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#mostly with scare ads like <- a real ad I got in the mail
bitchysongcomputer · 2 years
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Married Men by BearTrainer
From BeefyFrat Library, before it disappears.
Don’t ask me what finally made me do it. I guess surfing all those gainer sites and lurking around those bulletin boards after Janine and the kids were in bed. Of course, when I first found them all, I did what you usually do. I knew they got me hot, but I just told myself I was bored and stressed out from work, which is true. Now that my contracting business is taking off, work is far more of a bitch than it ever was when I was hurting for jobs. But, you know that’s bullshit, even I knew it was at the time. So I’d jack off real quick to some of the hot stories, some of those big belly pics and drawings, and then forget about it. I’m not gay—I’m not. Janine still turns my crank after 15 years, and if it weren’t such a hassle, me being boss and all, I’d gladly go pussy-chasing with the Mexican crew I got on Friday night. It’s just that when it comes to fat guys, guys blimping, guys getting soft, sprouting a gut and growing tits, I pop a boner. The rest of that gay shit doesn’t do anything for me—just fat guys. So after getting up enough nerve to exchange a few E-mails with some of the cooler dudes on the gainer boards, I decided to see what kind of action I could scare up for myself. Opened a Hotmail account and got my ad together: Straight married encourager guy looking for straight married gainer into getting fed, growing gut. No strings or romance. Just hot man-to-man action. I’ll bring the eats. You bring the appetite. Beginners welcome. I put that last part in mostly to cover my own ass, since I’d never been with a guy, period, no less doing any kind of shit like this. And maybe it was my own denial or something, but even though I plastered the ad everywhere I could think—even on the Yahoo personal boards, for Christ’s sake!—I didn’t really think I’d get a response. And for a month or two, I didn’t. But then. . . . I remember thinking, "Man, he sounds a helluva lot more nervous than even me," when I answered the phone and heard him say, "Hey, man, this is Gary," then a long pause, "You know, from the ad. . . ." Like I wouldn’t know. Right. Like I hadn’t fucking waited three days by the phone. "Hey, Gary! Cool. I was wondering if you were going to call." "Well, you know, stuff came up. How you doing?" "I’m great. Just great. How’s by you?" I could hear him coughing, clearing his throat. "I’m OK. So, what’s the deal? You want to meet or what? What do you usually do?" I was such a wuss about this, I don’t mind telling you. I’d been putting these ads out and actually hadn’t really even thought about what the fuck I’d do if someone called. But I think quick on my feet, so I said, all cool and suave, "Well, let’s at least meet for a cup of coffee, then you know, if we want to take it the next step, we can always go down the street for a tub." "What do you mean, like a hot tub?" I was thinking of the place next town over where Janine and I would go every once in a while before the kids. It was nice, not sleazy, well-run, and all the rooms had a little bed and a sauna. Plus, I wanted to get a look at this guy before I committed myself to anything. You know, what if he was some ugly old skank or something. "Yeah, but let’s just talk first. Like I said, no strings." He hung up so quick after I named a place to meet that I really didn’t think he’d show, so after telling the guys I was taking off to price a job in the city, I brought some paperwork with me the next day, got my coffee and figured I’d wait a half-hour, no more. Knock me over with a fucking feather if he doesn’t show up like right on the button and isn’t like one of the hottest guys I’ve seen. Just the way I like them—looking about early 30’s, real all-American, about six-foot, should have been about 180 and maybe was for most of his life, but clearly packing an extra 30 or so, lots of it hanging over the front in a sort of clingy yellow T-shirt. "Gary, it’s Doug. How you doing, guy?" I thought he’d be a nervous wreck, the way he sounded yesterday, but evidently he got his shit together and looked cool, sat down, chunky football player ass and legs spreading big on the seat, smiling like we were both being bad boys. Figured I might as well set a tone. "Can I get you something? Couple of donuts. Coffee." Still smirking, he nodded, "Yes. And yes." So we chit-chatted some, keeping our voices a little low. Turned out this was his first time with a guy, but his wife—he wouldn’t tell me her name, just called her "my wife"—seemed to be intent on fattening him up. "You should see what she cooks for me. And I don’t dare tell her I can’t eat any more, because I get the look, you know. Plus she’s always handing me what our daughter doesn’t eat. And of course there always cake and ice cream in front of the tube. It’s like I get up feeling like a stuffed pig sometimes when I get into bed. You see, this." He rubbed his gut. "All in the last two years, and I can’t lose it. So I figured, why not just forget about it and let it go." Thinking to work him a little, get him hot, I said, "The wife likes it that way, doesn’t she?" He smiled shyly. "She can’t keep her hands off it. Neither can the guys at work. They’re always ribbing me, but that’s why I called you. Because it like turns me on when they do that shit. Am I, like twisted or something?" I leaned back and pushed the second donut at him, trying to act smug, like I was the big expert. He looked like a little boy, cheeks munching away, looking up at me. "I don’t know, man. What’s twisted? I just know what I like." I waited till he swallowed. "So, you feeling like a tub?" He laughed out loud and slapped his belly. "Yeah. You bet I’m feeling like a tub. But I guess you mean a hot tub, huh?" If this was his first time, it didn’t show. I went in first and paid, and then he waited in his truck a little and came in after, just in case anyone might see us walk in together. I had my wits about me—either that or my old army training—but I had crammed my bag full of plenty of supplies from the bakery around the corner from work where all the lardasses seemed to go, all the stuff I’d fantasized for years seeing a guy eat—chocolate eclairs, a big box of butter cookies, a marble cake, and a bunch of cupcakes. (I’d have loved to bring a coconut cream pie but I couldn’t figure out how to smuggle it in, since you’re not supposed to bring food into the tub place.) Anyway, the door hardly closed when suddenly big Gary was all over me, pressing his overfed belly right into mine and knocking me back against the wall, nuzzling my neck with his face, smelling of sweat and sugar. I ran my hands over his straining T-shirt, feeling the heft of him, rolling his fat back and forth in my palms, half-teasing, half-dominant, and using my own strength, pushed him back. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, bubba. Not so fast. You gotta do what I say or you ain’t gonna get your eats." I stuck my thumb in the deep depression of his navel. "Got that, gainerboy?" It was a risk, I knew, pulling that attitude, but figured putting it out there would give us something to work with. He smirked, embarassed and horny, and played along. "Sure, man. Whatever you want. You be my coach. I’ll follow orders." Then he hung his head and looked up at me. "Pants off." He obeyed, but when he went to pull his jockeys off, I smacked his hand. "Leave them on." I went over to my bag and started laying out the goodies in front of him, taking my time, keeping my own gym shorts and tank-top on, looking at the fine sight of his belly hanging out of the now loose T-shirt. We were both throwing major woodies, but I just stood there and took in the sight of him, like he was a big piece of beef, and that really seemed to make him crazy-hot, started pulling on his dick. I cocked my head toward the bubbling tub, and saying nothing, we climbed in with our clothes on, as if we were just straight guys doing a jacuzzi together, but I pushed him back and climbed on top of him, running my face and hands over the now soaking-wet, clinging T-shirt, straddling his fat thighs with my legs and sort of sitting on his lap. We didn’t talk, rubbing our face next to each other. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to kiss him, to tell you the truth, having never smooched with a guy, but eventually we started, mostly because it seemed he wanted it, and I had to say, the taste of his tongue was a real turn-on. I just kept thinking about how his whole life was going to revolve around that greedy mouth of his, his big hungry greedy voracious gainer mouth, how he was starting to live for his food, for being fed, for getting everything he could into that mouth, and at some point I guess I eventually started to say shit like that in his ear, whispering it, being a big tease, talking into his mouth. The whole feeling of this big dude under me, slick and wet, begging for it, was the most intense turn-on and he just moaned when I flipped both our cocks out of the shorts and started belly-fucking under the water. "You like this?" he said, his eyes kind of closed, putting his hands down my shorts and holding my ass. "I mean, you’re so tight, you work out." I poked my cock right into his underbelly as a response. "I don’t know. What do you think? You think I like this?" He moaned a little louder and pulled me into him a little harder. "I’d have to say yes. But man, like I’m so fucking fat." "That you are." I kept up the belly fucking, holding his wrists down on the sides of the tub, licking on his chin. "And you are going to get fatter." "Oh fuck. Really? You want me fatter. I’m such a blimp already." "You saw that food, didn’t you?" He licked his lips, looking over my shoulder at the spread. "You ain’t going to make me eat all that? Man, I’ll be sick. Already had a huge lunch." I grabbed his lovehandles under his shirt and started jiggling them, his soft mantits shaking just above the surface of the water in wet, nearly see-through T-shirt. "Yeah, I can feel it, right here, fatso. Is this where the guys at work poke? In your fat, right here. What do they call you these days? Chubs? Tubby? Jellybelly?" He was getting breathless, which I figured meant he was getting close, so I stopped the belly-fucking, peeled off my own shirt and shorts, threw them into a wet heap across the room and moved over to the other side of the tub. He didn’t expect this, but I was really getting off on being a cocktease for change, I guess ‘cause of all the years of having chicks do this teasing shit to me. Kind of helped me see it from their perpsetive, you know what I mean. It was pretty damn fun. Anyway, he started to come over but I stopped him with a foot, wiggling my toes in his flab. "Uh, uh, uh. Food first. Fun later. Just relax, big guy. Take a breather. We got a whole hour." He shook his head and decided to give me a taste of my own medicine, sitting back across the tub from me and lifting up the wet shirt just over his tits and cupping them, trying to act real matter-of-fact. "If I gain any more weight, I’m going to have D-cups, what do you think?" Thing was his tits weren’t really that big yet, most of the weight was in his belly and hips, but I played along because it was kind of hoot talking about a guy’s breasts, plus it was very hot watching a guy fondle himself, breasts all hairy and butch. "Nips getting sensitive, darlin?" I said, looking away like I didn’t give a shit. "All the gainers I know say their nipples start fucking talking to them after a while." He chuckled at that and wincing a little, began to flick the tips of his nipples with his fingers. "Yup, they’re talking all right. Hear em?" I guess I deserved it for being a prick, but the sight of it was kind of driving me crazy, him leaning back, double-chin under his sexy, cleanshaven face, teats almost as big as Janine’s when she was revved up, and it was about all I could do to keep bringing myself off in the water in my own shorts. So I used my feet again and knocked his hands away from his breasts. "Yeah, I hear ‘em. They’re saying, ‘Feed this fucker. Get him big.’ " and with that, I climbed out of the tub and started toweling myself off right next to him. He was definitely getting off on my body—which after years of construction gets plenty of looks still, I will say that—but frankly, I wouldn’t look twice at a guy like me, while a big soft old doughboy like Gary just was working me to the bone. But there he was, jacking himself furiously as he watched me, so I gave him a little show, a few ass shorts, flexing the legs, shooting a bicep curl now and then. His face was red and sweaty, eyes kind of going glassy from being so turned on, and he looked like he was having the time of his life. "Isn’t that what they are saying, Gar? Aren’t those nipples saying, ‘Mmm, mmm, want some pound cake.’ " I lazily made my way over the to the bed and sat cross-legged on it, arranging the food around me. "Or maybe it’s that hungry mouth of yours?" He didn’t say anything, but with a big whoosh, he hoisted himself out of the tub, struggled to get his soaking wet clothes off, blubber shaking the whole time, which I wasn’t about to complain about at all, and then, quickly drying himself, made his way over to the bed. I checked out his cock, which wasn’t as long as mine but was real thick and uncut, which kind of surprised me, and with a sound kind of like "oomph," he plopped down parallel to me on his back, all the goodies lined up between us, making a pillow with his towel, so his head was propped up. In this position, his belly flattened out some, but I could still see the roundness spreading and his navel looked real deep. "You want dessert?" I tore off a hunk of cake and nibbled on it myself. He still didn’t say anything, and I couldn’t figure out if he was embarassed about this, or ashamed, or if this was part of the turn-on for him, having me take charge like this, but he nodded, staring straight into my eyes for a long time, and then parted his lips and closed his eyes. So I started feeding him like that, at first giving him chunks that were way too big, but then realizing that all my fantasies of cramming guys full of food had to be brought into reality and that little bite-size pieces made it easy to just keep the rhythm going, one after another, trying to time his swallows with another little bit ready and waiting, right on the edge of his lips. He was moaning and groaning the whole time from pleasure, making little baby sounds, and I let myself sort of lean over him so I could hear him better, because I found that part of it really, really hot, like he were my son and I was his dad, and I was growing him into a huge fat stud. In fact, pink and round and fat as he was, he sort of looked like a little kid, and so I just started rubbing his belly really affectionately, not like sexual or nothing, rubbing my hands in long, slow circles up from his navel to just under his pecs and back, like I sometimes did on my own kids backs to help them go to sleep. Well, big Gary put away a pound cake, gut getting higher and tighter toward the end and he managed to pack away about a dozen sugar cookies before opening his eyes and saying, "Got a take a break, Doug. Belly’s real full." The look in his eyes made me think he was hurting, but the smile on his face told me a different story. So, I raised my eyebrows, said, "Hey, sure," but since he had responded so well to me being kind of a mean bastard, I decided to keep it up, and sat back, took one of those heavily iced cupcakes in my hand and began to lick it off. "Man, is this shit ever good! I don’t usually eat this stuff, but now I see why you fatguys like it. Real sweet. Real soft." My cock was jutting straight up against my own flat belly and I just thinking about all those chicks I had see in the Playboy movies and the way that they made you really believe that they didn’t want to do anything but go down on that guy’s prick, like they were living to suck that fat cock. So thinking of that, I made love to that sweet cupcake like I’ve never made love to anything. "I mean, you can’t be full yet. Big dude like you. You gotta wanta just taste this, don’t you? You don’t want me eating all your treats up, do you, bigguy?" I started making little thwacking sounds with my lips, thinking that might do it, and sure enough, Gary closed his eyes again and opened his mouth, my signal to start feeding. Well, getting this round down him was a little more work, and in all honesty, I started feeling a little sorry for him, because his gut really did start to look like a beachball and there was an edge to his groaning that made me think we were moving past pleasure into pain. But the fact was, the whole time, his cock was hard as a rock, drooling like a hose pipe and he opened his mouth to whatever I offered. After the last cupcake, he was breathing real hard, his eyes sort of rolling back in his head. "I’m like getting a sugar rush or something," and I don’t know what made me do it, I guess instinct, but I grabbed his cock and began to slowly give him a handjob. I’d never touched another guy’s cock before, this was the first time, yet the position we were in made it easy for me, you know, side by side, kind of like I was jacking myself off. "Breathe deep, baby. Just breathe into your belly. Make a little room in there." The back of my hand was stroking his lower belly and I could feel him doing what I was saying. "You just gotta keep breathing. It’s like any kinda training. You know what I’m saying." His prick was really slimy, which wasn’t my most favorite part of this, but he started to clench his big ass with every stroke of mine and the movement seemed to make him more comfortable. "That’s right," I prompted him. "Get into it. Fuck my fist. Come on, you’re fat and happy, ain’t you?" He knocked my hand away suddenly and grabbed himself, a sign the big guy wasn’t going to be lasting too much longer. Staring right into my face, he croaked out, "Eclair," and fumbling a bit, I managed to lay hold of an eclair, aiming it right into his open mouth as his whole body tensed and released. It was an amazing sight, seeing this overfed guy cumming next to me, a sight I had only dreamt of for many years. I could see all his muscles tight, but on top of it all was a big quivering layer of manfat, shaking like jello, the orgasm just shooting through him in waves, his mouth frantically trying to down the eclair I had pushed in it without choking, and again, mostly from instinct I guess, I got on my knees, aimed my own cock straight over his stomach and with no more than five solid pulls, shot my wad on that blubberbelly quivering underneath me. I had cum about a thousand times thinking about this, spewing right on top of a big man’s fat hairy stomach, and it was like I stayed there frozen for a real long, the orgasm absolutely one of the most intense I had ever had, so intense I forced myself to keep my eyes open, to take the whole fucking scene in, and just when I thought I was done, I heard Gary groan, saw his lips smeared with cream and chocolate and damn if I didn’t fucking lose it all over again. This time I let out a yell, because this had never happened to me, cumming twice right on top of each other, and it scared the shit out of me, thought I might be having a convulsion or something, and I guess Gary saw that because he put one of his arms around the back of my neck and using his strength, pulled me straight down on top of him, holding me like a fucking doll against his huge warm soft body, as I just let loose again, thrashing wildly, crying, hunching my prick into his belly. It was like I had been reduced to some kind of animal or something, and all I could think about was trying to stay conscious while I rode this incredible wave of pleasure—not my family, not my job, not my wife, not my kids, not nothing—just this mind-blowing orgasm. All I can say was that it was a good thing Gary was a big strong guy, because he held me good and just let me carry on, all of him shaking underneath me from laughter. I ended up laying completely limp on top of him, drooling between his pecs, panting, feeling my own thighs wedged between his, my cock just sore and throbbing buried in his fat, almost too sensitive for me to touch. Trying to get my own shit together, I mumbled something like "Goddamn. That was a first," and taking stock of the situation without moving, I realized that both of us were pretty much of a mess, between the food, sweat, spit, and cum. He was stroking my head and I responded by reaching up and the back of my own hand against his cheek. "First for me, too," he said, good-humoredly. "You could have warned me you were a wild man." "Then I thought you might get scared off." I managed to say this and sound like I knew what I was talking about. "You know how uptight married guys are." "Don’t I ever!" We both laughed, and after hearing the buzzer for ten minutes, took our time showering. Worst part was realizing suddenly that the only clothes we had were the soaking wet things laying in the corner. "Oh fuck," I said, wringing the shorts and T-shirt out. "Guess I’ll have to say I went to the gym." Gary made a face, holding the shirt. "Wish I could use that excuse. I’m going to have some major explaining to do. Walking down the street, looking like the goddamn Goodyear blimp in a wet T shirt. Least I got my pants." He caught me looking and laughed again. "You are a big prick, aren’t you? Use me and abuse me." I smirked. "Me? What are you talking about? You ever going to call me again or you just gonna just dump me?" He fiddled with his wedding ring, not thinking about it, far as I could tell, but that’s what he was doing. "We’ll see. It’s going to take me a month to digest what you fed me today." I gave him a soft punch in the gut, copping one last feel before we opened the door and went back to real life. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, you got my number. Thursdays are good for me." Then I handed him the four eclairs left over in the box. "Here, share these with the wife and kids. My compliments." He stuck his tongue out. "You are a prick, aren’t you?" Guess I fed him good, because I never heard from him again. I did hear from a lot of gay guys who didn’t seem to be able to read, though, or who musta thought I was kidding when I said I was looking for straight, married guys. I didn’t answer any of them, mostly because the pics they sent didn’t do much for me, but also it was clear that they were looking for love in all the wrong places, as far as I could tell. I was certainly not going to be throwing my whole life down the toilet for a little gainer fun on the side. Plus, I couldn’t figure out what to say without sounding, you know, like an asshole. What was I supposed to say--"Sorry, I don’t get into fat queens," which is what they were. My momma always said, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. So I just didn’t write back. Anyway, a month or so passed and then, finally, I got a note someone who could not only read English but wrote me quite an intelligent-sounding letter, by the name of George. Said he was a college professor, kids grown up, wife away a lot and said he was doing all the exploration he had put off for all these years. Clicking on the attachment, a pic came up that did a number on me—him wearing a Speedo on the beach, taken from below, big goofy smile on his bearded face, eyes squinting from the the sun, and what looked like quite a hefty, hairy belly and big soft manpecs, real dark tan. I popped a big boner immediately, not so much because he was a fat fox, which he was, but really because he was the spitting image of my father-in-law. That, I will say, felt a little weird, jacking off thinking about Russell while looking at this guy George’s picture, but after cumming, I knew I’d have to get together with this dude, just to push the envelope. He was real friendly on the phone and very well-spoken, so I knew he wasn’t giving me a line about him being a professor and all. This put me immediately at ease and we shot the shit some, all the usual stuff—no, the wives didn’t know, yes, we had both been into this for as long as we could remember, no, we weren’t looking for romance, just play—moving quickly to "how’s your schedule look?" When I said it looked good, name a day, he said, "I don’t know what you usually do, but may I suggest this? Let’s meet at La Picante for a little Mexican fiesta and then, if you can wait till next Friday, I’m going to have the whole house to myself." "How come?" He chuckled. "My wife travels a lot on business. She’s an entertainement lawyer. It does make it convenient, however. I got very tired of having sex with my socks and shoes on. Plus, going out to eat makes it easy, get filled up, do a little take-out and finish it off in the privacy of my own boudoir. You want to see if you can help me beat my taco record?" "Yeah?" I had cruised all the eating contest sites in the course of my websurfing, and knew this kind of turned me on. "How many?" "So far 21, at a single sitting. But that was when I was a mere slip of a thing at 245." I felt myself get real hard real quick. "And what’s the weight now?" "Hovering around 270. Need help to push that needle over. You up for some pushing, Doug?" I was up for some pushing, all right. I had always dreamt about being with a guy that huge, seeing how far I could take him. So I was definitely up, no problem, except maybe keeping from whacking off right here in my office where any of the Mexicans could walk in, which they usually did without knocking. We decided to meet on Friday after work, and that whole week I jerked off over his pic, thinking about rubbing suntan oil all over that gut. I also found myself saying, "Daddy" when I came, which freaked me out a little, but I tried not to think about that too much. I wanted to get there early, order some stuff like margaritas the place was famous for and sort of set the stage, but the professor beat me to it, already camped out at the table with a basket of chips, three bowls of salsa, and a frosty pitcher waiting. He rose, looking hefty and preppy, wearing a snug striped button down and khakis with the pockets flaring a bit on account of what I saw was a big rumproast on him. He was a lot darker and hairier looking in person and a lot bigger than the pic he had sent, looked to be about ten years older than me. The handshake was strong, and the smile was real friendly. I liked him right away and felt like I was with someone who knew what he wanted and knew how to get it. It felt kind of good to not have to be in charge. He piled the chips into his mouth in a steady stream while talking. Looked to me like he was a born eater, and when I said something, he laughed a little, wiping sauce off his beard and licking his fingers off. "Yeah, I eat like a breathe. Spent most of my life trying to hold back, but once the kids left, I said, ‘Fuck it, life’s too short.’" "Does the wife give you trouble about the weight?" He waved the waiter over and made a face. "She makes noises like she cares, but she doesn’t. I mean, I think she knows about me, my being bisexual, I mean. I think she’s known for years. Her approach is very ‘don’t ask,’ and mine is very ‘don’t tell.’ So it works. After being married 25 years, it’s not an especially pressing issue. Say, you want something?" I ordered a combination plate, thinking what I didn’t finish, George would get—turned me on thinking about making the big guy eat my leftovers, I have to say. However, George had definitely been through this drill, because he told the waiter that he wanted him to just start bringing tacos in batches of three until he told him to stop. The waiter looked at him strangely, but then I caught the dude checking out the professor’s gut and realized George was for real, so he just nodded and asked, "Chicken, beef or pork?" "One of each. And when you see me start on the third one, you start getting the next three ready." I was stiff as steel down below, something about watching this already fat guy intent on shamelessly pigging out in public was making me nuts, and I think George could sense my excitement, because he poured me another ice-cold margarita and snickered. "I like taking my time, Doug. Don’t you like taking your time? Makes the release so much sweeter." Well, that’s when I knew I had met my match in this one. Fasten your seat belt. This guy knew what he was doing all right. "Yeah? You know that from experience?" "Mmm, mmm, mmm." He struggled to get the last handful of chips down, swigging the rest of his drink like it was Kool-aid and crunching loudly on the ice. "Not as much as I’d like, that’s for sure. I’ve got a very demanding gut. Brought some pics for you." And so what does he do then, but he pulls out a bunch of old photos, tosses them on the table in front of me while we are waiting for the food to arrive, and just sits back, legs spread, belly pulling on the lower buttons of his dress shirt—before food!--looking the spider that ate the fly, knowing the effect they’d have on me. "Man, you were in great shape, weren’t you!" He had a few photos of him at about age 25 or 30, I was guessing, at the beach, wearing some real little bikini thing. "Where’s this?" The tacos arrived and he dug in, slurping them up, one bite taking care of half, cheeks stuffed and munching contentedly. "Greece. Family’s Greek. Used to have to visit grandma every summer. Tight gut, huh? I think I was 32’ there." It was hard to believe this was the same guy, really, because in the photos he could have only weighed about what I was weighing, 175, 180. "Really?" "Oh yeah. I was 32" for years. You know, until this." He rubbed his hands around the circumference, taking the opportunity to sling his belt down a little farther and push out his stomach. "I think this fellow measured 50" last weekend." He smiled wickedly. "You’re a contractor, aren’t you? You measure things for a living. That’s makes 18 inches of fat in five years. I don’t tell a lot of people. And a good 80 pounds or so, right? 180, 270. Guess 90. I’ve never paid much attention to the scale till lately. I started eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and figured I’ll end up weighing whatever I weigh. Once I got to 250, though, I figured I might as well shoot for a 100 pound gain. That’s been a bit more work than I thought it would be." He leaned forward to catch the drippings of the third taco and I could see his tongue darting in and out of his furry mouth, all red and wet. I wondered if he liked to suck dick. "Hey, why not?" I tried to sound casual and not to stare too much, but the real story was that I was pretty fucking mesmerized. I picked at my food and when the waiter didn’t do as he was told and the tacos didn’t arrive, I decided to give it my own shot, taking one of the tacos off and giving George the rest of the plate loaded with rice, beans, two enchiladas and two big greasy chile rellenos. I didn’t say anything. "So you aren’t going to finish that, huh?" he said, pulling the plate closer toward him, so the edge was almost touching the top of his gut. "Funny, you look real hungry. Or is that blush just the alcohol?" I acted cool but really all I wanted to do was fucking jump his fat ass right there. It was also pretty damn clear though that the professor was in charge of this. So what else did I have to do but toss back my margaritas and watch him eat. And man, did he eat! We were at that fucking restaurant for every little bit of two hours, between him announcing that it was time for what he called "a short hiatus" which meant him shifting around trying to get his now beachball-sized stomach into a position for further feeding, making conversation with me about the wife and kids, as if we was two old buddies catching up, and then starting in for another round. Around taco 18 or 19, he let out a very polite burp and then scooted himself to the end of the chair, letting his gut sag between his legs, elbows on the table, letting gravity make some more room. "You want to help me break my record, don’t you?" "Hey, sure, man. That’s why I’m here." He lowered his voice, as the waiter placed another three tacos in front of him and walked away. "Then this is how you help. Tell me what you like to do." At first I didn’t get it. "Like what do you mean, do?" He wiggled his eyebrows and picked up a taco. He was practically whispering. "You know, do. When you are with a guy." I couldn’t believe it. We were in a crowded restaurant. I was very turned and also very self-conscious, and he knew it. He also knew that I wasn’t going to say no to him. "Well, it’s time for the truth," I finally said. "I ain’t done much." He was munching away, words a little jumbled. "You fuck?" I looked around, hoping no one could hear him but sort of getting off on being so public at the same time. It was really a mindtrip, that I have to say. "Never fucked a guy. No." "Just handjobs then, like in the car, in the park. Right?" I continued to squirm like a deer in the headlights, watching him pile in the 20th taco. "Nope, ain’t done that either." "Tell you what, Doug." He picked up the last taco, full of shredded pork and cheese, and held it in front of his mouth. It was dripping red grease off the end onto his plate. "You want to see me break my record, don’t you?" "Absolutely, man. I want to see you eat that." It sounded lame, but I didn’t know what else to say. "Then you’ll let me suck your dick, won’t you? How’s that sound?" This dude was really out there, I remembered thinking, and I was so strung out at this point, I just bust out laughing at the whole thing. I figured, shit, I might as well say yes, since he had fucking read my mind. He was cool as a cucumber, though, waving that damn taco in front of his mouth, staring me down like he had just asked what time it was. Finally, I pulled myself together, stopped laughing and said, "Hell yeah," figuring I didn’t have to keep my promise, even if he did eat that damn taco. Truth was his mouth looked pretty damn fine for cocksucking, that I had to admit, and I was hoping that I wasn’t wearing a cooz spot of my own in the crotch by now. I don’t think I have been so hard for so long since high school. "Come on, eat it, cocksucker," I said, wearing a big grin. "Earn your keep, you fat fuck." Which evidently got him completely hot, because I have never seen anyone eat and whip out a $50 bill, keep the change and make for the door so fast in my whole life. "Follow me home," he said, waddling toward his brand-new Cherokee, big ass cheeks fighting to get out those khakis, basket almost as swollen high and hard as his belly full of food. Well, the professor was definitely an education for this hound dog. He sucked me not once but twice, the first time barely in the door of his fancy home in the hills, opening my pants and fly with one hand like he had gotten a master’s degree in doing married men on the run. I came in about ten seconds flat and he slurped me all up, getting on his feet and telling me, "Just to drain off the tension. Call it an hors d’oeuvre." The second time was much better, him taking great care of me after he had gotten me all hot and bothered again with that ass of his. Turns out that he got into this very specific sex thing: he pulled his pants down right under the cheeks of his ass, pulled his shirt tails up, so that his humongous soft cheeks sort of squeezed or jutted out in the space between, which is when he wanted me to start patting them—not slapping or spanking them, just jiggling. We were in his bedroom at this point and I have to admit the whole thing was really a trip, because he had positioned us so I could see the two of us reflected in the full-length mirror on the closet door off the mirror on the nightstand where all his wife’s shit was, hairbrushes, make-up, lipsticks Of course, he could see himself too, watching my hands on his cheeks, shaking his fat, watching me get into it with two hands, getting a rhythm going, each buttcheek bouncing up and down. "Rough hands," he grunted out at one point, pulling on his own cock with his eyes half-closed. "Like that." "Like that?" I said, giving him a little bit of a slap, making him jump. "Yeah, keep it up. I’m so fucking fat. I’m so fucking fat," which he just said over and over again until he shot onto the carpet, with me watching him in the mirror from behind, all of his blubber shaking under its own power at that point. I had such a big boner then I actually thought about maybe porking the guy, after all, his ass was right there practically begging for it and I was ready to go off again, but then I thought maybe that’s what he wanted to do all this for and I backed off, decided an another long, excellent bj would do fine. He was in fact a very excellent cocksucker, but my theory is that most gainers are. What do you call it, oral fixation? He lived for my dick for about a half hour, cupping his big titties the whole time and moaning, and it felt great, standing there, my hands on my hips, my big old prong wet and warm, feeling him suck that second load right out of me. I didn’t have to do shit, just come in his mouth a second time, and the look on his face was just priceless, like he’d won the Kentucky Derby. Now, trippy as the whole scene was, you can’t argue with getting two great blowjobs in a day, can you? It’s the kind of thing that I think maybe only a married guy can really bend his mind around, lucky as we are to maybe get one good blowjob every year. And the professor was digging it big time, no hesitation, no whining, just pigging out on cock, my cock. That was when I decided I liked doing gainerguys for real, right there in George’s bedroom in the hills, and on the way home, I was hoping that the professor might turn out to be a very useful tension reliever for those days when you just need to get off and you know that it ain’t going to be happening at home. Shit, this stuff was great, I thought: I didn’t even have to pay for dinner. He could be my fat cocksucking daddybear any old day he wanted. . . . Well, the thing with George went on for a bunch of months, as a matter of fact. His wife was traveling a lot that summer, some case of hers she was working on, and he’d call whenever she was gone. It got to the point I’d answer the phone at work and all I’d hear was "I’m hungry," which meant "Show up at La Picante at 5:30 pm." Which I would. He built his capacity up to a pretty impressive 35 tacos, and so he blimped to way past 300 in a flash. Or I guess I should say, in reality, he didn’t know what he weighed at that point because the scale they had only went up to 300, a fact I never failed to mention as his "breaking the goddamn scale," which always gave him a hard-on when I said it. And talk about quick, easy and painless--he was a married man’s dream come true, a little bit more of a prissy queen than at first glance, I found out, but hell, I wasn’t about to grouse. Even Janine noticed I seemed to be much more relaxed at home after work on those Fridays, and when she said something about it at dinner, I grinned and said "We’re raking in the dough these days with all these jobs. Sure, I’m in a good mood," wondering what she’d do if she knew I was getting my hose drained on a regular basis by a fatman. It was really all I could to keep from cracking up. But then, it all started having an effect. First thing I caught was me staring at big guys wherever I was, sometimes like really obviously without even knowing I was doing it. Going to Home Depot on the southside was like hog heaven—those dudes must do nothing but munch a bunch in the back, because every last one of them is fat-bellied piglets, waddling around the aisle, guts sticking out, and then they’d get up on those ladders, stomachs and lovehandles hanging out of their shirts with me looking up, and whew, sometimes it just got to be too much for me. I had to sometimes literally close my mouth and try to turn away before I gave the whole jig up right there in the power tool aisle. Then it got a little closer to home when my oldest boy Brad came home from school one day and said that he wanted to try out for wrestling this year, but that it meant putting on 25 pounds and what did I think? I didn’t quite know what to say really, because Brad had always been kind of stocky and had taken shit for it from some of the kids growing up, but he said he and his buddy Dan were going to bulk up together, hit the weights, get big. I got the same kind of freaky feeling then as I had had when I had been jacking off to George’s pic that time while thinking about Janine’s father. So, I said it was his decision, just no drugs or I’d bust his ass, and he looked at me like I had three heads, because I had never said anything like that to him before. I didn’t want to start thinking about what it might be like to have a gainer son right under my own roof, but of course I couldn’t help thinking about it and getting turned on, which it made it kind of hard sometimes to relax when I was with George, because I felt mixed up and kind of weird and guilty. But the final straw came when we all finished the Woodward job, this big mother of a custom house that tipped me into a six-figure income bracket and forced me to hire all the Mexican guys I had working for me now. Anyway, we’d been on that for a solid nine months and the day we turned it over, I took the crew out for a party at this divy Mexican bar place where the muchachos all hung out—figured they could use some serious Corona-action after what a pain in the ass the Woodwards had been with all their design changes and demands. So anyway, I’m the only gringo at this place and there’s Miguel, my foreman, who used to be my handyman and is now running the show for me on site, meanwhile there’s also the whole crowd of his friends and relatives he had me hire who did a good job for me after all because they appreciated getting the steady work so much instead of all that shitty day labor. The cholos are getting plenty blitzed, dancing and carrying on, and I’m feeling no pain either after an easy five or six Coronas, so I go outside for from fresh air and a smoke, about ready to take off when Justino, Miguel’s brother-in-law, comes out, this little fireplug of a Mexican guy, pretty quiet, never said much, to me or to anyone. Justino looks wasted and fumbling lights up a cigarette, too. "I just wanted to say thanks for the work, Senor Douglas. It’s been hard getting jobs, you know." I shrugged and smiled politely, realizing just how buzzed I was. "You all did a good job. Don’t worry about it." So then he’s standing there, shifting back and forth, and if I hadn’t been so shit-faced maybe I could have seen it coming, but then, real casual, he says to me, "You like guys, don’t you?" A chill goes up my spine and I look at him. "What did you say?" I ask him, real sharp, throwing down my cigarette and stamping on it. "I just see the way you look at us. You know, you like guys, too, don’t you, Senor Douglas." Which is when I realized he was fucking trying to come on to me. Maybe it was the beer, maybe it was who knows what, but I stand there like I been hit by lightning and it just fucking comes out of me. "Yeah, I like guys. Only I like fat guys." To this day, I can’t believe I said it, but I guess I thought it would throw him off the trail or something. Or maybe I just wasn’t thinking too straight after all the brew. "So, if I get fat, we can do it?" I couldn’t believe he was serious but damn if he didn’t look like he was, all shy and aggressive at the same time. "You are really a hunk, you know what I’m saying. I think you are a real man, you know." "Justino, come on," I tried to brush it off. "Knock that shit off. You’re married, wife’s pregnant. Who are you trying to shit?" His eyes got real wide and that’s when I really felt the fear of God, because he was dead on, no-shit, totally fucking serious. No joke. "I know. She’s all big, and like, I ain’t had any, and I keep seeing you and, senor, you are like driving me crazy. How much you want me? 200? 250?" Well, I sobered up right quick and realized if I didn’t handle this one right, the jig would be up, because this was Miguel’s wife’s sister’s husband and what one of them knows the whole pack of them knows. All of this was just beginning to hit way, way too close to home, so I bust out laughing, mostly from nerves, and tossed the whole thing off like he was pulling a joke on me. "What are you now? 160, 170? Huh? 200, Justino. You weigh in at 200 and we’ll talk. Okay?" And I poked him in the belly and walked off, sweating pouring off me like I’d jumped in a pool. Fun’s over, I decided that night driving home. No more of this shit. It was getting way too complicated. I wasn’t hiding my tracks well enough, not if fucking Justino, who I said maybe two words to in nine months, could tell what was up with me. Then add on to that the fact that the more I got, the more I wanted, and where was that going to end? I was already jerking off twice a day, checking my E-mail for messages all the time, hoping every phone call was George. So that was easy to take care of. I closed my Hotmail account the next day, and next time George called I pushed delete on the machine and hoped he wouldn’t call back. I continued to get a little bit of a break on this score when Brad told me that his buddy Dan flaked out on the training and that actually the wrestling coach told him to lose weight if he wanted to try out for the team. They’d want him to qualify for a lower weight class if possible, not bulk up. We were all at dinner that night and Janine cracked up when Brad said the coach had said, "It ain’t sumo, you know. I want my boys light." "Guess that means no more apple pie, huh?" she said, dishing out dessert. "Give mine to Dad," he said, flashing me a smile. "He’s the one that needs to bulk up." Yup, it was getting way too close to home, all right. That night I deleted all the gainer shit from the computer—all the links to all the sites, all the stories I had downloaded, all the pics. It took about ten minutes to wipe out almost all of a year’s worth of obsession, which made me feel good because I had always been a little worried about Janine or one of the boys coming across it, even with all my passwords and stuff. George did call twice more, even though I hadn’t called him back, and in the last message said he wouldn’t call again, which also made me feel good. So that was that. Chapter closed on a dark corner of my life. I thought a lot about why and how I had gotten onto that track, but really, mostly I tried to forget about it. And I would have been able to, except for Justino. . .. So, my life is going just totally dead-on normal. It’s a warm spring for a change. I go to work, send Miguel out to supervise the jobs, I stick in the office to handle all the bids and estimates, occasionally go on site to check up on the guys, then I go home, kiss Janine, toss a ball with Brad and Corey, go to my parents for dinner on Sundays. Very straight. Very suburban. Until one day, about two months later, late in the day, there’s this big sort of commotion in the shop outside the office, a bunch of wild Spanish, not angry really, but like all excited, laughing and so forth, all the guys coming in from this commercial store downtown we were hired to remodel, a Italian deli. They all sound like they are having fun, and I hear Miguel on top of all the voices, so I saunter out, the big padron and what’s in front of me but a circle of these Mexican guys, one of them holding Justino with his arms behind his back, another two lifting up his shirt, exposing what has become a big round brown soft beachball of a borriga, and no one else but Miguel standing there with his hands on it, looking real thoughtful, occasionally putting an ear right on Justino’s deep bellybutton. They are all chattering away, and Miguel sees me and gestures for me to come over. "Ay, Douglas. What do you say? Is it going to be a boy or a girl?" I look at Justino who looks at me, not doing shit to get away, big dark eyes with this strange, kind of proud expression on his face, looking right the fuck at me, no less, and I hear another of the Mexicans say, "Si, senor Douglas. We are wondering how Justino’s wife got him pregnant. Maybe you deliver before her, ay, papi?" Meanwhile Miguel is bouncing the belly back and forth in his hands, and I’m looking at all the fresh new fat which shaking like a flan, and of course, I’m immediately hard, because I haven’t had any of this for months and months and months. "If he gives birth, I think it’s going to be a pair of twins—burritos!" "He is a big burrito, what you saying. He’s going to have rice and beans." "Yo, Justino, no beer for you tonight!" They had their fun at this point, especially since I was hanging around, being the boss and all, so after a few more pokes, they all let the poor guy go, though he didn’t seem be too worse for the wear, and still laughing went about getting ready to go home. I, however, tried to seem like it was just some harmless fun, too, but I don’t think I did a very good job, because who should follow me into the office but Justino, not even closing the door, just standing on the other side of it, lifting up his shirt and rubbing it, teasing me. "Not 200 yet, senor, but soon. See, I getting big belly for you, papi. You want to touch, too?" I stood there and glared at him, trying to pull off the same lame "I don’t know what the hell you are talking about" act as I did outside of Los Caballeros, and being about as convincing as I was then. "You make me pregnant. I get big and fat for you, papi." He pulled up his shirt and ran his finger under his gut, licking his lips, looking at me. "You the man. I want the man." Behind him, through the crack of the door, I could see them all taking off for home in their broken down cars, Miguel looking around for Justino then shrugging and taking off in his new truck. The place was quiet. "Come on, Justino. Don’t do this. You don’t want to do this. I mean, last time, you were drunk. It was a joke. At least I thought it was a joke." He looked at me hard, real hard, almost buying it and then, I blew it. Without thinking, I pulled on my crotch, and he caught me. "Come on, you, senor. No one know. I promise. Who I tell, my wife? Your wife? Women don’t care. My wife like me big and fat. She feed me like a big pig. Feed me like she eating. Feed me for two. Only she don’t know. Come on, senor. I’m happy, she’s happy. You be happy." And knowing I was completely fucked, really deeply, seriously fucked, what do I do? Well, about the only thing I could do. I walked over and closed the door on the two of us, making sure it was locked. "No one knows?" I asked. He grinned. "Senor, we two married men." In everything he had said to me, it was that happy part that got to me: what was "happy"? What it would feel like? For the time being, though, I tried not to think about things like that, choosing to lose my soul instead, burying my face in all that new warm flesh of his, rolls of manfat grown just for me.
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petrichorpetals · 3 years
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#the government is going to use that shit to track you#the democrats are trying to ban hamburgers!!!!#aquila shut up no one cares#my mental health is wild rn bc of two different things entirely out of my control#like a third is I suddenly got let go at my job the day after Christmas bc I was told I was just hired seasonal only#me increasingly confused because I was never informed of this before: what#I'm not too mad bc I'd have to either quit or only work part time only in about a month or so when classes start back but#it doesn't stop me from being upset that me leaving wasn't on my terms like I planned#I've also been an idiot lately and looking at something that has like tw:suicide and going I feel fine I can look at that#then questioning why I feel terrible the next day#like I wonder genius#the first factor came from my abusive parents driving up and demanding they see me on Christmas#I thought I could go one fucking year without crying on Christmas but nooo they had to make sure I suffer#then like at Christmas dinner at my boyfriend's house his brother in law said that he wouldn't get the covid vaccine bc#.... needless to say I was pissed#like you've been vaccinated before dumbass and you carry around a phone. the government doesn't need to use the covid vaccine for that#it's been a lot in the span of a few days to process and really the only thing to do until class starts is vote in the runoff#which I'll be increasingly glad I won't get ads for after because I'm tired of republicans desperately filling my mailbox#mostly with scare ads like <- a real ad I got in the mail#I'd be funny if it weren't so exhausting#I just want to watch one YouTube video without having to hear about RADICAL JON OSOFF#tbh it's mostly warnock they run attack ads against#I can probably quote them by heart at this point tbh#like let me listen to twin size mattress for the twentieth time and leave me to write in peace#personal#honestly my tumblr is just a diary and scrapbook art this point
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apherod · 3 years
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Rubian Soulmate AU
I finally finished writing it ahhhh
I eventually decided that I was going for a sketch-style writing for this. Just short bits and pieces here and there, piecing together some scenes, but not fully fleshed out into a storyline (it coincides with the original story mostly anyway)
So here it is! Enjoy!
This is a Liam and Ruby Soulmate AU requested by an anon (possibly @thedarkestcrew?) ask, in which damage done to one half of the soulmate pair would translate to the other half. 
Word count: 4400
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Liam
“Where did all these bruises come from?”
I was driving through Highway 95 in Maryland when I noticed the bruises crowning my knuckles. They just…appeared, like petals floating to the surface of water. It is possible that I punched something—or someone—at some point in the last few days, or tripped and fell, and using…my fists to break the fall? But I don’t recall doing any of that.
Then again, my head hadn’t been the most reliable in these past few weeks, either.
They weren’t the first. A couple of weeks ago, I woke up with a cut on my upper arm, and the blood drenched half of my sleeve, but the sleeve wasn’t torn or cut, so it couldn’t have been me… Another one came a few days after that, when I was driving, and a sudden searing pain came to my wrist, like I was burnt by a frying pan, but that part of my skin wasn’t even touching anything. The list goes on.
I think I’m going insane.
Some people…some who are lucky enough to find their soulmates, found themselves with identical wounds on them, because when one half of that bond gets hurt, the other one suffers, too. Mom’s bruises never translated onto our birth dad. Maybe that was why he was so okay with hurting her. It wasn’t until she met Harry, did that magic—or curse—work on both of them.
But that’s exactly that—it only happens after you’ve met the person. If I’ve somehow met her, and didn’t know who she was, then I’ve really screwed up. Big time.
It couldn’t have been anyone in Caledonia, otherwise I would’ve known. No one from home, either. There weren’t even that many of us left. Could it be someone from East River? For some reason, I just couldn’t be sure… There’re this weird quality in my memory when I think of East River, glowing tinge surrounding everything, blurring details, and flaring up the edges, making it hard to see for too long.
Also, if I met her in East River, why isn’t she with me?
If she’s really out there, I felt sorry for all the pain I’ve caused her in the past few days. When I narrowly escaped that group of Skip Tracers, my arms were all cut up, real pretty. I can’t imagine the horror she must have felt when her arms just, out of nowhere, started spontaneously bleeding half of her blood out.
I really ought to take better care of myself, even if it’s just for her sake.
When I crossed the state boarder into Pennsylvania, I managed to find an old payphone, and left a voice mail for my brother to let him know where I am, and that I’m coming his way. I didn’t want to—asking for Cole’s help was one of the few things that I genuinely want to avoid—but I’m really desperate.
The truth is, just imagining him gloating about this—about me needing his help—was almost enough to make me turn around. Think about the last time I asked for his help… didn’t work out so well, did it? But whatever Cole has to offer, whatever nightmare I have to live through going back to the League, is better than being hauled back into the camp.
I don’t think they’d actually take me back into a camp, anyway.
When I got passed the wrong Wilmington, I briefly glimpsed the road sign that read US 13, and a voice suddenly rang in my head.
Turn off here. It urged.
The feeling was distinctly different from my reluctance to meet Cole—it was a drive, asking me to go somewhere, rather than run from somewhere.
Whatever it was, I can’t listen, no matter how hard I wanted to, no matter how it warmed my heart just thinking about that impulse, like it would lead me home, even though I had no idea how.
I got into the city of Philadelphia, and found my brother’s apartment soon enough. When I got into his building, a woman threw me a sideway glance that made my hair stood on their ends.
Please don’t recognize me, please don’t recognize me, please don’t recognize me… I muttered in my head while I pressed the buzzer. The door swung opened, and I was snatched inside by a forceful arm.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Cole snarled before I could even lay eyes on him properly. “Why didn’t you call me when you got here?”
He looked much better than me, that much was clear. Cole never had any wound that wasn’t his own, and from the looks of him, he hadn’t seen much action lately. His hair was clean-cut, brushed neatly away from his face. He was wearing a white shirt and dark blue jeans, with metal-frame glasses which were clearly without diopters to finish the look. In this getup, you’d expect him to be a graduate student in U Penn, not a high school dropout.
“I… I didn’t have any money to place a call.” I muttered, feeling my voice getting smaller. Gosh, I hated this. I hated that I felt like a child again. I took off my jacket, and hung it on the peg right next to his. They were two identical black leather jackets, which Mom bought us years ago—she got them a couple of sizes bigger than we were at the time, in anticipation that we would eventually grow into them. Cole did, whereas I felt like I still hadn’t.
Cole let out a long and harsh breath, and gave me a scan head to toe. “You’ve seen better days.” He commented eventually, a subtle amusement in his tone. “Even for you, this is a bit excessive…” He gingerly lifted my right wrist, and got a good look at my forearm, all cut up.
You don’t say. I wanted to retort, but didn’t. “What are you doing in Philly?” I asked as I retracted my hand.
Cole raised an eyebrow. “You really want to know?”
Maybe not. “I’d probably know eventually, wouldn’t I?” I said.
He scratched his chin, frowning. “You know what this means, right? You know where we’re going?”
“Look, if I could just find Mom and Harry…” I began, but he raised his hand and stopped me.
“No,” He snapped, “We don’t have that kind of time. My assignment here is done. I’m being extracted at midnight, which is in less than four hours, and if you think I’d let you out running into the wild and being hauled into a camp again, you’d have another thought coming.”
Choose me. I remembered the subtext of what Cole said that night when he left home, and now it was ringing in a different tone. Now I don’t have a choice.
“All right.” I sighed. “Whatever you say.”
He frowned deeper. But it took him a while to say something. “Look, I know the last time you came with me, it didn’t end so well, but things are turning around.” He said, palms down, pacifying. “I promise, just stick it out a few months.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
He bit his lip. “I just do. Trust me.” He said, then gave me a tight smile, “Tell you what, I’ll go get us something to eat, and you clearly need a shower.” He took off his glasses, grabbed the keys, then, as if remembered something, added with a grin, “Do not, drown in the bathtub.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I rolled my eyes.
Before he could open the door, though, I stopped him. “Cole,” I began, but didn’t really know how to finish.
“Yeah?” He prompted.
“Have we...” I caught myself just for a moment. What am I doing? “...have we ever been to Virginia Beach?”
Because that…memory? was so vivid, that I couldn’t pretend it wasn’t there, calling me at every moment I so much as allowed my mind to idle for a second. But it also had that bright glare around it, like it didn’t really belong to me, like I was seeing it through a mirror, into a different dimension where we were all happier people.
Cole was there, looking exactly like how he was now, but Claire was also there, and that didn’t make any sense…
“No…?” Cole said, “We lived in Wilmington. We went to Wrightsville, remember?”
Of course I do, but… I shook my head. “It’s just… I kept seeing this…memory, that we were there, and Claire was there, too…”
Cole pressed his lips tight. I know mentioning Claire’s name would probably put him on edge, but it’s not like I have other people to talk about her with anyway. A part of me wanted to be a bit mean about it, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I didn’t have the strength.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said, voice rigid. “Just go take your shower. I’ll be back with the food.”
And he left, leaving me alone in his white and bare apartment.
I still couldn’t be sure that it was a good idea coming here. If I’m being honest with myself, it wasn’t even about my negative view on the League, or what it had turned my brother into, but that…I’m not sure how to be his brother anymore. I’m not even sure that he needs a brother.
Hell. Looking around this place, I got the feeling that a brother wasn’t the only thing he didn’t need. But then again, knowing how Cole kept his room, it was maybe a good thing that he had so few belongings here. This place…it didn’t even feel like someone actually live here; there were so few things breaking the white of the walls, it was almost glaring to my eyes.
I first went to check his bed, to see if he still has that weird habit—falling asleep with cigarettes still in his hand. His bedsheet looked clean enough; nothing charred. No ashtray, either. Maybe he quit.
Satisfied, I went to grab a t-shirt and a pair of pants from his closet, and dived into the pressurized water in his shower.
I can’t remember when was the last time I had running water. Probably…when I was in the League’s safe house? Gosh. My skin is so filthy, the water only started running clean after a good ten minutes of scrubbing, and I was scrubbing hard.
I was extra careful when I cleaned my arms, though. Not particularly because I was scared of pain, but more that I didn’t want to hurt this…person who might share this unfortunate connection with me, however low the chance might be. I didn’t want to make her suffer even more—somehow, I knew it was a her, for reasons I couldn’t quite put into words.
When I got out of the shower, I felt like my entire body had been turned inside out. My skin was glowing pink against the white tiling of Cole’s bathroom. He is an inch or two taller than me—which was sore to admit, but hey, I went through puberty in a lot worse condition than he did—so his pants hung a little too long around my ankles.
Then I finally got a good look at myself in the mirror. Damn, I looked awful. The dark shadows under my eyes were so purple, they looked almost black. Not to mention the countless scratches and bruises. There was a new one on my left cheek, just above the jawline. Whether it was mine or hers, I didn’t know.
Just as I threw the towel over my head, and started rubbing the water away from my hair, I heard it—siren. It began from a distance, a low wailing, but it was enough to set every hair on my back on its end. As I flew out of Cole’s shower, grabbed my jacket, and rushed to the window side, the siren got closer—and multiplied. The sound of them were like a harmony from hell.
Should I run? Should I stay?
I should run.
Even though they might not be coming for me, I knew better than to push my luck—it hadn’t really been on my side recently, and that woman who looked at me a second too long when I got in the building was probably proving me right. I threw the apartment door open, and on a second thought, ran for the roof instead of the ground floor.
I can reconvene with Cole later. I need to stay out of sight now. Cole’s a smart guy, he knows what to do in a situation like this.
It had started raining. I tripped on a mossy patch on the rooftop, and almost broke my jaw, but I stood up and kept running. I pushed myself over the ledge of the next building, and sprinted for the fire escape on the far end. The sound of the first bullet fired almost made me lose my bearing when I lowered myself onto the metal shaft.
They are on the other side. There were two fully populated buildings between me and those bullets, and they were firing at someone else—which means I’m not who they’re after. These are all good news.
Right?
Since when had I been that lucky after I turned twelve?
I pulled the hood of the jacket over my head, and dove into the shadow of the next alley. The gunfire had stopped, which meant that they probably got whoever they were after. I took the long way around the block, trying to get a hang of the situation, getting an idea of where I could find Cole without being spotted—
Oh, I found him alright.
Fuck. No. Fuck.
I only caught sight of him for a second before they slammed the back of that van shut, and in that brief second, he looked up, and he saw me.
No.
Christ. No. I… I got him caught. I did… I did this… Why didn’t I warn him? Why didn’t I go to him as soon as I heard the siren?
What have I done?
If you’re caught, you’re disavowed. I still remembered that phrase like it was etched into my skull. If anything encapsulates what I hate about the League the most, this is it. And now, Cole is going to be another casualty under that cold hard rule. The thought almost made my knees buckled, but instead of crashing down, I up and ran.
I ran. From this nightmare of my own making.
+++
Ruby
“Ruby!”
The scream came before the punch could land. I didn’t register what was happening in that first moment, not until the blood was dripping down my elbows, and staining the blue mats under us.
“Go to the infirmary!” Coach Johnson ordered, and I gladly obeyed. I could hear the whispering judgements forming even before I left the training room—what was that? What’s wrong with her? Where did those come from?
I knew exactly where they came from.
If Chubs was here, he’d likely yell at me for not getting these wounds taken care of immediately, but I simply…couldn’t. I ran for the shower stall, being careful not to stain the curtain, and turn on the tap.
With the water pouring out the showerhead, steaming up every bit of air around me, blurring my vision, I finally let the tears fall.
My arms didn’t hurt that much. At least, not as much as my heart. The bruises were bearable—who doesn’t get those occasionally living in the wild? I got one every other day even just from the training. But these cuts…he was in danger. Maybe he only got away with it within an inch of his life.
The only consolation I had was that I wasn’t mortally wounded, which meant he wasn’t, either. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t regret my decision of letting him go every second of every day.
If I did that to protect him, all these wounds and bruises only proved how wrong I was, how in vain my suffering had been.
“Ruby?” Cate’s voice.
I swallowed hard before answering. “Yes?”
“Are you all right?” She asked, standing outside of my stall.
“Yes.” I lied.
“Coach Johnson said you were hurt—” She didn’t buy it. “Look, if you don’t want to go to the infirmary, I can take a look—”
“I’m fine.” I cut her off. The timer on the tap beeped, warning me that the water would start running cold. My blood was dripping down from my fingers, dropping into the shallow water on the concrete floor like roses blooming in the snow.
“Ruby, I can see the blood.” Cate said dryly, then softer, coaxing. “Come out, please. Let me dress your wounds.”
Only if I could just close my eyes, and pretend for a second that the person who was waiting for me with antiseptic was Chubs, not Cate. If only I could pretend that these wounds were mine, not of the boy that I dreamt of every night for the past few months.
If only I could pretend that they were here with me, or that I wasn’t here at all.
I sighed, and brushed the curtain open. To Cate’s credit, she didn’t flinch at the sight of me. “Oh, Ruby…” She said with a tone like I was a stray cat ready to be put down. She reached out, and gingerly lifted my hand to get a better look at my arm.
“Press on it.” She handed me a towel, and sat down on the bench before patting the empty space beside her, motioning for me to join her.
I did as she said as she tore open a paper package. “This is going to hurt a little…” She gently dabbed the fabric square on my wounds, and I hissed out of reflex. I hated this. I hated showing her my weakness, and I guessed, in a weird way, she understood that. She didn’t comment on any of it, only continued to wrap my arms up in silence.
“There.” When she’s done, both of my forearms were wrapped entirely in gauzes.
“Th…thank you.” I managed to choke out.
She gave me a tender smile. “Don’t mention it.” She stood up, collecting the empty packages off the bench, and turned to leave.
Before she was out of the door, however, she turned around, and said, “You know, you get those wounds together, and you heal together, too.” She paused for a second, “You’re…not entirely helpless in this situation.”
Ten minutes after she left, I was still sitting on that bench, pondering her words. I didn’t even know what she said was true, but if it was, it meant that when I took care of myself, I took care of him, too. That, somehow, didn’t seem so bad.
I wondered how Cate knew that. She and Rob were clearly not soulmates, and I didn’t even know why she would want to date him, even without considering that fact. Rob—ruthless, arrogant, hateful—was everything opposite to what she seemed to hold dear.
But then again, she probably didn’t understand why someone would find their soulmate only to let them go on their own.
That day when I let Liam go, I made a decision that I would be whoever the League wants me to be, and make it so that they wouldn’t miss him. And for the longest time, I had kept to that promise. But not today, not now.
I just want to be myself again, even if it’s just for a moment.
So I brushed open the curtain to the stall, and allowed myself to be vulnerable again, for everyone and no one to see.
+++
His eyes traveled from my face to where the water had collected on my chest, and I raised my arms just that much higher.
His mouth half-opened for what I was sure to be a snide remark, but whatever it was never managed to pass his lips. His face froze, brows drew together, and he reached out. Before I could shift away—to where though, I had no idea; my back was already against the wall—he grabbed my wrist, and lifted my arm.
“It was you.” Cole said with a tone of half astonishment, half…anger?
“What was?” I raised an eyebrow at him, trying to hide how much I felt like a kid being caught red-handed, stealing candy bars.
He threw me a “really?” look. “Don’t insult my intelligence.” He snapped, “These are Liam’s, aren’t they?”
I almost asked “how do you know”, but that would confirm his suspicion. “What makes you say that?” I asked instead.
He rolled his eyes. “I’m not playing games with you.” He huffed, “Soulmates should stick together. What were you thinking sending him out into the wild? Do you have any idea how dangerous he is to you? Or you to him? The poor bastard doesn’t even know you exist!”
“And as long as I stay in the League, that fact shall remain.” I said, more resolute and calmer than I thought possible.
He blew out a sigh of exasperation. “Look, I don’t care what kind of sainthood complex you have going on, I’m telling you—you are not doing either of you any favors, and if you think this is somehow a good idea, I beg you, think again, because you definitely look smarter than this.”
“What do you know?” I retorted, finally couldn’t keep the lid on my anger anymore. “Do you have any idea how much he hates it here? How hard he was trying to avoid this place before you drag him into this mess?”
Cole really laughed. “You think I don’t know?” He raised an eyebrow at me, and I met his glare head on. “I was the one that let him go when he got away that first time.” He tried to brush his hair back with his hand, but it gave out a weird flex before he could reach his head. “And I’ve seen enough soulmates pairs in my life to know that I never want one. Have you any idea what would happen to him if you were injured when he was on the run? Soulmates stick together so they don’t double their chances on dying, but I guess no one ever set your logic straight, did they?”
My head was so flushed with anger that I actually let him finished.
“Go find him.” Cole snapped. “And for Christ’s sake, stay together this time.”
+++
Liam
“I didn’t need freedom; I needed you!” I half-screamed, trying to get the frustration out past the chaos raging in my head. How could I—? How could she—? What the hell—?
On the receiving end of my scream, Ruby’s face was painted with grief, lined with tears that almost made my anger buckle. Almost.
“Did you just…not want to be with me anymore?” Facing her silence, my pain came out softer eventually. Please, just tell me, and I will leave you alone.
“No…” She choked out. “I… I was wrong.” She swallowed hard before continuing, and despite the anger still roaming my vein, I wanted to reach out and touch her. “We should…we should stay together. I knew I couldn’t bear to see you with the League, see them take away all the good in you that I love…”
“Is that how you think of me?” I snapped before I realized what I was doing, “That I am so weak that the League is bound to break me?”
“No!” She shook her head violently, “No, I don’t think you are weak… If anything, I think you are much stronger than me. But I was weak.” She finally looked back at me, her green eyes gleaming in the dim light of this dust-covered room. “I’m so sorry.”
Before I could react to what she said—I didn’t even know what I was going to say or do—the sound of a gunshot broke every single thought clean out of my head.
Ruby was running before I could do anything about it. She pushed the door of the shop open, and another shot blew open the window on the outside, shattering the glass all over the floor.
“Ruby!” I shouted as I dodged, crouching with my hands over my ears, but she was already up and running again, out of the door and behind the woman that was escaping the scene—with a gun in her hands.
“Ruby, stop!” I shouted again, got on my feet to catch her, but I never manage. I skidded on the broken glass, and fell, hands first, into the shards.
I heard her hiss. She stopped dead on her way, and whirled around to find me on the floor, holding my right hand on my laps, pressing it against the fabric of my jeans to try and stop the bleeding.
The blood was dripping down to her fingers. As she walked slowly towards me, the red, looking almost black, dropped on the dust-covered floor, leaving a spotting route, marking her path. When she knelt down beside me, finally close enough to touch me, I found that she was smiling. A totally mirthless, wry and painful smile.
“Give me your hand.” She said softly, almost like a whisper.
“You should treat yours first.” I said, trying to catch her hand, to see how much of a damage I’d done.
“We only need to treat one of us.” She let out a small breath, almost like something caught there. “We get them together, and we heal them together, too.”
That, somehow, broke through all the mess in my head and reached my mind. I let her take my arm, and carefully wrap her scarf on my hand, all the while her words played on repeat in my head.
We get them together, and we heal them together, too.
When she was done wrapping my hand up, the wounds on her hand stopped bleeding, too. I didn’t know why—I wasn’t even completely over that anger or frustration—but when she placed her hand in mine, a tender “there” escaping her lips, all I wanted to do was kiss her.
Instead, I gently enveloped my fingers around her hand. “There.” I said, pressing my good hand over hers.
And we stayed in that silent, that touch, just a little while longer.
+++
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softjeon · 4 years
Text
In love with your dark side | Pt. 1
• Pairing: Beauty!Taehyung x Beast!Yoongi • Genre: Fluff, bit of Angst | Rating: Teen and Up | Beautyandthebeast!AU / Fairytale!AU • Words: 5k | AO3 | Gifset Trailer • Disclaimer: anxiety, mentioning of a curse
written with @cassiavioletblue​
↳ Yoongi had tried not to think about what would happen if someone saw him but his mind had wandered through all of their possible reactions anyway: screaming, laughing, shock… he’s had so many horrible encounters in his mind and yet the boy in front of him didn’t react like in any of his thoughts.
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Min Companies was designed to impress, he had learned that at his first day. The golden letters above the entrance were only enhancing the feeling and when he had stepped in, the statue of a young boy and his father was making Taehyung stop and stare at the strange fountain. He hadn’t known how much time had passed when a young woman called out his name and he startled.
“Mr. Kang is already awaiting you for your interview, though it won’t be hard. It’s just a position for the mail department, so please don’t worry.” She looked him up and down and Taehyung had thanked her, although he wasn’t so sure what for. 
Like the building itself, the interior of the big office was designed to impress, even awe those who might have reason to be here. Taehyung had hurried behind the secretary, eyes gazing around as he tried to take it all in: mahogany desks, matching conference tables resting in front of a glass exterior wall, looking out on an equally stunning view.
Nowadays, Taehyung didn’t really notice it anymore.
It had become natural to stroll past the desks, handing out the right mail to everyone. Sometimes he wondered why their CEO still kept it manually and handed out by a person, when there were for sure computer programs or something else to handle it faster. But then again, he didn’t question his job further. He needed it and he needed the money. As a photographer, Taehyung didn’t make enough money, so this was good enough for him. He was working in the mornings for the little extra money, rushing back to his little shop in the afternoons.
The office was in full swing when Taehyung had stepped in this morning and his smile grew wider when he saw the many familiar faces. “Good Morning,” Taehyung greeted the first few people that were sipping on their coffees, tired eyes looking at him. Taehyung simply went after his routine like every day, handing out mail, chatting to a few employers until Mr. Kang, the deputy of the CEO, raised an eyebrow at him and he hurried along until he made it to the end of the long office.
Taehyung didn’t look up as he pushed the cart, simultaneously looking through the boxes to see if he had missed something but there was no mail left when he came to a halt. His eyes flickered up at the glass wall, but there was no seeing through as thick dark curtains hung from the inside and gave him no view of the inside. Taehyung hummed as he stared at the locked door, remembering what Mr. Kang had told him on the first day vividly.
“One rule: never step into Mr. Min’s office.”
Taehyung hadn’t questioned it back then; that was until he heard the daily office gossips. Many said that Mr. Min had been simply on a vacation, planning to give over his company and resting on his well-deserved money, while others were sure they heard noises coming from the other side of the wall. Taehyung bit his lip as he leaned in a little closer, holding his breath as he tried to listen. But there was nothing.
Mr. Min had been young and successful, everything one wanted to have: he had it.
Everything superficial at least, Taehyung thought as he turned his cart around, glancing over his shoulder one last time. He believed that Mr. Min was still there, or why else would he need to deliver his mail each day, simply putting it down next to the door. It was always gone the next day, no matter how early Taehyung was. But he had never seen Mr. Min leave or arrive at the office and only the picture hanging over at the wall let him know what he looked like. Taehyung had shivered seeing it the first time. It was awfully shot, and Mr. Min looked dead as he stared into the camera lens. Taehyung thought he had a cute nose, but his eyes seemed so frozen as he looked down at him. Whoever shot this picture did an awful job. It seemed so lifeless that he had half a heart to take it down.
He dismissed it as he put the cart back to the small office, that was more of a storeroom than a mail office and grabbed his back to hurry out. He had a few customers today and he was beaming with excitement.
It was only when the sun had already set that Taehyung finally locked the doors of his photography shop behind him with a tired sigh. He was exhausted and although he had fun, he felt the aftereffects of his  long day now. Frowning a little, Taehyung tried to calculate how much time he had left to get some dinner and get enough sleep before he had to hurry back to the office again.
At home, Taehyung didn’t bother to look at the fridge anymore, too tired to keep his eyes open and simply plopping down onto his bed. Rubbing over his face, he groaned. Sometimes he wished life were easier, that money was something that he didn’t have to worry about anymore and that photography would give him enough to survive. But he knew that wouldn’t happen, just like he knew fairytales weren’t real.
There was no magic, no three wishes, no one that would make it easier for him. So, he had to keep working hard.
Propping himself up on his elbows, Taehyung took his bag to unpack and took the mail he received at his shop, to start opening them as he shuffled back into the kitchen. Bills, Bills, some ads and a letter for Mr. Min.
Taehyung was about to dismiss it when his eyes widened.
Rereading the letters, he gulped heavily as he came to the horrible realization that this letter wasn’t his. His heart stopped. In all the time he had been working for the Min Company this had never happened before. How did it get into his bag? Did he mess up the sorting this morning? Taehyung was starting to panic as he ran back to get his phone.
“Jimin! I fucked up; I don’t know what to do!” He whined helplessly when he had told his best friend everything, only receiving a sleepy groan from the other end of the line.
“Give it to him tomorrow then…”
“But what if it’s important?”
“It’s late it doesn’t matter anymore right?” He could hear Jimin turning in his bed, the sounds of sheets being pulled making it harder to understand him.
“You’re not really that much of a help,” Taehyung rubbed the bridge of his nose, his feet tapping on the ground nervously.
“Then go there now and give it to him. Isn’t that self-absorbed brick gone anyways? Put it onto his table, then you can simply say he oversaw it, if they ask you about it. Who cares anyways.” With a broken off ‘I love you and don’t worry too much’ Jimin had cut him off again (well aware that Taehyung would keep on freaking out for the next hours and depriving him off his sleep if he didn’t). He ignored Jimin’s aversion towards Mr. Min, knowing Jimin’s love for gossip and the many things Mr. Min had apparently done to secure his own wealth. And maybe Jimin was still pissed that his own ask for a donation had been denied by the man that he was now working for. But he was right about one thing: Mr. Min must be gone, so Taehyung could simply put the letter onto his table and pretend like it had been there forever.
Or maybe just say it hadn’t been delivered before and that’s why it was a day late. Or maybe one of the cleaning ladies…
Taehyung was wrecking his mind, mumbling to himself as he grabbed his jacket and only when he stood in front of the office building did his thoughts come to a halt. This was absolutely stupid, but if he didn’t do it, Taehyung knew he would wreck his mind even more about it. He’d rather just went with it now. So, he nodded towards the night shifts receptionist as if it was perfectly normal for the post delivery boy to come in late at night and want to work and to his luck, the other didn’t even ask just simply let him through.
A shiver ran down his spine as he stepped foot into the empty office and suddenly the atmosphere was completely different. Taehyung took a deep breath, affirming himself as he walked ahead, “Your life is not a horror movie, calm down.” He stopped when he stood in front of his office again. It hadn’t changed a bit from this morning, not even a fold in the curtains had changed (not that he could tell but…).
“Just put it on his table and pretend like it had been there all along.” He whispered again, hand shakily reaching out for the handle and to his own surprise it unlocked and pushed open, leaving Taehyung to gasp for air. 
It had taken him a while to get used to living his life at night but now it had become second nature to him. Like a nocturnal animal he slept mostly during the day and only got out at night. He had blackout curtains so he could sleep properly and used daylight lamps in his home and office to trick his inner clock into believing that everything was still fine. Except it wasn’t.
He made phone calls when he had to, but he rarely ever got out and when he did he wore so many layers of clothes that he had sweated through them when he came home. So, he mostly stayed in. 
Giving up his home had hurt a lot and sometimes he visited it, getting in his car in the underground garage and driving right into the parking lot of his former home so that no one could see him. But it hurt even more walking around the empty hallways and watching it slowly gathering dust. At first he had sent a cleaning lady once a week but one person couldn’t clean the whole mansion on its own and he had been scared that she would talk or question him if it went on too long so he had put her elsewhere, in his company and pretended to not need her any longer. In the beginning, right after it had happened he had been in disbelief so he had told everyone that he was taking a short vacation, thinking that it could only take a few days to get him back to normal. He had become more and more desperate, grasping onto every straw, going from academic medicine to naturopathy to the occult until he was taking part in the most obscure rituals. Nonetheless no matter what he did, nothing changed. 
Rather the opposite, he felt the more he fought it the darker his black streaks got. 
Until he had just given up. 
He had never given up like that ever before and it left him cold and confused and lost in his own world. It had taken him quite a while to get back on track. He’s had hundreds of calls and messages and emails to sort through after he finally felt ready to face the world again and as he had to find some explanation he fabricated some half-truth about some medical condition, telling others that he was simply spending some time for himself so that there would be different stories, different rumors and no one would know for sure.  
Working again felt nothing like it had before the incident. He had loved his work, more than anything else. Playing with numbers, taking risks and getting profit out of what he had made happen - it made him feel amazing, almost like a god. He could shape the world, he could make people or destroy their dreams, sell a product to hundreds or thousands of people - or make sure that no one would ever see it. He had power, so much power that it made him feel invincible. Until he wasn’t any more. And now work felt like a burden. 
He hadn’t really changed his work; he was still doing the same, but he couldn’t take pride in what he did. Winning felt stale and bitter and losing didn’t affect him. He had already lost his life so losing a project didn’t compare. He watched others built their own empires, people who hadn’t been closed to being a serious threat to his business before. However, what hurt him more, what had him filled with envy wasn’t the thriving of other businesses. It was his own employees. Because it looked they were better than ever. While he was suffering their life had continued like nothing had happened and they seemed to be happy about that he was gone. His own people found joy in him being gone. He could have stayed in the office during the day with the curtains drawn and no one allowed to come in, but he couldn’t take it, hearing them laugh, being so close to his former life while actually being miles apart. So, he only came here at night. 
He had bought the floor above them that had been used by some start up business that no one would miss and had kept all the business signs there so that no one knew it was him. Then he had hired people to turn it into a place where he could actually live and paid them double after they signed a nondisclosure agreement. No one knew he lived there. So, every night he came down to his office without anyone seeing him, checked the curtains before turning on the light so no one from outside would see it and then he got to work. Because there was nothing else that he could do. 
The gasp that had fallen from Taehyung’s lips got caught somewhere as he held his breath and all of his muscles were frozen. He gulped heavily, when his eyes met darker orbs staring right back at him and he swore he could hear a low growl or maybe it was just his stomach (Taehyung wasn’t so sure anymore). 
His fingers clenched tightly around the letter he held, when his eyes fell onto the man’s hands and the black streaks discoloring his veins, seemingly going further up until… Taehyung licked over his lips nervously as he saw some peeking out from the collar and over his face. It looked like they were carved into his skin, almost as if they had burned into his skin like acid. He hadn’t noticed in his first panic and for a moment he wasn’t sure, but he looked familiar. It was the same man in the picture that was hanging in the hallway. Taehyung opened his mouth to say something when his eyes met his again and they’ve got a dangerous glint. In his panic, Taehyung simply bowed his head, holding out the letter in front of him and shutting his eyes closed, begging and pleading in his mind that he wouldn’t get fired now.  
Yoongi was frozen. Completely, utterly frozen up as if someone had put a spell in him. Again. 
He hadn't seen another person face to face for so long that the other looked strangely beautiful to him even though it was clear that he was just a small employee. Yoongi breathed in relief when he realized that he could stay in control here if only he got himself together. It was just a small employer, no one higher up the food chain who could actually harm him and no camera for proof. He could either buy the boys silence or threaten him into not speaking a word about this whatever worked best. He got this. He has done it before. Not regarding bis condition but in business. Because in the end it always came down to two simple truths: you won if you made clear who was in control and money could buy everything. 
So, he schooled his face onto an impassive mask despite his heart hammering in his chest and gave a simple command: "Close the door." The boy didn't seem to understand what that meant so he repeated himself, sharper and more threatening this time. "Get in, close the door and sit down. Now!" 
Taehyung jerked up and followed his command quickly, turning around to close the door and do what the other said. He didn’t know what he had expected Mr. Min’s voice to be like, but it was icier, cutting right through him making him scared about what’s to come. 
The closer he got, the more he could see the scars on the man’s face, the darkened veins pulsating under his skin and weirdly Taehyung thought about asking Mr. Min if he was allowed to photograph him one day. Tearing his gaze from him, Taehyung held onto the letter as if his life depended on it as he sat down, keeping his eyes firmly on Mr. Min. The other was just about to open his mouth when Taehyung couldn’t hold it anymore. “I am so very sorry, Mr. Min. I really am. I didn’t want to bother you, nor did I think you’d be still here this late and I just wanted to make sure you’d receive your mail.” He smiled faintly at the man as he held out the letter for him to take, quickly soothing over the rough edges from where he had crumbled the paper a little from holding onto it too tightly. 
Yoongi had tried not to think about what would happen if someone saw him but his mind had wandered through all of their possible reactions anyway: screaming, laughing, shock… he’s had so many horrible encounters in his mind and yet the boy in front of him didn’t react like in any of his thoughts. He just acted...normal. A little nervous maybe but that was to be expected when you stumbled into your boss at night while you had no business being in his office. He almost asked him straight away if he were blind but luckily he could hold himself back. No one with impaired vision was working for him. His employees all had to be in perfect health. 
“Who are you exactly that you got a hold of my mail?” He answered, keeping his facade intact while he was burning with questions. His whole world had been tilted on its axis - he was so excited about having an actual real person in front of him that he had to try hard to make his voice sound as dominant and in control as he liked it to be. “And what exactly gave you the idea that you could walk into my office? At night! You shouldn’t even be here, less alone in this office. This alone would be a reason to fire you.” 
The younger startled, bowing his head just enough for Mr. Min to know he was sorry. “I’m Kim Taehyung, I come every morning to sort out the mail and make sure everyone gets everything. I usually am the one putting it at the front of your door but…,” He sighed and looked up; where other people had jerked away from Yoongi each time or their eyes widened whenever he came to close, Taehyung just smiled at him. “This little one,” He waved the letter and put it onto his desk, “Must have fallen out and into my bag and I wanted to make sure you’d still get it in time. I really didn’t think you’d be still here. And I must say, Mr. Min this is not good for your health to work this late.” Looking down at his watch, he raised an eyebrow, “It’s past midnight.” Taehyung stiffened up when he saw that Mr. Min wasn’t amused at all.  
Yoongi leaned forward making sure that Taehyung saw him, really saw him. The others nonchalant reaction to his curse gave him a thrill and he desperately willed down the hope that started to rise inside of him. Any moment now Taehyung would freak and run out the room or gasp in horror. He knew how he looked. What was normally hidden under the skin was plainly visible in his case: Every vein, every blood vessel shimmered sickeningly black through his transparent skin. He had made the mistake to undress in front of a mirror after the curse and had spent the next half hour in the bathroom over the toilet. In the back you could see his spine shimmering through, all lines in a net of blackened blood vessels. It looked like one of the drawings he had once seen that had been concept art for a horror movie. He had turned into a horror monster himself.  
Since then he made sure to turn off the lights when he undressed and to wear long sleeves and pants at all times. He had tried to wear gloves as well, but he couldn’t work while wearing them and he also couldn’t play his piano, not really, he needed to feel the keys under his fingertips or else he felt too detached from it. His music was the only thing that made him forget for a little while: sitting in front of the piano and playing while he kept his eyes firmly closed. 
His eyes were the worst. With all the blood vessels visible they looked so dark that it seemed his whole eyes were black, like some cheap Halloween demon contact lenses. He had actually tried using contact lenses to cover it up, but it hurt, and it always shimmered through somehow. 
So, he placed his hands on the table, making sure that Taehyung saw him, expecting him to flinch while he answered calmly, “So what you’re saying is that you stole my mail. And when you got cold feet you decided that breaking into my office would be nice. And now you actually have the audacity to lecture me about my health when I’m very clearly past that, don’t we agree?” 
Taehyung did none of what he expected, instead he cocked his head aside, brows furrowed when his boss had misunderstood him. His gaze didn’t flicker one time, when Taehyung kept his eyes on him. “No, sir, you got me wrong. You know every morning when I sort the mail into the little cart it must have slipped. I didn’t saw it, nor when I stood in front of your door this morning. It was never my intention to take anything home and honestly, you can’t really calling it breaking in.” He pointed at the door behind his back, “The night shift receptionist saw me, and your door was kind of open...and there’s cameras everywhere anyways. And although you’re right about your health, I just wanted to be kind, it wasn’t my intention to offend you.” A soft smile played at his lips as he saw Yoongi leaning back just an inch, “I would have knocked if I’d known someone would be here.”
Yoongi was silent for a minute. He could only be more obvious by waving his blackened hand right in front of Taehyung’s face and he definitely wouldn’t do that so apparently Taehyung was either colorblind - or strangely nice. Especially after being accused of stealing and breaking into his office. He was a little bit out of his depth here because pleasant conversations with his employees had actually never happened. He only saw them in his office when he needed to reprimand them or give them different schedules or when he was about to fire them. This here however was strangely pleasant, despite his initial fear that Taehyung might tell everyone. But maybe that’s why he was so calm and kind - to phone the next tv station the minute he was outside the building and sell his firsthand story of how his boss had turned into a monster. If yes he was pretty sure he could tease it out of him.  
Yoongi reached out his hand to get the letter and then opened it right in front of Taehyung.  
The younger sat back, feeling a tad uncomfortable that Yoongi was simply ignoring him for the letter. He pushed his jacket over his wrist and checked the watch, noticing the time and while he was counting in his head how many hours he had left to sleep he almost considered just staying and sleeping in the little reception room where there was a couch. It was made from leather and although it wouldn’t be the most comfortable it probably was the most practical. While Yoongi was reading, Taehyung let his eyes wander over the interior of his office until it halted at a spiral staircase leading upstairs, somewhere where he couldn’t see.  
“Ah, just something about money. It could have waited until tomorrow.” Yoongi placed the letter aside and put his hands together in front of him, the perfect image of a movie villain thinking. “Speaking of money - what do you make working for me, Taehyung?” Taehyung, a little speechless didn’t answer fast enough so Yoongi just kept going. “Let me rephrase this: What is in your opinion a nice amount of money? A sum that could buy your silence about this. About everything. Let me tell you it’s a hassle to take part in some yellow press bullshit and you won’t get anything else unless you’ve got proof. Until then it’s just rumors which are definitely not worth your time for which little payment you’ll get. So, you should definitely take the easy way: Do nothing and get money for it. Does sound a lot better, doesn’t it?” 
Taehyung opened his mouth, closed it and then opened it again. “Excuse me Mr. Min, but what exactly are you talking about?” He shook his head, brows furrowed as he tried to understand. “Proof of what? Money for…me? Nice amount? I mean, that always depends for what. Like…I think the overpriced coffee downstairs for five bucks is a lot already. But if you want my opinion about shares or funds I don’t think I’m the right guy to ask. I don’t really care about money. Don’t you have other people for that?”
Yoongi blinked, completely dumbfounded. “Are you... serious right now? Or are you paying dumb to get out of this? Do you really need me to spell it out for you?” Taehyung’s insecure smile had him groaning in frustration. At least it was absolutely obvious now that this boy wasn’t a threat. At least not one that you could take seriously. “Then let’s talk bluntly for a second. You saw me working here. Obviously, I don’t want anyone to see me therefore my nightly work schedule. As little employees like you tend to try and get money wherever they can I assumed you might what to sell the information you just accidentally gathered on my person to the next tv station or magazine. As I’d prefer you not to I just offered you money to keep your mouth shut and pretend you never saw anything. Meaning if you take that money and something gets out then I’ll come after you. If you keep your side of the deal then everyone’s happy and no one needs to hurt. Are we clear now?”
“Oh,” Taehyung couldn’t help but laugh, giggling cutely as he felt a lot more comfortable now. He didn’t want any money. Not like this at least. And why would he tell anyone about Mr. Min, anyways? He wasn’t a snitch. “Of course. You don’t need to worry about me, Sir.” He gave him an honest smile and got up from the chair, bowing his head again, before turning away and towards the door. “Have a good night, Mr. Min.” 
Yoongi stared at the younger’s back as he quickly slipped through the door, rendered speechless by the turn of events. He had just made it pretty clear that he would give him money for staying silent. And even if Taehyung hadn’t initially planned on selling the information he must have gotten intrigued after his offer, basically, all he had to do was name a sum and Yoongi would have given it to him. No questions asked! And Taehyung didn’t even seem to be scared or hesitant or torn - he just laughed at him and told him good night! Just like that! 
It took him a while to recover from that strange encounter but then he quickly got up to lock the door. Twice, just to be sure.
If instead of working on his project he spent the rest of the night googling Kim Taehyung then no one had to know.
All the way home, Taehyung couldn’t wipe away the smile of his lips as he thought about the weird encounter. He had never talked to Mr. Min before and now he knew what his voice sounded like. It was rough, but with a tune to it that Taehyung actually kind of liked it. He shook his head softly when he finally laid down in bed and although he was tired, he couldn’t help but wreck his mind about why Yoongi had wanted him to stay silent with money. Was his health that bad? He looked sickly, but his whole being still looked rather youthful and full of energy, not like someone who was very sick. But what did Taehyung even knew about that? Turning in his bed, Taehyung was about to close his eyes when he jerked awake again.
“Oh no,” Taehyung softly slapped himself against his forehead as he groaned: He had totally forgotten to thank Mr. Min for not firing him. Tae just had been so glad that Mr. Min was fine with him leaving and it being a misunderstanding, that he hadn’t even cared to thank him for trusting him enough to keep doing his work. With a tired yawn, he thought about how to thank him eventually, the excitement of seeing his boss again buzzing softly in the pit of his stomach, before his eyes finally fell shut. 
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A/N: Oh, what do you guys think? ;) Will Yoongi let Taehyung in again? Anyways, we hope you enjoyed this little intro to our fic. This will be much shorter than the Red Riding Hood one...as we originally planned to write only short fairytales but somehow when it comes to Minjoon we couldn’t stop ourselves. We really hope you liked this and if you do, we will be happy to know what you guys think! Updates will be every sunday as always!
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gauntie-o-dimm · 4 years
Text
Josiah Trelawny | Magic
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For his next trick, Josiah will pick a volunteer from his one-person audience and perform a nimble-fingered act.
Word count: 2400+ Warnings: Smut, squirting
The letter you had received in the mail contained instructions clear as day and was hastily written, as if the person who sent it was in a hurry to scribble it down onto yellowed paper. 
“(Y/n), come to my place, I need to show you something. J.T.”
Of course you were aware to whom these initials belonged, but the handwriting alone would’ve been enough to recognize it as Josiah’s doing. There was something elegant about his way of putting ink onto paper and in another life, you would’ve imagined him a troubadour of sorts.
And by those directions, you prepared your horse before setting out to the north-east of Rhodes, arriving when the sun had just set behind the horizon, leaving you obligated to take out your lantern to make sure any watchful eyes would not see you as a threat. 
The backdoor of Josiah’s cabin was open and a soft light emitted from the room, so you put your lantern away as you approached on horseback, hitching your trusty steed right outside of the small camp. You rarely came here; If he wanted to see you, the man in question most often made sure to seek you out instead. 
“Josiah?” your voice was small to prevent yourself from accidentally startling him; You had done that before and he had knocked his ink pot onto the ground in the jolt that it had caused him - if you looked closely, you could still see the black circles decorate the floor of the cabin, though it had worn down over time.
You found him on top of his bed, a book in his hand. He seemed absorbed in it and the letters on the cover made you blush. 1001 ways to please a lady.
The blood rushed to your cheeks and you cleared your throat, sending the man into quite a scare despite your previous attempt. “Oh, (Y/n)!” he said, grey eyes widening as they settled on your form, his hands quickly shutting the book, putting it upside down on his nightstand. 
You reached for your pocket, taking out the notice you had received from him. “I got your letter.” you mused, smiling as he nodded. 
“Oh, how grand that you could immediately come!” Josiah exclaimed, immediately raising from his seated position to move to close the front- and backdoor. Not that the cabin was big, so it took him mere seconds. 
“What did you need me here for?” you quizzed, feeling your heart speed up as he approached you. He leaned in, pressing a chaste kiss onto your lips. “We should drink some tea first, and then I will tell you all about it.” 
You sat down on his bed, reminiscing about the intimate moments you had shared underneath the red plaid together. Rubbing your hand over the fabric, you waited for the man to prepare you a drink. 
The cup was hot when he gave it to you, but your fingers had become used to many things in nature and other things, like grabbing onto the barrel of a over-heated rifle or taking the heat of holding sticks of ignited dynamite for as long as you could to make sure you had enough time to aim your throw. Thus, Josiah wasn’t surprised to see you wrap your hands around the porcelain cup of just-boiled water so tightly. 
“So, what have you been up to, (Y/n)?” he asked, turning on a few lanterns to light up the place. As soon as he deemed the room light enough, he took a wobbly chair and sat down across of you. You traced the edge of your cup with your index finger. “Things, you know. Dutch and Hosea are preparing for a big heist in Saint Denis. We always need money... I wonder where it goes.” 
Josiah hummed interested, as if he wasn’t aware of that information yet, but he just loved hearing your voice, especially when you moaned his na-- He realized you weren’t talking anymore, looking at him questioningly, cup of tea halted mid-air near your lips, those lips that had been upon his many times before, and on his--
“Did you say something?” he murmured, abashed by his unusual zoning-out. “What did you want to show me?” you repeated, placing down the cup in the saucer before putting it onto the nightstand, next to the book he had been reading earlier.
Josiah followed this gesture, a shaky breath leaving his lips. If you didn’t know better, you’d swear that he was nervous.  “I have been working on a magic trick that I’ve learned and would like to try it out on you.” 
You frowned - you had seen Josiah work on some nimble card tricks before and he had also been able to send you in a complete state of awe by seemingly transforming a revolver into a songbird - what could he possibly need you for, now? 
He lightly tapped on the book he had been reading earlier, shifting in his seat. His moustache slightly twitched as he told you the following;
“According to this research, I am able to turn you into a fountain!” 
A soft gasp left your lips at the suggestion, eyes narrowing in slight fear. “A fountain? Like a real fountain?!” You could barely believe your ears, completely  taken aback by the idea of being turned into one of those water-spitting sculptures that you had sometimes seen around Saint Denis, mostly located in the most luxurious of gardens. You had never fully understood how it worked, but the system was centuries old, at least according to Hosea, and that man was a walking encyclopedia.
Josiah smiled, assuring you that nothing was wrong - he adored the innocence your face showed, realizing that you were utterly unaware of what he meant. And how could he blame you? It wasn’t like he knew of this before reading it a day ago. 
He put his hand on your shoulder, squeezing it softly. “My darling,” he began, “If you will please take your bottoms off, I will show you soon enough.”
The blush that spread over your cheeks was hot and red. Not that you were surprised with his forwardness - he usually was - but it was something you hadn’t expected him to say in this moment. Obediently, you took off your boots, your pants and underwear.
Josiah stroked his moustache thoughtfully whilst his gaze was focused on you, taking in the sight of your half-naked form whilst you were well aware of the bulge starting to grow in his trousers. Tearing his gaze away from you for a moment, he went to close the curtains of his cabin. Not that it would matter in the end - the walls were thin and you would be most likely heard outside anyways. With a grin, you beckoned him closer.
He stepped forward so he was in your reach and you undid the button that held together his pants. You shoved it to his ankles along his underwear, semi-hard erection springing free in front of you. You licked your lips as Josiah kicked off the pieces of clothing, you both being nude from the waist down, now.
Of course you had noticed your core becoming hotter at the knowledge of what you were about to do, and you dipped your head down and forward slightly to take the tip of his cock into your mouth, sucking on it softly for a few moments. A content sigh left Trelawny’s throat, one of his hands soon lacing in your hair.
But he wouldn’t let you indulge yourself into blowing him for real, for he soon stepped back and your mouth was slightly agape as his length fell from it, still swollen and bobbing slightly at the movement. He grabbed your chin, tilting it upwards so he could kiss you. For a few moments, you melted against his lips, letting him push you back onto his bed. He laid himself next to you, not breaking the kiss.
He positioned his body so that your back was leaning against his chest, his lips tearing away from yours with a whimper from your side. Even though his moustache always tickled when you were in lip-lock, you missed the warm feel of the plump flesh against your face. 
Much to your delight, they were soon placed onto your neck, one of Josiah’s hands slipping towards your front, down your stomach. Despite the lack of foreplay tonight, you were surprisingly wet for him. As the soft pad of his index finger gathered the juices to moisten your slit, you let out a shivering breath.
He propped himself onto his elbow so he could reach you better, digits moving up and down until you could clearly hear the lewd sound of a woman’s parts being touched. 
You sucked your bottom lip in between your teeth, lifting up one of your legs towards your chest to give him easier access. He rubbed across your labia, teasingly neglecting your straining clitoris. “Josiah...” you softly moaned as he slipped one of his fingers into you, stretching you open for him.
As soon as he started to pump the finger in and out of you, you rolled back your head, enjoying the feeling of being touched after quite some time. When was the last time he had done something like this to you? It had been weeks...
Josiah grunted as you grabbed a hold of his erection, starting to stroke it whilst the pace of his hand moved up. He added another digit, looking at your reaction to see if you were enjoying it. Soon, you reached down to stroke circles over your clit, relieving some of the pressure that you were feeling down there. He softly grunted as you felt pre-cum leak down his length and you quickened the jerking of your palm against him, thoroughly amused by the look on his face.
“Wait, hold on...” he murmured, starting to wiggle his fingers into you in an odd way - what was he doing? Confused, you stopped your handjob, instead choosing to prop your body onto your elbows instead so you could watch what he was doing to your dripping cunt.
He moved his fingers in a particular way and you whimpered in an unpleasant way, causing him to give you an apologetic look. “Sorry, I thought I... Well on Earth... What did the book say again?”  Without any warning, he pulled his fingers out of you, slick with your excitement. You let out a sound at the loss, whining silently as he reached for the book on the nightstand. Frantically, he began flipping page after page, the paper becoming marked with your juices, but the man didn’t seem to mind.
“Ah, here we go!” he murmured, seemingly to himself, and shifted in his position so he could both read and finger you - he was soon slipped inside again, much to your relief. 
“As soon as your fingers are fully inside--” he pushed them deeper, making you moan his name softly. “--Twist your hand around so your palm is facing upwards.” He didn’t remove his fingers but moved to sit between your legs, twisting his hand in such a way that he was following the directions.  “Then,” he continued, “You should make a come-hither movement and feel tissue that has a strong resemblance to a sponge. Keep stimulating it, and it will soon make your woman gush like she has never done before.” 
You blushed like mad at the suggestion, gasping as he indeed started to press his digits against the spot the book spoke about; it was an odd sensation. He put the book away and sat in such a way that he could fully see you, yet still able to touch you in that same way.
His other hand thumbed at your clit and you were happy to lean back into the mattress again, overwhelmed by the new sensation. He had skilled fingers and you were surprised that he did this so well, despite never having tried it before.
“Do you like it?” he asked with a deep voice, well aware of the clench of your walls around him. He kept on pumping, massaging, moving. Your toes curled and you pulled your legs upwards towards your chest, spreading yourself even more open for him. Your stomach did the familiar pleasurable clench that indicated the build-up before an orgasm and you nodded, cheeks flushed pink and (h/c) hair spread all over the pillow. 
Suddenly, the strong urge to pee started to grow and you were confused by this, not knowing why it had kicked in so unannounced. “Josiah...” you murmured, “Please stop... I am so embarrassed, but I really need to pee...” You covered your face with your hand as a wave of insecurity hit you; What would he think of you? 
“The books says it is completely natural to feel that while trying this.” Josiah soon assured you, leaning forward to press a kiss onto your thigh. “Just let it all out, darling.” You nodded, obeying to his commands. The tingle in your stomach made you realize that you were about to cum.
You moaned unexpectedly loud and arched your back into him, hoping, wishing that he would keep on touching that same spongy spot in unison with your clit. Much to your delight, he did, and your high washed over you like rarely before.
And amidst the blast of pleasure, you felt something of pressure being released, as if you were peeing, but not quite-- 
“Well, that is what I call a fountain!” 
Josiah laughed loudly and you opened your eyes, seeing his shirt all stained wet. And you were still gushing! It was an odd sight, but the man in front of you seemed to enjoy it wholly, and it brought a whole other dimension to sex. You felt sexy, even though you were a drenched, panting mess. 
Josiah leaned down, starting to clean you up with his tongue. Your chest heaved up and down, exhaustion hitting you now that all the pressure was gone. You were left with the afterglow, greeted by the pleasant hum of Trelawny as he put his lips on you. “This is very nice.” he mused. “We should try this again soon!” 
You nodded in agreement, coming down from your state of bliss as you reached for that one book once more. “Perhaps I could get my hands on a book about male anatomy as well... To take care of you, big boy...” you purred, reaching out to touch his manhood. 
Josiah grinned, leaning in to kiss you. “I could get one of those for you. You should come back next week so we could try the other tricks in this magical book.”
Frankly, you couldn’t wait for next week to come along.
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mxillusion · 4 years
Note
Helloooooooooo! NO ONE ASKED SOMETHING FOR KIHYUN? MY GOD. I can do something for that 😏😏 sooooo, can you write something non-celebrity!AU and neighbors/strangers to lovers??? I love "roller coaster" one shot so it's up to you, if you wanna break and then heal my heart! 53+22!!! I can't wait and thanks!!!!!!!!!! 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Hellooo sweetie! I am SO SO sorry it took me that long, I just wanted it to be perfect. I worked several days on this, reading it every now and then to restructure it several times. And then… I got carried away. It’s quite long, lol, but I hope you don’t mind. Thank you so much for requesting. I guess this is my new favorite. ��� Just as Kihyun, but pssst!
ROMANCE NEXT DOOR
➝ genre/warnings: mostly fluff / none
➝ words count: 4800+
➝ summary: Who would’ve thought you’d have someone as handsome and beautiful as him living next door? You just moved in a while ago, but he immediately caught your attention by the way he was smiling at you. You two walked in on each other every now and then until one inconspicuous incident was going to turn your life upside-down.
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It was just an ordinary day as you were on your way home on a late evening. The sun was about to go down but it was still warm enough to savor the warm tickling on your skin, while a warm spring-breeze blew through your hair. You were humming to some music coming through your EarPods, carrying your grocery bag in front of your chest with your arms enclosed around it. 
As you reached your apartment block you went straight to the second floor, not realizing that someone was calling your name since the music overdrew the sound of everything else around you. Not until you stopped in front of your apartment door to drop the groceries so you could open it. 
Within this movement, someone tapped your shoulder what made you flinch and nearly spill everything to the ground. In shock, you removed your EarPods and turned around just to look into amused glowing eyes. 
“Did I scare you?”
Your heart just dropped into your guts, that’s why you tried to calm down again. Yes, of course, he scared you and based on his mischievous grin he knew that pretty well. 
“No,” you fibbed, trying to return that grin. “I wanted to spill my groceries across the floor just for fun, you know?”
He chuckled while he gave himself one short moment to size you up, but you didn’t notice as you were checking if something fell to the ground. Luckily it didn’t and as you looked up again, you tilted your head, waiting for Kihyun to explain why he was here.
“You weren’t home, so the postman left your package at my place.” He pulled out the package from behind his back and held it out to you, deliberating how you could take it since you’re still carrying your groceries. 
You somehow tried to free one arm, but the bag in your other one nearly slipped out of it. Probably that wasn’t the best idea. You finally should open the god damn apartment to have a chance to relieve the pressure on your numb arms. 
“Just… let me -,” you mumbled, turning around again to type in the code into your number pad, to open the door. With a sigh, you stumbled into your apartment, just to place the groceries onto the dresser.
Kihyun was watching you, still with this amused grin on his face. He seemed to be very entertained by your nervousness. “Take it easy, girl!”
You lightly blushed as you received your package. “Thank you,” you simply said, feeling very grateful for what he’d done. You barely knew him, so you didn’t take it for granted at all. 
He was just the handsome neighbor from the other side, occasionally smiling at you when you came across one another. And sometimes when he saw you through the kitchen window since they both were opposite to each other. The thought of it made your heart flutter for a second. 
Kihyun winked at you, waving his hand for goodbye. He vanished into his apartment, not without smiling at you again when he turned to close the door behind him, knowing full well you’re still glancing at him through the kitchen window. Just to make you blush again.
You saw him a few days later, as you were about to look for your mail in the morning. Just as you opened your door, the one on the other side opened synchronously what made you grin even before you saw him. As he looked up, Kihyun winked at you before he almost crashed in on someone out of a sudden. You flinched but your body relaxed as soon as you realized it luckily wasn’t happening. 
A sigh escaped your lips as you saw who the portentous other person was. Of course, it had to be 4B. Your absolutely stunning, model-like neighbor with the longest legs and shortest skirts you’ve ever seen. That girl really was the plague. Throwing one party after the other, hearing loud music at ungodly hours and, most importantly, suspiciously often leaving her apartment when he did. 
Shaking your head you made your way to your mailbox, ignoring the charade that was about to begin. Kihyun seemed to be distracted anyway, so you hurried, picking up your mail, in order to rush back into your apartment. To be fair, that’s all you wanted to do in the first place. And you had no intention to get involved in another pretend-to-be-nice conversation by her. She tried to act as if you were kind of a friend to her, but you immediately grasped it was nothing more than this; an act. 
Later that evening you had whole other problems since you head real trouble to not set your kitchen on fire. Everything got out of control and you had no clue why. You just haven’t watched the stove for about a second but that seemed to be enough to ruin everything. Truth be told, you’re a terrible cook and you were totally aware of that, but you couldn’t just live from one delivery service to another so you tried to get better at it from time to time. Well, it didn’t work out this time. 
You opened the kitchen window to get rid of the damp just to burn your fingers short time afterward as you tried to grab the hot pan. “Ouch,” you wailed, running back to the sink to cool your irritated skin under cold water. 
That’s when the doorbell rang, making you jerk as you wondered who the hell was visiting you just now. With a sigh you made your way to the door, to open it fulsomely without looking through the peephole first. 
Your heart dropped into your guts once again, as you saw him. He looked as handsome and stunning as always, although he had this concerned expression on his face.
“Is everything okay?” he asked right away before you had a chance to greet him properly or ask why he was here.
“U-Uhm, yes?” you mumbled, raising a brow at him. “Why you’re asking?”
“I thought I smelled so-,” he stopped, looking past you as he wrinkled his nose. “Is something burning?” And with that, he entered your apartment, leaving you at the door perplexed. 
You followed him, trying to prevent him from seeing the mess you made in your kitchen, but you were too late. He already stood there, looking quite shocked while he shook his head in disbelief. And as you were back in your kitchen you first noticed how smoky it was in here. You just failed so hard.
“What did you do?” he screeched. Without asking for permission he hitched up his sleeves before he tried his best to save some of the food that was about to fully burn in your pan. 
“I cooked?“ 
Kihyun glanced at you through hooded eyes as you blushed instantly. You wanted to disappear right on spot, that’s how embarrassed you were. It was quite humiliating to have to admit a young woman of your age wasn’t able to cook simple meals, but, unfortunately, it was the ugly truth. 
“Looks more like you’re trying to poison yourself if you ask me.”
You sulked as you crossed your arms in front of your chest. You were ashamed and angry at the same time, that’s why you couldn’t respond in any kind of way. Instead, you just watched him. Why was he here? Yes, you knew by now he was checking if everything’s okay, but why? To be fair, it was none of his business but he seemed to care anyway. Maybe your cooking skills were much worse than you thought they would be, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been that concerned about you just because of some bad smell coming out of your kitchen window. 
Within seconds he had everything under control again, although he had to throw some stuff directly into the bin because it was too burned. He added some spices and worked some magic and it turned out to be beyond perfect. 
“How did you do that?” you asked, as you regained some confidence and drew closer, to peek over his shoulder. It smelled so delicious although you’d thought you ruined the whole meal with your nonexistent cooking skills. 
“I just paid attention to what I did.” He chuckled, while he turned his head in your direction. “I assume you got distracted?”
You just nodded silently, still feeling the heat on your reddened cheeks, suddenly aware of the closeness of his face. “Just for a second,” you mumbled, feeling his gaze piercing right through you. “I’m a terrible cook..”
“Shocking!” he said with an amused grin on his face. 
You bumped him with your hips, to express your indignation but soon joined his amused laughs. “Not funny! You have no idea how hard I try. I really do, but for some reason, it only gets worse." 
"Yeah, I saw that.”
“Hey! Stop being mean!”
“Sorry,” he said, chuckling. “I may have to show you how to cook one day.” The grin on his face grew bigger while he thought about how much of a basket case you were. 
You raised a brow on him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“We’ll see about that,” he said sounding confident enough for you let it be. At least for now. 
After a short moment of hesitation, you gathered all of your courage to invite him for dinner. That’s the least you could do to express your gratitude to him. 
When he rejected you couldn’t help but feel sad about it. For a moment you had a gleam of hope to get the chance to spend the evening with him. But of course, he had other plans already. 
“I’m sorry, Y/N. Maybe next time?" 
You just nodded, telling yourself it wasn’t that bad since your invitation was very spontaneous after all. "It’s okay, don’t worry. Thanks for coming to my rescue.”
He grinned one last time before he made his way back to the door. “Anytime." 
After that incident, you were quite sure to not see him again that soon, but in fact, you saw each other surprisingly often. You still met occasionally when you both left your apartment at the same time and almost whenever you came home in the afternoon. Every so often you used the opportunity to sit down in the inner yard to have a little chit chat. To be honest, you really enjoyed his presence and the talks you two had and it seemed as if he felt the same about it. You couldn’t help but ask yourself if maybe, just maybe, all those accidental meetings weren’t that accidental. 
Those thoughts soon intensified as Kihyun stood in front of your apartment again a few days later, having some takeaways along with him. He smiled at you while he presented them by holding them up. He just hoped you didn’t have any other plans that night, so he took you by surprise, jokingly saying he wanted to prevent another disaster.
You were just sitting together, enjoying each other’s company and the delicious food he had brought. That night you learned he was a passionate cook, always trying new stuff whenever he had time to do so. He seemed quite confident, not only about his cooking skills but about everything. You listened fascinated, happy about the fact you got to know him a little more. Whenever he could, he curiously asked questions about you and your life and you told him everything he wanted to know. Where you were born, how long you’ve been living here and why you’re living alone, making it sound like he was about to ask if there was someone in your life. You told him about your past relationship, keeping it as vague as you could since you didn’t want to tell him you’d been cheated on and moved into this apartment because of it. Since you never told anyone.
And that was the beginning of something new. There was no doubt he liked being with you, as you spent more and more of your free time together. Eating takeaways soon became some kind of ritual to spend extra time together, laughing and occasionally flirting witch each other. 
When you came home on a Friday afternoon another surprise, in the form of a small handwritten note, was waiting for you at your door. With a smile plastered on your face, you took it to read what has been written in the neatest handwriting you’d ever seen.
‘Come to the dark side. I don’t have cookies, but other delicious things!’
You nearly flew to the other side of the building to ring his doorbell. You haven’t noticed he was watching you from the window while you read his note in order to run to his apartment. 
As Kihyun opened the door, it felt like your heart leaped out of your chest. He tilted his head, looking at you with that breathtaking smile he gave you every time he saw you. "That was fast.” He chuckled, taking a step back to let you in. “I hope you’re hungry." 
He led yo into his kitchen and you took a look around. He was still preparing some vegetables and other things and you wondered if you should help him or not. It was quite rude not to, but on the other hand, you weren’t so sure if he’d allow you to muddle in his beloved kitchen. 
"No worries, I’m right with you. Nothing will explode as long as you’re under my wings,” he said mockingly as if he’d just read your mind. 
“I’m not that bad at cooking!”
“Uh, yes, you are! But that’s what we’re here for. I’ll show you.”
And he did. Patiently he took his time to show you some tips and tricks yet without making fun of you even for a second. It turned out to make a lot more fun when you’re not cooking alone, that’s why you couldn’t wait for the next time already. 
“It’s not that hard, isn’t it?” he asked, braking in on your deep thoughts. He stood right behind you, looking over your shoulder to see what you’re doing as he laid a hand on your waist. Your body stiffened under his touch and you unintentionally stopped breathing for a few seconds. 
“Relax, it’s just me,” he muttered in a low and husky voice. You felt his body next to yours, coming closer with every passing second. He liked the way your body was reacting to his that’s why he enjoyed this closeness even more. 
He brushed your hair aside, over your left shoulder to expose your bare neck to him. His breath left a tickling sensation on your skin in order to make your body shiver. He was so close.
“W-why are you looking at me like that?” you stammered, mentally smacking yourself for asking that kind of a stupid question. 
“You are just so beautiful.”
Butterflies started to do somersaults in your belly and you blushed about his words. You wanted to mirror that compliment, but you were too paralyzed by his words and actions. Because he indeed was beautiful, although you believed this word wouldn’t do him justice. He was beyond beautiful and made your heart flutter like crazy. 
You turned your head to glance at him just to be blown away by the way he was looking at you. But the next moment that magic was gone as a sizzling noise broke in on that intimate moment the two of you just had. 
“Shit!”
Kihyun let go of you and dashed aside, trying to take the pan as fast as possible since it was going to boil over. You tried to suppress an amused laugh yet you couldn’t help but chuckle about what just had happened. Such irony!
“Did the master chef get distracted?” you asked mockingly, smiling angellike as you turned to face him. He soon had everything under control again but you haven’t expected anything less. 
“Don’t be so mischievous!”, he scoffed.
“Why not? You have to admit it’s kinda ironic.” You grinned at him and he just laughed, shrugging his shoulders as a silent apology. 
As expected everything was simply delicious, so as the whine he had opened for you, and right after dinner, you inevitably asked yourself if he’d cook for you more often from now on. You just hoped he would. 
“Thank you,” you muttered to make him lift his head. 
“For?”
“… everything. For inviting me over, for trying to teach me how to cook. You knew I’m a lost cause when it comes to this, but you tried anyway.”
Kihyun shrugged his shoulders. “I just like spending time with you and I figured it would be worth a try,” he said as if it wasn’t a big deal. But to you it was. Your heart was beating faster because of his words and you mentally squealed, trying to pull yourself together. 
You just smiled at him, brushing your hair behind your ear as you looked at your hands placed in your lap. To be honest, you were quite nervous since this was the first time in forever you had something like a date. It was the first time since… you found out.
That nervousness was still there when it was finally time to go back home. You were standing in the corridor, ready you leave his apartment, but something was holding you back. Maybe it was Kihyun looking at you with this thrilling spark in his eyes, paralyzing your whole body. 
He was moving closer, his gaze glued to your eyes just to take a glimpse at your lips as he stopped right in front of you. Your heart was beating faster and faster while you wait for what was about to happen. 
You knew what he had in mind but it felt like years until he finally leaned in, letting his face slowly approaching yours. And then, just when it finally was about to happen, someone knocked on his door. 
Without thinking it through you used this interruption, to open the door in your back. You couldn’t have known who was standing right behind you but as soon as you found out you blushed hard and wished the ground would open up and swallow you. 
“Oh, I’m not disturbing, am I?” you heard a melodic voice right next to you. 4B, again. Of course!
Kihyun looked at the both of you with a frown, silently cursing about this ultimately shitty timing. Why did something, or someone, always have to interfere?
“N-no,” you stuttered, shaking your head. “I was about to go.” You didn’t dare to look at him as you waved a silent goodbye in order to vanish into your apartment on the other side. 
As you closed the door you leaned your back on it, closing your eyes with a pounding heart. You didn’t know whether to be relieved or sad about how the evening had come to an end. Maybe you weren’t ready for something new and maybe that’s why you were such a bundle of nerves when the man of your dreams was about to kiss you. Maybe.
That night you didn’t get much sleep since your head was spinning, trying to figure out what was wrong with you. You always felt secure when you were with him but for some reason, you didn’t trust yourself anymore. Yes, you liked him, probably even more than that. Yes, you enjoyed every single moment with him. And yes, your heart was pounding like crazy when he smiled at you. So what was the real problem here? You had no idea, but you were dying to find out. 
The next morning you were a tired mess as you scuffed into the kitchen to make some coffee, hoping it would help you liven up. Out of the corner of your eyes, you saw Kihyun standing in his kitchen, too. He had seen you too and smiled, with a wink although he was quite amused about your condition. Of course, he had no idea that he was the reason for your sleepless night. How could he?
You tried to smile too, but you were too exhausted to accomplish. He tilted his head, wondering what was going on just to make silly faces to bring back the smile on your face. And he succeeded. You had to laugh so hard, you almost spilled your coffee on the counter. Yes, you liked him. 
After you somehow managed to get ready for the day, you decided to go over to apologize for disappearing that fast. Now you were just embarrassed about your behavior last night, thinking you should’ve waited for him to send her away. Well, you sure would get a second chance to make it better. And you would.
As you made your way to the other side you suddenly freeze, not making any move. A stinging pain arrowed right through your heart as you saw him. And her. 
They were standing in the inner yard, her arms wrapped around his neck with her lips on his. 
Tears filled your eyes as you span on your heals, running back into your apartment slamming the door shut with a loud bang. You leaned against it, sliding down and burying your face in your hands as you start to cry uncontrollably. 
How could you even think for one second that he’d honestly and truly like you? Someone like him! Your heart burst into a million pieces as you thought about it. He could have ten girls on each finger, so why would he choose you?
It took hours until you somehow had settled down again, sitting in the living room staring empty-eyed at the TV. As your doorbell rang you didn’t make any move, not willing to see or talk to someone. But as it rang, again and again, you pushed your stiff body off of the couch to trudge through your corridor to open the door. 
You froze again. There he was, looking as gorgeous as always. He was just smiling at you and you could’ve sworn he was even more beautiful today. 
“What do you want?” you asked, sounding much more miffed as intended. 
Kihyun’s eyes widened since he was surprised by the harsh sound of your voice. “’s something wrong?”
“No, everything’s just perfect!” you hissed between clenched teeth, folding your arms in front of your chest. 
He scratched his head, wondering what could’ve possibly gone wrong. “You confuse me, Y/N.” 
“Oh, am I?” You snorted, getting mad more and more. “Look who’s talking!”
“What the hell is going on?”
“I saw you! With 4B!”
He froze, his eyes growing bigger and bigger as he realized what you were talking about. Pure anxiety hit him, hoping he wouldn’t lose you just now. He wanted to explain. To say something, anything. But not a single word left his lips. 
“It’s not… I’m -”
“Oh, it’s not what it looked like? I bet it does!”
“Y/N -”
“Just skip it, okay? I’ve heard that all before. Just do me a favor and get lost, okay?” And with that, you slammed the door shut right in front of his face.
Heavily breathing you felt tears filling your eyes all over again. You were just so angry! And disappointed. And heartbroken. Again! How could he? Sure, you weren’t in a relationship but you somehow thought you were dating now, even though no one actually named it. Things seemed so obvious. So easy. So perfect. And now everything was shattered to pieces, so as your heart.
So days passed by. You tried to move on, even though you felt like shit. You somehow managed only the bare necessities, not leaving your apartment apart from that. Also, you ignored every attempt of Kihyun to talk to you. He knocked on the door countless times a day. He was calling your name, begging you to open the door, but you didn’t. You just hoped he’d give up one day, but he was very persistent when it came to you. He wouldn’t give up until you gave him a chance to explain himself, no matter how long it would take. 
As you were about to leave your apartment you saw him through the kitchen window so you tried to hide from him, but it was too late. He’d seen you nevertheless. 
“Y/N?” He was right on the other side of the door, but you just closed your eyes leaning your forehead against it. Hearing his voice was too much, you were still so heartbroken. 
“I know you’re there. I saw you.” Silence. You just couldn’t do or say anything. “Please, Y/N, open the door. Talk to me!”
You hesitated. Would you manage to face him? A part of you wanted to hear what he had to say, even though you were quite sure there was nothing he could say to heal your heart. 
“I miss you, Y/N. So much. Just… please let me explain." 
And you finally did it. You opened the door oh so slowly, just enough for you to look through an open gap. "Go away, Kihyun,” you said, almost whispering. 
He looked like a mess, but that didn’t diminish his beauty. You could tell by a look into his eyes how tired he was, and you just wanted to hug him to tell him everything’s going to be okay. But it wasn’t. It never would. 
“No. Just listen to me, please. Let me explain.”
You thought about it, still not sure if you could handle it. But with a sigh, you took a step back to let him in. “You have five minutes.”
He followed you into your living room, not being able to take a seat because he was too flustered. He knew he only had this one chance, that’s what made it even worse for him. 
“It really isn’t what it looked like. I know everything I’ll say now sounds like a really bad drama scene, but I swear to god it’s the truth!” he started, running his fingers through his hair while he tried to sort all the thoughts in his head. “Look, Y/N, she kissed me.”
You rolled your eyes. “Really?”
“You have to believe me. I never would’ve done this. I don’t even like her, okay? I was just being nice whenever she came around because, fuck, that’s just how I roll! I’m just friendly towards everyone, whether I like them or not.”
Silence. You needed to think about it. Yes, he indeed was friendly to everyone at any time. Probably he’s one of the friendliest people you’ve ever met and, to be honest, that’s something you liked about him a lot. 
“She came over to ask if I could help her with something I don’t even remember. But, I swear, she means nothing to me. I pushed her away as soon as I realized what’s happening." 
And that’s when you started to have hope again. Sure it sounded like a bad drama scene, just like he said, but a part of you wanted to believe him anyway. You needed to. 
"Are you telling the truth?”
“Hell, of course, I am. Please, Y/N. I never would do anything to hurt you.” Kihyun made his way to you, carefully reaching out for your hands to take them into his. “I really like you, Y/N. A lot. And I just miss what we had. I’d never throw that away!”
You felt tears in your eyes, sighing in relief as he slowly clasps you in his arms. “I’m sorry, Kihyun. I’m so so sorry." 
"Sssh. Don’t be. I’m the one who needs to apologize.”
“But you didn’t do anything wrong?” you mumbled into his shirt. 
“I hurt you. And I can’t express how sorrowful I am." 
He gently pushed you away so he could see your face again. His hands cupped your face while he wiped away your tears with his thumbs. "Please, stop crying. I can’t stand it any longer." 
You sniveled, trying to calm yourself down again. There’s no need to cry anymore. Everything seemed to be okay again. You knew he was being honest with you. You could read it in his eyes. 
Soon your tears had dried and you were beyond relieved you decided to give him a chance to explain everything. 
"Kihyun?”
“Hm?”
“I like you, too.”
He chuckled, pulling you close as his lips found yours. Your eyes closed and you wrapped your arms around his neck while he kissed you as gently and tender as anyone before him. The way he held you close made you melt into his arms. 
This kiss was so passionate, so perfect, neither of you could open your eyes as you part. Kihyun leans his forehead against yours, eyes still closed. 
“Thank you for trusting me,” he whispered. “I promise I’ll never hurt you again.”
“I know you won’t,” you answered with your softest voice. 
Somehow you just knew he was different. You should’ve realized way earlier, but now you knew. He was someone special, he was beyond unique. And you’re more than sure, you and he would last forever and ever.
84 notes · View notes
horansqueen · 4 years
Text
You & Me : chapter 2
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A Niall Horan fanfiction ; rated MA
Sequel to AM CONVERSATIONS
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CHAPTER 1 
NOTES:
-one chapter is her pov, the next is his. -4k -im sorry, i never proofread, i hate it. -there WILL be smut. but not only smut. -this is a romance, comedy, smut story. -for the summary, check my MASTERLIST.
- notes: 1- haha syke (sort of lol)! 2-thats why i asked this question, now you know!
yes, thats the only notes you need lol! oh and FEEDBACK PLEASE! :) please tell me how you think their coffee “date” will go?? would mean a lot!
Chapter 2 : Her chapter
OLIVIA
"Honey! I'm home!" I yelled as I walked inside, closing the door behind me and throwing my purse on the couch.
"Kitchen, babe!"
I followed the voice with a small smile and leaned against the door frame as I watched him bend down to take something off the oven. I crossed my arms and stared at him, trying to suppress a chuckle. With a quick head movement, he pushed a lock of his hair out of his face and raised his eyebrows at me with a smirk. I moved closer to him, taking a few steps slowly as he put the cookies he had just not burned for once in a plate.
"You know your son is way too young for cookies, right?"
His eyes became smaller as he looked at me and it made me laugh even more.
"I made them for you, silly!"
"Louis, come on." I pointed out with a frown. "I just spent two hours tasting wedding cakes and you think i'm in the mood for cookies?"
With a grimace, he grabbed two cookies and put one in front of me before sitting next to me at the table. I made the cookie turn around as I stared at it, feeling suddenly a bit nervous. I wasn't really sure I wanted to have this discussion but I told Louis everything. I was surely not going to keep that kind of information from him.
"Okay my queen, talk to me, what happened?"
He slid his arm on the table until his hand reached mine. I let go of the cookie and gripped his fingers tight. His hand was warm, as it always was, but it took me a few seconds to look up in his eyes. When I did, my heart skipped a beat. He was clearly concerned and worried and I just shrugged a shoulder before looking down again.
"I saw Niall."
Suddenly, the grip of his fingers became tighter and I held my breath. Louis and I had been through so much together during the past year and I was scared this would somehow change the dynamic we had. I knew he kept talking with Niall from time to time but it was far from being the way it used to be between them. I never asked Louis to choose between us, and I never even made allusions to it for the simple reason that they were friends before we were and I knew he still considered Niall like a brother. Who was I anyway to decide who Louis could and couldn't hang out with?
That being said, Louis and I had worked on ourselves individually a lot. We both went to therapy, tried to follow our dreams, found love and learned to accept ourselves as full human beings. We didn't need love to be complete and we didn't need our soulmates either. Of course, it didn't feel so easy when Niall was close but if I wanted to be honest, I thought it would hurt a lot more to see him again.
"He was with his girlfriend?"
"No." I replied with a shrug before adding a 'thank god' in my head.
"How did that make you feel?"
I took a few seconds to think and finally looked up, my eyes meeting his as a small smile spread across my lips.
"It's... Niall, you know? I'll always feel something when he's around. That's what you said, right? Soulmates and all that?" He nodded slowly and I shrugged a shoulder. "I mean, I will love him forever but... he broke me, and I don't want to let him break me again."
Louis' face change and he sent me a sincere smile before nodding quickly this time. He squeezed my fingers and tapped my thigh a few times a bit too roughly.
"Ow!"
"That's my queen!"
He got up and kissed the top of my head, making me roll my eyes but chuckle. He walked to the fridge and took a beer out before opening it and throwing the cap in the sink. I stared again at the cookie on the table and swallowed, playing over and over the encounter I had with Niall in my head. He looked good and happy and I couldn't help but think that he never regretted his decision to break up with me. Of course, it took him a few months to get a new girlfriend but when he did, something inside of me died. I remembered exactly when I found out he was dating someone and it was probably the biggest slap in the face I had ever had. I cried for a week, wondering what the fuck was wrong with me. All I could think about was how his love for me, if it ever existed, was clearly not strong enough but even worse, he didn't even try to keep my friendship.
"You're thinking about him, aren't you?"
I sighed and closed my eyes for a few seconds as I tried to get my heartbeats back to a normal pace. I couldn't hide anything to Louis, even if I wanted.
"Not so much him but what I meant for him."
Louis walked back next to me and crouched down, one of his knees on the floor and his hand on my thigh. He waited until our eyes met and he raised his eyebrows.
"We've been through that, remember?" Louis pointed out in a soft tone. "He was scared to be trapped and he let go of the most important person in his life. You were not the problem, Liv."
"He's with someone now." I just said, shaking me head, after letting out a long sigh. "And with her too I mean, he replaced me with her."
Louis nodded very slowly, pressing his lips together and making the left corner of my lips raise up.
"Yes, besides you, my friend Neil has very bad tastes in women."
It was not true at all but I appreciated the lie and I tilted my head to stare at Louis. I had moved back to my apartment after Niall broke up with me and Louis was the one who had picked my stuff at Niall's for me. We hung out together and he's the one who pushed me to write what I wanted to write. My father agreed to make a special section for my story on his site and within a few hours, there were more views than any other page of the site. I found someone to play the male character and I gave myself the role of the female one until I got the e-mail that literally changed my life.
Netflix. I barely believed it and I had to read the e-mail twice but it turned out to be real and after some negotiation, my tv show was about to be re-made with a bigger budget and real actors and this time, it was going to be seen by way more people. I didn't have to insist to keep playing in it, they quickly agreed to that term of the contract and it surprised me. Apparently, I was not so bad of an actress, who would have known? That's why I moved to L.A. with Louis : to live a dream I wasn't even aware I had before, when I was dating Niall. There are so many things I didn't know when I was with him, including who I was. Now, it was different.
"So." Louis continued, getting up to grab his beer again. "Did you girls go with Liam's request and pick chocolate?"
I raised my eyebrows in amusement and my lips parted a bit as we stared at each other.
"How do you know that?"
Louis' smile turned into a smirk. "He asked me and I said I wanted chocolate too! So I said he should harass Julie and he said I should harass you. So I had to challenge him, and he lost."
My face twisted and I frowned, suddenly a bit scared.
"What was the challenge?"
"Oh, darling, you don't want to know." his accent had turned thicker and his smirk bigger, making me shake my head. "Trust me."
"You're right, I don't want to know."
He laughed a bit and moved his chin in my direction as he leaned against the counter, his beer still in hand. He took the last sip and put it away before swallowing and licking his lips. I loved Louis. I really, really loved Louis.
"So? Chocolate?"
I grimaced and sent him an offended look as I shook my head again.
"It's like you don't even know me!"
"What did you pick then?"
I didn't have time to answer. My lips just parted a bit before we both heard the doorbell. I jumped on my feet and we both rushed to the living room to reach the front door.
"Me!" I yelled as I tried to be faster than him.
"Oh please, it's clearly for me!"
I laughed as he pushed my hips with his and even more when both our hands ended up on the knob, twisting it at the same time without opening the door. We laughed and when the door finally opened wide, my smile grew.
"So, who won this time?"
I forgot the game I had with Louis and barely even heard my boyfriend's question. I just tilted my head and bit my bottom lip. He looked pretty and the way he smiled always got to me. Louis let him walk in and he just opened his arms, bending down slightly to wrap them around my waist and pull me up. I laughed like a school girl and looked down at him, bringing my lips against his.
"Clearly, I won." I whispered only for him to hear, licking my lips before kissing him again.
He chuckled against my mouth and finally put me down but I kept him close and deepened the kiss. The fact that we were still acting like new lovers was nice and I hoped it would never stop.
After moving here, we were about to cast auditions for the other characters but I was mostly nervous about the male lead since I was going to do most scenes with him and even kiss him. I was allowed to have a say in who they would pick but before we could even start the auditions, I received a message on twitter. My account was not private anymore and was even verified, which was something I never thought would ever be possible. I was not the kind of person who liked attention but it was still important for me to remain on social medias, even if I wasn't online as much as other people.
Most of the messages I was tagged in were about Niall and I couldn't blame his fans who asked about me but it was surprising to see it even after so long. At first, the tweets about some of them being 'devastated' by our break-ups made me cry but now I just felt nostalgic of what I once had with him. One time, though, I got a notification that I was tagged in a post and when I clicked on it, I choked on my coffee. Dylan O'Brien. Dylan fucking O'Brien had tagged me and had added 'would love to play in your show!'
After a few days of chatting online, we had finally decided to talk on the phone and I realized he was the funniest and sweetest guy in the world. It's only really the very first time I met him that I realized I had it bad, though. He came to the audition but in my head, the part was already his, and when our eyes met, I felt it inside of me. It could have been just me being starstruck but when he had smiled at me, my heart had fluttered in a way it hadn't since... since Niall.
"You two get a fuckin' room." Louis let out, but I could hear amusement in his voice.
I turned to him and he sent me a smirk just as I showed him my middle finger.
"I live here too, remember?" I asked jokingly.
The plan when we moved here was to buy a house together, support each other and spend as much time as we could with each other. Did Louis and I ever had sex after that infamous night? Maybe, but quickly, we had both stopped needing it. Not because we weren't in pain anymore, but because we had other distractions and other things to focus on. I hadn't received my first check yet but it was coming and I knew it. I couldn't wait to give some of my money to Louis for the house but only as a rent. He was keeping the house to live in it with his girlfriend while I had planned to move with Dylan very soon. Everything was falling into place, and just as I thought my life was exactly the way it was supposed to be, I saw Niall again.
"Yea well you two lovebirds will have the house for yourself tonight." Louis explained, grabbing his wallet from the coffee table and looking for his keys. "I'll be gone all night."
"Say hello to Eleanor for me!"
Louis sent me a smirk and a wink before walking up to us and bending down to kiss my cheek.
"Will do." he promised in a low tone. "Goodnight queen."
A few months earlier, I had heard Louis cry himself to sleep at night. It was not something unusual, I knew it happened from time to time since his mother had passed away, but I remember leaning against the wall of his room for half an hour, listening to him cry and crying with him. If he had wanted me to be there with him, he would have asked, I knew it, that's why I didn't knock or tried to talk to him, but at the same time, it was hard to handle, and I couldn't pretend I knew him as much as Eleanor did. He was also crying for her, I was well aware of that, and on that night, I had messaged her. I didn't have to beg her to come over, she just did. She literally took a fucking plane to come here and comfort him. If that's not love then I have no idea what is.
"Goodnight, pet."
Louis raised his eyebrows and pointed his finger at me. "Don't call me that, ever, remember?"
I just shrugged and laughed, feeling Dylan's hand grab my fingers gently as he chuckled too. He suddenly turned to me and raised his eyebrows.
"Oh hey, you were trying out wedding cakes today, how did it go?"
"She didn't pick chocolate mate, don't even bother." Louis grimaced, making Dylan smile more.
"Of course she didn't, i'd say..." he turned to me and his eyes got smaller as he pondered. "She hesitated and almost picked raspberry but ended up choosing.. strawberry and cream."
My lips curled and I shook my head. "How do you know me so well?"
"O'Brien, I hate you." Louis just said, slapping gently my boyfriend's chest. "Thanks for making sound like a loser."
"You're welcome!" Dylan joked as I rolled my eyes at their interaction.
I waited as Louis typed something on his phone and he finally looked up at us and smiled before leaving. As soon as the door closed behind him, I received a text message and walked up to my purse to look at it.
'Tell him!!!!' Louis had typed with clearly too many exclamation points.
I just sent him a thumb up and when I went back, I felt my lips curl very slightly at the sight of the emoji Niall sent me. It was good seeing him, it felt amazing to be near him. It was so hard to realize that my best friend was not my best friend anymore, and although I knew that life is just like that sometimes, it still hurt. This year away from each other was needed, at least for me, to find myself, but I always thought Niall would remain in my life forever.
"So strawberries and cream uhm?" Dylan said to catch my attention. "I can live with that."
I threw my phone on the couch and sighed with a smile, turning his way. I grabbed the front of his shirt and finally looked up in his eyes, licking my lips as his hands reached my waist.
"Can you live with me?" I asked, raising my eyebrows and making him chuckle low.
"Damn right I can."
He pulled me closer and kissed me, making my heart skip a beat. I had never compared Dylan to Niall but at that exact moment, I couldn't help myself. They were both smart, kind and funny, the main difference being that Dylan hadn't shattered my heart in pieces, at least not yet. The way they kissed was different too. Niall kissed me passionately, impatiently and deeply. Dylan kissed me gently, like I was something fragile, something important he didn't want to break, or simply because he wanted to take his time and feel every second of it. He kissed me like every kiss actually meant way more than we both thought.
I felt him deepen the kiss and my heart jumped again. I couldn't do anything with him before telling him about my day, and all I could see behind my eyelids was Louis' text message.
"Mm, I have something to tell you." I whispered against his lip, making him pull away immediately.
He stared at me for a few seconds, his eyes roaming on my face, and I suddenly felt extremely nervous. He was never the jealous type but I don't think anyone could enjoy their lover meeting again with their ex, especially knowing Niall and I's history.
"What's wrong, babe?"
"Nothing's wrong, no, don't worry." It wasn't a lie. I sent him a small smile and shrugged. "I just wanted you to know that... I saw Niall, today."
His eyebrows raised slightly but fell back down half a second later. He stared down at me, mostly trying to decipher how i felt about it instead to react to it, and it made something in my heart stir. He was perfect and I loved him, I really did.
"Are you okay?" he finally asked  gently after about a minute of silence. "How did it go?"
"It went... well." I admitted, nodding slowly and glancing down before looking up in his eyes. "He asked if we could meet again for a coffee but I didn't message him yet. I'm just not sure if I should go."
Dylan's lips curled slightly just as his eyebrows raised. "Not because of me, yea?"
I shrugged both shoulders, feeling suddenly embarrassed. One of the reasons why I was not sure was him, but an other part of me, a part I didn't want to show, was simply scared. I was scared that things wouldn't be like they used to be, I was scared that we wouldn't really get along, I was scared that the old me would resurface and I was scared... I was scared of the feelings I could have again if I spent time with him.
"You can go see him, Liv." he let out softly, bringing one of his hands to my face to caress my cheek with his fingertips. "Not that you were waiting for my approval or that you need it but, I know there's so many things you want to tell him and ask him and... it's normal. I can't even begin to understand the relationship you two had, all I know is... it was intense. There's some part of you that will always love him and I'm fine with that. Just... go. And you'll see."
Slowly, my lips curled as I stared at him. I brought my hand to his hair and slipped my fingers in it before sighing. I felt suddenly lighter and I was not sure why. Perhaps knowing that my boyfriend was fine with it helped.
I mouthed a 'thank you' and he smiled more, shaking his head.
"There's no reason to thank me." he just said, pulling me closer and kissing my lips. "I love you, Olivia."
I wrapped my arms around him and closed my eyes, inhaling him before squeezing him tighter against me. It felt good and I felt safe but I finally pulled away and smiled.
"Okay so food and a movie?" he proposed, raising his eyebrows before I grimaced.
"Oh I wish, I mean food, but i'm gonna have to eat in front of my computer." I explained with a sigh, letting my head fall lightly on my shoulders. "I need to write and my mind is lazy these days."
"Why don't you inspire yourself of what we're going through right now?"
I stared at him and raised my eyebrows at the idea before Dylan just chuckled and winked at me. I knew that to write something good, it had to be close to something I was living, but playing it on screen was about to be a challenge if I did that.
"I'll make food you just... work."
I thanked him and grabbed my phone before sitting in front of my computer. I started typing a few ideas here and there but the truth was, I couldn't stop thinking about Niall. Dylan was right, there were many things I wanted to tell him, many things I wanted to ask. but at the same time, I was well aware that I wouldn't be able to let it out all at the same time. I also knew we had to be in a public place, if only to be sure I wouldn't end up yelling or in tears.
'Coffee tomorrow afternoon, are you free? 🤪’
I didn't want to let Niall make me emotional the way I used to be when we were dating, or even before. He always had so much power over me and I didn't want him to anymore. I didn't want anyone to have to much power over me.
'Always free for you 🥰’
The emoji he picked made my lips curl and I quickly texted him a time and place before putting my phone away. I stared at my work on the screen and sighed to myself. I didn't really want to add Niall to my story, I was too scared of how realistic it would become, since my real boyfriend was already playing my on-screen boyfriend, and I decided to push this idea away.
Dylan came back with a plate of pastas and it made me wonder how long I had spent in front of an almost empty document. He sat to face me and my eyes moved up to him.
"I'm stuck."
"Did you message Niall? Are you gonna see him soon?"
I felt my heart skip a beat at his question but he kept staring at me as he brought the fork to his mouth. The fact that it was super casual for him made me squirm a bit on my seat. Was that a good or a bad thing?
"Yea, tomorrow afternoon."
"Good." he nodded, pushing the plate my way. I sent him a smile and started eating too. "Maybe it'll inspire you."
His eyebrows raised and he chuckled when some sauce landed on my shirt and I quickly tried to wipe it off, making him laugh even more.
"Guess you're gonna have to take it off." he just pointed out.
I looked up at him only to see a smirk gracing his face and I chuckled too, tilting my head. I pushed my plate away and leaned closer to him, sending him an amused smile and keeping my voice low.
"Maybe you should take it off yourself."
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pcttrailsidereader · 4 years
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Four Months Alone of the PCT
I posted this on this website about six years ago and just recently re-read this interview from a blog called ‘The Hairpin’.  The interview, with Myla Fay, a 25-year old thru hiker, is a good read and I thought worth re-posting.  My favorite story was her account of the hiker who found chapstick on the ground and used it to counter crotch chafing. A few minutes later a woman walked by and asked if anyone had seen her pina colada chapstick. From that point forward his trail name was “Penis Colada.”
Myla attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota as did my daughter … which came to light when I forwarded this interview to my daughter as part of my desire to have her hike a section of the PCT several summers ago (which she did join me for a lengthy stretch).
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By Jia Tolentino
How did you get into long-distance hiking? I grew up in Maine and spent a lot of time outside, and when I was a kid, we went up to Blue Hill every summer to hike and swim, camping in Baxter State Park and backpacking in the White Mountains. And in high school I did some incredible trips with the Chewonki Foundation: one was a 400-mile white-water canoe trip that ended in the tiny Inuit village of Kangiqsualujjuaq in northern Quebec. I always liked the outdoors, and backpacking felt like a good fit. I was also always interested in long-distance hiking as a more structured way of traveling. I spent a summer alone in India once and felt overwhelmed by all the decisions and planning involved in traveling. With hiking, your trip is organized around managing food and water and covering distance, and there’s less of an expectation for fun and relaxation. I like the part of backpacking that’s monotonous and challenging. How long had you been thinking about hiking the PCT before doing it? I heard about the PCT my senior year in college, but during and after college I was focusing on school and work: I worked as a designer in Minneapolis and New York, which I liked. Then I wanted to work on my own projects, so I moved back to Maine and set up a printmaking studio in the basement of a rural Zen Center. But it’s difficult to make any money from printmaking and it’s also difficult to live and work in isolation. I felt unsure about what I wanted to do, so I made a list of things I never regret doing. I realized that I never regret spending time outside, traveling, and challenging myself, so I decided to hike. I don’t think any 90-year-old would look back on life and regret hiking the PCT. Did you know you wanted to go alone? I might have considered it if I had known someone willing to drop everything and go hiking for four months. But I liked the idea of hiking alone anyway. Being alone is wonderful because you never have to compromise. If I felt like swimming all day, that’s what I did.
How long did it take to get ready? I only had about three months to prepare. Most people spend around six to 12 months getting in shape, dehydrating food, and planning. For me, I bought gear and read “Yogi’s Guide,“ which has advice for thru hiking—tips for hitchhiking, choosing campsites, resupplying, etc. It also outlines motel and grocery options for each town. I bought my food in towns and mailed food ahead when the next town was too small to resupply.
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Do you have to be in good shape before you start a hike like this? Or could you just tough it out and get better as you go? You don’t have to be in good shape to start a hike, but it helps. It also helps to be young. No matter what shape you are in, hiking 10 to 12 hours a day is going to be hard. I thought that after hiking for a week or two I would just be “in shape,” but I was surprised that my fitness continued to improve.
I also never stopped having some degree of pain.
What was the gear you started with and the gear you ended with? Anything you packed that you realized was useless? I started hiking in desert heat and ended my trip snowshoeing through six feet of snow, but surprisingly I used most of my gear in all situations. After a month I bought a solar charger on trail to charge my iPhone, which was a real luxury. I also bought a dress from Goodwill along the way. It was comfortable to wear hiking and convenient for peeing outside modestly. I added various warm layers as I went north—a rain skirt (which is lighter, more breathable, and easier to put on than rain pants), an emergency blanket, snowshoes, long underwear, and bread bags to wear on my feet for warmth. I eventually ditched my mace, bug spray, and a mouse-proof food bag because I felt they were unnecessary, but not everyone would agree. Now that I have a better idea of what I need, I revamped my gear for my upcoming trip on the CDT. I have a post on my blog about the new gear, and also have my gear list on my website, if anyone wants to read.
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What about trail food? How’d you deal with it? Did you filter your water the whole time? What are the worst and best things you’ve tried on the trail? Food was hard to plan for because my preferences and hunger changed constantly. Sometimes I had five extra pounds of food when I arrived in town and other times I ran out. One of the benefits of buying food as you go (rather than mailing it) is that you can easily make adjustments. I hiked with a girl who mailed all her food and by the end, she literally gagged every time she ate a Clif bar or oatmeal. I think having a variety of food on trail is important. I cooked ramen with PBR once when I arrived at a road crossing where someone had left a few beers for hikers. I was out of water, so I used the beer, and it was surprisingly delicious. At the end of trail, I ate snickers dipped in cream cheese and I thought it tasted like chocolate cheesecake! One of the worst things I tried was cold instant coffee mixed with oats. I was trying to pack up quickly in the morning and didn’t want to heat water. Needless to say, it was disgusting. I also once ate a spoonful of dry protein powder at night because I was starving and low on food. It felt similar to the cinnamon challenge. How much more do you end up eating than normal? What are the cravings you develop after long hikes? I ate a TON of food. Granola bars, mini pies, peanut butter, Nutella, tortillas, ramen, Cheezits, candy, muffins (squished), pop tarts, nuts, and anything else that caught my eye in the grocery store. All hikers fantasize about food, mostly about fresh fruits, vegetables, pizza, and ice cream. I daydreamed about Slurpees a lot. There is no food guilt on trail. All notions of what, when, and how much is appropriate to eat disappear. Instead of cutting calories and dieting, hikers worry about not eating enough. I ate 3,000 to 6,000 calories a day, and it was incredibly refreshing. The downside of eating so much was the stomach aches. Sometimes I would eat a whole sleeve of Oreos, which tasted delicious, then I would feel awful for a while. It’s a lot to ask of your body, to process all that food.
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Did you see a lot of other solo hikers? Did traveling alone made you more open to meeting random people? Travelling alone does make it easy to meet people. Most hikers start alone, and many hike in groups for various lengths of time. When I started, I wanted to hike alone to challenge myself and rely on my own decisions. I became more open to meeting people over time, and by the end of trail I found a balance between independence and community. Who were the coolest people you met along the way? Everyone I met had an interesting back story—one couple worked in Antarctica, one girl sold her house to live out of a backpack, there were Marines who hiked to deal with PTSD, and people who left their high-paying jobs because they didn’t want to devote their lives to work. One of my favorite characters on trail was a retired guy from New Jersey. He lived years without health insurance or hot water, and took ice-cold hose showers every day at home, even in the winter. He told only one person he was hiking the PCT and always camped alone far off trail. He didn’t own a phone, but carried a small radio to listen to baseball games. Every time he went into town to buy food, he bought a glass, because he only drank beer out of a glass. He was also a scavenger. Once in town I gave him part of a cookie and he just packed it away for later. Another time he told me that he carried a cube of bouillon for an emergency meal. I told him it didn’t have any calories, and he said, “But it sure does fill you up!” I should mention that there are more men than women on trail, and most people I met were white and middle class, so unfortunately trail culture is not too diverse. How many times were you ever truly scared, and why? Most of the time trail felt very safe, but I had a couple moments of being spooked. I almost stepped on a rattlesnake. I once got lost looking for a spring at night without my pack. I got dangerously cold during a snowstorm. These situations were all preventable had I been paying better attention. Some hikers do end up in truly scary situations. One girl had a mountain lion stalk her at night, and another guy ended up lost on a snowy cliff where he couldn’t go forward or backward. Oh my god. A lot of people on trail carry a SPOT device with an emergency button that activates a search and rescue response team. They are expensive and I personally felt safe without one, but a few people did use them on trail.
What about weather conditions? You had to hike at night sometimes because of the heat, right? The PCT covers a diverse range of terrains and temperatures. In the desert, it reaches 110 degrees, and water sources are sometimes 30 miles apart. I carried 1.5 gallons of water at a time. Hiking at night is much cooler and requires less water, so many people hike early and late (resting midday). Night hiking is beautiful but spooky. Some huge bugs and rodents that come out at night. And then there was the extreme cold: I’m reading a blog post where you did sit-ups in the middle of the night to stay warm. What’s your least favorite and most favorite weather to hike in? I still prefer hiking in desert heat over the cold Northwestern weather. In Oregon and Washington, I dealt with rain, hail and snow, which is dangerous without adequate food and gear. Most people carry down jackets and sleeping bags, but down is useless when wet. When it is cold, taking breaks is not an option. I knew one couple who hiked over 24 hours without stopping because all their gear was wet and it was snowing. They would have become hypothermic if they stopped. Can you tell me some hiker code? What’s the jargon like? There are lots of phrases specific to thru hiking. Some are practical (“slackpacking” is hiking a section without a full pack, “hiker hunger” describes the extreme hunger after hiking, “vortex” is when you spend longer than expected in town). A lot of them are meant to be funny (“Vitamin I” for ibuprofen). “Cowboy camping,” sleeping under the stars, is one of my favorite terms. It’s basically a fancy way of saying “I am too lazy to pitch my tent and I doubt it is going to rain tonight.” My friend “Scrub” has a more extensive list of hiking terms on his blog.
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That’s his trail name: does everyone have one? Everyone gets a trail name, usually given by another hiker. Part of the idea is that you can leave your other life behind and be someone new on trail. And there’s other stuff like this: trail angels, trail magic, what does that mean? A “trail angel” is anyone who helps you by offering “trail magic.” It could be a day hiker who gives you an apple or someone who drives you to town. There are established trail angels who help hikers each year by leaving food or sodas on trail or even opening their homes to hikers. There are also some trail magic events, where angels make burgers or pancakes on trail for a day or two. It is hard to overstate how incredible it is to come upon fresh hot food or cold sodas after being out in the woods for a few days. The terms seem right. How was your emotional state going into the hike, and during it? What was the default state of each day? I was much happier on trail than I was prior to trail. Some of that may have had to do with the endorphins released from exercise. I also gained a lot of confidence in my body and my ability to troubleshoot difficult situations. By the end of the trail, I felt I could do anything. I certainly had moments of frustration, crankiness, and misery, but I always preferred trail to home.
Wow. What did you do to pass the time? It wasn’t too different from regular life. Sometimes I listened to music or books, sometimes I worried about logistics, sometimes I wondered what to do with my life. I thought about family and friends and remembered things I had forgotten. Sometimes I played games with other hikers, sometimes I counted my steps, sometimes I brushed my teeth for an hour. What are some good stories you heard on the trail from other people? There was a huge snowstorm in Washington that coincided with the government shutdown, and some hikers decided to road walk the last 60 miles to Canada to avoid deep snow. Rangers stopped them because it was illegal to be in the park during the shutdown. So after hiking 2600 miles, they quit because of a triviality. I also heard a story about a girl who saw a mountain lion sitting next to the trail. She roared at it, like you are supposed to (you never want to let a mountain lion know you are scared), then kept walking past it only to realize that there was a switchback in the trail and she had to pass it again. And then, there was a funny story about a hiker I never met who found chapstick on the ground and used it for crotch chafing. A few minutes later a woman walked by and asked if anyone had seen her pina colada chapstick. From that point forward his trail name was “Penis Colada.” That is a great story. What was your favorite part of the trail?
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The last four days on trail were my favorite. I snowshoed on fresh snow through the most spectacular scenery on trail with a boy who I like very much. It was new and exciting and beautiful and romantic. What about the least? Southern Oregon was my least favorite part. Everyone talks about how Oregon is flat and easy, but my feet were hurting so it didn’t feel easy. In my opinion, it was also the least spectacular part of trail, just woods and ponds.
What was your favorite pit stop? One of my favorite stops was Buck’s Lake, a small town in northern California. I got off trail to apply for a job. I didn’t end up getting the job, but I stayed with the most incredible trail angels. They were welcoming and made burgers with heirloom tomatoes and peach cobbler and fruit salad. They also took me out on their pontoon for sunset to drink white wine and listen to the Beach Boys.
What did you miss most while you were hiking? Fresh fruits and vegetables, and my friends and family. How did this hike physically affect your body? I lost about 5 to 10 pounds by the end, despite gaining muscle. My breasts mostly disappeared and my feet grew a full size. Women usually lose less weight than men, which is an advantage on trail. What about your hair? My hair was crazy on trail. I was trying to grow it out, but it was a bad length for hiking: long enough to tangle and too short to pull back. I had dyed it before trail and wanted to let the dyed part grow out. I also decided to stop using shampoo, in part thanks to articles like this. Needless to say, my hair was a bleachy, greasy, tangled mess. I cut it off when returned home. Before or after, did you have a lot of people telling you that they wanted to hike the PCT too? Or were people more like, "You’re nuts!” A lot of people say something along the lines of, “Wow, that’s amazing! I could never do that!” But hiking is kind of like drawing. People say they can’t draw, as if it’s a mysterious talent, but both drawing and hiking are just a set of skills anyone could learn. If you are interested in hiking the PCT or another trail, I would encourage you to go ahead and do it. I think it is almost always a positive experience, although returning to regular life is difficult. People sometimes romanticize long-distance hiking, but I was just walking. Some people work 8 or 10 hours a day on spreadsheets or washing floors and few people say that is amazing. What’s your favorite picture from your PCT hike?
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This is a campsite on an exposed ridge in northern California. The sky was smoky from a nearby fire, but I could see well enough to watch a meteor shower. It’s hard to choose one photo, but that was a good night.
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nataliedanovelist · 4 years
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GF - Worth It
My half of an art-trade with @calista-222. I hope you like it! They were cool with pretty much anything but then suggested a Stan O’ War fic and I just had to go for it! I love seeing how the Kings of the Sea are doing out on their dream boat!
If any of you are interested in an art-trade, hit me up! More information can be found here!
~~~~~~~~~~
Stan opened his eyes, but it took him a minute or two to truly wake up, and then a few more minutes to figure out what woke him. His back was sore, but that wasn’t what pulled him from his slumber. There was no disturbing light or sounds. No storm that rocked the boat and no sense of incoming danger.
An echo of voices. It wasn’t fair to call it a nightmare, because there was no “plot” and no real fear, just a lurching feeling that something was wrong, a deja vu feeling from the end of summer.
“It’s me! Grunkle Stan, it’s me!”
“It’s all gone.”
“I KNOW my grunkle is in there somewhere!”
“Stan has no idea, but he did it. He saved the world. He saved me.”
“We saved the world, but what’s the point?”
“... you’re our hero, Stanley.”
Stan sighed to himself. Many other voices had plagued his sleep, but those stuck out. He can still remember what he was thinking and feeling that day. First, confusion. Just mild confusion with no real panic. Then a bizarre what-did-I-walk-into feeling, like he was invading something private. When the stranger in the suit hugged him he automatically felt compelled to do something, but he had no idea what and no one was asking him to do anything. That wasn’t true; they were begging him to remember. But remember what? Did he forget something important, like an item at the grocery store, or a task he had to accomplish? It didn’t seem likely, all he really knew was his own name, and that was only because everyone around him called him that. Then when they were in the house he finally felt comfortable, the first real feeling like he belonged, and then right before Waddles jumped on him he had a strong sense of regret, but for what? 
It was no wonder that by the end of the day he was exhausted and fell asleep with his family clinging onto that old armchair. Forget fighting an unholy demon, that rollercoaster of emotions was enough to knock anyone out cold for days.
Stan, now fully recovered and with all of his memories (all of the important ones, anyways), still occasionally had to live with the consequences of his actions, like unpeaceful night of sleep and the sickening feeling that his family’s suffering was partly his fault. Sure, Sixer made a deal with the triangle in the first place, and yes Mabel traded the rift away, and yeah okay Stan only agreed to it because he believe it was the only way (and because it was just too easy), but the fact that he caused those kids and his brother so much pain really stinks.
Oh well. What was it that Ma used to say? No use crying over spilt milk? Hm, milk. Stan threw off his covers and decided to get up and have a midnight snack. He popped his back and then glanced up at the bunk bed above him, then shook his head when he found the bed empty; Ford was elsewhere on the Stan O’ War II. Stan slipped on his slippers and pulled on his robe before leaving the small bedroom for the main area on the boat, the living room, dining room, and kitchen all in one small, confined space. 
Sure enough, sitting at the dining table with books and journals before him was his nerdy twin brother, with an empty cup of joe by his side. Most of the light came from the moon outside, leaking in through a window, and a bright lantern on the table. Ford looked up at him and gave him a concerned look. “Everything alright, Stanley?”
The old conman shook his head. “Yeah, just gettin’ a midnight snack.” He opened the fridge and grabbed the carton of milk, checking to make sure it was still fine to use before fishing out the pot to heat it up. “Want some warm milk?”
“Thank you, but no thank you. I’m in the middle of a good train of thought and I would rather not disturb it with drowsiness that would lead to sleep.”
“Geez, Poindexter, you do know that humans need sleep to, I dunno, not end up dead, right?”
Ford chuckled and wrote something down in his journal. “Yes, I know. I swear, once I finish this I’ll go to bed.”
Stan just smiled and whisked the milk in the pot. “Fine, whatever. But if I have to pull your sorry butt outta the Arctic ocean again, you’re gonna…” The younger twin was interrupted by a distant cellphone ringing, a cheerful tune. He hurried back to the bedroom with his brother closely behind him. It sounded like Mabel was calling and she might need help. Just in time, Stan picked up his phone from the nightstand and answered it, putting it on speaker so Ford could listen. “Mabel, pumpkin?”
“Hi, Grunkle Stan!” Her cheerful voice rang.
Stan could breathe a little easier. He and Ford heard from those kids at least three times a day via text messages, e-mails, and phone calls, but usually their calls weren’t at three in the morning. “Hey there, sweetie. Whatcha up to?”
“Nothing, just missed my favorite old guys in the whole world.” Mabel said, and it sounded like she was being honest. No nightmares and she needed counselling, no bad boys giving her grief, no girls making fun of her. She truly was calling just to call.
“We missed you too, pumpkin.”
“Hello there, Mabel.” Ford called as they walked back to the main room to make sure the milk wouldn’t burn. “Did you have a good day?”
“Yeah! Waddles got to come to school today! My art classes needed a good muse and I volunteered Waddles! He got to roll around in front of the whole class and just be cute while he painted and sketched or whatever everyone felt like doing, and he loved it! Our teacher even gave him potatoes! He had so much fun!”
“Course that fat, naked jerk would love all that extra attention.” Stan sneered as he whisked some honey into the milk. “How’s your folks liking him?”
“Dad loves him! Says he makes the perfect football-buddy! Mom was unsure about him at first, but now he follows her around and she likes him enough. Kinda like someone else I know who claims to hate him but actually really really loved him.”
“No idea what you’re talking about. How are your parents?”
“They’re fine. Busy. Dad’s working on this new TV show about a boy with magical powers and alien stepmoms, and Mom’s really busy at the hospital. It’s mostly been Dip-Dip and I and Waddles here.”
“Mabel!” A voice interrupted her from afar. “Do you know what time it is?!”
“It’s only seven, Dipper, relax.”
“That means it’s three in the morning for them!”
Mabel gasped as she realized her mistake. “I thought you said eight hours back, not forward! I’m sorry, guys!” She said to her great-uncles. “I’m sorry I woke you up!” She was worried that she had scared them or had bothered them from a goodnight’s sleep.
“Nah, we were awake, sweetie, don’t worry about it.” Stan reassured her. “Don’t you ever apologize for calling, okay? I’m always happy to hear from you, no matter what time of day.”
“Well, okay. If you're sure.”
“We’re sure, my dear.” Ford added. “Is your brother there?”
“Yeah! Hold on… DIPPIN’ SAUCE!” It sounded like Mabel was running towards him and soon her end of the line was on speaker, too.
“Hey guys, sorry, I told Mabel…”
“Dipper, get off her back.” Stan chuckled. “It’s like I told her, I don’t want any of you little gremlins to ever say sorry for calling, okay?”
Dipper was grateful that his uncles couldn’t see his reddening face. “Okay. So… uh, how was Galway?”
“Oh, it was beautiful!” Ford answered; he took the phone from Stan so he could work on the milk safely and he sat at the table. “You kids would have found it breathtaking! The architecture of the town was gorgeous…”
“The Galway Girls were prettier.” Stan added in.
Ford chuckled. “Yes, apparently Stan managed to charm a handful of ladies there, one inn-keeper in particular took a fancy to him.”
“Took a fancy, what year is it, ya nerd, 1886?”
The kids laughed at the other end. “Did you find any selkies or mermaids?” Mabel asked; ever since Ford told her about selkies she had her heart set on seeing one.
“No, not yet.” Ford said. “But I promise that when we meet one we will let you know.”
“Do you honestly think selkies are real?” Dipper asked. “I mean they’re not like sirens or any other species that has been discovered; it’s a species entirely dependent on magic.”
“Magic is nothing more than science we can’t explain, Dipper. I’m sure that there is, at least, a possibility of selkies existing. Now, a bit off topic perhaps, but tell us about the robotic club. You said you’re working on a recreation of an old robot from an 80s movie?”
Dipper and Mabel happily chatted about their day while their uncles listened. Stan, a few minutes later was leaning against the counter with a mug of warm milk in his hands. He sipped his beverage as he watched Ford listen attentively, the phone on the table, the picture of Mabel and Dipper lighting up the tiny screen. Despite everything, Stan smiled contently, knowing that if he had to do it all over again he would.
45 notes · View notes
x-ximenas · 4 years
Text
Midnight (Pt. 3)
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Prompt: Midnight - 5SOS. A bit of Stay - Post Malone and When You Walk Away - 5SOS
Pairing: Female!Reader/Roger Taylor
Warnings: Sad sad things, angst, alcohol consumption and my terrible grammar and punctuation remember English’s not my first language.
Word Count: 3,102 words
A/N: So sorry for taking this long to put this up, I was waiting for my proofreader to answer my e-mail but before I realised a long long LOOOONG time had passed, so I decided to just post it, I gotta admit it’s not my best work, but I hope the people that enjoyed the past few bits enjoy this one as well. If you liked this bit, I’d love to hear some comments! If you’d like to be added to a taglist for upcoming parts comment, dm me, ask me… just communicate with me!
A/N pt.2: Like most of the time, I took a few literary liberties, there are some movie things, there’s some real stuff, so… yeah.
A/N pt.3: If you’re looking to read some Brian stuff, I have a multipart story (pt. 1, pt. 2) -sadly not finished- but if you read it and like it, I’ll do my best to do something about it.
// Part 1 // Part 2 //
———————————————————————————————————–
The last few days had broken the cycle Y/N had remained in for the last few years, yet they remained monotonous all the same.
Quite in brand for the London life, the birds never came out to bask in the sun, for the sun never came, similarly to Y/N it had stayed hidden behind the grey coloured clouds too scared to face the outside. For tourist or newcomers, the clouds were a threat and an impediment when you desired to tell what time was it; you could barely distinguish when time passed, for the colour palette remained the same, a scale of greys that lightened or darkened as the hands of the clock advanced.
The bed Y/N laid on had never felt this cold and empty, she had lost the shield that protected her body from the incoming breeze that blew through the open windows; now, all she faced was an old scent that brought tears to her eyes, tears that ultimately fell, no matter how hard she tried to stop them from doing so -how stupid are you? she reprimanded herself with an unconvincing tone. Those tears were hot and burned the skin as they rolled down her face, they were tears fo anger and disgust, feelings not only directed towards herself but directed to Roger as well.
The route that travelled from her door to her room looked deserted because as of lately there were no clothes to pick up from the carpeted floors. Her skin had grown quickly unaccustomed to him, there were no ghosts of kisses and touches, she had even lost the few bruises his lips had painted on her skin. Not only did he walk out of her life -unwillingly so, for the note that he left behind didn't hint on his activities- he had left her body, but not her soul, never her soul, and that pained her.
A knock...
A single knock.
If Y/N could describe said knock the word that first crawled inside her mind would be undecisive, maybe hesitant, especially because there were no other knock following the first. To Y/N it was evident who was knocking on her door, she quickly discarded the thought of her friends checking on her for they had no decency and no respect for her personal space they tended to just walk in without an invitation, unlocking the door with the spare key Y/N had given them years ago; this person was Roger, she was certain of that, he always waited for her to open the door for him, to answer for his calls, but due to the recent situation he had placed them into she had no energy to answer the door for him, to look him in the eyes and not burst into tears of both anger and hurt.
Roger had come in search for her before and she never answered, he swore that once -a few days ago- she locked the door right before him rejecting his presence; other times he had heard her choke sobs, not quite prepared to talk to him. It broke him to pieces to hear her cry and not do anything to stop it, furthermore, he knew that he was the cause to her tears, her cries and her pain. He was well aware of his actions, but standing there, with only a wall separating the two of them he realised he never thought of the consequences they would bring.
"Y/N, please open the door, I really want to talk, I... I'm sorry" Roger's voice drawled out, a hint of exhaustion deep in his voice, annoyment was soon to find a home there too if Y/N kept on ignoring him. His usual raspy voice had lowered its tune a few semitones and the roughness of the rasp became more prominent, such tone made Y/N shiver and her heart ache. She wasn't ready, not quite, not yet.
Y/N's mind had been running in circles, more than ever before, she wasn't sure on what to do with the situation and herself, troubled when thinking about ways to explain her knotted up mind, how to get out the heartbreak in sentences and also explain her anger and all the strong emotions that ran through her body for people to understand -maybe even help herself understand. Every time she thought about what to do she came empty-handed, she had tried to prepare a speech that soon was going to be presented to the perpetrator of her afflictions, a speech that was supposedly helping to fully convey her feelings, a mirror where he could gaze into and turn into a person that understood, a song that he could resonate with, a painting that he could break apart to gaze at the full picture. She wanted for him to understand how troubled her mind had become, but her words trembled, the mirror broke every time, the song was offbeat and the painting was off frame.
She let time pass, she did reach the door but she never found the strength to open it, she just stood in front of it, leaning on the back of couch placed near, her back was arched forward as her arms crossed on her chest pulling the front of her sweater closer to her in hopes that it could aid with the coldness that she currently felt.
Their bodies were placed parallel to each other, the wall and door parallel as well. Roger was leaning on the door, his arm resting on the cold material, his head finding its place on top of it soon enough, his gaze was lowered, but his eyes were closed, he knew she wouldn't open the door, but he was going to die trying, hoping to make things right.
"Please..." he whispered, the sound blocked by the door, never reaching her ears.
Y/N was just waiting, she was expecting the sound of his steps indicating his departure. With a sigh Roger took his head off the wood, sparing one last look at the door before leaving, he was tired of coming, of calling but he had to leave things straight with her, she deserved as much, he made the mistake of not doing just that before, he had to at least do it now. His steps were slow and dragged out, not caring to pick up his feet as he went and with that Y/N empathizes, for she felt as tired as his steps sounded.
Y/N let a breath escape from between her lips as she felt herself unwind, her shoulders loosening as she finally sat down on the single sofa she was just leaning into. Her eyes stung and her throat felt tight and constricted, she felt like crying her eyes out, but the tears never came. Her eyes resembled the ever-threatening clouds that hovered over London, omnipresent and always grey, but not omnipotent, not always ready to rain down.
As Y/N stared out the window her mind divagated, ever since she caught Roger with Gina she did such thing more often, her mind was always active, always working on a memory or a thought, but mostly remembering. Her head was mostly filled with the poisonous memory of Roger holding someone else, causing pain to pull at her heart; other times she filled in the gap with memories that once upon a time she considered oh-so-joyful that even made her hopeful, that helped the threading of an unrealistic future with Roger, now all that they brought were pain and a strange feeling of incompetence.
Y/N shook her shoulders as if it could help to shake the venomous thoughts that constipated her head, pulling her hair from between her fingers she bit her lip, holding down a scream. She leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees, reddening the skin around the pressure point, she felt stressed and sad, angry but lonely.
Her lip started to hurt badly, her teeth had been sinking into the soft skin far too long, but she took notice her lips weren't the only thing that stained, the palms of her hands' pounding and burning from how hard her nails had been digging there as well.
Y/N's emotions had been taking different directions and rightly so. She got sad and cold whenever Roger was near her when she could sense his presence from behind the thin walls; but just as soon as he left a sudden feeling of heat and anger boiled through her veins, the sadness and pity she felt dissipated whenever red clouded her view. Said red was quick to soften, but it never turned to pink, that colour had been long forgotten, only grey was left when the numbness and emptiness returned.
A huff escaped her lips as she stood up from the couch, a hand rubbing the right side of her face as she headed to the bathroom, despite her initial idea of not wanting to leave the house too afraid to even go near alcohol she finally decided against said original thought. Since the encounter at the café -if you could even call it that- she hadn't touched a single droplet of alcohol, she had tried her best to stay away from it, afraid that it would ultimately lead her to Roger and her spitting out her feelings the wrong way; but oh, did she crave the burn of the booze down her throat, she desired the warmth it provided, warmth that she lacked for she had no one resting by her side, just a ghost of a memory that she desired to get rid off with the daziness that alcohol provided.
In an automated way, Y/N prepared the shower for her liking and jumped under the water, the warmth it provided as well as the force it hit with quickly made her muscles lose some tension. Y/N finished showering soon enough, doing a quick job on drying her body before wrapping a towel around her chest and another around her hair.
Y/N headed to her room and as she passed her mirror she couldn't help but notice how red the skin around her eyes and nose had become from the constant crying and blowing off the nose; a groan left her mouth accompanied with a 'fuck', her demeanour quickly changing when she remembered that no one really cared. So with that same attitude, she headed towards her closet, pulling out a pair of bell-bottomed high-waisted jeans and a white blouse, pairing the whole outfit with a pair of dark brown boots.
As she stared at the mirror her hands travelled to her face, pressing her cold fingertips against the swollen skin. After she felt the tips of her fingers warming up she loosened the pressure, moving her hands upwards to her hair, teasing it slightly as she ran her fingers through the knotted up strands; then she picked up the strands in both of her hands, pulling it upwards in a high ponytail, and as she stared at her reflection she realised that her face was better off with all her hair being pulled away from the frame of her face, so she took the end of the makeshift ponytail and started twirling it around her fingers, laying the twist of hair on top of her head, keeping it in place with a series of hairpins and a rosé coloured ribbon.
Taking her purse from where she had hung it up by the door she headed out her cold flat and as she reached outside the building she lived in a gust of air hit her face, a few drops of leftover rain hit her skin leaving a refreshing feeling behind, she felt alive for a few seconds as she breathed in the familiar scent of petrichor a sigh of content naturally escaping from her.
The time she took in search of a cab was short and before she realised she was in her usual pub, Ben waving at her from the bar, wave she could barely reciprocate as her mind fogged up with even more images of Roger, images she hoped that alcohol will blackout soon enough.
Plopping down on the uncomfortable seat of the bar stool Y/N's eyes met with Ben's and without the need of words, he kept himself busy making her a drink, he could tell by how the corners of her eyes sloped downwards and how her teeth pulled on the inside of her cheek that something had happened and he was willing to listen to whatever she had to say.
He placed the tall glass in front of her as he leaned in her direction, making her huff through her nose and twist her neck to face him, a dark look crossing her eyes, a strange combination of anger and maybe even grief, sadness and hatred, but not towards Ben; he knew that look well enough, having been in the receiving end of it many times, but never the recipient of the feelings, he was aware of the fact that she needed more alcohol to even get her tongue loose enough to start spilling out whatever was pulling at her severely hurt heart.
It was drink after drink, Ben obviously had to keep count of them but numbers never crossed Y/N's mind, she just needed for the number to grow enough for her eyes to blur from the intoxication and not from tears. A sad trembling sigh escaped Y/N's lips making Ben's head shoot up, it was his queue, she was ready to talk.
"Is it my fault?" Y/N said, her voice hoarse from the lack of use.
"What did I do? What does she have that I don't? Did I arrive at the wrong time? Did I meet him at the wrong time? Because I don't know how to explain any of this, was it me? Did I feel too much? Did I do too much? Was I too much?" Y/N's eyes met Ben's as her words slipped from her lips constant but shaky all the same. Tears had started to pool yet they stayed static on the rims of her eyes, threatening to fall on the wooden bar. Her breathing was accelerated, heaving and she looked as if she was starting to have a hard time doing it.
Ben's hands held hers, tenderly rubbing circles on the soft skin of the back of her hand "Breathe with me -inhale, exhale- and tell me what happened that made you question yourself like this, you're not making any sense, love."
"He has someone else, Ben, he's been fucking someone else and he's been seeing her in public, he holds her hand, he kisses her in the street... It's- It's like someone crawled inside my head and decided to fuck with me, this someone hates me! Th-they decided to give me the most beautiful wings I have ever seen, they knew I wanted to-to fly! But -Y/N inhaled quickly, her hands moving from side to side as pain controlled her words and motions, then she proceeded- as I was ready to flutter away to-to the stars, the sun in search of my desired reality they f-fucking ripped the wings off, they brunt them even when they were still attached to my body and made me watch it all, they laughed in my face... This someone cut my brain open and realised what I feared the most and made my harshest insecurities a reality" Y/N's words were poetic sounding, the use of allegories and metaphors were nothing new for Ben, quite used to the way Y/N expressed herself.
As Ben was ready to tell her some reassuring words that might or might not help ease the pain that burnt through Y/N's body, she interrupted him. "It was such a foul move, I felt betrayed Ben... Does destiny, God or fucking- ugh! I don't know, who hates me that much? Why after the night we had did I have to see that? Why did I have to fucking see him walking into the café he knows I love with another girl? Why? Why couldn't he just tell me he had someone else? Why does he make it seem as if I was nothing to him? As if I meant nothing? Why does he make it seem so easy to just not care? -then Y/N's voice lowered to a mumble- Why did he call me his? Why did he say he was mine when he clearly isn't? Why think about a future that doesn't exist?" Said that she pulled out the crumpled up note he had left on her on the countertop of her kitchen, the paper felt heavy on her hands it burned her skin and as her eyes skimmed past the last few words left on the note -'A future for the two of us'- her eyes burned too.
Ben was left with his mouth agape, so many tiny revelations pushed in a single statement that made his heart hurt for the poor girl in front of him. He looked at her -no, he observed- her hands were in fists and he could swear that he had caught a glimpse of a crescent-shaped figure on her palm when she unflexed her fingers; her eyes were red and the skin looked irritated from the constant brushing of the tissues and other fabrics she used to wipe away the tears, tears were constantly invading her eyes they were almost intermittent, never quite falling but always present; her posture that usually shifted between trying to look confident and relaxed was tense, she was hunched over herself, some people might describe the posture as a shame and insecurity ridden posture and it felt so strange on her.
Y/N sniffed and stood up from the stool, pulling her purse up to her chest, attempting to pull out enough money to pay for the alcohol she had drank; she wasn't sure how much money she had handed Ben, but she trusted him enough to know that he wouldn't have added drinks that she hadn't actually drunk to her bill so with a tired smile she finally decided that it was time to tap out.
Waling outside the pub she was met once again with the familiar weather, humid with a light wind, she breathed in as if to help her ease herself before hailing a cab. A black car stopped in front of the pub and as Y/N sat down on the leather seats of the cab she offered the driver a kind smile.
"Where to?" He asked, but Y/N's heart spoke before her head did and so, she found herself heading to Roger's place.
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miraclejune · 4 years
Text
HERO’S SOUP: CHAPTER 17
District 9
Minho and Felix popped inside through the window. A hint of snow wafted around as Felix transformed back into human form. Minho quietly emerged from the dark corner.
Woojin helped Woong from getting some extra chairs from one of the rooms. They settled down and paid attention to the heavy conversation that was bound to happen.
"Jisung got kidnapped. Jeongin met another one of Merlin's apprentices. Changbin almost got killed. And Chan has real friends outside the mansion."
"Really? That's one of the big issues?" Chan rolled his eyes after receiving no response from Hyunjin. "I've heard about all of that except for the last part." Woong chuckled as he spoke.
"How?”
“Rumors spread faster than the plague here. And the Sofia's aren't good at keeping secrets." the vampire couldn't agree more. He heard a lot of chatter before at the clan, mostly some petty quarrels and scandals. Rare cases would be fights and disagreements within their 'businesses'. They spread petty rumors about other people but not even the slightest information from them was leaked.
"So, basically every supernatural being knows?" Woojin slumped down as he saw Woong's soft nod.
"Is it all connected though?" Jeongin asked.
"I hope so. It'll be much easier to deal with." Minho responded. He was right. If the following scenes came from different sources, it would be very difficult to handle. They didn't have the resources nor the time to do so. When it comes to manpower, they do have Jisung and Chan.
"Do you guys think they're tracking us?"
"Jeongin, you watch too many detective movies." Felix chuckled, moving to sit in between the boy's legs. "Well," Jeongin leaned forward and placed his hands on Felix's shoulders. "I do watch a lot of those films but maybe it's possible? No harm in finding out.”
"Let's hear him out." Minho suggested. He nodded at the boy signaling him to continue. "So, Jisung had been kidnapped before, right? Thankfully we all got out alive. Which is weird?"
"How is that weird?" Seungmin furrowed his eyebrows. Woojin put out a hand to calm him down, he noticed his tone was rising for a bit. "Go on." he said.
"O-okay." Taking a big breath, Jeongin calmed his racing heart.
"They let us go so easily. No backup. No follow up attacks. No nothing. It was too peaceful for my liking. A couple of weeks passed by peacefully, except for that one encounter with Ms. Yoo. Do you guys think she was somehow warning us? That something bad would happen soon."
"Kazuo has been giving us hints as well." Seungmin added.
Hyunjin rested his chin on his hand. "Ms. Yoo didn't hurt you. But she did scare the shit out of you." Jeongin nodded. To be honest, he did almost piss his pants.
"I tried to find her. But I couldn't get a grip of her. I couldn't ask around because people might question why I, an alpha wolf, is looking for one of Merlin's Descendants with no valid reason to state." Hyunjin turned to the alpha. He was also part of that search team.
"What we know for sure is that she's not our enemy nor our ally. I haven't seen her around the university ever since." Seungmin added. It somehow made sense. After not seeing her at the campus, weird things started to happen.
"We keep on encountering Kazuo though." Seungmin pointed out. Everyone in the room went still. "He's helping us." Chan replied. "We're not so sure about that." Minho retaliated. Chan didn't respond back.
"Two days ago. I received a letter from my former master." Seungmin's confession drew everyone's attention. "It was mostly monthly updates on how the academy is and some special events. But she did disclose a hidden message."
Hyunjin tilted his head. "Huh, as far as I know. No secret code nor language can't be deciphered by your former academy. Everything that comes in and out is to be sorted and searched very thoroughly." It was common knowledge for everyone.
Not only Seungmin's former witch academy but most of the facilities regarding students and workers. "That's the problem. They scrutinize every detail of it except for the very simple ones. They tend to overlook it."
He snapped his fingers and a sealed amazon box fell onto his lap. He reached out for Woojin's hand, who was beside the sofa sitting on a different chair.
On cue, the alpha's nails grew longer. "You just used our alpha as a cutter to open up the box.." Changbin shook his head in disbelief.
"Anyway, it said something about another package that was sent to me via mail." Seungmin ignored the wolf's remarks.
He stopped halfway through opening it.
"Like, normal mailing." what he meant was, normal human mailing.
"Yeah, the FedEx box is a dead giveaway." Felix commented.
"I planned on opening it the day I received it, but I forgot." the rest weren't paying attention to his words. They were excited to see what was in the package.
Seungmin pulled out a bunch of old letters, books, and smaller boxes. "Oh, these are just stuff I left there." He flipped through some of the books, handing one or two to Woong, the rest wondered why Seungmin had Woong's belongings.
"She scares me." Woong thanked him, sighing in agreement with what he said. "Seriously, she knows the exact time and place we would meet. Even when you're gonna open the package."
"You guys went to the same academy?" Jeongin asked.
"Yup!" Woong snapped his fingers, a big book appearing from thin dust. The book floats in front of everyone. It was sort of like a yearbook. Something straight out of Harry Potter. It flipped through the page where Woong's class was featured. "I was in my last year when Seungmin came in. So, we didn't see each other often." Seungmin waves his hand in the air, flipping through the pages once more until it stops at his class photo. "I hated taking these class photos," he confessed.
"Why'd you get the book?" Seungmin asked. "I also got the tablet. But I don't know where I placed it." Basically, their academy offers two options for the 'yearbook' either print or digital. Hey, it's a new age.
Woong threw the books he received at the shelf. They slowed down and squeezed neatly on a few vacant spaces. "Why didn't you just search for her there?" he pointed at the book. "Ms. Yoo is older than both of you.. so, it won't make sense."
"The book shows every class from the beginning of the academy to the last." Woong proclaimed proudly. "Damn, why wasn't I cursed as a witch." Changbin completely forgot about his words earlier. He was impressed.
Seungmin thinned his lips before answering. 
"I did."
The book closed. The cover slowly changed into a different color, as well as a year printed on the front. It opened and flipped through a couple of pages stopping abruptly on the last page. "This was Ms. Yoo's class. There were only 10 of them and I heard that all of them were expelled."
They all leaned in to see an empty sheet with only the year printed on top of it, the ink was runny. It looked creepy as hell...
"Why haven't we heard of this?" Chan looked at Seungmin and Woong exchanging glances with each other. "An expelled student is normal but a whole class was definitely sketchy. We have no idea how and why. We were just given a warning not to bring it up if necessary."
The room sat in silence.
Jeongin observed the book, shifting his gaze to the two witches. Woong snapped his fingers and the book disappeared.
As they were settling on their seats, Jeongin spoke up. "You guys are cursed."
Woojin walked across the room, kneeling in front of the boy. "How did you know?" softly caressing his cheek, he asked. "I just know." Jeongin wasn't quite sure as to why he knew. He just blurted out the first thing that came to mind and based on Woojin's actions, he knew also.
"We are." Woong gave a sad smile.
"Cursed not to talk about it." Seungmin murmured.
"But how? You guys just mentioned it." Minho tilted his head after asking. He was boggled by what was happening at that moment. "We can talk about the whole class being expelled, but not the reason why."
"So, you are cursed not to talk about it?" Felix asked again.
"No. We can say what happened but not the details."
"Why not?" Chan asked this time.
As soon as he did, they all shut their mouths. They got it. The witches were cursed. They're just repeating themselves, not really getting anything out of it. It was an endless cycle. It sent shivers down their spine.
Chan recalled Seungmin saying something about a curse he wanted to be removed as he entered the neutral zone. So this was it.
A curse that had a purpose won't be able to break in neutral zones. He glanced at Changbin who searched for every neutral zone in South Korea just to find a way to undo his curse. But it didn't.
"Let's move on." Woojin broke the silence, smiling amongst the agitated faces of his friends. He stood up and went back to his seat. "So, there was nothing special about the package? Why would your master send it through normal mail?"
"Oh, there is something there." Woong implied.
Seungmin emptied the remaining contents of the package.
"Woong, if you mind." he neatly removed the contents of the coffee table, asking the others to hold on to their cups for the meantime.
Seungmin placed the box on top of the table, holding out his hands in the air. Woong walked to the opposite side and mimicked Seungmin's actions.
After a few seconds, the curtains closed and the lights dimmed, engulfing the room in darkness. The box levitated in midair, glowing as bright as the witches' hair.
The rest of them expected some cool outcome or important information. However as they felt the climax reaching its point, the box fell, and the witches fell on their knees as well.
"This sealing is so complicated." Jeongin looked at the box as he helped Woong get on his feet. "She really sent something so cryptic even though she knows we can't remove the seal easily." Seungmin thanked Woong who supported him when he was about to fall.
"Jeongin, don't touch it." Chan was too late. The boy had already picked up the box.
He momentarily stopped to realize what he had done and proceeded to turn it over to its original position. "Chan, it's fine. It's not harmful." Woong reassured.
"So, you can't open it?" Hyunjin mumbled.
Seungmin snorted. "I didn't say we can't." Both went back to their original positions. "It'll be much easier now." Woong continued.
And so, they did. It only took a few seconds before the box was engulfed in flames; no trace of ash nor residue was left.
"District 9." the witches said in unison.
"That place?" Minho probed.
"That's where Origin is." he continued. "Rank 1?" Felix nodded softly at Jeongin answering his question.
The strongest of the 11 families. No one has a clue about them. What they are capable of, who their leader is or where they’re from. Rumor has it they attacked the lower ranked families that’s why they vanished, but no one has proven anything yet. No one even knows how many members they have, or if its just one person.
"Was." Woojin corrected Minho. "They're gone."
"We don't know that." Hyunjin argued. "It's been a couple thousand years." Woojin replied. "They probably perished after getting rid of the other families.” he continued.
“That’s not possible. They can’t just disappear like that!”
“Hyunjin, don’t you fucking dare raise your voice at me.” Woojin's growl left the room in a terrifying silence. Every natural body movement was on hold.
Jeongin could hear his pulse banging in his ears and there was sweat dripping down his back. Even Woong was frozen in fear. He had seen Woojin in a bad mood before. He was not frightened nor was he afraid. What he felt was beyond such mere nouns. And he knew everyone else in the room except Hyunjin was feeling it.
Hyunjin hastily stood up, balling his fists as he stared down on Woojin. Out of all the members, he was the only one who wasn’t scared of Hyunjin. He is the beta. Second in command. And he’s not gonna let his alpha push him around just because he’s second.
“Hyunjin, stop.” Chan demanded. But the beta was not hearing anything else. He only heard the anger in his body slowly rising, wanting to be let out. He hated how Woojin was staring back at him intensely, obviously asking him to cut the crap and just quietly sit in the corner.
Seungmin felt the nauseating atmosphere, he couldn’t bear it. He noticed Hyunjin slowly inching towards Woojin, who was beside him.
He abruptly stood up, creating a temporary wall between the two. “Hyunjin, you need to calm down.”
Changbin walked behind Hyunjin, placing a soothing hand on his back. “It’s not time for us to go against each other.”
“Look, I have zero fucking idea what’s happening, why we’re all getting mad and stuff but it’s not right for us to gang up on each other. We only have each other. I don’t want to be alone again.” all eyes fell onto Felix. His baritone voice had a hint of anger and sadness in it.
Hyunjin's intense stare on the alpha faltered. His eyes fell on the floor. Changbin felt him calming down, so he pulled him into a small hug before going back to his seat.
“I’m sorry.” he murmured. Woojin stood up and kneeled in front of his beta. He lifted up Hyunjin's chin and as their eyes met, he smiled softly. “It’s okay. I know what you’re feeling. I’m sorry.” as they settled back down, the air slowly went back to its normal state.
Chan cleared his throat.
"For now, let's try to find out if they really are tracking us." The next 30 minutes consisted of Jisung refusing to go to the basement with the two witches, Hyunjin detaching himself from Jisung who was clinging to him like crazy, and Felix laughing at the scene unfolding in front of his eyes.
The three disappeared downstairs, leaving the rest in the living room. "We have to lay low for a while. It's almost midnight outside, so the mansion is guarded. However, we cannot go back home just yet." Chan suggested.
It was dangerous for them to continue with their daily lives for now. Jeongin was worried about school. He hoped that this mess would be finished soon.
“I’m leaving.”
“Ok-Huh? WAIT, CHRIS!!” Before Jeongin could process what happened, the vampire disappeared in the middle of the living room.
“Now, what!” Changbin threw his hands in the air as a sign of defeat. "He never changed! Fucking selfish prick." he exclaimed.
Felix and Minho shook their heads.
"Where's the vamp?" Hyunjin pops out from what seems to be the kitchen because of the piece of bread on his mouth. Woojin followed up from behind.
"Lemme help you with that." Felix took some contents out of Woojin's hands. After placing everything on the coffee table, he straightened up and looked around the room. He broke into a small smile. “He left, didn’t he?” Changbin nodded, rolling his eyes afterwards.
The remaining people settled back down the living room. “Is it okay for us to eat Woong's food?”
“You shouldn’t be asking that as you stuff your face with his bread.” Hyunjin coughed and almost choked to death before Minho would give him a glass of water. “Assholes.” Hyunjin muttered, water dripping down his chin.
“It’s fine. He said to help ourselves since we’re probably gonna be staying here for a while.” Woojin answered. “Anyway, let Chan be. He’s not used to fighting in groups.”
Jeongin smiled. “We can tell.”
“I just hope he reaches out for us every now and then. I’m jealous of all the action he’s getting.” Felix proclaimed.
“Chan doesn’t really fall in line with ‘Character Development’. Well, some aspects of him change but not drastically. He’s still the same old vampire we knew." Felix paused and smiled.
"But that didn’t stop us from loving him, right?” he continued.
The silence around him meant ‘yes’.
They talked lightly for quite a while. Some of them grew impatient and tried poking into the witches’ business. 
So, now Jeongin's been playing with 2 wolf cubs, 1 baby fox, and a black kitten.
‘Some of them’ included everyone in the room except him and Woojin.
“I told you guys to just wait.” Woojin giggled loudly, he sat beside Jeongin, taking the 2 wolf cubs onto his lap.
“This isn’t really any different from what you guys originally are.” That statement earned him a bite on his thumb, it was pretty deep but healed quickly. “Changbin, how dare you bite your alpha!” Woojin exclaimed in a joking manner as he tickled both of them.
“We’re done.” The basement door opened in a hurry, they looked back just in time to see a disheveled Jisung limp his way to the nearest chair.
“What the hell did they do to you?” Jeongin stood up, grasping the baby fox and kitten firmly on his arms so they wouldn't fall.
Honestly, he would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire. “Dude, you looked like you’ve been molested!” Woojin was like 'fuck it' and laughed after what he said. Jisung would’ve glared at him but he was too disoriented.
“These evil fucking sorcerers have defiled me. MY DIGNITY. MY PURENESS. MY LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.”
Talk about being over dramatic.
“Oh, shut up. We thought it was just a hoot and a half.” Woong shook Seungmin's hand, making Jisung more and more annoyed.
“We’ll file a lawsuit later, Jisung. For now, did you find any traces?” Jeongin escorted Jisung to the room upstairs to rest, when he got back. They continued.
“We found a few traces of silver inside his body.” Woojin smiled sadly. “Yeah, that’s been there for a long time.”
Seungmin realized it was a sensitive topic. “O-okay. Other than that, we couldn’t find anything. He’s clean.” He tried disregarding his words earlier. Woojin fell into thought.
“Where’s Chan by the way?”
“He left.” Jeongin said.
“Fucking selfish prick.” The boy almost laughed at Seungmin's familiar insult.
“Well, we’ll figure it out once you guys get enough rest. I prepared all your rooms, sorry but you guys have to room with each other for a while.” Woojin bowed his head in apology. “No! Sorry for coming in unannounced. Thank you for helping us, Woong.” Woojin replied.
Woong ushered them upstairs, clearly forgetting about the little ones.
Changbin pleaded, their little feet couldn’t climb up the steep stairs.
“Relax! You’ll transform back in 50 years.”
Hyunjin cried for a while so they were forced to transform them back.
"Crybaby." Seungmin muttered as he closed the door behind him before Hyunjin could claw his guts out.
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thedropdeadhandsome · 5 years
Text
Unexpected Visitor
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Jaehyungparkian x Fem Reader (Fox hybrid)
Pt 2
Word count: 4k or something
Contents: fluff, nudity, humor, supernatural, sexual content, banter, jaehyungparkian
Summary: Basically the plot is about Jaehyungparkian discovering a fox in the cold outside, taking it home then in the morning freaked out over the Fox becoming a beautiful woman. This is all my original idea, please enjoy, sorry I can’t do the read more thing on mobile ☹️
(Words written in italic is the readers thoughts)
Laughter was filling up the room in which the group called Day6 occupied, even though it was raining outside you barely could hear the pitter pattering of the rain droplets hitting the windows, since the boys were so loud on the radio program they so happen to be guests on.
“Like i said before if Brian didn’t take all my lines in the song and focused on his own parts then the fans can hear my sexy voice and appreciated what real talent is” said the man with glasses known as Jae, wearing a shit eating smirk as those words left his lips, knowing he had triggered his band mate by that name.
While the others in the room started chuckling with laughter, some with tears slipping out, the one known as ‘Brian’ began to respond to Jae’s teasing “Eww Eww Eww” the male started “It’s Young K, say it with me Young K” he added while putting his large hand through his coloured hair.
Jae chuckled as he raised his hand pointing to Young K “You ain’t English Bro! You are B R I A N! Give up” Jae responded looking pleased with himself as he leaned back in his seat.
“No I’m Jae” Young k retorted as he kept his mouth shut having enough bickering.
With that the rest of the show went smoothly, a few teasing here and there, jokes mostly made by Jae towards Wonpil because he is such an easy target.
Meanwhile outside amongst the heavy rain and wild winds, people moving quickly to get indoors and warm up from the cold and wet weather. Boots splashing in the shallow puddings “god damn it!” You exhale annoyed as you continue walking along the foot paths with your big umbrella shielding you from the heavy rain outside, trying to shield your body more with the umbrella from the rain drops as you head towards your place.
“I hope the rain dies down, I can’t afford an unfortunate accident or changing into my fox form while I’m out here, damn weather man! I hope you got drenched” you muttered out loud furiously trying to keep yourself as dry as possible.
Passing a few more streets, ignoring some random men trying to use some cheesy pick up line on you, you finally made it to your apartment. Turning your body so the umbrella faced the street, shook off the water droplets before closing up the umbrella then entering the building, “thank you” you responded automatically as someone held the door out for you, making your way to the elevator doors and lucky getting in before they closed.
“Just in time” you thought as the elevator made its way up to the floor your apartment was on. Getting out of the elevator once reached your floor, taking out your keys, jingling of the keys as you put it in the keyhole, walking in once door was opened, taking the keys out, closing door with a push by your hip, placing umbrella in the stand, slowing removing jacket and hanging it up, removing boots and putting them in their spot.
Moving towards the living room, taking the remote into your hands and aiming it at the television as you press the button that turned it on “hmm no” switch channel “no” changes again, “okay” you smiled leaving the music channel on as it was playing an assortment of music from the 90’s to early 2000’s. Turning to face the window seeing lightning flashes by, shuddering unconsciously at the image “lucky I came inside when I did” you sighed, turning off the television before making your way out of the apartment to go check on the laundry you had drying in the dryer earlier.
Back at JYP building Young K looking at Jae slightly annoyed “Jae Hyung, could you please stop calling me Brian while we are doing interviews and stuff like that? My stage name is Young K, so use it” he said with a soft sighing trying to get his band mate to understand.
“Yeah sure, but you are Brian now and forever, I will never call you Young K because you aren’t Young K you are and forever Brian deal with it” Jae said back as Wonpil started fussing as Dowoon was busily looking for his drumsticks “Hyung! Have you seen my drumsticks?” He asked only looking in the same spot near his chair for five minutes.
At the bickering of the two older members that act more like children Sungjin’s eyebrow twitched, taking a deep breath “Jae Hyung, Young K please stop bickering you are acting like a married couple having a quarrel” he took a breath “and Dowoon you haven’t looked anywhere else beside the chair you’re seated at right? If I get up and find them, then I will scold you for not looking for them In the first place” he said irritated as he was dealing with Jin, Ken and Sandeul in the chat room wanting to catch up.
Dowoon trying to hold his gasp as he found his drumsticks on his drum kit, looking around trying to see if anyone notice, putting an finger to his lips as he made eye contact with Wonpil, Wonpil nods which Jae scoffed at Sungjin’s words, Young K checking the time and gathering his things.
“Alright, I’m heading home before the nasty storm hits” Young k spoke finally breaking the silence, “so am I” Jae added as he turned his phone off “Are you guys coming or have you got other plans?” he ask as he started getting his things.
“Nah, I got plans with Jin, Ken and Sandeul” Sungjin said as Dowoon sat on his seat “I’m going to practice for a bit then go visit my parents” Dowoon declares as Wonpil added “I’ll be with Dowoon”
Jae nods “ah okay, well see you guys later” he said as Young K left the room with him then began heading out into the rain with their jackets and umbrella’s on, walking straight to their home.
After putting the dry clothes away, you went down to the mailbox to get your mail, unfortunately since you have been stressed out due to work and personal life as well as the weather which doesn’t help, your body couldn’t take it and decided to switch to your fox form, an internally scream was made, sitting in the pile of your own clothes with your keys at your side “are your kidding me?” You thought as your body went into action to collect your belongings, to put them in a secret location so when you can turn back into your human form, you can collect your things and act like nothing has happened.
Exhaling sharply, looking around you decided to try and conceal yourself but you ended up tipping a potted plant over and getting yourself wet and dirty “why do I have to be stuck in this form?” Anger slightly filled you as you think about all the other times you changed forms which was such bad timing, Lucky this time it wasn’t at work or in the middle of a store or on the way home.
Leaning against the mess you created, you started feeling done with yourself when you heard two males talking and heading in your direction. Having to try and hide but you had no time until one male spotted you and looked completely shock as he tapped the other males shoulder before leaning down towards you.
“Don’t come near me!” You thought continuously as the male with the orange hair and beautiful eyes opened his mouth “hello little one, how did you get here?” Young k said as Jae smirked “you know it can’t talk Brian, so why try?” He said teasingly.
Young K sighed “I know that Jae, but the fox must be scared” he said, taking in the fact that the fox was wet, covered in dirt and the potted plant was all over the floor.
With a heavy sigh Jae began to tidy up the mess you made, making you very apologetic towards them for tidying up your mess. Without uttering another word, Young K scooped you up of course you tried to get out but he wouldn’t let you go “okay little fella, stay still we’ll take you some where warm” he spoke very sweetly displaying a breathtaking smile which made your stomach flip.
“I’m not a fella!” You thought “no don’t look at me like that” you add trying to stay still.
“I didn’t agree to this, but I guess it’s better then leaving it here and having someone take it to pet control” Jae added, carrying everything else as the two headed towards their apartment.
Once entering their apartment a very musky scent went through your noise making you shudder and curl up into the orange haired males chest.
“I got the lights” Jae said as he turned the lights on, both men removing their shoes, closing the door before they both looked at one another. “I’ll get this little one cleaned up and then i can start cooking” Young K discussed with Jae before the two went their separate ways.
Setting their belongings down where they belonged, Jae removed his jacket and dried his hair with his towel before turning the  tv on to hear the news, sighing at what the new reporters were saying “Yeah right! They should hire a new weatherman, he can’t do his job correctly, I call bullshit” he muttered while taking a seat on the couch before changing the channel to something more entertaining.
“Ah ah ah, no stay still” Young K said as he was washing your fur gently with warm water while you shake and try to get out of the tub. His hair with water droplets and his clothes slightly damp because of your persistence in shaking the water off you like a dog. “Come on sweetie? I can’t get you clean if you fight me” he said trying to negotiate with the fox, which was you.
“Why does he keep persisting? Can’t he just go so I can turn back? Honestly, who thought they would be in my apartment building” you thought as he picked you up and started drying you, walking over to Jae to set you down beside the glasses wearing male “alright, I’ll start cooking. Keep an eye on her, she seems to like to bolt” Young k said as he headed towards the kitchen to start preparing dinner.
“Of course Brian” Jae said sarcastically while doing a salute, looking down at you with a smile before finishing off the drying, not even questioning how he knew that you were a female.
When dinner came around it was easy to get you to eat as you decided to go along, since they will catch you if you run or fuss because you didn’t eat anything, and besides how could you refuse when both these men look at you so lovingly in your fox form.
“They’ll definitely never look at me like that once I become human again. We’ll go back to only acknowledging each other if we cross paths in the hallways” you thought letting a sigh out as you curled up on the couch as both men took turns showering and discussing things you weren’t interested in listening too.
The boys were trying to convince you to leave the couch but unfortunately you weren’t moving. “Come on, come with Brian to bed” the orange haired male said, the one with the glasses sighed after trying for fifteen minutes “seriously, if Sungjin finds her we are screwed though you could just grab her” he said causing Young K to roll his eyes “then go grab her Jae, if she bites you it is your own fault” he said smirking as he then left the light on knowing the others will be back and heading to bed after giving you one last look.
Leaning down to your level Jae looks at you closely “You are very stubborn fox but you can come to the room if you want, no rush” he said giving you a pat that made you annoyed yet happy that you leaned into his touch, he then went to the same room and kept the door open.
While you were out on the couch being stubborn, the two men sat on Young K’s bed making small talk. “It’ll be better if we stay here, she’ll come in here and then the others won’t know she was in the house” Young K said as Jae added “but why do I have to be here?, I know it’s easy so she won’t wander but I do have my own room” a sigh left Young K’s lips “you don’t want to be in the room with me? Fine, you miss out if she comes in here” he said pretending to sound offended which caused Jae to sigh and stay back “fine we wait” he said in agreement.
As the night went on a huge horrible noise made by the thunder sent you fleeing into the room the boys were in. As much as you hated being stuck in this form, the thunder was just to much for you to take. Getting into the bed which so happened to have both of the boys lying in it with the middle of the bed free just incase you came, “they are very sweet”. Getting closer to Young K as the thunder made another cracking noise which got you to make a whining noise as you curl into Young K’s chest while shaking slightly.
“There there, it’s okay” both boys say as they were in a light sleep while you were trying to get comfortable. You have no idea when or how you finally slept but you were completely grateful to have those two beside you while this bothersome weather continued to captivate the city, your only worry was how they’ll react when you return to your human form.
The next morning, the sun was starting to shine in the bedroom of Young K’s where the first to awaken was Jae, rubbing his eyes he slowly opened them before putting his glasses on, turning his head towards where Young K was when his eyes widen and covered his mouth. He was completely shocked to see a beautiful naked woman in the bed that was shared between the three of them, scratching his head slightly as he was sure they didn’t bring a woman back to the apartment, only the fox which wasn’t there anymore, then getting more confused by the fact that the woman was naked, “okay, firstly calm down and close the door so the others don’t come in” he said mostly to himself, getting up and closing and locking the door, sighing out in relief when he noticed he wasn’t naked so he didn’t have sex with her.
Returning back to the bed, his eyes scanned Young K to identify if he did anything which came back negative as Young K was still wearing clothes, he was sure neither of them would be having sex while the other slept in the same bed, talk about awkward let alone weird. Looking back at the woman resting, all Jae wanted to know was who she was and how did she get in here.
Fortunately god was listening to Jae’s silent prayers as you slowly turn your body towards him which got him flustered seeing you completely naked, your eyes slowly open as you slowly leaned on your elbows “Good morning” you spoken softly, getting flustered for being nude, trying to cover yourself with the bed sheet as much as you can. “I can see you got some questions for me?” you added as Jae nodded swallowing hard “yes I do, but I should probably get you a shirt” Jae said getting up trying to get up but fell over from his foot getting caught in the sheets, which got you to giggle which sent Jae into an even more flustered mess.
“Jae can you please stop making so much noise, I am trying to sleep here” Young K mutter, slowly rising up as he rubbed his own eyes, once he noticed you in your naked glory he had a blush across his cheeks as he tried to not let his eyes linger on your body, “Y..y..your naked! How? When? Huh?” He stuttered as you both made eye contact.
“Good morning” you smiled at Young k as Jae joined back on the bed, unsuccessful in retrieving a shirt for you to cover yourself. Nodding at his questions you looked at both males “Firstly I am very grateful for your hospitality you both gave me, I’m sorry for being very stubborn with you” you began to say as you notice the little scratches you gave Young K as he was cleaning you up earlier. Looking at Jae you nodded “yes I am the fox you took into your home last night, I am naked because when I return to my human form I am all natural, yes I am a hybrid so I can if I so choose to, I can show my ears and tail in this form but it’s a little inconvenient in my daily life” you stated starting to use your fingers to brush your hair to detangle it.
Both boys looked in shock hearing you answer Young K’s stuttered questions. “Okay, I can believe your this ‘hybrid’ but firstly could you tell us your name and how you got into the building” Jae said calmly as Young K passed you a shirt which you happily put on with no hesitation, ignoring the air quotes Jae used earlier.
“My name is y/n” you said softly looking at the amusingly “I actually live here in this building, my apartment isn’t that far away from your own” you added as you sighed “I changed form while going to check the mail, tried to hide myself which I knocked over the potted plant and then you guys came which shocked me and now I’m here in your apartment” you explained feeling very awkward since your heart is racing just having them so close.
With your explanation, Young K gave a nod with a reassuring smile “ah I can see that, I have noticed you a few times around the building, I didn’t expect you to be the fox since I have seen you once before” he stated then looked to Jae then back at you “I could go find your things if you like, then you can go home right” he adds as you nod unsure if he was trying to kick you out or help.
Before you could ask Young K how and when he saw you in your fox form before, he already left the room leaving you a little dejected since you had so many questions of your own, but you guess you being a fox hybrid is more important right now.
Young K left to go get your belongings but before he could get to the living room, Sungjin stopped him “did you hear that our next door neighbour Ms y/n (last name) didn’t return home? The rest of our neighbours are worried since she never had done that” Sungjin said concerned as Young K nods “unfortunately I didn’t see her or hear anything about it, but I’m going to check the mail so I’ll look around” Young K said as Sungjin nodded as both went in different directions.
Back in Young K’s room, Jae was asking very odd questions “So have you ever changed form in the middle of sex?” He asked as he found this situation amusing.
“Uh no, but I can bring in the tail and ears if that’s what you would like master” you teased as you then let out a sigh. Running your fingers through your hair “but seriously how am I supposed to return to my place with your band mates still here? Don’t you guys have work?” You questioned as you gave a soft smile.
Jae nods thinking about that “actually today we have no work, I do think our leader is here but not the oth...hmm” he began taking a break to think “well maybe if you can go back into your fox form we could do it that way, but it would be suspicious if both Young K and I Ieft the place together but on the other hand I could always lie” he said which caused you to laugh at his plan because he was just causing more trouble for himself.
“Yes I can change forms at will, that is probably the best because you wouldn’t want to be in an scandal right?” You said as Jae nods “you are well aware on who we are aren’t you?” He said pleased, hopefully you would be his fan.
You gave a nod “of course I am, all of us in the apartment building was informed on you boys moving in, plus I am a big day6 fan, though I can’t attend any concert or fan meets in case I accidentally change form” you explained sadly just as Young K returned fluster with your articles of clothing, mail and keys. Not sure how exactly he got it past the other boys but you are very grateful “thank you so much” you said happily causing both of them to get bashful.
After explaining the situation to Young K, you three decided to act and take you back to your apartment. Once both of them got changed of course you didn’t look, you changed back into your fox form which got both of them intrigued “Brian, you should definitely have a fox as your animal character” Jae said as Young K smirked “and you should have a chicken because you are chicken little” Young k bickered back, of course Jae has another come back to that which lead to Sungjin ignoring the both of them as they left their apartment without a problem.
“First checkpoint is a success” Jae said smirking at Young K and you which made Young K roll his eyes “yeah but you are still horrible at games, that’s why Sammy, Amber, and McKay refuse to play with you” Young K grin as Jae yawned trying to play it off as if it didn’t bother him “nah, they are just intimidated by my awesomeness” Jae responded which got you to giggle to yourself while they headed towards your apartment.
Once reaching the apartment door, Jae took your keys which had a key-chain of day6 which got them to smile to themselves, putting the key in and opening the door, you jumped out of Young K’s arms and bolted towards your bedroom to change.
“Oh wow you can smell lavender? No Lily? lemongrass?” Jae said as Young K shook his head as both men removed shoes, closed door then headed to the living room. Young K placing your belongings on the kitchen bench as he passed it “No it’s vanilla” he adds before taking a seat on your couch.
Once you got dressed, you returned amused by the guesses they made on what scent was lingering in your place. “No unfortunately it’s Jasmine” you spoke, putting your things away as you brought some refreshments “I love the smell of jasmine but I don’t own any plants because I’m forgetful, busy” you explained as you took a seat beside them.
Taking the glass of water simultaneously both boys took a sip then set the glass down. Jae feeling happily that there wasn’t any flowers around to screw with his allergy. “Oh look at the time, you both properly should go get something to eat or would you like me to make you something?” You asked, not wanting to force them to stay but giving them an option so you don’t come across as one of those stalker people or someone like that.
“Sure I wouldn’t mind eating, though could I help? I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can” Young K said as Jae scoffed “We’ll both stay after all we will like to become good friends with you, right Brian?” Jae said and Young K sighed “Hey! it’s Young K” he stated which got you to laugh.
“Alright sounds good, I would love to become good friends with you guys” you said with a smile, slowly rising and heading towards the kitchen with the annoyed Young K and the teasing Jae tailing behind you.
“This is the start of a very beautiful yet cheesy friendship or more” Jae whispers towards Young K which Young K responds with a nod “definitely but don’t think you will become the favourite” he adds as the boys bickered and helped you with making a late brunch.
What in the world have you gotten into? Your not sure but you will never regret getting the chance to meet these two lovable dorky men.
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imagine-loki · 5 years
Text
Gifted
TITLE: Gifted (Sequel to Giftless)
CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: 8/?
AUTHOR: nekoamamori ORIGINAL IMAGINE: 
Imagine that you are Stark’s niece and you secretly share a strong relationship with Loki since he entered the crew. One day you get hurt so bad during a mission that you are about to die.  Loki knows a spell that will save you and share his immortality with you but you and he will be linked forever sharing thoughts, pain, emotions…
RATING: T NOTES/WARNINGS:  Also on AO3 click here
“So, darling, would you care to explain how you forgot to shield yourself when you shielded everyone else?” Loki asked you dryly as he drove you to the tower compound where the Avengers lived.  “As I recall, that was the first thing I taught you after you acquired my powers through the soulbond.” Loki wasn’t pleased with you for forgetting that absolute basic of magic.
“It’s Uncle Tony’s fault-” you started, but hesitated, not wanting to throw Tony completely under the bus.  
“Excellent,” Loki replied with a smirk.  “I could use an excuse to punch him in the face. It is so much more satisfactory when there is a valid reason behind the punch,” Loki added wistfully. He wouldn’t actually punch Tony without a damn good reason.  And it had to be a reason that you would agree to. 
You couldn’t help laughing. “You can’t rough him up too badly or Pepper will kill you,” you reminded him. He laughed at that and acquiesced that Pepper would indeed kill him.  A minute passed and he gave you a look, so you sighed and finally continued your story. “I’m not constantly assigned on patrols like most of the rest of the supers…until last month anyway. When I am, I’m always on Tony’s team. You know how Tony is. He only assigns me as support, shielding the others, dampening fires, and healing mostly. So I’ve gotten so used to shielding everyone else while Tony insists I stay away from the danger, that I got out of the habit of making the shields big enough to include me,” you explained. It was really annoying, especially when you were the strongest super on the team. 
“Your uncle is an idiot,” Loki replied dryly.  Tony had messed with your instincts and training until you put yourself in danger.
“Agreed,” you grumbled, twisting the stupid metal bangle around your wrist and imagining all of the fun ways you would destroy the damn thing the second you got it off again.  You hated restraints, though you knew the tower kept a stock of them for villainous supers.
“See that you do not forget again to shield yourself first,” Loki grumbled at you.
“I won’t. I promise. One painful reminder is enough,” you added. Your ribs and arm were still sore and bruised. Battlefield healing was not thorough at all. It was only meant to make sure the combatants could keep fighting until the battle was over. You glared at the metal bangle on your wrist while Loki drove. “Why did I let you do this again?” you asked him grumpily. You really hated being weak or helpless.
“Because I asked nicely, unlike your idiot uncle. You are also intelligent enough to realize that your idiot uncle and I are correct in the assessment that you are about to drop from exhaustion and overwork. You are also smart enough to admit that the healers will guilt you into helping them when you should be resting, because they take advantage of your kindness,” he replied too logically. He was too flattering, but he was also right. You huffed and grumbled.  You hated it, but he was right. 
Why did he have to be right?
You soon pulled up to the residents’ parking at the compound and went to go find your actor friends. It wasn’t hard. They were all outside the tower, using the outside of the building for their filming. You were waved over and greeted with cheers when they crew saw you. You were amazed at how many people they had dressed as Loki and Sigyn. You spotted Tom in the crowd of Lokis and grabbed your Loki’s hand so you wouldn’t lose him before daring to aim that way.
“What’s going on?” you asked Tom once you were close enough to him. You saw Kelly nearby, surrounded by all of the Sigyns.
“We’re shooting a scene where we Loki is using illusions,” Tom explained, indicating all of the doubles.  “I thought you two would have fun with us,” he added with a grin.  Tom was too much like his character at times and had too much mischief about him. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Loki,” he addressed the god, polite as ever.
Loki bowed in reply. “Likewise,” he replied with a grin, excited for the bit of fun and mischief.
“How has the game of ‘which one’s Tom’ gone so far?” you asked. Tom always loved that game. 
Tom laughed. “Wonderfully. This was a terrible idea on their part,”
“Kat! Why aren’t you answering your phone? Where are you? You’re supposed to be resting!” you heard a roaring yell that was unmistakable as Uncle Tony’s. You looked over at where the yelling was coming from. He was on his phone and obviously hadn’t spotted you yet. You were glad you had turned your phone’s ringer off.  You made a mental note to delete that voice mail without listening to it.  
“Shit,” you cursed under your breath. “He’s going to find us.” You did not want Tony finding you yet. 
Loki just grinned mischievously. “Not in this crowd, he won’t,” he whispered in your ear. He used illusions so your outfits appeared to match the costumes of the others. “Go blend in with the others. We’ll hide in plain sight.” you nodded and went over to the other Sigyns, standing so your back was to Tony. It was the only time you ever blended in because of your hair.
“What did you do?” you heard Tom ask Loki quietly, wondering why Tony was so upset with you both.  
“Saved the lives of ten or so civilians,” Loki replied dryly.
“Terrible offense that,” Tom replied just as dry and sarcastically.  You couldn’t help chuckling and made a mental note to keep those two from being alone for too long. They really shouldn’t be alone at all. 
You got cast as extras for the scene, which is what Tom and Kelly thought would happen when they asked you to join them there today. They slipped you copies of their scripts too. You weren’t supposed to speak, just be extras and stand with the other ‘illusions’ and look pretty. That got shot out the window once the crew realized who you and Loki really were.
Tony finally got smart enough to realize that you and Loki were possibly hiding among the actors. Unfortunately, he decided this while you were pretending to be Tom and Kelly and were the Loki and Sigyn acting out the scene. You tried so hard to keep a straight face while Tony started berating a Sigyn, who very much wasn’t you.
“Sorry, I’m not Kat!” she told him with a grin. He growled and went to harass someone else.
“Why don’t you run?” Kelly hissed in your ear, watching Tony patrol looking for you in the crowd.
“I can’t. My powers are shot right now,” you admitted. If it was anyone besides your friends, you wouldn’t have dared say that you didn’t have your powers. “I was hoping he wouldn’t find us until he calmed down some. I should probably give yourself up before he gets too pissy,”
“Not yet. Go do the kiss scene first. I’ll distract him for a little while,” she told you reassuringly. She pushed you out to where they were getting ready for the kiss scene. You had the feeling that was the real scene they wanted you and Loki for. 
Your costume was a halter dress, leaving both of your arms bare, and Loki’s costume had short sleeves for this scene. They also really wanted the soulbond mark in their movie apparently and just didn’t want to ask you outright to be in the movie. So the crew pretended they didn’t know who you really were as they positioned you for the scene. You’d be quietly paid a large sum on the backend for your work.   They thankfully didn’t actually touch us and break Loki’s illusions when Loki gave them the warning that you couldn’t be touched. 
You really didn’t mind kissing your boyfriend for twenty minutes to get the kiss scene just right.  That was an excellent use of your day.  Loki seemed to mind oh so much too. They filmed you from every angle and it should have been embarrassing, but you had missed Loki so much that you were way more interested in kissing him than in the cameras trained on you.
After the scene Tony waded in and caused more trouble. He gathered up all of the Lokis and Sigyns, including yourself and the real Loki. You were doomed then, especially as he was still raging. “Kat, Loki, you can’t hide forever,” Tony growled. “Now which ones are you?” you were a little insulted he couldn’t pick you out from all of the others.
“I am Loki!” Tom announced in his perfect Loki accent, stepping forward.
“I am Loki!” one of the extras announced, stepping forward as well. Tony growled when all of the Lokis, including yours, stepped forward to announce that they were Loki. It was hilarious and you had to fight not to laugh. Tony finally started thinking straight and turned to the group of Sigyns instead. You knew you were caught then. There was no way he wouldn’t recognize his niece.
The girls tried pulling the same stunt for you, but it didn’t work. The second he caught your eye, he knew. “Thanks for trying,” you told them. Tony was so pissed that you were actually scared of him. You’d never been scared of him, but his anger was radiating off of him, and you didn’t have your powers to defend yourself. You prayed that he would remember that before he did something stupid.
Like throw you through a wall again.
Tony grabbed your arm and dragged you from the group of Sigyns. The illusion on you vanished the moment he touched you.  The actors wandered off to pretend to not be paying attention, and actually do the work they were being paid for. The game was over. “What were you thinking?” Tony demanded. “You’re supposed to be resting!” he roared at you. You felt yourself shrink away from his roar, but you couldn’t, wouldn’t cower from him. 
You straightened your spine and glared up at him.
“What were we supposed to do? Let those people die?” you demanded, reaching your other arm around to the small of your back where your enchanted dagger sheath was, just in case this conversation went poorly. 
You wasn’t defenseless.
Even without your powers, you weren’t defenseless.
“Why were you even in that situation?” he roared back.
“We went out for breakfast and there was a car crash! We didn’t plan it,” you snarled at him. You couldn’t control everything around you. That sadly wasn’t one of your powers.
You saw his hand curl into a fist and acted before you could even think about it. You had a dagger drawn and held between us, in a defensive posture in an instant. You had practiced so much with the daggers that drawing one was instinct and effortless. You realized that right that, you didn’t and couldn’t trust Tony, not with the power between you so out of balance. Tony would never hurt you on a normal day, but his anger was out of control.  His anger was created by fear for you, but it had still gone out of control.
Tony’s eyes grew wide when he realized, when he realized he had really truly scared you. His anger evaporated at once. You had the feeling that might have been Loki’s plan the entire time, to try to get Tony’s anger under control before you had to deal with him. “Kat, I’m sorry,” he said softly, letting you go. “I wouldn’t. I swear I wouldn’t-”
“You have before,” you reminded him, taking a step back and moving your free arm to the sheath at your back. Just in case. He had hit you once before when his temper got the better of him. He hadn’t meant it then either, and it was only because Loki was there that you had healed from that experience. It was before you had powers of your own.
“He will not again, darling,” Loki said, stepping away from the actors. He had let you fight your own battle, since he knew that you could. He stepped between you and Tony, shielding you from your uncle. “You can put the dagger away, love. I’m quite sure your uncle would like to have a nice calm conversation about this morning with us inside,” he suggested pleasantly.
“That’s one of the first decent ideas you’ve had,” Tony replied, trying desperately to sound calm and jovial, trying to ease your mind with his tone. You weren’t entirely convinced, still on edge without your powers, but you sheathed the dagger anyway.
“Can I get a shower before you yell at us? I think I still have blood in my hair,” you grumbled. You were still grungy and gross from battle and covered in cuts, scrapes, and a couple of ugly bruises. Loki had hidden them with illusions for playing with the actors.
“Fine,” Tony grumbled. “But don’t disappear. Hang out here today,” he suggested.  It wasn’t really a suggestion, but he was trying to make it sound like it was. 
“You’re not going to yell?” you asked. Disappearing before he could yell sounded like a good idea. 
“Just lecture. A little,” Tony replied with a smile.
“I think you can handle that,” you told him, trying to smile in return. It was hard, though.
You wrapped your arms around one of Loki’s as the three of you walked into the compound. You needed the extra security of Loki’s presence. You were feeling too unsteady without it. Part of it was exhaustion and part was your powers being bound. You really shouldn’t have used all of that power earlier, but you couldn’t have let those people die either. You and Loki headed up to the floor of the compound where your suites were. “I made sure they didn’t touch your suite,” you commented while you walked.
“Thank you for that,” he replied and seemed pleased that his room hadn’t changed.  That his second home hadn’t changed.  Loki slowed and looked down at you. “Are you alright?” his voice was full of concern. You realized you were still holding onto his arm too tightly and loosened your grip, holding his hand instead, and not squeezing it hard enough to bruise.
“Sorry. I’m feeling off today.” you admitted sheepishly. 
He kissed the top of your head. “I know, darling. You will feel better once you get some actual rest,” he insisted. He left you at the door to your suite, after checking the inside for intruders before you entered, so you could shower and change into clean clothes in peace. 
His suite was just across the hall.
Loki was home.  You both were. It felt strange after all this time, but it felt right at the same time.
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akhcnd · 5 years
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* ↪ mishti rahman. she/her. cisfemale. ╱ i thought i saw jade akhand getting questioned by the police. the twenty-two year old is in their third year at west bridge studying fashion design. they were at manon’s party because she was forcing herself out of her comfort zone. do you think they had something to do with her death? + a mixed smell of lavender and vanilla, broken promises, and the sigh of relief when you’re finally alone.
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hi, pals! it’s ya resident dumbass, claire, from the est. i’m currently on my game of thrones shit, so i’m probably gonna be screaming for the next couple of hours. bear with me, okay? i’ve been lurking this rp for SO LONG, and i made sure to wait until finals were over so i could devote my time to it. needless to say, i’m real exited to finally be able to join. uwu anyway, here’s my baby jade! fair warning, i haven’t played a character like her in a WHILEE... so let’s get right into it. tw: mentions of anxiety
shy girlie!! she’s always been that way. it wasn’t until she got older that she realized it ran deeper than just being shy. it was when she realized she was checking the way she moved, the way she talked, the way she crossed her legs when sitting, the way she cut the crusts off her sandwiches that it wasn’t just your typical shyness. eventually, she was told she had anxiety, and that made her reactions and thoughts make a lot more sense.
because of this, she wasn’t really the type to have a lot of friends. it’s not that she didn’t want them. oooohhh, she wanted them a WHOLE lot - the kind of friends that she would watch in the movies at home. she��d had a couple of them growing up, but it wasn’t what she had wanted. something was missing, and she was sure it was because of her. maybe she just wasn’t outgoing enough or fun enough. the list goes on. she was never someone’s best friend. at least, not in her eyes. she was always #2. 
being alone so much did help out in the long run tho. it gave her a lot of time to focus on her studies which eventually got her into west bridge. she’s here on scholarship, which makes the party situation a lot more dangerous for her. if she loses that, she’ll def have to leave, so she holding onto hope that nothing happens 
it also gave her a lot of time to go through her mom’s things, and one of the things she found & enjoyed the most was a basket full of old vogue magazine’s her mom had received in the mail when she was much younger. it was through this that led to her love of fashion. she lost herself in the details, focusing on every stitch of the fabric. a big lover of clothes, likes to pair different things up and pose in the mirror. made sketches all the time. 
when it comes to family, it’s p much your standard. she’s an only child and her mother was a stay at home mom until her last yr of high school when she got a part-time position as a paralegal. she’s a total mama’s girl. loves her mom with all of her heart. her mom is basically her best friend so they’re super close. she cried for a while when her parents left her at west bridge. she also takes any free time she has to call her mom. she loves her a lot dad too but because he was gone working a lot, the bond is just not AS strong as w her mother but strong enough. she’s pretty open with her parents, and the party is like the one thing she knows she’s gonna keep hidden for the rest of her life. 
she started out as a nursing major, a bsn specifically. it was a sensible degree. she knew it would make her a decent wage and she wouldn’t worry about funds in the future. it wasn’t what she loved, though, and that led her to change to fashion design in the spring of her first semester. she knows it might be risky, but she’s willing to work hard. she’s still scared of failing tho. 
she made a plan when she got to west bridge to make a new life for herself. she told herself college would be different and she wouldn’t be so scared of going places and meeting ppl. welllll, that didn’t happen. she was really confined to her dorm or stuck to her phone when out in public. mostly focused on doing her work at first. 
she’s probably made a few friends here and there?? probably not like SUPER CLOSE friends but more like some ppl who would sit with her if they had the same class or would smile at her if they saw each other. something like that?? plots, plots, plots
by her third year, she was fed up with being the shy, nervous, introverted girl. she had overheard others talking about manon’s party. she knew who manon was, but they had never really interacted. she made a plan to show up, even though her heart had told her not to. going to a party probably wasn’t the best way to start stepping out of her comfort zone, but she had made the decision and she was sticking to it. clearly that paid off lmao
going to the party did pay off in a lot of ways. she’s connected to a lot of other people in a way she’s never been. they all have a shared secret, much like friends would. though, she knows that’s a little too optimistic of a way to think about it. it probably opened the doors to a lot more interaction, but it’s also added more fears to the list she had before.
random facts !!
has an irrational fear that everyone’s like,,, staring at her & thinking she’s weird. really wants everyone to like her but she’s not sure how to make that happen (news flash, it won’t, jade).  
very interested in strong female leads. wishes she could be them. 
loves books, reads a lot bc she has a lot of spare time due to the fact that her social life is pretty much dead
she’s v nice! kind of awkward! gets ahead of herself sometimes! gets nervous when she has to repeat herself bc ppl can’t hear her! soft spoken!
really lives through her instagram. not to brag, but her insta is the fucking shit!! the theme is iconic. her own little fake personal life for those to see back home
pansexual ! let’s here it for that !
pretends she’s not but is really a hopeless romantic! *hint hint nudge nudge* break her heart. BREAK HER HEART ! do it >:)
has a job in the school library ! basically just reshelves books n things. her thoughts on the job? it’s aight 
and to mention the broken promises thing, it’s party due to her anxiety and partly due to a variety of fears she has! she’s rlly a messy bitch !
okay so that’s basically it for now ! i ofc wanna develop her and to also make plots with all you lovely ppl so hit me up !! either on the tumblr ims or discord (  tell cersei#5135 )! anyway, i’m really excited to start writing with you all ! 
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obtusemedia · 5 years
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Top 25 Songs of 2018: Honorable Mentions
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It’s year-end list season again! And with that comes my sixth annual top 25 list.
But before we countdown the best that 2018 gave us, here’s 15 songs that just missed the cut. Like in 2017, this year had more quantity than quality when it came to singles, meaning although there were only a couple legitimate contenders for the top spot, there were plenty of solid songs that I had to give a shout out to. So apologies to great acts like boygenius, Florence+The Machine and Childish Gambino (although he easily had the best music video this year) for just missing the cut.
Let’s get into it!
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“Nobody” by Mitski
There are plenty of songs about loneliness, but Mitski turns that emotion into insanity on “Nobody.” 
Her emotions ramp up and become more desperate throughout the indie-pop track, as Mitski’s pleads for companionship intensify. She wants to find love, but frankly, she also just needs human connection. And as the one-word chorus repeats into oblivion — “Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody...” the situation becomes more and more helpless.
My main issue with Mitski’s 2018 album, Be The Cowboy, was that most of the short vignette-style songs weren’t memorable. That’s not the case for the manic, disco-tinged “Nobody,” which instantly became a standout in her impressive catalog.
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“Heat Wave” by Snail Mail
I’m not sure what it says about indie rock that its most hyped newcomer is mostly copying the sounds of the ‘90s, but when the tunes are as good as “Heat Wave,” I’m not going to complain.
Nineteen-year-old prodigy Lindsey Jordan, aka Snail Mail, delivers with a simple love song perfect for lazy summer days. Jordan’s vocals are charmingly warbly and mesh well with the crunchy guitars that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Pavement album. It’s catchy enough for soccer moms and with enough alt-rock nostalgia to grab any indie rocker’s ear. There’s a good reason Snail Mail’s star has shot to the top this year among the Pitchfork set.
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“Me and Michael” by MGMT
IT’S THE COMEBACK OF THE CENTURY! 
That’s not even hyperbole: After they released three generation-defining classic singles, MGMT’s relevance disappeared after their 2010 album Congratulations intentionally alienated audiences (despite being pretty solid). Then, their 2013 self-titled album was straight-up bad.
But thankfully, MGMT decided to return to the synthpop jams that brought them success 11 years ago, while keeping their weirdo quirks intact. And it was a winning formula, as the bombastic single “Me and Michael” proves.
“Michael” is painfully ‘80s, from the glittery keyboards to the thundering drum machine beat. Yet, many of the instruments are off-key and frontman Andrew VanWyngarden’s hipstery vocals aren’t exactly Duran Duran-esque. And the clash of styles helps create a solid tune, the band’s best in eight years.
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“Elastic” by Joey Purp
Remember how Azealia Banks used to pump out hip-house bangers like it wasn’t even hard? Then she lost her mind, and now “212″ is a relic of a better time.
Thankfully, Chicago native Joey Purp is picking up the slack, although he puts a much more minimalist spin on the sound. “Elastic” is a very simple, skeletal song, with Purp nearly mumbling over a steady, bouncing beat with couple vocal samples to liven things up. “Elastic” shows that when it comes to club bangers, you really don’t need to overthink things.
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“Nameless, Faceless” by Courtney Barnett
Melbourne indie rocker Courtney Barnett’s second album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, had a noticeably more frustrated outlook than her 2015 debut. A prime example is the album’s lead single, “Nameless, Faceless,” all about the difficulties of being a woman in a world that treats them horribly.
Barnett goes after internet trolls during the song’s verses with the droll, snarky tone that made her indie-famous, but the chorus is where things take a dark turn. Paraphrasing The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood, Barnett sings, “Men are scared that women will laugh at them ... Women are scared that men will kill them.” She then adds that she holds her keys between her fingers in-between her fingers to protect herself at night. 
It’s a fearful song for fearful times, and more proof that Barnett is one of indie rock’s best songwriters.
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“Electricity” by Silk City and Dua Lipa
Producer giants Diplo and Mark Ronson teamed up to create a perfect homage to ‘90s house. It’s bouncy, effervescent, and features one of pop’s best voices: Dua Lipa. The fact that a dance jam this perfect was only barely a hit in the U.S. is a total shame.
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“After The Storm” by Kali Uchis feat. Tyler, The Creator and Bootsy Collins
I’m not typically an R&B guy, but I couldn’t resist newcomer Kali Uchis’ debut Isolation this year, especially its smooth throwback single, “After The Storm.”
Uchis glides over the off-key synth backdrop, expressing post-breakup optimism with ease. The sticky melody and relaxed vibe are helped out by a blast of smooth (if off-kilter) loverman shtick from Tyler, The Creator and some fun adlibs from funk icon Bootsy Collins. But this is Uchis’ show, and she barely needs to lift a finger to hold listeners’ command.
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“Please Don’t Die” by Father John Misty
After releasing an overstuffed and underwhelming album last year, Father John Misty, AKA singer-songwriter Josh Tillman, decided to keep it simple this year, and I’m back on his bandwagon.
One reason for that is how blunt and personal his songwriting is again, particularly on “Please Don’t Die.” Tillman’s concept album God’s Favorite Customer focuses on the real-life story of how his depression caused him to hide out in a hotel for two straight months, and the heartbreaking “Please Don’t Die” tackles this scenario from the singer’s wife’s point of view. 
She constantly reminds Tillman that his potential suicide won’t be a victimless crime during the soaring chorus, and he laments how his spiraling has affected her in the somber verses. There’s no snarky winks to the audience here — just Tillman nakedly depicting how his emotional chaos effected those around him.
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“My My My!” by Troye Sivan
I never paid too much attention to Australian former YouTuber Troye Sivan. Now I’m regretting that choice, thanks to “My My My!”
Pure bubblegum pop doesn’t play much of a role in today’s music landscape, so it’s hard to call any version of that subgenre “modern,” but that’s honestly how I would describe this jam. It’s a slice of stuttering tropical pop with some indie and ‘80s flavor to it, and Sivan himself sells the tune like he’d been singing these types of songs for years in a boy band. I’ll be keeping tabs on Sivan from here on out.
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“Light On” by Maggie Rogers
Last year, I was floored by Maggie Rogers’ unique blend of rootsy nature sounds with blue-eyed soul, particularly in her stellar single “Dog Years.” It seems like she isn’t fixing what ain’t broken, as “Light On” is a continuation of that sound.
Although it isn’t quite as transcendent as her early singles, “Light On” is still a quality power ballad, with a nice mix of acoustic guitar and organic synths, complete with a showstopping, melancholy chorus. Rogers still knows her way around a gorgeous melody, and I’m sure she’ll continue to fill her niche as the best music you’ll probably hear at REI.
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“The Opener” by Camp Cope
Camp Cope have had it up to here with shitty men, and “The Opener” is a scathing indictment of the hypocrisy the trio constantly face.
Lead singer Georgia McDonald wails over a ‘90s alt-rock groove about sexism both in the dating world as well as the music industry. The latter is where she reserves her sharpest lines, going after men who’ve said her success isn’t her own doing, and being told to book smaller venues by the same guys who will “preach equality” in public. And of course, how do these men in power maintain their faux-feminist image? “‘Just get a female opener, that’ll fill the quota.’” Scathing.
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“We Appreciate Power” by Grimes feat. HANA
If “We Appreciate Power,” the (as of writing this) brand-new Grimes single, was trimmed by a minute or so, it might have made the actual list. It’s a smidge on the repetitive side at its current 5:30-length.
But dear lord: This is a BANGER. As just about every critic has said, the production here is an aggro mix of Nine Inch Nails and Korn, complete with squealing guitars, a pounding, synthetic beat and some random screams thrown in the mix for fun. And yes — it works. Put it on during the next workout and see how fast you start going.
Throw in some legitimately creepy lyrics about artificial intelligence and totalitarianism and you’ve got a classic Grimes single. If only it was a bit shorter...
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“Lake Erie” by Wild Pink
For a band from Brooklyn, Wild Pink are shockingly good at creating music that sounds like the sun setting on a Midwestern corn field. 
“Lake Erie” is so close to The War On Drugs’ signature sound — heartland rock mixed with whispered vocals and shoegaze-y atmospherics — that I’d call it a ripoff, if it wasn’t arguably better than anything The War On Drugs has put out in a few years. It’s emotive, gorgeous and not too pretentious, like something Bruce Springsteen could’ve released 35 years ago.
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“Noid” by Yves Tumor
No, unfortunately, “Noid” isn’t about retro Domino’s ads. It’s much darker than a claymation pizza mascot.
Yves Tumor’s art-rock track is fairly normal for its first half. It even has shades of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” in the lyrics wondering about the sad state of the world. Then, things get weird: the bass starts playing in a different key, the background fills with static and screams, and Yves Tumor keeps singing along, and his lyrics about being “scared for my life” start to seem less like a protest anthem and more like a horror soundtrack. It’s a chilling experience.
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“Party For One” by Carly Rae Jepsen
Queen Carly releases another pop banger and you think it’s not going on my list? Come on, now.
I’m not going to pretend like “Party For One,” Jepsen’s triumphant breakup anthem, is on the same level as her all-time classic singles. It’s the kind of bubblegum that she could write in her sleep.
But why penalize a perfectly great song just because the artist has done better in the past? “Party For One” might not be “Run Away With Me,” but it’s still a solid piece of synth cheese that no doubt makes Canada proud.
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flyswhumpcenter · 6 years
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It Happened Again [Fever February Day 17 - Hospital Fever]
FEVER FEBRUARY INDEX
Summary: Chiaki receives a call from not one, but three of her friends, and all for the same reason. A reason so strong, she leaves her livestream viewers hanging without a word, and runs for the local supermarket. Because it all happened again.
Fandom: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (Non-Desp AU, cameos by characters from DR1 and DRV3) Ship: Hinanami (Hajime/Chiaki)
Word Count: 3K words
Notes: No long time to see in the Hinanami sphere with my usual sickfic business. Can't say this is the best comeback ever, but I hope to do much better next time haha. This was mostly a warm-up. A three-day warm-up, but still, a warm-up.It turns out using my ideas from July 2017 more than half a year after originally having them made this fanfic very stale and with nowhere to fucking go. And I still don't know how to write Chiaki so that's good I guess. Kind of a follow up to a Pixelated Fever oneshot from a while back, "Hajime discovers shiny hunting: the fic". At least, takes place in the same settings and AU conditions.
AO3 version available here.
The hunt was going strong for Chiaki, who was sitting in front of her computer for a surprise livestream. It doesn’t happen often, because she attends college (as she should), and while she couldn’t really launch herself into competitive gaming thanks to it being too fast for her, she still dreamed of making video gaming her source of income in the near future.
Sure, shiny hunting required ungodly patience to most people’s eyes. It was, after all, a long and slow process of trying over and over until you find the perfect gem. Some people said it was useless because it was “just the same but in different colours”: Chiaki loved it because she could do it at her pace. She also happened to think it was a great challenge with a satisfying reward, since she got to keep the fruit of her labour.
So, of course, when her phone rang, she didn’t pick up at first.
The chat got a bit upset over this. It was probably just a friend from college who was calling to get some news of her. At worst, they would leave a voice mail and she would call later. Maybe. She didn’t like phoning people. She preferred talking to them over Discord and Skype. She’d see later, she thought.
“Don’t worry guys… It’s probably just a friend from school…” she told her audience, in an attempt to calm them down.
But the phone kept ringing.
Chiaki wondered if she shouldn’t have muted it, because she didn’t like being disturbed during her livestreams at all! It was meant to be a sweet surprise for her viewers, not some kind of chore to go through because of someone desperate to talk to her when they could wait for later.
Still, she eventually picked her pink cell, if only to look at who’s calling her. The name on the screen couldn’t mistake her: it’s Makoto. It seemed like she had also missed calls from Kazuichi and Kaito. That was weird… Why would the three of them call her at the same time? There must had been a reason for it. She picked up the call.
“Chiaki, finally!” Makoto sighed in relief from the other side of the line, but she could still tell he was very tense. His voice was shaking between every word.
“What’s wrong, Makoto? You sound so stressed…”
“Oh, huh, yeah, that’s why we were trying to call you! It’s about what happened a bit earlier at the shop…”
The supermarket, of course! Makoto, Kazuichi and Kaito all worked there. That made a common point between the three of them. She felt a lump forming in her throat, in anticipation for what was to come.
“Could you come to the supermarket as soon as possible? I’m afraid I won’t be able to explain you everything on the phone, I have stuff to attend to real quick! But please, please come as fast as you can, Chiaki!!”
The urgency in Makoto’s voice made her accept, even if she would had been more reluctant usually. Displaying a cold face, or at least one colder enough to get a mixed reaction from her worried viewers, she waved them goodbye and went offline. Without a word.
Her fingers were shaking. She didn’t have to be told to guess it was about Hajime. Why else would they all call her? It had to be about Hajime. She quickly grabbed her bag, her keys and headed outside as soon as possible, running down the stairs of her building, almost forgetting to lock the door to their flat.
In front of her apartment lot, was a car waiting for her, much to her surprise. In its driver’s seat, Kaito. Chiaki sat the passenger seat quicker than she could have ever expected coming from her, barely looking at him to thank him for the ride, or just to even say hello to him. How unpolite of her, but her anxiety was already growing to high levels.
“You really didn’t take long after Makoto called you, dontcha? It’s weird, cause you’re usually pretty slow!”
The car took off as soon as he stopped speaking, heading straight to the supermarket. And that was where everything fell apart to her eyes.
Chiaki ran straight to Makoto and Kazuichi, who were standing near the glass double-doors of the entrance. They both seemed sad, compared to their usual grins and smiles… This only meant trouble, and what kind of trouble and to what extent, she would soon know. Kaito followed closely behind her, his footsteps loud enough to be heard from far enough in the almost-empty parking.
“Makoto, Kazuichi, I’m here…! Sorry for the missed calls and lateness…!”
She was breathless, but she didn’t mind, as long as she got to know what was wrong and whatever she could do to fix it, as little as the fix would be.
Kazuichi looked at her with an uncharacteristic lack of enthusiasm. At that point, it seemed like even a kiss from Sonia couldn’t make him look happier.
“So,” he told her in a calm voice, “you came, huh… Guess we don’t have much choice but to explain you what’s just happened, right?”
Makoto seemed very embarrassed upon seeing Kazuichi’s eyes laid upon him.
“Hajime… isn’t really here anymore…” is all the lucky boy added, looking down.
That was even worse! What had even happened in there?!
“What do you mean?” she asked, determined to squeeze an answer out of them.
“Yeah, guys,” Kaito arrived into the conversation, “Hajime was there when I left! Where is he?”
“We had to call an ambulance man!” Kazuichi yelled as his reply. “His fever wouldn’t stop rising, we got scared shitless!!”
Chiaki completely froze.
For once, she had an insistent glaze laid on everybody around her. It wasn’t really them she was blaming: of course they’d call an ambulance if their friend and workmate had a potentially lethal fever. No, it was an anger directed at both her, for not preventing this situation to happen when she could have done so in the morning, and at Hajime for being irresponsible again.
He truly hadn’t changed on that point since Hope’s Peak.
“Oh, right!” Makoto reacted. “You can’t know the full story yet, Chiaki! One of us will have to tell you when driving you to the hospital, since at least two of us need to remain here…”
“I’ll drive her myself,” Kaito said as he patted her shoulder. “You guys take care of the mall while I’m away, okay?”
“Copy that, Roger!”
It was with anxiety and an intense worry burning in her blood that Chiaki followed the astronaut-to-be to his car which he had sloppily parked when bringing her there.
Kaito’s story enabled her to put in pictures what had happened at the supermarket while she was hunting for a Reshiram she’d have to put on the side.
While they were ordering shelves, with desert alleys in dire need of restocking, he heard a weird thumping sound. Thinking it was just some product someone hadn’t put in there properly, Kaito went to check out what had caused the noise, as faint as it was.
He was confronted to his workmate and friend collapsed to the ground, face against the cold floor, having seemingly fallen from his stool as he was restocking soulmate-themed cereal boxes.
Growing instantly worried, he ran to Hajime, who fortunately was still breathing. He wasn’t breathing fine, that was for sure, as it was in ragged breaths, but he was alive. Not alive and well, that was for sure, but he was alive. He also didn’t seem to have hurt anything except for his nose and some quick bruises here and there on exposed parts of his skin.
Turning the older boy on his back revealed two things to Kaito: Hajime was paler than if Celestia Ludenberg and his best friend Shuichi had a corpse baby together, and that his cheeks and bridge of nose were redder than Himiko’s hair. He also happened to have dark rings under his eyes. Well, darker-than-usual rings that was. After all, Hajime always looked tired and done with everything ever.
(Chiaki couldn’t really contradict that. Hajime was, frankly, a bad sleeper who really enjoyed waking up early in the morning.)
Of course, Kaito immediately ran to warn Makoto and Kazuichi, who were in near alleys, about Hajime being half-dead on the cold-ass floor. He didn’t even think about checking the latter’s temperature: his face alone, and the heat beneath his fingers, were enough to give away how high the guy’s fever was.
Of course, Kazuichi immediately panicked. Despite the fact he used to be in Hajime’s class and was probably the one of them three to be the most aware and used to the ex-Ultimate Counsellor’s antics. Instead, it was Makoto who got the idea to bring their workmate to the break room, lay him on the sofa there and call for Chiaki and an ambulance.
(Kaito apologized for not remembering the ambulance call at first. Chiaki excused it as stress taking over his memory. After all, she was dead worried for Hajime too.)
And that was when she finally picked up their calls, or rather, their pleas for desperate help as they really didn’t know how to deal with the situation. Dead in their tracks. He didn’t have any idea: even if he was often sick, he wasn’t that insane.
(Chiaki nodded.)
The trip to the hospital had been deadly quiet on her part. Chiaki still couldn’t utter a single word, actually: she was worried beyond her mind, and words just wouldn’t exit her mind. Instead, it was a bit of a turmoil inside of her. The question was: how hadn’t she noticed something would go wrong?  
Recalling her day as best as she could, she remembered he had woken up far before she did, leaving the flat before she could be out of bed. She swore she had heard some suspicious sounds here and there, probably tumbling. It was easy to brush it off as Hajime not being very awaken yet. But she should have known better.
She should have known he was an earlier bird than that.
Before she knew it, Chiaki was getting leaded into some corridors and into a hospital room. She knew it wouldn’t be as happy as the time they had all gone to check on Kazuichi who had broken his leg trying to please Sonia again (it had worked, somewhat, at least she had recognized the kind gesture). It would also not be as dark as Kaede telling them about that time Shuichi had almost strangled her in a delirium.
At least, she was certain Hajime didn’t have pneumonia. That was a plus, right? Else, she would have heard it, if Kaede’s descriptions were anything to go by.
In the room, she was left alone to face an occupied bed, door closing softly behind her. “I’ll let you two have some privacy” was the worst sentence ever when she barely knew what was wrong. Timidly, the gamer made her way to the bed, weary eyes fixated on the patient. She wasn’t scared of him: she was scared of what he had, and what he had done. There was always something terrifying, or at least intimidating about what he was capable of doing for the sake of something mundane.
Chiaki grabbed a nearby chair calmly, silently, and put it next to his bed. She sat just as noisily on it, sighing, afraid of studying his current condition from the outside, yet feeling the duty to do so. After all, she was his best friend and girlfriend. One of the things she owed him was to take care of him.
Kaito was right: Hajime looked tired all the time. However, it didn’t mean it couldn’t get worse: the Hajime before her eyes right at this moment was exhausted, if not worse. His dark rings had taken the shape of a dark purple canyon. It would have scared those who didn’t know him in his worst times: having see him overworked before, it didn’t scare her as much as it should have. It still made her worry, just as much even, but it wasn’t scary anymore.
The dark rings were alone on this face, though. While Hajime wasn’t as pale as a “corpse baby”, his skin had still lost a couple tones of colours, making him shades whiter than he usually was. That would be to ignore the important redness on his face: his cheeks were, indeed, tainted in a sickly shade of red.
His ragged breathing was one more indication of how unwell he actually was. How on Earth had he even been able to go to work in this condition? Sweat was rolling down his face, accompanying a pain look even in slumber and the other sickness symptoms he was showing. She could only wait for him to wake up to discuss everything she wanted to discuss.
Chiaki had dozed off without realizing it. She only realized it when she felt a hand shaking her shoulder gently, almost weakly, and stirred her eyes open. She woke up a bit quicker than usual, much to her surprise, before realizing she had napped in a room she wasn’t familiar with. Moments after that, she remembered where she was and why so: she was at the hospital, because Hajime had collapsed at work. Well, the collapse part was a hypothesis, but it had to be that, right?
The hand, in fact, belonged to him. He was half-sitting half-lying, a small smile on his face, and that despite his half-closed eyes and shabby breathing. He looked so weak… It was always weird to see him so vulnerable, far from his usual physical strength and both comforting and almost intimidating aura.
“Good morning, Chiaki…”
His smallest smile was driven with kindness even if it was, like everything about him right at this moment, weak.
“You shouldn’t be the one waking me up, Hajime…”
He snickers lightly.
“Why so…? You were asleep, weren’t ya…?”
“Because I’m not the sick one here!”
Hajime got taken aback, well, as aback as he could get when it seemed like his body had given up on him for the most part. Only then, did he weakly smile again, scoffing to himself.
“Heh, you’re right… I actually don’t recognize that place… We’re not in the staff room, right…?”
“Indeed, we’re at the hospital…”
Chiaki couldn’t bring herself not to be angry at him. She was, usually, never angry, except when stuff like that happened. According to her friends, it was anger born from worry, and she couldn’t see any other explanation to her uncharacteristic anger otherwise.
“I pissed you off, didn’t I…? Should have expected it as soon as I left…”
“Why are you doing this?”
He goes completely silent.
“I already explained to you countless times you shouldn’t be doing this for whatever reason you come up with… And so did everybody else… So, why are you doing this?”
The (cold) sweat running down his face was telling her he didn’t know himself. He never knew, in fact. He just kept doing because he considered it was his duty, or his obligations, and that you shouldn’t not accomplish your duty and said obligations.
Instead, his eyes looked at the IV in his wrist.
“Dunno… But I know I always tell you that I dunno… People keep telling me I can’t stop, they’re probably right… Haha…”
“I think that… If I hadn’t woken up so late, I may had been able to stop you…”
“What do you mean…?”
“You’ve been exhausted for a few days, yet I simply didn’t do anything against it…”
Hajime looked perplexed by her words. Who wouldn’t be? She wasn’t like that, usually, but she thought it was one of these times where she could express these kinds of feelings openly without them feeling too much out of place. It had happened before, in high school and afterwards.
“You’ll never stop if we don’t prevent you from throwing yourself in a fire… But I feel like I’ve already told you so. Multiple times, even, I think. I don’t feel like words serve a use anymore…”
“Guess I really am a stubborn guy, huh… Sorry for all the worries and fuss I caused, I’m sure the guys are gonna scream at me again later…”
“Why did you come to work sick, exactly?”
“Well… Today was supposed to be a busy day, at least this afternoon, so we were asked to come here to restock… And you know we need the money to buy you a new setup for your streams…”
Shot through the heart.
“Oh, Hajime… Don’t tell me you went to work sick because I want to replace my microphone and camera…”
He smiled.
“What if I did…? We need all the extra money we can get, especially since we’re still both in college and whatnot…”
“Yes, but not at the cost of your health!”
“Yeah, you’re right… Health’s expensive too…”
His deadpanned look and his illogical statements just screamed to her his brain was severely fevered.
“This isn’t what I meant… You need to take better care of yourself, Hajime. I know you’ve made some efforts for it in the past, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a long way to go… You should know by now overworking doesn’t bring you anything but pain and fevers…”
“But…”
“Don’t use the money argument, please… Not again… Life doesn’t work that way, Hajime…”
His smile faded.
“Yeah, I know that… You may be right when you say I need someone to stop me from doing stupid shit…”
Chiaki put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“So, let yourself some rest and care, okay? We’re all going to make sure you get the self-care you need…”
He laid back in bed.
“Yeah, let’s do that once I’ve actually slept…”
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