don’t know.” He eventually murmured, unable to meet Kai’s gaze.

Kai solved that issue by gently lifting his chin upwards, his soft amber eyes meeting Jay’s blue ones. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Jay blinked quickly, trying to stop the overwhelming feeling of tears. “I- I don’t know?”

“Okay, that’s fine.” Kai pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. “Go shower, I’ll make you something to eat.”

Jay nodded, staying still and rooted in place until Kai was out of the hallway. He sucked in a deep breath, forcing his feet to move forward across the floor. It was only a shower, he could do a shower. Kai was being nice too, offering to make him breakfast when he didn’t even have to, so why did he feel so anxious? It wasn’t like Kai would dump him for being trans, because they already had that conversation ages ago.

Maybe he felt so anxious because of how he had pretended to be a girl last night, dressed and looked the part. At the time, he didn’t feel bad about it, but looking back at it, how could he have been so stupid? He knew how he did with crowds and so many eyes on him, but he still made sure to put on a show for them all, so they’d pay even more attention to him. Had they all known he was faking it the entire time, but they didn’t want to say anything and offend him?

Jay sniffled, swiping at his eyes. They probably had known, and all the whispers behind their hands had been about him. There was no doubt about it. Someone had probably figured out who was too, and posted it online and then there’d be uncomfortable questions about him being trans and then he’d have to confirm or deny the claim and then the world would flame him or- or want him deemed unfit to protect Ninjago or maybe even want him dead-

“Jay, Jay, hey, look at me okay?”

Jay flinched at the sensation of fingers on his arms, jerking backwards and away from the touch. Something slammed into his back, making him drop his clothes on the floor, the world swaying wildly around him. “I- I’m- I didn’t-”

“Jay, it’s okay. You're okay. Can you tell me where you are?”

Jay squeezed his eyes shut. “M-monastery?”

“That’s right, that’s good Jay.”

Jay sucked in a breath, forcing himself to focus on anything. The pressure of someone holding his arms, the pain in his chest as he forced his lungs to breathe, the rough wood against his back and the dull ache in his spine from hitting the wall. There was so much, but not enough, and he could feel his body losing control, falling down into the spirals he tried his best to push away until he couldn’t anymore. He shouldn’t be like this, all shaky and scared, he should be better.

He had saved the world countless times, so why couldn’t his body and brain get with the program and fucking like each other?

“Jay?”

Jay swallowed as best as he could, slowly lifting his gaze from the floor (when had that happened?) to meet pretty amber eyes flooded with warmth. “Hi.”

Kai smiled softly, running his thumb over the swell of Jay’s cheek. “Hey there.” The Fire Elementalist was so gentle, his normally brash and bold actions gone, replaced with a softness that made Jay melt into his touch, sighing quietly. “You need anything?”

Jay nodded against his hand, pushing himself closer to Kai, relishing in his comfort. “You’re good.”

Kai laughed softly, brushing a hand through Jay’s curls. “Alright, we’ll stay put for a minute.”

Jay buried his face in the crook of Kai’s neck, content and for a few minutes, happy right where he was. He wasn’t needed anywhere, he didn’t have to do anything, no one was watching him. It was just him and Kai, and Kai was so warm. Jay loved it, cuddling tighter, enamored by his boyfriend.

He’d be okay.

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