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#literally a man today like 5 minutes before close was like ‘sorry my fly is down’
spocktheestallion · 2 years
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a list of some notable customers, both good and bad, that i’ve served as a barista:
1. mocha jim - this guy was a regular who’d come in every night just before close on his way to his nighttime shift at a garage and order a grande triple mocha + a pumpkin muffin. he tipped every time, remembered our names and thanked us, and always asked me about my day. i have not seen him in a while but i miss him. mocha jim you are so loved
2. 1 berry lady - another regular. she always orders a mango dragonfruit with no ice and ONE (1) berry. one day i’d like to add two berries just to see what would happen.
3. cinnamon dolce lady - another regular! a horrid woman, truly awful. always asks for a cinnamon dolce latte and yells at us to give her FRESH espresso shots, then after we give her the drink she waits in the drive through window and sips it first (holding up the line) until she decides whether or not it’s up to par and if she’ll make us remake it or not. today the barista making drinks waited until the bitch was at the window to pull the shots to make sure they were fresh as humanly possible, and still the bitch literally sat there, gagged and stuck her tongue out (a grown ass woman) and said if those shots were fresh that espresso machine must be broken. cinnamon dolce lady i hope you rot in hell.
4. the kind old man who gave me a $5 bill for a simple black coffee but i closed the cash drawer before i got his change out and i felt so bad and he just laughed, told me it was all ok, gave me a high five and drive off into the sunset. i think about him every day i hope god is good to you kind sir i love you.
5. the lady who walked into the cafe one day during a hair appointment with dye in her hair and a bib on when we were understaffed and i was doing mobile and drive through bar all by myself. she’d been waiting a couple minutes so i said “hey i’m sorry you’ve been waiting, we’re understaffed and im really overwhelmed with drive through drinks right now. i’ll try to get to you if i get a break in drive through drinks but you may have better luck ordering through mobile or the drive through!” and she threw a hissy fit and stormed out while yelling about how rude i was and that she was gonna tell my boss. like i gave a flying fuck. she came back later after her appointment to and pulled aside a shift supervisor who’d just gotten there and apparently she was pointing at me while i was working and asking for my name and just straight up lied about what happened and offered all her helpful suggestions ie “well if you don’t have enough ppl you should close the cafe” (if we do that without permission from the district manager we get in trouble and they don’t let us do that anymore). anyway i didn’t get in trouble the shift just pulled me into the back and asked if i needed a hug and if that bitch had been mean to me. fuck this lady but kudos for actually having the balls to follow through on her threat. i’m kinda flattered i pissed her off so much that she wanted my name (my coworkers didn’t tell her shit) i hope i ruined her day i hope she lost sleep at night.
6. the lady who came through with her two grandsons in mother’s day and had them both say please and thank you and cleaned up after themselves and told me the drink i made for her was wonderful and tipped. just in general any little kids who are so polite and sweet and wave and smile esp the little girl who showed me her dandelion she’d picked from the back seat of her dads car. you know those kids are getting a free cake pop
that’s all for now
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luvanter · 3 years
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daily dm
ch 6: demon kinda fine
taglist (dm or send an ask to be included!): @seasonedsan @purplelady85 @nycol-ie @rawrrainn @prodbyteez @scriptura-delirus @sparklingmallow @twancingyunhoe @wooyoung-a @parkjiminstan16 @gummygowon @shinyddeonghwa
a/n: so many apologies for the long wait! work and classes have been taking up so much of my time, but i’ll try to be better about getting chapters out. plus, i accidentally deleted the first draft of this and literally had to write the whole thing over. please enjoy this one! another time skip sorry but also some written parts! not edited unfortunately
ps there’s a small section of writing between the ig posts and hj’s texts so don’t miss that
← ○ →
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“Y/N!”
Your brother’s shrill shriek of your name and the booming sound of your door hitting the wall rip you out of your once-peaceful slumber. Disoriented and frustrated, you watch through blurry vision as Jongho sifts through your closet.
“Jongho, what the fuck are you doing in my room? It’s so early get the fuck out.” you slur, weakly chucking your favorite stuffed animal at his back.
You faintly hear him scoff as you shove your head back into your pillow. Right before you can drift back into dreamland, your warm haven is yanked from the top of you, cold air hitting your bare arms and legs. You let out a gargled noise, shivering at the sudden contrast.
“First of all, it’s 12 in the afternoon, you lazy piece of shit. And second,” he says, lifting you by the arm into a sitting position. “The boys wanted to do something today. Just check your damn phone and get dressed. You’ve got 20 minutes.” With that, Jongho waltzes out of your room, not missing the chance to chuck your beloved stuffed dog in your face.
Your head falls back into your pillow with a dramatic groan, and you blindly feel around your bedside table for your phone. Picking up your phone, your eyes widen at the sheer number of notifications you see.
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Given the amount of time at your disposal, you elect to ignore your best friend, opting to skim through the groupchat to gauge some sort of idea on the plans for the day. You give up after about 5 minute a, climbing out of bed and loafing over to the outfit Jongho all but destroyed your room to find.
Fifteen minutes later you’re about as put-together as you think you can be, clothes smoothed and hair styled just the way you like it. Leaning into the mirror to finish touching up your hair, your mind wanders to the first time your group hung out.
That day had been one of the best you’d ever had. Your initial worry of awkwardness was quickly dispelled the moment you entered the cafe, as you and your brother were greeted with loud voices and bright smiles.
You also remember that day as when your friendship with Wooyoung really took off. Conversation never ceased between the two of you, and you were happy to learn he adored physical touch as much as you did. From the minute you sat down next to him, you were attached at the hip, his arm slung around your shoulder and yours around his waist like you’d known each other forever.
You giggle fondly at the thought of your best friend, the amount of time you spend even just texting him never diminishing your adoration for him, even five months later. You still can’t believe it’s been 5 months since your first hangout as a group. You really just can’t believe how lucky you’ve been to score a group of friends this amazing.
You’re cut out of your cheesy reverie by a chorus of voices yelling from downstairs. You fix yourself once more before hastily grabbing your things and rushing downstairs. You’re met with the sight of Jongho, Yeosang, San, and Wooyoung, a loud scream of “Dumbass!” coming from the latter.
“Dipshit!” you race over to wrap him in an always too-tight hug while he complains about the lack of circulation going to his head. He shoves you off jokingly, fishing his keys out of his pocket. With one side look at San and a shout of “Shotgun! Eat shit mountain man!” has you snatching Wooyoung’s keys and sprinting to his car, San hot on your heels.
Needless to say, the car ride starts with a pouting San squished between Yeosang and Jongho, with a gloating you fiddling with the aux in the front. His sour mood doesn’t last long, the truck soon being filled with laughter and screaming when the first beats of Miroh sound.
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“Fuck,” you groaned, flopping onto the couch. “I am so full.”
7 equally full bodies were sprawled out on Hongjoon’s floor and couches, some romcom faintly playing on the flatscreen. The body underneath you that you volunteered to be your pillow shifts uncomfortably.
“Get off, you’re laying on my bladder dumbass.” Wooyoung pushes you onto the floor, standing up with a groan and waddling to the bathroom. When the bathroom door closes, Hongjoong appears in the hallway, clapping his hands.
“Okay you lazy asses, get up. I’ve got blankets for everyone and a couple blow-up mattresses. Everyone get your shit cause we’re crashing in here tonight.”
Unfortunately, you still haven’t fully digested that fourth bowl of ramen you had, so you opt to just chill on the floor for a bit longer. A hand in your face startles you, and you meet Wooyoung’s eyes as he flails the appendage in your face. You groan and grab his hand, letting him pull your limp body from the floor.
“Come on. Up you go.”
The blanket he shoves in your arms has you flopping back down on the couch, desperate to get some sleep. Equally tired as you, the rest of your friends situate themselves in their desired spot, Wooyoung taking his place beside you. You both naturally curl into each other, his arm behind your head and you lean into his side. This is just the nature of your friendship.
So why is your heart beating so quickly?
Your eyes shoot open, and you check to make sure your companion’s asleep. Luckily for you, he’s out like a light, nearly indiscernible snores escaping his mouth. You sigh in relief, trying to rein in your thoughts. Why are you feeling like this? Why is your face suddenly so hot? Why does your stomach feel queasy? Why-
Oh.
Oh no.
You know why. Your eyes fly over to meet Hongjoong’s from across the room, his worried glance meeting your panicked eyes. You grab your phone from your pocket as quietly as possible, gesturing at him to get his. He watches as your fingers nervously type something out. At your message, his eyes widen.
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ppersonna · 4 years
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tempestuous - kth | m
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tem·pes·tu·ous - adjective - characterized by strong and turbulent or conflicting emotion
↳ summary- There’s no one who riles you up more than Kim Taehyung, your best friend’s brother.  He knows exactly how to make you fly off the handle.
↳ rating- explicit / 18+
↳ word count- 6.8k
↳ pairing- taehyung x reader
↳ genre- smut, minor angst i guess in the form of fighting, this is one big pile of smut, there’s some fluff too
↳ warnings- yikes where to begin.  angry sex, penetrative sex, unprotected sex (don’t be like dis), slapping, spanking, pain kink, dom/sub elements, facefucking, really rough sex, finger sucking, derogatory names, uhhh name calling, hate sex, tae is fuckin nasty yall im thriving
↳ a/n- I HAD TO REUPLOAD bc tumblr sucks lol well folks. here we are.  i was given a prompt by @ladyartemesia​ so i blame her.  as for tae, he really came for me this week and completely wrecked me, love that for me. i really popped off here and it’s only edited by me so i’m SORRY if there’s a lot of mistakes.  fun fact i actually wrote almost 10k of another version of this but it frustrated me so badly i scrapped it lmao  🤡 HERE WE GO! Enjoy!  feel free to send in your requests and i promise to try and get it done for you! 
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Kim Taehyung could only be described in a few words.
Infuriating, bothersome, vexing.
Gorgeous, breathtaking, suave.
Absolutely, inherently maddening.
And you hate how much you absolutely melt underneath his gaze, the way your heart leaps into your throat with a single word.  Your body, the ultimate betrayer, opens up to him as your brain screams to abort, reverse, go back to start and do not pass go.
Kim Taehyung is not just the bane of your existence, no.  He’s the little brother of your best friend, Kim Namjoon.   Joonie had been in your life since you were in first grade and he in second.  Taehyung was your age, but you hit it off with the older boy and haven’t separated since.  Your mothers joked that you would get married one day and continue on the Kim line.  Until they found out that Namjoon was 1) bisexual and 2) hopelessly in love with, ironically, a man named Kim Seokjin.   He reasoned to his parents that they would at least carry on the Kim name.  
Where Namjoon was sweet, caring, and deeply compassionate towards you, Taehyung was his alter.  Taehyung was brash, cocky and relished in watching you squirm, whether it be out of fury or the god forsaken sexual tension.  All growing up, he was the one to pull your pigtails, trip you into puddles of mud, and tease you in front of your friends. Namjoon, ever the faithful companion, was always there to pick up the pieces of what Taehyung broke.
It’s been that way with Taehyung ever since. A constant tug of war with each other, both unwilling to give a single inch to the opponent.  
Your relationship with Namjoon remained steadfast as ever.  Namjoon eventually moved in with his now-husband, Seokjin, who easily settled into your life as an additional partner in crime.  You spent most of your days and nights settled into the couch, snuggled somehow in between or next to one of the two men you cherished most.  You had the two best friends you could ask for and a happy life, blissfully Taehyung-free.
Until it wasn’t.
A loud knock wakes you from an unexpected nap on Namjoon’s couch.  Your eyes crack open against the glare of the sunlight streaming through the windows.  It takes a moment to gather your surroundings.  You recognize that you’re in Namjoon and Seokjin’s apartment, and judging by the silence, you’re definitely alone there.  As you reach for your phone, the screen lights up the time.  5:34 pm.  Well, shit. You remember eating brunch and drinking mimosas at noon with your best friends and then lying on the couch to watch Netflix.  How had you fallen asleep for five hours?  How did you not wake? What the fuck did Jin put in his mimosas?
The knock is insistent again, louder this time.
“Joon! Jin! it’s me! Open up!”
The voice sounds familiar in your sleep-addled mind, but not quite enough to pinpoint it.   You push your limp body off the couch and wince at the feeling of sore muscles.  Couch sleeping isn’t all it’s cracked up to be once you’re past the age of 25.
“Sorry, Namjoon isn’t here-,” You open the door to explain to the guest and you’re cut off.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
You rub at your sleepy eyes and allow your vision to focus, only to feel your blood stand still in your veins.
Kim Taehyung.  Of fucking course.
“What do you mean, why am I here? I’m always here,” you tut as you fold your arms to your chest.  “What are you doing here?”
He rolls his eyes and holds up his hands, two suitcases clutched in each.  Who the fuck carries 4 suitcases up three flights of stairs? Kim annoying ass Taehyung does, apparently.
“I’m moving in.”  He pushes past you and into the living room.  
Your mouth gapes open.  Namjoon certainly didn’t tell you this.  Taehyung looks back at chuckles at your reaction.
“I’m guessing your best friend didn’t tell you the happy news?”
You shut your mouth, quickly jumping back into composure.  “No, he failed to mention that,” you sniff.  “I thought you lived with your girlfriend in Gangnam?  What was her name? Rose or whatever?”
Tae stiffens, just slightly for a moment, before he plasters back on the bravado.  “Obviously not anymore.  We broke up, she kept the apartment.  Got tired of moping at my mom’s house and I told Namjoon I wanted to come back to the city.”
You feel a slight tug at your stomach, guilt, perhaps?  You clear your throat.  “Oh, I’m sorry.”
He laughs as he sits on the couch, instantly throwing his feet onto the coffee table, like a heathen.  “No, you’re not.”  
“What do you mean, no I’m not? God, sorry for being polite!”
This, you reason, is why you can’t sustain longer than 5 minutes of civilized conversation with your best friend’s younger brother.  He’s impossible.
He just smirks, and you know he loves the rise he gets out of you.
“Because I know you, and I know you don’t give a fuck about my love life.”
Au contraire. If only he knew just how much you gave a fuck.
“That doesn’t mean I can’t be nice to you!” you nearly stamp your foot in frustration but hold yourself back. That would be too good of ammo for him to use against you.
“Okay, fine,” he acquiesces. “Whatever helps you feel you’re a good person.”
You’re seeing red and you know you want to continue screaming at him but you will not stoop to his level.
“Christ, I haven’t seen you in months and you’re still an asshole,” you say as you grab your keys and shoes. “And also, Jin will kill you if he sees your feet on his coffee table.”
You whip yourself around and open the door to leave and hear him call over your shoulder.
“Good to see you too, doll! Love the hairstyle, by the way.”
You close the door with a growl leaving your throat.  The absolute audacity of that man.
You stomp towards the elevator to take yourself to the ground level, when you catch your reflection in the shiny metal. Your hair is in what you can only lovingly call a complete hornet’s nest. It’s ratted and sticking out in places and you feel your cheeks burn.  Your first reintroduction with Taehyung is with a fight AND with you looking like a fool.
This would not do. No, sir.
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“Kim Namjoon!” you shriek into your cell phone.  You’re awkwardly pressing it against your ear with your shoulder as you walk out of the convenience store under your apartment building with 3 bottles of soju and a six-pack of beer. You needed to drown your shame and sorrow, and fast.
“Hello, love of my life and moon of my stars,” your best friend replies and you can hear Seokjin chuckle in the background.
“No!” You chide, already cracking a beer open as you storm into your apartment building. “Don’t you Khal Drogo me, mister! Why the fuck didn’t you tell me your fucking asshole brother was moving in with you?!”
Namjoon is silent and you can tell he’s wincing on the other end of the phone. “Oops?” He offers.
“Yeah, big oops! A heads up would have been nice! Like, ‘hey best friend, your worst enemy of all time is moving in today. Maybe you shouldn’t fall asleep on my couch and wake up looking like Frankenstein’s ugly wife. Oh, and also my handsome boyfriend and I will just happen to not be there when he arrives’.”
By this time, you can tell Namjoon has put you on speakerphone because you can hear their rich laughter loud and clear. Rude bitches.
You stab your key code into your door and lock yourself in, chugging as much of the beer as you could handle.
“At least, even in her rants she thinks I’m handsome,” Jin gloats.
“I’m sorry babe,” Namjoon sighs as he finally calms down. “I didn’t know he would be there today. I just found out about it last night.”
You nibbled at your bottom lip, the annoying pit in your stomach feeling simultaneously guilty that he went through a breakup, unbridled joy that something brought him down a peg, and just a dash of excitement that he’s single now.
You let out a breath. “It’s okay, Joon.  It just surprised me to see him.”
Jin butts in, “And because you have a big, fat, unresolved crush on him.”
“Jin!” You admonish. The couple laughs again and you roll your eyes, asking yourself why you put up with the two. “I do not!”
They both hum a non-committal answer, implying they don’t believe you in the slightest.
“Whatever.  What are you guys doing, anyway?”
“We just got home from shopping.  God, Jin looked so good in these jeans he tried on.  I was actually just about to suck his coc-,”
“Kim Namjoon, do not finish that sentence! I do not wish to hear it!” You try to remain firm, but dissolve into giggles with the pair.
You could never stay mad at Namjoon long, even if his brother was the devil incarnate.
“Darling,” Jin calls through the phone.  “I still expect to see you at our place tonight for our sleepover.”
Christ, you had forgotten all about your scheduled sleepover night.  It was tradition and one of your favorite parts of your friendship with the couple.  Jin, a literal chef, prepared a five star meal along with dessert for you while you binge watched Netflix and talked incessantly.
But you also usually slept in their spare bedroom.  The exact one that Taehyung would be occupying.
“Fuck, while he’s there?”
“Oh suck it up,” Jin chides, like he’s your mother. “He’s probably not even going to leave his room.  You’re not getting out of this.  I’m making strawberry cheesecake.”
Your mouth waters at the idea of Jin’s famous cheesecake.  
“Fine, but I get to lick the bowl and not Namjoon.  Those are my terms.”
Namjoon squawked in defiance as Jin laughed.  “I agree to your terms.  Be at our place by 8.”
As you hung up the phone, you checked the time.  6:40.  God, he hadn’t left you with much time to get ready, did he?
And you definitely needed to get ready.  There was no way you were entering a room where Kim Taehyung exists looking like booboo the fool, not again.
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Your fingers press the 6 digit passcode to Namjoon and Seokjin’s apartment, arms heavy laden with your bag of toiletries and pajamas, and a bag full of wine.
“Honey, I’m home!” You announce as you toe off your shoes and slide into the combined kitchen and living room.
You receive no reply, but greeted with the amused face of none other than the object of your filthiest dreams, Taehyung.
“Pet names already?  We’re moving pretty fast, wouldn’t you say?” He asks you as he lounges at the kitchen table.  He watches you open the fridge to set the wine, as comfortable in their home as you are in yours.
“Fuck off,” you grumble. “Where’s your brother?”
Tae seemed absolutely tickled by your disgruntlement.  “I think they mentioned something about taking a shower.  That was 20 minutes ago, though.”
“Great,” you sigh. “Those fucking horn dogs act as if they’re still newlyweds.  We’ll be waiting awhile.”  
You tug off your sweater, leaving you to remain in a fitted tank top and yoga pants.  You tried to maintain a comfortable look as you dressed for the evening, while keeping in mind which leggings hugged your ass and showed off your toned thighs, and a tank top that dipped low to your cleavage.  Okay, so maybe you had ulterior motives. You wanted to make up for your dreadful appearance earlier and make him squirm, payback for the years of him doing it to you.
You watch him as he lets his eyes roam your body, eying you like he wants to ravage you completely. You feel victorious… and also turned on. Fuck, you played yourself.
You flop onto the couch in a huff and Tae snorts before joining you.
“What’s so funny?” You eye him suspiciously.
“Nothing,” his smile feigns innocence. “I’m not allowed to laugh?”
You sniff in annoyance, not eager to fall for his tricks. “You’re allowed to do whatever you want, your highness.”  Sarcasm drips from your voice and Tae finds it even more humorous.
“I see you’re still a sassy bitch.”
You gasp, audibly startled by his language and rise from the couch, fists clenched.
“I see you’re still a conceited dick!”
He rises to meet you where you stand, eyes boring into your own with his stupid sexy grin on his face.  “I see you’re still not one to back down from a fight.”
You step closer, close enough to feel his breath on your face.  Idly, you note it smells like peppermint and you move closer on reflex.
“Yeah? I see you’re still not one to avoid starting a fight in the first place!” you huff.
“Oh, I started it?”  
“Yeah, you started it! You called me a bitch!”
You can’t believe this is happening.  You feel as if you’re 6 again and fighting with him over a toy.
“A sassy bitch, actually,” he corrects, taking another step forward, bodies touching.
“Fuck you!”
“Only if you say please,” he quips before he closes the distance and presses his lips to yours in a scorching hot kiss.
There’s not even a moment of hesitation on your end, immediately pulling him even closer and wrapping your arms around his neck and allowing his tongue entrance to your mouth.  Your body reacts to his instantly, as if it’s wired to respond to him and him only. Your mind was blank of anything except Tae, only Tae please, and you acted purely on instinct alone.  And instinct was pulling him closer and begging, more, anything he could give.
The sound of laughter coming from the hallway pulls you apart, neither of you wanting to get caught by Namjoon or Jin.  You stare at him, his lips are cherry red and slightly swollen and the image burns into your retinas.  He has such pretty lips after you’ve kissed him.
“Oh hey! What’s going on here?” Namjoon asks as he notices the intense eye-battle you’re engaged in with his younger brother.
It shakes you out of the spell, eye contact broken and hypnosis halted.  
“Just, errrr,” you falter to find the right words to explain the situation.
“Just getting reacquainted.”  Tae sounds completely unaffected, as if the passionate kiss you shared with him seconds ago was but a distant memory.  Asshole.
“I’m surprised you two haven’t thrown anything at each other yet,” Jin laughs. “Or thrown yourselves at each other.”
Both you and Taehyung whip to look directly at Jin.
“Her!?” Tae is incredulous. “Gross.”
You’ll never admit out loud that his words wound you.
“You’re an asshole, Taehyung,” you punctuate your words by turning away from him and towards Namjoon, who appears amused as ever.
“Ah, I love when my best friend and my little brother are screaming at each other.  Feels like old times.  Can one of you cry now to complete the moment?”
Taehyung grumbles under his breath, something you can’t catch, and stalks off to his room.  The slam of his door reverberates in the apartment and Jin jumps and turns to yell down the hall at his brother-in-law.
“Yah! Don’t break my apartment! I still owe money on this!”
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Despite Taehyung’s appearance every so often in the kitchen or living room, the rest of the night goes on with no annoying disturbances.
Jin spoils you and his husband with expensive food, and the best cheesecake you’ve ever eaten in your life.  Plus, you’re given the bowl to lick clean despite a desperately adorable pout from Namjoon you were sure would persuade Jin.
You’re settled on the couch, snuggling in the middle of the couple as an action movie flickers across the big screen tv.  Truthfully, you haven’t paid attention to a single thing happening, your thoughts entirely too absorbed in Taehyung and that deliciously infuriating kiss.  
Why did he do it?  You couldn’t comprehend his reasoning.  Perhaps he was doing it to piss you off.  He’s never angered you with that level of intimacy before, but you didn’t put it past him.
You’re surprised when the credits of the movie start rolling and Jin and Namjoon fake loud yawns.
“Oh man, I’m beat,” Namjoon lies.
Jin is quick to join. “Me too, I think I’ll pass out the moment I hit the pillow.”
You roll your eyes at the men. “Will you two please go fuck already, I know that’s what you’re going to do.”
Namjoon blanches, but Jin laughs and kisses your cheek. “Ah, my smart, beautiful and chaotic child,” he coos. He leans in to your ear, voice low to keep his husband from listening. “I don’t think I’m the only one in this house who’s going to get pounded into a mattress.”  
He pulls back and winks at you, deftly ignores Namjoon’s confusion and sadness of being left out, and drags him to their bedroom with a loud ‘goodnight’.
You’re left to stew in your own emotions, which is never a good thing.  Was the tension that obvious? You always assumed it had been one-sided, but the kiss befuddled you more than you’d like to admit.
It finally snapped in your mind, all the dots connecting. That’s why he did it.  
He kissed you so you’d stew and simmer and eventually erupt, like you’re doing now.  Taehyung knows you too well for your comfort.
You grab your bag of clothes and storm towards the bathroom to change, promising yourself to forget about the kiss and not give Taehyung what he wants.
Except you’re not very good at promises, especially to yourself.
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You can’t say you’re excited to sleep on the couch again.  While it’s a nice couch, it’s definitely not a bed and your back will pay the price tomorrow.  You supposed it was better than the floor, but not by much.
After dressing in your pajamas, a purposefully picked out combination of tiny shorts and a sports bra in case Taehyung happens upon you, you return to your bed for the night in the living room.
Namjoon graciously left blankets and a pillow out for you, and you’re complaining internally about Taehyung the whole time you make yourself a spot to sleep.  If it wasn’t for stupid Taehyung and his stupid existence, you’d be sleeping like a baby on the guest bed that you loved.  But no, they relegated you to the couch like an animal.
Sleep was not in the cards tonight, it seems.  You toss and turn and try to press at the cushions to move a lump around and get comfortable, but it’s all for naught.  You’re wide awake and very, very uncomfortable.  You didn’t understand how you fell asleep on this very couch earlier in the day.  Maybe the mimosas you had at brunch with the couple had been helpful.
A thought crosses your mind. Alcohol.  Maybe a nice glass of wine would help tuck you into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.  A nightcap. Of course.  You were angry at yourself for not thinking of it hours ago.  
You slipped out of your disagreeable bed and into the kitchen, trying not to make a sound.  Jin’s beloved kitchen was also an echo chamber of noise, even the slightest sound bouncing off its walls and amplifying it through the whole house.  You still remember the way you jumped five feet in the air when Jin accidentally broke a plate.  It sounded like a bomb explosion.
You bite your lip as you carefully pry the cabinet of wine glasses open, careful to not even allow a squeak of a hinge.  You silently beg to stay silent and not wake anyone in the house.  You didn’t want to be caught drinking wine at 2 am in the dark, that’s difficult to explain without looking like an alcoholic.
With glass in hand, you tiptoe the fridge to pull out the bottle of merlot, thinking the heavy red wine would be the best to get you sleepy and quick.  
You tug the cork from the bottle and pour a healthy amount into the stemware with a smile.  Liquid sleep.  And you had done it without making a single sound. Perfection. The smell of the alcohol permeates through your nose as you lift the glass, placing it to your lips to take a sip.
“Wine at this hour?” the unexpected voice of Taehyung echos through the kitchen, making you yelp and jolting you hard enough that you drop the hard-earned glass of wine to the tile floor, red wine splashing as the sound of glass shattering is reverberating off the walls.
“Fuck!” You screech at the intruder.  Taehyung doubles over, laughing as if he’s seen nothing funnier than what just transpired.  “You asshole!”
You listen past Taehyung’s incessant laughter to ensure the owners of the apartment hadn’t awoken during the ruckus. You definitely did not want to face a tired and agitated Jin to tell him you shattered one of his Tiffany crystal goblets.
Beyond Tae, the house is silent and you’re thanking whatever god is listening for keeping your best friends asleep.
The wine is everywhere, spilling into the cracks of the tile and splattered on the walls.  The crystal stemware is too; it shattered with such force that you see flecks of the shrapnel in all four corners of the room.
Tae wipes a tear from his face and you square a tempestuous look at him.  
“Fucking help me!  You made me drop it!”
Through snorts, he replies. “I didn’t make you do anything.  You did that on your own.”  Although he is arguing with you, he’s gingerly stepping into the kitchen and kneeling to pick up shards of glass.
“I wouldn’t have dropped it if you had come into the room like a fucking normal person,” you grit.
He collects the glass, the delighted grin on his face now permanent.  He’s relishing in your annoyance, you know he is, and it burns you from the inside out.
“It’s not my fault you didn’t hear me.”
“You could have turned on the light! Why were you in the dark like a freak?”  You’re grasping at straws, anything to pin this all on him.  It would quell the fire in your belly to push it all onto him, make you feel as if you’ve won.
Taehyung levels a look at you.  “And you weren’t also in the dark? Pouring a gallon of wine for yourself?”
Your cheeks flare red. Fuck, he definitely caught you there.  You’re playing verbal poker with him and the hand you’re dealt falls flat compared to his royal flush.  He grins, knowing he has you.
“Fuck you,” you snark, you go to insult when you’re backed into a corner.
“Ah, doll,” he winks.  “We talked about that.  Be careful what you wish for.”
The fire inside you is roaring to an inferno now, flames licking to your core. It’s a complicated mixture of anger and sexual energy. It’s infuriating that he’s able to make you feel every single emotion to the extreme. You hate that arguing with him turns you on, like it’s some perverse foreplay.  
You moisten your lips with your tongue as you process his words, and Tae’s eyes hungrily track the appendage as it glides over your lips.
“Fuck. You.” You emphasize perfunctorily.
All thoughts of wiping up the mess are forgotten as Tae drags both you and himself off the floor and steers you to the living room, lips feverish against your own.  He pushes you into the couch and tugs his shirt off, before replacing his lips to yours.  
“Fuck, you’re so fucking hot when you’re a bitch,” he groans as he snaps the strap of your sports bra. “Seeing you get all worked up makes me so hard.”
He’s not wrong. You can see through his mesh basketball shorts that he’s sporting an impressive package, rock hard in its clothed prison.
“Yeah?” You bite at his lip.
“Hell yeah.”  His hands work to the elastic band under your bust and tugs the offending material off, tits springing free as he throws it to the floor.  
“Holy shit,” Taehyung breathes as he gets a good look at your chest.
You shake them gently, grinning as he watches them jiggle.  “You like what you see?”
He smirks and pinches a nipple, wiping the coy smile off your face and turning it into a moan.  “I like when you’re mouthy, but don’t push it.”  
He lowers his head to the nipple he’s still pinching in his fingers, licking at it and replacing his fingers with his mouth.  He’s moaning around the nipple, and you’re gasping for more.  His hot mouth sucks at you, teeth nibbling and pulling it until you’re whimpering in delicious pain.
“Fuck!” He cries as he pops away from your nipple.  “You’re so fucking hot.”
Your body warms at his words, arousal pooling between your legs.  You’re sure that your thighs are drenched in your essence.
He slurps your neglected breast into his mouth, ensuring your nipples are equally abused.  His tongue is skilled but his mouth is messy, saliva dripping all around your tit and it’s the hottest fucking sight you’ve ever seen.
He’s pulling away again and pinching both nipples with his hands simultaneously. “And you’re so fucking annoying.”
You’re pleading for more or to stop, you’re not sure.  He continues.
“Mm, I’m gonna fuck you until you’re a good little bitch for me. Listening to every fucking thing I say.”
He releases your nipples, and you finally find the ability to focus again, staring directly at him.
“Oh, you think you’re that good?” you sass as you attempt to catch your breath.  “Put your money where your mouth is.”
Tae grips your chin roughly, face inches away from yours with a sadistic grin. “You’re going to regret those words, baby.”
Instantly, he’s standing up and tugging his shorts down to let his cock spring free.  Your brain misfires as you visually measure his cock and your mouth goes dry. He’s thick and long. The bulbous head is dripping pre-cum, begging you to slurp it up.
“How about I put my money where your mouth is,” he suggests as he grabs a fistful of your hair.  
He teasingly rubs his cock on your lips and cheeks, makes you whimper with need. Your tongue is sticking out, desperate for him to lay it on you.
“Already so fucking greedy,” he grunts and in one motion, directs his dick into your open mouth. “I’ll fuck your throat, yeah? Greedy bitches love getting face fucked.”  He is still for a beat more, eyes searching yours for consent and you nod with his cock still in your mouth. He winks, then begins a rapid pace, his cock fucking into your mouth and throat.
You’re sure you look like a goddamn mess with saliva dripping from your mouth as Taehyung punishes your throat with his thrusts.  You gag and moan around him, and he tightens his grip in your hair as you see stars.
It’s indescribable. Never have you felt such pleasure from sucking cock, but Tae commands your entire body, willing you to drip with anticipation.
“My little fuck toy, god you feel so fucking good,” he hisses. “You’re gonna swallow my cum, baby.”  
His hips are stuttering, he’s close, and you’re sucking him harder, cheeks pulling in harder to vacuum him in. The pressure makes him groan out loud.
“So good, so fucking good. Get ready for your prize, baby,” his voice cuts off in a gasp, as his cock twitches violently. His legs shake and he doesn’t hold back the moans of his orgasm, gasping as he feels rope after rope spill down your hot throat.
Your big doll eyes are twinkling up at him, lips still wrapped around his cock. Taehyung is sure it’s the hottest thing he’ll ever see in his lifetime.  You on your knees, subservient to him and thriving for it.
“Mmm, I like it when your mouth is full like this,” he slowly pulls out of your mouth, albeit reluctantly. “Can’t talk back to me when you’re sucking my cock like a whore.”
You smile and stick out your tongue, pleased to show him you happily accepted his cum.
“Good fucking girl,” he coos as he grips your chin again. “Did you like my cum?”
You nod, brain fried from the heat of the room.
“Use your words,” he grits and grips your jaw harder. It’s enough to shock you into compliance.
“Y-yes! Fuck, I love your cum, Tae.”  Your words are breathy and raspy, throat raw from his barrage.
“I knew you would, filthy slut.  Sit on the couch.” He orders and you’re quick to scurry and sit on the makeshift bed you made.
His hands are tugging down your shorts quickly. No teasing or seduction here, not now. You lift your hips, and he throws them aside. Your legs close on reflex, making him growl.
“Do not hide yourself from me.” His tone is dark and you can’t help but shiver as you open yourself up to him. You want to talk back, want to fight and bite at him, but you’re quickly losing the ability to even speak, and you’re aching for him.
“Where’s my mouthy little bitch? You’re awfully quiet. Did I finally break you?” He teases, pressing your legs upward, knees to your ears. It’s pornographic how on display you are for him, soaking wet cunt front and center.
“The great Taehyung thinks he can break me with his cock,” you mewl, mustering all the false confidence you can. You’re lying through your fucking teeth and you both know it, but you continue. “You’ll have to do more than that.”
Your pussy is quaking with need now, desperate for a single touch. His hands maintain purchase on the backs of your thighs, holding them up.
“There she is,” he bites at the flesh of your leg closest to him which makes you jerk in his hold. “Gonna fuck the brat right out of you.”
He removes a hand from your thigh and you’re quick to pick up the slack, holding the thigh in place to maintain his open show of your pussy.
“Try me,” you murmur, and you’re instantly regretting your words as a harsh slap descends and lands square on your cunt.
You nearly scream, pain flooding your wanton pussy, before turning into delicious pleasure that stings and tingles right at your clit. It sizzles, and warmth blooms where his hand was.
“That’s for not believing me.”  His eyes are feral and you want to bottle this memory forever.  
Another slap has your legs trembling, eyes rolling back as the burn turns to a low heat.  You’re dripping your wetness down onto the couch and Jin will kill you, but you don’t care.
“That was for calling me a dick,” he smirks.
Smack.
Tears spring in your eyes as the slap brings more pleasure than pain, desperately close to your edge.
“Look at you, you could cum just from this, couldn’t you?”
“F-fuck! Yes, please, I need more, please!” Your cunt is clenching around nothing, desperate for friction and leaking out of you like a faucet. Taehyung marvels at you, legs spread so far, with a cunt weeping with arousal for more. He can’t wait to dive in there, but he’s not finished with you yet.
“More? I don’t know if you deserve more, baby, you’ve been awfully mean to me,” he tsks, breathing hot air on your clit, making you whine.
“P-please! I’m sorry!” You’re sure you will black out with how desperately you need him. You need him more than you need oxygen.
“Beg.”
You’re quick to submit. Thoughts of fighting back are long gone, you’re his wanton little slut now.
“Please, please! Pleaseeeee, make me cum! I’ll do anything.”
“Anything?” He asks with an arch of his eyebrow.
You’re nodding wildly, gazing at him with desperate, watery eyes.
“Anything, I need you so f-fucking bad it hurts!”
By the time the words leave your lips, he’s thrusting two fingers into your cunt viciously, fingering you ferociously. He arches them, rubbing against your spongy g-spot and making you scream. He knows you’re close, knows you only need one little push off the edge. He plays your body like a skilled practitioner.
“Cum on my fingers, baby. Let me see my greedy little bitch milk my fingers.”
Your body and mind react accordingly, deep down you know your body is owned completely by him, all his.  Your orgasm explodes and you think you actually scream, your vision is black and your hearing goes silent for a moment as you cum harder than you have in your life.  You’re squeezing his fingers with your pussy so tight and Taehyung is gently licking all the juices from his hand with his fingers still inside you.
It takes time to descend from the separate plane of existence Taehyung sent you too, but you come back and watch as he laps at the liquid of your cunt and on his hand like it’s a vital necessity. His fingers remain in your walls, and he refuses to break eye contact with you. You’re positive you could cum again from the sight.
“My little cockslut tastes so good, just how I like,” he tells you tenderly. “Like cherries, so sweet.  My little cherry.”
Your cunt is aching and warming back to life as he pulls his fingers out of you. The loss is immense and you’re whimpering for more.
“Ah, ah,” he hushes you. “No whining. You’ll take what I give you.  Suck my fingers clean. Taste yourself.”
He presses his fingers into your mouth, earning him a sigh, the taste of you filling your mouth. You swirl your tongue around his fingers and suckle each one to ensure your tongue laves the entire surface.
“Fuck,” he whispers and it’s his first crack in his steel reserve. “Needy.”
He pulls his fingers from your mouth and presses against you to kiss. It’s gentle, sweet, and nothing compared to the man assailing your pussy with slaps moments ago. It thrills you just the same and you return in kind, threading your hands in his wavy hair.
He pulls away and presses his forehead against yours, a moment of gentleness you actively welcome.
“This little cunt ready for me?” He whispers and you’re whimpering your reply.
“Please, fuck me. I need you to fuck me until I can’t walk.”
He grins and presses a kiss to your lips again, sweet and chaste, before he pulls away and slides down to attach those same sinful lips to your pussy.
It’s so unexpected you flinch and manage a cry as his tongue slurps up more of your delicious essence and his mouth moves to suckle on your clit. You’re not sure where the fuck he learned these tricks, but you know now you will never let him go.
“Taehyung!” You cry at the sensation. “Fuck!”
After receiving the reaction he was desperate for, he slips his tongue into your walls deep and gathers as much of you as he can, before he’s pulling back and swallowing you down.
“I couldn’t resist. Your cunt was made for me to devour.”
He doesn’t allow for a response as he throws your legs over his shoulders and lines himself up at your core.
“Condom?” He asks you, and you level a quick look at him.
“I don’t live here! I don’t have any!”  You’re savage, terrified he’ll pull his cock away when all you want and can think about is the way he’ll feel pounding into you.
“Don’t be rude, baby,” he reminds you with a swat to your ass. “I’m clean, promise. You?”
You nod quickly, reveling in the spank’s tingle. “Same. I have an IUD too,” you sigh. Thank god for medical birth control implants.
“Good. You’re the only pussy I’m gonna fuck from now on,” he promises. You know you must talk about this later, when you’re thinking rationally and not with your aching pussy.  
Your heart stutters and leaps into your throat but all is forgotten as he plunges into your tight heat.
“Ohhhhh shit, ahhh,” he gasps. “Baby, you’re so fucking tight and wet.”  He’s on the verge of whining, becoming just as needy and greedy as you.  He wastes no time in setting a pace.
His cock fills you completely, his angle allowing him to go as deep as he can, pressing the beginning of your cervix.  This is surely what heaven feels like.  It feels like the completeness you feel with Taehyung fully sheathed inside you.
It comes alive with flames and explosions as he fucks you, hips pistoning to plunge in and out of you with tenacity.  He fucks you like he laces every single thrust with more, more than just sex. He fucks you with purpose.
You’re moaning like a pornstar now, high pitch wails and gasps and breathy moans are all you can manage. “Taehyung, yes! Feel so g-g-good!”
“That’s right baby, scream my fucking name. Make sure all the neighbors know who fucking ruined you,” he nearly spits, cock thrusting into your core at an impossible speed. “I want you to tell all of Korea who owns you. Who owns this tiny little cunt?”
The wind leaves you, and you’re gasping for air, gaping mouth open as you try to reply. It takes him fucking into you harder a few times before you feel it rush back into you.
“You, Taehyung!  You!  Fuck, I love your cock!”
His thumb rubs at your engorged clit, allowing it the friction it seeks.  He bends forward and wraps his other hand around your throat, squeezing.  
Losing air combined with the friction on your clit has you keening, so close to the edge. You try to babble his name but nothing comes out.
“Look at my pretty little slut taking my cock so well,” he praises.  “You have the greediest pussy, don’t you? You need my cock daily, baby. Need to put my mouthy bitch in her place, remind her who’s in charge.”
He slows his pace but his thrusts are punishing, fucking into you as hard as he can. Your orgasm is climbing so impossibly high.
“F-fuck!” You gasp as he releases his grip on your neck. “Gonna cum! Please let me cum!”  
“Yeah baby, cum for me.  Cream your greedy pussy all over my cock.”
The world stops spinning as you hit the height of your climax and plunge down.  Your vision goes black and your body is quivering and convulsing nearly as hard as your cunt is. Taehyung hisses at your walls sucking him in, as if you’re begging for his cum, begging for more.
“Fuck, good girl, baby, holy shit,” he’s breathless and so close.
You’re overstimulated, boneless, but he wrought two of the best orgasms you’ve ever felt in your life and you’ll be damned if you leave him high and dry.  You bite your lip as you move with him, hips pounding against each other. His face is scrunched up and you know he’s close when he’s stuttering on his words.  You take over for him.
“Please cum in me baby, please.  Fill me up. I’m yours, baby, mark my little cunt as yours.”  You don’t know where it’s coming from, but you keep it going. It feels as natural as fucking him does. “Please, Taehyung!”
At the sound of his name leaving you in a whine, he spirals down his own completion. He feels his cock pulse as he empties his load into you, your walls still reverently beckoning for him. He’s calling out your name, grasping at your tits as he finishes and you’re smiling from ear to ear. Your pussy is warm with his seed and you’re positive it’s the way you want to feel every single night.
“Holy fuck,” Taehyung rasps as he pulls his cock out of you. He thrills as he watches his cum follow, slipping out your folds and down your thigh. “I definitely marked you.”
You hum in reply, finally allowing yourself to soak in the haze of orgasmic bliss. Tae presses his head to yours again, kissing you sweetly.
“Come sleep in my bed?” He asks. He means more behind it. He wants to ask you to sleep in his bed every night, stay with him every day, be the one he grows old with. He knows there’s still more to talk about, wounds of the past to heal, but now you’re with him, and he knows he’ll work through anything.
You nod, and kiss him again, understanding his hidden meaning laced in his words.
A sly smile spreads across his face. “Last one to bed has to take the blame for the wineglass,” he teases. Your head spins as if you’ve got whiplash.  He can switch from dominating to sensitive to the little shit he is so quick.
“Hey! No fucking fair! You fucked my ability to run out of me!”
“Shouldn’t have been such a sassy bitch,” he winks before he tears away towards his room.
“Taehyung, you’re an asshole!” You call as you limp your way behind him.
From behind Joon and Jin’s door, a critical voice bellows, “YAH! I’ll kill you if you got your jizz on my couch! And what is this I heard about my glass!!? HEY!  Those are TIFFANY. CRYSTAL. THE DISRESPECT!”
You slip into Taehyung’s bed and wrap yourself around him, the two of you gasping with mischievous giggles.
Kim Taehyung will always be the one who knows how to drive you wild. He’ll always aggravate and infuriate you, send you reeling.
But now you didn’t think you minded it at all.
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© ppersonna - 2020 - do not repost on any site, or translate without express permission from author.
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poptod · 3 years
Text
Pull the Stars Out of the Sky (And Gift Them to Me), pt. 5 (Ahkmenrah  x Reader)
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Description: You finally learn just how far he will go.
Notes: this story takes a very interesting turn, but i promise its worth the ending i promise. ending might not be done for several more chapters though :) hope thats alright! WC: 8.2 k
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He left you alone in the garden.
You could've run away then. The trees and brush you'd have to wade through would be a tiny price for freedom, and you were mostly hidden from the view of the house. Instead you curled into a ball, having never felt as small as this in all your life, and hid yourself away. He was on your mind.
A taste of how your life would be if you ran already began to build on your tongue, as though in this moment you were free of his hold, entirely, wholly, and truly. It was bitter, like bile, tainted by the man who would always be on your mind, no matter how far or fast you ran. He had left his mark, scarred your skin, and you would never be rid of his presence. His eye that he forced into your mind would always watch over you, broadcasting his desirous thoughts into your consciousness. A voyeur in your own head.
Bereft of energy, you leant against the alabaster pillar, drooping eyes set uneasily upon the flowing water. He would do anything for you, but how far did that insanity go? Would he eventually grow tired of your emotional distance and forcefully take you for his own? All you knew of him was what he decided to show you––not a single bit more.
"Amoke?"
You looked drearily upwards, but relief filled you upon seeing Haji approaching you.
"You don't look so good," he noted, sitting down on the step beside you.
"I'm just a little tired," you sighed, pulling the blanket on your shoulders tighter around you.
"Did you get any sleep last night?"
"Yes, fortunately. How about you? What is your housing like here?"
"Not too bad," he said with a shrug. "I've got three other men in my room, but we're all in bunks. Main part of the house is nice, though. Lots of baked goods."
"Sounds nice," you chuckled. Your gaze fell once more to the intricate path of stone beneath your feet.
"So... Ahk told me you had a bit of a rough time this morning," he said slowly. You knew that was why he was here, yet still your heart sunk a little.
"I don't often find myself in large cities, much less in the middle of them."
"That's not the only thing bothering you though, is it?"
You sighed, before softly saying, "no."
Haji waited patiently while you thought through your words, contemplating them fully before you spoke.
"I told myself, when I was first caught by your King, that I wouldn't sympathize with him. I promised that I wouldn't fall into that common illness, but... now.. well, every now and then he seems human. Then it all fades away, and then it comes back, and... he's capable of controlling what people think of him. He puts on different personalities for different people. Why does he do that?"
"That's his job," Haji said simply, sending a stake through the core of your mindset. "He can't be a ruler all the time, but he can't not be a ruler when he's out in public. It's good that he hasn't let being a King take over his whole personality, like his father. The fact that he shows you all these sides of him means he wants you to be welcome in all parts of his life."
"... did he tell you to say that?"
He laughed, shaking his head as he patted your shoulder.
"No, but that was a very worship-y thing for me to say," he admitted.
"Heh," you said in a soft huff, wrapping your arms around your legs and pulling them in close.
"Haji?!" Ahk called from inside the house.
Haji sighed, almost rolling his eyes as he pushed himself to his feet.
"See you," he said, trotting off.
A couple minutes later you heard voices, which was strange, considering the garden was a decent distance from the house. You glanced around, eventually looking up to find Ahk and Haji, framing the sides of an open arch held high above the ground. They were discussing something quietly, but the wind carried their voices to you.
"Are they alright?"
"Yeah, considering what you're doing to them."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I – I'm sorry, my K-"
"It's fine," he muttered curtly. "Don't let it happen again."
You bit into your cheek hard, till your skin stung, and your jaw ached with the force in it. How had you ever willingly done his bidding? How had it slipped your mind, that he was still a royal? It was obvious in his step, his manner, his words, and his presentation, yet you had allowed yourself to thank him. To speak softly to him. To share parts of yourself that you had always sworn to keep to yourself.
No matter––you could not take away what you'd already freely sacrificed, but that didn't mean you had to keep sharing things. Today it would stop, and you would feel no more sympathy for the fickle man. As nice as Haji was, he did work for the King, and whatever you told him would end up in Ahkmenrah's ear. Sharing with him would also have to cease.
Maybe you were being too bitter, too closed off, but your crimes were meager in the face of Ahkmenrah's. He wanted you for his collection, to keep your beauty near him like a caged bird. If you yearned to leave, he would lock you up, and if you dreamed to fly, he would clip your wings, to keep you for his own.
Bastard.
That night it rained. Poured down in great sheets, battering down on the stone walls surrounding you, and tearing down palm trees like grass in a wildfire. You remained in the gazebo, rooted to the spot until Ahk came out to see you.
"Dearest, you'll get sick in all this rain," he said in a soft voice, kneeling in front of you, and looking up with familiar reverence dulled by the darkened sky.
You said nothing. Instead you fell into him, exhausted by your rampant mind, and aching from the water soaking down your clothes.
"Let's get you inside," he murmured, setting one arm beneath your knees, and the other behind your back.
With a small heave you were in his arms, the whole of your weight easily carried. He adjusted you a few times before you made it back to the house, where he set you down in front of a massive firepit, leaving you in the piles of blankets to run to the front door. You watched, huddled close to yourself as he opened the door and rushed in a small group of people. Among them was Naguib, who looked in a similar fashion to yourself––drenched.
Wet shoes and bare feet slapped against the white floor, puddles of dripping rain collecting on the path to the fire. The sound would have surely echoed if the fire wasn't roaring and crackling, dulling the sound of the rain, and calming you with every floating ember.
Slowly, the group of people around you grew, till Ahk saddled in beside you, his head on your shoulder.
These were his servants. You assumed that the housing set up for them in Thebes wasn't great, and Ahk had decided his house was a good spot for everyone to house up for the night. Sounded just like him––troubling you to the point of a breakdown, and then following that up with an act of kindness you'd see out of no other King.
"Are we sleeping here tonight?" You asked, barely audible above the murmurs of servants and the dancing fire.
"I think it'd be most wise," he murmured, shuffling to kiss your bare shoulder, before returning to his lax, sleepy position.
As people drifted off to sleep, hidden far away from the storm's ravages, you stared at the fire. It dimmed, and more people fell asleep, and you stared, wide eyes unable to close. By now you were lying down, Ahk curled up in your side as you stared at the burning cinders. He snored, though you hardly minded, finding comfort in his obvious heartbeat and the soft warmth of his breath.
He would always be an enigma to you. Or, perhaps, your affection for him would always be an enigma––reasonless, and petty, and undeserved.
"Sweet... darling," he mumbled through sleep-numb lips, grasping you tighter and forcing his face into your side, hiding away from the world.
You shifted, unable to move your arm beneath his head, and pressed your lips to the top of his head.
"Go to sleep, Ahk," you whispered.
"I love you."
Oh.
I love you.
The words circled your head, always on the corner of your eye as the ship beneath you creaked. It was a barge, or that's what Ahk called it; a carrier for Amun beneath the starlit sky. You tried to keep at the edge of the water, but Ahk kept his hand rooted at your waist. You supposed, in the amassed crowd, it would be a little hard to find you once the boat reached the other side of the Nile.
Behind your ship, where the golden statue of Amun rested, a fleet of other ships sailed in your wake, all of varying sizes. Some people sailed alone on small canoes, while others joined larger ships that took families across the river. All followed a path they'd taken before, one lit by a literal golden beacon––Amun, reflecting the light of torches held high above the people's heads. He would be carried by a team of men, who would set the God in the temple of Luxor for worshippers to place their kisses upon.
You could hardly see the ships, as Ahk kept you on an elevated platform overlooking everything in front of him, which simultaneously blocked his view of behind with a large shack.
"Should I pray with you or.. stay out of the temple?" You asked, careful to keep your voice quiet despite the loud voices of the pilgrims.
"You don't have to pray," he said, looking down at you with an assuring smile. "You don't have to stay outside of the temple, either. You can do whatever you like. I'd suggest partaking in the food, though, just by the way."
"It's alright," you said. "I'm mildly interested in how your religion works, so I'll watch your ceremony."
"Wonderful," he beamed.
Your balance stumbled as the hull of the barge hit the sandy shore, banking in another painted metropolis. Massive statues of Amun met you there, though the standing ones were made of limestone, and were a deal smaller than the golden idol. They flanked the docks, protecting the entrance to the city and the adhering temple.
Torches, held by soldiers who came to greet the boats, made way for the muddy ripples of water to visibly crash into the wood, making the ground beneath you sway. With help from Ahk, you rushed off the boat in an orderly manner. Swaths of people followed from behind, running onto the various docks, and watching the Pharaoh with eager eyes. Those whose attention fell to you glared, or stared confused.
Once most people were off the boats, the soldiers and workers began to lift the golden statue, causing an uproar of cheers from those around you. You nearly cringed from the sheer volume, but the grins surrounding you turned your fear to curiosity. Now you watched, blocking out the yells, as the statue was carried off the boat and onto land, passing by you and Ahk as it made its' way to the shore and the temple beyond.
You made to follow the crowd as it followed the statue, but Ahk tugged on your hand, keeping you on the dock. A soft and unbothered smile was on his face, and you paused in your curiosity.
"What are you doing?" You asked, your voice still hushed despite being alone.
"It's better to let them pray for a little while and mingle before I enter. Gets some of their energy out so they don't trample me," he said with a shrug.
"Wow. They must really like this holiday."
"I think more than anything they're excited about free food," he chuckled, his smile growing when you chortled.
Soon he was leading you back down the wooden dock, following the footprints in the sand towards the towering rocks. The dark of night casted the temple as a silhouette, whose real shape could not be truly identified, other than the fact that it was a very large structure. Even by starlight you could barely see the steps as you approached them.
The hallway you entered was deathly quiet, but lit distantly by the lights of the next room ahead. You slowed, your attention ensnared by the statues on either side of you, and your steps came to a silent crawl. Ahk allowed you to gawk at the art before he lead you onwards, a self-satisfied smile on his lips that parted them ever so slightly. Between the tall statues were pillars, and in front of each God sat a shallow basin, all filled with a clear oil.
You turned back to Ahk, ready to continue, pausing to allow him to endow himself with holy oil. Since the journey to Karnak had been started so late into the evening, you had yet to truly see him, and for a moment wondered if he would be wearing makeup.
Blue painted his eyelids, long, sharp lines defining his eyes as he stepped into the golden light, his entirety bathed in the holy glow. His cape trailed meters behind him, shimmering as though it were nothing more than a mist. Cuffs remained a constant in his outfit, though now they cradled his upper arms, his wrists, and his ankles, each carved ornately with faience and lapis defining the lines. The collar holding up his cape bore a royalty all its' own, crystal beads of red, blue, gold, and green coming one after the other in swirling patterns. Three golden amulets fell from the front of the collar, dripping down like rain on his bare chest and stomach.
Power had a name. Royalty had been born through his name––settling deep into his person, seeping out its' presence through his veins. This was the God the Nubians feared, the Hittites, the Phoenicians, all relented their struggle in the palm of this man's hand.
He stepped forward and the cheers of the hall fell into silence, heads bowing as all came to their knees. Foreheads pressed against the ground, hands outstretched on the temple floor, but consistently retaining a clear path to the statue of Amun.
Ahk continued into the room a few more steps before he realized you weren't at his side. At that point he turned to you, meeting your eye and calling you over with a silent wave of his hand. The blood in your heart froze, petrified by the insinuation, as your eyes darted between the bowed heads and the Pharaoh's outstretched hand. But he was patient, and he waited, his welcoming hand never falling.
After another moment you took his offer, fingers sliding over his palm till he grasped you, entangling your hands together. He pulled you gently forward, and soon you were walking by his side, welcome to bask in the respect of a silent room.
You noticed, once you looked up from the worshippers with guilt, that the statue of Amun had been placed upon a pedestal, a pedestal that had several different levels, and a staircase leading up. On the lower levels, statuettes and reliefs of Mut and Khons numbered many. There was where you stopped and turned, facing the long, torch-lit hall filled to the brim with devotees of Amun and Ahkmenrah.
"They bow for you, too," he murmured in your ear.
Your eyes settled on the exposed backs, the spines popping up, and the different adornments of people from all classes. None of them knew who you were. Would they bow to a stranger just because their King told them to?
Apparently.
To the sides of the altar, you caught sight of the Pharaoh's advisors, and a few of his personal servants, who were bowed alongside the rest.
"I am a King unlike my father," Ahkmenrah began, the first words of a long expected speech. "Unlike my father, I have brought us to peace, and have done so in a fraction of the entire time my father spent ruling. Unlike my father, I will love whomever I decide fit," his hand on your waist tightened, "and I will worship who I desire to. As a King I am allowed these comforts––the freewill of choice, and the means to live fruitfully. I am not controlled by my father... or my advisors.
"Unlike my father, I will give you these rights. Restore what should have never been taken. I will return your free will. I will allow all to marry who they desire, regardless of race, class, or gender."
The already confused crowd began to murmur, heads lifting to whisper to one another in curiosity and disbelief.
"I will pay back what my people sow," he continued. "You will be able to pride yourself on your work, no matter what that is, as all creation is important, and shall be protected under my rule. I will give back the means you give me to live fruitfully. As I regenerate myself and my power during this evening, so shall you be reinvigorated, as my blood runs in your heart, just as your blood runs in mine."
He stopped speaking, and for a moment dead silence ensnared you, before a rupture of cheers and applause broke your ears. Voices surrounded you, echoing off the tall ceiling painted with stars. Beside you, the Pharaoh beamed, basking in the adoration till he turned to you. It was then, within that fiery temple, and within the view of the population of a whole city, that he held your face soft in his palm and kissed you. Needy, incredibly needy, essentially desperate, but gentle. As though you would break. The tension fell instead upon himself, in his tight chest that just barely pressed to yours. His breath pushed and pulled, longing to feel you move against him, never ceasing to thrill your nerves as his fingertips brushed across your bare stomach.
When at last you kissed him back, he melted into you, almost leaning his whole weight on you in relief. He did his best to keep himself upright, and parted when it was clear you were short on breath. For a moment he stared, scanning your wide eyes, before kissing you once more, this time much shorter.
Looking to the sides of the altar, he waved in the servants, who sprang to their feet with trays of food. They dispersed amongst the now-standing crowd, feeding the citizens just as the Pharaoh promised. Musicians appeared from behind tall pillars, strumming melodies you'd never heard before. As they did, Ahk took your hand, kissing the back of it as he began to step down from the altar.
"Ever dance before?" He asked, a teasing smile growing across his face.
"Not in Egypt," you said. Different cultures had different styles of dance, and you were in no state to embarrass yourself with your 'foreign customs'.
"It's much the same as most places," he assured you, leading you down the steps. "Just move however the music tells you to."
Drums brought in a heavy beat, thrumming in your veins as the steps of many dancers surrounded you. The weight of their feet, jumping and pounding in tune with the lutes, created a beat you could easily move your body to. Ahk felt much the same, as he smiled wide and twirled you beneath his arm. Exhilaration caught the breath in your throat, warming your already-flushed skin, and enthralling you with the Pharaoh's many talents. Of course he would know how to dance––of course he would know how to twirl you, how to dip you, to run his hands over every inch of your body without ever truly stopping his melodic movements.
A dream, he was––a glowing halo over his head, the heavenly sky painted above his piercing eyes. His clothes, doing their own dance around his moving body, swayed and whipped the glittering silk high in the air, twirling around him like a golden universe. You found yourself grinning wider than you'd ever done in his presence, searching for his hand and its' warmth whenever he parted. Without thought you chased after him, giggling as he made his way through the crowd, nearly clearing a circle in the middle of the holy temple.
By firelight you caught your reflection in his eyes. It was then you saw yourself, your near-manic smile, your tussled hair, and the royal robes dripping elegantly off your body. This was not you––or, at least, this wasn't you before Ahkmenrah captured you. Yet you found, with his hand on your waist and your chests pressed tight together, that very rarely had you been happier than this moment.
People around you, staring at you, the scent of spilled wine and twice-baked honey intoxicating you. The circle around you continued to dance, but kept an eye on you and the King.
"See?" He murmured out of breath. "You are beautiful. Heavenly. You are already a God. See how they stare?"
"Yes," you whispered out.
"They are simply processing your divinity," he said, his eyes darting to each feature on your face.
"What should I do?"
"Dance."
Beneath the eyes of Amun you kissed him, soft and barely there, before you gently parted yourself from him. He watched, breathless, as you placed your hand on his chest. You circled him, drawing your finger around his chest to his back.
"This is how they dance in the east," you mumbled in his ear, carefully watching the eager crowd as you spoke.
You grabbed his hand, whirling him around to face you as another grin began to cross you. He mimicked your smile, enchanted by your movements, gaze never ceasing as you began to move your hips. The staring of strangers now only served to fuel you, caught up in the wanderlust that had captured you so vividly as a child. This had been your source of energy, how you kept moving throughout the world––the presentation of other cultures, their wisdom, and their art.
Soon you were tangling yourself back into Ahk, allowing him to pull you in circles and dictate your steps. The two of you moved in near synchronicity, and as the temple's dancers joined in on the sides, so did the rest of the populace crammed into the hall. Musicians played louder as the shouts and whoops of listeners began to overtake it.
You caught sight of the golden statue once more, your gaze lingering on those knelt at its' feet. Plates, bowls, and clay pitchers of food and wine now overcrowded the base, accompanied by the reliefs of Mut and Khons, as well as tokens made of Amun's image. Slowly you dragged your eyes upwards, to the watching stare of the golden God.
It blinked.
Massive eyelids closed over empty eyes, causing you to falter in your step. Your own eyes widened, caught horrified by the statue, a terror that quickly halted Ahk's own dancing. He looked at you confused for a moment, before following your line of sight to the statue.
The room fell into an astonished silence, instruments screeching to a halt as the statue's arms began to crack, movement slowly filling them until they tore apart from the main body. Fingers cracked as though sore from stillness, followed by the horrid trembling of the floor brought about by his heavy feet. They tore from the base, stepping down from the altar as the face began to move, animated, and smiling.
The golden eyes of Amun stared at the tiny people below him, a space amidst the crowd cleared for him to stand easily in the temple.
You looked up bug-eyed, your mouth falling open as Ahk grasped your lower arm tight.
"Is this supposed to happen?" You asked in a whisper, but in the wake of silence, your words were clear as day.
"Not... usually," Ahk admitted sheepishly, tugging nervously at his clothes. "Um.. Amun? Have you possessed your statue?"
"In a way," he said, the deep vibrations of his voice humming painfully loud in the echo chamber. "I have my projected my thoughts and voice into this body, so I may give to you the gift of my presence... and so I may give you a message."
Despite the tremor in Ahkmenrah's hand, he kept himself steady, and looked up at the God as though he were any other regular person.
"What is your message, Hidden One?" He asked. 
"I desire your... pet," the God said, his eyes falling to you, clinging to the Pharaoh's side. You shrank further into yourself, nearly shaking with panic.
Amun was the creator God. Ahkmenrah could not say no––the pure outrage that would come from the citizens should he do that was deterrent enough for you to be assured of that.
But he stepped out in front of you, cradling you behind him as he glared upwards.
"Why?" He asked, his earlier reverence turned to suspicion.
"Do you dare to question my command?" Amun asked in return, the rims of his eyes beginning to glow an unearthly purple. Smoke filled his mouth, coming out in great billows and plumes, filling the ceiling as he appeared to grow taller.
"I want to know why," Ahk gritted out.
Amun paused, gauging both your expression and Ahkmenrah's, before speaking precise and clear.
"It possesses the knowledge of many cultures. I have tired of my consorts, my own pets, and their closed minds. Your pet is beautiful and knowledgeable," Amun said, kneeling to face you closer, "and I desire it for the afterlife."
Massive eyes met yours, peering over Ahk's comparatively tiny shoulder. They remained rooted for a moment, scanning what little of you they could see, before the God stood once more.
"I want you to kill it, preserve its' body as well as you can, and bury it for when I come to take it," he said.
"No."
Gasps sounded from the crowd, all the eyes on you chittering and murmuring at Ahkmenrah's gall.
"Tiny King," Amun growled, his hand reaching down to pick Ahk out from the crowd.
Before the thick fingers could pinch him, Ahk reached around to one of his nearby soldiers, pulling the sword from its' sheath and slicing the palm of the God. The gasps around you grew louder yet, people beginning to shuffle nervously as they doubted the will of their Pharaoh. Through the murmurings you heard shouts, taunts against Ahkmenrah, claims of sudden insanity.
"Give up the slave!" Came from somewhere behind you, which very nearly broke Ahk's concentration on Amun as his nails dug into his palm, teeth ground together.
"Someone take his sword!"
"Get him out of here!"
"Silence," commanded Amun, and the temple returned to quiet. "A cut will not stop me."
With that he reached forward, his massive hand brushing Ahk aside and grasping your middle, arms forced to your sides. Your breath caught in your throat, unable to yell as you were lifted from the ground.
"You had the choice to willingly serve me or anger me. Either way," he brushed the hair away from your face with his golden skin, "I will have Amoke for my own."
He smiled, soft, and terrifying, as he squeezed you tighter in his palm. The constriction cut off your ability to breathe, muscles pinching and twisting with the pressure.
"You have watched from afar my battles, that I am sure of," Ahkmenrah said. You looked down, desperation welling tears in your eyes as you met the gaze of the King, who had the face of the dead; dark, and dull, and absent of empathy. "Yet you don't know that I will destroy anything that comes between me and what I want."
"Funny," said Amun, "I'm the same way."
Ahk casted aside his sword, instead reaching for the many vases, pots, and basins of oil, throwing them all to the floor till both the offerings and marble floors were covered in holy oil. Confusion struck you till he reached for a torch, at which point you began to wriggle in the God's grasp. Ahkmenrah had done a number of stupid things, especially when it came to his relationship with you, but burning down a temple rung bad news to you.
He threw the torch to the ground, lighting the temple aflame with bursts of fire that burned red and orange. Already heat came to meet you, hitting your cheek and neck with waves of searing warmth, tinted with the smell of lavender and roses. Screams bounced off the walls, blurred by the crackling roar of fire. You watched, high above the crowd, as people scrambled towards the exit, desperately escaping the flames. Then your eyes fell, past the door, past the shrieking, to the Pharaoh, his face lit by fire, and his eyes darkened by the overwhelming shadow of his own crown.
"Fire cannot hurt a God," Amun spat, holding you closer to his chest.
"No," Ahk agreed, "but it can hurt your vessel."
"Gold doesn't melt by simple fire."
"Right again. But the stone on the inside of that frame does."
While they spoke, you began to feel the melting heat of stone surrounding you, burning you wherever your skin was bare. Panic seized you fiercely, quickening your breath till you barely felt your own chest heaving up and down. You cried out as the burning sensation turned to searing pain, melting and blistering the skin of your forearms.
From nowhere you were released, falling two meters from the sky to the ground. Ahk rushed past the burning pools of oil and piles of food, grasping your hand tight in his. Before either of you said anything, the agonized, broken yells of a God filled your head. It spiked and crackled, like explosions in your ears, ranging from deep, mechanical roars to high-pitches screeches that felt like nails dragging down from your eyes to your jaw. Through it all Ahk kept you running, heading for the wooden doors already set aflame. Pillars fell around you, crashing against the marble floor, and in the process causing the ground to tremble. The two of you nearly lost your balance, watching two massive pillars slowly falling to block the exit. He held your hand tighter yet, his pace increasing as yours did, the two of you bolting out of the hall. The moment you exited, the final pillars fell behind you, blocking the door and locking the God into the fiery temple.
Heavy pants filled your chest till it numbed, your teary eyes stinging in the cool, night air. Even through the thick stone you could hear Amun wailing and screeching, clawing at the walls of the temple till the marble gave way, tumbling to the floor and splintering upon impact. The sandstone bricks behind the marble kept him inside, leaving him to die within its' holy walls.
"Are you alright?" He asked, frantic hands and eyes scanning your body. First he held your face, then your neck, till he found the marks covering your forearms.
"I'm -"
"Ohhh dearest," he breathed out, his brow furrowed tight as he took your hands, holding them with a touch so gentle you barely felt it. "I'm so sorry, my dear. I didn't... oh dear.. does it hurt?"
You looked down, scanning over the seared flesh in the dim starlight.
"Not anymore," you said, confused at your own tolerance. "It just hurt at first."
"I'm so sorry, my love, I'm.. we'll get this bandaged up, all right?" He promised, looking you in the eye.
"Ahk, no one's going to help you," you said. His subjects wouldn't accept him back after that fiasco. No way.
"Piye will," he said assuredly, raising your hands to kiss your fingers. "That's all we need."
"Where are they?"
"Still in Thebes. It'll take us a little bit, so let's get some bandages first," he murmured, kissing your forehead.
He gingerly threaded his fingers in yours, assuring himself of you, before the two of you headed away from the desecrated temple. While he scanned the long, dark hallway for people, you noted the figures flanking the entrance, and tugged on Ahk's arm.
“He certainly lived up to his speech,” one of them said.
"I think your advisors are waiting to hand your ass to you," you whispered.
"Ah... fuck. My father himself is going to rise from the field of reeds to throw my ass in my face," he mumbled, chewing on his lip.
"When did you start swearing?" You asked, slightly befuddled.
"Usually when I get into dangerous situations," he said lowly, ducking behind one of the pillars as one of the figures shifted, "it starts up. Horrible habit. My mother tried to rid me of it but she was never quite successful."
"Apparently," you muttered beneath your breath, before helpfully pointing out that there were holes built into the ceiling to let natural light through.
"Perfect, darling," he said, pecking your cheek before reaching for the carved top of the pillars.
Once assured of his stability, he heaved himself upwards, catching the ledge outside before falling. From there he pulled himself up, scrambling onto the roof of the hallway. You attempted to go the same route, but your arms hardly reached the pillar's protrusions, and they were numb with pain. Seeing your trouble, he lay flat on the roof, hanging his arm down. You grasped tight as you could, and with help from your legs you clambered onto the roof.
Ahk huffed, brushed himself off, brushed you off, and only then continued on. From up there you could easily see the advisors and guards discussing, their hushed voices reaching you with little clarity. Spying would do you no good, and Ahk soon realized that, taking you back towards the temple.
In silence he climbed the rest of the way to the temple's roof, helping you up along the way. Your shadow stood before you, casted long but pale against the flat expanse of the roof, stretching out before you like a desert. This was the only area of the temple undecorated, left untouched and plain. It was a funny thought to realize that from above––from a God's view––the temple was as plain as white sand.
By descending far away from the entrance, the two of you avoided sight of his advisors in an act you realized he'd done many a time before. You wondered, watching him sneak along the ground, what kind of a child he was, and if you would've liked him better if you met him when he was younger. Though to be perfectly fair you liked him quite a lot already, unfortunate as it was.
Ever aware of your wound, he led you by a hand on your back, instead of the usual taking hold of your hand. Keeping your footsteps quiet proved hard in the loose rocks, but with your slow pace you safely made it to the boathouse he led you to.
"Here," he whispered, ushering you into the room. He glanced outside, scanning for anyone present, before carefully closing the door and turning back to you.
You opened your mouth to speak, but before you could do so he was pushing you into a chair, hushing you softly. Mildly offended, but more importantly confused, you watched as he rifled through boxes of storage. Most of your questions were answered when he pulled out bandages. Alongside that, he pulled out a small pot of honey, which you yourself had used before to treat infections.
"I am truly sorry, my dear," he said as he knelt before you, unravelling the linen. "I never meant for anyone to get hurt."
"Except Amun."
"Well... yes, there is that," he mumbled abashedly, chuckling.
For a little while you watched in silence as he gingerly wrapped your arms up, careful not to touch the sticky, pale wound with his fingers. Honey kept the linen from burning or attaching to heavily to your skin.
"Why did you do that?" You asked, your voice cracking in your attempt to keep quiet.
"What? Did I wrap it wrong?" He asked, looking up with wide, expectant eyes.
"No, not that, the –"
"The burning thing?"
"Yes, kind of," you said. "You hurt your God."
"It's alright, he's not the only one we've got," he chuckled.
"That's not the point," you hissed, increasingly irritated with his jokes. He laughed at your annoyance, but finally calmed down enough to speak seriously.
"Amoke, the Gods are eternal. They have time to know everything, to have everything. We are not. We have a limited amount of time to enjoy ourselves. I think Amun can wait another hundred years till you die. I can't. Do you understand that?" He said, his hand cradling your face as he knelt between your legs, praying to your reverent eyes. "I don't mind fighting for the things in this world that I own. Because until I die, I am wholly of this plane, and such earthly things are all I have."
You swallowed through a tight throat before nodding. A small smile replaced the worried knot in his brow, and he returned carefully to the task at hand.
White linen soon coated the entirety of both your upper arms, spots of honey and blood rarely peeking through the wraps. He was finally finished, the ends tucked away, preventing it from unravelling when you moved. For a moment you sat still, waving your arms up and down experimentally.
"Thank you," you said as you stood, looking down at the couple blisters along your hands.
"Of course, dear," he said, kissing the top of your head. "Piye will do a much better job. I just don't want it to get infected on the way there."
Seeing as your temporary hideout was a boathouse, it was relatively easy to get a boat. The process was a combination of 'don't let the wood creak beneath you,' 'lay down on the dock, there's someone coming,' and 'untie that knot faster'. Your aching hands were no fit for any small, involved work, so Ahk made himself useful by both releasing the canoe from the dock and rowing it away from shore.
Despite being almost-passed-out tired, you couldn't doze on the boat, too paralyzed by the rocking waves. Ahk noticed––of course he did––but could do little to comfort you. All he had to provide was the information that this wouldn't take long; thirty minutes or so, he said.
To find ease in something, you looked off the edge of the boat to the rippling, black water. Though the stars shined above you, you could barely see them in the river. Instead you found your reflection staring back up at you, unblinking.
"It's not healthy to stare at yourself too long. Drives some insane," Ahk commented in a hum.
"As if you don't spend an hour every morning looking at yourself in the mirror."
"Ouch. Fair point."
Stumbling back onto land was easier than usual, but keeping your balance on the dock was a little harder. Ahk told you to sit down while he tied the boat up, which you did, but only after nearly tripping over a stray rope.
"We shouldn't exclude the possibility that Piye, and perhaps the rest of the Thebes, already knows of what we've done," Ahk said, looking out from the dark shore to the torch-lit city.
"And if they do?"
"Um... we'll get to that when we get there," he said with a sharp breath, his eye still set on the lights. "Let's go, hm? Nice and quiet."
You nearly laughed at his behavior, but a glance to his expression had you sobered. His teeth were digging into his lip, more than usual, and it looked rather painful.
"Ahk?" You said, grasping his arm to halt him. He turned to you, his stress gone, and looked you in the eye. "Are.. are you alright?"
He continued to stare at you for a moment, before saying, "yes! I, um, I'm alright. Thank you."
"... okay," you said doubtfully. He was clearly lying, but you didn't want to seem as though you cared too much, and you could always ask later on.
Keeping low to the ground, just as before, the two of you managed to sneak into the city without being noticed. It was an even more impressive feat considering your clothes jangled with every movement, overcrowded with jewels. Torches had you struck with fear several times, recalling each time the gold swirls of Ahk dancing, and terrified the light would shine too bright off the Pharaoh.
Without attracting too much attention, you made it safely to Piye's housing, placed within a large garden beside several other similar-looking houses. First he looked in through the windows, but ultimately found nothing.
"I'm sure it's fine if we just go inside," Ahk said with a dismissive shrug, tugging on the handle.
"Um –"
"Don't worry, Amoke," he said, directing you inside. "I've known Piye since I was ten. They won’t mind."
Your mouth pressed into a thin line, anxiously looking around the dark room for any sign of movement. Such was your anxiety that when Ahk closed the door behind him, you jumped, long nails digging deep into your palms.
"Careful there," he said as he passed by you, heading towards the fireplace.
He knelt on the ground, his beautiful skirt dirtied on the soot and dirt collected on the hearth. Pulling out several tools from nearby, he soon started a fire, this time much tamer and controlled.
Fire.
Why did the sight of it root you to the spot?
Warmth seeped into the room, gently easing your tight, cold muscles, and asking you to step nearer. Your teeth dug into your cheek, but you fought your impulse and sat nearby on the floor. As you drew your knees to your chest, Ahk scooted over to your side, gently putting your head on his shoulder.
"I swear, I'll -"
The muffled sound of yelling began to ring from the entrance of the garden. You and Ahk immediately looked to one another with wide eyes as you listened, trying to make out the words.
"Osiris won't be enough –– wrangle that –– stuff you in a grave!"
Splinters flew as the door wrenched open, slamming against the wall and bounding back to nearly hit Piye in the face. Fortunately, Piye, being tall and vigilant as they were, caught it without breaking their menacing stare at Ahk. Ahk on the other hand was rooted to the spot, staring up at the enraged magician.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Piye yelled, forcing the door shut behind them before approaching Ahk with a vindication you rarely saw. "You think you can just attack a God and your people will still love you? You're not above the deities, Ahkmenrah. You're their vessel and they will strike you down for this disrespect!"
"I'm not going to let an innocent person die because some God wants a plaything," Ahk said firmly, keeping his ground.
"You don't get a choice. Don't forget you're a temporary ruler of this world. The Gods control everything and everyone," Piye said, roughly jabbing Ahk in the chest with their finger.
"Piye has a point," you said.
"Amoke, d –"
"They're going to get their way eventually. Why fight it?" You asked, a question that had the two of them quiet for a moment.
"I will fight for every last second I can have with you. If need be I will slay my people for one more minute in your presence," he said as he once more knelt before you, taking your hands in his. "I will burn down this world for one last kiss."
There was a fervor in his eyes unlike anything you'd seen before––bright, brilliantly so, yet lusting for something not in the realm of the holy. Something much more sinister; a lust not for flesh, but for the blood within it. He would keep his word. You knew then and there, staring into those bright, empty eyes, that he would sooner destroy his cities than let you go.
He would keep his word.
"Don't," you barely whispered out.
"I would," he said with the same softness, directing you to look back at him when your eyes strayed.
"I know."
Wooden planks creaked as Piye shifted their weight, crossing their arms as they watched your spectacle.
"I allowed this for a long while," Piye said, their voice drawing Ahk's face away from hiding in your lap. "I let you steal an innocent person. Now I see I should've stopped it from the beginning. You've grown too attached, Ahk. You have responsibilities bigger than yourself, and there are certain things you cannot indulge. Certain pleasures you cannot partake in."
Not once had the Pharaoh looked to Piye. Instead his gaze remained enraptured in yours, dreamy as it was bittersweet.
"And if I abandon my position as King?" He asked, a smile growing across his face as he carefully watched your reaction. Behind him, however, Piye's own expression fell, arms unwinding as they stared stupefied at the Pharaoh.
"Your father would never forgive you," Piye said, much quieter through the tension built in their throat.
"So what? He's dead."
"Merenkahre might not have been a fantastic King but he was still your father, and he cared about you."
"- a care that was most certainly conditional, seeing as how he treated my brother," Ahk pointed out.
"Your brother killed thirteen servants!! I think that's a little different!" Piye seethed, lean muscles in their hands tensing as they spoke through gritted teeth.
"Yes, listen, Amoke got hurt in that little temple fiasco. I was hoping you could help them," Ahk said, finally turning to face Piye.
"Oh. Of course, come here," Piye mumbled, ushering you over. "I'm sorry you got tangled in his mess. I'm sure you don't want to be here."
"Oh, well -" you began only to be interrupted.
"I'll be very pleased to remind you that Amoke willingly joined me this time!"
"'This time,'" Piye mocked. "Oooh, your little plaything actually wanted to be remotely near you one time."
"First off, ouch, second off, you enjoyed it, didn't you Amoke? I mean, besides the whole melting arm debacle," Ahk said, peering over Piye's to see you.
A long, tense silence stretched when you couldn't find an answer, and instead decided to focus on Piye's treatments.
"My Gods," Piye muttered once all the wrappings were off, which was not a good thing to hear from a doctor when they're examining you.
"What? What's wrong?" You quickly asked, eyes darting between the wrappings, your wound, and Piye's concerned expression.
"Nothing, it's just... this is a pretty severe wound. I'm surprised you still have fingers," they said, shaking their head to clear it.
After taking a deep breath, they took one of your hands, holding it up close to their eye.
"I'm going to have to do some... experimental magic for this. Are you alright with that?"
"What happens if it goes wrong?" You asked, a creeping suspicion on the edge of your words.
"I'd imagine either nothing or you'll have arms made of flowers."
You paused to silently debate it, but took little time deciding.
"Alright," you agreed.
"Wonderful. Give me a moment," they said, and began to mutter verses beneath their breath, eyelids closing over glowing eyes.
You looked to Ahk with an astonished look, your mouth hanging open. He just shrugged, unable to give you an answer before Piye reemerged, no longer glowing in their eyes. Now their palms were glowing, surrounding your burnt arm.
"Repeat after me," they said. "I am this pure lotus which went forth from the sunshine."
You repeated them.
"–– which is at the nose of Re; I have descended --"
"–– that I may seek it for Horus ––"
"–– for I am the pure one who issued from the fen."
Heat came from the tip of your tongue, nearly burning as you spoke the last word. With a racing heart, you opened your eyes, immediately drawn to the blue and purple embers rising from your arm. Streams of light soon came from the wounds, blossoming into solid shapes that built the petals of blue lotus flowers.
Every inch of skin that was scarred, burned, blistered, or melted off had been infested with flowers, growing so thick that they puffed out like kinky hair.
"Is it... supposed to do that?" You asked hesitantly.
"It's not.. not supposed to do that," Piye suggested, which was also not a comforting thing to be told.
Either way, you made your way back to your previous seat, your hands folded neatly in your lap as you slouched down. Piye made to grab something from the mantle, but ultimately sighed deeply and flopped down on the floor beside you and Ahk.
"What are we going to do, Ahk?" They asked, leaning forward with their chin balanced on their palm.
"... you're going to help me?" Ahk murmured as he perked up.
"Yes," said Piye bitterly, "of course. But I'm not going to enjoy it."
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tsunfucker · 3 years
Text
The End of Evangelion [Theatrical Trailer]
(Screen text:  So, everybody just go and die...)
Staff (in Japanese alphabetical order)
Random women's voices: You don't really know if it's love until after the infatuation stops. Men just want a mother figure who'll spoil them. Men...You doit with them once and they think they own you. Ritsuko? Yeah, that's okay,too. You'll be sorry for that. That's not romantic in the least. Men are all scum... Don't think I'm going to forgive you!
----------------------------------------- TITLE SCREEN:  THE END OF EVANGELION Neon Genesis Evangelion Cinema Edition - Air/Sincerely Yours  (My Pure Heart For You) -----------------------------------------
(Screen text:  Then, why are you here?) (Screen text:  ...Is it okay for me to be here?) -----------------------------------------
Premiering July 19 (Sat.) Advance tickets including original poster on sale. General admission: 1500 yen     Students: 1200 yen Created by the EVA Production Committee (Project EVA) Distributed by Toei Studios, Inc. This film is animated. -----------------------------------------
TITLE SCREEN:  THE END OF EVANGELION Neon Genesis Evangelion Cinema Edition - Air/Sincerely Yours (My Pure Heart For You) Premiering July 19 (Sat.) Created by the EVA Production Committee (Project EVA) Distributed by Toei Studios, Inc. -----------------------------------------
Toei Studios, Inc. logo in triangle
Eirin (Eiga Rinri Kitei Kanri Iinkai = Motion Picture Code of Ethics Committee) registration in circle
(Vertical screen text:  Neon Genesis Evangelion Cinema Edition)
The End of Evangelion Episode 25: Air/Love is destructive. :Translated Script
OPENING SCENE Shinji stands silently before the lake created by the explosion of EVA-00, triggered by Rei in episode number 23, which also destroyed Tokyo-3.
SCENE:  Hospital - 1st Cranial Nerve Department Shinji in Asuka's hospital room (No. 303), Asuka lying in bed -----------------------------------
Background announcement: Sections 2 and 3 of the East Wing will close at 6 p.m. today. Staff are requested to finish all work by 4: 30 p.m.
Shinji: I... I'm scared of both Misato and Ayanami... Help me... Help me, Asuka. Hey... Wake up! Come on... Wake up! Come on... Hey... Asuka... Asuka... ASUKA!! Help me... Help me... Help me... Help me... Help me! Call me an idiot like usual! HEY!!
(Shinji shakes Asuka roughly so that she rolls onto her back... Her hospital gown opens to reveal her naked except for her underwear... Shinji locks the door to the sickroom and his breathing gradually becomes faster and heavier ending with a muffled grunt (off screen). He stares down at the ejaculated fluids covering his right hand.)
I... I'm scum...
----------------------------------- TITLE SCREEN:  Episode 25 - Air -----------------------------------
SCENE:  NERV Command Center- Makoto, Shigeru and Maya talk as they sit in the dark and drink coffee. -----------------------------------
Maya (off screen): What!?  Total prohibition of access to and from Headquarters!?
Makoto (off screen): I guess we're still at First Level Alert...
Maya (off screen): Why?  Wasn't Kaworu* the last angel?  (*Literally: "that boy")
Shigeru: That's right.  All the angels have been destroyed.
Makoto: Isn't there supposed to be peace now?
Maya: Then, what'll happen to NERV? and the Evas? I wish Dr. Akagi was here...
Shigeru: NERV will probably be disbanded, and who knows what'll happen to us.
Makoto (off screen): We'll just have to stick it out until the Instrumentality Project starts.
SCENE:  Misato in her car - turnout overlooking the new lake (Tokyo-3) -----------------------------------
Misato (to herself): Having reached its limit as a colony of flawed and separate entities, Humankind is to be artificially evolved into a perfect single being. The Instrumentality Project... An ideal world... And to achieve this the Committee plans to use not Adam or NERV, but Eva. Just like Kaji predicted.
SCENE:  SEELE monoliths - Gendo and Fuyutsuki -----------------------------------
SEELE 01 (Keel): The promised time has come. With the Lance of Longinus now lost, complementation using Lilith is impossible. Our only hope is to proceed with EVA-01, Lilith's sole clone.
Gendo: While different from SEELE's scenario...
Fuyutsuki: Humans have existed to create Eva.  (ambiguous)
Gendo: Humans should evolve into a new world.  That is the purpose of the Eva series.
SEELE 09: We have no intention of giving up our human forms simply to enter the Ark called Eva.
SEELE 12: It is merely a rite of passage... To bring about the rebirth in those who are imprisoned.
SEELE 05(?): The fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth.
SEELE 04(?): A sacrament to unite God, humans, and all other life forms in death.
Gendo: Death gives birth to nothing.
SEELE 01 (Keel): Then death is what you shall have.
(SEELE monoliths disappear)
Fuyutsuki: Humans exist because they have the will to live... And that is the reason she remained within Eva.
SCENE:  Rei lying in bed in her apartment.  She wakes up (looking surprisingly like Yui), looks out the window to see the full moon illuminating the night sky, and leaves.  Gendo's glasses lie twisted and broken on the floor behind her. -----------------------------------
SCENE:  Shinji lying awake in his room with his headphones on The tape counter reads 00:00:00 and the battery indicator flashes empty. -----------------------------------
SCENE:  The new lake (The ruins of Tokyo-3) -----------------------------------
SCENE:  NERV Computer Room Misato hacks into the system using a laptop computer. -----------------------------------
Misato: So, this is the truth behind Second Impact... (Screen flashes and alarm sounds) Have they noticed me!? No, that's not it! It's starting!
SCENE:  NERV Command Center Alarms sound... emergency indicators light... -----------------------------------
NERV operator (background - male): No. 6 net - audio communications severed! Goura ground circuit, inoperative!
Fuyutsuki (to phone): Switch the left side over to blue emergency communications! Use the satellites if you have to!  That's right! What's the situation on the right?
Person on Phone: Negative!  All outgoing network and data lines are being cut off!!
Fuyutsuki: Are they after MAGI?
Shigeru (off screen): Data entry from all external nodes. (on screen) They're hacking the MAGI system!
Fuyutsuki: Just as I thought.  Is it coming from MAGI-2 in Matsushiro (Tokyo-2)?
Shigeru: No, it's at least 5 MAGI type units. Hacking verified from Germany, China, the U.S....
Fuyutsuki: SEELE is mustering all of their forces.  5 to 1 odds... Not good.
Shigeru (off screen): No. 4 firewall breached!
Makoto: Locking the main database... Negative! We can't stop their invasion!
Maya (off screen): It's entering a deeper level! (on screen) Even the back-up circuit can't stop it!
Fuyutsuki (thinking): This is bad... Capture the MAGI system and you capture everything.
SCENE:  Ritsuko in her cell -----------------------------------
Background announcement: General Quarters: Second Level Alert!  Repeat - General Quarters: Second Level Alert!
(Cell door opens)
Background announcement(cont'd): All personnel report to designated posts at once.
Ritsuko: I know... MAGI's self-defense system.
Security staff at door: Yes.  Lt. Ibuki at the No. 2 Command Center has the details.
Ritsuko: Even an abandoned woman has her uses... How egotistical.
SCENE:  Misato approaching Command Center with phone -----------------------------------
Background announcement: Second Level Alert currently in effect!  All B-floor non-combat personnel evacuate at once.
Misato: Status report?
Makoto (on phone): Hyuga here.  Tokyo-2 has just issued Special Order A-801!
Misato: 801?
Makoto (on phone): That's right.  Abolishment of special legal protection for NERV and transfer of all command to the government of Japan.
(Elevator door closes)
(NERV Command Center - Maya and Makoto)
Makoto: It's an ultimatum... Yes, and MAGI is being hacked.  Things aren't looking good.
Maya: Ibuki here. Dr. Akagi has just begun protective countermeasures.
(Misato appears on elevator)
Misato: Ritsuko!?
(Ritsuko inside MAGI)
Ritsuko: (thinking) Am I acting foolish?  Men and women are so illogical... (speaking) Isn't that right?  (reaches up to Casper) Mother...
(NERV Command Center)
NERV operator (male): Goura ground circuit recovery rate up to 0.2%
Misato: How much longer?
NERV operator (female): No. 3 cable, Hakone back-up circuit still inoperative.
Makoto (off screen): We should just make it. Dr. Akagi is amazing, one more minute to the end of page 120... And only two-and-a-half more minutes until deployment of a primary firewall.
Misato (thinking): Just hacking MAGI? They're not going to let us off that easy... probably.
Fuyutsuki: MAGI is only the first skirmish. The bastards' objective is the direct take-over of headquarters and the two remaining Eva units.
Gendo: Yes.  With not only Lilith, but even Adam in our hands....
Fuyutsuki: No wonder the old men are so worried.
(MAGI displays turn green)
Maya: Hacking against MAGI has been stopped. (off screen) A Danang Type-B defense screen has been deployed. External access is impossible for the next 62 hours.
(Ritsuko emerges from MAGI)
Ritsuko: See you in a bit, mother.
SCENE:  SEELE monoliths -----------------------------------
SEELE 06: Ikari has executed a Type-666 protection program on the MAGI system. It won't be easy to breach.
SEELE 07: It appears that we will have to forego acquisition of MAGI.
SEELE 01: I had hoped to solve this peacefully, but that is not possible now. Take over the entire headquarters directly, at once!!
SCENE:  Road by the lake - JSSDF officer with military phone -----------------------------------
JSSDF officer: Commence operations as planned.
(Soldiers pop up... aircraft fly... tanks and missiles fire... all hell breaks loose)
SCENE:  NERV Command Center Alarms sound... Screens go blank... -----------------------------------
NERV operator (female): Radar sites 8 to 17 have gone dead!
Shigeru (off screen): JSSDF tech battalion advancing through Goura defense perimeter!
Makoto (off screen): Two battalions approaching from Gotemba!
NERV operators (background): Three air squadrons confirmed approaching from Mishima. Close down Futagoyama and Komagatake routes at once! Invasion through Goura 2nd defense perimeter point A...  Currently engaging enemy.
Fuyutsuki: It seems that man's ultimate enemy is also man.
Gendo: General quarters.  Go to First Level Battle Stations.
Maya: Battle Stations!? (whispered) But the enemy isn't an Angel... They're human like us.
Makoto (whispered): But they don't think that way.
SCENE:  Outside NERV War scenes... NERV guard stabbed in back... Gates open and alarm sounds -----------------------------------
NERV Soldier: Hey, what's going on? Hello!?
NERV Lieutenant: What's going on?
NERV Soldier: The south hub-station...
(Truck explodes... Black suited troops move in.)
SCENE:  NERV Command Center - More alarms... -----------------------------------
NERV operators (male): Daigatake tunnel cut off! Fire at West No. 5 freight entrance! Invading forces have entered Level 1! (female):  South hub station off-line!
Misato: The forces attacking the west side are a decoy! If their real target is the Evas, they'll be going after the pilots! Have Shinji stand by at EVA-01, quickly!
Makoto: Affirmative!
Misato: Where's Asuka?
Shigeru: In sickroom 303.
(Shot of Asuka lying in bed)
Misato (off screen): Put her into EVA-02 anyway.
Maya: But her synchronization with Eva hasn't recovered yet.
Misato: Yes, but she'll definitely be killed if she stays there. The best place to hide her is inside EVA-02.
Maya: Affirmative! (to headset) Stop medication to pilot.  Prepare for launch!
Misato: As soon as Asuka is inside EVA-02, hide it in the underground lake. It'll be found almost immediately, but it's better than leaving it in the cage. Where's Rei?
Shigeru: Whereabouts unknown...  Unable to locate!
Misato: She'll be killed. Find her, quickly!
(Rei floating in LCL tank)
(EVA-02 launch)
Makoto: EVA-02 launched via No. 8 route. Stabilize at a depth of 70 meters.
Misato: Launch EVA-01 next! Deploy it inside the Geofront!
Shigeru: Negative! The pilot hasn't arrived yet!
Misato: What!? (Shinji verified on monitor screen) Oh, no....!
Background announcement: Closing all Central Dogma barricades up to Level 2. All non-combat personnel, evacuate via route 87.
(Shots of gates and barricades closing throughout NERV)
(NERV Command Center)
Shigeru (off screen): No. 3 underground barricade destroyed!  Enemy Forces invading Level 2!
Fuyutsuki: The JSSDF have committed almost an entire division... It's only a matter of time before they take us over completely.
Gendo: Dr. Fuyutsuki, take care of things here.
Fuyutsuki: I understand.  Give my regards to Yui.
(Shots of fighting and mayhem)
(NERV Command Center)
NERV operators (male): No response from Group 2! Communication with No. 77 Computer Room negative.
Shigeru: No. 52 monorail destroyed!
Background announcement: Explosion confirmed at No. 3 hub-station.  Numerous dead.  Damage unknown.
Makoto: This is terrible.  Even Angels would be better.
Misato (thinking): It's no surprise... We're not used to killing other humans.
(More shots of death and destruction- female NERV officer drags the body of her comrade down a passage way, only to be struck down by a barrage of bullets from an invading JSSDF soldier)
JSSDF officer: Cut the cables starting with the red ones...
(NERV Command Center)
NERV operator (male): Level 3 Block B invaded!  Defense impossible!
Shigeru (off screen): Enemy also confirmed in Block F!  Main Bypass under crossfire!
Misato: Abandon Levels 1 to 3!  Combat teams, retreat! Release Bakelite into all passages and pipes up to Section 803!
Shigeru: Affirmative!
(Shot of Bakelite being released)
Background announcement: Commence Bakelite injection from Section 703.  30 seconds to completion. Commence Bakelite injection from Section 737.  30 seconds to completion... (continues)
Misato: This should slow them down a bit.
Makoto: Major Katsuragi!  No. 47 route has been cut off... Group 3 is unable to advance! If this continues Shinji will be...!
(Shot of Shinji hiding)
(NERV Command Center)
Misato (off screen): All non-combat personnel avoid close combat. (Misato takes out and loads her pistol) (on screen) The enemy are professionals... If you can't fall back to the Dogma, it's better to surrender. (whispered to Makoto) Sorry, take care of things here.
Makoto: Sure.
SCENE: Outside NERV -----------------------------------
Background: Mt. Futagoyama under control - Seal off Nagao Pass at once! *afirmitive* Visual confirmation of No. 1 Command Center explosion...
JSSDF Division Commander: This is more difficult than expected.
Sub Commander: We never get the easy jobs.
SCENE: NERV Command Center Makoto and Shigeru take out and ready small arms. -----------------------------------
Makoto: This is bad... We were never equipped with full-scale anti-personnel defense systems.
Shigeru: Yeah.  Only counter-terrorist measures at best.
Makoto: If the JSSDF mounts a serious attack, we don't stand a chance.
Shigeru: Come to think of it, the reductions in funding for anti-personnel defense measures probably had this in mind from the beginning.
Makoto: That's entirely possible...
(Explosion in Command Center... Attacking forces move in...)
Background: No. 2 Command Center - Invaders on lower left floor.
Shigeru: (Handing pistol to Maya) Release the safety.
Maya: I... I can't shoot.
Shigeru: Of course you can! Just pretend this is training!
Maya: But I wasn't shooting at people, then!
Shigeru: Idiot! Shoot, or we're going to die!
----------------------------------- TITLE SCREEN - THE END OF EVANGELION EPISODE 25' -  Love is destructive -----------------------------------
SCENE:  Rei, staring into the tank containing the remains of her destroyed counterparts -----------------------------------
Gendo (off screen): Rei... I thought you'd be here. (on screen) The promised time has come. Let's go.
SCENE:  Dead NERV personnel litter the passageway -----------------------------------
1st soldier (off screen): Level 2 completely secured, over.
2nd soldier (on radio): No. 2 Command Center - Still unable to secure original MAGI system. Currently engaging enemy on lower left floor.
JSSDF officer (on radio): Commence heat dissipation procedures on the fifth Malbolgia at once.
(NERV officer raises arms in surrender - JSSDF officer fires a round into his head, places his foot on the body, and fires two more shots.)
JSSDF officer (female): Eva pilots are to be terminated on sight. Unconditional execution of non-combat personnel authorized.
JSSDF officer (on radio): Yanagihara and Shinjo squads, enter lower levels immediately.
(Shinji hiding... and found by three JSSDF soldiers)
Soldier: 3rd pilot found - will proceed to eliminate. (Places barrel of gun against Shinji's forehead) Nothing personal, kid.
(Misato charges in firing to the rescue)
Misato (cynically): Nothing personal here either... (Shoots soldier) Come on...  Let's get to EVA-01.
SCENE:  Misato and Shinji in parking lot- Misato listening to enemy movements on a dead soldier's radio -----------------------------------
JSSDF radio: Yamagishi squad at No. 7 cage, report your status, over. Purple unit secured. No problems with Bakelite infusion. Red unit appears to have been launched... Currently searching for launch route used.
Misato: Damn!  They're trying to prevent physical contact between Shinji and EVA-01. There's no time to lose... Quick, Shinji... (pause)  Do you want to run away, or go to Eva? - Pick one! (Shinji says nothing) -If we stay here we'll die for nothing!
Shinji (whispering): Help me, Asuka... Help me...
Misato (exasperated): Hiding behind a girl at a time like this!? Running from reality... Lying to yourself!? Doing things half-assed is the worst thing you can do! So, stand up!  Stand up!!
Shinji (whispering): No... Let me die.  I don't want to do anything.
Misato (angry): Stop talking like a spoiled brat! You're still alive, aren't you? So, do all you can to keep yourself alive, and then die afterwards!
SCENE:  NERV Command Center The battle continues... -----------------------------------
Fuyutsuki: Forget about here!  Give top priority to isolating the Terminal Dogma!
Makoto: Everything else has been destroyed... Why don't they just blow up the Command Center, too?
Shigeru: I'm sure they'd like to take us out in a single blow, but the original MAGI system is right below us.
Makoto: They want the MAGI system intact, huh?
Shigeru: But we're defenseless against BC (biological and chemical) weaponry. If they use those, we're in trouble.
Makoto: N2 weapons, too...
(As if by coincidence, an N2 warhead drops, opening up the Geofront)
Shigeru: Speak of the devil!
Makoto: Isn't that a bit extreme!?
Fuyutsuki (smirking): Playing a bit rough, aren't we?
(Numerous missiles strike the Geofront directly)
Maya: Why do they want the Evas so badly!?
SCENE:  Misato and Shinji in Misato's car - Scrapped Eva prototypes. -----------------------------------
Misato: They plan to initiate Third Impact - not with Angels, but by using the Eva series. 15 years ago, Second Impact was caused by humans on purpose. (Flashed shot: Second Impact) But that was in order to minimize the damage by returning Adam (flashed image: Giant of Light) to an embryonic state (flashed image: Embryo in attache case)  before the other Angels awoke. (flashed image: graves) Shinji, we humans were born from a being called Lilith, who is the source of life just like Adam.  We are the 18th Angel. (flashed image: DNA) The other Angels are possibilities of what we might have become - humans that gave up human form. (flashed image: Kaworu - Rei) Sadly, we had to reject each other - even though we're all human... Listen, Shinji... You must destroy all of the Eva series.  It's the only way to stay alive.
SCENE:  Office of the Prime Minister of Japan (Sounds of construction in the background) -----------------------------------
Prime Minister: The phone lines have gone dead.
(Screen text:  Nagano Prefecture, New Tokyo-2 Prime Minister's Residence, No. 3 State Office)
Secretary: Yes, sir.  Ballistic warhead impact was confirmed three minutes ago.
Prime Minister: The Instrumentality Project that NERV was secretly researching... Initiating Third Impact to annihilate mankind... The mere thought sends shivers down my spine.
Secretary: Humans must be the only creatures able to despise their own kind.
Prime Minister: All that's left is to take care of the NERV headquarters facilities.
Secretary: Do you want Germany or China to undertake the re-development?
Prime Minister: No - We won't be taken advantage of. Seal it up for 20 years, just like old Tokyo.
SCENE:  Outside in the Geofront. -----------------------------------
1st soldier (on radio): Surface heat receding. High-pressure steam discharges have also subsided.
2nd soldier (on radio): Initial location of all units completed.
JSSDF Sub Commander:: Dogma Level 3 and the purple unit have been secured.
JSSDF Commander:: And the red unit?
Intelligence officer: Found in the underground lake at a depth of 70 meters.  The pilot's status is unknown.
SCENE:  Asuka curled up in the fetal position inside EVA-02 Entry Plug -----------------------------------
Asuka: ...I'm alive...
(Shots of depth charges firing and exploding around EVA-02)
Asuka: (Whispered at first then repeated growing louder and stronger) I don't want to die... I don't want to die... I don't want to die...
(Another voice mixes with Asuka's)
I don't want to die... (You're still alive) I don't want to die... (You mustn't die yet) I don't want to die... (You must live) I don't want to die... (I won't let you die) I don't want to die... (Don't kill me) I don't want to die... (You're still alive) I don't want to die... (I won't let you die yet) I don't want to die... (You must keep living) I don't want to die... (Die for me!) I don't want to die... (You mustn't die yet!) I don't want to die... (Die!) I don't want to die... (You're alive!) I don't want to die... I don't want to DIE!!
(Flashback to Asuka as a child with mother)
Child-Asuka: Mama... So this is where you've been?  Mama!
(Asuka clasps her mother's hand and EVA-02 awakens.)
SCENE:  Geofront lake -> Giant cross-shaped explosion -----------------------------------
1st soldier: What the!?
2nd soldier: Did we get it!?
(EVA-02 emerges and starts fighting)
Asuka (thinking): Mama... Mama! I understand now... The meaning of the AT Field. It's always protecting me!  Always watching over me! (speaking) Always... always together! Mama!
(Misato and Shinji in Misato's car)
Maya (on radio): EVA-02 has activated! Asuka's okay!  She's alive!
Misato: Asuka!?
(Asuka fighting)
JSSDF officer: The cable!  That thing's power cable! Concentrate all fire power on the cable!
(Cable is severed)
Asuka: Shit!! Even without the cable... I still have 12,000 plates of special armor... and my AT Field! I can't lose! Not against you!!
(JSSDF forces are easily beaten by Eva-02 and Asuka)
SCENE:  SEELE monoliths -----------------------------------
SEELE 01: The loathsome Evangelion... Do they stand in our way yet again? It seems that one must fight fire with fire.
SCENE: EVA-05 to -13 released -> Asuka -----------------------------------
Asuka: The Eva series!? They've been completed?
(NERV Command Center)
Fuyutsuki: Deployment of all nine units equipped with the S2 system!? Isn't that a bit excessive? Or, do they plan to initiate it here!!?
(Eva series land)
Misato (on phone): Listen Asuka. You must destroy all of the EVA series. I'll have Shinji there to help assist you soon.  Do your best. (changes lines - to Makoto) We can get to EVA-01 via emergency route No. 20, right?
Makoto (on phone): Affirmative.  We've secured three seperate power sources just in case. As long as you enter within three minutes, you can reach the No. 7 cage directly.
(Misato starts dragging Shinji)
(Asuka in EVA-02)
Asuka: I have to destroy them all? Is she forgetting she's talking to a convalescent? Nine units in three and a half minutes... That works out to only 20 seconds apiece!
(Asuka attacks)
Asuka: Erst! (German: "That's one!")
SCENE:  Misato and Shinji - Emergency Elevator R-10-20 -----------------------------------
Misato: Here it is.
(Shots fire... Misato is hit, but they enter the shaft and the door closes)
1st soldier: They got away...
2nd soldier (to radio): Unable to terminate target. Standing by for orders to pursue...
JSSDF officer (on radio): Negative.  That area is scheduled for demolition. Pull back immediately.
2nd soldier: Yes, sir.
(Misato and Shinji in passageway)
Misato (slumped against wall - labored breathing): Th... That should hold them off... for a while. I'm okay... It's not as serious... as it looks. (staggers to feet and opens gate) There's still power - We can make it.
(Misato pins Shinji against gate)
-Shinji... from here out you're on your own. You have to make the decisions by yourself - without anyone's help.
Shinji: I... I can't do it.  I just can't... I can't pilot Eva if it means I'm going to hurt or even kill other people. I have no right to do that. I thought that piloting Eva was my only choice... But I was just fooling myself. I don't understand anything - I'm not worthy to pilot Eva. There's nothing that I can do for other people! I've done terrible things to Asuka, and even killed Kaworu... There isn't a shred of kindness in me! Only dishonesty and cowardice... If I can only hurt people, then I'd rather not do anything at all!
Misato (angrily): I'm not going to feel sorry for you. If you don't want to be hurt, then just die without doing anything at all!
(Shinji starts crying)
-Crying won't help you now!
(Misato's tone becomes gentler)
-You hate yourself, right? That's why you hurt other people... Because you know that hurting other people is more painful than hurting yourself. But, no matter what happens, remember that it was your decision. And that makes it worthwhile, Shinji - Because you decided by yourself! So stop lying to yourself... Think about what you can do... And then live with your decisions.
Shinji: But you're... you're not me! You don't understand anything about ME!!
(Misato slams Shinji against the gate)
Misato (harshly): So what if I'm not you!? Are you just going to give up now!? If you stay here and do nothing, I won't forgive you! I'll NEVER forgive you!!
(Misato's tone changes to desperation)
-Nobody's perfect. You realize that you've made a mistake, and then regret it... That's all I've ever known. Nothing but empty happiness and hating myself. But... I feel like I always grew from the experience!
Misato (gently): Listen, Shinji. Pilot Eva once more and find yourself. Pilot Eva to face the questions "Why did you come here?" "Why are you here?" Find your own answers. And then... after finding yourself... come back to me.
(Misato places her cross in Shinji's hand)
Misato: It's a promise. Now, go.
(Misato kisses Shinji deeply)
Misato(sultry voice): That's a grownup kiss. We'll do the rest when you get back...
(Misato pushes the stunned Shinji into the elevator and then collapses)
Misato (weakly): If I knew it would end this way... I would've done like Asuka said... And changed the carpet... Right, Pen-pen? Kaji... did I do all right?
(A ghostly Rei stands above Misato, then an explosion -> Shinji crying in elevator.  Looking at Misato's blood spattered cross and tasting her blood in his mouth, Shinji slides into the corner, sobbing.)
SCENE:  Asuka fighting Eva series -----------------------------------
(Shinji standing in front of EVA-01 encased in solidified Bakelite)
Asuka (on speaker): Jeeez!  Don't they ever stop!? And I can't even count on that idiot Shinji!!
SCENE:  Terminal Dogma - Gendo, Rei and Lilith - Ritsuko sitting at edge of LCL pool -----------------------------------
Ritsuko: I've been waiting for you.
(Ritsuko stands and draws a gun... Asuka fighting... Back to Ritsuko)
Ritsuko: I'm sorry... I secretly altered MAGI's program earlier. A daughter's final request... Mother... die with me.
(Ritsuko presses something in her pocket, but nothing happens.)
Ritsuko: It didn't activate?  Why!? (Pulls portable terminal from pocket - Casper-3: Rejected)
(gasp) Betrayed by Casper! How could you, Mother?  Choosing your man over your own daughter...
(Gendo draws his gun)
Gendo: Ritsuko Akagi, I truly... (Gendo's lips move, but you can't hear him.)
Ritsuko (surprised, but then smiles): ... Liar....
(Gendo shoots Ritsuko, who falls back into the pool of LCL before a ghostly Rei.)
SCENE:  NERV Command Center The battle rages on - Maya monitors EVA-02 via laptop computer -----------------------------------
Makoto: What's happening outside?
Maya: Less than a minute before EVA-02 reaches its operational limit! At this rate, Asuka will...!
(Asuka fighting the Eva series)
Asuka: I can't lose!
(Shinji sitting in front of EVA-01)
Asuka (on speaker): Not with Mama watching me!
Shinji: Mama... Mother?
(Back to Asuka fighting)
Asuka: These are the last ones!
(As Asuka finishes off the last Evas, one of the Eva series' swords comes flying at her... She stops it with her AT Field, but it turns into the Lance of Longinus)
Asuka: The Lance of Longinus!?
(The Lance pierces the AT Field, then EVA-02's head... Asuka shrieks and EVA-02 powers down... Asuka clutches futilely at the controls)
(NERV Command Center)
Maya: Internal power source depleted... Operational limit reached.  EVA-02... down. What!?  The destroyed... Eva series!?
(Eva series reactivates)
Maya: The Eva series have reactivated!
Shigeru: Are they're going to finish her off!?
(Eva series flock over EVA-02  and rip it apart like carrion birds)
Makoto: What's happening?
Maya: (gagging)  I can't look!  I... I can't watch anymore!
(Maya's laptop shows EVA-02's body display blanking out piece by piece.)
Makoto: This is...?  EVA-02!?
(Geofront, where EVA-02 is being ripped apart)
Asuka (snarling): I'll kill you... Kill... kill... kill you... Kill... I'll kill you... I'll kill you all... (repeated)
(EVA-02 attempts to reactivate)
(NERV Command Center)
Makoto: Berserker?
Maya: Asuka!  Stop!!
Asuka: Kill you all... I'll kill you... I'll kill you all... (repeated)
(Asuka's arm splits in two as a Lance of Longinus splits EVA-02's arm - Eva series impale EVA-02 with their lances)
(Maya gasps - Shinji sitting in front of EVA-01)
Maya (on speaker - screaming): Shinji!!  EVA-02!  Asuka!  Asuka... she's...!
Shinji: But I can't pilot Eva...  There's nothing I can do...
(EVA-01 breaks free from the Bakelite and clutches at Shinji)
Shinji: Mother!?
(Terminal Dogma - Rei and Gendo)
Gendo: Has EVA-01 finally awakened?
(NERV headquarters pyramid explodes upwards in a giant cross which turns into wings - EVA-01  appears howling in the Geofront with a demon's face and a set of wings)
JSSDF Sub Commander: Evangelion Unit One?
JSSDF Commander: It's the devil himself!!
(Shinji subdued inside EVA-01 entry plug)
Shinji: Asuka...
(Shinji sees the mangled remains of EVA-02 and screams)
Shinji: AHHHHHH!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
(Screen text:  To be continued )
-Episode 25 End Credits spiraling in helix with end theme, Thanatos: If I Can't Be Yours)
The End of Evangelion Episode 26:  Sincerely Yours/I need you. :Translated Script
Screen text: I wish to express my deepest thanks to all the staff, cast, friends and especially the five young ladies who helped to bring this picture to its conclusion once again.
                                                                   Thank you,                                                                           Hideaki Anno
Red Cross w/ black text- THE END OF EVANGELION ----------------------------------- SCENE:  Terminal Dogma - Gendo and Rei before Lilith -----------------------------------
Gendo: Adam and I are now as one... For this is the only way to be with Yui again. The forbidden joining of Adam and Lilith.
(Rei's arm falls off)
There's no time... Your AT Field can no longer hold your shape. Let's begin, Rei. Release your AT Field, the barrier of your heart. Complement your imperfect heart, leave your useless body... Merge all souls into one. And then, take me to Yui's side.
(Gendo places his hand on Rei's left breast and begins to merge with her)
(Rei cringes as waves of pleasure course through her body, a small gasp escapes her lips.)
----------------------------------- TITLE SCREEN: Episode 26 - Sincerely Yours  (My Pure Heart For You) -----------------------------------
(EVA-01 in Geofront - Shinji subdued inside EVA-01 entry plug)
Shinji: Asuka...
(Shinji sees the mangled remains of EVA-02 and screams)
Shinji: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHH!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
(Terminal Dogma - Gendo and Rei)
Rei (startled = unspoken): Ikari...!
(EVA-01 bursts free of its restraining plates and its wings form into a cross)
(The Lance of Longinus pulls free of the moon and flies toward earth as if drawn by EVA-01)
JSSDF Intelligence Officer: Unidentified object approaching at high-speed from the outer atmosphere.
JSSDF Commander: What!?
(NERV Command Center)
Fuyutsuki: No!... Not the Lance of Longinus!?
(The Lance of Longinus stops just short of EVA-01's throat.)
SCENE:  SEELE monoliths -----------------------------------
SEELE 01: At long last our hopes are to be realized.
SEELE 04: The original Lance of Longinus has returned as well.
SEELE 09: While somewhat fewer than planned, it will have to do.
ALL (chanting): Return the Eva series to its rightful form. Evangelize humankind and restore us to our true form. With indiscriminate death and prayers, we return to our original state.
SEELE 01: And let all souls find peace. Now, let the sacrament begin!
(EVA-01 is crucified by the Eva series and lifted upwards)
SCENE:  NERV Command Center -----------------------------------
Makoto: EVA-01 has been captured!
Shigeru: Altitude 12,000 meters! ...and rising!
Fuyutsuki: SEELE bastards...  Do they plan to use EVA-01 as the well of souls!? ¹
(Eva series release EVA-01... Shinji in entry plug with marks on palms)
SCENE:  SEELE monoliths -----------------------------------
SEELE 09?: EVA-01 has been marked with the stigmata (sacred insignia).
All (chanting): To restore the Tree of Life!
SEELE 01: Our servants, the Eva series...
(Keel appears) Their existence has all been for this one moment.
(Eva series move to the positions of the Sephroticum and shine in circles around the cross of EVA-01)
SCENE:  NERV Command Center) -----------------------------------
Shigeru (off screen): The Eva series have opened up their S2 systems!
Makoto (off screen): Dimensional values inverting!  They're going negative! Measurement impossible... Numerical expression invalid!
Fuyutsuki: An anti-AT Field...
(Eva series form into the Sephiroticum (Tree of Life))
Maya: All the data are just like 15 years ago! Then... this really is... The prelude to Third Impact!
SCENE:  Outside NERV -----------------------------------
1st soldier: S2 system level critical!
Background: Abort operations!  All units pull back at once!
2nd soldier: We... We can't maintain molecular attraction any longer!
JSSDF Commander: Mission... failed...
(A massive explosion envelopes the Geofront)
SCENE:  NERV Command Center shaking from the force of the explosion -----------------------------------
Shigeru: Direct impact!  Surface layers melting!
Makoto: Second wave excavating the headquarters periphery!  It's exposing the outer hull!
Background: Main JSSDF force annihilated!
Fuyutsuki: They're just physical shock waves! Set the absorbers to maximum level - It should hold!
(The explosion expands outward from the Geofront, revealing the egg of Lilith: the Black Moon)
SCENE:  SEELE monoliths -----------------------------------
SEELE 08/09: With the Purification of the Red Earth... That bespeaks time eternal...
SEELE 11: First, return the Geofront...
Keel: To its true form.
(Pull-back shot of the Earth and Lilith's Egg)
Fuyutsuki (off screen): The egg of Lilith... the genesis of human life... the Black Moon... We have no desire to return to that empty shell, (on screen) But even that depends on the will of Lilith.
SCENE:  Terminal Dogma -----------------------------------
Gendo: It seems to have begun... Rei, take me to Yui's side.
(Rei's abdomen tightens around Gendo's hand)
Gendo: What!?
(Rei absorbs Adam's embryo along with Gendo's right arm, and rejects Gendo)
Rei: I'm not your doll.
Gendo: Why!?
Rei: Because I'm not you.
(Rei's arm reforms)
Gendo (strained): Rei...! Please! Wait... Rei!
Rei: No.  Ikari is calling me.
Gendo: Rei!
(Rei ascends to Lilith)
Rei: I'm home...
(Screen text:  Welcome back.)
(Rei is absorbed into Lilith... Lilith's heart starts beating... Her legs reform and she descends from the cross... The mask of SEELE falls off and Lillith takes Rei's form)
Gendo: Rei...
SCENE:  NERV Command Center -----------------------------------
Shigeru: Unidentified high-energy source approaching rapidly from Terminal Dogma!
Makoto: AT Field verified!  Analysis pattern blue!!
Maya: It's not... an Angel!?
Makoto: No!  It's... a person!?  It's human!
(Lilith-Rei rises through the Command Center... Lilith-Rei's hand passes through Maya, who shrieks in terror)
(Shinji inside the suspended EVA-01)
Shinji: Damn... Damn... Damn... Damn!
(Lilith-Rei appears)
Shinji: Ayanami...?  Rei...!?
(Shinji screams as Lilith-Rei focuses on EVA-01 and cups it in her hands)
Shinji: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! AHHHH!!!
SCENE:  SEELE monoliths -----------------------------------
All (chanting): Evangelion Unit 01's pilot... Complement humankind with your imperfect ego.
Keel: The moment of the Third Retribution has come.
(Eva series form into pattern)
SCENE:  NERV Command Center -----------------------------------
Shigeru: The Eva series' AT Fields are resonating!
Makoto: And amplifying further!
Fuyutsuki: Has the assimilation with Rei begun?
(Eva series take Rei's laughing faces... Shinji/EVA-01 scream and EVA-01's core is exposed... Shinji clutches futilely at the controls)
Shinji: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! ASUKA!!! AHHHHHH!!!
Shigeru: Psychograph signal down!
Makoto: Destrado² materializing!
Fuyutsuki: Surely the pilot's ego can't take much more...
SCENE:  Shinji, curled into a ball within Eva-01's entry plug -----------------------------------
Shinji (whimpering): No... No... No... No... No... No...!
Kaworu (off screen): Do you want it to stop?
(Lilith-Kaworu appears)
Shinji: Is that where you've been?  Kaworu?
(Shinji resigns himself to Kaworu's outstretched hands... The Lance of Longinus approaches EVA-01's core)
SCENE:  NERV Command Center -----------------------------------
Shigeru: Solenoid graph inverting!  ego barrier weakening!
Makoto: AT Field shifting to pattern red!
Fuyutsuki: The Fruit of Life possessed by Angels, And the Fruit of Wisdom possessed by humans...
(The Lance penetrates the core and merges with EVA-01 into the Tree of Life)
Fuyutsuki (off screen): Having obtained them both, EVA-01 has become like a God. And now it has been restored to the propagule of souls... the Tree of Life. Will it become the Ark to save humankind from the nothingness of Third Impact? Or the demon that destroys us all? Our future lies in the hands of Ikari's son.
Maya (clutching at Shigeru's sleeve): Did... Did we do the right thing?
Shigeru: How should I know!?
(Lilith-Kaworu transforms into Lilith-Rei with hands cupped around EVA-01)
Yui (voice): This Rei is your heart... Your very hopes and dreams...
Rei (voice): What do you wish for?
SCENE:  Inside Shinji's Mind (In a park - Shinji as a child) -----------------------------------
Shinji (voice): I see... It's just like when I started the cello. I thought that if I came here, I could find something...
Child A: Come on, Shinji!
Child B: Let's build a castle!
Child-Shinji (smiling): Okay.
Child A: Oh, here comes Mama!
Child B: We have to go home now!
Child A: Bye-bye!
Child A and B (laughing): Mama... Mama!
(Shinji builds a pyramid (NERV headquarters) alone, and then destroys it... Crying, he starts to build again)
(Random thought sequence - inside Shinji's mind)
Asuka: Jeeez!  I get so pissed off whenever I look at you!
Shinji: Because I'm like you...?
Child-Asuka (crying): Mama!
Asuka (sleep-talking): Ma... ma...
Shinji (staring at Misato's cross): Mama...?
Misato (voice): I wasn't able to become Shinji's mother after all...
(Kaji's and Misato's college apartment)
Misato: Mmmm, let's do it.
Kaji: Again?  Aren't you supposed to meet your friend at school today?
Misato: Hmm?  Oh yeah, Ritsuko.  It's okay, we still have time...
Kaji: We've been cooped up here for a week now...
Misato: Yeah, but I think I'm getting the hang of it... so come on...
(The lovemaking begins and continues in the background)
Misato: I probably just did this to prove that I existed.
Asuka: How idiotic!  It's just two lonely adults comforting each other.
Ritsuko (precisely): We want to feel needed, even if it's only physical.
Misato: I feel wanted, and that makes me happy.
Asuka: It's just an easy way for you feel that you're worth something.
Shinji (disgusted = thinking): This is Misato?  She does... this?
Misato: Yes, this is also me... The melting into one another's hearts... The me that Shinji doesn't know. Reality does involve pain, but you just have to accept it.
Asuka: Aaahh... I wonder if I'll act like Misato when I grow up?
(Shinji and Asuka in Misato's apartment)
Asuka: Say... wanna kiss?..
Misato: You mustn't!
Asuka: Or are you afraid?
Misato: It's not something kids should do.
Asuka: Okay, here goes...
Asuka: You don't understand anything!  Stay away from me!
Shinji: (Hand twitching) ... I do understand.
Asuka: No you don't, you IDIOT! (Asuka kicks Shinji - Shinji's hand convulses) You really think you understand me!?  You think that you can help me? That is so ARROGANT!  You couldn't possibly understand me!!
Shinji: How can I understand... If you don't say anything? You don't say anything... You don't talk to me... How can I understand you?  It's IMPOSSIBLE!!
Rei: Ikari, did you try to understand?
Shinji (sulking): I tried...
(blue image of Shinji in Asuka's sickroom from 'Air')
Asuka: Idiot!  I 'know' about your jerk-off fantasies of me. Do it again like usual...  I'll even stand here and watch.
(Rei, Asuka and Shinji inside an empty train - Asuka standing over Shinji)
Asuka: If you can't be all mine, then I don't need you!
Shinji: Then, be nice to me...
Asuka/Misato/Rei: We are nice to you.
Shinji: LIARS!!  You're all just hiding behind a smile! You just want to keep things ambiguous!
Rei: Because the truth hurts us all... Because it's very, very distressing.
Shinji: But ambiguity only makes me insecure.³
Rei: That's just an excuse...
Shinji: But it makes me afraid...  Afraid that I won't be needed again someday. It makes me uneasy!  It worries me!  Let me hear your voice! Interact with me!! Care about me!!!
(Shinji and Asuka in Misato's apartment - Asuka sitting dejectedly at table)
Shinji: I want to help you in some way... and to be with you forever.
Asuka: Then, don't do anything. Don't come near me anymore... Because all you ever do is hurt me.
Shinji: Asuka, help me!  You're... you're the only one that can!
Asuka: Liar... (Shinji cringes) To you, anybody will do! (Asuka gets up from table and backs Shinji up against the wall) You're afraid of Misato and the First... and of your mother and father, too!
Shinji: Asuka...
Asuka(cont'd): You're only using me as an escape - because that's the easiest way not to get hurt!
Shinji: Asuka, help me!
Asuka: Because that's the easiest way not to get hurt!
Shinji (desperately): Please, help me!
Asuka (angrily): You've never really liked anyone!
(Asuka shoves Shinji, who crumples to the floor, taking the coffee pot with him)
Asuka (angrily): You're all you have!  But you've never even learned to like yourself!! (staring disdainfully down at Shinji lying helplessly amidst the spilt coffee) How pathetic...
Shinji (weakly - getting to his feet): Help me... Somebody... Somebody help me... Help me... Help me... Me... Help ME!! (throws the table aside) Don't leave me alone!  Don't abandon me!  Don't kill me! (picks up a chair and throws it at Asuka's feet)
Asuka (coldly): ... No...
(Shinji strangles Asuka - Komm Susser Tod (Come Sweet Death) begins to play)
SCENE:  Third Impact (Psychological scene - Flashing, random shots: crayon drawings of death, fish in a bucket under the sun, a dog lying dead on a street, fish head in a jar...) (Flashing screen text: "Evangelism", "Dead Sea Scrolls", "Shito", Various episode titles from the TV series, etc.) -----------------------------------
Shinji: Nobody understands me.
Rei: You didn't understand anything.
Shinji: I thought it was supposed to be a world without unpleasantness... without uncertainity.
Rei: Because you thought that everyone else was like you.
Shinji: Betrayed!  You've betrayed my feelings!!
Rei: You've misunderstood from the start.  You simply assumed without asking.
Shinji: Nobody wants me.  So, everybody just die.
Rei: Then, what are those hands for?
Shinji: Nobody cares whether I exist or not... Nothing will change. So, everybody just die.
Rei: Then, what is that heart for?
Shinji: It'd be better if I wasn't here either.  So I should just die, too.
Rei: Then, why are you here?
(Shinji as a child, crying with a large travel bag next to him)
Shinji: Is it okay for me to be here?
(Screen text:  "Silence")
Shinji (screaming): NOOOOOOOOOOO!!
----------------------------------- SCENE:  NERV Command Center -----------------------------------
Makoto: Pilot's response has infinitely approached zero!
Shigeru: Eva series and Geofront passing through the E layer!  -And still rising!
(Shot of Black Moon rising)
MAGI announcement: Current altitude 220,000 km.  Entering F layer.
Makoto: All Eva units - still active!
Shigeru: The Anti-AT Field from Lilith... it's expanding further!  It's materializing!
(The earth's surface under the Black Moon turns white spreading outwards and Lilith-Rei emerges, cupping the Black Moon in her hands)
Makoto: Anti-AT Field critical limit exceeded!
Shigeru: No...!  If this continues, individual life-forms will be unable to maintain their separate entities!
(Lilith-Rei spreads her wings)
Fuyutsuki: The Chamber of Guf (Hall of Souls) has been unsealed... Has the door to the world's beginning and end finally opened?
(Souls begin to gather around the Black Moon)
(Countless Reis begin to turn people into LCL)
Rei(s): The world is overflowing with sadness. People are surrounded by emptiness... And loneliness has filled their hearts.
(In the Command Center, Makoto is dissolved into LCL by a smiling apparition of Misato... Shigeru dissolves while cowering under the console trying to escape from multiple Reis)
Fuyutsuki (smiling at Yui floating above him like an angel): Ikari, did you finally meet Yui, too?  (dissolves into LCL)
Maya (hands trembling over keyboard): AT Fields... Everyone's AT Fields are disappearing. Is this the answer?  Is this what I was searching for? (Ritsuko appears- quickly types on Maya's laptop) (gasp) Dr. Akagi...!?
Ritsuko: Maya...
Maya: Ritsuko!  Ritsuko!  Ritsuko!  Ritsuko!  Ahh!
(Maya dissolves into LCL - as her dismembered hand flies across the screen, the words "I need you." are visible on the PC display)
SCENE:  SEELE monoliths vanish one after another -----------------------------------
SEELE 01: The beginning and the end are as one. Good... Everything is as it should be...
(Keel appears... and then dissolves into LCL, leaving behind the mechanical remains of his lower body)
SCENE:  Gendo lying on floor in Terminal Dogma -----------------------------------
Gendo: I've been waiting for this moment for so long... To finally be with you again, Yui. When I'm with Shinji, I only hurt him.  So, it's better that I do nothing.
Yui: So, you were afraid of Shinji.
Gendo: I don't believe that I can be loved by others... I'm not worthy of love.
Kaworu: You're just running away.  You simply reject the world before you get hurt.
Yui: Afraid of the shapeless, invisible barriers that separate people...
Rei: You just closed your heart to others.
Gendo: So, this is my retribution.  Forgive me... Shinji.
(Demon-like EVA-01 bites Gendo in half... Rei II picks up Gendo's fallen glasses. The three clones of Rei stand together.)
(Eva series impale their cores on the Lance replicas with gasps of ecstasy... Countless crosses spring up as a red wave speeds across the earth's surface... Souls flow from the Earth to the Black Moon and then into Lilith-Rei's hands... An eye appears in Lilith-Rei's forehead into which the EVA-01/Lance cross plunges itself and disappears...)
SCENE:  Inside Lilith-Rei - Shinji hears laughing voices and sees countless spirit-Reis flowing towards a red core -----------------------------------
Shinji: (gasp)Ayanami... Rei?
(Inside Shinji's mind - Flashing psychological scenes)
Random voices (Asuka, Misato, etc.): I hate you.  I wouldn't be caught dead with you!  Don't get me wrong... Do you really think I could ever like you?  You have nothing to do with my life anymore.  Get away from me!  ... and don't call me anymore! Stubborn bastard...  Don't follow me around anymore.  Your type makes me sick!  I'm sorry...  (laughter)  We're nothing more than friends. Annoying bastard...  Why don't you learn to give up?  There's no way I'd ever go back to you.  I HATE YOU!  Go away!  (laughter)  It'd be better if you'd never been born.  Dammit, get away from me!  I hate you! You're a pain in the ass!  (laughter)
(Asuka's voice) Wimp...
(Shinji, lying on his back)
Misato (over Shinji): If it's that painful, you can stop.
Rei (over Shinji): If you really don't like it, you can run away.
Misato (voice): Do you want to be at ease?  To feel at peace? Do you want to become one with me? To have our bodies and souls... become one.
Asuka (voice): But, if I have to be with you, I'd rather die!
(Empty theater - Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude (Jesus, Joy of Man's Desiring) begins to play... Real-life scenes of urban Tokyo)
Shinji (voice): Hey...
Misato (voice): What?
Shinji (voice): What are dreams?
Misato (voice): Dreams?
Rei: Yes, dreams.
(Packed theater)
(Screen text:  Do you feel good?)
(Three girls standing still in crowd)
Shinji (voice): I don't understand... I don't really understand reality.
Rei (voice): So, you can't understand the gap between other's reality and your own truth.
Shinji (voice): I don't know where to find happiness.
Rei (voice): So, you can only find happiness in your dreams.
(Crowded street- camera focuses on three individuals; dressed as Misato, Rei, and Asuka)
Shinji (voice): Then, this isn't reality... Because no one is here.
Rei (voice): Yes, it's a dream.
Shinji (voice): So, I'm not here either.
Rei (voice): You were trying to remake reality with convenient fantasies.
Shinji (voice): Is that wrong?
Rei (voice): You were using fabrications to escape from reality.
Shinji (voice): Can't I dream alone?
Rei (voice): That would not be a dream.  It would just be compensating for reality.
(Packed theater -> empty theater)
Shinji (voice): Then... where is my dream?
Rei (voice): It is the continuation of reality.
Shinji (voice): Where is... my reality?
Rei (voice): It is at the end of your dream.
(Flashing Japanese text and images)
SCENE:  Blood/LCL gushes from Lilith-Rei's neck as she leans backwards Shinji and Rei merged together in the sea of LCL -----------------------------------
Shinji: Ayanami... where are we?
Rei: This is the sea of LCL... The primordial soup of life. A world without AT Fields... without your own shape. An ambiguous world where it is impossible to tell where you end and other people start. A fragile world where you exist everywhere, and thus exist nowhere.
Shinji: Have I died?
Rei: No, everything has just been joined into one. This is the world you have been hoping for... your world.
Shinji (releasing Misato's cross from his left hand): But... this isn't right.  I don't think this is right.
Rei: If you wish once more for the existence of others, the barriers of the heart will separate everyone once more... And the fear of other people will begin again.
Shinji: That's all right... (disengages Rei from him and clasps her hand) Thank you.
(Shinji and Rei, Shinji's head lying in Rei's lap)
Shinji: I feel that there were only hateful things there. So I'm sure it was okay to run away. But there was nothing good in the place I ran to, either. After all, I didn't exist there... which is the same as no one existing.
Kaworu: Is it okay for AT Fields to hurt you and others once more?
Shinji: I don't mind.  But, what are you two within my heart?
Rei: Hope.  The hope that people might be able to understand one another.
Kaworu: And the words 'I love you'.
Shinji: But that's just pretending - a self-intoxicating belief... like a prayer. It can't possibly last forever. Sooner or later I'll be betrayed... And they'll leave me. Still... I want to meet them again, because I believe my feelings at that time were real.
SCENE:  Shinji rejects Human Instrumentality, Lilith-Rei collapses backwards and her wings vanish... EVA-01 breaks out from Lilith-Rei's eye and grows wings... The Black Moon divides into sections and explodes, showering Lilith-Rei with LCL which falls to Earth and spreads outward...) -----------------------------------
Kaworu: Reality is in an unfamiliar place, and dreams are within reality.
Rei: And the truth is within your heart.
(Lilith-Rei's body begins to fall apart)
Kaworu: For it is the hearts of people that create their appearance.
Rei: And new images will change peoples' hearts and appearances. Images... the power of imagination... The power to create your own future, and to make time flow.
Kaworu: But people must act of their own free will, or nothing will change at all.
Rei: So you must find your lost self on your own... Even if you lose your own words, or become lost in others' words.
(EVA-01 grasps and splits the Lance of Longinus... The Lances impaling the Eva series burst and disappear)
Rei: Anyone can return to human form as long as they can imagine themselves in their own heart.
(The Eva series go silent and fall to Earth... Crosses rise into the heavens)
Yui (voice): Don't worry. All living things have the ability to return to their original form... and the heart to go on living. Anywhere can be heaven as long as you have the will to live. After all, you're alive... and you can find the chance to achieve happiness anywhere.
(Rei appears before the now silent EVA-01... EVA-01, the Lance, and millions of crosses continue to ascend into space)
Yui (voice): As long as the Sun, the Moon and the Earth exist, everything will be all right.
SCENE:  Water drop- Yui caressing Shinji's cheek -----------------------------------
Yui: So, you'll be okay now?
Shinji: I still don't know where to find happiness... But I'll continue to think about whether it's good to be here... whether it was good to have been born. But in the end, it's just realizing the obvious over and over again. Because I am myself.
(Shinji emerges from the sea of LCL... Lilith-Rei's head splits)
Shinji: But mother... what will you do?
(Flashback to 13 years ago - Fuyutsuki, Yui and infant-Shinji)
Fuyutsuki: Humans create Evangelion to copy God... Is this our true goal?
Yui: Yes.  Humans can only live on this planet, but Evangelion can live forever... together with the human soul that dwells within it.
(EVA-01 and the Lance of Longinus float in space)
Even after 5 billion years, when the Earth, the Moon, and even the Sun have disappeared, it will still exist as long as even one person still lives. It will be very lonely, but as long as that one person still lives...
Fuyutsuki: It will be the eternal proof that humankind has existed...
Shinji: Good-bye, mother.
----------------------------------- TITLE SCREEN - THE END OF EVANGELION ONE MORE FINAL: I need you. -----------------------------------
SCENE:  Lilith-Rei's split head... Misato's cross nailed to post... Silent Eva series stand crucified in a LCL ocean... Waves of LCL gently lapping at the shore... Asuka and Shinji lie side by side on the beach... Shinji turns to see Rei standing over the LCL sea - then Rei vanishes... Shinji moves over Asuka begins to strangle her, but with a caress of his cheek, she stops him and he starts sobbing uncontrollably. -----------------------------------
Asuka: How disgusting.
(Screen text: Fin)
-blank screen-
Notes:
1- Literally, "as a medium"
2- Destrado:    According to the theory advocated by E.Weiss, the energy of the self-destructive impulse.    It is the antonym of Libido. Its meaning is different from the energy of "Instinct of Death",    advocated by P. Federn, the master of Moltedor-Weiss.
3- Literally, "pushes me into a corner"
'Ego': The barrier of another or one's self.
"blank screen": In the original Japanese release of the film, after the screen text, 'Fin.' is shown, the screen goes completely black and no ending credits are shown.  Audiences waited in the cinema for around 5 minutes to make sure the film was really over.
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monaisme · 3 years
Text
One Week Later - Chapter 5
This is the sequel to my one-shot, “The Battle”
Mrs. Stark was seated on the couch, her back to Peter as she spoke affectionately to someone on her phone. She was obviously preoccupied and missed his quietly entering the room, as she continued talking. “I know you want to see me, sweetheart, and I miss you, too—so desperately, but things are a little crazy right now.” A pause. “I know that I promised you a special date just the two of us, but I can’t get away from the city until things are settled and you know this.” Another pause. “Morgan, please—“
In his haze, Peter registered the name, Morgan, and almost wondered who he was? The lethargy that had washed over him weighted him where he stood and he almost felt like he was supposed to react to Mrs. Stark’s words, be curious at least? But he could barely...
FRIDAY interrupted the moment. “Apologies for the interruption, Mrs. Boss, but Boss is on his way up.”
Mrs. Stark called out a quick, “Thank you, FRIDAY,” then came back to her call. She muttered a tender, “I’ve gotta go. I love you, baby,” and hung up the phone. She stood up from the couch and gasped, her hand flying to her chest as she noticed Peter for the first time. “Oh! Peter! How long have you been standing there?” Her cheeks flushed pink as she hid her phone behind her guiltily.
He heard her question, shrugged in reply, and looked down at the floor as he tried to process that he couldn’t process what was happening in that moment. The almost indifference was giving way to discomfort as his brain tried to filter out the garbage bogging him down. “Um, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to interrupt... it seemed important?”
She looked uncomfortable, at least to Peter, but he really wasn’t sure of anything in that moment. “Peter, I should explain—“ She gestured to her phone she’d brought forward, but her words were cut off when the elevator doors in the penthouse foyer opened and footsteps echoed on the marble floor.
Mr. Stark entered the living room and grinned big. “Ah, my beautiful family! Exactly the people I wanted to see!” he announced. “I have news from the med bay!”
That tweaked something more in Peter, and his attention was diverted away from Mrs. Stark and the mystery Morgan to his mentor. “I can see May?” he asked quietly.
Mr. Stark nodded emphatically. “You bet you can, kid.” He laughed at something to himself then continued. “She was asleep when I got there so I had a chance to talk to the doc in person for an update. He was just getting around to telling me that we couldn’t come around today when May woke up.” Mr. Stark laughed a little harder. “Needless to say, you are definitely seeing her today.”
Peter felt what must have been the first spark of a real smile in ages. “Really?”
Mr. Stark took a step closer to the boy, then put a firm hand on his shoulder. “Of course, buddy. We’re just gonna give the nurses a chance to help her put on her game face and as soon as she’s ready, they’ll call, but for now...”  
Peter’s shoulders sagged under the weight of Mr. Stark’s hand as he realized, “Now we wait.”
Mr. Stark gave an oddly grounding squeeze and pulled Peter into a firm hug. “Yeah, bud. Now we wait... but she’s as eager as you, so it won’t be too long, I’m sure of it.”
Peter shivered as he pressed further into Mr. Stark’s chest. The haze of the last little while was lifting and he felt a little unsteady so he closed his eyes and breathed in as he clung to the one thing in his life that seemed to have changed the least.
“Hey, sweetheart, not going to hassle you, but did the shower help?” Mr. Stark whispered into his hair. “Are you feeling a little better now?”
He nodded a yes, choosing to ignore whatever it was that was going on with Mrs. Stark in order to address his previous outburst. “I’m so sorry about that, Mr. Stark. I’ll fix the wall. I promise.” He pulled back and shifted to peek around Mr. Stark to Mrs. Stark but refusing to let go. “And I’m sorry if I scared you earlier, Mrs. Stark. It won’t happen again. I swear... I don’t even...” He tried to explain that he wasn’t like that, that he didn’t know where the anger had come from—well, he did, but that didn’t mean he was allowed to show it— He huffed in frustration as he struggled to find the right words.
Mrs. Stark stepped closer, smiled softly, and stopped Peter’s apology before he could completely short circuit. “I know, Peter, and it really is alright. I know that you’d never hurt me, I was just surprised, is all. Thank you for the apology, though. I appreciate it... and don’t worry about the wall, please. It should be fixed by the end of the day.”
Peter felt his cheeks pink with embarrassment and he ducked back into the safety of Mr. Stark’s arms. “Thank you... and I’m still sorry.”
Mr. Stark gave him an extra squeeze in acknowledgement then said nothing more.
It was a few seconds later when Peter could sense movement behind Mr. Stark—then his humming and shaking his head in response to whatever it was that Mrs. Stark was apparently silently communicating to him.
“Pete?” Mrs. Stark spoke up. “We need to talk to you about—”
“Boss, Mrs. Parker is requesting Mr. Parker’s presence in the med bay.” FRIDAY alerted the room. “She has asked me to play back her request directly. She says, ‘Tony, if you make me wait a second longer than I have to to see my kid, I’m gonna tell Pepper about that time you—‘” FRIDAY cut off the recording. “Apologies for the disruption in playback, while you can gauge the seriousness of her request, per your ’Admit Nothing’ protocol, I have determined it is not in your best interest to play the entire recording, sir.”  
Mr. Stark snort laughed, “Thanks, FRI, you’re a gem,” he replied and hugged Peter tight one last time before letting him go. “Well, kid. You heard the AI! Aunt May is waiting!” Mr. Stark led him to the elevator.
Peter didn’t hesitate to follow and made it half way across the room when—
“Peter, can you wait a moment, please!” Mrs. Stark called out.
Peter cringed at the delay, but turned around to face her. “Um, okay?”
“Peter, I... we,” she glanced toward Mr. Stark, “We still need to talk to you about a couple of things—“
Peter was fighting down the impatience, and Mr. Stark must have seen it. He cut her off. “Pep. We can talk about this later on, can’t we? He’s been waiting a week and May will kill me literally dead if he’s not there soon.”
She looked flustered, and Peter almost cared, but she’d been hiding something earlier, now that Peter’s brain was firing back up he was sure of it—and he couldn’t make himself worry about it anymore, especially when he needed to get to May.
She paused, seemed to consider, and then, “Fine. But can we please make the time to talk about things later? Maybe over lunch?”
Peter was making no plans beyond the med bay, but he knew that wouldn’t fly so he agreed. “Yeah, sure. Lunch.” He looked between the two. “Can I go now?”
Mrs. Stark looked at her husband, who stared back goofily at her. She smiled, then he smiled, and like that, Mr. Stark was on the move with him again.
And then Peter wasn’t so sure he wanted the company anymore. “Mr. Stark, would it be okay if I went alone?”
“Are you sure you’re up for that? I mean, I know you’d be okay if you do go alone, but there could be a lot going on in that room that you may have questions about and I don’t want you to get overwhelmed.” Mr. Stark was concerned and had no issue with voicing it. “I don’t have to stay for long, just until I know you’re comfortable, and—“
“And I appreciate that. I do. It’s just...” Peter wasn’t sure he could find the words to convey how badly he needed it to be just them. “Please?”
Peter could see Mr. Stark struggling with it. There was no good reason that Peter could think of for Mr. Stark to let him go alone except that he wanted it. And the man was right. He was already anxious and he hadn’t even made it to the elevator yet. Peter was about to give up on the request altogether when Mr. Stark broke into his thoughts.
“Fine, you can go alone, but you have FRI call me if you change your mind, okay? I’ll be there in two minutes. No questions. No judgement.”
“Really?” Peter asked.
“Yes, and we expect to see you back here for lunch when she gets tired of you, alright?” Mr. Stark teased.
“Yessir.”
Mr. Stark glared.
“Yes, Mr. Stark.”
“Alright then, you heathen, begone.” Mr. Stark pointed toward the elevator with a wink. “Don’t make me regret this. And you’d better tell Aunt Hottie that you’re kiss and grounding were both delivered as requested, got it? I told her but I don’t think she believes me.”
“I will.” Peter promised and then waited only a few seconds for the elevator doors to open and finally make his way down to the med bay. He focussed on the next while and how this reunion would go. Aunt May was going to be so happy to see him, he thought. It had been the two of them for so long, and he wished that she hadn’t had to go through all these years without him. But he was back now and things would get better. They had to, right? As the elevator descended, though, his thoughts started to twist. What if it wasn’t better? He knew logically that things were different now-- for him it had been a week and five years and forever and no time at all and all Peter knew was that he didn’t need to say a word to her; only wanted to curl up beside his favourite Aunt and never leave her again.
And she was sick.
The elevator doors opened and Peter froze.
Maybe he’d made a mistake?
“Mr. Parker, we have arrived at the med bay floor.” FRIDAY said.
Peter didn’t move, but he could feel himself getting worked up.
And so could FRIDAY. “Mr. Parker. While still within normal parameters, your breathing, pulse, and heart rate are elevating rapidly. Might I suggest a few deep breaths in order to regulate them?”
Peter still didn’t move... couldn’t move.
“Very well, initiating ‘Meltdown Management Mode’ now.”
The elevator doors closed and for a second Peter thought that the AI would return him to the penthouse and he’d lose his chance to see Aunt May, and his breathing picked up more. He gasped out a “no!”
The elevator stayed where it was, but its lights softened and the canned muzak that had played in the background was replaced by soothing ocean sounds. “Don’t be alarmed, Mr. Parker. Please try to match your breaths to the count, Mr. Parker.” FRIDAY instructed softly. “Breathe in, 2, 3, 4, and out 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.”    
It took a couple of cycles, but eventually Peter picked up the rhythm and within a few minutes, Peter was feeling a little more like himself. “Um, thanks, FRIDAY,” Peter called out to the AI. “That was... unexpected.” And he didn’t know if he was talking about the freak out or the assist.
“Yes,” FRIDAY interrupted. “Due to the random nature of anxiety and panic attacks, Boss has found the protocol to be quite useful over the last five years. He will be glad to know that it has been of use to someone else.”
The thought of Mr. Stark knowing he’d freaked out AGAIN was not okay. That he couldn’t manage to make his way down a few floors without breaking down? “Yeah, um, FRIDAY, do you think you could not tell Mr. Stark about this? I mean, I’m fine, right?”
The elevator fell silent for a brief moment then, “When this protocol was first initiated, Boss required that Mrs. Boss was notified each time it was initiated. There is no specific protocol requirement for you, Mr. Parker. You’re vitals are indicating that you are still experiencing some stress, but they are steady and within normal parameters. I see no reason to report this at this time, but if Boss asks, I will be required to inform him.”
Peter could have slumped with relief... or exhaustion. The constant ups and downs were messing him up big time, and he hated it, but at least he’d remembered his manners. “Thank you, FRIDAY.
“You are welcome, Mr. Parker. Are you ready for me to open the elevator doors now?”
Peter steeled himself and then answered, “Please?”
“Of course,” the AI replied. “Enjoy your visit with Mrs. Parker.”
The doors slid open and Peter stepped out into the waiting room of what was his second home—well, third. First was May’s, then the penthouse with Mr. Stark, and then...
“Peter?”
He turned towards the familiar voice, smiling as he saw one of his favourite nurses walking towards him, “Lydie?” Her hair was cut shorter than he’d remembered it and was dyed a vibrant red. Definitely different, but still definitely her, thank goodness.
“Peter, you haven’t aged a day! Get over here!” She enveloped him in one of those awesome hugs she’d give him when he’d wake up from a nightmare in the middle of the night after he’d finally convinced May or Mr. Stark to finally go and get some sleep in their own beds. “I missed you so much!”
And Peter had exactly zero idea of what to say back. ‘You, too,’ wasn’t true. In his reality, he’d seen her two weeks ago when a he’d been triple-teamed by a trio of wanna-be ninja muggers with zero throwing star skills and just enough luck to land a star smack in the back at his shoulder blade. He mumbled a “Thanks,” and pulled away.  
He’d hoped she’d realize his discomfort, but Lydie was always one to talk and it seemed like this time was no different. She pointed down a hallway Peter didn’t think he’d ever been down before and started walking. “I know you’re here to see May so let me catch you up while I take you to her—so...”
Apparently it only took the length of a long hallway to find out about the life and times of all those who had been left behind. Peter tried to focus, but the moment Lydie had mentioned May again, his stomach had knotted and he did everything he could to use FRIDAY’s breathing techniques without being too obvious.
“...and here we go.” Lydie stopped walking and pointed into the closed door to the left. “Before you go in, though, we’re just gonna gown you up, okay?”
“What?”
She brought Peter over to a station stocked with gloves, gowns, caps, and masks. “Yeah, we want to be sure that we don’t bring any uninvited germs into the room with us while she’s already fighting this infection—or carry any out, for that matter.”
Peter almost recoiled. “I could make her more sick?” He hadn’t even thought about that and suddenly worried that his shower hadn’t been enough.
“Don’t be silly, Peter.” She chided him. “We’re only doing this as a precaution and I know how anxious May is to see you, so let’s go. Chop, chop.”
Peter got to it right away and tried not to feel ridiculous in his new oversized get up even as Lydie looked almost identical.
Lydie’s eyes smiled at him encouragingly. “Alright, are you ready?”
He didn’t answer, but she wasn’t waiting for him to as she pushed the door open and grabbed his arm to drag him inside with her.
“May, I hope you’re decent. You’ve got a gentleman caller here!” Lydie sang out softly as she peeked through the curtains surrounding her bed.
Peter heard the rustling of sheets and a groggy, “Wha—Lydie?”
Lydie glanced back at him, gestured for him to wait and ducked behind the curtain. “May?” Lydie whispered, quiet enough that it was only because of Peter’s enhanced hearing that he could make out the words. “May, can you wake up a little more? You dozed off on me.”
“Oh?” The sheets rustled some more. “Oh, no,” she gasped. “I didn’t mean to— is he gone? Did I miss him?“
A monitor beeped in warning.
“Shh, shh, shh. May, it’s okay. Take a deep breath. It’s fine. He’s waiting for the all clear before he comes in. I know he’s fallen asleep on you plenty of times so don’t sweat it.” Lydie really was the best.
Another beep, this one a press of something on a machine.
And then the sound of stifling tears.
“May, honey, oh. No-no-no, don’t do that, May. He’s back now.” Lydie comforted her, not bothering to lower her voice. “Peter’s just on the other side of the curtain and he thinks he’s hiding it, but he’s nervous, too.” Peter heard Lydie pull a tissue from a box and pass it to May.
May sniffed, then blew her nose and squeaked out, “Peter’s really here?”
“You know I wouldn’t lie to you, May, and he’s probably wondering what’s taking you so long.”
“Yeah.” May took a deep breath and then another. Peter could hear her and Lydie doing a last minute straighten up. “Okay.” May whispered. “How do I look?”
“Like a million bucks.” Lydie reassured her. “Now, can I open these curtains before he loses his mind?”
May must have nodded because the curtain was slowly dragged back to reveal the most important person in Peter’s universe, propped up in the bed and fussing with the long braid trailing down the front of her hospital gown.
And Peter stood there frozen, mere feet away from her bed, his mouth opening and closing like a fish behind the mask. “May?” The woman in front of him looked like a weak imitation of the woman he’d left only a week ago to head to school and that stupid MOMA field trip. The yellowed, swollen face and hands screamed sickness, punctuated by the heavy scent of medicated creams, antiseptic, and blood. They’d at least made an effort to disguise the various machines surrounding her, but the curtains and draped blankets couldn’t camouflage the nasal cannula—and the delicately flowered robe she wore over the medbay gown did little to hide the tubing still connected to her IV or the dialysis machine Peter guessed she’d been hooked up to since that call in Wakanda that morning. His stomach turned at the sight of it all so he concentrated again on her face. There, he could see the flush of fever in her cheeks and a glassiness in her eyes. She looked exhausted.
He didn’t know what to do.  
She looked just as stunned as Peter, though for completely different reasons. “Peter?” May stared at the boy and then scowled at Lydie. “I swear, Lydie, on the soul of my dead mother. If you don’t get all that shit off my kid so I can see him for real, I will make sure that you never find that stupid blush nail polish you swear by again—and I know people so I can make it happen.”
Lydie threw her hands up in apology. “May, you know that I can’t. Dr. Bonwick has orders—“
“I don’t care, Lydie.” she huffed. “I’ve waited too long to see that face.” May turned her attention back to Peter. “You heard me,” she pointed to his medical gear with a look of distaste. “All of that garbage off, now.”
He wanted to listen to her, honest, but she was sick and the reality of it had smacked him in the face. There was no way he’d risk—
“Peter.” Peter recognized the tone anywhere. It was the same tone that made sure his homework got done before patrol, that his bedroom was cleaned before heading to Ned’s, and that got wet towels off the bathroom floor and an apple in his hand before he ran out the door to school. Yeah. Peter knew better than to dawdle. The fabric gown and its accessories were in a laundry bin in the corner of the room in half a minute and he stood ready for inspection.  
May beamed with joy as she gazed upon him. “There’s my Peter,” she exclaimed. “Now get your ass over here and give me a hug before I lose my mind, you goofball.”
Peter rushed up to the bed, hesitating when he reached the railing of the bed. “Uh... what should I—“
Lydie, who’d tucked herself inconspicuously away to work in the corner of the room, came forward to help. “C’mon, Peter, you know as well as anyone how these beds work.” She teased as she did her nurse magic, lowering the railing.
“I know how the bed works,” he insisted as he tried to ignore the fear that one wrong move would hurt her. “I’m trying to be careful, is all.”
May was having none of that. “You couldn’t hurt me if you tried, sweetheart.” She leaned forward and opened her arms, now seriously. “Please?”
Peter was in her arms in a blink, fighting back tears as May finally gave in to hers. Neither of them said a word as they revelled in their reunion. Only a week and five years- five years- She’d waited for him for so long.
Peter whispered, “I didn’t mean to go, May, I swear,” as he burrowed into her.
She buried her face in his hair and tried to breathe in the scent of him, like she'd done his whole life. "I know, baby. I know." May reassured him. She shifted slightly, started pushing the pillows supporting her aside.
Peter panicked. "Oh! I'm hurting you! I'm so sorry!"  He pulled back and away, "I'm gonna—"
May grabbed his hand. "No, Peter. You're not hurting me at all. I just need to move- these- damn- pillows." She ground out the words while she tried to readjust.
"I can do it!" Peter declared, jostling the pillows about. “I’ll just—“ He shifted the pillows Aunt May, just a little, but the ones behind her seemed determined to keep her from completely relaxing, if he was reading her body language right. “Maybe if I—“ He slipped off the bed and started looking for the controls to set the bed at a better angle.
Lydie stepped in again, “Peter, here. Let me help—“
“No!” He replied loudly, surprising everyone in the room. He pressed on, moving May’s blankets in his hunt. “I’ve got this. I’m just gonna adjust the bed and make sure that May’s comfortable.”
“I know, Peter, but if I help—“
“Look, Lydie, I’ve got this, okay?” Not finding the controls, he moved around to the other side of the bed. “It’s the least I can do after all this time, right?” He tried to laugh at the little dig but sounded more like he was choking. They had to think he was losing his mind.
“Peter.” May called to him. “Come on. You’re fuss-farting around for a bed controller.” She patted the empty space beside her. “Let’s do a snuggle party like when you were little instead.” She held out her arms in welcome again and that was all Peter needed.
He clamoured up onto the bed again and tried to squeeze in beside her as she shifted to give him room, just like she’d asked.
Lydie watched the exchange sadly and smiled, “I’m going to give you two some time,” and exited the room. Peter was sure she hadn’t gone far.
“I remember you being smaller, buster.” She teased.
Peter rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Are moms obligated to say cheesy stuff like that? Like, is it in the secret mom rulebook?”
“Now, Peter,” she grinned slyly as she looked down at him. “You know if I told you, I’d have to kill you—now, c’mon.” She eased herself a little further to one side of the bed and sighed in brief relief as she settled. “Get closer.”
He did try. Oh, how he wanted to be held in her arms and have her tell him everything was going to be okay, but gentle teasing couldn’t hide the limitations of the IV tube he’d interrupt if he laid this way—or the access site on her other side if he shifted that way.
May giggled through a new round of tears as they struggled to find a hold that wouldn’t cause her harm. “Wow, if we ever thought we could ignore the elephant in the room, huh?”  
Peter stopped his wiggling. “May, don’t... I... I... ” He couldn’t speak so he sat himself up, twisting and turning away from her. He buried his face in his hands and started to tremble.
He was going to lose her.
He could feel her pulling herself up, trying to get closer to him. Peter jumped off the bed. “No! You need to lie down, May. Please.” He pressed her gently back into her pillow pile. “I’m gonna grab a chair, okay?”
“Peter, stop it. Get back up here,” she ordered, watching him work his way up to another freak out.
But he couldn’t... he just couldn’t.
Instead, Peter grabbed the straight backed chair rested against the wall and, in a flash, seated himself at her bedside. “Nah, I need you comfortable, May...” He grinned big and insincere, “And you know I’m a bed hog. Really! This is probably way better for you.” He focussed on his hands as they twisted at her blankets. “Just until you feel a little better, please?”
She didn’t bother to hide as her frustration shifted to concern. “Peter, please. I know this is strange,” She reached out to grab his hands, stopping him. “But we’re gonna get through this. Okay?”
Peter slid his hands out from under hers, then gently laid his on hers, but could say nothing. A part of him had thought that maybe... just maybe Mr. Stark had been overstating things so that Peter would find relief at things not being so bad. But Mr. Stark would never have done something like that. Peter had just been wrong. His vacillating between hope and impending doom stopped exactly then.
He knew all about Parker Luck, after all.
He gave May’s hands a squeeze, kissed them, then pulled away. He could feel the greasiness of lotion against his lips, and forced himself to ignore it. “You should lie down, May. I don’t want you to get more tired because of me.”
“Peter. I’ll worry about me, alright?” May lightly scolded. “But I’m also gonna worry about you, got it.” She cupped his cheek and tried to catch his eye. “We’ll need to talk about this eventually, sweetheart.”
He closed his eyes and prayed for strength, “I know...” he choked out. “But can it not be now?”
May didn’t say anything for a moment before agreeing. “Alright... but soon? Hiding your head in the sand does nothing but leave your butt exposed for that big kick in the pants you’re trying to avoid, and you know it.”
Peter nodded. He didn’t have a choice.
The last two Parkers clasped hands again and sat silent for a moment; May savoured his presence while Peter mourned hers.
Five damned years. Peter’s thoughts turned to Titan and failed attempts and how if he’d only gotten the gauntlet.
A series of beeps sounded from one of the hidden machine, startling the two from their thoughts.
“Holy crap!” Peter jumped as he threw his hand to his chest, knocking over his chair in the process. “What’s wrong?” He scanned his aunt, not seeing why the alarm was suddenly going off. “Did I do something?”
“Calm down, Peter. That means my dialysis is done for today.” She reached for his hand. “It alerts whoever’s on shift that they can unhook me.”
Lydie entered the room again without a word and pulled a blanket off the machine closest to the bed.
Peter looked away.
“I’ll be quick, folks, then a quick check up and I’ll be out of your hair.” Lydie promised as she pressed a button to silence the alarm.
May didn’t pretend to be anything other than irritated. “Lydie, can we just do it later? Peter’s here and I don’t want to—“
Lydie raised her hand her hand to stop her. “Nuh-uh. I’ve already broken one rule for you today. If you think I’m not following another protocol, you’ve got another thing coming to you.” She glanced over to the young superhero. “Sorry, Peter.”
He just shrugged and moved his chair back towards the wall. “No worries. I’ll just stay out of the way.” Yeah, even he knew better to fight with the nurses in Avengers Tower.
Lydie chuckled, “I wish you were that cooperative when you were a patient here, Peter.”
May outright cracked up at that. “You tell him, Lydie.”
“Yeah, yeah, yuk it up. I am a stellar patient.” Peter pouted, “You’re both so mean to me.”
The laughter died down as Lydie disconnected things and went about doing what should have been a cursory check. The cuff of the blood pressure monitor has inflated, May had flinched at its tightness, and Peter had sympathized. Lydie had pulled the stethoscope from around her neck, preparing for the next check when the alarm went off.
“May?” Lydie questioned suspiciously. “What’s going on?”
May looked from Lydie to Peter, then back to Lydie. “Nothing. You know that the machine is too sensitive.  Let the cuff do its torture again,” she pressed. “It’s probably because I was laughing is all.”
Lydie wasn’t buying it, “Peter, would you be a dear and step into the hallway, please.”
Yeah, Peter knew that tone, too. It was the old ‘the medical professionals need to discuss things that aren’t any of your business’ tone. He was out of the chair and into the hallway in a shot.
It wasn’t like he’d be missing anything, anyways.
“Okay, May, ‘fess up. What’s going on?” Lydie whispered.
Had they really forgotten that it didn’t work?
Peter could hear a button being pressed, maybe an aural thermometer, then May’s reply. “My pain medication,” she whispered back. “I should have thought to say something before he got here, but then I fell asleep and I couldn’t let Peter know—“
“How bad?”
May exhaled slowly, “Bad enough that it set off that stupid machine.”
A quiet beep sounded.
“Aw, shit. May!” Lydie hissed. “You’re fever’s up, too! You know better than to not say something about that!”
Peter could hear Lydie’s movements around the room, a drawer opening, vials being shuffled about—“I’m going to get your pain meds and some fever reducers on board, then I’ll call Dr. Bonwick.”
“No.” May blurted out, desperate. “You know it’ll put me to sleep. Just wait until Peter’s visit is over, an hour? Please? Can I have just an hour with him?”  
“No negotiations, May.” They were done with trying to be secretive. “We’re already pushing our luck because of the delay with the dialysis... and Peter’s a smart kid. You know he’ll understand.”
Peter could hear the quiver in her voice again. “I don’t want him to understand! I want him here!” May moaned, giving in to her pain and exhaustion. “I want five years with him, and I want stepping on legos, and sleepovers with his friends, and... and I wanted him to be a man before he had to deal with—oh.” May couldn’t speak, and so she wept.
And Peter’s heart broke again—how many more times would he feel it splinter before it finally stopped.
Lydie tried to comfort May, even as she went about her job with a haste that made Peter realize his coming had been a mistake. She’d been hurting. She suffered because of him—for five years, she had suffered because of him.
It took a few minutes, but May’s cried eventually softened, then levelled to a nice even breathing. She’d fallen asleep. Lydie popped out of the room, took one look at him, and knew. “You heard?”
Peter nodded.
She stepped into the hallway completely, approaching him like a wild animal. “I gave her something to calm her, but with the fever and all...”
“She’s asleep, I know.”
“Good.” She looked over her shoulder into the room, and then addressed Peter. “She’ll sleep for a while now, which is good.” Lydie assured him. “I’m going to call Dr. Bonwick and get her started on her new meds. If everything goes as well as we hope, she’ll be ready for visitors tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay.”
Lydie stared at him for a second and forever. “May mentioned that Mr. Stark had filled you in on some things. Do you have any questions for me? May’s given me permission to give you the basics.”
Peter stuffed his hands in his pockets, hunching his shoulders as he fought the urge to ask one of the so many questions he didn’t want answers to. “No. I’m good.”  
The look on her face told Peter that she didn’t believe him.
“Are you alright?” She asked, sympathy pouring off of her. “That visit had to be hard for you, too.”
Peter shook his head in the negative, “I’ll be fine.” Peter assured her. He always was, after all. “You just worry about Aunt May... please.” He tried to be casual about it, but the tears welling up were a dead giveaway.
Lydie stepped closer. “Peter, you’re allowed to be upset, too. I’m sure that Mr. Stark can find someone that can—“
An alarm blared in May’s room, loud and urgent. Lydie stopped talking and rushed back into the room, turning the alarm off and double checking what she thought was the culprit. “A-ha!” She called out as she reattached the oximeter to May’s finger. She watched the numbers jump back up from 0% to a not amazing but could be worse percentage. “There you go, May.” She squeezed the sleeping woman’s hand in support then went back into the hallway. “I’m so sorry about that, Peter, she shifted and knocked... off... her... Peter?” She looked down the empty corridor then rushed down it towards the elevator. She noted the floor numbers descending on the display. “Oh, shit.”
* * * * * *
“Mr. Parker, would you like me to initiate ‘Meltdown Management Mode’ again?” FRIDAY inquired.
May was dying, if she wasn’t already dead. He’d pushed her too much. She was too weak and in pain and then the alarm had gone off and he knew—
Peter said nothing, just stared at the numbers on the panel as the elevator descended. He couldn’t be there anymore. He couldn’t be there when she wasn’t—
May was dead, and Peter was alone.
“Mr. Parker, you are again displaying signs of distress, and failure to respond will require me to contact Boss and update him on your condition.”
Peter blinked as he registered the unintended threat. “I’m fine, thank you. I just need some air,” he rasped out.
“Yes, fresh air and exercise are both optimal solutions for mental distress. Boss has programmed me to provide him positive reinforcement when he takes the initiative on his own to remedy his anxiety. Would you like me to tell you ‘good job,’ Mr. Parker?”
“No, thanks.”
Peter felt a slight shift in speed, then the elevator came to a halt.
“It is currently an overcast 58°F, Mr. Parker. Enjoy the fresh air.” The elevator doors opened, revealing the Avengers Tower lobby bustling with activity. “Mr. Parker, should Boss inquire, what time will you be returning home?”
Home? May was dead and Peter was alone.
Peter chuckled darkly. “I don’t have a home anymore, FRIDAY,” he replied, and pushed his way through the masses of people, out the front doors of the tower, and into the chaos of a world struggling with unexpected rebirth.  
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grailfinders · 3 years
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Fate and Phantasms #101: Rama
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Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re making the number 1 member of the Arcade hatedom, Rama! If you’ve seen my previous Indian heroes you know this build is also going to get a bit funky, but by the end of it you’ll have a cool sword you can throw around, the ability to fight off demons, and a monkey army.
Check out Rama’s build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!
Next up: One Strike Man
Race and Background
We know we had a thing going with Arjuna and Karna being Genasi, but Vishnu’s more of a general god than a themed one, so we have to be basic and go Aasimar on this one. Specifically Scourge Aasimar, because you’re not edgy and can’t fly. We’re also using the new Tasha’s rules about races to swap some bonuses around, so you’re going to get +1 Constitution and +2 Intelligence instead of charisma. You also get some Darkvision, Celestial Resistance to necrotic and radiant damage, the Light cantrip, and Healing Hands to heal a creature as an action once per long rest. Trust me, you’ll need it for the early levels.
Like a lot of servants, you’re a Noble, gaining History and Persuasion proficiencies. 
Ability Scores
This build pretty much uses every score, so we had to make some tough cuts. Make your Strength the highest score, you’re a saber, you should be good at sabing. Second is Wisdom, you were born wise, which is a pretty amazing feat. I’m not sure how the figured that out before you could talk, but it’s still cool. Third is your Charisma, your star-crossed love transcends the bonds of the universe and has literally saved your life on occasion. Your Dexterity isn’t as high as I’d like it-we need it for multiclassing, but we’ll get it bumped up in time. Also, I’m willing to be generous here and say you’re wearing medium armor, that’s kind of a breastplate. Your Intelligence is also lower than I’d like, but that’s also getting a boost from your racial bonuses, so I guess it’s fine. Unfortunately, that means we’re dumping Constitution. It’s not fun, but it’s also the only score we aren’t actively using. Don’t worry, we’ll get it up into at least neutral territory as soon as possible.
Class Levels
1. Fighter 1: Fighters are pretty cool, and starting out as one gives you proficiency in Strength and Constitution saves, as well as the Animal Handling and Perception skills. A monkey may be your mortal enemy, but you also command an army of them.
You get a fighting style, and Dueling will make your one handed attacks a bit stronger so you can keep a hand open for spells. You also get a Second Wind for another way to heal yourself as a bonus action.
2. Fighter 2: Second level fighters get an Action Surge, tacking an extra action onto one of your turns once per short rest. This level is pretty light, so I’ll also take a second to say that we’re using a Trident as your weapon in this build, for reasons that will become apparent in a couple levels. It’s unorthodox, but you’re used to making swords out of other weapons, so it shouldn’t be that big a deal.
3. Fighter 3: I’m not going to beat around the bush here, you’re an Eldritch Knight. That means you’re learning some Spells, most of which will be abjuration or evocation and all of which will use your Intelligence to cast. You also gain a Weapon Bond, preventing you from being disarmed while conscious, and you can summon your weapon as a bonus action from anywhere in the plane. You also get your Radiant Consumption, which deals radiant damage to all creatures in a radius around you, including you. You can also add radiant damage to one attack per turn. The transformation lasts up to a minute, and you can use it once per long rest.
But you’re probably interested in those spells, right? Message is just useful, Sword Burst and Shield will protect you until we can get that constitution mess sorted, Find Familiar will help you get your first monkey friend, and Burning Hands is also there.
4. Fighter 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to round up your Constitution and bring your Dexterity into multiclassing range. Also, now that we’ve got a way to get your weapon back, we’ll switch out our old fighting style for Thrown Weapon Fighting as a part of your Martial Versatility. This allows you to draw a throwing weapon as part of an attack, and you deal more damage when throwing them. Who needs artificers and their returning weapons when you’ve got this?
You also learn the Snare spell to get some less magical monkey friends.
5. Fighter 5: Your Extra Attack lets you make two attacks per action. We’ll be seeing this feature a lot, but it doesn’t stack from multiple classes.
6. Paladin 1: You’re kind of literally a god, so this is something of an inevitability. You get a Divine Sense to help you track down Ravana, and can Lay on Hands for yet another way to heal yourself or other party members.
7. Paladin 2: Paladins also get a fighting style, so grab Dueling again, for the same reasons we got it in the first place. You can also cast and prepare another set of Spells, using your Charisma to cast. If you’re sick of casting spells though, you can also use your spell slots for Divine Smites, adding extra radiant damage to a melee attack, and even more to fiends and the undead.
Some first level spells to look out for are Command for some of the same reason as Arjuna and Karna- if someone of sufficient power says something’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. You can also use Heroism to help your party even more and Divine Favor to give you a bit of a smite even on thrown attacks.
8. Paladin 3: Your defining trait is your endless search for your wife, so the Devotion oath is a pretty solid pick. You get some Oath Spells about beating up demons that are always prepared for you, as well as two ways to Channel Divinity. Sacred Weapon adds your charisma modifier to attack rolls with a weapon, and turns the weapon magical for the duration. This also ends if you stop holding the weapon, so again, it doesn’t fit with throwing it around. You can also Turn the Unholy, forcing Fiends and Undead that fail a wisdom saving throw to run away until it takes damage.
We’re already eight levels in, but we have like one monkey! That’s not an army! That’s unacceptable, someone should do something about that.
9. Ranger 1: If we want animal sidekicks, Ranger’s the best option. At first level you get a skill proficiency, so grab Stealth so you can sneak up on your arch-monkey-enemies. You also have a Favored Foe, marking a creature upon attacking it for up to a minute with concentration. Then, once per turn you deal an extra 1d4 damage to that enemy. You can mark enemies this way a number of times per long rest equal to your proficiency bonus. You’re also a Deft Explorer, doubling your proficiency in Animal Handling. You can literally talk to the little bastards, that’ll give you quite the edge.
10. Ranger 2: Being a second level ranger nets you a third fighting style; the Archery style gives your ranged attacks (including thrown weapons) a +2 to hit. You also get a third Spell list, which uses Wisdom to cast. Grab Longstrider and Zephyr Strike for ways to stay mobile and still deal damage.
11. Ranger 3: Be honest, you thought we were going beastmaster, didn’t you? Like we said earlier, one monkey does not an army make, and Swarmkeeper fairs much better with multiclassing anyway. You have a Primal Awareness letting you Speak with Animals either as a normal spell or once per long rest you can cast it for free. Swarmkeepers also get Swarmkeeper Magic, which is just an extended spell list. We’ll get into those with the regular spell you’re learning this level. Last but not least is the feature swarmkeepers are named for, the Gathered Swarm. You now have countless pygmy marmosets swarming over your body at all times. That’s a class feature, I am so sorry. It’s not all bad news though, because after hitting a creature with any attack, your swarm can deal extra damage, push the target 15′ in any direction if they fail a strength save, or move you 5′ in any direction. Save yourself a bonus action by throwing a weapon at an enemy, closing the gap with your swarm, then getting it back the old fashioned way!
You get Mage Hand as part of being a swarmkeeper, and it’s flavored as Literally Just a Monkey. You also learn Faerie Fire this way, and your normal spell this level is Animal Friendship. If they’re going to be crawling all over you, it’s best to stay on their good side.
12. Paladin 4: Now that we finally have your base kit set up, we can revisit some of your classes. Use this ASI to round up your Strength for stronger hits, and Charisma for more and better paladin spells. This is also a secret tool that will help us out in a little bit.
13. Paladin 5: The extra attack you get this level is a lie; it doesn’t stack with your fighter extra attack. The good news is you get second level spells this level as well, so it’s not a complete waste. You get Lesser Restoration and Zone of Truth as oath spells.
14. Paladin 6: Our last stop in the paladin class gives you an Aura of Protection, increasing all your saving throws (as well as any ally within 10 feet of you) by your charisma modifier.
15. Ranger 4: Since we don’t have to worry about your concentration saves anymore, we can just go for more health. Use this ASI to get the Tough feat, for an extra 2 HP per level.
16. Ranger 5: Once again, you get another useless extra attack, and once again you also get second level spells. You can Summon Beast to make a monkey that will be pretty scary when you get a fourth level spell slot at 17th level. You can also make Webs, or use Beast Sense once a day for free. Don’t ask what the webs are made out of.
17. Ranger 6: Your Favored Foe damage ramps up to 1d6, and you’re now Roving, meaning your movement speed increases, and you gain a climbing and swimming speed. Monkeys are pretty agile, you need to be able to keep up with them.
18. Fighter 6: We’re ending this build where we began, with the fighter class. Use this ASI for even more Charisma for better saves, more spells, and a more winning smile.
19. Fighter 7: Seventh level eldritch knights know War Magic, meaning that if you use a cantrip as your main action, you can still attack as a bonus action. I’m not sure why you’d message someone in the middle of battle, but here you go.
You also get second level spells, for the third time. Any evocation or abjuration spell is good here, but I chose Gust of Wind because it’s hard to throw weapons around if enemies are getting close to you.
20. Your capstone feature is another ASI, so grab the Piercer feat to round up your Dexterity and make your sword just a little more deadly. Once per turn, you can reroll a piercing damage die, and your critical hits deal a little more piercing damage.
Pros:
Despite your patchwork class levels, one thing that really shines through is your support abilities. Your Aura of Protection offers a solid +3 to all saves within 10′ of you, and you have multiple ways to heal other party members in a pinch.
You can also deal pretty dependable damage, thanks to your multitude of fighting styles mixing together to overcome your low ability scores. Despite having a strength of 16, you can aim your throws like you have a 20, and deal damage like you have a 24. You also have plenty of ways to incrementally add damage to each attack. Adding Favored Foe, smites, and your swarm damage to your attack racks up damage quickly.
You’ve got solid movement options, both for yourself and enemies. Being able to shove enemies around and into hazards with your swarm is a huge game changer.
Cons:
Eldritch Knights use their bonus action to resummon their weapon. Rangers use it to apply Favored Foe. Paladins use it for smites. Basically what I’m saying is your bonus action is super crowded, and it’s nearly impossible for you to go a round in combat without either holding back or making a tough decision about what to use it on.
If you couldn’t tell from the introduction, you depend on a ton of ability scores, to the point that constitution was the safest thing to dump early on. Even now, most of your spells aren’t particularly strong.
A lot of this build was about making a throwing weapon powerful, and thrown weapons don’t gel with paladins at all. It breaks your Channel Divinity and can’t be used with smites, limiting your power.
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wand3ringr0s3 · 4 years
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older (george weasley x reader)
Warnings: comfort fic
I really like this song and also I’m so soft for George Weasley 
sing to me instead masterlist 
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Time is a strange concept. There are moments in life that feel like they last forever. Like time was ticking slower. Then there are moments that are done and gone in the blink of an eye. Time worked on a strict schedule yet, it felt so fluid. Living day by day can feel so slow. All you did today was wake up, go to class, eat, and then sleep but when you think to years ago, it feels like it was only yesterday. 
You missed yesterday. 
Yesterday was before the war. Before the battle tore through the families in the wizarding war leaving nothing but destruction and sadness behind. Yesterday was when you met George Weasley. 
He came into your life with a bang. Literally. He and his twin brother Fred had been working on their fireworks and a stray firework escaped and scared the living daylights out of you. Both boys felt guilty at seeing you so frantic. They both apologized to you but George went the step further and offered to make it up to you. It was one date. 
Well date is a strong word. More like he took you to Hogsmeade one day and you never really spoke again. It was a fantastic day though. He took you to Honeydukes and Zonkos. Proudly showing off all that he knew about each joke product. You had a wonderful time. George was a charming boy, his messy ginger hair and bright smile would make anyone swoon. At the end of the date you kissed his cheek and left to your dorm. His cheeks had flushed red and both of you feeling the butterflies in your stomach. 
Unfortunately, nothing really came out of it. You both had some sort of feelings but neither of you wanted to act on them. You would occasionally see him in the corridors and he would flash you a cute smile and carry on walking. When the twins flew out of Hogwarts you assumed that would be the last you would see of them. At least you had the memories. 
Today. 
The 5 year anniversary of the battle of Hogwarts. The scars and memories of the war still raged on in many peoples heads. Many had learned how to move on and heal. Some more than others but still. 5 years was not a lot of time when you have lost someone important. You had heard through the grapevine about the death of Fred Weasley. 
You fought during the battle but didn’t stick around to count the dead. It was too painful. You sent your condolences to the Weasley family. All of them were nothing but kind to you during your time at Hogwarts. After the battle you took time away from England. Traveling across the world hoping you could outrun the pain and horror that filled your head. You were slightly successful but, you knew it was time to return home. 
Diagon alley had changed but it had kept the same atmosphere it always had. Sure some things had changed. Stores were rebuilt and new shops had opened up but it still felt like home. Gripping your suitcase you find yourself in a lonely room in the Leaky Cauldron. Your hands fidgeted in your lap. After the war, silence became the most dreaded thing you could hear. Having enough of the silent bedroom you decide to take a stroll through Diagon Alley. 
A cute bakery had opened up nearby so why not go check it out. It was a small cafe but it was nice. You purchased a few small treats and left. Looking at the busy crowds you hesitate to go back to your room. A group of kids run past you, giggling and pointing towards the purple and orange building down the street. Curiosity gets the best of you as you follow the kids down the street. 
Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes Grand Re-Opening! 
A faint smile finds its way onto your face as you eye the massive move statue of a familiar face. You had always wondered what those two got up to after Hogwarts. A stray firework flies out of the front door, exploding over your head. You let out a small shriek of surprise as the colors fly across the sky. 
“Still afraid of fireworks?” You spin around to see George leaning by the door smiling at you. 
He looked older, his smile not completely reaching his eyes. He was dressed up in his work clothes. He had a snappy brown suit and light green waistcoat with a bright orange tie. He was slightly taller and his hair a bit longer than you remember but his smile was still the same.
“Only when they burst right in front of me unexpectedly” He pushes himself off the wall and makes his way over to you. Shoving his hands in his pocket he watches the last of the firework fizzle out. 
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this darling” You smile at the memory of your first meeting with him. So much had happened since then but you felt wave of nostalgia over take you. 
“Maybe if you kept track of your fireworks we wouldn’t have this problem.” You gesture to the bright pops of color going off in his very busy shop. 
“Who said it was a problem?” You bite your lip and fight the smile that was trying to push its way to your face. No matter how many years had passed George was still quite the charmer. 
“George! Someone ate a puking pastille and can’t find the other half!” A frantic voice calls from the door. A small sigh leaves Georges mouth. 
“I’ll be there in a second!” He turns with an apologetic look on his face. You can’t help but giggle at the absurdity of problems George must deal with on a daily basis. His knees almost give out on him when he hears the sound of your laugh. 
“I’ll see you around” You give him a small wave before turning to head back to the Leaky Cauldron. 
“Wait!” George shouts causing you to turn back. 
“Would you like to join me for dinner tonight?” A faint blush dusts his face. “I’d love to” George grins and you swear he stands a little straighter. 
“Meet me here at 7pm” 
“George!” he shoots you a wink before running back into the store to deal with the mess inside. Your stomach flutters with butterflies that only George seems to be able to cause. On your way back to your room it seemed as though Diagon alley had gotten little bit brighter
The busy crowds of Weasley Wizard Wheezes were long gone by the time you arrived. The soft jingle of the door alerts George to your presence. He was restocking a few products when he hears it. He quickly sets down the boxes and dusts off his suit. 
“You know you have something called magic” you say gesturing to the boxes of products on the ground. 
“I like doing it the muggle way, keeps my mind busy” He rubs the back of his neck and looks around. 
“It’s amazing” Everything in the shop was absolutely incredible. Everywhere you looked something new caught your eye. 
“How about I show you around?” George offers holding out his arm. You take his arm and wrap your hand around it. “Lead the way” 
The shops products were great but hearing the way George talked about them was what sold them. He sounded so proud of everything it made a feeling of love swell in your chest.
“This is Weasley’s Weather In a Bottle, took us ages to get the potion just right.” He plucked a bottle off the shelf and handed it to you. An excited smile on his face.  
“Once Fred opened it and it caused rain to pour in our potions workshop for a week. We couldn’t do anything because we were drenched within minutes” His smile starts to fade slightly, his eyes growing sadder. You set the bottle down and wrap your hand around his. At your contact he snaps back into the present. 
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring down the mood” he turns his head away from you. 
“It’s alright,” you lightly rub his hand. “We can talk about what ever you want” George squeezes your hand lightly. He hadn’t had anyone to really talk to like this. Sure he had his family but he couldn’t talk to them about everything. 
“Some days are better, you know? Don’t get as sad and things start to feel normal” He waves his hand around aimlessly. “But, it doesn’t get any easier. This was our dream and now I have to run it myself” His voice breaking at the end of his sentence. 
“There isn’t anyone better to carry on his legacy than you. He loved you and he’d be so proud of you for keeping the shop going” 
“Please if I closed the shop he’d come back to life to beat my arse” The two of you break out into a fit of laughter. Real laughter. It felt good. When you both calmed down a comfortable silence falls over the store. 
“You know, I’m surprised you still remember me” you admit. George raises his eyebrow at you, “How could I forget my first kiss?” Oh what a cheeky little git. 
“I kissed you on the cheek George, I’d hardly describe that as a first kiss.” You cross your arms in fake annoyance making George laugh again. 
“You know, that was still the best date I’d ever been on” His voice was playful but you could hear something else in his tone. 
“I wish we would have gone on more” So did you. You always wondered what would have happened if you pursued things with George. If you had more of his laughs and jokes in your life. Would things have been different? 
“It’s not too late for a second date.” you say hopefully, praying that he was interested in it and not just reminiscing. “I’d really like that,” He smiles and takes your hand again. 
“My only regret from Hogwarts was not kissing you that day. Also not pranking Snape more. Also not eating more of the food, it was pretty good. Okay maybe I have more than one regret, but not kissing you is at the top of the list” 
He looks at you sheepishly, his attempt at being romantic kind of got away from him. But, no matter what the situation was George Weasley was always able to make you laugh.
“Glad to know I’m above pranking Snape and eating” Your tone was teasing making him feel a bit better at his horrid attempt at flirting. 
“You know” you tug lightly on his tie bringing him closer to you. “It’s not late for that either” His face breaks out into a devilish grin. 
His lips were on yours in an instant. Electricity shoots through your body as he deepens the kiss pulling you deeper than you thought you could go. He was intoxicating. Man you really wished you would have kissed him all those years ago. You pull away from him needing to catch your breath. He whines at the loss of contact and goes to chase your lips. 
“Easy tiger” you reach to ruffle Georges hair. 
“Er-Sorry about that” His face flushes red from embarrassment. 
“Don’t worry I’d be happy to do it again sometime” The clock in the shop rings out. 
“Oh! It’s later than I thought. I’m so sorry but I have a to be somewhere in the morning” You really didn’t want to leave now but you knew you had to. 
“Tomorrow, how about I take you on a real second date?” George offers. 
“I’d love to. I’m in room 267. Pick me up then?” 
“It’s a date.” Biding him goodnight you quickly make your way back to your room. Lying on the bed you can’t help but let your mind wander. 
You had always wished you could have gone back to your days at Hogwarts. Back to when you first met George. Back to when you kissed his cheek that day and kissed him on the lips instead. You couldn’t turn back time, but you had George now. There few bumps along the road but you had him again. His sweet smile and charming personality was yours again. 
You couldn’t wait till tomorrow. 
Taglist: 
@stuckindilemma  @62442-am  @iluvharrypotter172  @luxintenebris7  @summer-writes  @coffee-wihtout-caffeine  @the-grey-lady13  @paradoxalthinking  @pit-and-the-pen    
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daesukiii · 3 years
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Title: Find You
Genre: Angst, Fluff, a ‘lil Smut
Pairing: Jinyoung x Jaebeom, minor Jinyoung x Youngjae, for 5 seconds a side of Ten x Yugyeom
Summary: Jinyoung’s kinda a dumbass. Jaebeom’s even more of a dumbass, but he’s also kind of an asshole (in the best way possible.)
Warnings: Jinyoung suxxs a dick; the smut scene is just under 600 words out of 13k
Word count: 13482
CRIS CRIS CRIS @limjaeseven​ I LOVE YOU!! thanks for all the stuff you do for me; i hope this can somehow repay it!! :)))))) love you broskiiiiiii lets hope for many great times~! also heres ur dumb gays :)))) <3333
I struggled with this A  L O T so i hope you guys like it owo~
When Jinyoung walked out of his room and saw Jaebeom in the kitchen, that wasn’t unusual. The older one did tend to use the spare key whenever he didn’t want to cook. What was unusual, however, was the fact that Jaebeom had no shirt on.
As much as Jinyoung would like to ogle Jaebeom’s fine ass, he had more questions than wishes. “Hyung? What are you doing?” Jaebeom spun around, a sheepish smile on his face, and Jinyoung repeated the mantra, don’t look at tiddies, don’t look at tiddies over and over to himself. It’s a hard battle, and Jinyoung lost it almost immediately. Jaebeom was amused.
“My eyes are up here, Nyoungie. Not on my nipples.” Jinyoung would like the floor to swallow him up, please. “Anyways; I left my keys at home when I went to work, but I found your keys in my car. I left them in there by accident,” Jaebeom explained, laughing. “I borrowed your couch if that’s fine.”
Yes, that’s so fine. Always fine. You could even use my bed. With me still in it, of course. “Yeah, go ahead. Next time, just text me. I have your spare set of keys, remember?” Jaebeom’s mouth opened, and Jinyoung could tell he forgot.
“Yeah.” Jaebeom drew out the diphthong and smiled. “Do you want breakfast?”
“God, yes please,” Jinyoung groans. “Thanks, man. You’re a lifesaver. God, you’re literally the perfect boyfriend.”
Jaebeom offers a sheepish smile, leaning across the counter and poking Jinyoung in the cheek affectionately. “Not perfect, but I made rice pudding and toast.” He slid a plate across to Jinyoung, who thanked him gratefully. “I’ll be out of your hair then.” He started to leave when Jinyoung frowned.
“Where’s your shirt?”
Jaebeom shrugged.
“I don’t know; I think some girl at the club stole it when I spilt a drink on myself and went to wipe it off.” The older left without another word, and Jinyoung could feel his heart hurt. He forgot Jaebeom was painfully straight, and that he was painfully gay. He was once again reminded that his crush was indeed one-sided. And yes, his crush did just walk out of his door with no shirt on.
When Jinyoung used to think he was straight, he remembered feeling romantic feelings towards Jaebeom and passing it off as wanting to be best friends forever. And now that he knew for sure he’s into boys, he found out the hard way that best friends just wasn’t what he wanted to be. But that couldn’t be helped. Jaebeom would never want to be with him, and Jinyoung would just have to suffer.
Alas, he couldn’t wallow in self-pity today. His brother, Yugyeom, was flying in with his best friend BamBam, and Jinyoung had to go pick them up. He pulled on some clothes he knew would only just barely match, grabbed his keys, and headed out the door. He’s going to be early, so he would stop in a coffee shop near the airport and pick up some drinks.
The coffee shop, Ars Coffee, was busy, but not too busy that Jinyoung would be late, so he stepped in and waited in line. As he looked around the cute shop decorated in pictures of puppies and kittens, he noticed a corner of the shop that reminded him of the first time he had met Jaebeom. The older had been frantically studying and Jinyoung was hustling to find an open seat, tripping over Jaebeom’s backpack and landing in the older’s lap. The older had delivered the line, “you’re not my type, but nice ass,” and the two ended up talking until the shop closed. They exchanged numbers, and the rest was history.
However, Jinyoung was brought back to the present with an ‘ahem’ coming from behind the counter. It’s his turn to order. “Ah- yes, sorry. I’ll take a vanilla latte, an iced choco, and an iced Americano.” The barista laughed, his smile too wide for his face, and marked down the order.
“I hope all that isn’t for you. That’s a lot of sugar, not to mention caffeine.”
Jinyoung smiled back. “Who knows? I could be a college student frantically studying for last-minute exams.”
The barista, Youngjae judging by the nametag, laughed again. “The second semester just ended; you’d be on break. So I’ll just assume you’re apologising to your three girlfriends since they just found out you’ve been double- no, triple-timing them.”
“Boyfriends,” Jinyoung corrects without thinking, and then his head snapped up, eyes wide. “What I mean is- I don’t- I-”
Youngjae offered a sympathetic smile. “It’s all right. I am too,” he reassured, adding that last bit in a lowered voice. “That will be 9,321 won. Which drink is yours?”
Jinyoung fished the bills out of his back pocket, offering it to Youngjae who returned the change.
“Mine is the vanilla latte,” Jinyoung answered, stepping to the side to let the next person come forward to order, and waited patiently. After a few people from ahead of him received their drinks, he saw Youngjae prepare his three drinks, and he felt a twinge of guilt when he realised Youngjae was the only employee at the store.
When he moved to pick up the drinks, he opened his mouth to offer apologies for ordering such a long list of drinks. However, Youngjae rushed off before he even could, just to tend to another customer. Jinyoung left, and when pulling out his drink, noticed a “call me, 2-747-5143 - Choi Youngjae” messily scrawled right under the drink’s label. Cute. He input the number into his phone and took off for the airport.
He’s running late; the coffee shop took longer than he thought, and Jinyoung rushed into the terminal Yugyeom had texted him. He saw his brother, slouching as always, with BamBam, just as skinny, standing up straight next to him. At least his friend had good posture; Jinyoung had been trying to fix his brother’s bad habit for years. “Yah, Kim Yugyeom, straighten up!”
Yugyeom’s head jerked up, and a smile spread across his face. “Hyung!” The tallest bounded over, BamBam following, and enveloped Jinyoung in a tight hug. “How are you?”
Jinyoung laughed. “You act like you haven’t lived with me for twenty-four years. I’m doing well. How are you, Yugyeom, BamBam?” Yugyeom, as expected, immediately launched into a monologue about how his time in Thailand with BamBam’s family was. The fact that he didn’t really like durian was the only bit that stuck in Jinyoung’s head. But he didn’t mind; as much as he would never admit it to anyone’s face, he did miss his younger sibling. Jaebeom just didn’t fill in the gaps Yugyeom had left.
“Hyung, hyung, hyung, did you hear?” Jinyoung snapped his head toward the younger. The younger was telling him something but as mentioned, Jinyoung wasn’t really listening.
“Sorry, Gyeom, what is it?”
“Jaebeom hyung’s roommate is coming as well, you know? Jackson Wang? From when Jaebeom hyung studied in Hong Kong.” Ah. Jinyoung remembered the loud kid he met when he visited Jaebeom during their summer break three years ago. The memory that stood out the most was Jackson immediately declared himself Jinyoung’s best friend. It would be nice to see him again, Jinyoung guessed, but it’s sad Jaebeom would be spending more time with Jackson and Jinyoung instead of just Jinyoung.
Wait, what the hell was he doing?
Has he really gotten so deep into his crush that he’s trying to break off Jaebeom’s friendships? Jinyoung tonks his head on the steering wheel.
“Hyung?”
“Nothing’s wrong, I just…forgot how to drive.” Jinyoung came up with the lamest excuse, and Yugyeom stared at him for a second.
“Are you drunk?”
Instead of gracing him with an answer, Jinyoung started the car and stepped on it (as much was deemed safe).
Yugyeom cackled in his ear, and the oldest of the three aimed a slap on Yugyeom’s chest.
“There are drinks in the back for you,” Jinyoung said, and Yugyeom went for the latte. Before Jinyoung could stop him, Yugyeom noticed the message. To Jinyoung’s relief, however, the younger didn’t mention it, only raising an eyebrow and glancing at Jinyoung’s side profile.
“Hyung, how’s Jaebeom hyung doing?” BamBam broke the silence.
“Jaebeom hyung? He’s doing fine. Same old same old. Doing whatever he pleases. He went to a club yesterday and ended up half-naked on my couch and left to go who knows where and I’m definitely not suffering from an unrequited crush on him. Can’t he just not be so blatantly straight? I’m literally dying because he can’t handle not being hot every second of the day.” With each word that came out of Jinyoung’s mouth, his pitch rose.
BamBam and Yugyeom were quiet for the rest of the ride, and Jinyoung refrained from jumping out of the car lest they would crash. They finally pulled up to the building, and BamBam left the tense atmosphere as quickly as he could. Yugyeom ready to leave, turned to Jinyoung, opened and closed his mouth as if deciding on what to say. “Hyung…maybe you should go on that date.” With that final sentence, Yugyeom exits as well, leaving Jinyoung in the car to ponder over when his life suddenly turned into such a mess.
After concluding his life became a mess once he was born, Jinyoung headed inside to find Yugyeom and BamBam had already made themselves at home and were currently trying to set up the ancient Wii.
“Have you two unpacked already? That was fast.” Jinyoung commented, unimpressed, and Yugyeom looked up at him.
“Yeah, we unpacked…”
“…the Wii.” BamBam finished Yugyeom’s answer and Jinyoung raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
“Go unpack and then play Wii. I don’t want to trip over any of your bags.” Yugyeom groaned but got up obediently and BamBam followed like a good friend. Once they disappeared from sight, Jinyoung headed into his own room, with the coffee cup from Ars.
Jinyoung plopped down on his bed and opened the contacts on his phone. He stares at the number on the cup. After a moment of deliberation, he inputs it into his phone, saving the contact as ‘Ars - Choi Youngjae” and stares at the empty profile before finally tapping on “message.” He waited again, then sighed, throwing his phone onto the bed and leaving to get something to eat. Youngjae was still probably working and Jinyoung didn’t want to bother him.
Once Yugyeom and BamBam finished unpacking, they, predictably, connected the Wii and coerced (read: threatened) Jinyoung to join them in a Mario Kart championship.
In the middle of Rainbow Road, the door unlocked, and Jinyoung forfeited Yoshi to answer the door. Jaebeom and Jackson stood behind the door, and Jinyoung paused for a minute before letting them in. “Jackson! It’s good to see you again. How have you been?”
Jackson grinned, slapping Jinyoung on the back.
“Hey, Park Gae!” God, Jinyoung forgot about the cute nickname Jackson gave him back in Hong Kong. Jackson waited expectantly, and Jinyoung sighed.
“Sorry. Wang Gae, it’s good to see you again. How have you been?” Jinyoung complied.
“I’m doing well; I’ve actually recently gotten a job here teaching fencing, so I’ll be seeing you guys more often!” Oh. Jinyoung didn’t think Jackson would be staying for that long.
“Hyungs!” Yugyeom finally got up from the couch, having beaten BamBam by a hair and Jinyoung by a mile. Jaebeom grinned endearingly as always, hooking an arm around Yugyeom’s neck and ruffling his hair. “Jaebeom hyung, don’t mess up my hair!”
“What, are you trying to impress the ladies?” Jaebeom teased, and Jinyoung stiffened slightly.
“Yugyeom, have you been trying to impress any ladies-“
Jinyoung started to narrow his eyes, and Yugyeom squawked, pulling himself out of Jaebeom’s grip.
“What- No!” Glancing at Jinyoung’s unwavering glare, Yugyeom immediately looked away and up.
“Kim Yugyeom.”
“Really! Seriously, hyung, no way! No girls.” Yugyeom whined. “I haven’t!” He emphasized the last word.
“No girls?” Jaebeom took this opportunity to tease him further. “What about guys? Any hot men in Thailand who caught your interest?”
Yugyeom glanced back at BamBam, and Jinyoung caught the sly movement.
“There are?” Jinyoung almost screamed, feeling like he might die. His baby brother? Having a crush? Unheard of. Yugyeom had always put dancing first, rejecting everyone. “Who? I must protect my baby brother from them!”
Jackson laughed. “Protect him from them? More like the other way around-“ Yugyeom smacked Jackson on the back.
“Hyung!” The fake tension was eased, and Jinyoung grinned at his brother, ready as always to tease.
“So? Who is it? Do I know him?”
“Well-“ Yugyeom started, and Jinyoung’s jaw dropped. “Not yet.”
“What do you mean not yet?” Jinyoung frowns.
“He’s coming to Korea next week to study dance like I am. You’ll meet him then! Ten hyung is a year older, and BamBam knows him.” The Thai friend nodded.
“He’s a year older? Yugyeom, you’re into older men?” Jaebeom gasped in mock shock, and Yugyeom cackled, shoving the older lightly.
“Hyung, what the hell? He’s only a year older, not like Jinyoung and his young barista love.” Eyes turned to Jinyoung, who immediately began to smack Yugyeom.
“Kim Yugyeom-“
“What’s this about your young barista love?” Jackson was immediately interested.
“He’s not- I’m- How do you know he’s young?” Jinyoung stammered out.
Yugyeom cackled. “Choi Youngjae from Ars Coffee Shop? He tutors me in piano. He’s two years younger than you.” Jinyoung’s mouth dropped open.
God, this was mortifying. Jaebeom’s laughter brought him out of his funk, however. The older man (only by six months, Jackson liked to stress) slapped Jinyoung on the back. “Good for you, Nyoung! You’re finally going for your mans!”
Jinyoung choked something akin to ‘God, I hate you all’ and Yugyeom cackled at his older brother’s misery. However, he noticed Jinyoung’s pained look, and Jaebeom’s hand on his brother’s back, and quieted. “Jaebeom hyung,” the youngest called, “can you play Mario Kart with me? Jinyoung hyung sucks, and I beat BamBam. I wanna play you since you’re basically a grandpa.”
Jaebeom fell for the bait, hook line and sinker, glowering and grabbing the remote BamBam handed him. “All right, brat. Let’s go.”
Jinyoung almost heaved a breath of release and moved to the kitchen to get some water. BamBam followed him, and Jackson sat to watch Yugyeom and Jaebeom compete.
“Hyung-“ BamBam hissed, and Jinyoung tried to ignore him. But BamBam was nothing but persistent. “Hyung, why do you do this to yourself? It’s only hurting you, and in the long run, hurting Jaebeom hyung. This can only end up in two ways. Either you draw away from hyung when it gets too much, and both you and Jaebeom hyung get hurt; you both lose a good friend. Or you don’t and Jaebeom hyung finds out on his own. He’s going to feel bad, Jinyoung hyung. Guilty; he’s going to hate himself. You need to stop this.”
“You think I don’t know?” Jinyoung almost yelled but restrained himself. “God, BamBam, I love him, yes, but he’s also my best friend. I don’t want to just tell him, ‘Hey, I have a crush on you, I need you to never talk to me’, that will just make him sad as well. My best bet is to go out with Youngjae and try to forget.”
BamBam frowned. “Hyung, if you don’t then Youngjae-ssi will get hurt too.” Jinyoung sighed, dropping his head onto the counter. “You don’t have to leave him forever.”
“I know. But it’s not something I want to do. Call me jealous-”
“Am I interrupting something?” Jinyoung turned his head to face Jackson, standing in the kitchen doorway awkwardly. BamBam looked at Jinyoung, who shrugged.
“Might as well tell him, Bam,” Jinyoung sighed. “It’s pointless to hide it.”
Jackson was still confused and Jinyoung was still moping, so BamBam took it upon himself to save them from their misery. Or at least, just explain. After doing so, Jackson’s mouth is agape. “Damn, are you living in a k-drama or something? That’s insane, man.”
Jinyoung almost rolled his eyes, but he’s too tired to do so. Instead, he just got up, drank a glass of water, and smiled tightly at Jackson. “Yeah. I think I’ll go to bed early. Eat whatever, or order something. Don’t let Yugyeom cook.”
As he trudged back into his room, Jaebeom, having just been defeated by Yugyeom, glanced up and saw his best friend leave. “Yugyeom, play against Jackson, okay? I need to ask Jinyoung something. Sounds good?” Yugyeom nodded, engrossed in the game, and Jackson came to play for Jaebeom.
“Jinyoungie, I’m coming in, all right?” Jaebeom knocked gently on his best friend’s door, and he can hear a muffled groan. Jaebeom opened the door and saw Jinyoung lying face down in the bed. “Jinyoungie, what’s wrong?”
“Nuthin’,” Jinyoung mumbled, turning his head off the pillow and away from the door.
“That doesn’t look like nothing, Jinyoung.” The older sighed, stepping forward and sitting in Jinyoung’s desk chair. “Is something the matter?”
Jinyoung didn’t respond, and just pulled a blanket over his head and rolled over some more, enough to wrap himself up like a mummy. Jaebeom sighed again, shifting the chair closer until he’s almost right next to the bed. Jinyoung didn’t move, so Jaebeom reached out and smoothed Jinyoung’s hair. “Hyung-”
Jaebeom’s heart leaps into his chest. He had never heard Jinyoung sound so pitiful ever since the younger had broken his knee cap in middle school. “Jinyoung? What’s wrong?”
“Hyung, I think maybe you should leave me alone.”
With those words, Jaebeom’s heart dropped. Never had he thought he would ever hear Jinyoung say that. Through thick and thin, the two had always stuck together. It was just two years ago Jaebeom found Jinyoung crying alone in his closet and seeing Jinyoung like this again made Jaebeom hurt. He ignores Jinyoung, moving to sit on the bed instead, and wraps an arm around Jinyoung. “Nyoung, I won’t make you talk to me, all right? But I don’t want to leave you alone, and I’ll sit and stay in here. I don’t want you to hurt alone.”
He lay beside Jinyoung, enveloping the younger in his arms, blanket burrito and all, and listened to Jinyoung’s breathing heightened…and then fell as the younger fell asleep.
As much as it hurt Jaebeom to see his best friend like this, he didn’t know what he did hurt Jinyoung more.
When Jinyoung woke, he knew Jaebeom was still there, feeling the older’s arms caressing his arms subconsciously. God, why is Jaebeom like this? Nice one minute and then the next running out the door to meet some girls.
He carefully slid out from between Jaebeom’s arms and adjusted the sheets to cover Jaebeom. As he tiptoed out of his room, he came face to face with Yugyeom, wringing his hands. “Gyeom?” he whispered, “What is it?”
“Hyung-“ Yugyeom was obviously distressed. Jinyoung reached up to brush his bangs out of hair. “ hyung, are you mad at me?”
“Mad? Why would I be mad, baby?”
“I’m gay.“ Jinyoung almost laughed, if not for the look on Yugyeom’s face.
“Baby, I’d never be mad. Look at me and my gayness. Why on Earth would I be mad?” Yugyeom shrugged, still obviously worried. “The only thing I’m unhappy about is the fact you didn’t tell me. But not at you, Gyeom-ah. I’m just worried I failed something as your brother.”
Yugyeom shook his head. “No, hyung. Of course not. You’re the best big brother I could wish for.”
Jinyoung laughed. “Maybe you should get upset more often. I could get used to hearing that.” Yugyeom finally smiled, shoving his brother lightly.
“Hyung, don’t be a dumbass. Come on, let’s eat.” Jinyoung’s mouth dropped open in fake annoyance.
“Yah, respect your elders. Brat.” Jinyoung patted his pockets, before realizing he accidentally left his phone inside the room. He almost groaned audibly, before turning around and opening the door as quietly as he could.
However, that was unnecessary as Jaebeom had already woken, and was seated on the bed and rubbing his eyes. “Hey, hyung,” Jinyoung greeted him almost casually but got the words out slightly too fast.
“Jinyoung, you know you can always talk to me, right?” God, Jinyoung did not want to get into this talk.
“Hyung, I know. I just don’t want to talk about it right now,” Jinyoung sighed. “Maybe one of these days I will, but not right now. Have you seen my phone?”
Jaebeom, knowing that the conversation was over, nodded. “Yeah, it’s on the bed. You were sleeping on top of it.” Jaebeom grabbed it, but before handing it to Jinyoung, smirked. “I texted Youngjae for you.”
“You what?” Jinyoung narrowed his eyes. “Hyung, come on. I was going to get to it.” Jaebeom frowned.
“Really? I distinctly remember multiple times you almost failed a class because you “going to get back to your superiors,” Jinyoung.”
“Hyung, seriously. Maybe school was something, but this is my own business. Stop poking your nose into it. I’ll text Youngjae if I want to, and if I forget, I forget.” Jinyoung rolled his eyes, and Jaebeom’s temper flared.
“Yah, respect your elders, Park Jinyoung. I just wanted you to get out and talk to people. All you do is stay in here all day or work.”
“I’ll respect you once you respect my personal affairs, Jaebeom. And are you saying I’m not exciting because I like to stay inside? Jaebeom, come on. Don’t be daft.”
“I’m just saying-” Jaebeom raised his hands in mock surrender “-going out is fun. It’s an experience.”
“Im Jaebeom, just because you sleep around like a whore-“ Jinyoung slapped his mouth closed, eyes widening, and Jaebeom got up. He was mad. “Hyung, I didn’t mean it.” Jaebeom ignored him, brushing past Jinyoung’s shoulder and leaving the room immediately. Jinyoung sank down onto the floor and almost curses.
He lay there for who knows how long, or at least until his stomach growled, and BamBam pokes his head in. “Jinyoung hyung, are you all right? Jaebeom left in a huff thirty minutes ago and Jackson followed him. What happened?”
“I called him a whore, BamBam. I’m so stupid.” Jinyoung whined, slapping himself. “God, I’m such a dumbass.”
BamBam sighed. “Hyung, what did Jaebeom do? You don’t usually get this angry.”
“It wasn’t his fault-“ Jinyoung tried to defend, but BamBam shook his head.
“It was your own fault you said that, but he must have provoked you.” Jinyoung just groaned, patting the space next to him and BamBam joined him as the older man explained.
Sometime in the middle, Yugyeom joined in and Jinyoung had to explain all over again, getting almost choked up. “Hyung, I think you both were in the wrong. Jaebeom should have let you do your own thing. He’s not that much older than you, and even if he was, you’re an adult,” Yugyeom said.
“When did you two get so wise?” Jinyoung laughed wetly.
BamBam cackled, loud and clear as day. “We’re only wise when it comes to someone else’s affairs. Ours? Not so much. You should’ve seen Yugyeom flail in front of Ten hyung.”
Jinyoung’s eyebrow rose sky-high. “That’s right. Yugyeom, what is this…Ten like?”
The tips of Yugyeom’s ears turned red. “Ten hyung? He’s great. He’s loud and friendly. He likes cats, and he doesn’t like fruit.”
“He doesn’t like what now?”
“Fruit. I don’t know why, but it’s cute,” Yugyeom grinned to himself and BamBam gagged, causing the youngest to reach across Jinyoung and smack his best friend. “But enough about Ten hyung, what did Jaebeom hyung say to Youngjae hyung?”
Jinyoung shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t really look.” Yugyeom leaned over and grabbed the phone.
“Well, let’s check.”
Jinyoung grabbed the phone after a moment of hesitation and unlocked it. (The password was Jaebeom’s birthday but no one needs to know that.) The text, glaringly bright, just said a simple ‘Hey, how r u’ and there’s a moment of silence before Yugyeom burst out laughing.
“Jaebeom hyung thinks he’s slick but he’s just as bad at texting as you,” Yugyeom teases.
“Nah, at least Jaebeom hyung uses slang. Jinyoung hyung sounds like he’s texting a business partner.” Jinyoung smacked both of them, eliciting a few more laughs when Yugyeom gasped.
“Hyung, he’s texting you back-” Jinyoung’s head snaps to the phone where lo, and behold, Youngjae had just responded with a ‘hey, im good, how r u?’
At the prodding of the two youngest, Jinyoung replied, and he and Youngjae ended up starting a conversation. Yugyeom and BamBam exchanged looks before quietly leaving Jinyoung with his new beau.
‘What are u up to?’
               ‘Not much, I’m just lying down. How about you?’
‘LOL ur so formal. And you asked that already. But Im doing the same haha’
               ‘Sounds fun. I’m sure we are very exciting.’
‘How’s life?’
               ‘Boring. How’s yours?’
God, Jinyonug could feel the awkwardness oozing from his texts, and he resisted the urge to smack himself. Before he could, his phone rang, Youngjae was calling him. Jinyoung almost dropped the phone, but answered it quickly, pressing the phone to his ear.
“I think it’d be less awkward if we talked on the phone, yeah?” Youngjae’s bright voice sounded, not dulling even through the phone.
“Yeah, that might be best,” Jinyoung laughed. “How was work? It wasn’t too busy, I hope.”
“No, not at all.” A moment of silence when- “Hey, are you busy today?”
Jinyoung’s heart picked up. “No, not at all. Are you?’
“No.”
More silence, when Youngjae burst out laughing, and by default, so did Jinyoung. Who could resist laughing after Youngjae does, after all? “God, we’re embarrassing,” Jinyoung choked out through giggles.
“No, I think it’s all you. You just enable my awkward ability,” Youngjae teased. “But seriously, do you want to hang out today? I’m done tutoring.”
Tutoring reminded Jinyoung. “Yeah, that sounds good! Speaking of tutoring, I’ve heard you tutor my younger brother, Kim Yugyeom?”
“Wait, seriously? Kim Yugyeom is your brother?” Youngjae sounded flabbergasted and Jinyoung laughed once more.
“Yeah. I took our father’s last name and Yugyeom took our mother’s.”
“That’s neat. Yugyeom is such a cute kid, and he learns well.”
“Yeah, but he’s a brat.” The two of them snicker, and Jinyoung can hear Yugyeom sneeze twice.
“But seriously, do you want to meet up?” Jinyoung nodded, but then realised he’s stupid.
“Ah, yeah. Sure! When and where?”
“Does lunch at Ars Coffee work? I have a worker’s discount...and I own the place so the discount is not needed.” Jinyoung snorted.
“Wow, successful and handsome. I sure hit the jackpot. That sounds good.”
“Oh, haha, very funny. I’ll see you at noon.” Youngjae hung up, and Jinyoung stared at his phone for a few minutes, a stupid grin on his face.
God, he’s excited. He’s probably a little too excited. God, he can’t wait to tell Jaebeom. Jinyoung is brought back down from his emotional high as fast as Yugyeom buying an ice choco. Should he text Jaebeom or let the older cool down? Why did he have to run his mouth? Jaebeom was just trying to help and Jinyoung ruined it.
Unfortunately, today is still not a good day to wallow, Jinyoung has to get ready for his date. Date? Is it a date? Dear LORD Jinyoung’s going on a date. Jaebeom be damned (and thanked), he was a bit overeager and ran straight into the doorframe. “Hyung?” Yugyeom poked his head around the hallway corner. “Everything all right?”
Jinyoung beams. “I have a date.” Yugyeom snickers at Jinyoung’s face.
“God, hyung, you look stupid. But congratulations.” Jinyoung suddenly wiped the smile off his face, straightening up and sending the fear of God into Yugyeom’s heart.
“Kim Yugyeom, I may be going on a date with undeniably the cutest man to exist. But I am still your older brother and will not hesitate to kill you.”
Yugyeom cackled and ran into his room with BamBam, locking the door, and Jinyoung rolled his eyes. When his beloved “Ten hyung” comes around, he’ll have to answer to Jinyoung if he ever hurts Yugyeom.
But look at the time; Jinyoung needed to eat and change if he wanted to be at Ars Coffee at noon. Cereal is the fastest option, but BamBam finished the last of that (damn his sweet tooth), so Jinyoung just got a piece of bread and toasted it. He’s excited about his first date, he’s allowed to rush. By the time he had to leave, he had already tried on five different outfits, deciding on a simple black turtleneck and jeans. “I’m heading out, you two. Don’t cause trouble.”
“Get that dick, hyung!” Jinyoung heard Yugyeom and BamBam chorus from in their room, making a mental note to kill them later. But for now, he had a date he needed to go on.
Due to his excitement, he ended up arriving thirty minutes early, and Jinyoung just ordered and waited. Youngjae came barrelling in twenty minutes later, all smiley and Jinyoung could feel his heart melt. “Jinyoung! Hi!” Youngjae slid in across from him. “I heard you arrived really early; the co-owner and my friend told me.”
Jinyoung laughed, trying to cover up his embarrassment. “Damn, if I ever need to commit some shady business, remind me not to do it here. Your co-workers will just snitch on me.” Youngjae guffawed, the sound echoing in the shop.
“Don’t worry, I’ll vouch for you.” Jinyoung laughs as well.
“Thanks, I’m glad I now have a confidant for all my misadventures,” Jinyoung says, poking Youngjae’s arm.
“How many misadventures have you been getting into?” Youngjae raises a brow. “Last time we met, you were three-timing your boyfriends.” Jinyoung snorts.
“Oh, you have no idea. I rob banks and kill my best friends all the time.” Youngjae laughs once more, and Jinyoung could hear it all day, every day.
"You sound like someone my mother would warn me against," Youngjae teases. "I should stay away from you if I want to keep my reputation up."
Jinyoung chuckles. "Well, what's the fun in that?" He leans across the table slightly. "I say damn your reputation, let's go murder someone."
"I don't think that would fly over very well with my friend Mark, but alright. Tomorrow at seven? Who should we start with?"
Jinyoung snorts, all the possibilities going through his head. "Jaebeom," he says without thinking, and almost takes it back. But Youngjae doesn't know the argument; so he'll live with it.
"Who's that?" Youngjae cocks his head and Jinyoung resists the urge to coo.
“He’s my best friend.” Thankfully Jinyoung’s voice didn’t waver. “Everyone has the moment where you want to kill your best friend, surely.”
“No, I am an angel, couldn’t you tell?” Youngjae teased, and Jinyoung refrained from saying ‘yes.’ He liked Youngjae already; they have a lot in common and Jinyoung forgot all about the ordeal with Jaebeom as he spends time with the younger.
However, his glee was soon cut short when he arrived home and he saw Jaebeom’s shoes kicked off to the side. “Yugyeom-ah, is Jaebeom hyung here?” he asked the younger on the couch. Yugyeom looked up, shock registered on his face.
“Hyung, you weren’t supposed to be home ’til later,” Yugyeom stammered, and Jinyoung furrowed his eyebrows, a frown tugging at the corner of his lips.
“Kim Yugyeom, what is going on?” Jinyoung dropped his book bag onto the floor. “I don’t like it when you lie to me, you know this-“
“Jinyoung, it’s not Yugyeom’s fault.” Jinyoung’s head whipped around, Jaebeom having spoken from around the corner of the kitchen.
“Hyung, what are you doing here?” Jinyoung left Yugyeom on the couch and entered the kitchen, seeing Jaebeom cooking…something. “Well, never mind that, hyung. I guess since you’re here, I should apologise for earlier this morning. What I said was out of line and-“
Jaebeom waved him off. “No, just forget it, Jinyoung. We were both at fault. Let’s just put it behind us, hm? We can’t not be best friends over such a petty fight, right?”
“Yeah, best friends,” Jinyoung chuckled almost lifelessly. Time to shove yet another problem under the carpet. “What are you doing here anyway?”
“What, can’t I visit my best friend?” After a moment of silence, Jaebeom sighed, giving in. “I need to learn how to cook Italian dishes. I invited this girl over for dinner next week, and I want to impress her.”
“Can’t you order Italian takeout?” Jaebeom snorted.
“Takeout can’t cut it.”
“Have you forgotten the Great Noodle Incident, hyung? I don’t think I want you cooking weird recipes in my kitchen.” Jaebeom looked up from the pot to glare at Jinyoung.
“Wasn’t that your idea, Nyoung?”
“Well, I think it’s time for me to go. I’m a little tired, you know?” Jinyoung tried to make his escape, but Jaebeom is nothing if not petty.
“No, no, Jinyoung, please refresh my memory. How did the Great Noodle Incident start?” Jinyoung opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again, before he was saved by the doorbell.
When he enters the living room to answer it, it appears Yugyeom had already opened the door to whoever it is standing outside. “Youngjae ah? What are you doing here?” Jinyoung blinked once, twice, thrice.
“Ah, you just forgot your phone at Ars.” Youngjae held up the device. “I texted Yugyeom for your address; I didn’t know he lives here too.”
“Oh, thanks.” Jinyoung smiled, walking over and taking his phone. “I appreciate it, Youngjae. Would you like to come in for a little? Jaebeom is here and you could meet him.”
Youngjae steps forward a bit. “I mean, I don’t want to intrude, but I would love to meet our murder victim once.” Jinyougn laughed out loud, covering his mouth again.
“That’s right. He’s in the kitchen, cooking who knows what. Maybe you could help him out; you work in the coffee shop so you’re bound to be a better cook.” Youngjae laughed.
“I only know how to make pastries, really, but I could try. What is he attempting?” Jinyoung shrugged.
“Some weird Italian recipe, and I don’t want the apartment burnt down.” Jinyoung led Youngjae to the kitchen, gesturing towards Jaebeom. “Youngjae, Jaebeom. Jaebeom, Youngjae.”
Jaebeom turned around, beaming and bowing. “It’s nice to meet you, Youngjae. I’m glad Jinyoung finally got out of his shell and met someone. Lord knows how long I’ve been trying to get him to go on a date.”
Yeah, cus I want to date you. “Well, how does it feel to have Jinyoung ssi finally go on a date then?” Youngjae saved Jinyoung from his thoughts, and Jinyoung poked Youngjae in the side for the comment.
Jaebeom snorted, slapping Jinyoung on the back. “God, I’m so relieved. I definitely would have thought this kid would become an old miserly man who yells at kids.”
“You are only seven months older than me, hyung. Don’t call me kid,” Jinyoung snapped playfully.
Jaebeom gasped. “Now, where has this attitude come from? Don’t talk back to your elders…kid.” It’s Jinyoung’s turn to chuckle.
“God, you’re so annoying.” Jinyoung turned to Youngjae. “See why I chose him as my first murder victim?”
“I don’t know…I think I like him,” Youngjae teased, and Jinyoung pouted.
“I’m so hurt. I’ve been betrayed,” he cried out, “Yugyeom, you’re the only one I love.”
“Ew, hyung, go away,” called Yugyeom from the other room, and the apartment was filled with laughter. God, Jinyoung was beyond happy Youngjae and Jaebeom are getting along. The two seemed to enjoy each other’s company, Youngjae coming around the counter to read the recipe Jaebeom had left out.
Jinyoung left the kitchen for a little, coming to sit by Yugyeom, who was watching a drama on his phone. “Yugyeom, why weren’t you going to tell me Jaebeom was here?”
Yugyeom didn’t look up from his drama, answering with a, “I thought he would be gone by the time you came back. I didn’t want you two to argue again. You know, hyung is my friend too, but I don’t want to see you hurt.”
Jinyoung sighs. “I know. I’ll try not to argue with him too much.”
“I’m not talking about that, hyung,” Yugyeom said, finally pausing his drama to look at his older brother, only this time Jinyoung avoided Yugyeom’s eyes. “Hyung, come on.”
“Yugyeom, where’s BamBam?” Jinyoung tried to change the subject, but Yugyeom was having none of that.
“He’s getting picked up from work by Jackson. Don’t dodge the situation.” Jinyoung still avoided Yugyeom’s eyes.
“I know. But we have guests, and I don’t want to deal with this just yet.”
“Deal with what?” Youngjae had just come around the corner, having finished with Jaebeom.
“My friend is coming over next week, and Jinyoung hyung doesn’t want to meet him since he thinks I’m going to elope or something,” Yugyeom lied smoothly. Jinyoung resisted the urge to kick him for that comment in thankfulness.
“Ooh, your boyfriend?” Yugyeom choked at Youngjae’s comment.
“No! Ten hyung is just a friend.”
“For now-” Jinyougn snorted, and Yugyeom whined.
“Hyung, seriously. You’re so annoying.” Jinyoung laughed at that, ruffling the younger’s hair.
“I’m just kidding, Yugyeom,” he laughed, and turned to Youngjae. “Are you leaving already?” Youngjae nodded sheepishly.
“Yeah, I have to get back to Ars; Mark co-owns the place with me and his shift is almost over.” Youngjae paused briefly, eyes flicking down to Jinyoung’s lips. Jinyoung catches the sly movement and smiles.
“Here, I’ll walk you down to your car.” Youngjae agreed readily, and the two exited the apartment to the sound of Yugyeom gagging really loudly. Jinyoung swore he’s going to kill Yugyeom one of these days. But not right now.
Right now, Jinyoung was focusing on how he and Youngjae are alone in the elevator, and how the younger keeps glancing at his lips. “Hyung-” Youngjae started to speak, and Jinyoung snapped his head to look at him. “Er- I like Jaebeom and Yugyeom. They’re very nice.”
Jinyoung beamed. “I’m glad I know them. As much as they annoy me, they are good friends.”
The silence became deafening again, and lasted until Youngjae and Jinyoung were standing in front of the younger’s car. “Hyung, thanks for letting me hang out for a little,” Youngjae said, and before Jinyoung could react, leant forward and pressed a kiss to the older’s lips before getting in his car and waving.
Jinyoung barely had the mind to wave back before Youngjae started the car and left. He remained in his daze all the way back up to his apartment, where Yugyeom finally had the sense to leave Jinyoung alone and let his brother go into his room without a hitch. Jaebeom, however, isn’t as kind, leaving Yugyeom with instructions on when to take whatever food he’s made out of the oven.
“So, Jinyoungie-ya! How did your date go?” Jaebeom rested against the bedroom door frame, grinning wide like the Cheshire Cat. God, Jinyoung would kiss the smirk off Jaebeom’s face if he could. Unfortunately, for one, he’s on his bed and wrapped up in blankets. And second, Jaebeom might punch him.
Jinyoung frowned with no spite. “It was good, hyung. I really like Youngjae. I’m glad I met him.” Jaebeom nodded once, twice.
“That’s…good. I’m glad, Jinyoungie. You deserve someone in your life.” Jaebeom smiled, but Jinyoung can feel something off about it. He pushes the feeling to the side; Jaebeom was probably still a little upset about the argument earlier.
“Hyung, come here,” Jinyougn smiled lightly, lifting up the blankets, and Jaebeom laughed, walking forward and cuddling up with Jinyoung.
“I forgot you’re so clingy sometimes,” Jaebeom teased, and Jinyoung snoted, kicking Jaebeom lightly in the shin.
“Don’t be mean, hyung,” Jinyonug whined and Jaebeom laughed again, wrapping his arm around Jinyoung’s waist. The younger could feel his heartstrings tugging, but he ignored the feeling, as he’s done all those years. “Hyung?”
“Yes, Nyongie?” Jaebeom was sleepy, and Jinyonug couldn’t blame him. He spent all this time cooking, and paired with the argument this morning, Jinyoung could understand why he’s tired.
“I love you,” Jinyoung whispered, and Jaebeom just groaned, pressing his cheek into Jinyoung.
“Love you too, Nyoung,” he mumbled out a reply before cuddling even closer, and Jinyoung almost cried. Thankfully, he didn’t (how embarrassing would that be) and instead fell asleep against his friend for the second time that day.
They’re woken up an hour later by Jackson, who had returned with BamBam and three cartons of ice-cream and the promise of a movie night. Well, Jinyoung wasn’t going to protest, especially since he didn’t have to pay for either dinner or the ice-cream.
Unfortunately, Jackson chose the movie, and as expected, it was an Iron Man movie. Jinyoung doesn’t know which one; he’s given up on paying attention. Instead, he’s crowded in between Jackson and Jaebeom, the former’s hand slightly uncomfortably high up on Jinyoung’s thigh. Jaebeom looked at the hand on Jinyoung’s thigh unhappily, wrapping his arm around Jinyoung again.
God, it was almost domestic, and Jinyoung could feel the warmth of his crush rise again. Why did he do this? He liked Youngjae; why did Jaebeom have to do this to him?
Jinyoung was suffocating, he couldn't handle this contact. He stood up abruptly, Jaebeom looking up with his eyebrows furrowed and Jackson frowning slightly. Yugyeom stayed silent, as did BamBam.
“Jinyoung-ah, are you all right?” Jackson speaks first. Jinyoung looked at him, eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights.
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “I don’t know.”
At that, Yugyeom stood up, guiding him away from the group. “Hyung, go get a glass of water and go lie down in your room, all right?” Jinyoung nodded blankly, leaving, and as Jaebeom made to stand up, Yugyeom stopped him. “Jaebeom hyung, I don’t think you should go with him. Just enjoy the movie with Jackson hyung, all right?”
Jaebeom glared, but Yugyeom stood firm, and Jaebeom didn’t want to go against the wishes of Jinyoung’s younger brother and so he relented.
Yugyeom found Jinyoung in his room, as he was told, sitting against the bed on the floor and clutching the water in both hands. Yugyeom sighed at his brother’s obviously distressed state. “Hyung, drink the water. Holding it isn’t going to help,” he tried to joke, but it fell flat.
Jinyoung lifted the cup to his lips, taking small sips and Yugyeom sat next to him. “Yugyeom, why did this have to happen to me?” Jinyoung asked solemnly, and the brothers sighed in unison.
“Hyung, I think maybe you should take time off from seeing Jaebeom hyung. It’s doing nothing but hurting you.” Jinyoung finished his cup of water, and Yugyeom took it, putting it on the desk.
“Yugyeomie, I can’t.” Jinyoung’s plea almost broke Yugyeom��s heart. “He’s first and foremost my best friend.” Yugyeom tentatively wrapped his arms around Jinyoung, pulling his older brother into a tight hug, and Jinyoung choked out a sob.
“Hyung, I’ll handle it with Jaebeom, all right? I’m sure he just wants you to be happy.” Jinyoung didn’t respond, crying silently into Yugyeom’s chest.
Sooner or later, Jinyougn was too exhausted, and fell asleep in Yugyeom’s arms, the third time today. Yugyeom didn’t move, too worried to wake up the older, and Jaebeom quietly opened the door and poked his head in.
“Is he doing all right?” Jaebeom walked in further, leaning down and brushing a piece of hair out of Jinyoung’s mouth.
Yugyeom sighed, looking up at Jaebeom. “Hyung, I don’t think he can see you and Jackson any more.” Jaebeom’s eyes widened.
“What do you mean?”
“Hyung, it’s not like that,” Yugyeom added hastily. “I just think that he’s been overstressed with work and making sure you and Jackson don’t notice. I’m forcing him to take a few days off. BamBam has to stay since he doesn’t have a place to stay, but I want Jinyoung to indulge in what he wants. Haven’t you noticed he started rejecting you subconsciously?”
Jaebeom’s frown deepened, but he made no comment. Of course he’s noticed the way Jinyoung flinches when Jaebeom initiates physical contact, the way he avoids Jaebeom’s eyes. “I just don’t want Jinyoung by himself.”
“He won’t be alone, hyung. I promise. I’ll keep an eye on him, and so will BamBam.” Yugyeom reassured, and Jaebeom backed off. Yugyeom knows what he’s doing, Jaebeom reminds himself.
“All right. Jackson and I will be going then. Make sure Jinyoung feels better soon, all right? Can’t have my best friend die on me.” Yugyeom nodded and Jaebeom finally left.
Yugyeom stayed in Jinyoung’s room for the rest of the night, lifting Jinyoung into his bed and curling up next to him. At some point, BamBam had joined the cuddle party, and when Jinyoung awakened, he didn’t want to leave. He didn’t for a long while, but the cuddle party overheated him, so he wriggled his way out of Yugyeom’s arms carefully.
As he made his way into the kitchen, his phone buzzed, and looking at it, Jinyoung noticed Youngjae had texted him, asking him if he wanted to come over today. ‘Mark is at a friend’s for the whole day so we could hang out and watch movies or something’ the text read, and Jinyoung’s heart leapt into his throat.
He responded quickly, agreeing readily, and asked for a time. Youngjae responded just as fast, offering five in the evening, and Jinyoung accepted. He poked his head into his room to see Yugyeom and BamBam still asleep, curled around each other.
He didn’t want to wake them up; it must have been the jet lag getting to them, so Jinyoung let them sleep in. They looked so peaceful anyway; Jinyoung would’ve felt bad if he woke them. But when he tried to exit the room, the buzz of his phone alerting him to a new text alerted BamBam as well. “Hyung?” the Thai man groggily opened his eyes. “Good morning.”
Jinyoung threw him a smile. “Morning, Bam,” he responded, keeping his voice low. “Did you have a good night?”
BamBam sat up, Yugyeom’s head on his chest falling to his lap. “Yeah. Hyung, are you doing all right?” Jinyoung shrugged.
“As good as I can do now. Don’t wake up Yugyeom, all right?” BamBam nodded, looking down at the youngest in his lap. “I’ll be going out later on this evening to see Youngjae.”
BamBam wriggled his eyebrows, and Jinyoung restrained himself from hitting his brother’s friend. “Get that ass, Jinyoung.”
“If anything, Youngjae will get this ass,” Jinyoung stated smoothly, and before BamBam could recover from his shock, exited the room smoothly.
As he glanced down at his phone, three missed calls from an unknown number were there, and Jinyougn frowned, swiping the notifications away. It was probably a telemarketer; Jinyoung had been getting a lot of those calls recently. No big deal, Jinyoung just blocked the number without a hitch.
Breakfast is more important than weird phone calls, anyway. He can’t cook to save his life, but Jinyoung does know Jaebeom kept leftovers from yesterday in the fridge. He’s still unsure whether he likes the ziti, or whatever Jaebeom made, but it’s food.
He popped a plate of ziti into the microwave, keeping an eye on the timer to stop it before it beeped and woke up Yugyeom. But he didn’t need to; Yugyeom had awoken and was coming around the corner. “Hyung, why didn’t you wake me up?”
Jinyoung shrugged. “You looked so peaceful. I didn’t want to wake you up.” This was apparently the wrong thing to say, Yugyeom smirked.
“Aw, is my big bro being soft for his favorite brother?” Jinyoung swiped at Yugyeom, who dodged easily.
“Brat.”
Yugyeom cackled at his older brother’s misery, a regular occurence in this household. Jinyoung did his best to ignore him, instead sending a few cat pictures to Jaebeom. Surprisingly, the older didn’t respond right away, but Jinyoung shrugged it off, pinning it down to Jaebeom probably forgetting to charge his phone again.
BamBam needed yet another ride to work, so Jinyoung offered to take him to get his mind off the upcoming date. Yugyeom wanted to tag along, and Jinyoung knew if that happened, they’d be making two different stops to get food. But Yugyeom shot him with the puppy eyes, and Jinyoung could feel himself give in. Damn him and his soft heart. Thank god Jackson would pick them up instead of him.
And, as expected, Jinyoung waited outside a convenience store as Yugyeom and BamBam bought ramen. As he waited, someone came up to him. The man looked vaguely attractive; his features fit each other perfectly and gave him a gorgeous aura. “Excuse me?” Jinyoung pinched himself discreetly to get him out of his funk.
“How may I help you?” The stranger offered a slight smile, and Jinyoung had to focus really hard on his eyes instead of his lips.
“I’m a little lost; I just arrived and I was wondering if you knew where Seoul National University is.” Jinyoung ‘ah’ed in understanding.
“Yeah, it’s a little far from here. Which airport did you come from?” The person ran a hand through his hair sheepishly.
“Gimpo Airport.”
Jinyoung snorted. “Apologies,” he said quickly, covering his mouth with his hand, “you went in the opposite direction.”
The stranger’s mouth opened, but he had nothing to say except a crass phrase, and Jinyoung snorted again. “Sorry- God, I’m an idiot.”
“No, it’s not a big deal. You can take the bus to University; there’s a bus that stops a few miles away. Or, you could take a taxi.” Jinyoung offered, and the man nodded.
“Yeah, thank you. Where’s the bus stop?” Jinyoung pointed out the way and the bus he had to take. “Thank you again, I appreciate it.” The man flashed a smile and Jinyoung could feel his knees shaking, but stood firm.
“No problem. Good luck.” As soon as the man turned the corner, Yugyeom ran up with the instant noodles in his hands.
“Hyung! We got the noodles.”
“Yah, what took you so long, brat?” Jinyoung pinched Yugyeom’s ear. “It’s cold.”
Yugyeom whined, and BamBam laughed at his friend’s misfortune before Jinyoung grabbed his ear too. “Hyung-“ the two youngest groaned, and Jinyoung huffed.
“Eat your noodles, or else you’ll be late, BamBam.” Jinyoung rolled his eyes, and BamBam cackled.
Yugyeom had kindly gotten him a packet of juice from the store, and as BamBam and Yugyeom made fun of each other, Jinyoung sipped on the juice like a mom watching their kids play in the pool. They arrived at BamBam’s work, a dance studio, and as BamBam stepped out, so did Yugyeom. Jinyoung threw him a questioning look, and Yugyeom smiled.
“I’m going to apply to work here,” Yugyeom explained, and Jinyoung nodded in understanding. “Don’t be too loud, Hyung. Youngjae’s neighbors might call the police.”
Jinyoung’s face hardened, and Yugyeom and BamBam ran into the building cackling like the little devils they are. “Yah, Kim Yugyeom,” he muttered under his breath, well aware the taller man couldn't hear him.
But now was not the time to sulk around at his younger brother’s (loving) disrespect, he needed to get home and change for his date. On the way home, he passed by the bus stop he directed the stranger from earlier to, and saw the man sitting on the bench. Jinyoung laughed quietly, the situation was kind of funny once you thought about it.
Jinyoung remembered when he and Yugyeom had first moved to Seoul from Jinhae-gu. The younger had gotten lost so many times, and Jinyoung had gotten lost even more times trying to find Yugyeom. He hoped the stranger would be able to find his way around. Though, with that pretty face, Jinyoung didn’t think he would have any trouble getting help.
The stranger reminded Jinyoung a little of Jaebeom. When the older had first gone to Jinhae-gu to meet Jinyoung’s family, Jaebeom was lost at almost all times of the day. It was adorable, and honestly, Jinyonug felt a sense of satisfaction from feeling helpful to Jaebeom. Hopefully, I can be the same for Youngjae, Jinyoung thought as he pulled into the parking area of his apartment building.
He had about ten minutes to change before he had to leave again, and Jinyoung was too lazy to dress a little nicer, so he just threw on some jeans and an orange sweater that BamBam had tried (keyword: tried) to convince Jinyoug to get rid of. It was a comfy sweater, though, and Jinyoung liked it. Fuck BamBam.
Jinyoung remained proud of his sweater all the way up to when he texted Youngjae, letting him know he’s there. But as soon as Youngjae opened the door and looked at his shirt, Jinyoung could feel his ears turn red. “Hey,” Youngjae laughed. “I like your sweater.”
Jinyoung scrunched his nose, ears turning slightly red. “Thanks. I like it too.”
“No, seriously,” Youngjae patted Jinyoung on the back. “It’s not something that would look good on anyone, but you pull it off.”
“The more you talk about it the more self-conscious I get, you know?” Youngjae didn't respond, just laughed, and led Jinyoung up three flights of stairs. Youngjae’s apartment was comfortable, small enough for two people, with a lot of plants everywhere. The couch was a beige, matching the white rug, which Jinyoung wondered how it was so clean.
If he had a rug like that, Yugyeom would have spilt chocolate on it six times, BamBam would have dropped lipstick just as much, and Jaebeom’s cats would have ripped it to shreds whenever the older brought them over. “Do you like it?” Jinyoung looked up at Youngjae, and nodded.
“It’s very neat. Where did you get your barstools?” Youngjae snorted.
“Yardsale. Mark just repainted them.” Jinyoung chuckled, but Youngjae motioned him toward the couch and made him sit down. “Let me get some water and then we can look for something to watch, sound good?”
Jinyoung nodded again, it seemed like the only thing he could do right now. Youngjae walked behind the counter, and Jinyoung dug his feet into the rug, appreciating the softness of it. “How is this rug so clean?” he wondered aloud, and Youngjae sighed.
“It wasn’t. But I banned Mark from being on the rug with snacks after I got it professionally cleaned.” Jinyoung laughed.
“Is he that messy?”
“Not on purpose, no, but he likes to eat chips a lot, and the crumbs get all over the rug. I wouldn’t have minded if he ate gummies,” Youngjae gripes, returning with two glasses of water. “I brought you a glass too just in case.”
Jinyoung thanked Youngjae, bringing the glass to his lips and taking a sip, not noticing how Youngjae’s eyes moved to his eyes. “What movie do you want to watch?” Jinyoung asked, and Youngjae smirked, eyes moving back up to Jinyoung’s eyes.
“Aren’t I supposed to ask that?” Jinyoung hummed.
“Well, I like most movies. Romance, comedy, and horror are some of my favorite genres. Do with that as you will.” Jinyoung winked at Youngjae, and Youngjae laughed breathily.
“I like romance and comedy as well, but I don't sit well with horror.” Youngjae turned on the TV, scrolling through Netflix’s menus, before the two of them finally settled on some obscure comedy neither had ever heard of.
To be frank, Jinyoung was the only one paying attention to the movie. Youngjae couldn’t keep his eyes off Jinyoung’s profile, especially when the older one laughed loudly. Sooner or later, Youngjae found himself leaning in and Jinyoung turned his head and smiled flusteredly. “Hyung,” Youngjae starts breathily, “may I kiss you?”
Jinyoung whined out a yes, and Youngjae pressed his lips against Jinyoung’s tentatively, both men closing their eyes. Youngjae’s lips were chapped while Jinyoung’s were soft, and the difference was felt almost immediately. Youngjae attempted to lick his lips while still kissing Jinyoung, and as expected, Jinyoung parted his lips slightly. Youngjae jolted slightly, surprised, but got back into the groove of things.
He pressed further, Jinyoung’s back pushed into the arm of the couch. It wasn’t quite that comfortable, but Jinyoung ignored the feeling, instead opening his mouth a little wider. Youngjae took this opportunity and ran his tongue along the seam of Jinyoung’s teeth.
The whimper that came out of Jinyoung’s mouth surprised both of them, and Jinyoung quickly tried to explain himself. He started with a, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”, but was quickly cut off by Youngjae leaning forward and kissing him again.
The two kissed for what seemed like hours, but it was only about five minutes before Jinyoung broke away and whined out, “Can I suck you off, please?” The plea goes straight to Youngjae’s dick who nodded quickly and shifted backwards on his butt to let Jinyoung lean forward.
Jinyoung reached for Youngjae’s sweatpants, pulling it down as quickly as he could. However, before he removed Youngjae’s boxers, Jinyoung slid off the couch onto his knees and adjusted Youngjae to sit with his legs on either side of Jinyoung’s body. He then leans in.
“Fuck.” The obscenity spouted out of Youngjae’s mouth as soon as Jinyoung pressed his lips against Youngjae’s covered crotch. “Fuck, hyung.”
Jinyoung laughed breathily, the feeling making Youngjae moan, and Jinyoung pulled down his boxers at last, freeing Youngjae’s cock. “Youngjae-yah,” is all Jinyoung whined before leaning forward and licking a stripe up the younger one’s cock.
Before Youngjae could react, Jinyoung sucked the dick into his mouth and dipped his tongue into the slit. “Hyung-” Jinyoung looked up through his eyelashes at Youngjae and Youngjae almost creamed his pants. “Hyung, if you keep going I might cum right now,” Youngjae breathed.
Jinyoung popped off Youngjae’s cock with an obscene sound, and smirked, his full lips bitten to shame. “Good.” Youngjae swore he saw heaven and hell at the same time when Jinyoung sucks his cock down until his lips wrap around the base.
Youngjae’s hips twitched, and Jinyoung moaned, moaned, and swallowed around Youngjae’s dick. “Fuck, Jae-yah. Fuck my mouth,” Jinyoung rasped, popping off Youngjae’s cock and licking up the beading pre-cum. As soon as Jinyoung slid Youngjae’s cock back into his mouth, Youngjae gave him a questioning look, and Jinyoung nodded to reassure the younger.
Youngjae gave a few testing thrusts, and when all Jinyoung did was relax and open his jaw even wider, his thrusts built up until Jinyoung was drooling all down his chin and crying. It was when Jinyoung brushed his tongue alongside the bottom of Youngjae’s cock when the imaginary band around Youngjae’s cock snapped.
Youngjae cummed. His ears burned; he hadn’t meant to cum like a teenage boy watching porn for the first time, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.
“God, Jinyoung,” Youngjae wheezed. “How on Earth are you so good at this?” Jinyoung chuckles, the sound throaty and rough.
“Practice from college...and my three girlfriends,” he joked as an afterthought.
“Do you need any help?” Youngjae offered, but Jinyoung glanced at the TV and then the clock. The movie was over, and Jinyoung would have to pick something up for dinner.
“No, maybe next time,” Jinyoug sighed, throwing Youngjae a wink and a smile. “I have to feed the kiddos.”
Youngjae laughed, bright and loud as always. “Can’t let them starve. Drive safe back.” He leaned forward, planting a much more sweet and much less sensual kiss on Jinyoung’s lips. Something that Jaebeom would do. Jinyoung’s ears burned; he just sucked off Youngjae, why is he thinking about Jaebeom. “Jinyoung?”
Youngjae’s voice brought Jinyoung back to his senses, and he smiled.
“Will do.”
On the way home, Jinyoung couldn’t stop thinking about why Jaebeom suddenly popped into his head. Fuck it.
Jinyoung steered to the side of the road, parking in front of a convenience store, and called Youngjae. “Jinyoung?”
“Hey, Youngjae,” Jinyoung said, voice thick. “Um, I don’t think this will work out. I’m really sorry, I did like you in that way. But I also have feelings for someone else and I don’t want to lead you on. It’s nothing against you, I just-”
Youngjae cut him off. “No, it’s okay, Jinyoung. It’s Jaebeom, isn’t it?” Jinyoung paused.
“How’d you know?”
“I saw how you looked at him, and how he looked at you.” Jinyoung snorted.
“Oh, he’s not gay. But I just don’t think I could date you if I had major feelings for him as well,” Jinyoung laughed shortly.
He could hear Youngjae sigh in the background. “Well, whatever you say. But hey, if you ever want to, my door is open. After all, I am a lonely old man,” Youngjae ended with a joke, and Jinyoung scoffed.
“If you’re old, what am I?”
“An ancient and wise sage. Bye, hyung,” Youngjae snarked before hanging up, and Jinyoung stuck his middle finger up at the phone screen even though he knew it would do nothing. Glancing to the side, Jinyoung decided to pop into the store before heading to Jaebeom’s apartment.
He picked up a few bottles of soju and some packets of snacks before paying and leaving. Before he started driving, though, he texted Yugyeom to let him know he would be late in getting home. For some reason, Jinyoung didn’t tell the younger he was going to Jaebeom’s place, chalking it up to the fact Yugyeom would probably berate him.
He arrived at Jaebeom’s floor, letting himself in with the key given to him when the apartment was leased, and saw something he hadn’t meant to.
Jinyoung was going to confess.
Really.
He was.
But Jaebeom was shirtless, and there was a naked man. Yes, man. Standing next to him. And when Jinyoung says naked, he means naked. The man had nothing but a pair of lace underwear on, and one of Jaebeom’s tank tops. Something he did not want to see. And definitely not next to Jaebeom.
Jinyoung dropped the bag of food and just as Jaebeom opened his mouth in disbelief, booked it out of the apartment. Jinyoung forwent the elevator, just thundering down the stairs and into his car before driving just past the speed limit to reach his home.
When he burst into his door, Yugyeom looked up, shocked at his brother’s face. Before Yugyeom could even say anything, Jinyoung choked out a, “Don’t,” before practically running into his room and slamming the door.
A reasonable reaction.
What wasn’t a reasonable reaction, however, was the fact that Jinyoung stayed holed up in his room for a week. Yugyeom tried picking the lock, but Jinyoung had moved his desk in front of the door. He only took the food left in front of the door once it was cold, and answered no calls.
Worried was an understatement when it came to how his friends and family were feeling. His mother called multiple times at the prodding of Yugyeom, and hell, even Youngjae came over to try to coax him out of his room.
Jinyoung wouldn’t budge, however. He refused to even open the door. It just hurt. Jinyoung didn’t know the exact reason.
Was it the fact Jaebeom never told him he was gay? Jinyoung knew it could have been a one time thing or the older had just found out, but it still hurt. Maybe it was because Jinyoung had finally picked up the courage to tell Jaebeom how he felt, but then...that situation happened.
Jinyoung doesn’t even want to think about it, but he couldn’t. He tried opening his laptop to work, but his mind inevitably wandered to Jaebeom and the stranger’s look of surprise. He tried reading his English dictionary, but he saw the notes Jaebeom doodles in them in secondary school, and his heart wrenched.
He knew he was wallowing, he knew it was insanely and exceedingly unhealthy. But staying in his room and crying just seemed so much safer than going out into the world.
But Yugyeom was not having any of that. He was not ready to watch his older brother decay, and so, forced the door open and pushed the desk forward just enough to get through and into Jinyoung’s room, closing and locking the door behind him.
“Hyung, talk to me,” Yugyeom pleaded when he sat on the bed next to Jinyoung’s bundled up body.
Hearing his baby brother on the verge of tears and begging, Jinyoung finally released the dam, head buried in the younger one’s lap. He sobbed for hours, Yugyeom just petting his hair. He didn’t know how long he cried, but he did know at some point, he had fallen back asleep. Crying takes a lot of energy, you know.
When he wakes up, Yugyeom is still there, still holding him. “Hyung, do you want to talk about it,” Yugyeom tried to coax Jinyoung to speak, and Jinyoung sighed. He really couldn’t wallow all week about this; this was just sad.
Jinyoung swallowed once, twice, then started to explain. The entire time, Yugyeom kept a neutral face, but Jinyoung could see the pity in his eyes. “So...in conclusion, I’m an idiot,” Jinyoung laughed, voice rasped and tired.
Yugyeom clucked his tongue, sighing. “No, hyung, you’re not. You were just shocked and hurt. We can’t help how we feel.” Jinyoung shrugged.
“I know, Gyeom-ah. I just don’t want it to hurt that much.” Yugyeom nodded and Jinyoung returned his head to his younger brother’s lap.
“Hyung, I’m going to take you out.” Jinyoung’s eyes snapped to Yugyeom’s face, and Yugyeom blanched. “Not like that, dumbass! I’ll take you around town tomorrow; we’ll just forget the past few days, all right? Ten hyung will be in the dance studio as well, and you can meet him.”
Jinyoung just grunted, worn out, and Yugyeom petted him back to sleep, slipping out of the room and into the kitchen where Jaebeom was waiting worriedly. “Is he doing all right?” was the first question out of Jaebeom’s mouth, and Yugyeom shrugged.
“He’s as good as he’ll be, hyung. He’s unhappy, maybe disappointed, but I don’t know when he will be out of his funk,” Yugyeom explained. “I’m taking him to meet Ten hyung tomorrow, hopefully that can get his mind off the fact you never told him you were bi. He must have felt so hurt seeing you.” Yugyeom wisely left out the part where Jinyoung also had a crush on him.
From the tone of his voice, Jaebeom could tell Yugyeom was mad at him. “Look, I didn’t...I didn’t think it was important.” Jaebeom wrung his hands. “Not that I didn’t want to tell him. I just-”
“Don’t give me excuses,” Yugyeom snapped. “You hurt my brother. Unintentional, or not, you withheld it for your own personal reasons. I can’t stay angry for long, but I advise you to get out of the apartment for now.” Jaebeom took a step back, pausing, but left soon after.
Yugyeom slumped over the counter, tired out. He hadn’t meant to snap at Jaebeom; who was he to be angry about Jaebeom hiding when he had done the same thing to Jinyoung? Well, the difference was that Jinyoung hyung doesn’t have a crush on me, he thought.
He really hoped meeting Ten hyung would bring Jinyoung out of his slump, but he doubts that it would happen. But maybe, just for a short while, it would distract Jinyoung.
So, when Yugyeom drove Jinyoung to the studio and Ten hyung was waiting outside, he really didn’t expect Jinyoung to laugh and say, “Oh, the lost guy! I didn’t know you were Yugyeomie’s ‘Ten hyung.’”
“Hyung, you know him?” Jinyoung nodded.
“Yeah, when I was driving BamBam to work, he asked me for directions.” Yugyeom’s mouth dropped open.
“No way,” he laughed. “Hyung, you literally know everyone.” Jinyoung snorted, pulling Yugyeom’s ear, and the three of them headed into the dance studio.
“Ten hyung, did you know Jinyoungie used to be a dancer as well?” Yugyeom began to say, and Jinyoung groaned, attempting to swat at Yugyeom.
“Kim Yugyeom, I swear-” Yugyeom dodged him, cackling. Ten watched, amused.
“Well. I’m sure you will be able to keep up with me and Yugyeom, then?” Jinyoung shook his head.
“Oh, no no, I’m not going to dance.” Yugyeom smirked, and Jinyoung rolled his eyes. “Seriously. You can’t make me.”
Jinyoung flopped on the ground, sweaty and tired. “Love you too, hyung,” Yugyeom teased, poking Jinyoung’s sweaty forehead. Jinyoung grabbed the younger’s hand, pulling him down to wrestle, and Ten laughed.
“Okay, you two kids, no more fooling around,” Ten jokingly reprimanded. “Jinyoung-ssi; I didn’t expect you to catch up to me and Yugyeom this easily.”
Jinyoung snorted, flicking his hair out of his face. “I’m not that old, you know. I’m only, what, two years older than you? It’s only been three years since I graduated, too.”
Ten’s head cocked. “Really? I didn’t know that. Somehow I thought you would be older.” His lips pulled into a sweet smile, and Jinyoung could see Yugyeom mirror the smile. He laughed internally at his brother’s obvious crush. It was wholesome, cute, and not like his own trash bin of a love life. He winced at the memory of Jaebeom’s face when he caught him at his apartment yesterday, and the motion didn’t go unnoticed by Yugyeom.
“Hyung, do you wanna get us something to eat? I want to ask Ten hyung something.” Jinyong nodded quickly, eager to get his thoughts out of the dumpster.
“Yeah, I’ll just pop over to the convenience store a block down, do you guys want anything specific?”
After Ten and Yuyeom threw their dozens of orders at him and Jinyoung forced them to write it down, he slipped out the door and studio, walking down the road in the brisk and cool weather. Unfortunately, Jinyoung had forgotten his jacket. The sun was out, though, so Jinyoung wasn’t too unhappy. It was just a quick walk and the store would probably be warmer than outside.
Inside the store, Jinyoung was in the middle of a purchase, when he heard his name being called. “Jinyoung-ssi!” Ten was waving to him from outside the store. Jinyoung finished up his purchase, taking the plastic bag and meeting Ten outside as the two of them began the way back.
“Hey, Ten. What’s up?”
“I wanted to return your jacket; it’s a bit windy.” A pause, and then Ten opened his mouth, “Jinyoung-ssi, does Yugyeom have a crush on me?”
Jinyoung choked on the juice pack he had opened on the walk. “You should ask him that yourself, Ten-ah.”
Ten ignored him, going on with his thoughts. “I like him, but not in that way. And I don’t want to let him down; he’s a good friend.”
Jinyoung sighed. “Ten, seriously. You need to ask Yugyeom yourself, and tell him yourself. He’s a good kid, and sensible. He won’t take it to heart.”
“I suppose so.” They’re quiet until they reach the building, where Yugyeom was waiting in the lobby.
“We’re not supposed to eat in the dance room, so we gotta eat here, hyungs,” Yugyeom said, taking the bag from Jinyoung and rifling through it for his tteokbokki chips. “Ah, hyung, you forgot my sweet potato snacks.”
Jinyoung rolled his eyes. “Yugyeom, you consume an unholy amount of those at the apartment, you can deal with me forgetting them this time.” At Ten’s look, he added, “I’m running to the bathroom. Don’t touch my snacks.”
While in the bathroom, Jinyoung debated listening in the hallway to hear what Ten and Yugyeom had to say, but he decided against it. Yugyeom was old enough to make decisions himself.
As he waited for a reasonable amount of time for Ten and Yugyeom to stop talking, his phone binged with a text from the unknown number from earlier. The text read, ‘This is Mark, Youngjae’s roommate,’ and Jinyoung paused.
He took a screenshot, sending it to Youngjae, but the younger didn’t respond. He’s probably busy at Ars. As he slipped his phone back into his pocket, he stepped into the hallway where Ten was waiting. “Hey, Jinyoung-ssi. So. Would you like good news or bad news first?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” Ten smiled awkwardly, “Yugyeom felt like he needed space to get over me, so he went home. The good news is he still wants to be friends as well. The bad news is that I take the bus and can’t give you a ride home.”
Jinyoung sighed, running a hand through his hair. Of course Yugyeom would do that. “It’s fine, I’ll just call a friend to take me home,” he bit out, not quite angry but not exactly happy either.
He called Jackson almost immediately. “Hey, Park Gae, what’s up?”
“Jackson, I need a ride home. Yugyeom left me at the dance studio.” Jinyoung ripped his phone away from his ear. Jackson had yelled into the phone with excitement.
“Dance? I didn’t know you danced, Jinyoungie-ah! I wanna see you sometime!”
“Yeah, no,” Jinyoung said almost immediately, “but I do need a ride home.”
Jackson laughed. “About that...sorry, no can do. I’m out of town for the weekend. I know you’re not on speaking terms with Jaebeom, but you could try to ask him. I don’t know what’s going on with you two. But I’m sure he’ll be fine with driving you.”
“...Yeah.” Jackson hung up, unaware of Jinyoung’s hesitation. Looks like he’s out of the option. Jinyoung rang up Youngjae next, but he didn’t answer again. Looks like Jinyoung needed to take the bus. As he pocketed his phone, that unknown number from earlier claiming they were Mark called, and Jinyoung, at his wit’s end, answered.
“Is this Park Jinyoung?” The voice on the other end was deep, especially through the phone, and Jinyoung felt like if he wasn’t so obsessed with Jaebeom, he might fall in love with this voice as well.
“Yes, why?” The voice laughed.
“I’m Youngjae’s roommate. Youngjae, say hi to your ex.” Jinyoung choked, and he could hear Youngjae in the background.
“Why are you calling Jinyoung? How’d you get his number?” Jinyoung couldn’t not laugh at the confusion laced in Youngjae’s voice.
“Anyways,” Mark, Jinyoung presumed, continued on, “I texted you because I have something I need to clear up with you. Can we meet up?”
Jinyoung frowned. “What do you need to clear up? I’ve never met you in my life.”
“You’ve met me once. At Jaebeom’s apartment.” Jinyoung’s heart raced.
“I’m not sure I would want to meet up with you, then. For one, you slept with my best friend when I didn’t even know my best friend liked men,” Jinyoung took a deep breath.  “And for two, I saw your dick hanging out some lacy underwear. I don’t think I could look at you straight in the eye after that.”
Mark laughed loudly, and if he strained his ears, Jinyoung could hear Youngjae in the back laughing just as loudly. “Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. That...was not what was supposed to happen. Look, man, I promise I’m not evil. Ars is closed today; I’ll even bring Youngjae along. Is that fine with you?”
Jinyoung sighed. “Sure. I guess so. You’re going to have to pick me up though, Yugyeom left me at Easy Dance Studio.” Mark snorted.
“Is this your super secret plan to use me as a chauffeur?” Jinyoung finally laughed at that, agreeing between breaths. “I knew it. We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
They were five minutes late, but Jinyoung didn’t think about it. He was too busy trying to avoid Mark’s eyes as he slid into the backseat and fiddled with his fingers. “Hey, Jinyoung,” Youngjae leaned around the passenger seat, offering Jinyoung a soft smile. “How was your week?”
“Shitty-” Jinyoung said without thinking, and both Mark and Youngjae laughed.
“Sounds like it,” Mark said, and paused for a split second before words came tumbling out of his mouth. To be honest, half of it was in English and Jinyonug only understood the words ‘sorry,’ and ‘Jaebeom,’ and ‘never.’
“Hold up, Mark-ssi. Can you speak in Korean?” Jinyoung asked, furrowing his brows, and Mark laughed, albeit a bit more strained.
“Yeah. Sorry. I wasn’t sleeping with Jaebeom. That’s the first thing I should start out with. I had sex with Jackson, and I wasn’t aware Jackson had a roommate. But when I woke up, Jackson had left for out of town, which was kind of dumb. Who leaves a stranger in their apartment?”
Youngjae prodded Mark. “Hyung. Off topic.”
“Sorry, sorry. But Jaebeom was there, and he had lent me a tank top, though none of his pants stayed up. Apparently Jackson had thought Jaebeom would get rid of me if I tried anything. That was when you walked in. And you entered. Though correctly, you had assumed Jaebeom was not straight and hadn’t told you. But we never fucked.”
Jinyoung sat in the backseat in complete silence for the rest of the ride, and both Mark and Youngjae felt they shouldn’t say any more. But when they reached his apartment, before leaving, Jinyoung spoke. “Thank you for telling me, Mark. I’ll have to talk to Jaebeom soon. But I appreciate it, and if I could ever get the image of your penis out of my head, I’d love to be your friend.”
Mark chuckled. “That sounds great. Please do not think about my penis, even if I know it’s great.” Youngjae choked, slapping Mark on the back.
“Hyung! Don’t praise your dick in front of me and Jinyoungie hyung.”
Jinyoung rolled his eyes and smiled, getting out of the car and waving at the two friends as they drove off. Once they were out of sight, he stood in front of his apartment building for a few minutes before heading up.
Yugyeom was out, having left a note dictating he was hanging out with BamBam, so Jinyoung took this opportunity to text Jaebeom and asked him to come over. Jaebeom had replied almost instantaneously with confirmation, and Jinyoung waited in anticipation.
Jaebeom didn’t live too far, so he only had to wait fifteen minutes, though they felt like hours. The sound of the door unlocking caused Jinyoung to whip his head toward the kitchen entrance, locking eyes with Jaebeom as he rounded the corner.
“Hi.” Jinyoung broke the ice first, and Jaebeom immediately added a hyung to the end of that, as per habit, before he started crying. “Oh, hyung.” Jinyoung immediately came around the island, wrapping an arm around Jaebeom.
The two stayed like that in silence save the refrigerator humming. When Jaebeom finally got all his tears out, he whispered out an, “I’m so sorry,” and Jinyoung’s heart broke once again.
“Hyung, don’t be sorry.” Jaebeom shook his head, and Jinyoung quieted.
“No, Nyoungie, let me finish.” Jaebeom took a few deep breaths. “I’m sorry I never told you I was bisexual. It sounds stupid of me, but I was scared how you would react. I know you are for the LGBT+ community, but when I found out I was, I didn’t know. And then I just kept it a secret for so long; I never felt like it would ever be the right time to tell you. I’m sorry I hurt you and lied to you.”
Jinyoung laughed through his own tears. “Hyung, I haven’t been completely honest with you either.” Jaebeom quieted, and Jinyoung took the opportunity. His heart hurt from pounding so hard against his ribcage, but it was now or never. “I’ve been in love with you for years, since before college.”
Jaebeom says nothing for a minute, and Jinyoung can feel his heart drop. When Jaebeom shifted, Jinyoung kept his eyes trained forward until he felt Jaebeom’s breath on his jawline. The younger turned; confused, when Jaebeom leaned forward, pressing his lips against Jinyoung’s.
“Jaebeom hyung?” When their lips part, Jinyoung asks the only question on his mind.
“We’re both idiots, huh?” Jaebeom snorted, and even with the tears running down his face and the wet noise, Jinyoung had never seen someone more beautiful. “I love you too.”
Jinyoung’s mouth dropped open, and Jaebeom laughed again. “Hyung, please don’t joke around like that,” Jinyoung pleaded, but Jaebeom shook his head.
“No, Jinyoungie. I promise. I’m not. I know it may not have seemed that way, but I promise I do. I do. I love you.” Jinyoung cried again.
He’s never cried so much over the span of ten days, much less a year. But somehow, this seemed worth it.
20 notes · View notes
goldenfawnwriting · 3 years
Text
Birds Of A Feather- Part 10 Hawks Fic
Summary: Finch is finally returning to work where she’s faced with a series of struggles, one being the infamous winged hero himself.
A/N: Here you go readers. Hope you enjoy
Warnings: Just angst lmao
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Finch slid on her heels with a sigh. Today was the day, she had talked herself up over coffee all morning but, as she swung her purse up onto her shoulder she honestly wasn’t feeling any better. She was nervous, nervous to return to her job, nervous to see everyone again... Nervous to see him. 
That was what it really was, but she wouldn’t admit it. She was terrified to face him again after the blatant betrayal. She knew he didn’t see it that way or he would never do what he did. Or maybe he did and just didn’t care, maybe this was his way to get her off his back. She didn’t have the guts to ask him even if she did see him, which she would. It was inevitable. 
And so she locked her apartment door before heading off to work, walking a little slower into the building when she got there. Her wings bristled as she looked up to where his office would be. The windows gleamed in the light, the very top one open wide, as usual. It was getting warmer now, the air giving the feel of a new beginning. 
The elevator music was a little sickening but she endured it, walking into the office and setting her things down before heading to briefing. Her throat was tight with anxiety. She knew this would be when he saw her. Her wings brand new, not crippled anymore. 
She stood next to the boss, looking out at all the other workers there. Everyone was waiting for Hawks to show up but after a few more minutes of silence the boss cleared his throat. As he began talking Finch jotted down notes and grimaced. No sign of Hawks anywhere. Was he avoiding her? 
When she got back to the office she looked around and noticed Hawks’ seat was still pushed in, meaning he still hadn’t gotten here. So much for his schedule, she grumbled in her head. She clicked through his schedule on her computer, thankfully there were only a few things astray from her stand in. Beginning to take calls and fill in times she was beginning to worry. He still wasn’t here. It was going on an hour into the work day. 
She sighed, pulling out her phone to find his phone number, calling from the office phone so that maybe he’d actually answer. It rung twice before going to voicemail. He had done that, he had declined her call. She huffed angrily, calling again. After the third time, someone finally picked up, but it wasn’t the voice she wanted to hear. 
“Can I help you?”
A grumpy voice came over the line. Finch felt her stomach drop before she cleared her voice and put on her service voice. 
“Hi, this is Mr. Hawks secretary calling from his office, may I ask who I’m talking to this fine morning?”
“U-uh, it’s Amika...”
“Hello, Ms. Amika, pray tell, is Mr. Hawks available?”
“Y-ya, let me wake him up for you.”
There was rustling on the other end of the phone and Finch felt absolutely sick. This was ridiculous. If he could make her first day back any worse she would be surprised. There was a grumble from the other side before his voice rang through. 
“Hello?”
“Mr. Hawks, this is your secretary calling, it seems you’re late to work by- let me see- an hour and 20 minutes now.”
She gave in a grumpy tone. He gave a rushed reply.
“Oh uh- fuck, Finch, I’ll be there in 10, I am so, so sorry-”
She hung up on him. He looked at his phone with surprise, running a hand through his bed head. She was livid, he already knew it. 
Back at the office, Finch fixed her makeup in a compact, accidentally letting a few tears run, stress and a tiny bit of heartbreak finally squeezing it out of her. She was so tired of this. The dancing around her feelings, dealing with his bullshit. 
She was just pressing powder into her under eye, trying to rid the mascara, as he came in the window. She glanced at the time. 5 minutes, instead of 10, color her impressed. 
“Looks like someone finally decided to show up...”
She grumbled, he started to come towards her but she stopped him. 
“You have a meeting in 3 minutes with the chief, try not to be late this time.”
“H-have you been crying?”
“Can’t you find anything else to worry about?”
She snapped, closing the compact and stowing it away in her purse right as there was a knock on the door. It was the chief of commission, probably coming to save her ass by stealing him away.
“Hawks! I didn’t see you this morning, I was almost worried.”
“Haha, just taking an early morning fly to stretch my wings!”
Finch couldn’t help but roll her eyes dramatically. What a lame excuse. It seemed to have worked though, the chief laughing with him and throwing an arm around his shoulder as he lead Hawks off to the meeting room. Finch sighed. 
Today was going to be full of trial and tribulation, she already knew it. So far, not much was going to plan. While he was gone she answered phone calls and sent the usual emails, stretching and working out her fixed wing all the while. The PT didn’t end when she didn’t have anymore appointments sadly. She worked on it whenever she had time, wanting to fly more than anything and as fast as possible. 
It was maybe 30 minutes later and the door to the office busted open, catching Finch’s attention quickly. It was Hawks, sighing loudly as he brushed back his hair with his hand. She busied herself with another email, keeping her eyes glued to her computer screen. Her attempt at making herself invisible through sheer willpower seemed to not work though. 
“I’m glad you’re back...”
He started, looking at her from across the room. She ignored him, continuing to type quickly. 
“Are you mad at me?”
Her face was getting red with frustration. She wanted more than anything to tell him off but, she reminded herself that her feelings didn’t matter in the situation. He advanced, sitting on the edge of her desk. She grumpily pried a paper out from under his leg. 
“Why were you crying earlier?”
“I wasn’t.”
“Yes you were, you still have mascara on your jaw-”
He reached out to rub it away from her face but she jerked away from him quickly, turning to look at him.
“Don’t you have hero stuff to do?”
“Why are you acting like that?”
He confronted her, looking at her sharply. She looked away from him, his gaze penetrating. 
“I-uh-”
“You were crying this morning, you were pissy on the phone and now, what is going on with you, you’re never like this.”
“I just don’t want to talk about it ok?”
“Is everything going ok with your recovery?”
She blushed hard and fanned her wings in reaction to him mentioning them.
“Ya, they’re fine...”
He paused for a moment, looking them over. 
“Wow, birdie, your wings might just be bigger than mine.”
“N-no they aren’t!”
She stuttered, blushing even harder, the red contrasting with her freckles. He pulled her up  and spread his wings out to their full size.
“Spread your wings I wanna see.”
“H-hawks-”
“Aw come on dove, let me see them!”
She crossed her arms as she spread her wings. They just barely came short of his.
“Wow...”
He trailed off, looking them over. He circled her, like a shark, taking in his prey. She cleared her throat as he came behind her, running a delicate hand over her feathers making her shiver. 
“D-dont t-”
He ran his hand along the edge of them, feeling the silky brown feathers and the light speckles that adorned them. Her face reddened even more if it was possible, her body betraying her as she let out a small pant at the feeling.
“Doesn’t it feel good to stretch them out? Have you tried flying yet?”
Her wings bristled with the stimulation and she gave a small squeak in reply.
“N-no.”
“Really? I figured that would be the first thing on your mind-”
His fingers buried themselves into the tiny downy feathers where her wings connected with her back and she couldn’t help herself, moaning lowly at the feeling, electricity being sent all the way through her body, making her roll her eyes, her cheeks blazing.
He chuckled as he pulled away from her wings, walking across the room and side eyeing her coyly. He knew exactly what he was doing, his wings were just as sensitive.
“Someone’s a little worked up..”
She panted as she came back down from her slight high, looking over to him with her pupils resembling the head of a pin. 
“Take a breather birdie. Maybe in an hour or two we’ll try flying.”
She blinked away the rest of the fogginess and gave him a look.
“That was absolutely not fair Hawks.”
“Aw come on lovebird-”
“Stop calling me stupid nicknames, you have a girlfriend!”
She snapped, hugging herself to try and make herself seem smaller. She didn’t feel right with him acting like nothing happened. 
“What are you talking about?”
He asked lowly, furrowing his eyebrows. 
“The red head Hawks! Amika? It was all over!”
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed.
“Oh you saw that?”
She was getting increasingly angry.
“She isn’t really my girlfriend, more like an old friend of mine that came to visit...”
Finch snorted, trying to hold back laughter. 
“Are you kidding me? She literally answered your phone this morning.”
“Finch, she’s been staying in town is all, she’s an old friend of mine from back when I was in school-”
“Look I don’t care, have fun with her, I’m going to lunch.”
She grabbed her purse, storming off, and closing the elevator doors as Hawks tried to board it with her. She knew if he really wanted to he would just fly down but she almost wished he wouldn’t. As if the stubborn man wouldn’t.
“Why’d you close the doors on me?”
He asked as she walked out the front doors of the building. She ignored him as she made her way down to the line of booths selling street food. She got an order of roasted sweet potato before Hawks caught up to her again. 
“Finch you can’t seriously be mad-”
“Why did you stop coming to see me? You ignored all my calls.”
“Well I-”
She threw a hand up.
“Save it. You were with her. Asami didn’t even have the guts to tell me. You know its bad when she of all people hides something from you.”
He didn’t have a reply and Finch walked off, making her way back to the office as she ate silently. How ridiculous could he be?
It was silent for the rest of the day until they were about to get off, Finch shutting down her computer and grabbing her purse. 
“H-hey uh.. did you still want to go flying?”
Finch rolled her eyes silently. 
“I’m sure Amika is waiting for you at home.”
She replied, giving a sarcastic, tight lipped smile. She made her way out, the elevator dinging before she started on her way home. What a first day...
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baroquebucky · 4 years
Note
an angsty oneshot where one of your guy friends is mean towards boyfriend!bucky whenever you're not around and when bucky finally confesses to you you don't believe him and side with your guy friend pretty please 🌝🌝
A/N: hey guys so i have been very unproductive so i figured I’d start writing again ! Send in bucky requests !!!! i don’t have any marvel requests rn and it makes me SAD pls send them I’ll do them i pinky swear <3333333 hope u enjoy :~)
masterlist
Your alarm went off and you reluctantly got out of bed, stretching and yawning to wake yourself up. You looked at the empty spot beside you and slightly frowned, even though it was Saturday, Bucky always went for his early runs.
You made your way to the restroom to start your morning routine, greeting Alpine on your way to the kitchen to make yourself some breakfast, debating if you should make some for bucky or if he would be home for much longer.
You grabbed your phone and called him, hearing a very out of breath super soldier on the other end of the line.
“good morning sleeping beauty” he spoke, a smile on his face as he heard you yawn.
“good morning bucket, how much longer until you get home? I’m making some breakfast so should i make you some right now or are you gonna make it yourself later” you questioned, getting some eggs out and turning on the stove.
“I’ll be there in like 5 minutes honey” he replied, turning to head back home. You smiled at his reply, “okay hurry so you can shiwer before it gets cold” you spoke, already knowing he was rolling his eyes at you.
“it’s not my fault you cat handle how sweaty i get” you scrunched you’re nose up, “you’re gross, hurry home and be safe, i love you” you smiled as you spoke.
“i love you t-”
“oh before i forget Henry is coming over for diner today! He’s in the area so i invited him over, i hope you don’t mind” you interrupted him and he stopped in his tracks, feeling his stomach drop.
“yeah ‘s fine i guess” he grumbled.
“I love you, it’s been four minutes you better hurry or else I’m eating your grilled cheese” you teased and he laughed. You hung up and finished making four grilled cheese sandwiches, putting two on your plate and two on Bucky’s, along with some scrambled eggs.
As if on cue bucky walked through the door, struggling with the lock like he did everyday.
“hi sweetheart” he smiled at you, giving you a small kiss on your cheek.
“hey buck, go shower you smell so bad oh my god” you told him, gagging away from him and he rolled his eyes, wrapping his arms around you and hold you close.
“James you let me go right now or so help me god I’ll cook for only me and alpine and you’ll be stuck with a stomach ache from you terrible eggs” you threatened, causing him to let you go after a couple of seconds.
“jeez i can’t even love my own girlfriend anymore” he scoffed and you slapped his arm.
“go shower!” You told him and he quickly patted alpine before getting a change of clothes and quickly showering while you set the plates on the table and grabbed alpines bowl to place his food in.
You sat down at the table, pulling your phone out to pass some time as you waited for bucky to finish showering, Alpine was already munching on his food.
You heard the sound of the shower stop and after five more minutes bucky came out smelling fresh and looking even better. You smiled at him as he sat next to you and gave you a small kiss.
“So why are you upset that Henry is coming?” You asked between bites, smiling to yourself when he almost choked on the sandwich.
“‘M not i don’t know what you mean, he’s great, he’s your best friend who totally respects me and is amazing” he rambled, slightly clenching his fist, causing his arm to make a small whirring sound and squishing the grilled cheese you had made him.
“buck, you obviously don’t like him, look at how you’re acting” you spoke, wiping your hands on a napkin and shifting your body to look at him directly. “what’s wrong?” Bucky looked at you, seeing the sincerity in your eyes melted his heart and he broke from the brave face he was putting on.
“he’s just mean to me” he mumbled, looking down as as munched on the sandwich in his hands, quickly finishing it so he wouldn’t have to talk.
“bucky” you spoke, a smile on your face as you held back a small chuckle, “seriously why don’t you like him?” He looked at you, his blue eyes soft, confused as to why you didn’t believe him.
“wait- oh, you’re like actually like deadass- like serious serious” you felt guilt set in as your boyfriend shifted in his seat, uncomfortable under your gaze all of a sudden.
“well yeah he always tells me I’m not good enough and he brings up my past and he’s really mean” he explained to you, angry that he sounded like a fucking toddler describing his bully from recess.
“Bucky please, Henry is A- an angel and B- literally like 5’9 youre 6’0 you could easily take him” you scoffed, getting up, not believing your boyfriend was pulling this.
“Y/N im serious i mean sure i could kill him but you wouldn’t be cool with that would you?” He questioned getting up and following you to the kitchen.
You turned on your heel, almost bumping into his chest. “Barnes, please. He’s my best friend and he’s super sweet, maybe it’s you that doesn’t like him, like that one time you almost threatened a guy for ‘checking me out’” you made quotation marks around the phrase as you rolled your eyes and turned to wash your hands.
“Fine. Don’t believe me. Just watch later tonight.” He spoke, suddenly turning cold and heading towards your shared room.
You felt bad, Bucky rarely ever left a conversation like that with you, especially an argument. You turned the faucet off and sighed. Bucky was being dramatic, it wasn’t Henry’s fault, he was so kind and he knew how bucky was. He would never be mean to him. You shook your head and walked towards the room, you needed to put some pants and shoes on so you would go buy some stuff for dinner tonight.
You and Bucky both ignored each other, both of you too stubborn to be the first to break and talk about the previous topic of conversation. As bucky heard the keys jingle and Alpine purr he peeked away from the tv and looking out into the living room.
“where are you going?” He asked, getting up from the bed and walking over to you.
“store, i need to make dinner for my best friend who’s coming over.” You spoke, looking up at your boyfriend and turning around and walking out the door.
As you walked down the aisles wondering what the hell to make you decided to make some chicken Alfredo with penne pasta. You quickly grabbed the ingredients and a few treats for both alpine and your boyfriend and headed home.
“James i got you some snacks if you wanna get them now” you called out, closing the door with your foot and placing all your bags on the kitchen counter, slightly out of breath from carrying all the bags at once.
“i thought you were mad at me” he spoke, walking towards the kitchen and helping you set things up.
“doesn’t mean i don’t you idiot” you kissed him softly and rested your head on his chest, sighing softly.
“listen y/n-” he began before you stopped him, putting a hand up, not moving from his chest though.
“no, I’m sorry for acting the way i did earlier, i shouldn’t have judged you. I mean i knkw Henry isnt mean to you- but i should have at least been more understanding. I’ll make sure to stop him if he crosses the line tonight okay?” You mumbled against his chest. Bucky felt his stomach drop when you refused to believe him, but he simply muttered an “i love you,” kissed the top of your head, and smiled at you as you explained to him what to do.
Time seemed to fly by as the food finished cooking and you went to freshen up before your friend got here, putting on some of your nice casual clothes, it was still on jeans and a t shirt though. Bucky changed into a t shirt shirt and some black pants as well.
You were both cuddling on the couch messing with alpine as the you heard the doorbell ring and you rushed to answer it.
“HENRY!” You squealed loudly, smiling at the man and throwing yourself into his arms for a hug.
“Y/N!” He replied with a smile as he held you tightly, smiling into the embrace. You both pulled away with a smile and you turned to let him in, helping him take his coat off and hanging it on the small rack you had bought because you were tired of shoving stuff into your shared closet.
“hey Henry how are you?” Bucky put on a smile for the man and extended his hand out to him. Henry quickly smiled back and gratefully took his hand, “im good Bucky how are you doing?” Bucky replied with a small good and the two broke apart.
Alpine meowed at your best friend and he lightly let the white cat, turning to face you in the kitchen getting everything down and setting the table.
“Here let me help you!” He spoke, already heading towards the kitchen. You quickly shook your head, putting the plates down on the counter next to you and mixing the pasta one final time.
“no! my guy you’re the guest, go sit down and have some guy talk with Bucky! I can’t imagine how tired you are from hanging out with the guys all the time” you smirked and he let out a laugh. You could only imagine how chaotic life must be for Henry considering he lived with two other guys from your high school days back at home who quite literally define the word chaotic for you.
You cut off any further protests and scooped some food onto all of the plates, making them even, but then adding a little bit more to Buckys plate because you knew he loved this pasta.
As you finished setting the plates down you called both boys over and had them wash their hands before they both dug in.
“y/n this is so good!” Henry spoke, smiling at you as he finished the food.
“hey thanks man! Do you remember when I couldn’t cook literally anything?” You smiled and laughed, remembering all the memories the two of you had shared.
The whole night you and Henry were sharing memories from either high school or college, telling bucky embarrassing stories from your high school days, Bucky felt his chest swell with love for you when he saw the sparkle in your eyes when you tried calming yourself down to finish a funny story.
“Im gonna head to the restroom for a second” you smiled at them and they both nodded at you. As you excused yourself you entered the restroom and quickly pressed your ear to the door, hoping to hear what they were talking about but to no avail.
You quickly flushed the empty toilet, it made enough noise to cover up the sound of the door opening. You quietly listened without being seen in the hall.
“I can’t believe she’s still with you. I mean really, you haven’t shared a single thing all night, I’m sure her back hurts from having to carry this fucking relationship.” Henry scoffed at Bucky.
Bucky was frantic, while yes, he wanted nothing more than to bash this guys head in, he knew you would get mad at him.
“listen i love her and that’s what matters okay? Don’t be a dick” Bucky spoke, his low voice rumbling through the room as Henry chuckled at the man.
“please, as if someone like you could be capable of love? She should’ve stayed with her ex, i told her that dating you would be a mistake. I bet you’re too scared to even touch her with that arm aren’t you? It’s pathetic really.” You stormed out of the restroom, furious with who you thought was your best friend.
“y/n! I was just telling bucky about that time when you tried to set me up with-” you cut him off before he could finish, anger evident on your face.
“Don’t you even dare finish your fucking sentence.” You moved between Henry and Bucky, with your boyfriend behind you as you approached Henry.
“Who the hell do you think you are? You don’t know shit about this relationship, you don’t know anything about who bucky is and it is most definitely not your place to shit talk” you began speaking, shaking from the anger you felt, ready to fight the man who just hours ago you believed was an angel.
“It’s fucking true! He’s not capable of love! He’s a monster and you could do so much better” he rolled his eyes, not taking you seriously.
“oh fuck you” you spat, you pulled your fist back to hit him but you felt buckys hand grab your wrist. You looked back at him confused.
“He’s not worth it doll” he spoke softly and you yanked your arm from his grasp, turning back to Henry.
“Get the fuck out of my house and never talk to me again, if i see you again its on sight, you understand?” You spoke, your voice low and eyes a darker color than usual. Henry only nodded before bolting out door.
After a couple seconds of calming down you turned to bucky, looking up at him with puppy eyes.
“oh baby I’m so sorry i didn’t believe you, i always thought he was so great and he was just horrible i don’t get it” you spoke, wrapping your arms around your boyfriend and holding him tightly.
“Sweetheart don’t worry im fine, if anything it taught me to never make you angry, i was scared shitless when you looked back at me” he chuckled and you looked up at him smirking.
“so what you’re telling me is that I’m the scariest avenger, even though I’m not on the team, by default i win because i scared you” you laughed as he looked at you with a confused look before he burst out laughing.
“yes darling of course” he laughed a giant grin on his face.
“cool it barnes or I’ll make you regret it” you spoke looking at him seriously. He quickly stopped laughing and nodded his head before you bursted out laughing.
“oh my gOD! You should’ve seen your face!” You wheezed, making some weird high pitched noise as you breathed in, the occasional snort making its way out.
“okay that’s enough of that cmon let’s go cuddle and watch the office” he smiled at you, picking you up effortlessly and carrying you to your room.
As the two of you changed into your pj’s you cuddled up to his side as you watched show.
“I love you Buchanan” you smiled at him and he kissed your forehead.
“I love you y/n” he smiled at you, eternally grateful that he found someone willing to fight anyone for him.
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fichtner-fics · 3 years
Text
More Than This (Alex Mahone)
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Request: Could you do a Alex Mahone x Reader love/hate relationship? And a angst/fluff? (They end together)
Warnings: swearing, argue, mention of blood and death
A/N: I got my first request for a story, yay! Thank you so much, dear anon!! To be honest, I have NEVER written fighting/arguing scene in my life, I guess because basically I’m a conflict-avoiding type-o-person. I hope it’s not that terrible, and you had something like this in mind. 🥺 Tell me what you think. ✨💕 [well this came out longer than I expected, sorry😂 ; GIF’s not mine]
- . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - 
We were working on a long and difficult case in the office. It started for 3 weeks now, and though we saw the light at the end of the tunnel, the great breakthrough, the final piece, the last clue was missing. We got that on one afternoon, to be exact, a phone call came in to Alex Mahone’s office, who was the leader of our team.
To be honest, I had no clue where we were with him. We had the potential to fight even about the tiniest details, but we shared some great laughs and kind moments as well. These few times were just enough for me to completely fall for him. His beautiful blue eyes mesmerized me, his smile (when he smiled at least) was wide and honest, and he looked just breathtaking in his sunglasses. I was his inferior for three years now, just enough time for develop strong and desperate feelings. This was the reason why our arguments broke me every single time.
When the call came in, Mahone immediately gathered us in the common room to give us some vision how the raid was going to take place. Everybody got their tasks in order, and I wasn’t too nervous when he left me for last. Much more when it turned out why he did that. Alex asked me to stay in the office just to hold the fort, as he said. I got some pity tasks like follow them on the radar, stay in touch with the center, but come on, they were going to the field. At first I hadn’t found my words, and when I was ready to reply angrily, they were far gone and I was left alone – for about the seventh time in the past one-and-half or two years. Alex just didn’t let me go to the field – and this was one of the main reasons why we were fighting about the most.
Today was the moment when I got enough. I took the keys of my car, got in and headed straight forward to the abandoned storage where they were assuming the location of our suspect. After my arrival and check-in, things happened fast. At the first moment I was walking quietly in the subdued light of a corridor, and at the next I suddenly heard Alex’s scream, then he jumped, pushed me to the ground and some shots were fired too. I realized only several moments later, when he asked for ambulance in the built-in microphone of his vest, that he saved me from the bullet of the killer. He didn’t left me alone but he didn’t talk to me either as we walked down the corridor. My hands were shaking, my shoulder on which I landed was on fire, and he gave a shit about me. Halfway we met the medical team. Alex told them in a few words what happened, then he left us alone – and me, broken.
  After being showed out by some medical technicians, I was given a huge aluminium foil against the cold and the potential shock. They checked my blood pressure, my pupils, and an ambulance man examined my shoulder too. I couldn’t really move my left arm, but at the time that was the last thing I cared.
My eyes were following Mahone as he walked up and down in the parking lot, while speaking on the phone. My heart was aching even more than my shoulder. I cursed myself for all the things I felt for that man, and at the moment I hated everything. I hated the way he could weaken me so that I’d give anything for him, his shiny, beautiful ocean-blue eyes, that could see right through anybody, that could burn in anger and even laugh sincerely when his lips were laughing too.
I thought if I follow them, though I act controversary his demand, the help would be greater, that nothing matters what were before – who the hell would have thought that it could turn out this bad.
When Alex finished his conversation, my heart jumped. I truly hoped he cared enough to come and check on me, but that didn’t happened. I got enough, stood up and walked to him.
  “I don’t want to talk to you” he said coldly when he saw me, not even looking into my eyes. I literally froze.
“Excuse me?” I asked back, but I was too late. “Alex, for God’s sake, would you listen to me for just one time? Please?” I yelled firmly as he turned his back on me, as he did for millions of times. He stopped for a sec, and I frankly thought he were about turning back – but this wasn’t happened. Alex walked straight away towards his car, as there was no one trying to talk to him, nobody broken and confused.
  Some colleagues of mine were kind enough to drive me back to our office an hour later. Just in the second when I stepped into the common room, an other one, who got back earlier than us, told me that Mahone was raving and wanted to see me as soon as possible. I sighed, thanked her the information, and looked towards the door of our boss. I knew it was going to be long and loud, so as I walked I tried preparing my soul for anything and everything I was going to get.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” he started immediately as I entered in his office. I hadn’t even had time to close the door, neither to look around the room. At first I wasn’t sure from where his voice was coming.
“Well, next time you should wait until the door is closed before you start shouting someone’s head off” I replied sarcastically. “I’m glad to know that you want to talk to me now.” I added.
“You disobeyed my order” Mahone continued, without replying to what I said. He stood at his desk in front of the huge windows.
“What?” I barked. It was more than enough. “What order are you talking about?”
“I asked you one thing. One” he held up his pointing finger, almost lightnings were striking from his eyes. “Stay right here, next to your computer, not making any trouble. And what did you do? Followed us. And then? Almost got shot without any goddamn bulletproof west. Do you understand that, Y/N? Do you hear what I‘m saying?”
Alex was so angry I have never had seen him before. He was yelling, but when he cursed (for the umpteenth time of that day) he lowered his voice so, that it was almost just a hissing. He ran his fingers through his hair as he made some steps around the room. I truly couldn’t believe what was happening.
“I’m sorry, mister, you must confuse me with your assistant” I replied angrily. “I just did what is my job.”
“Your job is to investigate, not to play a heroine” he said storming. “I said what I said because I judged this situation was not for your capabilities. And, amazingly, I was right.”
“You knew I was capable, either way you wouldn’t choose me in the first place for this position” I replied. “And if you’re curious, I’ll never ever sit in my chair with my arms folded until you solve cases in the street. I’m a part of this team,” I pointed towards the door, “just like anybody else in this office, whether you like it or not. Oh, and if you may did forget that, you made me a part of this. You knew I could bear this.”
“And by being the part of the team, you must do what I say.” he added. “What do you think would happen if I’m not here? You would still lie there, frozen in… in your own blood.”
His voice shook, but I wasn’t sure if I heard it well. I just stood there, feeling like someone who got a ton of boiling water in her neck.
“He was dangerous” Alex explained slowly after a short silence. He emphasized every single word separately, as I was a stupid 5-years-old, who were incapable of understanding what the adult is saying.
“Thank you, I participated in the whole investigation, at least when you let me. How the hell I’m supposed to progress if you push me back behind working desks?” I asked sharply. “If I wanted to fill in charts and write reports, I would apply to the office next to yours. But tell me if I should leave and change, I’ll do it happily.”
Heavy, tense silence sat on the little room. Alex was leaning against his desk, looking at his feet. My eyes were staring this man standing in front of me, trying to figure out what was he thinking about.
“I thought we were more than this” I said suddenly in a lowered, disappointed voice. “And you know what, I thought we could be more than this.” I added, not caring about anything at all anymore. If he understood, he did, but if not… that didn’t matter either. “Are we done?” I spoke again, because Mahone didn’t say anything. I waited for a long minute, but he stayed silent. I scoffed sarcastically. “You’re insane” I murmured under my breath, then without caring anything I turned and walked towards the door.
Suddenly, when there were only a few steps left and my palm was already on the handle, I felt fingers carefully touching my wrist and pulling me backwards. I got so surprised that I couldn’t realize what was happening until I found myself in Mahone’s hug. I felt one of his hands around my waist, the other cupped my face and pulled me close to him. All this movements happened in a split second, and the next thing I felt was Alex, as he pressed his lips onto mines. We were kissing for minutes, fast and wild at the first time, but as we were calming down our movements were slowing as well. My fingers were stroking his neck, finding their ways into his sand-coloured hair. Mahone’s strong hands held me tightly – for which I was grateful, either way I would fly far away in the air. Though I was filled with feelings and confusion, slowly every piece found its place.
“I can’t lose you” he whispered on my lips desperately after pulling away. “I lost my wife, my kid… I can’t take your loss too. Please.”
My eyes started getting filled with tears, my hands trembled, and I felt myself as weak as never. I had no idea how he felt – I wouldn’t even dare to imagine that he may shared my feelings.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” I asked when I got my voice back. His face was now far enough I could look into his eyes, while softly stroking his cheeks. His blue gaze was almost frightened, jumping fast from my eyes back to my lips. “You must have seen that it wouldn’t be… platonic.” I smiled upon Alex in hopes that it may calm him a little bit.
“I didn’t want to pull you down. You deserve someone better, someone who’s not a complete… wreck… and I thought maybe if I’m strict enough with you, your feelings pass and you could give space for someone else…”
“I don’t need anybody else” I shook my head. “Alex, how… oh God. Instead of you, who could figure out what’s going on in my mind even from a few words and my look?” my smile widened, and finally I saw some happiness on Mahone’s face as well.
“Do you have any idea how you scared me?” he asked and became serious again straight away. I lowered my eyes. “I’ll change, I swear. But... promise me you’ll never do this again. And you’ll stay. With me.”
“I promise” I said quietly and as certain as I could. As Mahone gave a small kiss on my forehead, I tried to realize what just happened.
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hermit-pistol · 4 years
Text
stubborn (oldseph x reader)
anonymous asked:  why hello there! i'd like to request a part 3 joseph x reader where the reader is a crusader and joseph's always trying to protect her, but she's always trying to prove herself to him and then they fall in love! thank you so much my joseph fan friend!
Oldseph is literally the light of my life, okay. I don’t usually write super long stuff like this but I was so moved because Oldseph. Here ya go! 
You had never guessed that you would find yourself in this situation: traveling the middle east with a few grown men and a couple of high school students thrown in for good measure.
The dynamic was a bit awkward at first, to say the least. While you were in your mid-twenties and were capable of handling yourself, being surrounded by men always had its downsides.
They always thought that you needed protection, which wasn't true in the slightest. You knew what you were getting into when accepting the offer of defeating DIO once and for all. You even had a stand of your own. Yet, it was always "You should stay out of this, Y/N." or "It's dangerous to go there alone. Let me come with you."
It drove you insane, to say the least.
You've told the other crusaders countless times that you were okay and they left you to your own devices. Except for one. Joeseph Joestar.
He had to be the most stubborn man that you've met in your entire life. After your pleading and constant requests to leave you be, he would still watch you like a hawk all day every day.
Although you had to admit that you found his dedication to you quite flattering. Or...maybe you just craved the attention. You couldn't be sure.
Today was another hectic day, with the gang chasing after another enemy stand user that went by the name of Hol Horse. Just a few short moments ago he had shot your beloved comrade Avdol point-blank. After cornering him; however, the slippery cowboy had evaded their grasp. Luckily they wasted no time chasing him down, and they were quickly closing the distance.
"Get back here! I'll kill you for what you did to Avdol!" Polnareff shouted, Silver Chariot attempting to stab at his heels. Hol Horse had now begun shooting with Emporer at the sand, creating a cloud of dust that had made it hard enough to see just about anything. "Shit!" It was later discovered that Chariot's rapier was stabbing at nothing.
"You'll never take me alive!" Hol Horse had begun shooting like a madman now in a desperate attempt at escape. You had kept up with the rest of the bunch this whole time, but Joseph wasn't having any of it.
"Y/N. You have to stay behind me." He glanced back at you to see that you were following his careful orders. You could feel your blood beginning to boil.
"Excuse you? I can take care of myself, thank you very much." Your stand expertly deflected the stray bullets that were flying here and there. Joseph used his Hermit Purple to create a net around you, lifting you off of the ground.
"Hey, what the- you've got to be kidding me right now..." you were now suspended above the sandy terrain, your stand trying to free you from the vine's grasp. It was no use, as Joseph used a spark of Hamon to keep your quest for freedom at bay.
"Sorry Y/N, I know that you're mad. But Hol Horse isn't taking any chances. He's gone crazy, and we can't risk losing you."
You slumped to the bottom of the makeshift net, the sounds of gunfire still ringing in your ears. The statement really should have been: 'I can't risk losing you' at this point. All of the other crusaders have respected your wishes, but Joseph always went that extra mile to make sure that you were protected and safe. Maybe it wasn't all bad, but you figured that another talk with the old man would just do more harm than good at this point.
A couple of minutes had gone by, with you still trapped in your makeshift prison. It was only when you heard the screams of a certain cowboy that you stood up and leaned lightly against the thorny wall.
Hol Horse had finally been caught. Kakyoin was interrogating him about DIO's whereabouts while Jotaro's Star Platinum had him in a chokehold. "Please, please lemme go! I'll tell ya where Mr. DIO is!" He cried, and Joseph let out a low rumble of a laugh. It was strangely...attractive?
"You really think that we're gonna let you go, huh?" He removed his hat to scratch his head. You watched him run his hands through his salt and pepper locks, and from your practically-aerial view, it looked particularly soft?
No....you were not getting feelings for Joseph Joestar. 69-year-old Joseph Joestar. This can't be happening.
Hol Horse was having none of Joseph's teasing. "Please, I'll do anything!" He pleaded. Joseph looked over to Kakyoin, who looked to Jotaro and so on and so forth. No one looked at you, still trapped in vines. You couldn't help but roll your eyes at the idiotic display.
While everyone was exchanging glances to decide what to do, you were the only one who had noticed Hol Horse reaching into his boot. He had something up his sleeve. "Guys, he's got a-!" you tried to shout out to reach the others, but it was no use.
There was an extra gun stashed away that had been neglected in the patdown after his capture. He shot at the sand once more and then ran as if his life depended on it...which it certainly did.
Jotaro pointed in his direction, ready to send Star Platinum into a frenzy. Kakyoin stopped him before he could begin his assault. "It's not worth it, Y/N was the only one who could have possibly prevented that escape from happening." Joseph began to turn around and walk back to where they had thrown their supplies before Kakyoin could call him out. "Now where do you think you're going?"
"Ah, me?" He instinctively put his hand on the back of his neck. "I was just getting a drink! Was probably gonna grab something for Y/N too." He gave a thumbs up.
"Why am I still trapped in his hellhole?" You yelled down to the group. Joseph quickly released his Hermit Purple and you were safely brought back to the ground. "You are so thick. What makes you think that I can't take care of myself, huh?" Out of frustration, your hand had rested itself upon your hip.
"I was just trying to protect you!" He threw up his hands in defense. "That Hol Horse guy is crazy-"
"You wanna know what's crazy? Taking me out of the chase and lifting me into the sky so I wouldn't be in harm's way." You bit your lip in order to avoid saying something that you would later regret.
Before things could get more heated, Polnareff was the one who finally decided to break the tension. "I think that everyone is just tired since we've been out in the sun all day. Tensions are still high from the loss of Avdol, agreed?" Everyone gave a solemn nod. Losing their friend that day had taken a toll on all of them, Polnareff especially.
"He does have a point," Jotaro spoke, folding his arms. "Today's been a rough day for us all. And to top it all off...I'm starving..."
"Me too..." You couldn't deny the sounds that your stomach was making. All of that rage and aggressive towards Joseph had made you work up quite the appetite.
"I've got a great idea! Let's go somewhere special for dinner tonight. To make up for what I did to Y/N." Joseph gave a grin. It made your anger dissipate almost immediately, but you would never let him have the satisfaction of knowing that. "Even better, I'll pay!"
"Fine, but only because you're paying..." You grumbled as you gathered the rest of your earlier confiscated belongings from the heap of supplies on the ground. At least you were being treated to a good meal. ---- After arguing for a solid 30 minutes about where to eat for the night, you all had finally decided on a steakhouse. Even though they were in India, Joseph had insisted on sampling a classic "American" burger because he was feeling homesick.
The waitress that ushered you in was very polite, and soon the 5 of you were settled into a booth, with you and Joseph sitting on one side, and Kakyoin, Polnareff, and Jotaro sitting on the other.
"Can I get you guys something to drink?" The uncomfortably jovial waitress asked around the table and just wrote down a little scribble here and there.
When it was finally your turn, you asked for an iced tea. But not before being cut off by Joseph who insisted that water was the better choice. Thankfully, the booth was so cramped that you could dig your elbow into his side, making him howl with pain. "I'm so sorry about that. If I could get an iced tea that would be great!"
When the woman was out of earshot. Joseph turned to you, still rubbing his side with his prosthetic hand. It accidentally brushed against you, and the chill of the cool metal sent shivers down your spine. "Now, what was that about!"
"I can order a damn beverage for myself, Joseph."
"Someone could have poisoned the iced tea and we don't even know!" He raised his eyebrows along with his voice.
"I'm done fighting. Let's just finish this dinner and find a hotel...I'm exhausted." You sighed, resting your read on the table. Even though you couldn't see it, you could practically feel Joseph's eyes on you.
The rest of the dinner continued in silence. Everyone stared at their plates when the food came out, and so far the only interaction that had occurred during their outing besides the outbursts from Joseph was when Polnareff started choking on his burger.
"This is what I get for eating American food..." He managed between coughs.
"A rather silent bunch tonight, aren't we-" Kakyoin eventually broke the silence, reaching across the table for the ketchup bottle.
"I just don't really feel like talking, that's all." You answered, just pushing around the leftover food on your plate. In reality, you were just trying to process these newly-surfaced feelings for Joseph. You must have been so spaced out that he noticed.
"Hey, space cadet!" He waved his hand in front of your face, causing you to snap out of it. "You okay, Y/N? You've been acting awfully strange."
You could feel a blush creeping up on your features, so you attempted to cover your face. "I-it's nothing, really. I just- haven't eaten beef in a while and it's upsetting my stomach, that's all!" Really? Like he would believe that.
"I've got some medicine in my bag I can give to ya when we're back at the hotel. I don't want you to be in pain." Curse him for caring about you!
"I'll be okay, let's just get out of here." Joseph shrugs and calls the waitress over to bring the check. The rest of the restaurant outing goes smoothly, you guys even got the fancy mints! You each pitched in for the tip, despite protests from Joseph, and made your way back into the stifling desert air.
The hotel check-in was a relatively painless process as well, Jotaro and Kakyoin had decided to room together, and Polnareff offered to share a room with Joseph. That left you with your own room for the night.
Since you usually traveled in even numbers, finally having a room to yourself for once was pretty nice. Although, you wished that it could have been under different circumstances. When you entered your single suite you all but ran to the bed, throwing your bags on the ground. The soft sheets welcomed you and lulled you into a deep sleep.
That was until you were woken up from your precious slumber by a sharp knock at the door.  
You checked your phone, seeing that only a couple hours had passed since you had checked in and bid the rest of the group goodnight. Looking out the window, you could tell that the sun had already set, giving way to a night sky accompanied by a slight breeze. Nights in the desert could be pleasant sometimes.
"Coming!" You shouted, looking in the mirror quickly to make sure that you didn't look like a complete and utter mess. After giving yourself the once over you peered into the peephole to see Joseph. He was clutching a bag and some water. 'Oh yeah, the medicine.'
You opened the door, and he gave you a wide smile. "Good evening! I came to bring you that medicine. And I got some water too!" He playfully shook the bottle in his hand. What a goofball.
"That's very sweet of you, Joseph." You felt the corners of your lips tug upward, threatening to form a smile. God, you couldn't deny how charming he was. "Why don't you come inside."
"Okay, if you insist!" He stepped across the threshold and shut the door carefully behind him. He handed you the medicine and water and walked across the room to sit on your bed. "I see that you already broke this bad boy in." He gestured to the sheets, which had still been rustled from your nap.
"Yeah, I was exhausted after everything that happened today." You decided to be bold and sit down on the bed next to him. He almost flinched a little when he felt the bed covers dip beside him. Was Joseph Joestar getting a little flustered?
"Y/N, now that we're here. I actually have something else to tell you." The grip on your water bottle tightened, and you took a shaky swig.
"Oh yeah, what's that? You finally want to apologize for all those times that you got in my way?" You tried to avoid eye contact as much as possible.
"No, actually. I find myself doing those things because I can't stand to live in a world without you. I really you Y/N-" The last sentence came out a little rushed, but your eyes went wide.
You were holding the water bottle so tightly at this point that it was a bit uncomfortable. Being taken aback by the confession, you just sat in silence for a bit. Finally, after a few seconds of unbearable quiet, you spoke up. "Well, that explains a lot actually."
"It does, doesn't it." Joseph moved a little closer to you, now gently holding your free hand. "I don't mean to sound like a bother to you, but I just can't stand to see you hurt. I know that you are probably more than a little uncomfortable with the age difference, anybody would be but-" You cut off his rambling with a quick kiss.
You giggled as you watched his face turned red. He was completely speechless for once. "You really need to learn when to shut up sometimes. I've been denying my feelings for too long as well. It's about time that I was completely honest with myself."
"You- you really feel the same way?" Joseph was absolutely bewildered at this point, for he was not expecting this response. You nodded your head in response.
"But, from now on if this is gonna work out, you gotta let me off the leash a little. Or else I'll have to... tickle you or something." You set your water bottle on the nearby nightstand and stood up.
"Empty threats, empty threats I say." Joseph blew a raspberry. He also stood up, and you noticed the size difference between the two of you. His tallness was insanely attractive, to the point where it wasn't fair. "Well, I better get going."
"You don't have to if you don't want to, it gets lonely here at night." You shot him a pleading look, slapping the covers where he once sat.
He walked over to you and picked you up, your legs were now wrapped around his giant torso. "You would like that, wouldn't you." Your lips were dangerously close to touching, but he decided not to close the distance, much to your dismay.
"Well, it sounds like a good idea to me." Your arms were draped around the back of his neck. They reached up to play with his hair, and you cherished the feeling of his soft strands. 'His hair really is that soft...'
"You're gonna have to let me grab my clothes then, I'm not sleeping in these." He was still wearing his daily attire.
You slid off of him reluctantly. 'I guess I'll let you go then. Don't take too long."
"No promises!" He teased, exiting your room, leaving you to shut the door behind him. You leaned against the door before closing it, admiring his retreating assets. 
After shutting the door, you leaned against it and smiled. That was quite the unexpected turn of events. At least you found out the reason behind Joseph's constant nagging, and quite honestly you wouldn't have it any other way.
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introvertllux · 4 years
Text
Copia’s World: Chapter 1
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Story Description: Lena is gifted with extraordinary powers, that much is true but what happens when she discovers that her powers are more of a curse than a blessing. Will Lena be able to fight the dark path she seems fated for or will she be able to confront her ever-growing powers in order to forge her own path? Secrets and lies discovered as Lena navigate through family, love, and self-discovery.
Genre: Romance, Drama, Comedy, Drama
Warnings: 18+, depictions of bullying, Christianity discrimination, mental health, mental disorders, racism, suicide, discrimination. (Please do not read, if you may be triggered).
*Any depictions referred to in the warnings are based on MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. Please do not think I’m making fun or or mocking anyone, again these experiences are based on what I have seen and, or been through myself. Also, I am not intending to romanticize mental health or disorders in anyway. Lastly, If you do decided to read this story I am very thankful and I hope you enjoy it. : )
Notes to add:
I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS
THE ORIGINAL STORY IDEA IS MY OWN
THE CREATION OF THE CHARACTER PROFILES ARE MY OWN DOING (I DO NOT OWN THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ART WORKS OF EACH CHARACTER. HOWEVER, I DID EDIT THE PICTURES OF MY OC (BRI HALL) TO MATCH MY OC DESCRIPTION.
THIS STORY WILL TAKE SOME EVENTS FROM THE COMICS, ANIMATED SERIES, AND THE LIVE ACTION MOVIES.
IN THIS STORY ALEX IS YOUNGER THAN SCOTT AND THE AGES VARY BASED ON THE ACTOR THAT PLAYS THE CHARACTER AND FOR THE SAKE OF THE PLOT
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Third Person’s P.O.V.
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Friday, July 27, 2019
Lena inhaled the crisp cool summer air as she gazed outside of the large crystal-clear window of the deep corridor. A breathtaking blend of coral and peach sunlight filled the sky as birds soared high and low while chirping a captivating melody. She exhaled, as she gently opened her yellow-amber eyes and watched the pattern the birds flew in. Lena, then gripped the frame of widow seal, careful not to crush it underneath her superhuman strength. Oh, how badly did she want to leap out of the wind and fly, to soar, and join the feathered-winged creatures.
(You look like you want to join them) she heard a voice say inside of her head.
(More than anything…) I responded back.
(I think that freedom is what you seek more than anything, Lena) the voice said.
Lena looked at the person next to her from the lower corner of her left eye.
(Grandpa, freedom is the one thing I desire the most out of this world. It’s funny you know… how easy it seems to be able to have. To get too. It’s literally right outside my door. But for me, it seems unreachable. It’s bittersweet to know that my only desire is so close yet so far. But as a mutant as… me, I know that I would rather give up my dreams to protect my family and those who can’t protect themselves.)
she said as she turned her full body towards the founder of the Xavier Institute.
(As usual, that’s very brave, kind, and noble of you Lena. But as I told you many times in the past you can be all those things and more without giving up on the things you want. Balance is key to anything you do in life, Lena. Once, you've mastered that you’ll be impossible to stop) Professor Xavier said.
Lena let out a sigh, (Grandpa you and I both know the circumstances that prevent me from being free. I-I just want to be like them) I communicated to him as I pointed my arm out of the window at the birds in front of me.  (How long do I have to be a caged bird? How long until I can use my powers to help instead of hurting. How long until my powers stop feeling like a curse. How long until nobody fears me and they except me! How long until I can be free!?)
She yelled telepathically causing the man next her to groan in pain as he gripped the sides of his head.
Lena’s P.O.V
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“Uh! Grandpa, I’m so, so, sorry!” I yelled as I kneeled next to his wheelchair. I tried to gently console him, trying to be extra careful of my strength and the volume of my voice.
“It’s alright, Lena.” He said softly.
I looked at him with glistening eyes, “I’m sorry. I’m so stupid.” I said quieter.
“Far from it my dear, very far. You just have trouble controlling your powers is all. We’ve all been there. I have your mother, your father, and the rest of the students that live here. Your case is just a special one… and like the rest we will find a way for you to control them.” He said optimistically.
I stared at him for a split second as I read his facial expression. Although he always made sure to remain level-headed and positive at all times, I know that deep inside he’s afraid. He’s terrified. He more than anyone that we know, knows how much of a ticking time bomb I am. He knows that I’m capable of the world ending power, yet he masks it all in hopes that “we” find a solution in an unpredictable time.
“Now, Lena if my time is correct and I’m sure that it is you have about 5 minutes before Colossus will be looking to join the others in the Danger Room. You know how organized he is.” He said smiling softly.
I mentally rolled my eyes as he mentioned Colossus.
“Have fun, and make sure you pay specific attention until how each student is managing their powers. I think it might help you find your source of control.” He said.
“Will do, grandpa. Have a nice rest of your day.” I said as I ran down the long hallway and down to my room.
As I entered my room, I quickly opened my side table drawer and pulled out black gloves that covered every inch of my hands. I quickly pulled them on my hair, careful not to tear them. I looked down at the gloves as I started to feel anxiety.
Looking at these gloves was a constant reminder of how defective I was. Usually, when I felt my powers start to lose control in the slightest way, I would put these gloves on. Today… when I broke the telepathic link with my grandfather was a sign of lack of control, although not a big one it was still something.
One of my first abilities I was able to master at a young age was telepathy but seeing as of late I’m losing my grip over it I think the gloves will stabilize me. God forbid I go to training and I bump into someone and I absorb their abilities or hurt them in any other way.
With about two minutes left before training, I left my room (which wasn’t too far from the danger room only about 10 feet). I walked with a neutral expression on my face as I entered the control room. I took “my” seat next to a standing Colossus whose body shined in pride at his team below.
“Nice of you to join us today, Lena.” He said without looking at me. I nodded my head back at his as I looked down at the white dull sneakers on my feet that seemed to pique my interest at the moment.
“I didn’t see you for breakfast, AGAIN. How can you expect to be a good hero if you aren’t eating a well-balanced meal?” He said in a lecturing tone.
No, how can I expect to be a good one, if I’m not allowed to use my powers?
I heard the sound of his body turning towards me, I hastily moved my hands behind my back so he wouldn’t see that I had my gloves on.
He cleared his throat and said, “I want you to watch closely. Today the team will be working on teamwork protocols. As a member of this team, I need you to see and understand how each team member's abilities work as well as how they complement one another.” He said as he turned back, getting ready to speak into the intercoms.
This is why I hated “training”. First and foremost, I’m not really a part of the team. I’m what you call the “final choice”. I’m the SWAT team to the police force. The Hulk to the Avengers. I’m the big guns. If our chances of winning are extremely low, they are banking on me to bring the bacon home. From an outsider’s perspective, it sounds like an honor… but in reality, it’s quite the opposite. I’m the caged animal that they only let free on the special circumstance. They don’t want to see me, talk to me, or USE me until they need me.
As for their powers, I know them left to right. I know every single one of my teammate’s power sources, origins, and weaknesses. How could I not? I live my life watching them all have fun with their powers and showing them off while I stay dormant, in complete comatose. Get this… isn’t it hilarious, how my parents always told me that mutants were special, that I was special but one mistake… and now I’m too special to use my gifts?
Don’t get me wrong at all. I love every and any kind of mutant good or evil no matter what their gifts are, they are all special and unique to me. But that all goes out the window when: 1.) I don’t use my powers so I’m basically a regular person and 2.) When I have the ability to absorb, replicate, and keep any power I’m exposed to. Having that ability, that curse, makes everyone around you feel ordinary and that’s something I hate about myself. I never want anyone to feel less than. I rather it is me so that they never know how it really feels.
Okay, team, I’m commencing the portal now. Get ready.” I heard Colossus say. A few seconds later I saw the lights deem as the computer speak:
Commencing Protocol 24389: Team Civilian Rescue
I sat up in my chair slightly making sure to keep my hands in a place where I knew Colossus wouldn’t be able to see. Within a few seconds, I analyzed the protocol. It seemed as though each section and customized by each person’s powers. Each person had their weakness placed in each section but would require help from a member to move through. Their ultimate end goal was to rescue an elder-women and her cat (Ha, how cute Colossus).
I continued to watch for a few moments, already seeing that they were not working as a team. I glanced up at Colossus from the side of my eye and noticed his stone-cold expression. 
Which I knew was translated to mean anger, disappointment, and shame. It seems like the only person that was trying his best was Alex, better known as Havok. He tried to guide the team and even give some advice but he was stopped but Mr. Hothead himself Pyro, or John who’s ego was so big he wouldn’t take direction from anyone because he was the leader and what he said went even if he was wrong.
Then there was Jubilation Lee or Jubilee who was a poor long-term focuser so when it came to making plans and strategies, she wasn’t all the way there. And last but certainly not least the Lovesick King, Sam aka Cannonball, he was so in love with Jubilee all he heard, saw, and thought about was her. If it didn’t involve her, he wanted no parts and that’s exactly what was happening.
 A few more minutes went by and I heard the screams of agony ring throughout the control panel. I flinch and quickly stood up hoping that nobody was hurt. The lights slowly turned on as I realized that the scream I heard was from the elderly women hologram. I let out a small sigh… glad that everyone was okay (well almost everyone). 
Protocol 24389: Team Civilian Rescue. Failed. 
I heard the computer say as the light was on completely. I heard Colossus' large steps start to exit the control room. I knew better than to try to leave and retreat back to my room. I hated conflict and I knew this would be another confrontation and I knew deep down inside It would be my fault because that’s just my role on this team.
“This! This is teamwork!?” Colossus yelled as he waved his hands in front of the other students.“Well, If John helped out more- “Sam started to say before he was cut off by everyone auguring back and forth all at once. 
“Enough!” Colossus yelled once more. 
“This is not what good teams do! Arguing and fight one another. That’s for the villain, not the heroes.” He said
.He let out a sigh, “You, “He said as he pointed at John, “You are the leader. You are supposed to lead them with humility and a good plan. You did neither of those. If you do that on the real battlefield do you expect to lead your team to victory or their deaths.”
 He said sternly. “Jubilee, you need to focus on the battlefield you can get yourself and others hurt or worse. Samuel, you need to focus on your team and the civilians, keep your head on the battlefield, not on your heart.” He said as he exchanged looks between the both of them.
Colossus looked up and down at Alex swiftly, “Alex, great work for what little you had to work with. Keep it up. It’s clear that you all need more training so… I will see you bright and early at 6:00 AM tomorrow.” He said as he began to turn around and walk off.“But… tomorrow is Saturday!” I heard Jubilee yell. Colossus just waved as he exited the room. I turned, trying to leave the room unnoticed.
“Where do you think you’re going.” I heard John say. I stopped for a moment, deciding not to let him get to me today.
I heard him snort, “Got the gloves on, huh? Bad day?” He said with a chuckle.
I quickly grabbed my hands and folded them up to my chest tightly as I kept walking.
“You know it’s your fault we failed that protocol.” He said with venom in his voice. I stopped in my tracks, my back still facing him.
“You just sit up there in the control room acting all high and mighty while we do all the work. What’s the point of doing all the work, when you can do it? You have the ability to have any and every power known to man yet- because you’re so defective we have to do the work. It’s pretty pathetic, to be honest.” He let out a sarcastic sigh, “I guess… I’ll always have that over you, huh? being flawless, being more than enough.” He said in a taunting manner.
“John, back off.” I heard Alex say.
“Shh… your leader is talking. And as the leader, I say my “team member” needs some constructive criticism.” He said wickedly.
“You know… now that I think about it I kind of own you. Everything I say goes. I mean look your powers are banned. You don’t train with us, you can’t leave this house, and… a big part of that is thanks to me. One of my greatest accomplishments to date I think.” He said as he started to laugh widely.
I began to shake in my spot, tears threatening to spill. I didn’t want to look up at John. All I wanted to do was run and retreat back to my room, the place I knew I would always be the safest. But instead, I decided that I had to look up, into the eyes of the man that made my life living hell every day for years. Not one part of me wanted to think he was evil or malicious when he tormented me on a daily. I wanted to see the good in him, as a fellow mutant, as a teammate, as a person. But all I could see what a selfish and wicked cold-hearted man.
I speed to my room devastated and broken. This was nothing new under the sun. Every day, John would take his shots at me tearing me down in front of our peers and they would just let it happen. John hated him with all his heart and soul and the rest didn’t understand me. They didn’t bother too. That just knows about the accident that leads to my powers awakening and from then on, they’ve avoided me like the plague. It just me to see that even in my own home that I will never kind anyone who truly gets me or a place where I belong.
I laid on my bed fast down as I cried myself to sleep. What felt like a minute later, was actually hours as I heard tapping on my window.  I walked to my window and opened it wide as something swiftly flew in. I looked at the figured and smiled.
“Cuzzo! It’s been a while!” I heard my cousin Peter yell.
I quickly jumped on him as we landed on the bed with my hand covering his mouth. “Shh,” I whispered.
Of course, I was very happy to see my cousin Peter. It’s been too long but like a true prisoner, I am not allowed to have any visitors and the same goes for Peter even though he’s family.
Peter’s eyes roamed down to my gloved hand and he mumbled something against. I moved my hands down and looked down at my lap, knowing how concerned he would be to see my gloves on. I didn’t want to ruin our reunion, but I felt as though I already did.
He grabbed both of my gloved hands and squeezed tightly, “Lena…” He expresses in a worried voice.
“Peter, I’m fine. I promise. Let’s talk about something else. Let’s talk about you I haven’t seen you in so long, aren’t you taking Online Summer courses at MIT?” I asked genuinely interested.
Peter’s looked lingered for a few seconds before he gave in, “Yeah I am actually. They’re killer. Dad wanted me to try and stay on campus and do the whole college thing a try, but I wanted to be able to patrol at home and- “He said before I interrupted “And your crush” I said in a teasing voice.
“Lin.” He said in a whining voice as he pursed his lips and I continued to laugh a bit.
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“Well, I think uncle Tony just wants you to give you a fair shot at the whole being a “normal” kid type of thing. But you’re too far gone, Spider-Man. We’ve lost you to the dark side.” I said as I continued to joke.
“Tell me about it, right now I’m on the dark side of college homework.” He said as he began to pull out his homework from his bag.
“I also brought some ice cream. They’re rock solid, so by the time I get done with this they should be defrosted.” He said.
We talked back and forth as Peter did his homework. I helped quite a bit with the equations he was having problems solving.
“Lena, I always knew you were smart… but you’re better at solving these problems than I am. Maybe you should be at MIT, instead.” He laughed.
“No, way Peter. You’re a genius. I just like a challenge that all. Plus, engineering isn’t my passion.” I said with a shrug.
“To be honest you’ve never really talked about your passions before.” He said sounding intrigued.
“Um, my first one would be getting out of here. I might get spontaneous and travel to every state.” I said laughing while being serious.
“You know… being here all my life and not being allowed to leave unless supervised never gave me the chance to really find myself. I went to school here and never had the chance to go to college. The one constant thing that I find myself doing that I like is helping. I also like kids too, even if I’m not around them often. But when I was around Franklin and Valeria I was in awe. I wanted nothing but to see them happy you know. I don’t know maybe… maybe I’ll become a teacher.” I said quietly.
“Well, I think you’re an amazing teacher. You’re creative, smart, kind, and you always put other's needs before your own.” Peter said as he smiled softly at me as he placed his hand on my shoulder.
I flinched back, as he stared at me with his arms in surrender at me. “ah… um, I’m sorry.” I said frantically. “I just… my powers and the gloves um...” I said starting to panic.
“No, no. I’m sorry Lin I should’ve known better.” He said. “Um, ice cream?” He said after a few moments of silence.
I nodded my head as he handed me, a mocha chip flavored ice cream. I smiled and thanked him. He always remembered by favorite. As we ate my ice cream, he talked to me about his dad and what the rest of the Avengers were up too.
“Wait so Thor is fat now?” I repeated. “Yeah, but he’s got more a dad bod thing going in verses the devastated drunk bod. He’s getting there. Aunt Nat and Uncle Clint are taking care of the psychical and dad are doing his version of emotional support and the rest of us are doing real actual support.” He said as eat another spoonful of ice cream.
I smiled, “I miss them. I wish I was there to see their faces.” I said feeling low again. “I know they all miss you, I missed you. I promise even though I have these dumb classes I’m coming to visit you more often even if Uncle Logan tries to kill me and hang me over the fireplace.” He said in a joking yet serious manner.
“When I told dad, I was going to sneak into your house, he said, “Why go all Bond on them, we can walk right up and make it a party.” He said laughing.
I shook my head, “I think at that point it’s more about our dad’s deep intense hatred for one another.” I said.
“They have a lot in common that’s why. They both think they know everything or can do anything better than another person.” Peter said.
“Ugh, tell me about it. Back to the party thing, it’s almost your birthday in two weeks what are you going to do. I know Uncle Tony will want to throw you a big bash.” I said.
“Yeah, now you tell me about it. I told dad something quite with the family but of course, it went in one ear and out the other. At this point, I don’t care what he wants to do. If you can’t come then, I don’t want anything.” He said.
“Aww. Peter, no don’t throw away your party for me. It’s not worth it.” I said. “What? Lena, are you hearing yourself? You’re my cousin. I’m not going to have a party that’s supposed to have family and friends there and you not be there. I don’t care if I have to invite every single member of this household in order for you to be able to come, I will do it.” He said.
I was a bit stun that he said he would invite everyone just for me. I know Peter wasn’t super close to the rest of the team members closer to our ages but Peter was the extroverted one out of the both of us so if it came down to it he would have no problem socializing with them, even if it were for a minute.
A few more minutes pass and Peter and I exchange goodbyes as he exited out of the window. About 10 minutes later another knock could be heard from the window.
What’s with my window tonight.
I raised the window and looked outside of it. “Hey, Angel.” I heard my Uncle Angel say to me with a wave. I waved back. He drew in closer to the window. “Hard day?” He asked as he nodded towards my gloves. I shrugged but didn’t say a word.
“How about some Angel Time.” He said as he referred to the nickname, I called our flying time together when I was a child. I knew the repercussions that would follow if we left the house without telling anyone, we both did, but I need this. For me flying was like a rocking a baby back to sleep, it was soothing to me, it was liberating.
I took a step back from my window and leaped out. Smiling widely as I levitated in the air. I began to fly up higher with my arms stretched wide. This is the feeling I’ve been missing for so long. I continued to smile as I fly all around my uncle. We flew together for a while until he landed on a cliff and patted his hand down on the grass near him. I flew down and landed gently.
“You know, when you’re up there flying around, you look just like your mother.” I smiled softly at his observation.
“Before you were born your mother and I used to fly all the time. It’s one of the only times I’ve really seen your mother look so happy, that or when you or your dad are around.” He said.
“Is that why you fly. Because it’s your freedom too.” I asked. He looked over and smiled at me. “You know before I discovered my wings I was from a very wealthy family. From the outside, everyone thought I was so happy and perfect because of it but I was so miserable. When I discovered my wings, I got on my knees and praised God because nothing could stop me from escaping the hell in which I lived. I had the power to leave and discover my own path and that’s what lead me to the school. Flying doesn’t solve all my problems, no. But it helps me to get on the right track.” He said with passion.
I hummed in satisfaction at his answer. It was so detailed and liberating. I related to it in many ways. Uncle Angel and I continued to laugh and talk about things from my childhood and things of his past, until sunrise. As the sun rose so did my anxiety and panic because I knew when I got home, I was in trouble. I knew I probably missed training so that was a dead give away that I wasn’t home like I was supposed to be.
We flew back home, with Uncle Angel telling me he would help explain the situation to my parents. However, that didn’t make me feel better considering the fact that there was no reasoning with parents as overprotective as my own.
We landed swiftly and opened the door to the mansion and made our way to the kitchen, figuring they would be there having their morning coffee and tea.
“Lena Oni Howlett! Where have you been? You just don’t leave the house without telling us or someone going with you!” I heard my mother yell.
“I know. “I mumbled quietly that only my father could probably hear with his advanced hearing.
“Wait Ororo, please don’t yell at her it was my fault,”  Angel said as he stood in front of me.
“She was having a bad day and-and I know flying helps to calm her down, so I took her.” He said trying to explain the situation.
“Do you have any idea what could’ve to happen with her flying up there. “I heard my father say with a growl.
“Nothing, I was with her-“ Angel tried to finish before he was interrupted “Then you’re dumber than I thought birdbrain. Her powers are unpredictable right now. We don’t know what triggers then and what doesn’t. You could’ve gotten yourselves both killed.” He said with anger in his voice.
I flinched when he called my powers unpredictable and when he said I was capable of killing both of us. It was true and I didn’t want it to happen. I never want to hurt anyone ever again but the way my own father was describing me it was like I was some kind of monster.
“Logan…” My mother warned.
“Can you believe this bullshit!” He yelled as he slammed his hand onto the marble countertop causing a crack to form.
“Watch your language!” My mother yelled at him.
“As soon as we do a better job at keeping track of our own, damn daughter. Oh, or do you not remember the stakes that are at hand!” He roared.
“Of course, I do! That’s why we’re taking the percussions we are now!” He yelled back. At this point, they were arguing with one another about me in front of me completely ignoring how I feel at this point. I felt awful knowing that my parents were arguing because of me. They rarely argued. Mostly playful banter. But I was the cause of this me. I hate conflict but I had to make it right.
“Stop!” I screamed at the top as my lungs as my eyes glow dark pink and my hair floated up in the air slightly. “Have you ever thought for a second how this all makes me feel? I’m the one with uncontrolled powers. I’m the one that ends up hurting people. I’m the common denominator! Keeping locked up like-like some monster won’t solve any of it.” I said looking at them with my eyes still glowing.
“This-” I said as pink aura started admitting from my body, “You say it’s special, but I have to hide it. You treat how society treats mutants. I don’t know whose side you guys are on or if you see me as some dangerous mutant…. or as your daughter.” I said in a shaky breath.
“I’m warning you both now. That if you don’t give me some space… or just an inch of freedom I will explode and nothing- and I mean nothing in this world will be able to contain it not even me.” I said sadly as I turned my back on them and left the kitchen quietly.
I went to my bedroom and looked into the mirror on the way to the far right and stared at it. My eyes were still glowing, and my pink aura was still surrounding my body. I sat down gently and started to close my eyes and take deep breaths until I felt my power level constrain back into my body. I take a few more moments before I hop into bed.
I take off my gloves and lay them on the side of my bed. I stare at my hands. The hands of murder. The hands of filled with extraordinary power. The hands of a murderer.
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Link to:
Masterpost
Chapter 2 
I wanted to thank everyone who has liked or reblogged anything that has to do with this story. I want to give a HUGE SHOUTOUT to the following people for showing me some support (I apologize if i’m missing any names)!!
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cosmicclownboy · 4 years
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"Not that I don't mind our little bonding one to ones but may I ask why we are doing this again?" "So you know that my toxic masculinity bro days are over. Me and Rosa did a quiz today and turns out blue is my spirit colour so let's get to it, Manes". 
Excitedly clapping and inspecting the bottle with his fingers Kyle looks at peace so who is Alex to object to it. He can't say teen Alex expected this friendship to flourish again let alone be sitting in Kyle's apartment with a bottle of red painting Kyle's nails with a shade called Sultry Sapphire. But Alex knows more than anyone that adaptability is a huge part of life. Change is inevitable. And this is a change that he's glad for. It doesn't feel weird or out of place. It feels almost like he's slowly refinding everything he once lost. Jenga tournaments as kids turned into drinking games and poker and fishing turned into going to the same gym. Eventually, Isobel fishes out which gym and excitedly exclaims gym buddies. It's actually really fun even if he has to witness his training on her Instagram feed. Being in an alien exist clubhouse is difficult him and Kyle have pretty heavy-duty careers and having the most practical sense vs the people in said group who would prod a bear simply to see how it would react well their friendship blossomed. Finishing the last touches he goes for the wine in a latte mug.
"Right this will dry in a couple of minutes. Then it's my turn, Manes. I hope you're ready for iridescent fantasy 69". He almost groans at the choice in colour with swirls of blues, pinks and purples Alex is immediately taken to the pieces in Michael's bunker all shiny and beautiful. Judging by the smirk he gets the Ortecho Valenti sibling team-up happened behind the scenes. "Seriously where did Rosa get these from? there are two women on the front having sex" "Someone she met in rehab - don't ask"
"So....hows things in the dating universe?" "Forest and Liz signed me to Grindr without my permission.....and there's only so many times I can open up a message to see literal junk mail. I also went out on a date with a man who's fetish was sucking toes he seemed unnaturally interested in the prospect of banging a man with only the one foot. Four times. Four times I've been set up with someone with the oddest fetish". This seems to gage a reaction out of Kyle who rolls a little around the floor with a chuckle holding the brush from the nail polish close to his chest trying his best not to sour the rug. "Alex you've spent the last ten years fucking an alien. You have a rain fetish dude and don't even try it Liz told me about your rain scented angst candle sessions" Oh, he is going to have words with Liz. "Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I got pegged behind a target" Alex groans heavily.
Liz feigns ignorance when Alex corners her in the Crashdown and she, of course, tries to bat her eyelashes at him thinking it'd affect him. He's a man of stone. He will not be immediately forgiving by a kind smile.Nope.Not happening. It at least has to include a free hug and the first round of drinks which occurs a week later dressed in his tightest jeans and Kyle moping because Steph left had him. Liz and Kyle made it to Planet 7 a place Kyle thrives in. "Look it's glitter night Kyle you love glitter night the shots are half off".Liz is doing her best to brighten the mood despite her own romantic failings anytime the name Max is spoken she looks haunted. And hey who is he gonna judge he knows how easy it is to get an alien under your skin he's hitting 12 years in a month and he's wondering what it would be in anniversary terms. Google tells him it's silk he almost laughs at the idea of giving Michael any clothing in that fabric the man was rugged jeans and t-shirts. When his phone is stolen by Liz who pushes a shot in his direction he remembers why he's here. Have fun with his friends. Solidarity in suffering. The drinks flow easily to the booth he's had a pina colada some other fruity drinks and a bunch of shots. At first, he didn't feel anything, not even a buzz but after twenty minutes he feels sluggish and slow. Everything moving at a different rate then it did before. You should call Michael" Liz is shouting it off from the dancefloor of which she's tripped twice on and yet somehow she's beaming. Everything just kind of blurs together after that doesn't even realise he's on his bed until his hands are grasping the pillow. And faintly he feels a kiss on his head.
Drinking is a fun idea until the Hangover hits. He's starting to remember why he doesn't usually drink. His head is just throbbing he's trying his best to turn on soldier mode darting his eyes around trying to survey the room. Okay, the only clothes by the bed are his that's good. That's great one thing he doesn't have to worry about. There are a couple of pills on a plate by a glass of water with the box to show him what it is. And he's pretty sure there's a bin by the bed and end table... Someone took care of him. Who? He takes a very long shower water hits his skin until he feels anew or at least a little more bearable. It's only when he's drying off and hearing a faint hum of music that he remembers. Oh god.
"Guerin, it's me, Alex ... shoul-should of probably said Alex first how can you know it's me it's unspecific. Can you come home now my beds all big and fluffy and I want your fluffy hair in it.I miss your hair it's soft. Can you come save me Kyle keeps waving me over to dance with a drag queen and a stripper and I don't want to- "MIKEY WE'RE AT PLANET 7 COME DANCE WITH US" He really can't catch a break. "You know every minute you stay in there is a minute longer the pancakes get cold. And you should know I make a mean stack of chocolate chip pancakes"
He doesn't know what he's expecting when he first leaves his bedroom. He's nervous. After the song, he promised himself he would not make the first move. If Michael wants him he's going to have to say it in words to his face and communicate it to him. He's tired of metaphors and unspoken words. Trust drunk Alex to immediately ignore what he wants and skip right to the stroking Michael's hair part. Which yes he wants to do all the time. He finds Michael in the kitchen using a metal utensil as a mirror checking his teeth, his hair before straightening his shirt and patting his jeans down. He's nervous too. His heart stutters a little at the thought. Michael places the table settings and looks up with a small smile. "Hi" "Hi" He gestures to the table. "It's not much I had to run to the store you have the cupboard of an 18-year-old student" Even hungover and tired he can't fight the smile on his face. "Between my work hours and alien scooby sleuthing don't always have the time or energy" "I'm sor "If you apologise I will steal all your pancakes, Guerin" Despite his head throbbing and his leg killing him it's probably the best morning he'd had in a long time. A bird is flying past the window. His dog is sleeping soundly in his bed. The smell of flowers from the vase in the middle of the table is melding with the smell of warm chocolate. And if he dares a glance from his plate he sees the man he loves chewing on pancakes slowly with a small smile on his face. It's peaceful like something out of a movie.
"I don't know if you remember the voicemail you gave me you were pretty wasted. I gave all of you guys a ride home. Valenti threw up on my sneakers I uh was glad I wasn't wearing my good boots" Michael looks the most vulnerable he's seen him in years moving his fork around the pancake in front of him. He drops his fork and squeakily moves his chair closer and reaches for both his hands. "I'm so sorry for everything. This past year especially" Michael is trying his best to hold back his tears sniffing trying to get whatever words he wants to get out - out. "You know I've uh been seeing a therapist the last couple of months and she's great you know she calls me out on my victim complex crap and gives me all kinds of homework that sometimes bugs me but it's been helping. She asked me to write a list of things I wanted and at first, I couldn't do it for weeks I just stared at the page and couldn't I didn't think I deserved to write one. Eventually, I did. Can I read it to you?"
He squeezes his hands briefly before bringing his hands to his cheeks softly stroking in encouragement.
"Number 1, Don't be angry anymore it doesn't make you happy it hurts you and it's hurt the people that you love. Number 2, Spend more time with Max and Isobel as a family. Number 3, Remember you are loved and wanted by Isobel, Max, Sanders and Alex make sure to let them know that they are your family. Number 4, tell Alex that you stole his guitar on purpose that day you heard him play at work once and you just wanted to know him. Number 5, tell Alex that stealing his guitar and falling in love with him was the best thing that ever happened to me. You can read the rest if you want" The list is the closest thing to a love letter he's ever gotten off of Michael and everything he reads is everything he wants for Michael. He wants Michael to be happy to love himself to know he's wanted and love. Even seeing minor things like I want to hold Alex's hand makes him emotional. He wants all those things too. He wants a life with Michael. He wants Michael. And everything he reads and hears as Michael reads out the lines without the paper has his heart racing.
There no longer are metaphors in the air it's words pure and simple.
He supposes he should kiss Michael but he chooses a different kind of embrace one he wanted to do for a while he wraps Michael in a hug it's warm and tight he hopes he knows in this hug how much he loves him. And if he doesn't know he can say he'll say it every day until Michael understands it. "Want to watch a bad movie on the couch and cuddle?" Michael's grip on his shirt lessons and a muffled chuckle and a nod is conveyed against his chest. Armed with coffee and a bag of chips they make their way on the sofa. The question of big spoon is gone straight away when Michael makes grabby motions with his hands. His head is pressed into his chest and Alex feels at home and at peace. They flick through the channels. "Have you seen this one?" "Have I seen a film about a flesh-eating octopus fighting a giant shark? no, can't say I have". The movie is terrible as expected laughably so but the thing that makes it one of his favourites is Michael's anger towards the films plot. "So the giant shark was actually a robot designed by a bored rich kid who wanted to prod fish which caused the flesh-eating octopus to become feral and murder a bunch of people? They didn't explain anything about the flesh-eating octopus the whole plot doesn't make any sense" Rubbing his stomach in low circles and dotting a kiss to his collarbone he smirks at Michael's investment. "And another thing -mmph" He leans back. Michael's eyes are closed his lips are puckered he pouts when he realises he hasn't come back up to kiss him "You were saying?" "I'm shutting up now....hey come back up here and kiss me"
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