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sleeping-on-cracking-ice · 3 years

Note

heyo your imagines are amazing and i like reading them so much. i really appreciate you for writing for Alice in borderland as there isn’t a lot of content out there~ can you please write an imagine for niragi where the reader has been at the beach for quite the time and when she gets to know niragi she somehow falls for him because she sees right through him, and that he maybe starts to develop feelings for the reader too because she’s fearless and very confident. if it’s not too much trouble, could you make it a bit suggestive as well? thank you in advance~~

Of course I can! I’m not the best at writing with suggestive themes so I’ll try my best! 😅 I’m sorry but I changed the story line a little bit for it to fit more, so I hope this is still kind of what you had in mind.

Unlovable | Suguru Niragi

{Alice In Borderland Masterlist}

Character(s): Niragi (ft. Ann, Aguni, Hatter, Mira, Chishiya, Arisu, Last Boss)

Summary: Niragi finally finds you, who loves him for who he is, well, not exactly. And he gets a bit too attached.

Warnings: toxic relationship, suggestive themes, a lot of gaslighting, obsessive themes, a little bit angsty, threatening, choking, swearing, name calling

Word Count: 3.2k

*reader is female

Author’s Note: Sorry this took a while to post. I was busy for the past couple of days so it’s kinda rushed 😣

“Y/N! Come quick!”

You jolted awake as Ann burst into your room, shaking the door frame from the force. You blinked your eyes to adjust to the light, looking at her dazed.

“What?” you murmured, sitting up and out of the comfy sheets on your bed.

“The executives have called a meeting. They say it’s urgent,” she stressed, rushing up to the side of your bed and ripping the duvet off of you.

You shivered and sighed loudly in disappointment. “Why? It’s too early for this shit,” you whined, rolling back onto your side and closing your eyes again. These urgent emergency meetings have become ridiculous, always taking place in the morning when everyone’s still sleeping. You would gladly have quit having the higher place at The Beach if it meant for you to have some peace and quiet.

“Now!” Ann pushed again. You groaned in annoyance and got out of bed. She seemed serious, so you didn’t want to anger her more.

You both quickly made your way to the top floor where the meeting room for the executives was located. You noticed Ann’s heavy breathing and worried expression, making you anxious as to what she thinks could have happened.

Hatter had left the night before to replenish his visa, having a big celebration as he drove off with Aguni and a few more of his men. Things had been becoming more tense as time went on. It felt wrong watching Hatter drive away so reluctantly. You offered to assist him in his game, seeing as you earned yourself a high number at The Beach from clearing many difficult games yourself. But Hatter declined, insisting that he would return to The Beach safe and sound before you knew it.

But unfortunately, he was wrong.

You and Ann rushed into the large room. You saw Arisu and Chishiya standing near the end of the table placed in the middle of the room. You strolled over to them and laid eyes on the scene before you.

There, Hatter laid dead on the table. Limbs spread out lifeless, skin pale and dead. The horrific sight made you feel sick, making you cover your mouth with your hand. The scene almost felt unreal, this shouldn’t have happened. Hatter wouldn’t be dead if you just went with him.

Ann walked over to his body to examine it, but before she even had the chance to touch the bullet wound embedded in his bare chest, Niragi barged into the room with his usual cocky and obnoxious aura filling the air like a bad smell.

“Oi, don’t touch him as you please. You dissection maniac,” he growled.

Your eyes followed him closely. Now that Hatter was gone, people like him could start dangerous trouble at the hotel. But, as long as you said something about it, you would make sure Niragi wouldn’t start any fires that he’s not willing to put out himself.

After all, you were the only person who knew his true self, and how he perceived everyone around him. It was pathetic really. In a way you took pity on him. Such a simple tactic for the brain to protect itself, become a heartless and cold monster towards others so no one could ever do the same to you again.

With Niragi, unfortunately it was hunt or be hunted.

You kept your strong gaze on him as he lifted his eyes to meet yours from across the table for a hot minute. His dark orbs glistened as they locked with yours, making the tension in the room become thicker as every second passed. He smirked in your direction before turning away.

“He was shot by a gun,” Ann stated, breaking the thick silence in the room. She looked over the small hole in his chest in fascination.

“What will happen to The Beach?” a young man asked who was standing nearby you. You stayed silent, not wanting to start anything that may end in chaos. You always had good points and valid arguments, but sometimes you knew when the best time was to bring them up. This was not it.

“I mean it’s only reasonable for the strongest to become the new leader!” Niragi exclaimed over everyone. “We need someone who can take good care of The Beach and keep order,” he yapped on, swinging his sniper rifle all around making a few people flinch when he aimed it at them.

You rolled your eyes at his behaviour. Trust him to be the most opinionated.

“I say, how about Aguni as our new leader,” he suggested, leaning forwards onto the table and watching everyone like a hawk. Aguni held no reaction, keeping his usual cold stone expression while having Niragi speak for him.

After no one reacted, all looking down to the ground to avoid Niragi’s gaze, he stood up straight and pulled a bored expression. “That’s not a good reaction,” he mocked, “Last Boss?”

You glanced over to where the hooded figure stood, watching in fear as he unsheathed his katana sword and rushed over to Ann, holding the deathly sharp blade a few inches from her throat. Your heart leaped to your mouth. If he was to try anything, you were ready to start chaos.

But nothing of the sort happened. Ann simply sighed frustratingly and held up her hand obediently. Niragi hummed, approving.

“This isn’t a majority vote,” Mira hissed from next to him.

Niragi stood and leaned his face close to hers, holding the barrel of his weapon close to her face to threaten her. “But it is! Isn’t it? After all, you’re all free to vote as well.”

One by one, he slowly circled the table, each person being scared for their life the closer he got to them. But you remained calm next to Chishiya, knowing that considering the relationship you have with Niragi, he wouldn’t do anything that would hurt you. He didn’t have the guts to.

As he moved from Chishiya, he finally locked eyes with you. He quickly strolled up to your still frame, stopping suddenly very close to you in an attempt to make you feel threatened. ‘As usual,’ you thought to yourself. ‘The old “I’m taller and bigger than you so I’m stronger” stupid tactic.’

“And what about you princess? Care to raise your hand for a vote for Aguni?” he hissed into your face. You held your neutral expression, becoming bored from this act he was putting on. It was purely for show, and yet wasn’t everyone’s personality? But Niragi, his act of this scary psychotic man angered you to your core.

“What if I don’t?” you snickered, walking towards him in an attempt of intimidation. He took a step back in shock. “It’s not like you need my precious vote, you already have so many.”

Niragi’s usual cocky smirk melted from his face, turning into a frustrated scowl. You felt him put his rifle underneath your chin, forcing you to lock eyes with him. “Be careful with that tongue of yours sweetheart, you wouldn’t want to lose it,” he growled quietly.

His threat made you smirk, almost bringing butterflies into your stomach. “I think you should be more concerned about that head of yours. You wouldn’t want to get it stuck too far up your own ass.”

You flinched as you felt his rough hand shoot from his rifle to your neck, instantly tightening around your throat making you widen your eyes in surprise. You lifted your arm and gripped his wrist in case he tightened his hold anymore. The look on his face was deathly. If looks could kill, you’d be already a few years into the afterlife.

Chishiya stood beside you watching the whole scene. He knew better than to intervene, as he could tell that Niragi wouldn’t ever intentionally permanently hurt you.

Niragi held you still as he leaned down to your ear, his hot breath hitting your sensitive skin. “Shut your fucking mouth you brat. You wouldn’t want me to hurt you too much later, would you?” You cringed as you felt his tongue slide behind the back of your ear, the piercing making you shiver.

“Niragi,” you heard Aguni say, saving you from the public embarrassment of getting felt up by Niragi in front of everyone you knew. “That’s enough, I think she gets the point.”

Niragi grunted in annoyance before loosening his fist on your neck. You sucked in a huge gasp of air, coughing slightly. Chishiya placed a gentle hand on your back in a sign of care, hoping that you’re okay.

Niragi aimed his rifle lazily at Chishiya’s face. “She’s fine, don’t touch her. A little choking is nothing she can’t handle.”

Chishiya immediately took his hand off of you, being taken back by Niragi’s comment.

You stood up straight after recovering, laying your eyes back on Niragi as he continued terrorizing the executive members.

God you hated that man. You hated how much you loved him.

*************

The room was now empty, consisting of no one except for you and Ann, who was still looking over Hatter’s body for any other injuries. You watched curiously, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed.

“Seems a bit weird, doesn’t it?” you spoke up through the silence.

“What does?” Ann answered, not bothering to look at you.

“Someone with a hundred percent winning streak dies now? Just as the tension between the militants and the others was getting to its peak?” you questioned.

Ann rolled her eyes sarcastically and turned towards you. “Took you long enough to figure out. Really? You didn’t suspect that from the start? Even after that shit-show that Niragi pulled earlier?”

You were taken back by her sudden anger. Ann never became mad at you, even if she had a legitimate reason to. You looked at her as she stared into your eyes intensely before sighing and turning back to Hatter.

“Sorry Y/N,” she apologized. “I’m just stressed. This shit is getting too heavy to handle, and now with Hatter gone and Aguni in his place, who knows what will happen to people like you, me, Mira, Chishiya and Alice. They could kill us if they want to.”

Her words hit your heart heavily. It was true. Aguni and his militants were never a particularly predictable bunch. And you weren’t exactly on all their good sides, well, except for Niragi’s.

“Sorry Ann,” you muttered out quietly. You thought it would be best to leave her alone. She obviously was quite distraught from Hatter’s death.

You shuffled out of the room, head held low in despair. Who knew what would happen to this place now? It was like a ticking time bomb only no one knew how long there was left until it exploded.

As you walked through the large door frame that led outside of the meeting room, a sudden grip on your arm brought you out of your thoughts and made you yelp. You were yanked into a hard chest, being held close and tight.

“Hey love. How are you feeling?” the person growled. You looked to see it was none other than Niragi himself. Of course it was, who else would treat you so roughly?

You stared into his ominous eyes, trying to read him. He ran his hand down your back slowly causing you to shiver. “Niragi,” you breathed out. You pushed against his broad chest to separate you. “Sorry, but I’m not in the mood right now.”

You stepped away from him and tried to escape down the hall, but he grabbed your hand before you could go anywhere. “Bullshit. You’re never in the mood. And the sass you were giving me in there in front of everyone says otherwise.” He pulled you back towards him, pushing your head onto his shoulder and nuzzling into your neck. “I didn’t like how you treated me, it made me upset.”

He was lying through his teeth, knowing that making you feel guilty for defending yourself against him would bring him more of your attention. Simple gaslighting, worked every time.

You chuckled against him then leaned back and cupped his face with your hands. He held a sad expression on his face, obviously to make you sympathetic.

“You’re such a big baby,” you laughed. “Try to act so tough and dominant in front of everyone, but look at you now. Crying into my shoulder about your feewings?” you mocked him. Niragi scowled and pulled his head out of your hands. “Shut up, as if you’re any better.”

It was true. That’s why you both clicked together. He was a gaslighting maniac who knew how to put up a fake ‘nice guy’ façade around you and you were a tough and snappy woman, who felt much too much empathy for others.

That’s how you fell into his trap. He used your empathy to his advantage, making you fall in love with him so he could have what he’d always wanted. Someone who loves him for who he is, no matter how many masks he had to put on for them.

You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, leaning up and pressing a small peck onto his lips. “Can you promise me something?” he suddenly asked after you pulled away from his face.

You grew anxious about what he wanted and nodded your head slowly in hesitation.

“When the chance comes, can we leave The Beach together? Like, run away?” he questioned, snaking his arms around your waist and squeezing tightly.

You laughed at his question, making him frown. He was being completely serious. “And go where Niragi? There’s not exactly a place we can go to.”

“Anywhere,” he answered sharply. “We could find a nice little hideout in Tokyo. Just you and me, no one else.” His grip on your waist tightened, making you flinch in his arms slightly.

He could see you tossing between answers. It wasn’t working, he had to try something else. He put on the fakest sad face he could do and pressed his forehead against yours while pouting. “Please? I promise I’ll take care of you.”

You practically melted as his begging. “Okay,” you sighed.

“Promise me,” he reminded you, running a hand through your soft hair.

There was a short moment of silence before you answered. “I promise.”

*************

You laid in your room with the sheets tossed lazily over you. Niragi was called to go talk to Aguni again before he went to sleep, so you were waiting for him.

Your eyes scanned your book quickly, wanting to finish the chapter you were on before Niragi returned. Because god forbid you having your attention on something that wasn’t him when he was around.

You glanced over at the door when you heard it creep open and Niragi stepped in, placing his sniper rifle carefully on the ground nearby and removing his boots.

“You took your time.” you teased, putting your book on the nightstand and sitting up in bed. Niragi groaned tiredly, stumbling over to your shared bed and collapsed dramatically face down onto the duvet. You giggled at him, running a soft hand though his midnight hair and pulling it out of it’s hair tie.

If he was a cat, he swore he could’ve purred at your touch. It made him feel warm and fuzzy inside. Not having physical affection for years on end does that to a person.

He sat up and crawled over to you. He grabbed your chin and pressed your lips together roughly, running his tongue across your mouth as he did so. You groaned into the kiss, wrapping your arms around his neck, making him smirk against your lips.

After a few minutes, he detached his lips from yours and started licking and sucking your sensitive skin on your jaw, slowly making his way down your neck. He felt shivers run down his spine as you gripped his shirt in your fist on his back. He loved having this power over you, and having you accept him and love him enough to not fight back.

You leaned your head back and closed your eyes, giving him more access to your neck. As you did so, he placed a hand on your lower back and pulled you towards him, forcing you to lie down on the bed with him hovering over you.

He pulled away from your neck and looked down at you, admiring your anxious expression painted across your face. He chucked. “What’s wrong baby,” he cooed, leaning down and continuing kissing your collarbones.

His voice was dripping in sweetness, so sweet it could’ve made you feel sick. It sounded fake, but you didn’t pick up on it. It was a shame. You saw Niragi as nothing but a victim of his own mind, but you weren’t able to see yourself becoming a victim of it.

“I’m just...” you mumbled out, feeling weak and vulnerable under his touch. “I’m scared Niragi.”

He pulled back again and looked into your eyes with a worried expression. “Why are you scared? It’s just me and you here angel. You’re perfectly safe,” he whispered out, stroking his knuckles down your cheek lovingly.

You knew you loved Niragi, but knowing he can change his personality in a blink of an eye unsettled you. Who knew when he would do that to you? You heard him speak up again.

“We’ve slept together many times before, why are you becoming shy just now?” he teased, lifting a hand and slowly running it up along your tummy underneath your shirt. Your breath hitched as his cold hands made contact, making your stomach muscles tense.

“So sensitive,” he cooed again, snuggling his head into your chest, just above your breasts. “I love you.”

The confession made your heart skip a beat and you tensed. Niragi noticed this, making his body fill with anxiety. Did he say it too soon?

“Sorry,” he mumbled against your shirt. “That was a bit much, you don’t have to say it back,” he gaslighted.

“No,” you cut him off. “I love you too.”

Niragi’s heart filled with warmth and he felt all his nerves tingle around his body. He hadn’t heard that since he was a kid, and hearing you say it did nothing but make him more fall in love.

“Thank you, Y/N,” he sniffed out. You looked down to see him staring at you, tears filling his eyes. It made your heart ache.

He took his body weight off you and hovered himself above you again. “I promise, I won’t let anyone ever hurt you,” he mumbled, voice cracking slightly. His arms that laid on either side of your head acted like a cage. Whether you were trapped willingly or forcefully was beyond your guess.

As he leaned his head down again and pressed his still wet lips against yours, you felt his lanky arms snake around your torso underneath you, keeping you in place.

You laid there, moving your mouths together and holding each other as close as possible. It would’ve almost been romantic and loving if it wasn’t for the context. While one was preying on their victim to achieve what they’ve so desperately wanted their whole life, the other believed that that person was the victim themselves.

Such irony, to love someone who has a ‘unlovable’ personality, when it’s not even the one that you fell in love with.

The one you fell in love with was nothing but one of his many masks. And no one could determine whether he would ever take it off in front of you.

Author’s Note: I’m so sorry this one was actually hard to write. It’s a bit all over the place but I hope it was still enjoyable to read! Also I’m not going to do a Part 2 to this fic, but if you want to read something similar to this kind of yandere theme with Niragi, read my other fic called You’re Everything You Once Hated. I’m going to be posting a Part 2 of that one soon.

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barnesbabee · 3 years

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ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴ - ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀʟᴀɴᴅ

WONDERLAND MASTERLIST ⇜ ᴘʀᴇᴠɪᴏᴜꜱ - ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴ- ɴᴇxᴛ ⟿

CHARACTER LIST: White Rabbit - Choi Jongho Absolem (Blue Catterpilar) - Kang Yeosang Cheshire Cat - Kim Hongjoong Mad Hatter - Choi San Haigha (March Hare) - Jung Wooyoung Tweedle Dee - Song Mingi Tweedle Dum - Jeong Yunho Bloody Red King - Park Seonghwa

ᴛᴀɢʟɪꜱᴛ: @myunvillage @mirror-juliet @jess-1404 @earth-to-leiki [Send me a DM, an ask or comment to be added to the tag list]

"Teach you what?"

"How to be a better man, how to have mercy, and compassion."

Unbeknownst to you, a little purple and pink cat watched every step you took. Of course, it wasn't because he cared. Cheshire (unlike many other Wonderland villagers) genuinely wasn't affected by your presence, or lack there of, but the Hatter had asked him, in exchange of a hefty reward, of course, to keep an eye on his beloved Y/N.

While watching over you Cheshire just did a whole bunch of growling and nose scrunching. He hated the sight of the King, and even worse, was the sight of such a man in love.

"Such a shame to be the bearer of bad news dear friend," Cheshire said, not at bothered by the fact that he had bad news to tell "but it seems as if Y/N will be our new Queen."

The cat twirled a strand of his coloured hair around his index finger, as he fell down onto one of the many chairs along with the Hatter's never-ending table.

The Hatter's eyes widened and so did his toothy smile.

"She's carrying on with the plan! She will decapitate him herself and become our Queen! Oh but I'm so happy I could dance the Futterwacken again!"

He clapped feverously and suggested a toast, clearly missing the meaning of Cheshire's words.

"I'm afraid you missed what I meant, Hatter. She will be our Queen, because she will be marrying the King."

The atmosphere suddenly became silent, eerie even. The Hatter's green, sparkly eyes transformed into an ugly, rage-filled, yellow. The man gripped the teacup on his hand so hard it broke, but the rage, disappointment, and growing heartbreak fogged his brain to the point where he didn't even notice the pain, nor the blood trickling down his palm.

The Hatter was rarely angry, but when he was, it was enough to scare poor Cheshire, who didn't hesitate in disappearing into thin air. Or he tried to. Before every bit of his body could be gone, the Hatter grabbed Cheshire's hair, making the cat groan in pain, and threw him on the ground.

"What has he done to her!? Was it a curse!?"

Cheshire caressed his head and stood up to look at the Hatter.

"It wasn't a curse Hatter, she fell in love. After you deceived her and the King showed her nothing but truth and love, the choice was pretty evident."

The reasonable explanation seemed to calm down the Hatter, whose eyes morphed back into their greenish colour. However the dread and panic in his face were still evident. Cheshire, still quite upset at Hatter's tantrum, could see on his friend's face an expression of someone about to spew a terrible, terrible idea.

"We must get her away from the Palace. It's gotten into her head. Let's get her back to us!"

The man-like cat floated back to his usual place in the air, twirling in the process. He chuckled audibly, showing his sharp canines in the process.

"Hmm yes, let's steal her away from the man she's come to love, so she could be with us, the people who lied to her for our own benefit. Sounds like a party if you ask me..."

"A party!?" Haigha exclaimed, his left eye twitching as he smiled widely at the mention of his favourite hobbie.

"That's where the King's behaviour comes in our favour," the Hatter said, patting Haigha's head so he'd sit back down "once he sees her take her beloved Queen away, he will show his true colours, Remember how scared and freaked out she was last time we saw her? She said he seemed really sweet while talking to her until he eventually snapped. Once he snaps, he will freak out and bring out the tyrant's behaviour and scare her away."

It was hard for Cheshire to admit, but his mad friend's plan wasn't so mad after all. It was possible to accomplish what the Hatter suggested, and there was nothing to lose, you already hated them anyway.

The Hatter slapped his thighs and stood up, fixing his big top hat in the process.

"Shall we go?"

Haigha was already standing up from his seat when Cheshire stopped them.

"Perhaps we should discuss the plan further... Something tells me we might need some help from Absolem and Bayard..."

Sneaking you out past the Card Knights would take a lot of help, and Cheshire had already worked out in his head the escape plan. It would take a little pressure on Absolem, as he managed to care even less about the people around him than Cheshire did, but the cat was sure he could get a shrinking cake out of the blue catterpillar. After shrinking you and hatter down to the size of a strawberry, Bayard (the loyal dog friend of Hatter's, that Cheshire tried his best to keep a distance of) would bring you to the White Rabbit's house, as it would be too obvious to come back to the Hatter's cabin.

The cat had no intention to help you, but he did like to see some drama and commotion in Wonderland once in a while, and this was his chance.

Whilst all of the furious planning went on on the greenlands of Wonderland, in the Palace you and the King sat opposite of each other on his bed, gossiping like two high schoolers.

"And then my best friend at the time, Anna, slept with my boyfriend and said it was 'because of a dare'. I forgave her because we had been friends for so long but then she told my crush that I smelled so I stopped being her friend."

The King nodded along and listened attentively (trying his best to cross his legs just like you, but failing miserably) to your story.

"Hm yes, yes, I understand. My best friend ate one of my tarts so I cut off his head."

You couldn't help but scoff at the way he compared the situations, although you reprehended him right after for the heartless act.

He had asked to know of your previous life, how it was back in your world, and so you sat there reminiscing your past for hours on end. Most people in Wonderland came from other places, but Seonghwa had never been elsewhere, as he was born in the Kingdom.

"So this establishment you call 'school', was it like a club you went to where you reunited with your peers?"

"No, no. School was a mandatory thing for all kids, we went there and a bunch of teachers taught us about different things."

"Hm, but all you've told me so far were anecdotes about these friends of yours, what were these classes like?"

You blushed slightly, realizing that in fact, you didn't remember shit from school, aside from past dramas.

"Well, they told us many things about earth, about what makes the world move, about how society works, and what makes things work. We learned about gravity, about numbers, about stars-"

"Stars!?"

The King's eyes lit up as if he was a child whom you had promised ice cream to.

"Yes, stars. Why?"

Seonghwa stood up from the bed in such a violent manner, he nearly fell. The man ran over to his closet, from where he retrieved an old book. The hard cover was beginning to tear, and the once white pages had become a weird mix of brown and yellow, but you took it in your hands nevertheless.

"This book once fell into the Wonderland when I was a child. I was alone most of the time, so it kept me company. I can tell from the images it talks about the stars, and I think I learned a lot from it since I stared at them a lot, but I cannot comprehend the alien language."

The King leaned against the headboard, and you laid beside him, placing your head on his chest, so you could hear his now nervous heart beating fast from the contact. Out of instinct, the King placed his arm around you and pulled you closer, as you opened the book.

You chuckled slightly, after seeing the author of the book and opening its pages.

"Seonghwa this isn't an alien language, it's Italian. Well, I guess it's an alien language to you, but it was funny that you said it that way... The person who wrote it was very influential back where I'm from, he taught the people of Earth many things about our space."

The male listened carefully as you tried your best to explain the things in the book as best as you could.

"This here is what we call the Solar System. It has nine planets, but only one of them has people, this one, where I live." You told him, pointing towards Earth.

Seonghwa noticed how your posture changed, after you remembered once more that you would never return home again, and panicked for a second. He disliked many things, but your tears had definitely gone up to his number 1 on the list.

"How about I ask for a picnic to be arranged in the garden, and at night we can watch the stars."

You turned to face him and smiled as you nodded. Seonghwa's thumb caressed your arm, and you couldn't help but to place a soft kiss on his lips, as a 'thank you'. No matter how many times you did that, the King never seemed to get used to it. He would always feel butterflies in his stomach and fireworks exploding on his chest. Sometimes you felt perverted, thinking of how he'd react if one day you decided to take it... further. You imagined how pretty he'd look... But you decided to take your time. Baby steps...

The King couldn't wait for dinner time, and you could tell from the number of times he had gone up to the window and pushed away the blinds to see if the sun was finally setting.

As he was staring out the window, you came behind him and wrapped your arms around his figure.

"Can I tell you a secret?"

Seonghwa looked around, to make sure no one was nearby eavesdropping. He wouldn't want your secret to being known.

You tiptoed so your lips could be leveled with his ear.

"You're adorable."

Once you got back down and looked into his gleeful eyes, you smiled.

"Let's keep this secret between us!" He joked along.

"Yes, I wouldn't want the other ladies to know and steal you away."

Seonghwa held your face and lovingly placed a kiss on your forehead.

"The other ladies don't stand a chance next to you princess."

Your cheeks heated up and you slapped his chest out of embarrassment. The King's face grew worried and confused.

"Why did you hit me? Have I done something wrong? It was meant to be a compliment I'm sorry I compared you to-"

You grabbed his face and squished his cheeks, making him form an adorable pout with his red lips.

"Seonghwa, it was a good thing. I slapped your chest because I was embarrassed, I was really touched by your compliment."

Once you let go of his face, the King tapped his chin with his index finger, in a pensive manner.

"I have much to learn about our future interactions, I do not understand many things."

You just chuckled and took his hand in yours.

"We have many years ahead of us, you will learn someday."

The small acknowledgment of your future made Seonghwa very happy. Never in his pitiful life had he even thought of being this happy over small actions... Last week the only thing that brought him joy was the sound of a traitor's head hitting the concrete floors of the palace's main area, but since you arrived, a smile was all it took for his cold heart to start beating again.

It didn't take long before one of the frogmen knocked on the door to inform the picnic was ready. Seonghwa didn't let go of your hand as you walked outside, to sit among the red roses.

You had finally come to terms with Wonderland's weird food. You had no choice really...

"Have you never been attracted to anyone, Seonghwa?" You asked as you munched down on a sandwich of... whatever it was.

Seonghwa's expression faded a little.

"Once. I had just become King and I thought that the next step would, logically, be the find a Queen. Every woman displeased me. All but one. She was beautiful, hair as dark as the night sky, tanned skin from the sun, and a beautiful mole under the eye. But she was cold, evil... I thought that it was a perfect match. After all, I wasn't the most caring person. But she would treat me like a servant. Our relationship was purely to serve a purpose to the Kingdom, nothing else. We slept in separate rooms and spent the day apart. We only dined together, but since I saw the same behavior from my parents I thought that that was love. Our wedding had been scheduled long before she moved into the castle, we were simply waiting for the preparations to be finished. Everything was custom made, from the clothes to the flowers on every table. The day before the wedding I walked to her bedroom and found her laying with a servant of mine. You know, back when they weren't... Frogs. I had them both decapitated, of course. And I swore off love forever. That is until you came along."

You flashed him a sad smile and set down your food. He looked awfully confused as you climbed onto his lap, but he didn't protest.

You brushed his dark hair away from his eyes. Both of them. He suddenly felt very exposed and insecure, but you kissed his cheek, reassuringly.

"Ever since I came down here you've shown me nothing but love, and honesty. You didn't try to sugarcoat who you are, or what you've done, and I appreciate your honesty. My place in Wonderland is with you."

The male smiled, and kissed you, a little more passionately than all of the previous times. The male's hands trailed down your ass, and pulled you on top of his growing erection.

"For someone who has never been with anyone you're quite good at this."

"Well I... I lied. I had a fiancé after all, and we laid together but we didn't get far. There was no kissing involved, she just wanted to get it over with since I was the one who suggested we should... do it. But she made fun of me for not being good at it and I became... insecure. I was insecure and for the longest time I've wanted to try it with you, because you give me those special butterflies but I was afraid I'd disappoint you."

"What a cold, heartless bitch!" You thought to yourself. No wonder he was so bad at human interactions, every relationship he had was a trainwreck!

You grabbed his face and placed a long kiss on his lips.

"Well then, let me lead at first. If you start feeling more confident, you can take the lead, if not, I'll stay in control, okay?"

The King simply nodded and kissed you once more. This time deeper than he had ever kissed anyone. Tongues fighting so intensely the King nearly missed the way your hand expediently undid his trousers. Your hand slipped inside his boxers and took out his length. You looked down at the dick in your hand and widened your eye.

"Well aren't I a lucky girl."

You spat in your hand and kissed him again, as your hand worked up and down his shaft. The King was surprisingly very vocal, and he didn't try to hide or suppress any of his pretty moans (and for that you were thankful.

You stopped your hand, right as he was getting riled up.

"Ready for something better?"

The King watched you strip from your panties, and he cursed the frilly dress that covered your womanhood, but as soon as you sunk down on his cock, all of his worries and anguishes washed away. It was automatic, the way he gripped your hips and made you bounce on him as he snapped your hips against yours was something he did naturally as if he truly knew what he was doing. You brought out something different in him, and the King was simply doing was his body was telling him to do.

You gripped his shoulders, overwhelmed with the feeling of having him inside you.

"S-shit Seonghwa, you're good, r-really fucking good."

"Oh yeah?"

He flipped you two around, so he could pound into you with all the strength he had. Your words of encouragement were all he needed.

Your consistent (and loud) moans got him on the edge quickly, and he knew he wouldn't last long.

"Y/N forgive me, but I don't think I can last much longer."

Your hand reached down and began circling your clit, so when he came inside you, filling you up with his cum, you came right after, with a loud cry for his name.

Seonghwa laid on top of you, his face nuzzled on the crook of your neck, trying to regain his breath. You ran your hand through his hair as you did the same, looking up at the sky.

"The stars sure look beautiful today."

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missyasf · 3 years

Text

Game Of Hearts

| 3 |

↳ Summary: Your life is in monotonous tones of grey, day in, day out. Nothing matters besides your sister, the only thing you remember is seeing fireworks before waking up to Tokyo abandoned . Soon enough you are properly introduced to the deadly Borderlands where you must fight for your life in Games to survive. When things can’t possibly get worse soon division arises and rivalries are made. No matter what though, you are constantly plagued by a blonde who, no matter how hard you try, just can’t seem to go too far without.

↳ Pairing: Chishiya/Reader

↳ Genre: Angst, smut, thriller

Word Count: 9.5k

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Trigger Warning: ⚠️ much like the manga/Netflix adaptation this will be a dark fic which includes mentions of prostitution, attempted murder, child ab*se, sexual harassment, heavy grief and attempted suic*de among other things. Additional warnings will be added for chapters when triggers are brought up. Please read with caution if these are triggers for you or just skip all together!

3rd Day Sojourn

“Looks like we got a smartass here don’t we?”

You felt torn on whether to intervene or not. Chishiya, was by no means a hero or a prince charming. You didn’t need to know him to know he was going to be the last person to save you out of good will. Not like you needed saving regardless but you couldn’t help but wonder what his motive was.

Chishiya still had that cold smirk on his face, as if extremely amused at the furious Niragi you had held him up by the jacket, even face to face he not once had a change in expression, as if he just genuinely didn’t care about whatever Niragi felt.

“Probably because I am smarter than you.” Chishiya lifted his chin a little a devious icy smile on his lips like he was getting a rise out of the way Niragi simmered and growled at him, his hands tightening around his jacket and you were briefly worried if Chishiya didn’t shut up that he was going to be beat into a pulp. No matter how smart he was, he couldn’t outwit his way from getting throat punched. Although...you wouldn’t deny a secret part of you would find that mildly funny. You also wanted to throat punch him on certain occasions.

“I believe that’s enough Niragi.” Everyone paused at the sight of someone new arriving, Ryu had gotten out of the pool to stand next to you and Hiroko as he whispered, “That’s number three, Kuzuryuu. He often keeps everyone in their place when Hatter isn’t around.”

Niragi stuck his tongue as he began to cackle, letting go of Chishiya. Breathing in relief you relaxed a little as everyone did the same. Just within a split second though you could hardly comprehend the sight of Niragi immediately decking Chishiya right across the jaw who was knocked off balance. People were already intervening as you stood there gaping. You didn’t think Niragi would actually punch him.

You had thought Chishiya’s expression would’ve changed but much to your disbelief it was as if he was even more settled into his resolve, grabbing his jaw as a viscous smile appeared on his lips, spitting out blood as he goaded, “So you agree then? Anyone with half a brain would be able to reply instead of resort to violence.”

Did this man really wanna die on his first day in the Beach?

Niragi was pulled away and back to his group with steam practically pouring out of his ears, attempting to get back to Chishiya before he was yanked back by perhaps the most physically intimidating man you had ever seen, “That’s number 2, Agni, the leader of the militant sect.” Hiroko clarified to you but it fell on deaf ears as you hurried over to Chishiya, now feeling immensely bad that regardless of his intentions he was hurt for what? Gloating? Was his ego truly that big, “God are you insane!?” You cried out in a whisper kneeling down, your maternal instincts on overdrive as you grabbed his face immediately checking for any bruising.

Chishiya almost like a cat that didn’t want to be touched pulled away from your grip unappreciative, “I don’t like annoying or stupid people.” He replied immediately, his eyes leering ungratefully, “And he was ruining a perfectly good day for me. If you think I’d care for someone like you then you’re more delusional then you look. Besides it’s just blood, it’ll go stop.”

Ouch.

You rolled your eyes at him deciding to not take his words to heart though a tiny part of you wondered if he only said that due to the conversation you both had last night. Or maybe he just really didn’t care. Regardless it didn’t matter, “He had a fucking rifle!” You whispered angrily, “I get it, we aren’t best friends but I don’t wanna see you get shot you asshole.”

“We aren’t friends at all,” Chishiya replied coolly, his eyes analytical and calculating, his gaze like ice that glared you down as if you were his new target for a reason unknown, “We aren’t even acquaintances. We’re just strangers and I’d prefer to keep it that way. I don’t need your concern or care, so stay out of my way.”

You felt thoroughly indignant at his words as you clenched your jaw, “You know what? I doubt you’ve ever had anyone care for you and I can see why. I hope he hits you harder next time you jerk.” This man drove you utterly insane! And you couldn’t even understand why. Chishiya was so cold and for no reason…!

Walking back to your pool chair you snatched your shorts, “Y/n…! Y/n! Are you okay!?” Nanami hurried to your side, you had forgotten all about your sister being in full range of the horror show she had just finished watching between you and Niragi. Probably too scared to try and intervene and you didn’t blame her. Had it been anyone else besides your sister in your shoes you would’ve kept to yourself as well.

“I’m fine, I’d say you should check on Chishiya but apparently he doesn’t need anybody!” You flailed your arms before plopping down on the seat still mad, “What a…! A…! Pathetic, bitter way to live! He’s so conceited!” You curled your fists as you pulled your shorts up before buttoning them as you grabbed your sheer cover up jacket.

Nanami frowned as she grabbed her hands, “Well…” You whipped around in anger, silently staring at her, just daring her to try and come up with some excuse for this guy. Nanami, was a soft hearted person, she never wanted to judge a book by it’s cover and always gave the benefit of the doubt. You admired that about her, but you sometimes wished she was a bit more….realistic with people, “I’m sure he’ll come around.” She decided to not pursue her original words as she offered a weak smile.

“You can deal with that if you want, but I’m done with him. Anytime I try to be relatively nice, I just get spit in the face.” Huffing you crossed your arms, “I’m going on a walk.” And true to your words you did, you needed to be by yourself for a while to clear your head after what had all transpired just minutes ago.

“Originally I helped run a ranch but I wanted to see all the sights so I moved out of my pops and came here to the city!” The music was loud in here and so many people were dancing, makeshift stripper poles had been made and honestly. You understood the Beach was supposed to be an escape, but that didn’t make it a bit of a pathetic sight to see people attempting to swing around and accidentally break it. Multiple times.

You were currently sat at the table with Akari, Hiroko and Ryu everyone having a fairly good time and the longer you talked to Hiroko the less intimidating she became, “I don’t really remember much to be honest,” Akari scratched her head as she hummed, “Just that after I finished putting groceries up I saw fireworks out of my window.”

You straightened up in curiosity, you had seen the same thing! “Yeah we all did,” You slumped at Ryu’s words as he frowned, “Nobody can remember anything after seeing them except waking up here in the Borderlands.”

“What were you guys before this…?” You asked, not wanting to linger for long on just where you were, in a city that was a replica of Tokyo with only a handful of what? A hundred people, maybe a little more? You didn’t have the mindset right now to even try and grasp what was going on or what had happened.

“I was a lawyer,” Hiroko answered first, her expression clearly proud and you’d imagine why, this meant she was older than you! “I did quite a bit of traveling around and dabbled in attorney work for awhile...That’s what my dad wanted me to go in as,” She rolled her eyes, “But I found I’m better at building a case.”

Somehow...you weren’t surprised, you smiled regardless wrapping your arms around yourself, the more you talked to them the more comfortable you began to feel, “One morning I was late to getting to the courthouse and this idiot ended up spilling coffee on me,” Hiroko’s words may have been harsh but she looked Ryu with the softest expression you had ever seen her wear.

Obvious fondness in her eyes, “It was by chance he did that I like to think it was by fate I ended up meeting him again except he was behind the counter at the coffeeshop I always went too.”

Ryu’s cheeks dusted pink as he gave an awkward smile, “I worked evening shifts but got switched over to mornings, best decision I ever made! I’m currently in my last year of college for being an art curator!”

“A cure what now?” Akari cocked her head to the side and for some reason the three of you busted out laughing at her as she parted her lips, “Hey don’t laugh! I’m being serious! Is that some kind of professional coffee maker?”

You closed your eyes giggling as you shook your head, “What about you Y/n? What were you before all of this?” You paused for a second at Hiroko’s question as the table quieted down, suddenly your memory swiped back to the night of the fireworks. What happened at work, how you were supposed to go to class the next day. How your night ended early.

“Ah…” You rubbed the back of your neck as you sheepishly smiled, unsure of where to even begin. It wasn’t that...you were ashamed of your work you just- felt often misunderstood by people. Anytime you said you were a sex worker you either recieved wild looks and suddenly you were treated lowly or people- men in particular would begin to send you uncomfortable innuendo’s.

“Ah…! Y/n!” You straightened up at the muffled screech that sounded like your sister as your eyes shot around the room only to find Nanami fumbling towards you with a whine, suddenly hiding behind you as you frowned standing up, “Good! Good! I’m glad you’re here!” She chuckled nervously as your expression contorted.

“Where is that bitch!?”

Oh...why did this seem vaguely familiar, “What did you do?” You hissed as you turned to Nanami as she rubbed her neck sheepishly only for you to whirl back around again at the sight of a raging woman, the most notable feature her breasts nearly spilling from her loose bikini top as she pointed an accusing finger at your sister, “Why don’t you stop being a slut trying to get with MY boyfriend and take it up with me!”

“Nanami!” You hissed as she cowered behind you, her lips tugging into a pout as she poked both her pointer fingers together with a frown. You had an obligation as a big sister to at least try to defend her before feeding her to the wolves, “Maybe you should give that energy to your boyfriend...Wasn’t he the one supposed to stay loyal?” You raised your brows as you spoke.

You shrieked as you ducked down, a beer bottle flying above you as the girl raged on.

“That’s Kokona, resident miss possessive.” Hiroko leaned back in her seat as she sipped her drink, obviously this wasn’t too odd of a sight as she shrugged, “You might wanna run.”

You brows raised at her words only to see Kokona gathering three other men around as Hiroko snorted, “She’s got a whole pack of guys willing to do her bidding.”

“Y/n…!” Nanami whined, grabbing your arm as you watched the three men approach, you looked between Nanami and them as your lips parted in a half sincere apology.

“...Sorry Nami that's what happens when you try to sleep with someone's boyfriend!” You shoved past her as you heard her yelling at you as she split off on the other side of the room. People did nothing to effort to try and move out of your way as you shoved between them, ducking down as weaved through the crowd in hopes of attempting to lose them, you really didn’t want this to become a reputation for you and your sister.

Diving into a booth seat you felt the stares of two men as you offered an awkward smile, “Don’t mind me, I’m just trying to not get killed…” You offered a quirked smile as you grabbed the long island tea off the table, tipping it towards them as they all bubbled out cheers as you took a long sip, your eyes carefully watching over the crowd as you spot the one guy that must’ve been sent after you.

After all you weren’t the one that Kokona wanted to kill, it was a pretty common occurrence you had experienced except...at least the woman before wasn't psychotic enough to actually try to kill you. You supposed the Borderlands were different. Very different.

“Hey you should totally hang with us! We got your back babe.” You looked up at the dorky grin of the man you had sat next to your lying figure, which you were trying to use the table as coverage, “No extra cost needed beside a good laugh!”

You offered a weak smile, “I’m Y/n!” You introduced, endeared at the oddly innocent smile on his face as you awkwardly shifted, “My sister tried to sleep with someone's boyfriend and I somehow got dragged into it.”

“Kokona’s a mean one,” The guy across the table hiccuped as he lifted his glass, “I’d stay away from her if I were.” You lifted up onto your elbows as you glanced up at him, his eyes heavily dilated before you realized he had obviously been as high as a kite and drinking...No wonder they looked so out of it.

Watching the three men rally back together you quickly pressed back against the seats as you closed your eyes, “Yeah, I can tell...Is she like this with everyone....?” You grabbed the glass once more for another sip, needing something to take the edge off of this whole day. If your sister wasn’t so horny you wouldn’t be in this position right now!

“Nah, mainly girls.” The one beside you waved a hand, “She’s pretty cool otherwise, a little ruthless though. She gloats about her speciality being hearts a lot so she thinks it makes her automatically superior since most of us are spades or clubs players.”

Sitting up a little you tilted your head in confusion, holding the drink you now claimed as yours as you drank it once more, “Specialty? Are venues specified towards…? What? A certain type of suit?”

“No! No! Nothing like that, specialty just means what you naturally have a knack for! All games are still random at each venue,” The guy beside you sloshed his drink, obviously semi drunk himself as he explained, “That's why Hatter sends a team of four or three where each person has a specialty in each suit- except there isn’t a lot of hearts player, because we haven’t really encountered any…”

Jiggling your drink you looked down at the ice that was slowly melting as you hummed, “Okay that makes sense.” You nodded remembering Hatter mentioning this was well, it would only be natural that the longer you survived you’d have a preference for a suit.

“Hey aren’t you new?” The guy across the table pointed a sluggish finger at you, “Shouldn’t you be a little more...freaked out…?”

You offered a weak smile as you glanced away, “Oftentimes in traumatic situations hysteria doesn’t always hit first, it’s likely that my psyche is still in shock and hasn’t fully processed what I’ve seen the past day…” The guy across the table squinted his eyes as he nodded with his lips parted as if in awe at your words, “It’s a mental thing,” You waved at your head, “To try and keep the psychological state of my mind in one piece.”

You wouldn’t deny, there was a certain part of you that felt numb to everything and a smaller part of yourself wondered how you could intake all this information without going hysterical. But...the way you saw it was if this was your reality now, there was nothing you could do to change it. It was better you just got as much information as you could and try your best to adapt if you were going to live on.

Glancing out over the crowd you noticed the men had disappeared once again as you offered both the guys a smile, “Thanks for letting me stay! But I’d better get going.” You gave a small nod, getting up as you held the glass, looking down at it as you frowned...You really hoped this wasn’t laced with anything or else it was going to be a very long night.

Pushing through the crowd you couldn’t find Nanami anywhere but you did spot the girl you had sent three guys after you both like a fucking dog. Squeezing the glass you took a long drink as you approached her, “Kokona,” You called out with a smile as you waved, her eyes sharp as she immediately glared you down, “Listen…” You approached her with an easy smile, “I’m not here to make enemies, my sister is young and she probably didn’t realize it was your boyfriend…But like I said, you don’t really want a guy like that around…”

“Listen here you walmart knock off barbie,” Kokona pointed a sharp nail at you making your lips part a little in surprise at just how aggressive she was, “I don’t give a fuck. I don’t have the time or patience, here of all places. I’m sure you understand right?” She offered a gritty smile, “So tell that bitchy little sister of yours to stay out of my sight if she doesn’t want her hair ripped out.”

Pressing your tongue to your cheek you looked away for a second before down at your drink...Well, she asked for it.

You without a second thought held the drink up before splashing it all over her, “Say what you want about me I don’t give a fuck,” You stepped closer to her as you offered a gritty smile of your own, “But don’t ever say anything about my sister. I’m sure I’ll see you later.” You waved a hand as you turned around, walking back to the table where Akari, Ryu and Hiroko looked like they were all preparing to duck for cover at the show Kokona had put on for them unknowingly.

Setting the glass down at the table you collapsed in your chair as you whined, “Why are women so unfriendly here!?”

Hiroko snorted as she shrugged, obviously not bugged like you were about it, “In this world it’s either kill or be killed, a lot of people don’t have time for niceties anymore. You’ll get used to it. Besides, Kokona is just a bitch to everyone. Don’t take it so personal.” She shrugged, “While you and Nanami were getting chased down we were talking…”

You frowned as you looked up at all three of them as Akari smacked the table, “We should all go out for a game tonight! I know! I know, counterproductive especially with our visa’s stocked for the next few days but I think it’d be fun!”

“Fun!?” The three of them paused as you sat up in your seat, looking at them all like they were insane because they obviously had to be, “Fun!?” You repeated again with even more emphasis, “Guys…! You- you could die!”

“We could die just trying to breath here,” Hiroko scoffed as she shrugged, nonpulsed at your reaction as she picked her nails, ‘Besides you don’t have to go, I get it. We were all like this when we were new too. But I figured we’d make a good team logically. My speciality is diamond, Ryu’s is clubs and we just found out Akari is spades. And we have you, our wild card to figure out what you’re good at. It’s unlikely we’d die. By statistics at least.”

You rubbed your neck, feeling a little more at ease with Hiroko’s rationality as you mumbled, “Well what about Nanami…?” Your eyes washed over the crowd, finally spotting your sister against the wall sipping something trying to act like there weren't three guys after her.

“I doubt you’d want her to go?” Hiroko raised her brows, “Besides she still has three days left on her visa, she’ll be fine. Again, I’m not gonna pressure you into going, if all you’re gonna do is panic you probably will get lynched.”

Her words made you puff your chest a little as you looked back to Nanami before back to the table, well...if they all had a strong suit then why not? “Alright, I’m in!” Who knows when you’d get the opportunity again to get more days on your visa in a considerably safe group.

“I get it you’re like a walking model but seriously?” Hiroko leaned against the bathroom wall as she sighed picking at her nails, “You weren’t even in a full bikini.”

“This has nothing to do with vanity and everything to do with comfort!” You called back, pulling up the loose sweatpants, “I’m not going to possibly go into a game that makes me run while wearing swimwear, I don’t hate myself that much!” You pulled the loose t-shirt over your head before pulling out the maroon jacket as you walked out, stuffing your swim attire in the bag. You had been at the venue for the past five minutes now, having not crossed the threshold but you still have time before it closed.

“How many people have showed up?” You asked as you stood next to Hiroko who dropped her hand as she looked at you rolling her eyes as she sighed, standing up as you both walked to where Akari and Ryu were discussing the possibilities of what the game would be tonight.

“Eh, like four? Maybe? I think that guy you know is in there.” Hiroko shrugged casually, “Looks like a good setup for a spades game, they typically have a bigger group number.”

“What?” Your brows furrowed, what guy? Your mind drew a blank briefly as Ryu stretched out with a nod.

“Well if we’re all ready to go then let's head inside it’s almost six.” Ryu nodded once more as everyone followed behind him, you tossed your bag against the wall, it’s not like you had to be worried about anyone stealing in this climate. Your heartbeat picked up as you crossed the threshold.

Noticing indeed four other people here before your lips parted and your face screwed into irritation, “Really!?” You muttered under your breath, immediately turning away from the familiar white hood as you stubbornly crossed your arms, “Hiroko why didn’t you say it was him!?” You hissed a whisper to her.

Hiroko looked between you and Chishiya who was on his phone, earbuds in and ignoring the outside world before she tried to hold a laugh, “Did you two fuck or something?” You immediately flailed at her words making both her and Akari start laughing at both your misery and anger as you glared at her in unappreciation.

“You think i’d fuck someone like him!?” You hissed out, “No, he's a total jerk! I…! Why can’t I go anywhere without him showing up!” You groaned as you crossed your arms, “Whatever, maybe he’ll get his guts ripped out tonight.”

“Ouch, that’s a little harsh.” Ryu frowned, innocent as ever as he held his hands together, before offering a cute smile, “I’m sure he’ll come around, we’re all a part of the beach after all.” You sourly crossed your arms as you looked at the clock, striking six just in time for you to get tonight started with whatever death trap awaited.”

Somehow, you doubt Chishiya held any loyalty to any of you at all just because you all slept in the same hotel…

The TV on the wall lit up as everyone's attention turned to it, obviously nobody was new here tonight as no one spoke to each other.

Game

Difficulty: 3♡

“A heart's game?” Ryu mumbled, his brows furrowed as he looked between you all as you gave a little shrug, your face twisted in concern as you wrapped your arms around yourself, “Well at least it’s a low difficulty! I’m sure it won’t be too hard to solve!”

“The game you will be participating in is Blind Man's Bluff. Everyone will be required to wear a blindfold for one minute where the tagger will pass their tag off,” The screen depicted a faceless man passing quite literally a name tag off to one sitting down “Tags pertain to who is a player and who is the tagger. You will have twenty minutes to complete the game. It’s a Game ‘Clear’ if the tagger is discovered before the end of the last round, it’s a Game Over for the players if the tagger remains undiscovered.”

Rules:

After each tagging sequence players will remain seated to take off their blindfold and find out if they have been selected as the tagger.

Blindfolds must be worn and kept on for the whole minute during the tagging sequence or it’s a Game Over.

Violence against other players is strictly prohibited and will result in a Game Over.

Players must remain seated for the whole time period of the tagging sequence or it’s a Game Over.

Game Clear conditions: If the players find out who the tagger is before the time runs out or it’s a Game Over for all players.

Tension had risen in the air a little as you felt your throat become dry, everyone immediately looked at each other somewhat suspiciously as the doors opened to the school gym, it was dark and empty outside of eleven chairs lined in a circle, all backs facing each other.

“It could be worse.” Hiroko whispered to you as everyone grabbed a blindfold off the table that stood off in the distance, “As long as we just keep passing the tagger off to someone else we should be fine.”

“Unless one of us gets picked by the end?” You quirked a brow as you rubbed the back of your neck, chances of that happening was one in ten but still, “I don’t like those odds Hiroko.”

Hiroko only snorted as you both walked up, grabbing a blindfold as your eyes darted to the tags that laid out. Your brows furrowed at the stuffed bear with a blindfold on, his name tag ‘Rikku’ that took up his whole stomach, grabbing a tag as you turned back to face Hiroko.

“All we have to do is get a confession out of the tagger, it can’t be that hard.” Hiroko shrugged as she grabbed her blindfold as you puffed a breath of air, you hadn’t known her for long and despite knowing she was a lawyer before all of this...it was just still hard to imagine unless she was pressuring. Not exactly your method of going about stuff like this.

Walking to a chair towards the left side of the room you sat down, crossing your legs as you looked up at the two clocks, one at twenty minutes that began ticking away and another holding at one minute.

Looking towards your left your gaze immediately snapped back forward as your lips curled a little at the insufferable sight of blonde hair who made no effort to try and speak to you.

Was he just sitting here purposely to annoy you? Because if you got tagger you would most definitely put it on him next.

“The one minute for the tagging sequence getting ready to begin, blindfolds on.”

Putting on your blindfold you tied it in a loose knot as you relaxed back into your chair, not being the tagger was perhaps the boring part of this game, the whole minute passed by and you briefly felt something press against your blindfold before it left.

“Blinds off. Ten second cool down starts now.” Taking off your blindfold you flipped it over only to find the tag player stuck on it, attached magnetically as you pulled it off, proceeding to wait the ten seconds before the scoreboard went off and everyone stood up.

“Maybe we should start easy and just show who has a name tag?” Ryu coughed a little as he scuffed his shoe against the ground, rubbing his neck as he frowned, everyone, as if it was possible, became all the more tense.

You looked around at all the blindfolds that were being held, “I don’t think that will work, we've most likely all been provided a nametag, the only odd man out is the one with tagger. But they’ve most likely hidden it. All we can do is just take a guess of who it could be.”

Nobody spoke for a moment making Hiroko heave a sigh as she cracked her neck, “Alright I’ll do it, I’m used to this in court. What about you!” She suddenly pointed to a shorter girl who had been fiddling with her skirt, suddenly jumping at the accusation.

“What!? I’m- I’m not the tagger!” She squeaked out, nervousness suddenly on her expression and many of the wolves of the group were definitely preying on her right now as Hiroko puffed a breath crossing her arms.

“Then why do you look so nervous?” She raised an accusing brow, making you shift in your spot, crossing your arms, you couldn’t agree with Hiroko’s approach to this that was just stoking fire to an already stressful atmosphere where everyone was quickly beginning to pin the blame on each other.

You could only stand there and watch as everyone began to argue as you pinched the bridge of your nose, “We’re never gonna get anything solved if we go about it like this.” You muttered to yourself as you sighed.

“If you’re that confident in doing better then you should assert yourself more.”

You turned to Chishiya who was also standing not quite close enough for you to say he was next to you, but close enough. Your eyes squinted into a glare as you spoke, “Right and how do I know you’re not the tagger?”

“Because I would’ve tagged you next if I was.” Chishiya shrugged casually making you clench your fists as you let out a noise of irritation, you hated that…! Annoying smirk of his! Despite not knowing him for long you could get the idea he obviously got off on annoying you and it only fueled your irritation that much more.

“The feelings are mutual, stranger.” You hissed as you crossed your arms, “And I’ll have you know I am not going to insert myself into...that!” You waved your hand at the sight of two of the men now shouting at each other, the taller one immediately grabbing the other by the shirt, “Because at that point you’ll just be accused with any sort of logic.”

You puffed a breath as you wrapped your jacket around yourself, “And besides, this chaos is a great scapegoat for the real tagger to just sit back and watch everyone pick each other off-” You paused as you turned to Chishiya as you silently berated yourself, why were you even rambling to this guy!? He was a total jerk and you were not about to let go of this morning where you were only trying to help, “Why are you even talking to me? Didn’t you want us to...what? Stay strangers?”

“I’m...not talking to you?” He raised his brows, his lips quirking into an infuriating half smile as if he had a point making your lips pucker together and your jaw clench in effort to try and keep your obvious anger to a minimum, “It’s not my fault you won’t shut up.” He had the audacity to shrug.

You couldn’t help but stomp your foot as you glared at him, “You know what!? I get the feeling if you didn’t care you would’ve gone and sulked in the corner the whole game. In fact, I bet you like listening to me ramble. After all the whole day and a half I’ve known you that's all you do other than instigate unnecessary fights!”

Chishiya’s gaze narrowed a little and you watched his body coil a little away from you at your words, “In what world would you think I care to listen to you?” His lips twitched into cruel smirk as he spoke, “Besides your irrational anger and blabbering, you don’t have an ounce of sense or logic in your body. You're probably best suited for hearts because all you do is spill emotion.”

“That is not what hearts are about!” You retaliated as you threw your hands even more frustrated, “Why are you so defensive the moment I say anything in relation to you possibly not being some emotionless humanoid!? I get it,” You flailed your arms as you spoke louder, “I was a total dick for comparing you to a sociopath! Okay? I can admit that, and usually I can understand where people are coming from but- but you!? I genuinely don’t get you! At all! One moment you wanna pretend like everything's cool between us and then the next you wanna act like a total asshole! And that’s not cool!”

Chishiya had looked away from you heaving a loud sigh making you stomp your foot again, here you were exerting all of your emotion into him and he really…!

Your fists curling only to realize just how silent it was...you turned to look at the crowd of people who all had stopped fighting and...Oh...you felt your face become hot as you wrapped your arms around yourself in embarrassment...Were you really that loud…

“If you and your boyfriend are done arguing we have more important things to solve!” A man pointed a finger at you with a hiss making you curl away, your ears burning at his words as you snapped back, “He is not my boyfriend! Besides you aren’t getting anything done just yelling at each other,” You turned away from Chishiya now unable to even look him in the eyes at the moment, “The real question is who has been silent up until now? The tagger would obviously sit back and watch because why would they insert themselves when you’re doing a great job at killing time.”

“The one minute for the tagging sequence getting ready to begin, blindfolds on.”

Clenching your jaw you sat in your chair as everyone proceeded to do the same, it was now silent as you put on your blindfold, now angry and not even at the game. You wasted your whole time, not even arguing with Chishiya which somehow made you feel even more angry.

It was like talking to a wall.

Crossing your legs you curled up against yourself, mad just...Why were you even mad? You shouldn’t be letting someone like this get under your skin. You briefly wondered why it bothered you so much. Come to think of it, you supposed it was for the exact reason you said.

Chishiya, puzzled you to no end and you had never experienced that with someone, ever. You couldn’t figure out what he was thinking nor find an understanding as to why he was so back and forth with you. Maybe it was your misinterpretation? But...You shook your head a little despite your gaze darkened from the blindfold, it wasn’t that.

It was obvious, for whatever reason, he was holding himself back, From what? You didn’t know, but for now…

“Blinds off. Ten second cool down starts now.”

Pulling off your blindfold you looked at it, the same tag remaining of Player on it. You needed to focus on finding out who the tagger was, really this was like a game of hot potato, chances of the tagger getting killed was just as high as all the players dying, and who would want to take that chance?

Maybe some, you stood up after the scoreboard went off and the original clock resumed as you turned around facing everyone to judge their reactions, Hiroko and Ryu were the same and so was Akari to your knowledge. Your eyes briefly flickered to Chishiya who had remained seated, his hands in his pockets, he also...You doubted yourself briefly, you couldn’t rule him out.

“Who here wasn’t talking last round?” You asked, looking around at everyone, who obviously everyone immediately began speaking much to your frustration, you couldn’t expect someone to answer honestly which only meant...Puffing a breath, “Alright, how about this, let’s all trace a conversation with one person we talked too last round.”

...You’d just have to manipulate the tagger into confessing

First you’d need to trace who was absolutely not the tagger and narrow it from there, “I’ll go first as an example since everyone seemed to hear last round,” You looked away briefly, a somewhat awkward smile on your lips, “I was talking to Chishiya about why he’s such an asshole. You don’t need his confirmation given everyone saw it, but typically you’d need someone to vouch for you in order to confirm you were talking. Now to those that didn’t talk, it doesn’t make them guilty, just more suspect.”

“Me and Ryu were talking to each other about who the possible tagger was.” Hiroko spoke up, pulling a hand around Ryu’s waist who looked a little flush as he nodded, semi shy as you nodded yourself. That answer wasn’t too surprising.

“Well I was talkin’ to this fine gentleman here about how I wasn’t the tagger.” Akari waved a hand to the guy beside her, who still leered but nodded in confirmation which cleared the both of them. You had hoped...this would keep civil, but as everyone went around, there was bound to be some who just genuinely didn’t remember because they were arguing with everyone, and those who were lying…

Which meant by this deduction things were narrowed down, for most people the chance of being found out you were the tagger is too stressful to be worth possibly being the only one to live in the end, thus handing it off, which meant there was...what? One in third chance each round the tagger was someone new? There were a few people you had to suspect that could have held the tagger without giving it up.

The guy towards the middle who was very strangely calm during all of this with very empty looking eyes, and then there was the other man more towards you left who had been calmly de-escalating the situation but you didn’t miss the undertones of manipulation. It was one in third chance they could be holding it. Which meant you’d need to make sure they weren’t.

Walking over you stood more near Hiroko and Ryu as you watched two guys begin arguing again, “Every time I think we’ve made progress, it always ends up getting disturbed.”

“Well that is the way of the world.” You kept a straight expression at the man who offered a smile that looked so unnatural to his empty eyes, you couldn’t help but feel a bit creeped out at how...insanely calm he was. You could get a sense of tension from at least Chishiya, granted it was most likely from you.

“I’m Y/n,” You introduced, “Sense we should all be working together I figured it’d be best we at least learn each other's names.” You offered a sweet smile as you wrapped your jacket around yourself in effort to try and look unsuspecting.

“I see how much anger you have inside you know? It’s quite obvious, from the way you lash out at others when you don’t get the response you want to the way you feel entitled to everyone's feelings, that’s not good for your health you know?” Your lips parted a little at his words, not even offended because...while he was right in some ways...he was very wrong in others, “But I understand your nature is tedious and complex, for all we not the same way?” Okay...this guy was definitely a psychopath, “I’m Sunato Banda, pleased to meet you.” He offered another smile.

Empty eyes, disturbingly calm demeanor, even with your lives on the line he wasn’t disturbed at all, it wasn’t that he didn’t care. He just wasn’t affected, at all, like this could be a walk in the park for him.

Psychopath, definitely.

You’d need to be careful if tagger got in his possession otherwise he’d lie straight through his teeth and he’d never blink twice about it and you and everyone else would be unsuspecting about it.

“Well, us humans are very complex,” You nodded offering yet another smile making effort to look almost starstruck at his very poor deduction skills, again, somewhat correct, otherwise wrong. Afterall, how could someone who feels no remorse, truly understand the complexity of human nature? “Do you by any chance know who the tagger would be?”

You’d need to make yourself look weak, pliable, if you were to get any use out of this guy, all he knew was how to do was take advantage of people, obviously, Banda offered a sly smile as he looked out over the room, his eyes washing over everyone, “Him,” He pointed a finger, “He keeps adjusting his coat as if he has something placed in there that’s uncomfortable.”

You followed his line of sight to what looked like a business man in a suit and bowler hat, he did in fact, look quite nervous, “And why not call him out?” You asked, tilting your head exaggerated as you brimmed with curiosity.

Banda turned to face you, a bright smile on his face as he closed his eyes, “Well I personally hope he’ll tag me next, I quite enjoy seeing a large build up in bodies.”

..Oh...oh wow…

You gave a small nod, forcing a smile as you held yourself before excusing yourself from him, well, at least it definitely wasn’t him for now. Otherwise you’d be in trouble right now. And now you had a prime suspect. Some could overthink that and argue that perhaps he was lying just to get you off his trail. But personally? There was no way it’d be him, he wouldn’t do something like that. You got the feeling Banda, was a simple man.

You turned to find the two guys from before who were tussling suddenly growl, one throwing a punch and before he could even fully hit the guy a deep red laser broke through the ceiling, you were frozen for a half a second at the sight of it shooting through the top of his head. Everyone was quiet as they looked down at the sight of a now dead body.

Right...that was a rule, violence was prohibited.

“The one minute for the tagging sequence getting ready to begin, blindfolds on.”

You scurried back to your seat, sitting down as you pulled up your blindfold, “It’s that guy wearing the dumb bowler hat.” Your head looked towards you left despite not being able to see, Chishiya’s voice was quiet as he spoke, “While you were busy wasting time, I watched the real tagger- that school girl place it in his back pocket.”

“The tagger can do that during the round?” You whispered back perplexed at the idea, how could you have missed that? Unless...she placed it right as you approached Banda? Thus him seeing the man realize he had been tagged and now nervously adjusting himself?

“There aren't any rules stating otherwise, makes it fair game.” Chishiya replied, he immediately quieted at the sound of footsteps tapping on the floor, they were definitely on your side of the ring. Your breath hitched a little at feeling something press against your forehead. Oh shit before the sound of footsteps walked away.

“We just need to watch for him next round.” Chishiya spoke once more as you leaned back in your seat, trying to find a reason for why you just felt what you did.

“Blinds off. Ten second cool down starts now. Final round will be next round”

You hurriedly took yours off as you flipped it over looking down at it,

Tagger

Motherfucker.

You quickly grabbed it off, at first trying to push it into your pocket only to realize they were fake. God you hated women’s clothing, your eyes shot to the clock that only had five seconds left, with nowhere to put it you shoved it down your bra as you collected yourself. Okay you...you could make this work.

But now you were presented with a plethora of options. You honestly didn’t think it would be passed off to you. But now...you...you could keep it...You stood up as the scoreboard went off, but...Everyone else would die. Or...you could confess and you’d die. These options were not great. Next round was the last round, so if you gave it up...you’d be reassuring someone’s victory.

You stood next to Chishiya as his eyes kept with the man from before with the bowler hat, “He might have gotten it passed back to him.” His eyes narrowed a little onto the guy.

Do you find a way to discreetly tell him? Or would that also count as a confession…? It wouldn’t be a confession if you made yourself suspect. But...you couldn’t honestly trust Chishiya, not after his unstable display of distrust in you.

“He could be,” You replied, leaning in a little as you watched him, he appeared relieved once more, he was the one freaked out about this after all...you felt a brief wave of guilt inside you at what your mind had suddenly come up with.

With Chishiya’s suspect still on the man, all you needed to do was plant it back on him and pressure a confession out of him next round.

You were very much going to hell after this.

“He was the one that started accusing last round too and made someone die,” You hummed as you stuffed your hands in your pocket, “That guy also thought it was him. He’s definitely good at reading people,” You thought back to the way he tried to read you, which was somewhat accurate, but people like you and him, you couldn’t always accurately read each other. Except you weren’t insane like him, “At this point we don’t have much to lose.”

You could see the cogs turning in Chishiya’s head as he stared menacingly at the man who looked at him and jolted a little at such an intense stare, “If I were the tagger by this point,” You were treading on very thin ice at the moment, “I’d keep it just for myself, instead passing it off. He’s gone this far without anyone really pressuring him. It’d be the smartest move by now.”

“Then we’ll settle on him.” Chishiya replied, his gaze cold as he glared down at the man who mindlessly fixed his tie, trying to look cool despite being intimidated, clearly. He had a weak mentality, if you couldn’t break him next round, Chishiya most definitely would.

“The one minute for the tagging sequence getting ready to begin, blindfolds on.”

You supposed he was good for something even when you couldn’t trust him.

Sitting down in your chair you put your blindfold on and waited a second before taking it back off, standing back up as you carefully stepped as quietly as you could, pulling the Tagger out of your bra before you walked over to the man who had just tagged you before pressing it against his blindfold, you watched his lips quiver as he let out a quiet, “Please…!”

Your expression went cold as you turned around, glancing at the clock before you walked away and sat back down in your chair, putting your blindfold back on as you waited for the announcer once more.

“Blinds off. Ten second cool down starts now. Final round.”

You took the blindfold off, looking down feeling content at the Player tag as you stood up along with Chishiya who’s eyes went between you and the man before he pushed his hands back into his pockets, “If you’re all done pointing fingers and wasting time,” His gaze became a little more cool as he spoke, “Then we should go ahead and show who the real tagger is.”

Both you and Chishiya glanced at the man who was now looking insanely nervous, sweat dripping down his neck and if this wasn’t life or death, you would’ve felt a little bad...Some parts of you still did, but it was either all of you or just him.

“He does look pretty nervous.” Hiroko narrowed her eyes on him and from this moment forward you knew it was game over for him, quite literally. With all three of you there was no way he’d survive, crossing your arms you lifted your chin a little, “Say, weren’t you the one who got really defensive when the finger got pointed at you last round?”

“I’m…!” He flailed a little, wiping his brow with his hand as he suddenly pointed an accusing finger at you, “It’s her you want! She’s a manipulative bitch!” You pressed your hand against your chest in fake hurt as you raised your brows, “She’s the one pitting everyone against me when she’s really the tagger. She’s going to leave you all to die.”

The majority of eyes fled to you as you shrugged, “Why would I do that when I could just give it to you?” You gave a wickedly sweet smile as you giggled a little, “And watch it all go down. I mean, you must be agreeing now?” You raised your brows as you goaded, “About being the tagger?”

“I…!” He struggled with his words, now glaring at you as you raised your brows once more as you shook your head, “I…! Now you’re just doing this on purpose! Trying to get into everyone's head and make everyone die! Can’t- can’t you see what she’s doing!” He cried out as he backed away from everyone.

“I dunno’ you seem pretty guilty to me.” Akari shrugged as she poked her tongue into her cheek, not looking the least bit remorseful for the guy as she leaned her weight onto one side.

“I get it,” You shrugged as you laughed a little, “You’re probably that kinda guy who’s never really stood up for himself, you probably got bullied as a kid and let yourself get run over by people all the time, even now, and now in desperation you attempt to hold your own and yet...” You tilted your head with a frown as you mocked, “You still can’t do anything right. I guess that goes to show, that people like you just never have a spine. If you can’t assert yourself now with your life on the line, you might as well die now. Because let’s face it, people like you only end in two ways, either spineless pathetic existence or you become the abuser out of a sick need to regain what you lost as a kid.”

Reverse psychology, worked in the most simplistic ways.

That seemed to get him to snap, you watched his eyes dilate and pure unfurled rage cross his expression as he shrieked, “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You know nothing about my life! You know nothing about me! And because I’m the tagger I’ll get to watch all you pathetic people die! Who’s in control now!?”

It’s a shame he couldn’t take control of his life in any other circumstance.

Everyone paused and even he himself paused at the realization, his eyes welled with tears that made something deep in your heart lurch, your eyes squinting a little as your expression wilted a little as the red laser broke through the roof shooting him straight through the top of his head. His body crumpling to the ground.

‘Game Cleared’

Everyone was still for a moment before you looked down at the blindfold and then to your hands, the memory hazy yet the memory of red staining them still so clear as you felt ringing in your ears and your vision blur for a moment as you let the fabric slip through your fingers. Running a hand through your hair you wrapped your arms around your jacket as you walked past the body, briefly looking at the once timid man who obviously let others run his life.

“Sorry.” You whispered quietly as you stepped over the corpse, “Come on, let’s go. I don’t wanna stay around here.” You looked towards the other three who nodded, also looking semi apprehensive as well.

Now that the moment was over, the cruel reality was back to remind you that you just gaslit someone into admitting their own suicide. It was hard to not feel innately disgusted with yourself despite your reasoning that you and all of your friends would’ve died if you had. Still, what you did was okay. You were supposed to help people like him, not encourage them to snap.

If you didn’t feel conflicted before you certainly felt conflicted now, looking at the register you ignored the visa print as you grabbed the playing card off the table.

And as if mocking, this was only a three of hearts. You couldn’t imagine what higher level games looked like with this. You’d definitely need to be careful in the future, “Y/n! Come on, let’s go!” You looked behind at Hiroko nodding towards the exit.

“You guys go on, I’ll catch up later.” You looked down at the card again, Hiroko frowned at your figure, wanting to say something but she understood, the first few days of the Borderlands were never easy. With that, she left. Besides you needed to get changed before you headed for the beach again.

Walking out of the exit you grabbed your bag that was, just as you anticipated, still against the wall, leaning down you opened it up as you began digging through to try and find your bathing suit top. Stuffing the card inside you furrowed your brows, why did the electricity have to go out so soon?

“You could’ve kept the tagger and won but you didn’t. Why?”

You paused your search at the sound of Chishiya’s voice, sounding like he was- not interrogating you but definitely investigating. You resumed once more as you shrugged, “I could’ve.” You agreed, and it did cross your mind after all, “I thought about it,” You admitted right after as you pulled out the swimsuit top, “But maybe to some degree you were right,” You stood up as you turned to face him, “I am spilling emotion constantly. And if there was a chance I could’ve saved all of us in turn for one? It didn’t seem like that big of a reach to do really…” You looked away from him as you grabbed your neck, feeling a bit sheepish, “It was by chance you had spotted him before and it was by luck that I was given tagger for the last round. I knew all you needed was just mutual confirmation in your assessment before initiating the end.”

You sighed as you looked down at the elastic material in your hand as you frowned, “For what it’s worth, I would’ve probably done it to him regardless of whether he had been the tagger or not. It doesn’t take much to break the weakest link. That’s probably the saddest part to be honest.”

You grabbed your backpack off the ground as you looked up at Chishiya before back towards the entrance where others slowly began to filter out, “I doubt he even realized the trap I set him up for,” You smiled wryly as you shook your head, “People are so easy to mislead, I forget sometimes, the power that can hold.”

You turned around, intending to go change, “What were you before all of this?” You looked back at Chishiya, his gaze cool as ever and his eyes scanning over you as if in search for an answer that didn’t exist. Briefly your heart jumped in nervousness, did you dare tell the truth?

Laughing you let out a sigh what was the use in hiding in this world? There were no laws and honestly, who could judge you? “I was a prostitute.” You looked away, feeling somewhat bashful as you awkwardly rubbed your neck, you could tell that was not what Chishiya had been expecting you to say.

“Oh…!” Your lips parted suddenly feeling even more stupid at the realization that was not what he meant by his question, “You...You probably meant what I’m majoring in...sorry. Uh-” You gave him an apologetic smile that was more out of your sake of humiliation as assuming. Clearing your throat you turned back over your shoulder as you gave him one last look, holding up the three of hearts as you answered, “I’m a major in psychology ♡ ”

#alice in borderland #aib imagine #chishiya x reader #chishiya x reader smut #chishiya shuntaro #aib x reader

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suffering-and-happy-about-it · 4 years

Text

Broken Families (Favored Ones, Part 16.)

Series description: Many things were surely fucked up in the year 2038, but no-one ever told anyone how all of it went down. What happened before a group of people left for Seattle to handle personal matters? Why did one girl refuse to leave all of it be? And why there were so many dead in the end?

Part summary: Abby stayed true to what she said. She made you scream in pain that day.

A/N: So, Abby is here. And she’s here to play some golf, y’know. She likes iron clubs better than iron ones and... Just kidding, Owen and Tommy are about to play a game.

Warning: Gore, blood, some torturing, Abby; Tommy and Owen playing golf.

Word count: 4.2 K

Tagging: @nemodoren @xxgoldenhour @missdictatorme @peakymarvels @davnwillcome @pickleriiick @jodiereedus22 @gladiosamicitias @tamkashi @eternallyvenus @avengerssstuff @fangirl-inthe-us @avery-miller @mikah-writes @mad-hatter-98 @sadiaafrin99 @flavorishy

Series master list: H E R E

Joel Miller’s playlist for the bonfire occasions: H E R E

Youtube playlists: JACKSON DAYS | SEATTLE DAYS

Another steel nail under your nail. How many of them were already there? Twenty? Thirty? Jesus, it was hard to count at that point. Especially, when you had a problem to even breathe or to see what was happening around you. The woman didn't lie. As soon as she told Tommy what she wants to do with you, she started with it. Her comrades took the jacket, gloves, and pants off of you, no matter how hard you tried to fight back, taping you to the chair with silver duck tape.

First, she was punching your stomach while the man named Owen held the chair, so you wouldn't fall on your back as he told you some nasty things. When your stomach was fucked up enough for you to spill blood, she moved to punch your face. Yeah, you couldn't see with one eye and your nose surely broken at one point, since the blood was all over your breasts. Or was it the one you spat? Jesus, it was so hard to tell.

Then, to keep you breathing and full of consciousness, they brought nails and a small hammed, and oh boy, that was where the fun started. You didn't scream until that point, but now, every inch of the nail digging into your meat was followed by a high-pitched cry. You were trying to wiggle out of the chair, but Owen was leaning into it with his full weight. It appeared as if it made Abby happy to see you scream in pain, crying, and bleeding. Either she was happy or she barely notices. Both of the options were equally probable.

Abby was trying to break Tommy down. It wasn't about you, no, you were just Abby's plaything. One of you had to know Joel and sooner or later, one of you had to spill the truth. They chose to torture you since you were the smaller, more fragile one. It must've been so hard for a man to see a woman he cared about getting hurt without having a chance to help you. Well, he had a chance, but he didn't.

They handcuffed Tommy, so he would sit in front of you, and they taped his head to the wood, so he couldn't see anything but you.

Yet, for how fragile you might've seen at the beginning when Abby was choking you, you haven't said a word. Which was surprising for both of you. You wouldn't suspect you could have so much willpower inside of you. You were looking at Tommy, your look alone was telling him not to say a word. Where, for the love of God, was the girl who almost broke down when Harry was killed by the infected?

Everything about your posture was telling Tommy that you'll make it. You could take in a lot, right? You were a survivor, it wasn't too wise to fuck around with you or your family. If they killed you? You were madly in love, you didn't honestly care. As long as Joel was away from that place, you could take it somehow. Sooner or later, Ellie, Dina, Maria, or Jesse had to show up to look for you.

"Why the fuck are you still smiling, huh? Puta." - The Hispanic man tugged your scalp harshly, spitting in your face. You could barely feel the warmth of the spit since you had dry blood everywhere.

"Maybe you took a mentally ill one, Abs. Maybe she just doesn't know." - Owen mumbled from smoking a cigarette. The short-haired woman asking you about your well-being left what seemed hours ago after she almost threw up. Whoever she was, she didn't seem to take the sight too well, which made her different than Abby and Owen. These two were fucking psychopaths. You were smiling for the last half of the hour, yeah. Because you knew that once Joel will get to know about this, Abby is done. You didn't know what he'll do to her, yet you know she won't be smiling after he'll be done with her. Also, there wasn't enough oxygen in your brain anymore, so you maybe were starting to get delusional.

"It's taking too long, we've been here for hours. We need to leave this fucking place before the people in town notice they're missing." - A woman of color said, looking Abby in the face. The woman seemed to be shaken with the scenery as well. - "Finish this fucking mess, I can't look at it anymore." - She spat in the tall lady's face, leaving the room.

In the begging, Tommy was begging them to stop. He was pleading for the love of God for them to let you be. They should do all of this to him, not to you. But he was silent for hours now.

Abby was looking at you for a small moment, having an unreadable expression on her face. She was thinking about what Nora had just told her. The woman was right, probably. This was taking way too long. Whether you were a damn psycho or you didn't know any Joel Miller, she didn't care - she took a knife from the counter, pushing it right above your knee. The pressure was quite painful.

This action made you open up your mouth while a horrible scream came out, as you held the chair with your palms. The woman kneeled beside you, steadying herself to turn the knife inside the meat of your thigh. The blood was dripping around as she motioned the Hispanic man to drag Tommy away to show him some manners. Manny knew where Abby had her golf club packed and she knew that Owen will gladly show Tommy some of his favorite tees.

Your screams slowly stopped, since your vocal cords were too tired to make such a sound. - "I told you I don't want to kill you. You're innocent. I'm after someone else. Don't you understand?" - Abby mumbled and started to turn the knife around, making you almost faint at one moment. - "If you won't stop dodging the answer, I will pop your knee off."

"Why don't you tell me, where is Joel Miller? I'll let you go, I swear. Me or my friends won't come after you or your friends. That's a promise." - She stopped, holding the chair in place with her hand. Abby knew what she was doing. If she'd turn the knife around too fast or if she wouldn't stop for a small moment, she'd make you numb to the pain. And the last thing she needed was to let you lose your consciousness. Her eyes widened when a whisper came out of your lips.

"What? What did you just say?" - She mumbled frantically, looking at your destroyed face. It was horrifying to see you like that.

"I was saying..." - You coughed, looking away from her to spit another blood out of your mouth. - "That he'll fuck you up once he gets to know who you are and what you've done. You're a walking dead man." - And you carried on laughing. Who the fuck were you? How could you even develop enough capacity to say such things? With that, Abby shook her head, tears appearing in her eyes, and pushed the knife deeper, just behind your knee, twisting it with hatred in her face. You were screaming like a fucking animal. Just when she was about to slice your throat like a pig's, Melanie's scream stopped her.

"Someone's inside the house! Move it, run!" - Owen yelled over the building. Without second thoughts, she threw the knife away, picked her stuff, and ran into the woods through the big windows, leaving you exposed to the ice-cold air.

A few hours ago, Jackson:

Maria was getting worried. You left early in the morning. It was already six o'clock in the evening and you were nowhere to be found. Ellie, Dina, and Jesse had already got back from the patrols just as the other did. Where did you two got stuck? When others found out you're missing, they immediately called everyone to a meeting. Yet no-one had the slightest idea where you were at the time.

"I told you I saw lights in the fucking house. What if they're there?" - Ellie asked with hatred, pointing her finger on the map. Dina was kissing her shoulder, trying to calm her down, but it wasn't helping much. Tommy was her fucking uncle and you were her best friend.

"Why would they go in there? It's completely out of the way for them." - Jesse asked back. Yeah, there was something fishy going on. If one of you'd die during the hunt, one of you'd be already back. If you'd got lost, he knew that Tommy would find the way back.

Ten patrols searched through the surroundings of Jackson, coming back empty-handed. The house was the only reasonable location.

"Maybe one of them got hurt? They would never leave the other somewhere out there if one of them bleeding or something like that." - Dina asked silently, trying to calm them down. Ellie took in a deep breath, closing her eyes. After a while, she moved from the desk, looking at her friends. - "I'll tell Joel that we'll be going on a patrol to search through the house. Maybe the old man will want to join us? It's his brother and his girl, in the end, we're talking about."

"That's a good plan, yeah." - Jesse agreed, watching as she left the room. Ellie was not having a good feeling about you and Tommy just disappearing one morning. She was with both of you on a patrol multiple times and neither of you hasn't done anything like that before. It was like a magic trick - you disappeared in the thin air. She ran up to Joel's house to be there as soon as possible - the longer they would hesitate, the longer was the probability you'd be found dead. The old man opened up the door within a minute after she knocked the first time.

"Hey, hey." - He mumbled, putting his palm on Ellie's shoulder. She looked weirdly off to him. He had a free day thanks to you, but it was making him worried you weren't back just yet. It was maybe the morning blizzard or the fact that most likely, you needed to maneuver a lot around the horde to lower their numbers. But this was making him think that just maybe, you weren't hiding from the weather after all. - "You good? Did somethin' happened, kiddo?"

Joel was getting into his more worried and protective mood within seconds. Ellie nodded and motioned for him to come inside so he could at least sit when she'll tell him. - "Is it somethin' about you and Dina? Did Tommy do some bullshit? You know you can tell me." - The man looked into her face, offering her at least a glass of water.

"More or less. It's about both Y/N and Tommy." - She mumbled, looking the tip of her boots. Jesus, Ellie was tired as a dog. The hangover was terrible, she could barely hold her eyes open, her body was hurting and she only had a few hours of sleep. Joel was confused, yet his expression was telling Ellie that he's not making too much out of it. - "She told me that they're goin' on a patrol because of some infected. I think they just got a bit stuck there."

His small girl nodded at that, thinking about the best way to tell him. After she took another sip of the water, making herself just tell all of it to Joel. - "We searched the place, we haven't found neither them nor the horde. They are MIA a the moment." - At that, Joel stopped making a joke out of the situation. It wasn't the weather, but the infected. Were you two even alive? Were you all alright?

"The last place were looking into is the house an hour away from Jackson. You know which one I mean. Are you coming with us?" - And this question Joel needed to hear. Of course, he was about to search for both of you. It wasn't likely that you'd split, even if something happened. Tommy surely kept you by his side the whole time, making sure you're all right. Finding Tommy meant that they'd find you both.

Everyone gathered at the stables in the next ten minutes - there was Ellie and Dina, Jesse, Joel, Maria, and Diego, everyone ready for any inconvenience to come. During their journey to the house in the mountains, everyone was awfully quiet. Everyone had their ears ready to hear for any kind of strange noise, but none had come. The first sign of someone coming through were dad bodies put on fire laying at the gate. These were infected - which meant that normal people are inside the guarded building. Yet there was nowhere to be seen.

"This isn't our technology." - Jesse said after looking at the bodies. - "I would recognize her handwork everywhere. She hadn't made this and Tommy doesn't know how this works. Someone we don't know is in there and we don't know if they're friendly or not yet." - The young boy stood up and looked at everyone.

"Then we should leave horses here and try to get into the building unnoticed. If they're friendly, they won't hurt us when they find us sneaking around, right?" - Ellie asked everyone and they needed to say that this is a reasonable plan. The people divided into two groups - one consisting or Maria, Joel, and Ellie, the other one having Dina, Jesse, and Diego in it. They were ready to roll.

It was taking quite a long time before the two groups met at the back of the house where a window was opened - which, in translation, was the only way leading inside the house. To get there without making too much noise was kind of fun, but in the end, everyone got there safe and sound. It was just when Ellie and Dina were slowly opening the window when the first screams filled the air. It sounded awfully like a young woman's accompanied by dull loud noises coming from downstairs.

"Okay, let's calm down first. We need a plan," - Ellie whispered before she leaned her shoulder to Joel's chest to stop him from just running there, killing everyone in an instance and probably getting himself killed as well. - "You are going to calm down first. We need to be careful here."

"And listen to her gettin' killed any moment? No." - Joel answered back immediately, just to have Maria's hand on his shoulder too.

"Ellie is right. This house is huge, there's probably ten to twenty of the people and we have two people to loose here. I'll stay with Joel, makin' sure he'll behave. Ellie's coming with us. Jesse, you're taking the right side of the house, were heading right? If you find something you won't do on your own, the first thing you do is to yell at us. It will probably make them realize were here, but that can scare these fucks off." - Maria put an end to the argument, making everyone calm down immediately.

Jesse looked at his group nervously. Dina was excellent in silent killing, while he and Diego were more of the fistfight and gun guys. But they were about to make it. Just as Maria told them, their ways parted.

They tried to be as careful and as quiet as possible. Every moment built up the tension inside of Jesse, he had the feeling that each of their steps is as loud as a thunder. Which wasn't a comfortable feeling at all? The left side of the house was emptied - the rooms were empty, there was no kind of civilization in sight. It was when they arrived at the stairs when Dina noticed heavy footsteps walking up. Her nails dag up to Jesse's arm as she motioned on her arm. Jesse closed his eyes, listening to the surroundings, nodding at Dina in the end as everyone his behind the walls to take cover.

Dina did her best to quietly put the suspenser on her gun, making sure that her knife is ready for any case. When she was sure, she leaned her back to the wall, taking in a deep breath as she stood up. When the guy walked in, he didn't look around and behind the walls - he was just patrolling. It was this weird, disgusting dude with a baseball cap, whistling a song as he walked forward. Dina jumped on his back, covering his mouth and shooting a bullet right into the man's brain. His body relaxed in a second as the life left it, his back falling on Dina's chest. She huffed a bit, slowly laying the man down.

"Ever told you you're fucking good at this?" - Jesse looked at his ex-girlfriend, now covered in blood, who just grinned back as they quietly made their way through the halls and corridors. The dark-haired girl smirked at what Jesse had to say, shaking her head. - "Focus, 'kay?" - She whispered, but suddenly, as they were about to enter some white door, they heard some person yelling.

"Someone's inside the house! Move it, run!" - Each of them stopped in the middle of what they were doing, hoping that any of the running people won't meet them. But it had to happen, hadn't it? It was a short-haired, small, fragile woman who had her eyes red with tears. As soon as she realized she doesn't know any of the young people and Dina pointed her gun at her, she rose her palm in the air. For a moment, they were staring at each other before the woman turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

"Why didn't you shoot her down? She can alert the others."- Diego whispered into Dina's ear angrily, but when he was about to chase after the woman, Jesse's hand stopped the boy. - "She was scared. Did you see the look on her face? Maybe something real bad happened here." - Dina told to Diego, turning around to open up the white door.

All of them stopped and looked into the room, thinking that they may be dreaming. Dina knew she knows the person dressed only in their top, with a knife sticking out of their thigh. It was a girl... Dina suspected, but it was hard to tell honestly. There was blood everywhere, small nails and a hammer laying on the ground, the window was open and the snow was now falling in, making the person freeze.

"Joining the party? About fucking time. Sadly, you missed the main program." - The person told them, coughing some blood, spitting it on the ground. Jesse's face stiffed in horror as he realized who's he looking at. It was you. Their best friend. The girl who wore the worst cowboy shoes ever to every dance there was in Jackson. The boy ran to you, quickly, looking at what they had done to you. There were tears in his ears when he looked at the hematomas on your stomach, seeing the swelling part of your face. - " I didn't tell them, I didn't say a word, Jesse, I..." - That was all you were repeating the whole time Dina and Jesse were strangling your thigh and preparing pieces of cloth to cover the wound. The girl sighed and nodded at Jesse, who gently turned your face at him. - "I know you didn't say them a word, you've done so well, come on, stay with me, look at me, that's it, that's it." - The boy whispered as Dina gently pulled the knife out of your thigh, making sure she won't do you more harm. But the screaming filling the room was terrifying. Jesse, even if he didn't want to hurt you more, pressed his finger into your cheek to keep you from looking on your leg as Dina put gazes around it with swift movements.

Diego was checking for clues of who they've might be, but these people didn't leave anything behind. That was nothing. No badges, maps, instructions... What were they after? You did know by the looks of it, but it wasn't probable that you'll talk in the following few days, maybe even week. And where was Tommy? There was an opened door leading to the garage, which they also opened as they ran away, and Tommy's horses was somewhere there as well. And they were about to get to know as Ellie ran into the cellar after them, opening the white door with a loud bang. - "We had... Found... Tommy." - She said slowly, looking at her friends taking care of the hurt person.

It took her a whole to recognize your face, but when she did, she helped Dina with making you stand up and put your clothes back on you. The rage was stronger and stronger within her. If you and Tommy wouldn't be in such a bad state, she would go after the duckers immediately until she'd chase them down. Joel couldn't talk when they found his brother.

He was laying in front of a fireplace with his hands duck taped behind his back, beaten up like a dog. He was still alive, for now, but... You were looking good in comparison to Tommy. Someone brutally beat up Tommy with a metal golf club, almost beating his skull open. The people who did this to you had been stopped in the last moment - there was a small stand of blood on your neck, telling them that the person wanted to slice your throat. And Tommy, he was still breathing, but his skull was almost cracked open. The girl was shaking and crying when Dina started to nurse you as you kept on repeating them that you didn't tell them, whatever you were talking about.

Jesse took Ellie's face to his palms, looking her inside the eyes. - "Tommy, is he alive?" - Jesse asked, but the reality around Ellie was blurry. Her heart was aching with every small move it made, she couldn't take in one deep breath. - "Hey. Is Tommy alive?" - Jessie tried to ask again, but Dina knew she wouldn't answer. The process that Ellie was going through was undescribable - there was this mix of anger, fear, and hatred inside of her, so it would be better to let Ellie be for the moment. - "Jesse, help me get Y/N on Sadie. We need to ride back to Jackson, she won't make it otherwise." - Dina begged Jesse. She knew she can ride you back on her own - they'll have a harder time figuring out how to help Tommy... If he wasn't beyond saving at the moment.

Jesse left Ellie with Diego, helping you into the saddle. The screams were horrifying and he was sure that Maria is holding Joel back from running directly to the garage. But neither of them tried to stop you from screaming, it would be meaningless. As soon as you both sat on Sadie, Dina rode to the snow and Jackson, knowing shes running out of time. - "I didn't tell her, no, no, she doesn't know, I swear, I didn't." - You were still whispering, but soon, Dina felt the weight of your back on her chest. She didn't know if you'd have just passed out or dead, but she couldn't stop the tears from falling off of her eyes either way.

The ride was almost endless, but just when the light was disappearing, the gates finally showed up just a while from where you were. Saide was getting more nervous and tired - Dina was making her go the whole the time, not stopping for a single second and the journey was quite long. There was the danger of both of you being thrown down off of the horseback any minute. It was refreshing to see the gates opening as you rode in. People were calling out to Dina, they were trying to ask about what happened, but the girl was just shaking her head, riding directly to the hospital.

"Bobby, call Bobby!" - Dina yelled on the way. By the time you arrived there, almost everyone was ready to help, not knowing what happened. But Bobby's eyes widened as soon as she saw you. - "Bring her in, the second floor. I'll need to check her to see what's going on." - "Are those nails?" - Nancy asked when she rose one of your palms to the level of her eyes. When she saw the state of your fingers, she quickly turned around and puked to the nearby snow. Dina got off Sadie, walking straight to Bobby.

"Just don't let her die, 'kay?" - The girl whispered with her voice broken, getting a hug from the old lady. After that, Bobby disappeared to the house and started to take off your clothes, looking at everything these fucks had done to you.

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espejonight28738 · 4 years

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15×12, Galaxy Brain meta

Where we don't know Cas place in the story, because he won't be written by anyone

First of all, a warning: This was written with my clown makeup on🤡

Second of all, eternal thanks to @verobatto-angelxhunter without her, I would still be crying for somethkng that was surely an error of the writers, and this wouldn't have been possible XD.

Now, I've noticed that the strong belief that Cas was gonna be a key part of Chuck's defeating is... dying, to say it somehow. And honestly I don't understand because everything is crystal clear according to me.

When Billie gave the boy the whole "You are the messengers of God's destruction" speech (and hell that was intense) I think we all though the same.

Jack, Dean and Sam. Once again, it's like Cas is not even there.

In any other season, I would probably believe that's because the writers are professionals at ignoring Cas, and they are, but I don't think that's the reason this time.

You do not point out a problem and then continue to make the same mistake. It would be ridicoulus. This season they have been pointing at Cas unexplainable/forced absences since almost the begining.

After he was pretty much ignored in the first 2 episodes (except for the 'we are' speach which I'll love forever). Then, for the first time, he voluntary went away. Not because he had something to do, not because he felt undeserving of staying, and not because non-born Jack had mess with hos mind or whatever.

And from there we have his absence in 15×04 (my meta about that episode here) where it was CALLED OUT. Becky said it. "No one even mentions Cas." And that alone could be a funny meta-fiction moment, but it doesn't end there, right?

Funny that in a chapter we know Chuck was writting as we were seeing it, he didn't write Cas.

In 15×05 (meta here) we could see a more clear parallel between Sam and Dean/ the werewolves brother because the absence of Cas put them in an isoleted situation, similar to the one the werewolves lived in. Besides, this was another Written By Chuck Episode.

In 15×06 we did have Cas (yei), but he was on his own case. In an episode we *know* Chuck wrote (he confessed in 15×09 bringing Eileen back was part of his plan), Cas was in an unrelated case.

In 15×07, Cas comes back to the bunker. Just in time for Sam to go into Chuck's head. That was NOT Chuck's plan.

In 15×08 was still not Chuck's plan. He didn't want them to contact Micheal. Cas not only did that, he managed to persuade Micheal/Adam to help by sharing his memories of who Chuck really is.

In 15×09 we saw a preview of a possible future. In this one, is in Cas *absence* (him going mad and then being locked in the Ma'lak box) that Dean pretty much gives up. He still will do anything to help Sam, but the fight in him is gone. He accepts his "destiny" in ending of the story.

In 15×10 we have... another chapter completely (or mostly) written by Chuck. Taking their "main character powers" he's proving them, or at least trying to, that He is still the writer, and they are just the characters.

And again we have no Cas. Curious, isn't it? Almost as if Chuck can't make him his character.

In 15×11 we have Cas separated of Dean and Sam again. Here I think 2 detalis are specially important.

First, the moment Cas gets re-introduced, his mission is to re-introduce Jack again. Then, we know for sure Cas keeps playing outside of Chuck's game, never once being his piece.

Second, we have Dean and Sam compared to "Heros, like in the old times". Don't get me wrong, I LOVED that, almost cry, but something about it kept bothering me.

I kept trying to write a meta about it, but I couldn't define the problem. Now I find it.

Think of any hero of the greek/roman mythology. Anyone.

They all are peons of the Gods. Hector, Aquilles, Odysseus, Perseus, Theseus, Heracles, Jason.

They always are solving the Gods' messes, or they are a piece in the Gods' games of chess. Or they ended up in the bad side of a God and for that has a less than ideal story (as Heracles about that one XD).

Some of them have better endings than other, but none of them are really free, are they? Always submitted to the will of the Gods. Those are the people Fortuna was comparing Dean and Sam to.

And Cas was, once again, absent.

Finally 15×12. @verobatto-angelxhunter kinda beat me to say it (here her meta), but the fact that Billie, who was one of the most important rols in bringing Chuck's demisse, took the time to remind us that she is Death because Cas killed her as a ripper. He wrote that part of the story.

Even though he did such a crucial thing, he doesn't get mentioned as "messenger of God's destruction" (Billie was so extra with that I love her).

I mean, even if he was k-word before they ended Chuck, he has played a good enough part to at least have some recognition, right? Right??

Unless Billie doesn't know.

Unless it's something that doesn't happen in the books. It's not like the books can't make mistakes. The book were wrong about the Ma'lak box as the only non-apocalyptic outcome for the whole Micheal mess. (The solution there was Jack, who is also someone who doesn't play by Chuck's rules and wasn't part of the story) (And is alive because of Cas' taking care of Kelly and the his deal with the Empty. All of that was Cas.)

Going back in the episode to Chuck's monologue in the store. In the TVs we could see all the AU that "didn't spark joy". That gave him the ending he wanted but lacked something.

You remember what called my attention of Sam's dreams of the AUs? Cas wasn't in any of them. Even if we know he must have existed (Benny appearing is an indication of that) Chuck just got rid of him at some point. That is what all those non-sparklers of joy have in common. Then, is not naïve to think, taking all I have already said in this meta into account, that this Cas has something none of the others had. A glitch that allows him to be the blue pill or something like that.

"But that's something pretty big, they would have to talk about it eventually." Y'all may be thinking.

Yes, they need to adress it eventually. You know, if only they confirmed a Cas-centric episode...

...yeah, exactly like that.

The first Castiel centric episode we have since, what? The Man Who Would Be King?

He needed an entire episode because it turned out he had been lying to the Winchester the whole season. He was now the big bad of season 6. Of course he needed an episode.

What do you think they can do with a Cas-centric episode now?

Tagging: @metafest @agusvedder @legendary-destiel @that-one-fandom-chick @studio-hatter

#supernatural meta #castiel meta #spn 15×12 #spn s15 #galaxy brain #supernatural #castiel #my metas

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themockingcrows · 4 years

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Dream Eater

This fic is rated M! John/Dirk, John/Hal, Dirk<3<Hal AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26464264 cw: nuditty, kidnapping, fae and faeries, spirits, vomiting, soul theft, dreams and nightmares, mentions of dream sex, Hal is a trashbag.

When John starts having dreams about his boyfriend, he assumes nothing is out of the ordinary. When the dreams turn to nightmares, he's concerned. When dreams become reality and he's faced with a creature hellbent on keeping him in his world, will he be able to find a way home again?

It was summer when the dreams first started, but autumn when they really came to a head for John. Near nightly he’d see his boyfriend in his sleep, and while he assumed it was just fondness that drove the visitations, or the fact they were together so often to begin with during the daytime hours now that it had been four years together, it was seeming more and more like something else was going on inside his mind.

The Dirk in his dreams was oddly affectionate, showering him in kisses and touches that usually only came after a prolonged period of relaxing in one another’s presence. The Dirk in his dreams was also ethereally attractive, almost as if a halo were burnishing his pale hair, obscuring parts of his face and eyes with the reflective light. Butterflies tended to dance around, sunset colors on their wings, some with bright electric blue eye spots. Whenever John was with this Dirk in his dreams, everything felt better. The kisses, the attention, even the sexual escapades felt realer than real, leaving him aching in the morning for more when he woke. More than once he’d had to feverishly jack off just to be able to clear his head and function the following day.

Dirk in reality didn’t seem to want to pay the dreams any heed. He found them amusing, or at least said he did, but didn’t want to discuss them further than the bare minimum. It was kind of frustrating, really. It made John not feel heard, but what could he really do? Dirk wasn’t into dream stuff, and that was that. On the recommendation of his friends he wound up searching for dream meanings, and found that the sex, mind blowing as it was, was just a sign that he could have that kind of passion in real life. The butterflies had a meaning too, more positive, dealing with longevity and romance, spirituality and joy, creativity. Great sex, long life, romance and joy sounded like a pretty good omen.

Now if he could just get Dirk to actually listen to him about them, maybe they’d be able to tap into the elements he’d been experiencing and they could recreate them.

Tonight was another dream, the butterflies leading a nude John from a circle of mushrooms where he’d ‘awoken’ to what looked like a grand table set with food and elaborate tea sets, some scene from Alice in Wonderland he was sure. All that was missing was a rabbit and a mouse, for the mad hatter’s position seemed to be filled by a similarly nude Dirk, who sat pouring two cups of tea for them to partake of. The liquid was a rich reddish color, matching the decadent desserts and fruits and jams that speckled the table. Dirk smiled as he approached, and beckoned for him to take a seat. The chairs all looked overstuffed and plumply comfortable, but John settled into one nearest Dirk’s right hand and accepted his cup, drinking some of the liquid.

Even in a dream it tasted like what he assumed ambrosia tasted like, sweet and fulfilling to his very core, warm down his throat and settling in his stomach like a syrup. He was quick to drink a bit more as Dirk spoke to him.

“Do you love me?”

“Well. Yeah, of course I do,” he said with a soft laugh.

Dream logic, he supposed. Calling into question any doubts he might have. At least there weren’t any, at this point.

Dirk smiled softly before taking one of the cakes on the table and slathering it with a bit of jam, then took a careful bite.

“Would you tell me anything?”

“I try already but you’re kind of a dick sometimes,” John said with a smirk, looking over the spread again from where he sat before he reached for a raspberry and ate it, surprised by the perfect balance of sweet and tart. It’s like these things were made just for him, ripened and blended just right.

“Would you give me anything, if I needed it?” Dirk asked with the same smile.

“Uh, yeah. ...Wait, do you need something?” John asked, suddenly a bit concerned. In his dream hunting he’d learned that sometimes dreams were portents of the future or deep insight. Maybe Dirk was needing something that he didn’t want to ask for? It wouldn’t be the first time John had had to drag something out of his boyfriend.

“I do,” Dirk said, looking sad suddenly. “I need all of you...”

“Dirk you’ve uh... You’ve kinda had all of me before,” John laughed slightly, brows coming together as his face reddened. “Multiple times? Even in dreams? What more is there to give?”

“A lot,” Dirk said, finishing his treat before standing up. The table seemed to sink into the ground in front of him, all the treats disappearing beneath the grass as butterflies flocked in ever increasing numbers. When nothing was in his path, Dirk came and leaned on the arms of John’s chair, getting right in his face. This close, John could finally see Dirk’s eyes, a piercing red that reminded him of Dave’s in a way. This might be a dream, but somehow the wrong eyes and the suddenly threatening, shark like grin that his boyfriend was giving him made John cower in his seat. He was far too exposed to be feeling scared, the warm sensations of the tea party giving way to the ice cold of a nightmare.

“U-uhm...”

“Your heart. Your body. Your soul ,” Dirk rasped, his voice too low. His red eyes looked crazed, his teeth too sharp, and his laughter that came sounded like breaking glass to John’s ears.

He woke in a cold sweat, tangled in his sheets, huffing for breath, eyes wide in terror. The alarm was going off on his bedside table, leaving him to wonder if he would have woken up at all when things went sour, or if things would have gotten worse. John rubbed his damp face and yanked his sweat soaked blankets off of him to get up and change clothes, dressing for the day as much as he needed to before grabbing for his phone.

He had to tell Dirk about this one. He absolutely had to.

The phone rang before he finally heard the familiar voice on the other end, tired, as if-

“Did you not sleep again?”

“Did you call me just to antagonize me about my sleep schedule?”

“No, I- Look, I had a dream. Another one.”

“Here we go.”

“Listen! You were in it again! And you were wrong!”

“... I was in your dream and I was incorrect about something? Wow, what a nightmare,” Dirk said sarcastically. John smacked his forehead and groaned in annoyance.

“No, no, I mean you were wrong. Like something was wrong with you. Your eyes were the wrong color and you were talking about my soul and laughing like a maniac.”

“John, you had a nightmare,” Dirk rationalized. “I’m sorry you had a rough night’s sleep, but they happen.”

“I was looking up dream stuff the other day an-”

“And that’s probably why you had a fucking nightmare, do you know how hokey all that dream analysis stuff is?”

“I don’t know, man, some of it was pretty interesting. It explained a lot of things I’ve been thinking about, an-”

“You’re just as likely to get reliable information from horoscopes,” Dirk sighed. “Look. I’m not wanting to piss on your parade, but really John. I was just a nightmare. The dreams are just dreams. We’re near each other all the time, your brain just remembers the things we do and say and parks them in new orders and mishmashes them with everything else you’ve ever seen and done and thought till it’s like new.”

“I know how dreams work!”

“Then you know how nightmares work, too.”

“UGH forget it, forget it... Why’d I even bother, you never want to talk about dreams.”

“If it’s aspirations I’ll talk till your ears fall off and your voice goes creaky, John. But dreams are just made up things your brain creates to keep you pacified at night. They’re hallucinations. Try not to get too hung up on’em, okay? You keep having the same types of dreams because you’re so focused on figuring them out, of course the themes will be similar.��

“But the nightmare…”

“Was a nightmare.”

John was quiet for a moment before he grimaced.

“It really scared me, Dirk. Like, honest to God scared me.”

“...Okay, look, that was probably a dick move on my part.” Dirk sighed quietly, considering his words more carefully. “Do you want me to come over?”

“You haven’t slept yet, have you.”

“No, if you must know, I was busy.”

“Take a nap and then you can come over,” John reasoned. “I don’t want you half dead, I want you to be comfortable to lay on.”

“If you just want to lay on me, wouldn’t a nap be the perfect thing to do at your house?”

“No, I’ve uh. I’ve gotta change the sheets.”

“...John, you didn’t-”

“I DIDN’T PISS THE BED, GOD, I just sweat a lot from the nightmare!” John cried, leaning down with one hand to yank the bottom sheet off the mattress in one hard tug. It came free and dragged the entire contents of the bed down to the floor with it on his feet, leaving John grumbling in annoyance.

“Okay, okay, I was kidding. I know you would never admit to it even if you did.”

“DIRK.”

John could almost hear the smirk in his voice. “I’ll call you after I’ve slept, then. Catch you later, John.”

Annoyed, John hung up when Dirk did and dropped his phone on his desk before turning and crouching down to gather the sheets and pillowcases up off the floor. What a mess, he didn’t feel like doing laundry, but apparently that’s what he was going to do first thing in the morning. The bedding joined the other laundry in his hamper and he headed downstairs with it, wandering the short trip to the utility room before freezing, hand ready to reach into the darkness to flick the light switch on. For a split second he swore he saw eyes in the darkness, red eyes and sharp teeth that made his heart clench in panic, before he shoved his hand in and turned the light on. Illuminated, there was no obvious threat in the room aside from an early morning chill for his bare feet.

He did his laundry. He ate breakfast. He spent the afternoon laying on Dirk playing videogames together and shooting the shit to make up for Dirk’s attitude earlier in the day and because they had planned to do so anyway. The nightmare was all but forgotten as the days turned to weeks and new dreams filled the void left from the nightmare, proving Dirk’s theory correct about the dreams increasing frequency because he was focusing on it. Sometimes he still saw red eyes in the dark, or right as he was about to wake up, but it was easier to forget them.

...At least till the night the dream returned, larger than life.

John could feel his head sagging, his body going all but limp on the soft mattress, but knew he was still awake. He could feel his surroundings, the strange half sleep of a nightmare where he could just picture his sleep paralysis demon forming at the foot of his bed to loom over him, a shriveled hag there to suck the breath from his lungs. Yet, the hag never came. Instead, Dirk came, surrounded by ethereal butterflies.

“Time to get up, John Egbert. We’ve got a long walk ahead of us,” he said softly.

How had he gotten in here? Dirk didn’t have a key to the house, and it was so late he didn’t think his father would have let him inside. He’d never heard a knock, though he’d also been kind of concerned about the paralysis and potential demon coming to eat his face before he could fully wake up.

“Up, up, up, we’re going to be late,” Dirk cooed.

As if he were a puppet on a string, John pushed back his blankets and stood up, glassy eyed and silent, trapped inside his body like a sleepwalker who was aware of where his body was going. Dirk watched him silently as he pulled on his glasses and a hoodie, one of the ones Dirk himself had left during one of his many visits that John had started living in because it was comfortable. He didn’t recall giving his body the order to put on clothes on top of his pajamas. Was he going to put on shoes, too? Where were they going?

To the window, apparently. That’s how he’d gotten in. John could have sworn he’d locked it, but he’d also be lying if he said it was the first time Dirk had ever snuck into his room late at night. Dirk exited first, and extended a pale, ungloved hand John’s direction to urge him to follow. John came right along, though on the inside he was getting more and more frantic. He wasn’t in control of his body, could Dirk tell that? He didn’t want to go outside, the roof was slick from rain recently, and it’d be cold. He didn’t want to go outside barefoot at all, but the roof would just be dangerous.

He tried to pull the plug on his waking nightmare.

He failed.

He took Dirk’s hand and followed him steadily out to the roof, perfectly balanced despite his fear, the night sky overhead cloudy and speckled with stars whenever the rain laden puffs would move out of the way enough. A crescent moon illuminated the grass below shimmering like diamonds with dew, far enough below that John would definitely break his neck if he slipped.

Dirk jumped backwards and landed with catlike grace on the ground below, barely bending his knees… and opened his arms upwards with a grin that showed too many teeth beneath the sharp bottom edges of his dark shades. He reminded John of a shark, unappealing and dangerous, even more dangerous because apparently he knew how to make John’s body listen to him. Following an unheard command once more, John approached the edge of the rooftop, bare toes peeking over the edge of the slick eaves to the gutter that definitely couldn’t hold his weight.

He extended a leg, and screamed inwardly, panicked, not wanting to land in the hospital.

John fell, weightless and full of panic, only for Dirk to catch him as if he weighed nothing, setting him down on his feet on the wet grass once again. He lifted a hand and gestured as if he were calling a pet to heel, and John continued his sleepwalkers shamble after him, first through the grass of his yard and then onto the cold asphalt of the road.

John lost track of how long they walked, toes long numb from the cold and the repeated contact with dirt and stones and sticks, mind in a frazzle over what to do as he followed his pied piper boyfriend into the woods. The chilled scent of pine needles and wet, spongy earth flooded John’s senses, normally so soothing, but now terrifying. What was happening? What was going to happen? Why the fuck was he being taken out to the middle of nowhere like this by his boyfriend?

Had he snapped?

Was this some weird surprise? Some… some experiment he was keeping secret?

Was he in danger? He’d caught him after jumping off the rooftop, but this was crossing some serious boundaries that John couldn’t quite put together in order right now due to how scared he really was.

They continued walking until Dirk suddenly stopped and turned around, opening his arms once more with the same shark like grin that had chilled John to his core earlier, the least Dirk-like thing that he’d seen in his life. Dirk never smiled like that. Dirk’s smiles were subtle, fleeting flashes and soft shying away before finally warmly rolling out beyond his control.

This smile was threatening, all danger.

“Come here, John… That’s right,” he said as John took more sleepwalker steps forwards into what looked like a circle of mushrooms. Once in range, Dirk grasped him into a tight hug and crooned, grasping his chin with his hand to make him lift it, planting a kiss onto his lips. “Perfect, sweet John Egbert... and now you’re mine…”

The lips were cold as ice, sending a chill down his spine even as the night sky seemed to sickly shift its cast from a deep blue and starlight to something more akin to dawn in the blink of a swirling eye. Where were they? This wasn’t the same forest they’d been in minutes before that John could tell, this was… this was different. Different, but he could recognize it from his dreams. The mushroom circle, the pathway the butterflies had led him along before, and in the distance a table sat empty of tea and pastries.

As if on cue, the butterflies appeared, some massive and bigger than his head, others small as his fingertip, all the colors of the rainbow. Things seemed too vivid suddenly, too bright, and nausea ate at him. John’s eyes rolled back into his head as his knees went slack, losing the vision of the world and the strange Dirk to darkness.

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

When John woke, it was to a butterfly perched on his nose, its delicate feet tickling his skin and its large eyespots visible as it fluttered its wings slowly in front of his eyes. He reached a hand up to swat it away before he looked around in alarm, trying to figure out where he was. This was definitely a space he’d never seen before, not even in his dreams. He had been resting on a massive cushion the size of a small bed on the floor, legs curled up to make himself as small as possible in his sleep. His hoodie was gone, as were his clothes he’d been sleeping in, replaced with what at first looked like a sheet of its own. On closer inspection though, it seemed to be a sheet of some kind of fine fabric with butterfly patterns of varying sizes on it, blue silk with white and silver details, pearls emblazoning some of the more detailed portions, the style loose and held with clasps and pins. It was honestly the prettiest thing John had ever seen, let alone the softest on his skin, but it didn’t change how strange it was that it was suddenly on his body. Where the fuck were his clothes?

“Ah, you’re awake. Excellent. I know the transfer between worlds can be kind of a lot even for beings like myself, I suppose a human constitution just isn’t up for it.”

The voice was familiar, causing John to jerk his head around towards the source, but he only frowned upon seeing it. There Dirk was, though not his Dirk, dressed in a similarly styled silk garment, though in red with black and gold accents, butterflies big and small with the same small pearls. Around his neck rested a silver cage necklace, with a small electric blue marble resting inside. The not-Dirk Dirk approached with what looked like a breakfast tray laden with sweet berries and tea, pastries and crockery identical to that of his dream. His throat ached just from the memory of how sweet it would be, how perfectly ripe the berries, before he felt a cold chill as another memory came to the forefront. Dirk seemed to recognize his fear, because he smiled at the same time.

“I mean you no harm, I promise. After all, I have all the time in the world to get to know you now,” he said, setting the tray down near John’s cushion before going to take a seat on another cushion near a table. “Please, eat. It should settle your stomach somewhat.”

“I’m not hungry, I want to know what the fuck happened!” John insisted, ignoring the tray. “Who are you?”

“My name is Hal,” said the not-Dirk. When John continued to look confused, he only smiled again. “I take it my form isn’t pleasing to you?”

“It’s too similar to someone I care about a lot.”

“Ah, that’s his problem, not mine. I’ve had this form for a lot longer than he’s had his. The resemblance is uncanny though, I admit. His family is likely displeased. Or they would be, if they were still keeping tabs on me.”

“Tabs? What about his family?” John asked, shifting his weight and the fabric to face this person more head on, not trusting him to be out of sight for a spare second.

“His family has known about me for generations, though the newer groups don’t know all the details,” he chuckled.

“...What are you.”

“Ah, that’s difficult to answer,” Hal said. “I don’t think your kind has a word for precisely what I am. For now, let’s just say I’m a spirit of sorts.”

“A spirit? Am- Wait, am I dead? Did I die when we went off the roof?” John asked, panicked suddenly. His dad would find his body and- “Fuck, how do I go home?”

“You don’t. You’re not dead, you just live here now,” Hal said simply. “I’ve brought you to my home to enjoy you for the foreseeable future.”

John gaped at him. “Wh-?”

“Humans are such fragile creatures, John. Wouldn’t you say so?” he asked. “Small things can cause their ends so quickly. Accidents, illnesses, acts of God, each other. Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to worry about that? To be able to live forever by my side?”

“I don’t even fucking know you,” John said bluntly, reaching up to adjust the fabric on his shoulder so it fell differently, feeling more and more exposed in the line of those eerily red eyes. The more he looked, the less like Dirk this person appeared in some key ways. His hair wasn’t blonde so much as almost silvery platinum, and his skin was pale as porcelain instead of sun kissed. He looked like some kind of doll, too smooth, too perfect. Too inhuman.

“Ah, formalities,” Hal said with a shake of his head, looking cockily amused that John was paying so much attention to him. “We have the world at our fingertips and you’re concerned about not knowing me immediately. I doubt you knew Dirk when you first met him, yet you came to love him, to be his beloved did you not?”

“I need to go home,” John said, rising unsteadily to his feet on the cushion. The swaths of fabric hung down to his feet almost like a dress, elegant and fitting around the right portions of his body.

“You are home, John. My home is your home now,” Hal said. “You’ll come to love it in time.”

“Where’s that fucking mushroom circle, I’m going home ,” John insisted, looking at Hal once more before glancing to the doorway and back, as if afraid he’d get attacked. Instead of looking upset, Hal gestured towards the door.

“The circle is outside in the woods near the courtyard. Shouldn’t be too hard to find. By all means, go enjoy it, it’s lovely this time of the day.”

John paled somewhat and felt his stomach flip as he backed up a few paces, then grabbed the silk cloth around his legs and lifted it in front of his feet so he could run, dashing out of the room and down a set of stairs. He was panicked, blind and deaf save for the sound of his heart hammering in his ears, a deer caught in the sight of a predator as he fled, turning left and right into different rooms and hallways of the maze-like complex. It took a while, but John made it out of the sumptuously decorated building and outside into the courtyard, manicured grass and flowers so stunning that his steps actually slowed to look at them, mesmerized. Butterflies lazily danced through the air around him, flitting from one flower to the next, lighting on an outdoor set of chairs and topiaries before taking flight again. He swatted the air in front of his face before picking up the silk and running towards a gap in the trees soon as he spotted it, following the path till he came across something familiar.

The table sat prepared for tea, same as in his dreams, packed with the same treats and drinks as before, the same that Hal had brought him. Again his stomach sang for something to eat, his parched throat for something to drink, but he needed to reach the mushrooms first. Needed to look and see for himself, needed to understand how to get home.

The circle was simple, large white mushrooms decorating a perfect circle, their tops looking almost glassy and opalescent to match with what looked like mermaid tear stones and polished glass in the grass around it. The area shimmered and shone in the light, and he could understand now why he’d gotten so overwhelmed when he first stood in it. Even standing there now with nothing happening to him it was too bright, too vivid in color, too hyper-realistic. 4D in the 3D realm.

Notably, though, he wasn’t going home. The mushrooms were mushrooms, there was no button to push, no magic circle lighting up at his presence. He tried saying “HOME” loudly and clearly as if the command would do something. He recited his address. He said his name. He begged. He pleaded.

He kicked a mushroom so hard it went flying and smashed against the trunk of a tree, and stomped to sit at the tea table. Agitated, he poured a cup of the hot liquid and drank it straight, not even caring that it somewhat burnt his throat, that it needed a bit of sugar. John rubbed his chest when it felt not only warm but uncomfortably hot for a moment, muttering to himself in annoyance. Of course he’d burn himself, it was just his fucking luck, but at least the discomfort was quickly over. He helped himself to a few raspberries and was angry at how perfect they were, how sweet, exactly ripe enough on his tongue.

The magic and mystery of these surroundings in his dreams had been interesting before when he thought he was talking with a dream Dirk, imaginary places with his lover of a world that didn’t quite make enough sense, somewhere that they could just be themselves and indulge in their fantasies. Somewhere that, till fairly recently, had felt like a welcoming space.

Groaning miserably, John sank his head into his palms and leaned on the tabletop, wracking his brain to try thinking of a way home.

“Ah, realized it doesn’t work yet?” came Hal’s voice from nearby. John lifted his head with a frown as the… whatever he was came closer, hand near the small cage necklace with its glowing blue stone, putting pressure over whatever heart he had.

“Yeah, thanks for letting me find out on my own,” he muttered. “...Why is this place so creepy?” asked John. “Where’s everyone else? The animals, even? All I’ve seen here is butterflies and you!”

“Oh, you’ll start to see them around soon enough. I thought for the first while it would be better for us to get to know each other better without much outside interference. For you to adjust to your new home.”

“This isn’t my home,” John growled aggressively, hand planting on the tabletop so he could stand more upright. “I’ll figure out how to make you understand that. I’m going home, this isn’t my home, I’m a human and you’re a… whatever you are. That thing in your head isn’t what’s happening.”

Hal gestured to the necklace he wore with a sharp smile.

“Oh. But it is, John. It is…”

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

Dirk’s phone rang early in the morning, early enough that even his meager sleep wasn’t enough to make him less groggy on the phone. He slapped at his phone a few times before rubbing his eyes and pulling it to his face. ...Hm. Okay, nine AM wasn’t that early, all things considered. But it was still pretty early for him. The number that was calling him was familiar, but rarely used.

“John? Dude, why not just call me from your phone, I’ve got a ringtone set up any everything,” he yawned.

“Dirk?”

“Oh. Sorry, Sir, I thought you were John.”

“No, no, there’s no need to be sorry,” James promised. He was quiet for a moment before speaking. “By any chance is John there with you?”

“No, he hasn’t come around today yet. Why?”

“I went to get him for breakfast and he was gone. Bed unmade, window open, windowsill damp. I’ve been up a few hours and never saw him leave anywhere, and there’s no way he’d be foolish enough to go out the window. I was wondering if he’d left late last night for some reason.”

Dirk sat up a little straighter. “No, but I’ll keep an eye out for him and call you if he turns up, okay?”

“Please, do. I’ve called his phone and it was left in his room, it’s very not like him... Dirk, he didn’t even take his shoes, they’re still on the floor.”

Dirk frowned, brows furrowing in concern. That definitely wasn’t like John. He wasn’t a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, nor was he the type to worry his dad if he could help it. He racked his brain trying to think of different places John might have gone, apparently phoneless and barefoot. “Is his wallet there?”

“Yes, it’s on his desk too. I can’t imagine where he’s disappeared to, it’s like he just vanished,” James said, voice sounding more concerned.

“Maybe he went for a walk, or sleepwalked or something,” Dirk said. “Look. Call the police and see what they say, maybe he’s at a hospital or something.”

“The hospital, oh, God, I didn’t even think-”

“Hey, it’s just a possibility, right?” Dirk said, wetting his lips. “I’ll go canvas the area near my place while you make your calls. Keep me posted?”

“Of course. Could you call some of his other friends for me while I’m talking to the police? I don’t know if I have all of their information on hand, I’m a bit frazzled.”

“Sure. You got it, Sir.”

James hanging up to get on to his calls left Dirk holding his phone, staring at it, stunned. Where would John have gone that early, barefoot and without his phone or wallet? Why would he leave his window open in this weather? None of this was making sense, and it was just making Dirk more and more anxious. He crawled out of his nest of blankets and pillows to stuff himself into a pair of jeans, already starting to call down the list of people they both knew.

An hour later and there were more questions than answers. A followup with James promised a bit of hope as police took the case as a suspicious disappearance, given the wallet and phone and shoes being left behind. Yet, even that didn’t help quell Dirk’ upset stomach. Nobody knew anything. Nobody had heard from John since he’d been online the night before, and even then it had been brief. He’d been tired apparently, wanting to go to bed at a decent-ish time for John. There’d been no suspicious activities, no strange questions or out of character discussions.

John was regular, normal, everyday John, and it had just been another night as far as anyone was concerned.

Dirk spent the day checking his neighborhood, different haunts they had. Different places they’d gone on dates, or to hang out outdoors. He even went to the woods to check around where they’d found salamanders before, to no luck. By evening, with still no leads, he made his way home and started searching online.

On so little sleep, it was limited in what he’d be able to do beyond what he’d already done, the information he’d already given the police being more than they’d expected from a single person. He yawned as he typed, debating coffee to get a few more hours of awake time with a clear head, but soon decided against it. What use would he be strung out on caffeine and exhausted? What more could he do tonight? Very little.

Regretfully, almost against his will, Dirk made himself sleep that night by sheer force of will. He took his shades off and flung himself back into his bed, tossing and turning for hours till, at last, sleep took him.

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

John stared uneasily at Hal’s necklace, sensing something… off from it. Menacing in the way it glowed. But. Had it been glowing earlier? He couldn’t recall, but some part of him was sure that if he saw a glowing thing in a little silver cage he’d remember it. It felt threatening, but John wasn’t certain how much was coming from Hal himself and how much was coming from that soft blue glow at his neck.

“Look familiar?” Hal asked, rattling the cage gently. Something in John’s chest stirred and he swallowed hard. “Or are you going to be left in the dark, little hummingbird of mine?”

Hummingbird? John opened his mouth to complain, to question the nickname suddenly bestowed on him, when Hal clasped the cage in his fist and squeezed. The strange feeling in his chest amplified, and with it, nausea. Panic. He put his hands on his throat and wheezed, suddenly terrified. Asthma attack? He hadn’t had one of those since he was a kid! Why now? Why couldn’t he seem to get enough air in every pull?

“Humans are really so fragile,” Hal said, either ignoring or ignorant of John’s predicament entirely. “So simple, as well… Then again, that’s what happens when knowledge of the beyond isn’t taught like it used to be. Simple things. Don’t go in mushroom circles. Don’t name the darkness. Don’t give your true name to some creatures… don’t eat the food,” he hummed, lifting a brow as John began to cough and wheeze harder. He released his fist, and just as quickly as it had begun, John’s discomfort ended.

John gulped fresh air in heavy gasps, not wanting to be without it anymore in case anything else happened to come up and disrupt his airways.

Wait.

Don’t eat the food?

“You’d think that Dirk would at least have had the interests in protecting his own lover from creatures like myself, but no, even he’s negligent,” Hal said, gently rattling the glowing marble in its cage. John felt like his heart was shuddering, and suddenly he realized he couldn’t look away from the light within that silvery cage.

“...What are you doing to me,” John asked, voice shaking. “I know it’s you causing this, what are you doing to me!”

“Doing? Doing. What am I doing,” he asked, curling his fingers gently around the cage again. Instead of squeezing though, he stroked gently at the cage. “I’m playing with my new favorite trinket, John. I think you’ve had it just about long enough, it’s my turn to play with it for the next while. You’ve no need for it here in the world beyond the mortal plane anyway,” he sniffed.

John wet his lips. “What’s your new trinket, Hal.”

“Something that belongs to me, now that you’ve bonded with this world,” he said with a grin. “I thought I’d have to trick you into eating my food here, but no, you did it all on your own.”

John’s stomach plummeted. “Is. ...Is that my-”

“Soul? Oh yes. Funny how small it is, isn’t it? When you condense a soul it becomes perfectly portable like this,” he chuckled. “I’ve collected others over the years, of course, but yours is the prettiest color yet once it finished transferring over... I was worried it would change colors once you gave it up, but no. It’s the same enchanting blue as your eyes.”

Without thinking, John lunged forwards to try snatching the necklace from Hal, scrabbling to catch it till his wrists were caught and squeezed so hard he could feel the bones creaking from the compression. His fingertips went numb, and his joints screamed for release till even he was crying out and trying to retract his hands.

“Let go!”

Hal got close to his face, turned his head and went to his neck instead to take a deep inhaled sniff of his scent before laying a chilly kiss on the skin. “You’ll come to love me soon, hummingbird. Just accept your new little cage, and we can live in peace and harmony… The sooner you give up your humanity, the sooner I can give you the world itself. An entire kingdom at your feet, a new home, a new form. You could shed your human skin and become what your truly are capable of becoming. Isn’t that amazing?”

“G-get off of me,” John insisted, continuing to struggle despite the chill of fear down his back. Hal was too close to his throat, too close to too many vital points for him to relax in the slightest. “Give me that back and get off of me! I want to go home!”

Hal let go of John suddenly, shoving him backwards hard enough he collided with his chair and toppled over backwards onto the ground, silks flying awkwardly to expose him till he scrambled to cover up again and right himself upright. There were marks on his wrists, and for all the world it felt like irons rested on his skin, weighing him down. Never in his life had he felt more trapped than now. When Hal stood, it looked as if the sky darkened, but John realized it was just the butterflies coming to roost around their master’s form in a storm from all sides, thick enough to nearly blot out the sun.

“I’ll give you some time to yourself, John. Give you some more time to come to terms with what’s happening. Let you appreciate the gravity of the situation… When you’ve come to your senses, if you wish for me sooner than I return, call for me and I’ll be there.”

“I’ll never call for you, stay gone forever for all I care!” John yelled, fury boiling in his chest. He rose to his knees and picked up a glass of tea, throwing it where Hal had stood. The most he did was catch some of the butterflies, several falling to the ground with damp wings, unable to join the swirling wall that whisked away their master.

“John… Hummingbird… You’ll learn… You’ll learn just how much you should appreciate me, how much you should enjoy your new role as my bride. I’ll give you time. Even humans learn things with enough time…”

“SCREW YOU AND SCREW YOUR TIME!!”

But Hal was already gone, and now John was stuck, out of breath and enraged, at a fantasy filled tea table that had, if he understood correctly, sealed his fate. Gritting his teeth he jumped at the table, flinging things this way and that, breaking dishes and spilling liquids on the ground, throwing treats into the forest. Eventually, he summoned the same strength his father possessed and upended the tea table entirely, flipping it onto its side with the remaining settings and food. The effort left him drained physically as he was emotionally, but fuck it had felt good at the time.

He explored for a bit after this, back to the building he’d run from earlier, poking around. Hal could apparently come and go as he pleased, but he’d be away for a while. Maybe there was some clue to getting home hidden inside the walls.

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

Dirk’s eyes opened, but he wasn’t certain if he was awake or not. He couldn’t tell where things were in relation to each other, be it items in his room or the open space of some vast new world in the darkness. Form held no meaning. He could feel his stomach roil from the weightless feeling, dizzy, unsteady as if his inner ear were malfunctioning. He reached a hand out to grab his sheets, but found nothing. Instead, he reached behind himself to grasp at the headboard, knowing something solid would help with the dizzy feeling by orienting him upright. If that failed, he’d just need to roll to the floor and hug it for a second to stop feeling the sick sensation in the back of his head.

Something moved in the corner of his vision, catching Dirk’s attention instantly. A butterfly, small and blue, fluttered around in wobbly circles. It seemed to be made of energy instead of something solid, no sign of its legs or antennae, the fluttering mechanical and fake the closer he looked at it. He tried to walk towards it, but his feet wouldn’t connect with the floor, so instead, assuming it was a dream, he made swimming motions till he propelled forwards. Up close the butterfly flickered and flashed before turning to tongues of blue flame, flapping for all they were worth.

The flame, suddenly, was caught up in a cage and pulled backwards from Dirk’s face. The cage was massive, but shrank and shrank until there was hardly anything left of it to be seen aside from the unmistakable silvery shape.

A flame in a cage. Heh. Sounds like something John would come up with in one of his dreams. Dirk wondered what meaning such a dream could have, then remembered that John was actually missing, chest giving an uncomfortable ache in response.

“Dirk!”

“...John?”

Dirk perked up immediately, looking around in the darkness for any sign of new visible objects, but failed to see anything further than the strange silver cage and the blue flame.

“Dirk!” came John’s voice once more, sounding more desperate. “Please, I want to go home. I just want to go home!”

“John! John, where are you?!”

It was pointless to scream, if this was a dream. ...But maybe, just maybe, there was something to dreams after all. What if John was right? What if this was the once in a lifetime chance where a dream really was prophetic? What if John was hurt somewhere, scared and alone, and this was a clue? It made no logical sense, it was so illogical it made Dirk’s head pound, but he shouted all the same.

Any chance was better than no chance.

“I’m scared! I’m scared, what are you?!”

Dirk stopped breathing. ‘What are you?’ Was that what he’d said? Not where are you but what are you. He was scared. He was scared of something, of something an-

“Dirk, help!” shouted a voice overlapped with Johns, which once more gave Dirk pause. It was… his own voice?

“John? I-. ...John, what’s going on?”

“Heeeeelp~” said Dirk’s doppelganger voice in the darkness, before it broke down into a laugh like breaking glass. A face appeared above the silvery cage, then shoulders, a full body, pale and terrifying wrapped in red silks, face accented with red marks on the outside edges of piercingly cold eyes. The figure was smoking from a long pipe, trails of rich red smoke swirling around its body and up into the air. On its back were butterfly wings, massive and decorated with large, striking eye spots that seemed to shimmer when they flapped slowly.

“Who in the fuck- ” started Dirk, before he was interrupted once more.

“Really, Dirk, you finally see me for yourself and that’s all you can say…? Your family’s more pathetic than I thought, if their youngest doesn’t know what I look like,” he said. “My handsome face should haunt all of your dreams from the first to the last so I can eat all your delicious nightmares like candy. And all you can say is ‘Who in the fuck are you’,” he added mockingly.

It took a moment for Dirk to catch on, but when he did his blood ran ice cold. Hal. This was Hal. This was the dream eater he’d been warned about, the spirit who could ensnare wayward sleepers, the soul drainer. The creature that looked unnervingly like the face he saw in the mirror every morning.

“Hal,” he breathed. Then, an instant later, “JOHN-”

“Is safe and sound with someone who’ll take good good care of him,” Hal said with a wicked grin, taking a leisurely step into the darkness as if he were walking on pitch black water instead of being stuck floating and swimming like Dirk was, a swimmer without surface tension to work against.

“Let him go, Hal.”

“Mmm… You make such a good argument, but...” Another drag on the pipe and Hal exhaled another puff of the thick red smoke, perfumed and enchanting. “No.”

Dirk tried to mimic him to take a step, but was stuck floundering and flailing in the darkness as Hal walked around him in slow, lazy circles. “Hal, I swear to fuck, let him go. Don’t you have business with my family? Why not target me? Why target John?”

“My hummingbird is inconsequential to the eventual extinction of your family line,” Hal said. “A lovely trinket all my own to savor and enjoy. Tell me, Dirk. Once a human stops being human, do you think they become less or more beautiful?”

Dirk tried to grasp Hal’s leg, but was disappointed when his hand went right through him. He may as well be talking to a mirage, this was his natural realm of dreams after all, the rules weren’t the same.

“I’ll tell you. They become something spectacular, something humans fear naturally, subdued creatures that you are. I can’t wait to pick him apart and put him back together again for eternity.” Hal smiled and crouched down in front of Dirk, grinning, showing too many teeth. “...Would you like to see that? Have sweet dreams of my hummingbird each night? I could show you everything I plan to do to him starting tonight, if you wish.”

“Don’t you fucking dare , don’t touch him, don’t do anything to him!” growled Dirk, swiping at Hal’s body again and again. “Come on, if you want a fight, I’ll bring a fight to you! That’s what you want, right? My family line, something about my family line, it-”

“Something!” crowed Hal. “Oh that’s rich , you’re wanting to play Prince Charming and rescue your beau but you don’t even know what it is your family means to me! You’ve a deathwish, Dirk, mind that pretty head of yours.”

“I don’t care if I have a deathwish, better me than John being your… Your plaything,” hissed Dirk, continuing to swat in vain at the mirage figure in front of him.

Hal reached out and grasped Dirk’s hair then, suddenly very solid and very much a threat.

“Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, boy, your goal is worthless. Pointless. John is mine, and will remain mine. He’s broken a golden rule, and not even you can fix that,” he said in a soft hiss. He took another drag from his pipe before suddenly turning it, shoving the heated end against the flesh of Dirk’s neck with a crisp sizzle sound.

Dirk screamed in pain… and sat bolt upright in bed, wild eyed and drenched in chilled sweat. His heart was hammering in his ears, and he could still feel the burning on his neck. He reached up to slap the site of the pain and winced, retracting his hand a half second after impact. A burn. A real, honest to God burn lay on his nape, melding the dream world and reality in ways that, on any other given day, Dirk would have assumed was an impossible way.

He’d heard the family stories, but they were just that, he assumed: stories. Fairytales. Folktales passed down through the family and altered through the generations, not this… this thing. Dirk had assumed Hal was his family’s boogeyman, meant to keep children afraid to step out of line.

The real thing was much, much more terrifying than some monster in the closet.

Dirk scrambled out of bed to get dressed in fresh clothes, trying to wrack his brain for whatever else he could remember his family telling him. Stories. Rhymes. Fairytales. Fuck, what else was real? Ghosts? Vampires? Fucking Bigfoot and Mothman? Maybe Little Red Riding Hood was gonna turn up and beat the shit out of a wolf or something the second he turned his back.

No, no, that was stupid. Focus.

Hal. What did he know about Hal. Dream eater. Dropping your guard could invite him. Things to avoid ran through his mind, the things drilled into his mind by his brother, ranging from giving up true names in the past, something about salt, or milk and bread, to not standing in mushroom circles and-

… Mushroom circles.

Mushroom circles were portals between worlds. There was no way John was taken through dreams alone, his body would have been left behind. If he went somewhere, it had to be physically. There had to be a mushroom circle somewhere nearby. Shoving his feet into his shoes, Dirk ran as fast as his feet could carry him to the woods near John’s home, looking high and low for any signs of circles in the dirt.

When he finally spotted the white mushrooms gaily arranged in their near perfect circle a hop skip and a jump away from a stand of trees, he wanted to shout with relief as he jumped inside to stand, prepared for what came. He’d get there and get John and…

And…

Fuck, what was he going to do? How was he going to defeat Hal? He could remember some of the things faeries were apparently weak against, or that they hated, but would they really work against a spirit like Hal that ate dreams and drained souls? It would be like trying to use mosquito spray against an angry polar bear. He was essentially going to be turning up bare handed to try getting John back, and yet even when he thought about it he was hard struck to think of anything he really could have brought that would prepare him better. A normal weapon wasn’t much use in a world where the rules weren’t the same.

Maybe, if he was lucky, he could take a note from the fairytales and use his wits to his advantage.

Dirk was still weighing his options when the surroundings suddenly went blurry, colors running together like wet on wet watercolor gone berserk. He felt nauseated once again, same as he had in his earlier dream, as butterflies began to emerge from the swatches of color and swarm him. Things went dark for a moment in the cloud, Dirk with his arms up to guard his face from the thousands of wings, worried he wouldn’t be able to breathe safely with all the insects flapping about. When they brightened, Dirk dropped down to his knees and promptly threw up outside of the circle.

He shook for a moment before slowly getting back to his feet, wiping his mouth with his forearm. Ugh. Not the best way to make a dramatic appearance, that was for sure.

The forest air was warm, inviting, comfortable enough to sleep in. Leaving behind the mess and the oddly damaged looking mushroom circle, Dirk advanced till he found the ruins of the tea party nearby, then hurried his steps even further beyond when buildings appeared in the distance. No, not buildings, a single splendid compound of topiaries and butterfly gardens, high arching architecture and brightly colored stained glass windows. A castle in its own right, it lay unguarded, an open invitation for Dirk.

“JOHN?” he shouted. There was no point for secrecy. He’d essentially been invited, Hal no doubt knew his home had been invaded. The only reason Dirk was here to begin with was John, and somehow, something in his heart told him he was nearby.

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

John had searched every single room he could manage to open the door of from top to bottom. He’d discovered a large kitchen, a library, tons of living quarters ranging from servants rooms to grand suites, and even a music room. He’d found treasures that were no doubt either real or imaginary made real like everything else in this creepy ass fantasyland, and yet he had no interest in touching them or looking them over. Aladdin’s Cave of Wonders struck in his memory, touching the treasure and becoming trapped forever, but it would be overkill even if it were true.

Best not to fuck with the powers that be and get Double Screwed, John decided.

He was about to give up and find somewhere to curl up and wait out a growing headache when he heard his name being called. He grimaced, wrinkling his nose automatically. It sounded like Hal. ...But, wait. If it was Hal, wouldn’t he just appear and do his usual creepy advances and actions? He couldn’t imagine that… that thing doing anything normal like calling for him from a distance instead of just appearing behind him like something out of a B grade movie or teleportation meme. That meant-

“DIRK?” John called, freezing, waiting. Listening. Hoping. Prayi-

“JOHN. DON’T MOVE, I’M COMING!”

Holy fuck.

Holy fucking shit, it was Dirk. It was Dirk, and he was here and he was going to get to go home, and-

“FUCK YOUR NOT MOVING, I’M COMING TOO!” John shouted, already grabbing hold of his silks so he could lift them and run in the direction of Dirk’s voice, taking stairs two at a time as he tried to guesstimate where the shouting was coming from.

“NO, STAY STILL GOD DAMN IT, I’LL BE THERE IN A SECOND.”

Yep. That was definitely Dirk.

“SCREW YOU,” John shouted back, happy enough he could cry.

They reconnected at the foot of a set of stairs, John jumping the last four steps to all but tackle Dirk head first to the ground. Winded but satisfied, Dirk didn’t have a word of complaint. He just grabbed John tight around the middle and squeezed him, head bowed to his shoulder.

“Jesus fuck, don’t ever scare me like that again,” he insisted. “Come on, we’ve gotta get you home, your Dad’s losing his goddamn mind worrying about you and the cops are already-”

“The police??” John said, startled. He figured his dad was upset, but the cops? Holy shit, this was another order of extreme. “I don’t.. I don’t know how to get back,” admitted John. “I tried the mushroom circle I got here through and it didn’t work.”

“We’ll figure it out, maybe it’ll work now that I’m here,” Dirk said. “I managed to come through on my own, without assistance. So. Maybe it-”

“That’s not all,” John admitted, worrying his lip with his large teeth. “It’s. ..Dirk, I fucked up,” he croaked.

“Fucked up?”

“I. I ate something. And drank something,” he said. “I was frustrated and thirsty and crammed something in my mouth after drinking tea like in my dream and. ...Dirk, I fucked up bad, I don’t know how I’m going to leave. He’s got my-”

“Shhhhhh. We’ll figure it out, okay? I promise,” Dirk soothed, squeezing John again. “For now, get off me. We’ll go back to the mushroom circle and see if we can get anything to happen, then we can look for-”

“For me?” Hal asked, strolling in from outdoors. “Lovely weather we’re having. Though it does seem to have brought the pests in from outside,” he sniffed, taking a drag on the same pipe that had marked Dirk’s neck earlier. Dirk flinched instinctively when he saw it as if it would burn him once more, remembering the sizzle of flesh, the heat.

John glowered and pointed to him. “He’s got… Dirk I think he’s got my soul.”

“You think?” Hal said, gesturing to his necklace after blowing a smoke ring. “I squeeze the air from your lungs, and you think I have your soul? You’re lucky you’re attractive, John.”

Dirk shuffled to get up from the ground, standing between John and Hal pointedly, looking for all intents and purposes ready to fist fight. “Let him go.”

“No, but nice form with the asking. Nicely enunciated and everything,” Hal chuckled.

“ Let him go, Hal, ” Dirk said pointedly again. “What do you want? A trade?”

“I don’t do trades, human. Rarely do things I want end up on trades, which means I’d be doing you a favor. We don’t do favors unless there’s something spectacular in it for us,” Hal explained. “I have his soul fair and square in this case, even if he got here originally under different means. Nobody forced him to eat my food, and yet he ate and drank. He’s bonded here now, Dirk. ...Look at him closely. Don’t you already see some changes?” Hal asked, holding one elbow so he could smoke while Dirk panicked and looked towards John as he sat up and slowly stood.

From the outside, John looked normal. Scared and stressed out, but normal. It took real hunting to notice the new tips to his ears, to notice the faint glow to the eyes. Dirk held John’s face in his hands, tracing the edges of his jaw with his thumbs to try soothing the growing terror he saw on John’s face once recognition set in that there were changes he couldn’t detect on his own but that Dirk himself saw.

“He’ll stay here now,” Hal said simply. “I’ll take good care of him, my precious little hummingbird. I had plans to keep him here anyway, but once he broke a golden rule it was more of a self fulfilling prophecy in itself. I don’t make the golden rules, I merely abide by them when they align with what I’m after.”

“...What about a bargain,” Dirk said. “Me for him.”

“I can’t accept a trade, once he’s broken a golden rule. Bargains, mayhaps. But not a trade unless the boon suits me.”

Dirk wet his lips, and racked his brain. Think. Think, think, think, think, what did spirits like? Winning, gambling, bargains, rule-

“...How much did he eat and drink.”

“Enough.”

“I remember Persephone was kept in the Underworld for a translated amount of how many pomegranate seeds she’d eaten. A set number of months,” Dirk said, uncertainly at first then with more confidence when Hal fixed him with a poisonous glare. “ How many months worth did John eat and drink.”

Hal gripped his pipe hard enough that the metal bent before dropping it to the side. Slowly but surely, he allowed his appearance to change, his wings emerging and the red markings reappearing on his face. He fluttered softly off the ground in order to get into Dirk’s face, all but growling at him.

“Are you proud of yourself, boy? Proud for remembering stories? For picking apart minute details to find the needle in the hay stack?”

“How many months, Hal,” Dirk said, unflinching.

“Six, at least,” insisted Hal. “Perhaps more.”

“Six months a year,” Dirk said, wetting his lips. “No less?”

“He drank and ate, you’re lucky I don’t just keep him forever for eating anything at all. Those changes won’t disappear,” Hal said, continuing to stare Dirk down intently, waiting for him to flinch. “Your neck. How much does it ache? I bet it burns something awful. Pity, I fear such a thing would be permanent.”

“Six months. ...John. This is a very serious question. Can you handle six months in and out, if it means getting out at all?” Dirk asked, unwavering.

John could only stare. Was he serious? He laughed a few times before it quieted down in his throat, John realizing that nobody else was laughing. This wasn’t funny. This wasn’t a joke. This was dead serious.

“...If it’s the only way, I can,” John said.

“Let him go, Hal. Collect him in six months,” Dirk said.

“Why should I?” he snapped, fluttering away to round on John, curling around his back and grasping his chin with one hand, his free hand picking up his necklace with the softly glowing marble inside. “He’s mine right now, why should I give him up a day sooner than six months? Why should I go second when he’s already here ?”

“...Because it would make me like you more,” John piped up, going rigid in Hal’s grasp. “That’s what you want, right? For me to like you? I’d like you more if you gave me this chance to get my affairs in order instead of just letting people think I’m dead for half a year. I can’t do that to my father. If you actually care about me at all, you’ll do that for me. And in six months I’ll come back to you.”

Hal frowned. John had a point, and he hated it. As wonderful as it would be to greedily keep him here the six months before returning him, gaining favor with his new human would be a boon.

“Tempting. But I’m already at my limits from allowing you to leave at all. Make the pot a bit sweeter. Your liking me is good, but it’s not enough of a gain to take the bargain out of hand.”

“He’ll be away from me for six months at a time, isn’t that a good enough bargain for you?” Dirk spat. “What better revenge than to hurt me at the same time as making him happy?”

The pot was sweetened just enough to interest Hal in opening the other side of the portal.

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

John’s reappearance had been a cause for celebration as much as it was then a cause for tears. Though still a bit confused, James was accepting of John’s explanation of why he’d be all but disappearing in a few months once more, on the grounds that he’d be okay upon returning. That he could handle what was happening. They had promises from Hal about visitations in dreams between father and son that would, hopefully, quell some of the heartache. Any dreams Dirk could have about John would be merely that: dreams of his own making. It was a heavy price, but it had gained John a bit of freedom in a position where he might have had none.

On the day John was set to leave, butterflies awaited them at the mushroom circle, as well as their master dressed in casual human clothes that looked eerily like the outfit Dirk was wearing that day down to the pointy shades. John’s father hugged him so hard he was sure his ribs would pop, not wanting to let his baby boy go till the last possible moment. When he did, it was Dirk’s turn, holding John gently. They’d already said their goodbyes, had made the most of the six months while they could, but it was still a bittersweet parting.

“I’ll be right here in six months, waiting for you,” Dirk said softly. “I’ll dream about you every night.”

“I know,” John said quietly, nudging his chin onto Dirk’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry this happened, John… If I’d just listened to the stupid stories, then-”

“Don’t. We’ve already been over this, you can’t kick yourself for things that aren’t your fault. I’ll kick your ass before I leave and kick it again in six months because I know you’ll have moped over it again,” he chuckled.

“While we’re young?” Hal said. “Are you quite done? I’ve a castle worth of beings to introduce you to and we’re burning dreamlight.”

John squeezed Dirk once more before leaning up to kiss him, pulling back with a grin. “Six months.”

“Six months,” repeated Dirk. “And not a fucking day longer or I’ll come and drag you back myself.”

Slowly they parted, and with his bag on his back, John headed towards Hal and the circle. Hal reached for John’s hand and clasped it tightly for no other reason than to piss off Dirk, pettily delighting in the frown it earned him. They entered the circle and waited… and then were gone.

James breathed out softly and stared.

“You know, you boys explained everything to me and I still half believed it was a prank til the last second. ...He’ll really be back in six months, right?”

“Of course he will. And if not, I’ll get him myself, like I said.”

The two stood there looking at the circle, already feeling their loss.

It was going to be a long six months, and an even longer lifetime afterwards of adjusting to what lay in store for John.

#johndirk #dirkjohn #johnhal #homestuck #my fic

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wcmi-22 · 4 years

Text

Lovely day for a picnic with a Mad man!

It was a lovely spring day in Wonderland. All the birds were singing with glee, all the children were playing in the park and may people were out and about enjoying the beautiful weather. This gave one petite blonde named Alice Liddell an idea for what she wanted to do on her day off. So the little blonde dressed in a lovely long white collared shirt with an even lovelier sky blue shirt and holding it together was stylish black lace and brown belt. She even decided to try that hairstyle Ariel had suggested to her as well.

(Sorry the second picture looks so rough!!!! But you guys get it Alice looks adorable)

She then gather her picnic basket along with the yummy cucumber sandwiches, tea, crumpets, for the basket,her red and white checkered blanket and best of all her book of poems that she simply could not put down.

Once she has all her stuff together, she finally shuts her front door and walks toward the park. Once she arrives, she notices both the beauty and the various people all gathered around the area. Some were flying kites while others fed the ducks, walk their dogs or even watched their children play on the play ground. Some of them even decided to picnic just like Alice. Which lead to a great dilemma, finding a spot.

Though Alice had been to many a year party and social affairs before in London but, when it came down to it, she was not a very social person. In fact every time she tried to be, she acted shy and quiet to the point no one could hear her. Still she was determined to do better and she was determined to get a spot!

As she looked around for a nice spot, suddenly she saw once again the bimbettes staring at her and talking about her as she went by.

“Is that the Hatter’s girlfriend?” One of them in a red dress asked.

“I believe so, can you believe her?” Said another one in the green dress.

“I know! What kind of woman hangs out with such a freak like him?” Said the one in the yellow dress.

“Another freak obviously!”

Though they thought Alice could not hear them, however, they were sorely mistaken. Because once Alice turned around, she gave them a stern hard glare at them. In response they all turned their heads simultaneously to the opposite of Alice who kept on walking away until finally she found a lovely little spot under a large oak tree with a perfect view of the lake.

There she set up her picnic and placed her food on a plate in front of her along with some tea then got out her book and started to read as she ate.

“Humph those bimbettes!” She started to think to herself. “Who do they have think they are? Having the right to judge people and their lives!? At least Reginald pays attention to me even though I don’t want him to but they can’t even get Gaston to notice them! And besides Reginald isn’t that bad!”

Suddenly, she realized what she had thought and shook her head to help her go back to her senses.

She soon forgot about the bimbettes and kept reading as she enjoyed her cucumber sandwiches that is until a oh so familiar voice called to her.

“Oh Cricket!” it shouted. Low and behold right down the hill was none other than the mad man himself, Reginald Leopold Theophilus the Third.He wore his signature green hat along with his orange overcoat, blue vest over his white collared shirt, long green pants with matching abnormally large shoes. He had in his hand a rather unusual picnic basket to say the least. In fact it wasn’t even brown like normal baskets were, it was teal with strange green and pink swirls all over it with a plum purple blanket in the inside of it appearing out of it as well.

“Oh no!” Alice thought to herself “Not him! Not today, Lord!”

Though Alice wanted to run away but sadly, it was too late because he had already managed to gallup up the hill and to her area.

“Lovely day isn’t it, cricket?” He says as he sets up his area right next to hers.

“Reginald!” Alice said sternly.

“Yes, dear cricket?” He says.

“Your being awfully rude you know!”

“Really?” Reginald questioned “How so?”

“I did not give you permission to place your blanket next to mine nor in my area!” She explained indignantly.

“It’s a free park!” Reginald explains “All the areas here are free for everyone,cricket!”

Alice only rolled her eyes at his explanation.

“But I suppose if it will make you feel better,” he says and clears his throat. “Pardon me, Miss Liddell,” he starts to ask in his most dignified voice “but may I please have the honor of sitting near your presence for the time being?”

This made Alice both shocked about how he called her Miss Liddell and a little bit annoyed about how he made fun of it.

“Or shall I be banished from this country all together?” He asks giving her a puppy dog pout.

All Alice could do was sigh, roll her eyes and say “oh alright!” Followed by a “you may stay!”

The Mad Hatter quickly day on his blanket and got out his food which surprisingly, looked quite delicious considering how mad he was about combining food. Alice even saw him one time put ketchup on his Macaroni and cheese at one of Ear’s tea parties. The thought of that memory disgusted her beyond measure.

As she gazed at his food, she noticed something rather odd! Not only did he have crumpets, earl grey tea, honey and scones, but he also had a plate of celery, peanut butter and three boxes of raisins.

She then watches as Reginald gets out a butter knife, digs into the peanut butter and places said peanut butter on each celery stick.

If that weren’t bad enough, he opens a box of raisins and sprinkles them on top of the peanut butter covered celery sticks.

Then he proceeded to take one from his plate and munch on it with all his might.

This made Alice almost sick to her stomach just to watch him eat this weird concoction he made up.

Son Reginald notices Alice watching him and swallows his snack before lifting his plate of raisin and peanut butter covered celery sticks to her.

“Want one, Cricket?” He asks smiling his toothy smile.

Alice simply humphed and said “no thank you Mr. Theophilus!”

“The Third!” He interjected before putting down his plate.

“Besides how can you eat such a odd meal such as that?!” Alice states in disgust.

“What this?”Reginald says pointing to his plate. “Why it’s only ants on a log!”

“Ants on a what now?”

“Ants on a log, my grandmother used to make me these as an after school snack when I was a boy,” he explained “they are both delicious and nutritious!”

Reginald soon picks up another one of the celery stick and crunches into it, making Alice shutter in disgust.

“Besides they have to be better than those plain cucumber sandwiches your eating there, love!” He states pointing to her plate of small sandwiches.

“They certainly are not!” Alice interjected. “I had these all the time at tea parties when I was a girl and they were delicious and best of all less messy than your silly little snack!”

“Well,” he says finishing his stick “ how do you know if you don’t like them if you don’t try them, Cricket?!” He mocks.

“Well,” she says flustered “how do you know if you don’t like my sandwiches if you don’t try them too!” Alice mocks back.

Soon, Reginald taps his mouth with a napkin, lifts his plate and serves it to Alice.

“Care to put your money where your mouth is then, my little tea cake?!” He smirks with a Cheshire grin.

“What?!” She questions.

“How about this, dear Alice! If you try my celery sticks and I have one of your sandwiches, we will both see who is right and who is chicken!” He states. “Whoever can eat the others snack without hesitation wins!”

“And wins what exactly?” Alice asks.

Reginald then thought for a moment until finally, a brilliant idea came on in his brain.

“If I win, you have to let me combine my picnic with your picnic and spend the rest of the time here with me!” He states.

“And if you lose?” Alice asks with her arms folded across her chest.

“I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the week!” He says.

Of course, Alice isn’t one to gamble but not having Reginald bother her for a week was just too good to pass on.

“You got yourself a deal!” She says and shakes Reginald’s hand.

Both soon got a piece of each other’s snack and looked at each other.

“Ok,” Reginald says “ladies first!”

Alice gulps then lifts the peanut butter And raisin covered celery up to her mouth. Her hand is shaking, she looks to Reginald who smirks his devilish smirk as he watches her.

“Ugh I can’t do it!” She yells and puts it down.

Soon Reginald takes the sandwich in his hands and before Alice knew it, eats it whole with no hesitation what so ever.

He victoriously pats his mouth with a napkin and gives another smirk to Alice.

“I guess this means I win, Cricket!” He states mockingly.

Alice was shocked at how easily he ate it “But..but ....but how? You said...”

“I said they were plain to me,” he states fixing up his picnic to mix with hers “ I never said I never had one!”

“YOU....YOU CHEATED!YOU REPTILE,YOU YOU UNHOLY NEANDERTHAL!!!!”Alice exclaims in anger.

“No I didn’t, Cricket!” Reginald states “All I said was if you try my celery sticks and I have one of your sandwiches, we will both see who is right and who is chicken!”

“I...I..” Alice started to say until she realized there was nothing to be done. After all, her father had always said to never back out of a promise that you make to someone. Although in this case, she wished she could.

Through out the picnic, though at first it was a little awkward, eventually it became quite pleasant when Reginald and Alice talked about her poetry book.

“Well personally, my favorite author would be Oscar Wilde because of my heritage.” Reginald said lying on the blanket next to her with his hat over his face and his arms behind his head.

“Wait your Irish?!”Alice said surprised.

“Yes,”Reginald says “and Scottish so by the time I get to heaven I’ll probably see my ancestors in the middle of a fight between clans.”

Alice laughed at the though of both his family’s battling it out on those fluffy clouds with their brogue accents.

“So, can you speak Celtic and Gaelic then?” Alice asked.

“Eh a little here and there depending on which one I do!” He says.

“Which one do you speak better in?”

“Well,” he says sitting up from his former position. “ I do remember a few words in Scottish Gaelic .”

“Could you speak some!” Alice said excitedly until she gains her composure “um please.” She responds dignified once more.

“Well,” the Hatter says blushing at her excitement “Alright!”

Reginald then thinks for a moment then finds the right words to say, clears his throat and says “tha gaol agam air mo nighean blonde.”

“What does that mean?” Alice said confused.

“It means I love my blonde lass, my dear cricket!” He says smiling with his goofy smile at Alice who is blushing. They gaze at each other as they sat there in silence that is until

Alice sees the sun is setting and quickly gets up.

“OHDEARLOOKATTHETIMEIBESTBEGOING!” She says in a panic as she picks up all her things “ WELL LOVELY PICNIC MR.THEOPHILUS!”

“The third!” Reginald interjects.

They soon shake hands and Alice leaves Reginald on the hill at his own private picnic and as she walked away she hears in the distance “I had a good time mo nighean blonde!” Still she does not look back but merely walks away.

Back at her estate, she tries ever so hard to gain her composure of the events that occurred.

“We have discussed this Alice!” She scolded herself. “He is not right for you! He’s silly and delusional and and and...” suddenly those words he said in the robust Scottish brogue filled her head again.

“Oh curse that Scottish accent!” She says to herself and goes into the kitchen and washes the dishes, along with her sense,for the rest of the evening.

The End

#WCMI When Curiosity Met Insanity #when curiosity met insanity #WCMI #alice liddell #Reginald Theophilus the third

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heartofsnark · 4 years

Text

Black Market Wonderland (Chapter Eight): Here Comes The Sun

Notes: After 9000000000 Years Tsuneko returns, sorry for the break, I’d say it won’t happen again but it will. I know me, sometimes I try to write and my brain says no, you won’t be doing that. Plus, grad school and internship and everything else that is life. I have three chapters written, including this and I also have a new series I’ve been working on. So, i promise Snarky is writing.

Word Count: 11, 621

Warnings: Angst (is that even a warning here, like everything is sad man), mamo is a gross man who eats garbage, lying and cursing?

Missed the last chapter? Link Here!

She saw the man beneath the Mad Hatter costume. For just the briefest second, she saw him. There and gone within a blink of an eye. She could almost convince herself that it didn’t happen, that it was a shadow or a weird flicker of light, she’s tired and seeing things, but she knows better. Any hope of reforming that odd connection they had before has been dashed now that she’s seen the human beneath the costume.

One look at his panic-stricken expression and she can’t see him as anything other than painfully human. He may still be disconnected from her life and the world outside of Wonderland, but he’s not as far removed from reality as she once thought.

And that’s for the best. Seeing him as anything less was wrong, she knows that.

But, what does she do now?

She drums her fingers along the box of pastries, biting her lip, trying to figure out her next step. He doesn’t seem fond of the idea of her seeing him like this, he ran away for god’s sake. Following along with it would be easy, write a note, put the cupcakes down and pretend she never saw him.

Is that for the best, though?

Hiding away from reality, from everyone, and hiding behind a character. That’s not healthy. It can’t be. Granted, Tsuneko is far from the authority on mental health and maybe she’s in no place to help anyone else, but…

Ignoring would be bad, she’s saying ignoring is bad.

Being delicate isn’t her strong suit, her approach to life is more akin to a bull in a china shop. But, ambushing the Hatter with reality doesn’t strike her as the greatest idea. He seems fragile, to say the least, the proverbial china she’s trying not to break.

She strengthens her resolve with a deep breath and takes the few steps towards his bedroom door, knocking on it. There’s a small sound of rustling, like he’s panicking. Tsuneko chews her lip for a moment before she speaks.

“Hey…are you a friend of the Hatter?’

She gives him an out. It’s not avoiding it, but she’s giving him a chance. He has the choice, play along or tell the truth. She’ll meet him where he’s at. The door opens just a small crack and heat floods her face and a small noise of exclamation catches in her throat as she gets a second good look at the Hatter.

He’s adorable. Ridiculously so. Big dark doe eyes that widen at the sight of her. Thick glossy black hair just starting to dry. His facial features are soft and delicate for a man, his skin is not as ghostly white as the Hatter costume, but he’s pale enough that she can see a few faint traces of blue veins.

“I’m…a friend of the Hatter,” he finally says, the voice is the same but softer. The flamboyance and vigor of the Hatter has been replaced by shyness and uncertainty.

A part of her is disappointed that he takes the out. But patience is a virtue that she desperately needs to work on. Considering how it wasn’t that long ago that she was yelling at him, she can’t be shocked that he’s not ready to be vulnerable with her.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she offers, but he doesn’t seem any more comfortable, he seems desperate to hide back in the bedroom.

His eyes shift downward to the side, not meeting her gaze for a moment longer. For a moment his mouth gapes open, but no words come out, stuck in his throat despite how clear it is he has something he wants to say. A soft bite to his lip before his whisper of a voice meets her ears again.

“What…what are you doing here?”

There’s a tremble to his voice and she wonders for a moment if this is normal for him, or if her tirade from before has made him more fearful of her.

“Oh, uh, I actually wanted to talk to the Hatter…to apologize. I, kinda snapped at him the other day and said a lot of stuff I didn’t mean to.”

“Oh…”

“I, uh, brought lemon chiffon cupcakes for him, figured might make him feel better. I’m, uh sure, he wouldn’t mind if you had some, if you want ‘em.”

She’s rambling. She knows she’s rambling, why isn’t her mouth stopping, who made her like this?

“I mean, I don’t know if you two have the same taste or whatever, but who doesn’t like cupcakes, so-”

“I’ll….,” his whisper makes her shut up, “let him know you stopped by.”

“Okay, uh, I’ll leave the cupcakes on the table, for whoever wants them.”

The hint of a soft smile pulls at his lips and it feels like she’s seen a new plushie, every fiber of her being screaming at her to hug him and coo over how cute he is.

“Night, Alice…”

His whispers again, before shutting the door. She takes a deep breath and puts the cupcakes out on the table, this isn’t exactly how she wanted this to go. But, given the situation, she’s not sure what else she can do.

A more proper talk or apology would have eased the tension tight in her chest. The cool air does nothing to soothe her as she makes her way back to her dorm. It’s late and the dormitory is desolate, it seems like by the time she returns every night the building has become a ghost town.

Since she’s been working at the hotel, her only constant companion has been Kiyo, which is her own fault. She’s kept people at a distance. The Hatter has locked himself alone in Wonderland with just Cheshire to stave away loneliness. Maybe that’s why she wants to help him. She keeps telling herself time and time again that she needs to get her shit together, but then something sends her spiraling right back to that dark place.

Within the same week, she went from being determined to get out of this and get her life back on track to questioning if she should end it all within less than a week. It’s erratic. She’s stuck in her own head and destroying herself.

She lets Kiyo free roam while she grabs a shower. The hot water and steam help clear her mind, letting her relax for a moment. Her mind continuously drifts to the situation of everything. Both with the Hatter, the penthouse guests, and what comes after all of this.

A part of her wants to help the Hatter, another part of her thinks she can’t help anyone if she’s a mess herself. A part of her wants to get back into University, another part of her says it’s not worth it, just wants to end everything.

Her emotions and thoughts are constantly ricocheting and contradicting each other, she can’t seem to get a handle on what she actually wants or needs to do.

The water runs cold and she forces herself out from under it. The air is cold on her skin and she groans, running a hand over her face.

She might have been content with being a maid, the job and benefits itself are fine, but with the auctions she wants as far away from the hotel as possible.

Helping the Hatter would be nice, but she can’t. It’s not her place nor her job. Her life is in shambles, she’s in no place to play savior. Helping with a robbery is one thing, addressing his mental health is too much. She can’t get involved.

But, if she wins the bet, what does she want? Logically, she knows suicide is no answer. She knows that she doesn’t really want to die, but she can’t help thinking it’s better for everyone.

Tsuneko dries off and pulls on pajamas before leaving the bathroom. Falling back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Every time she thinks of what she wants, her brain drifts back to one childish answer.

She wants to go home. Kyushu, back to her childhood home, not dorm rooms in Tokyo. She wants a hug from her dad. But, he doesn’t know about her expulsion. He thinks she’s still in school, working on her degree. She’s avoiding talking to him for almost a year now, because she doesn’t want to tell him. Doesn’t want to disappoint him.

So much of her childhood, she talked about getting out of there, being a child, he could be proud of and she failed. Then she lied about it. Why would he want anything to do with her? She’s took her shot and missed. Now, she wants to go running back home to her dad. It’s pathetic, what if he doesn’t want anything to do with her.

Despite her ignoring, he still calls and leaves voicemails regularly, she just doesn’t answer. She’ll shoot quick texts about being busy with school, enough that he knows she’s not dead. He’s so proud of her for working so hard. If he doesn’t know, she keeps that. But, if she tells him the truth, she risks losing it, losing him. What if he hates her for it?

What is he going to tell people? His daughter who went off to become some hotshot lawyer cleans bathrooms for a living now. He’d be just as embarrassed as she is, he’d never want to talk to her again.

But is this any better?

She doesn’t know when tears started, hot and wet on her cheeks. It’s not the panicky sobs she’s had lately, a soft quiet sort of melancholy. She scrubs a hand over her eyes.

She’s been afraid of losing her dad, but she’s basically already lost him if she’s cutting him off. Hasn’t she?

There’s a tug on her hand where it hangs over the bed, Kiyo’s teeth wrapped around her fingers. Not enough to break skin or hurt, he squirms backwards trying to steal her away from her thoughts.

“What are you doing, baby boy?”

She lets him lead her by the finger, having to hunch over to do so. Kiyo takes her to his little stash of toys. It’s a mish mash of toys bought specifically for him and stuffed animals he’s decided are now his, plus whatever he’s stolen.

“Yes, I know, I got you- are those my socks?”

He excitedly let’s go of her hand to show his new toy, a pair of her socks.

“Not only are you a thief, you’re stupid enough to show me what you stole? Really, Kiyo, are you that proud of yourself?”

She makes a grab to get the socks out of his mouth, but he promptly runs off with them. Eyes still rimmed red with tears, she laughs and chases after him. Peals of laughter and Kiyo’s dooking noises fill the dorm as she runs after him. After nearly knocking into her dresser, she manages to scoop him up in her arms. He lets go of her socks and snuggles against her. Her fingers scratch over his fur as she sits down on her bed.

“You’re sick of seeing your mommy cry, aren’t you baby?”

She holds him out in front of her, he makes a soft noise and she considers that a confirmation.

“Well, I’m done throwing a pity party. If I have time to cry about it, I have time to do something about it. I’m gonna win the bet, then I’m biting the bullet and coming clean about everything to my dad. Then I’m gonna get to work to actually change my life.”

He makes an excited dooking noise, the sound of it strengthens her resolve even more.

“I’ll go in early tomorrow, to ask Kenzaki about looking at security footage, get the information from the Hatter, and have a proper talk. I’m not gonna get too involved, but I’m not gonna keep anymore distance than normal.”

Kiyo yawns, tongue sticking out of his mouth when he closes it again. His eyes are starting to drift shut.

“Okay, time for bed then, good talk.”

Tsuneko smooches the top of his head then gets him settled in for the night. She reads over the auction items again and paints her nails. The sparkly red polish is replaced with a deep dark indigo. She’s managed to clear her head a bit more before she finally goes to sleep.

Having caught her second wind, Tsuneko walks with confidence into the Tres Spades. It’s early morning, even earlier than usual, but she doesn’t sleep much. There’s not a lot if activity in the lobby at this hour and Kenzaki is at the check in desk.

“You’re here early, Tomori,” Kenzaki comments with his usual serene expression.

“Yeah, I was actually hoping to help out with the guest in the tea room, is there anyway I could look at the security footage for the back lot?”

“That shouldn’t be necessary anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“Security isn’t something you need to concern yourself with, Tomori.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I’ve never had an issue with safety here,” she grumbles under her breath and turns to leave.

“Actually, there was something I needed to speak with you about as well.”

“Hm?”

“Do you remember the Renard family?”

“Yeah, they were here a month or two ago, right?” Tsuneko nods, the little girl Anais ended up clinging to Tsuneko’s side for a good portion of her stay since her parents were busy.

“Yes, they checked in late last night. It appears you made quite an impression on their daughter, they’re requesting you attend to their room and watch over her during their stay.”

“Aren’t they VIP guests?” Tsuneko raises an eyebrow, VIP’s are specifically Erika and the twin’s responsibility.

“Yes, which is why it’s important to fulfil their request.”

“Fine by me.”

Unlike the penthouse maid, this is something she’s actually earned, and Erika isn’t going to ruin it for her.

“Please meet with them in the lobby at the beginning of your shift.”

“Understood.”

With that Tsuneko starts to walk down to Wonderland. Hopefully, the Hatter has had a chance to write down what she asked of him. There should logically be a list of people who’ve participated in the auction and what they’ve sold, assuming Ichinomiya isn’t running a disorganized shit show. If the Hatter remembers what the March Hare and Dormouse were carrying or even what date it was, she could ask one of the penthouse residents to check it against the list of participants. It’s a long shot, but since Kenzaki won’t let her look at security footage, it’s her best bet.

She takes the stairs down two at a time, her steps echoing. As she’s nearing the bottom, she realizes her steps aren’t the only ones ringing out. Along with shuffling and muffled talking. Anxiety creeps up her spine and settles in the back of her mind. Did those men come back? Who else is down here? Her pace quickens and she jumps the last few steps, her feet hitting the concrete with a heavy noise.

Two men are packing a familiar bronze statue, they pause and shoot her confused looks. She never saw the Dormouse and March Hare out of costume, but it would be odd to return the items they’ve stolen. The strangers shake their heads and pack the statue into Wonderland, the door open for them. She trails in after them, there’s even more men she doesn’t recognize in Wonderland, all packing items that belong to the Hatter. Her eyes narrow, what is happening?

“Excuse me, Miss.” Someone says behind her, carrying what looks like a broken globe, and she moves out of his way and utters an apology. At least they’re polite, whoever they are. Though, some of them certainly look terrifying.

“Alice~! Good morning!”

The Hatter’s sing song voice rings out over all other noise, he’s back in costume, no signs of the shy young man she spoke to last night. Tsuneko avoids the men moving items, making her way to the costumed man.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Isn’t it wonderful? All my treasures are being returned~!”

“That’s fantastic, but how…?”

It had to be the penthouse guys, there’s no other explanation. But they didn’t seem to care about it yesterday. Did she manage to get through to Ichinomiya? That seems…unlikely, no, impossible. Tsuneko is stubborn and annoying, but even she’s not strong enough to get through Ichinomiya’s impenetrable wall of bullshit.

“I’m so happy, Alice~!”

“I’m glad, I know it’s been a rough couple days for you,” she murmurs, scratching at the back of her neck.

His expressions fall, like he suddenly remembers the fight. Perhaps he was caught up in the moment. He won’t meet her eyes, instead staring at a random spot on the ground like it’s the single most interesting thing in the world.

“I’m really sorry about the way I snapped at you, I said a lot of mean things and you didn’t deserve that…” Tsuneko murmurs, why are apologies so hard, “I know it doesn’t make it okay, but I was just in a shitty place, then you came in and started calling me ugly, and I just, I don’t know, got pissed.”

“Called you ugly? I would never.” He looks up at her like she’s just scalded him.

“What do you mean?”

“I said your tears are ugly, not you…I don’t like seeing you cry. Tears and pain are ugly things, so I want you to be happy, especially in Wonderland with me…”

A soft look comes over his face and guilt pangs in her chest, this whole thing was a misunderstanding. She snapped at him over nothing, Tsuneko has always been the type to go for the jugular, to cut people down at the slightest sign of cruelty. It’s not healthy, but she’s never managed to stop it.

“For someone who stresses the importance of words, you’re not the best communicator, huh?”

She flashes him a soft smile and hopes it gets everything across. That aching desire to just forget it all and move on like it never happened. Tsuneko fiddles with a lock of hair, waiting for his response.

“Maybe not, it seems I hurt you, I’m sorry, A-” His words dye in his throat and she can slowly see him acting more like the shy boy from last night.

“You can call me Alice; I didn’t mean that.” In all honesty the only thing she genuinely is hurt about in the long run is the being sold stuff, the Hatter’s complacency in that. But, unlike the penthouse guests, he didn’t buy her and isn’t holding her to the arrangement. So, if nothing else, he remains the lesser of evils and she’d rather keep their relationship civil.

“Really?” He smiles bright and some of the guilt that’s eaten its way into her chest fades away.

“Really. Now, I have to go get ready for my shift, but we’ll hang again soon, celebrate your stuff being returned, I promise.”

She touches his back for a moment in what she hopes is a reassuring gesture, before they say their byes. There’s a bit of time before her actual shift, but she wants to talk to the penthouse guys about what happened with the Hatter’s things. Tsuneko walks about the men, feeling a twinge at guilt at not offering help, before making her way up the stairs.

The elevator ride is spent fiddling with her phone, playing Monster Lovers, her crane game, and checking social media. Just finding idle things to pass the time through the long elevator ride, it seems to take forever given the sheer height of the hotel. She tries not to pout when she sees that Shinobu still hasn’t bothered to message her back.

She’s scrolling through Instagram with one hand and fiddling with the good luck charm in her pocket with the other when the elevator comes to a stop. Tsuneko tucks her phone away and heads to the lounge, seeing the group of men in their usual spots.

“You’re here early, Princess.” To the shock of no one, Baba is the first person to greet her.

“Yeah, I wanted to check on the Hatter, all his stuff was found?”

“Ugh, I heard enough about that freak last night,” Kisaki grumbles.

“That’s the pot calling the kettle black, now isn’t it?”

“Are you seriously comparing me to him?” Kisaki narrows his eyes and scoffs in disgust.

“Yeah, that’s not fair to the Hatter.”

“Sor and Mamo were working all night to get Maddie’s stuff back.”

“Really?”

“He’s being dramatic, as usual, it didn’t take that long,” Oh cuts in, not bothering to look at Tsuneko, “the slacker managed to get their plate number from security footage and with the information the Hatter wrote down we were able to get a name.”

“It still must have taken most of the night, I mean you probably didn’t even start looking into it until late.”

Smirks play across Oh, Baba, and Kisaki’s lips, like there’s something they know that she doesn’t. Dread pits in her stomach and she finds herself looking over at Ichinomiya, the only one who isn’t currently smirking like a wiseass, unless you count the sleeping Kishi. Instead of a smirk, Ichinomiya is scowling, and she can’t help remembering him covered in cupcake frosting.

“Boss told them to start looking right after we left the tea room,” Baba tells her and she clenches her jaw, he was having them help the Hatter the entire evening. If she had known that she never would have thrown her little tantrum, probably. Seems like lashing out when she didn’t have all the information was the theme of yesterday.

“He made sure to help your boyfriend as soon as possible,” Kisaki teases and she resists the urge to kick him.

“Fuck off,” she groans out instead, rolling her eyes before directing her attention to Ichinomiya, “so…. I guess I probably might owe you an apology for the cupcakes thing, huh?”

“That suit costs more than you make in a year.”

“Well, who’s fault is that, boss.”

He narrows his eyes at her, glare intense, while the rest of the men snicker. She meets his glare, this is mostly his fault anyway, he could have just said they were looking into it. If he had just told her, everything would have been fine, probably.

“Was that your attempt at an apology?”

“Yeah, but then you went and ruined it,” she crosses her arms over her chest and pouts, “besides, this isn’t all my fault.”

“Is that so?”

“Literally all you had to do was tell me you were having it taken care of.”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

“Would have saved your suit, though.”

“Shouldn’t you be working?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going, asshole.”

She leaves them to snicker and cackle at Ichinomiya like hyenas. Tsuneko spends the elevator ride back down to the main floor reviewing photos she took of the auction item list, reviewing it for what feels like the thousandth time. Overall, she’s on cloud nine, compare to the past couple days. Her issues with the Hatter are resolved, as well as him getting his stuff back. She has a clearer idea of what she wants, how she’s going to move on from this whole ordeal if she gets the chance. With being asked to look after Anais today, she’s getting something resembling a promotion she’s actually earned. And, moreover, this is officially the seventh day of the bet.

By midnight tonight, she’ll be halfway through and if anything, she’s proven to Ichinomiya why she’s a detriment. She’s thrown cupcakes at him, for god’s sake. Tsuneko’s done nothing of value that’s unique to her. A part of her is just waiting for him to tell her she’s not worth the headache, just let her go, but he’s the stubborn type, sadly. But, she’s feeling good about her odds of winning in the moment. If nothing else, she’s in a significantly better headspace. For the first time in a long time, she feels like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Just the tiniest iota of hope.

The female locker room is empty when she arrives, and she goes through the routine of changing. Slowly a few other coworkers trickle in Chisato is the first of her two friends, the older maid gives Tsuneko a soft smile before speaking.

“You look like you’re in a better mood.”

“I am, thanks again for, uh, baby sitting my drunk ass. I promise it won’t happen again,” Tsuneko tells her, making a note to lock the door next time she drinks.

“It’s fine, you were pretty entertaining.” A smirk pulls at Chisato’s lips and heat crawls up Tsuneko’s face.

“Yeah, I uh, owe Sakiko an apology.” Tsuneko scratches at the back of her neck, she’s fucked up a lot in the last couple days.

“Speak of the devil.”

Sakiko enters the locker and fast walks to her locker, not stopping to make eye contact with either of the maids. Despite no one saying anything to her, a blush is already creeping up her cheeks.

“Hey…sorry about the whole, uh, drunk thing.” The blushing is contagious, her face feels like it’s on fire.

“Let’s not talk about that, it’s fine, let’s just move on.”

“I didn’t know you got like that when you drink,” Chisato says, not letting them move on.

“Everyone acts weird when they’re drunk, shut up.”

“What’s that saying, in wine there’s truth, maybe deep down you just really like making out with people.”

“Shut up!”

Tsuneko’s face flushes cherry red as she shoves Chisato, barely jostling the older maid. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, but Tsuneko thought it was just a fluke. Maybe, drunk Tsuneko is just a kissing machine. Chisato and Sakiko laugh at Tsuneko, making her face flush brighter.

“She’s so violent,” Sakiko teases.

“I’m not violent!” She yells violently swinging her fists at nothing in particular.

Once they’re all dressed and ready for their respective jobs, they leave the locker room, Chisato and Sakiko still laughing at Tsuneko’s expense. They drift into the lobby, a steady slow thrum of activity there. She needs to wait on the Renard family to drop off Anais and give Tsuneko her schedule.

“Hey! What’s the meaning of this!?” Erika screeches as she marches across the lobby towards them, stopping in front of Tsuneko with the twins behind her.

“What the meaning of this?”

“Good morning to you too.”

“What is this about you watching the Renard’s daughter?”

“I’m watching their daughter; you literally said all the things that need to be said about it.”

“They’re VIP’s, you have no right to be working with them.”

“No right!”

“I mean they specifically requested me, so…”

“What kind of stunts are you pulling for this to keep happening?!”

“I’m just doing my job, what’s up your ass?”

“First it’s the penthouse position and now you’re stealing VIP’s from me, that’s what’s ‘up my ass’,” Erika bitches and pulls out air quotes at the end.

“You’re the one who said I shouldn’t throw away opportunities, right?”

“I didn’t mean steal them from me!”

“It’s not my fault you scare children.”

“I do not scare children!”

“You screech like a demon and hang out with The Shining twins; no kid wants to deal with that.”

“What’s going on here?” Kuroba is the one to cut in, where Kenzaki is, Tsuneko’s not sure.

“I was just saying that with her new position, Tomori might be too busy to watch over the Renard family’s daughter.”

“I’m sure she’ll be able to handle it.” Kuroba flashes a soft smile at Erika and puts a hand on Tsuneko’s shoulder as a sign of solidarity.

“I can always take some of her rooms, if she needs it,” Chisato chimes in.

“Well, I’m happy to see it’s under control then.” Erika forces a smile before storming off, the twins scrambling to follow after her.

“Why is she always on your case, I swear to god,” Sakiko complains.

“Like, I know.”

“I know, but nobody listens to me.” That earns Chisato a glare from Tsuneko, is she still thinking Erika has some sort of crush? It’s ridiculous.

“You’re one of the few people who talk back to her,” Kuroba adds his two cents.

“And it makes her want to smooch you,” Chisato grumbles.

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry about it!” she pushes at Kuroba’s shoulder flustered that Chisato will push her inane ideas on him, “thanks for the help, we’ll talk later okay.”

Chisato and Sakiko find her frazzled goodbyes hilarious, because everyone loves mocking Tsuneko.

“Can you two chuckle fu-Ah!”

“Tsuneko!” A soft French accented voice rings out as Anais nearly topples her over with a hug, a blur of white blonde hair. She laughs and scoops the girl up, spinning her and making her giggle before putting her back down.

“How are you sweetie?”

Anais is adorable, around seven years old with bright blue eyes and white blonde hair pulled into a little ponytail. Tsuneko fights a pout when she realizes the child isn’t even a full foot shorter than her

“We’ll leave you to it,” Chisato calls out before her and Sakiko go on their way.

“Mommy and daddy took me to the Pompompurin café, look at what I got!”

She holds out a keychain that has a little plush of the yellow dog character. On their last stay at the hotel Anais fell in love with Tsuneko’s cute stationary, so she made sure to recommend the family visit the cute Sanrio themed restaurant.

“That’s so cute, so is Pompompurin your favorite?”

“Yes! I love him, my mommy even let me get the big sundae with his face.”

“That’s awesome, the desserts there are so good.”

“Anais was in heaven, thank you so much for recommending it,” a woman’s voice thanks Tsuneko and she looks up to see Esme and Julien, Anai’s parents.

Tsuneko doesn’t keep up much with the rich and famous, but Sakiko was determined to give her an unwanted crash course on the family last time. Julien is an older man, perhaps too old to have a seven-year-old daughter and a young wife, with graying hair in a simple conservative suit. He owns a publishing company, that’s pumped out a few bestsellers.

Esme is glitzier, long white blonde hair curling over her shoulders and makeup that brings out the blue of her eyes. She’s an actress and former model, who started her own modeling agency at the age of 30. As such the two are often traveling with their daughter, for scouting authors and models for their respective jobs as well as Esme’s acting.

“I’m glad she enjoyed it, I know a few other spots she might like, actually I think Puroland is having a show this weekend with special ticket deals,” she suggest the Sanrio themed amusement park, it has an array of restaurants and rides, along with parades and shows.

Anai’s eyes go wide and she looks at her parents in excitement, not asking, but her plea is clear.

“Can you write down the times and where it is for us? I’m sure we can manage a day off,” Julien offers and ruffles his daughter’s hair.

“No problem, I’ll make a note of it for you.”

“Thank you so much for watching her, I know it’s a lot to ask, we have a schedule for her. Just take her back our room when it’s time for her lessons and for meals, so we can all eat together, then her bedtime of course,” she explains as she hands Tsuneko a neat little schedule of when Anais needs to be back at their room.

Esme and Julien are busy, but they always ensure they can eat lunch and dinner with their daughter. Despite not always being able to spend much time with her and taking Anais all across the country, the couple does make a genuine effort to always spend at least some time with their daughter. Busy rich parents are something she’s seen time and time again since she’s started working at the Tres Spades. Many just leave their children at the hotel while they work, then spend the rest of the time in the casino neglecting their children in a new way. It’s refreshing to see parents who try to make that effort.

“That’s fantastic, since I need to clean the penthouse.” Tsuneko has no desire to bring the little girl anywhere near the penthouse or its residents.

“You’ve been promoted?” Julien raises an eyebrow, they’re well aware that she hasn’t been with the hotel long in the grand scheme of things.

“They must really want to keep you around here,” Esme beams.

“You have no idea.”

The couple gives Anais hugs and kisses, before asking her to behave then leaving for work. A soft pout pulls at the girl’s features as she watches her parents leave, even with them making an effort, she must still wish they could spend more time with her. Tsuneko gently pokes at Anais’s cheek, earning her a half-hearted glare.

“You’re gonna be my little helper today, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you have to smile,” Tsuneko points at her own soft smile, “it makes everyone else around you feel better and you’ll feel better too.”

Anais tries to smile wide, but because she’s trying t0o hard, it looks awkward. As if her cheeks are being unnaturally stretched, Tsuneko can help but laugh, making the girl pout again.

“Don’t laugh,” she whines as Tsuneko gets a small candy from her pocket.

“This might help you.”

The girl takes the little strawberry candy and eagerly pops it into her mouth, a genuine smile now stretched across her face.

“Much better, now let’s get to work.” Tsuneko types alarms into her phone for each time Anais needs to be returned to her parent’s room, before taking the girl with her to get a cleaning cart.

Anais steps on the edge of the cleaning cart, riding along as Tsuneko pushes it, giggling when she makes it move quicker. Since other than the penthouse, it’s the only room out of her way, Tsuneko takes them to the Renard’s VIP room to clean first. Anais is eager to help, even with the most mundane tasks, the Tres Spades doesn’t offer much for children, even cleaning is entertainment.

Tsuneko makes sure to do the more arduous or grosser tasks, such as cleaning the bathroom. She’s watching Anais, not traumatizing her. The Renard’s room isn’t bad by any stretch, but she knows once they get to normal guests’ room and later in the day, the rooms will get progressively more difficult.

They’re working in the third regular guests’ room when Tsuneko needs to leave a note, they’re out and she’s left a stack of brochures they’ve requested. She gets out a pad of bunny shaped notes and a pen, Anais’s eyes sparkle at the stationary and the sight makes Tsuneko smile.

“Anais, you can write in English, can’t you?”

“Yeah, I have neat handwriting too.”

“Great, can you just write out, ‘The brochures you requested, hope you find something that catches your eye’ on here?”

“Yeah,” Anais agrees and neatly writes the note, her handwriting clear and easy to understand. Tsuneko takes a moment to try to doodle little spades around the words.

“What are those?”

“They’re little spades, like the Tres Spades.”

“They look like deformed hearts.”

“Well, who asked you,” Tsuneko sputters, cheeks red.

“Why is the note in English?”

“English is the guest’s first language, so leaving notes in English and speaking to them in their native language helps them feel more at home while they stay here.”

“You can write and speak in English?”

Tsuneko works as Anais bounces around to follow her, filled with questions. She can’t help giggling at the young girl’s excitement.

“I’m good at writing in English and can speak it alright, thanks to school, I bet you know lots of languages, since you travel so much.”

“I know French, Japanese, English, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and I’m learning Mandarin.”

A cough sputters out of Tsuneko’s mouth and she can’t help blinking at the child, six languages and working on the seventh. She assumed her parent’s status could afford Anais a fantastic education despite the frequent travels, but that seems unreal. A seven year old is more accomplished than her, fuck.

“That’s impressive, I only know Japanese, English, and JSL.”

“JSL?”

“Japanese sign language, it’s talking with your hands, it’s used by people who can’t hear.”

“Oooh, that’s really cool.”

“Yeah, um, for example this means, my name is Tsuneko,” she recalls the old college course and signs an introduction, to the delight of Anais.

“Woah, I wanna learn!”

“Okay, you’re here for around a week, right?”

Anais nods her head, ponytail bobbing with the quick motion.

“Well, I’ll try to teach you some JSL, if you teach me some languages you know too, enough to greet guests and talk a bit to them.”

“Yeah, I can do that!”

“Sounds like a deal.”

Tsuneko has language books and sometimes tries to use google translate, but guests have told her it can be a little rough. They usually appreciate the effort, but Tsuneko has always wanted to learn more and doing it while she works with the Anais will save time.

Her phone goes off, the first alarm to return Anais back to the room for lessons and lunch. Anais has taught her some basic greetings in French and Italian, though her pronunciation is rough, meanwhile Tsuneko has taught her a few yubimoji signs. She takes Anais up to her parents’ room and gives a less than stellar goodbye in French.

Between lessons and her eating lunch, Tsuneko has around two or three hours before she needs to come back and get Anais. That should be enough time to clean up the penthouse and maybe grab something to eat, but she might have to eat late.

She spends the elevator ride up reciting what Anais taught her; she’d look crazy if anyone else was around. Tsuneko feels like she has the greeting understood and her pronunciation at least marginally better.

Walking into the lounge, Tsuneko knows she made the right decision not to drag poor Anais up here. Oh and Ichinomiya are gone this time around, but Kisaki, Baba, and Kishi have made an absolute mess. Poker chips and cards are strewn about, liquor bottles despite it not even being noon, and overflowing ashtrays. Baba and Kisaki are playing cards, while Kishi is sitting up on a couch, puffing on a cigarette. She considers it a miracle anytime she sees him and he’s not napping.

She pinches the bridge of her nose and resists the urge to groan, walking into the lounge feels like stepping into a chimney thanks to Kishi. Even with how large the room is, his presence seems downright noxious, like he sweats cigarette smoke.

“Hey, pretty lady.”

“You don’t need to talk to me every time I enter the room.”

“As if I could ever resist talking to a beautiful woman when I see one.”

“You see a beautiful woman somewhere, Kishi?”

“Just you two jackasses and a kid.”

“I’m gonna open the window and get some of the smoke smell out of here.”

“Might as well just ask Kishi to leave.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad.”

Tsuneko continues to ignore them and opens the large windows to the lounge, the ones that overlook the Tokyo Bay. The sun feels warm against her skin and there’s a gentle breeze coming through, the water seems to sparkle where the light hits it. It’s shame such a wonderful view can only be seen from such a shitty place.

She forces herself away from the window, no matter how much she wants to soak up the sun. Maybe if she gets a chance to get away, she should go to the beach. Relaxing and sunbathing sounds nice. Tsuneko instead gets to cleaning up the absolute mess the three men have made.

"You owe me for last night, kid," Kishi's raspy voice interrupts her.

"Excuse you?" She stops what she's doing to raise an eyebrow at him, the hell is he on about?

"I had to work all night to get your little boyfriend's crap back."

"Firstly, the next person who throws the boyfriend word around is getting strangled. Secondly, you're a cop, dealing with robberies is your job,” she grumbles, returning to cleaning as she talks.

"Robberies ain't my department, you owe me, brat."

"You did your job; you want a cookie?"

"I'll take lunch."

"You make more money than me!"

"I'm just a humble public servant," he tells her with a shit eating grin.

"Humble public servant, my ass."

"I gotta tell you Mamo, if this is how you try to get dates, I'm a little disappointed," Baba cuts in with an overdramatic look of disapproval.

Kishi chokes on his cigarette and sputters out a cloud of smoke. Tsuneko rolls her eyes, god these men are idiots.

"Don't be stupid, someone would have to be real desperate to date a kid like her."

"Ugh, between the Hatter and the old men, you really attract freaks, Koro.

"You say, still treating me like a dog."

"You know it would be so much easier if you just learned to behave."

"It would be so much easier if you lost the ability to talk."

"Then who would give you commands?"

Tsuneko rolls her eyes and bites her tongue, she’s cleaned up the majority of the mess, though she knows it will be a disaster when she returns in the evening.

“Do you want me to leave the window open or close it before I go?”

They give her the go ahead to leave it open, mostly because Kishi shows no sign of slowing down on the smoking. With that taken care of she ventures towards the suites. By the time she’s finished with them, thanks to Kishi’s suite mostly, she only has around half an hour before she needs to pick up Anais again.

She can grab a little lunchbox or something quick at a convenience store, it’s not much, but it’ll be food in her belly. The cafeteria is closer and has nicer food sure, but the line of employees makes it take longer.

Tsuneko ventures the quick walk from the Tres Spades to the nearest store, the same one Baba apparently works at part time. She scans the aisles and shelves; she’s looking over the freezer stuff when she sees something. Generally, convenience store food is pretty good, but among the refrigerator areas there’s a little boxed sushi lunch jammed back in a corner. Like, someone crammed it back in there and it’s been stuck.

Just a peek at it through the clear plastic lid, she can tell it’s gone bad. The sushi is discolored, and it just looks slimy, mushy. A smirk pulls at her lips and she pries the little meal out of its corner. She can practically smell it through the container. Kishi wanted lunch, right.

The cashier looks down oddly at it, the clearly bad sushi meal for Kishi, while she grabbed some hot skewers of karage and a bottle of juice for herself.

“Uh,” they stammer, “I can switch that out for a fresh one.”

“No, that’s fine.”

Another strange look before they just shrug and ring her up. Tsuneko eats her own food on the walk back, finishing the skewers and juice by the time she returns to the hotel. A double check of time lets her know she has time to run back up to the penthouse and drop off Kishi’s ‘lunch’.

By the time she’s gotten back up to the penthouse, a part of her is just eager to dump off the gross lunch. The smell of it is making her stomach churn just a little bit. Whoever crammed it back into that fridge, it was there for a while.

“You’re back already, princess?”

“You think we’re that messy?”

“You wanted lunch, right, Kishi?’ She’s grinning as she drops the nasty meal into the old man’s lap.

“How did you find something that smells worst than him?” Kisaki covers his nose with his head, but he’s cracking up.

“Shut it,” Kishi grumbles out as he inspects the meal, she expects him to turn his nose up at it, call her a brat or something, but he opens it instead.

“Oh god.” Tsuneko dry heaves at the smell coming from the sushi meal, just the ungodly stench of rotted fish. She shuffles closer to the open window, hoping the breeze will blow away some of the stench.

“Where did you even find that, princess?”

“It was just jammed back in some corner of the shelves, like someone hid it.”

Baba and Kisaki are faring about as well as she is, but Kishi doesn’t seem remotely bothered. He unwraps the chopsticks that come with the meal, he’s not seriously going to eat it, is he?

“Eh,” he shrugs, “I’ve had worse.”

“Don’t be-Oh god!”

There’s a crunch from the rice, the nasty hardened rice, as Kishi bites down on a piece of sushi. She can’t imagine how disgusting that must taste, hard rice and slimy rotted fish. Tsuneko nearly pukes up what little lunch she had, as Kishi just swallows it, going for another piece.

“That’s disgusting,” Kisaki comments, but he’s laughing, mostly at Tsuneko’s reaction.

“How can you eat that?!” She manages to ask through gags.

“What else would I do with it?” Kishi says with a mouthful of rotten sushi, the smell wafting out of his mouth could peel paint, Tsuneko nearly vomits.

“Tell me to fuck off and throw it out, like a normal person!”

“He literally eats out of the trash.”

“Why would you do that!?”

“Food is food.” He shrugs his shoulders.

“I think the cigarettes killed your taste buds, Mamo.”

“My taste buds are fine,” Kishi starts to shove another piece in his mouth and Tsuneko snatches the meal from his hands, “hey, I was eating that!”

“The hell you are, I’m not cleaning up puke.” She tosses it in the trash, wiping her hands off on her uniform apron.

“If anyone here is about to blow chunks, it’s you.” Kishi starts to reach over for the trash, then his hand stop, he can’t reach.

“The only thing stopping you from eating that out of the trash right now is the fact you’d have to move, isn’t it?”

“Shut up,�� he grumbles as Kisaki and Baba start snickering, lighting up a cigarette.

“So, what did you get us?” The youngest of the three men suddenly asks Tsuneko.

“Nothing…”

“It’s not fair to only get him a gift, especially since we’re right here.” Kisaki sticks his tongue out, playful and annoying.

“You wanted bad sushi too?”

“I mean, I’d cherish any gift you gave me, but that meal was a little much.” Baba grimaces.

“Uhh,” she rummages around in her pockets, getting a handful of candies she keeps for kids and throws it at the two of them, “you can have those.”

Kisaki glares as a butterscotch bounces off his forehead, but Baba catches some candies in his hand and gives her a bright smile.

“Sweets from my sweetie, I’ll treasure them forever.”

“I’m gonna be sick again.”

“Ugh, old men trying to act like kids is just nasty.”

“You’re so cruel, Ota, I’m not that old.”

“Oldest man here.”

“Huh?” Tsuneko tilts her head to the side, there’s no way, she glances over at Kishi, yeah, Baba can’t be older than him. Kishi’s hair has already gone gray for god’s sake.

“Baba’s the oldest out of us,” Kisaki tells her, smirking. She gives another aggressive side-eye to Kishi.

“Yeah, right. I’m not that gullible.” She rolls her eyes; he has to be fucking with her. Kisaki and Baba immediately start cracking up.

“What’s that suppose to mean?” Kishi grumbles glaring at her. Her phone alarm buzzes to life, giving her ten minutes to go get Anais.

“Welp, time for me to head out.”

For the second time of the day, she’s leaving them to laugh as she scurries back to work. It’s odd, the light feeling she has these past two visits, no pit of dread in her stomach. Teasing them and joking around with them isn’t awful. At the very least they haven’t seen quite as mean spirited lately. She shakes her head at the odd thought and finds her way to Anais’s room.

Her shift passes by quickly with Anais playing her sidekick. When guests stop Tsuneko with questions they coo over the small girl. With every room, the two teach each other more of languages. She hates to admit it, but the Anais is teaching her more than vice versa. But as long as the work is getting done and their time is beneficial for both of them, Tsuneko will consider it a win. Before she knows it her phone alarm is going off again, time for her to return Anais for evening lessons, dinner, and bedtime. The end of their day together.

Tsuneko leads Anais to the room by the hand, her tutor and parents are already there to answer the door. The little girl excitedly runs to hug her mom, the sight of it brings a smile to Tsuneko's face.

"Mommy, Daddy, look what Tsuneko taught me," Anais babbles excitedly before signing her name in JSL, "I just said my name!"

"What's that now?" Esme asks with an arched brow.

"Japanese sign language, I figured she'd be bored if all she did was watch me clean all day, hope you don't mind," Tsuneko explains.

"Oh, that's wonderful." Esme flashes a brilliant smile and Julien gives a softer one in kind.

"I also wrote down the information for the Puroland event." She hands down the written note to the pair.

"Oh, Thank you so much. For everything."

"It's no problem at all. Have a lovely evening."

They say their goodbyes and Tsuneko excuses herself to return to work. She has to go clean the penthouse again, then maybe she'll drop by Wonderland and have a celebratory tea party with the Hatter after she clocks out.

Everyone is there when she returns to the lounge. Ichinomiya working on a laptop. Oh is reading a book, look like one of the detective novels he seems fond of. Kishi looking over a newspaper, while Baba and Kisaki are still playing with cards. No one greets her this time, seemingly focused on what they're doing.

Ichinomiya always has the same request when he sees her, so she makes a beeline for the espresso machine. She makes his coffee and remembering the drinks the others have requested before, she decides to make those as well. Plain black tea for Oh, black coffee for Kishi, rose tea for Baba, and coffee with just a bit of sugar and cream for Kisaki. She arranges their drinks on a tray and brings it out.

"Coff-," Ichinomiya starts then pauses when he sees Tsuneko placing his drink down in front of him.

"Aww you're already know my favorite drink, thanks pretty lady."

"I'm just fortunate enough not to have the attention span of a goldfish.”

There’s still a soft breeze coming in from the open window, cooler now as the evening comes in. The temperature of the room hasn’t dropped significantly, but it’s much cooler and if the window is left open for much longer there will be a definite chill. And she’s sure Ichinomiya will be bitching about it before she knows it.

“Can you close the-” Ichinomiya’s words stall at the click of the window being shut.

“Maybe, she’s finally learning her place,” Oh comments, a cruel little smirk drawing across his face.

“Fuck off,” she grumbles as she starts to clean the mess that’s built up since the last time she was here.

She cleans up the mess of cigarette butts, trash they’ve tossed aside haphazardly, and general mess. Tsuneko has started dusting when she hears the peanut gallery start whispering, gazes on her, but she can’t make out the words. Her head whips around so fast, she nearly gets whiplash. She doesn’t trust these men as far as she could throw them.

“What are you doing?” She narrows her eyes at Baba and Kisaki who’re snickering like the bozos they are. All of the men giving shit eating grins. Smug bastards.

“Bettin’ on if your top’s gonna bust open,” Kishi answers, but he’s no less guilty than the others she’s sure.

“Well, jokes on you, I got a new uniform, so.” She sticks her tongue out at them.

“Shameful.” Oh shakes his head, she’s not sure if he means her or the men betting on if they’ll get a peek at her bra. Kisaki and Baba groan, digging yen from their wallets to hand over to Ichinomiya.

“That’s not even fair, boss.”

“He probably already knew she got a new uniform.”

“As if I could let an employee walk around like that.”

“You ordered me a new uniform,” she raises an eyebrow, “I figured Kenzaki was sick of my shit.”

“It shouldn’t be on other people to make sure you’re dressed for your job,” Oh comments, not bothering to even look at her, she hates that he’s not wrong.

“I’m gonna go clean the suites,” she murmurs and starts to head out of the room.

“Wouldn’t you be better off cleaning, boss’s suite first?” Baba asks, the questioning look on his face and the lilt of his voice tells her he’s being genuine and not trying to micromanage. She can see where he’s coming from, Ichinomiya’s room is only accessible through the lounge, since it’s on the highest possible floor.

“No, Kishi’s is the biggest mess, so I have to clean it first or it’ll never get done.”

“I bet his room is disgusting.”

“It is.”

“Hey, I ain’t that bad!” Kishi blusters to defend himself.

“Poor grandpa can’t even clean up after himself.”

“Why is everyone on my ass today?!”

“It’s national pick on the elderly day, you didn’t know?” Tsuneko can’t help grinning as she teases.

“I’m not that old!”

“Be careful, I don’t think getting upset is good for you at this age,” Baba joins in on the teasing.

“You’re older than me!”

“Bullshit.”

“What do you know, ya damn brat.”

“I know lying about your age is just plain sad.”

“Don’t you have something to clean?”

“I’m going, I’m going.”

Tsuneko waves him off before heading to the suites. It's odd thinking of how much she's learned about those men in such a short amount of time, given the situation. Cleaning people's rooms tends to do that to a degree, seeing what everyone keeps in their living quarters, how they take care of themselves. Obviously, she doesn't know the finer details of their lives and who they are, she doesn't want to know. But, having any sense of familiarity with the men who bought her...It's odd. It doesn't seem right.

They're ruining her life; she wants to keep a distance. But, inane little details about each of them keep sticking in her mind. It's impossible to avoid, it seems.

How can she not know Kishi's favorite brand of cigarette when she's the one who throws away all the cartons?

Or that apparently Oh likes detective novels, when she's the one who's tucking away the dog-eared books when he leaves them out in his suite?

There's tarot cards and astrology books in Baba's room, so she knows he likes that kind of supernatural occult stuff, also from cleaning his closet that his signature red suit is far from his most garish one.

Kisaki's brassy strawberry blonde hair is thanks to bleach she's seen the boxes of in his bathroom, he could afford a salon, but must prefer doing it on his own.

Ichinomiya is picky with temperatures, as he is with most things. The thermostats in his bedroom, living room, office, and even limousine are all set to the same exact temperature.

There are so many little things she's learned about them, it's taken her almost a year to learn as much about Sakiko and Chisato, the closest she has to real friends. Yet, he's learned these things about the auction managers in a week. A hazard of the job, she tells herself as she finishes up the last of her work.

She's clocked out and in her casual clothes when she heads down to Wonderland, making good on her promise to see the Hatter again soon.

“Alice!~” He greets her, loud and vibrant as soon as she walks in. She can’t help but notice the stark contrast between the booming voice of the Hatter and the soft murmur he used out of costume.

“Hey, Mads, want me to make some tea?”

“Yes, that’d be wonderful!”

She busies herself in the kitchen area, making his favorite Assam tea with milk. Her thoughts constantly drifting back to last night when she saw him out of costume.

She resolved to meet him where he’s at.

She said she wouldn’t get involved.

But, fuck, she wants to know more.

“So, about last night-” She starts as she’s pouring him a cup of tea.

“Alice!” He jolts in his seat and nearly knocks the table over, Tsuneko flusters to avoid spilling tea everywhere, “I’ve forgotten something very important!”

He’s out of his seat, vivid blue eyes wide and frantic, her heart sinks. It’s his choice, but it’s clear, he’s avoiding the subject. He doesn’t trust her, probably doesn’t have a reason too, especially after her tirade. She shouldn’t pry and she even swore she wouldn’t get involved, but her curiosity, or nosiness, has a way of getting the best of her.

“You need to try on your costume, Alice!” He grabs her the second she sets the tea pot down and drags her towards his bedroom.

“Huh?”

“It won’t be long now before the auction; we have to make sure it fits properly!”

She’s pulled into his bedroom, all his odd little treasures now returned to where they once were. Her attention is drawn to the clothes on his bed, a frilly baby blue Lolita style dress with a variety of accessories along with it.

“Ah…”

She doesn’t like this… Tsuneko is a twenty-two-year-old grown woman, she can’t pull off that kind of thing. As much as she loves cute things, more extremely adorable stuff is reserved for wearing alone in the privacy of her dorm. She wouldn’t dream of parading around in something like that around other people, no one would ever take her seriously again.

“It just arrived earlier today, I’m sure it will look wonderful, try it on ~!”

The door shuts behind him as he gives her some privacy, she sighs, running her fingers over the material. It’s soft and obviously high quality. She toes off her sneakers and socks, it’s not as exposing as the bathrooms in the penthouse suites with the huge windows, but it still feel odd stripping in someone else’s room.

She runs her fingers along the soft navy fabric of his bed spread. The Hatter, when he’s in costume, there’s always the scent of heavy makeup powder. But the smell is notably absent in his room, it was absent when she saw him out of costume. The scent coming off of his skin more reminiscent of cinnamon cookies, his room has that kind of smell mingled with the must of old artifacts, like one would smell in an antique shop. It suits the collection of random old stuff, but also shows he spends most of his time in this room out of costume. The presence of that soft-spoken boy with dainty features can be felt, even with him being away.

Tsuneko starts to undo the fastens of her short overalls, stepping out of them. Her oversized tee shirt joins the pile, her nerves alight at being in nothing but her underwear. Every little creak or noise of the room makes her scared the door is about to swing open. She knows the Hatter would never peep on her, but it doesn’t stop her anxiety.

The pair of white stockings catch her eye first, pure solid white and soft in her hands. She carefully pulls them up, terrifying of catching the delicate fabric and ruining them. They’re tight, but not uncomfortable, as she pulls them up the thick of her thighs and the plush of her ass. There’s a full-length mirror in the Hatter’s room and she sighs at the sight of her black strawberry printed underwear showing through the white fabric. Not that it truly matters, but she dislikes the visual and makes a mental note to wear white ones the day of the auction.

Tsuneko appreciates the soft baby blue of the dress, the white lace across the collar and at the bottom of the short-puffed sleeves. It takes her a moment to find the opening through the layers of blue and white frills, petticoats giving the costume a full fluffy look. She brings it over her head, it’s on the heavy side with the full skirt. It falls just above her knees and she struggles to pull up the zipper on the back. Not because it doesn’t fit, but because it’s hard to reach.

Once she thinks it’s done up, she turns to the accessors laid out before her. A white lacey apron that goes over the dress, she ties it securely around her waist. There’s a pair of little wristlets, Baby blue with a bit of white lace, a little silk white ribbon, and tiny twinkling star charms. All that’s left are shoes, black glossy platform Lolita shoes with bows on the toe. And two black ribbons, one longer than the other. She decides to contend with the shoes, sliding them on and fastening the little buckles.

She frowns at herself in the mirror, feeling simultaneously like a little girl playing dress up and an old woman trying to look like a little girl. A part of her is humiliated that anyone will see her in this, the other part is mad at herself for not hating the dress. It’s cute. She loves cute, everything she owns is cute. But she doesn’t want to be cute, because the things that come with being cute suck, because the world sucks.

“Are you finished in there, Alice?” The Hatter’s cheerful voice cuts off her internal rant about being cute.

“Uh, yeah, I guess.”

The door swings open and the Hatter strides into the room, eyes stopping on her. He pauses for a moment and her face flushes at the attention.

“It looks just as beautiful as I thought it would, absolutely gorgeous, but,” he pauses and seems to think for a moment, like he’s picking his words carefully, “it’s missing something.”

“I wasn’t sure what the ribbons were for,” she admits, pointing to them.

“Ah.”

He nods in understands and gracefully swoops up the ribbons in his gloved hands, then his steps halt for another moment, his gaze on her back.

“It’s not fully zipped, Alice,” he says suddenly close to her back, breath tickling her ear, as he zips it up the final inch. Then his hands are in her hair, gloves brushing the nape of her neck as he undoes her ponytail.

His touch leaves her for a moment, then he’s in front of her again, in her space. He brings one of silky black ribbons around and under the collar of the dress, tying it into a little bow just at the collar. The Hatter takes the other ribbon and moves it to between her hair and the back of her neck, back behind her ears as he ties it at the top of her head. He adjusts and plays with her hair, she focuses her eyes at a spot on the ground, the direct eye contact is too much. Then he’s cupping her cheeks and forcing her to meet his gaze.

“Absolutely perfect, take a look at yourself.” His smile is radiant, and she feels her face warm when he drops his hands.

She takes a look in the mirror. The ribbon in her hair is tied to look almost like bunny ears on top of her head. The way he’s done her hair is cute, the ribbon keeping her sidelocks and everything back out of her face, her bangs left alone.

It’s all adorable and cute. She’s cute and adorable, and no one will ever take her seriously in her life, especially not after seeing her in this. And she hates that but does genuinely love how cute it is. A confusing tug of war to be sure, but if her biggest dilemma of the day is struggling with being cute and easily patronized, she’ll consider it a win.

“Of course, during the auction you’ll need a mask or face paint, but-“

“Here comes the sun, doo doo doo~ Here comes the sun, and I say~”

The Beatles song buzzes from her clothes on the floor, cutting off the Hatter. Tsuneko freezes, the custom ringtone for her dad. Her earlier thoughts of wanting to see and talk to her dad come to mind. She’s been ignoring his calls for so long and she doesn’t want that anymore.

“Sorry, I need to answer that, I’ll be right back.” Tsuneko rushes to get her phone from her pocket and scrambles to answer her dad as she leaves Wonderland. The oversized chunky heels nearly send her plummeting a few times as she presses the phone to her ear.

“Uh, Chipmunk?” Her dad’s loud clear voice, saying that nickname is the cherry on top of what’s been a surprisingly good day. She sits down on the stairs that lead from Wonderland to the rest of the Tres Spades, taking in the moment before she speaks.

“Hey, dad, sorry about that. I had to get away to talk.”

“No problem, I’m more surprised you answered. I was startin’ to think you forgot all about little old me.”

She laughs, her dad’s voice is like pure nostalgia and sunshine. The only thing she wants is to hug him right now. Come clean about everything and just have her dad. But she can’t do that, not yet. She can’t tell him she’s been lying over the phone; her dad deserves better. Not to mention, she still doesn’t know what’s going to happen after this next week.

“Like I could ever forget you.”

“I’m still not use to you talking like you’re from Tokyo,” he teases the change she makes in her dialect, using different Japanese pronouns.

“Sorry, I’ll cut the shit,” she grins as she switches, the Kyushu dialect much more comfortable on her tongue.

“How has everything been, you must have been real busy the past year or so, couldn’t even spare a conversation for your dad.”

“Ah, I’m sorry, I just had classes and, uh, I got a new internship.” This is why she’s been avoiding taking his calls, lying to him is so much harder when she has to say the words and hear his voice. She hates being dishonest as a whole, but she can lie to anyone else in the world without batting an eyelash. Her dad is an entirely different story, every lie makes her heart constrict.

“It’s fine, I swear, you’ve apologized more in the last five minutes than you did your entire childhood.”

“I just feel bad, okay. I know I’ve been MIA on you, but I promise I’m okay. I’m still working hard, still love my dumbass dad.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less of my chipmunk, I’ve been thinking of sending you another care package, help keep your energy up.”

“Actually, if that’s the case, my address has changed,” the idea of a care package from her dad sounds so nice right now, “my internship is actually with the legal department of the Tres Spades, y’know that giant hotel, so I’m staying at their employee dorms right now to save money.”

That sounds kind of believable, she thinks. She hopes.

“Ah, that’s sound wonderful, if you can get a job there, you’d be set for life, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah, it’s a really great place to work.”

“Do you know when you’ll be graduating yet? I wanna make sure I don’t miss it.”

“Uh,” she stutters, “I’m not quite sure yet, but it’s still a while off, so don’t stress.”

“You’re not keeping me away, so I don’t embarrass you, are ya?”

Her heart sinks, that he could even think that.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, you’re the least embarrassing thing in my life, I promise.”

“Ah, shit, look at the time. I gotta get some sleep, and I’m sure you have work to do. I’ll get out of your hair for now. Love you, be safe.”

“I’ll try, love you, bye.”

She lets out a soft sigh as she hands up. It’s just past midnight. The first week of the bet is officially over, one more week. She can do this. If she can get a few more days like this, she knows she can charge through it all. Tsuneko lays back out against the stairs, feeling them dig uncomfortably into her back. The hum of the ballroom floor overhead is dulled but drifting down the staircase, below her the Hatter and Wonderland are waiting for her. She spends a moment in the in-between, appreciating the peace she finds there.

#kissed by the baddest bidder #kbtbb #mamoru kishi #Mitsunari Baba #eisuke ichinomiya #rhion hatter #soryu oh #kbtbb baba #kbtbb mamoru #kbtbb ota #kbtbb eisuke #kbtbb rhion #kbtbb soryu #black market wonderland #tsuneko tomori #Ota Kisaki

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winterbaby89 · 6 years

Text

I’m Falling For You

Summary: All it takes is one text to make Killian’s world stop… one text from his best friend since college to simultaneously break his heart and breathe new life into him, effectively turning his world on its head.

Killian is Emma’s rock. The one person she knows that will be there for her time and again. When the break up from hell, and residual fallout, puts her best friend, once again, in the role of caregiver and comforter, Emma can no longer deny the feelings that have been brewing within her ever since college.

Can the magic - and questionable mixture of alcohol and pain meds - during the holiday season finally force the confessions they’ve both been suppressing for years?

Rated M

A/N: This fic was inspired by the song of the same name, by Chester See. If you haven’t listened to it, I recommend it.

I want to thank and give all the love to the lovely ladies that helped me get this fic finished, be it by beta-ing, cheerleading, or being the second set of eyes that I don’t seem to possess… So, THANK-YOU @hollyethecurious, @ilovemesomekillianjones, and @kmomof4.

**Special thank you to @hollyethecurious for creating the fantastic aesthetic to go with the fic for my birthday week reblogs.**

Line break indicates change in scene or POV.

Also on AO3 and FF

All it takes is one text to make Killian’s world stop… one text from his best friend to simultaneously break his heart and breathe new life into him, effectively turning his world on its head.

Emma : I need you. Walsh and I broke up. Can you come get me? I’m at Mass General.

Killian : I’m on my way love, are you alright?

Emma : I will be.

“Hey Li, I have to go. I’ll call you later, yeah?” Killian’s slight panic must bleed into his voice because Liam’s response on the other side of the line is his concerned papa bear tone.

“Everything okay Kil?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, but Emma’s just sent me a text from the hospital, I’m heading there now.”

“Oh! Okay, well I’ll talk to you later little brother. Go take care of your girl.” Liam promptly hangs up, not giving Killian a chance to correct him.

“Younger. And she’s not mine, no matter how much I might wish it,” he mutters anyway, to no one in particular.

The whole drive to the hospital he is on autopilot, his thoughts lost in a swirl of memories.

Northeastern University four years ago:

Killian was glad to be back on campus after his summer in New York, as much as he loved Liam, his older brother could be a bit much, plus being back meant he’d get to see Emma again. All last year he tried to deny what he felt for her, but as the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder , and fonder was putting it lightly when discussing how head over heels in love he was with his best friend. Killian was planning to tell her just that, as soon as he could make it to her dorm, after dropping off his stuff in his own.

Knocking excitedly on Emma’s door, Killian was confused when a half naked guy answered the door instead of his Emma.

“I’m sorry. I guess I have the wrong room, I’m looking for Emma Swan.”

“No you got the right room buddy, but she’s kinda busy,” the shirtless guy all but sneered at him with an unimpressed look on his face.

“Oh!” Embarrassment colored his voice as he turned to leave, tossing out, “Sorry to have bothered you. Can you have Emma text me when she’s unoccupied?”

“Sure thing… who are you?” Killian could hear the condescension oozing from every word the guy says.

“Killian?”

At the sound of Emma calling his name, Killian turned back around. Based on the look Mr. Rude and Pretentious was wearing, he could tell that the guy wasn’t expecting Emma to come to the door, and he wasn’t too thrilled she was calling out his name either. Emma continued on, oblivious to the tension, “Hey. There you are. Where are you going?” As he looked at his best friend, Killian noticed her look of confusion.

“I was informed you were busy, so I was going to leave you to it.” Killian’s tone was curt and clipped, trying not to let his heartbreak show, which only caused Emma’s confusion to deepen.

“Busy? No, Neal was just helping me get unpacked. Why don’t you come in.”

Killian could see plain as day on Neal’s face, that he didn’t want another man around. “Emma, I don’t think-”

“Oh! I’m sorry. You two haven’t met before, have you? Killian, this is Neal. Neal this is my best friend Killian.”

That day was the beginning of the hopelessly tortured road to the end for him. He’d had to watch from the sidelines as Emma dated Neal (controlling, cheating arse ), then Graham ( poor sod was hopelessly in love with their friend Ruby ), then August ( guy found himself a great boyfriend in the hatter’s son ), and up until tonight it would seem, Walsh. Walsh had lasted the longest of the four.

They didn’t all end badly, but over the course of four years Killian stood by and watched as each time she would excitedly enter into these relationships, completely unaware of the effect it had on him. When things did go bad, he’d be there to help her pick up the pieces and rebuild, leaving her a little more guarded and her walls a little higher than before. When it went bad, it was bad , and Neal, the bastard, was bad enough for a lifetime.

Little did Killian know that Neal would have nothing on Walsh…

Two Hours Earlier:

Walsh really outdid himself tonight, Emma muses. He’s made a reservation for them at Mama Maria’s for their eight month anniversary. Although Emma suspects this evening to also be his last ditch effort to convince her to go with him to his family’s estate in Connecticut to spend Christmas. He’s been trying to persuade her since before Thanksgiving, after she’d told him she would be spending that particular holiday with her brother, some friends, and their families. Killian’s brother had come into town with his wife Elsa, and they’d all shared a nice intimate holiday with old friends at David and Mary Margaret’s. Since then Walsh has been insisting they spend Christmas with his family, since she’d had Thanksgiving with hers, but she has been steadfastly refusing.

Dinner is a tense affair despite being a celebration, because Walsh keeps going on about the things they must see, or do while they are in Connecticut. Emma’s had enough, and is trying not to snap at Walsh about how she is absolutely not going home with him for Christmas. She’s impatient to get home to a large glass of wine, her favorite pj’s, and the Princess Bride. Maybe I’ll text Killian to see if he wants to join me after his weekly call to Liam, she ponders.

When the server comes around inquiring about dessert, Emma tries to politely pass, but Walsh is insistent that she try the tiramisu because apparently it’s the talk of Boston. Emma sighs agitatedly, acquiescing to the tiramisu.

When the server brings the plate around, Walsh grabs her hand and squeezes as her eyes land on the ring neatly set into the ganache.

“Walsh…” Emma trails off as her brain attempts to grasp what her eyes are seeing.

Walsh must take her stunned expression as a good sign, as he begins his pre-composed speech. “Emma, I know most people wouldn’t consider eight months a very long time, but I believe we know each other well enough. I see no point in wasting any more time. So, marry me, become Mrs. Walsh Osmond.”

“Walsh. I’m sorry. But… no.”

“What do you mean, no?”

“I can’t marry you. I didn’t realize you felt this way, but I thought you knew, I’m not ready for marriage, I’m sorry.” Emma pulls her hand free of Walsh’s grasp, then standing from her seat, she pulls on her coat and heads for the door.

Walsh comes bursting through the door just moments after her looking incensed. “How could you do that to me Emma? Do you realize how much of a fool you just made me look? All of those strangers staring at me with pity. We will be getting married, and you will come with me to Connecticut for Christmas, so we can celebrate our engagement with my family.”

“Walsh, I am not some Stepford Wife , at your beck and call, to carry out your every whim. We are not getting married, and I am not going to Connecticut. I mean, we’ve been fighting about Christmas for the last several weeks. In all that time, what made you think I was going to change my mind and decide to go with you?”

“I knew you’d change your mind once we were engaged. My family is expecting us to come together, they’re already planning an engagement party for us that weekend, at the country club.”

“YOU TOLD THEM?! Why did you tell them before you even asked me?”

“Because I knew it was a sure thing.”

“A sure thing?! A SURE THING?! Well, buddy, you got that wrong… now you have to go home with your tail tucked between your legs, and explain to your family how you misled them. Because like I said inside, I’m not marrying you. We are through.”

“Don’t be like that Emma. You know we’ll have a large wedding in the spring, in Connecticut-”

“NO! Just stop right there. Walsh I have told you no, numerous times, we are not getting married, I am not following you to Connecticut. WE. ARE. THROUGH. You are deranged, and I have no idea what I ever saw in you.” Emma turns away from Walsh, planning to put this boy and this night in the rearview. The next thing she knows there is a burning sensation in her shoulder as Walsh jerks her back to him by the crook of her arm.

“Get back here. We are not done.”

Emma struggles against his hold, intensifying the pain in her shoulder. “Let go of me, you lunatic-” Her next words are cut off as Walsh’s fist connects with her face. Thankfully, Walsh lets go of her arm as she falls back from the force of the blow. She stumbles backward until she hits an antique light post, she tries to protect her shoulder from the impact. “You bastard,” she grits out as an intense burning sensation blossoms around her eye.

“Emma, it didn’t have to be like this.” Walsh approaches, fists clenching, looking like he’s going to continue his physical tirade.

Before he has the chance to swing again, Emma thrusts her good elbow upward and catches Walsh’s nose. She knows she has hit her mark when blood starts gushing like Niagara, causing him to stumble back clutching his broken nose.

Moments later the cops and paramedics arrive on the scene, alerted to the situation by concerned patrons watching the scene from inside the restaurant.

Killian arrives at the hospital having worked himself up into a worried frenzy, but he’s trying to contain himself, for Emma. He parks in the first spot he sees, barely managing to turn the car off before running into the ER to find her.

He is directed through the security doors, toward the nurses station, where he can get more information. As he comes around the corner, he spies David at the end of the hall. As soon as David sees Killian headed towards him, he moves to meet him halfway.

“How is she mate, is she okay? What the bloody hell happened?”

David puts an arm around Killian’s shoulders, with a wary look on his face. “Here, come with me. She’s been treated for a fractured orbital socket, and they had to reset her dislocated shoulder. She’ll be okay. But it’s probably best you hear the whole story from her.” David leads him along the hallway to Emma’s room.

Killian wonders why David came to the hospital, but isn’t in the room with his sister. Probably on duty and can’t stay too long, Killian thinks.

Opening the door he walks into her room; seeing his best friend on the hospital bed looking beaten to hell shatters his heart. Emma has massive bruising around her left eye, a sling protecting her right arm, and is sitting cross legged on the bed with an IV in her right hand. Looking at Emma the rest of the world fades away, and Killian doesn’t even notice as David shuts the door to allow them some privacy.

“Love. What happened?” Killian asks quietly as he makes his way to her side.

“Don’t worry Killian, I’m fine, promise.” She tries to give him a reassuring smile, but he is not fooled.

“Fine?! Darling, you’re always fine. But there is nothing fine about this situation.” He tries for levity, to curb his distress at her current situation. He does not want to tax her any more than she already is.

“If you think this is bad, you should see the other guy.” Emma gives him a cheeky grin as she banters back.

“Guy?! What guy? I thought you were in an accident.” As the words leave his mouth he sees the smile slip from Emma’s face as she looks down at her lap.

Without looking up, Emma says, “I’ll tell you everything that happened, but you have to promise me you won’t overreact.”

The weight of her tone leads him to sit at the end of the bed. As she continues to avoid his concerned gaze, Killian reaches out to gently grasp her free hand reassuringly. “Alright Swan, tell me.”

She tells him the whole sordid affair, from the tense dinner, to the proposal, to the brawl in the street. Never once does she look up from their joined hands. He sits in stunned silence, processing everything he’s just been told. The quiet in the room is broken by the nurse coming in with all of Emma’s discharge paperwork, and prescriptions.

“We would like to give you a dose of something stronger to help with the pain, so you can get some sleep tonight. Will there be someone with you?”

Without looking away from Emma, Killian responds before she can say a word, “Aye. She’ll be staying with me tonight.” When Emma looks like she is going to protest, he speaks up a little louder, “Please don’t fight me on this Swan, take the medicine, so you can sleep tonight.”

“If you’d like sir, bring your car around to the entrance, and we’ll wheel her out in a few minutes.”

Killian nods and leaves the room to retrieve his car, while walking down the hall he sees David is still there. Realizing that he is in the exact same spot as before the reason why David wasn’t with Emma hits Killian.

“Son of a bitch!” Killian curses, knowing that David has Walsh in custody. “Bastard is still here.” Killian storms down the hall with a murderous intent for Walsh.

“David, mate.”

“Killian?”

“The bastard is in there isn’t he?”

“Don’t even think about it Killian.”

“Oh, I’ll do more than think about it. Go get a coffee, give me five minutes alone with him.”

“Emma has already pressed charges, we’ll handle Walsh. Right now Emma needs you, and you’ll be no good to her if I have to arrest you, too.”

“Then don’t arrest me.”

“Not gonna happen Jones. Go take care of Emma. If it’s any consolation, she shattered his nose.”

As he is about to retort that it’s still not good enough, he hears Emma’s concerned voice call his name. Deciding the low life isn’t worth it, Killian gives David a nod, then turns on his heel to go catch up to the nurse pushing Emma towards the exit.

The nurse wheels Emma out, and waits on the sidewalk with her as Killian quickly brings his car around. Pulling up right in front of them, Killian puts the car in park, and moves out and around to help Emma get up. By the time he makes it to her side she is half asleep, thanks to the meds, but still cognizant enough to slap his hand away as he tries to help her get up out of the wheelchair. Emma makes it to her feet, but doesn’t even get a step towards the car before she’s falling sideways into Killian’s chest.

“Easy there Swan.”

“I’mng good. Mmm-got it. G’off me.”

Realizing exactly how high she is right now, Killian can’t suppress the chuckle that rumbles up from the depths of his belly. “Whatever you say Swan. As graceful as your namesake you are. Up you go, let’s get you in the car.”

After getting Emma in the passenger seat, Killian has to reach across her to get her buckled in, because she’s already half asleep, again . Whatever they gave her didn’t take long, and I’m glad, she needs her rest after tonight , Killian muses. He has to take it slow on the drive home to avoid throwing Emma’s injured shoulder into the door as he’s taking corners.

Finally making it to their apartment building, Killian has to carry Emma up the two flights of stairs to their floor. Maneuvering around her dead weight to unlock the door, Killian finally gets the two of them inside his apartment. Traversing the familiar terrain easily, Killian safely makes it to his bedroom, depositing Emma on the bed as gently as he can manage. As he is getting her tucked in under the covers, Emma burrows her nose into his pillow and inhales deeply. Killian freezes as she mumbles on a breathy exhale, “Mmmm, smells so good, just like Killian.” His heart stutters in his chest at her not quite declaration, thinking that maybe there is hope for him after all.

Two Weeks Later:

Curled up in her corner of the couch, legs tucked up under her, nursing her now lukewarm cup of cocoa, Emma is lost in her thoughts. She recalls her moment of panic less than a week ago, when she realized that she and Killian had been successfully cohabitating in his apartment. Domestic, and perfect, and just not in the cards for her, because she’s in love with her best friend, and he will never see her as anything more. She had to run, she had to protect herself, because if she had stayed at Killian’s another day, she would have ended up doing something to fuck it all up. She couldn’t lose Killian, so before he could push her away, she ran; to protect herself, and her battered heart.

The only reason she’s nursing a mug of cocoa instead of something a little stronger is because she had agitated and inflamed her shoulder. She’d tried to do too much, too soon, just to prove she could, which landed her with another round of pain meds and a stern talking to from her brother, sister-in-law, doctor, Killian, and even Liam (via Skype).

Of course it had been Killian to find her crying on her bathroom floor, unable to put her arm through the sleeve of her robe, because of the intense searing pain. The faint flush of his cheeks when he found her like that had to have been from the residual heat of the shower she’d just left. Always a believer in good form, and gentlemanly behavior, he hadn’t even tried to sneak a peek under her robe as he helped her get her arm into the sleeve.

Since the day she re-injured herself, Killian had been crashing on her couch every night. He’d make his excuses to not have to leave, and supply her with all manner of coffee, food, and treats. He made sure she had breakfast and dinner daily, and ensured she took her pills before he’d leave to get ready for work. She loved the attention and doting, and the more fanciful part of her brain kept insinuating that it meant more. But she couldn’t listen to that voice, that part was an idiot, and couldn’t be trusted anymore. Emma couldn’t let herself hope; hope was a dangerous thing for someone like her.

Emma is brought out of her musings and self-chastisement by Killian ringing the doorbell. She opens the door to reveal the man of her dreams, also the man who torments her dreams; his hands are full of take out from their, her, favorite Chinese place around the corner. She gladly lets him into her apartment, helping him juggle all of the take out containers.

As he goes to retrieve the silverware and drinks, Emma queues up Princess Bride for them to watch as they eat.

After they’re done eating, Emma finds herself more focused on Killian than her favorite movie, noticing the small things more than she’s ever thought to. There’s nothing new about his arm slung across the back of the couch, his hand absentmindedly playing with one of her curls. Everything appears to be the same, normal even, but her thoughts from earlier, and what could be, keep coming back to the surface, making her inspect and scrutinize everything for deeper meaning.

She’s startled out of another such musing when Killian turns to look at her with a pensive look on his face, she hadn’t even realized the movie had ended.

“Everything alright Swan? You seem to be somewhere else tonight.”

“Yeah. Sorry. I’m fine, just tired I guess. Everything okay with you?”

“I’m fine Swan. Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Or with anyone else.” Killian gives her a sweet smile, the smile she recognizes as her smile, before a slightly anxious look passes across his features, “Actually, there is something I need to talk to you about.”

“I find whenever a guy says that, I’m rarely in for a pleasant conversation.”

Smothering his chuckle, Killian sobers once more, “Nothing bad, I promise. I just wanted to let you know that I’m not going to be able to bring you dinner tomorrow, you’ll have to fend for yourself. I am finalizing those contracts that I’ve been working on with that big client tomorrow, and then it’s expected that I take her to dinner afterwards.”

“Big client? You mean Tink? From Pixie Dust Development? The handsy one?”

“Handsy? What are you talking about, Swan? But, yeah, if I land this contract, it will put Jones Bros Designs in the black for years to come.”

“You know what, nevermind. I hope that the deal works out well for your company. Come on, it’s late, and you have to get up for work in the morning, we should really get to bed.”

“Absolutely, love. Your bed or mine?” he teases. His over the top flirtatiousness usually draws a laugh, or at the very least a good natured eye roll, but her traitorous thoughts from earlier choose that moment to come back to the forefront, making her wonder, what if? When she doesn’t respond with anything but a tense silence, Killian asks, “Are you sure you’re okay Swan?”

“What? Oh… yeah sorry, like I said, just tired.” Emma vacates the couch so Killian can lay down, since the man refuses to sleep in his apartment lately. She hurries off down the hallway to her room, listening to Killian settle onto her couch for the night. She also hears his tossed out reminder to take her pain pills just before she shuts the bedroom door behind her.

Emma has a fantastic boss, and her dream job, but unfortunately because of her bastard ex she is on administrative leave through Christmas. She can’t properly do her job until she is fully healed.

Most people would think that being a social worker would be a less than desirable job, but for Emma it is her way to give back to the kids like her. Orphans. As soon as Christmas is over, because of all the foster families that wait until the holiday has passed to send the kids back, she knows that she will be busier than ever, which just isn’t right.

So she really should enjoy the quiet that she’s got now, but she can’t stop herself from thinking about Killian alone with Tink. Every scenario she comes up with is worse than the last. Finally, unable to stand the thoughts any longer, she goes in search of that half full bottle of rum that she knows is hiding in her kitchen somewhere. Prescription warning labels be damned.

The bottle of rum, now empty, sits on her coffee table. Emma can’t keep herself from wondering if Killian had accompanied Tink home. With a set purpose, she gets up from her couch on wobbly legs, and makes her way back to her room. She is a woman on a drunken mission.

Killian is glad to finally be home, excited, elated even, at having secured a massive multi-million dollar contract for his and Liam’s architecture firm. Tink had been a little more aggressive than anticipated, after she’d had a few drinks at dinner. Luckily they had all of the paperwork signed and completed before they had gone out; she had looked a bit perturbed when he’d rebuffed her advances.

Kicking his front door closed behind him, Killian contemplates making his way over to check on Emma after taking his shower. Weighing his options, he realizes that it might be nice to actually sleep in his bed for the first time since she got hurt. As he is contemplating that luxury, Killian makes it through his bedroom door, stopping dead in his tracks at the sight before him. Emma Swan. Naked. Passed out, on my bed. Naked. I’d recognize the drunk hicca-snore anywhere. Naked. Why is she naked, in my bed? This is my bed, aye? Doubting that he’s actually come into his own apartment, since he’s so used to being in hers lately, Killian goes back out into the hall to double check the number printed on his door. It is.

Making his way back inside the apartment, and ensuring the door is secured behind him, Killian makes his way to the linen closet to get a blanket for Emma. He knows he won’t be getting any answers tonight as Emma sleeps solidly through his attempts to cover her completely. He affords her the softest and warmest comforter he owns, so as to ensure that her supple backside won’t be subjected to the cool night air; and to protect her modesty should she turn over at some point while she sleeps.

Having resigned himself to another night on the couch, at least it’s comfortable, Killian proceeds with his plan of taking a shower, and if he should have the need to relieve some tension that had stirred to life at the sight of Emma’s delectable assets, none need be the wiser.

She wakes to the sunlight streaming onto her face, wondering, why in sam hell is my blackout curtain not working? Starting to take inventory of herself and her surroundings, Emma comes to several conclusions rather quickly. Oh shit! This isn’t my bed. Why am I naked? Damn my head hurts like a son of a bitch, what the hell happened last night?

As she thinks back to the night before, she tries to mentally retrace her steps. Emma remembers having worked herself up into such a state of agitation thinking about Killian and Tink together, that she drank every last drop of rum left in the bottle. The last memory she has is getting up off of her couch with determination. What the hell was I so determined to do? Everything after that is fuzzy.

How did I get to Killian’s apartment? The key, that’s right, he gave me his spare key… Taking stock of her current lack of clothing, surely I must have taken them off before getting in his bed, right? Looking around the room, there are no clothes scattered on the floor. I didn’t? I wouldn’t. Did I really walk across the hall naked and break in to my best friend’s apartment, and pass out on his bed? Was he home? How much of me did he see? How did he react? Fuck! How awkward is this going to be? Deciding there is nothing for it, she gets out of his bed to face the music, before he comes to confront her.

Making sure the coast is clear, Emma gets up and dashes for Killian’s closet to find something to cover herself with. Picking her favorite hoodie of his and a really soft pair of boxers, she heads out in search of Killian, only to find him in the kitchen. His back is to her as he works at the stove, making what smells like… pancakes? He’s making me pancakes?

“So wanna tell me why you were passed out in my bed, love?” He turns his head just enough so she can see that damnable quirked brow of his, “Not that I’m complaining about coming home to a beautiful woman in my bed… I’d thought Christmas had come early.”

“Yeah… sorry about that… I was upset,” Emma mumbles as she avoids Killian’s gaze, afraid of what she might find.

“Upset? What were you upset about?” Killian sounds genuinely concerned, but she still refuses to look at him.

“Nothing, I was just upset, and got drunk, and I think it reacted funny with my medication.”

“Swan. You know you’re not supposed to drink with your medication.”

“Nevermind, you know what, just forget about it. I’ll just leave you alone. Sorry for bothering you.” As she turns to leave, she feels Killian’s hand gently wrap around her uninjured elbow, turning her to face him.

“Emma, love, stop. What is going on?”

Well hell! Way to ruin things Emma, way to ruin everything, like always. He knows something is up, he actually is quite perceptive. Honestly this may be my last chance to say something, I may have already lost him, and I can’t let him go, without at least telling him.

Emma brings her panic filled eyes to meet Killian’s concerned gaze as she solidifies her resolve. Now or never Emma , “I’m in love with you. That’s what, and I don’t know how to deal with it, along with the fact that you don’t see me as anything more than a friend.” Her voice starts out strong, but as she reaches the end, it is quiet as a whisper, and cracking as she struggles to contain her turbulent emotions.

“Now where did you get an idea like that?”

“Like what?”

“That I don’t see you as anything more than a friend.”

“You’ve never said anything.”

“When would I have had the chance? The timing was never right.”

“Oh.”

“Emma, I have loved you for so long, I can’t remember what it’s like not to love you. So, to clear up any possible confusion. Emma Swan, I love you.”

In lieu of a response to his declaration, Emma is on him. Her lips are sealed to his in a passionate kiss that he’d never even let himself dare to hope for. Apparently, she was going for action rather than words, but she had already said those five fateful words, and he’d thought his heart was going to burst when she had.

If we’re going the route of action then . He picks her up and though she startles to the point of exclaiming his name in an octave higher than normal, her legs wrap around his hips of their own volition.

“Do you realize how mad you drove me?” he murmured against her lips, not wanting to pull away any further than that, now that he’s been granted the pleasure of her kiss. Killian is relying fully on muscle memory to guide them back down the hall to his bedroom. “Seeing you naked on my bed, unable to touch you. And this morning, seeing you in nothing but my clothing, a man can only take so much temptation.” He presses the evidence of her torments against her as he pins her against his bedroom door.

“You’re not the only one that’s been tempted Jones.” Emma veritably moans as he grinds against her again.

“What say you, to us re-examining your outfit from last night?”

“But I wasn’t wearing anything last night.”

“Exactly.” With Emma’s giggle, Killian finishes the trek to his bed. As things are ramping up, kisses more heated, touches roaming over every expanse, a disheartening realization comes to him. “Swan, wait… wait, wait. I don’t have any condoms. I wasn’t expecting-”

“It’s ok Killian… I’m covered. I’m clean, and protected .”

“Aye?”

Emma nods bashfully at his enquiry.

“I’m clean as well, so if you’re still willing.”

“Yes, I’m willing, now get a move on Jones. I’m tired of waiting.” At the vehemence in Emma’s voice, Killian leans up off of her to remove his shirt. He notes the look on her face as his shirt clears his head, and soars across the room.

“See something you like, love?” he asks with a smirk playing on his lips. It takes her a moment to peel her eyes away from his toned chest to meet his gaze.

“Yeah.” Her voice is much breathier than normal, which causes his smirk to widen.

He helps divest her of his hoodie, and is unable to stay his thoughts “You are an absolute vision my love.” One of his new favorite things has to be the blush that creeps across Emma’s chest and face at his words of praise.

With a roll of her eyes, she deflects by saying, “Whatever you say, Romeo.”

Willing to let it be, and get back to the more urgent matter at hand, Killian gives her another kiss before pulling back, and nudging her hips so he can help her shimmy out of his boxers. When she’s completely bare he leans back up and showers Emma in kisses. He starts with her pouting lips, then works his way down her jaw, and all along the length of her neck, intent on showering every inch of her body with his affection.

“Killian-”

He can’t help but smile at the way Emma whines out his name in frustration.

Pausing his trail of kisses long enough to look up into her emerald eyes, with pupils blown wide, he asks, “Yes, my love?”

“You are still far too overdressed.”

“All in good time my love, I plan on taking my time, and taking care of you the way you deserve. I’ve been dreaming about this for far too long to rush any of it. Ladies first, then I will take you; I promise.”

“W-Wait… you’ve dreamt of this?”

Killian chuckles wickedly. “Of course I have. You are quite entrancing.”

Killian rests his chin just above her delectable quim, glancing up, he catches her eye. He wants to make sure she is alright with this, not wanting to cross a line, and risk pushing her too far too fast; the thought of pushing her away is unbearable. When Emma smiles reassuringly, he closes the distance, licking a line with the flat of his tongue from slit to clit, eliciting a moan from both of them.

“My love, you taste divine, I’ll never get enough of you,” he murmurs into her core, not wanting to stop for even a second.

Emma wiggles and jumps with the sensations of his attentions causing him to place his left hand across her belly to keep her still. Alternating between long licks, penetrating her with his tongue, and sucking on her bundle of nerves, he’s quickly driving her to the edge of pleasure. As she gets closer he uses his mouth to focus his ardor on her clit while guiding his fingers in and out of her to work her to completion.

Emma comes with a cry of his name on her lips, and he swears he’s never heard a sweeter sound.

“Still with me love?”

She hums out a pleasured sound of affirmation as he hops back off of the bed and shucks his pants. Killian then lies down beside her, playing with her hair, until she opens her eyes to look at him.

Bringing himself above her, once she has recovered, Killian’s right hand trails down her side from her pert breast to her hip, anchoring himself to her there. He slowly runs his silken steel shaft through her drenched folds, savoring the wetness as he coats himself in her essence. After teasing the both of them a few moments more he delicately pushes his throbbing cock into her tight sheath inch by delicious inch until he is completely buried in her to the hilt. Pausing to give them both a moment to adjust, he leans forward to capture her lips in a kiss to trump all kisses. He keeps his pace steady, trying not to thrust too hard, wanting to make it memorable for both of them.

Feeling his release building quicker than he’d like, he reaches down to caress her clit and whispers to her, “Come again for me Emma, I want you to come with me.” As he circles her clit faster, he feels the enticing flutter of her walls signaling her orgasm.

“Killian. Right there. I’m … I’m … OH GOD!’’

“Let go Emma, I’ll catch you. Come for me.’’ Watching as Emma falls so beautifully over the edge, he lets her take him with her. Killian murmurs her name lovingly as he spills his release inside her.

“That’s it love, that’s it.’’ He relaxes above her, momentarily forgetting he is putting all of his weight on her. Regaining his senses, he rolls off of her and pulls her to her side so they can lie facing each other to catch their breaths.

“I hope I’ve not worn you out, love. I am nowhere near finished with you yet,” he growls into her ear.

They both lose track of the hours, too wrapped up in the feel of one another to care, they spend the rest of the day in Killian’s bed.

Waking from, probably the best sleep she’s ever experienced, laying snuggled into a still sleeping Killian, Emma thinks back on the perfect and pleasurable day before. Emma finds herself wanting Killian, again .

She takes advantage of his slumber to peruse every facet of his beautiful body. Her hand starts at his cheek before skimming along his chiseled jawline. She moves to his neck, and leans down to place a gentle kiss in the hollow of his throat, then continues with both hands now, to smooth along his toned chest. She loves his thatch of chest hair as it rubs against her palms, and even more when it grazes her hardened nipples.

He truly is a work of art, and she wonders if he’d be upset if she tasted him. She’s wanted to take him with her mouth since she’d seen him bobbing hard and proud against his stomach. Deciding she is going to treat him, Emma delicately shimmies her body down his, so as not to wake him before she wants him to.

Once she is level with his already hardened member, she licks her lips in anticipation; gently taking his generous length in hand, she extends her tongue to lick a stripe from base to tip. Killian shifts in his sleep at this, but does not wake, emboldened by her desire she opens her mouth to take him in fully. Unable to stifle the moan that crawls up her throat at the sensation of him in her mouth, Emma begins to steadily bob up and down along his length. She feels the ache in her core and knows she is wet, but this is about Killian, and his pleasure, not hers.

By the time Killian starts to stir from the sensations she’s lavishing on him, she can feel the wetness pooling and dripping down her thighs. The sound Killian makes is a mix between a moan and grunt. His hand reaches out reflexively tangling in her hair as she continues to work him over with her mouth. Voice still heavy with sleep, Killian finally speaks up, “Emma…” His voice trails off as another moan escapes his throat, and he gives a slight tug on the hair in his grip. “Love stop, or this will all be over too quickly. I’ve no wish to leave you unsatisfied.” At that Emma picks up her pace, intending to make him fall apart for her, just as she had fallen for him the day before. Any further protestations from Killian are staved off by another moan torn from his throat as he begins to spill himself down her throat. Emma tastes his release and swallows down every last drop before releasing him with a soft pop. She grins up at his sated smile like the cat that ate the canary.

After a few moments of quiet, with nothing but Killian’s labored breathing to be heard, Emma shimmies back to her place, snuggled into his side. “Well. Swan, wow. Christmas really did come early. But have no doubt, I will get you back for that.”

“I look forward to it. Best Christmas ever.” Emma hums out as she snuggles into Killian’s chest.

~ Fin ~

Walsh’s POV

Tagging some lovelies that have asked to be tagged, as well as some I believe might enjoy. Please let me know if you do, or don’t wish to be tagged. Happy reading.

@artistic-writer @captain-swan-coffee @flipperbrain @gingerchangeling @ilovemesomekillianjones @jennjenn615 @kmomof4 @laschatzi @seriouslyhooked @smutqueen27 @teamhook @ultraluckycatnd @xhookswenchx @yayimallamaagain

#cs ff #cs ff au #cs smut #cs fanfic #cs fan fic #cs fanfiction #captain swan #captain swan fic #captain swan fan fiction #captain swan au #captain swan fanfiction #winterbaby89writes

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nikki-romero · 7 years

Text

The Assassins [Hikaru Aihara] ~ Chapter 4

“A new staff member will be joining us today,” Kenzaki, the hotel manager, announced one morning.

“Hello, everyone,” the man greeted the staff with a smile. “My name is Hikaru Aihara, and I’ll be joining your team from today.”

“Hikaru worked at the Tres Spades Dubai and was a very valued worker,” Kenzaki said.

“It’s nice to meet you again, Hikaru. We do things a little differently here in London, so I’d be happy to show you th-” a maid, Erika, started saying.

“Miss Ichinomiya will be helping Hikaru until he gets used to things here,” Kenzaki cut the woman off.

“What?! Miss Ichinomiya herself?!” Erika couldn’t be more surprised if she tried.

There was a knock on the door and Hotaru poked her head in.

“You were looking for me?” she asked Kenzaki somewhat impatiently.

“Miss ichinomiya, I was wondering if you could show Hikaru around the hotel until he’s used to it.”

Hotaru didn’t seem surprised to see Hikaru in a hotel uniform as she shot him a sharp glare.

“...What.”

“You want me to what...?” At first my brain didn’t even register what the hell the manager was talking about. I looked at Hikaru smirking, and sent him a sharp ‘know-your-place’ glare. I already knew of his employment, but to have me show him around? Has he completely lost it? I turned my gaze, sharp as daggers, to Kenzaki. “Excuse me? What do I look like to you? I’m the co-owner of this hotel. Not an employee. Don’t you think I have a few more important things to take care of than show some newbie around? That’s why we have employees in the first place.”

“Of course, Miss Ichinomiya. It’s just that Hikaru requested it, so I thought--”

“You thought what, Kenzaki?” I snapped at him angrily. “Do I look like I have that kind of time on my hands?”

At this point my blood was positively boiling. I mean I knew Kenzaki was easy to manipulate, but this was just ridiculous. I couldn’t believe the audacity. I would expect that from Hikaru, but to think the manager would even consider asking me was plain presumptuous.

I left the meeting room before anyone could say anything else, slamming the door shut behind me.

I had been grumbling in annoyance the entire morning. Unable to get anything at the office, I went back to the hotel to hang out with Yukino. As I passed a guest room, a hand suddenly covered my mouth and pulled me into the room. The hand was large and familiar.

“What are you doing?” I asked as soon as the hand left my mouth.

“I’m working here now, and you’re going to help me,” Hikaru replied, sitting down on the bed.

“For what reason?” I asked.

“Don’t you remember your contract? About how I’m going to help you develop people skills. The Mad Hatter had a feeling you wouldn’t sign the contract so he took it upon himself to add that part.” Hikaru flopped down on the bed and gave an exaggerated yawn as I often did.

“Then he’s an idiot. I scratched that part out. And in any case I’m pretty sure we’ve already established that the contract is void.”

“Regardless of what you wrote, the point is you signed it.”

“Where did you get that logic?” I walked over to the bed and peered at his face.

“What? Leaning in for a kiss?” Hikaru teased. I didn’t reply as something shiny just under the bed caught her eye.

“Hey, what’s this?” I bent down and took a pearl broach out from under the bed.

“That happens a lot. Even if you check something ninety-nine times, something can still happen the one time you don’t. That’s why you need to do everything 100% of the time. That’s what being a professional means.”

“I believe that’s your job.”

“Hold onto that broach. I’m going to clean.” I heard what he said, but by that time I was already out of the room. “Hey!”

He rushed after me as I stopped an elderly couple in the hallway. The elderly woman held the broach in her wrinkled hand.

“Je vous en prie!” I said. I waved to the couple before they left, smiling.

“I thought you said it was my job,” Hikaru retorted, walking up to me.

“Shut up and get back to work before I fire you.” I left him with that.

“Alice, you look tired today,” the Mad Hatter said that evening. I yawned.

“Who do you take me for? With all the things I have to do everyday, how could I not be tired? Not to mention I had to deal with Hikaru’s crap as well.”

“Master can be a strict person. That’s why all the other Mad Hatters quit.”

“You don’t want to quit?”

“I am the real Mad Hatter. And you are the real Alice. I will not quit. Recently… The Mad Hatter who feared confined spaces quit right away. He was an impostor. He was not real.”

I didn’t feel like humouring him with all his nonsense, and instead kept quiet.

Later that evening, I was lying on my bed, switching between several positions as I read. My phone, which Hikaru had returned to me, suddenly beeped next to me. It was a notification from one of my messaging apps.

“Come down to the lobby right now,” it read. The sender was none other than Hikaru himself. Apparently he added me as a contact.

“I can’t even enjoy some rare time off?” I sighed as I grudgingly pushed myself off the bed. I had no choice. Not if I wanted to learn what was going on.

“What the hell took you so long? Let’s go.” Hikaru walked out of the hotel without waiting for me to respond.

Hikaru took me to a high-class boutique.

“May I help you with something, sir?” a staff member asked.

“Yes, you can. Please take my girlfriend and turn her into a princess.” Hikaru gently slipped an arm around I shoulder. I didn’t react, resisting the urge to roll my eyes and elbow him in the ribs. “We’re going to be spending a special night together, so I want her to look really beautiful.”

“Of, of course! I’ll make sure she looks absolutely gorgeous.” Hikaru flashed her a grin, making the girl’s cheeks flush a shy pink. “This way, Miss.” She led me to a rack filled with different dresses. “What do you think of this dress, sir?”

“It’s wonderful! I can’t take my eyes off of you, Hotaru!”

“What are you up to?” I whispered to him in Japanese.

“I’m sorry, but could we have a minute?” Hikaru asked.

“Of course, sir! Just let me know when you are ready.” The saleswoman quietly left, closing the door of the dressing room behind her.”

“I have to go to a party tonight, but I need a date to attend,” Hikaru explained.

“Why me?”

“Hotaru, you’re the most beautiful woman I know. Why would I invite anyone else, when I could invite you?” Hikaru said.

“...You’re planning to ditch me the minute we get in, aren’t you?”

“Obviously.” Hikaru smiled before calling back the saleswoman. “I’ll take everything she’s wearing.”

“Thank you, sir!”

“You’re paying for it,” I mumbled under my breath.

“You really think I’d make a girl pay?” Hikaru’s pleasant smile didn’t falter as he signed a check and handed it to the cashier.

“Are you alone here, too? My date left me so I was feeling pretty disappointed until I saw you.” As soon as we arrived, Hikaru left me and started talking to one of the female guests. “Yes, let’s have champagne. A toast to me meeting the most beautiful girl in the room.”

“Honestly...” I scoffed.

“Huh? Hotaru?”

I turned around to find Baba standing in front of me.

“It is her! Wait, a date was required to get in tonight, right?” Ota suddenly appeared next to him.

“Hotaru, what in the world are you doing here?” Baba asked curiously.

“I helped someone else get in,” I replied.

“What? Who??” Ota leaned in closer.

“Personal space, Ota,” I replied, and Ota back away a few inches.

“I’d like to know, too,” Baba said.

“Not now,” I whispered in a low voice.

“Mitsunari! Ota!”

“Everyone’s waiting for you. We came to see you today, you know!” Two women wearing revealing dresses walked up to them as they were bombarding me with questions, pulling the men away from me. I soon spotted Hikaru again, this time surrounded by a group of different women. I took that as my cue to leave.

It was the following morning. I emerged from my bedroom, only to be met by Hikaru, covered in blood. Even I couldn’t hide my surprise as my eyes widened considerably.

“That blood…”

“It’s blood spatter. Not mine,” Hikaru answered my unasked question. I shook my head in order to pull myself together. “One less person on the list.” Each time Hikaru took a step forward, blood dripped onto the floor.

“You’re dripping blood over the floor,” I said, turning my head away.

“Hah. You’re scared of me, aren’t you? You should be, I could kill you in a second.”

“Is that so?” I looked back at him.

“But, honestly, there are other things I’d rather do with you.” There was a faint flicker of emotion on my face as I looked at him. “Don’t look at me like that… you make me want to torture you more.” Hikaru leaned down and firmly gripped my chin, tipping my face towards his. “I didn’t think I would be able to kill him tonight. I was lucky. Will you let me get lucky twice?” Hikaru’s lips brushed mine deceptively soft. I didn’t resist. “Hmm. Are you scared or turned on?” He chuckled sadistically, standing and staring down at my less-than-stoic face.

“Hikaru.” I moved my knee in between his legs and brushed it against his crotch.

“Ngh.” Hikaru groaned, his body stiffening.

“If you can’t put your money where your mouth is, shut up.” I violently slapped his hand away from my face and walked out of the room.

To be continued…

No reblogging without liking, please.

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#ichinomiya #hikaru #love #romance #otome #fan fiction #voltage inc #voltage #kbtbb #kissed by the baddest bidder #assassins #violence #action

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aceofspadegrass · 3 years

Text

Pretty Princess? Nope.

Characters: Aguni Morizono, Niragi Suguru, Dori Sakurada

Genre: Honestly it's more Sakurada crack. Based off of Dori wearing a dress.

1.3k words

So this happened. Again. I'm having too much fun with writing Sakurada just..... being there. For no logical reason.

Oh, and for people who need to know, there is alcohol mentioned in here. In case you don't want to read about that.

“ So….. explain to me again why you’re sitting here?” Aguni approaches the giraffe print clad man, who was sitting legs over the edge of the rooftop, staring out into the night sky.

“ Fucking…… bastard left me here because I tried to seduce him while he was wearing a fucking dress. Where did he even get a dress, this is the Beach, there’s only supposed to be swimwear here…..” Niragi grumbles, arms folded over his chest as he stares downwards, his lips pulled into a disgusted sneer.

Aguni blinks, staring at the man, his tired eyes and body really wanting to go lay down and sleep. Sadly he had his rounds to make, so he was out and about, and now was finding what Aguni could only refer to as the ‘Worst Thing I Had to Babysit, and I Don’t Even Babysit’ sitting alone on the roof. So all he offers instead is a low hum of acknowledgement, vaguely aware of what Niragi was talking about.

“ You didn’t….. know it was him?”

Niragi throws his arms up in the air. “ How the hell was I supposed to know that was him?! He was turned around, I guess fixing his fucking hair or something, and I came up behind him and-“ Niragi loudly groans, running his hand down his face. “ And then I stormed up here, fucking yelled at him for it, and then he had the audacity to tell me to ‘calm down’ and ‘take a breather’. What does he think he is, telling me to calm down?! I’m perfectly calm!” Aguni calls bullshit, but he knew better than to light the cannon again, so he remains silent. Niragi looks back at him, eyes scanning over his figure again. “ Don’t you have something better to do, Boss?”

Aguni just looks at Niragi, at the black shirt with the white streams that weaved throughout like a bad imitation of a cooling lava pool giraffe, at the half bun and loose strand that hung off the side of his face, at the narrowed stare and casual grip on the rifle that Niragi carried with him everywhere, ready to strike at any point, whenever he felt up to. Niragi remains silent, waiting for an answer, and Aguni just sighs, and walks up to the man, looking down at him with a quiet disposition. Niragi stands up, still looking at Aguni, who despite the attempt to not feel small, still was a whole inch shorter.

Aguni puts a hand on Niragi’s shoulder, and his lips slightly purse, trying to think of the words to say. Niragi tenses up underneath his touch, and knocks it away, backing up just a bit. Aguni’s hand drops to his side, but that didn’t matter, Aguni gathering what might as well be a response. “ Would you like to come down and share some beer while you let steam off instead?” Aguni offers. Sure, it wasn’t the best sort of response, but he had no idea how to comfort a loaded gun who tried to romance his doppelgänger wearing a dress. Aguni didn’t even want to think of the reason why that guy even was wearing one, or what he was doing, but right now he had to make sure Niragi didn’t go and do something so stupid that he had the sole power to restrain for another day. Redirecting his attention for a little oughta do the trick, right? Niragi looks at Aguni carefully, picking apart the simple offer, then visibly relaxes a little, nodding. Aguni simply turns and starts heading down, and by the tap tap tapping of Niragi’s footsteps, he was obediently following him as usual.

The trip down to the bar area was relatively unobtrusive, people ignoring them for once for their own hubris. That was better, Aguni thought, since that meant nobody would wind up Niragi in any sort of emotion, positive or negative.

The current bartender quickly gets the both of them a glass, Aguni taking a slow sip as Niragi stares at the golden liquid like it killed his ego. Aguni opens his mouth just a fraction in an attempt to nudge the other into a soon-to-be one sided conversation, but Niragi takes the glass and drinks at least a third of it, setting it back down on the counter with a little more force than necessary, and his mouth opens on its own as Niragi begins his tangent over finding his clone and everything that he’s done thus far. Aguni acts as nothing more than a vessel, feeling cold wash down his throat every other minute as Niragi went on and on with brief pauses to quench his throat, and soon both parties were empty of beer, Niragi ending up with a second and getting louder. The rant wasn’t even on the other him anymore, now just whatever beef Niragi had with literally anything that his brain could dig up.

“ - I couldn’t even find my good shirt for a good twenty minutes because I somehow kicked it underneath the table and I thought someone walked into my room and stole my shirt! But then one of the other militants came by and found it under there, thank goodness, and then when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I saw that smug snowball with legs on my way to the dining hall, and he had the audacity to exist? Who let that man look like that! No man should look that devious with that bad of a hair dye job!” Niragi went on, Aguni slowly regretting letting this man open his mouth. He nearly was as bad as Hatter, except Hatter was just like that, and Niragi was well….. Niragi.

Niragi looks at Aguni, and sniffs a little, pointing a finger at his chest. “ And then you know what else? Then I found someone trying to leave, so I shot the bastard behind the building. 5 shots, one to each limb and straight in the dick.” He barks a laugh. “ It was great! Serves him right!” The man leans back a little, still smiling and apparently off in his own little world by now. Aguni asks for a water, and he sips on that as Niragi continues.

He counts at least four drinks before Niragi was definitely just rambling for the sake of hearing himself talk. Aguni only had the one at the beginning, now sipping at a can of soda. Niragi was grinning at the sky, and he was spouting nonsense about culling codes. Aguni wasn’t sure what most of it meant, but Niragi seemed to like talking about it.

“ Oh! There you are!” A similar, yet much friendlier voice catches Aguni’s attention, and he slowly looks over as Niragi’s nicer clone comes over, and Aguni quickly realizes what Niragi meant, the man still wearing what looked to be a tiara. “ Hello there! I hope you don’t mind if I bring Niragi back to his room, would you?” “ Oh, uh…. No. Go ahead.” Aguni gestures to the giraffe, who barely recognizes that Sakurada was even there. Sakurada bows a little in appreciation, and he comes over to Niragi, who grumbles quietly. “ Go rot in a hole somewhere else you…. pretty princess.” Niragi commented with an obvious slur in his voice, Sakurada politely laughing and helping Niragi stand. “ Come on, you need your rest. I apologize if he was too much, I’ll take over from here!” Niragi looks back to Aguni as he says the last parts, Aguni nodding back with a calm expression. “ I know Niragi, he’ll be fine.” Aguni tells Sakurada. Sakurada nods, and with quiet encouragement, he guides the drunk man out and back to his room, Aguni downing the last of the soda. He couldn’t help but feel relief throughout his entire body. Thank goodness someone else had control of him. He wasn’t sure his psyche could deal any longer. Or his ears.

#aib #alice in borderland #aib fanfic #alice in borderland fanfic #niragi suguru #morizono aguni #sakurada dori #based off of a comment I saw I'm pretty sure #aguni is letting niragi blow off steam in a semi-normal way #and then regretting it immediately because Niragi has no off button #the beer thing is based off of another little fic because I enjoy it that much-#i hope that's okay #where did Sichys get a dress? who knows #someone maybe smuggled it past Hatter

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r0u53 · 6 years

Text

My Imaginary Friend

“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal”

- Albert Camus

When we are children some of us can remember having an imaginary friend. I had “Jeremy”. I don’t remember at what point in my childhood I imagined him to life, but, I can remember telling my mother all about the things “Jeremy and I” did outside while playing in the yard. He wasn’t one of those dominate imaginary friends who was involved in everything but since I was the youngest child (by a LOT of years, my brother who is second to last in my siblings is 12 years older than me) who didn’t have siblings to play with I made that person up. Jeremy and I played in the treehouse, swam in the pool, and played on our play set. Jeremy also was there for me during the bad nights. The nights, after my 6th birthday, when my parents would yell and scream for hours on end because of the latest fight that they felt the need to have. I could feel Jeremy holding my hand, laying under the blankets with me, and helped me close my eyes tight and take myself to a pretend land where it was quiet and where screaming was forbidden. Jeremy in all sense of the word was my “sanctuary”. He didn’t yell, he didn’t get mad, and he never, ever left me.

At some point, as I got older, Jeremy shifted away from my reality and I came to acknowledge that my imaginary friend wasn’t reasonable to have anymore. I started to realize I had to find a logical way to deal with the stress and unpleasantness that life brings. I couldn’t hide with Jeremy under the blankets when I was in social situations, at work, or while I was praying for the screaming to stop. At that point I felt as if I had no one that I could solidly turn to. This of course was not the truth, I had a lot of people who loved, cared, and wanted the best for me. But in my mind, without Jeremy, I was truly alone. This created the “don’t ask, don’t tell” years. The years in which I ignored the “Are you ok?” questions and instead created a facade that masked over what was really happening inside of my head so no one would notice. The years where I didn’t tell anyone how I was feeling, what was bothering me, and what was too much to bear. Instead I kept this feeling so deeply inside of me that I could feel it gnawing at my stomach, could feel it buzzing inside of my brain, and could feel it slowly killing the happy, light hearted person that I was with “Jeremy”. But the one thing I didn’t let happen was I refused to ever, ever, ever lose it completely. I allowed myself to get to the point of just enough and then I would make it stop. I would never fully allow myself to panic. A lot of time this meant causing myself physical pain that I forced myself to focus on rather than deal with what was going on in my head. I functioned for my entire teenage years and a very big majority of my 20’s with this feeling. It became so part of my life that I simply accepted it as who I was destined to become in this world. Never truly happy but never absolutely miserable. Just there.

“Never have I dealt with anything more difficult than my own soul"

- Unknown

Enter year 26. In January of 2013 I met the man who would absolutely and completely change my life. He was a tall, handsome, shy man who wore a purple batman shirt to a bowling alley that we both didn’t want to be at. And while we barely spoke 10 words to each other that night (introvert couple problems) in the next few months I would never want to hear one persons voice so much in my life. Our relationship felt like a whirlwind of emotions and colors that I had never felt or seen before. We spoke every day, texted from sunrise to sunset, and saw each other as much as we possibly could living an hour apart and both having very busy lives. By November of that year he had asked me to marry him and by May of the following year we were saying “I do”. Before I could realize it he became my new “Jeremy”. He was the one my mind went to to help me deal with the latest stress it had created. He was the one who held my hand, the one who hid under the blankets with me, and the one who never yelled because it was forbidden. Before I realized it I was relying so heavily on him that when he was not around suddenly I completely forgot how I dealt with the bad times and my grip on the panic started slipping.

I remember my first full panic attack. I was facing a work trip that involved me getting on a plane by myself and flying to Las Vegas. It would be the first night sleeping away from my husband, the first time being over 1,000 miles away from him. Enter the night before I was about to leave. I had gone upstairs to our bedroom and in one moment my brain went into the most uncontrollable panic that I didn’t know what was happening to me. I felt my blood go cold inside of my body, I felt my hands shake, felt my lungs burn as I struggled to breath, and I felt myself crying uncontrollably. I could blindly hear my husband running up the stairs and pulling me into his arms. “Baby, what’s wrong” my mind could hear him saying over and over. My mouth opened and I could hear myself say “I’m scared”. In reality it was so much more than “scared” of going on the trip. I was petrified that my mind had suddenly betrayed me. What was this? I didn’t panic. I didn’t allow myself to panic. I held it in, kept control, no breaks, no leeway, 24/7. Who was this weak person who was curled into a ball on our bed while my husband ran his hands through my hair whispering “I’m here baby, it’s ok. I won’t let anything happen to you.”?

“The Mad Hatter: ‘Have I gone mad?’ Alice: I’m afraid so. Your entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”

- C.S. Lewis “Alice in Wonderland”

I remember the first time I heard the word “anxiety” used to describe what was happening to me. It had gotten to the point that my mental state was starting to affect my work and my boss started to notice. He came to me, concerned I was unhappy at my job. I burst into tears, begging for forgiveness. And in an instant my mouth opened and everything came out. I told him everything I had been going through, everything that I was dealing with, and all the nights I had spent awake thinking of every worst possible scenario possible to every situation I might possibly have to face. I told him I was crazy. His words were “Amanda, you are not crazy. You have anxiety.” It’s funny how hearing one simple word changes your entire view of yourself. It’s like uncovering a mirror and slowly letting the reflection show you what you really look like. But that mirror shows you everything that you really don’t like about yourself: the extra weight, the spots on your face, your dark shadows under your eyes, the haircut that isn’t flattering, the makeup that doesn’t look as good as the end of the day. However, this mirror showed the absolutely terrible mental state that I now found myself accepting. I was not strong, I was not in control. I was so incredibly fragile and broken that I did not know who I was. This girl had never existed in my entire life. What was I supposed to do with her?

I wish I could end this with this amazingly uplifting blurb about how I was able to conquer my anxiety and that instead of my anxious thoughts taking over 85% of my thoughts it now only is 20%. However, I cannot. In all honesty the anxious thoughts are probably 50 -60% of my thoughts. I have however learned that I can gain some control. My support system is 110% part of what makes me strong. Each person who is part of it in some way helps me get through all my bad moments. And by focusing on that I feel like my bad moments don’t last as long. The anxiety isn’t as crippling, it doesn’t last as long, and when it does I feel that I can still remember “This too shall pass.” My anixiety is with me wherever I go. To the grocery store, to that social engagement I don’t want to go to, to all my work trips, and to all the moments that make my heart beat a little bit faster. Always there and holding my hand warning me of all the bad things that could happen in this moment. This is a different version of “Jeremy” that I didn’t know existed but I feel like was always there. He was that part of me that I kept hidden, that I didn’t accept, and I didn’t acknowledge so that I didn’t have to feel so fragile. He was my gut wrenching fear that my parents weren’t going to make it through this fight. He was my absolute devastation and tears over the hurtful words and actions of teenage bully’s. He was the heartbreak of watching death, watching loved ones walk away from you, and the horrible feeling of losing friends. He was the intense pain of change in your life you didn’t want to happen but that happened anyway. He was the few tears you cried when everything became too much. Yes, “Jeremy” was always my anxiety. He was always my little friend.

“And tho she be but little. She is fierce.”

- William Shakespear

There’s a part in The Lord of The Rings book “The Return of the King” where Frodo has finally succumb to the journey. He had completed his journey, destroyed the ring, but found himself too tired to finish. In what he feels is his last moments he turns to his faithful friend and says “I am glad to be here with you Samwise Gamgee. Here at the end of all things.” I can remember being a 15 year old girl reading Lord of The Rings for the first time (the first of 24 times) and feeling such absolute heartbreak at those words. Not just for the characters that I had grown to love but I had the worst yearning to feel that way about someone in my life. To have that person who would find you no matter what and would always be there for you. Anxiety has introduced me to those characters in my life. I have found my Samwise Gamgee’s.

It’s a funny thing, anxiety. While it is terrifying and crippling and absolutely awful, it also really opens your eyes to a whole new world around you. Not while you are in the middle of the blinding panic but in the times in between. In the solitude of your mind finally quieting and the buzzing lifting you start to see what you missed. The best friend that, even tho he’s going through so many problems himself, is always there for you. He’s the one who doesn’t need you to explain what is going on because he just gets it. The one who always signs to you “Are you ok?” because he knows you can’t answer the question out loud. And even if he doesn’t know everything he’s there anyway with a smile and a pun that makes you roll your eyes. Your best friend who might not fully know what you have to deal with on a regular basis understands anyway because she is going through so many changes herself that she to starts to feel the pull of anxiety. And when she knows your days are bad, even though she's 2 hours away, she sends you so many encouraging texts and snapchats to make you laugh just so that you can stop crying. The mother, who you were terrified to tell, that is suddenly so understanding that it makes you cry and wish at the same time that you weren’t telling her. And the husband. The husband who doesn’t even have to ask you anymore because he knows you so well that he can see it in your eyes before you even fully know it yourself. The husband who encourages you to be brave but who doesn’t get mad at you when you can’t be. The husband who holds your hand a little tighter because he can feel the slight trembling in your hands. The husband who kisses your forehead and tells you “I’m so proud of you.” The husband who put the color back in your world. The husband that makes you a little braver with every “Amanda, I love you.” Yes, anxiety, even in it’s worst forms has opened my eyes to what I didn’t realize I had. That support system that gets me through all my long days and all my sleepless nights. They are the real soldiers in this war I fight because in ways I feel like their jobs are harder. They have to feel helpless and they have to watch. And lets face it, as ugly as anxiety is on the inside, it’s a hideous monster on the outside.

In a way this blog post was therapy for me. But it was also my way to say “Thank you.” To my best friends, to my support system, to my amazing husband. And to “Jeremy.” Thank you, for always be there. For always being my friend.

“Not to spoil the ending for you or anything, but everything is going to be ok”

#anxiety #mental health #mental illness #mental disorder #depressing blog #depresssion #blogger #support #anxious #anxious thoughts #emotions #mental health awareness #mental health month #mentally ill #mentally exhausted #mentally unstable #mentaltoughness #mental breakdown #you are not alone

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dramaplatters · 7 years

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Game Rai Game Rak

I'll start with the synopsis and my reviews will be after the jump break

Saichon is an islander living on Min island. One day, the destiny leads him to find Fahlada, a 17 years old girl lying unconscious on the beach. When she wakes up, he realizes that she loses her memories. Saichon takes care of her and names her Nang Fah (angel). They fall in love with each other and lives together.

One day, Chompooprae, Fahlada's sister saw her sister's picture in the tourist magazine, so she sends people to take Fahlada back. Saichon is very sorry and has to take care of his baby alone on the island. Fahlada gets treatment until she regains her memories, but she loses her memories about Saichon, her baby and everything during the time that she is missing. Chompooprae lies to her sister and doesn't tell her anything about Min island.

One day, Mami, a girl who falls in love with Saichon tells Saichon to run away because someone is sent to kill him and steal his baby. Saichon has no choice, so he asks for help from an American millionaire who he has ever saved his life. This millionaire adopts Saichon as his son.

Couple of years later, Saichon comes back from America to take care of the airline company in Thailand. He meets Chompooprae because she's a business partner. Chompooprae falls in love with him at first sight.. Saichon is surprised and very glad when he meets Fahlada again. However, he is very hurt and angry because Fahlada doesn't remember him at all.

Saichon is angry at Chompooprae because she's the person who separates Fahlada from him, tries to kill him and steal his son and ruins his family. He's also angry at Fahlada because he thinks that she intends to forget him. So, he starts to revenge them.

Needless to say that Yaya & Nadech has a great on screen chemistry.

There are rumours that they are real life couple but they are neither denying nor accepting it :) leaving this to our imagination.

Yaya & Nadech

Kimberley & Mark Prin

those guys are a great both on screen and off screen lol

Fahlada found unconscious by Saichon, he looks after her, treats her, villagers accepts her as their own, because Fahlada has no past memories about who she's. I have no idea what sort of amnesia it is but she acts and behaves like a mentally retarded, idiot, she has only lost her memories.. There are few examples of this idiotic behaviours in the drama, such as when one of the ladies was expecting she wanted know what's pregancy and she told that she wants to be pregnant, and one of the guys teased her that they can help her to get pregnant, she was nearly believing them.

Saichon names her, Nang Fah, they got married and when you just think that they'll be happy, Fahlada's adopted sister sends men after her when she learnt that she's on the island, they shoot Saichon and took Fahalada away, after her fiance examines Fahlada the first thing she asked if her sis is pregnant or not.. Because if she is pregnant she can't get the money all the money would go to Fahlada, Saichon and their baby.

Like in April Star / Star April - Women of the Sun we have an evil adopted sister (Prae) who never liked her sister and always jealous of her, she seriously plays the caring sister in front of her fiance and others but her main aim is to get Fahlada's money as she lost her own to another woman who had shares in her hotel, she eventually got them back by using Fahlada's money.

If they ever make Thai version of that drama I nominate this actress

Now her eyes are on her money.

so we got to see how their love started up to episode 5.

After that episode things are go mad.

When Fahlada wakes up in the hospital she still has the memories of the Island and her husband, she wanted go, tried to escape but she's been forcefully given drugs. not only drugs but electroshock.. which is really painful

I don't think that sis feeling genuinely feeling sorry for one second...

So Fahlada is in the hospital going through all sorts of problems, Saichon is the village heavily wounded.

she's gone all the horrid therapy's to regain her memory but this caused her to forget about her life on the island and Saichon

Saichon goes off the island to look for his wife but he saw Sahat (the guy who helped the evil sister's man (Prae) and also he had an eye on Fahlada, he was jealous of Saichon because Fahalada loves him and chose him to marry)

On the return Saichon rescues an American Tourist and heals him.

He offers him to take him to USA with him, he didn't want to go at first but finally agrees to go to USA with him and adopts him, so 3 years later he's back to Bangkok as Charles business partner of the evil sister (Prae)

Do I need to mention that he looks hot as Charles

His secretary mentions that Prae seemed interested in him, maybe he'll have a gf this time :D

nay nay nay, his eyes still sees and his heart is only with one girl.

Their first meet up :) in the traffic, he recognized her immediately but she has no memories of the time she spend on the island...

So he follows her car with his car immediately,he starts to look for her, when he couldn't find her he thinks he's mistaken.

Yet we got to see another drama cliche here, they were nearly face to face but he didn't see her she went for another direction, he went to the opposite..

Yes the evil sis Prae already set her eyes on Charles :D she invited him for a dinner :)) so when she's having dinner with Charles her fiance arrives (Portrayed by Thanawat Wattanaputi I think he reminds me of Wallace Chung) so she introduces Dr. Wattana as her sister's doctor not as her fiance, the fiance is shocked by this.. She also avoids physical contact with her fiance during the dinner time.

So our guys bumped each other the 2nd time while jogging, so they both lose their balance and fell of as they literally come head to head :D Now Charles having a chance to look at his wife closer, but unfortunately she has no memories of the time she spent with him, and obviously he doesn't know that, he thinks she's doing it on purpose..

She's trying to understand while talking to her friend that Charles was so confident that he knows me but everyone is telling her lies that he is a mad hatter, and he's wrong, don't go there for jogging ( I wonder when is she going to start to remmeber the time on the island or is she gonna fall in love with him w/o remembering anything, yes she had dreams about him and the island previously but we still don't know.. ⁇

After meeting the sis and doc fiance, and after the jogging incident he had some flashbacks of the evil friend Yasa telling him that she went with her sister, and evil sister's (Prae) fiance telling him that he's a brain and neuro surgeon, he started to have some doubts.

So he has a video chat with a doctor, and asks him about the incident, so he now knows that she had a electroshock therapy, she gained her memories back but due to this she has forgotten her memories, the secretary asks him if he had known her before, he told the secretary that she's his wife 💗

so now he's determined to make her remember back him 👍👍👍👍

So their 3rd time was at her house, she mistaken him as a stalker and chased with an umbrella 🌂 🌂

thank god sister came just in time

He's gonna use his wife as a model on their airlines advertising 😼

Come on girl before your sis snatches him from you, do smth 😼

When they had their first accidental skinship, she had a flashback so its a sign :)

His cousin Plernta caused them hard times, she eventually asked if she was his gf... He said no, I can't love any one anymore, because my heart has an owner, oh poor honey was disappointed... No need sweetie, his 💓 belongs to you...

Charles & Fahlada are on the island working on the advertisement, he's hoping at least it will bring back some memories, meanwhile in Bangkok sister's fiance proposed to her ( this girl's character is pretty much though not as extreme as the sister on The Women of Sun / Star April - April Starr pretty much similar, she doesn't love the fiance but she's with because of his social status)

Fahlada had another flashback on the 2nd skinship when they were on the island :))

She still has dreams about the island, about Saichon / Charles

The evil sista Prae calls her to check her out and appears like she's worried ( her main reason is to learn what those 2 are up to, we can see the jealousy on her face when Fahlada tells her that Charles is treating her well)

When she's back in Bangkok Fahalada tells her sister Charles bought a dress and a necklace for her,

the sister wondered why he gave her a necklace and while thinking she kept playing with her ring and eventually her engagement ring fell of from and she picked up the ring, she literally threw the ring to the drawer ( she's so disrespectful, I hope doctor fiance will leave her for good in the future)

The stupid cuz Plernta is now assistant of the secretary. she's that stupid that she can't even use a photocopy machine.

Fahlada is playing herself w/o knowing in the advertisement, she looks breathtaking

Evil sista Prae is even more jealous after seeing the skinship between the Fahlada & Charles, meanwhile it's only her who saw them, the idiot cuz Plernta's mother auntie also saw them...

Out of jealousy the evil sista Prae even checks Charles's phone and see Fahlada photos lol, she's gone even more mental....

Let's wait and see the tricks she's gonna play on Charles & Fahlada. Though Charles won't believe all but some...

Director offers Charles to play the lead in the ad, and he accepted it :D 🕺🕺🕺🕺

(You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life See that girl, watch that scene, digging the Dancing Queen)

While they were on the island doctor fiance calls the evil (Prae) but she scolded him.. God, doc please get rid of this woman

Sista dresses up in white and wearing a flower on her head, as well as wearing the blue necklace that belongs to her sister, to woo Charles, but it looks like Charles is only interested in where she got the necklace.. hahaha

It's now obvious that sis wants Charles for herself, while she has a handsome doctor fiancee..

The problem is while they are on the island they have the risk of bumping into the evil friend Yasa, he might tell his real id ( who really Charles is ) to the evil sista Prae he might kidnap Fahlada again, bla bla bla..

The sister is too much, after the aunt mixed drugs into his drink, he got really drunk and taken to his room, so she offered the other ppl she'd to take care of Charles. She tries to kiss him but he called Fah's name

let's see what's gonna happen until episode 20...

So now the evil sis Prae and the evil friend Yasa saw each other in the hotel, she acted like she doesn't know him..

that's not good at all, so they are gonna play games to break the couple again..

So they sailed to sea, and the evil sista Prae fell down to the sea and acted like she can't swim, so Charles jumped and saved her, when they go to the ground, when she was giving him a passionate look doctor fiance saw this, Charles said don't misunderstand please, but doctor is not stupid plus his fiance's body language reveals everything

Fahalada went to her brother in law to be for an examination, he said she might have a crush on Charles and he shared this with his fiance, that's not good he breaks patient doctor confidentiality

The sister not knowing that Charles's real identity, when Charles said I love Fah, she said my sister has an islander husband, we brought her here and had a shock therapy, she doesn't remmeber anything about time she spend on the island, it's me and my fiance only

Charles said I don't care about her past, and this made sister even more crazy because as we all know she wants Charles all by herself.

Things are going up down the hill, the evil friend Yasa saw Charles in the company as the evil sista Prae dropped her wallet when they were together

Now Fahalada avoids Charles. That evil friend Yasa returns the wallet to evil sista Prae , now two evils got together more hard days are waiting Charles & Fah.

Unlike sis the evil friend Yasa is clever and he guessed that she fell in love with Charles, that's why she asked him to find Fah's husband..

The sister is making her jealousy more obvious now, Charles gave a call to Fah that he's going back to US bec his dad had a heart attack, sis is making this big deal as he called Fah instead of her.

The evil friend Yasa came into the Fah's home and telling Fah he's his wife.

The doctor fiance told this to the evil sista Prae, but instead of getting worried she says how do you know he's not psycho.

Seriously if I was that Doctor I'd have already left her, break the engagement.

Fah asks the evil ista if she knows anything about the island, Sis says Fah, but Fah wants to learn the truth, ofcourse she's not gonna tell her the truth..

She tells that yes she got married in the island but ppl had bad intentions and lied and deceived her. If ever doctor fiancee wakes up from the dreamland everything will go ok..

I feel sorry for Fahala because she's been deceived all the time, and not knowingly Doctor fiance is in it aswell.

Now the evil sista Prae is in cooperation with the evil friend Yasa , She gave money to the other evil guy telling him that he did a great job ( so from this we understood that sister send him to Fah to tell her that he's her husband) she's sure that by doing this Fah is gonna go away and Charles will be hers.

He's stalking Fah with the orders of sis, Fah offered money to him he accepted.

The evil friend Yasa found Charles and said Fah is going to start a brand new life, that made him angry

Charles went to Fah and found her tickets, he asked where she's going, she said she's going back to USA. Charles forcefully kissed her, Fah struggled a bit and she let it go ( we can't call this a rape really ) bec as he was kissing she remembered the time in the island

In the morning when Charles wakes up, he was alone in bed, she tells Charles that the thing happend last night I think I gave alms to a dog. She says you raped me am I your wife? She asked him to get out of her house.

Fan changes her mind, she no longer wants to go to USA, sister is even more angry now..

Doctor brother in law is clever, when she asked him to go for a lunch she ate little and doc said you didn't much is it related with you changing your mind not going to USA but she avoids answering.

Sis's playing her games on Charles, Charles's gonna play with her.

When Fah get into her house, Charles was already inside, he said it's not good for a wife to keep her hubby waiting like this lol.

She took a baseball bait, he said he's going to trick her and back hugged her, now James is like a bull very angry and now he certainly believes that Fah is remembering everything but acting like she doesn't

Charles forcefully kisses her, she doesn't struggle but she cries, as Charles kisses her.

Charles sees P with the doctor brother in law and he's extremely jealous...

Now even the house keepers understood that evil sista Prae is jealous of Fah and she loves Charles, but doc is still blind.

hahah now doc is using the jealous term, but his fiancee denies it,

He finally tells her it looks like you love someone else, I wanted marry because of love not because of my goodness.

Charles & Fah gone for sightseeing, hopefully this will help Fah at least she'll understand that he genuinely loves her

They really had some romantic time together.

Evil sister Prae is even more jealous after eavesdropping, she forces Fah to tell her that she was with Charles.

She asked if she seduced Charles, (What's got to do with you, you have your own fiance!!!)

Doc fiance again tells evil sister ( Prae) that she can't hide her own feeling for Charles but she accused him for lying, and she blames him having a crush on Pah, she breaks up from fiance even before fiancee tells her to break up..

Doctor fiancee was nearly making a traffic accident, hopefully now he got it that Prae the evil witch never loved him, she only used him for social status.

Prae tells Pah that Charles loves her not her. She asks her why Pah is wearing Charles's stuff??

Fae visits her fiance to give back the engagement ring. She still accuses him loving being in love with Fah. He wants a chance from Fae, I seriously suspect from this guy's IQ..

Charles went to see Fae, saying eating alone is not very nice, Pah saw them together. Housemaids noticed Pah didn't take her medicines

Pah tells her sister that dr is not well, she wants to take care of him.

The evil sista Fae and the idiot cousin Plernta got into fight for Charles, Charles told Plernta he never loved her, she is now crying, hopefully it's Fae's turn pretty soon...

I seriously ship Plernta and the secretary lol

Finally Fae admits that she only brought back Pah for the inheritance, she said I only got a house and business from the family.

I seriously want to know what's gonna trigger Fah's memories on the island..

ahhaah Now sister tells Fah that she's pregnant.

Fah being in the hospital she started to have more vivid dreams about the time she spend on the island now she actually saw Saichon's face

Now Charles / Saichon finds the friend from the min island with her help he learnt the truth about Fah, that she really doesn't remember anything.

Now he feels guilty of what he had done to Fah

Now he know it's because of Yasa, because he was so angry and that anger blinded him that much that he couldn't see the truth.

Now the sister Fae hid Fah somewhere and forcing Charles to marry her that's how she'll tell him where Fah is.

Finally doctor is revealing the truth to Fah, that the guy who claimed to be her husband is hired by Fae, she's not pregnant, and Charles was formerly Saichon from the island, he and the girl Nag Fang got married, NF sister send men to take her away and that NF is you Fah.

Fah is in shock can't believe what doc is saying, but also the other girl from the island confirmed what doctor said. Doc said after she came back from the island she cried so much to go back to island, no matter what treatment I gave you, your condition didn't get any better. So Prae & I decided to give you electroshock therapy and when you woke up all your memories of the island are gone. When she asked why none told me about this? Doc said because Yasa the evil friend told us your husband is a bad person so I & Prae hid it from you.

Doc says Charles never had an affair with Prae, it was all Prae's lies. He adds that Prae forces Charles to get married to trade with your safety.

Let's see what'll happen when two sisters face each other.

Now Fae says I stake your life in order to marry Charles, that wrench asks her sister Fah go give C to her..

Charles is taking Fah to the island so she could remmeber everything. I bet it'll be the last minute right!!

When they are arriving to the island she saw the beach hut that she dreamt of.

She started ask questions to Charles like where did they get married, I guess it's a start.

Hhaha Charles told her when she was not conscious she used to behave like a kid, she used to bath naked with him, and wants to sleep with him haah

Now she can't believe what she has done at that time : p

Now the evil sista has got no one left and she goes to the doc fiance again....

Again evil 받받받받받😠 👿 sista played her game and learnt where Charles & F is.

Charles called the doc said Fae used Yasa to kidnap F..

Doc went to Fae's house and told her that you again used to me learn where C & F is and again sister acted like she doesn't know anything

But doctor waited all day at her doorstep and in the morning he drive off and wait Fae to drive where she's hiding Fah

Doc followed her and find where they are keeping her, he called Charles, he also arrived to the palace where they are keeping F, and his secretary calls the police.

While fighting with Yasa Charles accidentally shoots Yasa, and Yasa shoots Fah, he tries to shoot police officers, but police officers takes him down...

Well end of ep 20 she still has no memories. I call it her memories not gonna come back unless if we have a last minute surprise

Fah is hospitalized but docs wanted them to mentally prepare themselves for the worst. Charles is crying by her bedside, telling her not to leave him...

Evil sista visits ma & dad's grave asks for forgiveness...

Charles quite sharp though when it comes to others, he understood that his secretary has a crush on the cuz lol..

So secretary goes to tell his love to the cuz but words doesn't come out of his mouth.. but he finally managed. The aunt accepted him and asked him to come inside to have some water lol.

Fah still unconscious in the hospital

While she's sleeping lots of things happening in drama world, C's friend from the island pursuing the guy who has a crush on Fah, secretary is dating cuz 😸😸😸😸

When Fah wakes up she finds Charles, hugging her in bed. Her sister asks for forgiveness, and gets it!! 💢💢💢💢

Charles is still worried that F not gonna remmeber him, but doc said take it easy..

F finally discharged from hospital and wants to go to sea, where their love started, she's been taken there by doc and sis.

Doc offers to Prae to help Fah to remmeber her times on the island, as Charles might lose his patience

Charles found F and he asked why did you run away from me again.

Well she still doesn't remember anything, but she is wearing the necklace, Charles said I don't care if you remember me or not, we can make new memories, he asks if she loves him, and her answer is can't he see if she loves him or not 💓💓💓

🏩🏩🏩💓💓💓💑💑💑💑💑💗💗💗💖💖💖💝💝💝💞💞💞💞💕💕💕

She pointed the necklace and he's a happy 🐰🐰🐰🐰

so at the end she promised that she'll never run away from him even for a day...

Mint is a good actress but they always put her as the evil friend, crazy girl who is inlove with the main girl's boy etc etc when she was playing with Yaya & Kim, I think after this time if they make her good friend in any of Kim & Yaya drama, we wouldn't really believe her character.

But she has some other dramas she's playing the good girl as a 2nd - 3rd female lead.

If you want to watch the drama

You can either watch it

here

the resolution is really low on this link but you'll get the watch it full w/o being divided into parts, sorry the vids were removed on the other site.

*I can't use my own photos as the resolution was really low*

#game rai game rak #Thai Lakorn #thai lakorns #lakorns #yaya #Barry #Thanawat Wattanapu #thailand #Sperbund Urassaya #Romance #Nimsakul Pidsanu #natwara wongwasana #Mint #Nadech Kugimiya #Chotika Wongwilas #Nadech Yaya #Urassaya Sperbund

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