#maybe with a side order of “I haven't been a great dad”

[honestlyvan]

I do kind of wonder if the implicit assumption that Door is mad at Alan for involving Saga should be re-examined a little bit.

The game is very careful to not frame any of Saga's relationships as paternalistic. Like, repeatedly, with emphasis, especially among the relationships with people who are close to her and have reasons to act protective over her. Having Door primarily be motivated by a sense of righteousness over someone messing with his protectorate goes against theme with her, and would single him out as the only male character whose help Saga does need.

Furthermore, we know Freya didn't seem to think that highly of Door, never telling Saga anything about him and being firm in not wanting to discuss the topic. Her considering Door a potential danger to Saga just like her powers and choosing to hide the truth to protect her wouldn't make sense if she, too, could use her seer powers to confirm that Door did have Saga's best interest at heart, and with Door existing outside of time, I don't think there's adequate signalling that this would be something he would have had a change of heart about.

Furthermore, while Door is very likeable and definitely not a villain or even an antagonist... he is very trickster-like, and seems very cavalier with how he chooses to interfere and when. From his interactions with the Old Gods, spending fourty years on kill-on-sight terms with them only to happily fanboy over having them on his show and collaborate with them to mess with Alan, to the way he almost deigned to let Alan create a hint for Saga about how to use her powers rather than letting Saga and Tim just work it out amongst themselves, he's playing the long game in every situation and seems to enjoy making the story take twists and turns because of his involvement.

So Door is in a weird superposition of meddlesome/hands-off largely because I almost got a sense that with Saga, he's keeping his distance on purpose. Keeping himself concealed and out of the conversation, despite much of her story being discovering her origins and discovering her own supernatural influence. Outside of letting Alan create a single manuscript page about him, he doesn't even hint at his own existence while Saga is in the Dark Place, theoretically right there for him to reach out to.

And if Door does ultimately think that surely any daughter of his can handle herself, there is one another innocent that has been involved in this all by Wake I could see him getting worked up over instead.

#Warlin Door #Saga Anderson #Also ange (bryndeavour) pointed out that a lot of the parent-child relationships are characterised by these #misgivings and omissions #while the grandparent-child relationships seem to be far more about reconciliation #and Night Springs *is* Logan's favourite TV show #I also think about something David Harewood said in an interview #about how Door's various faces #about how he played all of them very straight -- that Door kind of *is* that kind of wacky sneaky guy who can still be scary as shit #and I feel like how generally Loki-coded he is that would fit with this #There's also something very gratifying about *Warlin Door* being like “oh Saga? lmfao my girl can handle herself she doesn't need my help” #maybe with a side order of “I haven't been a great dad” #not only does it fit in with the themes around Saga's agency #but Door is also like the *most* the “absent and conflicting relationships with the father” that the Alan Wake files mentioned #a theme that is apparently central to Alan's writing but... not really anywhere in the stories about him #AW2 spoilers #Alan Wake (Remedy)

[xecutivecucumber]

Executive Cucumber's Thoughts on the Bad Batch 03x09!

Spoilers under the cut

Apologies for this being late, I worked overtime and then immediately went to rescue my sister and her kids from a car breakdown. I got overwhelmed pretty quick.

I really liked this episode, but as I was in a not great mood when I watched it, I didn't absorb as much as I normally do. (My mood really affects how much I enjoy something, regardless of quality. I was in a foul mood when I first watched Faster and was fairly critical of it. I was wrong.)

This is really the first time we've seen not beautiful weather on Pabu and that's terrifying.

CROSSHAIR IS PART OF A COMMUNITY!!! Have yall considered that he's never been a part of a community before? Like yes, he's has his family, but a community?

'Does it matter? We're not giving her up.' This man. I love this man. If Tech did not already reign Supreme in my heart, I think Crosshair would be my favorite character in Star Wars.

ASAJJ VENTRESS MY QUEEEEEEEEEN

Oh Omega, that story fell apart faster than Hunter's resistance to adopting you.

They leave a space for Tech 💔

Apparently those blood tester things that Qui Gon had were Jedi issue only.

YOU CAN DO IT OMEGA!!! Wrecker, honey, if Omega CAN do it, that means her life gets WAY harder.

They one hundred percent sent Crosshair to look at Tech's data because Hunter and Wrecker can barely do it.

'Go get a flower kid, I gotta beat up your dads'

Okay, I honestly think Hunter doesn't have the time for romance and could honestly see him as asexual, but-

HIS WAIST IS SO SLUTTY. HOW IS IT SO SLUTTY.

I don't think we've seen such well choreographed hand to hand fighting in animated Star Wars. Except maybe that time that Rex absolutely destroyed those Zygerrians. But I might be biased about that.

'SHE'S A WAR CRIMINAL OMEGA' Okay now I need to know what defines war crimes in this universe. Did they have space Geneva?

You know, good thing Echo's not here. He'd probably be WAY more pissed than these three.

'You're naive' says the man who was changed by the child saying people can change.

I love Crosshair's 'oh shoot she's right' face.

Wrecker's little gasp when Ventress looks at them is AMAZING.

I love it when Star Wars is using the Force to connect with animals.

I'm sorry, Hunter girlies, I guess we getting wet hair everyone except Hunter. (Though Ventress looks SO GOOD)

VENTRESS YOU QUEEN I LOVE YOU YOU'VE COME SO FAR (I haven't read dark disciple but my sister has, and she informed me that Vos' Dark Side training by Ventress culminated in him summoning a water monster and killing it. This is such a beautiful parallel that she calms it.)

Crosshair helping Omega on is my everything.

I really love that Crosshair has decided to give Ventress a chance, because he was given a chance. (And also I lowkey ship them in a one night stand kinda way. Crossajj is such a good ship name too)

DAD DUO.

I don't think Ventress is lying when she says Omega isn't Force sensitive. Omega doesn't show ANYTHING in this episode that implies that she's sensitive. Yes, she uses Batcher, but she'd trained Batcher with normal friend methods. I think that Ventress stops the testing prematurely before she can be more sure, because she sees the possibly unhealthy attachment the Batch have. It might also be to protect Omega to not know for sure. My personal theory is that Omega is slightly more sensitive than the average clone, but not to any natural talent degree.

Oh gosh, I'm so scared for the next few episodes. Ventress gives them such a clear warning. This episode did such a good job of getting the tension tight again.

I know some people call this episode redundant, but the characters NEED this in order to catch up. We as an audience knew that M Counts meant midichlorians. But the Batch had no idea. Sometimes, we need to let the main characters catch up with us.

(This is also why Tech as CX-2 works on a reveal level because the mystery isn't for us, it's for the characters)

But yeah, a great episode! I'm terrified for everything and everyone!

A quick note- I've seen people say that it's too late in the season for Tech to return. I'd like to remind you that it took exactly two episodes in season 2 to get us behind Crosshair's redemption. They can do a lot in a few episodes.

#the bad batch #tbb #tbb season 3 #the bad batch season 3 spoilers #the bad batch season 3 #tbb season 3 spoilers #tbb spoilers #tbb omega #tbb s3 spoilers #tbb crosshair #tbb wrecker #tbb hunter #asajj ventress #tbb tech #tbb echo #tbb batcher #tech lives #take a deep breath #things are going to go downhill from here

[canirove]

Broken Hearts Football Club | Chapter 28

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Masterlist

"They are literal scum. Posting this article the morning of our most important game so far? Disgusting" Leah said, leaving her phone on the table and laying on the bed next to June.

"Didn't expect anything less from them" she sighed.

"How are you?" 

"Honestly? I don't know. They've published stuff about my relationships before, but…"

"But they've never done it about a relationship you truly care about. One that matters, one that you want, one with someone you love" Leah said.

"Yeah" June sighed again.

They had been caught. Someone had recognized her and Ben on their date at McDonald's, taking photos of them and sending them to the English press. And there was no way they could deny what was going on.

They had photos of them waiting to order, June's arms wrapped around Ben's neck while they kissed and laughed. They had photos of them eating together, smiling at each other. And they had photos of them leaving the restaurant, of Ben squeezing her butt and then hugging her and kissing her. That was couple behaviour, and it was impossible to deny it.

"What has your family said?"

"My dad said that now he understood why I had been looking so happy lately, and my mum that Ben is the most handsome young man she has ever seen and that she is gonna have the most beautiful grandchildren ever."

"No pressure there" Leah chuckled. "So they are ok with your relationship?"

"They are. They said that as long as I am happy, they are happy too."

"What about John?"

"He just worries about me wanting to run away and send to hell the best thing that has happened to me in ages and that isn't related to my career."

"But you aren't running away, are you?"

"The thought crossed my mind when I first saw the article" June said, biting her lip. "But, no, I'm not going anywhere. I… I love Ben. And I'm gonna fight for him. For us."

"Aww, Maxwell!" Leah said, hugging her friend. "You've said it aloud! Finally! I'm so proud of you."

"Yeah, whatever."

"No, this is not whatever, June. This is huge coming from you. This means you've healed, that your heart isn't broken anymore. Though it won't be 100% healed until you tell Chilly how you feel."

"He knows how I feel."

"But you haven't actually told him, have you?"

"Not really, no."

"Then maybe this is the moment to do it, you know? Now that everyone knows about your relationship, this may be the moment to tell him and reassure him that you aren't going anywhere."

"Maybe. But I don't know how to say it."

"It's just three words, Maxwell" Leah laughed.

"Yes, but the three most important words ever."

"I guess… Have you spoken with him yet?"

"We texted earlier after the article was published. He asked me if I was ok and about how my family had taken the news."

"What about his family?"

"His mum was like, oh, this is old news. I've known since I saw her at the hospital."

"She always was a clever woman" Leah chuckled. "Did you talk about anything else? Are you going to publish something on Instagram confirming it?"

"Nah. We agreed that what matters now is tonight's game, that I should focus on that and on showing those idiots who June Maxwell is, that their shit doesn't affect her." 

"So you basically agreed on bringing back the June who likes to shut mouths with goals."

"Ben's favourite, yes" June chuckled. 

"I like her a lot too. Though not as much as he does. Tough love he called it, right?"

"Yeah" she said, remembering everything that happened since that confession, how she and Ben had gone from not being able to stand the other and constantly arguing to… to being in love with each other and happier than ever.

"You know you have us all by your side right? The whole team" Leah said, taking June's hand in hers.

"I know, Williamson. Thank you" she smiled.

"Great. Then let's go kick some asses" Leah said, getting up from the bed with a quick jump. "I feel bad for those poor Chinese girls but… This is how it works. Are you ready, Maxwell?"

"Yes captain, my captain" June laughed, getting up from the bed and joining her.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"What an extraordinary game of football" Andrew said. 

"Definitely the best we've seen in this tournament so far" Jacob added.

"The way the girls played tonight has been just… Perfection. Look at those stats!"

"And they could have been even better if Sarina hadn't made all those changes after the 5th goal."

"And what a goal that last one was. What do you think, Chilly?" Andrew asked him.

"I think that it probably is the best goal of Lauren's career to the date."

"Agree" Jacob nodded. 

"If you watch it since the moment the ball leaves Earp's foot, it just gets better and better."

"And when it gets to Maxwell… That pass was simply brilliant! And the way James controls the ball and kicks… Urgh, I love it."

"Looks like you've fallen in love with a goal, Andrew" Ben chuckled.

"I may have, yes" he laughed.

"Speaking of Maxwell's pass… Didn't it remind you of one of yours, Chilly? The one against United."

"It was similar, but hers is ten times better. She is a much better football player than I ever was or would have ever been" Ben smiled.

"Completely unbiased comment here" Jacob smirked.

"I'm known for always being unbiased when it comes to Maxwell " Ben shrugged before the three of them started to laugh. "Being serious again, tho… I think the character the girls showed today is worthy of respect. People from the outside tried to make them nervous, to make them fail, and they showed them what they are made of. That they are here to play football and win, and no one is gonna distract them from their goal no matter how hard they try."

"Yes! Our fierce lionesses!" Jacob said, lifting his fist in the air.

"We are very proud of you girls" Andrew said.

"All of you" Ben added, looking straight into the camera, hoping everyone back home got the message. 

They could publish all the rubbish they wanted. He was sure of his feelings for June and of hers for him even if she hadn't said it just yet. And if there was someone who knew how to fight against people who talked shit, making the best of it, that was June Maxwell. 

#ben chilwell #ben chilwell fanfic #ben chilwell imagine #football fanfic #football imagine

[pbaintthetb]

Invincible s2e5

It's here, it's here!! Some of my thoughts. Spoilers ahead

"He's never on the hook for the lives he destroys. Just leaves it for everyone else to clean up. Again and again." -> incredible

Brothers eh!! and also Debbie saying mark must get his nobility/reluctance to abandon people from her side ;-)))), especially since this is like one of if not the only time mark is compared to his mum and not his dad. (Whether it's a you're nothing like you're dad, you will be your dad, your dad doesn't influence my view on you)

debbie taking time off work ot look after mark's brother just after they all said they wer so glad she was back :-(( I get that she priortises mark's education though

oop the donald sub plot, forgot about that but now Im hella intrigued again, he a cyberman, though he's the six million dollar man to hear Cecil tell it (we can rebuild him...)

william boxed up mark's stuff.... oof that must have been rough (for william i mean, assuming he's dead)

cecil stfu and stop being a creeper- although if he wasn't like that he wouldn't be cecil, his job is to be a bastard in order to do what he deems necessary

"He's an alien. We're more qualified to take care of him."- very ominous very uncomfortable, glad to see mark isn't having any of it but still. actually ingernal loving mark's convo with cecil

Cecil's little side eye at the end, he's scared ohohoh. and that petty "im sureyour mum will love ooking after her ex's kid" like uh, no but she said she'll do it for mark and otherwise mark will do it so so?

Mark and Amber are cool, and yeah it's nice to see him listening to her problems even if maybe it's revealing that uh... yeah he can't be there for her and that's complicated (as mark said)

Rudy and monster girl is intersing, like i get why she's pissed and i get where he's coming from

DECEASED they all knew he was from mars.Almost disappointed because him desperately trying to be human was hilarious but also this reveal was the funniest fucking thing so, even his reveal felt so unhuman

also how noble and excited the abckstory is until the awkard... so I sort of tried to kill him but I didn't even do that right and now he's coming to earth to kill us all possessed by a hive creature

"No, before, I was lying. Now I'm telling the truth. It's very different." hilarious, might steal that.

Rex, gonna go OOC real quick, then pan to Atom Eve AMV... iconic, I wonder what this could mean /s

Ok I was like, stop commenting on everything but like Rex is a prick but the absolute funniest, saying that maybe Eve's parents WANT her to be abducted because they still haven't fixed her broken window lock killed me

also more seriously actually the familiarity with which they talk and rex moves around eve's room (the l atter would be weird if it weren't so obvious eve could make him stop if she wanted) is great? Because yeah they dated for a while, like they should know each other even if they don't get on anymore and it's great to see the evidence of that Similarly the fact taht Eve reveals at teh end she knew rex just wanted something but that she also does think he genuinely helped her see that she helps people

Man, mark :-( spread too thin, and he's realising it but what is the way out?? Butter spread over too much bread and you can't just put it back in the tin

Shapesmith's intonation and diction and also just his timing of what he says is, mwah, chefs kiss, incredibel

when is the shapesmith show coming, we've already had "Allan"???

was gonna say "nice fight scenes" then kate happened, and i mean they're still good but oh fuck holy shit oh god hog do

.um. well post the homeward guardians fight all I have to say is that it seems that Rex is ranking guardian after all.

Or um, them some cliff hangers amirite, sure do hope everybody is fine

but no did like Rex's last line of the episode and also King lizard's smarmy evil pragmatism ooh very nice.

#invincible s2 #invincible s2 spoilers #invincible season 2

[magicspace114]

New Guardians

You'd slept on your couch last night where you could see your front door in case someone else came in. That's how you'd woken up to the knock on your front door.

With bleary eyes and hair sticking up, you scrambled to the door, tripping over the blanket that you'd found yourself wrapped up in. You opened the door a crack to glare at the man in a suit outside your door.

He blinked at your appearance before holding up a coffee cup and a brown paper bag with a sweet smell coming from it. You sniffed, taking the bag and opening it to see a pack of blueberry muffins.

"Breakfast," the man smiled warmly.

"I don't fall for the nice guy routine, Charlie, you know this." You said, taking the coffee and muffins offered anyway.

"Your dad wants to move you back to the estate," Charlie grimaced, "I'm sorry, I know you won't-"

"No." You took the stuff and closed the door on his face.

"I must insist, this is an order. I can't just refuse orders," the man called through the door. You put the items on the table, pretending not to notice Toby sneaking into the room to have a peek at the commotion.

You straightened up again, fixing your hair somewhat before opening the door again. "Charlie, here's what I want you to do-" you said.

"I'm not defying your dad," Charlie said quickly.

"It's fine, you're not betraying the family or anything, you'll be following my orders." You said, "head back to the bakery you got those muffins from, see if they've got any fresh crusty bread and get some for me."

Charlie paused, confused at how non-defiant you were being. "Is that all?"

"That is all," you nodded, "go on now. Make sure it's fresh."

"O-k," Charlie nodded, side-eyeing you before leaving.

You closed the door, noticing Toby taking the lid off the hot coffee and taking a sniff, "no, no, don't drink that." You said, quickly taking it off him.

"Why?" Toby tilted his head.

"It's coffee, it'll make you hyper. Unless it's poisonous to you, it's poisonous to a lot of animals here."

"I smell caffeine," Tillen hissed, "what is that?"

"It's a caffeine drink, it gives us energy," you explained, "listen, there's muffins in that bag for you, we're gonna go for a drive and find a good spot to eat these so go get your disguise." You smiled at Toby as he rushed back into his room.

"Why are you moving us?" Tillen asked, leaning over the back of the couch as you put the lid back on the coffee and took a sip.

"My dad is trying to move us closer to him," you said, "he just gets overprotective about stuff like this so I need to remind him of a few boundaries." You smiled at Tillen, "don't worry. We'll only go missing for a couple hours. I know a nice park walk that Toby might like, how do you like nature?"

"Are you telling me we can't trust your own family?" Tillen asked.

"Oh, don't tell me you've never scared your parents by running away from home before," you scoffed.

"Sure I did, as a chick when I was too young to understand the dangers of the world," Tillen said, "you're an adult."

"Correct, I'm an adult. I can handle the dangers of the world." You said, "however, my father can't see past me being his precious little girl, that's when we have problems."

"I don't like this running away," Tillen fiddled with the couch blanket you'd yet to pick up after the sudden awakening.

"Just follow my lead, I've done this before," you smiled, "I know what I'm doing. Besides, we're gonna have a nice picnic, it'll be great."

There was a knock on the front door again and you opened it to find Charlie there with your fresh bread. He seemed pretty surprised to still see you here. "I figured you'd have run off while my back was turned."

"Charlie, I have a child with me." You rolled your eyes like that wasn't your entire intention. "Maybe if I'd been alone while he broke in but I wasn't, now do me a favour and give me some time to pack."

"Right, sorry." Charlie nodded and you closed the door.

You turned back, "got some fresh bread. You haven't tried this yet, right?" You showed off the large tiger loaf to Toby who just hopped excitedly.

"No," he said, "where are we going today?"

"It's a surprise, I just need to get a few things first, then we'll go. Ok?"

"Ok." Toby smiled.

Tillen had started straightening up her posture, curling her tail and wings up in her coat and pulling her scarf up over her face. Lovik poked out of her top front pocket, eyes blinking out of sync and all in all, barely moving.

"He'll need a shot of sugar but it's best not to give him it before a car ride." Tillen shrugged.

"Will juice work?" You ask, packing up a few food items and Tillen just nodded. You also pack a change of clothes before pulling a few things from your fridge and handing them out to Charlie outside, "I'm gonna need you to donate that, I'm not having that go to waste."

"We'll do that on the way."

"I still need to pack, you have time." You said before closing the door on him before he could protest. You give it a few minutes after hearing Charlie walk away from your door and smirk, looking back at Toby and crouching in front of him. "Alright, Tobs? We're gonna head out soon, you ready?"

Toby nodded excitedly, "is this gonna be like when we went to the grocery store?"

"No, this is a place outside," you said, "but I think you'll like it and we're gonna eat too." Toby let out an excited bleat. "We just need to be a little sneaky first, alright? There's someone that's gonna be looking for us in the apartment building so we need to pretend we don't know them."

"Are they dangerous?" Toby asked, excitement quieting a little.

"No, they'll just ruin our fun if they catch us. It's ok. We won't be in any danger." You ruffled his hair under his hood, pulling on your own coat and backpack. "Everyone ready?" Tillen and Toby both nodded, Lovik was still a little catatonic. "Alright, let's go."

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#writing #creative writing #alien oc #humans and aliens #overprotective parents #protective aliens #protective human

[lightandfellowship]

Do you have any other ‘random and obscure’ headcanons? I’d love to hear them!

Honestly? Not exactly? My head has been pretty stuck in the meta/analysis side of KHDR so I haven't been thinking about fun headcanons as much. But let me see...

There's like zero canon-canon to this but I like to think that Vidar, Vala, and Heimdall all have a simultaneous crush on Hoder. Just based on dialog/behavior/what could potentially be interesting dynamic-wise. Though it can all be read platonically too, of course.

Based on Vala's line about Hoder's honor, her knowing ballroom dancing, and the fact her screen debut is in Beast's Castle, maybe Vala reads a lot of romantic stories about royalty and princesses and brave knights and kinda wants to be a knight herself? (But maybe not a reckless one, since she disagrees with the idea of going after Maleficent and disrupting the world order...so maybe less of a "knight who vanquishes every single villain and saves every single damsel in distress they come across" and more of a "knight who follows a very strict code of conduct and doesn't question the orders given to them by their superiors.") <- all of this kinda goes hand-in-hand with my "Vala has a crush on Hoder" headcanon. Maybe she views Hoder like a princess...

This one isn't new, I've seen it around a lot, but Vali using sign language to communicate like 90% of the time. I like to think that, in addition to whatever would be considered standard Scala Sign language, the upperclassmen have a unique set of signs that only their group knows the meanings of and were created specifically for/by Vali. Including inside jokes but also quick, useful signs for communicating secretly on missions. Scala Sign Language is a required course in all Scala schools, so both the upperclassmen and the underclassmen know it well.

Relating to my "Vidar was meant to be Odin's heir" headcanon, I imagine he and Odin have a close student and mentor, or vaguely dad and son, relationship. Odin shares information with Vidar that he doesn't share with any of his other students, and Vidar is more emotionally open with Odin since Vidar feels like he can't show too much weakness in front of his friends who rely on him to be their strong leader. Maybe Vidar and Odin sometimes hang out in the Scala tower drinking tea together and discussing various difficult subjects. Even though Odin was saddened by all of the deaths of his students, Vidar's definitely hit the hardest, especially since Odin knew in great detail all of the hopes and dreams Vidar had for the future that have now been forever lost.

I have this silly old post about how the KHDR cast would act during a game of laser tag

#rambling about dim path #ch tag: vid #ch tag: val #ch tag: hod #ch tag: heim #ch tag: odi #Sorry I just realized the tone whiplash of the last two lmao

[wellpresseddaisy]

Making Friends by the Bulstrode Method

A Poshest Bedstead Interlude

"Hello, old things!" Millicent Bulstrode dropped onto the open section of bench next to Hermione.

Ron and Harry, on the other side of the table, stared at her as if she'd just dropped from Mars. Even Hermione seemed shocked into silence, nearly pouring her cup of tea into her lap as she raised it to drink.

"Er, Bulstrode, haven't you got the wrong table?" Harry asked after a long silence while Hermione mouthed 'old things?' to herself, looking completely confounded.

"Not at all." Bulstrode answered cheerfully. "It's fifth year, I soon won't have many classes with that lot," she gestured derisively toward the Slytherin table. "And I'm really desperate for people who have good conversation and better dress sense."

The Slytherin table stared across the Great Hall, almost as one entity. 

"Stop dropping eggs down your front, Malfoy!" Bulstrode called across the tables. "And do shut your mouth, Greengrass. You look gormless."

Harry desperately wanted to turn around and see Malfoy's face, but restrained himself. It would, probably, start a row, because Malfoy seemed incapable of seeing him and not starting one at the present time. It wasn't his fault Sirius adopted him as a baby.

Ron blinked at her. "Y'know," he began thoughtfully. "If I'd known you were like this I wouldn't have hated you."

"If I hadn't been ruthlessly attacked and had half my hair ripped out by Granger in second year I'd have said hello sooner." Bulstrode countered.

Hermione had the grace to blush. "Er, really wrongheaded magical experiment." She muttered.

"Can I say that the three of you really are putting everyone else to shame this year, sartorially, I mean. Parkinson and Greengrass had fits last night. Mother, who is an absolute brick, said I should make friends outside Slytherin and suggested you lot. She liked you when she met you over the summer."

"She was ever so helpful." Hermione ventured a response, wondering if this was how one made friends. She'd sort of fallen into friendship with Harry and Ron, cemented by their mutual adventures. Did one just sit down and start talking? Or perhaps this was particular to Bulstrode.

"Yes. She always did want daughters who wouldn't look a fright in ruffles and lace, but she got me and Ermintrude instead. We're…tailored people, Dad says. Mother, though, really wanted me to say hello and expand my horizons. Which, I'll tell you, really needed expanding beyond Malfoy's potential split ends and how much he hates you, Potter."

Bulstrode's frank cheerfulness had Gryffindor looking thoughtful. The comment about Malfoy garnered her a few bitten lips and hidden snorts of amusement.

"I don't expect it'll be easy, what with the general state of interhouse relations, but…well, I'd like to get to know you all. Slytherin can be a bit lonely, sometimes, if you're forthright and your parents both work."

Harry thought that out of all Gryffindors their year, he, Hermione, and Ron probably understood loneliness the best. He'd liked Mrs. Bulstrode, too. She'd been so patient with all of their questions. Would it hurt to try? He thought Uncle Sirius might be pleased. If he and Hermione and Ron tried to mix more, maybe others in Gryffindors would too. Meeting the Order over the summer, all from different houses but fighting for the same thing, had given him a lot to consider.

"What does your father do?" Ron asked.

"He travels a good deal, meeting with fabric merchants for the things we don't produce. Silk and cotton, mostly. He's in India right now, meeting with the owner of a mill for a possible order of cotton. What about your parents, Granger? They're healers of a kind, right?"

"Well, yes. I suppose. They're dentists, so they specialize in teeth and the jaw." Hermione looked up from her book. "I really do appreciate your mother's help. I would never have known what to select without her. Kreacher is wonderful, but…" she trailed off, not wanting to criticize. 

"He has some old-fashioned ideas." Harry supplied. "I expect it's his age."

"Ah, like my great grandmother. She'd have me in panniers and gobs of lace, if you can believe it! And a little cap, too." Bulstrode chuckled. "Or all in white with a blue sash, like something out of a Greenaway illustration."

The three of them considered Bulstrode. She'd grown out of a rather lumpy childhood and into a…handsome adolescence. Her height and broad shoulders made one think Valkyrie, despite the dark hair and milkmaid complexion. Her strong jaw and decided mouth gave her the air of a person one wouldn't wish to cross. She was exactly the wrong person to dress how her great grandmother wished.

"That wouldn't suit, at all." Ron passed her a plate and the eggs. "You might as well have breakfast here."

"I'd like to hear more about Malfoy moaning about split ends." Ginny put in from Ron's other side. No one had seen her arrive.

"Mustn't tell tales out of house." Bulstrode winked at her.

"How did you get sorted into Slytherin?" The question popped out before Harry could stop himself.

"Oh, I've loads of ambition." Bulstrode helped herself to eggs and toast. "I wasn't a good fit for the other houses, in any case. Too practical for Ravenclaw and too…well, look, if someone is having a rough go of it, I'm more likely to tell them to pull their socks up and stop moping than I am to offer sympathy. Unless, of course, it isn't something they can help. I'm just not Hufflepuff material. Slytherin, as it should be, is a good fit for me. Unfortunately, it's currently filled with warts and wankers. Good morning Professor Snape." She didn't even look up.

"Have you become disoriented, Miss Bulstrode?" Snape asked coolly.

"Er, no sir, but if I was it would be due to Greengrass' new perfume. Ghastly stuff." She marmaladed toast seemingly without a care for the brooding professor behind her.

"Indeed. Then why, Miss Bulstrode, are you eating breakfast at Gryffindor's table?"

"I'm exploring new horizons and furthering interhouse solidarity, Professor." She answered happily. "And my mother asked me to say hello."

"Does hello require marmalade and tea?" Snape eyes the cup Ron had poured and passed to her, practically under his nose.

"Professor, if I didn't offer a visitor to our table refreshment, mum might kill me!" Ron put a hand to his cravat. "We have got manners, you know, despite the twins."

Several smothered snorts occurred in the vicinity and the twins shouted something rude down the table. Harry would forever swear that he saw the corner of Snape's mouth tick up just a fraction.

"Far be it from me to cross your mother, Weasley. See that you join your housemates for dinner this evening, Miss Bulstrode." And Snape swept away.

"What was that?" Seamus asked.

"Oh, he just wanted to make sure I was all right." Bulstrode assured them. "If he wanted to be unpleasant about it he'd have made me move. Anyone mind if I bring some Ravenclaws with me at luncheon? Grelling and Dalloway are decent sorts."

"Why would we mind?" Harry replied stoutly. "There's always room for a few more."

And that was that.

#hp society/the ton #hp the season au #hp the season/the ton au #severus snape #millicent bulstrode #the poshest bedstead in islington

[katy-kt-katie]

Uncle Vicent

November Open Prompt Challenge Prompt: “Character A is nervous for Character B to be liked by family because their family is notoriously difficult to please.”

Notes: I took a little creative license and made it less about the family member being hard to please and more about them being intimidating because of their stature.  Also- this is NOT a baseball story, this is an MSR story with a sprinkle of baseball thrown in.

Rating : MATURE

Thank you so much @agent-troi for the Beta read! You are such a kind, supportive person!

Read here on AO3: Link

“Ohhh,” Scully mewled, softly. His hand pinning hers above her head as he thrusted into her; in and out, in and out.

“Baby, you are so hot,” Mulder whispered into her ear. “Fuck, Skinner,” he continued.

“Mulder,” she panted, “Stop worrying about that, it’s just a movie,” she leaned up and pushed her lips towards his and kissed him assertively, pushing in her tongue, lathing the soft skin inside his pouty lower lip.

He grunted, still annoyed.

“Mulder,” he thrusted, and she moaned, “I’m yours,” thrust and moan. “No one else's,” thrust and moan. "Haven't been for years,” thrust and moan. “Fuckkk,” she whined as her eyes rolled into the back of her head, coming apart in climax.

“You’ve always been mine, haven’t you? Since we met, isn’t that right?” his voice low and growly as he approached his own climax.

“Yes,” she said, light as a feather still floating from a profound orgasm.

“Mmm, Scully,” he groaned, finishing and collapsing onto her chest.

She stroked his face gently before getting up to use the restroom and slipping into the luxurious terrycloth robe supplied by her fancy Beverly Hills hotel room. She climbed back under the covers, next to Mulder and smiled.

This thing with them was still very new but she’d quickly realized her normal aversion to cuddling was non-existent in the arms of Mulder. She snuggled up against his chest and sighed, happily. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. Maybe I could lay like this forever, she thought just as her stomach growled loudly, making Mulder laugh out loud.

“Hungry, Scully?” he teased.

“I guess so,” she hid her face deeper into his chest, just a tiny bit embarrassed. “I only had some popcorn earlier. Should we order some room service? Come to think of it, Skinner would be curious if we didn’t charge anything to the FBI card he gave us.”

“True. He might just think we were making out the whole night,” he tickled her side.

Scully giggled, “Guilty.”

Mulder stood to find the room service menu.

“Hey Mulder, before I forget, I wanted to take you to meet my uncle tomorrow. He lives out here. He heard I was out here in January and he’s mad I didn’t come see him. He’s working tomorrow so we will have to meet up with him where he works.”

“Meeting the family, huh Scully?” he wiggled his eyebrows.

“He’s my dad’s brother and we haven’t done a great job keeping in touch with that side of the family. But I have so many fond memories of him growing up.”

“Sounds good Scully. What’s his name? You don’t call him Ishmael or some name from Moby Dick too, do you?”

“No,” she giggled, “It’s Vincent. Uncle Vincent.”

“Okay, Uncle Vincent, it is,” he said, smiling. “How about some steak, Scully?” 

“Mmm. Sounds good,” she grinned.

Mulder picked up the phone and dialed room service.

//

Mulder would have happily laid in Scully’s arms all day if he could have. Sunday was a day for reflection and worship, and he would gladly worship at the altar of Scully and reflect on his burgeoning love for her.

Their shift into lovers was what he’d always hoped for; and now that he had her, he wanted all of her, all of the time.

But she had smacked him on the butt and told him to get ready and so here he was up and hopping into a cab she’d set up.

Scully had told him to wear something casual, which he thought was odd to meet an older family member, but he happily dressed in jeans and t-shirt, and she did the same.

It was about twenty minutes in the cab, and he took in the palm trees and sunshine as they rode.

Scully grabbed his hand and started to stroke his thumb gently, “My Uncle Vincent…he’s a great guy…but he intimidates people.”

“Oh?” Mulder asked. 

“Yeah, I think he will like you though.”

“Why’s that?” 

“Mulder, remember the private baseball lesson you gave me?”

“Yeah,” he leaned over and nuzzled his mouth against her ear, “How could I forget…hips before hands Scully,” he winked.

She giggled, “I loved that night, that’s when I knew something was going to happen with us.”

He smiled and kissed her gently on the lips.

He sighed and laid his head on her shoulder for a beat, before continuing the conversation in confusion, “Scully, what does that have to do with your Uncle Vincent?”

“Well Mulder, I actually grew up around baseball. A lot of baseball. I pretended I didn’t know because I,” she smirked, “I liked you touching me.”

He nodded his head cockily and whispered, “You don’t have to worry about that ever again honey, because I would touch you all day, every day if I could. I plan to make up for lost time.”

She giggled and smacked his shoulder lightly, “Mulder, what it has to do with my Uncle Vincent is, he’s worked for the Dodgers my whole life and I grew up going to games with him.”

Mulder felt the cab stop and realized they had pulled up to Dodgers Stadium. His mind started flying through the few details she’d told him, and his eyes flew wide open in astonishment.

“Vincent Scully,” he said out loud and cocked his head, “Scully, do you mean Vin Scully?” he shook his head in disbelief. “The Vin Scully, that’s your uncle?”

“Yep, I figured you may have heard of him” she teased and grabbed his arm after paying the cabbie. “Come on, let's go find him.” 

Mulder’s memory began to shuffle through so many things he’d heard and read about her famous Uncle. He’d been the play-by-play guy for the Dodgers for decades. He was definitely one of the most famous voices in baseball.

“Heard of him, Scully, the man is a legend.” He ran his hands through his hair, “Shit, Scully now I am nervous.”

“That’s why I haven’t told you before, you baseball nut,” Scully said, giving him a reassuring squeeze around the waist.

//

Scully was not surprised to see her Uncle and Mulder hitting it off. 

Mulder was grinning cheek to cheek as her Uncle regaled him with a particularly fascinating story about Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. She enjoyed the view, watching the grown man she loved acting like an excitable kid with her Uncle.

She crossed the room and wrapped her arm around Mulder. “This one, he’s a good one, Dana.” Uncle Vin said, winking at Mulder.

“I’m pretty fond of him,” Scully smiled at them both.

“You know, Vin, we’ve worked together for seven years now. Every man in the FBI is intimidated by Dana. She’s a sure shot, absolutely brilliant, not to mention she’s saved my life several times,” he blushed, doting on her to her family.

She raised on her tiptoes and planted a chaste kiss on his cheek, thanking him for his sweet praise.

“Oh yeah and she’s drop dead gorgeous, too,” Mulder grinned.

All three of them smiled and paused for a beat before Uncle Vin began to nod, clearly thinking about something serious. “Dana, I know your dad wasn’t sure about the FBI for you and he didn’t live long enough to see where it took you. But I know he’d be very proud of you and all you have accomplished.”

Dana gave her Uncle a hug, “Thank you Uncle Vin, that means a lot to me.”

"So, kids, I have to get to work. Someone has to broadcast this thing,” Uncle Vin chuckled, “But I have two tickets for you behind home plate, if you want to stay and watch.”

Mulder looked like a kid in a candy store, asking with his eyes, can we…can we?

“Thank you Uncle Vin, we’d love to,” Scully beamed.

A box of cracker jacks, a stadium dog and two cold beers later, they found their seats in prime real estate.

Their romance was still new, and Scully was reluctant to display her affection publicly in D.C., but here in L.A. it felt like they were just another random couple. She leaned into him and sighed. 

“I can’t believe your Uncle is Vin Scully, Scully!” Mulder said, with a bite full of hot dog in his mouth, “And he’s such a sweet guy.”

She smiled at her handsome man as mustard dripped down the edge of his lips.  She reached over and cleared it with her finger. It reminded her of a case their second year together when he wiped barbecue sauce from her lips. She remembered being so surprised when he did it and smiling at him thinking something might have sparked between them.

She giggled to herself, thinking there was a spark, but man was it slow to flame. Mulder turned to her and smiled as she licked the mustard off her fingers. She wondered if he was having the same memory.

He broke his attention from the game for a moment and pressed his lips softly against her ear, whispering, “Thank you for bringing me here.”

She kissed his cheek, and he shifted his face slightly and found her lips for a chaste kiss.

“Ohhh, Sheffield!” He stood up clapping as a Dodger player hit one out of the park.

As the L.A. sun shone on them and blanketed them in warmth, she laid her head onto his shoulder and sighed. He kept watching the game and she kept watching him. 

#todayinfic #the x files #dana scully #fox mulder #hollywood ad #the unnatural

[steely-eyedmissileman]

Obi-Wan Kenobi Ep. 1

i am still of the opinion that this show should have just been called kenobi. however, i can let this go because i quite liked this episode.

you know you're off to an aggressive start when the first thing you see is the murder of younglings in order 66. like, that's a bold call everyone. very bold. and it works. we're building an emotional landscape here. and the emotional landscape is that everyone is afraid, suffering, dying. no one is safe. and obi-wan has had to sacrifice himself and his principles in order to keep luke safe. and he isn't even allowed to give him a toy spaceship.

listen, this is not a new take, but i just don't like owen lars. he is not a good father. i get that he's going through a lot and he's trying to keep luke safe. but sheltered is not safe. ignorant is not safe. keeping him away from his past doesn't protect him. it just leaves him open to being blindsided later. if he had learned about his past as a child, he would have been more prepared for the events of a new hope. but we can't change the past, so luke can know nothing. instead he must pretend to be in a spaceship on the roof.

meanwhile, leia is having adventures. she always was the cooler twin. i love her so much. she has so much fire in her, so much fight. i wish that she had wanted to be a senator. i just don't love the path that she had to give up what she loved blah blah blah. i think that luke and leia should have different desires. they are two sides of the same coin. i don't know though, maybe she'll learn to love the senate. i just don't like the idea that her parents would force her into something she didn't want.

speaking of her parents, holy shit! that is bail fucking organa everyone! he is the man! he is the man that i always say padme should have fallen for. there was definitely potential in the clone wars, but she persisted in being in love with anakin skywalker who she can definitely do better than. anyway, that's besides the point. the point is, i love bail organa, and i think he's a great dad. and breha is a great mom! and they're on alderaan! and they're happy! i love to see alderaan, by the way. i want the texture of the world. i want to see everything and do everything. alderaan is such an iconic place in the star wars canon for never really having been explored. like, we've seen this place (before this episode) for maybe two minutes of screentime (it has occurred to me we may see it in later clone wars seasons... i haven't finished the clone wars, to my great regret) and it is one of the central places in the star wars galaxy. like here's the list: tatooine, coruscant, naboo, alderaan, corellia, ryloth, hoth, yavin iv, the forest moon of endor, dagobah, etc, etc. so i'm super excited to see more of alderaan! especially because that will make it hurt more when it's destroyed.

#obi wan kenobi #semmwatchlog

[arrow-dodger]

My dad's mom died on Saturday. I called her Nanny.

I can't put what I feel into words. I can barely sit down and think about it at all. But I can try to write it just to get it out of my head.

I haven't seen her in years. I've been estranged from that side of my family since I was maybe 22 or 23. To paraphrase, they're bad people. They were emotionally abusive, purposefully cruel, manipulative, selfish and volatile my entire childhood. I don't think either of my grandparents loved me, or even knew how to feel or show love in a way that I would recognize. I don't think they know me or anything about me, nor have they ever tried. The concept of "family" on my dad's side is just an endless loop of people possessing other people.

My mom always told me that since Nanny wasn't a loving person and Pawpaw (her husband) was a serial philanderer, my dad grew up in a household where not only did he have emotionally absent parents, but parents who fucking hated each other. And that's true. My entire life they had separate bedrooms and seemed to loathe one another entirely, but were just together because they had already been together that long, so they might as well ride it out. I know my dad is an adult and a father himself so he should have some kind of blame in his own actions. I just think I resent my grandparents a bit for growing him to be as emotionally absent as they are. My dad is still a little boy hiding under a bed in many ways.

As a person, I would say Nanny was best described as "unhappy." She barely smiled and always had something to fret about. She was always affronted by everything other people did, even if it had nothing to do with her. My mom has many stories of her throwing fits about things as an adult woman. She was critical and high-strung. At the same time, I know she was good natured in some ways. She gave a lot of gifts. She was always there to offer food or do laundry with a particularly challenging stain on it. She watched us as kids often enough and I know she watched her great-grandson (my cousin's kid) a lot too. I wasn't afraid of her as a child and I didn't dislike her, I mostly felt such a distance from her, especially compared to my mom's mom who I have always been very close to.

Every good memory I have with Nanny or that was set in her house ties directly back to some other weird or bad one in my head. I remember decorating Easter eggs with her, using dyes and stickers with crosses and other religious symbols on them, and her snapping at me for putting the stickers on my body because it was sacrilegious. I remember that day we ate Dairy Queen. I assume my sister was there, but we might have been so small that my brother wasn't even born yet. That would be over 20 years ago now. That story is funny because she was by far the most religious person in my family. She collected ceramic angels and claimed that once after she had some kind of surgery, Jesus himself visited her room and she kissed his feet.

I remember breaking one of her glass birds and cutting my hand on it. I remember climbing through her bedroom window because we locked ourselves out. I remember my sister and I playing with our Palm Beach Barbies in the fishing boat in the backyard. I remember mixing "potions" in her second bathroom. I remember her big black dog Magic, who seemed like he was the size of a horse to me because I was so small. I remember watching The Last Unicorn on VHS countless times in her bedroom, with an out-of-order treadmill in front of the bed and images of Christian angels decorating every surface. At her house we had the most random collection of toys, and books about dinosaurs. I always played with the toys in the sink of the big bathroom, the one with the poem about the color purple on the wall, and rummaged the drawers for her lipstick. Her feet were so small I could wear her little gold lamé slippers.

I remember her walking with us to Dollar General and buying us random little toys sometimes. Once I went there with her by myself when I was probably about nine and I remember her going on about how I was prettier than my sister and not to tell her. When I got older and my brother decided he didn't want to come visit my dad anymore because my dad was always drunk and terrifying, I remember Nanny and my aunts talking about how selfish that was of him. My brother, not my dad. And my brother was eleven years old.

I remember getting catalogues and catalogues of childrens' toys to pick from for Christmas. My grandparents and aunts always viewed buying us things as their way of expressing love, and even then it was barely that because it was always held over our heads later. I don't remember my grandparents ever asking me questions about myself or getting to know me. I don't remember them ever hugging me or being physically affectionate besides when we'd say goodbye. I don't remember ever feeling close to them in any way other than by proximity. In fact, most of my memories of going to their house involve them being in other rooms (or Pawpaw being in his shed in the back yard) ignoring us while we made our own fun, playing in the sink or watching a movie in the bedroom alone or playing Harry Potter in the front yard. In those memories everything is extremely quiet and empty.

When I'd go to her house as an adult she'd always give me random bits of food. Once she gave me a whole bunch of bananas. Then she'd spend the entire time guilt tripping me about how I didn't chat or visit often enough (I can't think of one time my grandparents have ever called me on the phone or invited me to their house) and talking about what things in her house I'd inherit when she died. It was always a pretty grim time.

When I got old enough and realized I was allowed to not be around my family anymore, I just... wasn't. There's no talking to them or reasoning with them, so I just fucked off. Nanny wasn't ever the reason for my estrangement honestly, it was my aunts (her daughters) who have both said and done way nastier shit, though she did join in things like enabling my dad to be an abusive drunk and actively sabotaging my parents' relationship. If I told every story about my aunts being awful throughout my life, I would be stuck here for days. Nanny might not have been as bad but she didn't separate herself from them in my mind, as she was always quieter than them but definitely on their side. We were never close. I never felt like she cared much about me or whether I was around or not. If she did she certainly never said anything about it to me, nor did anyone ever convey the message.

Not very long after I distanced myself, both of my dad's parents got pretty deep into dementia. My sister still visited every now and again but they didn't really know who she was. So even if I had still been around it wouldn't have made a difference, I think.

I've been distancing myself from my dad a lot lately already, so her death comes at an extremely weird time. I also can't attend her funeral tomorrow because there's a massive winter storm headed this way and I would risk being stranded. I wanted to go, too. I wavered on it because I'd have to see my goddamn aunts and their families and I know I'd be accosted and chastised and harangued by many different people. It would have been an emotionally exhausting experience for everyone, but it would have at least functioned as some kind of closure for me.

I can barely mourn my Nanny. There wasn't a loving relationship there to mourn. But I'm mourning some other things instead, like how my dad lost a parent, and my other family lost a loved one, and as weird and self-centered as it sounds, how I never had a relationship with my grandparents. The only relationship I've had with that side of the family the majority of my life has been manipulation, verbal abuse, them viewing my siblings and I as possessions and bargaining chips and using us as weapons, never being truly loved or truly known but existing as a concept and told to fit into a specific mold and to sit down and shut up and pretend along with the rest of them that we like each other. And that sucks shit.

Other people talk about these great relationships they have with their families. Other people have stories about grandparents who have always been there for them and supported them. Support is the last thing I ever got from any of those people. They have always actively resented me. They all wish I was someone else. I was the first niece and granddaughter born on that side and I know they all wanted a do-over. Luckily for them they have my sister instead, who barely remembers our childhood and lived far away for most of hers and also has some kind of infinite bandwidth for people who are cruel to her.

I wish to god I could say I was sad and hurt and missing something important from my life. Instead I never had it to begin with, and that hurts in a different way.

Editing this to say: I know it may come across harsh to anyone who doesn't know the full story of my childhood, my parents' divorce, my dad's alcoholism, etc. etc. and the roles my family played in all of those things. I will never be telling the full story so just know the nothing I've said here is harsh.

[magic-to-write]

Chapter 3

Buckle yourself in, things get wild from here on out.

Hot air blew over Leila and Carter, it ruffled Leila's hair and cooled them off, it was still warm in the shadow in the gazebo. They were fitting in some afternoon practice after finishing their homework. Leila pulled out some string from a secret pocket, she wrapped it around her wrists, trying to restrain herself without the help of another person, but nothing stuck.   Carter had brought a pack of cards and was practicing shuffling them; making false cuts and fancy flourishes before returning the cards to their original order. He made the cards jump from one hand to the other. He even tried to flip one card behind his head, though he didn't manage to catch it. The card's red back stood out on the green grass, Carter turned pink and let out a shuddering breath.

    "You have been practicing!" Leila said, picking up the card and handing it back to him, "You're doing amazing, you'll get it."   Carter didn't look at Leila, only the card, "I haven't been practicing enough apparently." He said.     "You will get it." Leila said, putting an arm around Carter, pulling him into a side hug.

  Carter snuggled a bit closer to Leila, putting his head on her shoulder, he started shuffling again. They sat for a moment, enjoying their surroundings, spring was ending and summer was just starting to roll in, flowers were in full bloom, and Poppa was starting to complain about allergies daily. When Leila broke the silence, it took a lot more effort then it normally would.

    "I wish I was psychic so I could unlock what was in my dad's head." Leila said, focusing on a blade of grass, "I feel like there's still so much I don't know about him."     "Like what?" Carter asked, still shuffling his cards.     "Like who he was when he was our age? Has he told you anything about Lyle? They were best friends after all." Leila asked, not tearing her eyes away from the grass.     "I wish he would tell me more. Maybe Sandra will tell us something, she seems eager to tell stories about the Emerald Ring." Carter said. Which Leila supposed was true, Sandra seemed eager to tell stories about events like "the great duck flood", but then again that could be misdirection, Sandra was apart of a magician group after all.     "That’s another thing I want to know, his old magician club, what happened? We know Sandra, Lyle and Bobby, but who are the other two? Where are they now?" Leila said, pulling her arm away from Carter to hug her knees, "Imagine never talking about Theo getting stuck to the roof, or Izzy falling off the fridge, or Ridley falling out of her chair doing that wheely! How can you think of that and not tell that story!"     "Have you ever asked?" Carter asked, Leila sighed putting her head on her knees.     "I only learned about the Emerald Ring when you came to town. I'm not sure he would have confessed very much if we hadn't already figured it out for ourselves." Leila said, picking a few blades of grass, letting them free on the wind.     "Maybe that's what he wants, find our own answers. Or maybe he's embarrassed? I was when I came to town." Carter said, making his cards disappear and started chewing on his sleeve. That's new, Leila will haft to tell Mr. Vernon about that.     "Maybe." Leila said before drifting back into her mind. It was a mix of thoughts, most being of worry and frustration.

    "If you were psychic," Carter poked Leila in the side, "What would you want to know?" He went back to chewing his sleeve.     "I'd want to know the Magic Misfits won't end up like the Emerald Ring, I don't want us to have a "falling out"." Leila said, memories of Melodie and her gang, and of being alone in the orphanage, she had to shake her head to force those memories away, "I hope... I hope we will always be friends."     "I think they will haft to surgically remove Ridley from your side." Carter said, it was kinda blurted out. Leila burst into laughter, Carter started laughing too.     "I'd also want to look into the past. I'd find out why Bobby Boscowitz turned into B. B. Bosso. And I'd learn how come Sandra and my dad weren't in touch all these years, they seemed to miss each other so much. Don't you think it's weird?" Leila asked; once she calmed down enough to speak. Carter nodded.     "It is weird, but sometimes life just happens. I mean my dad ended up far away from Mineral Wells, he left the Emerald Ring behind, but I'll bet he never forgot about them." Carter said; he rested his head on Leila's shoulder. then thought for a moment, "Me? If I were psychic, I'd want to know what happened to my parents."     "Maybe, we can find answers without strange mental powers." Leila said, letting her knees go and sitting up straighter.     "That would be brilliant." Carter said, "I'll help you if you help me."     "Deal." Leila said. Another breeze swept over the gazebo, Carter went back to chewing his sleeve; was he bored? Leila couldn't figure it out. she needed to get him back inside, they have been out for a while.

   "Want to head back inside?" Leila asked, getting to her feet, "Poppa will be home from work soon, and I want to clean up before everyone else arrives. Do you think I should wear my straitjacket to dinner?"   Carter giggled, "How will you eat with your arms bound?" He asked.     "I'll figured out a way, maybe I can incorporate it into my act." Leila offered her hand to help Carter to his feet. As the siblings crossed in front of the gazebo, a loud screech startled them. Leila froze and Carter attached to her arm. It had come from the shadowy space underneath it.

  Carter; eyes wide and in a hushed voice. Asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"   Leila reflexively itched her neck, "If I am, does it mean I'm psychic?"     "The monkey." They whispered together.

  Together, they knelt cautiously in the grass and peered through the diamond-shaped gaps between the wood slats beneath the gazebo. A small shape cowered at the far side, it was chittering in the dim space.

    "He's back!" Carter said, Leila hushed him, signaling to keep his voice down.     "Let's catch him." Leila unraveled the string from her fingers and with some quick knots, made a harness.   They treaded softly around the edge of the structure. But as they neared the other side, a blur of fur dashed out and away. The monkey raced across the grass and the street before disappearing behind the barbershop on the far corner.   Watching the monkey run, Leila had the intrusive thought of the monkey resting on Sandra's shoulders. Leila was itching her arm now.   Leila clicks her tongue watching the monkey. Someone down the street shrieked.     "Crud." Carter said, pulling shortbread crumbs from his pocket. "Next time I'll be better prepared."     "If there is a next time." Leila answered with a sigh, "Should we go after it?"     "Naw, I have a feeling he'll be back." Carter said, turning back to walk to the shop.

***

  Walking through the door of the shop, Leila called out, "Dad! Dad! You'll never guess who we saw outside!"   Mr. Vernon looked up from a book at the counter and raised an eyebrow, "Well, can I at least try?" Leila giggled and nodded, but Carter groaned as Vernon held his forefingers to his temples and closed his eyes. "Was it the ghost of Abraham Lincoln?" They shook their heads. "Babe the blue Ox?" Nope. "Johnny Appleseed?" Uh-uh. "Oh, I know: Oberon, king of the Fairies!"

  Carter blurted out, "It was Bosso's monkey!" Leila nodded.     "He was hiding underneath the gazebo and ran off when we tried to catch him." Leila said, Mr. Vernon sighed.     "We'd better go around and close all the windows. I'll put in a call to animal control. Can't have him disrupting our special dinner tonight." Mr. Vernon said setting his book down.     "Animal control?" Carter echoed, "What will they do with him?"     "They'll catch him and lock him up." Said Mr. Vernon, "Just like Bosso."   Carter flinched, "Is there such a thing as monkey jail?"     "It might be safer for him to be in a cage than on the street." Vernon pondered out loud.     "A cage." Leila's mind flashed to the closet, jumping back to reality, she cried out, "That's terrible!"     "He just wants a home," Carter whispered.   Leila perked up. "Maybe we could adopt him." She suggested.   Mr. Vernon chuckled, "Let's make that decision when we have a hold of the monkey. How about you two clean up a bit?" He gestured to the grass stuck to Leila and Carter's clothes and hair. "You can even decorate the dining room upstairs for our guest of honor." He grabbed a black top hat off a stand, then tossed it to Leila. "Use pieces from the shop if you want. It's always nice to remember that we're surrounded by magic here."

  Leila reached inside the hat and pulled out a never-ending multicolored scarf. Red and green and yellow and blue and purple and orange. Her father was obviously trying to distract them from the idea of the monkey running scared outside. Classic misdirection, Leila thought.

    "Hurry now!" Mr. Vernon added, "Sandra is twenty minutes early or five minutes late, she was never once on time and I don't expect her to start."

#LK au #the magic misfits #Gave Carter a new weird habit #Why? Idk #Writing #Fanfic

[zak-shit]

march 1st 2024 9:14 pm

don't greatly feel like doing this rn, but i know I do need to.

brain is constantly racing lately. i mean constantly i really do.

the grief of losing lisa has been coming harder, i really miss her and i cant believe she is really gone. i will never forget that woman. lisa was truly my favorite person growing up. she's a real angel now.;/ Marisa Lynn just called me while I was writing the below stuff, she said new years eve was the best. I think about thanksgiving alot too, we had a all nighter, I'll never forget seeing Lisa on the back porch as the sun came up. and that was practically the last time I really saw her. Her health went downhill so quick after that.. I had the thought earlier like things just came together in a way, and that night was almost a send off for her. except nobody knew. it was really our fucking reunion., and it turned into our last night together.

tomorrow ive got to go to my brother casey's wedding ;| i haven't seen this side of my family in like nearly 5 years. i ordered something I really like to wear, something that is appropriate, but also boldly ME. It may not arrive in time, and I don't know what to wear in that situation yet, also don't know if what I already have that is appropriate is something i feel comfortable wearing/ me. :/ but its fineeeeeee this wedding will happen. i'm going to see both of my brothers tomorrow, my dads brother (he's chill) and my other niece's and nephews. just weird bc i don't know these people honestly. we have a zero on the relationship bar. idk that just makes me anxious, uncomfortable... shruggg. i just know when I have a life event I wouldn't invite them, but I feel obligated. however i do also feel immensely happy for Casey, the divorce of his first marriage im sure was extremely hard for him. i'm glad he has a great partner now, large happy family. he seems content the last few times I'd seen him. Casey is the only one I have seen in the last 5 years. My aunts funeral, fathers day like two years ago, and Marissas baby shower. He is a good guy, and he deserves to be celebrated and have who he wants to show up for him, show up. I'll also have Cece, and Marissa there to keep me company.

i feel alone. Wrote that before Marisa Lynn called me. Expecting and hoping she calls me back. Idk, its Friday night and I'm all alone, not much is stimulating to me. I don't have a hyper fixation right now, so its like I have nothing lol. makes me feel like a zombie just coasting through life. I understand why my comfort/ favorite/ go to people cant hang out tonight but idk I miss them. And I had to cancel plans with Alyssa for tomorrow bc I changed my mind on attending the wedding. Texted her asking about other days after we talked and she said she was soooo happy I was going. and nothinnnnnn. idk a little "let me seee" and then get back to me would be nice... i know shes got alot going on though. im not upset with her at all. but I miss her :( Ruby cant hang because her back is killing her :( also not upset with her at all, i see her all the time lol. but idk maybe i'm just a bit bored... I have decided to start working shows at the theatre again! maybe partly for a little stimulation. Its been so long since I've done a show! I used to think strongly that I couldnt do it because I'm not getting payed.. but I was never payed before, I always did it because I enjoyed it so much! Its something to do thats a passion of mine. also the sense of community is great and admirable. everyone who is there.. wants to be there! its not like at work where people are miserable. I applied on the website, but i think I'll draft an email to someone tonight. I wanna jump on this burst of energy for it before it goes away and I don't take it up again. plus I'd like to see how much I like it. Crazy being able to get back into hobbys. lol for so long I thought it was possible to make time for it. and hey with me being active there again, maybe it would be easier to also get Cece into it.

I also bought some adderal from Kerri, I think thats what has awoken quite a bit inside me. i really need this shit to be real human. lol especially the highted emotions. I've actually cried both yesterday and today. and its been so therapeutic. Lisa also took me to my first audition into the theatre, she sat there while I did it, she filled out the paperwork. I thank her for that. I wished I could in person because that really means alot not looking back and seeing how far that took me/ changed my life. it really did change my life. so did our pitch perfect binges. <3

my mom has been really good lately. she stopped drinking as much. like for a few weeks, maybe 2 weeks. she didnt really drink at all. shes been alot more active around the house, she said she would treat herself to it on saturdays. which is fair, thats cool. so yesterday, a thursday when I came home and I could tell she at least had a buzz going on, it instantly locked up. idk i was dissappointed, i was angry, I was sad. It triggered me for sure, because, for once I wasnt expecting it. at least on Saturdays I would expect it. I can clock when shes had a sip of alcohol better than I can clock probably anything. so she cant lie to me about it.. but also highly emotional on it because I've wanted the last few weeks to be our reality for so long, and so badly... she really seems ready to cut it down to one day a week. and I know she can do it, she just did it. she just has to stick to it. I have high hopes, thats why I didnt blow up or something about it, also because i'm smarter than that, i know time and place to be heard best. and after a drink its never there. I just mentioned it this morning. I think she had a tiny bit to drink tonight too.

currently talkin flirtin with trey <3 i want him :((

xoxo wasted a bunch of time its now 12:29 am need to try to get sleepy byeeee

[castle-dominion]

castle 6x23 for better or worse

the wedding episode liveblog, or the caskett wedding or the first wedding or the attempted wedding, or the b-ex-ett episode, kind of reminds me of that felony melanie movie...

Ooh rick castle signature

oOH ROOFTOP VENUE! RC: It’s too bad Beckett didn’t want to bungee jump off the side of the building for our big exit. Now that would have been cool. Me: YOU'RE SO RIGHT BESTIE

Gerard <3 *grabs forms* Fwewp! out!

Clipping! *crash to the floor in bloopers* Gates <3 She called she texted AND she emailed. Black shoes XD *PASSES THE FILES TO ESPOSITO AGAIN*

bECKETT WAS MARRIED!? OH IT WASN'T ON PURPOSE? OH... GIRL NO... lmao I remember she said she was 1 & done back in like, episode 2. Hey wait I think I remember episode 2 becks was "you're a dad??? that's weird bc you're so immature" but alexis bailed him out last episode...

the drive thru of love...??? 15 years since she married him first year at standford. timeline stuff. I love henry. You're a detective, detect.

Yep. Love how they literally try to find him thru cop stuff. I mean she did call him a liar & a thief.. *calls him her husband* he's literally ken in the mugshot meme. (so glad I clipped earlier bc their outfits are bomb) Wow I read the info. 1(d)/3(m)/2001(y) Used someone else's expired cridit card, lied to her under a flase name at the motel, 3/3/01 fraud & restaining order,20/2/07 "female body inspector" is literally on his police record when he was the fbi agent... RC: I must say, given his record, I’m really surprised-- Me: that we haven't run into him again sooner? RC: you stayed with him all these years.

Reugan. o'leary. *robotic but also stoned*

KB: I’m going to go to Willow Creek. I’ve got less than three days to find Rogan O’Leary and get a divorce.

Title card

Why doesn't she have any previous messages between her & ryan? (missing an apostrophe, at least ryan knows how to use lol) Trinity Church. Neighbour: He’s got a smile that will make your pants fall off Tell her you're looking for a divorce

WOAH STUFF THROWING AT HIM He's weilding a chair? What the heck is even going on!? Nice punch! She owns this bar & hates him enough to make this scene? Love the angle lmao. Kit kat lol

KB: Do you remember a trip that we took to Vegas Me: I wouldn't expect him to, do you hear how that sounds?

It is hilarious! I just found out, literally sign here goodbye What's a nice hook? lmao this man he is... smile that will make your pants fall off... Yeah she was in law school... WAIT SHE WAS IN STANDFORD LAW SCHOOL.. HOLD ON *haggling* LMAO I LOVE HIM

Clipping <3 xd it really is unus annus remember the kickstarting puberty video? Yeah.

Glitch she says. (Oh btw do you remember crabtree telling murdoch how to tie a bowtie? That was a great scene. love george.)

garage door opener? sus. jher mom's place? What if you DO get caught?

Oh no oh no I forget what happens OH DEAR OH NO. it's a cop lol. Just pretent it's your car girl. Oh no I remember what happens. DON'T HANG UP DON'T HANG UP get in your car & follow!

I'm sure they'll have a very good reason! TELL HER THAT YOU'RE LEGALLY MARRIED & GETTING MARRIED TO SOMEONE ELSE in 3 days

RC: Okay, okay, I hate to ask, but do you think maybe Me: he did it on purpose? RC: we should postpone? Me: oh Girl you may be a detective but did you hear about all the claims involving mr oleary? Yeah alexis has it covered!

Oh no what is it now?

OH NO THE ROOF-- THE ROOF FRICKING BURNED DOWN? a venue in two days? The hamptons? u should have sdone that first! I was going to ask about catering & stuff, glad they're paying vendors relocation costs. MR: Oh, please. I once staged A Chorus Line on a subway platform when our company lost its space

RC: Oh, what’s a fiancé for if not to help find his future wife’s current husband?

Cloris Maguire: Well if you find him you can keep him. Or becks, just be honest Mama just admitting to the homicide det... She's pretty. She mixed? All that turquoise & her looks make her look half native. Hot native trope tho so ew. WAIT. WHAT? Tildy maguire: I love him. I mean, I can overlook the fact that he’s not a regular job kind of guy or that he can’t marry me while his wife’s in a coma SHE'S WHAT? (so he did know!!!) HE EVEN USED HER NAME? ok so... are you going to tell her or?

serious trouble From You

RC: Coma wife. (he laughs) It’s kind of brilliant. Despicable is not mutually exclusive

RC: Their emails to each other are fairly pornographic Me: uh

YOU CAN GET TORY TO DO THAT? KB: I’ve gotta call Lanie. I’m not going to make my spa bachelorette party this afternoon. RC, head popping up: You were going to have naked ladies at your party, too? (should I clip it? I'm going to say probably not. at least not rn.) XD also who planned it? alexis?

Aw newleyweds spa day <3

I love lanie. RC: Besides, it’s not like things can get any crazier. *walks in to: a fricking biker gang in rogan's livingroom*

tell them tell them tell them oh gosh fucking heck

Head Biker: All right, well, that seems fair. No mrs oleary, I want my money now Correct him & say it's detective beckett or would that be a bad idea

lol love how he has $500 of the $5k...ONLY 12 HIURS? RC: No, Mrs. O’Leary, I’m not okay. I happen to like my legs. And yours too. And why is your husband paying bikers over $5 grand for a stripper’s phone?

stole & returned? remember the joey malone episode?

Oh no. bloopers were great for this btw. I think I feel bad for luke reichle, I mean I know they have copies but holy crap poor luke reichle

Give her a hug my man

KB: Castle, I’m married to someone else. And I have no idea where he is, we don’t have any leads, and then to make things worse the venue and now this? I mean, it just feels like all of this is one big sign. RC: Well, maybe it is a sign. (he puts his arm around her shoulders) A sign that ours is a great love story. Because what’s a great love story without obstacles to overcome? Every fairytale has them. Terrible trials that only the worthy can transcend. But you can’t give up. That’s the deal. We want the happy ending, we can’t give up.

THAT'S THE PHONE Why did tory send the one of the dog? oh that's why the bus bench was so noticable!

Oh protestant that's why he's not father ?.. You're not? By the time you're done being blackmailed, everyone has seen the photo & used it to blackmail you!

A few pictures actually!

RC: So your husband is hijacking someone else’s blackmail. It’s kind of ingenious in a degenerate sort of way.

Ooh she's good! Ppole dancing is not just wow sexy, it is an art form & a sport! (her accent xd) Lol castle tipping her

the red tailed hawk sound effect?

I'm with becks on this. Maybe y'all need a monocular too tho. Did she bring her gun with her?

going to be more people here. I swear. Amish horror film lol. Not going to be him. Or going to be a scarecorw. Or dead. Or the scarecrow lol.

KB: Could everyone please stop saying man parts? RC: Well, we just followed the trail of disappointment and deception. Led us right to you.

Smart on beckett. *calls castle man-parts* You know that's a good idea. Say he's either signing the papers or dying, either way it gets you out of marriage.

the ugly brothers? MICKEY BARBOZZA THE MOB HIT MAN?

that's why castle was keeping watch until a moment ago. Becks should have said "castle lets get out of here" & then started to leave w/o rogan & then he'd call them back sign the papers & they'd get out of there. maybe. idk.

ESPARISH JAVI & LANIE JUST SITTING THERE WITH NOBODY ELSE AROUND LOOKING OUT OVER THE INLAND OCEAN OR W/E IT IS SO THAT RICK ISN'T AFRAID OF STORMS... ROMANTIC. Wait, are THEY going to get married here instead!?!? JE: Now all we need is a bride and groom. WAS I RIGHT WAS I RIGHT HOLD ON they are in LOVE (even with their on & off again hot/cold

Ooh nice transition with the hands Love these interactions, they manage to make being held captive by a feared mob hitman funny. *castle can't see anything* *castle turning around* WAIT I THINK I KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING-- I MIGHT BE REMEMBERING. IT'S THE BIKER GANG?

RC: Why do you think? Husband, wife, future husband, your apartment? They find our dead bodies, the story of jealous rage writes itself.

knew it. biker gang. WAIT GANG VS MOB YES YES YES Wonder if the bikers still want rogan to pay em. I mean otherwise they were kind of.. using them.

you CAN thank them lol the contribution of the homicidal bikers is it already the next day? they gettin married today? RoL: You are a lucky man, Man Parts Wait yeah you're already back in her bar! *CONTINUES PLAYING HIS FRICKING ANGLE*

She's running so happy!

Who the heck are these people? will, idk, the el-masri family be here? Is that ryan up at the front? who are these people? I recognize,, none. I'd really really like to see some old characters return. Maybe Powell the jewel thief, or castle's friend in the mob, will from the fbi, agent mccord, kyra blaine (who has the initial kb again)...

OOH LANIE IS SO PRETTY! "called your dad" love those momen..ts... is that her mom's dress? she IS part of the wedding! Oh gpsh! I wore my mom's wedding dress to my grade 9 farewell but she was 113lbs when she got married lol. It also had dirt & rocks in it bc mum went rock climbing in it.

Bro: That's nice Me: *hands him my laptop* Bro: She likes the clear division on the hips- I wonder if it's because of backlash. Fans were like "that dress is sooo ugly" and they had to change it. It's a lot more normie than the last one but it <i>is</i> nice. I like the lace; not sure how I feel about the sheer peep-hope on her upper chest? seems indecisive. I really like the bodice. And again the lace detailing. Ahh it's her mom's dress. Esp since the last dress made her so emotional over her mom not being there. I like the little trails of lace extending down the skirt portion. I like the sleeveless.

Bro is literally watching a wedding tiktok right beside me.

LP: Yeah. For a second there, I wanted to marry you! Me: this fandom needs more femslash Martha got her earrins (that look a lot like the ones castle got gates) but they are generational earrings & so pretty & castle has been married twice & martha didn't give them these earrings

Why is he 20m away? Oh law Love the music Love his tie this is all so cute!

& then this happnes. Call her back CALL HER BACK! (also back in s1 it was established he has bluetooth in his car & yet he's calling her on the road?)

Stomp on the brakes castle so that they are ahead of you

the natives?

she's already called him ofc... "this is she" not "speaking" WAIT SHE'S THE EMERGENCY CONTACT NOT HIS MOM OR ALEXIS? OOH LOVE IT. tho if he was in trouble it would likely be WITH beckett.

Oof their nice wedding car

Oh no the car,

oh no fire,

oh no he dead ig

lol

great episode ig

Love the humour humour & then boom death

Lol mum just got home, perfect timing but now she suddenly asked for the bloopers. I'll def show u the bonus features later.

#castle 6x23 #the wedding episode #castle 6x23 spoilers #castle 6x23 quote

[peaceloveharmony25]

Welcome to the Dark Side

Sorry for ghosting you guys, I promise I haven't forgotten about you. I have just been processing (and avoiding processing) a lot of my trauma. Welcome to the Dark Side is a story I started writing in order to deal with everything I've been through (and convince myself it was real and valid) This is only a rough draft so feedback (and rebloggs) would be much appreciated.

Anyways I'll stop talking now. Enjoy!

p.s. I have a shit ton of new pick a card ideas, so once I find my cards (we are moving around a lot so I don't have them on me rn) I promise I will post one as quickly as I can. Thank you guys so much for your patience <3

Epilogue 

I hear it. Whispering in my ear, telling me lies. I see it in people, places, objects. Anything and everything is a trigger. It never used to be this big. It was only a baby when it showed up that night. I was four years old, and I had just informed my dad of my constant bullying at school. He had told me “Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you.” Maybe sound advice for the fourteen year old me, afraid to go to high school for the same exact reason, but not exactly great for a four year old. The next day they still made fun of me, I was still alone, and I still cried my heart out in front of them. But that's when Helix showed up. 

Helix has been in my life for as long as I can remember. He started as a tiny baby seed in my heart, as hid from my grandmother's belt under the table, or when I faced my parents' wrath when refusing to do a task. He would whisk me away to beautiful imaginary lands, where we would bury those ‘treasures’ in the sand.  But I believe that it was that day, the first day I had ever thought of myself as an embarrassment, as weak, that Helix appeared. He kept his distance at first, only appearing in the name of desire. Desire to make friends, desire to be loved, desire to feel safe. Desire to have a home. But, through time, he grew stronger. Eventually Helix began to….... tell me things. 

“You're a disappointment to your parents.”

“They are not bullying you, you're just weak.” 

“You’ll always be alone. No one likes you.” 

"You deserve the way they treat you."

"Your making it all up."

“You're fat. And ugly.” 

"You're fucking pathetic. A fucking embarrassment."

"Stop being so goddamn dramatic."

“Why are you so fucking gross?” 

“You're the most selfish person I have ever met.” 

Some days were peaceful, and I had control over him. Other days, he was so loud, he was the only thing I could hear. I tried to ignore him most of the time, because I always ended up angry whenever he was around. But, because of a desperate desire for attention, he kept coming back. That's how I discovered from early on that your body is a tool. Helix showed me that people pay attention when you're naked. He told me that if I used my body they wouldn't leave me. My parents didn't like what I was doing though, so I ended up listening to them instead. For the most part anyways.

Helix also showed me how to fight. My family kept saying “When they say something to you, say something back.” So I figured i'd give it a shot. But, Helix told me I was too weak to do that. Instead he decided to help. I didn't want him to, he didn't even ask, but Helix was the only thing that had stayed in my life this long. I couldn't let him go. No one else wanted me. So when I felt him enter my body, I didn't fight it.

That was the first time I felt it. The power. The rage. Oh, how I miss the rage. Helix had this amazing ability to light a fire in my eyes and soul. He makes me strong. When he was in control I had all the power in the world, I was untouchable. I was the one to answer to, my way was always correct. I was never lonely and most importantly, I needed no one, absolutely no one, to be happy. 

Except him. 

#short story #spilled writing #writeblr #writerscommunity #Welcome to the Dark Side #childhood trauma

[itsmadamehydra]

My Savior || Wayne McCullough

A/N: Just some teenage girl trying to write the story inside her head, hope u like it.

Pairing: Wayne McCullough x oc

Warnings: rape, intention of rape, harassment, blood mention, bullying, language (a little strong)

.................

.................

I've always like to watch him by far, he just seems different from the rest (and oh boy, he is).

The first time I saw him I was in 7th grade. I was just one more girl of the many others that her tities just had started to show and my period started to visit me. I remember that day clearly, I was sitting at the hallway with my bestfriend at the time, eating infront of our lockers when I saw him.

"Am telling ya girl, the answer of number 5 was c." I said trying to reason with her about the science test answers "I told you that if u needed help to study, I could help ya." I smile at her and move my arm upward to touch her shoulder

"Yeah, yeah, I know...are you sure it was not D?" she said frowning her eyebrows once more. We stayed in silence for a sec before bursting into laughter and tears

Little by little our laughs started to fade, allowing ears to hear the background and aswell some loud voices, it sounded like an argument but by the hears of it a fight was going to start soon. "What you think is happening over there?" Cassie murmured, I stared at the end of the hallway where apparently was were the voices were coming from.

"I don't know..." my lips formed a thin line while I was thinking about what could have been happening in there, "You wanna, you know, go and see?" I looked back at my friend

"Freak yeah" she laughed grabbing my hand and running down the hallway to see the soon to be fight.

Once we got there, there was a mass of students surrounding what appeared to be the ones who where arguing. "Ugh, I can't see, I hate been so small." I said, "Hey, that smallness is beautiful and you know you can use that in your own benefit" Cassia said and winked at me.

"I mean, yeah but I can't-" my word stopped at the moment I heard a want sounded and I believe to be a punch in the face. "You saw that!?" Cassie said, "That was freaking awesome, please tell me you saw it!" "Um, nah Cassie, I cant see a crap" i said while trying to find a whole where to see through.

It was only a matter of seconds until more punches were heard. I started pushing people more frantically, I wanted to see what was happening. When I get pass a few amount of studens I almost slipped, looked sown to see what was it and it was stains of blood, only a few but still.

"Oh gosh, disgusting." When I look up only a few students are still in the cafeteria and a guy wearing a grey hoddie was just there, staring at the bloodie face of another guy. I stared back at the hoddie guy and noticed a little hammer in his hand, and the words just came out of my mouth without even noticing, "Why the hammer? Want to be a constructed or something?" He just stared at me and pass by me without saying a word and keeping a neutral face.

"Who the hell was that crazy ass weirdo?" I hear Cassie's voice behind me. "I don't know" I responded, "But I will know...one day."

"Ok,ok, am not going to get in between your little search thingi but am sure he is not good news." Cassie said, "You saw what he did, and he has a FREAKING hammer, y/n! Covered in blood y/n!" She grabbed my shoulders from behind, "I think we all understood the message, stay the fuck away from him, honey."

And I just smiled.

Months later I learned his name. Wayne, Wayne McCullough. Fits the ring if you ask me. Everyone was speaking about how violent, crazy and wierdo he was, about how he was going to show up at your house to beat the hell put of you.

I just observed him by far, well, I like to think that I noticed him. I noticed how he usually beats up those who are some assholes jerks that have only one brain cell as much. Noticed that he is not much of a talker and a shy boy. Noticed how he makes his lips thin when he gets lost in thoughts. How he closes his fist when he is about to do something. His strangely high pain tolerance. His pale skin and dark hair appeared to me to be very llamative and aswell his strength. He was and is skinny but somehow has a great strength, maybe do to the unincredible amounts of fights he gets in. Experience makes the master is what the say...right?

Years went by, we entered to highschool and the nervousness along with the fast beating, sweating and butterflies were still there every time i either tought about him or saw him walking around.

Cassie stayed with me for a while until she decided to join the group of nasty ass bitches with no brain cells who believed no one was better than them. While I...well, I stayed small for a big part I guess, always with good grades, teachers love me and try to be nice with every one I guess.

Everything was going great until Cassie along with some guys recorded me somehow while being drunk and them trying to overpass the boundaries, and let me tell ya.. that was just the start.

The had videos of me at the school bathroom, pictures of my underwear under my skirts and dresses, them trying to touch me. I had to learn to defend myself, stopped using skirts, dresses, shorts even do I loved wearing the. Replace my shoes with tennis and always had hair ties.

"Y/n, wake up! You're going to be late for school, don't think ama wait for you!" I mom yelled.

"Yes, mom! Dont worry, am up!" I run down the stairs with my backpack, went to the kitchen, grabbed an apple and went straight to the car.

"Oh for God sake, y/n" she said went she looked at me and noticed my new hair style.

"What? You don't like it? I just cut it a little." I satered at her innocently

"Your father is not gonna like it and you know it." She said and the stress lines appeared in her forehead, "You know this is his weekend and-"

She couldn't finish her sentence because I started taking, "Am not going to that dickheads house, mother." I said strainly, "Don't want to see his and face of that bitch he cheated you with..." i lowly said but loud enough to hear.

"I know, honey but you have to and besides you get to see your brother!" She patted my thigh, "Haven't seen him in a while right?" She said with a sad tone

"You should be the one seeing him...not me." I stared outside the window, there were just some trees and houses and garbage.

Mom and dad divorced a while back, he cheated on her. The house was a mess that day, screams and broken glass everywhere. Sammy was lucky, he was at grandma's but I was home...listening to every single word. That was also the first time a sneaked out and the first time I sort-of spoke to Wayne.

"What are you doing here?" I heard someone said behind me, I looked and it was fucking Wayne

"Just trying to have some quietness i guess..." I stared at my fingers and started playing with them because of my nervousness, "...What are you doing here?" I asked softly

And he stayed silent...the whole time after that. Either way, his company was nice and the side profile, ufff, amazing.

"Ok, we are here." I stared at the building for a sec before giving my mother a kiss in her cheek and entered to the building.

"Hey y/n! Nice ass!" That was the jerk of all jerks, Jonathan.

I turned around and stared at him, "Oh yeah?" He nodded, "Want to see me shop of your dick?" Changed my tone while saying that into a lower and more serious tone. He just stared at me with sealed lips and left.

I continued walking to my locker and I come to see tgat my freaking lock is broken, I search in all the spaces but nothing is missing.

"Come on! They had just changed me of locker!" I silently yelled. Started grabbing my books for the next few classes when I felt a hand in my shoulder, by instinct I grabbed the wrist, pushed the person against the locker and added pressure in the throat with my other arm.

"Hey y/n" Orlando smiled, "New move?" I chuckled and removed my arm, now, standing face to face I respond

"You know you shouldn't do that Orlando bunny." I laugh st the nickname I gave him a few time ago. Orlando was one of the few FEW people who talked to me, well, he talked to everyone but still.

"I know... I just forgot I guess man." He looked down, "Y/n...have your tities grown bigger?" His face looked confused.

I slapped his head and punched his shoulder, "Could you please stop looking and thinking 'bout tities when am around you?"

"I mean, yeah sure...and sorry about your lock." He points the locker, "Wayne thought it was still his but since-" I cut him off before he could continue

"Wayne?" I asked confused

"Yeah, Is tha-" i cut him off again

"Why did he tho?" I murmured staring at my lock in hand.

"It used to be his locker but oh well...he missed school for 3 weeks and yeah." He grabs his backpacks laces after explaining.

"Oh...ok, is he still here tho?" I looked at Orlando

"I guess..." he was about to say pther thing when the bell ring and we started to go toour classes, "See you later gorgeous!" He yells from the corner of the hallway.

I stayed there...just staring at my lock for a while, then order my things fast and left to class. What I didn't know was that someone was watching at me.

Three days later, i was walking back home and i heard s car going at full speed and nasty comments were started to be listend. I kept walking trying tk pretend they didn't exist when the car is suddenly over the sideway and infront of me.

"YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME ASSHOLES!!" I yelled.

"But...you are bot dead right, bitch?" Jonathan said getting out of the car. There were five, 2 guys and 3 girls. "Don't prefer to suck my dick and be my slut, promise I'll pay a good amount." He said infront of me,

"She is already a slut baby." Veronica said

"I bet she has sleeped with half school, wouldn't surprise me if you haven been org*e or something." You know, comments are comments, you are the one who decide what hurt you and whats does not, but being Cassie the one who said that...broke my freaking heart.

I couldn't stand it anymore, wanted to leave the place so i came up with a plan very fast. I walked closer to Jonathan trying to be the most seductive I could, touched his chest, abs and got closer to his ear and said, "You are going to regret everything" Punched him with all my strenght in this genitiles, stomp on his feet, punched his nose and ran the faster I could out of there.

"You bitch!" I heard from far but i continued running, I couldn't stop, i was scared, didn't know what could happen if the get me. I could hear the car engines behind me, but i didn't stop.

I was close a bridge, ran underneath it, passed some houses but i could still hear the voices and car. My legs hurt, i needed to catch my breath, i could hear my heart beat, my body felt on fire. When I less expected am suddenly trapped, there were some abandoned buildings and warehouses but no way to get put of there. This was it, my end.

"Couldn't escape from me you nasty little bitch!?" I heard his voice, i was never one to pray but believe when i say i begged to God to save me. "You ain't going anywhere...bitch" he was behind me, I could sense it.

My hair was pulled, he pulls me by my hair to his car and i notice that it's just him and another guy. Am not getting out of here.

"We are going to have so much fun!" He licks my cheek and i try to kick him wherever.

"HELP!" I yelled, "SOMEBODY PLEASE, HELP!" my voice sounded horrific, like if i hadn't drank a single drop of water in ages, "please" y murmure my last pledge before he finally puts me over the capo of his car.

"No one's gonna help you, you slut." He says, the other guy was just watching and standing still, doing nothing.

I gave up, didn't even notice I was crying until I tasted the salt in my lips. I felt him over me, unbucking my pants and then...i didnt felt his weight anymore, instead, i heard a cry of pain, and then another cry, and another and another.

I lifted my head and there he was, grey hoddie and little hammer in hand...my savior. I smiled.

My smile just grew bigger and bigger every second I saw that boy swing that motherfucker hammer, every second that Jonathan's blood was spilled. I lool around in search pf the pther guy scared that he might try to grab but I get calm when i see him unconscious on the floor.

A few minuts later th cries stop and i look up, Jonathan was missing 3 teeths and face covered with blood, i think he could even have a brocken rib or something.

Am sitting on top of the car's capo when a feel a slight, fragile touch.

"You ok?" Wayne askes pulling a string of my hair behind my ear.

"...now I am." I smile to him and he returns a little small tiny one with a grin. I was about to say something else when he suddenly speaks

"Want to be my girlfriend or whatever?" He says looking exhausted, I chuckle

"Try a little harder and I might be." I say soflty with a small thin smile and he avoids my eyes but I still get to notice a small blush.

...................

Hey! So, yeah. This is my first ever published thing. Hope you enjoyed it and if you want a part two or to keep writing, am open to any suggestion! Am not very good with the warnings section so if you could help me with it, i would totally apreciate that!

Thank you for reading,

#fanfic #wayne mccullough #wayne mccullough x reader #wayne mccullough x y/n #fanfiction #wayne mccullough fanfic #wayne mccullough fanfiction #wayne #wayne x reader

[wh6res]

UP IN SMOKES — DOYOUNG

psych student! kdy | tw. college au, violence, a knife, GASLIGHTING, hallucination, psychosis, swearing, just pure manipulation, minor charac death, there's a court scene, this is a repost! | wc. 10k she a beast

life could’ve been simple;

you shouldn't have met kim doyoung.

what does a freshman in college hate the most other than the high-stress levels of moving into a new dorm? a shitty roomie and a smelly, moldy mattress. the girl you call roommate refuses to help move the mattress because it will ruin her new manicure. what a fucking classic. 

"sounds like a 'you' problem. figure it out yourself, plain jane." 

she said before heading out, annoyingly popping her bubblegum as she kicks a few of your scattered boxes by the front door. you roll your eyes; classes haven't even started yet, so why is she already making your life miserable? as much as you'd like to snap at her, you don't, merely glaring daggers at her back as she finally turns the corner of the hallway and disappears. 

"bitch," you mutter under your breath. 

you eye the abomination that is supposed to be your bed, cursing how you shouldn't have made a 15-minute pit stop to starbucks for a drink when you could've just bought one from the instant coffee vending machines in every corner of the hallway of this dorm building because if you didn't, maybe you could've beaten regina george wannabe from taking the better bed. sighing, you suck it up and start getting to work. life's full of shit, anyway; no point sulking.

moving a moldy mattress is easier than you thought, to say the least. you can't ask for help from the other freshmen you bumped into in the hallway because they, too, are under a huge amount of stress from the move and are busy getting their affairs in order. it was a good thing, though, that a committee was formed specifically for this day to help out the freshmen if they were to stumble upon problems or mishaps with moving in. they were all around the campus, and they prove to be way friendlier than your batch mates. since this morning, three people have already offered help in carrying your luggage — which you have politely declined.

"hey, uhm… is this the stall for the welcoming committee? oh, wait. i'm sorry, there's a sign right there —"ugh.

you mentally shut your eyes in humiliation. why do you have to be this bad, this awkward at communicating with strangers? why couldn't you be born like all those socialites who already (probably) got their contacts filled with new numbers on the first day of school or something?

"yeah, this is them — welcoming committee, i mean. how can i help you?" he smiles, sweet, radiating the epitome boy next door aura as he looks up at you from where he's sitting behind the stall. your eyes quickly land onto the name tag stuck on his varsity jacket before meeting his eyes again. 

"i have an issue with my mattress. it has mold, you see..." your voice slowly trails, becoming quieter as you feel small under the weight of his piercing stare. oh, come on. he's just a guy with a beautiful face, woman the fuck up.

"really? let me see..."

he needn't finish rounding the stall when his nose is hit by the pungent smell brought forth by your mattress. frankly, you weren't that picky. you could've covered it with bedsheets and call it a day, but the odor is too strong to ignore. you mentally hope the smell didn't latch onto your clothes, especially not when someone so cute is around — what a bad first impression.

"oh, god!" he exclaims the moment he lays eyes on it, taking a step back. “now, that has to go. and you lugged it from the fourth floor?" 

ah, yes. according to tradition in these dormitories, which you've only found out today, freshmen get the curse of climbing four flights of stairs up while the seniors strut into their rooms on the ground floor like the hallway is a goddamned runway. 

"doyoung! help me carry these!"

someone calls his name as you both turn your head to spot a chestnut-haired girl clad in the same varsity jacket he's wearing. you grimace at the sight of her. for someone so small, she just had to volunteer to carry all those heavy bags. however, he doesn't move in front of you and brushes her off as if she doesn't look like she's carrying rocks over her shoulders. "i'm already helping someone else! go find taeyong or something. i'm sure that shit's loitering around here somewhere!"

"oh, it's okay, you can go help her. i'll just look for someone else —"

"nah, it's fine!" you try hard to school your face into indifference when you notice his gummy smile. "plus… trust me when i say no other person from the committee will help you with this. this shit smells like my roommate's sweaty basketball socks!"

you can't help the smile forming on your face as you help him carry the mattress off to the side of the hallway, the stinky thing leaning vertically against the wall and behind a huge terracotta plant pot. "don't worry, let's report it to student affairs so they'll get you a new one. congrats! you'll have to share beds with your new roommate tonight, freshie. it'd be a great ice breaker."

the universe truly hates you.

your expression must've been a dead give away because he's suddenly patting your shoulder, regarding you with utmost sympathy. "been there, done that. i hated taeyong, too, when i met him last year. still, for some mind fuck of a miracle, we've grown to be friends and developed a talent of not wanting to kill each other every two seconds."

"highly doubt i'd be friends with a regina george-level bitch, but thanks, anyway," you mutter under your breath. suddenly, you whip your head towards him after internalizing what he just said. "you met your roommate last year? you're a sophomore?"

he scoffs, leaning down to your height to lowly mutter against your ear as he eyes the lobby's front desk. "why? do i look like some 4th year who radiates 'don't touch me' energy?" 

you feel the heat on your cheeks with how close he is, only releasing an exhale when he finally gets out of your personal space. "i'm kim doyoung. you've heard it from wendy earlier, but anyway — i'm a 2nd-year psych major."

"no way!" you exclaim, a little too excited. "i'm taking psych, too!"

"oh, you are? well, if you need anything or if you don't understand stuff…" he winks. "feel free to approach me anytime."

hmm… how sweet of him. 

it was only hours later that you found out who kim doyoung is in your department during the acquaintance party. and for god's sake, you found out from your best friend who is a major in english lit and has never even seen the guy. "seriously, you didn't know he's a genius? i hear the professors call him a prodigy, girl! a fucking prodigy. if i were you, i'd ask for his help in every subject."

"you know i prefer keeping to myself. how'd i know stuff like that when i have no one to talk to in the psych dorms?" you look down, making the ice cubes in your drink clink against each other. "i didn't think he was this big shot or whatever. he looks normal, and everyone treats him normally."

"well, what do you expect?" she hisses, hitting your arm. "the other students don't want to make him feel alienated or something just because he's tons smarter than them. but anyway… the real question is…"

you roll your eyes when she pauses for effect, tentatively leaning closer to whisper under her breath. 

"is he cute?"

you didn't want to answer her question, but he's been stuck in your head since he offered walking with you to the student affairs office. doyoung had smiled his cute gummy smile and had even ruffled your hair before leaving you for committee duties — saying he's cute would be an understatement. 

"you have no idea."

for his first act;

he gains your trust.

fast forward to one year, many things have changed, but the only constant remaining is the handsome sophomore — who is now a 3rd-year, by the way — whom you've met on your first day. coursework has been pretty tough this year. instead of the content written in your textbook, your mind is plagued by the horrible twist of fate your best friend had encountered; she didn't have enemies. or so you thought.

she disappeared in the middle of christmas break last year. her beaten up body was found only a month later, in january, floating around the university's lake. happy fucking new year. 

the first time she chose to spend the holidays with you instead of her family back in her hometown, and that happens? some rotten luck you both have. it's why you didn't put it past her family to hate your guts with strong convictions. it's okay. the feeling's mutual. after all, it had been your best friends' own family, the same ones who had been so willing to take you in when you got kicked out, that were so eager to pin you as the murderer of their child. all under the argument that you have been the last person seen with her. 

oh, the things her mom said about you when she had stormed into the police station, red in the face, tears streaming down her cheeks..."i warned my baby not to hang out with that — that bitch. came straight out of a cursed family, that one. abusive dad, a nutjob mom. that bitch is a danger! probably got her dad's nasty temper and beat my baby to death! i want her on the electric chair!"

in those times, you once again realize this world is fucked up and cruel in every bit of its glory as you fought tooth and nail to defend yourself. but even then, they never believed you — the law will only favor the rich . the prosecution had been so sure it was you until a certain witness appeared and presented himself before the jury.

"do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" 

doyoung raises his right hand, fixing his stare straight at the judge. "i solemnly and sincerely declare that the evidence i shall give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

"how long have you known the defendant?" the prosecutor asks, arms crossed in front of her chest as she paces in front of the witness stand.

the boy briefly meets your gaze, and it's enough to make his heart sink. doyoung can't bear seeing you in those grey overalls when he knows it himself. you're being accused of a crime you didn't commit. "i've known her for one year."

"how'd you meet?"

and the questions went on and on; your defense attorney isn't all too keen on winning the case and had never once yelled "objection!" in her seat, but what could you expect? all the evidence kept stacking against you, and some of those you knew were even fabricated. you've never felt this hopeless in your whole twenty years of living. 

"what's the point in this, anyway?" doyoung snapped in the witness stand, fiercely glaring at the prosecutor. "how is my history — or lack thereof — with the defendant any relevant to the case? you're not even asking me about evidence nor what my statement is!"

"easy there," the prosecutor retaliates, jaw locked. "i have to first measure what exactly your relationship is with the defendant for us to think twice about your statement. who knows..." the prosecutor makes a grand gesture of turning her head in your direction, affixing you with a condescending stare. "she might've just hired you to say these things."

your attorney doesn't come to your aid.

"perjury isn't my thing." 

the prosecutor seems to have taken offense by the tone of doyoung's voice, but he doesn't let her speak further. "the victim isn't all sunshine and rainbows, you know. she'd been a part of a sorority and one with quite a nasty reputation in the college, too. i have to say she made very poor decisions, ones i'm sure her family didn't even know about. you see, they take their oaths and pledges very seriously. the victim wanted out. they didn't like that."

"and you have evidence to support this claim?"

without a moment to waste, he digs around the front pocket of his jeans before proudly presenting a black usb between his slender fingers. "knock yourself out."

the professor calls your name, snapping you out of your reverie. this isn't the first time your mind had transported you back to that particular day in the courtroom, where doyoung had swooped in and saved you from a lifetime in prison. the whole ordeal had been so scary, so frightening that you remember everything vividly as if it had only happened yesterday.

the classroom is empty. even your social psych professor has long packed up his stuff and is already standing by the classroom door. damn. were you that out of it?

"i'm so sorry." you mutter under your breath monotonously as you walk past him and out the door without another word. this is bad, very bad. no one would help, much less lend their notes to someone charged with murder — especially of their very own best friend. whether you were innocent or not doesn't matter to the student body. you've been ostracized, gossips of your problematic family spreading like wildfire, and the ridiculous part is only a fourth of the gossips are true.

the damage is done. 

at this point, you realize with a heavy heart that you have to face doyoung again sooner or later. you haven't talked to him at all since the start of the new school year, ignoring his lighthearted greetings in the hallways, rejecting his calls, ghosting his texts. you are afraid people would judge him harshly for hanging around you. frankly, you were embarrassed to ask any more favors from him with how much he's done for you already and the fact that he had seen you in such a state of vulnerability.

but you also didn't want to fail your subjects and lose the one thing holding your life together — your scholarship.

that is why you found yourself standing before him, in his favorite spot in the library tucked behind shelves upon shelves of books, next to the windows overlooking the empty football field. he's wearing black-rimmed glasses and is clad in the usual navy blue sweater as his head turns to and fro between a textbook and his notebook. the air had been so silent, you hear the aggressive scratches his pencil makes against the paper.

you feel a little hurt when he makes no move to acknowledge your presence, but you think back to what you have been doing and figured he has a right to act this way. 

"hey, doyoung." your voice is meek, hesitant.

"if you're not here to explain nor give me an acceptable reason why you've been ignoring me for the last few months, then please get out of my sight. i'm busy, as you can tell." he is brutally honest, knocking down the remaining hope you have left of ever reconciling with him.

something within you snaps, the steady streams of tears running down your cheeks as you pinned your stare on doyoung's open pencil case lying on the table. you have nobody left. your family — father, specifically speaking — has disowned you for taking a course your heart wanted, and the one friend you have lies motionless in a white coffin buried six feet under the ground. you didn't want to lose doyoung, too, no matter what role he plays in your life.

"i'm sorry," your voice cracks. "life's been… fucking shitty, and i'm sure you of all people know what i've been through. i've thanked you before for — for what you did, and i'm thanking you again right now but — i'm sorry, i'm really —"

your voice cracks when you feel him pulling you into an embrace. you feel the tension in your body breaking loose as you crumble in his arms. all those months grieving and wallowing in self-pity took such a heavy toll that you can't help but tightly clutch the sides of his hoodie, scared he'll slip through your fingers.

one of his hands comes up to push your face against the crook of his neck, muffling your cries in the silent library. doyoung felt like a jerk for snapping at you the way he did. how inconsiderate can he be? however, he felt elated because you sought him out yourself and wanted his help of all people.

his eyebrow raises in amusement. 

well, not that you have a choice, anyway.

it took you a few good minutes to calm down, cringing when you see the wet patch on doyoung's sweater because of your tears. 

"why don't you tell me everything, hmm? i'll help you as much as i can."

you sheepishly look down, fiddling with your fingers as you sit across him, the open textbook and notebook before him long forgotten. "well, i've been so out of it lately? my mind's just a whole bloody mess and i can't focus on any of my subjects at all and if i can't, then i'll lose the scholarship and it's the only thing i have in my life right now —"

"hey," doyoung cuts you off, placing a warm hand against your forearm to calm you down. "you won't lose that scholarship. trust me, okay? why don't we arrange tutoring sessions and i'll even lend you some of my notes from last year. what do you think?"

"okay... thank you, doyoung."

"for the record, you have me in your life, too. i'll always be here for you."

in the first session, you woke up from your deep slumber with only 15 minutes to spare from the scheduled time, but thankfully, your tutor only lives one floor down with the rest of the 3rd-years. bringing nothing with you but a pen and a pad of paper, your textbooks were destroyed as some students from your batch thought it'd be fun to throw them into the lake to "honor" your friend. 

you offer a small smile when taeyong opens the door, sporting an oversized shirt and track pants, eyes wide in shock when he sees you. "hi? can i help you?"

"hello! i'm here for doyoung. he's tutoring —"

"he doesn't live here anymore. his mom bought him a place outside the campus."

what?

"i'm sorry for disturbing you, then. do you by any chance know where he lives?"

that's weird. doyoung never mentioned he's already moved out. you feel a wee bit irritated that he forgot to tell you; it would've saved you the embarrassment of interacting with the varsity player. you weren't stupid, you can see the hints of repulsion in taeyong's eyes the moment he opened that door and saw you standing before him, no doubt thinking about: oh, look, it's the crazy murderer with a fucked up family standing in front of me.

he had shut the door in your face. you stood awkwardly for a good minute in the hallway until the door reopens, taeyong handing you a small piece of paper with doyoung's new address scribbled hurriedly in black ink. he doesn't give you a chance to thank him for he's already closed the door again without another word. 

you opted walking to his place instead of catching a ride because the money you have on you is enough to buy yourself dinner. to say the least, the apartment building is mediocre, not too grand, nor is it too rundown. double-checking the floor level written on the paper before pushing the elevator's button, you then realize doyoung lives on the very top floor of the building.

the hallways are painted a boring brown. some acrylic number signs plastered on the doors are broken, hanging vertically with one screw left. it says on the paper he resides in room 720. taking the right hallway, you mentally count as you eye the mahogany doors. 718… 719… there it is!

when you raise a fist to start knocking on his door, there is a tinge of hesitation surging through you. perhaps being alone with a boy in his apartment is not the best setting for a girl like you should end up in, but this is doyoung we're talking about. if he had ill intentions for you, it would've manifested a long time ago. you shake your head, feeling bad for thinking of him that way as you slowly knock on his front door. not long after, it swings open, revealing the 3rd-year in a white shirt and boxers as he lazily dries his hair off with a small towel. 

"you're late," is the first thing he says to you before spinning on his heel to disappear further into his humble abode. 

"you didn't exactly inform me you've moved out of the dorms. so, whose fault is it?" you retaliate, inviting yourself in and closing the front door shut.

"whatever. let's get started!" he plops himself on the floor, coffee table filled with loose papers as he struggles to find a specific one amongst the mess. "i've already scanned, exported to pdf, and emailed you my notes. it should be in your inbox by now. anyway, answer this quiz i made so i know what i'll be working on."

"you didn't really have to send your notes, doyoung. i could've just read everything from the textbook," you sit down across from him because otherwise, you'll be too distracted to remember information. 

a thought crosses his mind. with what textbook?

"i just think it's missing some essence. that's why i love reading over other psych books in the library for fun. be grateful, those notes are like my babies and i don't simply give them to anyone," he looks at you pointedly. "they've all been summarized and explained in layman's terms so you wouldn't have to spend grueling hours of reading and trying to make sense of the big words as i did — i know that's not the definition of 'fun' normally, but it is for me, and that's why i do it."

"okay, doyoung. you sound so defensive when there's nothing to be defensive about," you tease, feeling pleased with the hint of red on his cheeks as he averts his gaze from yours, muttering incoherent words under his breath.

you spent the following tuesdays, thursdays, and sundays like that; hours upon hours with no one but your tutor, laptops with tangled chargers, a printed copy of his babies, and a mountain pile of loose papers filled with the specialized quizzes doyoung makes to measure your progress. the location varies from a cafe or his flat. but in what you've gathered from the time you spent with him, doyoung's a homebody. cafe tutor sessions are rare, and he always complained about how "noisy" the atmosphere was — "i can't stand it."

but the conversation hadn't always been about academics. 

sure, for the first few sessions, doyoung kept an image of professionalism and had heavily insisted on it — "it's for your learning experience!" — despite your lighthearted teasing. but as time passed and he eventually grew more comfortable in your presence, you find the strict 15-minute break he had initially imposed between 45 minutes of studying turned into hours of talking about whatever; how he likes his eggs in the morning, your favorite coffee brew, his favorite show, your strongest pet peeve. 

and you wholly welcomed the change, not minding that it's practically dark out whenever you go back to your miserable dorm. you feel butterflies in your stomach whenever doyoung offers to walk you home but never had you taken his offer, still cautious of other people seeing you both together despite his constant reassurances. you've already thoroughly ruined your image. you didn't want to ruin his, too. 

kdy the cute tutor, 2:14 pm —last day of midterms! & its all majors today  —good luck —remember what i taught u —lets get ice cream after u cant say no

you shake your head bemusedly. his texting style is the most doyoung thing he does and it's as if you can hear him say these things to you in real life. too caught up in your own world, you fail to detect another student sitting next to you and had nearly fallen off your chair in shock when they spoke.

"why are your notes like that?"

you fight the urge to glare at the person, especially when you turn your head and see lee jeno looking at you in genuine curiosity. he's the only batchmate that treats you a wee bit nicer among the rest. although he isn't technically your friend, at least he doesn't look at you like you're a piece of bubblegum stuck under his shoe like all the others.

"what do you mean?"

"they're… the definitions are all jumbled up. where did you even get that?" 

what? jumbled up? doyoung himself said these notes are a combination of most of the psychology books he had read last year concerning his subjects. how would it be jumbled up? then again, lee jeno was not tutored by the prodigy himself. maybe things are bound to seem "jumbled up" when information is too great to understand for a feeble mind. 

just as you were about to claim these notes aren't yours, the professor has already waltzed into the classroom with a thick wad of papers — the exams. after one last concerned glance directed your way, jeno averts his gaze with a confused tilt of the head. 

hours later, you walk out of the classroom with the biggest smile on your face. aced it, you thought. your hands feel numb with how much you wrote on the essay portion but it's worth it if it meant you get the full 25 points, which you no doubt will as it was a topic you surely tackled with doyoung. speaking of... he sure is a man of his word.

"what are you doing here?" you hiss, head ducked with hair framing your face as to not draw attention from the rest of the students filing out of the testing hall.

"i texted you that we're getting ice cream. remember?"

"i did. but i didn't remember agreeing."

he shoots you a comforting smile, planting his hands firmly on your shoulder. “i told you, y/n. i don't care if they all see us together, so what? we all know you didn't commit that crime and it wasn't your fault you were born into the family you had. i don't care about the trivial things, baby, so don't shy away from me, okay?"

how the fuck can you say 'no' when he's looking at you the way he is as he brushed a loose strand of hair behind your ear? doyoung's just so bewitching that he has you wrapped around his slender fingers. he seems pleased when you stumbled over your words as you come up with a reply, caught off guard by his bold gestures.

"i just — you, uhh — fine..." you gave in, rolling your eyes out of pretense.

he just had to call you 'baby' and erupt the butterflies in your stomach.

it had been doing that for the last few months now and it had only truly manifested today when he took you out for ice cream to celebrate the end of hell week. and since you didn't want to go back to your dorm yet, you asked if you guys can watch some movies in his house but it had simply become background noise to your heart-to-heart talks. and what better accompaniment than the classic, chicken and beer?

you listen to him drone on and on about the little realizations he had on some of his past lectures even when you barely understood anything he's saying. doyoung's so lucky to be extremely good at something he's so passionate about, talks about the human mind and the complexity of a person's behavior will never fail to make his eyes light up in interest.

he calls out your name.

your eyes snap open.

"why don't we get you home? it's past 10 and it's alright, stupid, you don't need to pretend to be interested in my psychological findings." he chuckled light-heartedly, stealing the can of the now room-temperature beer from your hands before you can protest. 

"i wasn't dozing off, i swear."

"i caught you in the act. stop lying."

like all the other times he has you as his guest, doyoung once again offers to walk you home and you decline for the thousandth time. it really isn't that much of a long walk anyway. you don't see the need for him to go out of his way to secure your safety. plus, you were the one who insisted on hanging out in his house anyway. you weren't that thick-skinned to let him take you home, too.

"you're drunk!" he scolds.

“no, i’m not. i can perfectly handle myself."

"but —"

"bye!" 

you feel a little guilty for shutting the door in his face. still, a minute longer of his persistence and you would've taken his offer. unfortunately for doyoung, you are one stubborn girl. only if you don't make brisk movements with your head, then you won't see doubles. you'll be fine, it's just a quick walk and it's not as if you're stupid enough to pass by deserted alleys. 

but you had underestimated the divine prowess of your fucked up fate.

everything happened in a matter of three seconds; one, the blinding headlights illuminate your path from behind; two, you hear the loud honk, and as you turn around — three, the vehicle sends you rolling against the asphalt.

you should have taken the alleyways.

for his second act;

he alters your reality.

when you open your eyes, you thought you were dead and your spirit is wandering elsewhere — because you don't believe in trivial things like heaven and god — until an agitated doyoung comes into view. for a split second, you thought, is he dead, too?

"i'm not dead, you idiot." too dazed, you hardly register his anger. "i can perfectly handle myself, she said. i'm not drunk, she said. this wouldn't have happened if you had simply let me walk you home! you're damn fucking lucky you're alive and breathing right now!"

a person clears their throat.

"i don't think it wise to… nag at the patient the moment she wakes. don't you agree, sir?"

pink splotches on doyoung's cheek as he looks down, embarrassed at getting scolded as he stands closer to your bed. "i'm sorry, doc."

you didn't know when your vision cleared or when you started hearing normally again, but it was enough to find out what exactly had transpired on the very night of your tragic accident. a hit and run. fifty-fifty chance of surviving. doyoung getting a call from the hospital in the middle of the night —"they were trying to contact your dad, but he wasn't answering. i was the last person in your call history." 

six months in a coma. but today, you wake… only to find out your world has crashed and burned.

"what do you mean i lost my scholarship?"

"baby, listen to me —"

"why did they take it away? is it because of my accident? i'm behind by one term only and i swear i can catch up. they need to let me back in the program. there must've been some mistake —"

"your gpa didn't reach the cut-off grade."

that can't be possible.

"but you tutored me!" you claim with conviction, pointing an accusatory finger at him until you groan, bowing in pain as you clutch your head.

doyoung springs into action. the chair's legs screech against the tiles as he jumps to your aid, ushering you gently back against the hospital bed despite your refusal. "you're not well. lay back down, please."

you don't hear a single word he says, not when you had lost something so crucial. "i put in the effort and learned everything you taught me... i aced those fucking mid-terms! i know i did!" you were on the brink of tearing up as doyoung settled himself in front of you.

"i… i actually saw your papers," his lips set in a thin, hard-line. "everything was all wrong, sweetheart. what happened to you? i tried reasoning with the professors, mentioned your state — you know, with your best friend dying — but they didn't relent. i'm sorry y/n. i'm so —"

gone. everything is gone. the money. the dorm. what if they ask you to pay the fees from last year? what if they ask you to pay the tuition fee for this year? you have no money, no family, no relatives. no one to help. who's even going to pay for the hospital fees?

you weren't able to process anything after that. not with the sudden news of your now revoked scholarship. doyoung pulls you in a tight hug. "i was a bad tutor," he says, snapping you out of it. "maybe i shouldn't have pushed you that hard to learn them. why were your answers even mixed up y/n? i thought you knew those topics already…"

he pulls away, observing your confused state as your eyes dart everywhere in the room. "what — how are they mixed up? i know i got them right. there has to be some mistake. you taught me those topics, remember?"

"i did... "he averts his gaze. "but i don't remember teaching them to you mixed up, darling. i think you did that all on your own."

"but… why would i mix up my answers? that's —"

"see, what i mean?" he cuts you off, raising a hand to give your cheek the most delicate caress. "you're not well, baby. you need to be treated, especially with how much you hit your head during the accident. don't worry, i'm here. we'll try asking if you can stay in the dorms at least until you find another place —"

"am i a charity case to you?"

oh, the surprise on the junior's face when you push him away as you pin him with a hard stare. you just don't get it. why is kim doyoung so adamant about helping you? in becoming your hero, even when you never asked him to be? if you let him help you this time around, that'll be the 3rd time he came to save your ass. it's not as if you're ungrateful. simply, you've had enough of his help. you don't know how a person like you, who literally has nothing, can return the favor to someone like doyoung.

"what are you saying —"

"i'm saying…" you fix him a hard stare. "you helping me out doesn't even benefit you in the slightest. so why do you do it?"

he pauses, staring at you with hesitance in his eyes as this seems to be the very first time you've truly seen him speechless. when doyoung opens his mouth, he mumbles, and you hardly make sense of what he said. 

"do you really want to know why?" 

you urge him on with an arched eyebrow, his softened tone creeping into your heart. 

"you're someone special to me y/n. i don't know how or when i admitted it to myself, but you are, and it hurts me to see how shitty your luck is," he cracks a small grin, slowly settling back onto the hospital bed as he grabs your hand. "it's okay to seek help from others. it isn't a sign of vulnerability or weakness. i help you because i want to, and i'm more than willing to take care of you. will you let me?"

you're not blind. you've noticed the way he had slowly started coming closer as he continued to speak, hands held securely in his as he looked straight at your eyes then down at your lips. and so, you act in a way you know that will surely answer his question — with a kiss. 

the man before you immediately reciprocates, overpowering your own eagerness as he curls the tips of his fingers into the roots of your hair. he pulls you close, cradling you against his chest. you can taste his desperation in the way his tongue dances against yours, the kiss transporting you into an alternate reality where your world revolves around doyoung and doyoung alone. 

when he pulls away bleary-eyed, both of you ignore the thin strand of saliva connecting your lips. "how about you come live with me for the time being, my love?"

still high off his kiss and natural scent, you hardly mull over the question he asks you. "okay."

days later, after you've been discharged (he wanted to chip in for your hospital bills but you had given him a firm no), doyoung had been the one to show up at the dorm to collect all your things after leaving you in his apartment. the cutie had refused to simply drop you off and had deliberately accompanied you up the elevator, through the halls, and finally into his apartment. 

"i'll be out for just a minute, sugarcube."

"oh, can you get take out?"

doyoung had smiled, playfully booping the tip of your nose. "no, because i'll be cooking for us tonight as a little celebration for you getting discharged. you'll love it; i'm making your favorite!"

it was funny how the night had been nothing but utter bliss. the foreign feeling of being taken care of sprouting in your chest as you watch him cooking from behind the counter. it felt… nice. but funny enough, as if doing a 360, you both had immediately gotten into an argument the next day. 

"i don't see the need for skipping another day if i feel perfectly fine! i'll figure something out once we get there, doyoung, so can we just —"

"you' re not fine, babylove — hell, you got discharged yesterday! i'm not just about to let you back into the arena with those students. they've only grown more immature since your coma, love. i seriously don't want you near them."

"fine! then i won't talk to them. simple." you throw your hands up. "there. problem solved. now, can we please just go to uni? i need to talk to the dean and the head of student affairs, too —"

"i'm going to uni, not you."

maybe it had been the way he firmly stated his claim, the way his eyes pierced through your soul as if daring you to argue further with him that made you snap.

"i'm not a prisoner in this apartment, doyoung! don't treat me like i have the plague! i'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself — jesus christ, i've been doing it nearly half my fucking life!"

too caught up in your anger, you've failed to notice the tears pouring down his face as he sets his gaze on the floor. 

"you're right," his voice cracks. "i shouldn't be pushy like that. i'm sorry. you just mean so much to me and i'm so scared of losing you again. with your coma — i just — it's like i was fighting a losing battle each day that passed when i saw you in that hospital bed. i've never felt so scared in my whole life and i hated myself for not being able to protect you that night."

his tears run like waterfalls, and when you step forward with your arms wide open, doyoung sobs harder as he pulls you against him. you hardly comprehend what he says as he spoke, shaking against your frail body as you felt his tears stain your blouse. "i'm sorry, i never should've dictated what you felt — i'm so sorry."

"no, it's okay. i was feeling a little lightheaded, anyway. i'll stay here and i can come back to school next semester, right? doyoung? just… please stop crying."

he lifts his head, staring at you with bloodshot eyes before giving your forehead a kiss. you let a relieved sigh escape your lips, melting into his warmth as you prop your chin on his shoulder. if you had only been more attentive, you would've seen the reflection of his wicked grin on the tabletops. too easy.

living with him became a blur after that incident. everything fell into a routine for the next four days as you spent the day watching netflix, eating, reading, sleeping. nothing felt fun anymore. but your peaceful life had ceased during the fifth night — the whispers, they woke you up. you can hear them from behind your door at night, and when you rouse awake, you see doyoung walking around the hallway from the tiny gap at the bottom of the door. you had sighed, falling back into your plush bed as you pray to god, he keeps it down. 

but what he told you the next day rendered you speechless. "me, walking around the hallways? whispers?" he says, confused. "i was already asleep, love. knocked out cold the moment my body fell on the bed."

"but…"

he doesn't spare you a glance as he takes his sweet time skimming through his notes on the dining table, coffee in one hand. "maybe it's just the meds kicking in."

"no, surely it was real! i literally woke up in the middle of the night," you repeat. "it's okay if it was you, doyoung. i'm not mad."

he sets his coffee mug down a little too loud. 

"well, you can't be mad at me, sugar, because like i said — it wasn't me," it doesn't take a genius to notice he's awfully cranky today. you observe him, dark half-moons under his eyes as he relentlessly reads his notes with instant coffee in one hand. 

"you're just imagining things, okay? stop acting crazy."

for some reason, the way he had uttered certain words like 'imagining' and 'crazy' made you curl into your seat in embarrassment. he was right that your doctor did prescribe a generous amount of pills per day, but his tone made it feel off, made you feel like there was something wrong with you even when there wasn't… 

right?

you didn't say a word after that and had hesitantly pecked him on the cheek before he left for school. with the amount of time you're with him, two things stood out to you — his keen sense of observation and his knack for reading people. you highly doubt he didn't notice a shift in your behavior but a part of you thinks it's just the stress talking. he is about to take his finals and had recently started on his research paper. 

every psych student is required to present a paper in accordance with the department's annual theme. it could be anything from proposing a theory (if you dare) to constructing a well-developed psychology model. if you don't turn one in, you don't graduate — the paper's that important, and you've been bugging him for so long about sneaking a peek on what his study is about. but he always refused. 

the next week came rolling around, and both of you had been spending every day together due to the semestral break. the arguments have significantly lessened, but your episodes — eventually, you started calling it that way because that's how doyoung labels it — have only gotten worse. you end up moving out of the guest room and into his. privacy be damned. the whispers stopped momentarily but what came next became your imminent downfall.

the first time you heard it, you thought you were dreaming. but the doorknob kept rattling aggressively even as you sat up. just as you climb off the bed, your half-asleep boyfriend asks where you're going. 

"bathroom," you lied.

you were always the one to snort when it comes to the supernatural, claiming it's all bullshit. yet, as whatever outside continues to fight its way inside the room, the rattling progressing into loud bangs against the door, you're not so sure of your beliefs anymore. you're not crazy. nothing is wrong with you, and you're perfectly fine. this apartment is cursed, and you are going to prove that to doyoung.

grabbing your phone from the bedside table, you turn the flash on, pointing the camera at the door as you take a footage of the mad entity that has been playing games with you. a squeal escapes your lips when a particular bang! reverberates louder in the room than all the others. the phone slips your hand, falling onto the floorboards. you don't bother to retrieve it as you scramble to get yourself back under the blanket and into doyoung's comfortable warmth.

you snuggle yourself plush against his chest, shaking as you wrap your arms around his waist, inhaling his natural scent to anchor you back. 

bang! bang! bang!

you didn't get a wink of sleep last night.

"can't the video wait? there's a new episode of start-up, and i want to watch it already!" he whines, shoving his face further on the throw pillow situated on your lap.

you giggle, shaking your head as you scroll through your gallery to find the video. i'm not imagining things. i'm not hallucinating. i'm not crazy. "here! watch... i'm telling you this apartment is haunted, and the ghost probably likes you, which is why it doesn't bother you —"

your lighthearted rambling cuts off when you notice no sound emitting from your phone. weird. you could've sworn you started recording right when the loud banging has already started. your heart drops upon the wary stare doyoung shoots you before he continues to watch the video. 

no, no, no, no — please!

you quickly scoot over to his side, watching as the video unfolds before your very eyes. the shot was messy as the phone was handheld, not to mention you were panicking at the time. but the video is silent. not a single noise of a rattling doorknob or banging on the door can be heard through your phone's speakers. 

"maybe — maybe you didn't turn the volume up?"

you hardly contain the mortification in your face when you realize the volume's at 100 already. and as if on cue, your squeal is heard in the video and the noise of the phone hitting the floor.

doyoung's silence shakes your whole being. as you kneel before him teary-eyed, your voice breaks. "i swear, i'm not crazy."

but at this point, you don't believe yourself anymore.

for his third and final act;

he triumphs.

his deprivation began in minuscule ripples. 

it didn't take much effort on doyoung's end to convince you to stop studying for a year or two, at least, only until your hallucinations aren't as severe anymore. everyday felt like hell on earth as the fine line between what's real and what isn't has blurred over one too many times. in sheer paranoia of accidentally hurting him in his sleep, you moved out of his bedroom and had started sleeping in the guest room again — much to doyoung's frustration. 

but he's a smart man, one that recognizes an opportunity amidst the hurdles thrown on his path.

"why does my door need a lock outside again?"

he approaches you, who’s sitting cross-legged on the bed, after screwing in the last of the screws that came with the new doorknob. doyoung is familiar with the look written on your face, has observed and studied you enough to navigate his way inside your pretty little head with ease.

he can't have you doubting him, can he?

"you know i'm all about protecting you, right?" he starts. you nodded. "i've been doing it for a year now, and i will continue to do so until you need me to. the world is a bad place, sweetheart, remember? your own best friend's mother tried framing you. your dad disowned you. you've been ostracized in the whole college... do you think i'm just like the rest of them, baby?"

doyoung has already mastered the perfect expression of a kicked-puppy, one that easily pulls at your heartstrings and has you cooing at him.

"no!" you say with conviction, reaching forward to thread your fingers through his. "i know you're different, not like any of them at all. i know you're only doing what's… best for me."

he ignores the underlying hesitance in your tone. that will be corrected, sooner or later.

doyoung tightens his hold as he kisses the back of your hand. such an innocent gesture — but such ill intentions.

"the outside lock helps me in protecting you, love. you don't need to worry about anything. just focus on getting better, alright? i'll keep the bad guys away from you."

it was during his first semester of senior year, a few months back, doyoung and a good few students of his batch had been granted the opportunity to intern for a mental hospital located near the edge of the city. he was supposed to decline the offer but you convinced him to take the spot. it had only been a two-week “job” yet it was enough for doyoung to conclude — he’d rather kill you than subject you to the horrors of what the patients have to go through in the loony bin. 

eventually, the small ripples shift into unforgiving waves, dragging you into the depths as everything comes crashing down before your very own eyes.

it should have been like any other day inside the apartment. doyoung's already gone in the morning to attend classes. though not before setting a tray of your brunch on the nightstand, making sure to lock your door on his way out. he knew your nightmares and anxiety kept you up at night, resulting in longer hours of sleep during the day. 

turns out, you moving out of his bedroom had been a blessing in disguise. coming home to an empty apartment has become his biggest fear yet, and you unconsciously found a solution for him. one that doesn’t have him fidgeting on his seat as he counts down the minutes ‘til he’s back by your side.

doyoung smiles unconsciously as he listens to his professor drone on and on in front of him — his mind at peace, knowing you're safe and sound in your little prison.

until he received a text that made his blood run cold.

ty, 11:34 am —im done.

meanwhile, you rouse awake once more to thunderous poundings against your bedroom door. oh no, you thought. it's happening again. this time, there'll be no doyoung barging into your room, half-asleep and hair messy, as he tries to calm you down. you throw the blankets over you as you sob, hugging your legs against your chest as you try to 'wake yourself up' from the hallucination.

the person outside calls for your name, the desperation in their tone alighting a new-found fear in your heart. you don't know what's real anymore. is this truly happening, or is it another hallucination your fucked up mind has conjured up?

"please! it's taeyong! y/n, can you hear me?"

taeyong?

slowly, your head peaks above the blanket, warily staring at the door. doyoung has warned you about these kinds of things, has practically ingrained in your mind that whoever comes looking for you will take you away from him. not to mention, doyoung slipped one time and said he isn’t friends with taeyong anymore.

the banging on the door progresses.

“are you in there? answer me! i can’t find the key!”

you don’t say anything, merely pushing the covers off your body as you keep your eyes fixed on the beating door. it looks like it’s about to pop out its hinges as taeyong relentlessly fights his way inside your room. what are you going to do? do you open the door? oh. right. you can’t do that on your own accord. the key is with doyoung and he isn’t in the apartment at the moment.

all your thoughts come to a halt when the boy outside sends the door flying open, finally breaking the lock with one powerful kick. you flinch back, his actions pushing you on your feet, wanting to place a maximum amount of distance from the intruder. 

taeyong looks frantic, disheveled as he immediately notices your alarmed state. he approaches you cautiously, hands up to show his empty palms. “hey, hey… it’s just me, y/n. i’m not going to hurt you. i’m not the enemy here.”

“doyoung doesn’t know you’re here, does he?”

the look of surprise on his face is an answer in itself. for someone doyoung had proudly claimed to have “broken” you’re still quite quick to catch up on things, taeyong observed. and he doesn’t know what to feel about it — pity? guilt?

“that’s not important!” he claims, boldly surging forward to grasp your shoulders with a firm grip. taeyong felt his heart dropping when you flinch under his grasp. 

“listen to me. we need to get you out of here. doyoung isn’t — he isn’t everything you thought he is!” he can’t help but raise his voice, panic surging through him because there’s not much time left and you aren’t exactly cooperating. you’ve been trying to shrug off his hold the whole time. 

“do you think he actually loves you?”

“he does! stop saying bullshit!”

“doyoung never loved anyone and you want to know why? because he’s too in love with his research to care for anything else!” taeyong felt bad to have been so direct, especially when he sees the tears now falling freely down your cheeks. “listen to me, y/n! i’m not the enemy! if there’s anyone you should be pushing away, it’s doyoung! he turned you into his lab rat! you are nothing but a variable in his study! don’t you get it?”

taeyong grabs a firm but gentle hold of your head, trying to make you look at him straight in the eye for the gravity of what he’s about to say to you.

“doyoung had his eye on you since sophomore year. i told him this was a bad idea and that he should change the topic of the research and he was. fucking hell, he was about to scrap the whole thing until your bestfriend died and did you know what that psycho told me? that it was a sign for him to continue the research! and i’ve been pestering him so much that he moved out because he claimed i was going to get in the way of his discovery.

tell you what, if you can tell me right here, right now, that he has mentioned anything — anything at all — about his study to you then everything i’m saying is a lie.”

you have asked doyoung for the longest time about that research but the answers have always been the same. “not yet, my love. it’s not time for it to be seen with your eyes. soon, okay?”

with a voice not louder than a whisper, you ask. “what… what’s his research about?”

you fail to see the sorry look on taeyong’s face. “in psychology, they say a person only develops psychosis mainly through genetics or drugs. although you’re technically already a worthy “lab rat” considering your mom and upbringing, he wanted to expand the external factors of what causes the disorder — grief, grades, toxic family relations…”

you hear a ringing in your ear and a sudden urge to throw up. only, you didn’t have anything to hurl because your brunch remains untouched on your bedside. 

“but he hadn’t been successful. and that’s… that’s where i came along. doyoung thought the medications he’s been giving you isn’t doing what he wanted it to and he knew he needed a little push. i was… i gave him that push. remember the whispers, the banging on the door at night? it was all me. he made me do it. you know what that means, right? you’re not crazy. you don’t need to stay here cooped up like some kind of pet, believing all his lies as if it’s written in a fucking bible —”

he stops. and if he hadn’t, you wouldn’t’ve heard the familiar beeps of the front door’s automated lock going off. doyoung’s home. 

in lightning speed, taeyong has you sheltered behind him, throwing his warm coat over you in the process, hoping to give the smallest comfort amidst the chaos that’s about to erupt. there’s no point in pretending or hiding — one look at that lock and his crazy friend would know something’s off. 

taeyong feels you flinching behind him with every heavy footstep against the floorboards as doyoung wastes no time in getting to your room. and when he finally appears, hands braced against the door frame, you’ve never been this scared your whole life. his eyes are drawn into slits, fixated on taeyong alone. “how fucking dare you?”

“it’s over, doyoung. give it up or you wouldn’t have to suffer a longer sentence than you’ll already get.” taeyong tried with his whole being to appear intimidating.

“what’re you saying, yong? i meant, how fucking dare you barge in here and disturb my girlfriend in her sleep? that’s not very nice of you…” doyoung sports a disarming gummy smile as he approaches, hand outstretched and beckoning towards you. “c’mere, baby. i don’t think you’ve eaten lunch yet?”

“drop the fucking act, you psycho!”

“what act?” doyoung tilts his head innocently, gaze shifting from taeyong’s and yours, who keeps peeking from over his ex-friend’s shoulder. luring you out is a piece of cake unless taeyong decides to make things a wee bit more complicated, doyoung thought. “i’m just concerned for my darl —”

“we’re leaving.” taeyong cuts him off, breaking eye contact as he places a firm grip around your wrist. he pulls you towards him, farther away from your supposed lover as he tries walking past doyoung. 

but the said man pushes taeyong back with a humorless smile on his face. “and who told you that you can do that?”

a pregnant silence befalls the room as the two men size each other up. they regard each other with such hostility, you can't help but unconsciously fist the back of taeyong's sweater in nervousness, prompting the man to turn his head over his shoulder for a swift second to check up on you.

but a second is all that doyoung needed to deliver the first kick towards taeyong's legs, throwing him off his balance. if it was one thing doyoung knew, is that he needed to eliminate taeyong's agility all together if he wants to win against him. 

but taeyong isn't one to back down. the moment doyoung straddles him on the floor, with a fist raised to throw a punch, taeyong grunts as he rolls them around. doyoung now receiving taeyong's rain of fists as he yells. "fuck you! you manipulative asshole!"

you sat on the corner, horrified of the scene happening before you. you've never seen doyoung this way. he has always been your sweet, caring bunny, but after everything taeyong said, you aren't so sure you even know the man you've been living with. 

"everything i did, i did it for her!" you flinch at the sound of bones breaking as doyoung kicked taeyong's ribs. "she had nothing to lose! i saved her!"

the door is open, you noticed. wide-open and inviting you to make a run for it. and you would have made a run for it...  but taeyong. you can't leave him behind, not when he lays there bloody and grunting in pain as doyoung lets his anger take over him. so, as stupid as may be, you did it. you had to.

"you didn't save me," you say, schooling your face into indifference as doyoung whips around, forgetting about taeyong in the bat of an eye. "you caged me in here, treated me like there's something wrong with me, gaslighted me into believing everything you said! and... what did you say? 'saved me'? you made me go through hell!"

the whole time, taeyong tries his hardest to stand upright, but his broken ribs don't allow him to. the pain too great that he had no choice but to crawl instead, arms pulling his weight as he drags himself across the floorboards, desperately trying to get doyoung's attention back on him even if it meant getting beaten to death.

meanwhile, he had his eyes trained on you the whole time you spoke, sobbing as you walk backward in fear as doyoung approached you with a dark glint in his eye. he doesn't like what you're saying; that much is very clear. he wanted to yell at you, to scream of your ungratefulness despite his constant care but instead, he says.

"i thought we were making progress, baby. i guess i have to drill everything in your brain again. you're not okay, but you will be after i treat you."

you try to fight the urge to look at taeyong as he finds his strength, silently rising up from the floor to ambush doyoung while he's so busy preaching about you. 

"what i said is true, baby. do you actually think this scum over here is doing this to save you? do you actually believe everything he said? i've been here since day-1, my love. literally. and have i ever let you down? no. everything i'm doing is for us. even this damned research!"

taeyong surges forward to put him in a chokehold, but everything happened so fast, and the next thing you knew —

"did you actually think i'd fall for that?"

you didn't know the sound of a knife cutting through flesh could sound that loud, but nothing could beat the strained gasp that tumbled through taeyong's lips as he shakily held the knife pierced through his heart. you would've been concerned about how doyoung got it so accurate in one go or where the knife even came from. but you were too busy screaming, collapsing against the wall as you let out a broken sob. 

"no," you mutter. "no, no, no..."

you can't bear to avert your eyes from taeyong as he lies dying before you. the look of fear in his eyes would forever be ingrained in your mind, and no amount of brainwashing or gaslighting would ever make you forget.

doyoung killed him. you lost.

the knife clatters loudly on the floor as he slowly turns around as if he himself has yet to register what he did. you didn't know what to expect from doyoung's reaction but certainly not the eerie smile that starts spreading on his face. 

"now... how about that lunch, baby?"

✉ : a repost no one asked but i respectfully dont give a fuck <3

#hmu if i missed a warning #yandere doyoung #yandere kpop #yandere nct #yandere nct 127 #tw swearing #tw manipulation #tw violence #tw knife