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and-it-freezes-me · 3 years

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Accidents Happen - Playing With Fire

Summary: Roman works to get closer to Janus, and finds that he isn’t sure how much he likes this new side of himself.

Content: food mention, panic attack, vomit mention but only very briefly, fire mention

Words: 5,936

{Part 1} {Part 3}

Janus was a surprisingly decent study partner.

Well, the fact that he was a good study partner was not the surprising part. He was a perfect student, one of the very few people in their year with better grades than Roman over all of their subjects, and had won several debate competitions over the last few years, both solo and in a team. If Roman had been surprised that Janus was a good student, he would have been even less observant than the main character in one of the books he had read once. That guy had managed to live in the same dorm room as somebody for seven years and managed to misinterpret the intense attraction between the two of them as hatred and rivalry. And had managed to miss the fact that he was his own worst enemy. Roman wasn’t that unobservant.

The surprising part was that Roman had failed to prepare himself for the fact that Janus might actually be good at pretending to be a good person, and that it was more difficult than he had hoped not to actually like him or appreciate his good qualities, like being a good study partner.

Fortunately, Roman was a good actor. He had plenty of practice at keeping the line between real life and a role.

When, after they had been staring at Roman's notes for an hour and Janus made some comment about how he should have chosen a study buddy with better handwriting, one with handwriting he could actually read, Roman only laughed because that was what Janus expected of him. It wasn’t as though the snake was actually funny, or anything.

“I’m serious. The only reason I believe that this is your real handwriting is because I’m watching you produce these illegible scrawls as I speak.” Janus had leaned back in his chair, staring with some kind of fascinated horror at the fountain pen in Roman’s already ink stained fingers.

“It’s not that bad! If it were illegible, I wouldn’t have passed any of my exams,” Roman pointed out. Although he sounded amused, irritation had flickered to life in his gut. If his handwriting was that distasteful, maybe Janus should go and find somebody else to help him catch up.

“It is that bad,” his companion drawled. “It’s almost bad enough to think that you’re deliberately trying to sabotage my attempts to catch up! How you revise from those things is beyond me.”

Again, Roman had laughed at that. Perish the thought! Him, sabotage Janus? Never! Well, not until he found proof that he had actively had a hand in Remus’ fate. Until that time came, he would just have to wait and watch, gain the snake’s trust until he was ready to spill his guts, and be a minor inconvenience from the shadows.

For example, when a tall man wandered into the kitchen and gazed in mild surprise at Roman before going to the fridge and returning with a pack of chocolate biscuits to offer around, Roman took two, rather than one.

"I didn't know you had friends over, Jan. Should have said something." The man had to be Janus' father. They had the same slender build, the same delicate grey eyes, the same narrow hands. A silver band was around the man's left ring finger.

"It's one friend, Dad -" Roman was a master detective "- and he's helping me catch up on the work I've missed."

Well, Janus was definitely lying there. They weren't friends - they barely knew one another! And if Janus could lie about something like this, he could definitely lie about why he was in the car with Remus. (Yes, Roman was aware that he was probably making slightly too big a deal out of absolutely nothing at all. No, he was not going to stop. Any reason to be hopeful was a good reason to be hopeful).

He was brought out of his triumphant musings by a hearty chuckle as Mr Sinclaire patted Janus genially on his shoulder (the unscarred side, Roman noted). "That's my boy, nose to the grindstone as ever! Alright, you kids have fun."

"Studying, sir, is the epitome of fun,” Roman deadpanned. Well, it wasn’t as though he could just sit there and say nothing - but from the looks that both Sinclaires were now giving him, he rather wished he had stayed silent. Janus was looking as though he rather wished that Roman would crawl back into whatever drain in which he had originated. His father looked as though Roman was something a barely tolerated cat had dragged in through the door after finding it already dead on the side of the road.

Then Mr Sinclaire let out a brief laugh and clapped Janus on the shoulder again. “A funny one! Well, I’ll let you get back to your thrilling pastime.”

Janus chuckled briefly and waved his scarred hand in a shoo-ing motion, and his father left as Roman began to wonder if he had imagined their distasteful expressions. To quell this line of thinking, he took another two biscuits and added them to the two sitting beside his notebook.

By the time Janus was glancing at the clock and telling Roman that he should probably leave now because he had dinner in half an hour (Roman could smell whatever it was coming through from the kitchen. It was probably more worms, maybe with beetles mixed in, but damn did it smell good), there were eleven biscuits stacked neatly beside his elbow. Janus raised an eyebrow at them, pushing the small stack of notes he had been deciphering back toward Roman. “You know, you weren’t going to get kicked out for refusing them if you weren’t hungry.”

Rather than bristling in irritation, Roman chuckled and picked up one of the cookies. They were raisin - squashed fly biscuits, Remus always called them. “Who said I wasn’t hungry?” It was like sawdust in his mouth, but he forced himself to swallow anyway. Janus didn’t look impressed.

Actually, Roman wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Janus look impressed.

“Ah, I must be mistaken. Where I come from, stockpiling cookies rather than eating them is not the mark of the hungry.”

“Then you, sir,” Roman replied, pointing his half-eaten biscuit sternly in Janus’ direction, “have a lot to learn.”

Janus chuckled his serial-killer chuckle and gestured toward the door in a motion that was almost a mockery of a bow. “I shall look forward to my next lesson, then. For now, Princey, I shall bid you adieu.”

Roman looked at him. “What?”

“Adieu. A - D - I - E - U. It’s French, means-”

“I know what it means,” Roman said, interrupting Janus’ exaggerated eye-roll. “It was the Prince part.”

Now it was Janus’ turn for confusion to slip over his features. “I… Sorry. It’s just, you know, your surname meaning ‘king’ and everything, it just slipped out.”

“I didn’t know you spoke Korean.”

“Oh, I… Just a few words.” The burned side of Janus’ face had gone a strange blotchy red, and it took Roman a few seconds to realise that he was blushing. Huh. It seemed that Janus wasn’t always as smooth as he seemed from a distance.

What would Janus do if Roman pressed the point? He seemed flustered. It didn’t make much sense for Janus to just happen to know the meaning of his surname - had he researched him?

Janus was rubbing the back of his neck now, trying to make the fact that he was avoiding Roman’s eyes seem natural rather than bizarre as he showed him to the door, and a peculiar idea struck him. Most people - especially not ones as reserved as Janus Sinclaire - didn’t come up with nicknames after just a few hours studying together, during which they had hardly exchanged more than a handful of words each. Nor did they research the names of random people they had just met.

Was it possible that Janus had a crush on him?

Roman knew he was fairly easy on the eyes. Not in a conceited way - he didn’t think he was conceited, anyway. It was hard not to get used to the fact when every relative commented on how attractive he looked these days, or when his brother had been calling him the handsome twin for years. He was intelligent, kind, outgoing, sometimes funny, and usually a fairly good friend. It wasn’t impossible to believe that Janus could be interested.

On the other hand, it did seem fairly improbable. Thanks to a few too many fistfights and biking accidents, Roman and Remus weren’t exactly identical anymore; even ignoring Remus’ chipped teeth and the scars on his face and hands, Remus was about an inch shorter than Roman and rather more muscle than him. But they still looked similar enough that it was very hard to look at Roman and not see Remus lurking behind his eyes (and vice versa), and Roman couldn’t quite believe that Janus was stupid enough to have a crush on somebody so reminiscent of the person that had (supposedly) lured him into a car and then nearly killed him.

Janus could be faking it, of course. What would he gain from that? If he was guilty of anything more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, creating openings for Roman to poke around could only lead to the truth being discovered. Maybe he thought that he could outsmart Roman - maybe he thought that Roman was stupid. Maybe he was planning something else, something devious, something that this time the other Wang twin would take the fall for.

He would have to keep a much closer eye on Janus than he had originally thought.

On Monday, Roman found Janus in the library toward the end of lunch, and ended up helping him find a book on some long-dead philosopher. He accidentally-on-purpose allowed their fingers to brush when he handed the book over, watching Janus’ face out of the corner of his eye for his reaction. No blush. No stammering. He barely even seemed to notice the lingering touch.

Janus

Evidence for crush: 0

Evidence against crush: 1

On Tuesday, Roman’s fountain pen exploded halfway through his calculus class, covering not only his hands in black ink but also his favourite scarlet sweater and the page of exercises and notes he had been working on. He missed the rest of class trying to wash the stuff off in one of the bathrooms, but when he arrived at his locker to collect his script at the end of the day he found a page of notes in neat calligraphy had been taped to the metal door. At the top of the page was written ‘Thought you’d need these. J.S.’

Janus

Evidence for crush: ½

Evidence against crush: 1

Evidence for being a creepy stalker: 1

Roman deliberately ignored the fact that he knew where Janus’ locker was as well, and for far more devious purposes than handing over missed notes.

On Thursday morning, Janus was waiting by his locker.

(Evidence for being a creepy stalker: 2)

Roman didn’t look at him, unlocking the door and depositing half of the textbooks he had brought with him that morning. “Wasn’t expecting to see you here, Sinclaire. Don’t you have Chem first? On the other side of the school?”

“Memorising my timetable, Princey? Most people would call that stalking, you know.” There was a playful note in Janus’ hoarse voice that made Roman’s eyes dart sideways toward him. A small smile was lingering on the edge of his lips.

(Evidence for crush: ¾)

“You must be lucky, then. Most people don’t have such a handsome stalker.” Roman closed his locker, shouldering his rucksack again, and leaned against it to look Janus in the eye. Did this count as flirting? Roman hoped so. If flirting with Janus got him closer to the truth, Roman would happily take the snake out to dinner and a movie.

Janus’ smile widened almost imperceptibly, and his eyes flicked away from Roman’s. Did the burned side of his face grow ever so slightly redder, or was Roman imagining it?

(Evidence for crush: 1 ½)

“Or one so inept as to admit they’re a stalker, stalker.”

Roman flushed. “Did you want something?”

“Hm?” Janus looked briefly startled. Then he brought his hand up to adjust the chocolate coloured beanie on his head until it was no longer covering his ears. He was wearing what looked like thin leather gloves. “Ah, yes. It has been brought to my attention that I have missed a lot of practice time for our oral presentations for Espanol, and I-”

“Español.”

“Exactly. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind studying with me again tomorrow?” Janus didn’t look that perturbed by the fact that he had been interrupted. Maybe he had bungled the pronunciation deliberately to give Roman the opportunity to show off and correct him. Roman had no doubt that he was capable of it. Manipulative jerk.

(Evidence for being a creepy stalker / manipulative jerk: 3)

There was a few seconds of silence as Roman just stared at Janus, who was beginning to look somewhat uncomfortable by the time it occurred to Roman that he had just been asked a question. He shook his head, and Janus’ face fell. Then he nodded, and the small half-smile returned to Janus’ lips. “Oh. Uh. Sure, yeah. That sounds good. I’ll… Bring my notes.”

“Awesome.” Janus nodded once, as though they had just completed a low-risk business transaction, and then hitched his satchel back onto his shoulder (it had slipped down his arm whilst they had been talking) and turned to walk away.

When he got to Janus’ house on Friday afternoon, there was already a plate of biscuits in the middle of the table, and a second empty plate in the place Roman had sat the previous week. Janus greeted him with a nod toward it: "For your galleta hoarding needs."

Roman flipped him off, then chuckled and sat down. "I appreciate the compensation for the vicious mockery you give my handwriting, in any case."

"My mockery is justified. You write as though you were taught by racoons. Rabid racoons."

Roman hid his snort by leaning down to dig his notes out of his bag. "Sit down, Sinclaire. It's Spanish time."

When he straightened up, Janus was still standing next to him, staring absently at the table. Roman waited for him to move, and when nothing happened, he reached up to poke his cheek.

"Ah!" Roman jerked his hand back as Janus flinched away, one hand coming up to cover his face; Roman realised much too late that he had just prodded his still-fresh burns.

"Oh, fuck, dude, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" Standing, Roman reached out automatically to try to do something - what, he had no idea - but Janus batted his hands away. He was still wearing the gloves from earlier that morning.

"Fine. I'm fine. Sit down, Roman. Sit down." Janus rubbed his cheek again, walking around the table to his own seat.

Roman obeyed, forcing himself to ignore the guilt rising in the back of his throat. He could feel guilty later, if - and only if - Janus turned out to be completely innocent. If he wasn't, which Roman was almost completely certain was the truth, then he deserved every little inconvenience that Roman could give him.

They sat in silence for a short time, Janus staring at his gloved hands, Roman staring at Janus. There was a clock somewhere in the kitchen, and it filled the quiet air between them with a rhythmic ticking. After a total of ninety-four seconds, Roman cleared his throat. "Um… Janus? Are you okay?"

Janus nodded slowly, rubbing his fingers against the palm of the opposite hand, and then looked up. "Yeah. Burns are still pretty sore to touch. I'm… Heh. I'm gradually reducing the number of painkillers I'm on, so…"

"Got it. No more poking." Roman offered Janus a nervous smile, which grew when it was met with the semi-amused half-smile. "So… Spanish?"

Would Janus have opened up to him like that if he thought Roman was investigating him? He must trust Roman at least a little to share that much information about his injuries. There was no way Janus thought Roman was a threat to him, or likely to come close to uncovering the mess of lies he had wrapped around Remus.

Of course, he could also be innocent.

But he wasn't: Roman knew it. There was no way the snake sitting opposite was innocent of anything that had happened in Roman's car that night.

He wished he hadn't hurt him, though. Roman didn't want to hurt people. He didn't want to be like Remus, and have the crowds of people at school part for him as though being closer than two metres was a death sentence.

It was another week until Roman tried his luck and asked about the gloves. They had started spending lunchtimes together, usually in the library, meeting after Janus had eaten to study. Roman was beginning to suspect that Janus wasn't as behind on his Spanish as he was claiming to be: on Wednesday, he had left to find a reference book for his biology class and come back to find Janus correcting part of his essay.

(Janus

Evidence for crush: 5

Evidence against crush: 8

Evidence for being a creepy stalker / manipulative jerk: 7

Reasons not to trust: 11)

Roman had ended up coming over to his house on Tuesday and Wednesday, both times to revise for their exams, which had started that week and would continue into the next. On the Wednesday, Janus had left his phone on the table while he went to the bathroom, and Roman had seized his chance.

Unfortunately, his attempts to gather more information on his study partner were fruitless: Janus had password protected his phone, and Roman didn't know him well enough to even attempt to guess it. His lock screen offered no clues: a picture of a building made of pale brick, with ivy climbing the sides that could be anything from an old home to a stock photo of a museum. It showed the time, and there was an 'If found, please call' message underneath that, with a number just below. Roman studied the number for a moment before taking a picture with his own phone and returning Janus' to the table.

By the time the brunet returned, Roman was nose-deep in deciphering his own notes on the future perfect tense.

An image search of the photograph he had taken showed up only adverts for different phones, and he couldn’t find anything about the number when he had searched it online (not that he was expecting to - it was probably for one of Janus’ parents). The picture of the building had seemed promising at first, but Roman quickly discovered that the sheer number of pale brick, ivy-covered buildings that appeared when he tried searching online would take until Remus’ sentence was up to comb through.

Friday marked the end of their first week of exams, and the first time that Janus invited Roman up to his bedroom to study. “No biscuits this time, I’m afraid. But that means we can go upstairs, which is more comfortable,” he had said, gesturing up the sweeping staircase with one hand.

Janus’ room was just as neat as Roman had expected it to be. A single bed was pushed against one wall, looking as though it had just been made that morning (Roman felt a stab of embarrassment for his own bed, which looked as though half of Simba’s pride had been using the duvet for hunting practice) (as opposed to Remus’ mattress, which actually had stuffing leaking out of it from an ‘accident’ with a bow and arrow); an oblong fluffy brown rug took up a large amount of the floor in the middle of the room, and Roman wasted no time in throwing himself down upon it as Janus crossed to the large desk by the window. There were no posters or pictures tacked to the pale yellow walls, but a single photo frame stood on the bedside table. Roman craned his neck to see it and found, disappointingly yet predictably, it contained a picture of a younger Janus clutching an award. A book was resting beside it, a brown tassel poking out from somewhere near the middle. There was a wardrobe against one wall, a chest against another, and a bookshelf containing what looked like every psychology and law textbook ever written.

Maybe neat had been an understatement. Janus’ room was practically spartan; it could have belonged to anybody. Take away the picture frame and Janus would completely disappear, leaving it free for anybody to use. The thought made Roman a little sad. Janus was pulling papers from his rucksack; rolling over, Roman glanced toward the door - and as he did, something under the bed caught his eye. A smile spread over his face.

“What should we start with? I’m thinking Chem, given that we have that on Monday, and then-”

“You do have a soul!” Roman’s voice was positively gleeful as he got up and crawled toward the bed, and he had to admit that his enthusiasm was genuine. Maybe the room wasn’t so spartan after all.

“What? Ro, wh- oh. No, put those back, we're studying here, not…" Janus trailed away, exasperated, as Roman straightened up clutching a stuffed snake that had to be over a metre long, and a cuddly green octopus.

"Not that your room isn't charming in its utilitarian-ness, but these add so much, don't you think?" He squeezed the octopus thoughtfully before positioning it carefully beside Janus' pillow. "Did you hide these because you knew I was coming around? Because that's just sad, Sinclaire. You never have to hide your stuffed toys." Roman gestured emphatically with the snake, then moved a little closer and used its blunt snout to ease Janus' hat off of his head as the other buried his face in his hand.

"...your obsession with stuffed animals…" Roman heard him mutter, and then, "Stop it, you oaf, stop…"

"Make me," he replied maturely, and started bopping Janus on the head with the yellow animal.

With a theatrical groan that Roman was almost impressed by, Janus started half-heartedly batting at the snake. Roman responded by chuckling and hitting him again. "You'll have to try harder than that! Come on, Jan…"

"Listen, you…"

The next time the snake went near Janus' now messy hair, he grabbed it and tried to jerk it out of Roman's hands. With a cry of laughter, Roman pulled back harder, managing to jerk his nemesis off his chair.

Which would have been fine: Janus would have stood, pulled harder, the snake would have been his for the taking, and that would have been the end of it.

Only Janus managed to trip on the edge of the rug that Roman had been so enjoying a moment ago, and the momentum from their tug of war pushed him off balance. He crashed into Roman, who stumbled from the unexpected weight, and then they were both on the floor.

Or, more accurately, Roman was on the floor with an aching head and tailbone, and Janus was lying on top of him, wincing. "Fuck, Wang, how are you so boney?"

Roman made a (highly dignified) squeaking noise, too winded to speak. Janus' scar went that same blotchy red as it had the other day.

"Oh. Sorry, let me just…" He rolled himself off and sat up, and Roman took a deep breath as air rushed back into his lungs. "You alright?"

Roman waved a hand. "Fine, fine… Just gonna lie here… a second…"

"Here." A hand wrapped around his, and Roman felt himself being pulled back to his feet - apparently Janus was stronger than he had thought. "You're lighter than I expected. All good? Happy to go back to studying now?"

"Why do you wear those things?"

They were still holding hands, and Roman was staring at the yellow glove against his brown skin. It was smooth to the touch. He didn't realise that Janus was staring at him until the silence became uncomfortable enough for him to look up; shaking his head, Roman pulled away with a nervous chuckle. "Sorry. Sorry, that was… Don't worry about it. You're right, let's…" he gestured helplessly at Janus' desk.

Janus rubbed the back of his neck slowly, then shrugged and sat down. He handed Roman a stack of flashcards. The top one read 'endothermic reaction'. "Layer of protection against infection. Only one glove is weird. Besides, people stare less at the glove than they did at the scarring, and they already stare enough at my face. I think I'll spare the hands. Quiz me."

Roman stared at him. Janus was facing the window again, not looking at him anymore. His back was perfectly straight, the sun shining bronze through his shoulder-length wave of hair, and Roman was struck with the urge to rest a hand on his shoulder, to comfort him. "Janus… If-"

"Quiz me," Janus interrupted, insistently. "Chemistry test on Monday. Final grade. Flashcards. Go."

So Roman quizzed him, telling himself that it was for the best. He didn't want to get too close to Janus, didn't want to feel sympathy for him. Janus was hiding something about Remus' and his accident, which meant that Janus could have kept Remus out of jail, which meant that Janus couldn't be trusted no matter how nice he might pretend to be or how high the guilt rose in Roman's throat.

On Monday morning, they sat their chemistry exam in the sports hall, and Roman could only find one question that he didn't feel confident with. Janus, he knew, must have aced it. He hadn't gotten a single flashcard wrong on Friday.

Then they had a written Spanish exam, and then lunch. Roman toyed with his bento for ten minutes or so, then put his lunchbox away again and went to join Janus in the library to revise for their practical assessment that afternoon.

Roman wasn't paying attention when everything had gone wrong. His focus had been solely on the copper sulphate solution he was attempting to crystallise, checking the timer to make sure he noted down the temperature of the solution every fifteen seconds; the first he knew of a problem was a hoarse cry, a few screams, and the slamming of the heavy classroom door.

He looked up apprehensively, although he thought he already knew what he was going to see.

Sure enough, Janus was missing from his station; Virgil, his lab partner, had his back pressed against the window a full three metres away from their work and was looking as though he had been on the verge of jumping out. The pairs at the stations around theirs were all staring at him, and Roman was willing to bet that his had been one of the screams. Their teacher was staring at the door with an expression of great concern on his face.

Roman was out of his spot before he had thought it through, shrugging off his lab coat and ignoring the whisper of annoyance from Melanie, his own lab partner. "Sir, Mr Sanders? Can I go make sure he's alright?"

Their teacher nodded gratefully at him. "Thanks, Mr Wang. Tell him he doesn't have to come back to finish, alright? The rest of you have… Eighteen minutes until the end of the test."

Roman closed the door on the sound of people scurrying to get back to their experiments, and looked up and down the corridor. Janus was nowhere in sight. Where would he go? Not his locker: that was too public, and Roman had a feeling that Janus wouldn't want anybody to see if he was freaking out. The gym? No, there was a French assessment happening in the gym at the moment. So… The bathrooms, maybe. Roman took off at a brisk jog toward the toilets by the science staircase.

He knew he had the right place the moment he opened the door. The sound of strangled sobs and gasps was coming from the middle toilet cubicle, and when Roman closed the door they stopped briefly, as though Janus was holding his breath, before starting again in a rush. Roman winced.

"Janus? It's me."

"Go - Go away!" Janus' voice was more strained than usual, and Roman sighed quietly before moving forward to knock gently on the cubicle door. It swung open under his touch - Janus hadn't locked it.

"Can I come in?"

"Can - can I st-stop you?" Janus tried to snap the words, but they came out unsteady and breathless.

He was curled up on the closed lid of the toilet seat, knees pulled to his chest and one arm wrapped tightly around them. The other was braced against one knee, hand fisted in his brown beanie as he hyperventilated, face and eyes red. The smell of burnt fabric lingered around him; the left sleeve of his lab coat was blackened and burned.

Roman took a small step forward, then knelt down in front of him. "Can I touch you, Jan?"

Janus shook his head, then unwrapped his right arm from around his knees and held out his hand. Roman took it and squeezed gently, and was met with a vice-like squeeze. He didn't pull away.

"Do you want to try a breathing exercise?" A nod. "I'm going to count, but no pressure. Ready? Breathe with me. In for four, yeah? Two, three, four, and hold for four, two, three, four, that's it, and out for two, three, four, five, and six. And in, two, three, four… You're doing really well, Jan. You're here, you're safe… And out, two, three, four, five, six…"

“I - This - I shouldn’t-”

“It’s okay, Jan. With me, in, two, three, four… Hold, two, three, four, and out, two, three, four… That’s it…”

That wasn’t it, actually. Janus’ breathing was still ragged, only slightly calmer than before, but Roman kept up his gentle stream of encouragement until he spoke again.

“The - the fire, my - my sleeve, I couldn’t, I…” He broke off in a dry sob, and Roman ran his thumb gently over his knuckles.

“You’re safe now. You’re safe. I promise, alright? All you need to worry about right now is breathing, and squeezing my hand. You’re here, buddy. I’m here. It’s going to be okay…” He might never have done this for Janus before, but Roman was hardly a stranger to helping his brother through panic attacks like this one. Remus had had problems with enclosed spaces ever since they were nine and he had managed to lock himself in the cupboard under the sink, and sometimes got overwhelmed in large crowds, but whilst the triggers were different the end result and the care needed was usually the same.

He knew what it was like to be in Janus’ position, too.

Janus' grip on his hand never decreased in ferocity, but gradually the other boy's shoulders slumped from their hunched position, and he closed his eyes in exhaustion. They continued the breathing exercise for another few minutes before Roman broke the flow of counting and reassurance again. “Hey. Do you feel up for a hug?”

The tired silver eyes opened and studied Roman for a second. Then Janus shrugged. Roman hesitated until he actually nodded, standing to wrap his arms loosely around his shoulders. Janus rested his head against Roman’s chest, exhaled a long, slow breath, and murmured so quietly that Roman would have missed it had he not been right next to him, “Thanks.”

It was evening, and Roman was in his room, staring blankly at his notebook.

Janus

Evidence for crush: 9

Evidence against crush: 11

Evidence for being a creepy stalker / manipulative jerk: 12

Reasons not to trust: 16

He had stayed with Janus that afternoon, stayed until they heard the tramping of feet in the hallway outside that meant that the school day was over, until Janus had pushed him away and stood, muttering something about not wanting to keep his parents waiting. Roman had showed him how to splash water over his face to reduce the redness in his eyes, and then watched him walk away, his mind in turmoil.

He couldn’t keep investigating Janus. Not after that. Roman had observed and had enough panic attacks to know a genuine one when he saw it: Janus had been really freaked out by the small fire in their chemistry assessment. The crash had clearly had far more than just a physical impact on him. The guilt in Roman had risen so high that he had found himself doubled over a toilet, retching what little lunch he had eaten until only bile would come up. How could he have suspected Janus of deliberately doing something to get Remus locked up? Janus didn’t even know Remus. Roman was definitely in the wrong here.

He should put this whole mess behind him. Janus actually seemed like a nice person - and Roman couldn’t just ghost him now, not now that they were almost friends. If he just stopped speaking to Janus now, he would surely assume it was because Roman had been too freaked out by seeing Janus panic like that, and that wasn’t fair at all.

None of this was fair on Janus.

Roman should do something as an apology. Not that Janus needed to know it was an apology, of course, it just needed to be something they could do as friends. They hadn’t actually hung out together yet, unless studying counted - which it most definitely didn’t. They could see a movie, or something. Maybe Roman could host, and they could watch something lighthearted - a Disney film, or something similar. Nothing too violent or firey. It would be a good break from revision, if he could schedule something in for the weekend.

Not wanting to wait to see Janus the next day, Roman pulled his phone from his pocket, and had gotten as far as opening the messaging app when he realised that there was one minor flaw in this plan: he didn’t have Janus’ number.

Oh.

What did he have? He knew they all had school email addresses, but also knew that nobody ever checked those. Besides, who sent emails to ask friends to hang out? If he asked Virgil for Janus’ number (and Roman had no doubt that Virgil would know it), he would end up owing the most twitchy guy in school a massive favour - and he’d probably never live down the teasing. Virgil would tell Patton, because he told Patton everything, and as lovely as Patton was, he had no idea how to keep a secret.

Roman lowered his phone slowly, frowning. Now what? It wasn’t as though he had any favours he could call in or -

Call! He had one of Janus' parents' numbers in his camera roll from when he had taken a picture of his lock screen! Pulling his gallery up, Roman scribbled the number into his notebook and then dialled it, slapping the phone to his ear as soon as he had hit the last letter and waiting for the dial tone to go away. He would explain that he was Janus' friend, that he had managed to lose Janus' number, and could he please-

Then the voicemail message started playing, and the colour drained from Roman's face. He waited for the beep, then hung up, lowering his phone slowly.

It looked as though the investigation was back on.

"Who the fuck calls people these days? Send a text like a regular dickhead, sheesh! Whatever, if your voicemail boner is really that hard, just go ahead. This is Remus' phone - but you already knew that."

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prettywordsyouleft · 5 years

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Back To You // AIRFORCE7

Summary: When Mark approached you that fateful evening, it was because of a bet. However, the events that followed were because you had changed him.

Pairing: Mark Tuan x reader (ft. AIRFORCE7 aka GOT7)

Genre: 1940s era / pilot au / romance / fluff

Warnings: Due to the era it’s set in, this will contain minor war conflict in some of the stories. I will not be making the war-zone my main focus in this series however.

A/N: Welcome to the first story in my AIRFORCE7 series! Today we’re starting with Mark and I really hope you like his introduction into this world.

Word count: 4884

This series will continue every Thursday until completed at 10am NZST.

“You want me to do what?” Mark echoed, his drink not quite reaching his mouth. Placing it down and glancing at the two men sitting around the table with him, he grinned. “Are we only in the air force to exude our status on women?”

“Of course we are, ladies love a man in uniform,” BamBam enthused, nudging Mark beside him playfully. “We don’t come out to these events just to socialise with each other. We can do that during the day.”

“Don’t you want to have the joy of coming home to a waiting wife one day?” Jackson inquired and Mark looked at the fellow comrade, letting a small smile twist up his lips. His friend grinned. “You do! How are you going to find her then if your head is too busy up in the clouds?”

“We’re not really at the point in our careers to be looking for marriage just yet,” Mark mentioned, though his eyes did flitter around the club, watching a couple nearby slow dancing intimately. He finally took a sip of his drink, shaking his head softly. “We need to focus on training.”

“That’s during the day,” BamBam reiterated, rolling his eyes a little. “You’re one of the best pilots we have on our team anyway. Lieutenant Im is always praising you in training sessions.”

“That I am,” their leader’s voice suddenly entered the conversation, his warm smile greeting them all. He sat down in the empty chair with his drink and glanced around at the men. “What are we trying to convince Tuan of?”

“I propose a bet.”

Mark eyed Jackson carefully before shaking his head. “I’m not making a wager with you.”

“Why, don’t you like playing games?”

Jaebum grinned. “Don’t you all know, Tuan here is one of the gamers we have. Last year, he took on the entire cadet team in sports day and won against them all. You two transferred to our squadron afterwards and missed out on seeing him in all his glory. He’s really competitive.”

“I’m aware of how competitive he can be,” BamBam mentioned softly, his eyes darting away when Mark looked at him. Mark took another sip of his drink, smirking when he remembered the shrill of BamBam’s voice in his headset the other day when training together. However, BamBam nudged Mark again. “You should take Jackson up on his offer.”

Jackson smiled smugly. “You really should, but I doubt you’ll win this one.”

“Is that right?” Mark rebutted casually, a surge of curiosity taking control of his limbs. He stretched his hands in preparation, looking across the dance hall towards the billiards table and dart board. He was ready to play a game if Jackson really wanted to.

“Not that kind of game, soldier,” Jackson mused, pointing to the mass of people around them instead. “I bet you couldn’t secure yourself a date tonight.”

“Is that it?” Jaebum sighed, losing interest in Jackson’s attempts for entertainment. “Mark could get a date easily. It’s not just the men here who want the company of a lady. A lot of the people who come to these nights out are hoping to socialise with each other if you get what I mean.”

“I know that,” Jackson quipped, his grin drawing their leader back in. “I wasn’t meaning that he gets to choose who. We choose the lady; he has to secure the date.”

“What’s in it for me?”

BamBam started giggling. “Probably a good end to the night?”

Mark rolled his eyes as both BamBam and Jackson both fell into boyish fits of laughter, and he glanced helplessly over at Jaebum who merely shrugged. The leader then looked around the room, surveying the crowds for something. Mark gasped. “You better not assist in this, Im Jaebum.”

“Why not?”

“Lead us to someone good!” Jackson encouraged, his own dark gaze following Jaebum’s around the hall.

“I never agreed to this. And you still haven’t told me what the prize is.” Jackson slapped some money down on the table, and the three men all leaned in to see how much was there. Mark snapped his focus up to his friend incredulously. “You’re kidding!”

“You can thank me by making me your best man at your wedding.”

“You can’t turn this opportunity down,” Jaebum insisted, fisting the money and holding it up in Mark’s face. “You’re saving for that old house you liked not far from the base. You need to win this bet and then you’ll be able to reach that goal this year!”

“Don’t be so sure,” BamBam breathed, placing a hand on Mark’s shoulder. He laughed when his friend shrugged the hand off. “We know how good Mark is in the cockpit of a plane, but can he control that coc-”

“Are you going to put money in too?” Mark intervened and the younger man blinked, swallowing back the remainder of his sentence. “I’ll prove to you that it’s not just you and Jackson who can do well with ladies. Pick your girl, I’ll make it happen.”

Cheers sounded around the table and Mark folded his arms over his chest, feeling his heart beat faster. He wasn’t sure if it was from the surge of needing to prove them wrong or because he was concerned he’d talked himself up too much. Sure, he wasn’t incapable of getting the attention of the opposite sex. Jaebum was right, he had, when he wanted to, found a way to end up under the sheets with any woman he set his attention on. But that was from his own choosing. He didn’t really need to work hard with any of those girls, his charming smile was generally enough to lure them in.

This time though, it wasn’t to his own devices. He knew Jackson would choose someone Mark wouldn’t initially set his eyes upon. Jackson soon pointed to someone across the room. “What about her?”

“Are you blind, can’t you see the ring on her finger?” their leader said with a snort, cocking his head to the side and shooting Jackson a bored look. “Are you just going to throw your money away? Make it interesting, Wang.”

“Do we be mean? Choose someone really out of Mark’s tastes?” BamBam teased and Mark merely sat there, focusing on his drink for the next ten minutes as the three men discussed options. He flinched when the man beside him grabbed his arm and shook him roughly. “Her!”

Mark’s gaze shifted to where they were all staring, finding you sitting in the corner of the room. He hadn’t noticed you there all night long, but it was obvious you had been there for some time as you were further detached from the happenings around you, reading a battered copy of a book you held within your hands. He breathed out a sigh of relief upon seeing you, you appeared perfectly normal. He then looked at the three men all watching his reaction avidly, leaning towards him and waiting with bated breath to see whether he would play the game or not. Mark suffered a moment of hesitance, knowing that bets like these were immoral. You had feelings and he could possibly hurt you if you ever found out he was set up with you. That’s if you actually fell for him. His eyes fell upon the stack of money Jackson had placed down and sighed. That money could really help him set up his funds towards that home he had found. He already had almost enough to buy it but the money needed to make it liveable again would probably be more than the purchase price.

Standing up, Mark stared at Jackson determinedly. “That money better not disappear, Wang.”

“Atta boy!” Jaebum hollered as Mark pushed away from the table, approaching you with as much confidence as he could muster.

You barely looked up at his approach, though a small frown creased up your forehead when he stopped in front of you. Sighing heavily, you placed a fabric bookmark in the novel you had been reading and glanced up. “Can I help you, soldier?”

“Yes ma’am,” he said with a smile. “Can I sit down?”

“I’d rather you stand,” you shot back, uneasy in his presence. Mark swallowed; he clearly hadn’t given you enough credit when he first looked your way.

He attempted to smile again. He needed you to at least humour him a little longer. “You see, my friends over there pointed out how lonely you seemed and without sounding like someone preying on you, they offered me a bet. Now, I’m willing to share half the winnings with you if you allow me to sit down here and chat with you all night long. I figure there isn’t anything to lose really. I could gain the company of a fine person such as yourself and you would gain something in return too. Before you think this is something that has to end in a private place, it’s not my intention to ask you to do such a thing with me. I’m just hoping you help this soldier save face in front of his lieutenant and friends, if you will.”

You stared up at Mark for some time after he finished speaking, your expression unreadable. He almost went to speak again, to thank you for not throwing your drink at him and bid you farewell, when you tilted your head to the side. “How do you know I’m such a fine person?”

“Well, you’re reading for one.”

“And reading automatically makes me someone of worth?”

Mark smiled, shaking his head. “It makes you different though.”

“How so?”

“Everyone else is dancing or drinking, and you’re over here in your own world. I didn’t notice you in the beginning, but now that I have, well I want to know more about what world you’re escaping to.”

“One without a war looming in the background for one,” you mentioned, a small smile tugging at your lips. “One without a need for soldiers or social events like this too.”

“Ouch,” he exclaimed playfully, clutching at his heart. “You don’t like pilots?”

“Now that would be wrong of me when my Daddy was one.”

“Was?”

“He died overseas a couple of years back. Unlike you, he was faced with the reality of war. I’m thankful we have a lot of young men such as yourself ready to fight for our freedom. I’m even grateful for your honesty. It’s why it’s tempting to accept your offer. And yet, Daddy always said to never trust a man with a plane.”

“And why’s that?” Mark questioned, pulling out the chair you hadn’t allowed him onto before and sat down. He was intrigued and you couldn’t help but watch him more intently.

“Because they always end up flying away.”

“Most fly back home too,” he said pointedly and you smiled wistfully. Mark pressed on with his counter-argument. “I know it’s not anything certain to trust in a pilot, especially with the talks of the war coming our way. But don’t you think that you’re missing out too? If the skies the limit, don’t you want to at least fly up there once and see what you could have?”

“And what makes you think I’m not happy with what I have?”

Mark grinned. “You’re reading of a world that isn’t here.”

You leaned around to glance at the three men Mark knew had to be watching your interaction with high interest. You smiled and then turned back to him. “I think we might have more to converse about, don’t you?”

Mark had completely forgotten about the bet as the night wore on. In fact, he was barely aware of the music blaring or the people buzzing in the background. All he could focus on was you. It was refreshing to meet someone he didn’t already know from being stationed here for over seven months now. He listened to your stories and shared his own, laughter flowing freely between you both as the early morning enclosed on the depths of the night.

He realised he did know you though. When you mentioned you worked in the bakery downtown, Mark was surprised. Even further when you told him you had been working there longer than he had been stationed here for.

“But I go there all the time!”

You smiled knowingly. “I know, and I’ve served you a plenty too.”

“Really? I would have noticed you,” Mark insisted and you laughed melodically, resting your head on your hand and staring at him. He watched you for a moment, reaching out and pushing a loose strand of hair away from your face. “I should have noticed you.”

“Should I be worried, soldier? You’re trying to win my heart over, aren’t you?”

He shook his head and smiled warmly. “Call me Mark, remember?”

“Your friends look ready to go, Mark,” you mentioned, looking over his shoulder again. He didn’t look behind though, still staring at you. It made you blush, fiddling with the corner of the book you had abandoned. “Do you need to go too?”

“Do you want to go?” he asked back and noticed how uneasy you were becoming. The night was ending and you were no doubt wondering if he would try to talk you into going home with him.

The bigger question was, he wondered what your answer would be if he attempted to.

“It is getting late,” you finally stated and Mark nodded. “But I’ve had a good time.”

“I’m glad you don’t see me as someone weird.”

“You are weird. You accepted a bet to come talk to someone you’ve never noticed before,” you pointed out with a smile and Mark hung his head dramatically. “But I am grateful for your company tonight, Mark.”

“Likewise.”

You got to your feet, and Mark helped you into your coat once in the lobby. You both loitered there, knowing that once you stepped out the front doors that things would be different regardless of where you slept. He didn’t know how to end the night, wanting to say something that would give you hope that he wasn’t just going to walk away now. But he felt tongue-tied the longer he stared at you. And when you moved quickly to peck him on the cheek, he was stunned. You were blushing when you pulled back. “I had a really good night, Mark. I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah,” he breathed, wishing his body would come back down from the high he was feeling so he could stop you from leaving.

And then he realised why you had done what you had, the jostling from Jackson pulling Mark out of his stupor. “You sly fox!”

“Are you taking it slow with her then?” BamBam asked and Mark blinked rapidly as he looked at his friends.

Jaebum grinned. “Pay this man his money.”

Mark took a deep breath as he stood outside the bakery the very next morning, wondering if it was too early to try and see you. He hadn’t slept well; he couldn’t stop ruminating over everything that happened with you last night. And whilst he knew he was meant to be on the airbase this morning working with Jinyoung, another pilot on his team, on some modifications to his Mustang’s engine, he couldn’t help but deviate away from his lodgings towards town instead of the airbase. Now, standing outside your work, he was anxious, wondering if you had thought of him as well.

Taking a deep breath, he entered the store, smiling in greeting at the ladies behind the counter. One approached him. “You’re here early, soldier.”

“Wait, aren’t you the guy who kept Y/N company last night?” another asked and Mark nodded shyly. She clapped her hands together in glee. “Are you here to see her then?”

“If she’s not busy,” he mentioned and watched as the ladies darted out the back, soon returning with a stunned you. He smiled warmly. “Hi.”

“Hi,” you echoed and then glanced at one of the ladies. “Is it alright Betty if I-”

“Of course!” she oozed, basically shoving you out towards Mark, where you awkwardly led him over to the park across the road.

You sat down on a bench and he followed suit, neither of you immediately talking. Finally, you said something. “What brings you here so early?”

“I couldn’t stop thinking of you,” he admitted and watched as your skin flushed with colour. “I hope I’m not intruding.”

“Well, I didn’t know what to expect since you only came over last night for the bet,” you mentioned softly, your eyes flashing suddenly. “Oh, did they pay up?”

Mark’s heart sunk a little at your renewed interest as he nodded. He had hoped you wanted to see him just as much. All the same, he reached into his pocket and held an envelope out to you. “As promised, here is your share from the cut.”

You took the envelope, staring at it momentarily before thrusting it back at him. You smiled. “You take it; I was never interested in the money.”

“No?” Mark stared at the envelope you had returned and then back at you. “Then why did you…?”

“You actually took the time to get to know me. At first, I was ready to send you on your way. I don’t exactly enjoy the social events as Betty and Lane always go there to end up in another bed for the night, in search of a husband. So, if I take a book with me, no one normally interrupts me. As soon as I see the ladies settle into the company of others and get a good look at who they will be going home with, I tend to go home myself.”

“You walk home alone?” he asked and you nodded. “Isn’t it dangerous?”

“No further than sitting out here with you, I’m sure.”

Mark grinned. “You think I’m dangerous?”

“Shall I remind you of why I don’t do pilots?” you teased and Mark laughed genuinely. You seem enamoured by the sound.

“So what do you do?”

You blushed so much that Mark couldn’t help but reach out and cup your warm cheek with his hand, the humour from the situation dissolving. “Would you be willing to make an exception to your rule? Date me, Y/N.”

“After one night?”

“Many don’t even wait a night,” he reminded and you shook your head, smiling all the same. “How long do I need to win you over? If you aren’t aware, I’m kind of competitive.”

You placed a hand on your hip and cocked your head to the side. “Oh, so like the bet, I’m a prize to be won?”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that,” Mark faltered and you giggled, standing back up and looking down at Mark. He shot you an earnest look. “One date, Y/N. Let me take you to dinner, or a movie, or dinner and a movie.”

“I’m not so sure,” you mentioned airily and wiped your hands on the apron around your waist. “And I best get back to work. Maybe I’ll see you around? Serve you even. I hope you’ll remember me.”

Mark grinned after you, knowing you weren’t going to give up on him either. He obviously needed to show you more of his interest and so for the next three weeks, he turned up at the bakery almost every day, during lunch and then to walk you home after your shift ended. And every time he arrived at your doorstep, you would smile at him and say the same thing over again, “I’ll see you around.”

Mark was starting to wonder if you even saw him as someone worth dating. He was highly attracted to you by now, your walks always full of conversation. You told him more about your life and he traded his own stories with you, swinging your hand lightly in his once you allowed him too. Had he been aware of your inner thoughts, he would have realised you were already classing these moments as dates. But Mark was fixated on the official announcement, waiting for you to tell him every day.

But it just didn’t come.

“You still chasing the skirt of that girl?” Jackson inquired and Mark glanced up from his breakfast before going back to eating. The man chuckled. “She must not be into you. What did you say to get her to kiss you on the cheek that night? Did you bribe her too?”

Mark smiled to himself but didn’t answer Jackson.

“There’s a new showing at the theatre this weekend,” Jinyoung mentioned from across the table and smiled at Mark. “Suggest it to her; I think it’s based off one of the books she reads.”

“How do you know about her?” BamBam questioned his fellow comrade and Jinyoung shrugged his shoulders, giving Mark a knowing look before going back to his meal. BamBam turned to Mark. “Are you talking more with him than us? We set you up with her!”

“Technically, since he’s not dating Y/N yet, we didn’t do anything,” Jackson mused and then tapped his spoon on Mark’s tray. “Okay Tuan, I will give you-”

“No,” he cut him off, smiling over at his friends. “No more bets, Y/N’s not a prize.”

It was raining by the time Mark left the base to go pick you up from work and so he borrowed Yugyeom’s, another teammate, car to collect you. He was early to pick you up and so he sat there listening to the radio, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel and waiting to see you appear. When you and the ladies finally stepped out and locked up the store, he tooted, pulling his upper body out of the window so you could see it was him. The girls all laughed, shoving you playfully.

“Where did you get the car from Mark?”

“Would you like a lift?” he offered and you grinned, looking at the girls who pushed you over to him. He jumped out of the car and dashed around to open the door for you, looking back at your friends. “It’s raining; don’t you want to come with us?”

“No, we have somewhere else to be,” Betty replied and Lane looked at her in confusion.

“We do?”

“We do,” Betty confirmed, grabbing your friend by the arm and waving you both off. Mark laughed gratefully at their sacrifice and then closed your door, hopping back in on his side.

He then glanced over at you, grinning as he shook off his wet hair. You whined. “Mark, you’re soaked!”

“I’m fine,” he assured, putting the car into gear and pulling away from the curb. He estimated the drive to be less than ten minutes and he sighed, wanting to prolong his time with you. An idea came to mind and he looked over at you when he stopped at the only set of lights in town. “Say, would you like to see something with me?”

“I haven’t said yes to dating you, Mark Tuan.”

“It’s not a date, I promise. I want to show you something special to me. Would you like to see?” he asked again and you nodded shyly. Mark grinned and changed course, heading to the lane that wasn’t too far away from the airbase. The houses here were much older than in town, the land having been developed from the farms that once dominated this area. He pulled up in the drive of one in particular, smiling as he looked out the screen at it.

You stared at the For Sale sign quietly before turning to Mark. “This is the place you told me about, right?”

“Yeah, this is my future home,” he mentioned softly, unable to hide the smile from his face. He settled into the chair and pointed to the grand farmhouse. Or at least, it would look that way once he was done with it. Mark explained everything he wanted to do to the exterior of the place and you listened intently, your gaze brightening the longer he told you of his plans.

“Can we go onto the property?” you asked and Mark nodded until he looked out at the rain falling again.

“Uh, I don’t have an umbrella with me. Are you okay with running over?”

You nodded excitedly and opened your door, leaping out and taking the overgrown track up to the house. Mark followed you, listening to your laughter until you were up on the veranda. You spun around and then shook off, spraying water bullets all over him.

“Y/N! You’re wet!” he cried like you had earlier and laughed with you, before opening the door. You gasped and Mark encouraged you over. “I know the guy selling this place, it’s okay.”

“But it wasn’t locked,” you said and Mark held up the key he had used. “I didn’t see you use it!”

“I’m a soldier, I have quick reflexes,” he teased, ushering you inside. Despite the dim lighting, you were both able to see your way around easily enough. Mark continued running through his renovation ideas with you and was surprised when you started offering your own.

“A dining table should go here, right in the heart of the kitchen. And you should knock this wall out so the laughter of the living area can be shared within this space as well. This house needs laughter.”

Mark leaned against the wall as you walked around the space, sharing your envisions as you moved about. He couldn’t stop staring at you though, seeing everything you were saying but with you in it.

Laughing with you, cooking with you, children running around you both. It was crazy, he hadn’t known you that long and yet it was so easy to want all of that with you. And when you finished talking, he could see a similar desire building within your gaze. You smiled and came back to his side. “Well, what do you think?”

“Will you go on that date with me this weekend?” he asked and you blinked at the change in topic. Mark reached forward to hold you affectionately. “I need you to say yes to me.”

“Why?”

“I can’t envision all that you said without you involved in it too.”

You smiled, nodding lightly. “You can pick me up at seven.”

But Mark didn’t make it to the date as planned. Instead, he was up in the skies, deployed that morning with the rest of the AIRFORCE7 squadron to gather Intel. He didn’t even have time to call you before heading out, orders were made and the planes instantly up in the air. As he navigated through the sunset, he thought over how he would have been just turning up now to pick you up. He wondered what you would have worn for him and smiled to himself the longer he imagined it. And then he sighed, hoping you would hear from some of the other ladies in town about their mission.

Mark prayed you weren’t waiting by the window for him to turn up all night.

He continued to think of you until he needed to focus on his mission at hand, successfully heading to his coordinates and collecting the data the air force required from him and the rest of his team. After refuelling at an allied airfield, they returned home, flying throughout the next day. He had barely landed on the runway and pulled his Mustang into position near the aircraft hangars when he noticed that you were waiting for him. Mark had to blink multiple times to ensure he wasn’t just wishing you were there to greet him, and he scrambled out of the cockpit, leaping down to the ground and approaching you with haste. He was worried you would disappear right when he reached your side.

Instead, you shot him a stern look. “You’re late.”

“You’re here,” he murmured and you nodded. “Why are you… how did you know when I’d come back?”

“I have a friend who works in the radio tower. When I realised you weren’t coming, I rang in to ask of you. They didn’t tell me details but they did confirm you had flown away from me, pilot.”

“I came back though, didn’t I?” he pointed out as he took you in his arms and you tried to bite back your smile. “I came back to you.”

“You better promise you’re going to keep coming back too,” you told him before stretching up to place a chaste kiss on his lips. Settling back onto your heels you smiled. “We have a house to renovate together.”

Mark scooped you up in another kiss, this time unleashing the passion that had built up from seeing you waiting for him. He held you tightly, kissing you without any regard as to who was around you both. Finally, when he pulled away, he winced sheepishly. “I have to go into debriefing. Can you wait a little longer for me?”

“I’m not sure,” you said, holding onto his shirt as you regained some of your composure. “Maybe I should just meet you there.”

“Where?”

You smiled. “For our date. Or are you going to stand me up again?”

“No ma’am,” he answered, kissing you again tenderly. “I’ll be there.”

_________________

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syncogon · 6 years

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[QZGS Prequel TL] Ch 8: Inheritance

(info post and links for the translations of the QZGS prequel, 巅峰荣耀 Top Glory)

summary: Thanks to a contribution of rare materials from a mysterious benefactor, a silver weapon for Troubling Rain has been completed. The time has come for the Sword and Curse to lead Blue Rain to glory.

(This is only a short chapter, and I’d already mostly translated it in my Summer Days of Blue Rain, but for completeness I figured I should clean it up and post it here. Normal disclaimers apply. Read/comment/enjoy!)

Translated by: Syncogon

“They won, they won again!”

“Who won?”

“Tiny Herb, of course it’s Tiny Herb!”

On the television, on the computer, in the Glory game, game forums, Weibo, QQ groups…

Anywhere where people gathered, anywhere where there were Glory players, the news of Tiny Herb’s victory spread like an exploding stove.

Glory Professional Alliance Season 3, in the final round of the regular season, the highly eye-catching Tiny Herb didn’t disappoint. Even when they had already secured their spot in the playoffs, they still played seriously to earn the last victory in the regular season, entering the playoffs at third place.

Tiny Herb wasn’t new to the playoffs, but this Tiny Herb, in their eyes, was an entirely new Tiny Herb.

And in reality, they had only switched one person.

Tiny Herb’s captain, the controller of core character Vaccaria, was now changed to a new person. And this new player’s name, along with his title, had echoed through the entirety of Glory from early on.

The Magician, Wang Jiexi.

This was a title that belonged to him, entirely unrelated to the character he controlled. His brilliant, incredible play was like magic. Let alone the ordinary gamers who wished to imitate it, even among the pros there was no one who could fathom the mystery. The experience of the seniors unraveled in front of this never-before-seen playstyle, and one expert after another fell to Wang Jiexi’s Vaccaria.

He was a rookie. In the beginning, they called him a challenger.

But now, at the end of the season, the challenger had quietly become the conqueror.

True, Wang Jiexi didn’t win every single battle. But only the Arena had ever had that kind of win record, and there was no way to surpass Ye Qiu there.*

In the Glory professional circle, people saw too many pro players rendered helpless in front of Wang Jiexi.

In the Glory in-game circle, the Witch accounts that sprung up trying to emulate his style were abandoned soon enough. They had no way of replicating Wang Jiexi’s Magician playstyle, and this kind of Witch naturally had no way of displaying the radiance they had hoped to see.

And now, the unique Magician was about to begin a new journey.

“Season 3 Playoffs, the Magician Arrives!” Huang Shaotian read aloud the headline of Esports Weekly. They were the greatest authority of esports media in the country; putting Wang Jiexi as the star of the final report of the regular season was proof of the anticipation toward this player. But after Huang Shaotian saw this title, he only spared a casual glance at the contents of the article before studying the player’s photograph in the article, and he revealed an unusual expression of melancholy.

“That guy, he’s already gotten to that level.” Huang Shaotian tossed the newspaper back onto the table. He tucked his arms behind his head, tilted back, and grumbled at the ceiling.

To the side, Yu Wenzhou was carefully studying a Glory battle and occasionally making notes in his notebook on the table. After hearing Huang Shaotian’s mutter, he paused the match and turned his head, his eyes sweeping across the large headline on the front page of the newspaper.

“The Magician. An accurate name.” This was his reaction after looking at the article.

“You…” Huang Shaotian was somewhat disappointed by Yu Wenzhou’s lackluster response, and he straightened in his chair. “Got any good analysis on him?”

“He-”

“Shaotian!”

Just when Yu Wenzhou opened his mouth, another young new Blue Rain trainee crashed into the training room, loudly hollering Huang Shaotian’s name.

“R&D just completed a silver weapon for Troubling Rain! Captain wants you to go look!” As soon as the youth caught his breath, he was already yelling these next words.

“What?” Haung Shaotian’s eyes instantly widened, and he leapt from his chair.

“Let’s go let’s go!” he yelled, already forgetting about the question he’d asked Yu Wenzhou as he flew out of the room.

Yu Wenzhou, who had just gotten out a “he,” could only smile and shake his head. He turned back to the computer, and was just about to unpause his video when the trainee that had called Huang Shaotian spoke again.

“Wenzhou, aren’t you going too? They’re saying that they only managed to complete this silver weapon because a mysterious player sent a whole lot of rare materials to Blue Brook Guild!” the youth said.

Hearing that, Yu Wenzhou froze. “A mysterious player?”

“Yeah,” the trainee confirmed.

Yu Wenzhou’s gaze drifted across the training room, landing upon that one computer that hadn’t been touched in almost a year.

After their former captain had made that simple announcement of “I’m leaving,” the seat he had used was left empty, his computer left idle. The Blue Rain members reached a tacit agreement that no one would touch his spot, as though hoping that one day, as suddenly as he had left, that man would return and take his place once more.

“But… you haven’t really left, have you,” Yu Wenzhou mused to himself, his mood like Huang Shaotian’s earlier, somewhat melancholy.

“Wenzhou, are you coming or not?” The other boy’s impatient voice cut into his thoughts.

“I’m coming,” Yu Wenzhou answered, gathering his notebook and pen and quickly walking toward the door. The trainee was holding the door open as he waited, and Yu Wenzhou noticed that the fingers of his right hand were moving restlessly on the doorknob, as though controlling a mouse or tapping a keyboard.

“Your hand speed’s pretty high,” Yu Wenzhou smiled, seeing that restless hand.

“I’d rather discuss that topic with Shaotian…” the boy said.

Yu Wenzhou chuckled; he was well known within Blue Rain for his inescapably slow hand speed, no matter how hard he trained. Of course, by now, no one would think to mock him for it. Despite this handicap, he still won many matches in their circle with this kind of APM. He demonstrated remarkable talent that was more than enough to make up for his weakness.

As for this trainee, he wasn’t really insulting Yu Wenzhou with that comment; he was simply the mischievous type. Captain Fang Shijing had mentioned that he liked this trainee’s style, and Yu Wenzhou suspected that this was a major reason for his recruiting this youth from the Challenger League into the Blue Rain training camp.

However, even just considering raw skill and potential, there was nothing to criticize about Captain Fang Shijing’s choice.

“If we only consider right hand APM, his hand speed is even higher than Shaotian’s.” This was one of Fang Shijing’s important evaluations of him, and indeed it was the case.

Yu Wenzhou didn’t otherwise respond to the trainee’s teasing. “Let’s go, Fang Rui,” he said to him as he walked out the door.

Blue Rain, R&D department.

For any professional team, the technical department was the most heavily guarded secret area. Information on how the team’s silver equipment was developed, or the specifics of their stats, could not under any circumstances be allowed to leak to the public.

After Wei Chen pulled the prodigy Huang Shaotian into Blue Rain’s training camp, Blue Rain’s technical team gained a new top priority – developing the silver equipment for Huang Shaotian’s Blade Master, Troubling Rain.

And today, they completed the most important piece of this most important work.

The weapon!

A self-made weapon belonging to Troubling Rain alone, a silver weapon, was finally created.

This wasn’t something that an ordinary Glory player could have made by just throwing together rare materials in the editor. Most silver weapons made by ordinary players weren’t any different from normal weapons, aside from the silver-colored name. But this was a true silver weapon, one that elevated its user’s stats far beyond what any normal weapon could hope to accomplish.

When Yu Wenzhou and Fang Rui entered, they found the room completely silent. Everyone was crowded around one computer, and most didn’t even bother to look up at the sound of their entrance. Those that did only glanced over before quickly turning back.

With effort, the two of them maneuvered through the crowd to a vantage point from which they could see the screen.

The screen displayed this precious weapon – a light saber, slowly rotating. The blade looked like a crystal raindrop, elongated and sharpened; it glowed with threads of pale blue light and wisps of icy mist.

The silence in the room lasted for an indeterminable amount of time before it was finally broken by Huang Shaotian, who, despite his talkative mouth, had only one word to say.

“Amazing.”

Standing right beside him, Captain Fang Shijing said to him, “Try it out.”

Huang Shaotian nodded sharply. In a flurry of movement, he equipped the weapon on his character and entered a match in the Arena.

When the battle began, no one paid attention to his poor opponent or his class; they only saw the flashes of blue light from the sword in Troubling Rain’s hand. They watched it dance, jump, kill. Blood droplets scattered across the ground as his opponent fell.

“This is fantastic!” This time, Huang Shaotian said three words, and he jumped up onto his chair. “With him, next season I’ll give them a show! What Battle God, King of Fighting, Blood and Blossoms, Magician… Just you all wait!”

“Alright!” No one moved to stop Huang Shaotian’s excited movement. All of the Blue Rain members, staff and players alike, had been awaiting this day for a long time.

This season, Wei Chen had retired, Fang Shijing had stepped up, Blue Rain hadn’t even made it to the playoffs. To outsiders, it seemed as though this team’s days of being a powerhouse were over, that they were now fading from the spotlight.

But no one at Blue Rain believed this.

Even if their record this season was poor, even if they were forgotten this summer. No matter what, they had faith that Blue Rain would have an era that belonged to them. And this era, with the birth of this silver weapon, was about to begin.

“It’s up to you, Shaotian!” one of the technical workers said, and others immediately voiced their agreement.

“Do you even need to say that? Of course!” said Huang Shaotian. But just that one battle wasn’t enough for him to fully try out this new weapon. He quickly sat back in his chair and entered a new battle, this time chattering away at the tech workers sitting near him as he experimented with his new capabilities.

By this time, Captain Fang Shijing had quietly made his way through the crowd to stand by Yu Wenzhou.

“Are you ready?” he asked, abruptly.

Yu Wenzhou turned to look at him. But Fang Shijing was staring out the window, gazing at that brilliant blue sky beyond.

“Yes,” answered Yu Wenzhou.

“Then it’s time to entrust this to you.” As he spoke, Fang Shijing’s gaze shifted down to his hand, and the account card it held. Without fanfare, this card was passed to its new owner.

“From today on, you are the captain of Team Blue Rain, user of the Warlock Swoksaar.”

*the original text said “诚然王杰希也不是百战百胜，但是竞技场上，从来没有这样的胜率，强如叶秋，也不可能。” which I read as something like “True, Wang Jiexi didn’t win every single battle. But the Arena had never seen this kind of win record before, and there was no way to surpass Ye Qiu.” But no matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t figure out how that sentence was true / made sense.

#quan zhi gao shou #qzgs #the king's avatar #tka #全职高手 #translation #mine #qzgs prequel #it's been a while and this isn't super new content so apologies #main novel takes priority #but there are only 3 chapters left! tbt when i said there was no way i'd do the whole thing lmao

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kaermenna · 6 years

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masked prince

An old draft I had for the 2017 Maiko Week for the prompt ‘Mask’.

An attempt of a crossover with Scarlet Heart: Ryeo. The character’s personalities are different from the k-drama because I just can’t see Mai bubbling around of joy like Hae Soo. Zuko however has every bit of anger that Wang So has, scar included.

read on ff.net || read on ao3

He stormed off, despite the risk of looking childish.

Had it been before, when he was younger, he would have demanded respect. He would have used his authority of heir prince and make things right. Had it been before, Azula wouldn’t have dared to mock him.

But that had been before, and any authority Zuko might have had, was gone. The scar on his face was proof of that. (And the rumors that his father might decree that the next Firelord would be, in fact, Azula and not him, but he would not think about it right now.)

His anger was burning, and this time he does not care that his scar is exposed for any passersby to see it. He’s basically daring anyone to come up and call him a beast, a monster, a curse upon the palace and the royal family. An aberration that was born marked by the heavens and should have been left to die while still an infant.

He stopped when he got to the top of the wall, facing the darkness beyond the palace’s boundaries. He felt tempted to throw his mask away and just scream at the void, but in the end he settled with an angry grunt and the hard drop of the mask on the floor.

He panted as he tried to control his anger. Control his tears of humiliation from falling down, or anything else that could serve as a point for Azula to demonstrate how ‘pathetic Zuzu was’.

“Aren't you cold?” Her voice took him by surprise, but he did not show it. He just kept staring at the ugly thing contrasting with the dark floor. The red metal and the golden details reflecting brightly the light of the nearby torches.

He heard her footsteps coming closer to him, and he let his head fall so his hair covered the scar. “Leave me alone,” he barked without looking at her.

“I'll take that as a ‘no’,” Mai always refused to do as he says, and she did not fear the animal people used to say he became during the full moon, so she kept walking until she was before his form leaned to the fence of the wall, “You firebenders never get bothered by the chili weather anyway.”

Had it been anyone else he would have left already, but knowing Mai, she would most likely follow him to anywhere he decided to go to. So he just accepted her presence, but did not say or do anything to keep the conversation going, letting the silence fall between them in a quiet plea to not to talk about it.

That didn't stop her from breaking it, “You know she only messes with you like that because she knows it affects you.”

He scoffs at her feeble attempt of counsel, her tone making it seem like everything is so simple and her advice is not demanding at all, “You’re saying I shouldn’t be affected.”

“I’m saying you don’t have to show it affects you.”

“Like it’s easy.”

“Of course it is. Look at me, do you know anything that affects me?”

“That doesn’t mean Azula doesn’t.”

“True. But it makes less fun for her if I don’t react to what she says.”

He felt her expectant eyes set on him, and he sighed, letting part of his anger leave from his chest and misery replace it instead.

“I can’t do that,” he says in a small voice, placing his own hand on top of his left eye and his marred skin, “I hate it too much.”

“Here, let me see it.”

Mai flinched closer, her hands going to his face and he turned around, backed away, looking down so his hair would cover it, “No.”

“Come on, it's not like I've never seen it before,” she spoke adamantly, still refusing to back away and he had to use his hands to prevent her from coming closer.

“I don’t want your pity.”

“And you won’t have it. Just let me look at it.” Eventually she won and cupped her hands around his cheeks to make him look at her, his hair getting out of the way when she pulled him towards her. He took a deep breath as she analyzed his face thoroughly, and he let go when she spoke, “It’s not that bad.”

“It’s horrendous.”

“I’m the one looking. And I don’t see anything too bad.”

He was too tired to have that conversation, so he just pushed her hands away from him and turned his back to her, but that didn’t make her leave either.

“And wearing that mask doesn’t help,” she continued as if nothing had happened, “It only attracts attention.”

“You say the scar won’t?”

“A person bearing a scar is a survivor. A person bearing a mask is a clown,” he saw her picking the mask from the floor through the corner of his eye, “Which one are you?”

“I’m neither,” he grunted in distaste, “I’m just a beast.”

His answer clearly did not please Mai as she tutted in frustration, walking closer so she stood right beside him, her shoulder brushing with his, “That’s too dramatic, even for you.”

He took the mask from her hands roughly before roaring, “Just leave me alone.”

She sighed, her short patience finally coming to an end, and she grabbed the mask from him. But before he could complain or tell her to leave again, she turned to the emptiness of the night beyond the wall before them and tossed it as far away as possible - which, considering Mai’s ability, was pretty far.

His cry of protest, however, was lost in his throat when he saw her reprimanding look, piercing more than one of her knives, and he gulped at the feeling of her finger pressing against his chest.

“You’re not your scar, Zuko. You know that,” she spoke harshly, as Zuko apparently couldn’t listen to her otherwise, “People say that you’re a monster? Prove them wrong. They said you’d never return to the Capital, and you’re here now. You’re bigger than that. So cut the drama and get over it.”

He looked at her awestruck, his eyes a little wider as her words sank in and fueled him inside until he finally managed to let that small anger and that bigger misery give place to the same determination he had when he vowed to himself that he’d would get permission from the Firelord to return to his hometown.

Permission from his brutal father to return to his messed up family.

Zuko closed his eyes and breathed deeply, letting his shoulders relax and the tension leave his body. When he opened them, Mai was still there, looking like she would kill him if he tried to push her away once again.

“How come you only comfort me with lectures?” He mused out loud and the glint of killing intention on her eyes fade a little bit.

“I’m not good at that,” she crossed her arms, raising one eyebrow in defiance, “If that’s what you want, better find someone else,” she said pointedly, even though both of them knew that was never going to happen.

“Who else would see behind my scar like you do?” His tone was tender, but it only made her roll her eyes and sigh in distaste.

“Now you’re being cheesy. Is better than being dramatic, but it’s still bad.”

He smiled and pulled her closer by her waist, kissing the top of her forehead. “I’m not sorry,” he said softly and he felt her sigh again, this time in contentment, even though she didn’t do anything to reciprocate his hug.

“Whatever. Let go of me and let’s get back to the party,” she drew away from his arms, taking his hand and dragging him behind her as she started to walk back the same place he had marched down earlier, “And you’d better act like a prince.”

A small laugh burst out from his chest. He couldn’t help but find adorable when Mai acted like that, not complaining for a second as he tried to match her pace, “Yes, Ma’am.”

His smile faded, and he let his serious and regal expression take over as he walked back through the stairs and to the hall where the banquet was being held, before all of the children of the ministers and generals. And also Azula.

He squeezed her hand a little bit for reassurance, and breathed out in relief when he felt her mimic the action to give him a little bit of strength. The life in the palace was suffocating. But if he had Mai, then he could bear it.

#i'm back!!!!!#also maiko which is highly important #atla maiko #otp: i actually kind of like you #queen: mai #my dark scarred child #my fics

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dreams-of-fate · 4 years

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Tag Drop 1!

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planetpills · 6 years

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i’m gonna add a bunch of muses today, mostly males tbqh, buT i’m just going to just make a list of who i can

old muses from spikedjoy

jae ryang dicamillo ( hong siyoung fc - to be changed )

pan jae rim ( kihyun fc )

mangjeol chul ( yoon dowoon fc - possibly changed )

moon kyu ( lim chang kyun fc - possibly changed )

lee jun ho ( suga fc - to be changed )

new muses

jo seong su, idol, 25 ( hui fc )

lee chae won, idol, 19 ( jiyoung fc )

fcs i wanna use

johnny seo, nct

moon taeil, nct

ji hansol, newkidd

bae yoobin, oh my girl

choi ye won, oh my girl

jackson wang, got7

lee aryeong, girls girls

han da som, neonpunch

#dun du N shut the fuUuUUuCK up.#i am hype i missed rP

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marsandchariot · 3 years

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Saturn + Jupiter: the world/universe + the wheel of fortune (part 1)

With the Saturn/Jupiter conjunction happening on the 21st (in just a few days), we thought it might be useful to think about the cards that correspond to those planets: the World or Universe, depending on the deck, for Saturn, and the Wheel of Fortune for Jupiter.

At first I laid out those cards pulled from five of the decks I own: the Muse deck, the Anima Mundi deck, the Dreamweaver, the Wild Unknown, and the Hermetic Tarot. Pictured below.

I was immediately struck by how un-like and a-like the cards were, though they all had alignments, within and across decks. For instance, the reflexive circularity of the cards in the Muse and Dreamweaver decks--and the chaotic aspect of the Wheel of Fortune cards in both the Wild Unknown and the Hermetic decks. The "chaos" (in the Wheel of Fortune cards) is organized in the Muse and Dreamweaver decks, while, for instance, the Wild Unknown WoF card seems to have no organization at all. In fact, instead, it looks something like a knitting project that has been attempted without regard or care for instructions.

With these "differences" in mind, I then thought it would be helpful to turn to the oldest deck I own: the Grand Jeu de l'Oracle des Dames deck from 1870. Pictured below.

It actually took me a second (and some research) to figure out which of the cards from that deck corresponded to the World and the Wheel of Fortune that we are most familiar with. The latter was rather easier, but the former was, for some reason, a surprise. Though, upon discovery, was immediately clear, except the figure, in this deck, in the center of the ouroboros is a man, not a woman.

(Notice, too, how the figure in this Wheel of Fortune card, which actually translates to "The Makeshift Wheel," might remind us of the blind-folded ladies in the Two of Swords and Justice cards of the Waite-Smith deck!)

This then gave me the opportunity to begin a side-project I've been thinking about starting ever since I purchased this French deck a handful of months ago: translate the guidebook (which is, of course, in French). Below are the translations for the Saturn and Jupiter cards (thank you, Apple, for including a translation app in your recent software update for the iphone!).

Though the World is card number 21 of the major arcana in contemporary decks, it is #5 in the Etteilla deck and is translated as "the man and the quadrupeds":

"The naked man in the middle of the round indicates that the truth is on the earth [that the figure's club is lowered/leant upon] proclaims you general peace. The attributes of the four evangelists around the circle of the earth are signs of wisdom. This card predicts you happiness, courage, battles won."

According to A QABALISTIC TAROT: A TEXTBOOK OF MYSTICAL PHILOSPHY by Robert Wang, The Wheel of Fortune represents "Riches-Poverty" while the Universe (World) card represents "Power-Servitude."

In thinking about these "definitions" and looking at the cards pulled from the different decks, I am most drawn to the dichotomies presented in the Wild Unknown and Hermetic decks.

In another post (on the 21st), I will engage these particular decks in a further conversation about Jupiter and Mars and their upcoming conjunction to see what deeper/meaningful narratives we can generate to help us understand what the cards and the cosmos want to tell us.

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unit-umbra · 7 years

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Info and factions

U.M.B.R.A.

Undercover Military Battle Response Agency. When a string of unusual murders leaves the police baffled, it's up to U.M.B.R.A. to track down the killer. However, what they uncover leads them in the heart of a sinister plot that unveils an ancient secret leaving the team questioning who they truly are. With history and the future at stake, where will your allegiance lie?

FACTIONS:

Players can pick between two factions they will work for, the list of species is optional and listed only for reference. (If your character doesn't fit into either prior to applying, we can consider working something that fits your muse.

However please note that players won't be able to "Own and Run" either faction.

You may, however, be able to work your way up through the ranks.) These are the groups, there are many fields of specialty and ranks to create and shape to your character. U.M.B.R.A. They track and eliminate hostile alien threats as well as international crime organizations- when they can't be dealt with by the governments. Genesis: The Tromedlov family is a group of powerful aliens that uses ground breaking technology and medicine throughout the galaxy to monopolize planets. However much remains a mystery about their operations, who they are and where they come from.

Aliens:

Transcended: An elusive species whose origins are shrouded in mystery and legend. Other species fear them for their secrecy and cultural advancement. Through these fears, the Transcended are hated and face prejudice. The Transcended are known to have great control over manipulating space-time and the forces that make it.

Anachrons: A race created by the Tromedlov’s that resemble vampires. They are typically created as soldiers to serve the family’s armed forces branch.

Others:

Since UMBRA tracks and deals with many alien threats, they are fairly well aware of the different species and worlds they come from. They are also familiar with various alternate realities, though not to a large extent.

Taken and Available Characters:

Characters listed below are reincarnated from their ancient counterparts with no memory of their past lives. Players will be asked to choose a name for their characters if playing one of the canon ones. When applying please use ___Your characters current name and Canon character name, i.e. Lee Gwang Min (Wang So)

TAKEN

General Lee Gwang Min (Wang So)

General Fenris Ulversbane

Agent Kim Jeong Yeol (Wang Yo)

Agent Kim Seon Hui (Yeon Hwa)

Agent Lee Yeong Hui (Baek Ah)

Agent V

Agent Hae Yeong-Cheol (Hae Myung Hee)

Haldane Tromedlov

Halvor Tromedlov

Haaken Tromedlov

Agent Kim Soo Ho

AVAILABLE

Wang Wook

Wang Jung

Park Soon Deok

Wang Eun

Woo Hee

Taejo

Dowager Yoo

Empress Hwangbo

Wang Mu

Wang Won

Choi Ji-mong

Chae-Ryung

Park Soo-kyung

Wang Sik-ryeom

Lady Oh Soo-yeon

Park Young-Gyu

Wang Gyu

Kyeonghwa

More to come.

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jknerd · 7 years

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Everybody Loves Soo 11: Hello Baby Pt. II

[Summary: Continuation from previous chapter. Soo will have to babysat little princes for a week. Trouble is…that they are affection-seeking and too attached to her she couldn’t properly work in Damiwon. And she needs to help little So come out—because he still have the scar. How Soo will handle those annoying, clingy, and cute little brats?]

Soo sighed along with the girls. They were watching seven little princes unsure of what they would do with their small height.

“Soo, what do we do now?” Woo-Hee asked as she was holding Baek-Ah.

The court lady sighed but realized one prince was missing until she saw a petite figure hiding behind the pillar. The little timid boy with marred face was hiding and Soo approached.

“Fourth prince?”

Five years old Wang So meekly nodded his head. Soo felt a twinge of pain, compassion as she saw a horrible scar that nearly scarred a half of his left side of face. His wide, shaking eyes looked away, afraid if his face scared him. But she reached her hands and held him up. Wang Mu sighed, remembering when Queen Yoo who had scarred him, and made himself reminded with mental note to keep his brother away from his mother for a week.

“Crown Prince, I ask for your permission to let me take care of the princes.” Soo asked as she kept holding little So.

Wang Mu smiled and nodded his head.

“Alright, you may raise them for a week. I trust you will take care of So also.”

“Thank you, sire.” Soo thanked him.

D-7 Seven little princes were searching around Damiwon, looking for Hae Soo. Some of them even calling her name nonstop. Won and Eun even searched the room as Baek-Ah and Jung acted like they were doing hide-and-seek. Wook was the quiet one but his eyes were wandering for any trace of the court lady. Yo grumbled as he yelled at So to come quickly. Even though their body and mental stage was around the age of five, they still remember their lives as grownups.

“Yes, yes. Your highnesses~!” Hae Soo came out from the kitchen.

And then, the princes stormed towards her, asking to play with them. Even Jung shyly asked her to play tag. However, her eyes were on So who didn’t have any confidence to ask her. She walked towards him and kneeled beside him with sweet smile.

“Hello, Prince So.”

So jumped a little, tucking his head down bashfully.

“Why don’t you go play with your brothers?” She asked.

But he didn’t say or moved at all. Because of the scar, little brothers avoided him. Sighing in defeat, Soo then made an idea.

“I have to collect some herbs and flowers, would you like to come with me?”

Looking at her, So slowly nodded his head. She looked back and lead his brothers along to outside, but her left hand were holding So’s. Her right hand was holding Baek-Ah’s. She was relieved that she was able to make So interact with brothers in first step.

Soo showed the pictures of flowers and herbs, telling them it is a game who will find them the most and the winner will get what they want. Enthusiastic with this game, all Wang princes searched around the garden. So’s eyes were very scrutinizing that in short time, he found three different types of herbs. Wook seemed to have a good memories he had found flowers along with herbs. Even as a child, Yo also has a hawk-like eyesight he was also fast with searching them. Eun was more likely trying snatch other brothers’ along with Won. Jung and Baek-Ah chase them, slightly upset. Soo giggled at them and saw Wook and Yo came first, holding their baskets with pride.

“Soo, I found them~!” Wook said with smile.

“Oi, I got them first!” Yo chimed in, scowling.

Soo stifled her laughter. Even in child’s form, Yo was a sharp little boy—even without a slight eyeliner. She counted each of them and found they have exact same amount.

“You both have same amount of them! Great job!”

She continued to search them until she saw Eun, Jung, Baek-Ah and Won came with their basket. Baek-Ah had gotten the most but Little fourteenth prince tattle-tale at his brothers for stealing his, about to cry at any moment. Soo quickly came comforted him, saying he had done nothing wrong. Then she was looking for prince So, and found him holding large amount of herbs and flowers, dirt all over his hanbok. Baek-Ah asked his brother if he was alright, but So shook his head ignoring Yo’s sneer. Soo began to count, only to find that he just collected every single type of herbs and flowers. She embraced So, surprising the fourth prince.

“Great job, your highness~!”

Her cheeks were rubbing against his blushing cheeks but rest of princes were pouting. Yo huffed indignantly as Wook frowned along with Eun and Jung. Won complained as Baek-Ah giggled.

“But first, you need to take a bath.” Soo said as she once again, held him and went back to Damiwon telling others to follow her.

Seven princes were taking their bath with white robes on. Eun and Jung were splashing the spring water, playing. Won only ate snacks as Yo drank the tea. Wook sat on the edge, his legs playing with the water. Soo was washing So for he had most of the dirts all over. She used her soaps and rubbed the towels on him with much care as the little prince stood silent, blushing.

Yo frowned in envy then make a sly smile as he purposely spilled the tea over, causing the hot water landed on his hand. He made a scream of pain as Soo came.

“Sheesh, now that you’re five you’re being very clumsy, Prince Yo.”

Soo used a cool tower to ease the burning temperature of Yo’s small hands. Although his hands were a bit painful, it was worthy enough to gain the court lady’s attention. Third prince had never get any care like this from his mother, so receiving this attention caused him to seeking it more. Soo blew a cool wind on his hands rubbing them gently. Yo looked at his brother So and smirked.

“He did that on purpose!” So muttered angrily.

“Obviously.” Baek-Ah agreed.

D-6

Princess Yeon-Hwa, Woo-Hee, Chae-Ryung, and Soon-Duk saw seven princes following Soo as a baby chicks. The girls couldn’t help but chuckling at the view. Even the princess giggled at Wook’s needy personality which was unlike him and was interested to tell on her other half-sisters when they visit. The girls decided to see what they would do and saw Soo watching them drawing. Even though their drawing skills are different, they have a common topic: Hae Soo.

Among them, Baek-Ah was excellent with drawing Soo impressing her.

“Oh my,” Soo exclaimed with warm smile, “your highness, you have such a great talent!”

Young thirteen prince put his hands behind his back, his one foot making a circle and twisting his body shyly. Wang Mu laughed heartily at his brother’s bashful behavior. Pouting other princes tried their best to make a better drawing. Wook frowned as he finish the drawing and held it up. It was a same emoticon drawing Soo showed, but it has her hairstyle and facial expression. Princess Yeon-Hwa stifled her laugh. She giggled and patted eighth prince’s head.

“Aww, you remember~! How sweet of you.”

Wook flashed his toothy smile, revealing his dimples. Soo could assumed with that prince charming-like smile, he would have had many little girls and ladies’ heart.

“Mine too.”

Eun finished his, revealing a somewhat cartoonish version of her holding her index finger with smile. It was the same sign she made when she praised tenth prince. Even Jung made one with the word “fighting!” posed by his drawing.

Soo saw So struggling with his painting. He pouted as his worked turned out to be a failure. Wang Mu tried to calm him, telling it was alright to make mistake but it didn’t work as a single tear already escaped from his eyes. She hurriedly walk over and stroked his back soothing.

“It’s okay, sire. You did your best.”

So almost sniffed, stopping his tears. The crown prince Wang Mu could only look at Soo with surprised look as she displayed a maternal affection for his favourite brother.

“After this, we can play more games.” Soo suggested.

Thinking of it, So smiled brightly.

Soo was glad she had enough papers to cut and make a form of four different shapes with numbers ranged from one through ten, including the picture of Taejo the king, Court Lady Oh as a queen, and Choi Ji-Mong as a Jack. Also, she made Jinn as a joker. Wang Mu, Choi Ji-Mong, the girls and princes were looking at them with wonder.

“My lady? What are those?” Chae-Ryung asked.

“It’s a cards for a game,” Soo answered, “it’s called ‘Catch the Thief’.”

Everyone tilted their head except for Ji-Mong.

“Oh, you mean the game where the one person who got the joker lose?” the astronomer said, perking up.

“Exactly. All we have to do is randomly choosing five cards for each of us and the others have to choose one from other player in a clockwise or counter clockwise direction.” Soo said.

“What do we do when we have two cards with same numbers?” Woo-Hee asked.

“You could abandon them on a center. And if you got at least three cards in order, it’s a same. When person has no more cards, it means they are not a thief.”

“Interesting…,” Yeon-Hwa mused while guessing, “then one player who got this…joker means he or she is thief.”

“Correct!” Soo exclaimed.

“It’s going to be fun! When could we play?” Baek-Ah asked.

“RIGHT NOW!”

And everyone was playing while Ji-Mong, Wang Mu, and Chae-Ryung was watching them. But oddly, So lost for several times, caught as a thief.

“I lost!” So shrieked, covering his face with hands to hide his upset look.

“It’s okay. You can try it again.” Wang Mu assured.

“HA! So, you seemed to have a luck of thief like you are!” Yo sneered as Won stifled his laughter, covering his mouth.

“Third Prince Wang Yo.” Soo called, tapping her foot.

Other princes gulped. When she call someone with their full name, it means Soo was upset.

“It’s not nice to bully your brother.” Soo scolded him.

“Hmph!” Yo huffed, dismayed with the fact that Soo takes on So’s side.

This time, Soo decided to help So to play cards. She quietly spoke explaining the process of the game and in result, he won for the first time. Little fourth prince sprung his arms to the sky, jumping with wide smile.

“Yay~! I won!”

“Perfect job! You’re getting better,” Soo handed him a soap with a shape of daisy flower, “here’s a little reward.”

So looked at the small flower and giggled.

“Teehee~! It’s so cute!”

“You’re the one who’s the most cutest.” Soo muttered, then realized what she just said.

So tilted his head, he didn’t heard what she just spoke. Wang Mu was trying his best not to laugh as Soo was flustered. Wook glared in envy as Yeon-Hwa tried her best to calm her small-sized older brother.

“Nothing…” Soo lied as she looked away, embarrassed.

D-5 Wang Tae, second brother of Wang princes visited the palace from Chungju. He solely visited the palace to see his brothers only to find Wang Mu watching Soo followed by seven boys. Tae’s eyes were wide when he saw a boy with horrible scar on his face.

“Is that…So?” Tae asked.

Wang Mu nervously smiled.

“It’s quite a long story…” Mu explained.

Fortunately, Tae believed every word Mu told him. The second prince believed the heavens might have given So a chance to fill his childhood with happiness for a week, with Hae Soo. Due to his stay in palace for several days, Tae was allowed to accompany the court lady of Hae to help with babysitting princes.

“I see our brothers are quite attached to you.”

Hearing Tae’s voice, Soo bowed with grace. Even all prince bowed to him. Especially Yo who bowed deeply his topknot touched the ground. Tae chuckled and patted his head. When seeing So standing beside her, Tae sighed with saddened smile.

“If I have known you, Soo, you would have become So’s playmate. He didn’t have much friends or brothers to play with.”

Soo’s expression turned slightly solemn as she held So, who was a bit embarrassed by what his older brother told her. He pouted and Tae grinned.

“Would you like to hear more when I stayed at Song-Ak?” Tae asked with knowing smile.

So was paled as he guessed what he was trying to tell Soo. As the curiosity kicked in, Soo nodded her head. Tae then glanced down at his small brothers.

“You boys, back to your room. It’s time for nap.”

All princes groaned. So’s hand were around Soo’s neck but she put him down.

“13th prince.”

Baek-Ah came as she called him.

“Would you like to play with fourth prince while I talk to prince Tae?”

He nodded his head with smile and held So’s hand, dragging him to his room. Tae gestured Soo to come along as she walked behind him, inwardly smiling with the thought of listening to the childhood of fourth prince.

The conversation was quite enjoyable as Tae talked about So and Soo couldn’t help giggling as she imagined little So sleeping while trying to focus on the lecture Tae has given to him, or displaying his timid behaviors around other siblings.

D-4

Soo was working on a medicines for Tae while Yo, So, Wook, Won, Eun, Baek-Ah, and Jung was playing together. Yo and So was fighting over with a book and when the little third prince pushed So roughly to the ground, Soo was alarmed.

“Prince Yo!” She exclaimed with stern expression.

Yo jumped with slight fear. Even if he tried to play innocent, Soo frowned at him as her hands were crossed over her chest and tapping her foot. Then she approached and helped So stood up. This only stimulated Wook and Yo’s immense jealousy for a boy.

“Are you okay, Prince So?” Soo asked, worried as she looked over any injuries.

So merely nodded his head. He blushed nonstop as her face got close to his. Soo pecked on his forehead and smiled. Seeing that, Eun and Jung pouted, wished they wanted to get her pecks also. Baek-Ah giggled with his mouth covered with his small hands. Won hid behind the pole, blushing. Wook and Yo glared at So. When Soo finished brewing medical teas for Tae, So gently tugged her skirt. When she looked down, his two small hands reached out upward.

“Do you want to deliver this to Prince Tae?” Soo asked.

So nodded his head, his eyes sparkling. Soo almost cooed at his sweetness.

“But it’s too heavy for you…,” So pouted until she spoke again, “then, would you like to escort me along?”

With that So smiled brightly. Fuming, Wook and Yo ran towards them. Even rest of young princes followed along.

“Soo! I wanna go too!” Little tenth prince yelled.

“Sister, I can protect you!” Young 14th prince said with bravery.

Soo giggled at younger princes trying to take over her side. Wook came and walked beside Soo, opposite to So. Even Yo tried to shove little eighth prince. If they weren’t a prince, Chae-Ryung, Woo-Hee, Soon-Duk, and Yeon-Hwa would freely laugh heartily.

When they arrived to Tae’s chamber, Sooo froze at the sight of Queen Yoo coming out from the room, presumably sulking. Instinctively, Soo quietly told young princes to stay behind her so the elder queen couldn’t see them. They all nodded in unison and hid behind her until Queen was out of their view. Soo saw a saddened expression of fourth prince and frowned, later giving him a soothing smile.

“Let’s go gentlemen.”

They all entered 2nd prince’s chamber and Soo delivered the teas for him. Tae smiled warmly at the court lady and drank it with satisfying smile.

“Just as usual, your teas are great.”

Soo only thanked for his compliment.

“With this talent, you can get married anytime soon,” Tae said then smiled mischievously, “perhaps, you can marry a prince if lucky.”

With that, So, Wook and other princes blushed. When looking at Soo’s smile, they inwardly cursed their childish size and fantasy of Soo in wedding gown. All of sudden, little So approached to Tae and with his large limpid eyes, he kneeled.

“Brother, I want to marry Soo if I grow up.”

Tae briefly spat his tea as Soo had her palms touched her flushing cheeks, flattered and surprised. Eun and Jung whined as Baek-Ah smiled nonstop. Wook and Yo’s mouth gaped then followed along.

“No! I want Soo as my wife!” Wook yelled with watery eyes.

“Shut it! You can’t marry her!” Yo shouted at Wook.

Second prince stifled his chuckle as Soo looked at them speechless.

“Why don’t you ask Soo then?” Tae asked with extremely amused smile.

Soo looked at second prince with wide eyes in disbelief, then glared behind where the girls were giggling nonstop.

D-3

While Soo finished making pastries and teas, she suddenly heard the cry of a boy. Instinctively, she went out to see what was going on. Only to see little younger princes on the small pond wailing loudly. Beside them was third, fourth, eighth, and ninth prince stood surprised.

“What’s going on?” Soo asked.

“Those three had a fight and fell.” Ninth prince replied.

Soo approached and held them back to the surface. Jung tried not to cry and be like a grown man, while Eun and Baek-Ah sobbed, complaining at their soaking clothes.

“Let’s all go back to Damiwon and take a bath.” Soo suggested with a sigh.

Three kids nodded their head. Then, little thirteenth prince sneezed.

“Your highness, I think you need to take it first so no one get a flu.”

Baek-Ah nodded.

Concerned, little fourth prince followed Soo who was holding the thirteenth prince to Damiwon. After she had several palace maids prepare the bath for him, she quickly gave the boy warm teas to warm him up.

After the bath, she managed to persuade Baek-Ah to rest and not do any activities. Even though thirteenth prince pouted, he admitted Soo was right. When she left, So glanced at his brother and decided to stay until he fell asleep in his bed.

When Soo came back to check on Baek-Ah, he saw little So sleeping beside. If only there was a camera in this era, she would have taken it nonstop.

D-2

Soo received the letter from her cousins that they will visit the palace in three days, much to her panic. She immediately asked for the girls’ help to organize the plan for her cousins’ visit while she was busy taking care of little princes.

It was another day and Soo already made cards filled with emoticon images. She was making them as a game for the princes. When she finished she had them showed to little boys who were trying their best guessing the expression. Even Eun tried to make a pose and expression with his own face.

“Soo, is this right answer?”

She saw Eun’s cheek painted in pink and was faking the shyness. Soo laughed as she used the handkerchief to wash his face.

“Yes. Correct answer.”

“Yay~!” Eun jumped happily.

Then soon, other princes tried to make a correct expressions and pose. Mostly, both So and Wook managed to made them correctly, causing the others to either groan or sniffed their tears back for their loss.

It was a night and Hae Soo was patrolling Damiwon alone. She insisted on Court Lady Oh to take a rest and Soo was the only one who didn’t have other night duty. Holding the lantern she walked around to check every room until she felt a small hand tugging her skirt. She turned around, looking down to see little Baek-Ah with white night robe, holding a book.

“Oh hello, your highness,” Soo smiled, “how may I help you?”

Looking around, Baek-Ah hesitantly and bashfully replied.

“I…I can’t sleep…” Baek-Ah replied.

“D’aww~, why don’t we go to your room? I can tell you some bedtime stories until you fell asleep.” Soo suggested with warm smile.

Brightened by her reply, Baek-Ah grabbed her hand and quickly rushed towards his room.

In Baek-Ah’s chamber, Soo was telling Baek-Ah’s favorite stories; Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Red Riding Hood. Before she could tell more, she heard many footsteps behind her. She turned around to see other princes who were wearing the same nightwear.

Knowing why they were all here, Soo gestured them all to come in. Only So stood behind, unsure if he can come in. Giving him reassuring smile she called him out and he managed to enter, much to her and Baek-Ah’s glee. Eun, Jung and Won sat on the large bed beside Baek-Ah, meanwhile Wook sat beside Soo with Yo sat on the opposite. So was allowed to sit front of Soo as her arms surround his petite figure.

“Not fair…only he can sit in front of her like a throne.” Yo muttered grumpily.

“Oh for a prince with thick eyelash, you talk too much.” Soo mused with smile as she used her handkerchief to rub the makeup from Yo’s face.

Soo begins to tell more stories of Frog Prince, Rapunzel, and so on until they all fell asleep. Looking at their angelic, content expression Soo was about to move but little fourth prince’s grip becomes tightened. She stared down and saw him mumbling the word “mother”. Sighing heavily, she decided to stay and see So sleeping as her eye-lids were slowly closing.

Little did they all knew, Wang Mu, Tae, and the girls were watching them with suppressed giggle and slowly left the room with wide smile.

D-1

In the last day, Soo was searching for the fourth prince who have been missing for all morning. Even when she asked other small princes, they didn’t know where So has gone off to. She then ran towards to Lake Dongji and fortunately, she found little So looking at the large tree.

“There you are.”

Hearing her voice, So turned around with wide eyes.

“I have been looking for you,” Soo said as she approached closer to the prince, “Prince Tae wants to see you…”

She then noticed that he didn’t wear any makeup on his left side face, revealing the scar. He also didn’t wear the mask even. So’s little hand was behind his back, causing the court lady to grow curious of what he was hiding.

“What were you doing here?” She asked.

“N—nothing…” said the timid boy.

“I know you are hiding something. Don’t be nervous.”

Looking down in defeat, he walked towards and revealed a one rare, wildflower from his grasp. Soo blinked her eyes as she looked at him.

“There was a wildflower here and…I wanted to bring this to you…” Little So explained as his two hands—that grabs the flower— reached towards her.

Looking at his wide, innocent eyes with his sweet gestures Soo felt like she was almost crying. What did the world done to this sweet little lad, giving him so much misery from his mother. Before So could say anything, Soo embraced the boy with her cheeks rubbing against his, thanking him.

“If I grow up again, I will get another for you,” with genuine, cute smile he spoke, “if I grow up, I want to marry you!”

Soo was now crying, unable to resist little So’s sweetness.

‘Best day…EVER!!!!’

Epilogue:

Every prince turned back into their grown form, unable remember what happened. The only difference was Soo’s treatments toward them. She recently grew more affectionate to So, much to Yo, Wook, and Jung’s dismay. Although they were happy that she have become more attentive to everyone they wished she should have treated them more special as she did to So.

“Wait, why does brother So has more pastries?” Eun wondered.

Looking at his pastries and tea set more refined then other brothers, he quickly dismissed the difference from the tenth prince.

“I will give you all more snacks if you stop complain~!” Soo informed in sing-song tone.

Mu and Tae laughed heartily as other princes fumed. So glanced at her who flashed him a warm, motherly smile that reminded him of his mother’s before she scarred him. Fortunately, he had found someone who could fill him a great care and attention he seek the most.

#Moon Lovers #scarlet heart ryeo #MLSHR fanfics

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