#a second chance su au
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Final Post.
You read the title. I won't be continuing A Second Chance anymore. Below the cut, I explain what the plot was gonna be.
I plan on stepping away from SU as a whole now. The only thing I want to finish is Half a Puppet, which you can read on AO3. ((This is absolutely my. best work, I am super proud of it. Pearl's chapter is my magnum opus at the moment. If anything, please go read that lol.))
Thank you everyone for supporting the blog. This was fun, and it got me though COVID and a lot of 2021. I love you all a lot.
I am still active on Tumblr. I am hyperfixated on Cuphead right now, and run the @cuphead-contract-au blog. I am also working on an original project I eventually want to make into a real animated TV show called Follychromatic. You can follow my journey there. @follychromatic.
Thank you all for everything.
Basically, her thing with Connie was because Rose and Greg had been the same right before Greg made Rose go away. She doesn't want the same to happen to Steven.
Pink yelled at her and banished her. This is why she hates Pink, but loves Rose. She joined the rebellion because of that. Reread the intro bit, Rose knew what she had to do.
Spinel would learn to grow more mature and compassionate about the people around her. She would learn what a healthy relationship looks like and strive to have that with everyone. She makes up with Connie, and they become good friends.
In Future, she winds up teaching the gems how to play games. Her sole episode would be about trying to get Steven to relax, similar to Snow Day but not a replacement. It would happen closer to Mr Universe, maybe before the trip but after Steven realizes he has trauma. She'd see how down he is and try to take his mind off of things, which we realize does not work.
Stop there if you would like. Below is a long, long, LONG post, full of the ENTIRE timeline all the up through Season 4. This is copy+pasted from the google doc I had, and incomplete.
...
The full, uncut timeline, following Spinel on her journey! Everything from just single scenes in already-existent episodes all the way to fresh, new content, in chronological order, with all the important stuff, including notes on important visuals and metaphors/symbolism! Timeline starts when Spinel is first created.
17,000 Years Ago
Spinel emerges from her kindergarten.
It was on the planet above the Garden, with the large heart-shaped hole in it
She emerged as her Homeworld-designed self, and immediately recognized Pink and hugged her. Volleyball was present for it.
Pink managed to sneak Volleyball to a couple of playtimes between her and Spinel. The trio was happy, but Spinel never paid much attention to the pearl.
8,000 Years Ago
Volley’s eye cracks.
Pink had been throwing a tantrum at the time and her scream hurt her eye physically
Pink didn’t know about her healing powers before this point, so had no way of fixing it.
She rushed to the other Diamonds, asking if they knew a way to heal her
The Diamonds take Volley away and Pink swears to get better.
Instead of helping, the Diamonds saw that, despite the fact that they GAVE PINK A FRIEND, she still saw her Pearl as one and took her away
This was the moment Pink swore she wouldn’t throw a tantrum again (but note: growth isn’t linear, and yes, she DOES throw a few more first, but that’s later).
A rift is drawn between her and Spinel
Pink likes being equal to others around her, and that was the relationship she had with Volleyball. They were equals in friendship.
That was the only relationship she had like that, so when Volley got taken away, it devastated her
Spinel was created for the sole purpose of serving Pink Diamond, and her friendship is one-way to the point that she doesn’t want Pink to be on equal ground with her. She’s perfectly fine being beneath her, which Pink is highly uncomfortable with.
This is when she started getting annoyed with Spinel, and mostly started going to her to get away from the palace instead of just to play.
Pink starts becoming more mature.
In her quest to A) stop being childish, and thus B) get a colony, Pink knew she needed to grow up. So she began acting more like Yellow and Blue wanted her to.
She wasn’t happy, however, and came to the garden to let loose. She could be as childish as she wanted there.
7,500 Years Ago
Pink is gifted our Pearl
However, she is still throwing tantrums, and at one point, she hurts Pearl during one, causing her to get rejuvenated. Not gonna keep making you Pearls just to get them taken away, Pink.
This causes Pink to never want to use that blasted devise again. She wasn’t aware that it completely reset a gem, just that it erased certain behaviors and memories.
Our Pearl is programmed for no funny business, creating another one-sided relationship that Pink doesn’t want any part of.
Spinel and Pearl met only a few times before the thing happens, but enough that Pearl knows who she is and can remember her later.
6,000 Years Ago (000)
Spinel is left in the Garden
It’s finally paying off. The Diamonds see Pink as one of them (only took 2,000 years, haha!). She’s given Earth as a colony.
However, because the Garden is her place to let loose, she gets extremely annoyed at Spinel for jumping around her like she does. She’s worried they might take her colony away again.
She didn’t mean to forget about her. The way she was always punished was that she was locked in the tower. How is this any different?
Spinel is NOT going to mess this up for her.
Pink comes to Earth
Colonization begins in the Prime Kindergarten
5,850 years ago: (150)
The Amethysts emerge
Pink goes down to Earth with Pearl
They keep sneaking off for about two months before Pink really realizes what it’s doing to the planet
Pink starts trying to persuade the Diamonds to leave the planet alone.
At first, they don’t take her seriously, but when she keeps asking, they start to get annoyed with her. They threaten that this is her colony, she wants it, so if she ever wants to have another, she is to shut it.
Blue is much harsher during this time, and Yellow is a bit softer. Just a tiny bit, though. (Grief changes the both of them)
Coral and Amber approach Spinel and ask her if she wants to play with them. She says no, that she’s already playing with Pink. They insist, having seen that Pink probably isn’t coming back any time soon, but again, Spinel says that Pink wants her to stay still. So that’s what she’s gonna do. The duo retreat into maintaining the garden, but their own worry starts to make the garden run rampant.
5,825 years ago (175)
Blue starts the human zoo
Pink tries to show her life and say that she wants to preserve it.
Blue just kinda rolls her eyes and goes “okay fine” and the zoo is built.
5,800 years ago: (200)
Pink gives up trying to persuade them
Though not entirely, as she does bring it up sometimes.
The Gem War begins
Pink starts leading a double life
5,750 years ago: (250)
Garnet meets Rose and Pearl
Pink starts fighting for gems
Now recruits newly-emerged gems into her army
Rose starts spreading her message
Pink starts to become more isolated, starting rumors about herself
5,650 years ago: (350)
Beta Kindergarten gems are commissioned per Yellow’s request
Rose’s army is now a genuine threat
Homeworld gems start to hear her message and switch, or fear her, depending on what they hear
5,600 years ago: (400)
Coral and Amber try again to get Spinel to move, but she insists that she’s okay where she is.
5,500 years ago (500)
Jasper and the other Betas emerge
There is a massive battle at the Beta Kindergarten as Jasper starts her path of destruction
Word of it gets to Rose, but she’s too late to get there. Jasper took out almost all the Crystal Gems stationed at the Beta Kindergarten.
5,400 years ago: (600)
Eyeball arrives on the battlefield with seven other Rubies, responsible for aiding Pink Diamond as extra muscle around her area
Pink likes to keep her Rubies as far from her as possible, just from the discomfort they bring (and because they make it hard for her to sneak off)
5,375 years ago (625)
Rose and Pearl come across a human child all alone
This reminds Rose of Spinel
She gets her and brings her to Earth
Spinel stood in the garden for about 625 years
Coral and Amber are left behind without a second thought
Two years later, Pink banishes her
Spinel becomes a Crystal Gem
5,300 years ago (700)
The whole thing with Bismuth goes down
Rose doesn���t have Lion by this time, so she stores the bubble away in Bismuth’s forge instead
Spinel is devastated, but not enough to poof herself.
She knew Bismuth for about 75 years.
5,250 years ago (750)
Spinel and Eyeball meet on the battlefield, though nothing too interesting happens. Eyeball gets her pinned at one point, which is really hard to do, but it ultimately ends in a draw
5,200 years ago (800)
Spinel meets Jasper on the battlefield, resulting in a showdown. Spinel is terrified of Jasper’s power and strength, and runs from her. There’s a chase as she and some of her close friends flee.
She makes a huge choice and decides that they can’t run forever, and to save her friends, she turns to face Jasper herself.
The two fight, with Spinel actually doing okay, but she winds up getting poofed
She would have been shattered, but 7TH and 7TP rush in. One throws her gem to the bushes while they fight, resulting in getting poofed. Jasper decides to keep them for information, and can’t find Spinel’s gem.
Spinel reforms and rushes off to the CG base in tears, only to learn that her friends sacrificed themselves to save her.
She swears that she will get them back, and she and Jasper shall meet again.
5,150 years ago (850)
Pink “shatters”
Spinel feels grief even though she knows well that Pink abused her. Pearl has a talk with her about the whole thing, and Spinel feels better, knowing there’s someone else who misses her too. (BUT REMEMEBER THE GAG ORDER)
Immediately, the Homeworld gems start a plan to shatter every Crystal Gem, with new intel from a rebel on a potential place their base may be.
A huge battle takes place, drawing all gems on Earth to it
Yellow comes down in a ship and starts work on the Cluster, heading to the Prime Kindergarten to issue the experiments immediately, while there are no witnesses
Blue follows her, and the two have a confrontation with each other
Yellow wins the argument, and Blue reluctantly agrees, leaving in her ship after grabbing a few more humans for the zoo (to remember her by)
The Crystal Gems are victorious
5,100 years ago (900)
The Cluster’s plantation is completed
Yellow slips back off the planet under the cover of night
5,000 years ago (1,000)
The Homeworld gems flee
Premature celebration happens
Spinel was hugging Pearl in joy when Rose grabbed Pearl, saving Spinel from the attack too
The Diamond Attack blasts the Earth and corrupts the gems
The war is over… for now.
4,500 years ago (1,500)
Amethyst emerges
1975
Greg is born
1997
Greg meets Rose Quartz (22 years old)
2001
Steven is born
Rose “dies”
This is the event that drives a rift between Spinel and Amethyst. Spinel was greedy for all of Rose’s attention there at the end, but her respect for Pearl and for Garnet as leader allowed them to get close to her. However, she literally pushed Amethyst away during that time, and because of that, Amethyst’s time with Rose was reduced from what it could have been. From then on, Amethyst holds a grudge against Spinel, and she retaliates since trying to make it up to the little Quartz failed.
2009
Steven (8) moves in with the gems
August 15, 2013
Steven turns 12 years old, the age he is at the start of the show
SEASON 1
Spinel’s arc starts in “Bubble Buddies,” in which Spinel is jealous of Connie
Man of the Mountain
Spinel feels she and Steven are drifting apart, and decides to try and get close to him again. They play in her room in the Temple, sending Steven off on a quest as a knight (which can be played on when Connie steps into that role irl). During it, things go too far and she has to rescue Steven. They had fun, though, and he confirms for her that they’re still close.
Giant Woman
Not worthy to make an entire ep out of, but basically, Spinel CAN go with Garnet to get the Earth Beetle. Spinel can swim in lava, just not for as long as Garnet can. She’s meant to be backup.
So Close
After “Giant Woman,” Steven stages another adventure to try and get Amethyst and Spinel to fuse, too, just like what happened with Pearl and Amethyst, but spoiler alert, it doesn’t happen. Instead, we learn that their arguments started when Steven was born, which kinda begins his self-blame and awareness of his family’s tensions even more so than “Giant Woman,” wherein he was mostly focused on himself rather than his family getting along. “Emotional hell” episode.
Steven the Sword-Fighter
Spinel grabs Pearl’s gem before it hits the ground with her elastic abilities, and basically stands vigil by it while waiting for her to reform. She sasses Holo-Pearl, insulting her, and in this scenario, Spinel is the one to accidentally start a fight with the thing. Steven, not wanting another family member to get hurt because of it, tries to help out and ultimately defeats the hologram. Spinel remained by Pearl’s gem the whole time, though attacked from a distance. Once Pearl reforms, Spinel hugs her and doesn’t stop until sometime after the star has crossed the screen and ended the episode.
This Just In
Just a fun one. :)
Parody of Scooby-Doo! Spinel starts narrating everything and breaking the fourth wall while she does it, too, creating drama (and giving a reason for the title to be just that).
Mirror Gem
Spinel walks in on Steven setting up a school and gawks, asking why he would want to do that? She went to school back in the 1930’s and it was terrible. When Pearl suggests the mirror, Spinel is just as in awe of it as Steven, showing that she doesn’t know what it is. She is with the two of them all day, and is delighted to find a friend in the “defective” mirror. When Steven wants to tell the gems, Spinel insists that it’s a bad idea, but poor Season 1 Steven doesn’t pick up on her nervousness and tells them anyway. As things tense, Spinel runs to Pearl, trying to tell her that it’s okay, the mirror isn’t a threat, but all this does is separate her from Steven when Garnet tries to take the mirror from him. He runs out alone, and all the gems run out to try and find him. Same plays out as he sets Lapis free. She then yells at the OG3 for knowing she was in there, but not letting her go. She offers Steven and Spinel to go “home” with her, which Spinel knows what she means and refuses. She offers instead to have Lapis stay on Earth, where they’re safe from Homeworld’s cruelty. Lapis refuses, tells them both not to trust the OG3, and walks into the ocean. Spinel is hurt that they didn’t mention Lapis to her, but doesn’t say anything (for fear of what happened between her and Pink).
Secret Team
As Steven, Pearl, and Amethyst run around the Temple fixing their mistakes, Steven stumbles across Spinel. She asks what he’s doing, to which Steven responds “nothing!” and keeps searching. Spins is suspicious, but again, says nothing. She hears Garnet’s speech at the end, though, and realizes that they were keeping secrets from her again.
Left Behind
Spinel calls everyone together, and says she knows everyone is keeping stuff from her. She inquires what that might be, and when no one speaks up, decides to create her own. She enlists Steven’s help, and together, they start creating secrets to keep from the gems. It escalates until it’s just Amethyst, though (as Garnet has future vision and Spinel just can’t do that to Pearl), and Amethyst is aware of it. She calls Spinel out, the others telling her that she has to stop, and she confesses that she feels betrayed because of the whole Lapis thing, then the Secret Team thing. Garnet tells her in her most gentle voice that Spinel couldn’t handle that kind of information, to which Spinel realizes that they don’t trust her. She runs off. Garnet tells Steven she’ll bounce back and get over it, but he follows her anyway. He finds her, just in time to hear her sing about feeling left out in the group. He walks up to her and tells her he feels the same way, and that if she wants to be with them, she’s just gotta try harder. That’s what he does. Spinel agrees, and the ep ends on a bittersweet note.
Fusion Cuisine
Zoisite is teased, as when Steven tries to bring his whole family, that means Spinel too, but because of Amethyst’s and Spinel’s tense relationship, the fusion fails. Instead, she’s left behind again (as Connie mentioned nothing about a sister…), and Alexandrite goes instead. Then it plays out the same way.
Warp Tour
In a bout of pure betrayal Spinel ultimately sides with the Gems instead of Steven, singling him out from the group. She agrees Steven is being silly. However, she stays with him as he stays up, trying to get him to take his mind off stuff. He refuses, and she gives up, heading back into the Temple. If he wants to play, he’s welcome to. Just give a knock. Then it plays out the same way.
The Test
Spinel’s room features a few funky, funny, not-quite booby traps. A cage comes down and nearly traps him (though like the spikes in Garnet’s room, would stop before it actually hit or trapped him), he has to jump around on a few platforms out of the reach of what looks like octopus tentacles, and then he lands in a ball pit after jumping off the platform. Finally, it’s a riddle to guess which door was correct, to which there are three doors, meaning three answers. Each door leads out, but Spinel makes it seem like there’s a pitfall trap in front of each to make it matter. Steven gets the answer right (the answer being a rabbit), and moves on to Garnet’s room. During the gem’s talk, Spinel insists that giving him an actual win would be a lot better, but Pearl states instead that this would work the same way. As long as he can do this, it’ll raise his confidence. Spinel agrees with Amethyst’s assessment of “we’re bad at this,” and the conversation goes the same way, as does the episode.
The Mountain Spire
After the episode “Horror Club,” Garnet discovers that due to two simultaneously occurring “earthquakes,” two Gem structures are bound to collapse. She and Amethyst take one, Pearl and Spinel take the other. Steven insists on coming along, and Garnet allows it. While walking, we see bird and rabbit imagery, as Steven goes on about how the last two times they were on an adventure like this, Opal happened! The other time, though, Amethyst and Spinel fought. But if Opal happened, then there was a chance something could happen this time, too, right? They arrive at a tall structure with pieces falling collapsing more by the second; the Mountain Spire. They have to replace to Sun Goddess statue, which was already up there. Steven’s now getting some flashbacks to a different adventure he was on, and now is determined to make sure he doesn’t mess this one up, too! Not a second time!
Spinel repeatedly runs ahead, appearing to be playing, when in actuality, she’s clearing the coast for Steven and Pearl. She constantly looks for Pearl’s approval. Pearl gets progressively more annoyed. Finally, she confronts Spinel about her behavior, stating that she doesn’t like the clinginess she’s been showing. It looks like it’ll escalate, but Spinel doesn’t try to argue with Pearl at all. She admits that she’s attached to her, maybe more than she should be, but that’s because she respects her. When Spinel was lost, who picked her up and showed her a home with the Crystal Gems? Pearl. She had always believed in Spinel, and Spinel just feels good being around her and being there for her. Pearl says she had no idea, and admits that she maybe has been a bit harsh on her lately, and they both come to peaceful understanding without Steven’s help. (Note: Spinel and Pearl are both lesser gems, and they can connect using that, too. Try to hint at that if possible.)
Climax: the statue has fallen, and the top of the spire is collapsing. The statue is about to fall through the floor (with many many many holes in it), and Spinel can’t reach that far without getting a bit wobbly, so she doesn’t want to risk reaching for it and causing it to fall. They need to be more careful. Spinel and Pearl fuse into Lepidolite. She is agile, stretchy, careful, and self-sacrificial to a fault. She leaps in, bouncing across the room and grabbing the statue before anything can happen to it. Then, the ground shakes again and the floor beneath Steven caves, causing him to fall. She catches him, but only just. She is stretched too far now (as her stretchiness isn’t as much as Spins on her own), and has to make a choice. A vacuum just like the one around the Sea Spire sucks Steven down, making her lose her grip on him, and she makes the decision to go for him rather than the building. She pulls, tossing him up and onto safe land, then falls. She tosses the statue back up to him, and he has to put it back. Once he has, the spire fixes itself, and Lepidolite is saved. She brings Steven down to her level (since they’re going down now), and jokes about the place being a fixer-upper, before unfusing. The three gems head back, mission successful.
Garnet and Amethyst were also able to fix their building, but their victory is short lived as Steven starts gushing about the fusion he saw. Pearl and Spinel smile at each other. Together, they are pretty great, huh?
Frienemies
After “Maximum Capacity.” Another episode to progress Spinel’s relationships with Connie and Amethyst. Connie comes over for the day, and Spinel insists that she hang out with them, too. Everything Connie does is “wrong,” and she leaves in a huff. When Steven offers to play video games with Spinel and Amethyst, the two start bickering with each other. A few days later, Connie comes back over and Steven tries to push Spinel away, but the gem refuses to leave the two alone. Connie confronts her, asking what he problem is. Connie has never done anything to Spinel before, right? We find out that Spinel has made it her mission to be Steven’s best friend, since that was Rose’s final request of her before she died, and both Amethyst and Connie are “getting in the way.” Connie sees through it and notes Spinel’s jealousy, insisting that he is still his own person, too. Spinel tries to retaliate, but Steven stands up for himself, saying anyone can be his friend and Spinel cannot decide that for him. If he’s Spinel’s best friend, cool, but he’s allowed to hang out with other people, too! Spinel is shocked into silence for a moment. All three others come to comfort her, empathizing about wanting a friend (Connie) and missing Rose (Amethyst). When Connie leaves, Spinel gives her an apology and asks if they’re on stable ground. Connie doesn’t know, but it’s a start. She leaves. Spinel smiles and hugs Steven, insisting she’ll try to do better.
The Return
Jasper and Spinel recognise each other. Spinel shakes with rage. Jasper says she’d be interested in taking Spins on again, just for the challenge, but Garnet jumps in before Spinel can answer, demanding Jasper leave this planet. Things mostly play out the same, except when Garnet gets poofed, Spinel acts immediately. She creates the illusion of a battlefield, masking her approach as she attacks from behind. Jasper, however, expects this, and catches her, throwing her into Pearl and Amethyst as they run closer. Jasper then grabs Steven and knocks him out, ending the episode. Jailbreak plays out the same way.
SEASON 2
Crossover Calamity
This would replace the Uncle Grandpa episode! It’s a goofy, non-canon ep in which Spinel and Amethyst visit different SU AUs together, all while fighting.
Starts off with Spinel raiding Amethyst’s room for her timepiece, since she got to keep it in “Steven and the Stevens”. She needs it for a game she’s playing. Amethyst catches her and the two fight over it. It winds up transporting them across dimensions instead of though time, and they wind up in a Steven Universe x Undertale crossover. They meet Steven and Frisk, and when Steven wonders what Amethyst is doing here and doesn’t recognise Spinel, it’s clear they’re not in the same timeline. They have to work together to get back, since the timepiece is cracked.
Next, they visit Bendy and the Ink Machine (since there is officially a crossover with that one now). They walk in on Bendy singing “Welcome Home”, and get attacked by the Ink Demon. They teleport away right as he’s about to catch them, transporting to an equally dangerous situation in a different AU. They run, going through a few more AUs until they wind up in canon SU, during “Other Friends.” They watch Spinel poof the gems, then leave, traumatized.
They end up in front of the Spinel House, where Spinel is instantly drawn to. Henry Stickmin reference! Her options are: Knock, Amethyst, Break In, Remove Layer, or Request Entry.
Knock: Is the correct answer. Spinel knocks on the door and is let in
Amethyst: Reference to Charles! Ames runs off-screen, shapeshifts into a helicopter, and crashes into the building. Fail line: Amethyst, flying in! :D ...You were expecting this, weren’t you?
Break In: Amethyst and Spinel concoct an elaborate plan to break in. It goes successfully, until they land in the middle of the room from crawling through the vents. The Spinels think they’re getting robbed and attack. Fail line: Everyone knows gravity only exists in cartoons when it’s least convenient, c’mon now.
Remove Layer: Animation/drawing joke. A tab is brought up showing all the layers in Ibis Paint, and the layer with the House is turned off. The spinels all stare at Star, and it end in a fail just like that. Fail line: You were supposed to get INTO the house, not make it disappear completely!
Request Entry: Meta joke! I suddenly show up out of nowhere and get pushed into the building to meet the directors and request that Spinel get added to the house. But my social anxiety to talk to them ruins this and I walk back out. Fail line: This is why people typically approach me first.
Back to business. Once Spinel has knocked and is let in, she meets the Spinels! It’s Spinel Hell for Amethyst, and she wants to get out of there as fast as possible. Joke about how the House is a place for Spinels to get away from the cruelty of their actual AU existence, and then ask if Star wants to join. She says no. Spinel asks if it’s possible to repair the timepiece, to which Rejuvenated or Spinny just slaps some duct tape on it and calls it good, sending Star!Spinel and Amethyst back on their way. It works, and they end up back on the beach. Spinel thanks the stars that’s over, and starts to walk off with the timepiece, ready to continue her game. But then Amethyst fights her for it, and they start crashing through several AUs, probably at dramatic/important parts and completely interrupting everything. Their final stand would be in either SU canon or breaking the fourth wall entirely and they exist on Tumblr or other social media accounts. They have a talk while fighting/playing keep-away, and reconcile. They teleport one final time and end back up on the beach. Amethyst decides it’s whatever and lets Spinel play with it, but she gives it back, claiming to not want it anymore. The two wind up dumping it in the ocean.
And that is why Spinel looks like a wreck. She smiles proudly at Steven as she finishes telling her story. He believes her until Garnet warps back in, asking her how training with Amethyst went after Ames threw her in the sea with her whip. Spinel groans, insisting Garnet ruined the mood. But then we go into the ocean, only to see that the dimension piece is actually there, at the bottom of the sea…
Optional: Spinel pulls a Genie and pulls up the bottom of the page, saying “Made you look!” Then the credits would roll with all the AUs present/used in the story.
AUs: SU x UT, SU x BATIM, HTTYM, I Am My Diamond, SU-Revived, The Spinel House, lab-raised-steven, White Diamond Steven AU, (maybe Gone Wrong? But make it more like a joke than anything serious,) Starhair!Spinel, being-monster-au, su-rogue, restore-the-universe, CHITSU, irl, silent films, SU x GF, SU x TOH, that one gif of Spinel doing the Distraction Dance, Perfect Steven, SU Rewritten, Spinel Goes to Homeworld (“I can’t believe I’m talkin’ ta my reflection-“), Corrupted Spinel, SU x Epic Mickey, plus any and all
M E M E S. Also, potentially foreshadow as much as you want.
wow that was a lot lmao
Sworn to the Sword
Spinel teases Connie about wanting to train, but in a more light-hearted way that before. She is serious as she tries to warn Connie about Pearl’s teachings, insisting that Pearl could go extreme sometimes, but Connie ignores her, insisting it’ll be okay. The rest of the episode plays out the same, except when Spinel finds out Connie fell for Connie’s teachings, she remarks that she tried to tell her, earning her a glare from Steven. “Just sayin’,” she says, shrugging, but her concern is evident. Rest of the ep is the same.
We Need to Talk
Spinel was doing the filming on the tape Greg and the band was recording, and her cinematography (due to her stretchy limbs) is amazing. She gets along with Greg very well, and thinks he and Rose are cute together. She does join Pearl in teasing him, but her teasing is much more light-hearted than Pearl’s salty, “you’re just a phase” teasing. She is Rose’s best friend, and she doesn’t think Greg can change that. At the end of the episode, though, she is fearful that she was wrong, and Rose and Greg might be closer than any of the other gems to her. She and Pearl share a fearful glance.
Time and Place
The gems are on a mission to recover an object somewhere inside a volcano. Spinel goofs off with Steven, and Garnet commands them to stop. This place is dangerous. Steven stops, but Spinel persists, continuing to make faces and perform silly stunts to try and get him to smile. She does a dramatic flip into a stalactite, bouncing off of it and landing in front of Steven with a “tadaa!” The stalactite cracks and falls, blocking the corruption they’re trying to get to away and nearly getting everyone else hurt or poofed. Spinel herself falls into the lava, but climbs back out perfectly fine. Garnet benches her, insisting that she be more responsible and serious, comparing her to Steven and driving a rift between them unintentionally. Afterwards, Spinel tries to show responsibility as things run awry in the house- the house gets messy and she cleans it, the fridge stops running and she plugs it in, the heater was working in overdrive so she shuts it off. It comes to a climax as a corrupted gem, the same one they were after in the volcano, suddenly warps into the house and wreaks havoc. It’s revealed she caused everything, and after the gem is dealt with, Spinel apologizes, saying that hey, at least she dug the guy out of the rock fall! Garnet doesn’t unbench her, though, and insists that she needs to show real responsibility and start taking things seriously. Steven comes over to comfort her, saying that there is a time and a place for this kind of behavior, and the volcano wasn’t it. She nods, accepting that.
Chille Tid
Spinel is still benched, and so was waiting for everyone at the beach house. She stays behind for the slumber party, though Amethyst and Steven have to team up to make sure she doesn’t go in the Temple. This is because, when Spinel starts dreaming, her illusion powers kick in and she starts showing what she’s dreaming. Tonight, she dreams of playing with Rose and Steven both inside her garden (foreshadowing the Rose/Pink reveal). This provides a bit of backstory for her, too. She’s awoken as Rose wilts away like an actual rose, and Steven vanishes. Her feet are wrapped in roots, and she sits up quickly only to see that the others had been watching.
She’s ecstatic to learn that Lapis is okay.
Amends
The gems leave for a mission, but Steven stays behind with the still-benched Spinel. He plans a full day of fun for the two of them! Later, they bump into Greg, who is just off of another hard day of work at the car wash, being kept on his toes recently. To relax, they decide to jam out together. At one point, Steven would ask how often Rose joined him (knowing that she’s sung with him at least once) and what she played. Greg responds, saying that she would play and sing with him often. Spinel interjects, commenting that the more she hung out with him, the less she was there for everyone else, and the more lonely Spinel got. She realizes she said that out loud, and dives head-first into apologies, throwing back to some of the things she said in Man of the Mountain (“don’t hate me” and “It won’t happen again” etc). Both Greg and Steven calm her down and ask what brought that on. We now find out that Spinel was abandoned a LOT in the past, but with the CGs, she felt better, but then Greg came along and she started feeling that way again. She hates being alone. She likes him, though, so she never said anything. She tries so hard not to blame Greg- he didn’t know. She never told him, or anyone, since that wasn’t a very nice thing to do and friends are nice to their friends (she’s actually scared of being screamed at like with what happened with Pink). Please don��t hate her? Greg insists that no, he doesn’t, and that he’s sorry he didn’t realize. She’s sorry, too. Steven speaks up, stating that it was really brave of Spinel to tell them that, and to overcome her fear of them thinking less of her or something. He’s proud of her. She smiles at that.
The next day, Greg wakes up late (like, it’s NOON levels of late). He rushes outside to see Spinel doing his job for him at the car wash, and doing it quite well! Steven is there helping her. When asked what’s going on, Spinel states that she still felt bad for what happened yesterday and wanted to do something nice for Greg, so she took over the car wash for the day! She turned off his alarm so he could get some rest, and has been doing a good lot of the washing. She also gave the van itself a wash, and cleaned all the brushes inside. Greg, in awe, thanks her a lot and gives her a hug. He makes an offhand comment about her showing initiative like that, and how that responsibility was something he never expected from her. Garnet agrees, walking up behind them. Upon seeing the maroon gem, Spinel apologizes again for the volcano incident, and promises to do better. Garnet, having seen that Spinel is capable of taking control and responsibility, unbenches her. Spinel doesn’t stop helping Greg, though, and at the end of the day, they all get ice cream together. Fin.
Too Far
Peridot doesn’t know what to make of Spinel, not having ever even heard of her before. We find out she’s one-of-a-kind, built to be a best friend! She likes to be friends with everyone! Peridot states that she and Amethyst don’t get along, causing the pink gem to blush and run off.
Too Close (NEW FORM)
Spinel now tries to be Amethyst’s Best Friend, along with LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE where she can! It gets toxic quickly, and she more or less becomes Amethyst’s more-annoying personal Pearl for the day. Peridot is quick to point this out. Amethyst confronts her about it, and they have one last fight before Spinel finally starts to learn that you don’t have to give your everything in order to be a good friend (and stop pampering them GEEZ). That’s unhealthy. It’s obsessive. It can smother people! She needs to find a better balance! Spinel states that if she doesn’t give everything, then she feels like she’s lacking on her end, that she isn’t doing enough. If she isn’t by her friend’s side all the time, who’s to say they won’t get mad at her, or leave her? Steven points out how exhausted Spinel has become while taking care of everyone so obsessively. Amethyst agrees, stating that she cannot run herself ragged trying to do everything all at once. She insists that she’s okay, that she can keep going. She was built to be a friend, and she’s been slacking on her end. She’s not gonna stop until everyone around her is happy! She’ll prove it! She then runs away to make the Best Day Ever for everyone, but Amethyst chases her down, now determined to make her see sense. She tackles the other gem, telling her that if she truly wanted to be someone’s friend, she needed to calm down, back off, and respect their wishes to have her leave people alone! Spinel poofs, mostly from exhaustion, but also because she’s getting Pink Diamond flashbacks.
When she reforms, she walks up to Amethyst and apologizes. If being a friend means leaving people alone, then that was something she was going to have to work on. Being a friend isn’t gonna be easy, but she can try. Just let her know whenever they need her to leave? Amethyst says she’ll do so, and the two hug it out. While doing so, Spinel asks if they can start over, and try being friends again. Amethyst agrees, saying it’s worth a shot.
SEASON 3
Super Watermelon Island
With Spinel and Amethyst finally getting along, Zoisite can now be formed! The battle with Malachite still happens, but now featuring Spinel’s illusion powers and Lepidolite’s feather duster (for cartoony hyjinx).
Barn Mates
At the end of the episode, Spinel is super happy to finally see Lapis again, but surprising everyone, she doesn’t leap into Lapis’ arms or anything. She instead extends a hand to shake.
Hit the Diamond
Spinel plays referee and pitcher. While doing the lineup, she announces that her name is Sarah, or would Sandy be better? She’s shushed. Later, there’s a throw-away line about how if the CGs don’t win this match, she, Sandy, is quitting. She knows what’s gonna happen and isn’t gonna stick around to witness it. Someone smacks her for breaking the fourth wall.
Too Short to Ride
Spinel stretches out without shapeshifting, which makes Peridot even more upset that she can’t do it. During the shapeshifting part, Spinel becomes a dog and a rabbit, playing a game of chase with Amethyst.
Trapped
After “The New Lars”. The hunt for Jasper continues, but Spinel and Steven take a break to go visit Peridot and Lapis. Steven and Peri hang out for a while before realizing that Spinel and Lapis are gone. They go looking for them, discovering them atop the silo. They’re laughing. Spinel apologizes for the whole mirror thing, saying that she knows what it’s like to be trapped and abandoned for years, too. Lapis says that it wasn’t her fault, it was Homeworld’s. Spinel says she knows that feel, having been the playmate of her old owner before she got left behind like a broken toy. She insists that Lapis had it worse, though, since she was forced to stay in one spot whereas Spinel chose to stay there, forever… Lapis tells her not to compare what they went through. They’re both hurt, and they can connect over it. That’s what’s important, not who had it worse. Spinel gives her a side hug, saying that she’s really glad Lapis is here. Steven and Peri decide to give them some privacy and leave, the other pair being none the wiser they were ever there.
Days pass, and the hunt continues. Pearl asks Steven if he’s seen Spinel, to which he says no. Garnet states that they need to find her and she warps them to the barn. There, Spinel and Lapis are continuing to hang out. Pearl is the first to scold, demanding to know where Spinel has been when they’re trying to find Jasper? Peridot hears this and tries to get Pearl to stop talking, but she doesn’t. That rogue gem is only going to cause trouble! Spinel feels awful, starting to apologize, but Lapis cuts her off. She insists that Spinel is always being left behind anyway, and has to constantly wear a smile to keep morale up, which makes her feel trapped, but here, she doesn’t have to do that! She’s free! She doesn’t have to be anyone’s friend here. So back off and leave her alone! Steven asks timidly if that’s true, to which Spinel nods.
She explains that she’s been trying to keep her distance, like Amethyst asked her to, but she feels like she isn’t being a good friend and is slacking off. That makes her stressed, because she knows her friends don’t want her around, so she kept coming here. She doesn’t have to be friends with Lapis or Peridot- that expectation was never there with them. She’s free to just relax here and get her mind off stuff. She didn’t mean to stay away for so long, but she thought no one wanted her there unless they had work for her to do. How can you be a friend if you stayed away? She had no idea, and it was so, so confusing. Spinel says that she was made to be a best friend to one person, and when that person sent her away, she felt lost. The same thing was happening again, and she didn’t know what to do. f
Lapis explains that she used to be a terriformer, shaping planets for her superiors forever and she wasn’t happy. But now, she feels much more free. Playing mediator, Steven builds on that, and explains that she shouldn’t have to feel like she needs to be friends with everyone. That’s an impossible task. If she needs to force it, then it isn’t friendship, and instead, is more just servitude. Lapis and Pearl both agree. Be friends with who you want. Who do you want to be friends with? Spinel thinks, hesitant to say her answer in fear she’ll make people angry, but everyone insists they won’t be. She says she wants to be friends with Steven, Amethyst, and Lapis for sure. She looks up to Pearl and Garnet, and they’re always gonna be family, and they can stay that way. For now. Everyone (sans Peri) hugs her, proud of her, before Peridot interrupts and announces that if she wants to be friends with Lapis, they’d have to fight over it. It looks like Spinel might fall back on old habits for a second before Peridot laughs, saying she was joking. There’s enough Lapis for both of them. Lapis, embarrassed, flies off. The ep ends as Spinel and Peridot look at each other in confusion, wondering what they said.
Together Again (formerly called “Camping”)
After “Restaurant Wars”. Spinel decides to take her friends camping! Lapis was “busy,” so it was just Amethyst and Steven with her. While out, they discover a corrupted gem, a quartz of some kind. She is a powerhouse and overruns everyone, then won’t leave them alone. The monster is big, and the group is in the mountains, so they slip into a small cave in the mountains where the beast can’t get them. As it walks away, Spinel sees the gem, located on its shoulder- it has a scratch in it. It’s 7TP. Her eyes flash in recognition, and she then tries to take it herself. She winds up pinned beneath the amethyst’s paw. She confesses that she knew the gem from the war, and it was one of her best friends. On the battlefield, the fight that occurred just before everyone was corrupted, 7TP got a scratch across her gem, not deep enough to count as a crack, but deep enough to be recognizable. They have to bubble her, quick! Steven and Amethyst get 7TP off Spinel and fighting ensues, but Spinel can’t bring herself to hurt her old friend now that she can put a face to the monster. Amethyst and Steven can’t take her alone, and at one point Amethyst is thrown down next to Spinel. The two agree that this isn’t working, and they fuse.
Lavender Alexite is a smaller, squishier version of Sugallite, now with 85% less visible muscle! Amethyst’s determination combines with Spinel’s frustration, and both of them together are able to bring the fusion down with their grappling hook-like weapon, tying her up and Lavender herself finishing the corruption off. Spinel bubbles her after Steven heals her, sending her off. Unprompted, she explains that when her old owner decided to get rid of her, 7TP was by her side. She’s been by Spinel’s side for so long. Refueled determination to heal corruption.
Note: Maybe mention 7TH at some point?
Monster Reunion
Spinel is shocked that the corruption could be healed as she was, but gives Steven space to be with Neph. At the end, she asks Steven if she could do that again, to which Garnet says no.
Healing Haze
Spinel goes up to Steven in the middle of the night to wake him up. She tells him that Garnet and the rest of the Gems are out on a mission trying to find Jasper, and they think that she’s exploring the desert. She drags him into the Bubble Room, brings down 7TP, and unbubbled her. Steven, having had no say in this (and was half-asleep until just now), freaks out. As 7TP is reforming, Spinel tells him to heal her before she wrecks the place and they both get in trouble! He does, slapping on some healing spit, and 7TP half uncorrupts. Spinel cautiously approaches, asking if the gem remembers her. She shapeshifts back into her War design, to which the gem now recognizes her. Spinel starts calling her Violet. Violet starts to freak out, realizing she’s been corrupted, and rushes to look at her reflection. She’s shocked and dazed. Spinel calms her down enough to switch the topic over to Steven, gesturing for him to come on over. She introduces them to each other, and tells Violet that things will be okay now. However, just like with Nephrite, Violet eventually recorrupts. Spinel bubbles her again, then thanks Steven, giving him a crushing hug.
The next night, she asks the same thing from him. Seeing Spinel so happy the previous night makes Steven more willing to let the gem out this time, though he still isn’t completely onboard. But, they have fun anyway, until Violet recorrupts again.
They do this again and again, with Steven’s unease growing more and more. This feels wrong, and he tells Connie as much on the phone. Connie tells him that he needs to get Spinel to stop. They bubble those gems for a reason- so they don’t suffer. By letting her out, having her back for a while, only to have her become a monster again, over and over and over… that can’t be good for poor 7TP. What if that has some kind of long-term effects? They need to stop. Besides, getting poofed so many times must hurt, even if Violet does just accept it when the time comes. Steven agrees, and when Spinel inevitably comes up to him the next night, he tells her all that. Spinel is devastated, and tells him to go back to sleep.
He wakes up to Spinel yelling. He looks over and sees 7TP running out of the Temple, fully corrupted, with Spinel tearing after her from behind, waving a cloth. Steven asks what in blazes she’s doing, to which she replies that she took some of his spit while he was sleeping and put it on this here very cloth and she put that on the gem and it didn’t work! She’s still corrupted! Steven gets understandably upset, and now the goal becomes catching Violet, and fast!
They wind up bringing her in through music, with Spinel singing a lullaby to her (a nod to Blue Order). Steven can now heal her, but since she’s already formed, it doesn’t do anything. She’s aware enough to have a conversation with now that she’s calm, though (maybe?) and Spinel apologizes for everything. They poof and bubble her again, for good this time.
When the other gems get back in the morning, they ask what happened to the house. Spinel owns up to her mistakes, and accepts the fact that they’re gonna bench her again. Garnet tells her no- Spinel understood what she did was wrong and learned her lesson. 7TP will be better off in the bubble, for now. Spinel asks about, since Garnet has future vision, why didn’t she stop her from unbubbling Violet so many times? Garnet states simply that Spinel was going to learn her lesson, and this was the only way that she’d truly understand. Just words weren’t gonna work.
Catching Up
After “Alone at Sea,” Spinel decides to do something fun with Lapis just like they did with Peridot. Shorty Squad Assemble, now featuring Spinel and Lapis! They decide to spend a day wherever Lapis wanted to be, which for now, was the barn. Understandable.
Next step, make Lapis a bootleg Funland! They all set up a bunch of fun activities around the barn, including a ring toss, a bean bag toss, a dance floor (with a radio), and water balloons! There’s also a game of baseball if people wanna play.
It’s a cute ep that is filled with fluff until, after a while, Lapis keeps zoning out. Steven, Peri, and Spins all try to keep her distracted, but Amethyst is the one who eventually steps up and tells Lapis to just spit it out. Lapis explains that Jasper has been on her mind, and she appreciates what everyone is doing for her- it has truly been fun- but it’s not working. Everything that happened on the boat is fresh in her mind, and she honestly just wants to be alone while she processes everything. Sorry for being a downer. She flies back into the barn.
Spinel and Steven go after her, though Amethyst and Peridot agree it’s best to leave her alone. The two find her on the top floor, and inch closer. Spinel tells her that she shouldn’t be alone to think about this kind of thing- being alone sucks. They both should know that by now. Steven asks if she wants to talk about it. Lapis says no. She appreciates the sentiment, really, but she needs to figure things out alone. They don’t know what it’s like to battle Jasper constantly, how tiring being stuck with her is. Spinel pipes up, saying that although that’s true, she does know what it’s like to fight Jasper. It was 5,300 years ago. They met on the battlefield, and she nearly got shattered that day. She recounts the story. She never had someone to talk to about it, and she thought that she couldn’t, since she was supposed to be everyone’s friend, their relief. But that’s not how it works. Right? It goes both ways? So don’t be silent.
Lapis says that she just doesn’t want to talk about it. There are things that happened down there that she doesn’t really want anyone to know about, and she wants to keep it down. Though, again, she really appreciates the sentiment. Steven and Spinel leave, then meet up with the guys down below.
They play baseball for a while, two on two, before someone hits the ball super far away. Lapis comes back with it, saying she’ll talk when she’s ready, but for now, let’s just have fun. Ends on a lighter note.
Bismuth
Spinel is almost as happy to see Bis as Pearl! Almost. Her weapon upgrade is a serrated blade. While sparring, Spinel turns on the illusion powers, then bounces around her like a ping pong ball. She attacks from behind, but Bismuth, expecting this, catches her. She shoves Spinel away, making room for Pearl to then come in! The rest is the same. Spinel clings to Pearl when Bis is bubbled away.
SEASON 4
Know Your Fusion
Garnet + Spinel fusion as well? Just for a moment? Pearl could take Sardonyx’s place while she’s gone. Spins would likely point out that she’s never fused with Garnet before, and since we’re meetin’ new fusions anyways, could it be cool to add one more to the roster?
Think more about the idea before declaring it canon. Don’t take away from characters, remember? This might not fit into 11 minutes, or maybe make it double length? Two parter? Think about it.
Return to Mask Island
After “Future Boy Zoltron”, Spinel tells Steven she’s convinced Lapis to hang out with them for a day! Steven decides to take the party to Mask Island, since it’s such a pretty place and would be good for unwinding. Lapis is nervous, since the last time she was here, she was Malachite. Whoops. Steven and Spinel both insist this will be good for her, since she wants to get over her past trauma of being fused with Jasper, and balancing some good memories into the mix of bad will do her some good! Amethyst agrees, so Lapis gives in. Steven tells her that fusion feels amazing, but only with the right people. They make camp, and montage of them having fun and unwinding. Show something slinking in the water.
Eventually, Steven breaks out the s’mores supplies. He and Amethyst really start talking, and they don’t really notice when Lapis and Spinel get up. They run out of crackers, and Amethyst volunteers to get more, only to then notice that half their party is gone. Steven will find them, and Ames runs off.
Four Gems and a Baby
Steven was intended to be Spinel’s new Best Friend so she thinks of him as a fellow Spinel playing a game with them at the moment. Like Ames said, being a baby was fun, so this must be going somewhere. Rose said he was gonna be a friend. So that’s what he was.
Gem Heist
Spinel becomes mute: the misadventure/near shattering :)
That Will Be All
She’s FIIIIIIINE…
Ruby Round-Up
Mission: Find and Locate All Ruby Guards
After “Storm in the Room.” Everyone heads back out into space to see if we can’t find the Rubies. We are able to find Army, Leggy, and Doc before Doc calls the cops on us and a Homeworld ship shows up. We find out more about Gem technology, namely that you can only go a straight line while using the gravity engine, so in theory, the other ship can track them. They need a safe place to hide. Spinel takes over the controls, and she takes them to the solar system with the Garden in it.
The whole time, Army and Doc don’t make it easy to escape. They keep making this harder for them to drive, having broken many parts of the ship in an effort to get it to stall, and the other gems have to leave Spins alone to drive while they make sure the three Rubies don’t cause any more trouble.
They hide the ship behind one of the smaller planets/moons floating there, shutting off the engine to help prevent being tracked/seen. The other ship zips right on past, missing them entierly. They power the ship back on, and land on the centerpiece.
The episode ends with everyone stepping out, and Spinel introducing them to the Garden.
Right Where You Left It
We visit one of the gem’s childhood homes…
Spinel takes on the grand tour of the garden, hoping to find parts and pieces to fix up the Roaming Eye. The three Rubies are put in time-out. We see the inside of the room, where Pink’s Biopoison Injector awaits, along with a line of rejuvenators. We also meet the cautious Coral and the untrustful Amber. Coral is in charge of all the plants, whereas Amber is in charge of making sure the buildings don’t collapse, but they only are supposed to be at work when they’re called. No one has called for thousands of years, and they’re too scared to go investigate. Spinel left a while ago, too, giving them zero reason to go out there. If an elite saw them, they could risk being shattered since no one wants them anymore. Where do useless gems go?
The two wind up telling them about the biopoison, and how it was made just for this garden when Pink finally decided she was done with it forever. The rejuvenators were meant to reset a gem, but Pink decommissioned them after a single use. Yellow has more.
They ask Spinel if she’s back to stay, also where is Pink Diamond? This is where we find out Spins and Pearl belonged to Pink. She’s gone, Spins says, and no, she’s not staying here. Do they want to go with them to Earth? After some thought Coral and Amber decide no- the threat of shattering is really scary, and they can’t fight back. They don’t even have gem weapons. Spinel tells them that she didn’t either, until her friend made her one! She pulls out her scythe. They could come along, too. The Earth is a beautiful place. They agree reluctantly, but then state that they don’t want to be a part of anything; if Earth is a place to be free, then they want to explore, maybe fix up or tidy up some Gem ruins there. Fighting is not an option, and they’re tired of staying in one spot.
The others agree, and Spinel apologizes for not paying them more attention when they were here together. She has a history of only focusing on what she wants to focus on, and ignores everything else. All is forgiven, and it’s back to Earth we go now that the ship is prepared.
The three Rubies manage to escape and warp back to Homeworld...
Making Up
Time to be frens with Connie. Finally. Took ya long enough.
and this is where it stops lmao. cliffhanger.
#a second chance#a second chance su au#asc su au#steven universe#su au#steven universe au#spinel#crystal gem spinel#su au art#steven universe fanart#su fanart#star spinel
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Anonymous asked: Beans
Read all the pages in order here.
Blog Info
beans.
Artist Credit: Dimonds456
#beans.#This one might as well be retroactively added to the list too.#Especially since there's an ask that's a lot funnier with this context.#chapter two#the second chance line#story post#walk the line#walktheline au#steven universe#su#character ask#God this is. Still so fucking funny to me even over a year later#old wtl content
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Cyberpunk
housewifekeeper droid!jongho x programmer!reader
futuristic/apocalyptic droid au
genres and warnings: fluff, angst, established relationship, a bit tragic but no tears i hope :) yunho, woo and san cameos, violence warnings, hostage situation, near-death experiences, etc.
word count: 23.7k
synopsis: when you find jongho assigned to be a droid you need to 'fix', it takes everything in your power to pretend that you don't know him, that he isn't the boyfriend you left behind to keep safe. with no idea where you are and being under constant surveillance while trying to find a way to turn jongho back to human, you manage to run away with him only to learn a shocking and sinister truth that makes you regret ever being part of the eden droid project. you must put an end to your mistakes once and for all, and it may cost you a lot.
manager-nim: @eightmakesonebraincell (we call it cryberpunk bc it became the bane of our existence)
“You really think I’m incapable of taking care of myself?” you asked, making a face as you grabbed your bag and slung it over your shoulder. “I’ve been doing just fine so far, Sir.”
“You’ve lost a lot of weight ever since we woke up, so yes, you definitely haven’t been eating well. You can’t keep surviving on instant noodles,” your supervisor, Mr. Han said. “Besides, this is a good chance to test if the droids we’ve programmed can actually perform household tasks.”
“I did not programme droids to make food for us,” you muttered under your breath but you supposed that was the least of your worries right now. “I’m pretty sure you need a housekeeper more than me. A housewife, perhaps. You must miss your wife.”
Mr. Han only smiled in response and you felt annoyed by that. It was as if an unspoken rule had been passed- that no one could talk about their life before they ‘woke up’. You reckoned everyone was just keeping silent until one of them would complain out loud. It hadn’t been that long since that little episode so you figured no one was that desperate right now.
“It’s the Team Leader’s orders. Nothing I can do about it. Maybe I’ll get a droid next to drive me around- if they’ll allow it. It would be nice to have a look around this empty town and see if we’re the only ones awake while the rest of the world is asleep.”
“I don’t like this,” you pursed your lips, scratching your wrists. Something about all of this was making you anxious. “Just between you and me, are they really sus-”
Mr. Han shushed you with a finger on his lips, his eyes flickering in the direction of the CCTV in the corner of your office. “They’re testing out your droids, miss. You know what they say- a perfect droid should be as good in battle as it is in the kitchen.”
“Wasn’t that supposed to be a joke?” You muttered, deciding to leave it there. “It feels like a big joke. It’s like my droids are being insulted by being placed in the kitchen.”
“You thank the deities there isn’t a war right now,” Mr. Han almost whispered. “When everyone wakes up… there might be. And if there is a war in the future when every nation will possess their own set of droids, when you have to run for your life and are injured… who do you think will take care of you? Not a human, I’ll bet.”
Those words stuck with you during your ride back home. They kept looming over your head while you took a shower and changed into a comfortable set of light blue pyjamas. With a towel hat, you sauntered into the kitchen to make yourself coffee, looking in the fridge for something to snack on and finding nothing.
Perhaps you really did need a housekeeper. A droid- one that wouldn’t complain and would do as told.
And as the doorbell rang after a few minutes, you took your words back when you opened the door to a familiar face. The anxious feeling in your gut finally settled in resignation.
This was what you had been dreading.
A million thoughts processed in your head in a matter of seconds- maybe you could give the droids a run for your quick decision-making. Because you needed to make a big decision, right now.
It had to be some sick, twisted joke that Dr. Jin, Head of the Eden Droid Project, was playing with you. There was no way that this wasn’t intentional. Of all the 7 billion people in this world, they chose the one person you had been wishing would never appear in front of you- at least not until you were done wrapping up what you had begun.
Choi Jongho. Your best friend, the person you loved and had to leave for good.
The one person you had done everything in your power to hide from these people, from everyone. Hell, you didn’t even dare think of him ever since everything went downhill lest someone spy on your own thoughts.
And now he was here, and worse, a droid. A lab rat. His left pupil flickered blue to confirm that.
“I’m CJ, the droid assigned to take care of your personal needs.”
“CJ,” his codename rolled like a foreign language on your tongue, your voice coming out as almost a whimper but you cleared your throat. “CJ. The housewife, eh?”
The droid appeared confused and you, for the first time, loathed programming the droid’s facial expressions to sync with the human emotions. “I’m not quite sure…”
“The assistant,” you let out a short laugh. “I presume you have your identification files and code?”
Jongho said your team’s code out loud before handing you the files and you quickly looked over them. Assigned by your own team- how fucking convenient. You nodded and handed the files back, peeking behind him- looked like he had his personal belongings. “Please, enter and make yourself at home… I guess?”
“There’s another document you need to look at before I enter,” Jongho said almost mechanically, digging out a letter from the inside pocket of his jacket and your brows rose in surprise when you saw that it was from Dr. Jin himself. Begrudgingly, you unsealed the letter and read the contents, the smile falling from your face when you were done.
“Alright,” you breathed. “I see how it is. You can enter now… CJ-”
You caught Jongho staring at you almost like he was fully human. Fear gripped your heart in that moment and when he only bowed in response, you stifled the sigh of relief. He stepped inside your apartment, looking around. He was probably scanning every nook and cranny for potential threats. When he was satisfied, he turned to you.
“Is there anything you would like me to do?”
“Tonight… nothing,” you nodded slowly as you thought. “I’ll show you your room and you can uh… rest? You should wake up at 7 tomorrow and prepare a light breakfast for the both of us before accompanying me to the office. That should be your first task.”
“Understood,” he said and you showed him the spare room and he assured you he had his basic personal necessities. You went to your room, the coffee long forgotten at the kitchen counter and you shut the door.
Make no mistakes.
You turned off the lights and went under the blankets, covering your face like you usually did- and that’s when you let out a shaky exhale and let your emotions take the better of you.
There could only be two reasons why Jongho was here as the droid assigned to you. The first one was pure coincidence- maybe he was just one of the other humans randomly selected by your team. Maybe this was all just bad luck. Maybe this was a slap on your face from the force above, since you dared to play god yourself.
But another possibility… the one that made more sense, was that they knew. They knew Jongho was someone important from your ‘previous’ life. From before you entered Phase I of the Eden Droid Project- . They must have known and were using that to their advantage, but either way…
Either way, Jongho wasn’t sent to assist you and play housewife. That was all bullshit. He had one purpose, and that was to have you under surveillance. That probably meant that the New Government was aware that you weren’t as loyal as you appeared to be. Perhaps, this was a test of your loyalty, and they were going to confirm it with the task that was detailed in that letter.
Fix CJ.
Two words, yet you understood the message. You were to live with the droid for a certain period of time and fix the only glitch your droids had- that they were too human. All the while, you would definitely be under surveillance by him. Perhaps, the Team Leader thought that giving you the space you needed with your own personal test subject was what you needed to finish debugging the droid. Perhaps, they knew you had been delaying fixing the droids on purpose. Whatever it was, you had no choice now.
You would have to fix Jongho or else you would be exterminated along with him.
—---------------------
It was almost unsettling waking up to the smell of eggs, butter and bread. For the few seconds that you lay in the bed, you almost thought you were back in your parent’s home and your mom’s voice would call you for breakfast or your sister Cookie would tickle you until you yell at her, but the bed was too soft and the blanket did not smell like the sun. The alarm rang only a few seconds later and on cue, two solid knocks sounded at the door.
“Miss Jeon? Breakfast is ready.”
God, you thought. This was going to be difficult.
You said you’d be out in 10 minutes and forced yourself to walk to the bathroom like every other day. Somehow, your steps felt heavier than the first day you woke up here. The feelings of disorientation and panic then were nothing compared to the anxiety that dissolved in your bones the moment you heard Jongho’s voice.
Whatever you did, you could not slip. You would have to keep on pretending that Jongho was just a stranger, a droid to you. Just a bug that needed fixing, you told yourself as you exited the room and walked towards the kitchen-
“I told you, the pan needs to be tapped in the middle of baking so the top of the brownies crinkle!” Jongho said as he took out the said pan, now with fully baked fudge brownies with a perfect crinkly top and you gasped at how good it looked. “Would you believe me if I say this really is my first try?”
“Looks too good to be a first try,” you admitted. “I’ll give my verdict after I taste these. Who knows? Might find an eggshell in there.”
“Hey, what do you take me for?!” Jongho looked offended and you grinned. He shook his head as he cut a piece for you and put it on your plate. You spotted a faint smile on his face and you dug your fork in the brownie, about to take that bite when he tsk-ed and held your wrist.
“You’ll burn your mouth,” he took the fork from your hand and you pouted. You watched him wait a few seconds, blow on that little bite before feeding it to you himself. Your eyes went wide as soon as you realised how rich the brownies tasted.
“Oh, my god,” you breathed. “Jongho. You’ve just won my entire heart all over again.”
Jongho burst into laughter, looking down and you leaned across the counter to cup his face and make him look at you. “You look at me when you laugh like that, okay?”
“Stop it,” he wriggled away from you, a flustered mess. “Let me taste them.”
“Here,” you took your fork and blew on the new bite before handing it to him. He nodded in satisfaction. “Normally, I wouldn’t contribute to anything that would give you an ego-boost, but this one deserves it. Cookie won’t believe it when she hears about this.”
Jongho smiled once again, continuing to cut the rest of the brownies for later. “What did you mean when you said… that I won your heart again?”
You stifled your smile. “You want to hear it?”
Jongho looked expectantly at you in response. You scanned his figure- his hair messily swept back, flour on his cheeks, rolled sleeves baring his strong arms, and to top it all, your apron on him. Your smile grew wider.
“I fell in love with you all over again.”
“Miss Jeon?” Jongho called, frowning at the way you stood in the middle of the living room, your eyes stuck on the apron that wasn’t yours on the person who wasn’t yours. He wasn’t even the same person anymore.
“Sorry,” you gulped, shaking your head. “Needed a moment to process uh… what I’m seeing right now.”
Jongho didn’t respond and that finally made you move and sit at the table where he set down a mug of coffee. He would have retorted if things were normal and you smiled sadly to yourself at the thought. You heard the clink of the mug and when you saw Jongho pick up his own tray of breakfast and move, you cleared your throat.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“To eat my breakfast and give you privacy while you eat yours?”
This was the time to make things clear- better yet if you were being watched. You put one leg over the other before you said, “Look, I assume you know what you’re here for, CJ. Who are you?”
“A droid that needs a little fixing.”
“And how would I figure out what needs to be fixed if I don’t watch your every move?” You cocked your head. “Does that make you feel unsettled?”
“I do not feel, for I am a droid,” Jongho responded mechanically and you shook your head, urging him to join you. You detected reluctance in his movements and your heart sank a little.
“That’s the thing with you droids,” you almost whispered as if letting him in on a secret. “You forget that you are humans programmed to be droids. Until you possess human nature, you cannot be fixed… that’s what I believe. The superiors think otherwise. What do you think… droid?”
“I…” Jongho frowned again. “I’m just following orders.”
“I know,” you told him and he relaxed a bit. “We’ll need to interact and talk more for me to figure out what exactly needs to be fixed, okay?”
“Okay,” he said. You took a bite of the bread and he mirrored your actions. You ate the rest of your breakfast in silence, finishing together.
“I will examine your code when we go to the office,” you told Jongho. “You will need to guide me a little. I may have created the blueprint for you droids but I haven’t programmed every single one of you.”
“You can access my code only at the office, by the way,” Jongho said and you set your cup down, almost clenching your jaw as you looked at him. “I’ve been programmed to reveal my code files only in the office.”
“Have you now?” You scoffed internally. “Well, I’ve been programmed to be a lazy bum who works best in the comfort of her home and I’m human, so let’s see how we deal with this… predicament.”
Jongho almost looked curiously at you. You checked the time and told him to meet you outside in 10 minutes. Just before he took your car keys from you and opened the door, you sighed.
“Do you know how to make brownies, CJ?”
—--------------------------
“Don’t you think it’s ironic?” You said, sparing a glance at your supervisor who was examining the code on the shared screen right across from you. “We’re trying to find an error in a human. Being human is the error. How do we override the nature of who the droid really is- completely and irrevocably?”
Mr. Han had heard that quite a lot, and not just from you. Every programmer and developer in this project had asked him this question at least once, and he often found himself wondering the same too. “I’m highlighting this line of code, see what you can do about it.”
You looked back at your screen and clicked your tongue. “Not this one. That’s Dr. Seo.”
“Oh, then I won’t tweak it,” he said, scrolling further. You glanced at Jongho who lay on his front on a stretcher with a cord attached to his back to access the chip and its data inside. He was unconscious which you thought was convenient but every time he came back to consciousness, you were afraid he was going to recognise you, make a mistake and destroy everything you had worked for so far.
How could you tell Jongho to pretend he didn’t know you without telling him?
“You look spent. Shall we call it a day?” Mr. Han caught you staring at the droid’s body.
“Please, yes,” you stretched dramatically, producing cracks and he chuckled at that. “The amount of times I have zoned out today… I think I need a chip inside me that would override my mental stamina at least.”
“Says you,” Mr. Han scoffed. “The child prodigy. The kid that built the foundation of this project.”
Oh, how you regretted that. “Please, you flatter me way too much. I was only one coder with a few hundred others.”
“But you were the youngest and your work is our blueprint. I have every right to flatter you,” he said, his conclusion leaving a sour taste in your mouth. “Dinner at the cafeteria?”
“Why would I? I have my own personal chef now,” you grinned.
“I thought you were against droids doing housework or something.”
“Yeah, well,” you finished shutting down the programme and unplugged Jongho. “This one is quite good at it.”
Jongho was, and it was making you realise a few things- muscle memory. Something you nor any coder so far had considered to be a factor worthy of attention. You noticed that when he made the brownies for you a few days ago and exactly at half-time, he opened the oven to tap the pan against the counter once.
It took everything in your power to not react to that. To not let your emotions take the better of you and maintain your composure. However, you did ask him if he had accessed some recipes recently before making the brownies and when he denied, you knew then. You knew that this was not only from memory but muscle memory.
Could this be the reason droids were not perfect? That their muscle memory was ingrained in them to the extent that no programme, no code so far had overridden it?
Whatever it was, you knew you had to keep this observation to yourself.
As Jongho started to regain consciousness, you maintained a certain distance between you two, glancing around- most of your colleagues had signed off for the day. There were only a few at the far end of the room and then there was Mr. Han who was just leaving for the cafeteria. You locked eyes with the droid and found your hands getting clammy when he started blinking rapidly, trying to adjust his eyes to the light. As soon as he looked at you, you started tapping on the desk lightly, waiting for something while praying for the opposite.
Waiting for him to look at what your fingers were tapping and praying that he wouldn’t recognise it, even if you were doing this to rock his human memory.
However, your prayers were actually answered this time and Jongho straightened as the confusion in his eyes disappeared. “CJ of Team 8.”
“That’s right, welcome back,” you sighed, tossing him his t-shirt and he wore it. It irked you a lot, how the droid was not reacting to having woken up from unconsciousness without clothes on his upper body. Jongho would have been a flustered mess.
This was not Jongho. He looked as different as he felt different.
“We’re done for the day,” you told him when he got up. “Are you feeling okay? Any haziness? Something off?”
“Perfectly fine, Miss,” he confirmed and you nodded.
“Let’s go, then,” you said.
Over the past few days, you had made no progress whatsoever with the droid assigned to you. You weren’t sure if people were expecting quick results from you- Mr. Han was monitoring each and every move you made in the office as if you weren’t already being surveilled by the droid itself. You were half certain that Mr. Han was also ordered to keep an eye on you but you’ve always had doubts about that man. His ‘fatherly’ nature was a little too overbearing and demanding at times.
You had no idea how long you were going to keep working on Jongho until he would be deemed ‘unfit’ like the other droids you had failed to save. Failed to fix, actually, but resultantly, they lost their lives. You could not do that to Jongho- perhaps, fixing him as a droid was the only way you could save him, but…
How could you do that to him?
How could you do that to him, you wondered as he set the table and settled down on the chair in front of you, saying his usual ‘enjoy your meal’ before digging in himself. You almost expected him to put a piece of meat in your bowl like he used to do before everything went wrong. You almost expected him to ask you what was wrong when you would zone out just like you were now-
“You’re not eating,” the droid said.
A simple statement, void of emotion, but…
Muscle memory.
Could this be what could really change everything?
“I… I’m just tired,” you said. The truth, but you wished you could tell him what exactly was going on. You put a spoonful in your mouth anyway.
“You worked overtime today,” Jongho said and you nodded. This droid had a knack for sounding way too human, or maybe you were over analysing everything because it was someone you were familiar with. “Would you like me to make you some tea after dinner?”
“No, thanks. I’ll make my own tea,” you scoffed to yourself. If his muscle memory was really still intact, he would get your tea just right and you were not prepared for that. “Isn’t it ironic, though?”
“What is ironic?”
“Humans have made so many machines for the sole purpose of serving them,” you ate another spoon as you watched Jongho, noticing that he needed a haircut now. “All these machines, and yet they would prefer a human to work in the kitchen.”
“A droid is not a human.”
“A droid is a human,” you corrected, locking eyes with him in challenge. “A machine is something like… that coffee-maker. That microwave,” you pointed. “Something like that, yeah? As long as you have a functioning heart, you are human.”
“Whatever you say, Miss,” Jongho said almost dismissively and you rolled your eyes at his automatic response.
“I wonder if humans need someone to work in the kitchen for them- for a specific taste that only humans can construct or to keep company or for whatever reason… why would they not send these heartless machines to fight for them? Why would they send humans?”
“A machine can only make so many decisions,” the droid said.
“Yeah, well, they want me to fully turn you into a machine,” you scoffed loudly. Damned be the consequences- if they were watching you, they should pay heed to your words. “What’s the point of you being a human-turned-droid then? We could have built a human shaped machine designed for war from scratch. We could install whatever thinking ability it needs.”
“But it would not think or make decisions like a human does.”
“Well, are you human right now, then?” You wondered and that finally got the droid to shut up. “Because you sure sound like one right now despite insisting that you are a droid.”
“Can’t a droid be both?” Jongho frowned and your eyes twitched in response- you couldn’t believe what you were hearing. You searched his face for any signs of recognition but found none.
“I guess that’s why it has to be a human that gets turned into a machine,” you concluded. “A machine wouldn’t have asked me that question.”
Jongho didn’t react to that. He simply finished his meal and waited for you to finish before he cleared the table. You made yourself that cup of tea and looked over your code from today, wondering how you were going to proceed from here. If you were really being watched right now, you somehow needed to let Jongho know that he should not react when he recognises you. How were you going to pull that?
It was near impossible. And with that thought, you went to your room to prepare for the worst.
You were trapped in a town that wasn’t yours. Just like everyone else here, you had magically woken up in your new house, in your new room and had simply been instructed to follow the orders if you wanted to live- no further explanation. What you had gathered so far though was this whole thing had been planned since decades. The New Government- the group of people from all over the world who were the masterminds behind the Eden Droid Project aimed to create an army of droids and then distribute them among the powerful nations so they could have the ultimate leverage over the less powerful nations and make them submit to them.
It was evil, it was twisted, and when you first began programming for robots instead of droids that were actually humans, you never would have thought that this was what it was going to come to. You worked with your friends Yunho and Wooyoung- an inseparable trio. As soon as your team sensed something darker, you all decided to leave and you cut ties with your family and friends, moving away without any explanation to attempt to make things right again. Your sister was the only one who had an inkling of what was going on and she had kept your parents calm but Jongho…
He didn’t deserve what you did to him, and now he was here. You were probably going to die by his hands. And maybe… maybe you deserved that.
You prayed your family was unconscious just like the common people who weren’t a part of this. Sometimes, you wondered if you had been fed a lie- sure, the world had progressed a lot but how could 99.9 percent of the world’s population be in a state of unconsciousness as they claimed? How was the world functioning? Machines could only handle so much especially if autorun, and droids couldn’t replace humans even if the world had progressed a lot in the past few decades. You were sure you had been brought to another piece of land and fed this lie so you would cooperate with them.
Whatever it was, you had no choice but to obey. You were not allowed to question anything. And if you gave up on this project and they killed you, it wouldn’t make a difference because someone else would eventually figure out how to fix the droids.
As you finished showering and sat down in front of the vanity, wrapped in your bathrobe to dry your hair, you wondered if this environment was created for the coders and programmers specifically so they could produce quick results. You felt like a lab rat and the fact that this might be true was making you nauseous. Just when you were about to settle down in bed, you heard the sound of a dull crash and you went to inspect- it looked like the sound came from the direction of Jongho’s room.
Sure enough, Jongho was picking himself up from the floor, brushing his clothes and when he looked at you, he flinched-
In pain.
You started tapping a single word on your thigh repeatedly, hoping he would understand it- just a simple ‘no’. No to whatever he was thinking, no to whatever he was about to do if he managed to get a few moments of clarity as a human. Jongho’s gaze fixed on your thigh and you asked him if everything was okay, continuing to tap that word.
“I heard a crash- did you trip or something? Are you having motor problems?”
“I…I don’t think so, I…” Jongho exhaled loudly, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose as if that could rid him of the ache in his head. “Sorry for disturbing you.”
“Will you let me check if everything is good with you?”
“You can’t access my code here-”
“I actually can, I just haven’t been allowed to,” you told him. He must have known since he didn’t react much. Good, you thought. He was still CJ. “I’ll just have to override the security files… or we could head to the office. It’s going to take the same amount of time.”
“I think I’m fine,” he straightened. “You can check my code in the office in the morning, or right now- whatever you prefer, Miss.”
“Morning it is,” you shrugged, feeling defeated. “Goodnight-”
To your disbelief, Jongho was tapping something on his thigh as well. You did your best to appear nonchalant when he finished tapping a single command.
“Goodnight, Miss,” he said in his usual flat tone before turning to go back to his room. You took a deep breath before going back to your room and sitting at the edge of the bed as you translated his message.
Help.
—------------------------
You were more suspicious of everyone around you including Jongho now- now more than ever, especially since you just came back to your office after presenting your monthly progress-
Which was little to none, if you had to admit. You did try talking in circles but it never worked in front of the panel.
“You’ve been here for 3 months now, Miss Jeon,” Dr. Seo closed your files detailing your progress and winced as if the lack of your progress physically hurt him. “I can’t tell if you’re being stubborn or if you no longer want to be a part of this. Because there’s no way you haven’t figured it out already.”
“I… I appreciate that you believe in me so much, I really do,” you met eyes with all of your seniors who had seen through every step of your journey especially in the beginning, when things were normal. “But I’m sorry to admit that I really don’t see a future with what we’re trying to achieve. You simply cannot turn a human into a droid and not expect some drawbacks- it’s humans we’re dealing with, not machines.”
“But it has worked brilliantly so far with your help and everyone else’s who has been a part of this team,” Dr. Jin, one of the masterminds behind the Eden Droid Project said. “And I’m sorry but I expected more from you.”
“Has anyone else figured it out yet?” You asked.
“It’s not that we’re comparing you,” his smirk was almost devilish as if he knew exactly what you were hiding. “It’s because we believe you’re the only one who will figure this out. What is the one thing keeping humans from becoming almost the perfect version of droids?”
“Their human nature,” you said.
“What part of it?” He shifted in his chair and you wiped your sweaty hands on your trousers. “Emotions? But you synced them. Is there a fault there, or is it something we haven’t even considered yet?”
You fell silent. They were definitely on to something.
“Should we have a meeting with the other brilliant coders of this project?” Dr. Seo attempted to break the tension in the air. “Maybe what all our coders need is to interact with each other and exchange ideas.”
You suddenly felt hope- you did consider the possibility that Yunho and Wooyoung were also here, forced to work just like you. If you could just meet them, if you could just see them-
“You know why we haven’t allowed them to meet,” Dr. Jin reprimanded. “I can only allow healthy discussions within the designated teams. Miss Jeon, if you need some help, we will accommodate you as best as we can, but I will have to ask you to be quicker with this. We do not have much time and if we do not come up with a solution first, if another nation beats us to it, we will lose our advantage. Don’t you want to go back home and be with your family?”
And that was it. The last straw.
You were aware that this was some sort of a race now. Whoever would figure out what was wrong with the droids would have the advantage- they could keep it from other nations. They could use that as a leverage because they would be the ones with an army of droids at their disposal. Droids that could make excellent spies, fighters, doctors, and whatnot. Droids that would be weapons for all the powerful and selfish leaders of this world, to use at their disposal when they terrorise the weaker nations into submission. Sure, this was nothing new- the world was always at war with each other but with droids in the question, it could go very wrong.
And the fact that they were using your family to bait you? The fact that most of the people here had something to lose if they refused to cooperate? How could you undo all of this? Every day, you cursed yourself for ever being a part of this project, for ever giving them the idea that led to this day, yet beating yourself over it would achieve nothing. You had to take action, soon. You couldn’t let them know that you had the answer already.
You had to wake Jongho up.
“Everything alright?” Mr. Han asked, having spotted you zoning out in the corner of the office next to the window, glancing at Jongho’s unconscious figure attached to the cords- you hadn’t paid much attention to him today. He approached you and opened a box, revealing an assortment of donuts. You smiled despite yourself, picking a glazed donut.
“I just came back from the monthly report presentation,” you told him and he hummed in understanding. “How did yours go?”
“They reminded me why we’re doing this,” he rolled his eyes and you scoffed. “As if I’ve forgotten.”
“Do you think we can figure it out before someone else does?” You asked casually and he looked at you for a few moments.
“It’s not that I have an insurmountable amount of belief in you,” he began and you relaxed. “You’re only human too, and it’s been tough to be away from what was normal, right?” You nodded and he continued. “But I really do think that you can do this. You just need some time. Should I ask them to allow you to work from home too?”
“I don’t think they will agree, but I appreciate it,” you smiled. “They’re doubtful for the right reasons too, after all.”
Mr. Han shrugged and gave you the box, asking you to share it with CJ when he woke up. “He must be having a hard time.”
“Don’t let the superiors hear that you’re empathising with a droid,” you whispered and he winked at you before he went to his station. You went to yours, hoping the office hours could quickly come to an end before you could unplug Jongho. But…
You needed to access all his code files. “Mr. Han?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think I could be granted access to all the code files of this droid? Even if it’s just a preview? I think I should check if some other code is interfering with my code files.”
“Should I make a call?”
“If you can?” You asked and he nodded. You went back to pretending you were actually working and Mr. Han told you that you would know your answer in the morning.
You hoped they would agree, especially after today’s meeting. If they really thought that you’re the one who should debug the droids, maybe they needed to start trusting you more and stop hiding things.
And when you gain their trust and figure out how to save Jongho…
That’s when you would have to make a decision.
—-------------------------
You were not sure exactly what part of you sitting casually in the living room, watching TV with the smell of your favourite tea filling the room, a donut in your hand, rocked Jongho’s human memory but you watched him faint in front of your eyes and your jaw fell open in shock. You remained still as your own memory flashed in front of your eyes-
“Oh, what a sight,” Jongho shook his head as he entered his living room, finding you already having made home on his couch- a towel on your head and donut in your hand as you watched the TV while you waited for him to come back from the convenience store. Jongho put the groceries on the kitchen counter. “I found your teabags.”
“Oh my god, thank you so much,” you gave him a look of gratitude before turning your attention to the drama. “I would have gone myself but you know how tired I feel after showering- it’s like a sign that my day is over and I should just relax.”
“Yeah, and how convenient for you that your boyfriend is willing to do anything for you, huh?”
“Of course,” you muttered absently, eyes widening at the turn of events playing in the drama. Jongho turned on the kettle and sneaked behind you, planting a kiss on your cheek that caught you by surprise and you looked at him as a smile made its way on your lips.
“What was that for?”
“For being cute?” He booped your nose before going back to the kitchen and pouring the hot water in the cup. You weren’t interested in the drama anymore- you turned your full attention to him. He hummed an unfamiliar song before bringing the cups to you.
“Did you leave some donuts for me or are they already long gone?”
“Of course I did,” you pouted. “Kept your favourite ones.”
“Good,” he slung his arm around your shoulders and you snuggled into him, making him laugh when your towel bumped with his face. You spent the next few minutes wrestling him as he tried to get the towel out of the way while you argued that on one condition- that he dry your hair for you. Jongho pouted in response, nothing going his way and you pecked his lips to make amends, handing him his favourite donut and he could only smile in defeat.
You poked the droid’s thigh with your bare feet- he really was unconscious. You sucked in an annoyed breath- how you wished there were no surveillance cameras in your living room. You moved Jongho’s limbs so he was in a more comfortable position and went back to what you were doing.
Sure, you couldn't do anything about this right now but you sure hoped that whoever was going to give you the pass for accessing Jongho’s code files in your home would see this moment and make his decision afterwards. For now, you finished your donut and tea and as soon as Jongho moved, you sat down on the floor next to him and began tapping on his thigh.
Don’t.
One single word, but perhaps Jongho’s mind was too hazy- his eyes widened in recognition and you subtly shook your head no but it wasn’t enough-
“What are you-”
“Ah, good thing you’re back,” you attempted to sound normal but perhaps your unusually high pitch betrayed you. “What do you think? I should be allowed to access your code files at home now, no?”
It wasn’t CJ- it was Jongho looking at you in confusion, and you were so glad your legs blocked the sight of Jongho linking his hand with yours and squeezing it in confusion, in desperation. You squeezed them back to assure him that you knew, that you could hear him even when he couldn’t speak. That you understood him even when he was not himself.
“Do you recall what you felt right before fainting?” You asked.
“Uh… confusion. Haziness.”
“All normal- are you feeling alright now? We can call for permission to access your code if you think it’s necessary right now, CJ.”
“I wouldn’t know,” he muttered and he shut his eyes as if in pain. You immediately unlinked your hands and when he opened his eyes, the blue lens in his left eye flickered-
CJ was back.
The droid immediately started getting up and you followed, straightening your clothes awkwardly. “Sorry for the inconvenience, Miss.”
“Oh, that’s alright. Would you like a donut?”
His brows furrowed in confusion and you went back to your seat, sliding the box towards him. When he opened it they were all half eaten- neatly cut in the middle.
“Sorry. I really had to taste all of the flavours. Kept a whole one for you, though. You might like it.”
You pointed at the chocolate-dipped donut and internally cursed yourself for asking him to join you for donuts. You had kept them to rock his memory but considering the events of today, you didn’t need to do that anyway. He stared at that donut for a long time before he finally picked it up to eat.
And you knew then- whatever happened tonight was enough. Whatever went through Jongho’s head tonight was enough- you didn’t have much time. You needed to save him before the human in him gets lost forever. With that thought, you went to your room.
To prepare for the battle ahead. One that might cost a lot of lives. One that was necessary to fight, to undo the damage you had done to this world.
—--------------------------
“Miss Jeon, I would advise you to drop your gun and talk it out,” Mr. Han’s fatherly tone almost made you put the gun you had been aiming at his direction down on the nearest surface and follow his orders- talk it out.
Except there was nothing to talk about anymore. Everything had gone so very wrong, so very quickly.
“And risk an arrest? Or worse? I’d rather not,” you attempted to scoff but it came out more like a whimper.
“Come on- what did you hear?” Mr. Han never moved the gun aimed for your head- good thing you were both stationed at opposite ends of the room.
“Oh? Should I have heard something then?” You cocked your head. “What I saw was enough.”
What you saw was the file on his desk regarding the self-destruct code installed in the droids that were assigned to different coders- including Jongho. You weren’t sure if it was a careless mistake or if he left it out on purpose for you to see- maybe it was a mistake since you rarely ever went to his part of the office. But your suspicions were confirmed- they had indeed installed some self-destruct files in Jongho in case someone tried to meddle with his code. So with that anger- with that boiling, seething anger, when you went to find Mr. Han and confront him, you spotted him in the next building through the window talking to none other than Dr. Jin.
You couldn’t help but wonder how much of this was planned. Anger consumed you and within minutes, you were back in your office overriding Jongho’s code files and putting him to sleep and then hacking your building’s system to turn off the CCTVs- just like you had practised so many times in the past few days. They may have the best coders and programmers in this building and you probably had seconds, but…
They had forgotten that you were the pioneer of this damned project. You were what they were against, and you had to surprise them again, just like the first time you did when you were still a stupid teen who thought they did something smart. You attached a USB in the main PC with an auto-run file to keep the system glitching while you unplugged Jongho and hastily put his shirt back on his unconscious body.
You had a couple of minutes at most- you went to Mr. Han’s desk and grabbed all the files you could and stuffed them in your briefcase, taking out the gun you had slipped past the detectors a few days ago during a system crash episode- pure luck. The gun had been in your car for a while but as soon as you saw the chance, you slipped it into your office, not knowing you’d need it this soon. You weren’t surprised to see that Mr. Han kept a gun of his own- you were simply disappointed.
The lights flickered on and off and you figured the technicians must be having a tough time figuring out exactly what was wrong. You could hear your shallow breaths as you shifted your grip on the gun, the sweat from your palms making it feel slippery.
“If you think you know what’s happening here, you’re wrong, sweetheart,” Mr. Han shook his head. “I’ve been following orders just like you. I can’t believe you’re being this reckless when you too must have a family waiting for you. Someone they use as leverage against you.”
“Almost everyone is here against their will,” you corrected him. “You’re no different than the rest of them. So go ahead. Go ahead and shoot me, but if you do, you’ll lose everything and everyone you love. Eden cannot debug droids without me- I’m sure of it.”
“I never intended to shoot you,” he sighed, lowering his gun and you frowned. “If we’re not being watched right now… we don’t need to do this.”
“Aim your gun at me either way,” you told him and he obeyed. “Did you know that CJ was going to be assigned to me?”
“I knew a droid was going to be assigned to you, but not the specifics. Is there a problem with CJ?”
“A problem?” You scoffed. “Imagine you were in my shoes and it was your wife that was assigned to you as the droid you needed to fix. How would you feel?”
When Mr. Han paled visibly, you realised he may not have known CJ’s identity after all. “CJ… is he someone you know?”
“You don’t know?”
“I don’t know everything, y/n,” he pleaded. “I’m only following orders and supervising you- though you hardly need that.”
“He’s the person I tried to protect all these years,” you bit your lips as you looked at Jongho’s limp figure on the stretcher. “Can you imagine how I’ve been feeling all along? I have to turn him into a droid or else he’ll be killed.”
“I’m sorry, I really am, y/n,” Mr. Han lowered his gun. “Damned be the consequences. What do you plan to do?”
“I’m going to run away,” you told him, lowering your own gun. “With CJ. He won’t self-destruct for now, I’ve taken care of it.”
“They’ll find you,” Mr. Han said. “There’s no way you can be on the road and not be found. The car must have a tracking device.”
“I took care of that too- all it will take is a click. As for them spotting me… I think I know how to take care of that as well…”
“Of course you do,” Mr. Han laughed in disbelief. “Tell me… you know how to fix the droids, don’t you?”
When you didn’t respond, he nodded. “Tell you what- you can do whatever you want from here, but never, ever fix the droids, okay? You hear me?”
You passed a weak smile in response and he finally approached you, emptying his gun and handing you the extra bullets. “I won’t need them.”
“They’ll punish you for letting me go.”
“You can knock me out- I’ll play dumb for as long as I can,” he grinned. “Besides, I don’t think the cameras caught me entering the office.”
“Can you help me get Jongho in the car first?”
Which was how a few minutes later, you found yourself on the road, a jamming device fixed on the dashboard to make the surveillance cameras glitch whenever you would pass. You sped through the unfamiliar roads but you knew you would need to ditch your car soon- there was no way you could blend in when this was a black SUV with the office plate. You looked around the billboards and the street signs for any clue of your location but they were all blank or painted over. The only guide you had was the map in the car but that turned off as soon as you strayed away from your usual path.
You considered waking Jongho up and asking for help but there was no guarantee he wasn’t going to try something that would cost you both a lot. You decided to keep going forward and look for an abandoned building- it was getting dark and you needed to sort this mess out before you could proceed forward. Sure, you had prepared beforehand- you had everything you needed in the trunk of your car, discreetly putting necessities in the bag day after day since the beginning. From tools to clothes to food, you had everything.
Now you just needed to take care of Jongho- currently sprawled across the backseat, his hands fastened with a cable tie. You had no doubts he could still overpower you but for now, you had to make do with what you had. So when you spotted an empty area of the town with a few warehouses, you decided to take a chance and make home in one of them. You parked your car in the narrow space between two warehouses, deciding to hide it later with the empty tubs lined next to the walls. You searched the car for a physical tracking device and when you found it, you crushed it under your feet- you needed to take the jamming device inside with you so this was necessary. Then you turned off the infotainment system for good and finally sighed in relief.
You had done it- you finally ran away.
Just like you had run away from home two years ago.
You looked at Jongho from the front mirror and recalled the last day you had spent with him and your family- a memory you had kept in your heart as the days following got lonelier and regretful-
“Wonder what’s gotten into her,” your sister, Cookie, whispered to Jongho. “Did you propose to her? Is she showing off her housewife skills? Which are little to none, by the way…”
“Please,” Jongho scoffed. “I think she’s just collectively going to poison us all. She’s still sour about how we ditched her to go hiking last weekend, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, well that would make more sense,” Cookie said. “But it was her fault- I asked but she was too busy with her little codes to process what I said and told me to get out. That’s a no, right?”
“Definitely-”
“I can hear you both, you know,” you said, looking at the two. While at other times, you would have chucked something at them and ensued chaos, this time, you simply smiled at the sigh of your little sister and your boyfriend standing shoulder to shoulder as they watched you arrange everything you had cooked (or bought- they didn’t need to know that) on the trays. When you were finally pleased with the presentation, you asked them to help you take the trays out to the backyard where you were going to have a little party- all of you.
The two obeyed and marched outside singing another song that you didn’t know- Jongho and your sister got along way too well and were usually partnering against you. He probably adored her more than you but your sister was smart and knew she had to be on good terms with him so he could spoil her- and spoil he did.
Your heart ached at the sight of the two and you prayed they would stay like this forever- happy. Even without you. You hoped they could fill your absence in the house and make your parents feel better.
Jongho’s parents cheered for you when you came out. “This is something your sister usually plans but we’re glad you’re not holed up in your room for once.”
“Thanks, uncle,” you laughed. “Just wanted a little breather.”
“You should have joined us last weekend!” His mom sighed in happiness. “The view was so good and the air so fresh. I think I feel younger ever since I came back.”
“I thought you felt older- you were complaining about your kneecaps- ow!” Jongho earned a smack on the back of his head from you and everyone laughed at that. Your mom patted the space next to her and you took the seat, urging her to try the sandwiches you made. The air filled with the sound of their laughs and you felt warm all over as you looked at each one of them, not saying much but committing this memory to your heart.
You went to take a walk with Jongho later that night to share a beer and go to the park to sit on the swings and relax. Jongho asked you if everything was okay- he never missed anything.
“Perfectly fine,” you assured him. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget today.”
“Me neither,” he smiled and you clicked your cans before drinking. “You’re a bit different today, y/n. If something is bothering you… you can tell me, you know that, right?”
“I know. I trust you, Jongho,” you looked at him. “You know that you’re the one person I trust the most in this world, right?”
Jongho frowned at the sudden confession but nodded. You continued. “And you know that I love you, right?”
Jongho would have gotten flustered and teased you but tonight, he noticed the sadness in your voice. “What is up with you? What are you planning?”
“Nothing,” you laughed. “Just wanted to tell you this before the night is over.”
Jongho narrowed his eyes but when you didn’t give in, he sighed.
“I don’t know what the matter is, but I hope you know that I trust you too. And I love you too. You’re not alone. You know that, right?”
“I know,” your smile was genuine. “I know.”
And the fact that you were not alone was what needed to change. In the middle of the night, you packed your necessities and left the note for your sister in her room by her bedside which said that you ran away to protect them and you would return soon, but no one could know. You told her to stay strong for you and help the rest cope. You apologised for the burden you gave her but she knew- she had seen you cry in your room for so many nights. She knew you had done something and the guilt was eating you up. She knew it was related to your job.
You prayed Jongho would remember the conversation you had with him and not blame himself.
Perhaps, he did blame himself. Perhaps he never gave up trying to find you, which was how they found him. Maybe running away wasn’t the best choice since they found Jongho anyway- your eyes welled up with tears at the thought of all the lost time, the years you could have spent with your family. Maybe you would never see them again now. With tears rolling down your cheeks and a blurry vision, you surveyed the area and deciding that it looked safe enough for now, you dragged Jongho inside and propped him on a bench, coughing due to the dust. You took off his shirt again and plugged him to your laptop- there were some things you needed to get done immediately- check if you were being tracked, check if Jongho’s trackers were all blocked now, see if there were any signals nearby- droids or not, and finally-
Find out your coordinates.
—-----------------------------
“We are not in the office.”
“Clearly,” you muttered, hugging yourself tighter with your folded arms as you looked at the droid seated in front of you, unbound this time. The droid scanned the new environment, his eyes lingering at the odd things in front of him- especially at the cord and your laptop, your bags and the packets of snacks sprawled on the table between you.
“This is unauthorised,” Jongho stated.
“Yes,” you admitted. “What are you programmed to do in case you find yourself in a situation like this?”
“Find my way back. If I cannot, I will have to activate the self-destruct code.”
“Going to be quite an explosion, huh?” You sighed.
“It will be very dangerous for you, yes,” he looked down at his limbs. Was he surprised that he was untied for once? “Why are we here?”
“Are you programmed to find out the reason for your unauthorised absence before you make a decision?”
He wasn’t. You got that from the red flicker in his usually blue lens in the left eye. This was the humane curiosity in him questioning things a droid shouldn’t have cared about. You shifted in your position- you hadn’t really planned this conversation so you would have to tread carefully from here on.
“Jongho,” you locked eyes with him. “What is the next step that you are going to take?”
“I can’t access the server,” Jongho frowned. “My code has been altered.”
“You didn’t ask how I know your name,” you whispered. “Choi Jongho. Don’t you remember me?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” an unrelenting answer from a droid.
“Are you programmed to self-destruct if your identity is found out?” You asked. He shook his head no. “Interesting. That can only mean they sent you to me knowing we had history. Do you remember the last time you saw me?”
“In the office-”
“No, you, Choi Jongho. Not CJ. You,” you insisted and he finally frowned- it was working. “How did you feel to learn that I ran away?”
“I… don’t know.”
“You know,” you told him. “Your memories are just locked away. Deep inside, here,” you tapped your temple. “All you gotta do is dig in and think. Remember when you, CJ, saw me with the donuts? Did it rock a memory of yours?”
When he didn’t respond and continued to stare at you, his lens flickering, you leaned forward. “How did you know how I like my tea?”
That was another odd thing that took place a few days ago. No one could make your tea the way you liked it. Only Jongho knew, and only he could make it perfectly every time. Sometimes you wondered if you simply liked the drink he made because he was the one who made it.
“I don’t know. I just made it how I learned to-”
“Learned from where?” You asked. “From me. We learned to make it together, Jongho. Two dips, let it sit, add exactly 1/4th spoon of honey and dip thrice. Don’t mix it, let it sit for exactly two minutes before you take the teabag out and mix the honey. How did you know? It’s your muscle memory, Jongho. It’s what makes you human.”
Jongho’s eyes widened just a fraction and you relaxed. You had him now. “We’ve been so close to home all this time, Jongho. I found out where we are- only a few hundred miles away from home, an abandoned town. I thought we were someplace else entirely. I thought only we were the ones awake and the rest of the world was asleep- surely they would have searched for you if not for me, right?”
He shook his head as if in disbelief of what he was hearing. You sighed. “How did they find you, Jongho? Did they find you… or did you find them?”
“Y/n.”
Even though your name was called in warning, your lips parted in surprise because this wasn’t CJ- this was Jongho who called your name. And goodness, how long had it been since the last time you heard your name roll from his lips? How long had you waited for this moment?
You shifted to get up but he raised a hand in the air, muttering ‘don’t’ and you sat right back down. His eyes twitched in pain and he groaned deeply. “You need to get out of here- leave me here and run.”
“Jongho-”
“You haven’t deactivated any trackers- they know you’re here, they meant for this to happen-”
“What are you talking about?” You whispered, blood rushing to your head and making your vision darken for a moment.
“They even know what we’re talking about right now,” Jongho cried out and you put a hand on your mouth in sheer horror, sweat taking root in every pore of your body.
Muscle memory, Jongho. It’s what makes you human.
Oh, how absolutely foolish you had been. Jongho got up and whispered, “They’re near.”
You mirrored his actions but almost fell on the floor due to the dizziness- everything was too much. This is not happening. Nothing made sense anymore- you had deactivated every tracker- how could they have found you-
There was a tracker on you.
How could you have been so incredibly stupid?
Jongho reached you in a hurry, the lens no longer a blue or red but simply transparent, revealing his brown orbs as he grabbed you by the arms and shook you a little. “Come to your senses, y/n. You have to get out of here- I don’t know what they’ll do with us. I’ll stay back and distract them-”
“No,” you cried, feeling nauseous all of a sudden. “I’ve run away once. I won’t run away again.”
“This is not running away,” he smiled a little as if it finally dawned on him that he was here so close to you, he was human and he had you in his arms. His hands were steady as they found your face, tucking your hair behind so lovingly, eyes travelling on every inch of your face.
“Don’t you look at me like it’s the last time,” you whispered. “Don’t you dare leave me, Jongho.”
But perhaps, it wasn’t meant to be. Not this time. You heard the unmistakable sound of vehicles- not one but too many vehicles circling the warehouse. Jongho sighed in defeat yet from the look in his eyes and the smile on his lips, it seemed like he wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here. He cupped your face and leaned in, locking his lips with yours and the tears that had been threatening to spill finally found a reason to. He kissed you surely and soundly, breaking apart to wrap his arms around you, his fingers on your back tapping rhythmically-
Morse code.
“What-”
“Shh,” he urged, tapping again. “Everything will be okay. Don’t forget this moment, alright?”
You nodded and buried your face in his chest- your safe space. “Have you forgiven me for running away?” You asked as the sound of the door being slammed open echoed in the warehouse- so loud yet the sound of his dull heartbeat was louder.
“Oh, we will talk about that. One day,” he assured you. “But for now… I love you, y/n. I hope you remember that.”
“I hope you remember that I love you,” you countered, breaking away just to get a good look at his face, at his messy curls falling on his forehead, at the absolute adoration in his eyes replaced by devastation when the soldiers who came barging in pulled you from him harshly and the last thing you saw was him screaming your name before you felt something slam against your head and the roaring in your ears finally came to a silence. You welcomed the darkness this time.
—-------------------------
“Y/n! Will you please wake up? I need to go to the convenience store and I need some company!”
“Go alone, Cookie” you groaned, “Let me sleep some more.”
“I’ll treat you to fried chicken.”
Now that was something worth opening an eye to take a good look at your little sister. Was she bribing you? Clearly. Was it working?
“Give me 15 minutes,” you said, getting up with a groan and she grinned. “I need to get ready.”
“It’s almost evening so take a jacket, you’ve been out cold for far too long. Thought I’d let you know the day has ended!” Cookie called as she left your room.
Perhaps, getting up immediately was a mistake- it seemed like all the blood rushed down from your head and you fell back on your bed unceremoniously. You groaned in pain- why were you having the worst headache of your life?
When you felt stable enough to move, you made your way to the toilet and washed your face, noticing a fading bruise on your left temple. Now how did you get that? You reached for your toothbrush-
It was not there. Odd. You did not remember throwing it away- if you did, where was the replacement? Groggily, you made your way back to your room to check the cupboard where you kept your supplies and found no signs of a toothbrush.
“Cookie, what prank are you playing with me now?”
“What do you mean?” She called from her room.
“Where did you hide my toothbrush?”
“Why would I hide your toothbrush?”
“To prank me?” You yelled in frustration. “I won’t go to the store with you if you keep this up.”
You heard the angry pads of her footsteps. “Look, that prank was one time. You were so mad I wouldn’t try it again.”
You narrowed your eyes in suspicion. “The smirk on your lips says otherwise.”
“That’s just me finding this funny,” she flipped her hair dramatically as she went back to her room and you sighed deeply, the voice of your mom calling your names in warning stirring something deep inside you.
I will not cry over a missing toothbrush, you told yourself and got ready, wearing a denim jacket over a casual outfit. You went into the living room to drink some water and when you turned-
You almost dropped your glass.
“Can you pour me a little too?” Your mom asked and you found your mouth going dry, nodding subconsciously as you reached for another glass. You watched her drink- why did it look like she had aged a whole lot since you last saw her? Didn’t you just see her last night? Didn’t you spot the grey in her hair, the wrinkles around her eyes ever before?
Or maybe you always saw her but never cared to look. Your mom made a face at you, making you laugh a little as you broke out of your trance. “What’s up?”
“Nothing,” you shook your head. “I was just counting your grey hairs.”
“Y/n,” she laughed loudly. “I think this is my sign to book a salon appointment.”
“Yes, mother!” Cookie came in, squeezing her shoulders. “You should get your grey strands dyed a fun colour- like pink.”
“Oh, come on, what will your dad think?”
“I think he’ll like it,” she winked. “We’re going out- be back before curfew!” Cookie grabbed your hand and dragged you out before your mom could say her usual chant- stay safe, don’t do stupid things, don’t fight, and so on. It seemed like forever since you had heard that and a part of you wished you had stayed to hear it.
Before you knew it, you were deep in a heated discussion about school being fun versus school being a bad memory. Of course, for Cookie, everything was fun. It was kind of endearing how she always saw the positive in everything and made sure to enjoy every moment. You, however, were the pessimistic of the two, though you preferred the term ‘realist’. School did have fun moments, yes, but you didn’t have a normal school experience at all- you were always working with the teachers and seniors who could code. While that was the beginning of your career, you didn’t get to interact with people much and they didn’t make an effort when you had some normal moments.
It was a relief then that Jongho was in your class and never made you feel alone, you wondered as you finished the argument with your sister and the food. She was paying the bill- a rare occurrence because ever since you started working at a very young age, you made sure to spoil her (a mistake- the brat learned that she could convince you to get her anything). Cookie turned to smirk in some sense of superiority she felt for having treated you and you let her have that moment, chuckling as you exited.
“Ah, the weather’s nice,” you looked up at the sky- it was too cloudy to see any stars. “I’m craving beer. When will you get old enough for beer?”
“Just a few more months, sis. We’ll see who’s the better drinker out of us.”
“Yeah, I might be bad, but you can’t beat Jong-”
“Oh, would you look at that,” Cookie pointed at a cafe at the end of the street. “I heard they’ve added cookies to their menu. Let’s get some to take home.”
You rolled your eyes. There was a reason you called her Cookie. Before you could protest, she was already speed-walking, her short hair flowing behind her and you struggled to catch up, looking at your surroundings.
“Yo, wasn’t there a barbeque place here?”
Cookie paused to look at you. “That was like what- two? Three years ago? You should really leave the house more. Being cooped up in your room all day is doing something to your memory, I swear-”
“It’s not that,” you, for once, didn’t argue, telling her to get some for dad too while you decided to wait outside.
Why did everything feel so… new? Tangible? You looked at your hand, moving it- were you dissociating? Was it that strange realisation that you were real? But it didn’t explain the ache in your heart since the moment you opened your eyes today. And you were glad Cookie was lost in her own thoughts on the short walk back home, giving you time to think. Just like always, you made a tray with cookies and milk and knocked on your parents’ room, entering when they gave the signal.
“Oh, dear,” your dad sighed in happiness. “Just what I wanted.”
“Long day?” You asked, grinning when they took the tray and placed it on the bed.
“Not really, but was just craving something sweet,” he smiled and you scanned his face- again, the sadness in his eyes was something unfamiliar to you.
“Well, enjoy your cookies. My Cookie is waiting for me outside.”
“Always attached at the hip,” your mom shook her head. “I don’t know how they do that when she’s home all day and the little one is rarely ever home.”
You scoffed when they continued that discussion, exiting the room to see Cookie smiling cheekily with the box of cookies open and one glass of milk-
“Cookie.”
“I don’t like milk!” She protested. “You drink milk. I only dip- why do I need a new glass?”
“I don’t like to dip cookies in the milk!” You argued, sitting across from her. “I don’t like the crumbs you leave!”
“Well, what am I supposed to do?” She pouted. “You won’t drink the leftover milk if I get my own glass?”
“Nope,” you shook your head sternly. “Want me to call Jongho over? He can share with you.”
“And who’s Jongho?” Cookie frowned.
“Oh, please,” you took a bite of the chocolatey goodness. “As if this prank is gonna work on me.”
“No, but seriously, who’s Jongho?” Cookie wriggled her brows. “New imaginary boyfriend?”
“Imaginary?”
“Yes, imaginary. How would you find a boyfriend when you’re home alone- oh, is Jongho a bot?”
You rolled your eyes so hard that you felt an ache. You unlocked your phone to dial his number but found no contact saved. Frowning, you typed his number- did you accidentally delete his contact info?
“This number does not exist.”
“Strange,” you muttered. “Did Jongho change his number? Did you know about this and decided to prank me because of this?”
“Aren’t you the one pranking me right now?” Cookie actually paused to stare at you. “Who’s Jongho?”
“Choi Jongho? The neighbour kid? Your best friend? Your big brother? My boyfriend? Do I need to say more?” You laughed in disbelief. “Don’t push my buttons by taking it too far.”
“Y/n, are you… are you okay? We don’t know anyone named Jongho. And what do you mean the neighbour’s kid? They never had one- they moved two years ago, don’t you remember?”
Two years. You were hearing this number a lot today. You went to your room to grab a photo of Jongho and slam it on your sister’s face but the grid on your desk only had polaroids of you and your family- no signs of Jongho. Feeling the hair on your neck rise, you unlocked your phone again to find some photos but again, no signs of him. You started sprawling through your drawers, checking your laptops, the pockets of your clothes, your eyes a blurry mess and when you heard the small voice of your sister calling your name, you looked at her.
“Where did you hide the photos? Please tell me, I need to look at him-”
“Y/n, come to your senses,” she sank down on her knees in front of you. “Who are you talking about?”
You glared at her before snatching your hands and marching to her room- you examined the grid on her desk- again, no signs of Jongho. You went through the things on her desk, opening the drawers-
“What are you doing?” Cookie whimpered and you turned to see her crying as well. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong with you, tell me.”
This couldn’t be happening. “It’s Jongho, don’t you remember? The one who taught you how to ride a bike? The one who protected you when you were being picked on in elementary school?” Tears rolled down in succession on both your faces- one trying to pick all the pieces that were threatening to disappear and the other trying to make sense of them. “Jongho, the one you called big brother? The milk to your cookie? The jelly to your peanut butter? Don’t you remember?”
“I- I don’t,” Cookie cried harder, sinking to the floor and breathing as if something was consuming her from the inside.
“My Jongho, Cookie,” you whispered, gripping her desk. “The love of my life. You had a whole document on your computer about all your plans for our wedding- you made that when you were ten,” you laughed and Cookie chuckled as well, crying harder. “How can you forget?”
“I don’t know!” Cookie’s voice was loud in denial. “I don’t know him!”
“Don’t you remember when I made food for all of you and you teased us about marriage and how I was preparing to be a housewife?” You laughed at the memory, Cookie’s ‘you made food?!’ indicating she was somehow more surprised to hear that. “We had that little party in the garden, his family and ours, remember?”
“That was-” Cookie paused, frowning. “I remember a party in the garden but… there were our neighbours there, yes, but not someone named Jongho- that was two years ago, right?”
Two years.
“Why did we have that party? Why did you make food?” Cookie looked at you, partly horrified as the dreadful realisation made its way to your mind.
“I… we had that party because I was going to run away. I… I ran away- how am I here?” You looked at your hands and then at Cookie. “How am I here?”
“Uh… this is your home?”
Home. You hadn’t stepped inside your home in two years.
It all started coming back to you in a series of chronological events- from that party to you running away from home and living in a studio apartment that Jeong Yunho had arranged for you. The two of you working to undo everything about that damned project that you could-
That damned project.
Droids.
“Oh… oh goodness-” you rushed to the toilet as a wave of nausea overtook you and threw up, groaning as you clutched your hair- Cookie was quick enough to help take care of your hair while you threw up some more, sobbing along. Your sister was also wise enough to shut the door and let you sob a little before urging you to get up and wash your face, helping you clean up. Once you were done and you had downed a glass of water, Cookie took you to her room and made you wrap a blanket around yourself- necessary at this point since you were shivering.
“You need to start making sense now. What’s happening?”
You looked at your little sister. You hadn't seen her in two whole years, and she had grown so much in that time. She was also an inch taller than you now, you had noticed while walking. “Do you remember what we did yesterday?”
“Of course,” Cookie folded her arms. “You were in your room all day-”
“And the day before?” You asked. “And the day before that?”
Cookie’s brows finally unfurrowed in realisation. “I… I don’t remember.”
“Do you remember the note I gave you two years ago?” You asked. “The one that told you I was running away?”
When it looked like she was still lost, you sighed deeply, looking around. “If I gave you a note that told you that I was going to run away but you could tell no one that I’m running away for a reason… that I’ll be back and you have to take care of everyone… where would you hide it, knowing you have to pretend you know nothing as well?”
“I don’t know,” Cookie sighed in frustration. “Why don’t I remember?”
“You’ll get your answers,” you got up, running your fingers along her bookshelf. “Where would you hide something like a secret note? Think, Cookie. They couldn’t have searched that deep, they couldn’t have found that.”
Cookie got up, looking around, and almost mechanically, she went for her underwear drawer and despite everything, you laughed. Of course. No one would dare rummage through her private things- but it got better. She had it taped on the inside of a bra.
“I don’t wear this one, so,” Cookie admitted and you shook your head, watching her open the note and read it again and again. “Make it make sense.”
“Where do I start?”
“From the beginning. Tell me everything.”
—------------------------------
Seeing a familiar face after riding a train all day was what finally gave you some strength to believe that things would be alright, and what finally put a smile on your face as you walked to your mentor, partner-in-crime (quite literally) and old friend, Jeong Yunho. When he spread his arms with a sad smile on his face, you didn’t hesitate to hug him, muttering how sorry you were to learn that he went through something quite similar to what you did.
“I’m just glad you’re safe, little one,” he broke the hug to look at you. “Are we sure there’s no tracker on you?”
“None- they put one on here,” you turned your arm to tap your shoulder blade. “Almost like a needle, Yunho. I would have missed it.”
“What did you do with it? If it’s stationary, they would know-”
“I put it on my sister,” you grinned. “And told her to act like me until I’m back.”
“Hoho, look at you,” he scoffed in amusement. “Finally told her everything?”
“Had to,” you sighed. “And this was the one step that I did not want to take, but she suggested that she could hold the tracker for me,” you handed one of your bags to Yunho who opened his car trunk and tossed it inside. When you were seated on his passenger seat, you asked, “How’s your brother?”
“Oh, all good. He forbade me to come back to the office after he saw the state I was in- broken limbs and everything. I don’t know how I managed to run away. Only a few months later and when I tell him you need me? He lends me his car with a threat that I better bring it back unscratched.”
“Damn,” you whistled. “Better keep that promise.”
“What about you, y/n?” He asked.
“Do you remember how they took me? That part is still a bit blurry.”
“I thought they tailed me and found your apartment, but turns out you were just unlucky and they spotted you when you were going to Wooyoung’s place. They tailed you- I tailed them- it was a mess. Wooyoung and I barely managed to escape and when we opened our eyes, we were tied to chairs.”
“You were tied? Alone? Is he okay?”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “They should have tied my legs better- I walked around with the chair tied to me until I found someone and they helped us.”
“I can’t believe I missed that sight,” you exhaled in disappointment and he shook his head.
“You should have seen yourself. I thought they killed you or something. What happened after?”
“Well… I woke up in a new world, Yunho. All futuristic with savvy tech and whatnot. It didn’t look like home. I was alone in a luxurious apartment that wasn’t mine, with a set of instructions to follow. Once I got to the office, I learned that all of us who were present had something to do with the Eden Droid Project- or something to contribute. There were coders, engineers, doctors, literally everyone they could find. We couldn’t ask questions, we weren’t allowed to talk other than for work, and we were watched like hawks. We were made to believe that only we were the ones awake while the rest of the world was on pause. Honestly, if there weren’t people like us there, it would have been so much more difficult.”
“Was there someone you knew there?”
“Dr. Seo. Dr. Jin. The big brains behind the Eden Droid Project- you remember them, right?”
“By faces, yes,” he asked you to hand his water bottle and drank a few sips while he drove on the highway. “So… what next?”
“My team- we were all tasked to work together to fix the droids. The droids that I programmed and the codes that Dr. Jin took forcefully from me when we were his interns.”
“He should have waited until we had perfected them,” Yunho scoffed and you mirrored that.
“So it’s all starting to feel normal, a month passes. I realise I need to somehow run away and expose what they’re doing, but I have literally no idea what my location is and there’s no one to trust. And to make things worse, they have this brilliant idea to assign Jongho to me. They turned him into a droid, Yunho.”
“Oh… crap,” Yunho glanced at you. “Is he okay?”
“I don’t know,” you pursed your lips. “They decided that I needed to monitor a droid closely and figure out what was interfering with his droid mechanisms. They knew who he was and what he meant to me. They must have had a good laugh seeing me pretend I didn’t know him.
“Anyways, he’s not functioning properly as a droid- seeing me triggers him into remembering whatever memories they’ve locked away inside his brain. I can see that he’s suffering, yet I can do nothing about it, even when he tells me to help. I trust the first person who acted like he cared- Mr. Han, my team’s supervisor. He does help me escape but…”
“But it’s all a part of their plan.”
“Bingo,” you sighed. “I run away with his help, take Jongho far away from all of this, block every tracker and finally get Jongho to feel human long enough to speak- and he tells me what this- all of this was a part of their plan. This was like a simulation for me- I was a player in their game and they waited until I won- or thought so. That’s when they got their answer to the question- what was making droids not act like humans?”
“What?”
“The link between their subconscious brain and muscle memory, Yunho. That’s been the key this whole time.”
“Oh. Oh!” Yunho almost stopped his car in excitement. “How did we miss that?”
“There’s a reason they got Jongho to be a player too,” you shook your head. “Did you find any signs of him?”
“Not yet, but I will continue my search tonight,” Yunho said. “Why did they let you go, though?”
“I don’t know,” you sank down in your seat, hugging yourself. “I woke up back in my house and they made it look like I had been there all this time. But… strangely, only I remembered Jongho. They locked away everyone’s memories, wiped any physical signs of him- whatever they could find. Cookie forgot who Jongho was too- she still doesn’t remember but she believes me thanks to the note I gave her before I ran away two years ago.”
“If they knew where you lived during that span of two years, they would have made it look like you were there all along. That might have been more believable for you, and could have worked- but maybe not. Wooyoung and I would have found you anyway.”
“Does he still blame me for what happened two years ago?”
You, Wooyoung and Yunho were teammates in the initial days of the Eden Droid Project. You were their supervisor and leading the project, and Wooyoung always had qualms about what you all did- rightfully so. When everything went wrong, you had an argument and a falling out with him. Yunho tried for a long time to get you two to talk to each other but without success so he let you two be. You and Wooyoung did often share your files as you all were working to expose the project but that was it.
“He’s forgiven you. He forgave you long ago- he was just being stubborn,” Yunho chuckled. “When he learned you were taken, he’s the one who tried the hardest to find you. Harder than me too.”
“God, he’s so dramatic,” you chuckled. “Do I get to meet him now?”
“Oh, yes,” Yunho grinned. “He’s waiting for you- party hat and all.”
“No way.”
He was. Party hat and all. You couldn’t believe how much he changed- his hair was longer, he looked more mature, but he still had those fierce eyes and lovely smile. He greeted you with a glare but as soon as your smile fell, he laughed and you finally joined, smacking the hat on his head before hugging him.
“I’m just glad to see you’re unscratched- oh, that looks painful.”
“Glad to see you’re in good spirits too,” you touched your temple- the bruise didn’t hurt anymore but it was an ugly shade of green now. “What did I miss?”
“What did we miss?” Wooyoung turned to get the tofu lying on the table.
“Yep- that certainly was no less than a prison,” you laughed, your stomach growling at the sight of the variety of food on the table. “Can we talk while we eat?”
And so, you briefed them of your ‘prison time’ again, connecting the dots with their help- they intended only to get you from the beginning because only you could have solved that mystery of why the droids acted so much like humans- the link between their subconscious memories and muscle memory was too strong. You could lock away a person’s memory, sure, but the subconscious was something you hadn’t messed with yet, and never intended to either. The reason the people of that project could manipulate memories was because of your team too.
When the three of you were interns in the Droid Project, they had told you to code for machines, not humans. That was how you began. Artificial intelligence was nothing new, you were just aiming to take it to the next level. When they told you that you needed to start coding to make droids, they talked about a better world- a world where soldiers could be able to fight better to defend their land. A world where a doctor could hold an insurmountable amount of knowledge and skills. A world where a patient wouldn’t have to feel all of the pain he would be in. A world where, they mused, you could cook anything you like for yourself without having to go through the trouble of thinking if you were capable. It wasn’t such a bad idea to code for that world.
But it was Wooyoung who accidentally heard what the real deal was. And when he told you both, you hacked into several databases to find out what they really intended to do with droids- and oh, the revelation was startling enough to make you all cry. You couldn’t believe that they used teens to make the blueprint for a world where the Elites- the people of power- would be controlling the droids to make the rest of the world submit to them. This world wasn’t their playground, and they shouldn’t play gods- with that message, the three of you ran away.
And now you were here with the consequences of your actions, with no idea if Jongho was okay. You couldn’t sleep for the past two days and when Wooyoung saw you zoning out in front of the fire in the backyard instead of being in bed, he decided to share a beer with you.
“You look like you have an idea but you’re worried how it will play out,” he observed.
“I mean…” you wrapped your shawl tighter around you. “It can’t get any worse, can it?”
“If they still think you’re back at your home, you might have a chance. They’ll be unsuspecting- we just need to hack into their system and get the Panel to listen.”
The Panel being a group of coders and developers who were, at one point, part of the Droid Project but left just like you. Yunho told you that ever since you were taken, they had been quick with contacting world leaders and giving them a sign that something dark was unravelling right under their noses. He didn’t tell you the identity of those people and you didn’t ask- you trusted him enough to take the right steps. He also told you that they were trying to find a way to get Eden’s military to side with them, but there was no guarantee that the military and the government weren’t already working together so if you made a mistake, you’d be doomed.
“We can’t simply sit and try to hack into their system, Wooyoung, while they have Jongho and several other people suffering with chips inside of them. I’ve seen their experimentations fail and lives lost. I cried myself to sleep everyday and the only reason I’m still sane is because I need to put an end to this as soon as possible-”
“Well, you’re not alone,” Wooyoung told you and you took a deep breath. “We’re here. We’re helping you. You don’t have to do this alone anymore.”
“I do have one idea, but I’m not sure you will agree.”
“If it’s something stupid and you think we won’t agree? You’re probably right and I won’t hear a word about it-”
“About what?” Yunho came outside with his own can of beer. “Was gaming and going to sleep but I heard the chatter.”
“You really should touch the grass once in a while,” you teased. “You can’t spend all your free time in front of screens too.”
“Whatever,” he plopped down on a chair. “Continue, please. Don’t stop on my account.”
“Okay, listen,” you leaned forward, the orange hues of the fire illuminating your face as you spoke. “I need to go and get Jongho back- you both know I can’t simply sit and wait for our hacking attempts to be successful. If they could be hacked, we wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Right,” Yunho agreed.
“When they found Jongho and me, when we ran away, Jongho gave me a short message- two words. ‘Yunho’ and ‘Strictland’. Strictland must be the name of the town they’ve made home at. What do you know about Strictland?”
“Did he… did he tell you to find me and say Strictland?” Yunho frowned. “Are you sure?”
Wooyoung looked as lost as you and you told him you were sure. You watched Yunho’s expressions change from confusion to realisation. “Do you remember when we first found out about the Droid Project, I talked about how this couldn’t have been the first time that humans have tried to create droids?”
“Maybe?” You shrugged.
“I don’t remember, I don’t think so,” Wooyoung admitted.
“Well, the term ‘droid’ only originated recently. There have been other terms used to define the concept of a human machine- and since, at first, the only reason for such a creation would be to fight wars. So they were called super assassins, X-fighters, and a bunch of other stupid terms. Whenever I tried finding more about their history, I got blocked. I even got a few warnings. I thought it must be some confidential information- it would make sense if the general public doesn’t know that such attempts have been made. But… I did find something that suggested that they did succeed once.”
“They did?” Wooyoung looked at you in disbelief. “Wasn’t this supposed to be the first time?”
“I wouldn’t know? They sure make me feel like I’m the one who came up with this. I know I’m not, but I didn’t think that far back into the past?”
“The current droids, you came up with that,” Yunho corrected. “But whatever version- or versions- existed before… there have been occurrences. One that began in Strictland a few decades ago but there’s no evidence. It is said that everything related to that project was burned, all the evidence erased. It was quite a disaster and they covered it up with a few bombs thrown to call it a ‘terrorist’ attack- the military got involved and there was a major clean-up or something. But the facts never matched, and those who dug enough know that the government has been hiding the real incident.”
“And how did Jongho know?”
“Maybe he heard things? He definitely did. And if he heard my name too… they might be coming after me next,” Yunho concluded.
“Well, that just means I have to proceed with my plan.”
“What plan exactly is that?”
You told them what you were thinking. There was a series of ‘no’ from Wooyoung, ‘absolutely not’ from Yunho, but you made them consider every other option and when the sun started to shine its first rays on the trees, you all agreed that this might be risky, yes, but this was probably the only way you could win.
Fight fire with fire.
—---------------------------------
“You must have finally gone insane.”
You lightly shrugged when you heard that- it was rich coming from Dr. Jin when he was the one who pushed you to this point.
“I mean… it’s been a while…” your finger circled the dramatic red button, itching to press it- Wooyoung’s idea. You told him it was stupid but when he insisted that nothing riles people up than seeing big red warnings, you let him craft this goodness.
“What do you want, y/n? Why are you here?”
“I thought you’d know,” you finally stood up, brushing your clothes. “You still have something I can’t go back without.”
“Oh, that stupid droid? You came back for that?”
“That is a human very close to me, which you must have known when you decided to turn him into a droid,” you glared at him. “Don’t test my limits, Dr. Jin. You know how short a temper I have.”
And you had proven that in the span of the last few hours. Your genius plan had been to walk to their office in Strictland, which was relatively easy because all the soldiers recognised you and whenever they tried to move from their places, you told them the purpose of the device in your hand. Not a bomb, but better, you told them. You had one of the soldiers drive you to the office and then you sat down on the ground, waiting for Dr. Jin to show up.
In the meantime, you had a messy confrontation with Mr. Han. You told him you had not expected him to cooperate with any of this but he insisted that he was still following orders to keep his family safe. Though you despised him for making a fool out of you, not even giving you a hint of what was happening, you could understand his reasons. Your reasons were the same after all.
“He’s my family, and I would have you bring him to me right this instant.”
“Or what?”
“Or else I press this,” you raised the remote in your hand. “And it sets off a chain reaction. A droid self-destructs– for real this time, no games,” you looked pointedly at Mr. Han. “and if there’s a droid within a 2 mile radius of that droid, it self-destructs, and so on.”
“All we need to do is snatch it from you,” Dr. Jin scoffed.
“Well, unluckily for you, I’m the droid that will be setting off that chain reaction.”
A chorus of gasps sounded and your seniors- the one who had once been your mentors- all gaped at you. Dumbfounded. Confused.
“You wouldn’t,” it was Dr. Seo that spoke. Your first mentor.
“I would, and you know that,” you extended your wrist showing a small opening where the chip was installed. “Do you remember this version of the droids, where you would still be more human than a machine? The one Dr. Jin was so quick to reject? Turns out it’s the better version- doesn’t require all the surgeries and whatnot.”
“That’s a bluff, isn’t it?” Dr. Jin scoffed. “You wouldn’t kill yourself over some droid.”
“Again, that droid is my family, and yes, I would kill myself if that means everyone here in Strictland dies and this cursed project comes to an end,” you glared at him. “To save humanity, a few lives sacrificed won’t be in vain- oh, and if you try to snatch this?” You waved the device in your hand. “This was just for the dramatics. It doesn’t work- I don’t need it to activate self-destruction.”
Dr. Jin’s nostrils flared in anger, the wrinkles on his face deepening as he tried to make a decision. “Any chance for negotiations? Because I won’t simply hand over Jongho to you- you couldn’t hack into him and deactivate his droid functions. We clearly have the upper hand.”
“You do,” you admitted. “And you can continue with whatever the fuck you’re doing in here, but I can do something for you and you can do something for me in return, right?”
“What do you suggest?” Dr. Seo spoke this time. “What can you give us?”
“What you clearly want. I know you haven’t found a way to solve that muscle memory problem yet.”
“But given more time, we could definitely do it,” Dr. Seo shifted on one leg, pushing his glasses up. “Why would we need you for that?”
“Because I’m pretty sure you can’t do this without me- I’m the only programmer in Eden who can accomplish this,” your smirk was devilish. “You needed me when you began this project, and you clearly need me now. It’s a shame I didn’t cooperate, right? Maybe if you hadn’t used Jongho to rile me up, I would have actually solved the problem.”
“But you didn’t know what the problem was in the first place,” Dr. Seo said.
“I didn’t, but come on. I would have found out with any droid had I observed it as closely as I did Jongho. Now… I code to make the link between muscle memory and the subconscious dormant, and you uninstall the chip in Jongho and let me leave in peace. Do we have a deal?”
“What’s the guarantee you won’t try anything once you have Jongho?”
“None,” you admitted. “But if you trust me, I’ll trust you. For old time’s sake? And you know where my family lives anyway- I wouldn’t be stupid enough to try anything.”
Dr. Jin and Dr. Seo looked at each other, whispering. Mr. Han looked like he wished he was beside you at that moment fighting with you, not fighting against you. You gulped down the anxiety bubbling in your throat- you had bluffed a whole lot just now but you needed them to buy it. Yes, you could self-destruct but there was no way you would simply just go back.
“Alright, I think we can work with that,” Dr. Seo came closer, extending his hand. “For old time’s sake.”
“You should apologise for playing dirty,” you shook his hand but he only scoffed in response.
“You’ll have to follow some rules here. Protocol,” Dr. Seo explained and you cooperated this time, letting them scan your body for potential threats and then asking for access to your code. You let them see it- Dr. Seo had made this version with you so when he seemed satisfied save for the self-destruct file that you didn’t allow him to access, he decided to let it be for the moment.
“I have a condition too,” you told him. “I’ll work on uninstalling Jongho’s chip first. Once he’s human, I’ll play my part.”
“Okay- I’ll have a programmer work with you.”
Thus initiated the second part of your plan. You had successfully gained access inside their building and so far, their actions had been very predictable. Wooyoung was right about them asking to read your code too. The self-destruct wasn’t a bluff but you had hidden the real code elsewhere because you just knew Dr. Seo would attempt to replicate it if he got one look at it. You were pretty sure he had gone to note down what little he saw.
What he missed, though, while worrying about the new code was that you did not have one but two chips, side by side, inside your wrist. The other, a tiny thing, attached to the main chip. You finally pressed on your wrist to turn it on.
Surveillance through your eyes. The simplest, most basic droid function, installed in each droid as well as you. But you were reporting back to your server- to Yunho and Wooyoung, who were right at the outskirts of the town, who must have detected your signal by now and would be transmitting the live coverage to the Panel. The Panel, where different world leaders, scientists, human rights workers and other brilliant people were present, the group bigger than ever, waiting to see what you would show them.
And the first sight they saw- oh goodness. Rows and rows of humans strapped on to the stretchers lit by a light so bright that they looked blue. One of them was being brought to you- you were pretty sure your whimper was heard by everyone in the Panel.
Jongho did not look good. The signs of his struggle were quite visible on his bare upper body- a big, ugly bruise on the left side of his stomach, a long slash running down his right arm, a twin bruise like yours on his temple. You were never going to forgive these people.
With newfound fierce determination, you nodded to the person you were to work with- a woman who looked to be in her late thirties with her stern face and slicked back hair. Without saying a word, Jongho was plugged to the screen and his code files secured with multiple passwords were accessed. Then the two of you started working side by side to end every running code in his chip. It must have taken only an hour and then you were done.
“We’ll take him to surgery. You can access whatever you need here while we take the chip out of him.”
“No thanks, I’ll take whatever laptop you have and work from there. He needs to be in front of my eyes.”
“I’ll get back to you,” she said and moved to a corner to convey your message. After getting confirmation, she allowed you to follow her to the medical section of the office. The lights started to dim the further you walked down the hallway, almost to the extent that you thought they were going to surprise you with something unexpected, but a turn to the right and you were suddenly in a familiar setting of a hospital. You were glad it looked normal- all the neon lights used in the offices had rooted some trauma in you for sure.
Unsurprisingly, the waiting room was equipped with all sorts of necessities you would need. The woman simply turned on the systems and plugged in the USBs before instructing you to wait for Dr. Seo. You rolled your eyes- nothing you could do about that, so you resorted to monitoring Jongho, trying to quell the seed of hope in your heart.
Jongho would be okay. You would make sure of that.
The process of installing the chips in humans was something you had seen a lot- however, uninstalling the chip was rare. You tried not to recall the time when you first tried to save a person- it had backfired and induced a seizure. While you had worked with a lot of programmers to make sure something like that wouldn’t happen again, the people here kept insisting they didn’t need you to work on this because they thought there wouldn’t be a time when they would have to turn droids back into humans. But you were grateful that you and your team had been stubborn enough to at least make it a little better.
Now it was up to Jongho and his willpower to make it out of there with full health. You weren’t sure what you would do if something happened to him.
While monitoring Jongho, you started working on the one problem that had doomed your life- the link between subconscious and muscle memory. You had Dr. Seo working with you from his office- it was no surprise that he was monitoring your progress and making contributions considering he was one of the brains behind this project and had a lot of medical knowledge to contribute from the years he worked as a neurosurgeon before he started learning programming.
But since he was watching, that meant you had to do this properly- and you would. You understood that coming here to save Jongho meant you would have to share the knowledge that could change the power dynamics of this world. You could only pray that the Panel would make sure that these people would never get to put your theory into practice, because you couldn’t imagine a world where humans would be programmed to lose the very essence that made them human to fight for people that could only be called monsters. And you prayed your wildcard- getting the military involved- would work.
It had to be the longest three hours of your life. By the time Jongho was out of surgery, his vitals normal, you were almost done but your hands were trembling uncontrollably, your sniffs were getting louder as you tried to control the sobs that threatened to leave your body, because-
You did it. Jongho was okay, Jongho was okay.
And you may have just doomed all of humanity with your code. You were pretty sure Dr. Seo might be testing your code on some unfortunate human right now. You should have gone with him- but you couldn’t leave Jongho. He needed to be in front of your eyes. You wished you had some means of contacting Yunho and Wooyoung right now- all they needed to do was tell you that you did well and you would be fine. But you didn’t have the means to hear their reassurance so you had to settle for the hope that the Panel was proceeding with the final part of the plan.
A military raid. Eden’s military against the New Government’s soldiers. Eden had never been so divided.
A notification popped up on your laptop and Dr. Seo confirmed the validity of the code so far and asked you to wrap it up. You took a deep breath.
The last step. The final step you had to take in order to destroy the foundations of the Eden Droid Project, once and for all.
You told him to give you a minute- you needed to check if Jongho was okay. With that excuse, you got up and went inside the ward to check on your unconscious friend. The surgery wasn’t anything big, no. It was just like removing a piece of shrapnel from your body, the chip relying on signals to send to the neurons. You just had to make sure that Jongho’s body hadn’t adapted to the chip’s presence so much that it couldn’t function without it anymore.
You wiped your face with your sleeves before clutching Jongho’s hand- you needed his strength, every bit of it. With your other hand, you combed his hair so it wouldn’t fall on his eyes. Jongho stirred in his sleep and you whispered his name. He subconsciously squeezed your hand before his eyes fluttered open. He wasn’t surprised- seeing you wake him up was nothing new, though it had been quite a while. He looked around to get his bearings-
“Oh, goodness, what are you doing here?”
“Good to see you too,” you laughed, wiping your eyes again. “How are you feeling? Can you move? Is your vision okay?”
“Never been better,” Jongho groaned as he sat up, exhaling. “I feel tired. That’s new.”
“That means you’re human,” you smiled.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re no longer a droid, Jongho,” you told him, for once pleased with your work. “You’re okay now.”
“But where are we?”
“Still there,” you let go of his hand to squeeze his shoulder, letting it trail down his bicep which was when you started tapping. “You’ll go home soon, I promise.”
“And you?” He asked, “Won’t you come too?”
“I’ll be right behind,” you kissed his forehead, having finished tapping your message on his skin. Jongho squeezed your hand in warning but you shook your head. “I have to wrap things up here, but I promise I’ll be home soon.”
“We go together, or we don’t go at all.”
“Jongho-”
“I won’t leave you behind, not this time,” he shook his head fiercely. “I know you’re strong. But we’ve always worked better together, haven’t we?”
“You’re still recovering though.”
Jongho called your name in warning and you caved in. You told him to make sure to follow your instructions and you made a request to Dr. Seo that you wanted to be there to witness the end of this. Dr. Seo sent an escort who accompanied the two of you to a lab where he was indeed working on an unfortunate young man just like you had suspected. Dr. Seo cast a wary look at Jongho before turning to you.
“You’ve worked brilliantly so far, Miss Jeon. Shall we begin?”
You nodded and asked Jongho to take a seat. You first went to check the man’s vitals, taking note of his label - CS, 005. “He’s one of the first few, isn’t he?”
“He is,” Dr. Seo confirmed, setting up your station. “A volunteer, though he didn’t quite know what he was getting into at that time.”
“Right,” you muttered, swallowing the distaste his words brought. “I’ll start now.”
Feeling sorry for the man who was about to lose the last shreds of humanity in him, perhaps forever, you started typing the codes, Dr. Seo watching from his screen across you. There were just a few lines of command left to type and you cast a quick glance at Jongho who passed a subtle nod.
He was ready. And so were you.
You had tapped a message to Jongho- Cookie’s play. A joke that ran in both your families of how Cookie would pretend to be sick whenever she wanted to have her way or skip school. And he was going to do just that.
Jongho groaned loudly in pain, clutching his head, causing Dr. Seo to stop what he was doing and frown at him in confusion while you asked Jongho if everything was okay, your fingers typing a series of codes that were going to be your salvation now. Jongho fell on his knees and you, feigning panic, got up along with Dr. Seo who was genuinely worried for Jongho’s wellbeing since you had made sure that you weren’t going to give them anything if he wouldn’t make it out alive. You started walking across the room to where Jongho was, the droid CS on your way and you paused just a fraction of a second to slip your chip- the small chip they had missed during inspection- in the port on his back from where he was plugged to the system.
You rushed to Jongho and asked him if he was okay- he continued to act like his head was going to burst open with pain and just when Dr. Seo took out his phone to call someone, Jongho pounced on him, tackling him to the ground and placing a hand over his mouth. You didn’t wait to see who would win as they started clawing at each other- you ran back to your station to your laptop, glancing once at Dr. Seo’s panicked face before pressing enter and enabling the ‘run’ function.
The guards outside must have heard some commotion and one of them peeked in to check but it was too late- thanks to Dr. Seo being impatient and sceptical, testing your code after every few minutes, it only took a handful of seconds for the code to stop running itself which was when the droid opened its eyes. Dr. Seo finally managed to land a punch on Jongho and get him to let go of him. He rushed towards you but before he could stop the guards, one of them yelled ‘freeze!’ and you raised your hands-
Unplugging the droid in the process.
“What have you done-” Dr. Seo reached for his screen to read the code, consumed by confusion and panic as he read the last lines which must be making no sense to him now-
Because the original code was also in that mini chip you had sneaked in. If this went well, you would owe Yunho your life- and Jongho’s.
“CS, 005, what’s your status?” You whispered just so the droid could hear.
“Okay,” he confirmed.
“Then get up and protect us from the threat.”
You thought you saw the slightest hint of a smirk on the droid’s face and before you could ponder over it, he rose to full glory, straightening and cracking his neck before asking you to take cover.
What you saw next was something you were sure you would never forget. There was no way this person wasn’t a skilled fighter before he became a droid because he dodged each bullet with expertise and kicked the gun out of the guard’s hand, catching it mid-air and pointing it at Dr. Seo, creeping towards him and holding him at gunpoint.
“Down on your knees, now,” he commanded and the guard obeyed instantly, backup arriving too late. Nothing they could do now- the Head Coder of this project could lose his life if someone made a wrong move.
“How,” Dr. Seo muttered when he spotted you from the corner of his eye. “I saw the code- there was nothing.”
“It’s just like what you did with Jongho and the other droids,” you finally let out the laugh you had been holding. “I am the master now, and my wish is his command. Isn’t that right, CS?”
He nodded in response and Jongho whistled, thoroughly impressed by you. You took out Dr. Seo’s phone from his pocket, unlocked it and called Dr. Jin.
“Is it done?”
“Uh, you might want to come here, Dr. Jin,” you said innocently. “We may have an emergency.”
You hung up before he could respond and Mr. Han came bursting into the room, freezing when he saw just what was going on.
“Uh, I was going to inform you that there’s been a military raid but it looks like it was planned…”
“Maybe,” you shrugged but you couldn’t keep in the sigh of relief- all hope was not lost after all. The military was on with you in this one- looks like the Panel had played their part well.
Mr. Han, to your surprise, was smiling in satisfaction. “Is it going to be over soon?”
“For you lot, yes,” you narrowed your eyes. “You don’t look too mad about it.”
“I’m not,” he smiled and you tried to figure out just what he was thinking but Dr. Jin appeared, fuming. The old man looked like he was going to have a stroke any second.
“Stand. Down.” He commanded. “Or you’ll face the worst consequences, Miss Jeon.”
“Like what?” You cocked your head. “I could have this droid blow your favourite coder’s brains out, right here. I don’t think it can get worse than that-”
Dr. Jin’s phone rang and when he frowned at his screen, you finally let the little ray of hope you had been harbouring in your heart consume you. Dr. Jin picked up the call and you watched all the blood drain from his face.
“Ah… It can get worse,” you finally grinned, looking at Jongho who appeared a little lost but squeezed your hand in assurance anyway. “CS, you will continue to hold Dr. Seo as leverage until I give you the signal. Dr. Jin… I think it’s time you sit down and accept your defeat.”
Dr. Jin scoffed and attempted to leave the room but you shared one look with the droid and he knew what to do- with impeccable aim, he fired the gun in his direction, hitting right in the middle of his calf. His painful yell echoed throughout the vicinity and some of the guards pointed the gun in your direction instinctively while some rushed to help the man. You ignored Dr. Seo’s series of curses aimed at you amidst the chaos. Soon, a man in Eden’s staple blue military uniform walked in followed by a group of soldiers, ordering them to start arresting everyone in the building- and to your surprise, he nodded at you. CS finally let go of Dr. Seo only for him to be handcuffed and escorted outside.
“Thank you for coming,” you said as a greeting to Eden’s Military Commander- everyone in the room must have recognised him seeing how they were so willingly cooperating now. “I wasn’t expecting you to.”
“It took me quite some convincing to come, but seeing what’s going on here,” the tall man looked around, “I think it was necessary. If you could be so kind as to guide me through the appropriate measures to be taken regarding the droids?”
“Yes- can you make sure Mr. Choi is escorted safely outside first? He might require some medical attention-”
“Y/n-”
“It’s okay, Jongho,” you assured with a smile. “It’s going to take me a while here, but I’ll be with Yunho and Wooyoung. I’ll be okay.”
Jongho looked at the Commander for permission and he nodded, letting him take you to a side for a little privacy. “I’m anxious, y/n. I don’t want to leave you here-”
“I’m not alone, trust me,” you took both his hands in yours. “I need you to get out of here and get to Cookie, okay? She’s going to be worried sick- she knows everything now.”
“Really?” Jongho shook his head. “What about your parents? My parents- are they okay?”
“They’re all fine,” you told him. “They had a memory blocker but Yunho was going to take care of that before he came here. Everything will be normal when you go back.”
“Not normal. Not if you’re not there,” he said and you laughed at that.
“Jongho, I’m so thankful to you for a number of things. I’ll tell you all about it once we’re back, okay?” You promised. “But I need to take care of all the droids first. You know they can’t keep on living like this anymore. You know that better than anyone.”
Jongho nodded reluctantly and you continued. “You saved me today, Jongho. I’ll thank you for that now. And you need to be safe, at home with our families, so I can work peacefully here, okay? We’ll be in contact- here,” you went to grab a paper and pen to scribble your contact number. “You can call me whenever.”
“Alright,” he finally gave in, bringing you in for a hug and you gladly soaked in every bit of it. You needed that for what was next.
—--------------------------
“You’re burning the toasts, Wooyoung.”
“They need to be just the right amount of brown for this dish to come together,” Wooyoung tsk-ed at your ignorance and you scoffed, looking for someone to back you but apparently everyone’s new favourite sport was to gang up on you now.
“We get that you’ve not been in the kitchen for a while,” Jongho began. “But how did you survive living alone in Strictland?”
“Let me guess. Instant noodles and microwave food,” Cookie shook her head in disappointment when you pursed your lips guiltily. “Mom’s gonna have a stroke if she hears.”
“Shut up,” you muttered though your heart ached at the mention of your mother- two years of not knowing where her daughter was had really aged her. “And you’re laughing, Yunho. As if you’re one to say.”
“Still better than you,” he stuck out his tongue at you and before you could retort, you heard the door open.
“I’ve set everything, what’s taking so long?” San said, going to check on Wooyoung. “Now that looks good.”
“See?” Wooyoung turned to look at you. “Man’s got taste.”
“I think I was better off coding in my room, what say you, Cookie?” You turned to leave but Yunho grabbed your arm and swung you back to your spot, laughing along with Jongho. You noticed Cookie was too busy staring at San who was helping Wooyoung plate the last of the dishes now. You met Jongho’s eyes and you shook your heads- her crush on San was way too obvious. Yunho shook his head, amused, and you all decided to let her have her moment.
It had been about 3 months since the raid in Strictland and since then, you were working on wiping clean any signs of the Droid Project in the land. You, Yunho and Wooyoung had worked day and night for a whole month to turn the hundreds of droids back to normal and then it was the military’s job to get them back to where they belonged. Everyone had unanimously agreed that since you guys were the brains behind this, it was your decision if you wanted to keep the data or delete everything permanently. One look at Yunho and it was decided- you were going to burn everything related to the project. It had almost caused the world to lose its humanity. There should be no signs of it anymore.
Everyone who was a part of the Eden Droid Project was tried in court and imprisoned with heavy sentences of treason, especially those who had collaborated with people from other nations and risked their homeland’s security. These included everyone who willingly cooperated- testimonies were heard, yes, but they didn’t prove to be much valuable. All the military needed was a background check of their activities which attested to their willingness- people like you who had left the project in its early stages and suddenly found themselves back were let go of with non-disclosure agreements. Some were put on probation but it turned out good.
What surprised you was when you were called as a witness for Mr. Han’s testimony. He revealed that he had purposely not blocked your memories of Jongho so you would quickly realise what was going on and do something about this project. Since he had always been a part of this project, it was hard to believe that he had contributed to the downfall of this project but you had to agree- if it weren’t for him, things would have been much, much different. He got the lightest sentence among those who willingly participated in this project and he was grateful that you came on his behalf. You figured you couldn’t be mad at him for too long- he probably did what he did for his family too.
The Panel was sure to not let a whisper of this project out- everything was hushed and treaties were signed. You met with a few of the members who commended your efforts but you didn’t take any credit. You did what you had to. You only asked for one favour- to let you and your friends be. You were never going to play with the idea of droids again- this was enough. You were simply going to work on the last droid- CS- from ‘the headquarters’ which was Yunho and Wooyoung’s home. The Panel agreed- they knew better than to get on your wrong side. If the world came to hear about what happened in Strictland, the establishments would collapse.
As for San, your new friend… he was CS- the droid. The person you felt the most sorry for. The person you had apologised to at least a hundred times in a span of the past few months because it took you the longest to get his droid functions to hibernate, and once he became somewhat human?
You recalled the look in his eyes that absolutely shattered you- the look of guilt and horror. It was very messy at first, countless arguments as you tried to convince him that you were not a monster (but weren’t you? You created the droids, after all) and that you were so sorry for using him as a weapon and as a shield, and you were sorry for what he had to go through all this time. Sometimes, it looked like you two were getting along but then one night, you had your worst argument- screaming and yelling, tears and anger. Yunho and Wooyoung had been out and they chose the worst (arguable) timing to come back home- with Cookie and Jongho.
And how Cookie defended you. When she heard the yells, she stormed inside and hugged you and you sobbed into her chest while she sent daggers in the stranger’s direction. And then what she said afterwards was how you got here- to being a group of tightly knit friends.
“My sister has been used, manipulated, held hostage in a simulation and made to code you droids with the threat of her family hanging on her head. She went back to sacrifice herself and everyone including you if that meant the world could be a safer place for the rest of us, so don’t you dare call her a monster. If it weren’t for her, you would have been their first killing machine, do you understand? You should be thanking her for trying to save you- she’s still a fucking droid and refuses to feel tired or sleep until you can!”
“Cookie!” You scolded. “Language!”
“I’m almost 18 now, I’m not a kid anymore,” she glared at you and you felt that stab, having missed two of the most important years of her life. She went back to glaring at San who looked… starstruck? “She didn’t see her family and her boyfriend in 2 years because she was afraid she’d hurt us. Don’t you call her a monster ever again.”
Now? Now you smiled proudly whenever you thought of that night. After Cookie’s outburst, everyone was too surprised to say anything and it was Wooyoung who tried to cut the tension in the air by asking Cookie to take you to his room. Jongho stood gaping at the little kid he had practically raised, muttering, “I did not raise her like this but damn.” And he was right. The boys had a good laugh and San slept over it and realised he may have been acting like an idiot.
And that idiot was clearly very curious about Cookie, you realised when he opened his birthday present for her to reveal a lilac cardigan- Cookie had very casually pointed at someone’s cardigan in the street calling it cute. You did not expect San to be so observant.
“Oh, this is lovely,” Cookie ran a hand over the cardigan’s soft fabric. “The colour- I love it, San.”
“Stop shooting daggers at San,” Jongho, who was sitting next to you, whispered, poking your stomach and you swatted his hand away.
“I can’t help it,” you whispered back, eyes still locked in San’s direction. “He’s getting way too chummy with her lately. I don’t approve.”
“You literally told San you love him like, two days ago,” Jongho pointed out and you glared at him.
“That’s because he got me my favourite brownie when I had been working all night long,” you said as if that warranted your admission of love for him. “As a polite servant should. His master is losing sleep trying to get his droidy senses back to human.”
“This droid still possesses his super hearing,” San whispered just for you to hear- you possessed that too. “So maybe shut up.”
“Stop looking at Cookie like that and I’ll shut up,” you countered and Jongho laughed out loud, having put two and two together from what he heard you whisper to San. “Don’t make me activate the master-servant dynamics back.”
“Oh, stop that,” Cookie glared at the two of you and you both immediately pretended to be normal, smiling at her. “Please get along for once. It’s my birthday. Where’s your gift, sis?”
“Uhh,” you looked around, digging in your pocket, “Here.”
A finger-heart. Cookie groaned loudly and everyone laughed as you ran for your life when she got up from her chair. “It’s on the way!” You yelled. “I forgot to order it on time!”
“It better be good or else I’ll have San droid-handle you!”
You stopped running, coincidentally finding yourself behind San’s chair. “You wouldn’t. She wouldn’t, right?”
“Your wish is not my command but her wish,” San pointed at Cookie before looking at you with that smirk you wished to wipe off his face, “very well might be.”
“Oh, I’m going back to code,” you started and San laughed, grabbing your hand before you could go inside and apologising like a true gentleman (he was actually a gentleman, you found). Wooyoung complained that the food was going to get cold if you all kept joking around and you finally gave in, settling between San and Jongho and digging into the feast.
It was heartwarming to have all of them together like this, after everything that you went through. You had never felt more content in your life, and it showed, even though you hadn’t reached the finish line yet. You still had to turn San and yourself back to normal- you had been far too busy erasing all evidence of the Droid Project to worry about yourself. As for San, it was a sensitive line to tread on. You did not want to hasten it and he understood- he was just glad that his droid functions could be controlled at his will. He was content too, having reunited with his family and found another here.
Jongho noticed you smiling to yourself as you walked back home from the convenience store- you had gone to get more drinks but you also volunteered because you wanted to take Jongho along with you. You barely had alone time with him ever since you came back so you made most of the stolen moments.
“What’s going on in your head?” Jongho teased, elbowing you lightly.
“Nothing. I’m just happy,” you grinned. The simple truth- you were happy. “Wanna take a little break?” You pointed at the empty park with swings and Jongho led you inside, the two of you settling on the swings.
“How are your parents?” You asked Jongho. “Are they still confused about your disappearance?”
“They are, I mean… I told them I went to find you but you’re not back home yet. They wonder why sometimes.”
“When did you guys move?” You asked. “It’s a shame that we won’t be neighbours anymore.”
“I know,” Jongho sighed. “My grandmother was sick two years ago- they wanted to move closer so they could take better care of her. We still own that house so we haven’t ‘fully’ moved away’.”
“Oh, does that mean you can come by sometimes?” You asked but then you remembered. “You have college, though.”
“I could come stay there on the weekends if that means we can spend some time together,” he shrugged and you poked his thigh.
“Just like when your parents went on a trip and I would sneak out in the middle of the night so we could have sleepovers?”
“Good old times,” Jongho laughed. Now that you were getting a good look at him, you noticed how much he had changed in the years you had been gone. He was much broader now, the muscles peeking through his half-sleeve shirt more defined, and-
“You’re staring.”
“You got a haircut,” you said. “I like your hair a bit longer, I think.”
“I’m going to shave my head,” Jongho declared and you laughed loudly. Just like the old times. “This reminds me of the last time we were at a park. On the swings, just like this.”
While you had thanked Jongho for a lot of things ever since you came back- for taking care of Cookie while you were gone, for believing in you and not going out and beyond trying to find you, for making sure your parents knew you were safe wherever you were and this was something you needed to do, for not giving up when he got taken and turned into a droid, and for keeping you safe there… you were still struggling with words needed for an apology. Jongho told you time and time again that he didn’t need your apology, but that didn’t mean you felt less sorry.
“Do you consider it a bad memory?” You asked and Jongho shook his head.
“Never. I was a bit out of it when I learned that you were gone, but one night I came back to the park and recalled our conversation. I told you that you could trust me and you told me that you did. You assured me that you loved me and you knew that you weren’t alone-”
“Jongho-”
“Let me finish,” he smiled gently at you. “If you hadn’t told me all of that… I don’t know what I would have done. I was grateful that you had told me that. It meant that whatever you did was necessary.”
“God, how did I get so lucky?” You looked up at the sky, laughing to keep the sting in your eyes from getting worse. “I think I’ve used maximum luck. It can’t get any better than this.”
“Please,” Jongho smacked your arm, his ears going red and you giggled. Even after all these years, simple confessions like these made him fluster and it was the cutest thing. “I’m just telling you this so you can stop looking at me like you owe me a big fat apology. Not a good look at you, y/n. I like it better when you act like you’re the boss and can do whatever you want.”
“But I am sorry,” you told him and he looked pointedly at you but decided to accept it. Perhaps that would take the weight off your shoulders. “I should have told you more. That’s the only regret I had.”
“Oh, we’re fine anyway, aren’t we?” Jongho said. “We’re all back. Our gang has grown, Cookie is finally sharing drinks with you, we got a new friend-”
“Choi San,” you muttered. “I don’t know how you two get along so well. How all of you do. I think we’re still moments away from going full warrior-mode droid on each other.”
“Oh, that’s because you don’t like how chummy he and Cookie are,” Jongho laughed heartily. “Don’t let her find out. She’s gonna start rebelling.”
“Like, I know they can do whatever they want, I’m not against it at all. I’m probably wary because, well, I’m her sister. Of course I’m going to be. It’s just that… he looks at her the way you look at me. It’s unsettling.”
Jongho raised a brow. “Oh? And how do I look at you?”
“With those big eyes,” you grinned, and when his gaze got softer, you smacked his arm. “Stop!”
“Why?” Jongho pulled you closer, making you rock dangerously on the swing but he was quick to cage your legs between his so you wouldn’t fall over. “How do I look at you? Like I’m in love? Like you’re my everything?”
“You need a drink,” you told him, about to bend to pull one out of the grocery bag but Jongho grabbed your arm instead, making you look at him. “Stop, you’re making me shy!”
Jongho must have been in a dire need of drink because he wasn’t all for such romantic moments- but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a romantic. When he was in the mood, you often found it overwhelming simply because you couldn’t believe he could love you so much. He intertwined his hands with yours, caressing the scar on your wrist below which the chip was embedded. When he looked at you, your gaze was already stuck on his parted lips and he didn’t waste time drawing you in and meeting your lips in a heartfelt kiss. You let your arms travel around his neck mostly for support because you were still worried you would fall off the swing but Jongho had you secure, one hand on your waist and the other on your neck as he deepened the kiss.
It was perfect. It was quiet with only the sound of cicadas carried by the cool breeze, the faint sound of traffic almost dismissable. It was nostalgic and contained longing from all the time you spent apart, the time you lost and wished you could get back. But what made your heart content was that it was still the same. He was still the same, just like you had left him. He still kissed you like he couldn’t have been elsewhere. He still held you like he did the first time- with caution and care, making sure you felt safe. As you continued to kiss, he let go of that caution and let himself get comfortable too, the kiss turning passionate. It was only when you heard the sound of passersby- children- that you broke apart with a little laugh.
“Can we ditch going back to give them the drinks and continue?” You asked and Jongho laughed, kissing you for a few moments more before he let go with a sigh.
“You owe me two years worth of kisses,” Jongho said, getting up and helping you get up next. “You better make up for it.”
“Really?” You took him by surprise as you pulled him for another short kiss. “That’s one less for you now.”
“I’ll take another then,” Jongho kissed you back and when he drew apart, you two burst into a fit of giggles. “Let’s go back.”
The short walk back to the headquarters cut a few more kisses from what you owed him and when you set the drinks on the table, you found everyone looking pointedly at the two of you. “What?”
“What took you so long?” Yunho shook his head, opening the drinks and then pausing mid-air. “Actually… don’t answer that.”
“Oh?” San unintentionally quipped in, looking confused for a moment before he looked around and connected the dots. “Oh.”
“Ew,” Cookie said and everyone burst into laughter, making Jongho hide his face in a corner and you threw a packet of chips at Wooyoung who was laughing the loudest, who proved you wrong instantly by laughing even louder. You couldn’t help but join despite everyone ganging up to tease the two of you. You subconsciously touched your wrist, remembering that you were part droid right now but San caught that, sharing the sentiment-
That even though you were part droid, you had never felt more human. You had never felt more emotional, and perhaps, these moments that became a part of your subconscious had ultimately saved all of you. You made a silent prayer wishing everyone’s subconscious would be filled with such wholesome and happy moments. As long as you had this, you would be okay.
Elsewhere, at the outskirts of Strictland, a man dressed in all-black with a cap was standing anxiously waiting for someone. As soon as he saw a car approach, he clutched his briefcase tighter, worried his attempt at a negotiation would go wrong. The car halted a few feet away and a man in a suit accompanied by another of a much bigger stature drew closer.
“What have you got?”
“A few documents and one chip that I managed to hide before they found me,” the man adjusted his cap. “I have a trial scheduled this week so I thought I’d get this done.”
“And everything is here, in this briefcase?” the man in the suit asked and got a nod. He signalled . “Thank you. Your job here is done.”
Before the man could ask what was next, the one standing in the shadows pulled out a gun and shot that man in the forehead before he could blink. The man in the suit wiped his suit mockingly.
“Get rid of him, and make it quick. We’ve got work to do.”
#FINALLY.#jongho x reader#jongho angst#jongho fluff#choi jongho#choi jongho x reader#jongho#choi jongho fluff#choi jongho angst#ateez x reader#ateez scenarios#ateez imagines#ateez fluff#ateez angst#ateez au#ateez ff#ateez fanfic
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Second chances {6} | LN⁴
SMAU
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landonorris
liked by yourusername, danielricciardo and 852k others
landonorris: me and y/n have decided to get back together after our relationship was ruined by a certain someone. We’ve both talked about the situation and what we want in this new relationship and now we are both very very happy. (we’ve actually been together again for the past 2 months😛)
as you can see we have two new additions to our relationship. Meet Sugar and Spice (y/n picked the names, as you can tell.)
TAGGED: yourusername
yourusername: i love you, sugar and spice so much🥺❤️
↳ landonorris: i love you too ❤️
user1: STOP HE GOT HER THE CATS SHE WANTED AGES AGO😭😭😭😭😭
user2: this just screamed single in 56 languages to me😔
↳ user2: BUT I AM SO SO HAPPY THEYRE BACK TOGETHER
danielricciardo: where’s my thank you?
↳ oscarpiastri: and mine
↳ maxverstappen1: and mine.
↳ yourusername: i’ll let you all cuddle with sugar and spice as a thank you🥰
↳ danielricciardo: i’d prefer an actual gift please 🫶
↳ yourusername: you can get fucked please 🫶
user3: i called it guys
mclaren: our favourite couple🧡
↳ oscarpiastri: i’m right here
↳ mclaren: 🫣
carlossainz55: i won €50 for this, thank you🙏🏼
↳ landonorris: you BET on us🥲
↳ yourusername: yes but he WON lan
↳ landonorris: fair enough
—
yourusername
liked by landonorris, maxverstappen1 and 480k others
yourusername: forever glad i found you, thank you for making me feel every emotion under the sun (GOOD EMOTIONS.) In my LOVER era guys. I love you so so much 😭🫶
thank u for not paying someone to cheat on me 😻
TAGGED: landonorris
landonorris: i love you too…careful you might get sued for the last sentence baby🫣❤️
↳ yourusername: *giggles evilly* 😊❤️
danielricciardo: STOP😭😭
liked by yourusername
user1: OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT
user2: she called him OUT😭
user3: i’m BAFFLED. he actually paid that girl to KISS LANDO just so he could be with y/n✋✋
↳ user2: i mean the commitment was there😭😭
maxverstappen1: 😭😭
oscarpiastri: be careful y/n, don’t wanna get on his bad side😔
↳ user1: OSCAR PLEASE😭😭
↳ yourusername: 🧍♀️🤜🧍♂️
——————————
this is the end of Second chances AKA my Social Media AU of Lando! i hope you all enjoyed it !! i have a request page up on my account, it’s pinned, send in anything!! ❤️
taglist (people that wanted to be reminded!):
@zyonsay @kissesandmartinis @dark-night-sky-99
@thecubanator2 @sukisheadlights @inloveallthetime
previous | masterlist | request
#f1 imagine#f1 x reader#formula 1#imagine#formula one#lando norris#leclercvsc#charles leclerc#charles leclerc x reader#cl16#ln4 fluff#ln4 imagine#ln4 fic#ln4#ln4 x reader#ln4 x you#f1edit#f1 fic#f1 fanfic#f1 smau#f1#formula 1 smau#formula uno
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I want you to know I respect your opinion and at the end of the day you can do whatever you want on your own page, which I love all the art you do. Your White Diamond AU is so remarkable I've added it to my own headcanon idea of Steven meeting his alternate selves.
With that said, why are you responding to posts or asks that talk about blatant shattering of other gems? Real SU fans don't immediately go "death to the enemy." Real SU fans understand that SU is about love, acceptance, second chances, and pacifism. I'll admit, there have been more idiots in the fandom since the show's end, but in my humble opinion, it's best to not give any of them attention, even if they are annoying.
Sorry if I sound rude, I just didn't get responding to that one ANONYMOUS comment.
It's not rude at all! And it's a great question! One I understand the reasoning of.
But I have my own reasoning for doing the things I do.
Mainly, I think that while ignoring SOME behaviors is definitely good.... talking about OTHER behaviors actively is the fastest and healthiest way to immunize the greater community against them.
Let me explain.
I've been in this fandom a long time now, and I agree with you - there's a solid possibility, a real chance that whoever sent that message is just a passing non-fan who decided to be weirdly edgy in my inbox. No big deal. It happens.
But in my experience, the SU fandom is.... wide and varied. There are people of all ages, and many opinions. It would be easier, of course, if the only 'true fans' were those who perfectly understood the show's themes. But to me, that veers dangerously close to a No True Scotsman type of thinking. The reality is that many different people watch SU. And while many of them do inherently agree with the message and understand the nuance, many more just watch the show because... they like the surface level graphics and cool fights and interesting worldbuilding. In fact, many of the show's fans are edgy teens (sorry edgy teens) who are in a life-stage where violence and being strong and cool and decisive in a morally black and white manner is the only way they can possibly imagine solving any problem. And... that's kinda the opposite of what SU teaches! But that's also the point. SU teaches those things on purpose.
And yeah, I can absolutely just ignore this part of the population. But ignoring a behavior does not actually make it go away 100% of the time. If a child in a supermarket comes up to you and starts smacking you with a wooden spoon from Aisle 4, then... sure... you can ignore them and see if their parent comes to get them, or they go away, especially if it's a very small child and they're not hurting you a lot.
But that's not the only option. You can ALSO opt to teach them - and any other spoon-wielding children watching - what COULD happen if they are crude or cruel to a stranger in public. Namely, you can snap 'stop it' and at the very least glare at that child. This is a lesson that will arguably teach them more about the interaction than a complete lack of reaction would.
Now, I'm not saying people who send me asks are all children and I'm doling out some moral lessons here. This is just a metaphor.
I'm simply a person in a social space (tumblr) who is driving my own blog. And while I DO ignore a very large part of cruel/rude asks I get (trust me, I do ignore many!) I sometimes also just post a reply to show what ELSE could happen if you say a borderline silly and arguably tonally inappropriate ask to a person. You could get replied to! In a sarcastic or snappy manner!
And maybe - just maybe - the other people reading my blog can learn something from the experience, and think 'ah, so doing it like THAT will maybe make people kinda annoyed, now I know and will not do that'.
I cannot deny that overall I agree with you, though. I don't think that these types of messages deserve attention on the regular. But I'd hope that my replies to these things are not really... regular. I ignore probably... 80% of these sort of things? I guess maybe it just feels like a lot less, since, well. The public ones are 100% of the ones you get to see!
#chekhov answers#it is a scientifically proven fact that people learn not only by experiencing things directly#but also by watching things happen to others#idk you could disagree with me#i try to space out the weird asks with the nicer ones and the lore ones#but no matter what i do no one is 100% satisfied#that's life i guess!
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💜🦇 Welcome to Roe's Eddie Munson's Masterlist 🦇💜
Be mindful that all of my fics are +18
Fluff : ❤ - Smut: 🌶 - Dark: ⛓ || complete: ✓ - Writing: ✎
Series:
Make me Better | ❤ - 🌶 - ✓: Bully!Reader, Enemies to Lovers, Angst, Love Triangle || wattpad and ao3
Do I Wanna Know? | ❤ - 🌶 - ✓: Stripper!Eddie, Shy!Reader, Romance, Pining, Angst
Baring Teeth | ❤ - 🌶 - ✎: Non-Traditional Omegaverse, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Angst
One Shots and Requests:
Second Chance at Cupid | ❤ - ✓: Cupid!Eddie, Romance, Pining, Angst, Soulmates -> R: Eddie's Past
Hooked On You | ❤ - ✓: Captain Hook!Eddie, Peter Pan AU, Much Angst, Romance, Soulmates -> R: After Story
Bunny, Bunny, Bunny | 🌶 - ⛓ - ✓: Mafia!Eddie, Chasing, Wicked Romance sort of, creepy aura, explicit
Scent | ❤ - ✓: Angst, Alpha!Eddie Munson, hurt/comfort, mean!eddie
Toot Toot | ❤ - ✓: fluff, established relationship, eddie being supportive
Cosplay for me | ❤ - ✓: possible smutty part 2, eddie gets fixated, cosplayer!reader
Don't leave me | ⛓ - ✓: dark fic, gore, murder, pining, plot twist
Misbehaved | 🌶 - ⛓ - ✓: dark fic, krampus!eddie, virgin!reader
Please, Trust Me | ❤ - ✓: read warnings, angst, fluff, su*icide topics
The Boy is Mine | ❤ - ✓: fluff, pregnant!reader, lovely prompt
Fated | 🌶 - ❤ - ✓: omega!eddie, alpha!reader, enemies to lovers, scent mates
Standing on tiptoes as a third talent | ❤ - ✓: tall!reader, fluff, some bullying, badass reader
Back to Main Page
Eddie's gifs credit to their respective creators, banner made by me.
#Roe's Eddie's Masterlist#eddie munson#eddie munson x reader#eddie munson fanfic#stranger things#eddie munson fics#eddie munson fanfiction#fanfiction#eddie munson x y/n#my masterlist
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OK SO IM LATE BUT. MORE SUB3 NEWS!!!
so a few days ago, krafton (their publisher), apparently had this like presentation of their plans over the next like 2 years. and during that they talked a bit about sub 3!
and this obviously creates a LOT of questions. not to worry, though, because unknown worlds added on to this:
im honestly not surprised by this. iirc, when below zero released they said it would be a WHILE before the next game, and they only announced this back in like... january? now, the first game's release was in january, and bz was in may, so it's definitely possible early access with be in spring of 2025. those games did not have multiplayer aspections tho! its possible we'll wait until mid 2025, and full release will likely not be until 2026. but who knows? the first game took like ten to be fully finished!!
and honestly. THANK GOD. i can't imagine any subnautica game having BATTLE PASSES or LOOT BOXES. i would have just straight up ignored this game 😭
i do wonder what these updates will entail! "many years to come" is definitely something interesting to me, because other than bug fixes... i dont remember sub or bz getting many updates post full release. is this referring to bug fixes, or is it implying that it will be in a state of early access for much longer? are they going to just keep adding new things (like the building update for sub1) and taking fandom suggestions? very interested!!
maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but i actually,,,, dont want multiplayer. now i do like bz, and these games arent really intended to be horror games, but also bz is very noticeablely less scary than sub1. and some of it i think definitely has to do with all the extra characters and dialogue. its hard to feel isolated when you know al-an and marg are nearby. so im very happy that it's optional, bc i know i will probably enjoy single player a lot more enjoyable!!
so now... SPECULATION.
so the first thing im curious about that the development team didnt mention:
"uncover the mysteries on an entirely new alien planet"
apprently we are NOT returning to 4546b. which im kind of sad about!! ik the story is very obviously done there, but it feels weird that its going to be some other planet this time around. THERE WONT BE PEEPERS!!!! (well there could be but it would be weird if some other random planet had the exact same lifeforms)
now my next immediate thought is: is this a direct continuation of below zero? my opinion is: no. probably not.
mostly because it mentions up to four players, and robin and alan are, if you look very closely, only two people. now they COULD just create two new characters to go alongside them (my fanfic brain loves the au idea of marg and ryley 🥺) but im just going to assume that with the addition of a new planet, we're going to drop the old storylines. which means no more degasi, sunbeam, aurora, or ayou sisters. we might move away from architects/precursors altogether! (my basis on this is absolutely nothing and i could be wrong, this is 100% just theorizing)
also, i imagine that it would be difficult to keep the plot the exact same with two established characters and then two new ones, depending on how this multiplayer aspect works. if its another crash, it would be a lot easier to just have the extra players die/survive, then try to work in a balancing act of one guy playing al-an.
(also i like keeping the ending of bz vauge. if they show up again, they would have to mention what happened to the rest of the architects, and i think it's much more fun if thats a mystery!)
((also also, im gonna drop a bomb on u all for a second. i actually,,, dont like al-an. i have a deeper connection to probably every single other character in bz. i think they really fumbled al's character and story and he is so incredibly bland to me. it feels like they go nowhere with how he was responsible for the kharra outbreak because the game ends immediately after he confesses! it would be nice to give him another chance, sure, but i personally dread the idea of even more al-an. sorry everyone for this horrible news))
HERE'S A CONCEPT IMAGE
i hope they bring back some cut content creatures for this!! i noticed this new area looks VERY similar to the safe shallows, and several of the fish seem to be variations of ones we've already seen (im already seeing bladderfish and hoopfish color pallettes, and the shark resmbles some early concept art for the shadow leviathan, but with the ice worm's colors...)
will there be more land areas?? is it going to entirely underwater?? more kharra?? NO DISEASE AT ALL?? AAAAAA!!!!
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Queen Lucinda Edevane
Pretends my Discord ramblings make any sense and throws one of my OCs at you. LORE dump below:
Sort of a brief preface but imagine my universe is Avatar the Last Airbender if every Nation had an Avatar of Each Element. And there are no non-benders! Everyone can use some degree of said magic. And that they needed all said Avatars to work together to defeat the ultimate Evil Entity, because doing it alone/without Avatar powers have proved to be impossible for centuries. If anyone has played FFX it's very much the same concept of "there is a recurring darkness that we are stuck in a perpetual cycle trying to defeat bc the main characters haven't arrived yet" ---
So there are Avatars of Five Elements for my universe: Lighting/Storm(kinda broad but imagine like,,airbending/lightning bending combined) Water/Ice/Sea (Any liquid tbh) Earth/Nature (stone/earth/leaves/plants), Lunar (magic moonbeams babyyy), Solar (cast fireball) < -- the missing element is Solar, and it's been gone for hundreds of years, never choosing an 'Avatar' (ive been calling them 'Arbiters') and nobody knows where the source of the Element is to try and 'persuade' it to choose another "Host" (Enter Samantha Sinclair, but that's another part of the story)
SO ALL THAT SAID:
HERE is one of my Deuteragonists MOMS. She's part of the LONG line of magic users whose bloodline has always been chosen by the source of Lunar Magic. RE: There's always been a rich royal Lunar Magic 'Arbiter', for generations. It seems to be 'passed down' the line. Maybe they have a whole 'Choosing Ritual' (even tho that's not how the magic works, rich people be silly and privelaged).
So she is in what is the Royal Family of this world. While all the elemental nations have their own leadership, the Lunar Kingdom/Nation/Etc has the most powerful magic/and the family kind of rules everyone because of that. Targaryens vs other Houses ala Game of Thrones.
When she is young, Lucinda (that's her name) <- is SECOND in line to inherit the throne, should her brother (who is the Arbiter of Lunar magic at that time) die. WELL, turns out he does, meaning the Lunar Kingdom loses both it's Arbiter and it's heir in one fell swoop to a bad battle with the Ambiguous Evil Forces I haven't come up with yet.
So OOPS she's suddenly saddled with responsibility she wasn't supposed to have, which is in this world less of a "ok you're queen now go produce a male heir" and more of a "oh you're queen now, and ALSO you better make sure this Arbiter nonsense stays in our bloodline".
So that kinda sucks for her -- her consolation prize is being allowed to marry the captain of her Kingsgaurd (straight bodygaurd AU ooooOOOoo) the only problem is---he's a weak ass magic user. So her family is a little sus that any kids they have would have a chance to be chosen as the next Arbiter. But she INSISTS, it's the one good choice she gets to make for herself bc oops she happens to genuinely love this guy
Anyway their first kid (Elias) ISSSSSSSSSSS --- not chosen. Firstborn, next in line, not the Arbiter. Very embarrassing for everyone involved. So kid number two, one of my deuteragonists, Lucy -- is more of a 'necessity', rather than a 'want' from her parents. And it shows in the strain in their relationship.
Lucinda (Mom) (Lucille, 'Lucy' is literally named to echo her ) regrets her own choice to marry for love because she feels like she fucked up - she also resents having to take on that responsibility in the first place, so her attitude toward Lucy (who luckily WAS chosen as the Lunar Arbiter) is very "I fucked up hard so you better not blow this for us ---"
anyway. Here she is looking grumpy. the end.
#if you read any of this thank you!! ;;#oc#original character#original character art#i am working bare bones here#would be fun to make this inkling of an idea a web comic someday#when i get it fleshed out#lucinda edevane#oc universe#my art#lore dump
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Ahem ahem Feel free to delete if it's forbidden to do this. I swear making you add a rule against this isn't my aim imma just a tinny bit worry that I won't have the chance to ask a continuation for this ask before a long time. But I understand if you don't want this to set a precedent. I wish to continue the player is a Disney princess ask but with different boys this time.
Could I ask how would Malleus/Kalim/Azul react to a player that is the definition of a Disney princess ? Animals flocks to them, they sing and dance, they're sickeningly sweet, pure and naive, and to top it off they're Neige level of beautiful and charming. The whole Disney protagonist™ package, of which everyone know that they should be in RSA.
Self-aware au
I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from
WARNINGS: Yandere themes, kidnapping, manipulation, religion, unhealthy relationship, hints at war, poison, overall just toxic relationships
Azul Ashengrotto/Kalim Al-Asim/Malleus Draconia-Player is the definition of a Disney princess
First of all, it's bad for his business
Imagine, all kinds of animals in a place that serves food (and I am not talking about beast men)
Not exactly hygienic...
But outside of that?
Sign him up!
You are just so easy to *cough* manipulate *cough* protect
You really are the ideal target for his manipulation
And worst of all?
He doesn’t even realize what he is doing
The second you seem to distance yourself he a internally panicking and asking you “if his company is so unbearable”
And thanks to you being so naive you don't snap at him but rather think that he is nothing else but hurt
Yeah, he is hurt... you “monster”
And don't even get me started about how things go once he witnesses the encouraging side of every single typical “goody two shoes Disney protagonist”
Oh boy, you are stuck
And if he can't manipulate because this has gone on for so long that this has become normal for you and you don't even realize it anymore that something is wrong?
Well it seems like he needs to roll up his sleeves and get to work like the sea witch did
Tho is a world with Alchemy and you can't tell me the judges over there don't have regularly cases in which a family sued someone because their member is the victim of a love potion
I would like to say that we now have two cinnamon rolls but no, we only have one
And it's not the one who is rich... I can already see the luxurious imprisonment...
Ok but there you are, putting some animal which was just walking in the parade he just held (Jamil is about to cry because of the work in that corner over there)
That was when it was even more over for you
Of course everyone knew that the kind Overseer was going to their school but actually meeting them was another thing
But there you are, right under his nose
Oh dear Overseer, how radiant you are!
It is as if he is someone lost in the desert and you are the Oasis he is seeing in the horizon
Yeah, he whipped for you
But that also means you need protection!
As much as wholesome Kalim usual is, he has experienced attempted assassination even from his closest family members so... at least we can somewhat see where he is coming from
Suddenly Jamil isn't only preparing food for the heir of the Scalding Sands but also for someone who is considered holy in some places
(Believe me when I tell you, his hands were shaking when he was putting the salt into the food)
And whoopsy, seems like he has prepared a room too much, do you want to stay
Yeah... you aren't leaving that room is all I can say
But hey, you are probably one of the safest people in their world... at least until the Valley of Thorns hears of this...
Are you seriously asking? Of course this would end in a tragedy (at least for you)
Ok, what do we have? Oh? A dragon and oh? Literally Aurora 2.0??!
Ok so, the first time you two met he would have probably thought that you are Silvers sibling or something by that by seeing that the whole forest is following you
But nah, he is literally in a religion that is about you so that was until you turned around and he saw your face
Cue one of the few times his chin hit the floor
He probably also accidentally slipped out his tail
But ok, you just made the literally fifth most powerful person in this world "a bit too interested" in you, so what?
I'm telling you “so what”, you, my dear friend, are about to be treated in a very luxurious manner
In other words, one kingdom, one room, a ton of followers who are capable of living very long
Nope, no way out, only one way in
But of course you wouldn't just run away from those hopeful eyes, staring with excitement up to you without blinking
Even if you had enough one day and couldn't take it anymore you wouldn't be able to escape
Malleus made sure himself that you can't escape him no matter what
You know that voiceline which says “easier than spinning threat”? He about to repeat what his ancestor did
At least his tail is nice to pet... cool and smooth
But yeah, prepare to sleep a looooong time
#yandere twisted wonderland#yandere twst#yandere twisted wonderland x reader#yandere twst x reader#twisted wonderland x reader#twisted wonderland#twst#twst x reader#yandere azul#yandere azul x reader#yandere azul ashengrotto#azul x reader#twst azul#yandere kalim x reader#yandere kalim al asim x reader#yandere kalim al asim#kalim al asim x reader#twisted wonderland kalim#twsited wonderland azul#twst kalim#malleus x reader#yandere malleus x reader#yandere malleus draconia#yandere malleus#twst malleus#tw: yandere#tw: kidnapping#tw: manipulation#tw: religion#tw: unhealthy relationship
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Hi! I've been thinking! So this is a "Moon is Just Like That" au where the virus is never really a problem, but it's not that he doesn't have a reason to be like that.
So point is: Moon acts terrible. He's been treating everybody he loves like SHIT and Sun especially has taken a toll from this. Moon is acting out and endangering people and Fazbear Entertainment is finally like "god stop giving us more reasons to be sued" and puts an end to it by powering Moon off, of which Moon was fully aware of, and accepted that this would be his end. Except... It wasn't. One day he just... Wakes up in a completely new area, completely overwhelmed, and countless years into the future. He was given a second chance to be kinder.
But he doesn't just magically change of course. He's still a huge douchebag because, for him, no time has passed. Until Y/N meets him on the street and decides "huh... you're a troubled little fella. you're mine now!" and suddenly he's being dragged around by an oblivious ball of sunshine who decides that Moon is the BEST person in the world. A real "He's friendly I promise. He won't bite" but he DEFINITELY do bite kinda situation.
The state of Sun is up to your interpretation. Whether he be dormant code, a completely separate (and decommissioned) animatronic, etc. Maybe Moon could have a second chance with Sun if the universe is kind enough. >:)
ㅤ
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The band au
(Song - Hard to say goodbye by Ronde)
"Annabel, she won't come."
Prospero has been saying it the whole time Annabel Lee was peeking through the curtain nervously twirling little flower ring on her finger.
"You told the thugs where her best friend is when you were only reconciled for a week. It's not like Lenore will forgive and forget. Stop it and try to concentrate on the song".
He doesn't understand. She and Lenore are inseparable. This little thing won't come between them, right? Surely, Lenore will realize that Annabel was trying to protect her. Surely. Su-re-ly.
If not for the makeup Annabel would cry her eyes out already. Yes, she messed up. She didn't take into the account that Lenore would be upset because of her new 'friends'.
And now everything is ruined once again. She really thought that Lenore would come by even after their fight. Annabel spent many nights polishing the lyrics and music, trying to pour all her feelings into this chance.
She lost Lenore once again. Like all those years ago, when she threw hurtful words right at the Lenore's pale face.
"You are right, dearest", she answered after just a second too long. Prospero nodded, going past Montressor and Ada who were having their tongues inside each other throats.
They heard crowd cheering and there was just a couple of seconds to return to their positions. Annabel put alluring smile on her face, not feeling it in the slightest.
She didn't even register words she was saying, laughing and winking at the crowd. And when the first notes of the song played, she found herself reminiscing her past with Lenore, trying to overlook dull pain in her chest.
Here we are six years later
I don't know what we're trying to find, to find
We've been dancing with strangers
Could it be we've been wasting our time, our time?
When they met after six years Lenore was cold and reluctant, not even knowing that Annabel hasn't stopped following her every move not even for a moment.
Even when much younger Annabel thought that Lenore was being stupid and arogant and stupid by asking Annabel to stand up to her father and run away without a plan because of love and freedom and everything else.
Even when Lenore looked so happy on the scene with her 'new friends' which left Annabel hurting and betrayed and "you promised I'm the only one whose side you want to stand by".
And definitely not when she finally understood that her sweet naive Lenore thought that Annabel's status of 'princess' was more important than love. And not that Annabel just didn't want to wander without a plan and goal and starve to death in the small van.
Every night I lay in bed
Wish I was with you instead
I can hear you in my sleep
If only we had one more day
Wake up and we'd be okay
I still see you in my dreams
They went to bed at opposite sides of bed after their fight. They locked the door of Annabel's room as usual, so that her father won't catch them in the morning.
And then Annabel woke up alone, cold and shivering without Lenore by her side. Without even a chance to explain that she didn't undermined the suffering Lenore was going through everyday at home. She just needed a little bit more time.
It's hard to say goodbye
Oh, I tried couple million times
Missed a million signs
Oh, yeah, yeah
In these early days, Annabel did try to forget about Lenore. Tried to convince yourself that she's a traitor, that the one who abandoned her didn't deserve forgiveness. That she didn't love her.
But perhaps she should've understand that it's not going to work, when she lovingly traced Lenore's face in their photos.
Something about you made me try
And I don't know why
Oh I don't know why
It's hard to say goodbye
Annabel really tried to become a better person, as to deserve Lenore, who was only real thing in her life. But her 'better person' and Lenore's just wasn't a same thing.
When we talk, days are fading
Annabel gasped in the microphone without any restraint when behind her familiar raspy voice sang the first line. She clung on the stand feeling light-headed.
I don't know what you're saying
My love, my love
Annabel felt like crying despite all the makeup. Hearing her favorite voice in the world calling her 'love' once again, was so right but still so painful.
These words Lenore said to her when she learned that it was Annabel who told collectors where the Duke is. Even if they planned to ambush Lenore to find out.
Yeah, I know times are changing
When I leave, I'm still staying
Two hearts, so lost
Annabel heard Lenore coming closer, but still couldn't find it in herself to look at her. It was her words, the ones she wanted to say to her love, but hearing it from Lenore made her think of many possibilities.
Does she mean she forgave her? Does it mean she still loved her?
Every night I lay in bed
Wish I was with you instead
I can hear you in my sleep
Hand carefully lowered on her waist and Annabel found herself instinctively leaning into the body behind. Really, even if she wanted to pull away (which is absurd) she would still be drawn to that warmth.
It's hard to say goodbye
Oh, I tried couple million times
Missed a million signs
Oh, yeah, yeah
Annabel heard a little laugh in her voice, which sounded a little sad and helpless. Annabel finally turned her head, looking at her life's only love. Lenore was softly smiling, even if her eyes was still filled with pain.
Something about you made me try
And I don't know why
Oh I don't know why
It's hard to say goodbye
There was Duke and Pluto behind the curtain, shaking their heads with smirks, ignoring Montressor's scowl. Prospero looked a bit surprised, but in the end he just shrugged with small nod.
But it was nothing when she and Lenore started the last bridge and chorus side by side, looking deep into each other's eyes.
It's hard to say goodbye
Oh I tried couple million times
Missed a million signs
Oh, yeah, yeah
But something about you made me try
And I don't know why
Oh, I don't know why
It's hard to say goodbye
Their fans went wild. Their theories about two leading singers finally confirmed.
And Annabel and Lenore didn't even moved an inch, still just a little too close, air between them just a little too hot, breath just a little too hard.
"I am still mad at you", Lenore said lowering her head just a bit.
"Of course", Annabel answered, draging her all the way down by the lapels of her jacket to kiss her right on the scene, surrounded by the flickering light and thunderous applause.
#what if i dreamt#the band au#go listen to this song#it's perfect#not exactly what i would do for the animatic#but if this is only way then so be it#nevermore webtoon#annabel lee nevermore#lenore nevermore#annabel x lenore#white raven
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Ivy’s deathwish in Dead Beauty AU. The chapter needs to continue, but, yeah. Posting what I’ve got now.
Ivy sits still (too still) with her head laid on top of Claudine’s and the smoke curls around them.
She doesn’t breathe it in, not for several long seconds, not until her lungs decide to cooperate again; then she breathes it in, coughing immediately after.
How embarrassing this is, Ivy de Vil choking on smoke.
„You okay?“ Claudine has the damn audacity to pull away and ask that.
Are you okay?
Did the Hell freeze over?
Did mould jeans actually go back into fashion again?
„Obviously,“ Ivy says, turning her nose up and drawing Claudine close again, before her muscles inevitably lock up, „Never been better.“
„Just checking, you know, with all the alcohol and poison,“ Claudine breathes more smoke into the air and Ivy would love to answer, she really would–
Would she though?
When she can move again, she just slowly stretches out her hand and fingers, watching the light dance on her red nails: She’s got a new manicure, got it done just yesterday. It’s flawless now, bringing her comfort.
She decides she’s fine now, can push herself for a bit more time before she gets the antidote.
Even if she isn’t actually sure how much strychnine she has had, how much time it was since, what with Harry Hook being such a distraction–
It’s his turn now, and she hopes he will come up with something fun.
She also feels like she should tell her youngest cousin what’s going on – right after she yells at him for coming back, and for coming back and not telling her immediately, not necessarily in that order, and, yeah. For that, he can wait a bit.
If he wanted to know, he should have just come to see her.
Ivy steals Claudine’s cigarette to drag a breath from it while her body isn’t being a joy-killing bitch, and here, fuck that–
Claudine has to forcibly take the lit cigarette from her locked up fingers, lest the hot embers fall down her cleavage, and oh no what a shame would that be–
„I wasn’t done with that yet,“ Ivy complains as soon as she can move again, ignoring the way Claudine lifts her eyebrow at her, the way her lips curl.
„Weren’t done with that, I’m sure–“
„Hey,“ Diego, that poor excuse of a cousin, so very rudely interrupts them, „What’s up?“
Ivy is unsure whom she should try to kill with her glare first, as Claudine answers that oh, yeah, don’t worry, she’s just, y’know, actively dying, and all that.
Ivy will have you know she has it completely and utterly under control, thank you very much.
„Harry Hook was there,“ she tells him, „We played Russian Roulette.“
„Of fucking course it was a Hook–“ he mutters, as if he didn’t sleep with the Beauty’s Captain any chance he gets, fucking hypocrite, and, „Did you win or lose?“
Ivy turns her nose up: „Yes,“ she informs him.
„Stupid bitch.“
She tries to show him the middle finger, but just manages to lock herself in a spasm again, damn it–
„Claudine, go get her the antidote – Auntie’s sleeping pills, she’s keeping them in her bedside table, second drawer,“ he commands, as if he had any fucking right to order around her Claudine–
„Fuck you, Diego,“ she spits out as soon as she can, „Fuck you.“
Then she turns to Claudine, quickly getting her tone under control, speaking sweeter and angling herself just so: „Could you go get it, sweetheart? She moved it to the first drawer.“
It is probably getting just a bit too late, she supposes.
„…Fine,“ sighs out Claudine, „For you.“
She gets up and extinguishes the cigarette on an ashtray and Ivy mourns the loss almost immediately.
She chooses to glare at Diego, what with his annoying insistence on not dying and stuff.
Claudine walks round Diego, who leans on the doorframe with his hands crossed, and as soon as she’s out of earshot, he asks: „Really? Hook? And Frollo – why are you still so hung up on her, anyway?“
Ivy chooses to not-hear the second answer, and instead spits out: „Oh, so this is how it is?! When you sleep with a Hook, it’s okay, but if I do it, I’m suicidal and danger to myself?!“
„Yes! Ivy, they are dangerous, and fuck, look at yourself–“
She manages to throw the glass at him before she spasms again – he dodges, that fucker, and comes help her into a safer position.
Gods, sometimes she really hates him.
„Look at yourself too,“ she says when she can breathe again, ignoring the way her hands can’t seem to stop shaking, and the way Diego takes them into his, „Your throat is still bruised, and how long was it? A week?“
„Two.“
„You looked like she tried to rip out your throat with her teeth.“
He smirks, that bastard; „Pretty sure she did try that, yeah–“
And that’s how Claudine finds them, laughing because there is nothing else to do, because they are just two lost cases anyway, because the de Vils have reached Hell and yet they keep on sinking.
And yet, Ivy lets Claudine force–feed her the pill.
#disney descendants#claudine frollo#ivy de vil#diego de vil#dead beauty au#poisoning#substance abuse
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⊱𝙵𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚅𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝙰𝚞⊰
This is technically an x reader fic but it’s character x character. It’s a poly first year(Ace Deuce Jack Epel Sebek) with gn!mc. This is only an introduction to the AU and stuff.
I’m going to try to post part one later in the following week but please understand that I have other things to do other than this AU and tumblr.
Anyways enjoy<3
Next part
Word count:1.1k
Warning⚠️: talk of murder, mention of blood, slight mention of su!c!de
Vampires, creatures of the night. They’ve lived among humans for centuries, and will continue to do for many to come. They stalk the night, hunting their pray, toying with their victims. Thousands, maybe even millions, have fallen for their trap. But there still are people fighting to stop these monsters. A secret society dedicated to keeping the public safe and in ignorance bliss. The vampire hunters. They appeared a little after vampires did and have been saving humans ever since, mostly saving them from a bloody demise. The hunters take pride in ending vampires lives. They have orders to kill any and all vampires they come across, even if it had been a loved one. And in the off chance the hunter turns into a blood thirsty monster, well, the rule still stands.
Now let me introduce to you the VHA. First let’s start with the name. If you’ve read this far then you can guess that VHA means Vampire Hunter Agency. But to anyone else this would be the Van Hugo Agency, named after the man who started it all. He was a famous hunter known for his many names, Van Hugo being a fake one, and his many many successful hunts, and even ending two vampire lines with over 300 vampires in each. There are three divisions in the agency, each led by a very well known and successful vampire hunter.
The first being the training and mission devision, led by Riddle Rosehearts. The devision handles training the new comers in defense, offense, spotting(spotting vampires from a distance), and everything else. Along side that they also are in charge of sending out people on missions, while the other devisions can send people on missions, everyone has to get the green light from Riddle and if he’s not there then from his second in command, Trey Clover.
The second devision deals in rescue missions ambushes and anything medical, led by Kalim Al-Asim. Even though Riddle handles all missions, Kalim has the responsibility of sending people on rescue missions and ambushing vampires. They make sure the victims are doing well, most times erasing they erase the victims memories of the whole thing. They also make traps for vampires that are particularly difficult to hunt. Last thing they are responsible for is medical problems.
The last one is the Gear and Information devision. This devision, lead by Idia Shroud, handles making gear and weapons, and getting various information that might help the agency and/or on missions. Weapons, technology, traps, etc is made by them, and is okeyed by Idia, or if he’s not around his right hand Ortho Shroud. They investigate situations that might have vampires involved, track sightings of them, find more ways to deal with them and much more.
Now, let’s start the story, shall we?
Loud foot steps could be heard through the forest. Panting could be heard along side the crunching sound of leaves being stepped on. Wind flew past dark hair of the running man. The air was filled with the acidy smell of blood. A shadow stalked behind, hunting down its prey. ‘It’s getting closer! I need to hide’ was repeatedly playing in the males head like a melody on broken record. He was hurt, bleeding from multiple injuries, and was beginning to see black in his vision.
He took a sharp corner, going deeper in the dark quiet forest. He glanced behind him, seeing only the silhouette of that, that monster. It was like nothing he’s ever laid eyes on. Not in training, not while studying, not even on the field. This was different. This wasn’t a vampire. Whatever it was, he didn’t know. What he did know is that he needed to get away from that thing and report back to HQ.
A building came into view all of a sudden. It was huge from what he could tell from this distance, hidden by the forest. And it was his best bet for finding shelter for the time being. So he ran to the building, a mansion from what he could tell. Soon he was running on a stone path. He didn’t have time to admire the gorgeous garden he was running through, too focused on reaching the large wooden door.
He leaped up some stairs and started pushing the door, putting all his body weight into opening it. The door started to open little by little, and soon the male found himself falling on the wooden floor before quickly getting up and slamming the door shut. A loud bang was heard against the door as soon as it was closed, causing the male to flinch away from in, frightened by the thought of the monster getting in.
He panted as he retreated from the door, falling in front of a couch with a yelp. He sat there for a couple of seconds, breathing. Now that he wasn’t running he could finally breathe, and that clouded his vision with black spots even more. He sighed and threw his head on the soft cushion of the couch ‘just, a quick nap’ he reassured himself before the darkness fully consumed his vision.
Three figures walked into the entry hall of the mansion. Each wearing something that was a mix of Victorian style and dark academia. They stood in front of the unconscious male on their floor in confusion. “Well, what do we have here?” Asked one of the three figures, the second tallest one. “A human from the looks of it!” Scoffed the second, annoyance lacing his voice. “He’s bleeding” said the last as he kneeled to the males side.
“Ace go get the first aid kit” the first one, now known as Ace, rolled his eyes but did as he was told “Sebek help me get him into a spare room” “What! Why are we helping some human?!” The male, Sebek, exclaimed angrily “Just leave him to bleed out Epel! Who cares if some human bleed-“ he was cut off by the last male, Epel, kicking his leg, causing him to fall down. “Stop being such a bitch and help me with him, or so help me Sebek Zigvolt not even your ma’ will recognize ya!” Epel yelled.
With a roll of his eyes, Sebek got up and picked up the bleeding male from the ground. The two started walked away from the area, up the stairs, and into some hall. Ace followed being when he retrieved the first aid kit, watching the two in front of him bicker. But he couldn’t care less.
There were three questions swirling around in his head. One, how did he find them? The mansion was very well hidden. No one had managed to find it in centuries. The only reason he, himself managed to find it was because of his help. The second, how did this guy manage to get this hurt? Nothing around this area could do damage like this, mostly birds and other small woodland creatures lived in these woods. Lastly
Why did he look so familiar?
Finally finished this. I hope you enjoyed the introduction of this AU, I have so much planned! And as I mentioned before this IS poly first year fic x gn reader^^ if you have any questions about this AU or any suggestions on what might happen or how some characters might act in your opinion please don’t be afraid to go to my in box I enjoy hearing people’s opinions!
If you want to be tagged in this AU or any of my work please do tell me either by commenting rebloging or just messaging me!!
comments are more than appreciated. but reblogs help the content reach more people so please reblog if you want to like<3 likes do nothing. Seriously, don’t like reblog.
Tag list 🏷️: @ceruleancattail
#twisted wonderland#twst#❦cece#twisted wonderland x reader#deuce spade#ace trappola#sebek zigvolt#epel felmier#twst vampire au
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i've seen a lot of AUs messing around with what happened between Billy and Steve at the end of s2, like, what if Billy had seen the demodog, what if they made out instead of beat the shit out of each other, what if Steve hadn't lied about Max, etc. etc.
and i mean, it's not like i've read every harringrove fanfic so maybe this has actually been written before, but it just occurred to me that i've never seen someone explore what might have happened if Billy had just showed up at the Byers' like twenty minutes earlier. before everyone else left.
i just think it would be interesting because Billy has a habit of keeping his attitude mostly in check around adults, and the fact that one of those adults is a cop might keep him even more in check, so the chances of him getting violent would be much lower. but despite him being less likely to lose his shit, there's also NO chance he'd actually listen if he was told to leave without Max. and i doubt Max would be cool with leaving, no matter how angry she knows Billy is getting (maybe in part BECAUSE she knows he's already pissed, the last thing she wants is to get into a car with him right now).
the whole thing would be SO sus, because everyone would be trying to stop him from going inside but he can see Max and her friends peeking through a broken window while the goddamn chief of police tries to run interference without actually telling him anything. he'd be so stubborn about the whole thing. pretending to be polite, but not blinking an eye when Hop starts implying he's going to arrest Billy for trespassing if he doesn't back down, and Joyce has to get involved, being a mom about it, trying to convince Billy that Max is safe and he doesn't have to worry and she can call Susan if that would help.
so when nothing they say to Billy actually makes a difference they start to wonder if they should just send Max home with him, and Mike has started to get snippy with her about it, saying she should just go because if her brother ruins everything it'll be her fault, but Lucas is adamant that letting Max leave with him would be a bad idea.
and somewhere in between all the arguing Billy shoves his way into the house, where there's still a demodog dead on the floor, and Will's art project on the walls, and Will himself, knocked out in the next room. which is all very weird, but Billy's kind of on a mission here. so him and Max get into it. he can't go after Lucas this time, not with a cop twenty feet away. they just argue. loudly. angrily.
until Billy has had enough, he can't keep pretending he isn't on pins and needles, hasn't been keyed up since his confrontation with Neil. and he has to hit something. anything. nearby. he punches a dent in the nearest wall.
and it freaks El out. and something explodes.
which is just one too many weird things for Billy to ignore.
Steve steps in at the same time Hopper does, both of them unsure how Billy is going to react. except he kind of. doesn't. he's freaked out, and confused, and still angry, but he also looks just as unsure as they are.
they don't really explain it to him. not all of it. he glares at everyone in the room while they give him the stilted cliffnotes version and he doesn't seem to believe any of it.
when Joyce and Hopper leave with their respective teams, Billy gets left behind with Steve and the kids. Steve's half sure he's going to grab Max and drive off the second they can't see tail-lights anymore, and given the way Max is bracing herself, she seems to think so too.
he doesn't. he lights up a cigarette and sits on the couch by himself, ignoring everyone's uneasy stares while they sweep up glass and wood splinters.
and i mean from there it would be both harder and easier to get the kids to the tunnels lmao. could go either way but i figure Billy volunteering to drive the children to their death just because Steve was so adamant it was a bad idea would not be entirely out of character for him. and he's still not convinced any of this is real, so maybe he wants to see it for himself. and maybe he's still itching for some action. if there is some crazy shit down there...well, if he's dead he won't have to explain to Neil how bad he fucked up, so there's that.
(and on a related note i kind of love the idea that Billy would be shit at fighting monsters. like they just freak him out and he can't do it. so he goes down there into the tunnels all sure of himself and confident because he knows he can fight but the second they run into trouble he freezes up and Steve has to save his ass. which totally doesn't turn him on at all, shut up)
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The Owl House x Steven Universe x Gravity Falls made from DistributionSudden76 @shironezuninja @magical-girl-techno-genius @misterygem @mystery-gems @waltdiegi-theartist @starbutterheck @chorus-the-mutate @bitter-yet-civilized @fireopal-tash @juniperarts @jeffreybrosseau @cipedor @minijenn @homuncvlus @illustrated-ink @vicious-steven @violetrose-art @vic98579 @hkthatgffan @cartoonfan21 @kingofthecon @kuskicanlove @cryinghour @mirror-diamond @saiscribbles @shezow-wordgirl @untitled14360 @serentiydraw5678 @a-swag-potato @a-second-chance-su-au @sakulovejulius12 @karuselkit961 @broadwaygirl918 @broken-steven @bluefrostyy @jacky-rubou @bobiannie-blog
#gravity falls#steven universe#fanart#not my art#the owl house#dipper pines#mabel pines#luz noceda#king clawthorne#steven demayo#steven diamond demayo quartz universe cutie pie#crossover
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Ghost whiskey or Joel (because rip my cowboys 💔)
Is sad smut a thing? Can it be?
I just want him to reunite with his love who hasn't been able to cope. Like a kinda purgatory/ghost that hasn't moved on situation.
Spooktacular Day 4: The Visit
pairing: ghost!joel miller x f!reader
rating: E (brief implication of intended su!c!de, ghost sex that makes like no sense at all, very sad all around i won’t beat around the bush lmao)
authors note: i str8 up cried writing this shit lmao this is my first time writing a ghost!au so 🙈 it’s also prob my last, but i tried my best!! i hope you like it??
Spooktacular Masterlist
The winter had been made even colder—unbearable, really—by the loss of your boyfriend. You had so many questions, so much hurt and confusion and anger inside of you because why? Why would someone take him from you? Why would someone take the man who made everything feel so right, the man who was your shelter through every storm?
It wasn’t fair. He was just right here in front of you this morning, kissing you goodbye. And now…he was gone.
You weren’t sure how to go on without him. Weren’t sure if you even wanted to. He was the only person that ever understood the pain inside of you, the only man who could handle it with gentleness and care. He loved you and you loved him. What greater act of love was there besides sacrifice?
Your shaking hands grabbed the pill bottle of some pain medicine you were given a couple months ago when you broke your arm. You stared at it for a while, considering what you were about to do. What would Joel think of this? What would he think of you? Before you could even think up an answer…the bedroom door opened on its own.
The pill bottle slipped out of your hands and onto the wooden floor, scattering across the room. Your eyes widened in horror, or perhaps it was hope—were your eyes deceiving you?
A hazy figure grew more and more opaque the longer you stared, as though you were giving it the energy it needed to manifest simply by breathing. Fear was soon replaced by disbelief, your chest rising and falling in heaving breaths as it approached you…as he approached you.
“This isn’t real,” you breathed out in a barely audible whisper as the apparition reached to hold your face.
“It’s real,” he promised.
“No, either I’m insane or this is something else pretending to be you,” you argued, heart unwilling, or perhaps unable, to allow you to believe that the universe was giving you a second chance at goodbye. It had to be something evil, a demon perhaps preying on your weakness.
“Italy,” he breathed out and your shocked eyes lifted in a dart to meet his.
On your first date, Joel asked you what the first place you’d want to go if this apocalypse ever ended was—your answer simple: Italy. Ever since then it had become a sort of code, a promise of a future together. Whenever words escaped either of you, that was the one word that always came to mind. And now, you had no doubt that it was truly your late love in front of you.
“I’m so sorry,” he sighed out, looking around at the scene. “I’m so sorry I left you. But don’t do this to Ellie, darlin. She needs you.”
“I want to be where you are,” you felt a tear fall down your cheek as you looked up at him, trying to reach out to touch him but it felt like a jolt of electricity every time you made contact.
“I know, baby, I know.” He sat down on the bed beside you and laid his hand on you, the jolt’s seemingly only occurring when you made the move. “We’ll be together again…I’ll be sittin’ waitin’ with Sarah.”
“Sarah?” You sobbed out a joyful chuckle, your eyes now streaming with tears. “Sarah’s there?”
He chuckled and nodded, his smile just now causing you to realize how lively he looked. There were no scratches on his face, no signs of the brutal trauma he endured. He looked healthy…happy, even.
“Joel,” you reached out to touch him but he grabbed your hand instead, saving you the shock. “Is this the last time I’ll be seeing you?”
“I don’t know,” his response was genuine. “Takes a lot of energy to do this. But if I can muster it again…you’re the only person I plan on hauntin’. Don’t think Ellie would take too kind to it.”
You chuckled and nodded, wishing selfishly to have him again, not for lust or your own desire to get off, but just to have him that close to you again—to feel him and know he was there. Joel seemingly read your mind, his hand dropping yours so that he could cradle your jaw. He eyed you carefully as he leaned in, stopping just short of your lips.
“I…wanna try somethin’. But I need you to let me do all the work, alright? You’re gonna shock yourself if you try to touch me,” he instructed, your breathing shallow as you awaited his kiss. You nodded in agreement, the anticipation killing you. Joel’s hand was somehow there but not as he cupped your cheek, his energy warming your skin rather than the callouses on his palms that you were used to. “I just wanna make you feel good.”
“I miss you, Joel,” you whimpered, a tear falling down your cheeks as you laid on your back and he slotted himself between your thighs.
“I miss you too, darlin, but I haven’t gone anywhere,” he promised, his lips finally meeting yours. It was a strange feeling—warm and electric and…supernatural. It was addictive and felt so forbidden, but so so good. “I’m always here.”
“Promise?” You whimpered and he pulled back, eyes searching yours for a moment as he wiped your tears away.
“I promise.”
Before long, Joel was seated deep inside of you, defying all the laws of this mortal realm and providing you with a supernatural sort of bliss with every draw of himself in and out.
“Joel, you feel so good,” you threw your arms around him but were shocked with electricity, Joel grabbing your hands and pinning them above your head.
“Promise me you’ll keep living for me,” he husked out as he felt you pulse around him. You nodded adamantly with tears streaming down your face. “Okay, baby…let go for me.”
“I don’t want you to leave yet,” you confessed, Joel slowing down and frowning at you.
“I told you, just because you can’t see me doesn’t mean I’m not here. I’ll always be here. You’re the love of my life.” His sweet promises forced your climax to dawn, tears flowing from your eyes at the bittersweet pleasure. Joel kissed you through it before pulling out and resting beside you. “I’ll always be here to protect you, baby. Always.”
“I love you, Joel.” You watched as his form started to fade, your heart strangling itself in your chest.
“I love you. Please…Italy.” With that one wish, he faded completely, leaving you alone in the bed you used to share. Just before you could start to cry at loneliness, the bedside lamp flickered three times, a chuckle of disbelief leaving your lips.
“I love you?” You asked into the empty room. The lamp flickering twice, confirming your guess. “I love you, Joel.”
Three more flickers and you were comforted enough to get some sleep. Even though your heart and mind were still aching at the loss but the consolation of having him there with you, even if he wasn’t there physically, would be enough for now.
•••
joel miller taglist: @uselsshuman @joelmillerscoffee @axshadows @sherala007 @browneyes-issac @kimm4710 @stxrrylunatic @sara-alonso @paulalikestuff @chxpsi @auberosier @mashomasho @harriedandharassed @trickstersp8 @trinkets01 @jlmaddinson @laureliciousdefinition @oh-no-a-whovian @buoyfriend @chorraich @extraneous-trip @oliviajdjarin @graciexmarvel @amb11 @reigndropss @multifand0m-gal0re @hypnoash @chronic-aly @wheresarizona @pedropascalsx @xocalliexo @myswficlist (sorry if your tag isn’t working! and let me know if you’d like to be added!)
#pedro pascal#pedro pascal fic#pedro pascal fanfiction#joel miller x reader smut#joel miller angst#joel miller fluff#joel miller smut#joel miller x you#joel miller fic#joel miller x reader#joel miller#tlou fic#spooktacular ‘22
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