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#a few years ago they changed from 100% being nightmares any time he showed up to slowly being able to stand up for myself to him to openly
stepfordgoth · 1 month
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Had another stupid semi-nightmare about my piece of shit brother...... Can he just kill himself already please, so that way at least in my dreams I can be like "wait you're dead this doesn't even bother me" lol
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fallenstarzz · 4 months
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any kevin hcs to spare?
Ooooh let me see... Here are the ones I can think of rigth now:
I feel like Kevin is the kind of person to have overtly formal phone contacts, regardless of intimacy. Like Abby and Wymack are to this day named Nurse Abby Winfield and Coach David Wymack in his contacts. In one of my WIPs his system for fellow Exy players is Initial + Last name + Jersey number (so for an example Neil is N. Josten 10). Also in that WIP, but I think that in general too, the only exception is Nicky because that is a man unafraid to steal your phone and change his own name in your contacts.
Most of his growth post-canon I think would have to be related to standing up for himself and learning to shed the fear of the Moriyamas. A part of him will always be DEEPLY aware of his image, but I like to think he eventually grows into a bit of a Media Nightmare himself. But not like Neil or Andrew, in a much less actively hostile way. I think that at the start of his carreer Kevin would still be so afraid of provoking retribution from the Moryiamas he would take on any deal his agents deemed lucrative, to the point his first few years he barely had any time to breathe between training and games and interviews and photoshoots and charity events and and and. But with time and security on his new position he'd begin to allow himself to be more picky. He stops going to talk shows if the hosts or recent guests are involved with something he doesn't like, from politics to a slightly annoying tweet from ten years ago; Stops taking deals from brands accused of labor or enviromental violations; eventually his list of standards grows so long he is only taking 3-4 gigs a year outside his standard Exy season stuff, but since he still brings the numbers with him every time, he has companies bending over backwards to fit his demands.
Also we have to remember that he. Cannot give criticism like a normal person. I think he does eventually learn how to express himself better, and to limit his advice to people that ask for it, but old habits die hard, so Kevin is known for being a harsh critic. There are some people that hate that about him, but most fans find it hilarious and there are many compilations of his scathing takes online. The people LOVE Mean Kevin Day and the Foxes never let him live that down.
A bit related to this, I think Kevin's relationship to the rest of the Foxes improves a lot once they're all out of college. Both because it removes the main source of conflict between them, and because once they don't HAVE to see each other every day, they have to find actual real reasons to keep in touch and that leads to some begrudging long distance bonding. The day the Foxes realize they might actually like each other as people, for their personalities, is devastating to psychologists worldwide.
God but Kevin must be a NIGHTMARE at therapy. He rationalizes EVERYTHING and I see him as the type of person who has a hard time recognizing his emotions. I do think he would go absolutely ham on Cognitive Behavior Therapy because finally. Spreadsheets and assigned readings. THIS is how civilized people deal with problems
Kevin 100% lets his knowledge of Japanese go once he's out of the Nest for good. He spoke it for so long and from such a young age that he'll always be able to understand it a little bit, but it's not his first language so his fluency could and does atrophy from lack of practice. I think that a few years post-canon he's already only barely able to speak and write it.
He very discretly arranges for flowers to be sent to Riko's grave every once in a while, but he never visits it again after the funeral. I don't think Kevin will ever be able to disentangle their clusterfuck of a relantionship – he tells himself the flowers are for Kevin's first friend, the one who was dead long before he was buried.
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help-im-a-gay-fish · 3 years
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Okay I had to do some stuff, but here I am rambling about relationship between Killer and Nightmare in Colours of LOVE.
Some of this I might mention before some of it might be your and Jann or Yuri ideas... Anyway!! The way I see that:
Even though this is soulmate au Nightmare and Killer aren't perfect fit for eachother. They are perfect fit in threesome - Ccino softens rough edges of both of them, and changes their attention from being mad on eachother to carrying about Ccino together (especially at first when he is really depressed). But before that... It was hard.
Killer is really open about everything he thinks and feels. If he founds someone who is attractive he will flirt. Even when he is already dating Nightmare. And also he always shows his affection to Nightmare everywhere, in public too. That's cute and sweet, but Nightmare is really closed person so that makes him really uncomfortable. Night often got jealous with Killer flirting with anyone else, got embarrassed with his kisses and all on public, and in general is a bit annoyed with Killer's actions. Killer on the other hand doesn't really understand why Nightmare is so "tensed" (he is not, Night is just much more calm, but Killer don't get it).
They were braking up and coming back again a few times, because they had argued a lot about everything and got tired of this. Right now they are on their "best days" - they started to date again a few weeks ago and right now they are through some stuff, they understand eachother better, and pretty chill about eachother weird actions. Like in the second page Night is a bit flustered by Killer's kiss but he almost used to that. Same as he is worried about being late, since Killer is almost always late, but he is more or less fine by that. On next page (which you haven't seen yet), there are an interesting dialog between them, and I will definitely write some of "subtext" about it when I will post it.
Actually if they haven't met Ccino they would break up again after a few months. And maybe come back again after a week.
Also! Interesting thing about third soulmate: at the beginning of the comic (before Nigh met Ccino) Killer is 100% sure that they have third soulmate, but Nightmare is sure for about 60%. Killer is existed about that, he knew knew that he is polyamorious for a long time, but Nightmare hesitates a lot, because he can't really imagine himself in polyam relationship. It feels weird and also he is soooooo jealous about Killer paying any attention to anyone except him, that he worries to become "third wheel". Will it be different with Ccino?? Who knows (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)
Hi kotikaleo!!! This was super fun to read.
Firstly I'm going to tag @zu-is-here since she started the studio verse
It's definitely an interesting insight to your comic and the characters!
It reminds me a lot of an early version of my own ideas about the studio verse nightkiller relationship! And I can definitely see the way we have bounced headcannons of each other paying off.
Them still dealing with a softer kind of lovehate dynamic is an interesting one. It doesn't seem to be as extreme as my version, but it's interesting that it's still there.
The fact that they are meant to work as a 3 makes sense as well. If they are supposed to be bounded as a 3 it makes sense that three they their relationship would be unstable. They don't work as a two, but they are soul mates and something would always pull the two of them together.
I'm also curious, since Nightmare isn't 100% sure that the lack of colour is due to them being soul mated to another person. I wonder if he ever felt like the universe got it wrong? And that he'd been mated to the wrong person? Or perhaps he felt it meant that him and Killer don't have soul mates and that's why they have some connections.
It sad boy.
Also if Killer knows he's poly by nature, is that something that causes disagreements with the 2 of them?
And now for mine and @jann-the-bean version.
This story has been something that we mostly developed in tumbler DMs but both me and Jan wrote a story about it. Jan wrote
KillerNight(s)
And I'm writing
Round and round till we all fall down
Nightmare and Killer's relationship started off baddddd, it basically started as a mutual dislike for one another. This is due to their conflicting personalities and morals.
Nightmare was originally quite excited to meet Killer, as he'd heard a lot about the actor. But almost straight away he found Killer to be rude, childish and irritating. Killer found Nightmare to be stuck up, snobbish and entitled.
The two first met at an awards ceremony and got into a yelling match after a few drinks and were separated. From there their dislike for one another was made quite well known to the public because of a social media battle back and forth.
This only went on for a few months however, as the characters of 'Killer' and 'Nightmare' were cast to play together.
Nightmare and Killer agreed to be civil in order to function while working and get the filming completed as soon as possible.
As they worked together, their dislike turned into a playful banter and respect for one another. And then something else shifted.
Now Killer has a reputation for being a player and one who likes to sleep around, as you said, he's open about his interest in people when he has it and enjoys casually flirting with just about anyone.
Which came to include Nightmare.
Nightmare paid no mind to it really, though he couldn't understand why it embarrassed him so much.
Killer comes to find Nightmare to be very attractive and enjoys his reactions when teased, he rights him off though because he was under the impression that Nightmare was straight, and he'd never try to change that.
It was a day when they were talking about Killer's eyes and how it's caused him to struggle, that Nightmare tells him that he thinks his eyes are very pretty and that they are an attractive quality, and something in Killer breaks and he kisses him.
So Killer feels like he messed up and the two avoid each other. But it causes Nightmare to start questioning things about himself.
Nightmare at this point had only every dated women. He assumed that he was straight. But after that kiss a lot of buried feelings are dragged to the surface and exposed, and he realises that he's also attracted to men.
So Jan goes into full details about this, in the fic Killernights, but basically Nightmare confronts Killer about the kiss and Killer tells him he 'has a thing for him'
The two go back to Killer's flat to talk, but their normal banter, leads to flirting and then another kiss. And Nightmare who is curious and suddenly craving new sensations becomes lost to him. Killer who finds Nightmare physically very attractive, also gets wrapped up and the two of them sleep together.
Nowwww this is getting long so I'll try to shorten it down a bit.
Basically, it's an amazing night. It's passionate, enjoyable and a lot of fun for both of them. Upon finding out Night has never been with a man, Killer guides him carefully though the process.
After that night the two can't stop thinking about each other, even though they both planned for it to be a one time thing. Again, they avoided each other until talking after a while.
And killer admits his desires for the other, and offers Nightmare a safe environment to experiment with his sexuality, where he won't be judged.
To cut a long story short, this spirals into a passionate and carnal, on and off booty call/fling with each other that spans for years.
Other that time they grow very close with each other, and come to recognise the similarities that they share, and have soft moments of just enjoying being together with one another.
For Killer, Nightmare is the first person to ever tell him he had beautiful eyes and mean it. The first person who wasn't at all put off by them.
To Nightmare, it feels like Killer is the one person that will never pick Dream over him. And he makes him feel wanted and desirable in a way few have before.
However, their are still parts of their relationship that conflict. Of course a healthy relationship will always have some conflicts. But for Killer and Nightmare the conflicts clash and fight with each other.
That along with both of their past traumas, (I wrote about Killer's back story here) means they find it difficult to talk about genuine feelings and what's bothering them. Causing things to bottle up and blow up over time.
They also find it impossible to admit that they actually love each other deeply.
They tried to be in a full on committed relationship once, (which I'm writing about in Round and Round) but it didn't work out for these issues. As well as the fact that Killer is poly by nature, and therefore gets anxious and uncomfortable in a relationship with one person only. Which he won't talk to Night about for the reasons stated above.
Enter Ccino.
Now Ccino is the missing piece for Nightmare and Killer.
He's soft and gentle spoken, which easily helps them calm down when things get heated between them. He also provides a safe and loving space to open up about what things are bothering them.
Nightmare and Killer's also, as you said, spend more energy caring for and sometimes worrying about Ccino, so they have less energy for the constant fighting.
Ccino was the missing piece. He's the person who will cuddle and read books with nightmare, but also the one who's super into affection, which Killer loveesss.
A relationship would never work between just killer and Ccino, since Ccino wouldn't be able to keep up with Killer's libido and killer doesn't know much about Ccino's mental health. And Ccino wouldn't work in a relationship with just Nightmare because Night's colder and more straight forward personality would leave him affection staved after a while.
They just work together! They are basically soul mates in this universe as well!
P. S Nightmare in this universe was also very veryyyyy jealous when Killer showed interest in Ccino. Which is something he took out on Ccino till Killer stopped it. After falling in love with Marshmallow he regrets this a lot.
I'M SO EXCITED FOR MORE. COLOURS OF LOVEEEEE
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fbfh · 3 years
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here’s to always finding each other
pairing: percy x gn child of calliope reader
wc: 1.6k
warnings: percy kisses reader following a prior agreement that they don’t remember but it’s 100% consentual, you work retail, a hell yeah, memory loss, I think that’s it
summary: You didn’t really expect to have to spend your entire eight hour shift organizing shoe wax any more than you expected your fictional crush from middle school to be real and your boyfriend. Only one of those happened (and the shoe wax was still very disorganized when you left).
song rec: this lofi mix, boba manifesto - chris flemming (mostly as a joke but it slaps)
a/n: i am wOrKiNg oN tHiNgS!!!!!! It’s going well!!! expect some fun surprises soon!!!!!!!!!
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Crouched down on the ground, rearranging an end cap of shoe wax in the men’s department wasn’t really what you thought being a grownup would be like as a kid. You can’t complain too much, the pay is pretty good and working conditions are decent - as much as they can be in retail. You stand up to check your progress (and stretch your legs) and notice that guy is still there. He’s been hovering around the athletic shirts and pants for a while, and he keeps checking his phone and looking around. You’re sure he’s probably just waiting for someone, but you’re considering asking if you can help him find anything. 
He has a vaguely familiar energy, and your stomach drops for a moment, hoping you don’t know him from school or something. God, that would be a nightmare. That’s happened to you once or twice, bumping into someone you went to school with, and it’s always as bad as you expect. 
‘You know what,’ you think, trying to see if you can fit the last few containers of wax on the shelf without making them topple over, ‘he’s probably fine. If he needs help he’ll ask for it.’ 
You go back to scanning and adjusting the prices of the clearance shoe polish - the company had changed their packaging recently, so it’s out with the old and in with the identical - but you still can’t shake the feeling of familiarity. 
He turns around, holding up an orange shirt that says ‘go for it’ in a ridiculous font, and you get a glimpse of his face. 
You crouch back down so he won’t catch you staring, and the realization dawns on you. He looks a lot like Percy Jackson from the books you read in middle school. Or was it high school? Everything between 6th grade and high school graduation is kind of blurry and confusing in your memory. Man, you should really re-read those, you heard there was a TV series in the works and you want to remember all the details for when it comes out. You’re a little surprised at how nervous that revelation makes you, like the feeling when you’re a kid going to a theme park and you can see the roller coasters as you pull into the parking lot. Weird. Anyway, it’s not the first time you’ve seen a customer who looks like a character from something. One time you saw someone who you swore looked just like Pidge from the Voltron reboot that came out a few years ago, and a coworker saw a girl who looked like an anime character she loves… Raka something? Her name sounded like gravity, but that wasn’t it. You shrug, making a mental note to ask her about it later. 
You stand up once again to take one final look before you move onto the next end cap, and see that the guy is standing next to you. You look up at him, and all those weird feelings of excitement and something close to anticipation amplify, as you get a closer look at him. He really, really looks like Percy Jackson. Like if the Viria art was a real person. 
“Uh… hi, can I help you find anything today?” You ask, snapping out of your daze and into your customer service voice. He takes a second before answering, and you’re a little unnerved by the way he’s looking at you; warm and intimately, like he’s known you for years. 
“No,” he replies, a dreamy tone to his voice, “I’ve got everything I need.” You’re pleasantly surprised and a little freaked out that he even has the accent. Seriously, if he’s not already, this guy should really get into cosplay. Also, is he flirting with you? He seems to realize what he just said, and backtracks slightly. 
“Actually, um, I was wondering if you could help me out with something over here,” he says, and you agree, in your signature chipper tone. He guides you to a table covered in various sweatpants behind a mirror. 
He glances around again, and you have to ask. 
“You know, if you’re having trouble finding someone we can-”
“Walkie customer service to have my group meet me at the front desk.” He finishes seamlessly. 
“It’s not my first time at the rodeo,” he chuckles, and you get the feeling there’s more meaning behind what he’s saying, like an inside joke you’re not a part of. 
“Oh… yeah.” you say, and he can sense your surprise, “How did you…” you trail off, and he can sense the silent question in your voice. He lets out a breathy chuckle, cheeks flushed pink.
“Like this.” 
He catches your face in his hands, and presses his lips to yours. Your eyes widen in shock, mostly at the fact that you don’t feel threatened by his presence at all. You’re shocked at how comfortable you feel around him, how you feel in your bones that you’ve known him for years when the logical side of your brain is telling you that you first saw him ten minutes ago. He pulls away, searching your eyes for… something. 
“Uh…” you glance away, brow slightly furrowed, then back up at him, “what the fuck?” 
His expression softens, and he says gently, “Give it a minute.” 
You’re about to ask him to give what a minute, when a barrage of memories, feelings, people you don’t think you’ve ever met but seemed to be best friends with knocks you off your feet. You try to take in a breath, but the air in the room seems to have taken a temporary vacation from your lungs. 
You look up at him, eyes flared in understanding and shock. He mutters something in confirmation. Someone yells nearby, and you both look over to an adolescent boy asking his mom why he can’t wear neon basketball shorts to school. Percy looks back over at you.
“Is there somewhere a little more-” the mom starts arguing back and forth with her son at a louder volume, and he continues, “private… where we could talk?”
“Uh, yeah, I’ll… I’ll get somewhere.”
A few minutes later, you’re sitting across from each other on two step stools in one of the stock rooms. You’re still surprised at how easily you had lied to your boss that your long distance boyfriend showed up a few weeks early after over a year of not being able to see each other, and you needed a moment to catch up. She had agreed readily, asking that you tell her when you’re ready to get back to your tasks. 
“I’m sorry about that,” he starts, snapping you out of your train of thought, and you look up at him, “I never would have kissed you without asking, but you made me promise last time that the next time you lose your memories I would get them back to you as fast as I can.” 
“Uh, it’s okay, I feel like I remember talking about that.” Your memories are still fuzzy, but coming back sporadically.
“It can take a few days for them to come back fully.” He adds. 
The most surreal part of this is you remember vividly what happened in the books - because you lived through it. You hold back a giddy laugh bubbling up.
“So…” you begin, and he looks at you, his gaze warm, “it’s all real?” you breathe the words, almost afraid of an answer. 
“Yeah,” he chuckles, looking away briefly, overwhelmed that you’re with him once again.
“The short version is, since your godly parent is Calliope, you sometimes get sent to other worlds. You kind of have to hop scotch from one place to another, like getting a goldfish used to a new bowl of water. The mist - or sometimes,” he glances up, pointedly and irritable, “other factors - usually take away a lot of your memories. They say it’s to make the transition easier, but who knows. Anyway, there are these waypoints, kind of like a time loop that you hang out in until you’re either ready to leave or one of us finds you first.”
“So this…” you motion around to the rows of cardboard boxes filled with plastic cups and paper towels. He nods and you let out a laugh of relief that you really won’t have to work here long term. 
“As soon as you’re ready we should probably head out to camp. It’s gonna be a bit of a drive.” 
“Wait, it’s all like… here? Like in this world?”
“Yeah,” he smiles again, once more sending butterflies through your chest. 
You let out a disbelieving, excited laugh.
“Alright. Yeah, okay. Let’s do it.” 
Before you can get up, he takes your hand in his. He watches his fingers skim back and forth for a minute before looking up at you. 
“You know that I’ll always find you, right?” there’s an overwhelming torrent of emotions he’s somehow managing to convey through his eyes. 
“It doesn’t matter where you go, or how long you’re gone, or if we even remember each other. I will always find you.” His hand comes up to your cheek for the second time today, and your head tilts into his embrace automatically. You somehow trust him more than anyone or anything else right now. You nod gently.
“I do.”
He glances away again, cheeks flushing red, and he sighs, kissing your forehead. 
You get up and head towards the exit together, and he wraps his arm around your shoulder.
“How about we get some bubble tea once we’re in the city?”
“Oh hell yeah!” 
You don’t remember the last time you had bubble tea, but it sounds really, really good right now. 
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ggukcangetit · 3 years
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Name of the Game: ksj fic (M)
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title: Name of the Game
pairing: seokjin x reader
genre/au: Anastasia AU, fluff, mystery, a bit of angst, smut, comedy
rating: 18+
word count: 14.2k
warnings: lost identity, slightly graphic description of a car accident including mentions of blood and dead bodies, minor character deaths mentioned, mentions of nightmares, mentions of past trauma, y/n gets lost multiple times, sexual content including oral (f and m receiving), kissing, grinding, fingering, breast play, nudity, unprotected sex (PLEASE USE PROTECTION).
summary: The Hotel -Strange, The Manager - Far Too Charming, The Situation - Dire, The One in Trouble - You.
a/n: here’s my adaptation of the 1997 animated Anastasia film! the idea of the hotel was inspired by the Spanish tv series - Grand Hotel! i didn’t manage to finish this by the deadline. but it is finally over. i’m not very happy with how this story turned out but i hope you enjoy it nonetheless. this was part of the Wish Upon A Star collab featuring some incredible writers and their brilliant adaptations/interpretations of different stories from our childhood. 
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The address seemed correct. You had asked three people on the way over, and they had all pointed you in the same direction, accompanied by a knowing look. And in a way, they were completely correct. Concordia was a Gothic style castle, standing tall in the midst of acres and acres of lush green fields - a foreboding structure lost in time, separated from the rest of the world by sheer distance. In fact, the nearest payphone and gas station had been almost 100 miles away -  which you had used to phone the Mins.
“I think I’m almost there,” you spoke into the phone, surveying your surroundings doubtfully. “I asked a bunch of people and they all told me it’s just a few minutes away.”
They had lied. It took you at least 3 more hours to bike there.
“You sure you aren’t lost, kiddo?” You could almost see the teasing grin on Yoongi’s face.
“Oh, would you look at that? My time’s almost up” - you rolled your eyes at Yoongi’s giggles filtered through the receiver - “I’ll give you a call once I find accomodation, Yoongi! Take care, and don’t swipe any more tangerines from the shop!”
“Look out for yourself, kiddo.”
You had lived with the Mins for the better part of your 21 years of existence. They had found you almost 12 years ago, sitting under a large tree, bawling your eyes out. You had no memory of how you had gotten there, or who you were - just your name and a very battered piece of sheet music in your pocket. It was solely due to the kindness of a young couple who ran a modest cafe that you were even alive at this point. Their only son, Yoongi, preferred to lord his 4-5 year age difference by calling you ‘kiddo’. You would rather die before admitting it, but you really adored the nickname. 
Living life without an identity, without any roots, without a past - it was inconvenient at best, and unsettling at worst. You were eternally grateful to the Mins for everything they had done for you, but the first indication of financial distress arising from difficulties at the cafe had prompted you to pack your bags and leave in search of a job. 
Concordia was a name everyone knew. It was one of the oldest hotels in the country, passed down through 4 generations, known for its grandeur, luxury, and exquisite service. But most importantly, the food at Concordia was absolutely legendary. People saved up money throughout the year, so that they could travel to the hotel and try the food just once. And as a person who didn’t have much to lose, you decided that this would be the perfect place to apply for a position in the kitchens. 
What you hadn’t expected was to come across a gigantic looming structure, more suited for housing a reclusive vampire with horrible mood swings or a flamboyant literary figure prone to wild fantasies and nights of debauchery. Or both. 
You had almost turned back after seeing the castle for the first time - it didn’t seem like a place you’d want to spend more than a few seconds in. But something inside you kept nudging you forward.
There were two men standing at the main doors, looking equally formidable and archaic as the building they were guarding. After a few terrible attempts at convincing them to let you in, you gave up on the idea.
You looked around carefully. Surely there was another way of getting in. Once you were inside, you could convince whoever was in charge to give you a chance. You just needed one chance to prove yourself. Just one. 
Just then, a couple of people walked out using some kind of side entrance - a magnificently dressed woman and a young man with a certain swagger in his steps.
You crept over towards them, hoping that something from their conversation would help you out.
“I don’t understand why that silly girl creates such a fuss about bringing food to my room!” The woman rolled her eyes and brought a cigarette to her lips.
The young man took a lighter out of his pocket and lit the cigarette with a practiced sort of ease. “I’ll have a word with her, don’t worry.”
You strained your ears, trying to figure out just what they were talking about. Something to do with the hotel?
“But Mr. Kim,” she continued, taking a step closer to the young man. “Why can’t you bring my food up to my room?” The tone of her voice had most definitely changed, dropping a few octaves as she tilted her head to one side. 
“Now, now, Mrs. Trent,” he replied, with a hint of a chuckle. “You know that’s against hotel policy.”
With that, he took a definite step back. 
“Shame,” she continued, sweeping her eyes over him. “Make sure Kate doesn’t make any more mistakes with my room service.”
“Will do, ma’am,” replied Mr. Kim. He bowed to her and showed her back inside using the side entrance.
This was your opportunity. 
You followed behind them, making sure to maintain a decent amount of distance, and slipped in before the large door slowly creaked shut.
The inside was comparatively more inviting than the exterior. Lanterns at every few feet provided soft, warm lighting, and the decor looked a lot more modern and familiar than expected. The side entrance opened into a sort of lounge area, filled with comfortable sofas, small wooden tables, and a few dozen bookshelves. A record player -
“Can I help you?”
You hurriedly stepped back from the person you had bumped into - the man from earlier, Mr. Kim. 
“Uh…” You floundered for words, caught off-guard by how handsome he was. Chocolate brown eyes, devastatingly plump lips, ridiculously broad shoulders, and strong eyebrows - one of which was quite beautifully arched as he sized you up.
“I-I got lost. I wandered away from the lobby. C-could you”- you straightened your posture, mustering up all of your confidence - “direct me back there? I need to complete my check-in.”
Mr. Kim stared at you for a few moments. He seemed to be considering your words. You weren’t dressed half as extravagantly as the woman from before - who was probably a good example of the hotel’s usual clientele - but you somehow resisted the urge to tug at your clothes self-consciously.
“Of course,” he flashed you a brilliant smile, gesturing towards another part of the hotel. “This way, ma’am.”
You breathed a sigh of relief, quickly turning it into a cough as he turned towards you inquiringly. 
“Sorry, my throat is absolutely parched.”
He smiled again. “I’ll get one of the staff to bring out some water and refreshments for you.”
You nodded weakly and stood there, trying to look like you belonged. 
As soon as Mr. Kim was out of sight, you headed in the direction he had gone. Hopefully it was towards the kitchens. If not… well, you didn’t want to think about that.
It was soon evident that you were lost. Whatever this corridor was, you had no idea where it led or whether Mr. Kim had headed that way at all. Perhaps you should have waited near the front desk and thought your plan through…
“Are you looking for something?”
You whirled around at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. It belonged to a middle-aged woman, with a soft kind of beauty that had aged gracefully. You probably should have stuck to your story about being a guest who had gotten lost in the hotel. But something about her kind eyes encouraged you to tell her the truth.
“You want a job in the kitchens?” she asked, sounding a little skeptical. “My dear, there’s a way to apply for such positions. Why don’t you go back home and look at some proper avenues to apply for hotel internships?”
“Please,” you tried to keep the desperation out of your voice. “Just give me a chance. If I’m not capable, I’ll leave. But please, don’t turn me away.”
She sighed. “What’s your name, child?”
“Y/n.”
“What?” Her eyes seemed to well up for a moment, but she gathered herself quickly. “Y/n… Umm, alright. We’ll give you a try. One week. And if things don’t work out, you have to leave without a fuss.”
You beamed at her. “Thank you! You won’t regret it -”
She shook her head with a resigned smile. “Call me Yuna.”
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Your first impression of Concordia had been spot on. There was something definitely off about the place. At the end of your first day working there, you noticed that all the staff seemed to get along with each other but there was a certain tension whenever the owners of the hotel were mentioned. Nobody said anything, but an uneasiness hung in the air every time. 
“So tomorrow,” Yuna turned towards you. She was the head chef and you had spent the entire day observing her as she directed everyone in the kitchen. “I’m going to ask you to help Kevin with the breakfasts. It’s not too tough - but in my experience, you can tell whether someone has potential by the way they cook eggs.”
You smiled. She had a subtle sense of humor, and everyone working with her absolutely adored her. She was the mother hen and head chef all rolled into one. 
“And about your accommodations-”
An interruption arrived in the form of the last person you wanted to see.
“Do we have any strawberry pastries left?” Mr. Kim asked, sauntering into the kitchen like he owned the place. 
You busied yourself with some dust that had miraculously lodged itself into your left eye at that very moment, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible. But unfortunately, those piercing eyes had spotted you.
“Look who it is,” he drawled, walking over with slow, deliberate steps. All the amiable attentiveness in his eyes had been replaced with a calculating smugness. “Our lost check-in.”
“Ah, Seokjin,” Chef Yuna interrupted your staring match. “I see you’ve met our newest recruit - y/n. Y/n, this is Seokjin - my son.”
You gulped. “N-nice to meet you, Seokjin.”
“It’s Mr. Kim or Manager Kim to you, Lost Check-in,” he said, with a definite sneer. “Mum, forget about the pastry. I have a meeting with Madam Iris in a few minutes.”
With that, he walked off, leaving you a humiliated mess. Chef Yuna opened her mouth to say something but you were off without a second thought. Manager or not, how dare he speak to you like that!
“Mr. Kim! Mr. Kim! KIM SEOKJIN!” you all but screamed, finally catching his attention. Although, if he hadn’t been ignoring you so obviously, he would’ve turned around sooner.
“What is it, Lost Check-in? I have more important things to do,” he asked, huffing much louder than necessary.
“Why did you speak to me like that?” You glared at him, trying to keep your temper in check. “I know I lied to you before but that’s no way to talk to another human being.”
He stared at you for a few moments, and once again you got the distinct impression that he could see right through you. It took all of your determination to not break eye contact.
“Because,” he whispered, leaning in closer. “You aren’t a guest here. So I don’t need to be nice to you. Do you understand, Lost Check-in?”
You stood rooted to the spot, goosebumps breaking out all over your body. 
“S-stop calling me that!” you yelled, long after he had walked off.
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Concordia belonged to the Chavalenet family. Madam Eva Chavalenet, the matriarch of the family, was silent, formidable, and barely ever seen by any of the guests or staff at the hotel; Madam Iris Farrow, Eva’s daughter, was intelligent, graceful, and extremely beautiful. She ran the hotel along with her husband, Anthony Farrow, who was the family’s solicitor. Iris and Anthony had an eight year old son - Ryan - who was an absolute terror, and someone Seokjin did not like having around. 
Unfortunately, management meetings meant that he would be seated at the antique dining table in the Chavalenet’s residential quarters, trying his best to avoid whatever it was that the young heir would try and lob at him, while the boy’s mother rattled off a long list of things for him to take care of. Seokjin couldn’t understand why none of the members of the family attempted to, or even wanted to, keep the child under control.
“Seokjin,” Madam Iris began the meeting, pulling out her expensive looking reading glasses out of her equally expensive looking purse. “The last few months have not been good for the hotel. We will need to have some layoffs.”
Seokjin kept his expression neutral. This wasn’t the first time staff had been laid off over the past year. Whoever was managing the hotel’s accounts was either doing a terrible job, or the expenses had truly outrun the income they generated from the guests. The former was the more likely possibility because people paid a pretty penny to come and stay at Concordia, and as far as he could remember, business had been booming since he had been promoted to manager two years ago.
“We’ve reviewed the staff’s evaluation forms and come to the decision that housekeeping and kitchen staff need to be reduced by 8 overall. We’ll leave it up to you to make the final decisions.” She looked up from the stack of papers in front of her and gave him a small smile. “It’s going to be difficult, so make sure to consult Chef Yuna and get her opinion on the matter as well.”
Management meetings always proceeded like this. Madam Iris gave him orders, Anthony Farrow agreed to every word she said, and Madam Eva remained unyielding in her silence. Previously, the Assistant Manager would also join these meetings - but ever since the position had been terminated, it was always the four of them. And that annoying brat, of course. 
“Before I forget,” Anthony said, turning his gaze towards Seokjin. “Make sure the sheets in our room are washed with the new ultra fine formula detergent.”
Seokjin’s jaw ticked in irritation. Anthony Farrow had married above his station, doing everything that his wife and mother-in-law asked him to do. It was only while interacting with the hotel staff that Anthony found his voice and used it with incredible high-handedness.
“Darling, don’t bother Seokjin like that.” Madam Iris understood the strategy of appeasement very well. “I will speak to Helen when she comes up to our room tomorrow morning.”
Usually, this was when the meeting would end and everyone would head back to their rooms. 
Today, however, there was an unusual interruption in the form of-
“I’m so sorry! I got lost on the way to the kitchens!”
Seokjin stared in astonishment as you hastily tried to explain why you had quite literally stumbled into the management meeting. It wasn’t that you were doing a bad job of it, per se… It was just a very tough crowd. 
“How long have you been working here, girl?” snapped Anthony.
“I’m new,” you answered, shortly.
Before Anthony could express his outrage at the tone of your response, Madam Iris stepped forward and surveyed you carefully. “What’s your name?”
“Y/n.”
Something flickered in her gaze but she masked it quickly. “Well, y/n, this is very disappointing indeed. Usually our staff know how to conduct themselves in front of the guests and the owners. I’m afraid-”
“Let her be.”
Everyone’s attention snapped to Madam Eva who had spoken for the first time that night. In fact, Seokjin couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken voluntarily in the first place.
“Mother?” Madam Iris looked confused.
“The meeting is over. No need for unnecessary fuss.” Her tone was final and no one dared say anything after that.
Seokjin wasn’t sure if you understood the significance of the moment. But before any further damage could be done, you had excused yourself with an apology and left the room. 
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You woke up early the next morning, partly because of another nightmare and partly because you were anxious to get to work on time. Chef Yuna may have taken on a complete stranger the day before, but you were pretty sure her kindness wouldn’t extend any further if you messed up.
On your way to the kitchens, you found yourself lost once again. It was the hotel’s fault, really. It was far too large and had one too many winding corridors. How did the guests find their way around without getting hopelessly lost? Was there some sort of map that was given out to them at the time of check-in? 
A sudden movement from a few feet away caught your eye. It was a shadow - which meant that there was someone moving about in the alcove. 
Curiosity got the better of you and your feet headed towards the person, wondering who it-
“Mr. Kim?!” 
There was no mistaking those broad shoulders. Kim Seokjin stumbled slightly, startled by your presence. 
“I-I can explai-” he stopped abruptly when he realised it was you. “Oh, it’s just you.”
You glared at him, offended by his tone. “What were you doing just now?”
“I wasn’t doing anything,” he shrugged, attempting to leave without divulging any more information. 
“So you just skulk around dark alcoves indulging in shady behavior for no particular reason?” 
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It was so easy for him to regain control of the situation with that penetrating gaze and intimidating body language. “But more importantly, what are you doing in this part of the hotel?”
“I got lost again,” you muttered, looking away in embarrassment. 
“And instead of being thankful that you bumped into someone who could help you find your way back, you’re accusing me of - what was it? Ah, that’s right, ‘indulging in shady behavior’,” he emphasized the last few words with air quotes.
“As if you would have helped me!” you retaliated. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you sent me off in the complete opposite direction and made sure I never found my way back again!”
“I wouldn’t have,” he said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “But now that you’ve brought it up, I’m going to do precisely that.”
You gaped after him. What exactly did he have against you?!
“If you don’t take me back to the kitchens,” you said, making him slow down. “I’ll tell Madam Eva that you were lurking about in places you have no business being.”
It was a long shot. But something about the atmosphere the previous night had indicated that Madam Eva’s approval was hard to come by. And the entire room had been quite shocked when she had asked for you to be left alone. 
Seokjin stopped and turned around slowly. Your threat seemed to have done the trick because he didn’t look quite as smug as he had a few moments ago. “Fast learner, aren’t you?”
You held your ground, determined not to be shaken by his intimidation tactics. 
“Fine. Let’s go.” He began walking again, in a different direction this time.
You held back a grin and followed behind him.
“But if you ever” - he whirled around suddenly, taking you by surprise - “think of blackmailing me again, things will not end well for you. Understand, Lost Check-in?”
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Overall, your second day working at Concordia had not been very eventful. Chef Yuna had been very pleased with how you had prepared the eggs and potatoes for breakfast. She was looking more inclined to keeping you on permanently. Besides that, not much had really happened. You found out more about your coworkers - Kevin, Michelle and Laila. All three of them had been working there for more than two years and seemed likeable enough at first glance. 
Chef Yuna herself was something of a genius in the kitchen. While she didn’t cook often, her instructions were impeccable, and the one dish that she had cooked for dinner had been so incredible that five guests had sent back compliments to the chef. On top of that, her pleasant personality made her a hit with almost everyone. 
You could see where Seokjin got his charms from. He had a way of drawing people towards him with a combination of beautifully arranged words, intuitive actions, and overall handsome aura.
Although, there was something slightly sinister about the way he operated. You realised that the incident with Mrs. Trent had not been a solitary one. Manager Kim regularly charmed gifts, favours, and cash out of the guests. You had observed him on more than a couple of occasions, just chatting with some guest, and before you knew it there was something small being passed into his hands. And it wasn’t just women who gave him things either. 
“I hope you enjoyed the classical music session in the grand hall last night, Mr. Cowen,” said Seokjin, talking to the elderly gentleman seated near the balcony. “There’s another one scheduled for the end of next week, if you’re still staying here at that time.”
Mr. Cowen seemed utterly delighted to hear this, and not only extended his stay at the hotel but also pressed a rather thick envelope into his palm. No doubt, this was a regular occurrence because Seokjin was just incredibly smooth at handling everything that people handed to him. 
You made it a point to avoid him as much as possible. And your little stunt that morning had also ensured that Seokjin left you well alone. All in all, it was an arrangement you were quite happy with.
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“Y/n, don’t forget about tonight!”
You turned towards Laila, confusion lining your expression. 
“Tonight?”
Laila rolled her eyes. “I told you about it yesterday, remember? We have a staff gathering every Friday evening! It’s basically a small party where we eat, drink, and dance to music on the manager’s boombox! It’s a lot of fun!”
You scrunched up your nose at the mention of Seokjin. But Laila looked so excited that you figured it was worth going to. Not that you had any other grand plans for the evening…
“Sure! Where does the party usually happen?”
“There’s a large unused room below the lobby,” explained Laila, eyes sparkling in excitement. “The Chavalenets don’t keep any hotel events there because it’s on a lower level, so we take advantage of that and have a good time there instead!”
“Sounds fun! I’ll be there!”
“Oh, and don’t forget to dress up!”
You stumbled on thin air. “Dress up?”
“Of course! It’s a party, y/n!” 
“I don’t have any fancy clothes…” you mumbled, scratching the back of your neck.
That did not seem to faze Laila. “Well, it’s a good thing I have tons to spare!”
Later that night, you walked into the forgotten room below, dressed in a knee-length, midnight blue dress courtesy Laila. She had insisted on you wearing a pair of sparkly earrings as well, claiming that you absolutely could not proceed without it because it matched the little sparkles in your dress. 
You were quite glad that you had followed her advice because everyone else clearly took these small Friday gatherings very seriously. In fact, this party turned out to be the most free-flowing gathering you had encountered since stepping into the hotel. Gone was the stiff, unnatural feeling that usually clung to the atmosphere. Replaced, instead, by normal conversations, comfortable interactions, and a general feeling of warmth and comfort. 
“Y/n, you look beautiful!” Chef Yuna walked over to you with a big smile on her face. 
“Thank you! Though, I’d say most of the credit goes to Laila for letting me borrow her dress.”
Chef Yuna laughed and pointed you in the direction of the snack table. Your eyes sparkled at the sight of every dish sitting there - shrimp appetizers with a subtle garlic dip, baskets full of freshly baked bread rolls, two large bowls of salad, slices of turkey, chicken, and salami, and a very delectable looking cake with fresh cream and strawberries.
“Y/n, where did you learn to cook? Do you have any formal training?” Penny, who worked at the front desk, had only spoken to you in passing before. 
“Oh, the family I lived with owned a cafe,” you said, sipping the punch slowly. It was a little too tart for you. “I used to help out a lot here and there, and eventually got quite interested in cooking. But I don’t have any formal training.”
“That’s odd.”
You raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
Penny shrugged her shoulders. “You don’t have any training or experience, but Chef Yuna still hired you. I can’t see why.”
“Well, I’m grateful that she gave me a chance,” you said, a small frown gracing your features. “Otherwise I’d be unemployed and homeless.”
Penny took this as an indication to leave. You wandered around the room, avoiding people, and mulling over her words. It was a bit odd that you had been hired. Although you had tried to keep yourself from overthinking the reason behind it, now that Penny - a relative outsider - had pointed it out, you felt a little uneasy. Surely, there wasn’t a sinister motive involved…
“Shoot! The tape’s jammed!”
Kevin fumbled with the boombox, trying to open it and take the cassette out. A mass of wriggly black tape shot out after a few moments, startling him enough to make him lose his balance and fall on top of Laila. 
“My dress!” Laila yelled, as the punch spilled on her cream colored outfit. 
“I’m so sorry!” Kevin hastened to get off her, and looked around helplessly.
“Let me take a look at it,” you came over, inspecting the tape and boombox. “I can fix this but I’m not sure about your dress, Laila.”
Kevin was relieved that the tape emergency was over, but one look at Laila’s furious expression wiped the relief off his face. Chef Yuna placated Laila with promises of a home remedy for the stain, while you busied yourself working on the boombox.
Yoongi’s obsession with music, and any and all technology related to music, meant that you had seen him fixing countless tangled cassette tapes before. The boombox hadn’t eaten any of the tape, thankfully, so you looked around for a pen or pencil with which to wind the tape back into place. There didn’t seem to be any in the room, but Michelle told you that there was plenty of stationary in the backroom of the kitchens. 
While walking up the stairs, you noticed something moving about in the shadows. Was it Seokjin being shady again? Surely not…
“UGH!!!!!”
Alas. It was exactly that.
Well, not exactly. This time around, something had frightened him so much that he had let out an almighty shriek, jumped two feet into the air, and accidentally hurled a large bunch of keys in your direction. 
You realized it was accidental because a few seconds later, Seokjin’s frantic voice could be heard searching for the keys.
“Where is it?” he muttered, crawling on all fours. 
You contemplated giving him back the bunch without any fuss. But the image of his annoyingly handsome face staring at you condescendingly made you reconsider your course of action.
“What’re you doing?” you asked, walking up to him slowly. 
Clearly, the man didn’t do well with sudden noises because he let out yet another loud yelp and fell on his backside. 
“What’s wrong with you?!” he demanded. “Why would you sneak up on someone like that?”
“I was walking by when I saw you being shady again. And for the record,” you added, kneeling down beside him. “It wouldn’t feel like I was sneaking up on you if you weren’t sneaking around yourself.”
He frowned at you, and you realised that he was still in his formal work clothes. Although, you could tell that he had been rummaging about for quite a while because his shirt had come untucked and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. You tried not to let the pronounced veins on his arms distract you. The last thing you needed was for his obnoxiously large ego to become even more bloated by realizing that you found him extremely attractive.
But really, you didn’t need to worry about him realizing anything. For Kim Seokjin was busily trying to comprehend the fact that you were wearing a relatively short dress and kneeling down next to him. Never before had he contemplated how long and slender your legs were - but now that he had caught more than a glimpse, he couldn’t quite get those thoughts to leave him.
“What were you doing, anyway?” you asked, realizing that no one had spoken for a significant amount of time. “I’m beginning to think you’re either a sleepwalker or a very clumsy pervert.”
That seemed to snap him out of it. He got up quickly and dusted his pants, glaring at you the entire time.
“Neither. And you need to mind your own business, Lost Check-in.”
It was your turn to frown. “Stop calling me that.”
“Stop getting in my way,” he retorted.
“Tell me what you’re up to.”
“Or else what? You’ll get me into trouble?” he sneered.
You smirked and brought the bunch of keys out from behind your back. “Not at all. I’ll just keep the hotel’s main set of keys to myself and watch you get yourself into trouble.”
“Give that back!” He lunged at you, trying to get the keys back.
You should have thought this through more thoroughly. The initial advantage you had was now gone, and instead, the man before you was able to use his height and ample shoulders to his full advantage and trap you against the wall. You held the keys behind your back, determined to keep them away from him as long as possible.
Now that you were backed up to the wall, Seokjin had to press himself flush against you in order to get closer to the keys. His hands moved wildly, trying to feel for the keys and brushing against your thighs instead. 
The sudden contact made you jolt upwards, knocking both your heads together and temporarily ceasing the fight. 
Although, if anyone had seen the two of you, they definitely wouldn’t have thought you were in the middle of a fight - the angles and movements were much more like two people feeling each other up very heatedly.
“You’re such a pain,” Seokjin muttered, rubbing the spot on his forehead you had bumped into. The tips of his fingers were placed very gently against his forehead, but somehow the movement itself was extremely aggressive.
The image was so bizarre that you burst into giggles, doubling over and collapsing onto the floor. He stared at you for a few moments before the corners of his lips started twitching upwards as well. Sighing slowly, he sat down next to you.
“You’re very strange,” he said, though it lacked the usual crisp annoyance.
“You’re one to talk. Lurking in shadowy corners on more than one occasion,” you retorted, giving him a pointed look.
He sighed. “If you must know, I’m looking for the treasure.”
You quirked an eyebrow. “What?”
“Growing up at the hotel, I had always heard about rumors of a great treasure that was hidden somewhere here. Mind you, no one really knew anything concrete about this treasure. But the rumors were always fantastically exciting.” He paused, leaning his head back against the wall.
“If you’ve known about it for so many years, why are you searching for it now?” you asked.
“Because I don’t think the hotel will be running much longer.”
You raised your eyebrows in surprise. “Why not?”
“Financial problems. I won’t bore you with the details, but it’s not been looking good for the past year.” A sad smile graced his features. “This hotel is my home, and it feels weird to think about a time where it won’t be a part of my life anymore. But I have to plan for the future, look ahead and make sure there’s a plan b in case the worst comes to.”
You remained silent. How were you supposed to respond to this?
“Anyway,” he continued. “Can I have the keys back?”
You looked at him, surveying his features closely. Once you moved beyond how handsome he was, you could see the determination in his eyes as well. This man was a survivor - just like you. That’s why you decided on your next course of action.
“I’ll help you.”
He blinked a few times. “Huh?”
“I’ll help you,” you repeated, handing the bunch of keys to him. “I’ll help you look for the treasure.”
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It had been a week since you had started working at the hotel. Chef Yuna was satisfied with your work and hired you on a six-month contract.
“That way,” she said, while passing the contract to you. “You are free to leave the hotel if you find somewhere else you want to join. If not, we can just draw up another contract for you to continue.”
You smiled at her. She really was a very kind and compassionate person, who always looked out for the people around her. Unlike her son… 
Although maybe Kim Seokjin wasn’t as bad as you had originally thought he was.
“Lost Check-in! Don’t you look lovely today!”
Correction: he was just as bad as you had thought.
“Can you not breathe down my neck, Manager?” you said, through gritted teeth. He was currently standing right behind you, staring at the soup from over your shoulder. The close proximity meant that you could feel his breath on your neck - which was extremely unsettling.
He backed away a little and stared at you with mischief dancing in his eyes. You frowned and crossed your arms across your chest, anticipating some kind of sabotage. And sure enough, he suddenly leaned forward, brushing his lips against your ear.
“Do you know where the gummy bears are?” He pulled away slightly, tilting his head and gazing at you inquiringly.
“The gummy bears…?” you repeated, slightly dazed by the sensation of his lips on your ear.
He grinned and flicked your forehead softly. “I’ll just ask Laila.”
Apparently, Seokjin had a slight gummy bear addiction. Chef Yuna had banned any sort of gummies from the kitchen for that exact reason. Somehow, Seokjin managed to overcome that obstacle as well - he would ask the grocer to smuggle in his favorite rose colored gummy bears, even going as far as saying some guests had requested it but wanted it kept a secret. 
Laila, who you thought had a pretty obvious crush on Seokjin, was chosen as the gummy guardian in the kitchen, and occasionally, Kevin also helped hide the stash when things got too chaotic. It was only Michelle who would possibly disapprove, and therefore, was kept completely in the dark. 
“What was the manager talking to you about earlier, y/n?” Michelle came over to you after tea had been prepared for the guests. 
“Oh, uh-” you saw Laila desperately shaking her head from behind the counter. “Nothing in particular. He was just being tiresome.”
Michele frowned but nodded her head. “Okay. Just don’t fall for what he says, okay? Do your job properly and listen to Chef’s instructions. Everything will be fine that way.”
You nodded your head. What a curious thing to say… You wondered what had brought about this response from Michelle. Everyone in the hotel seemed to be very fairly fond of, if not incredibly smitten with, Seokjin. This was the first time you were witnessing such an explicitly negative response towards him. Even Madam Iris and her husband maintained a level of aloofness associated with the upper class. 
“Why does Michelle hate you?” You were standing next to Seokjin as he tried to jimmy the lock on a random cupboard in some random room. You still hadn’t been able to figure out what his process for finding the treasure was - it just seemed like a bunch of inaccurate guesses. But at least he had finally relented to your persistent nagging and asked you to join him on his next escapade.
“Why do you think she hates me?” he asked, frowning as the lock wouldn’t budge. When you didn’t respond, he turned towards you and chuckled at the skeptical expression on your face. “Okay yes, she isn’t particularly fond of me.”
“I figured that much out myself, funnily enough. What I’m asking is why?”
He hesitated a little, as if trying to find the right way to explain the situation. “Michelle and I were - uhm - we had a brief dalliance a couple of years ago. In fact, it was right after she had started working here. Things didn’t end well…”
You pressed your lips together, desperately trying to keep a straight face. It didn’t help that the tips of Seokjin’s ears had started to turn red as he finished recounting his story.
“You played her, didn’t you?” 
“No way! I would never-” he stopped, realising that you would not fall for his stories. “Yeah well, it’s not like I promised to marry her or something! We just kissed a few times and she helped get a couple of persistent guests off my back.”
“Yeah, you played her.”
He sighed, pushing past you on his way out of the room. “Whatever.”
It was incredibly amusing to see him annoyed and flustered like this. You made it a point to find out a few other things that would possibly elicit the same reaction from him. Maybe there was a particularly scandalous gummy bear story you could wedge out of Laila. 
Just as you both rounded the corner, something small and fidgety dashed into you, successfully knocking you off your feet. 
“Hey! What the hell?”
The bane of every hotel staff’s existence, the reason why a large crate of tomatoes had rolled down the main flight of stairs, the culprit behind the large pudding stain on the special ivory tablecloths, the spoilt young heir of the hotel - Ryan Farrow sat on the floor opposite you, seemingly delighted about the fact that he had managed to topple a new victim.
“Watch where you’re going, kid,” you said, trying to keep your temper in check. You had heard dozens of stories about the terrors unleashed upon your coworkers by this child, and even though this was your first direct interaction with him, you were already extremely annoyed.
“You watch where you’re going, old lady!” he yelled, scrambling to his feet and sticking his tongue out. 
“I am not an old lady!” you yelled, chasing after him as he began running off in the direction he had come from. “Hey! Get back here! You should say sor-”
The sight of a very displeased Madam Iris stopped you in your tracks. Ryan grinned at you from behind his mother, made a series of unfortunate gestures, and ran off before you could chase after him.
“Y/n,” Madam Iris spoke with a calmness not reflected in her eyes. “I’m not sure I understand what you were doing just now.”
You stood still, knowing that she had more to say, more excessively long sentences to use, more haughty expressions to display. 
“I can’t imagine that you’d be chasing my son around the hotel,” she continued, raising a thin eyebrow. “Yelling at him to apologize to you. What exactly would my son need to apologize to you for?”
“I wasn’t yelling at him,” you replied, stiffly. “He was too far away so I had to speak loudly. Also, he was running through the corridors very fast and could’ve hurt himself along with someone else. I was ju-”
“How dare you?” she frowned at you. “How dare you think you have any right to tell my son what he can and cannot do? This is basically his hotel. You work for him as much as you do for me and my mother.”
You bit your lip harshly to stop yourself from saying something that would land you in further trouble. 
“If I ever see you treating my son like that ever again,” she looked you up and down with a disdainful expression. “I will have you sacked immediately. Understood?”
You didn’t trust yourself to say anything more. Madam Iris gave you one final look of disapproval and walked off. 
“That was quite something.” 
You groaned and buried your face in your hands. “I don’t feel like listening to your bullshit right now, Seokjin.”
After getting no response, you removed your hands from your face, only to be greeted by a large hand full of rose gummy bears. Seokjin stood in front of you, wiggling his eyebrows and nose, trying to indicate that you should take some of the gummy bears from his hand.
He looked cute. 
“Is there something wrong with these gummy bears?” you asked, once you had recovered from his oddly endearing actions. 
He frowned, a soft pout forming. “I’m appalled. Whatever differences we may have, Lost Check-in, I would never put my precious gummy bears in danger.”
You remained unconvinced, so he picked up a single gummy bear between his thumb and index finger, and popped it into his mouth. After a couple of chews, he thrust the gummy bears towards you, gently bobbing his head up and down to signal to you that it was safe to try some.
You rolled your eyes and picked up a couple of them. Seokjin was watching you intently, trying to gauge your reaction to his favorite treat. 
Your first instinct was to say that you hated it - it would be so much fun to watch his disappointment. But his large brown eyes were filled with a clear emotion - anticipation - the kind you feel when introducing your best friend to something you love. At least, that’s what you’d imagine the feeling would be, because you never really had a best friend before. 
“I like it.” It was a simple statement but somehow, it managed to earn a full-blown smile from him.
“Excellent! I knew you’d like it!”
Your face felt hot as he grabbed your hand and shoved the rest of the gummy bears into it.
“Oh, and I got this for you.” He reached into the inside of his suit jacket and pulled out a battered looking document. “It’s a map of the hotel - it’s quite old but I’ve scribbled down any new additions or structures that may have been added more recently.”
“Where’d you get this?” you asked, trying to avoid the more pressing question of why he was going out of his way to give this to you.
“Madam Eva gave it to me,” he replied, simply. 
“Madam Eva? Why would she give you a map of the hotel? Didn’t you grow up here? Why would you need it anyway?” The questions poured out before you could really check yourself.
“Oh hush, Lost Check-in,” he tutted, shaking his head. “I got it from her to give to you. So you wouldn’t keep losing yourself in dark corridors. I wouldn’t want you to bump into someone else like you did with me.”
“Huh?” was your very intelligent response.
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Corridors. So many corridors. None of them leading anywhere. Just an endless path. No destination in sight. No doors on any sides. No rooms. Not a single person around. You were all alone. A single object far away. Too far away. The corridor doesn’t end. A figure in black. Growing larger. It was coming for you-
“It was a nightmare… thank god...” You woke up in a cold sweat, breathing harshly as you struggled to gather your surroundings. 
You were in your room, the gentle sounds of Michelle’s snores calming you down while you got up to get a drink of water. It didn’t seem like you would be able to get to sleep anytime soon so you decided to study the map Seokjin had given you. 
It was no wonder you kept getting lost in the hotel - it was massive and there were a number of rooms within rooms whose existence you wouldn’t be aware of unless you specifically knew where to find them. 
Your eyes wandered over to the top left corner of the map. That particular section of the map was much more faded than the rest of it, making it hard to decipher exactly what was there.
“Seokjin!” You burst into his room just as the clock struck 6 in the morning. “I think I know where we should be searching next! Th-”
You nearly collided with the table in the centre of the room as you realised exactly what you had stumbled upon. 
Seokjin doing his morning stretches. Seokjin, with bed hair and rosy cheeks, doing morning stretches. Seokjin, wearing a peach colored t-shirt and tiny pink shorts, with bed hair and rosy cheeks, doing morning stretches. Seokjin, whose ears were now a bright red, wearing a peach colored t-shirt and tiny pink shorts, with bed hair and rosy cheeks, doing morning stretches.
“Y/n?” he asked, looking very confused.
“Thigh- I mean, hi!” You looked away from the lower half of his body, donned in the most ridiculously tiny pair of tennis shorts you had ever laid eyes on. “I have an idea.”
“Okay? Is it related to knocking before you burst into someone’s room at the crack of dawn?” he replied, grinning cheekily.
“Shut up!” you scoffed, turning away from him. You didn’t need him to see how affected you were.
“Okay, just gimme a minute.”
Soon, he was back, appropriately dressed and smelling like strawberries. Of course he smelled like strawberries…
“So what was your great idea?” he asked, sitting down on the floor.
“I was looking through the map of the hotel,” you said, opening it up. “And this place right here on the top left corner of the map - I think this place would be worth a shot.”
“No.”
“No? Why not?!” You were slightly annoyed at how quickly he dismissed your suggestion.
“Because,” he said, pulling the map closer to himself. “This is where the Chavalenet suites are located.”
“Oh…” You frowned at the map. “But that means there’s a greater chance of finding the treasure over there! Have you looked there before?”
“No, because only select staff are allowed there during fixed hours. Madam Iris insists on it.”
You crossed your arms over your chest. “I think we should check it out. Come on, we’ll be very careful! They’ll never know we were there!”
The earnest look in your eyes seemed to make Seokjin waver. He stared at you for a few moments before shaking his head resignedly. 
“What’s the worst that could happen… Ah, fine. Let’s plan on exploring that section of the hotel while dinner is being served. I know that Anthony requested a special performance by that famous children’s magician, so they should be occupied for much longer than usual.”
You grinned, collecting the map and getting ready to leave the room. “I’ll meet you outside the kitchens at 7!”
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It was exactly twenty past 7 when you rushed out of the kitchen, nearly colliding with Seokjin in the process. He tapped his watch a few times, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly.  
“I hate that woman!” you huffed angrily, slipping into your jacket. “She actually requested that I peel all the potatoes for tonight’s dinner. Do you know how many potatoes were served tonight? 200!”
“You peeled 200 potatoes by yourself?” Seokjin raised his eyebrows in alarm. 
“No,” you sighed. “Chef Yuna got Laila to help me out but Madam Iris kept popping in every few minutes so she had to go back to doing something else. Mind you, I might not have finished at all tonight if she hadn’t helped me. But it still took an insane amount of time.”
The two of you walked towards the Chavalenets’ section of the hotel. It was located at the back of the building, effectively cut off from the usually busy portions of the hotel. 
“Why is this family so weird?” you complained, picking at a thread on your jacket. “One doesn’t speak, one is an evil tyrant, one is a spineless asshole, and don’t even get me started on the kid!”
Seokjin chuckled softly. “They weren’t always so weird. Especially not Madam Eva.”
“Really? I don’t believe it. She just sits there and watches her daughter do whatever she wants.”
“No, it’s true. She was a very powerful woman - used to command the attention of everyone in the room. Everyone respected her and she really cared about everyone in the hotel - staff and guests included. In fact, she was the one who introduced special events for guests during the evenings. She also had part of the hotel renovated so that there were more staff quarters.”
“So what happened?”
“A couple of things. About 15 years ago, Madam Eva’s husband passed away quite suddenly. Everyone was pretty shocked, but in hindsight it shouldn’t have been such a surprise. He liked to live it up - smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish, and ate everything the doctors specifically asked him to avoid. Anyway, around the time of his death, rumors about the treasure started circulating. There was speculation that he had left something behind but hadn’t told the rest of the family. Overall, his death created a lot of upheaval in terms of property and inheritance issues.”
Seokjin paused, pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly.
“It was about two years after that that Madam Eva’s son and his family died in a car crash. Adrian, his wife Sophie, and their little girl - who funnily enough had the same name as you.”
“Really?!” you asked, eyes widening in surprise. That would explain why Chef Yuna and the Chavalenets had reacted so strangely when they had heard your name.
“Yeah,” he said, turning towards you with a sad smile. “I still remember that day clearly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Madam Eva as devastated as she had been that day. The police barely managed to stop her from going to the crash site. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if she had managed to get there - apparently, the explosion was so bad that only a few body parts were recovered.”
“Wow…” You didn’t know what to say. The story sounded horrible on its own - what must it have been to actually have to live through it?
“Anyway, here we are” -Seokjin pointed at a couple of large doors next to each other - “that’s Madam Iris’ study and her and Anthony’s bedroom next to it. On the other end of the corridor is Madam Eva’s room and an empty ballroom where they sometimes hold meetings.”
“Okay, let’s start with the study.”
Madam Iris’ study was a very well organized room. There was no way you could rummage through it without moving something out of place. Seokjin suggested that each item should be returned to its place as soon as it was inspected, making sure that nothing was left to be put back at the end. It seemed like a pretty efficient system, but unfortunately, there appeared to be nothing useful that could point you towards the treasure.
“I knew it!” Seokjin stood up and waved a large paper notebook frantically. “I knew she was tampering with the books! There’s no way the hotel could be doing as badly as she claimed!”
You frowned and took a quick glance at the notebook. Not being familiar with any of the accounts, you looked at Seokjin for some help. He began explaining every single mistake with a feverish excitement, his words coming out faster as he got more excited. 
Suddenly, you heard a noise from outside the room. 
There was no need to check who it was - in whatever scenario, you and Seokjin could not be caught rifling through the papers in Madam Iris’ room. 
“Seokjin!” you whispered frantically. “Shut up! There’s someone coming!”
He wasn’t paying any attention to you, excitedly rattling off different things from the notebook. The voices were getting closer and in a last desperate attempt, you pulled him behind the large red curtains and smashed your lips to his.
That seemed to shut him up for a moment. But as he realized that your lips were on his, he attempted to pull away. There was no way you could risk letting Seokjin talk right now. So you moved your lips over his, kissing him fast and hard, while your fingers frantically tapped a pattern onto his left arm. Hopefully he would notice the pressure on his arm and understand that you were trying to tell him something - that you were trying to tell him to shut up for a few minutes.
Thankfully, he stopped struggling after a few taps on his arm, focusing on kissing you instead. 
You nearly missed out on the conversation happening at the other end of the room because Seokjin’s lips were just so damn powerful.
“Iris,” you recognized Madam Eva’s voice, low and stern. “I’m running out of patience. When is that lawyer husband of yours going to be done with the new staff contracts?”
“Mother, please, have patience. Anthony can’t just rush through such an important task. We need to everything is absolutely perfect before handing it over to you.”
“You have until the end of the month,” Madam Eva said, her voice ringing with finality. 
The door slammed shut and the sound of the two pairs of footsteps slowly receded into silence.
It took you a few seconds to realise that the coast was clear. Pulling away from him hastily, you took in the sight of his bruised lips and dazed expression. Pushing aside the delighted feeling blooming in the pit of your stomach, you brought his attention to the conversation you both had just overheard. 
“Sorry about that - I had to find some way to shut you up quickly! But more importantly, we need to find those contracts! Did you hear what they were saying? I’m sure Iris is planning something sinister!”
Seokjin had not, in fact, heard anything that had been said. His brain had started glitching as soon as your lips had descended on his. But it was only when you started tapping his hand, did his world come crashing around him. 
“Y/n! We aren’t supposed to be here! I’ll get into trouble if they find me here!” 
9 year old Seokjin had quite a few reservations about raiding the special chocolate cabinet that was kept locked and stored inside the grand ballroom. 
“Shh!” you whispered, pouting at him. “If you keep screaming like that, they’ll definitely find us!”
“What?!” Panic seized his entire body, the words spilling out of his mouth before he could think about them. “I knew it! This is a disaster! I’m going to be in so much trouble! Mum is gonna-”
The feeling of something soft on his cheeks made him halt his word vomit. Your lips, to be precise. 
Before he could overreact to this as well, you began tapping his forearm rhythmically. The movement snapped him out of shock, alerting him to the fact that two of the hotel staff were currently taking away the old centre pieces on the tables. 
He pulled away from you slowly, nodding his head to let you know that he would be quiet until they left.
It was a good 15 minutes later that the coast was finally clear. However, Seokjin’s ears were still red and his cheeks felt like they were on fire.
“Sorry, Jin,” you apologized, grinning at him mischievously. “I had to shut you up quickly!”
It came back to him in a rush. A pile of memories, falling from the sky and burying him under the emotions he had kept locked up for more than a decade.
He couldn’t believe that this was happening. Madam Eva’s beloved granddaughter was still alive. You were still alive. You were Madam Eva’s granddaughter.
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“I can’t believe I kissed him like that!”
You were currently having a mini meltdown inside your room. Thankfully, Michelle was still working so you had the whole place to yourself to rant about your ridiculous choice of actions.
“I could’ve just covered his mouth with my hand!” You buried your face in your hands. “But NO! I had to use my mouth to cover his mouth! What was I thinking? No! What is he thinking?! Fuck!”
This was getting too much. Your face felt unbelievably hot, and you couldn’t make sense of your own actions. It wasn’t as if you hadn’t kissed a guy before - in fact, those sloppy kisses you had shared with Yoongi’s best friend, Hoseok, had been quite enjoyable. But that was after Hoseok had said that he liked you - you hadn’t just jumped him out of nowhere!
“I’m such an idiot!” you groaned. 
There was no point screaming to yourself inside the room. Perhaps a walk around the hotel would help you calm down. You’d probably get lost again and it would take hours for you to find your way back. The perfect distraction!
The walk was beginning to do the trick - you were so busy examining the different paintings and statues lining the corridors that you ended up at some random part of the hotel, too immersed in what you had found to overthink the kiss.
“A piano?” You walked into the small room, marveling at the beautiful ivory piano situated in a corner. 
“It looks like no one’s used this in years,” you muttered to yourself, opening the keylid and lightly running your fingers over the keys. “Shame… it looks so magnificent.”
An idea popped up in your head. When the Mins had found you 12 years ago, the only object in your possession had been a roughly folded set of sheet music. Yoongi had saved up enough money to buy a second hand piano - but there hadn’t been enough keys on it to play the last page of the sheet music. 
But this grand piano would do nicely. 
Sneaking a peak around the room, you made sure that no one else was there. The last thing you needed was for Madam Iris or anyone from her family to catch you here. 
“Okay, let’s try this.”
The first note sounded rich, and the tone was definitely of more superior quality than the one you had practiced on with Yoongi. As you continued playing the piece, your thoughts wandered over to the Mins. A wave of homesickness hit you suddenly and images of the cafe sailed through your mind - you wondered how they were doing. Was the cafe managing a little better now? Maybe you’d use one of the hotel’s telephones to call Yoongi and see how they were doing…
“Huh?” You stopped playing, confused by the sound coming from the key you had just played. 
You were now on the last page of the sheet music - your right hand on the highest scale available. The e flat key did not sound right, and you checked the sheet music to make sure you were playing the right one. 
“No… this seems right. Why does it sound off?” you wondered, pressing the key a little harder this time.
All of a sudden, there was a loud creak and one of the wooden panels behind you sprung open. You nearly fell off the piano stool in shock, just barely managing to hold on as you waited for someone to jump out from the shadows and attack you.
Thankfully, no one did. But the panel remained open, subtly inviting you inside.
“What’s the harm in checking it out?” you reasoned with yourself. “No one’s going to find out.”
And so, you stepped through the opening, walking into a very large room filled with trunks of different sizes, a few large cabinets, and dozens of pictures set up all over. It almost resembled some kind of store room. Upon closer inspection, you realized that all the pictures were of the same people - a young man with a soft smile, a very beautiful woman standing next to him, and a little girl who never seemed to be facing the camera when the picture was taken.
They looked so familiar. Like something out of a dream. A dream that you were struggling to grasp at as it slipped away into your subconscious. 
With every picture you examined, the ache inside your chest grew. Soon, there were tears falling from your eyes as an overwhelming rush of memories hit you like a ton of bricks. Your father showing you the different keys on the piano while your mother fussed about not having enough time to teach you how to write. Your grandmother talking you on walks through the property, telling you stories about how there used to be deer and rabbits before most of the greenery was cleared away. Your family showering you with so much love while you raced about the hotel making new friends, playing hide and seek, and dragging your best friend along with you.
“It can’t be…” you wiped away your tears furiously. “How can this be true…”
You sat down on one of the trunks, burying your face in your hands. Your head hurt. Your chest hurt. Everything hurt. You wanted to cry. You also wanted to punch your way through the hard stone walls. 
You felt… lost.
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“Are you sure?” Anthony asked his wife, the fear very apparent in his voice.
Madam Iris snapped at him. “Of course I’m sure! Would I be joking about something like this?”
Anthony gulped and looked down at his hands. “So Adrian and Sophie’s kid is still alive… what if they are too?!”
“No, they’re not,” she replied, shaking her head definitely. “I saw their bodies in the crash. It was just that pesky kid I couldn’t find…”
“You don’t think she’s back for revenge, do you?” 
“I’m pretty sure she has no idea about her true identity,” Madam Iris contemplated. “But it’s better to not take any chances - we should get rid of her quickly. Before someone else realizes who she is.”
Anthony stared at his wife doubtfully. “Doesn’t that seem a little extreme? I mean… she’ll probably never figure it out if she hasn’t already.”
“My darling,” Madam Iris sat beside him and took his hand in hers. “How many times have I told you not to use that little brain of yours? It’s landed us in a fix quite a few times already. So please, leave the planning to me. And just do as I say.”
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“You aren’t joking, right?”
Seokjin sighed and shook his head. He had been trying to explain everything to his mother for the past half an hour - but every few minutes, she would give him a skeptical look and ask if he was playing some kind of elaborate prank.
“Why would I joke about something like this?”
Chef Yuna rubbed her forehead tiredly. “It did catch me by surprise when she said her name was ‘y/n’. My mind immediately thought of the little girl running around the hotel, stealing everyone’s hearts.”
Seokjin smiled softly, recalling all the memories he had of you when you were both children. 
“Including yours, if I remember correctly,” his mother teased him.
Seokjin’s ears turned red and he cleared his throat loudly. “I don’t know how to tell her… that she’s part of the Chavalenet family. Probably even the next heir if we consider the inheritance laws.”
Chef Yuna nodded her head. “The oldest child of the oldest child will inherit the property.”
She looked at her son who was busily examining the skin around his fingernails - a habit he had picked up around the time of his promotion. It signaled a great amount of anxiety inside him. 
“Maybe you should talk to Madam Eva about this,” she said, gently. “It’s probably the best course of action right now.”
Seokjin nodded his head. Somewhere in his mind, he knew that Madam Eva would have to be told about this revelation. It was the next logical step - she would be the best person to tell you the truth.
But his heart felt heavy. On one hand, he was incredibly glad that you were still alive - his childhood friend, the only person he ever remembered being really close to. On the other hand, this meant that both of you belonged in separate worlds - worlds which were leagues apart, worlds which didn’t have any place for each other.
A part of him, selfishly, wanted to keep the truth to himself, and be able to stay by your side for a bit longer. Over the past couple of days, he had come to the startling revelation that he had feelings for you - and the thought of never being able to act on those feelings made his heart clench painfully. 
He wanted to kiss you again - properly, this time. But now, even if you somehow managed to return his feelings, there was no way the two of you would ever work out.
Life was quite unfair sometimes.
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Madam Eva had tears in her eyes as she hugged you tightly to her chest. Soft sobs wracked her entire person, and you patted her back awkwardly.
“My sweet child,” she managed to say between sobs. “My sweet y/n. I can’t believe that you’re here in front of me! That you’re alive! I missed you so much!”
Truth be told, you were very overwhelmed by everything that had been going on the past couple of days. You had even briefly contemplated running away and going back to the Mins. 
But then Seokjin had told Madam Eva the truth - the truth you had no idea he was aware of.
And that had stung.
“How long have you known?” you asked him, once things had quietened down a little. 
“Two days,” he replied. His eyes looked sad and that annoyed you even more. Why was he sad?! He was the one who had figured out your identity and then revealed it to your family without once thinking of telling you anything! If anyone should be sad, it should be you.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Your tone was clipped as you tried your best to control the anger underneath.
“Huh?” 
You uncrossed your arms from over your chest. “If you knew, why didn’t you tell me? I should’ve been the first to know! I’m the one it affects most! How could you not tell me?!”
Seokjin recoiled a little. “I- uh- wasn’t completely sure. I didn’t want to confuse you.”
You let out a mirthless laugh. “How considerate! You didn’t want to confuse me? Well how do you think I feel now?! I was ambushed by a family and a past that I wasn’t prepared to confront! I was barely able to wrap my head around the memories that suddenly assaulted me when the whole hotel came crashing down on me in tears and embraces! HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL, SEOKJIN?!”
You were yelling now as tears streamed down your face. Seokjin attempted to reach out to you but you brushed his hand aside roughly.
“Don’t touch me.” The words felt like they were choking inside your throat. “And don’t talk to me. Ever.”
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You didn’t have much time to yourself as the hotel began preparing celebrations in honor of your return. The first item on the agenda was a bonfire organized by your grandmother. Everyone was very excited about it because it had been years since she had actively taken part in any hotel event. 
“Feels like the good old days!” Chef Yuna said, barely able to contain the excitement in her voice. “You lot have never been to an event organized by Madam Eva - they’re really a once in a lifetime kind of experience!”
It was just around dusk that everyone gathered around a large bonfire, prepared for an evening of song, dance, and wonderful food. The guests along with the hotel staff were extremely excited about the bonfire, but there were three faces that looked like they would rather be anywhere else but here.
The first was Madam Iris, whose hazel eyes burned with a cold anger as she watched everyone fuss over you. The second was her husband, Anthony Farrow, who looked pale and kept glancing at his wife nervously. And the third was you, who felt like you deserved none of this and couldn’t reconcile whatever was going on with what you had known for so many years.
“It has been many years since my heart felt any kind of joy,” Madam Eva began, looking around with a bright smile. “As many of you know, I lost my husband 15 years ago, and shortly afterwards, my son and daughter-in-law were killed in a car crash. All these years, I thought that I had lost my darling granddaughter as well - but somehow, the heavens have granted me a miracle. It’s been so many years since I last saw you, my dear y/n, and I cannot express how happy I am to see you again.”
Everyone clapped and cheered as she gave you another hug. Maybe you didn’t deserve it, but it felt nice to be showered with so much love and affection. You just wished you could remember something more - you had absolutely no memory of the car accident that had killed your parents even though many other little details about your past were very clear. 
“Please, everyone help yourselves to the food and drinks prepared by our talented Chef Yuna and her incredible team!”
Halfway through the event, everyone had scattered to different parts of the grounds. Besides the main bonfire, a number of small heating devices had been set up so that people could stay warm outdoors. 
You had just finished a small plate filled with dishes Chef Yuna had made. They were all incredible but everything felt like sandpaper in your mouth. You wondered when it would be okay for you to go back inside without it looking too impolite. 
Trudging back to the bonfire, you noticed that only Madam Iris was sitting there. You were in no mood to interact with her - she hadn’t been subtle about expressing her dislike towards you even after finding out who you really were.
Just before you could turn back, she stood up and walked over to pick up something that had fallen on the ground. She was wearing a billowy black cloak over her expensive clothes and the bonfire behind her illuminated her silhouette like…
The air is full of smoke. You cough and sit up, looking around for your parents.
“Mum! Dad!” you yell, coughing furiously. “Wh-where are you?!”
The smoke is getting in your eyes and you rub at them to try and clear your vision. You try and get up but the shooting pain in your left leg stops you. There’s a huge gash below your knee, red and brown as the dirt on the road mixes with your blood. 
“Mum! Dad!” you scream again, hoping that they might finally hear you. “Help me, please!”
Suddenly, a huge explosion rocks the area, sending you flying into the nearest obstacle. 
Your back hurts as you try and sit up again, trying to see where the explosion came from. Your eyes catch sight of a brilliant orange light, roaring against the night sky. 
A fire. 
And in front of the fire, stands a figure in a black cloak, looking so frightening that you start crying in fear.
“HELP!” you yell, struggling to get to your feet. 
The figure is getting closer and something inside you knows that you need to get away from it.
“HELP ME! PLEASE!” You have somehow managed to stand up, but fear keeps you paralyzed in place.
A sudden gust of wind blows through the night, shifting the direction of the embers, and you catch a glimpse of their face.
Suddenly, the ground beneath you wobbles and you find yourself hurtling down the side of the road. You try desperately to grab onto something but your momentum is too strong. You finally come to a stop after crashing into a tree, the last of your consciousness slipping away as the face comes back to haunt you.
It is your aunt, Iris.
“It was you!” you screamed, as the memories came back - the car crash, the chase that led to the crash, your parents’ frantic voices, your mother pushing you out of the car before it crashed. “You were there that night! You were chasing our car that night! You’re the one who watched us crash and didn’t do anything about it! You killed my parents!”
Madam Iris glared at you with unbridled hatred. “Shut up! Just SHUT UP! You ruined everything, you stupid little bitch! I was this close to getting everything!”
A fight ensued as Iris attacked you with all her might. At one point, Anthony joined in as well, and you were worried that you would be outnumbered. But somehow, Seokjin managed to find you and subdued Anthony quickly. After that, it didn’t take long for you to get the better of Iris - a few punches and she was down. 
“Why are you doing this?” you asked her, panting for breath. 
She sat down by the tree, exhausted, but spitting venom from her eyes. “Fuck you.”
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It turned out that Iris didn’t need to say anything. As soon as your grandmother had looked at Anthony sternly, the frightened man had opened his mouth and spilled each and every one of his wife’s secrets. It was quite a sad story overall. 
On that fateful night, 12 years ago, your father had found the ‘treasure’. Both he and Iris had been looking for it for days, believing that it was either a lot of priceless jewels or some very important property papers. After your father had found it, he had tried his best to keep it hidden, but Iris had found out about it anyway. A huge argument had taken place, following which your father had decided to run away with you and your mother. You had all snuck out in the middle of the night, driving off in a car with some of your belongings. Iris had given chase and watched as the car had crashed and then burst into flames. She had also believed that you had rolled down the edge of the road to your death. 
Over the past 12 years, she had tried to find out where your father had hidden the treasure, but did not succeed. In fact, it was you who had stumbled across it the night that you had found the hidden room behind the wooden panel. 
Alas! The treasure was not so much a treasure as a horrific surprise. Your grandfather had apparently sold off the hotel a few days before his death - and hidden the fact from everyone, including his wife and children. However, he had hidden the legal papers so that neither the new owners nor his family would ever be able to prove the fact. It was one last ridiculous game he had played before succumbing to all his vices. 
Iris’ grand plans of selling the hotel citing financial losses - which she had orchestrated herself - had also been foiled by the discovery of those papers. She and Anthony had been taken into police custody for further questioning. 
Your grandmother had taken the news of the sale relatively well. She had immediately packed her bags and left to visit the new owners, hoping to garner some goodwill in the process.
All of this had happened in a matter of a few hours, and you had completely forgotten about the injuries you had sustained from fighting your aunt. So, that was why you were currently sitting in the room behind the front desk, trying not to fidget as Seokjin tended to your wounds.
“That was… an interesting series of events,” he said, trying to ease the tension in the air. “I never really liked that woman but I definitely didn’t think she was that crazy.”
You remained silent. Seokjin continued to clean the cuts and scrapes carefully. Once again, you noticed how he gently held the cotton swab but then shook it vigorously to get the excess antiseptic off. It was strangely endearing, and made you want to laugh and cry at the same time.
“Jin?” you used your nickname for him. 
He looked up from the cut on your knee, eyes wide in surprise. 
“Do you have any rose gummy bears?”
He blinked a few times before smiling and nodding his head. Quickly finishing up with the rest of injuries, he asked you to wait while he raided the secret stash. 
“Here.” He handed you a small bag full of his favorite gummy bears and sat down next to you.
You gave him a small smile and took out a couple of gummy bears, swiftly popping them into your mouth. Seokjin said nothing, waiting patiently for you to finish eating as many as you wanted.
“Can I tell you something?” you asked, after a while.
“Of course.”
“I really want to kiss you right now.”
Seokjin’s ears turned red as he stared at the wall in front of him. His side profile was so gorgeous, soft lines defining his strong features. 
“Can I?” you asked, making him turn towards you. “Not to distract you. Not to prevent people from finding us. Nothing like that. Just” - you tilted your head to one side - “because I want to.”
He nodded his head slowly, giving you the permission you hadn’t asked for the last time. 
You drew him closer and softly kissed his lips. After a few seconds, he responded as well, cupping your cheek with his hand, and returning your kisses with enthusiasm.
“Why do you want to?” he asked, in between kisses. “Why do you want to kiss me?”
You pulled away and frowned at him. “You’re an ass. Why do you think I want to?”
He grinned, kissing you behind each ear and starting a slow path down your neck. “Indulge me.”
“It’s because- ugh!” you gasped as he nipped at the sensitive spot near your collarbone. “Because - because -”
He stopped his assault on your neck, eyes twinkling playfully. “Because?”
“Two can play at this game,” you muttered, incredibly embarrassed and equally turned on. You moved over to sit on his lap, grinding against him while leaving open mouthed kisses along his neck. Once his entire neck was sufficiently covered with light nips, you moved back to his lips, kissing him deep and hard.
“Y/n,” he gasped into your mouth. “I’m going to explode.”
“Are you now?” you whispered, swiping your tongue into his mouth and feeling your insides curl with pleasure. “Good.”
“I’m serious,” he managed to say between some very loud moans. “I’ll ruin my pants if we keep going like this.”
“Fine,” you said, hopping off and making quick work of his belt buckle. “Take it off then.”
“W-what?” he choked, unable to believe what he had just heard.
“Take off your pants.” You raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down carefully. “Do you know how many times I've thought about seeing that cock of yours after walking in on you doing morning stretches? Why the hell would you wear such tiny tennis shorts anyway?"
If possible, Seokjin's ears turned even more red. "A-are you sure? We don't need to rush or anything."
"Yeah, we don't. But I want to. So," you said, rubbing your palms along his legs. "Take off your pants."
Seokjin grinned, the cheeky glint back in his eyes. "If you insist. But I'm not going to be the only one losing their pants."
"With pleasure," you replied.
The pants were off and soon, the two of you were back to kissing each other like there was no tomorrow. His tongue ravaged your mouth while one of his hands dropped down between your legs and started rubbing you over your panties.
"Feels - mhmm - so good." You matched the rhythm of his fingers, bucking your hips into his hand. Your hand also moved down from his neck and palmed his cock, drawing the most delicious moans from him. Very soon your top and his shirt joined the pile of pants, leaving you both in just your underwear.
"Y/n," Seokjin groaned, taking in the sight of your breasts. "You're so hot."
The two of you remained like that for a bit, almost completely naked, tongues down each others' throats and hands rubbing each other into ecstasy. You felt wetness between your legs, clenching violently when he parted your panties and stroked you between your folds.
"Fuck..." you moaned into his mouth.
"Does that feel good, sweetheart?" he mumbled into your mouth. "Do you want me to use my mouth?"
Your brain could barely process what he had said, but you nodded anyway, senses hazy with pleasure.
"Okay, lie down for me, y/n" he said, pulling away from you. "Let me make you feel good."
You lay down on the sofa, legs parted, as Seokjin hovered over you. "So beautiful. So wet."
He began peppering your inner thighs with light kisses, making you squirm in pleasure. Making his way to your core at an agonizingly slow pace, he finally removed your panties and licked a stripe between your folds.
"Jin! Fuck! I-" Your hips shot up at the intense feeling.
He paid no heed to your moans, licking and slurping your pussy until you were absolutely on the edge.
"I'm close! Please!"
Seokjin plunged a finger inside, using his other hand to keep your legs down. The sensation of his long, slender finger inside you combined with the sight of his head between your thighs was enough for you to reach your climax.
Stars exploded in your vision as the orgasm rocked through you. Seokjin continued his beautiful work on your pussy until you breathed a shaky sigh of pleasure.
"Did you like it?" he asked, teasingly. There was no way he could've missed your screams of pleasure.
"How about I show you just how much I liked it?" you asked, sitting up and playing with the band of his underwear.
Seokjin smirked and quickly shimmied out of his underwear. "Be my guest."
Your eyes widened at the sight of his cock - it was huge. Would he even be able to fit?
"Tell me what feels good," you said, licking long stripes up and down his length. Precum was leaking from his tip already, and you used your tongue to tease him further. Seokjin moaned, gripping the fabric of the sofa as you sucked his cock a few times.
"Don't tease, y/n," he managed with a lot of difficulty. "I don't think I can control myself for much longer."
Pressing a few small kisses to his tip, you leaned back and positioned yourself in front of him. "Okay, I think I'm ready."
A pained expression crossed his face as he took in the sight of you kneeling on your knees, waiting for him to cum.
"Maybe next time," he said, pulling you up to him and placing a soft kiss on your lips. "Right now, I want to be inside you."
"Are you sure?" you asked, returning his kiss.
"Yeah, but let's hurry," he mumbled, taking his throbbing red cock in his hand.
You laid down on the sofa again, spreading your legs for him. He positioned the tip of his cock in front of your entrance, rubbing you a few times before entering slowly.
"Tell me if it's too much," he whispered into your ear, before placing kisses all over your face and neck.
"Mm hmm,"you mumbled, getting used to the stretch.
Seokjin moved his mouth from your neck to your breast, placing sloppy kisses on the mounds before taking one of them in his mouth. You shuddered with pleasure as his tongue swirled around your nippled.
Your senses were getting overwhelmed again - Seokjin had started thrusting into you while simultaneously moving his mouth onto your other breast.
"Is this okay?" he managed between thrusts, his voice hoarse and delightfully sexy.
"Y-yeah, just do what you need to," you said, gripping his biceps with all your might.
He grunted in response, increasing the pace of his thrusts. The room was filled with the sounds of both your moans, and you knew that a second orgasm was building.
Just then, a shrill ring sounded through the room, startling you both. Seokjin barely managed to keep himself from falling off the sofa, placing a hand over his chest as he looked around wildly.
It was the telephone.
Seokjin sighed and pulled out of you, quickly going over to pick up the receiver.
"How can I help you?" he asked, standing there in his full naked glory.
You bit your lip as you drank in the sight of him - from his rippling shoulder muscles to his abs to his tapering waist and dangling cock.
"Of course, madam. But it is currently 2 in the morning. Please call after 7 am in order to make a reservation. Thank you. Have a good night."
Clicking the receiver in place, he rushed back to you, jumping onto the sofa with a smirk.
"Now where were we?"
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this took me 2 hours to format on the site T_T i am exhausted. please give it some love! i would love to know what you thought of this story! please like and reblog! thank you! tagging @yoongsgguktae​ @sugamonster22​ @anglofmrcy​ @blue1928​ @jinpanman​ @thatlongspringnight​ @thatmultifandomhoe​ 
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band--psycho · 3 years
Text
Bucky Barnes x Reader-The Memories
I spent a lot of time wondering whether or not I should post this but after a long time of considering it, I thought I should. This is an extremely personal story but I hope that it helps anyone who needs it! 💖 
I just wanna say a huge thank you to @little-diable and @xacatalepsyx​ who’ve supported me so much while writing this💖 
Warnings: Sexual Assault (if this triggers you do not read below the cut)
~Every seven years, the cells in your entire body will be destroyed and replaced with new cells. One day, I will have a body you will have never touched~
I watched as the clock struck midnight, marking four years since it happened. Four years to the day since my world turned upside down. Four years since my view on the world changed. Four years...and yet it still felt like it’d only happened yesterday. I never thought it would happen to me, least of all by a family member, but it did. The thought of it is always there, even on my good days it’s there, lingering like a cursed thought in the back of my mind, but on days like today, the memory was in the forefront of my mind. 
I carefully sat up in bed, hugging my knees to my chest, knowing that if I closed my eyes I would be taken back there; I’d be locked in that flat with him. The thoughts alone were enough to terrify me, but I always found a way to distract myself, but if I slept I would be trapped in a nightmare. That scene replaying itself constantly in my head. 
I glanced over at Bucky, the light brown messy locks of his hair covering the side of his face as he slept. It wasn’t often that Bucky had a peaceful night sleep but Fury had been sending him on so many missions lately it wasn’t much of a surprise that he was exhausted so the last thing I wanted to do was disturb him. I leaned over slightly and stroked a few of the stray strands away from his face, lightly brushing my lips against his cheek before making my way downstairs. 
I sat in front of the TV, letting the sounds of whatever tv show was playing surround me as I opened up my photo album; attempting to get lost in happier memories. I flicked through a few pages before I came across a page full of pictures of me and Bucky. I traced my index around the outline of his face, the goofy smile he was pulling instantly making me smile a little bit. After the assault, I was terrified of everyone, I couldn’t even leave my house the first few months after it happened, terrified that someone was going to do something to me. I was even scared of the Avengers, I locked myself away in my house living in a recurring nightmare that I couldn’t seem to wake up from and even when I did sleep, he was there in my mind, haunting me like a ghost. 
One day, Bucky came over, he waited outside my door for the best part of four hours until I opened the door reluctantly to him, instantly he knew something was wrong. I still remember the sadness and shock in his eyes when I flinched as he went to hug me. I never thought I could be with anyone, mentally or physically after what had happened but Bucky proved me wrong. He helped me through the panic attacks and the nightmares. He stayed up with me for entire evenings sometimes, sometimes we’d talk and comfort each about the nightmares that still followed us. other times he’d just sit on the other side of the sofa and read me a story, The Hobbit was always his favorite and in all honesty it was nice to just slip away from reality for a while, listening to his voice as he read the tale of this fantasy world and then there were times where we’d just sit in silence watching a whatever tv show or movie was playing at the time. Over time, we started going out of the house together, at first it was just to the corner shop down the road, then it was to the park that was ten minutes away from my house and then the two of us would just go on random adventures together; it wasn’t easy. There were good days and bad days, even something so simple as a look or a word could bring all the memories flooding back like a tidal wave. I felt like I was broken, dirty, damaged goods but Bucky would always be there to remind me that I was still me, that I was a survivor. And most importantly, that I wasn’t alone. Two and a half years later,  we started dating. He wasn’t just my boyfriend though, he was my best friend, as cliche as that sounds but it’s the truth. I trusted him, completely. 
“Babe?” I heard Buky drowsily call out as he walked down the stairs, a small smile tugged at his lips when he saw me curled up on the sofa, my photo album lying across my lap. 
“You doing okay?” He asked, sitting down next to me, placing a delicate kiss on the side of my head, his metal hand lightly wrapping around mine. 
“I’m getting there,” I whispered, giving him a small reassuring smile. 
“ C’mere,” he mumbled, lifting his arm up slightly so I could snuggle up next to him. We stayed like that for a while in a comfortable silence as I continued to flick through the pages of the photo album. His arms wrapped around me, acting like a shield, protecting me from the thoughts he knew were swimming around in my head. 
“Y’know how strong you are right?” He cooed, his hands tracing small comforting circles on my arm.
“I wouldn’t have gotten this far without you,” 
“You would’ve, doll, I just gave you a helping hand when you needed it,” I smiled, placing a delicate kiss on his cheek, before setting the album down on the table. After a while we went from sitting on the sofa to lying on it, my head on his exposed chest, the sound of his steady heartbeat acting almost like a soothing lullaby while his arms were wrapped around me, holding me close. He was my safe haven. I knew I could be any version of myself with him and he’d stay; I could have days were I’d laughing and joking just like I did before other days I could be in tears, not being able to shake the thoughts from my head; but he’d be there for both days and every type of day in between. 
“I love you, Buck,” I hummed, my lips pressing a gentle kiss on his chest. 
“I love you too, doll,” he hummed back, squeezing my body slightly before lifting my chin lightly , pulling me in for a short but sweet kiss. 
“Can you read to me?” I asked against his lips. 
“Of course I can,” A warm chuckle left his lips as he reached over to the table, grabbing the book that was sitting on there. He waited  a few minutes for me to get comfortable before he read the words “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit,” I couldn’t help the smile that came across my face as I closed my eyes, intently listening to the words he was reading, his voice soothing all the demons in my head and his words creating a much happier picture in my mind then what could’ve been. 
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I wasn’t 100% okay, in all honesty, I doubt I’ll ever be 100% okay; what happened was something that was going to affect me for the rest of my life and I knew that; but four years ago, I never would’ve thought I could get this far. I’m still here. I’m still fighting and no matter how hard it seems sometimes to get through the day, I will continue to fight; not only for myself, but for anyone who’s gone through something like me. To show that even in your darkest days, there’s still hope. 
Tagging:
@barneswidow @muzzyandbusy @impala1967dwinchester @coldlilheart @amaryllis23 @wild-rose-35 @rustedbridges @tigerf-cker @mesmerisedangel @sweeterthanthis  @outer-banks-bitches @heloisedaphnebrightmore @abadamn @drabblewithfrannybarnes @chrissquares @miss-nori85 @xbreezymeadowsx
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nachohypno · 3 years
Text
Pine’s Football Jocks (Rewritten!) - Ch. 3
Past Pine’s POV
I could barely sleep that night. Not because of nightmares or stress, or anything bad at all-
It was because Garrett- (Wait, I can call him Gary now!) Gary sent me a two minutes-long video playing with his body, cock included. It wouldn’t be a big deal normally, except that this is like the first nude I’ve ever gotten and I feel like it’s a big deal.
Sure, I ‘ordered’ him to make it and send it, but it’s still really exciting!
I was replaying it for like the millionth time, I wasn’t keeping track of how many times I’ve seen this video but it never got old.
The video showed Gary posing shirtless, flexing his arms and torso for the camera, before laying down on his bed and playing with his hard cock. It’s quite impressive how he managed to achieve that body size and definition, but it seemed proper since I think a linebacker needs to be big and strong?
Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t forgotten about all the shit he did to me and I’d like to have some payback time soon. But for now, this was enough to calm my ‘rage’.
Gary is silent for most of the video, except for when he softly moans whenever he’ll grab his own cock. I should change that for future videos, maybe some naughty talk can make it even better. But sadly, he was off to bed already. So it was just me, Gary’s video and…
[Hey, bro???]
Mike’s message from hours ago. He must be off to bed by now already, but let me see…
[Wanna chat?? U wont believe this match I just won-] I stopped reading, went out of the chat and focused again on Gary’s video. So nice looking pecs, great abs, that hard cock. Ooooof, it was making me hard all over again.
Putting a lot of will power though, I decided to put the phone down for the night (Finally, because it was almost 1 am) and went over to my bed.
‘Tomorrow will be even better. I know it’ I told myself, smiling as I closed my eyes while imagining myself playing with Gary’s body in person again.
----
Present Pine’s POV
I decided to start reading this thing before reading them out loud to Mikey, to make sure there’s nothing that’ll make him feel bad. Senior year was just a bitch, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
I don’t plan on rewriting what happened to make a ‘Mike-friendly’ version because these are my memories, twisting them around would miss the complete point of writing them down in the first place. I just wanted to be able to remember how we got here without missing any details, and he wanted to hear the full story. Maybe I can just skip some of the rougher scenes when he appears?
Like, I’m not an angel either. I guess I was just a bit too rough back before the ‘golden rule’ was a thing, so up until then, the wiser thing to do would be review this thing and separate the unnecessary parts from the important ones, that way I’m telling a good story and I’m leaving the unimportant stuff out.
I gave a huge sigh of relief. This was going to be much easier than what I thought. Looking up, I noticed the big guy finished his shower and was trying to untie the bag around his cast while he walked on a towel around his waist.
I was kind of surprised it didn’t fall off, since he was having a bit of trouble with the bag. “Need any help, big boy?”
Mike looked at me, a little smile appearing on his face. “Oh, uh… Sure thing!” It’s been quite a while and he still had a rough time getting used to the cast. Luckily, it was supposedly going to be taken off in a few weeks, if everything goes right.
Leaving my laptop aside again, I got up and walked over to him. Mike extended his injured arm and I began to untie the bag. “What’cha doin over there?” He asked, looking at the laptop with a bit of confusion in his face. “Is it story time already?”
It was funny. I thought about this as a little way to distract him from… reality and stuff, you know, and he ended up taking it as a new part of his schedule. Even calling it ‘story time’ now, apparently.
“I mean,” I mumbled, almost finishing with the bag. “We can have story time now if you’d like. I was just checking the stuff to come, to decide how I should divide the chapters and that kind of thing.” The bag came off his arm, and he extended it a bit.
The jock leaned in and smooched me on the lips, before mumbling a little “Thanks, bro”. It made me smile, and feel all warm and nice. “And sure, I’d love to have story time now! Been a few days already, but didn’t wanna push you to read without you bringin’ it up first…” He scratched the back of his head, looking away with a nervous smile.
“Don’t worry,” I said, putting the bag aside before looking back at him. “Today was a pretty tame day, so we can definitely do some good story time. Wat’cha think, big boy?”
“That’s a new one. The ‘Big boy’ I mean. I like it. I like you…” He leaned in for another kiss, but I grabbed him by the hand before he could reach me, thinking about dragging him to the couch. That seemed to become the perfect place for story time. Well, that and our bed, but we have used the couch more and it was closer at the moment.
What? I can be lazy too!
But first… “Aww. Well, time to drop deep, big boy.” I told him, examining his face as I watched his eyes become glassy, and his mouth turn into a dumb smile.
“Yussss, bruh…” He managed to answer, completely under already.
I looked at him, his hunk body at full display, except for the part beneath the towel. I would normally tell him to dress up first, but I knew the guy wasn’t getting much action lately. Or, barely any action at all.
The cast on his arm apparently got into his way of flirting, and it doesn’t seem like girls around campus want to have fun with ‘the broken quarterback’. That’s the cruel nickname he got, and I plan on giving him a triumphant return once his arm gets better.
I have a hunch his arm will be ready to play football again soon, but I prefer to be 100% and ask a real doctor. I don’t want my best friend to end up with a worse injury because I forced him to play or something.
“Drop that towel, too” I ordered him, and he slowly moved his hand to the towel, undoing it as the gravity took effect. Soon, Mikey stood in front of me in all of his naked glory. Cock semi hard on display, I started dragging him with me towards the couch.
I sat down, and I told him to do the same. After grabbing the laptop and opening the story file again, I looked over at Mike and mumbled a nice “Wake up now, sleepy boy”.
His expression returned to his face, but quickly replaced by confusion as he was now in a different spot. “What…?”
“It’s okay, just lay down and enjoy the story time. Got it, big boy?” I leaned in and gave him a good kiss. He kissed back, sloppy tongue and all, but of course I had the lead on the make out session.
If we didn’t have the story time about to start, I would have thrown the laptop off my lap and jumped on top of the muscular jock.
But… gotta do what I gotta do. I stopped the kiss, caressed his face, and then turned my gaze to the screen as he laid down next to me.
“So… Where were we…”
-----
Past Pine’s POV
I’ve had an amazing day.
Still not used to the whole ‘powers’ thing, I missed the opportunity to make Garrett drive me to school. However, that was on my plans. I wanted to make the most out of my new-found mind control power!
Sadly, now that I wanted to encounter a jock so badly, it seemed like they were the ones hiding from me now. The few ones I saw (That I share classes with, at least) seemed to ignore me or not notice me at all. Which is nice but… I kind of wanted to try this thing out, okay?
Noticing Gary walking over with a few of his teammates behind him, I took a deep breath and remained in place. I don’t know if they saw me either, but there was a surprising and greatly appreciated lack of shoving today! My arm was grateful.
Mike was the last guy to leave the classroom, because he was a slow writer sometimes, so he needed to stay a few minutes more and get his stuff down to paper. Otherwise, the teachers would get very mad at him for ‘not paying attention’.
“Oh. Hey bro,” Mike said, giving me a warm smile before stopping at my side. I was staring at the passing-by jocks in front of us, and the big guy took some time to greet them as they passed by. “Huh, they looked pretty friendly today. Towards you, I mean…”
“I think so, yeah.” I wasn’t sure if I should tell him about Gary being my friend now. Of course, the slave part was off the question, no-one could know about this nor anything related to my newfound superpower. That raised the question if I could erase memories by commanding that…
Lots of experimenting will give me the answer, I hope!
“Phew, glad to hear that” My former best friend patted my back. “I was getting kinda worried yesterday when I didn't get a reply. Y’know I can see when you’re online, right?”
I rolled my eyes. It was kind of annoying how he would pretend everything was fine and nothing ever happened. Even after a month or so of barely talking.
“But hey. I have the evening free after football practice, in case you want to come over and… y’know, play some smash or something” I got to admit that watching him act all nervous just because he was talking to me was a bit funny. It made me let out an internal ‘Aww’.
“Uhm… Sorry, got a study session prepared after football practice. So-”
“Wait, what?” Mike opened his eyes wide in surprise. “Are you tutoring someone from the team? Who is it? Huh, that was a quick solution to the… uh… thing”
Ignoring that last dumb comment, I answered with a “Garrett practically begged me to help him with his homework and a few more things. We made a deal, no more bullying in exchange for passing his classes”
I made up the story at the moment, and I surprised myself with how quickly I came up with that.
The jock placed a hand on my shoulder, a look of concern on his face. “If he tries something bad…”
“He’s pretty nice, actually” Now I was just being an asshole. “He dropped the ‘faggot’ nickname and treated me nicely yesterday. I was kind of scared, but he really surprised me.” I shrugged, trying to look like I didn’t care at all.
Of course, I was making it up. I can’t just tell Mike that I randomly managed to control Garrett’s mind and apparently turned him into a slave. I had proof that it hadn’t been a dream, since Gary sent me a video playing with his body and I checked it out again this morning.
“I don’t think we’re talking about the same Garrett…” Mike started. It was nice of him to get worried, but everything was under control. Besides, I was still mad at him even though the problem was now solved, but it wouldn’t hurt to teach him that actions have consequences.
‘I’m an awful friend’ I thought, but the thought was shrugged off quickly when Gary approached us.
The mean jock punched my shoulder in a rough but friendly way, which caused Mike to shoot a glare at him, but still not move. It hit different now, not hurting as much as before and being kind of… Glad that he didn’t jump on Garrett’s jugular now.
I mean, it’s just like when you get a new toy and you don’t want anyone to break it.
“Hey bros. Wat’chu talking bout?”
Mike and Gary weren’t really fond of each other. The tension could be felt as I was trapped between them, Mike still glaring at Gary and the latter trying to ignore him by staring down at me. It was funny how Gary is supposed to be bigger than Mike, due to him being the linebacker.
Truth is, they are almost the same size, Gary surpassing my childhood friend by a bit more of muscular definition. Mike doesn’t look bad, but I know he’s fully natural. Meanwhile, I still suspect Garrett is on steroids.
“Uh… I was about to ask Pine here if he wanted to come over and play some smash,” I could practically feel how Mikey was hoping for Garrett to not jump in the wagon and ask to join. “So… What do you think, bro?”
I was going to answer him that I was busy. That was my usual excuse when Mike wanted to hang out. I was still not ready to hang out with him again, I needed a bit more time to calm down, now that Garrett wasn’t a problem anymore. There were still the other football guys, so that was a thing to take care of.
“Can’t do, bro. Lil’ Pine here and I got a study session, gotta take all those maths and shit in.” Garrett answered for me, grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me a bit. It sounded a bit rougher than what I intended, but it did the dirty work for me, I guess.
“Well, how about after your study session? We barely hang out anymore…”
I gotta give it to the guy, he was actually pushing for it this time. I appreciated that.
“Sure, if we finish the studying thing quickly, I’ll head over to your place.” I patted Mike’s back, and he smiled faintly.
“Yeah, that’d be great. Gonna be practicing my fighting skills!” My jock friend seemed excited, all of a sudden. “Gonna get going now, but hey, see you later!”
Gary and I watched as he turned around and started walking away. He seemed happier now, but Gary had a look of disgust on his face. “He’s kind of annoying, bro. I don’t know how you put up with him”
“Hey, don’t talk about him like that. Just because we discussed doesn’t mean you can trash talk my best friend, got it? Besides, it’s your fault we even discussed in the first place” No, it wasn’t. Mike went around telling my business to his teammates. But Garrett played a part in me being really mad at Mikey, so he did have a bit -lots- of guilt.
The glassy eyes returned, as he mumbled a quick ‘Yeees, bro…” before his face returned to normal. “Uhm, sorry. Didn’t mean to offend you, bro”
“It’s… okay. Should we get going? That ‘study session’ won’t get done by itself.” I took a deep breath, trying to keep myself cool.
“Yeeaaaah… So… About the studying thing…” The big jock scratched the back of his head, a somewhat childish grin on his face. “I invited a friend over”
“You did what?” I was, of course, going to scold him! How could he be so… Irresponsible! I tried to keep my cool as best as I could, because I couldn’t show that I was Gary’s ‘master’ at school.
“Please don’t be mad, but he’s coming right up to leave with us…”
“This is the tutor dude, right?” A guy said behind me. I recognized that voice…
Slowly turning around, I took a moment to observe my classmate. Brent had short hair, almost a military cut. He used to keep it long but according to Mikey, his dad made him cut it and he’s kept it like this ever since.
A bit smaller than Gary, but still displaying a good physique, Brent was wearing a green shirt and jeans. His varsity jacket was tied to his bag, which I couldn’t understand. Those things are GREAT! They look really good, they are warm and cozy, AND they make the wearer 10 times hotter, like some kind of rpg armor with special stats.
I know what I’m talking about, when Mike got his varsity jacket I would ask him to let me wear it just because it’s cozy and keeps me warm in winter. The big guy was happy to do so, but he really adores his varsity jacket so I couldn’t keep it away from him for too long.
Back to the ‘extra student’ situation, though!
I was unsure if I should take Brent in. He was… okay. I mean, personality wise. I don’t keep tabs on which jocks go after me and how much they do, it’s usually peer pressure and if I go into that, I’ll have more revenge to do than the Green Arrow.
‘You’ve failed this nerd’ and then I enslave them. Hehe.
And if we go by appearance wise, the guy is hot. Most of the football guys will be hot for me, because I like big guys and they go through some rough training. Even the shortest guy has a nice build, it was surprising.
“Pine. My name is Pine” I stated, not really annoyed at being called ‘tutor dude’ but if I was going to help him, then I expected some degree of respect.
“Cool. Brent.” He extended his hand, and I shook it. I kind of expected him to be all rough about it and crush my hand, but he was quite gentle. That earned him some points.
“Uhm… What do you need help with…? I got to know what I’m going to help you with before we actually get on it.” It was logic, I’m not going to wait until we’re at Gary’s house. Not that it would matter much but… Hey, maybe I can do some good with my powers.
Y’know, proving I’m better than these guys by helping them, alongside having my little payback?
It’s also a good testing ground for my powers, to see if I can make them somehow smarter. Huh, it just sounds better and better.
“Math. My bro told me you were helping him with it yesterday and I really, really need some help before the exams. I ain’t really on edge with my grades, but I don’t wanna risk it.” Glad to hear Gary has been using the excuse I told him to use.
“Hmm. All right then, let’s get going and I’ll do my best to help you with that” I tried to sound cold, but again it fell flat. And Brent just didn’t seem to care.
He looked at Gary and said “Huh, you were right, bro. This guy’s a life-saver!”
“See? Told ya. We kinda made a deal and I’m leaving him intact as long as he helps me, so maybe he’ll extend that deal to you and you won’t need to pay!” I kind of wanted to kick Gary’s nuts right about now, but kept it to myself.
I don’t know if I could make Brent my slave as easily as I did with the first one, so I was really hoping Gary would shut up until I figured things out.
We set on our way after that, walking towards the exit and then towards Gary’s car. I sat on the back seat this time, since I figured the new jock would like to sit with his teammate on the front.
But then, it struck me.
“Hey Brent. Sit on the back with me, will you?” I said, in a commanding voice. If this didn’t work, I would have earned myself a beat up.
“Sure, why not” was his answer. I didn’t see his face, but I don’t that was just him being nice at the tutor dude. He totally glazed out when I ordered him!
There was a bit of a gap between us, as we sat on the opposite sides of the seat. Gary didn’t seem to care about the situation at all, he sat on the driver’s seat and just waited for us to be ready. Once we were done, he turned on the car and drove off.
I looked at Brent, trying to figure out what to do now that I… ‘made’ him sit on the back seat with me.
Moving closer to him, I tried something out. “Uh… Brent,” I figured it would be important to state his name, this way Gary wouldn’t get confused and get the command as his own. “Don’t mind at all what I’m about to do; It’s totally normal and you’re okay with it.”
This time, I did look at his face. Eyes glazed over, and he slurred a “Yeeaah…”.
Awesome.
I moved my hand and lifted his shirt up. His body was pretty nice, and I didn’t hesitate to feel him up. I was getting the hold of this ‘controlling guys’ thing!
My hand went down, until it rested on top of the jock’s crotch. Brent just stared through the window, not caring about what was I doing. This. Is. The. Best.
I kind of wanted to undo his pants and grab his package, but I think it would be better if I left that for later. I had a little idea, and I wanted to see it play out instead of just rushing things.
I did have a little idea, in the meantime. “Wrap an arm around my shoulders” And Brent did so, while still not paying attention, apparently. It was warm and it felt good, so that was enough to satiate my hunger for control, heh.
I noticed Garrett looked at us through the driving mirror and asked “Huh, getting comfortable back there, aren’t ya?”
That’s when Brent looked down at me, noticing he was hugging me. I thought he was going to pull back, but he didn’t. “Yeah, I guess so. You don’t mind, right dude?”
I shrugged. “It’s kinda nice. Pull me closer and hug me tight.”
“Okay.” It felt even warmer now, and I loved it. The fact that he’s totally oblivious or doesn’t care about it makes it kind of hotter, but I’d prefer to have him like Gary was just yesterday. Waiting for orders with a big smile on his face.
“You don’t think this is weird?”
“I would, normally. But I want to do this, otherwise I’d tell you to go fuck yourself” Quite straightforward, but I didn’t mind. It helped me think that whenever I order something to these guys, it appears to them that it’s actually their own idea.
Garrett chuckled on the front. “Don’t get too comfortable. We’re about to arrive” That’s the thing when you live in a small town, everything is right around the corner, or it feels like it.
I managed to enjoy a few more minutes with Brent hugging me like this, before Garrett parked in front of his garage. That was our cue to get down. Brent didn’t seem to mind at all what just happened, which was… okay.
On a little side note, It was weird how Garrett’s parents never seemed to be at home. I guess it fits the guy’s style well, got the whole place to himself in case he wants to bring a ‘friend’ over, or something. I wouldn’t mind having a mansion to myself either, so that’s good for him. I guess.
Once we all got out of the car (Brent wasn’t being so… ‘close’ to me anymore, but rather came back to barely interact with me), we entered Gary’s place and I took a moment to take in the big place.
“So, up to my room again? Or do you guys prefer the dining room for studying n’ shit?” Garrett asked, tilting his head a bit.
I looked at the two guys, and decided to take the lead from this point onwards. If I was going to be the ‘teacher’, then I had the choice!
“Your room would probably be a bit cozier, and your desk has enough space for you two. Just imagine we’re at the school’s desks, if anything.” I answered, my voice sounding a bit more nervous than before, but I tried to reassure myself that I could do it.
Brent didn’t complain, he just shrugged and went “No problem by me” He wasn’t being mind controlled to agree, I could tell. But my plan was going smoothly, so I didn’t mind.
That being said, I was growing impatient as we walked to Gary’s room. Once we entered, both jocks sat in front of the desk, grabbed their bags to get their school stuff, then waited for me.
I didn’t want to just be like ‘You will now obey me completely! Nyehehehe!’ because that sounded a bit lame, and I don’t know if they can break out of it if I don’t put special care or something. So, let’s give it my best!
Both guys had problems on long operations, so I grabbed my own notes and gave them a few of the exercises we’ve seen in our classes. I did my best to explain it to them, and tried to say something like ‘Remember this well’, to make sure they learn to solve it or at least keep my explanation in their heads and work their way around it.
Garrett got around the first exercise eventually, a few minutes after we started. He was a good boy!
Brent wasn’t being so lucky, sadly. “Need help with that?” I asked him, placing my hand on his shoulder before taking it away quickly.
He looked at me a bit confused, before realizing what just happened. “It’s… alright. Just can’t get how you get the two last results…”
I leaned over to see his sheet. Huh, he was barely making any progress. I see that this guy really needed the help.
Luckily, I can help him. I shouldn’t, because I remember Brent being one of the football guys that bullied me, but I’ll get to the payback later. Now, I can do some good actions, right?
“See, you missed the point of these numbers here… This one replaces B, this one goes where A is –both As- and this one replaces C. Got it so far?”
“I guess so…” Brent traced little arrows to which numbers replaced which letters in the operation. I looked over at Gary and he was silent, still doing his own exercises.
“Good. Now, just do as I say. It only gets easier from here.” I mumbled, but quickly got silent.
I noticed Brent’s face relaxed after I said that. “Do as you say…” He repeated, eyes glazed over again. Gary lifted his head and looked at Brent. A little smile appeared on his face, as he gave me a quick thumb up.
Not going to lie, it was a bit getting on my nerves how this thing worked at random. Must be something on how I phrase my words, or the way I say them? I have no idea, fuck.
Was he happy I just did something to his teammate? I mean, it was nice but… weird.
Anyway, I guess that should do the trick? I still wanted to do something else because that didn’t erase my fear of him overcoming the mind control. Gary apparently already accepted it, and he seemed happy.
I shrugged off my thoughts and kept explaining the rest of the operation. It went nicely, as Brent only focused on what I had to say. That seemed to make everything really easy for me!
After he got his results, the big jock patted my back softly. “Thanks, man. I dunno how you got this stuff in, but it just seems so easy now!”
“Hey, it’s… okay, I guess.” I answered, my voice stuttering a bit due to the nervousness.
I’m not used to being praised by the jocks, much less having them chat normally to me. And the fact that he was trying to avoid most contact before made me think that he does remember the stuff his team did, including himself.
Garrett looked up again and punched his friend’s shoulder. It seemed rough, but Brent apparently didn’t mind. He just coughed a bit and looked down to the floor. “And, uh… Sorry for… Y’know, all the stuff that happened to you. Not gonna happen again… Not by me, at least.”
A little smile formed on my face. I wondered if Gary had talked to him about apologizing, and if he did it with anybody else. It felt nice, didn’t erase all the stuff that happened, but still felt nice.
“Actually,” I started speaking, catching both jocks’ attention. They stared at me, not muttering a single word or seeming to interrupt. It was like I was a superior, which in a way, I was for Gary but not for Brent. Not yet. “I have an idea that I know you both will like.”
“Huh, what is it?” Garrett asked, leaving his pencil on the desk and turning his chair around to face me.
“Got me all curious now, hahah” Brent told his teammate, before facing me too.
“Lil’ bird told me you come from a military family, right?” I asked Brent, ever so casually. He didn’t take it as funny, though. His smile quickly turned into a frown. ‘Such a way to go, Piney!’ I told myself, wanting to bump my head on the wall.
“Uh… What’s it to ya?” I figured he wouldn’t be as open when I brought up his family. As I mentioned, I knew he came from a military family, and Mike had told me a few stories about the guy getting mad because his teammates mock him about it.
“N-Nothing, I just… uhm… thought it would be… Forget about what I said, I know the answer already.” I tried to shrug it off, trying to slip back into the ‘I’m in charge here’ mentality. “Both guys, strip down to your underwear. You won’t think this is weird, it’s actually a fun game that I’m totally not making up”
I got to see their faces blanking out, as they got up and started lazily getting undressed. Shirts went off first, which revealed some nice pecs and abs, always nice to see those.
Brent was actually a bit smaller than Gary, like, in a muscular way. He was still nice, but barely near Gary’s level. Points for Gary, I think? Brent still had a nice hunk-ish build, and I didn’t notice this before but he had a pair of blank dog tags hanging from his neck. That was a cute detail!
The shoes went off second, then the pants. They struggled a bit with those because they tried to take their clothes off as quickly as possible, but they also made weird robotic/lazy movements, which I assumed was because of the mind control. Other than that, I was very satisfied with the results.
Two semi-naked jocks in front of me, what to do now?
“The game I had in mind is called ‘The jock and the soldier’, ever heard of it?” I asked, and the guys shook their heads in denial. “Well, it’s a very fun game played by three persons. There��s the jock, that’ll be you, Gary. There’s the soldier, which will be played by Brent. And then there’s me, the game master!”
They were visibly confused. Brent was the one not enslaved yet, so he said “Wait, why are we playing a game? I thought we were studying…?”
I found it funny that he didn’t think it was weird that he just stripped to his underwear because I said so.
“The game is actually very important! Will teach you a valuable… very valuable life lesson, okay?”
“Ooookay… How do we play?”
“It’s simple enough! First, we gotta decide who’ll be the superior one between you two, or the ‘top’. Whatever you want to call it.” It was actually quite hard to come up with this stuff. “Let’s settle it with…” I blanked out. Like, not in trance/mind control way, but in a ‘I’ve run out of ideas way’. I had to get a notepad and write my ideas now to avoid this from happening!
‘C’mon, Piney. Think!’ I told myself. What would a jock do to solve a dispute between ‘bros’? Hmm… “A wrestling match. This is a very good idea and you’re both eager to participate!” I didn’t know what I was saying, but if I was correct, a wrestling match was the one where they tried to out-strength the other guy and not the one where they blow their teeth out with punches.
“Hell yeah!” Gary shouted, not blanking out this time. It didn’t bother me; I knew he already was pretty much enslaved already. “Prepare to lose, bro!”
Brent didn’t turn down the offer, so that meant it worked on him too! “Gonna make you bite the dust, Basch!” The soldier-guy replied at Gary, as they started getting in position a few meters away from each other.
At first, I thought a wrestling match wouldn’t be a good thing because this is Gary’s bedroom, but I think the space is wide enough for them to wrestle between the bed and the desk. I just pushed the chair and the stool into the desk so they wouldn’t get in the middle.
“Ready?” Grunts of approval were heard from both sides. I walked to my safe area: Garrett’s bed, and got comfortable. “Start!”
Gary had the upper hand at the start, lunging at Brent and pushing him back to his own starting line. Brent wasn’t too far behind though; he was putting up a good fight to not go down so easily. It was pretty entertaining to watch, especially with both participants being in their underwear.
“So, uh… I forgot to tell you guys what the game master does, so I’ll just explain it while you two wrestle. Is that okay?” They were too busy trying to win to talk, but they grunted again in approval. “Well, as the game master, I’m the one to tells you what to do, and you’re the ones that do it without a question. It’s totally normal, just doing what I say without a second thought”
The wrestling slowed down for a second, from both sides. Brent seemed to be gaining the upper hand now, but Gary being a bit bigger than him didn’t make that easy, at all.
“And for my first order, I want you both to get hard. You both find this game incredibly arousing.” Gosh, I hope I didn’t sound too weird.
“Yes, master!” Gary managed to say, while he pushed Brent off.
“What the… heck?!” Brent said, and I figured he didn’t like the ‘master’ thing.
“It’s okay, Brent! I’m Gary’s master, so it’s okay for him to call me that. And actually, I’m your master too, understood?” It was a lame ‘easy fix’, but it should put him to work quite fast.
“Yes… master!” I don’t know if they can resist my orders, but two guys in a row couldn’t do it so… I had my hopes up! But actually ‘master’ didn’t sound so well coming from Brent. And he is the soldier player…
“You don’t get to call me ‘Master’ though, Brent. You’re the soldier, remember? You got to try and fit your role!”
“Sir, yes Sir!” He shouted, trying to keep the composure against his rival.
“C’mon, dude… Just… lose… already!” Gary was struggling to keep the smaller guy off him. And his words only seemed to make Brent stronger.
Soon, Gary was the one losing. Two taps on the floor later and… “Yes! I did it, Sir!”
Brent had won. I didn’t want that, honestly. I would have preferred the jock to win. But… I am the game master, right?
I noticed that both guys had their rods up and going too, they seemed constrained in their underwear, and the thought of them just wrestling while having hard-ons made everything way better.
“Great work, you two!” I congratulated them, as I watched them get up again with big smiles on their faces. Seems like they had fun too! “Looks like the soldier came off as the superior one, you know what that means?”
“Nuh-uh” They replied, almost at unison.
“Well, let’s see… You guys face each other for a moment, okay?” The jocks complied, facing each other as ordered. They seemed excited to continue with the game, which made me really happy! “Brent, since you’ve won, you proved to be the superior one. And… As the superior one, you have to be good with your inferior mate and make sure he feels well, don’t you?”
“Uh… Not sure how would I do that… Do you need something, bro?” He asked Gary, who shook his head. “Nope, I’m fine. Should I need something, Master?”
“Make out, guys. I’ll take care of your underwear in the meantime” I ordered, looking expectantly at them.
“Sir, yes Sir!” “Yes, Master!” They said, before getting down to business. Garrett pulled his teammate in for a good, sloppy kiss. Needless to say, I was already rock hard.
After watching for a few seconds, I turned my view down towards the underwear. Slowly pulling Gary’s down to release his cock, then tapping his feet for him to lift it and finally throw it away. Same deal with Brent, and soon they were fully naked in front of me.
“Now, stop kissing.” They stopped. It felt weird, but funny. Like, having them do what I say. It felt nice, really nice. “Brent, kneel and face Gary’s cock.”
“Sir, yes Sir…” He mumbled, before dropping down and staring at his teammate’s dick.
“Take it in your mouth, nice and slowly… Have you ever gotten a blowjob?” I asked, and Brent nodded. Huh, never really put thought into it but I guess jocks really have better luck in their sexual lives. “Well, I want you to give Gary a blowjob to get his cock lubed up. And you’re going to enjoy every second of it!”
“Sir, yes Sir!” He started licking Gary’s shaft, nice and slowly as ordered. I don’t know if he was an expert, because I’ve only seen these things in porn. But Gary started moaning and blowing some air, while Brent took it to the next step and swallowed the tip. He started getting more and more inches in as he did so, and I LOVED it!
“How does it feel, Gary?” I asked the other guy, a big smile on my face. I was really enjoying this, and I still couldn’t believe that I was capable of doing this!
“Awesome, master! Thanks for givin’ me a slave-bro!” Huh, didn’t think of it that way, but kind of glad to see he’s happy too!
I let them keep going for a few more minutes, before I ordered to move to Gary’s bed. They sat on the edge and waited for more orders. “Now that Gary’s cock is all lubed up, thanks to Brent’s good soldier service…” Brent gave me a quick military salute after those words, which made me smile a bit more. “We’re going to take things to the next level. Brent, lay on your back and lift your legs up.”
“Sir, yes Sir!” The naked ‘soldier’ obeyed perfectly, and I had a feeling Gary knew what was coming, because he has this big smile on his face too. This ended up being a wonderful tutoring session, and it wasn’t even over yet!
“Now Gary, get behind him and place his legs over your shoulders. I want you both to fully enjoy this and… uh… embrace your status as my slaves the more you obey, understood?”
“Sir, yes Sir!” “Yes, master!”
“Great! Now… Gary, I want you to fuck Brent.” It was pretty straightforward, and I thought I would have to explain him something about it, but he got his cock aligned with Brent’s ass and started pushing in. I pushed my glasses back, grabbed a seat and enjoyed the action.
Brent’s blank dog tags started doing that ‘cling cling’ sound metal does when hitting against more metal, but it was kind of silenced by the pair’s moans. They barely trying to hide it, they loved it. And I loved it even more!
I was playing with my bulge as I admired my handy work.
“You like that, Brent? Is Garrett doing a good job?”
“Hnng… Yes, Sir! I love it! I’m fully enjoying it!” That was a weird response, but I guess that’s what I ordered him before. Eh, it was alright.
“What about you, Gary? Like that ass?”
“Uh… Yes, master! Fuck… I love this. Ugh… you’re the best master, eveerrrrr…” He groaned as he picked up the pace.
“Woah, not so fast buddy! Let’s do something. When you both cum, you will accept that you are my obedient jock slaves. No questions asked, and you are totally happy with that.”
“Yeaaaah…” was their answer, and I was delighted.
“Great. Now, feel free to cum whenever you’d like. I’ll just sit here, and enjoy the view…”
-----
“You call me if you want a ride home, okay master?” Gary said, shaking my shoulder a bit before giving me a sort of worried look. I was just going to my old best friend’s house, so I didn’t know where that was coming from.
“Will do. I can just walk though. Would be pretty pointless to make you drive all the way over just to take me some streets”
“Hey, I don’t care. You call, I’ll be there” That’ll never seem normal. I’m used to seeing Garrett as a threat to my very being, and him acting so… friendly. It’s weird, however you look at it.
I nodded, deciding to drop the conversation, but Gary leaned in and pulled me in for a kiss. I didn’t resist, it was a nice surprise. After that, he mumbled a “Anything for you, master…”, while still looking intently at me.
“Thanks for that… I’ll be going now; I think…” I answered, before opening the door and stepping out of the car.
So… yeah. I had arrived at Mike’s house. It’s been a good while, a month or so and I already felt like I was in a strange place, for some reason.
I guess it’s because I’m not a very outgoing guy? I’m used to being in my house all the time besides school, so when I stopped coming it kind of… vanished from my mind.
Saying goodbye to Gary, then leaving his car, I started walking over to the door and ringing the bell.
“MOOOOOOM, I’M GOING!” I heard a deep voice yelled. Heavy steps later, Mike was standing in front of me after opening the door. “Hey there, bro!”
The big guy held his open hand out, waiting for me to ‘bro slap’ it. He (And probably his teammates too, I don’t think he’s the only one with this thing) have this weird thing of adding ‘bro’ before some actions and that supposedly makes them better/more fraternal.
I grabbed his hand and gave it a shake. That didn’t bother him though, he just moved aside and let me in.
“How are you doing?” I asked him. I didn’t intend to sound cold, at all. I’m just not good at making chit chat. It wasn’t a problem when we didn’t have a fight in between, but just like before, it felt pretty different now.
“Doing great! Was just heating up in my room, preparing the cartridges and etc. How was your studying?” Mike gave a step closer, and started examining me. Probably looking for bruises? It was the only thing I could think of, since he didn’t trust Gary at all.
He has his reasons though; he knows how much damage he can do. Still, kind of pointless to seem to worry without having ever stepped in to help.
“It was nice. Lots of maths and stuff” I shrugged. I wasn’t in a chatty mood, especially with him. I wasn’t going to break the ‘we’re not talking’ punishment because we were going to play. “Shall we… uh…” I started pointing up, waiting for him to catch that I wanted to be upstairs. I didn’t want to greet Mike’s parents; I don’t know if they’d be happy to see me after I cut ties with their son.
“Uh… yeah, sure! Dinner won’t be ready until an hour or so later, so we have lotsa time to play!” Mike was clearly excited, and I felt a bit bad to act like a party pooper around him.
He moved aside and closed the door once I was in. Then we made our way up to his room, while I silently hoped his parents wouldn’t pop up randomly from a corner or something.
“I think dad is making ravioli. I know you liked those, so you can stay over if you’d like and I can walk you home afterwards…” No sleeping over, I guess he had a part of his feet down to earth.
“I don’t know, mom’s also expecting me for dinner, so I may have to call first to check”
“Good ol’ Piney, always playing by the rules, right?” He chuckled, giving me a rough pat on the back. The chuckle quickly vanished as he mumbled a ‘Sorry’. Ignoring that, we made our way to his room and he closed the door there too.
Just a little head up: Mike LOVES football.
His room had a good amount of his favorite team’s posters. A football helmet was on the floor, next to its ball. The jock’s varsity jacket was neatly held on the desk chair’s back. No trophies though, because he plays mostly high school football or with the nicer teammates at the park, so no trophies for the big guy, yet.
But it wasn’t just filled with jock stuff, because Mikey here has a little secret side. He’s a big nerd too.
His desk had all his Switch games stacked up in random angles, which did make me a bit nervous. His console was settled next to his bed, while the dock was connected to a small flat screen hanging from the wall. Little action figures were displayed on a shelf, and unlike some would think, he never hid them.
He actually had a nice system that he liked to geek about too, like it was the smartest thing in the world. Most jocks (I assume) would hide those kinds of things if they had visits or something. That’s not the case for Mikey. He didn’t need to hide anything because he ‘wasn’t having anyone over’.
That way, he can keep a healthy sexual life while not having to worry about his nerdy side being discovered, and mocked by his teammates.
Oh hey, I could show his teammates that Mike’s a big nerd! Oh wait no, that would be really mean. The idea’s tempting, though.
Grabbing a controller, and passing me the other one, the game was on. He sat on his bed and patted a spot beside him, but I sat on the desk chair. It was actually pretty uncomfortable because it didn’t have any pillow or anything like that, so my ass was on the wood. That’s what I get for being a meanie.
“Gonna pick Link, don’t try to cheese it with the pink puffball, a’ight?” He said, chuckling at his own comment. I remained with a stoic face at all times, which he didn’t find as funny.
“Let’s just get on with it…” I had chosen the random character, because each minute here made me rethink why I actually accepted coming to Mike’s place. I didn’t want to mind control him, he was like a big brother to me! A big, asshole-ish big brother that tells all the stuff you tell him to everyone else!
Okay, being serious for a moment, it would have been really weird. I did enjoy looking at his body the few times he got shirtless in front of me, but I would never lust after him.
[Present|Pine: Oooh, that didn’t age well…]
We played for some good twenty minutes. It was pretty fought over, sometimes he would win, sometimes I would win. I was focusing on the game mostly to ignore his chit chat. Because Mikey was trying to make chatter with me and I would just answer a ‘Hmm…’ or a ‘Wow, yup’ or the always nice ‘Sure thing’.
He, of course, wasn’t happy with my vague answers. And the evening was turning even more silent the more I tried to ignore him.
“Okay, we gotta take a pause. I actually invited you for something else, bro.” ‘Let it be snacks, let it be snacks, let it be snacks…’ “Look, I’m… I’m really sorry about what I did. Outing you with my teammates, I mean. It really wasn’t intentional”
I would have really hoped if he brought out a can of potato chips, because that would have led to a prettier conversation than this one.
 “I never wanted for them to bully you like that… or like, in any way. You’re my best friend, and I know that I should have stood up for you a lot sooner and I’m really sorry for that too…” He continued apologizing, like hoping that it would make me more at ease, or something.
I let out a sigh, and tried to remain as calm as possible. “I still don’t get why you had to tell them about my secret, when I told you specifically to not say anything about it to anyone else. And you agreed to that. So, what was crossing your mind when you said ‘Fuck it! I’m going to tell everyone!’?”
It may have come off a bit more aggressive than what I intended.
But he didn’t have an answer. And if Mikey himself doesn’t have an answer, then who should I ask?
“Look, bro. I don’t know what you want me to do. I-I already said I’m sorry! I don’t fucking know what to do! I just want my best friend back!” Now he was being sort of aggressive too, which was good! It basically gave me permission to be aggressive too!
“You know how I stopped using the school’s bathroom, just in case I got cornered in there?! I got shoved to lockers almost every freaking day!”
“What the hell do you want me to do?! Stand up for you? I will! I will beat the crap out of anyone who tries to touch you from now on! Is that what you’d like?!”
“Well, you could have just shut your mouth and I wouldn’t have been in that situation to begin with, dumbass!” I didn’t want him to stand up for me now, I could defend myself very well now!
“What did you call me?!”
“Oh, nonono. You don’t get to feel offended! In fact, you are really a dumbass for outing me right after I told you about my stuff. You really are just a dumb jock, like the others are!” I shouted at him, and I felt like I might have fucked up a little.
By shouting like that I may have alerted his parents or something, so I started grabbing my stuff, determined to leave the room.
I noticed Michael didn’t have an answer, but I just couldn’t bear to look at him. This guy wasn’t my best friend. He’s like those persons you grow up with and end up drifting away due to stupid stuff.
But I didn’t think this was one of those ‘stupid stuff’. He outed me to his teammates, the very same day I told him about it. How bad can you be at keeping a secret?!
I went for the door and left the room, quickly making my way downstairs and through the front door. Mike apparently just noticed what happened, because before I crossed the street to start making my way home, I heard a very loud “Bro?!” coming from the upper floor of the house. It sounded… deep, and kind of weird, but I didn’t give it much thought at the time.
I just wanted to get home and be done with it. It didn’t even cross my mind at the time that my mind control might have done something to him, but I did go over our argument a couple times during that night.
My words could very well have come off as orders, which caused a series of side effects that I would see the consequences of later. But for now, I remember feeling very sad, and just wishing for that pseudo-awful day to be over.
-------
Present Pine’s POV
I slowly closed the laptop, and put it away again. I felt like I could tear up, and I had almost forgotten about that one bit. I was rethinking the whole ‘I should write down my memories’ thing. My memories aren’t that happy and I would have preferred to forget about that one fight with Mike.
“Hey, you okay?” The big guy noticed something was wrong, but I did my best to shrug it off.
“Just… got caught in the story’s mood. Like a ‘feels bad, man’ moment, or something” I didn’t want to worry him. Mike tends to get emotional with… ‘the past’, and I’m okay with letting things go, especially if they happened years ago.
You can’t get mad for a long time when you’re a mind controller, it might cloud your judgement and do something you regret. And I just revived a prime example…
“Sorry… I didn’t want you to feel bad… We can resume any other time,” Mikey stated, moving closer to me and kissing my cheek a lot of times. “And hey, my arm is feeling way better lately. Once I get this stupid cast off, I’ll carry you to our bed ASAP” He finished, with a nice smile.
“Well, I’ll make sure of that in a few weeks. Already made a to-do list for you once you get the cast off.” I appreciated his attempt to cheer me up. I wasn’t really mad, just felt like a cold water bucket fell on me. It wasn’t serious though, it’s just like when you randomly get a bad thought. You just try your best and hope it goes away.
“Really? Like what?” He asked, looking more excited now. I noticed his cock was getting harder by the minute.
“Y’know, move a few things around the place. Clean around. Work out like crazy…”
“I’m only happy to hear one of three things in that list. I was hoping for something… uh… together?” He gave his big bud a thug, without taking his eyes off me. It was clear who was the romantic guy of the pair, of course.
I leaned in and whispered, putting some power in my words (God, reading how I wasn’t able to do that before is kind of painful, too!). “Take care of that big guy. I’ll go finish a few things around here.”
Mike’s eyes glazed over, as a big dumb smile took over his face. “Yeah… master…” He looked straight ahead now, slowly stroking his cock but quickly picking up the pace.
Hey, I don’t plan on letting him cum without my help. Going to rush the cleaning around and check my emails to go back with my big jock!
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Author’s note:
Looooooooong chapter!
I like Brent. Military guys are another of my favorite stereotypes, but the jocks usually get more love! The dog tags look awesome, the obedience they display, the camo clothes are quite neat. And the few ones I’ve met so far are really nice!
I was thinking about splitting this chapter in two parts. I did so with chapter 5 in Patreon, to improve the reading quality and avoid having it like a wall of text (I feel like I got carried away with this and the next chapter, and they’re both over 9K words). 
But ultimately decided to leave it like this. May be a wall of text, but it’s probably better than having you guys searching for the second part.
Okay, that’s all I had in mind for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading <3.
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spookysmujer · 4 years
Text
Nightmare, O. Diaz
Summary: Y/N has a bad dream of losing Oscar, he spends the late night trying to console her.
warnings: mentions of violence/blood, cute s h e t 🥺 fluff!Oscar
word count: 1.2k
requested by @lillict
A/N: If I were his girlfriend, I would be having so much nightmares of losing him as well, be fearin’ for my mans. I hope you enjoy babe! Please don’t forget to heart, commment, reblog, follow and turn on the notifs for when I post new content!! Thank you! 
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(gif belongs to @merakiaes 🦋)
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The scene that is playing out in front of you is just as those in the movies. Everything seems okay for the moment, hope strong like a knight in shining armor riding in on a steed. But then that hope being crushed in an instance.
Oscar stands in front of you, mangled and beat. He faces you as the muscles of his face torque to confusion. You weren’t there just a second ago. Matter of the fact you weren’t anywhere near him. And when you came rushing down the street, calling out to him, everything changed.
A hooded figure behind him raises their arm, a gun in hand and pointed towards the love of your life. Here you are, happy to see that he is alive but now the reason he won’t be. Before you can use your voice to warn him, the sound of the bullet leaving the barrel rings in your ears, his eyes widening as it pierces his back. It causes him to stumble forward.
You reach out with your arms to catch him, the both of you falling to the pavement. His heavy weight bearing down on you, the tremble in your lips and you are barely able to roll him over. As soon as you can get him on his back, the dark red has seeped onto the fabric of his clothes on the front of his tank top.
“O-oh, no, no I’m sorry. O-oscar?” You speak his name out but no noise comes from your lips. You try to scream him back to life nothing but a strained noise escapes you. What did you do? Your voice finally sounds but the image of a bleeding out Oscar starts to fade away, The colorful scene beginning to soften to black and white and then gone.
You can feel the air fill your lungs as your eyes open. Beads of sweat over your forehead and heat radiating off your body as the comforter is flung off you. You’re in your bed, at Oscar’s place
“Hey, hey, you okay? Y/N, hey look at me.” You’re looking down at Oscar’s bare torso, no tank top, no blood stains. After a moment of relief, realizing that it was just a nightmare, you lock eyes with him. His face of worry lessens as you take deep breath.
You shake you head and squeeze your eyes as the image of him shot flashes once more. “Talk to me.” He reaches over you to turn on your bedside lamp. The dim light hurting your eyes for a brief moment. You can feel the heart palpitations in your chest begin to fall away, the more deep breaths you take.
“I’m sorry... bad dream. Of you,” Oscar sighs, interlocking your fingers to his. He knows exactly what you mean when you say that. It’s the same nightmare that you’ve been having for the past few weeks. It began to worry him with how much sleep you are losing. It being hard for you to fall back asleep afterwards. “Losing you... haunts me when I’m awake and asleep.”
“Bebe... Cuchillos is gone. She’s dead. She can’t control me or hurt me no more. The Streets are a thing of the past for me. We aren’t in Freeridge. We are safe, hm?” He pushes your unruly hair over your shoulder, placing a soft kiss on your shoulder.
The sounds off cars passing pull your attention from him. You look around and see the messy, half un-packed room. We aren’t in Freeridge anymore. Cuchillos can’t hurt him, the streets are a thing of the past, Y/N.
But even those reminders won’t stop the nightmares from coming. Oscar can see how your mind is racing by the dazed look on your face. He places another kiss on your shoulder to pull you back to reality, “What’s on your mind, mamas?”
After another deep breath, you turn to him and look for reassurance in his eyes.
“I guess.. though that part of your life is done with.. you know, I guess I know that no matter where you run to your past can still haunt you.” You tell him, he purses his lips, running a hand over his tired face.
“Not this time, no one to chase me but the memories. Remember that, okay? The one who could hurt me is gone. Everything in with the streets were handled before we left. No one will come for me. The Santos still have my back and would let me know should something come our way.” Oscar runs his thumb along your knuckles as a comfort mechanism.
“We left because of me. Because I kept bugging you to seek out this life.”
The corner of his lip twitches up to a lopsided grin, “Encouraged me, motivated me to move on and get what I truly have been wanting, I don’t see a issue with that.” Oscar had became more optimistic since dating you. And most times, you adored how he saw the brighter side of everything but in the moment it annoyed you how he didn’t see the problem.
“I am trying to get you to see the big picture. You did all of that because of me, because I encouraged you to. People know Spooky traded in his glock for a domestic life. That makes you vulnerable. That can get you killed, I could be the reason you get a bullet in your back.”
Just like the nightmare. Oscar being distracted by you, he doesn’t see the danger that follows behind him.
Releasing yourself from his hold, you slip out of bed to get some water. The heavy feeling of the worrying making you thirsty. After a few gulps of the cold liquid, you lean against the counter and rubbing your temples.
You hear a click of a gun, your heart jumping at the sound but it’s only Oscar standing across from you. He holds a glock in his hands, showing it to you from where he stands, “I got one on the bedroom, one near the door and even under the sink in the bathroom.
“We may have left Freeridge, but I can promise you, Freeridge hasn’t left me.I know that how I left things won’t guarantee mine or your safety 100% but I know the odds are a lot more in my favor than they have ever been in the past 25 years of my life. You were not the reason I decided to do this, you were one of them but I wanted this for me. If anyone comes to put a bullet in my back, it’ll be because of me and only me. You will never be the reason for that. Understand?”
His seriousness in his voice relaxes you a lot more. You nod and try to release any remaining tension in your body through another exhale.” Yeah, I understand. I’ll keep reminding myself of that.”
“I’ll remind you as much as you need, mi amor.”
taglist: @clemmingstylins0n​ @fairygardenss​ @spookysnena​ @firebenderwolf​ @princesstiffxoxo​
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recurring-polynya · 3 years
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soul reapers to get paid and their salaries are even quite high! if i remember correctly, lieutenants make around $7k while a captain’s salary is almost triple(nearly $19k)
(cont) that is if my conversion was right, in a JET interview kubo said captains make 2million yen, lieutenants - 700 000yen and an unseated officer - 200 000yen. but then again, i think the living cost in ss is much higher, i remember matsumoto mentioning that clothes in the living world are much cheaper
I have to say this is one of the liveliest discussions on Bleach meta that I have ever participated in on this website. I feel like I can definitively report that is is both fanon consensus and supported by the creator himself that Soul Reapers do, in fact, get paid. For the record, my husband, who started this, conceded days ago and I am sure has not thought about it since.
In any case-- I was very surprised by these numbers, and at first I thought that maybe they were in kan, the fictional currency used in Soul Society, rather than yen. I mean, $19k/year is a terrible salary (for those of you who are not American it is roughly minimum wage). I attempted to figure out the conversion rate between kan and yen once, and at the time, came to the conclusion that kan were worth somewhat more than yen, but I no longer have my scratch pad, so I cannot show my work. Looking at it again, they seem pretty close.
Then, just to get an idea, I googled the salary of a four-star general in the American military, which I thought should be a rough equivalent, and the article I found reported all its numbers in monthly salaries, which I am not used to seeing, but maybe they are more common in other countries. In any case, according to the article I found, the highest salary you can make in the US military is $15,800/month ($189,600/year), which is pretty close to what a Gotei captain makes. I realize that is a lot of money on an absolute scale, but that actually seemed shockingly low to me, in the sense that there have only ever been 246 four-star generals in the history of the U.S., but this is the sort of salary that, say, a C-suite executive might make. A president of even a public university can make 2-5 times this. Now, a career in the military comes with a lot of other perks-- free room and board, free healthcare, etc, but I think this is going to make a much bigger difference to the people in the lower ranks.
The more I thought about it, I do think this tracks, though. Gotei captains are immeasurably valuable and basically impossible to replace. One of the more chilling moments leading up to the Winter War was the part where Hitsugaya is basically like “we don’t know how many Arrancar Aizen has, but if it’s more than 10, we’re screwed” and then it cuts to Hueco Mundo, and Aizen is just surrounded by guys. So, yeah, it honestly makes perfect sense to me that captains are paid a “good living” but it’s insulting compared to the wealth of the nobles that live around them. I don’t usually have a lot of nice things to say about Byakuya, but I do want to emphasize that this has to be chump change for him. This guy definitely works out of a sense of duty, he is not in it for the Benjamins.
The vice-captain salary (~$84k/yr) comes closest to an O-4, which corresponds to a major or a lieutenant colonel, and usually entails about 10 years of service. I guess years count for less when you’re immortal, so I guess that works out. One thing that doesn’t fit is that in another interview, Kubo states that Renji’s sunglasses cost half a year’s salary, but their price is listed in the Bleach Bootleg as 84,700 kan. If a kan is roughly equal to a yen, this is wildly off. I will get back to this later. In WDKALY, there was some mention of vice-captains and captains being given “mansions” to live in (if they chose to). I absolutely cannot accept this fact as canon. I can’t. I mean, there are numerous omake about Hisagi trying to score free food out of Omaeda, yet this man lives in a mansion? And do not tell me he (or Matsumoto or Iba) would pass up living in a mansion if they had the option, even if the commute were an absolute nightmare. Maybe he can’t afford the cost of utilities and furnishings. I don’t know. Please, someone write me a sitcom of Hisagi and Kira living in giant mansions next door to each other, but it’s just like the Bluths living in the sample house in Arrested Development. [Aside: Renji would take the mansion, but he would turn it into an indoor soccer field and continue to sleep in the barracks search your heart you know it’s true]
Back on topic! The unseated officer salary of 200k yen/mo works out to an E-3, which is what an enlisted service member makes after a year. Everyone in the Gotei is considered an officer, and unseating people are awful, so, once again, this seems fine. Well, it seems shitty, tbh, but consistently shitty.
To really answer the question of “is this shitty?” though, we need to consider buying power. Earlier, I mentioned that Gotei service includes free room and board, and that alone is equivalent to a lifetime of wealth for someone from the lower Rukon. I mentioned earlier that I once tried to calculate the exchange rate between kan and yen using a variety of prices for various items. I wish I had kept better notes, because my main takeaway was that prices for things were not very consistent. A copy of the Seireitei Bulletin is 380 kan. Using a straight kan to yen to dollar conversion, that’s $2.80 (I am using 100 yen = $1 because it’s close enough, in case anyone was wondering). Sexy photo books of the captains cost ~$25. The budget of the Shinigami Women’s Association is $2500/year, and the Men’s is $900/year, which is roughly the cost of one pair of sunglasses. I think it must have been the sunglasses that threw me, because I kept trying to peg the cost of a pair of sunglasses to a half year’s salary. The club budgets are just honestly confusing because I have no idea what a calligraphy club budget should look like. It seemed... fine... that a club budget should be equivalent to half a year’s salary? To be honest, I think a kan should be roughly equal to a yen and the sunglasses are just priced too low. (Not a statement I ever thought I would be making).
The comment about clothes being cheaper in the World of the Living makes a lot of sense! Cloth in Soul Society is probably hand-dyed, rather than mass printed, and sewed by hand, rather than by machine. On the other hand, if you wanted goods made in traditional ways, it would be a lot cheaper to get in Soul Society. A chusen-dyed kimono is a luxury good in 2021, because you have to option to order a cheap t-shirt and sweatpants from Amazon. Everyone wears hand-made kimono in Soul Society because that’s what there is, so the price is going to be relatively lower. I do think that cost-of-living jumps sharply inside the walls of the Seireitei, and that it’s very common to do your shopping in the upper districts of Rukongai, where there are lot of highly skilled artisans making goods for the city-dwelling market. I figure that one of the few opportunities for upward mobility, aside from selling your soul to the military is to make enough money to buy your way inside the gates (either through overpriced business licenses, getting a noble patron, or by arranging a marriage to someone who already lives inside)
That being said, I have thought a lot about importing items from the WotL--shinigami usually travel through senkaimon, which do not allow for matter conversion, so they wouldn’t normally be able to bring anything with them. I imagine that it’s sort of a perk of the job that when you go on a mission where you have to go through a matter converter (which would include any time you are bringing a gigai over) you could smuggle back whatever you can fit in your kosode. It’s very strange which technology is adapted from the World of the Living (washing machines, treadmills, urinals) and what isn’t (coffee). In fanfic, it’s common to see shinigami wearing Living World clothing in their off-hours, but I don’t think that’s supported by canon or filler in any way. For my own fanfiction, because it’s fun and world-buildy, I like to pretend that Ichigo is a very popular figure after the Winter War and that World of the Living fashion, music, etc becomes popular, starting during the two-year timeskip, particularly among the younger denizens of the Seireitei, and that there are special bars and such that specialize in that kind of thing. Shinigami who have done extensive stints in the Living World are considered cool for their knowledge of such esoteric subjects as “rice cookers.”
I am done now! I swear! Thank you, everyone for reading all the way down to the bottom of possibly the nerdiest and most boring post I have ever made on this website! (wait, no, I just remembered the one on senkaimon transfer protocols. Second most boring.)
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seita · 4 years
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— bnha abc's: hitoshi shinsou [angst edition].
well, finally the angst! i have no idea what character i’ll do next but we shall see...
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⤑ 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧! | 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬  
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A- Accident, Would they blame themselves if you died in an accident?
∴ unless he was the reason you were involved then no. ∴ he wouldn’t search for correlation to himself in the event of an accident. ∴ he’s not looking to throw a pity party for himself. ∴ you were the one who was dead, after all.
B- Break up, How would they deal with one?
∴ it depends on the relationship. ∴ if it was long term, a few years together then he’s pretty broken up about it ∴ and will probably take a while to get himself back on the market ∴ but a relationship that’s only been a handful of months ∴ he figures it’s best to just move on from it.
C-Crying, Are they much of a crier?
∴ no not at all, really. ∴ sure, he feels sad but tears never fall from his eyes. ∴ however, if there is something traumatic that happens. ∴ he may shed a few tears into his pillow as he goes to sleep.
D-Death, How do they deal with any death?
∴ pretty well, actually ∴ he finds a way to cope so he can move on as quickly as possible ∴ that’s not to say he doesn’t mourn or just erase their memory ∴ he just moves to work past being broken up about it ∴ he doesn’t want to go through his days with the heavy weight of a death on his mind ∴ the type of guy to visit graves and leave flowers for his loved ones once a month.
E-Emotion, What’s the emotion they tend to push away the most?
∴ anger. ∴ he doesn’t like to be angry and he doesn’t like to show anyone his anger ∴ that’s not always possible so he’ll remove himself from situations that make him angry ∴ he’ll go somewhere private where he can let his anger out without prying eyes. ∴ he feels like shit after losing his temper so he’ll apologize or you’ll have to console him and let him know it’s okay to be angry ∴ he’s human and bottling it up isn’t healthy ∴ he agrees but...tbh nothing changes.
F-Frustrated, How much would it take to push them off the edge?
∴ it truly depends. ∴ day-to-day, he doesn’t really get ticked off or upset easily ∴ he’s pretty patient tbh ∴ but in an event where he worked hard for something ∴ or he really, really had a drive to do something (like get into the hero course) ∴ and he fails to do it ∴ he is pretty easily set off. ∴ but he pushes past and works 10x harder than before until he accomplishes his goal. ∴ he’s a driven man.
G-Great Pain, What is the most painful thing they have witnessed?
∴ when he became a pro, the first time he failed to defeat a villain ∴ and many civilians perished as a result ∴ it’s something that absolutely haunts him. ∴ he had nightmares for weeks afterwards ∴ he fully went to a therapist ∴ like he was fucked up over it ∴ to this day, if he’s reminded of it he will literally get so anxious and depressed, even though he’s seen lots of casualties since then ∴ it was just that first failure that fucks him up.
H-Humiliation, How could they be humiliated?
∴ being cheated on. ∴ the idea that he wasn’t good enough, to the point his lover had to find someone else. ∴ that really damages his sense of self worth and self esteem which is already a bit low to begin with. ∴ he’d feel like there was something wrong with him and now everyone knew he was defective.
I-Injured, How do they handle themselves when injured?
∴ very calm and collected. ∴ he figures there’s no real reason to lose his head over it. ∴ panicking will only make the situation worse. ∴ if it’s a bad injury, he’ll seek help as fast as he can. ∴ if its a superficial wound he’ll probably handle it himself.
J-Jittery, Which part of their past makes them flinch or even worked up?
∴ his childhood. ∴ he was the target for teasing and bullying due to his quirk. ∴ so if anything reminds him of those times, he gets really down ∴ he doesn’t like spiral into depression or anything ∴ but he’ll feel anxious and self conscious until the moment passes
K-Kill, Would they kill for revenge?
∴ no, never. ∴ he’s worked so hard to become a pro hero that he wouldn’t want to jeopardize it by some sort of misconduct as that. ∴ also, he has been accused of having potential to become a villain ∴ and he doesn’t want to give anyone ammunition for that.
L- Loss, What was their greatest loss?
∴ he hasn’t actually experienced much loss in terms of losing anyone to death. ∴ when he was a child, he had a friend before his quirk manifested ∴ and accidentally used it on them, unsure of how to control it ∴ and it scared the other boy so bad he stopped being friends with him ∴ that hurt shinsou pretty badly. ∴ he also probably lost a pet dog, which was traumatic because of how  much he depended on the furry animal for comfort
M- Mistakes, How much do they want to fix the mistakes of their past?
∴ shinsou isn’t the type of person who will do things that have the potential for regret ∴ he thinks his decisions over thoroughly and runs through all options before choosing the most logical one ∴ of course, he fucks up sometimes but ∴ he stands by his decisions, confident that he did the best possible thing he could have. ∴ being a pro hero doesn’t allow for him to regret things -- if he stops to mourn every civilian loss, for example, he would only be run into the ground. ∴ that doesn’t help anyone.
N-Need, How would they react if you needed emergency surgery?
∴ calm and collected ∴ especially if you’re scared ∴ then he’s going to make sure he’s a pillar for you to lean on ∴ that’s not to say on the inside he isn’t losing his mind ∴ bc he def is ∴ he just finds it counterproductive to stress you out while you’re already scared of the surgery ∴ it would get neither of you anywhere good ∴ once you’re in surgery, he’d be anxious as he waited. ∴ he’s check the time and refuse to leave the hospital until the doctor announces you’re safe.
O-Outrage, What makes them angry?
∴ betrayal. ∴ shinsou, when he trusts, he trusts hard. ∴ he puts his faith into them and expects them to stand by his side ∴ so if, for example, you used an insecurity of his against him in an argument. ∴ or cheated on him. ∴ or spilled a secret he told you in confidence ∴ he will be pissed. depending on how bad it was, he’s liable to break up with you. ∴ naturally, once his trust is broken, however, it’s near impossible to fix ∴ so good luck getting your relationship back to how it used to be lol
P-Pressure, What stresses them out to the breaking point?
∴ training ∴ he works hard to better himself to become the best hero possible ∴ but it stresses him out that he’s not improving fast enough, he’s not doing enough, he’s falling behind others ∴ he’s really hard on himself and his drive only makes the thought of failure terrifying to him. ∴ he doesn’t want to fuck up and lose his chance at his dream.
Q- Qualify, What part of themselves do they see as dangerous?
∴ his quirk, naturally. ∴ it’s a pretty dangerous quirk but ∴ truthfully, everyone’s quirk is dangerous in some way. ∴ it’s just that he’s always been trated as if his quirk was the worst possible outcome he could have been born with. ∴ so he feels like his quirk is the Most Dangerous.
R-Rock, What weighs them down?
∴ the idea that his quirk, very well could be a villains quirk. ∴ he worries that he might abuse it by accident and fuck everything up ∴ his quirk is different from combat quirks or rescue quirks ∴ he can control people. he can lock them into their own minds and force their bodies to do anything he wants without having to lift a finger. and there’s nothing they can do it about it. ∴ that scares him. ∴ it’s such a powerful quirk ∴ and it’d be so easy to abuse it ∴ he worries about his own morality at times, due to all the times he’s been called a villain ∴ it makes him doubt himself even though he knows himself better than that.
S-Sorrow, Would they feel empty after your death?
∴ very much so. ∴ shinsou is the type who gives himself completely to relationships ∴ whether it’s platonic or romantic, he puts 100% in. ∴ so to lose someone he had cared for so completely ∴ leaves him with a devastating emptiness ∴ he’s not going to know how to fill the gap your presence left behind for a long time.
T-Time, What if they had a limited time to live?
∴ he wouldn’t panic ∴ he’d spend the time doing everything he needed to do ∴ like see his mother, hang out with his friends, eat his favorite food, spend a night with you ∴ he’d be determined to make sure he wouldn’t regret wasting the time he had left ∴ so he does everything he feels is necessary for having the happiest time that he has left.
U-Urge, How badly do they get the urge to see you after separating?
∴ on a day to day basis, not much ∴ he’s very good at occupying his mind and thinking logically about whether it makes sense to see you or not. ∴ most of the time it’s not. ∴ he’s not the type to go crawling back to his ex unless it’s something he needs to fix with you. ∴ but at night, when he cant sleep ∴ his mind will automatically wander to you ∴ thinking about how it felt when just a few days, weeks, months ago you were curled up beside him in bed.
V-Vent, How do they get rid of feelings they find unnecessary?
∴ he’s actually really damn good at communication ∴ he is so good at just talking things through ∴ it helps him sort his thoughts and it keeps him calm, rather than getting worked up and upset ∴ he prefers to have healthy ways to release his negative emotions
W-Wild card, A random angst headcannon.
∴ when the bullying over his quirk got worse the older he got ∴ as people started to look at him like he was going to harm them ∴ he got frustrated, angry even ∴ he went off on his mom -- blaming her for giving him such a shitty, terrible quirk ∴ he said some extremely hurtful things in his anger ∴ and the picture of his mom’s hurt face over his words drives him insane ∴ to this day, he still feels like he’s trying to make it up to her. ∴ truthfully, it’s been forgiven and forgotten for a long time but ∴ he doesn’t believe he deserves that just yet.
X- X-ray, What makes them transparent? How obvious can they get around something they hate?
∴ you really will not know when this guy hates you ∴ he seems to have mostly just, cold indifference to majority of people ∴ so him hating you; being ignored or treated coldly ∴ will literally not even make you feel hated ∴ it just seems like his default ∴ he’s pretty open about his opinions though ∴ so if you talk about something and ask what he thinks of it ∴ if he hates it, like a movie, he’ll just come right out and say it tbh ∴ so he’s like 50/50 transparent.
Y-Yearning, Do old memories make them yearn for your touch?
∴ yes. ∴ shinsou is the type of guy to look through his phone at old texts and pictures ∴ when he lies in bed at night, he thinks of his fondest memories ∴ he won’t actively seek you out if it’s not logical -- like if you’re an ex. ∴ but if you’re available for him, he’ll seek you out with a deep craving for you. ∴ he wants to make more memories while he can.
Z-Zest, Add your own letters!
[Parents Headcanon] ∴ when he was a baby, his father left him and his mom ∴ that left his mom to take care of a baby all on her own ∴ she was a young mom too, had him pretty early in life; about 18 or so. ∴ so she struggled really badly ∴ he regrets all the trouble he gave her when he was naive to the struggles of parenthood ∴ once he got older and realized how much his mom did for him ∴ he began to work hard around the house so she could relax when she got home from work, cooked dinner, and never asked for anything he didn’t absolutely need ∴ he absolutely adores his mom ∴ and the idea of ever being without her terrifies him.
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kyotakumrau · 4 years
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2020.05.30 DIR EN GREY SPECIAL TALK - The Freedom of Expression - Kyo and Kaoru - translation
(if you notice any mistakes, typos or can give extra information, it’d be very welcome!^ ^)
J- so from now on we will start The Freedom of Expression. I, Joe Yokomizo, will be the MC. (everyone yoroshikus) J- Kyo, it's been a while! Kyo- Hello! (he turns) J- How are you doing? Kyo- could be better. J- I have a message from Toshiya from last week, 'Have you tried the ramen restaurant I told you about? And if you - as a gourmet/foodie - can recommend me any good shop, please!' So what do you say? Kyo- Actually, I forgot the name of the ramen place. J- Hahahah!! Kyo - so I didn't go yet. But anyway, all shops are closed now. Hm, I can't think of a good shop to recommend. J- I see... How did you arrive in a situation that Toshiya recommended you a ramen place? Kyo- I think we were probably talking about Jiro (famous ramen chain), J- Jiro, yeah. Kyo - And from that talk he told me about a good place. J- I see. There are so many comments crying that you forgot the name of the shop. Kyo - If I had my smartphone with me I'd have saved the name, but I hadn't. 
Kyo(changing topic)- you know, I actually know your voice well. J- Eh? How? Kyo- From the radio. J- Ah? Thank you! Kyo - My tattoo place has the radio tuned to your program, and the timing was right. And I recognized your voice 'oh it's Joe'. While being in pain I was listening to your voice, so your voice has a bad connotation for me. (Joe LOLs) J- That is not my fault you know! XD Kyo- But it has this painful image for me, it's imprinted now. J- (laughing) so when you hear my voice you remember the pain. Kyo - Exactly. Like ' eh that voice again!' Joe LOLs again- so now my voice must be a nightmare for you! Kyo- Yup. I even asked my tattooist, 'do you always listen to this?' and they replied 'yeah' (they laugh a bit more). And that time we talked about many things, but all that talk content and your voice both have the pain attached to it. J- I'm so sorry! XD (the smirks, the laughs XD)
J- Kaoru came once as a guest to my program. Kyo- Yeah, I guess. J- So sometime you could both come as well. Kyo - Ah... (Joe and Kaoru both LOL) J- I can see you really don't want to! Kyo- But you really grill your guests! J- That's true. Kyo- Right? So for me it's 100% NOPE. J- I see. But in that program we often talk about intrigues or hot news. What do you think about those topics? Kyo- Intrigues? I'm quite interested. J- Do you know any recent hot news? Something interesting. Kyo - There are many, but even as I'm really not into youtubers there is only this one that is great, Naokiman show. I'm watching him quite a lot. And I watch many things connected to that, but from youtubers only that person. I even bought his book. Y- I'm also doing The Dave Fromm Channel on TouTube, so maybe you would like to come to take up on some topic? Kyo- I can't see that happening. (Joe laughs at the rejection XD)
Kyo- If you want a crazy talk, talking about aliens, don't we have one among our band members? J (connects the dots)- Ah yeah! Without you saying the name I think I know who you mean somehow. Kyo- From the very beginning he was always very strange. Really. J- In what way? Kyo- I totally cannot imagine his daily life, like his place doesn't feel like a place where someone lives, it's hard to explain properly. J- I see. Kaoru, you keep nodding, do you think so too? Kaoru- You could feel it two weeks ago, right? His house. J- Yeah it didn't feel like a proper lived-in place. But for example after you finish a concert is there anything human-like about him? There must be some anecdotes, where he is human-like. Kyo- But there's really nothing like that. (Joe laughs) Kyo- For real.
Kaoru- What was it, when we visited him and a fax came and he ATE it. (Kyo and Joe ROTFL and clap) Kaoru- It's a real story. Was it me or Toshiya?  We were at his home, a fax came in and started coming out so he grabbed it and ate it. J- That's really something. In the comments I can see many 'a goat!' (=eats paper). You get some information or announcements with faxes, right? So it's definitely not a good idea to eat them. An urban legend story. But Kyo, is there no heart warming stories about him? He's probably watching today. Kaoru- but he usually says not to talk about him. Joe laughs- Well, all of you have their own space. (?)
Kyo- But I really don't have any warm story about him. You know we don't really talk among ourselves. But fe when we are abroad we would do talk like 'how many more shows left' or 'today this part was good' and so on. But with him I haven't talked even once. J- Really?! lol Kyo- Really! He doesn't talk to me, if I say something to him he will reply, but isn't it sad for me? If I don't ask him he will never talk to me. It's like I'm being played with. Even as I wait for him to approach me first it hasn't happened for 20 years. J-I see.
Kyo- But he seems to be really into board games. J- Oh ok. Kyo- He's collecting board games from around the world. J- I've also heard about it. Kyo- Recently there's a TV show (?) about various board games, I've only seen that, but thinking he has a lot of that at home is kinda gross. (??) Kyo- He doesn't invite us, but he plays board games with other people. J- Well, he can't play alone. Kyo- Yeah, but I would like him to return some of that energy towards DIR EN GREY. J-I see. Kyo- And to occasionally ask me 'how was the show today?' or to say 'you sang well today' or even say 'Kaoru, you did well today'. (Kaoru laughs) Kyo- Wouldn't it be good? Kaoru- But if it would actually happen I'd just be 'what the hell????? (all ROTFL) What's wrong with him?' J- It would actually make you worried. Kaoru- I'd be surprised. J- If he did it when you can play shows again, you'd know he was watching today. Kyo- But shouldn't that be something normal? It's about why him saying that would be so weird. J- Because you really didn't talk at all until now. Kyo- He really only does riddles. Kaoru- When we all join a chat (about work) and someone asks for his opinion, he only replies 'that's good'. The end. (bad connection time)
J- But then, Kyo, if you had to do a live stream with him, without any MC, could you? There was a comment like this. Kyo- Wouldn't that be favourable for him? Kaoru- I can see that. And you'd get hurt/make look funny. Kyo- Yeah, He would just stay quiet, you ask him something and only get a one word answer. J- Okay, I see it now. So there would be no proper conversation. Kyo- How about you invite him to your program? I could listen to you both when getting tattooed J- I think it would double or tripple the  tattooing pain. Kyo- I think it'd make me numb, the pain. J- So I should invite Shinya as a guest once as an experiment to see how much it could numb Kyo's pain. Kaoru- It'd be interesting.
J- There are many comments asking for more details of the Nichome story. Toshiya told us about is last week. Kyo- Nichome?? J- Nichome, you were drinking in Shinjuku and after someone started talking to you, a couple from Nichome. Kyo- All members went that time? J- I think Toshiya said it was only you and him. Kyo- I really don't remember. I don't go to Nichome. And we don't go drinking together. Kaoru- Studio was still... J- Ah right! He said you were going back from the studio. Yeah, you were recording, on your way back two of you were approached [by a gay couple]. Kyo- ???huh? J- In comments everyone says it was in Gyoenmae. Kyo- at the park, there were two men, I think, sitting there, and while laughing they start waving their hands to us, and scared we run away - this story I think? J- Did you remember? Kyo- Slightly. J- Why were you together that time? Kyo- I really can't remember. Wasn't that over 20 years ago? J- That long ago? Then isn't it surprising how well Toshiya remembered that? Kyo- Because he got so scared? Kaoru- Around that time, I often walked near the park there going to the recording. I remember once there was a huge old guy dressed up as a white lolita, with an umbrella even as there were no rain. I also run away. J- Around there you can meet many unique people. 
J- Kyo, how about any anecdotes about Die? Kyo- Ah but I don't drink so we didn't go out together. J- oh. Kyo- About Die - Once when we finished the show I remember he was really angry. When we were touring abroad and we finished the show, he was so angry. That happened few times, I asked other people what happened but no one knew. Was it about his own playing, something about the band, I wasn't sure. J- Why was he angry. Kyo- Yeah. J- That time did you ask him? Kyo - I didn't wanted to ask in case it was my fault. J- Kaoru, have you seen Die getting angry? Kaoru- I have. (different air about him?)
J- Well, when you tour so much there are things you're just not happy about. That's the real charm of live shows. Kyo- When we go abroad, the sound is all jumbled, during the show PA will go somewhere, the lights will act strangely, and I always have huge problems with my ear monitor. J- The real problems. So how do you deal with problems like that abroad? Kyo- You just give up. Being bothered by it all the time would be worse, I'd just take the monitor out, to not get hit by it harder. J- It's better without it, than be annoyed by it. Kyo- I'd hear clicks and snares all the time, if I focus on that I won't be able to enjoy the show. But when it gets bad it's really bad. J- When you deal these kind of conditions, do the shows turn out well? Many times it depends on the audience. (to get a miraculous moment, everyone says it was not good ??) How can you finish the concert? Kaoru- But on the contrary, at the times I felt it wasn't good I got told it was great, and when I thought we did great I get very meh reactions. J- What do you think, Kyo? Kyo- Same. J- So what are your ....conditions for a good show? Kaoru- when I don't remember the song, I just play without thinking. J- So you just follow your instinct, trust the music. How about you, Kyo? Kyo- For me it's the same. It's better not to overthink it. J- But vocalists have it tough, after singing your throat might end up in various condition, what happens if you suddenly lose it? Kyo- I don't really know myself. ...But there was a time I really couldn't make any sound, was it Gunma? I couldn't even speak. But the show that time was amazing. But them there were times when I could really sing well but it did't really connect with the audience emotionally. So I don't think it depends on how well I'm singing. J- To reach the audience is not only about sounding perfect.
(lastly, Joe asked for questions and comments for the last part)
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amberskywrites · 4 years
Text
Burnt Edges
Masterpost 
Pairing: Sokka/Zuko
Fandom / Genre: ATLA / Soulmate AU
Warnings: Abusive parents, Past physical abuse, Childhood trauma, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Discussion of trauma (minor this part, more prevalent in next part)
Notes: This was for @willowaudreykeyes 100 follower DTYS! Second part should be coming eventually, because I do want to write them actually getting together soon 😅
Part One || Part Two 
-----------------------------------
Soulmarks.
Sokka wasn’t too interested in them, not as much as all the grown-ups and his sister and the little kids who were told wondrous stories of old about people finding their true love. Sokka was more interested in science, how to fight, how to survive a war. Most of the stories the older people in the village told them ended tragically, anyway. Most of their soulmates had died, their marks a bright white to signify that.
He had been fascinated with them when he was really, really young. He loved hearing his mom and dad talk about how they met or how they found out they were soulmates. It was a boring story, at least that’s what they said, but Sokka loved it. It was such an important event, and his parents had found out they were soulmates in the most mundane way possible, and he loved that their love seemed so simple.
Sokka had wanted to find his soulmate. For years, he really wanted to. He had dual swords crossing over one another, water droplets looking to be engraved into the handles.
But Sokka would never get the chance to meet them. Because at the age of twelve, his soulmark turned from black to white.
It had terrified Sokka that his soulmark had turned white when he wasn’t even a teenager yet. His soulmate couldn’t be dead, right? They must have been as young as him. A kid somewhere in the world had been killed and Sokka knew that because he had felt a hot pain shoot up his spine and as soon as he saw the mark on his lower back he discovered it to be white as a pearl.
The mark suddenly stopped being that comforting to Sokka. Instead it manifested nightmares that his sister or Grangran would have to help calm the boy down. It had felt like someone had burned him, when the mark turned white. Was that how his soulmate had died? Scorched by a fire? Sokka wouldn’t dismiss the idea. He knew the fire nation was full of some of the cruelest people. He wouldn’t put it past them to scorch a child to death.
Sokka had lost interest in his soulmate, almost forgetting that he had one in the first place. He wondered a lot why anyone cared about soulmates now though. Too many people had white marks scorched into their lower backs, and others knew their soulmates could be anywhere in the vast world, in the middle of a war, and what were they going to do? Risk being murdered by checking every nation for their soulmate? It didn’t seem worth it.
Three years went by. The pitying looks from his tribe stopped appearing because they had to accept it at some point, hell, they probably assumed it would happen to one of the kids sooner or later. Sokka trained and trained and trained the best he could to become a warrior. His skills were awful, he knew that, but he had to try. He never got the chance to meet his soulmate, never got a chance to try and protect them. He wanted to at least protect his tribe and his family.
He had to make a change of plans once Aang came into the picture. Katara was a determined and stubborn and fierce girl, but he was still her big brother. He didn’t feel right letting her go off with Aang on her own, and she was definitely not going to be content in just letting the little airbender boy leave.
In their free time between each destination, conversations always returned to soulmarks. It didn’t annoy Sokka really, he was fine listening to them talk about their marks and wonder who Katara’s soulmate could be (Aang appeared to not have a soulmark). Aang had asked about Sokka’s mark. If he had any guesses as to who his soulmate could be, or what he thought they might be like. Sokka just shrugged and showed his mark to Aang. The airbender had been surprised when he had learned Sokka’s mark was white, and for a little while the talk of soulmarks seemed to stop.
Toph had a soulmark, but it was still pitch black. She had yet to meet her soulmate, and Sokka really wasn’t surprised, considering how protective her parents were. Toph didn’t seem to care, though, because why should a mark dictate who you were supposed to fall in love with? She claimed she’ll marry earthbending instead of some random person.
And then Zuko joined the team.
He never said anything about his soulmark, even after everyone began trusting him. Even when they asked, he just said he didn’t want to talk about it. Instead, he’d turn his attention to Aang and start telling him where he needed to improve on his firebending, much to the others’ amusement and Aang’s frustration.
Sokka didn’t really care about Zuko’s mark at first. So what if the fire nation prince didn’t want to share? It was probably some noble fire bender, or maybe even Mai. Sokka knew the two had dated, and Mai had saved them for crying out loud because she apparently still loved Zuko! But Sokka thought that, if Mai was his soulmate, Zuko would have been fine with sharing. Sokka believed he was right, but he couldn’t be completely sure.
He would never admit that the reason he wanted Mai to not be his soulmate was because he wanted to stand a chance. Sokka knew when he started liking someone. He thought this would have just been a fleeting crush, one that would be over and done with in a few days or a couple of weeks. But the feeling didn’t go away. Instead it grew. It grew into warm cheeks and tumbling over words, a smile appearing anytime he saw Zuko laugh and his eyes lingered on the prince more and more with each passing day.
Sokka tried seeing Zuko’s mark, too. He remembered Mai’s because of a close fight he had gotten in a little while ago, and it had been very distinct, a flaming ring circling around a crown made of daggers. He wouldn’t have been surprised if it was Zuko’s mark as well. Something as stunning and intimidating looking would match Zuko’s personality just as much as it fit Mai’s.
But Zuko’s mark was hidden.
All the time.
And Sokka hated that he couldn’t find out if he was right.
He’d never been more curious about soulmarks until then.
Finally, he broke, and had caught Zuko just after training when Zuko was about to head into the house. The others were all down at the beach to relax, but Zuko had wanted to take a bit of time to himself. At least, that’s what he had hoped. But Zuko’s plans were stopped dead as Sokka caught his wrist. It wasn’t a tight grip, but Zuko still looked at him in confusion and a twinge of annoyance flashed through his eyes.
“Hey Zuko, can you stop that?”
Zuko blinked, brows furrowing and a frown gracing his face. “Stop doing… what exactly?”
“Stop hiding your damn soulmark. I want to see if I’m right.”
Zuko’s eyes narrowed and he pulled his hand away, folding his arms over his chest. “Right about what?”
Sokka bit his lip, his hands going to his hips as he huffed softly. “If you and Mai are soulmates! Or just, I really want to know what your soulmark looks like. Or why you of all people won’t show anyone.”
The watertribe boy watched as the young prince’s face softened for a moment, and his shoulders relaxed a little. “Well, I can tell you you’re wrong about Mai and I. We’re not soulmates. Her soulmates are Ty Lee and Azula.”
Sokka did not sigh a little in relief. He did not.
“Then you know who your soulmate is?”
Zuko shook his head, and Sokka’s heart skipped a beat. He watched Zuko worry at his bottom lip before speaking again, and Sokka thought his brain stopped working for a second hearing Zuko’s words.
“I doubt I’ll ever meet them. Or know if I do. So, to tell you why I don’t show my mark to anyone, there’s honestly no point in me showing it.”
Sokka felt the memories of years ago creep back into his mind. He never liked telling anyone for awhile that his soulmate was dead. That must be why Zuko didn’t want to talk about his soulmate, they must be dead too.
Or know if I do.
That sounded odd to Sokka, thinking about it. If Zuko’s soulmate was dead, there would be no chance of them meeting. Right?
“Wait, is your mark white too then?”
Zuko shook his head. Sokka’s brow creased as he tried to think of how Zuko would not know if he met his soulmate if his mark wasn’t white.
“Then how do you know?”
Zuko glanced away from Sokka, hands tightening on his upper arms for a moment before he relaxed. There wasn’t anything inherently wrong, Zuko knew this. He wasn’t the first person to experience this. But it still felt awkward talking about it, especially after hundreds of people made a point not to ask him. Because most people knew already in the fire nation.
“My mark was burned off.”
Sokka’s eyes widened at the admission, and he tried to catch Zuko’s gaze but Zuko kept his eyes on the bushes that lined the nearby wall.
“It’s another form of punishment, I guess.”
“... Punishment?” Sokka thought he may regret asking.
“From the fire lord for disobeying. Why do you think Azula stays in line so much? I think father did it to me to scare her into listening more, because she started to show more emotion a few years back that father didn’t quite like.”
“Your-” Sokka’s words caught in his throat. “Your father did that to you?”
Zuko hummed, nodding. “I know some other people have also had their marks burned off, but they’re hard to find because they don’t show off their marks either.”
Sokka didn’t seem to be listening, though. His hand tangled in his hair as he processed that Zuko’s mark had been burned off.
“What- do you know what happens to your soulmate’s mark after yours has been burned?”
Zuko tilts his head, thinking. “I think it mimics them being dead. But I’m not too sure. That’s just what mother told me before she left. Azula and I just thought it was a sad legend or something though.”
Sokka was quiet for a few moments, trying to process Zuko’s words. How many people thought their soulmates were dead, but in actuality something had just happened to them right on their soulmark? He had never heard of something like it, but it made sense, he thought. If the soulmark was somehow removed from someone, it made sense the matching soulmarks would turn white. Because the soulmark would be dead, right.
What if his soulmate was still alive?
Sokka barely noticed Zuko leave him.
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Note
Hi :) I... really wanna read a fanfic or two but I can't find one I vibe with xD So... do you know one that's not too long (around 100k words maybe), has hurt and comfort, smut (am I allowed to ask about that?? Ahhhh) and a happy ending? Top!lock would be a bonus but it's not necessary. And if it's a nice AU (like... any kind but no crossovers pls), it would be perfect! :D By the way, I found your blog only a few hours ago and I already feel really comfy and Idk, kinda at home here ^-^
Hi Nonny!!!
Welcome to my corner of the Tumblrsphere!!! I’m so happy you’ve found me, LOL, because I love all my followers and friends! <3
First of all, I think it’s super cute that “not too long” to you is “around 100K” LOL LOL LOL!!! <3 That said, I’d argue all my fic recs are fabulous, LOL. But again, I’m stupidly proud of the wonderful lists I’ve accumulated, because it satisfies my organization kink LOL. And yes, you’re ALWAYS allowed to ask for smut here LOL. 
ANYWAY, so I’m gonna use this ask as an excuse to post up a long-overdue part two to my 50 to 100K fic list! But first, here’s some past lists for the genres you’re looking for:
FIC MASTER PAGES: PG1 || PG 2 || PG 3
Toplock (Mar 2020)
Omegaverse
Please Check PG 3 for all my AU fic lists. There’s a lot :)
Hurt / Comfort Pt. 1: Under 5K Words 
Hurt / Comfort Pt. 2: 5K to 10K Words
Fandom Favourites / Popular Fics
I hope those will get you started! So now, here’s the main event!! Hope you enjoy them!
50 - 100 K WORDS Pt. 2 (Novel Length)
See also:
Fics Under 2000 w.
Fics Under 2000 w. Pt. 2
Fics Under 2000 w. Pt. 3
E-Rated Johnlock for Newcomers Pt 1 (Short Fics under 20K)
Novella Length Fics: 25 to 50K (Aug. 2019)
Novel Length Fics: 50 to 100K (Nov. 2018)
Novel Length Fics: 100K+ w. (May 2019)
Long S3/Post-S3 Fics (20K+ w.) [Apr 2020]
Top 20 Fave 40K+ w. Fics (April 2017)
Smut-Free Fics Over 50K (Aug 2019)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by SilentAuror (E, 50,635 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4/S4 Divergence, Case Fic, For a Case / Reverse Fake-Relationship, Conferences, Marriage Equality, Travelling / New York, Pride, Homophobia, Bottomlock, Marriage Proposal, John POV, Sexuality, Love Confessions, Emotional Love Making, Public Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, Passionate Kissing, Needy/Clingy Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Touching / Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Little Spoon Sherlock, Intense Orgasms) – John and Sherlock go to New York to attend a conference run by the National Defence of Traditional Marriage Coalition in order to investigate the potential bombing of the annual Manhattan Pride parade. As the conference unfolds, John finds himself repulsed by the toxic ideology being presented, which becomes relevent to his own unacknowledged issues and his friendship with Sherlock...
Repairing the Broken Things by BakerTumblings (M, 75,252 w., 15 Ch. || S4 Compliant, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Trauma, Hospitals, Big Brother Mycroft, Misunderstandings, Realizations, Severe Accident, John Whump, Pneumonia, Medical Procedures, Bed Sharing, First Time, Healing, Happy Ending) – "I'm calling today to notify you that there's been an accident."
Points by lifeonmars (E, 53,791 w., 42 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || HLV Rewrite / Canon Divergence, Married Life, Pregnancy / Baby Watson, Drinking to Cope, Boxing / Fisticuffs, Clueless John, Angst, Minor Medical Drama, Tattoos, Christmas, First Kiss/Time, Eventual Happy Ending, Love Confessions, Doctor John, Sexuality Crisis, Slow Burn, Case Fic, Drugging, Blow/Hand Job, Emotional Love Making, Parenthood, Passage of Time) – What if His Last Vow never happened? This fic picks up a few months after John and Mary's wedding, in an alternate universe where Magnussen doesn't exist, but Mary is still pregnant. Life continues -- just in a different direction. And slowly, Sherlock and John find their way to each other.
Never Change a Running System by Lorelei_Lee (E, 54,246 w. || Pre-TRF, Romance, Humour, Drama, Sex Toys, Anal, Rimming, Masturbation, Frottage, Blow Jobs, Public Sex, First Kiss / Time, Virgin Sherlock / Loss of Virginity, Accidental Voyeurism, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Experiments, Naive Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock, Possessive Sherlock, Straight With an Exception John, Hand Jobs) – Sherlock discovers his sexuality – with far-reaching consequences for John.
A Hundred Crimson Sols by elldotsee (E, 55,536 w. || Astronauts AU || Mars Exploration / Space Travel, Slow Burn, Shy Sherlock, Scientist Sherlock / Biomed Engineer John, Alternating POV, Mutual Pining, UST, Angst with Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injuries, Suicidal Ideation, Zero-G Sex) – Will Holmes is a chemical researcher recognized widely for his contributions to the new Mars exploration program. Thanks to his ground-breaking developments, the IMMC (International Mars Mission Corporation) is one step closer to Martian colonization. Will and his team of scientists are headed out on the first of three manned missions before the first group of settlers arrive. Three days before launch, one of the crew has to be replaced. Will panics because...new people. The replacement is of course one John Watson, biomedical engineer and space hottie who was pretty sure he had retired from actual space exploration and was now content to work in the nice, quiet research lab. Can the crew survive this TOTALLY ROUTINE trip? Will they be able to endure each other for the looooooong trip in close quarters? Gonna be a wild ride... prepare for blast off. Part 1 of the SpaceBois go to Space series
The Thing Is by TSylvestris (E, 56,743 w. || Case Fic, Dev. Rel., Anal/Oral, Blow Jobs, Meddling Mycroft, Drama, Romance, Humour, Casual Encounters, Pining Idiots, Possessive Sherlock, Orgasm Delay, Rough / Alley Sex, Public Sex, John Whump, Drugged John, Emotional Love Making, Awkward Relationship, Marriage of Convenience, Switchlock) – The problem with living with Sherlock, John thought, was that you never, never, ever knew the significance of anything. Like your flatmate's nose buried in your hair. Whilst you're in bed. Part 1 of Nitroglycerine
One Little Change by jadztone (E, 58,312 w. || ASiB Divergence, Fake Relationship, Bed Sharing, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers, First Kiss / Time, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Bi John / Gay Demisexual Sherlock, Switchlock, Alternating POV, Jealousy, Misunderstandings, Case Fic, Angst with Happy Ending, Emotional Love Making, Butt Plugs, Cuddles) – Our story begins right after John and Sherlock's first meeting with Irene Adler in September. It splits off into an AU that imagines them taking a case where they act as bait to hook a killer targeting closeted gays in secret relationships. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, many things happen that have our boys wondering if maybe they have a chance with each other. Then Irene fakes her death on Christmas Eve, and things get a lot more complicated - especially since they still have a killer to catch.
floating through a dark blue sky by Lediona (M, 58,966 w. || Notting Hilll AU || POV John, Celebrity Sherlock, First Date / Time / Kiss, Past Drug Addiction, Angst with a Happy Ending) – Of course, I’d seen his films and always thought he was, well, brilliant -- but, you know, a million miles from the world I live in. Or, when John is the owner of a travel book shop and the famous Sherlock Holmes stops in one day.
The Burning by SrebrnaFH (M, 60,658 w. || Reverse Reichenbach, Suicide, Depression, Hurt Sherlock / John, Separation, BAMF John, Good Big Brother Mycroft, Angst, Implied/Referenced Torture, Fake Character Death, Rescue Mission, Reconciliation / Reunion, Hospitalization, Marriage Proposal, Illnesses, Physical Therapy, Happily Ever After) – Something went very, very wrong. John had seemed, if not happy, then reasonably content with his life. Sherlock had never predicted something like THIS might have happened. Not in his worst nightmares. He was the lousiest friend ever, apparently. At least Mycroft found him something to occupy his mind with, so that he didn't have to go back to 221B and stare at the walls and the chair, where John Watson would never sit again.
This Thing All Things Devours by cypress_tree (E, 63,844 w., 15 Ch. || In Time AU || Science Fiction, Dystopian Universe, First Meetings, Action / Adventure, Romance) – In 2169, time is money—literally. Humans are genetically engineered to stop aging at 25, when the numbers on their arm start counting down from one year. When that time is up, they die. The only way to get more time is to earn it, borrow it, or steal it.John Watson lives day-to-day in the crowded slums of Zone 13. He never imagined living any differently—until he meets the practically-immortal Sherlock, and helps him on a case to track a local time-thief...
The Bells of King's College by SilentAuror (E, 64,019 w., 5 Ch. || Post-S4, Missed Opportunities, Angst with Happy Ending, Fake Relationship, Case Fic, John POV, Jealous John, John in Denial, Travelling / Holidays, Virgin Sherlock, Wedding Proposals) – It's only been two weeks since Eurus Holmes disrupted their lives when Mycroft sends John and Sherlock to Cambridge to pose as an engaged couple at a wedding show in the hopes of solving six unsolved deaths...
Hell Sent, Heaven Bound by ConsultingHound (M, 64,381 w, 16 Ch. || Angels / Demons AU ||  Fallen Angel Sherlock / Angel Cop John, Alternate First Meeting, Slow Burn, Case Fic, John & Lestrade are Friends Before Sherlock, BAMF John, Mind Palace John, Friends to Lovers, John in Denial, Sherlock Picks Out John’s Clothing, Clubbing / Dancing, Mildly Jealous John, Awkwardness, Kidnapping, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Sacrifice, Worried / Anxious Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Immortal to Mortal) – Ex-War healer and current angelic guard John Watson is not having the best day. He overslept, he’s underpaid, and now there’s someone tagging the Council’s building walls. However things may be about to get interesting: there’s an unusual stranger hanging around (the definition of tall, dark, and handsome), a literal underground cult is brewing, and rumblings are coming from hell. Can he keep his neighbourhood safe, how and why is he being connected to all this, and who the hell is Sherlock Holmes?
White Knight by DiscordantWords (M, 69,840 w., 13 Ch. || S4 Compliant/Post S4, Marriage For a Case, Jealous John, Pining John, Janine / Sherlock Fake Relationship, Serial Killers, Case Fic, Undercover as a Couple, Weddings, John is a Mess, Misunderstandings, Wedding Planning, Jealousy, Drunkenness, Love Confessions, Angst with Happy Ending) – Green. The word green was used to convey a great many things. Illness. Envy. Inexperience. Standing there amidst Janine's chattering bridesmaids, watching Sherlock furrow his brow and study fabric swatches, watching him smile and simper and flirt, John thought it a remarkably apt colour choice. Because he felt quite sick to his stomach, he feared the source of said sickness might very well be jealousy, and he had absolutely no idea at all what to do about it. Or: Sherlock needs to fake a relationship for a case. He doesn't ask John.
Being John Watson-ish by elwinglyre (E, 69,902 w., 17 Ch. || Bodysnatcher AU || Author John, Cranky Sherlock, Angst, Sexual Tension, First Kiss / Time, Falling in Love, BAMF John, Past Soldier John, Feelings, Inside Someone’s Brain, Shy Sherlock, Sherlock Loves John, POV Sherlock, Switchlock, Slow Burn, Internal Dialogue, Mental Turmoil) – When consulting detective Sherlock Holmes steps on one toe too many at a crime scene, he's consigned to a desk job in an archaic office on the seventh-and-a-half floor of the New Scotland Yard. It’s in this bleak office that Sherlock discovers a portal into the mind of renowned author John Watson. Grander than his mind palace, this new wonderland affords Sherlock new vistas of experimentation. To learn more about the mystery behind the portal, Sherlock seeks out and befriends Watson. But then it all goes wrong when others find the secret portal door—including the man whose brain he visits.
Just To Hold You Close by sussexbound (E, 70,841 w., 18 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting, Sherlock POV, ASD Sherlock, PTSD John, Demisexual Sherlock, Bisexual John, Cuddling/Snuggling, Platonic Cuddling, Enthusiastic Consent, Bed Sharing, Love Confessions, First Kiss/Time, Sexual Tension, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Cuddle Negotiations, For a Case Until It Isn’t, Hair Petting, Sexual Negotiation, Anxiety, Trust Issues, Slow Burn, Panic Attacks, Frottage, Hand/Blow Jobs, Referenced Self Harm / Abuse / Suicidal Ideation, First Kiss/Time, Anal) – When a woman is murdered and the last person to see her alive is recently invalided army vet turned reluctant (and prickly) professional cuddler, John Watson, Sherlock Holmes is pulled into a world of intimacy and intrigue he never could have imagined. John is a conundrum and mystery: frank yet reserved, tender yet angry, open yet afraid. Sherlock is instantly drawn into his orbit, and begins to feel and desire things he never has before.
The Vapor Variant by 88thParallel (M, 72,684 w., 18 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-THoB, John Whump, Protective Sherlock, Guilty Sherlock, Anxious/Worried Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD John, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Suspense, Virus, Sickfic, Big Brother Mycroft) – They stood face to face in the middle of a clearing. The dim light of the moon barely allowed Sherlock to see the glassy terror in John’s eyes and the sweat that glistened off his forehead. His nose was bleeding again, blood dripping in a slow stream from his right nostril. They were both gasping for air, John’s eyes locked on Sherlock’s. There was no recognition there, just wild animal fear. Time stood still for an eternal few seconds, and Sherlock took a shaky breath. “John—”Spell broken, John spun and bolted back into the woods. Still heaving for air, Sherlock took off after him.
Summit Fever by J_Baillier (M, 78,802 w., 18 Ch. || Mountain Climber AU || POV John, Angst, Tragedy, Suicidal Ideation, The Himalayas, Mountain Guide / Doctor John, Mount Climber Sherlock, Loneliness, Drama, Suspense, Slow Burn, Injured Sherlock / Sherlock Whump, Pining John) – After graduating from medical school, John Watson followed his heart to the Himalayas. Ten years later, he's a haunted cynic working for his ex-lover's trekking and mountaineering company. Will leading an expedition to Annapurna I—the most lethal of all the world's highest mountains—shake John out of his reverie, and who is the mystery client added to the group at the last minute?
The Monument of Memory by J_Baillier (M, 79,663 w., 14 Ch. || Post S4 Fix It Fic / S4 is Canon, Angst, Family Drama, Guilt, Case Fic, John Loves Sherlock, Complicated Feelings, Mentalism / Hypnosis, Murder, Grieving John, Sherlock is a Bit Not Good, Team Work, Trust Issues, BAMF John, Psychological Trauma, Protective John, Autistic-Spectrum Sherlock, Parentlock, John POV) –  A genius traumatised by a past he's only beginning to recall. The psychopath sister that time forgot. A missing woman and a mentalist who may or may not be a murderer. And, in the middle of it all, stands John Watson.
Thermocline by J_Baillier (M, 83,557 w., 14 Ch. || Scuba Diving AU || Adventure, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Marine Archaeology, Asexual Sherlock, Horny John, Relationship Drama, Technical/Scuba/Wreck Diving, Slow Burn, Underwater /  Medical Peril, Doctor John, Hurt Sherlock, Anxious Sherlock, John POV, Protective John, Body Appreciation) – John "Five Oceans" Watson — technical dive instructor, dive accident analyst and weapon of mass seduction — meets recluse professor of maritime archaeology Holmes. As they head out to a remote archipelago off the coast of Guatemala to study and film its shipwrecks for a documentary, will sparks fly or fizzle out?
The Summer Boy by khorazir (T, 94,706 w., 6 Ch. || Post S3/Post TAB/Alternate S4, Friends to Lovers, Flashbacks, Sussex, Bullying, 1980′s Kid Sherlock, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Inexperienced Sherlock, Grief/Mourning, Pining Sherlock, Background Case Fic) – About half a year after the fateful events at Appledore, Sherlock and John embark on a private case in Sussex. For Sherlock, it’s a journey into his past, bringing up memories both happy and sad that he has locked away for almost thirty years. For John, it means coming to terms with the present – and a potential future with Sherlock. Part 1 of the The Summer Boy series
Northwest Passage by Kryptaria (E, 95,157 w., 27 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Canadian AU ||  BAMF!John, Canadian John, PTSD, Anal / Oral Sex, Rimming, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Drug Rehab, Falling in Love, Pining Sherlock, Love Confessions, Sherlock’s Violin, Panic Attacks, Switching, Anxious / Protective Sherlock, Hugs for Comfort, Suicide Mentions, Healing Each Other) – Seven years ago, Captain John Watson of the Canadian Forces Medical Service withdrew from society, seeking a simple, isolated life in the distant northern wilderness of Canada. Though he survives from one day to the next, he doesn't truly live until someone from his dark past calls in a favor and turns his world upside-down with the introduction of Sherlock Holmes." Part 1 of Tales from the Northwest
31_Days_of_Porn_Challenge_2017 Series by distantstarlight (E, 96,540 w. across 31 stories || Prompt Ficlets, Assorted Kinks, PWP) – A collection in response to the 31 Days of Porn Challenge issued by AtlinMerrik! Thanks for doing that because this has been buttload of fun (that joke never gets old). All stories will be brief stand-alone one-shots.
The Baker Street Nativity by SwissMiss (E, 99,662 w., 23 Ch. || Nativity! AU || Teacher Sherlock / TA John, Pining, Sherlock POV, UST, Angst, Christmas, Music/Song Fic, Anal / BJ’s, First Kiss / Time) – Fusion between Sherlock (BBC) and Nativity! (2009 movie starring Martin Freeman). Sherlock is a primary school teacher and John is assigned to be his classroom assistant. Together, they are charged with putting on the school's Nativity play. What could possibly go wrong? Part 1 of The Baker Street Nativity Verse
Given In Evidence by verityburns (M, 97,884 w., 19 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Angst, Drama, Case Fic, Romance, BAMF!John, Submissive Sherlock, First Kiss, Humour) – Coming back from the dead can be a complicated business. With a new case on the horizon, rebuilding a life is one thing... rebuilding a friendship quite another. For Sherlock and John, things may never be just the same...
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Be a little Rough (Brandon Cutler X reader)
Summary- Reader loves being with Brandon, but she wishes he would be a little rougher in bed
AN- Not nearly enough Brandon Cutler fics, let’s change that. Got this idea after see his tweets about being daddy long legs. Shoutout to my fellow Brandon lover @junglecassidy
Sex had never been anything but great with him. He was the first guy to actually care if I got off or not, but there was something missing. I wanted him to be rough, to take control, but I didn't want to mess anything up. Everything was perfect, and what if he looked at me like I was crazy and left me right then and there?
"Y/n? You still there?" I blinked a few times as Brit took me out of my head and back to the real world.
"Ya Sorry, what are we talking about?" I asked looking back to her. We were both backstage getting ready for our tag match. We had been tag partners for a bit on the independence stream, and had gotten back together when we signed to AEW.
"I was asking how things were going with Brandon." She said stretching a bit.
"Oh it's going great. He's definitely the best guy I've been with, especially after Kenny." I said thinking about my break up with Kenny about two years ago. It had broken me, and had been really hard to get over.
"As happy as I am that your over him, you know what I mean, how's the sex?" She clarified wiggling her eyebrows at me. Most would be uncomfortable about talking about that kinda of stuff in public, but with Brit I was used to it.
"Same as it was last time. He's super sweet, and great in bed.."
"But....."
"But, I wish he would take control sometimes, be a little rough you know?" I tried explaining.
"I really think you should talk to him about that. I mean, maybe he'd be down for it." She offered but I just shook my head.
"Maybe one day. Now come on, we've got to go beat the shit out of the Nightmare sisters." I said wrapping my arm around Brit as we made our way to the ring.
————————————————————
Me and Brit stood with our arms held above us, smiles on our faces. I motioned first a mic so I could speak. But as I waited I noticed that Brandon wasn't standing where he normally did for tappings. I quickly pushed that away as I had a mic pushed into my hands.
"Another Wednesday goes by, and another week of beating the shit out of anyone who gets in our way!" I said a big smile on our face. "But, I think something's missing, do t you Brit?"
"Oh absolutely! I mean, we are the greatest tag team. And I think we deserve something for that." She explained. "We deserve tag team championships." The limited crowd around us started getting really excited at that.
"And until we get that, we will be protesting. If Tony Kahn wants any of his women to survive, he will give us what we want." I said boldly. We rolled out of the ring and grabbed Red Velvet by here hair and yanked her into the ring and we started beating on her. The crowd around us was booing, but we didnt stop until a few refs pulled us off.
As we walked backstage we had our hands running across our waist to show we would be champions. "Good job out there." Cody said nodding to us we got backstage.
"Thanks" we called out as we continued walking. "You gonna stick around for the rest of the show?" Brit asked as we got to the locker room.
"Depends on if Brandon needs to stay. Even then I might leave to take a nice bath. The hotel bathroom is pretty nice." I pointed out as I slid on some sweatpants and one of Brandon's sweatshirts.
"Your not changing?" She asked making a face as she grabbed some cloths.
"Did you not jus here me? I'm going to leave and take a bath, no point in changing." I said picking up my bag and slinging it over my shoulder. "I'll see you latter." I called out as I heard one of the showers start.
I wandered around backstage looking for Brandon but couldn't find him. He wasn't answering his phone and I was getting slightly worried. Where could he have gone? Just as I was about to go ask Matt and Nick my phone let out a small ping for a message. All it said was 'Meet me back at the hotel'
I frowned looking at the message. Another one fallowed quickly. 'You can take the car. Don't ask questions.' This confused me more. How was he going to get back? Why was he having me leave? I started to type out a message when another one popped up. 'I said no questions'
"Fuck it." I mumbled as I made my way to the car. I threw my stuff in the back and climbed in. As I drove I listened to the music, humming a bit. I was tired and ready to take a bath and get to bed. The more o thought about it the more I figured Brandon had to do a bit or something for the show.
When I finally got to the hotel I forced myself to hurry to our room. I could barely keep my eyes open as I pushed the door open. I saw Brandon's shoes by the door, as I slipped mine off. He must have gotten done earlier then expected.
"Hey babe." I called out setting my bag down. I didn't get a response but walked towards the bathroom. "I'm gonna take a shower real quick." Just as I reached for the door I felt hands land on my waist making me jump in surprise. "Brandon, what are-"
I was cut off as he spun me around and our lips met. It wasn't the slow sweet one I was expecting but hard and rough. His tongue pushed past my lips and into my mouth making me moan. My hands went up to grip his shoulders, witch let me know he didn't have his shirt on. Finally he pulled back a bit, both of us breathing heavily.
"What was that?" I asked my hands running over his shoulders. Without answering he pulled me into another kiss. His hands slid down to the back of my thighs and squeezed lightly. He pulled back just a bit.
"Up." He mumbled before moving to kiss my neck. I jumped lightly letting my legs wrap around his waist. One of his hands moved down to my butt, and the other moved up to the small of my back. My head fell back a bit allowing him more access to my neck, causing me to moan loudly.
"Fuck Brandon..." I mumbled as he walked towards the bed in the room. As he continued the assault on my neck he sat on the bed and I was now sitting on his lap. He pulled away and pushed me so I was standing in front of him.
"Strip." He said, his voice was rough like when he first got up in the morning. I was breathing heavily as my hands slid down and pulled the sweatshirt off, then the sweatpants. I looked up at him to see his eyes looking me up and down. Even though I wore this on live television every week I felt slightly nervous standing in front of him. "Keep going."
I brought my hands up to my back to unhook the back of my top, letting it fall onto the ground, leaving my breast bare in the cold air. I bent down a bit to push my bottoms down and step out of them, leaving me completely bare. I bit my lip lightly as Brandon watches me. He makes a come here motion with his finger so I walked up to him. He stood up to great me his hands going straight to my hips.
"You always look so great in the ring, do you know how hard it is to sit on the side and watch you every week?" He questioned his hands rubbing little circles on my hips. I wasn't 100% sure what he had planned, but I could tell by the look in his eyes he was giving me an out right now. I could tell him to stop and he would. I reached up and pulled his head down kissing him again. It was a mix almost of the slow sweet kiss he normally did, and the fast rough one from a few minutes ago.
As we kissed he spun us around and pushed me back on to the bed, his body landing almost on top of mine. When he pulled away I reached down and pulled lightly at his shorts. "I don't think it's fair that I'm naked, and you still have your pants on." I panted still trying to catch my breath from that kiss. He chuckled and stood up, taking both his pants and boxers off. My eyes fell to his dick, it was hard and caused my mouth to water. I moved a bit, intending on going to my knees, but Brandon's Body was blowing me, and my hands were pined to the bed above me.
"Maybe another time. I just want to fuck you." He said bluntly. He bent his head down and took one of my nipples into his mouth. I threw my head back moaning as his teeth raked over the sensitive bud. He moved between the two of them, giving each one equal time. I was so occupied by the felling I didn't notice Brandon shifting until his shaft was pushing into me.
"F-fuck Brandon!" I moaned, my hands fisting the sheets as my back arched of the bed. He gave me a moment to get used to him before he started to move fast and hard making me cry out. He was letting out small grunts of his own has he thrust into me. Has he hit a sweeten point I get a spark go through my body.
"D-Daddy!" Both of us froze when I said that, my eyes going wide. Fuck, why would I have said that! Instead of getting angry or something Brandon started to trust headed.
"Fuck y/n, say that again." He mumbled biting my neck lightly.
"Daddy!" I moaned as he continued to thrust, his arms going down to push my legs up to his shoulders, the new angle giving me even more pleasure. "Fu-fuck daddy I need to cum." I painted, my eyes screwed shut.
"Fuck me to. Cum on my Dick y/n. Cum for daddy." That was all it took for me to come undone, practically screaming out as I came hard. He thrust a few more times before he pulled out and came on my stomach. He collapsed into the bed pulling me to him kissing my head.
"Fuck Brandon, where did that come from?" I asked looking up at him. He blushed a bit before explaining.
"I went to find you to tell you good luck before your match, and I heard you and Brit talking. You said you wanted me to be more rough." Now it was my turn to blush, a bit embarrassed that he caught me talking to Brit about that.
"Well, it was amazing." I said kissing his cheek. "All though now I definitely need a shower." I joked making him laugh.
"Is there room for two in there?" He asked winking at me causing me to laugh.
"I'm sure there is." I said sitting up and swinging my legs over the bed to stand up. I started to walk towards the bathroom and when I looked over my shoulder I saw Brandon still laying on the bed. "You coming daddy?" I asked, making him sit up immediately.
"Coming!"
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anonymouswriter2311 · 3 years
Text
The Pastor’s Daughter, Chapter 2
Link
Her fingertips traced over the doorknob, her mind screaming, begging her to change her mind. But she had to know, no she needed to know how it felt. Taking the deepest of breaths, she enters. Her heart is pounding in her ears as she finds Toni waiting for her with that kissable smirk taunting her.
“Took you long enough,” Her voice is deeper - if that was even possible - and her eyes are full of hunger. In one swift movement, she’s pushed me against the door slamming it shut. Her warm breath tickles against my neck, as she reaches behind to lock the door. “I don’t want anyone interrupting this.” She whispers directly into my ear, causing my entire body to shutter.
“Toni…” I whimper, as she runs her thin fingers through my hair, tugging slightly as she rests her hand on my neck.
“Tell me to stop.” She’s so close now, our lips are practically touching as she speaks. But I have no time to respond, as she pushes her knee between my legs, spreading my thighs apart. She bites her lip as I quiver, “I know you want me, Shelby Goodkind...you’re practically trembling for me.” She taunts, as she leans in for a kiss, but serves at the last second choosing to litter kisses all over my neck and exposed collar bone. ‘Sweet Jesus, her lips are so soft.’
“Please...Toni…” I moan as she bites down on my neck, “Sweet Lord.” I sigh.
“Say it. Tell me what you want.” She winks, that assertiveness making me go almost weak at the knees. “Say. It.” Her fingers tiptoe down my thigh, as she reaches to pull at the fabric of my dress. She knows what I want, and she’s more than ready to give it to me...and damn, I’m more than ready to feel her touch me.
“I want you to…”
“Shelby…” She stirred slightly, as her fingers danced along the waistband of her PJ bottoms.
“I want you...Toni.” She mumbled as her fingers dared to disappear under the waistband.
“Shelby Goodkind! If you don’t move your booty, yer gonna be late!” Shelby shot up like a woman possessed. Sweat pellets streaming down her face, as she combed shaky fingers through her hair. ‘What was...no! I can’t! Not again.’
“I’m up! I’m up…” She tried her best to get her breathing under control, as the arousal from her Toni-filled dream continued to surge through her. Shelby had convinced herself time and time again that she’d gotten over these kinds of dreams. That they weren’t an indication of her own perversion, simply just dreams of admiration. But things had never gotten that far, nor that heated in the past. Shelby wasn’t ready to face the world today, and she certainly wasn’t ready to face Toni. Laying back down she grabbed her pillow and placed it over her face, it acting as a muffler as she let out an unladylike scream and kicked her legs violently. “Why her!” She mumbled into the pink pillow, before throwing it across the room.
"Hey, kiddo." Dave knocked as he peaked his head into the room. "Mom's on the warpath this morning, so you might wanna get a wiggle on if ya know what's good for ya." He smiled sweetly, as he took in the oddly disheveled room. “Everything alright, buttercup?”
“Yeah, just a weird dream is all.” Her heart was beating so fast she was convinced her dad could hear it from his place at the door.
“Good. Good...well, don’t slack off now. Don't wanna keep Miss Shalifoe waitin’, now do we?” Shelby’s eyes widened as she pounced at her phone. 8:45 ‘Shit!!!’
***
Toni kicked the curb as she stared at the slowly filling car park. She’d been there since 8:20, armed with two latte’s in hand, but there was no sign of Shelby. Toni was pissed. But she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t completely surprised at Shelby being a no-show. She could tell how uncomfortable she’d been making her, but that still didn’t stop her. That was always Toni’s problem, she never knew how much was too much, not until it was too late.
Placing the - now cold - coffee’s on the steps she pulled out her phone, 8:50, thirty minutes until first period, Toni never bothered with homeroom, athletes at Hopewell Lake had to maintain an 100% attendance score, only way out was a phone call from your doctor stating that you were dying or some shit, so she never bothered to get marked as present. The steam was practically sweeping from her ears as she forcefully grabbed the two cups and stormed towards the main entrance, violently throwing the full cups into the trash as she passed. 'Last time I do something nice,’ she swore to herself as she headed towards the locker room, she needed to let off steam and fast, before she did something that she’d regret.
***
Shelby was lost. That much was obvious. With her paper timetable in hand, books tucked under her arm and a dazed look plastered on her face as she walked against the flow of student traffic, even the most oblivious could fathom that she was new.
By the time she had arrived at the main entrance that morning, there was no sign of Toni, and even if she had been there, there would have been no time for any kind of tour. While a part of the blonde felt bad for standing her up, on the other hand, she had no idea how she was going to look her in the eye without turning red, after what happened this morning. What she had been doing...it was wrong, on so many levels. Self-pleasure was a big no, no. And a rule Shelby had stuck to...for the most part. Her mind - and fingers - seemed to forget about this rule whenever she'd find herself in a 'nightmare’  like last night. It was unnatural, perverted... so good. No! She mentally scolded herself, she wasn't about to let herself fall down that rabbit hole again. She wasn't gay. She knew this. She was just confused by what she’d saw, fascinated by Toni’s character. Her cockiness, her smug smirk...her eyes, her lips...her soft skin, her athletic physique. Enough! She screamed to herself, just as she collided with another person, sending both her belongings and the other person flying to the ground.
"Oh my lord, I am so sorry," Shelby muttered as she frantically gathered her belongings, before looking over at the stranger she had just assaulted. A cheery grin met her eyes, as the short girl laughed off the whole situation.
"Don't sweat it. I wasn't paying much attention either." The tan-skinned girl shrugged as she picked up a few of Shelby's belongings before standing up with a small jump as if nothing had happened.
“I was in another world, just there.” The blonde smiled nervously as she flung her backpack around and tried to squeeze some of her books in the already filled bag.
“You know you have a locker for that?” The cheery girl raised a questioning eyebrow at the blonde.
“If only I knew where it was, it’s my first day.”
“No kidding. I’m Martha, but most people call me Marty.” Martha beamed, as she reached out to take some of the books from Shelby.
“Shelby.” She nodded. “Thanks.” She looked relieved, as she carefully tucked the remaining books under her arm as she dug into her jacket pocket for the small piece of paper with her locker number on it.
"Give it here," Marty smirked as she snatched the paper. “Three down from mine, come on.” She gestured as they joined the correct dying-down flow of traffic.
“This place sure is big,” The blonde mumbled as they walked down the never-ending hallways, that seemed to blend into each other.
“Wasn’t your other school like this?”
“Not even close. The one before it, maybe, not that was quite some time ago.” Shelby shrugged, thinking back on every first day she’s had over the last ten years. Five in total, this one hopefully being her last until college.
“You move around much?” The smaller girl asked over her shoulder before she slowed her pace as they entered a less crowded hallway that allowed them to walk side by side.
“Some. My father is a Pastor, so...we go where the Lord needs him, I guess.” Shelby admitted, watching carefully as Martha smiled at every person they walked by. She had never met someone so...happy before, and she wondered how much of it was real. How much of herself she put away, just like Shelby had been doing for years.
“Sounds like an adventure.” Her eyes sparkled, her mind racing with countless scenarios of how she’d react if it was her in Shelby’s place.
“It can be.”
"That sounds amazing, I've never even so much as left the state," Marty confessed, a small frown gently creeping onto her face for a fleeting second. She'd give anything to travel the world, to wake up in a different place, to meet all kinds of people. But life had other plans. Her parents, her friends...her life was there, and Marty couldn't see herself wanting to give any of that up anytime soon, not even for a second. “Here we are.” She smiled once again as she popped open the empty locker and placed the books she was carrying inside.
“I can’t thank you enough, Martha.” Shelby threw her arms around the stunned brunette, who happily returned the hug. “But...I do have one more, tiny favor to ask.” The blonde smiled shyly as she pulled away, her hand still resting on Marty’s shoulder as she spoke.
“At your service.” She bowed.
“Where the heck is the science block?” She asked as a faint blush crept onto her perky cheeks.
“You poor child, let's get these books shoved away, then we’ll get you where you need to be.” She winked as she took the stack of books from the blonde and placed them with the others.
“Thank you, I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn't...collided with you.” Shelby laughed nervously as Marty returned the piece of paper with her locker combination.
Looping their arms together, Marty hummed, “You can thank me by buying me a milkshake at lunch.”
“Deal!”
***
Toni was the first to sit at her regular table at lunch, her brown paper bag saving her from the time-consuming queue her friends would be waiting in. Relaxing back into her seat, she lifted her feet to rest on the token free chair at their table. Her body ached from the intense workout she put herself through that morning, the anger that bubbled inside of her forcing her, taunting her to work harder and faster. Closing her eyes as she sunk into her seat, the sound of the busy cafeteria soothed her. She'd always hated the quiet, a painful memory of her early childhood, of being left alone in a small dirty room while her ' mom’ worked up enough money for a box of frozen turkey dinosaurs and a bottle of vodka. It’d been years since she’d seen her, but the memories that remained still haunted her.
Leah was the first to arrive at the table, juggling her lunch tray with one hand as she kept her nose buried in some book that Toni had no interest in. It had been Marty - Toni's best friend since fourth grade - that had invited the bookworm to join their duo, and while she wouldn’t have been Toni’s first choice, she wasn’t the worst person to have around.
“New book?” Toni questioned, she’d been putting the effort into their friendship as of late, now that she was settled with her foster parents of two years.
“‘The Nature Of Her’" She read aloud, as she sat. Her eyes skimmed the remainder of the page before she slipped her bookmark into the spine and set the book aside.
“Any good?” Toni asked with her mouth full of bread and turkey goodness.
"Not sure yet. I'll get back to you." Toni saluted before they both burst out laughing. "No Marty yet?"
“Probably in the milkshake line as we spe-” The shorter froze mid-sentence as her eyes landed on the smiling blonde by her best friend’s side. “You have to be fucking with me.”
“What are we staring at?” The bookworm questioned as she scanned the cafeteria for signs of some kind of disturbance.
"More like who," Toni muttered as she slumped further into the hard plastic seat, her arms crossed tightly over her chest as she watched their every move.
“New girl? She’s in my English class, she seems nice.” Leah shrugged as she turned back to her plate of pasta, and began to pick out the peppers.
“Yeah, super nice.” The athlete narrowed her eyes as Marty’s laughter drifted over, making her blood boil for the second time that day. Toni didn’t think of herself as possessive, she loved how nice and caring her best friend was, but she wasn’t about to let Shelby flake on her.
Toni’s eyes watched carefully as the pair made their way over to the table, giggling together as they neared the table. And as their eyes finally met, she could see the nervousness build up in Shelby, as she quickly looked away.
"Hey, guys! This is Shelby," Marty excitedly presented the blonde, like that picture of Will Smith with his wife at some awards show. ‘Look at me, I’ve found my very own princess!’ “Shelby, this is Leah, she has literary quotes for every occasion!”
“‘You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.’ Winnie The Pooh.” Leah smiled brightly, taking pride in her vast knowledge of all things literature.
“That’s...quite the talent.” Shelby plastered on a fake smile as she shook Leah’s hand.
“And this.” Marty skipped over to the grumpy brunette and lovingly wrapped her arms around Toni’s neck. “This is Toni, my bestest friend in the entire universe.”
"Is that my only character trait?" Toni joked as she laced her fingers with Marty's, her eyes never leaving Shelby, who uncomfortably acknowledged Toni's presence at the table.
“The only that matters to me.” The tan-skinned girl replied in a sweet sing-song like voice, before placing a small kiss on Toni’s cheek. “Come, sit.” She gestured to the spare seat where Toni’s feet were still resting.
Shelby averted her gaze once again, as she pulled out the chair, forcing Toni's feet to fall to the ground with a thud. But just as she was about to sit, the bitter basketball star pushed against one of the metal legs, sending both the surprised blonde and the chair falling to the ground. On the ground, Shelby looked up at the table in disbelief as Toni peered down, that addictive smirk on her face. "Whoops." She muttered as Marty and Leah jumped up to help her.
“Toni!” Marty hissed, as she helped Shelby back to her feet and grabbed some napkins to clean up the milkshake spilled down her dress.
“It’s hardly like I meant it!” Toni shot back as she moved to pick the chair up and carefully place it behind the embarrassed blonde.
“It’s fine.” Shelby finally spoke, her cheeks a fluorescent pink as she peaked past her messy hair at the three girls staring at her. “No harm done.” She forced a smile onto her light pink lips and slowly sat, taking extra caution.
Toni huffed back into her seat as Marty sent her a warning glare. The basketball star hated that she’d let her anger get the better of her, but she was also slightly impressed that Shelby stayed. It was obviously going to take a lot more than a little trip to get rid of this blonde princess, good thing Toni was an expert at playing the long game.
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winterscaptain · 4 years
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and the last one for now (till we get more of the 100 arc) - we kinda need a director's cut on enough? 🥺 (BECAUSE YOU SPOIL US WITH SHOWING HIS RECOVERY).
anything for you my love! (i have a LOT of these coming, so i’ll queue them up through the rest of the week :))
commentary in bold italics because i cant figure out how to do the fancy colors
You knock on his door, takeout in your hand. “It’s me!”
After a minute of silence on the other side of the door, you take your keys out of your pocket and start to open the door. “Don’t shoot me. I’m using my keys.” You move to open it, and the chain is in place. 
Okay I just love the fact that they have a key to his apartment?? After everything he’s been through and how unsafe he feels in his home? I’m soft. 
Damn it, Aaron. 
Then - 
Is he okay?
The transition to light panic here was really important to me - I wanted to establish right away that the threat and the fear was still there, and the last time they couldn’t find Aaron, he was stabbed nine (!!) times.
“Aaron?” You call through the gap in the door. You leave the keys in the door and pull your phone out of your pocket, hitting the first number on your speed dial. 
You hear his phone ring, a smack, and both from down the hallway and through the speaker (with an echo): “Hotchner.” 
“I’m here with dinner. Open the door.” 
His voice is thick with sleep. “You have a key, right?”
“The chain is on. I’m surprised I didn’t trip the alarm.” 
He makes a little dissatisfied noise and hangs up. I love him. You can hear him plant his feet and walk down the hallway. You smile a little at him as he approaches the door, almost looking inconvenienced as he shuts it, removes the chain lock, and opens it again. 
“Are you seriously upset that I brought you food?” 
No, dear, that’s just his face. 
He shakes his head and steps back, letting you in before closing it.  “No, sorry. I just didn’t mean to fall asleep.” 
You take stock of him as he turns his back on you and sits on the couch, settling with a slowness that looks painful. You set the food down and then return to lock the door. It’s easier for him to answer your question when you’re not looking at him. 
I love how well they know him. Like...he refuses to be vulnerable with the rest of the team, and even with them, he only feels safe when he can’t be seen. 
“How are you feeling?”
A sigh. “Alright.” 
And yet...
You look over your shoulder as you slide the chain lock back into place. “Don’t lie to me. It won’t work.” 
His head is in the takeout bag as he answers, still avoiding your eyes. “I’m sore and I can’t sleep at night and everything is healing slower than I want.”
There we go. There we go, indeed. 
You sit beside him. “Do your dressings need to be changed?” 
“I got most of them earlier, and Jess came over to help me yesterday, but there are a few that need to wrap around and I can’t -” He stops with a huff. “I can’t reach without -”
You put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I got it.” 
His jaw is tight, shaky. “Thanks.” 
Hotch and them just communicate with each other so well. They can understand what he needs and how he needs it presented to him. 
“First,” you say, grabbing one of the boxes, “food.” 
There’s a grateful little pull of his lips as you dig in. The news is on, but you pick up the remote and change it to some ridiculous reality TV program. 
“I was watching that.” 
“No you weren’t.” 
He wasn’t. 
This made me LAUGH like you wouldn’t believe. My parents do this all the time and it always makes me smile. 
You avoid his exasperated eyes as you set the remote on your side of the couch - farther than he can reach without stretching. 
You eat together in silence, the trainwreck on the television only marginally holding your attention. When you glance at him, you catch the side of his face twinge when he reaches for his glass of water.
“You know, not taking your pain meds doesn’t make you Captain America. It just makes you stupid, and in pain.” 
This is the piece of dialogue that got me started on this little fic. I was like “wait a minute - this fucker won’t take his meds and he’ll need someone to take care of him and the writers DEPRIVED us of joy so maybe i’ll just give myself a little joy, as a treat.
He levels you with a glare. 
+++
“Stop squirming.” 
“Sorry.” 
We love starting in the middle of a conversation/activity. I really hate writing build-up to stuff if it’s not actually relevant, so I’ve kind of worked on making scene starts feel active without being too abrupt. I’ve been known to write full on scenes and then just chop the shit out of them for pacing and structure. 
My outtakes document is like 25 pages long because I never really get rid of anything. 
With gentle fingers, you tape and tuck gauze around one of the wounds on his ribs. He flinches, a little pained noise leaving his throat. 
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Your fingers flutter for a second before setting back to work. Reaching blindly behind you, you grab the roll of gauze wrapping. “Hang on for just a second - this isn’t going to feel good.” 
He takes a deep breath (as deep as he can, anyway, considering his injuries), and you begin wrapping the dressing around his ribs, passing the roll from one hand to the other. He grits his teeth whenever it pulls the right amount, and your lower lip disappears between your teeth. 
I probably watched Aaron being in pain in carious episodes for close to an hour while putting this together. It sucked. 
“I’m going to tuck it in front so you can reach it, okay?”
He nods, his eyes closed. 
You’re sitting on his desk while he’s perched on the edge of his chair, his arm resting along the back - up and out of the way. This is the only place in the apartment he’s comfortable removing his shirt. 
Every other room has a mirror or a big window. 
ALRIGHT we’re gonna touch on Aaron’s insecurities here - we see his growth and confidence shift by the time we see him and Reader in mean it, where he feels comfortable when they take his shirt off and see his scars. 
“Okay, one more.”
You’ve saved the hardest one for last, but it has to go in that order. It’s the one just above his collarbone, right off the hollow of his throat, that needs the most attention and frequent changes. 
I noticed this dressing - the one right below his neck - on my final rewatch of Faceless, Nameless. I was scanning for things I missed, not looking at anything I’d seen before, and that just stood out to me. Thus, we got the extension of this scene that was originally going to end with “Every other room...window.” 
You tip his chin with the tip of your finger, giving you more space to work. 
Okay I didn’t even touch on the touching in this one. I think this is the most contact they’ve ever had, and I think something shifts in their friendship after this. 
Gingerly pulling at the tape, you remove the soiled dressing. Aaron’s breath comes as deep as he can through his teeth. When it quickens, you stop. 
You readjust so he can keep his head where it is and you can sit in his eye line. He meets your eyes with a tight jaw. 
Yes, we are mirroring the shaving scene in mean it here! There are a lot of mirror moments between that fic and this one - a kind of breakthrough of intimacy in both cases. 
“What can I do, Aaron?”
He closes his eyes again and tilts his head further to the side. “Just keep going.” 
The tears come unbidden into your eyes as you continue your work, but your hands and breath are steady. They are so moved to his pain it literally made me cry. I just thought of the way their hands must have shook and like...the sight of the wound itself. My best friend was hospitalized two years ago, and even seeing her in any pain just brought me straight to tears. For these two, where that’s so part of their everyday, I can’t even fathom it. You can hear him match his breath to yours and you’re thankful for your relative composure.  
The wound still looks wretched - angry and red and black and blue and weeping - but it’s not infected. 
You hold a towel up and he gingerly presses it to his chest while you reach for the wound wash, hiding your face from him. This is as much about protecting themself as it is about protecting Aaron. 
“Thirty seconds, thirty seconds,” you assure him. “Do you want me to count?”
I like the implication that they’ve counted the thirty seconds for him before, so I left it there. 
He shakes his head. “Just do it.” 
You shoot a gentle stream of the solution across the open tissue, held together by more stitches than you want to count, both internal and external. There are SO many delicate little ligaments and muscle fibers in the neck and upper chest - I asked my dad about it (reminder: he’s a former paramedic from Alameda county where paramedics can make an execute medical decisions lmao) and he said neck and clavicle injuries were a nightmare. Apparently, it’s like a minefield in there. The other arteries and delicate tissues of the body dont have so many key items, but the neck (obviously) does, with lots of room to damage upper and lower respiratory tracks. Thus...Lots of stitches. Anguished noises leave his chest through his teeth and you know he’s trying to suppress them with unsteady breath. His eyes are shut impossibly tight, and you can see unauthorized tears gathering in the corners. 
Unauthorized tears came to me while I was searching in vain for an appropriate adjective here. I didn’t want to just say that he was crying - it wasn’t good enough. I wanted to demonstrate that he didn’t want to cry, that neither one of them wanted to make the other feel badly for their own anguish. 
This is always the hardest part, and you’ve never gotten through it without crying. You hate how much he hurts. It’s like you can feel it yourself, the sting, the bone-deep ache, the throbbing. 
Tears fall down your cheeks, some landing on your shirt and others wandering down your throat. 
Even then, he knows you don’t pity him. 
If he thought that, he wouldn’t let you anywhere near him.
You wash and dab, wash and dab, until the wound is clean and fluid-free, apologizing the whole time. You throw both the wash and gauze to the side and reach for fresh wrapping while swiping at your eyes. 
Fuck. 
“Just a second.” 
You’ve touched your face, so now you have to wash your hands. Again. We love good hygiene practice! You leave him and go into the kitchen, wash and dry your hands, and return to him. 
He catches your eyes before you settle back down. There’s something behind his eyes you can’t name, and it sends something flying around your body. 
That’s love, babey!! Haley smacked sense into him since last we talked and Reader has NO clue! Wild! I love dramatic irony!
You always feel a little guilty for your tears, but he understands. He thought for a moment, in the beginning, about what he would do if the situation was reversed. 
I can just see Aaron thinking of this, almost getting stuck on it. He’s so sensory-oriented, so grounded in sensation and memory, that he would force himself to feel the full brunt of a hypothetical scenario where Reader is seriously injured. 
He doesn’t have to imagine too hard because of course he remembers the gunshot wound in through and through, but it would be different if they were hospitalized or something. 
After scant seconds of consideration, he had decided he could never be as composed as you, as vulnerable and open as you. He could never offer to clean and dress your wounds - the thought of causing you pain of any sort, even helpful pain, was unbearable. 
Besides that, he would be so angry that you were hurt at all and wouldn’t be able to keep his hands steady. 
Nothing like the barely-contained rage of cis white men born in the 1960′s! (Or maybe I’m just projecting my father here....anyways.....)
At the very least, he would probably scare you with the intensity of his fury. Anyone who ever laid a hand on you would be subject to a wrath comparable to that of God. 
And Aaron’s mom is Catholic, so he would know. 
I can’t wait to have more Mama Hotch! (For those of you who haven’t gotten to the reality check trilogy, I’ve named her Evelyn because a. it was popular when she was born and b. I needed Aaron’s mom to have a soft and elegant name) 
There is not a moment where he takes your execution of this particular task for granted. He knows how difficult it is. He thinks, perhaps, that this is the bravest act of love he’s ever seen. 
I love the way Aaron shows love. He’s adoring in kind of a different way, brave in a different way. There’s so much hiding beneath him if you know where and how to look. I don’t think people, either in the show or in the fandom or in general, really look critically at him that way. 
But could you love him?
Love?
No. 
Too old. Too broken. Too divorced. Too married to work. Too poor a father. Too many other things that make me wholly undeserving. 
He couldn’t, wouldn’t, subject you to himself. 
God I mean there is SO MUCH in him that internalizes EVERYTHING. He thinks everything is his fault and I just????? Ugh.
He’s satisfied loving you in silence. He’d done it for a while now, he realized, after his conversation with Haley. 
It would have to be enough.
It would have to be enough to watch you carry on with your joyful, vibrant life. 
It would have to be enough to watch your face light up for someone who loves you, who puts a ring on your finger and makes you happy. 
It would have to be enough to spoil your children if and when you became a parent, to hold the title ‘Uncle Aaron’ instead of ‘Dad.’
I added this last bit as almost an afterthought, and it was the one everyone seemed to love the most. Looking back, it’s my favorite too. 
It would have to be enough to know you would outlive him and die loved. 
It would have to be enough. 
You pick up your tools again, using three fingertips this time to tip his head to the side at the temple. He almost smiles. 
Here, I think its the juxtaposition between the direction of his thoughts and their gentle touch that makes him smile. It’s not a happy one, but I think its one of acceptance. He’s in a place, in this moment, where he actually trusts that they’ll be there. 
“What?”
He shakes his head the barest amount and raises his eyebrows. “Nothing.” 
I think they would have told them, if there was some way to explain it. But there wasn’t. 
With a roll of your still-watery eyes, you get back to work, folding and pressing the gauze to the wound with a light, even pressure. You try to ignore Aaron’s hiss as the smile dissolves off his face, replaced by restraint and pain. 
Holding the pad in place with one hand, you take the tape, hanging the roll on your thumb while you pull with your other hand. You tape all around the perimeter of it, gently warming the adhesive against his skin. 
“Alright. Almost done.” 
You have him hold the end right under the wound while you stand to better get around him. Once, like a sash, around his shoulder and across his back and under his other arm, once around his ribs, repeat. 
Again, you tear and tuck it in front so he can reach, and gently pat it into place. 
When it’s low-profile enough to disappear under his shirt -
“Finished.” 
You turn and gather everything into the little bin that lives under his bathroom counter before he can say anything. And this is their way of hiding from him. I purposefully focused in on Hotch’s inner monologue during this part, instead of Reader’s. We already know how they feel and how much they love him and yet deny it from here to next year. I thought it was much more interesting to examine Aaron’s acceptance of his feelings in this moment. He watches you, and you can feel his eyes at your back. 
The first time you came to visit after he got home, he was worried you’d look at him differently, was worried you’d pity him. 
This was originally up where the first mention of pity is, but I needed that inner moment with Aaron before I went back to a recollection. 
He shouldn’t have.
You showed up at the door looking at him just the same way you always did. He wasn’t sure quite what way that was, exactly, but it was the same. 
The first time you offered to help him with his dressings, he refused outright. It was only when you saw that a wound on his left side had ripped a little and bled through his shirt that you wrestled him down and took care of it. 
Harder still than exposing his pain? Taking off his shirt. You’d reached for the top button the first time and he flinched like he’d been burned. 
He refused to meet your eyes. 
This little memory was SUCH a clear image in my head - it was such a struggle to figure out where and how to include it. I was happy that I found a way to do it in a way that wasn’t jarring and didn’t detract.
“What on earth are you so afraid of?”
He opened his mouth as if he was going to raise his voice at you, but then snapped it shut, his jaw working. His eyes were trained on the carpet. 
“Hey.” 
He looked at you somewhat reluctantly. 
“It’s just me.”
I know, he thought, that’s the problem. 
“This,” you gesture to his general torso area, “is not going to scare me or freak me out. What does freak me out, however -” You point at him with a packet of sterile gauze. “- is the thought of you trying to do this on your own, ripping your stitches, you not going back to the hospital, getting infected, going septic, and having a generally bad time.”
He finally speaks, the barest bit of sarcasm in his tone. “That’s quite a reach, isn’t it?”
You shoot him a withering look. “If you can look me in the eye and tell me you’d willingly go back to get your stitches fixed every time you ripped them, I’ll leave you alone.” 
He won't meet your eyes again, looking like a guilty child as his eyes wander to the corner of the room with a bit of a squint. 
You made your point rather elegantly. 
You pass him his shirt over your shoulder and he takes it, slipping his arms into the sleeves. 
BECAUSE IT’S NORMAL. Reader simply doesn’t acknowledge his vulnerability because they don’t need to. They just accept it in him and make it safe. 
His ridiculous number of button ups were coming in handy, especially considering the increased risk of stains. You’ve soaked more shirts in peroxide in the last week than you care to count. 
Occupational hazard, I guess. 
Getting blood out of dress shirts is an ART and Reader has MASTERED it.
You pick up the little bin and take it back into the bathroom, your fingers tracing over the framed photos of Haley and Jack in the hall as you pass. 
There’s one of you and Haley, too, at some sort of summer function where you were all together. If you aren’t mistaken, Jess took the photo as you and Haley lounged in lawn chairs, laughing.
I love these little scenes that are captured in pictures. Most of the pictures I write in are not only for implicit characterization, but to capture little images and scenes I can’t find context for, or aren’t something I can put into a fic in any kind of neat and orderly way. 
So, just like in my head, they live in still or just-moving-a-little images. 
Another one of the two of you sits on the dresser in Aaron’s bedroom. You’ve never seen it. 
It’s another Jess-capture. Haley has Jack in her arms, kissing him on one cheek with a smile while you press a kiss to the other, eyes shut tight. One of your hands rests lightly on Haley’s arm, the other makes bunny ears over Jack’s head. The boy’s face is all crinkled like he hates it, but Aaron knows that photo was bookended by a screech of laughter and many, many giggles. 
It’s times like this where I wish I could draw Reader, so I could take this and paint it. I still might try with a vague impression of them....But I’m not sure. 
+++
You bounce into the office in the morning, looking no worse for wear even after spending the night on Aaron’s couch. 
Hey, it’s a comfortable couch.
The pair of you stayed out on the couch watching bad movies far later than you meant to, but it’s alright. 
I just LOVE this image. 
Not the first time that’s happened. 
You could neither confirm nor deny that Aaron slept, but you saw, through his open bedroom door, that he was still and quiet for most of the night. 
The open door was an important detail here. Naturally, Aaron would want to close himself off to as much of a threat as possible, but I think he actually feels safer with the door open when Reader is there just outside of it, rather than the alternative. 
“You look chipper this morning,” Penelope notes. 
You shrug. “I slept well last night.” 
“How’s Hotch?” Emily asks. 
Oh, gals you have no idea how related those questions are. 
That’s another mirror moment to mean it, by the way. 
You make a little wavering noise. “About how you’d expect, but alright.” 
It’s later in the day when Dave pulls you aside and thanks you, wrapping you in his arms. 
You lean into him and you’re almost frustrated, but not surprised, when tears press at your eyes again. It seems you’re made of them, these days. 
“We’re so lucky to have you.”
You shake your head, burrowing into his shoulder. “Other way around.” 
He pulls back and kisses you on the cheek, patting your other one affectionately before offering his hand to you. “Agree to disagree?”
You roll your eyes and shake on it. 
“Sure, Dave. Sure.” 
This reminds me of that little scene in redamancy when Dave and Mom are talking about how much he deserves to have one of the babies named after him. 
And thus concludes director’s commentary for enough!! I’m always happy to answer process questions if y’all have any!!
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