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ao719 · 3 months

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Vancross

Vancross - My Way Back To You (Chapter 22)

Most of the characters belong to Pixelberry.

Summary: A group of friends embark on their final year at Vancross Institute with the hopes of making it their best year yet. When a new face with a complicated family plagued by secrets and rumors arrives on campus, new friendships are formed, a new relationship blossoms, and threatening challenges arise.

Title inspiration: Find My Way Back - Eric Arjes

Main Pairing: Liam x F!OC

A/N: Multiple crossover series. There will be random sprinkles of canon throughout this story, but for the most part, it’s pretty much out the window. Not beta’d. Please excuse any errors.

Rating: M • Warnings: This series will contain nsfw material, language, some alcohol and drug use, and is not suitable for minors. If you read, you acknowledge you are 18+

Catch up here

Standing inside the living area of his campus suite, Liam leaned against the back of the sofa and drummed his fingers against the cushion as he glanced around the room at the others.

On one end of the sofa, Alia sat next to Blaine and Simon, watching the two of them go over the details of their aliases despite having memorized them in grave detail over the last week.

Amalas was nestled in the corner with a laptop resting on her lap and Olivia beside her, showing her the program she would be using to hack into the Drakovian palace’s security cameras.

Trystan and Leo were on the other end of the sectional, whispering as they looked over the palace blueprints for what had to be the hundredth time in the last month.

The rest of the group had just left, but not before wishing them luck and demanding they keep them updated.

With nothing to do but stare, Liam turned and quietly slipped out onto the balcony. He climbed the ladder to the roof and walked toward their makeshift lounge; it now had one less chair after his meltdown last week. Instead of sitting in a chair, he moved to the parapet and dropped down on it as he looked out at the view of campus below.

They were leaving for Rivala tomorrow, and Liam found himself on edge with worry despite them having spent the last month planning every detail of this trip down to the wire.

An old friend of Leo’s was letting them use his SUV to take them to the private jet he was also letting them use so as to not draw suspicion from their parents until they had to. Having their guards’ schedules down, they planned to sneak out in the early morning hours while they were running perimeter checks. Liam had already played his Crown Prince card and ordered Anthony not to tell his parents that Leo and Trystan were there, but once they were “missing”, it would only be a matter of time before their parents would be alerted of their absence.

Trystan’s friend, who ran a security company in Rivala and was allowing them to use his cabin, offered to have a vehicle waiting for them once they landed.

Simon, Blaine, and Leo had packed their finest suits and acquired masks that concealed most of their faces to go with the masquerade theme. They had spent the last week being prepped by Amalas for any situations that may arise once they were inside while Trystan made sure the locations of the two exits they needed to know about were drilled into their memory.

Amalas planned to tap into the security cameras as soon as they were at the cabin, wanting to ensure everything was running as it should. Once they were inside, she’d be able to monitor everything going on and she and Olivia would feed Trystan and the others any information they would need.

Liam and Alia would be there simply as moral support to one another. They weren’t allowed to leave the cabin and Amalas made it explicitly clear that they were not to hover and watch the cameras on the off chance of seeing something that would upset either of them.

Hearing someone behind him, Liam glanced over his shoulder to see Trystan just as he stepped onto the roof. He walked over and sat on the parapet beside him. “You ok?”

“Yeah,” Liam nodded as he looked back out at the view of the campus below. “Just anxious.”

“It’s going to be fine.”

Liam glanced over at him to see the lukewarm smile he was wearing. For the most part, Trystan had remained composed over the last month of planning, but throughout the past week, his stoic facade seemed to falter now and then. It was little things most wouldn’t notice, like now and his halfhearted smile. He hadn’t said anything because he didn’t want to allow himself to believe that Trystan’s optimism was fading; it was the thing keeping not only his spirits up but everyone else’s.

Still looking at him, Liam thought about something that had been on his mind that he hadn’t recalled Trystan mentioning. “I meant to ask you … we’ve made these plans to get her out, but … what about after?”

“What do you mean?”

Liam swallowed thickly. “Are you going to take her back to New York with you?” It was the only place he could think of that they might go.

Trystan shook his head. “I can’t take her to New York.”

“Why?”

“The Homeland Accord,” Trystan answered, earning a questioning look from him. “It’s an extradition agreement Drakovia has with the U.S. It allows them to summon any Drakovian home at will, no questions asked, and the U.S. government has to comply. So I can’t risk taking her back to the States because they would have no choice but to send her back.”

“Then where will you go?”

“Honestly, I’ve been so focused on the task of getting her out, I haven’t planned that part out yet. We can stay in Rivala for a couple of days, but after that … I’m not sure yet.”

“You can bring her to Cordonia,” Liam offered without hesitation.

Trystan shook his head. “I don’t want to cause any unnecessary issues for Cordonia when my mother eventually figures out where she is, which she will. Plus, your parents are probably going to be livid with me for dragging you into this plan …”

Getting on the Cordonian monarch’s bad side wasn’t what Trystan wanted, but he had to risk it to save not only his sister but Liam as well; he was still convinced that had he not let him help, he would have gone rogue.

“Yeah, they’re going to be pissed, but more so at me than you,” Liam said. “At the end of the day, I’m an adult, and you didn’t force me to be a part of this … it was kind of the other way around. Regardless, they wouldn’t turn you or Croía away from refuge over it. And I know we don’t have any kind of agreement with Drakovia, extradition or otherwise, so that’s not something you’d have to worry about. And I … I’d be able to stay with her.”

Trystan furrowed his brows. “You do realize you still have school, right?”

“I did some research,” Liam explained. “I knew you’d have to take her somewhere and I … I didn’t want to have to be apart from her after only getting her back, so I looked into what my options were, and hers as well if she’s up to it. We can finish out the remainder of the year doing our classes online if the Dean receives a request with a legitimate reason as to why. She’s behind because she’s been gone, but she can catch up and still graduate at the end of the semester. And considering the circumstances, I’m sure the Dean would grant us the permission we need.”

Trystan stared at Liam, a little bit in awe at the lengths he was willing to go to be by Croía’s side, but he wasn’t sure why he was surprised by it at that point, either. “That’s a pretty big sacrifice to make, Liam. You’d be missing the rest of your senior year.”

“I’d rather miss the rest of it than be away from her,” Liam replied. “We could stay in Cordonia and do the classes that way … and she’d be safe there. Like I said, my parents wouldn’t turn either of you away regardless of how pissed they are. And again, most of that anger will be directed at me for lying and going behind their backs.”

Trystan looked away from him, thinking for a moment. “Well … let’s just focus on getting her out for now. After that, we’ll discuss our options. Because we have to see how she is first before we go making any decisions …”

Liam nodded and glanced away, and Trystan was thankful he either hadn’t caught what he’d said about seeing how Croía was or he just didn’t think much of it to ask him. He wasn’t sure he wanted to elaborate.

Just then, his phone rang, and Trystan pulled it from his pocket. Liam saw him sigh as he looked at the screen. “Who is it?”

“Mags. I think she’s becoming a little suspicious.” Trystan slid his thumb across the screen to answer it before putting it on speaker so Liam could hear. “Hello.”

“Hey, yourself. What are you doing?”

“Hanging out on some rooftop,” Trystan answered. It wasn’t a lie.

“Sounds delightful. Hey, listen … have you spoken to Croía?” Trystan winced before closing his eyes; he knew it was only a matter of time. “I haven’t spoken to her in a few weeks, and it’s not like her to not call me back … unless she’s pissed at me for some reason I can’t recall.”

“Don’t worry. She’s alright.” That was semi-true; Trystan had still been receiving updates from Everett, who had promised him that Croía had remained physically unharmed.

But that answer was the wrong one to give because it set off Marguerite’s alarm bells.

“What does that mean?” Marguerite snapped. “Trystan, what the hell is going on?”

Blowing out a breath, Trystan met Liam’s worried gaze. Marguerite had already been suspicious of his “trip” with Leo because of how long he’d been gone, and how he hadn’t been in touch with her — or Cameron, because of course they shared notes — as much as he typically would. His answer just now had inadvertently sent her suspicions into overdrive. And she now knew that whatever it was he was hiding somehow involved their baby sister.

Trystan hated lying to her, but he remained steadfast in his choice not to involve her. The less she knew, the better. “Listen … I know this is going to be difficult for you, but I need you to not ask me any more questions because I don’t want to lie to you, Mags. I promise that when I can tell you something, which will be very soon, I will.”

“But Trystan—”

“Mags, please,” Trystan interrupted in a plea.

Marguerite remained quiet for several long moments before speaking again. “Just … tell me you’re ok. That you and Croía are both ok …”

“We’re ok. Promise.”

****

Later, Liam stood in his room, changing into a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt after he’d finished packing his bag. He wasn’t sure how he was going to attempt to get any sleep that night because as the time for them to leave drew nearer, he found himself more and more restless.

Hearing a knock on his door, Liam called for them to enter, and Leo stepped inside a moment later. “You good?” he asked as he shut the door behind him.

“Antsy,” Liam answered.

Leo nodded in understanding. “It won’t be long now. We’ll get in and get this thing done and it’ll be over before you know it.”

Liam could only hope it would be that easy. “I offered for Trystan to bring Croía to Cordonia to stay after we get her out. I know Mom and Dad are going to be pissed … but I told him they wouldn’t turn them away when they needed someplace safe to stay.”

“They won’t,” Leo agreed. “Yeah, they’re going to lay into both of us, but they’ll get over it. I’m sure once they hear why we did what we did, they’ll understand.”

“Leo …” Liam looked at his brother, searching for the right words. “Thank you … for helping with all of this.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Leo smiled. “I’ve grown pretty fond of Cocoa Bean.”

Liam cracked a small smile at the mention of the nickname his brother called her, a play on his Cocoa. It was the first genuine smile he had in weeks.

A chime on Liam’s laptop broke the moment, and they both glanced over. “Speaking of Mom and Dad …”

Without thinking, Leo dropped to the floor; Liam flung his arm toward the door, a silent question to ask why he didn’t just slip out, but didn’t have time to wait for a response before he turned to answer the incoming video call.

“Hey,” Liam smiled when his mother’s face came on the screen.

“Hello, sweetheart. How are you?”

“I’m …” Liam trailed off, seeing the door behind him on the screen start to open; he glanced over his shoulder to see his brother, still on the floor, army crawling out.

“Liam?”

“Yeah,” Liam snapped his gaze back to the laptop and picked it up, bringing it to his bed. “Sorry. I’m good. How are things back home?”

“They’re fine …” Eleanor eyed him curiously. “Are you alright?”

“Fine, why?” Liam answered a little too quickly.

“You just haven’t seemed like yourself lately. You seem … distracted.”

Liam chewed the inside of his cheek; he hated lying to anyone, especially his mother, but he couldn’t tell her what was going on. Not yet anyway. “Just busy with assignments.”

“Ok,” Eleanor nodded, but Liam could tell she wasn’t truly buying his answer. “And how’s Croía?”

“She — she’s fine.”

Again, Eleanor eyed him curiously because she caught the slight slip in his tone when he answered. “Where has she been? I haven’t seen or heard her with you when we’ve talked over the last few weeks.”

“She’s been busy … with assignments, too.”

“Hm,” Eleanor nodded. Liam knew that “hm” was her ‘I don’t believe a word you said, but I’m going to let it slide for now’ response. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah,” Liam nodded. “I’ve just got a lot going on.” That was the truth. He glanced up when Leo’s head poked through the door; he flapped his hand in a talking motion and then threw his thumb over his shoulder. Code for ‘We’re having a meeting in the living area, hurry up and get your ass out here.’ “Hey, Mom, I’m sorry to cut this so short, but I gotta get going. I’m in the middle of working on, uh … a big project …” Kind of true, just not the kind of project she was probably thinking of.

“Ok, sweetheart.” Eleanor offered a smile, but he could see the concern behind it. “We’ll talk soon. I love you.”

Liam felt a pang of guilt ripple through him. “Love you, too, Mom.”

When he ended the video chat, Liam tossed his laptop onto the bed before heading out to the living area where Trystan was waiting with Leo, Olivia, Amalas, Blaine, Alia, and Simon.

“Simon, Olivia, Alia, and Amalas are getting ready to head back to their suites, so I just want to be sure we all know where to meet later,” Trystan explained.

“Edge of campus on the north side,” the others all said in unison.

“Time?”

“The guards start their morning perimeter checks precisely at five,” Alia replied.

“And if one of you gets caught …?”

“We stay behind,” Simon answered.

Trystan nodded. “It should take you no more than five minutes to get there once you’re outside. We’ll wait another five minutes at the spot. If you’re not there, I’m going to assume you got caught and we’ll leave without you. Be sure you have everything you need with you because you won’t be able to go back if you forget something. And make sure to leave your phones behind so your locations can’t be pinged.”

They all nodded.

*******

Standing along the edge of campus, hidden in the shadows of the trees, Liam, Leo, Blaine, Alia, Amalas, and Trystan were waiting for Olivia and Simon. They had easily slipped out undetected by Anthony, Jacob, and Alia’s guard Rowan while they stepped away from their posts outside their suites to do their morning perimeter checks around their buildings.

Hearing the snap of a twig, all their heads snapped to the left just as Olivia stepped into view. “Had me worried for a minute there,” Liam quipped.

“Apparently my guard is a chatty-fucking-Cathy in the morning. He barely speaks during the day, but stood outside the damn front door gossiping with Evelyn’s guard,” she rolled her eyes before looking at the others. “Where’s Simon?”

“Still waiting for him,” Blaine answered.

The group fell quiet as the minutes ticked by. Trystan broke the silence when he cursed under his breath. “Where the fuck is he?” They’d have to rearrange their whole plan going into the ball if Simon didn’t show.

“He’ll be here,” Liam said.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of stamping feet and looked over to see Simon barreling towards them in a full-on run. “Go, go, go!” he shouted.

“He’s going to wake up the whole damn campus,” Trystan grumbled. “This way!”

They all turned and rushed into the pathway that led to the outside of the campus gates on the north side, where Leo’s friend had parked an SUV for them to take to the airport.

“What the fuck happened?” Olivia shouted over her shoulder at Simon who had caught up to her.

“My guard came around the corner as I slipped out the front door!” Simon huffed through breaths. “Apparently the old bloke starts his checks early! And he’s bloody fast when he wants to be!”

They raced through the path, swatting low-hanging branches out of their way as they went until they broke through the clearing on the other side. Leo pulled a set of keys from his pocket given to him earlier by his friend and hit a button; he snapped his gaze to the left when lights started to blink from being unlocked. “There!” he pointed.

“Lord Simon!” the guard bellowed from inside the pathway.

“Haul ass!” Blaine said as he raced toward the vehicle, gripping Alia’s hand and pulling her behind him.

Once at the vehicle, Amalas, Olivia, and Simon climbed in first to the third row; Liam, Alia, and Blaine followed, sliding into the second row while Leo and Trystan jumped into the front seats.

Leo started the SUV and threw it into drive just as Simon’s guard burst through the clearing; he peeled away from the curb before making a sharp right onto the main road.

As they made their way to the airport, the inside of the vehicle was silent save for the eight of them trying to catch their breath.

Suddenly, Leo began to laugh as he glanced at Trystan. “That brought back some fucking memories, huh?”

Trystan snorted as he dropped his head back against the seat. “Sure the hell did.”

“If that was a regular occurrence for you two, I’m going to need to hear some stories,” Blaine breathed.

Leo and Trystan both chuckled. “We’ll have some time on the flight,” Trystan said.

“We could tell them about that time we gave taking a pill in Ibiza a whole new meaning,” Leo snorted.

Blaine and Liam shared a wide-eyed look as Leo pressed his foot more firmly on the gas pedal.

******

Sitting in the back of the cabin by himself, Liam stared out the window of the jet, lost in thought as he watched the morning sun cast a golden glow across the tops of the clouds. He hadn’t even thought to ask how long the flight to Rivala would be; he guessed around two hours, maybe two and a half. A yawn escaped him as he rested his head back against the seat, but he couldn’t sleep; he hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before, either, too on edge and anxious to shut his mind off. And he was sure he wasn’t going to sleep much if at all that night with the ball taking place tomorrow evening.

While Liam was on edge with worry, he was also consumed by anticipation. He couldn’t stop thinking about the moment he’d be able to see Croía, about the moment he’d be able to wrap her in his arms for the first time in over a month. And that anticipation felt like the only thing keeping his head above water at the moment. If he focused on that, he wasn’t drowning in thoughts of all the ways in which this plan they’d spent the last month devising could go wrong.

The feel of someone plopping down into the seat beside him jerked Liam from his thoughts; he glanced over to see Blaine. “How are you holding up?” he asked as he nestled into the seat.

“I’m ok.”

“Liar.”

Liam let out a breath. “How about you? Are you nervous about going in there?”

“Surprisingly, no,” Blaine answered. “I blame the adrenaline, though. Either that or I’ve just fucking lost it.”

Liam laughed despite himself, thankful for the dose of levity his friend could give him at that moment. “I don’t know if I’ve said it, but … thank you.”

Blaine knit his brows and glanced over at him. “What the hell are you thanking me for?”

“For doing this … for being willing to do it.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Li,” Blaine shook his head. “You’d do the same thing if it was Alia. Not just because of who she is to me, but because she’s your friend, just like Croía is mine.” He stared at him for a moment. “Are you really ok?”

“I just want to see her,” Liam said quietly. “I need to see that she’s ok. And I … I’m trying not to think about it, but I keep wondering … what if something goes wrong? What if you guys can’t get her out? What if you guys get caught and you can’t get out? What will happen then? What do we do? Because we’ve planned everything else in grave detail, but nothing has been mentioned about those possibilities.”

“I think not planning for those what-ifs just shows how confident Trystan is that we’ll get this done,” Blaine said. “He’s very … ‘this is how it’s going to happen’, not ‘this is what I hope will happen’. And not in a cocky way. I think he’s just determined as fuck because this is his baby sister. Watching him plan all of this out … I don’t have any doubt that we’ll get in, do what we need, and get out. And maybe that’s why I’m not feeling as nervous as I probably should.”

“His confidence and optimism can be somewhat contagious,” Liam said. “It’s definitely helped me out the past month.”

“I’m not going to pretend to know what it’s been like for you, but just … keep your head up, brother,” Blaine smiled. “That’s really all any of us can do at this point.”

****

Once they landed in Rivala later that morning, the group filed into an SUV; Trystan plugged the address of the cabin into the GPS and they drove off.

The cabin was situated deep in the Rivalan mountains, not too far from the Drakovian border, and was about an hour’s drive to the palace. A few of them had brought up concerns of whether or not the cabin would be able to fit them all, but Trystan told them not to worry.

After a drive that felt entirely too long inside the cramped SUV, Trystan turned into a driveway that went up the mountain about a half mile. When the cabin came into view, everyone’s eyes widened save for Trystan’s. He put the vehicle in park and chuckled at their reflections in the rearview mirror. “I told you not to worry.”

“You said it was a cabin. Not a damn mountain mansion,” Blaine said as he flung the door open.

The “cabin” was massive, and sat on the edge of the mountain, offering a picturesque view from the front. “There’s five bedrooms,” Trystan said. “Someone will have to take the sofa, and there’s another sofa with a pull-out bed.”

“I’ll take the sofa, and you can take the pull-out,” Leo said to Trystan. “Everyone else can grab a room.”

Trystan nodded as they stopped at the front door; he unlocked it and pushed it open, stepping inside as the others followed. “If only we were here for another reason …” Simon trailed off as he looked around.

“It’s nice,” Olivia smiled.

“I’m not really a cabin in the woods kind of girl,” Amalas said, “but if I was, I’d have to agree.”

“Bedrooms are upstairs,” Trystan explained as he dropped his bag down behind one of the sofas. “He made sure the kitchen was stocked, so help yourselves to anything you want. We’re on our own for dinner, so work with whatever’s here.”

****

That night, after relaxing most of the day and having a thrown-together dinner, everyone headed to their respective rooms to try and get some rest.

Earlier, Amalas had set up her equipment and gotten into the Drakovian security system, pulling up the cameras on her laptop. And true to her word, she wouldn’t let Liam or Alia near her for even a glimpse of the screen. Olivia came to Liam a while later and told him that they hadn’t seen Croía on any of the footage, and promised him that she’d find a way to let him know if they did.

After lying in bed and staring at the ceiling for an hour straight, Liam got up and headed downstairs to get a glass of water. It wasn’t that late, but between their early morning and the flight and drive, the others were more tired than usual.

When Liam crept down the stairs, he spotted his brother asleep on one of the sofas; the pull-out bed that Trystan was sleeping on was empty. His brows furrowed as he looked around while making his way to the kitchen, and he stopped near the sliding door that led to the back deck. A wooden gangway was connected to the deck and led to another smaller dock, floating on a pond that sat nestled in the back of the property.

And on that smaller dock, silhouetted in the lights that surrounded it, stood Trystan.

Careful not to wake his brother, Liam slipped out through the sliding door and made his way across the gangway. He’d noticed since arriving at the cabin that Trystan had seemed quieter than usual. There was obviously something on his mind, and at first, he suspected that it was just anticipation now that they were there. Now, seeing him standing out there alone, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was something else.

Not wanting to startle him, Liam didn’t mask his footsteps, and when Trystan heard them, he looked over his shoulder. “What are you doing out here?” Liam asked as he approached.

“Just thinking,” Trystan replied before looking back out at the water. “Are you doing ok?” he asked Liam as he stopped beside him.

“I’m … as best as can be expected, I guess. I just wish there was more that I could do to help tomorrow.”

Liam hated feeling useless, and that’s exactly how he felt. He knew he was only there with the others as a courtesy and that his presence made no difference in their plan for tomorrow evening.

“You’re going to help, Liam,” Trystan said. “The minute she sees you, it will help.”

Liam remained quiet for a few moments before looking at him. “Everyone keeps asking me how I’m doing … but how are you doing?”

Trystan let out a wry chuckle. “I’m ready to get it over with.”

At that moment, Liam saw that same falter in his facade that he’d noticed over the last week, and knowing something was bothering him, a pang of panic struck him. He’d mentioned it to Blaine on the jet but had avoided asking Trystan this question for the last month, but now … he had to know. “Are you … are you worried? That something will go wrong and you won’t get her out?”

Trystan glanced over and met his gaze in the dim lighting that surrounded the dock. He was worried, yes, but not for the reason Liam thought. He hadn’t wanted to say anything, not wanting to cause him more concern than he knew he was already feeling. But maybe in being honest and telling him about the growing worry that had been nagging at him, he could, in turn, prepare him.

Looking back out at the water, Trystan blew out a breath. “I’m scared out of my damn mind, not because I don’t think we’ll get her out … but because I’m worried we’ll get her out too late …”

“Too late?” Liam questioned as his brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

Trystan sighed, looking at Liam with a vulnerability in his eyes he hadn’t seen from him before. “Croía’s been there for over a month. And I know the mind games my mother is playing with her and the kinds of things she’s been filling her head with — that no one cares, that no one’s reached out, that you and Alia and everyone else she thought she meant something to have just forgotten her. She’ll keep saying it to her over and over and over in an attempt to pull her further into her thrall. And if Croía loses hope … if everything goes dark and she doesn’t see a way out … she’s going to believe those things. I’ve seen her lose hope before … I’ve seen it go dark and watched her retreat into her shell … and I’m worried about how far inside that shell she’s going to be when we get to her.”

Liam swallowed thickly as he took in his words. He’d also seen her retreat into that shell, and that was after just a one-day visit from her mother. After five weeks … he didn’t want to think about it.

“We’ll get her out of Drakovia tomorrow, that I’m certain of because I will not leave there without her. It’s what comes after that I’m worried about.” Trystan turned to him. “I didn’t agree to let you come along simply to placate you. You being here will show her that everything my mother has filled her head with isn’t true. That you didn’t forget her … that you fought for her. That’s why you being here helps more than you realize, Liam. So please don’t feel like you’re not doing anything, because out of this entire plan … you being here is one of the most essential parts. You make her feel safe. You make her feel loved. And she’s going to need that … need you … more than anything else.”

Liam rubbed a hand over his mouth as he blinked away the sting in his eyes. He’d been so focused on getting her out and the what-ifs of the plan, he hadn’t really stopped to consider the aftermath.

About how shredded apart her self-worth could be.

About how broken she might be.

If Croía had lost hope and things were dark, Liam would do anything he could to pull her out of that darkness, to remind her of how loved and worthy she was. He could only hope that she’d believe it … believe him.

*******

The following afternoon, Amalas and Olivia were seated in the dining room with their equipment in front of them, making sure everything was still running as it should.

Blaine, Simon, Leo, and Trystan were upstairs changing.

In the living room, Liam sat next to Alia, both of them silent; his leg bounced anxiously while she drummed her fingers against her thighs.

Liam’s mind was a storm of thoughts and his emotions were no better. The guys would be leaving shortly for Drakovia and he’d be left there … waiting and hoping they returned with Croía in tow.

“Are you nervous?” Alia whispered beside him. “I’m nervous. I kind of want to throw up.”

Liam kept his gaze straight ahead as he reached over and patted her leg in a poor attempt for comfort. “It’ll be ok,” he said with a resigned nod. He wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince her or himself.

“Well, one thing is for sure,” Blaine’s voice sounded from the stairs, “I can wear the fuck out of a tux.”

Liam and Alia both turned to see Blaine walking down the stairs, dressed in a sleek black tuxedo and carrying a mask. Alia stood and moved toward him with a grin. “Of course you can, baby,” she chuckled, reaching up and adjusting his black silk bow tie when he hit the bottom of the stairs.

“What about me?” Simon drawled.

Alia glanced up to see Simon and Leo, both in similar attire, both holding their masks. “Looking snazzy.”

A moment later, Trystan appeared; he was dressed in black dress pants, a black shirt, and a black suit jacket. “Then we have Bond here,” Leo quipped.

“I’m not going into the ball,” Trystan said as he buttoned his jacket. “I don’t need the penguin suit.”

“Why dress up at all?” Simon asked.

“I may be sneaking in to break my sister out, but I’m still going to look good doing it,” Trystan smirked as he tugged the lapels of his jacket.

“Here,” Amalas said, approaching them as they huddled in the living room. “Your earpieces. Put them in so I know they’re working.” She handed them a small device and they each placed them in one ear; they were clear and so small they were practically invisible. Amalas turned to where Olivia was standing outside on the back deck and gave a thumbs up.

“Hey, assholes,” her voice crackled in each of their ears. “You’re all looking very debonair.”

The guys chuckled with nods. “They’re working,” Trystan said.

“They’re equipped with a tracker,” Amalas explained as Olivia came back inside. “Leave them in and I’ll keep checking throughout your drive to make sure they’re still working.”

They all nodded again.

“And I’ve checked to verify your aliases are still on the guest list, which they are,” Amalas said. “I’ll check again when you arrive just to be sure we don’t have any surprises.”

“You guys have your masks?” Trystan asked. Blaine, Simon, and Leo held them up. “Alright …” He glanced at his watch: 4:30 p.m. The drive was an hour, give or take, and the ball started at six. “Let’s head out.”

Everyone blew out a collective breath.

Amalas and Olivia wished them luck and walked away.

Blaine and Alia stepped aside, and she threw her arms around him.

Liam walked up to Leo and shook his hand before they pulled one another into a brotherly embrace. “Stay safe,” he whispered.

“You know me,” Leo stepped back with a small grin. “See you soon.” He turned and walked out the door.

Simon clapped Liam’s shoulder before following Leo outside. Trystan approached him a moment later and held his hand out. “Try not to wear a path in the carpet with your pacing,” he joked as they shook hands.

Liam offered a halfhearted smile and nodded. “Be safe.”

Trystan turned and walked out the door as Blaine stepped up to Liam. “You good?”

“Not really,” Liam answered truthfully.

“We’ll be back with her before you know it,” Blaine said before he held a fist out to him. The two went through their playful handshake routine before clapping one another’s shoulders. “Remember what I said. Head up, brother.”

Liam and Alia followed Blaine outside, stopping on the front porch; he gave Alia one last kiss before moving to the vehicle. He slid into the backseat and tossed them one last wave before shutting the door.

They held their breath as the SUV pulled away, and they both threw up a silent prayer as they watched it disappear down the driveway.

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

Perma Tags (if you’d like to be added or removed for this story, please let me know): @zaffrenotes @cocomaxley @emichelle @sweetest-marbear @indiacater @gibbles82 @the-soot-sprite @esmckenzie @dcbbw @burnsoslow @deb-1106 @bbrandy2002 @charlotteg234 @neotericthemis @foreverethereal123 @choiceskatie @sirbeepsalot @gnatbrain @openheart12 @sincerelyella @superharriet @queenrileyrose @aestheticartsx @kingliam2019 @indiana-jr @bascmve01 @rainbowsinthestorm @emkay512 @marshmallowsaremyfavorite @forallthatitsworth @walker7519 @iaminlovewithtrr @amandablink @mainstreetreader @mom2000aggie @princessleac1 @21-wishes @appleone @tessa-liam @pixelatedpassion @malblk21 @lovingchoices14 @nestledonthaveone @forthebrokenheartedthings @nomadics-stuff @differenttyphoonwerewolf

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zexal-club · 3 months

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It's time I talked about this major plot point in Zexal Club, as it's really important. It's also one of the first skits I did together with @yukii0nna , so I'm really excited to talk about it! For those who don't know, Zexal Club is a crossover between Winx Club and Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL, where Bloom is Yuma and Kari's mother.

Tagging a lot of mutuals and followers since this is pretty important to me, even the ones who probably don't follow this AU much

@yukii0nna @marrondrawsalot @kousaka-ayumu @gritsandbrits @soprinceblizzard @darkicewolfknight @bakawitch

Edit: I'm now also tagging @bibookdemon since you don't seem to know much about this AU or even that it's a thing, which sucks because this is my biggest and even favourite Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL AU

Warning, this is longer than I thought.

So basically, Yuma's been spending more time with Winx 2.0 (what me and Yukii call our OCs) recently due to still coping with the shock of learning the truth about what he is. He also starts spending less time with the Numbers Club since he hasn't told them yet because, again, weird way of coping. Tori and Bronk notice and decide to talk to him about it.

Yuma realises what he's doing and decides to introduce his main friends(Numbers Club) to his other friends (Winx 2.0). They happily agree.

After school, Yuma calls all of Winx 2.0 + Cathy if tomorrow, they can come to a place he picked so they can all meet each other. Everyone happily agrees. After the call, Yuma and Astral discuss whether or not Yuma should tell his friends his secret. Astral thinks he should, but Yuma's still nervous.

Unbeknownst to either of them, things won't go as smoothly as they hope.

See, other than Winx 2.0, Mari is friends with this boy named Aiden. And Aiden's father, Laurent, is, well, a control freak and a jerk, who thinks Aiden's friends are a bad influence on him and corrupting him. He's thinking of how to keep Aiden away from them, when he's approached by someone: Dark Mist.

Dark Mist offers to make sure Aiden never sees those 'bad influences' again in exchange for his help. He explains how there's this boy keeping secrets from his friends, and he needs said boy out of his way. If he uses his magic to help him corrupt said friends, he'll gladly help. Laurent accepts.

The next day, none of Winx 2.0 + Cathy are able to come, obviously, thanks to Laurent and Dark Mist. Jade's parents said no, Leo got extra training sprung on him, Kikyo had to go for a check-up, Mari got detention, one of them got sick, I think Casey-look, it's been a while, okay?- etc. Yuma has to go and tell his friends the bad news.

Tori, Bronk, Caswell, and Flip are shocked and a bit hurt by this, but are understanding. After everyone leaves, Dark Mist and Laurent get to the next stage of their plan. With their powers combined, they're able to make a corrupted card for each member of the Numbers Club, which they can now use on them since their negative emotions are at their fullest. They give them to the 4.

The next day, Kikyo is back and at school, so Yuma decides to introduce her to the rest of his friends at school during lunch break (Casey and Jason are still unavailable). He manages to actually do it this time, and things go alright enough at first, even if they're a little on edge thanks to the cards' influence (Flip the most). Then, Bronk notices Kikyo's pendant, and she tells him about it. After that, either Bronk takes it or she gives it to him for a bit, that part's a little foggy, but he turns it on, and it points at her. And also then bc of the cards, but I'm not 100% sure. Anyways, she takes it back and brushes it off as being broken. They mention how she should probably fix it, since she could be mistaken for a magi (what magical beings are called in this AU), and that would be bad because magi are bad.

Yep, the corruption made them racist.

Yuma is shocked by this, as none of them have ever shown signs of hating magi. This makes him even more scared to tell his friends he's a fairy, along with making Kikyo uncomfortable. After the whole introduction, he asks The Numbers Club what the hell's gotten into them, as they've never had anything against magi before. They just tell him magi are dangerous and evil.

After school, they wonder why Yuma was so defensive on what they were saying, along with why Kikyo seemed so anxious. They decide to spy on her.

They follow her, going into an empty and probably abandoned building, where she practices her magic. That's when they realise she's a witch. Since their minds have become messed up because of the cards, they decide to record and expose her as 'revenge' for 'stealing' Yuma.

The next day, everyone is looking at Kikyo weirdly. Yuma notices and asks her what's wrong. Suddenly, some jerk pours water on Kikyo, commenting on how she didn't melt or something, causing Yuma to get angry and ask what their problem is. The jerk shows Yuma the recording, and Yuma is shocked that someone found out. Jerk is like, 'You already knew?!' And they fight. Mr. Kay breaks it up and is on Kikyo and Yuma's side. They all go to class.

Throughout the school day, Kikyo is constantly bullied and harassed, with kids throwing spitballs at her, some girls hiding her skirt, so she ends up wearing pants, and some even get violent, with her having a bunch of marks on her face. One student (Cough Miyuki cough) even cut her hair. Yuma uses his magic to heal her, though I think Kikyo used her own magic to regrow her hair, and the two of them think of who exposed Kikyo. Then, a certain someone appears: Shark!

He tells them he knows who did it and will tell them. When asked why, he replies that even he thinks what they're doing is cruel. He then tells them it was Tori, Bronk, Flip, and Caswell, which shocks them. Yuma decides to confront them, and Kikyo goes with him. Shark tags along since, in his own words, he's got nothing better to do.

Yuma goes to the 4 of them. They ask him why he's still with Kikyo after she was outed, and Yuma replies, 'I already knew'. Tori shouts, 'And you stayed with her?!'. Yuma asks why they would do any of this, and once again, where this hate for magi came from. They try to convince him Kikyo's not worth it.

Yuma then asks, 'If I was a magi, would you still care about me?' They wonder why he would ask that. He tells them to just answer. They say yes.

Yuma then shows his magic, shocking them and Shark. (Originally he didn't reveal he was a magi until later, but we did a revision and liked this reveal better.)

Tori grabs Kikyo and asks what she did to Yuma, to which Yuma separates her from Kikyo, saying she did nothing. He finally tells them the truth: His mother was a fairy, and so is he.

Tori processes this for a bit, then starts laughing like any good anime villain. Yuma asks why she's laughing, but she doesn't answer and just keeps going. Frustrated and angry by everything, he slaps her.

I'm seriously considering changes that detail because HOLY SHIT I DON'T THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA ANYMORE.

Tori stops and is quiet for a moment, then says, '...I see'. Yuma tells the Numbers Club he's transferring with Kikyo, and their friendship is over - again, considering changing this part- then tries to leave with Kikyo. Suddenly though, they're stopped by a vine.

Tori, Bronk, Flip, and Caswell have become fully corrupted, and the cards also gave them dark powers of their own. Yuma quickly uses his magic to destroy the vine and manages to escape with Kikyo and Shark. When they get away, they think about what happened. Kikyo remembers their eyes seemed different, and the 3 realise something must've corrupted them. They decide they need to hide somewhere and not their homes because the 4 could look for them their. They go to this abandoned house near-ish to the school that Shark knows about (fanfic logic, am I right?), and try to think about what happened. Shark gets supplies so they can survive. After a while, as they try to figure out how the 4 were corrupted, someone comes to help them: Aiden! Yuma's like, 'Oh, I know you! Mari told me!' He tells them it was his father who did it, but he had help from someone he doesn't know. Kikyo asks who could have a grudge against them and can corrupt people, and Yuma realises, 'Oh no, it's 96!!' And then explains the whole Numbers problem to Aiden. They decide to call Mari to help, since by now, she can come.

A while after, or even the next day, Mari arrives. She sends her pixie, Tika, to spy on the Numbers Club to find the source of the corruption. She goes and sees it's from the cards. She goes back and tells them.

They all decide to confront the Numbers Club head-on. Shark is told to stay back since he doesn't have any real defence against magic. He does.

Yuma, Mari, Kikyo, and Aiden go to The Numbers Club. Well, actually, I'm not sure if Aiden also went, but let's just say now he did. Of course, this leads to a fight.

Yuma and Mari dual transformation!!!

The two respective teams fight, and our heroes manage to win! Yuma uses his magic + the power of friendship to defeat the corruption placed on his friends. He then flies up and yells at 96 to reveal himself, which he does. 96 warns Yuma that this isn't the end, and Yuma warns him back that if he ever hurts his friends again, he'll tear him apart. 96 leaves.

After all that, Yuma manages to properly introduce his two friend groups, and they actually get along! The Numbers Club apologised to Kikyo for what they've done, and Kikyo forgives them since it wasn't really their fault. They all hang out, and plans are made to change schools since their current one SUCKS.

Whoo, I'm finally done!! That was WAY longer than I expected. It was also really nostalgic visiting this whole plot. What do you all think?

#yugioh zexal #yugioh zexal au #winx club crossover #crossover #crossover au #zexal club

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cato616 · 10 months

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THE TRANSFER (pt. 1)

succession x fem! reader

im so excited to do this one!! like i said before it's more general targeted (kendall, roman, shiv,,)

summary: You have been recruited at waystar mysteriously, no records of you, but no questions were asked tho; but how? who are you? You're part of the FBI that has been sent to get done an under cover assignment at the much troubled entertainment company, and to do that means getting close to the Roy family, starting with Logan's kids; kendall, shiv and roman. Good luck with that.

content: nothing more than business and cop-ish crossover talk

"Are you nervous?" Asked your superior as you were both sitting facing each other inside their office, having a last briefing before letting you go into where the beast was hiding. "honestly? no, Logan roy is pretty rough I hear, but come on, there's an obvious take here, I'm an agent ma'am, I don't think I should be nervous, should I?" You asked her with a curious tone but feeling a little cocky at the same time, and they chuckle. "no, I don't think you should be nervous, however, the whole thing about this, is that you should seem like you are." She stood up as she straightened her arm to shake your hand to then dismiss you, you shake their hand. "I think so too." as you smirk showing off your confidence. "good luck, agent... the other agent will have you escorted with all the equipment you'll get to need from now on, so, farewell."

You gave a last greeting to your superior to then get out of the office to have the other agent waiting for you outside, with some instructions.

"good morning agent n/y." You would think everyone in here would wear the basic fbi jumper and clothing but at the criminal investigation division, the majority wears the suit and tie, with a badge of course, including yourself. "follow me." The agent ordered, you complied and followed him to a car, to drop you off where you will be living in the next few weeks, maybe months, depending how well you'll do your job. "this is how it will go." You were both sitting at the back of the car, with another agent driving the car; he's about to get your instructions given. "back at the trunk you have a luggage, inside, new clothes, plain corporate clothing, then, badge... you'll want to keep that on the low, probably have to keep it somewhere safe, and as for the safety, your gun, it is also a command that you'd keep it safe with your badge, if things go sideways... and one last thing, this phone." He gives it to you. "oh really nice this is" you replied with a sarcastic voice. "it is an old phone, but, untraceable, objectively to make the calls... it has a direct line to the commission and the office, that's all you need, good luck."

He dropped you off at a hotel, basically on the other side of the block, where Waystar was. You got to your room, started organizing what was inside your luggage. Clothes were fine, badge and gun inside a safe. You were having everything in order when suddenly you get a call from the phone you were given, you answered it, and you hear the voice of your superior on the other side. "hope your accommodating well at your new place agent." You hear them smiling. "this is better than expected I'd say." your voice was very, disciplinary you could say. "well I wanted to make the first call myself to double check before you start your work." You accidentally nodded first, but then answered. "absolutely." you replied. "Waystar has a lot of delicate information as we discussed, you'll have to look for old records, since they won't have anything on a hard drive, and for that you'd need access to most of it at the building, so we had to do some arrangements about that, making you transfer as a low profile corporate assistant, low enough to keep you off the grid, high enough to let the investigation proceed... somewhere with the clothing you'll find your own key card to enter the facility and start your day, tomorrow." Everything you heard, you heard it already, since it was a double check, except for the key card, but found it as where it was supposed to be. "I do have a question." You wanted to ask something practically off mission. "you may ask." Your superior politely responded. "why not raid Waystar? and not infiltrate like I'm doing, make it quick as possible." There was only silence on the other side. "... not yet, at least, agent... sleep well tonight, you start tomorrow." You understood their input without having to make another question about it. They hung up the call, and you were standing there, all quiet, thinking about your mission, your loneliness you will have to experience for the next few weeks you hope, nothing more than you, and an old phone to contact the only people you know.

aw man, why do I do this to myself.

After a long well slept night, you wake up with a sunny day, and that's at least the first good thing to start up your day pretending you're just an innocent transfer. You dressed up with what you had, and before leaving, checked the safe one last time, you locked it, and left the hotel.

You weren't feeling nervous, you were doing your job as an fbi agent, you could feel scared from time to time, but nervous like that? never. You were arriving to the floor you were requested to first enter. The elevator's door opened, and slowly got into the world of madness. this is oddly nice tho. You caught what it appeared to be an assistant going out of an office, having a tablet on her hand, that's the only thing that made you think, she's the one I gotta talk to. You walked towards her, you targeted her like as the main object of the mission, like a fucking robocop; however your face changed right away as soon as you started to get her attention.

"Hey!" Warmly greeted her with a fake smile as you tapped her shoulder from behind. She turned around, disoriented with your presence and impression. "who are you-" You cut her off, answering her almost instantly. "yes I suppose I'm new here... where...?" You looked around trying to seem clueless, but wearing that fake smile still. "oh! yeah... I got sent over some of your information today." As she looked on her tablet. "follow me." You followed the lady, to an empty office, with the big windows providing the best view you have ever seen of the city. "Mr roy should be here shortly." Mr. roy? which one...? The assistant closed the door of the office while you were standing there, without a clue of what was about to happen. Meanwhile, this empty office has a lot of paper lying around, for you to start digging. You walked over some shelves, lot of binders with different dates. You were almost about to grab one... suddenly that Mr. Roy finally came in, you didn't jump since you're an specialist at not jump? however this is your first undercover mission, at least you didn't ruin it on day one.

"oh... roman roy." It was roman who came in, looking very professional, suits and a big office in solitude, checks out I guess?. "What... were you doing over there, you're looking very suspicious..." shit. what? what do I say?. "So sorry I was... uh checking out, the pictures! over there." you had to improvise that and luckily, those pictures were right next to the binders, if not, you wouldn't have come up with that. Roman stayed put, staring at you, and out of the blue, a slight giggle came out, and then burst into a quiet laugh. "you should've seen your face, you look so tense, please don't shit yourself, we have a bathroom for that." As he continued to walk over his desk. oh now i remembered what they told me about him. "oh no need to sit actually, you can just stand up." He was making this impossible for you not to kill the man you just met, but it was important to seem welcoming for this people. You were waiting for him to say something, give you some information, instructions, anything; he was just sitting on his chair, with both legs on top of the desk, feeling like a king, a bit cocky. All he did was to check you out, eyes going from head to ass. You could say something, but deep down you knew how significantly more powerful you were over him, and something about how little and incompetent he is next to you, made you not care about his sneaky eyes.

"Roman! dude, what are you doing." You hear another voice from behind, it was the other Mr Roy who just entered the office and yelled at roman. "get out of my office." it's his office?? You looked over roman, how he played you into thinking he was the Mr Roy you were expecting. "yeah sorry about that, I didn't know you were supposed to be here, but I think it was funny... do you think it was funny, Ken?" Kendall seemed overly annoyed by him. "just get out rome." He would open the door for him. "honestly I was getting into something over here... but I can, come back? yeah?" He shrugged when asking while looking at you, but it was more of an rhetorical question, and then left the room.

"Very sorry about that, my brother-" You stopped kendall from talking any longer, wasn't his fault. "no worries, it's all good." He would smile at you, relived you wouldn't tell him off; showed his hand pointing to your chair, to make you sit, and so did he. "So, this is simple, I heard you were positioned as general assistant here... for basic stuff, that you will get to know them soon enough." Lets you know what kind of job, however, he was taken back a little bit, as if something was out of please, looking over your file, reading every line. "but... I don't know how have called yo-" You interrupted him once again, but this time, you were almost getting busted. "may I ask, how general are we talking about?" As you lean over to make the impression you were interested on his answer. "...yes! you'll hear about, me, roman, probably Tom Wambsgans from ATN downstairs, our sister Shiv Roy, and last but not least, the man, the one and only, my father... I'd say that's pretty general." You looked like you've found gold, it was fantastic. "great!" You zoned back in, stopped the creepy smile you were having when thinking how easily he was letting you access to everything... perfect, very clever from my superior. "You wanna know the others? before starting freshen up tomorrow." Dude couldn't make it more easier for you. "absolutely." You both stood up, ready to give you a tour of the place.

You first went down to the ATN division, where you found Tom and roman talking to each other. "hey guys, im making this quick, this is our new assistant, she'll be working for some of us." Kendall introduces you as you were impatiently looking over Roman and Tom, waiting for a response, but roman took the shotgun on that. "we meet again, nice to meet you." He stretched his hand out, for you to shake it, while having his eyes pierced, fixed on you. "y-yes, it's nice to meet you too." Tom cut him off to shake your hand as well, and wow he's tall. Roman was a tiny bit annoyed by Tom's doing. "you don't want to shake that hand, he just jerked off himself." Your eyes widened open while having an uncomfortable smile. Tom laughs nervously. "Oh roman, he's just being an asshole..." He looked over him, a bit raged up, but nicely looked back at you. "so what is that you assist?... coffee?.." Kendall was about to answer that but you replied first. "everything you need." Smiled mischievously. "well that's nice, it's nice to have you." Kindly said Tom. "well that was it, I'll leave you be, let's go y/n." As soon as roman heard your name, instantly stared back at you, honestly it was driving you insane.

"We're now heading to the big office... you know, my dad looks scary but he's all tender on the inside... so don't feel on edge, it's all good." You start observing Kendall, and if you learned something over the years interrogating people, you know when someone is lying...

You were getting closer to the office, you were behind kendall, haven't got the whole view in front of you, until he moved to the left when both of you came in, to then present you. "hey dad, do you got a minute? this is-" "not now!" Logan roy was in front of you, and he just yelled at his son on your presence; you knew he was a difficult man, yet it did make you staggered. "hey kendall, come..." Shiv roy appeared from behind, oh my god does everyone in this family pops up like that? Kendall seemed interested to know what was going on in there, with Logan shaken up, and the rest of his team looking very uptight, running around, corner to corner. Shiv took you out of the office to have a word. "now it may be not a good time." Kendall was perplexed. "what- why? what do you mean?" Shiv looked over Kendall's shoulder to see you from behind. "who is that?" Kendall took a step back, to stand next to you. "she'll be working for us, I was just showing her around for today, I had a break, so... she will assist you too." You smile at her very warmly. "oh, that's great, I guess... uhh, so anyway I was telling you-" Shiv's voice got lower, notifying Kendall the situation. "Dad and the gang are trying to solve an issue, about... some accusations." Your ears suddenly started to work ten times better than before, you had their full attention. "and are they... fixable?" Kendall asked in a coded way. "I think so, it's all very new, so we haven't played out a strategy yet-... where's our assistant?" Kendall and Shiv looked around as if a wizard just vanished out of thin air. "must've gone to bathroom?... I mean, they don't usually tell us what they do..." Shiv doubtedly agreed with Kendall.

After all, Kendall was right, you did go to the bathroom, but not to use it. You took out of your purse your work phone, and made a call. "agent y/n, number 472... I have recent information to notify the inspector..."

#succession #roman roy #kendall roy #shiv roy #roman roy succession #kendall roy succession #succession fic #female reader #fem reader #fem y/n #succession x reader #part one #roman roy x reader #kendall roy x reader

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anotheruserwithnoname · 6 months

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Some good news and some bad news regarding Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The good news is that now that the strikes are over, production of Season 3 is set to begin next month! This is good because there have been rumours swirling around possible cancellation in the wake of Star Trek Discovery being ended after its 5th season. But SNW continues (Lower Decks has also been renewed for Season 5). The only caveat to that is Paramount Plus still cancelled Star Trek Prodigy even with its Season 2 complete, so nothing is a guarantee anymore. (And even then, it's been reported that Prodigy S2 will at least get some sort of Netflix release).

(Further good news is Season 2, with its amazing musical and Lower Decks crossover episodes, is set for Blu-ray release before Christmas.)

The bad news - though this is likely educated speculation on Screen Rant's part - is the possibility that the 10-episode 3rd season my be split, with only 5 episodes airing in 2024 and having to wait till 2025 to see the rest. Aside from that wrecking viewer momentum, those 5 weeks will come and go very quickly. If this news is correct, though, they could be telegraphing some sort of 5-episode story arc, which should be good but I actually prefer SNW's episodic format as it better supports the type of experimentation we got with not only this past year's musical and part-animated episodes, but the episodic format is what made TOS what it was. No official word on any cast changes, though I will be surprised if S3 doesn't reintroduce Dr. McCoy in some fashion.

I haven't written much about SNW but it's my favourite of the live action modern Treks. I stopped watching Discovery and Picard but SNW has kept me. I've had songs from the musical earworming for the last week or so after I rewatched it. And I greatly appreciated the time-travel episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" for finally canonizing an explanation as to why the prequel series haven't always lined up with what we know as canon from TOS, TNG, etc. which as far as I'm concerned frees the writers to deviate and retroactively serves to rectify canon issues dating all the way back to some episodes of DS9, never mind Enterprise, Discovery and SNW itself. I will explain for those who don't know but I will put a spoiler break here for those who might be waiting for the Blu-ray or haven't had a chance to stream season 2 yet. If the break doesn't appear below, stop reading now if you don't want the spoiler.

The episode reveals that due to the many time travel events over the years (including ones we haven't seen on screen by enemies of the Federation; the episode relates one involving Mary Queen of Scots (in-joke for the actress) what we have been seeing in SNW etc. is an alternate timeline. Maybe not as extreme as the Kelvin timeline of the films, but events such as the Eugenics Wars - indeed, the birth of Khan himself - were delayed by decades. This major change to the timeline - and then you fill in the blanks by factoring in even minor changes such as the guy who accidentally killed himself with McCoy's phaser in City on the Edge of Forever, Sisko replacing Gabriel Bell in the Bell Riots, the Voyager crew going back to 1996, Archer and T'Pol heading off agents of the temporal cold war in the early 2000s, etc. - and you can see how it's possible that things progressed differently resulting in SNW and Discovery being more technologically advanced than TOS-era ships should be as established in TNG, DS9 and Enterprise that used the original tech and designs. Also character differences, like Pike's crew being aware of T'Pring and Khan when Kirk's crew in TOS did now despite Spock having worked with La'an Noonien-Singh and Kirk being aware of La'an's feelings for him. Or the lack of reference to Kirk's brother, who dies in a famous TOS episode, having been former Enterprise crew. And it literally stems from two lines of dialogue. It's exhibit A of how quickly and simply a show like Doctor Who can fix things.

#strange new worlds #strange new worlds season 3 #strange new worlds spoilers

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alj4890 · 11 months

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Hii 🥰

Okay so I’m super curious (as always) and I’d love to see some of your wip magic 💚

Confession time

Random gifs

Mixed signals

First impression

The Queen‘s Choice

Pieces of us

None but you

(Is there another Sophie and Ethan story sprinkled in there? 🤩)

Also your wip folder is fine. You should see mine 😂 I put it in a neat way but yeah…it’s chaos city 😅

😂 I'm glad I'm not the only one with a crazy folder 🤣 And sadly, no Ethan and Sophie WIP's. I need some more prompts for them 😉 just in case you have any handy.

Confession Time will hopefully be posted tonight or tomorrow. It's my last Thirty Kisses in Thirty Days prompt and it was a request for Thomas Hunt x OC with the prompt: kissing the friend you've been longing for.

A few Random Gifs that I save when they spark an idea for a drabble or series:

Mixed Signals is my first official, Open Heart series. I did a crack ship series a year or so ago of Ethan and TRR's Olivia. This time, no other Choices characters will intrude 😂 It begins shortly after the attack with my MC, Chris. In this AU, she isn't with Tobias and doesn't really know him that well. She'll end up trying to figure out who's the best for her: Ethan who won't fully commit, Bryce who won't really tell her how he feels about her, or Tobias who on the surface seems to be content with being friends with her.

First Impression: I was given this request for Thomas Hunt and my OC a while back 😬 They will be together and reminiscing about what their first impressions were of each other.

The Queen's Choice: I wrote a drabble a while back where Liam abdicated to be with the MC. Since Olivia is next in line to the throne, she is now Queen. But like Liam, she must get married. I was asked by @twinkleallnight to write this, and I realized it would need more than just a drabble or two to give justice to Olivia's story.

Pieces of Us might be my biggest crossover idea yet, LOL. I have it set in the early 1930's. War has happened between Cordonia and Auvernal. It will have characters from TRR, Perfect Match, Red Carpet Diaries, Crimes of Passion, and Open Heart. I want it to have so many story elements: drama, romance, humor, angst, mystery, ect 🤣 I'm not sure if it will ever fully come about, but I have so many scenarios in my mind for it along with numerous notes and such.

None But You is my RCD Regency AU series. This will be the second half of the completed series. There were a few more storylines I meant to explore in it, but my health had taken a rough turn during it and I finished it earlier than intended. The next few parts I have planned focus on the characters helping Chris Winters and Matt Rodriguez find their true loves. Now that Thomas Hunt and Ryan Summers have their ladies, it is only fitting that they see their friends also shackled in holy matrimony 😂

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quibbs126 · 8 months

Text

It’s been basically 3 and a half days and I have not done anything

I have had all the time in the world and no excuses to not to do my homework, to not study my class material, to not make a resume and actually apply for a job, to not call my parents (and I already didn’t do that last week)

I’m doing exactly what I did last semester, which is the absolute bare minimum, if even that, and by the end of the semester it’ll come back to bite me just like it did before and I’ll have no one but myself to blame, since I knew it was a problem and said I’d fix it, but I didn’t do anything to actually fix it. I suppose the only thing I’m doing better is that I’m doing most of my homework. At least partially

That’s what always happens; I say that tomorrow I’m gonna do something, I say I’m gonna be productive, I’m going to change my ways, and then the next day comes and goes and I don’t do anything, making myself feel more guilty and then ending the day saying again that tomorrow’s a new day, I’ll be productive tomorrow

*sigh* it’s like…I don’t have the motivation to do anything. And I hate it, but I cannot force myself to do something about it. Even if the solution is right there, it’s so easy, I just need to do this one small thing, I just can’t force myself to do that simple task. And that’s the worst part, that the solution is so simple, it’s right there, I have literally no excuse not to do it, but I just don’t do it. And so that opportunity slips by and I know the only thing stopping me from improving my life in some way was that I was just too lazy to do something simple

But going back to the not doing anything for 3 and a half days, what makes it worse is that today at least, I have had no creative juices flowing. I don’t just mean that I couldn’t work on my requests or art (though that’s one thing too, and I just don’t feel like doing my requests right now, even though I should), I mean that usually, when I’m doing nothing, I come up with some story or plot point to focus on to think about and pass the time, usually about a fandom I’m currently in, a character I’ve created, or an original creation of mine (possibly with crossover with another fandom I’m currently interested in). But today, I haven’t had anything good to focus on, and it’s driving me nuts. It’s like when you’re trying to find the right song to listen to, but you don’t know what it is today, and so your scrolling through your entire list of songs on your phone trying to find that good one, and you keep trying songs that just aren’t doing it for you right now, and you just get more frustrated that you can’t find that one song. Which is also something I’m dealing with today, I can’t find the right song to listen to, and it’s incredibly frustrating

I don’t know why I’m posting about this, I guess I just want to say it. I mean, at least I don’t feel as bad as I did yesterday

But also like, every time I post about whatever struggle I’m dealing with, I get comments with people trying to help me, and I appreciate that, I really do, you don’t know how much it means to me, but the problem is I don’t feel as bad about things afterwards, and thus I feel no reason to actually do anything about the problem, as it feels over, and so it remains, festering until it bubbles up again

I dunno. Roommate came back after the weekend around the end of this post and my train of thought was sabotaged

#real life stuff #school #what else do I tag this?#I need to make a new original story soon #I feel like I haven’t made one in a while #what to make it about though…#probably something Berserk inspired (by which I mean it’ll likely be a complete ripoff)#or Cookie Run #I want a new Cookie Run game #one that’s another runner like Ovenbreak #and with simple designs #what am I talking about?

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a-reader-and-a-writer · 2 years

Note

Is it's okay to ask for some wip list?

Hi anon! I would love to share my WIP list..... though I warn you it is long 😅 I have ADHD and I tend to have a hard time focusing on one idea for too long at a time. But I would also love to hear what people are most interested in and it can help me focus on specific projects 😊

I am going to group it by character in the order on my Masterlist but the order does not correspond to the order I am working on them. Also, not mentioned is about 20 requests I still have in my inbox that I have not forgotten about and am actively working on!

Batman/Batfam (generic/comic book version):

More parts of One Bad Day….. I have a one-shot about how Bruce and batmom met, and a one-shot set after chapter 3 where they discuss some of the more sensitive topics they avoided in the last chapter. I am also working on chapter 4.

More one-shots for Questions. I have at least three more planned, but I am open to more ideas if there is anything someone wants to see with these two.

A Dick Grayson x Reader songfic based on the musical Hadestown.

The final part of Seeing Red and Seeing Green.

A reaction piece of all the batfam after what happened in Wrong Place, Wrong Time.

Part 2 of I Have Missed You. This was a request and will involve more Ra's and Talia than the first part.

A Jason Todd x Villian!OC series where they meet out of costume without realizing who the other is. I have at least three parts planned for this and possibly four.

The Batman:

Part three and beyond for Some Wounds Leave Scars. It should be out in the next few days.

A Batman x GCPD!Reader series where the reader is new to the force and Gordon takes her under his wing.

Rick Flag:

A Rick Flag x Reader AU which is basically a Suicide Squad/A Knight's Tale crossover. I am really excited about it and have it planned, but I am still hesitant about writing AUs so I have been reluctant to start it.

Promises part 2. This is about 2/3 of the way done, but I got distracted with other things.

A Rick Flag x Next Door Neighbor!Reader pure fluff piece. It is about half complete.

Expanding on this drabble where Rick and Reader have a daughter. It is years after Corto Maltese and Rick thinks he has left that life far behind him. However, that is easier said than done.

Adrian Chase (Vigilante):

Part 2 and 3 of Just a Normal Guy. I have part 3 done, but now I have to finish part 2 😅.

Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier):

Part 3 of Nightmares and Time to Wake Up. This would be the final part.

A Bucky Barnes x Reader 2-part fic I have been working on/teasing for months (I'm sorry!). It is set just before/during Captain America: Civil War.

A Bucky Barnes x Reader fic/possibly 2-parter where the Reader was the first Black Widow and was assigned as the Winter Soldier's partner. Now, years later once they are both free from HYDRA and reunited, she is once again captured and has to try to find a way out.

tasm!Peter Parker (Spider-Man):

I have a request I am working on for Peter and Reader with a family. and having breakfast in bed.

Frank Castle (The Punisher):

Part two of Deliriously in Love. This was requested by a few people so I am working on it.

Poe Dameron:

The final part of All That Remains and Nothing Remains. Finally. I am putting the finishing touches on it now and it should (🤞) be out tomorrow.

Din Djarin (The Mandalorian):

A fic set during episode 5 of TBOBF right before Din leaves to rejoin the other Mandalorians.

Takeshi Kovacs:

Expanding It’s Still You and It’s Still Me into a series. I have a lot of it written out already, but it is trying to tie these pieces together I am having trouble with.

Stephen Holder:

Holder's partner gets trapped in a collapsing building and he tries to find her. This is a little over half completed.

A Holder x OC series set back when he is still working for the narcotics division. I have the story completely outlined but I need to start writing it.

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andreafmn · 3 years

Text

Running In Circles - Chapter 2

Word Count: 2,663

Characters: Female Reader Rossi Character, Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid, Jennifer “JJ”Jareau, Emily Prentiss, Penelope Garcia

Story Description: (Y/N) Rossi is following in her father’s footsteps by joining the BAU team as a profiler. The girl genius knew almost everything but she could have never predicted falling for Aaron Hotchner, her boss and her father’s friend. in their world mutual feelings are not enough to push them together. Will all the adversities and obstacles they face pull them together or push them apart forever?

*DISCLAIMER* I do not own in any way Criminal Minds, all credits of the pre-established characters, script, and storyline belong to Jeff Davis and CBS Network. The only thing I own is Arden Rossi, any upcoming characters, and her storyline, as well as her effects in the others’ story line.

Chapter: 2/?

Chapter Description: The team goes back to work as Aaron Hotchner considers retiring from the team and spend time with his son. (Y/n) can’t help but provide emotional support for the Hotchner boys.

A/N: I enjoy angst and slow burns way too much XD. If you enjoy my writing I’ll also be posting them in AO3 and Wattpad along with other stories (I also hope to start taking requests if ya’ll want) Hope you enjoy and all constructive criticism is encouraged.

<- Previous | Next->

Chapter 2

Once it was over, the interviews came. We knew the story. We lived it. The case was open and shut. They could try and make us pint it all on Hotch, the easy way out, but we knew better. And we would stand next to our unit chief whatever the price.

Haley’s funeral was no easier than being at the scene. It was a somber day and the sadness was imprinted in us. We all walked with dropped shoulders and a tight chest. I stood between Derek and Reid, using Morgan as support because I felt that my legs would give out at any moment. My father stood behind me rubbing circles on my back to comfort me. As we laid the roses on top of the casket, we laid to rest the life of Haley, a woman I only knew through the loving words Hotch spoke of.

The group did not know what to do to help the heartbroken man. It would take time to heal even just the smallest bit of his heart. All we could hope for was that he would come back to the team.

At the worst possible moment, the phone rings. No other team available and someone in need, we had to go to work. We all rolled our eyes or shook our heads; this was the job. But would it be the same without him?

I went to Hotch before we left and gave him a hug.

“Call me if you guys need anything,” he said.

“Just take care of your son,” I smiled, and he softly returned one of his own. I squeezed his shoulder reassuringly and left to join the team.

On the plane, we were caught up with the case. We stored all our feelings and got the machines running. We needed to finish this quickly and perfectly.

Two women, both brunettes and young, high-powered executives, murdered in their own homes, the floor around them decorated with flower petals. After Emily and Derek visited the crime scene, we had another part of the puzzle, the unsub was stalking his victims. Everything just seemed so perfect and staged, there was no way he was not prepared.

I stayed with JJ in the station working on the announcement and trying to figure something else from the details provided and the crime scene photos, but JJ could see my head wasn’t in it completely for the first time.

“Hey,” she said, taking my attention from the piece of paper I had been eyeing for the past five minutes. “What’s on your mind? Talk to me.”

“Is it wrong that I feel bad for being here?” I sighed. “Working like nothing’s happened.”

“Of course not, we all feel a bit guilty,” she smiled. “I know you most of all.”

My eyes opened in shock.

“Oh, come on, (Y/N). Everyone knows you have a not-so-secret crush on Hotch,” she laughed. “The only one that can’t see it is him. And probably your dad. Parents can be quite oblivious to their children’s feelings in this way.”

My head flew into my hands to cover the embarrassment that was flooding my cheeks. It was one thing to assume the whole team knew, another was to have it confirmed.

“It’s okay, (Y/N), we’ll see what comes of it. What I can say is that you can’t let this stop you from doing your job.”

She smiled one last time and it was all I needed to push Aaron Hotchner to the back of my mind and bring the case forward.

“Find anything?” My father asked entering the small room at the police station, Reid following behind.

“Several people had access to each home,” I said rubbing my temple. “Housekeeper, gardener, pool cleaner, dog walker…”

“Each with their own key and an alibi to match,” JJ added, an annoyed tone rolling off her tongue.

“Any crossover?”

“None. We even vetted delivery people and utility workers.” I sighed.

“Garcia, do you have anything?” Reid said, sitting down.

“There’s no hits at the prints at all. But I did what Sir Derek there asked, and I created a paper trail,” Penny explained. “There’s no cross-over between the two victims themselves in the weeks leading up to their murders, but they did run in similar circles.”

Penelope continued to explain how both victims lived quite a lavish and high-class lifestyle as Emily and Derek joined us. We figured this man would fit right in this crowd. Educated, intelligent, a gentleman. What we had yet to pinpoint was how the unsub entered the homes with no signs of forced entry. It was clear we were not going to make any headway tonight and Derek knew it too. So, he decided we should be done for the day and we would come back tomorrow well-rested and with fresh eyes.

That night I laid in the bed of my hotel room staring at the ceiling. All I could think of was Hotch and everything he was going through. I could only imagine.

And as if by fate, my phone rang. Aaron Hotchner.

“Hello?”

“Oh,” Hotch said surprised. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I haven’t been able to sleep.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “I guess I’m just worried about you.”

He chuckled softly. “You really shouldn’t.”

“But I do, Hotch.”

He stayed silent, only his slow breathing was heard through the phone.

“Did I fail her?” He asked after some minutes of comfortable silence.

“Absolutely not.”

“I promised her that I would catch Foyet and spend the rest of my life making it up to her.”

“And you still can.”

“But” he exhaled loudly. “How?”

“By being the best father you can be to Jack and continue living your life in the best way you can.”

“You know, Dave told me that I had to figure out what kind of father I wanted to be and then I’d know what to do. But I have no idea what that is.”

“Hotch…”

“I’m serious,” he interrupted. “I don’t know what kind of father I am. I catch killers. I save lives. I’m a hero until my key hits the front door, and then I’m just the father who’s never there. Haley was raising Jack all by herself and that was my support blanket. I was able to do my job because I knew he was cared for by another parent. A better parent.”

He sobbed softly as the last words escaped his mouth.

“I’m going to stop you right there,” I said, trying my best not to sound angry. “To that little boy, you are the only real hero that exists. He knows that when you’re not home it’s because you’re out here catching the bad guys like Foyet and making the world better for his sake. He knows that everything you do is out of love for him.

You know, when I was little my dad was absent quite a lot because of this job, but there was one thing that I knew for sure, that he loved me more than anything and that he worked better and faster because he wanted to come back home to me. And never ever have I resented him for leaving and catching the bad guys. He’s the reason I became an FBI agent.

You are an amazing father and anything you choose will be the right thing for Jack.”

After a minute of sobs, Hotch started to calm down.

“Thank you, (Y/N). You have no idea how much I needed that right now,” he cleared his throat. “How’s the case going?”

“Nope,” I laughed. “Not going to talk about the case.”

“Really?” He chuckled.

“Yes, Hotch. Take a breather. You deserve it.”

“Okay, okay,” he said, and I could hear his smile through the phone.

We had been talking for about an hour when I heard him yawn.

“Seems you’re getting sleepy there, Hotchner.” I laughed. “We should both get some rest. If it’s 3 am over here it must be 2 am in Washington. So, good night and see you soon.”

“Good night, (Y/N). Again, thank you. Sweet dreams.” And he hung up.

And finally, I drifted to sleep.

The next morning, we were up and ready for business.

“We believe our unsub is already with his next victim,” my father started. “If he matches the patter, she’ll be a successful woman, probably brunette, early 30s to mid-40s. She’ll be at home in Nashville’s upper echelon.”

“This means that he fits in,” I explained. “He drives the right car, he wears the right clothes, he’s highly intelligent. He probably comes from a place of status.”

“This guy’s sociable and he’s endearing,” said Morgan. “You would never suspect that this man is capable of murder. But he will do whatever it takes to protect the fantasy that he’s trying to relive.”

“It’s this fantasy which fuels his drive. He’s reliving a romantic evening and recreating it with each of his victims.”

“He most likely had a relationship taken away from him,” Derek crossed his arms. “So, look at men who have lost loved ones or have gone through a messy divorce.”

After finishing with the profile, we set out to establishments that fit the criteria to possibly get a suspect. As we worked, we got a call. Another crime scene, but this one was different.

A male victim. Overkill on the female. Something made him change his M.O.

Out in the garage, Reid and I looked for any sort of clues and I noticed his sight direct to the car. There may be another way we could connect the victims and how the unsub made their way into their homes.

Finally, Garcia had something with the hunch Spencer had figured. She overlaid all the geographical routes the victims had taken against the geo profile to show what we were missing with any paper trail. Although it was not a clear answer, Erika Silverman was the only one that did not fit the extravagant lifestyle and she only went and came from her work or her home. Except on Tuesday, where she went to the Botanical Gardens, what was she doing there? JJ, Reid, and I left for the gardens to find out.

And just as we had suspected, there had been an event to which Erika had attended. And a puzzle piece revealed itself.

“An event up here would be a hard sell for women in heels,” JJ commented.

“Well, most of our private events hire valets to drive the cars down to the base of the park so they don’t have to hike it up the hill.”

“Who had access to your keys but goes unseen?” Reid asked.

“And to your GPS,” I added.

“Dealerships program your home address into the navigation system before your car even leaves the lot.”

“He had turn-by-turn directions straight to her front door and the keys to get him inside,” I pointed.

We now had how he got his victims and how he entered their house without force. Now, all we had to do was pinpoint his next victim and see who he was.

JJ was instructed to get dad and Prentiss to pick up the owner of the valet service used in the event, and Derek, Reid, and I stayed behind to canvass the employees. We could catch this guy in action unless he had already gotten his next victim.

Joe Belser. That was our unsub. With the profile, the owner was able to point out the suspect quickly. And off we were.

JJ, Reid, and I headed to the venue and the rest of the team went to Belser’s house. He wasn’t in the apartment, but they had found the meaning behind the roses and universal garage door openers. In the venue, Reid called Garcia to see which of the VIP guests could be the next potential victim.

Ann Herron was the next victim, and he was already at her house.

“FBI! PUT IT DOWN!” Derek screamed, blinding Joe with his flashlight. I walked in from behind Derek and kneed Belser’s stomach. He fell to the ground groaning and Emily grabbed the man by the throat to immobilize him.

“Fantasy’s over,” she spat. “Is that what you did to them? You hit them to shut them up and then forced them to play along with your sick delusion?”

“I love them,” Joe said sinisterly.

“You’re finally gonna meet your soulmate, Joe,” I added from behind Prentiss. “In prison.”

“Only you’re not gonna be able to push him around like you did those women,” Emily continued. “And when he comes for you in the middle of the night, when you’re least expecting it, you do me a favor. Play along.”

She stood the man up forcibly and put him in handcuffs and I went outside to check on the victim.

“How is she?” Derek asked walking out of the house with my father.

“She’s strong,” I said closing the ambulance door. “She’ll make it. But you don’t survive something like that without scars.”

“Scars remind us where we’ve been,” my father commented. “They don’t have to dictate where we’re going.”

He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed my head as we walked back to the SUVs, finally on our way home.

The next day, I called up my dad so he would accompany me to Haley’s grave. Something told me I had to go. At the cemetery, I saw what the pull was. Sitting in front of the headstone less grave was Hotch. I walked up to him first, my father close behind. Hotch lifted his head and stared into my eyes, sitting up slightly.

“I had a feeling I’d find you here,” I spoke softly. “Have you told her yet?”

“Told her what?” He mused.

“That you’re coming back to the team,” my father joined his left side. Hotch looked at him. “That fighting the bad guys is who you are.”

Hotch lowered his head and shook it. “I don’t have to tell her. She already knows.”

I squeezed his shoulder reassuringly and gave him a soft smile. My father did the same and walked to my side, so we’d retreat, giving Hotch some space.

“So, do you want me to drive you back to your house?” My father asked.

“No,” I smiled. “I’m gonna stay with Hotch for a bit and then I’ll go home.”

“Okay, darling.” He kisses the top of my head. “I’ll pick you up on Monday then. Ciao, Mia Bella.”

“Bye, dad.”

Once my dad left, I sat down on a bench and waited for Hotch.

“(Y/N), you’re still here?” Hotch questioned with a smile on his face.

“Yeah, thought you might want some company.”

“Truthfully,” he chuckled. “I do. Thank you.”

“How about this, we pick up Jack, you guys come over and I crack open a present I had for Jack.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he motioned me to his car. “Let’s go.”

We drove quietly to his apartment, only the low volume of the radio and the sound of our breathing could be heard. It didn’t take long to arrive at the complex, where he opened the car door for me and led me upstairs. Inside apartment #121, was Jessica Brooks, Haley’s sister, and Jack playing a card game.

“(Y/N)!” Jack screamed as soon as I walked through the door, running to give me a hug.

“Hey, buddy!” I hugged back.

“Hotch, you’re back,” she exclaimed. “Good to see you again, (Y/N).”

“Good to see you, too,” I smiled. “How you holding up?”

“As good as I can be.” She answered as she began to gather her things. “Well, I’ll see you soon. Bye, little guy.”

“Bye, Aunt Jessica.”

“Bye, guys.” She said as she left.

“Hey, little man,” I directed to Jack. “I’ve got an idea.”

“What is it?”

“How about you to pack a go-bag and you and dad come over so we can open a present I have for you?”

“Yes!” He exclaimed as he sped off to his room to pack.

“I think you should go help him,” I smiled at Hotch. “If I have any memory of being a kid, they’re not very good at packing.”

“Yeah,” he grinned. “Maybe I should.”

I waited for both father and son to pack for the night asking myself why I was putting myself in this position. Growing closer to a man I had a 0% chance with. But I couldn’t help it. All in all, he was my friend, and he needed all the support he could get.

<- Previous | Next->

A/N: if you wish to be tagged for the next parts, please let me know. I’d be happy to. <3

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shuuenmei · 3 years

Text

partner

TWST OC Week Day 7: AU

BEFORE WE BEGIN:

For the last day of TWST OC Week, I picked AU and after some brainstorming, I decided to pick a Pokémon AU.

Or rather, a Pokémon crossover AU where Yuu (Rei) comes from the Pokémon universe instead.

This was a personal AU I had in mind for some while but placed on a backburner since I wanted to focus on the main fic first.

But with TWST OC Week, I thought it’s a good chance to revisit the AU again.

Without further ado, here we go!

I’m glad to be doing this event and it’s been fun!

Yuu doesn’t know what to expect when a seemingly mutated, talking, Shiny Zorua threatened to burn her if she didn’t hand over her clothes.

She only realized that she wore a whole robe and new attire, but internally panicked when her bag wasn't around, nor the fact that she has no Pokéball at hand.

So she had to trap the unknown monster back in the coffin she initially awoke to before escaping.

By luck, she met a petite, but older than he seemed student who healed her burns but the monster chased after her before being stopped by a man who claimed to be the Headmaster of this strange academy she was brought to.

“Ah, I found this bag and belt with peculiar looking metallic balls attached to it earlier, they must be yours, yes?”

The Headmaster waved his hand to show her belt with six Pokéballs intact and sling bag.

She hastily took the items and thanked the man. “Thank you sir... it seems my things were separated from me when that monster attacked me.”

“Attacked?”

He turned to the monster and frowned. “So it comes down to the fault of your Familiar.”

What, he’s not-

The headmaster didn’t listen, but the boy...student, with her, Lilia, listened and they talked along the way.

Checking the things inside her bag and her Party on hand as they did so.

________________________________________________________________

The mutated talking Zorua burned the whole room just shortly after the talking magical mirror declared that she had no magic.

The experiences and senses she honed as a trainer being the saving grace that lets her avoid the flames.

As the whole room set into a panic, she took a Pokéball that held her longtime friend, family, and partner.

Gazing at the ball for a moment, she murmured.

“Let’s go, partner. You ready?”

The Pokémon inside it nodded at her with a resolute gaze.

With a nod, she threw the Pokéball to the air.

“Gabriel! Sparkling Aria!”

Her long trusted Primarina landed gracefully on the ground and sang, large water bubbles formed all around them, appearing out from the air and the bubbles burst.

Water spreads all over and extinguishes the flames that appeared.

“Fnah!? My flames!” The mutated Zorua exclaimed but she paid no heed to what was going on behind or around her.

She’s only focused on seeing the flames gone and snuffed out.

In spite of the chaotic situation she found herself into, she’s glad that she’s not alone.

________________________________________________________________

Gabriel made quick work on the flames and the flames are gone by seconds.

The mutated Zorua was caught and she observed a red-haired student chant. “Off With Your Head!”

A large lock shaped collar was magically put in place at the monster.

After some words were exchanged, the boy turned to her. “This is your familiar, is it not?”

The Headmaster chimed in. “Yes! Do something about him! This is your familiar is it-”

Water was blasted on his face before the man could finish.

Turning to her furious partner, she chided. “Hey! I know you’re offended that he assumed that the mutated Zorua who threatened me to go naked is part of the team but you can’t just shoot a Water Gun at anybody!”

“Eh...? He isn’t yours?” The man repeated.

“Gabriel wouldn’t have been offended enough to blast water on your face otherwise.”

“I, I see...” The man looked at her Primarina, who only gave him an angry look in return, readying another blast of water.

“Come on Gab, calm down.” She held and stroked her partner’s hair.

“Pardon me,” The red haired boy called for her, “... you said he threatened you to what?” The red haired boy questioned.

“I woke up from the coffin because that monster,” She pointed to it, “burned the coffin, and then told me to strip naked from these clothes or he’ll burn me to death.”

Silence followed.

“...If that’s the case,” A lavender haired student with the red haired boy spoke. “it’s no wonder your partner is upset enough to attack the headmaster for his wrong assumption.”

She nodded at him. “Gabriel’s my longtime partner, I’d never replace Gabriel over some mutated talking Zorua.”

“Mutated what?”

“A Zorua.” She spoke. She had some suspicion about what kind of world she got brought into but she had to ask. “Do you not have Pokémon here?”

“...What’s a Pokémon?”

Oh boy.

________________________________________________________________

With the monster who called himself as Grim sent away, her status as coming from another world where, in their words, people tame magical monsters on a daily basis, being open news to the students present, but unable to return back to where she once came from, the Headmaster lets her stay around as he finds a way to bring her back to her original world, added onto his own surprise that she is a girl, and that the academy is actually an all-boys school.

She isn’t too worried about being trapped here for the while.

If anything, once the news of her going missing goes around, the Ultra Recon Squad and those from Aether Foundation would likely go and find her via the Ultra Wormhole.

They would have gotten in touch with Selene too by then.

Meanwhile, she was brought to an unused dorm that was planned to be repurposed on a later date.

She is now looking at her PC Box via the Portable PC, a new technology from Galar that lets you open your PC anywhere and anytime that is just recently applied in Sinnoh PC’s.

Speaking of Sinnoh... she was last walking around Route 214 back home, wasn’t she?

How did she get here-

Gabriel’s nudging brought her out of her thoughts.

“...Yeah, we should make the best of things for the time being.” She nodded.

At least the Pokémon in her PC Box are safe and the PC can still be used, even in another world.

Though she had to think of how she can manage to bring some of her Pokémon out and not get them stuck in the PC Box for too long.

She got enough berries, over a hundred, she last counted, obtained from renovating her Poké Pelago for years, so food for her Pokémon and her own person wouldn’t be a problem.

She knows the basic housework and the like at least, and can cook things decently.

She also got enough clothes, be it undergarments and others.

But first…

“We got a lot to clean up, don’t we?”

Gabriel nodded at her.

Time to get started.

________________________________________________________________

She would have gotten started if not for the monster she mistook as a mutated Shiny Zorua sneaking back in, only behaving once she threatened to have Gabriel shoot water at him if he didn’t, and dealing with the resident ghosts who were bothering her, thinking she’d be easy to play around with if it weren’t for Gabriel being way powerful for the ghosts to handle.

She had to convince the Headmaster to let the monster, Grim, stay if not for the fact that he’d do more harm if he is kicked out again.

“Ah, speaking of, would you like to register Grim-kun together with you as a student?”

“...What?”

The Headmaster explained. “We have some cases where students register as a 2-in-1 student due to circumstances. Considering that of yours and Grim-kun’s desire to enter the school, wouldn’t it have worked out?”

“...No, I’d rather register with Gabriel and my Pokémon than to register together with Grim.”

“Fnah!? Why!?”

She shook her head and reasoned, staring at the Headmaster. “You’re implying as if you want to replace my longtime friend, partner and family over a stranger. I refuse to have my partners be replaced by anybody.”

She looked down at Grim next. “And honestly, you still need a lot of work to do and understand what’s appropriate and inappropriate for people. Telling people to strip naked and burn them if things don’t go your way is not it.”

“...That’s true.” The Headmaster agreed.

“...I shall register you and… who would be your main partner?”

“Gabriel.” She spoke without hesitation.

“Alright, Gabriel-kun and Yuu-san. You two will be students from tomorrow on, while Grim-kun will be on probation until he is deemed ready to be a student.”

She nodded.

Sounds good to her.

________________________________________________________________

“So you’re choosing Popplio, young Yuu?”

Yuu nodded at Hala.

She is only twelve this year.

Her parents advised her to move with her cousins to Hau’Oli city, Alola, from Sinnoh last year and she still needs some time to get used to Alola weather.

It’s too hot, and she personally missed the cold, chilly air of Sinnoh.

Then her uncle suggested she try and take the island challenge and see if she can dethrone the first ever champion of Alola, Selene, who took charge three years ago.

With little to do beyond hanging around Iki Town and wandering around Hau’Oli, with her cousins off to their own adventures, she decided she might as well take it.

The Popplio clapped in glee and hopped towards her.

She held her first… rather, second, Pokémon, smiling. “Nice to meet you, Gabriel.”

Popplio welcomed the nickname with a cheerful bark. Followed by another cry of triumph.

Gabriel stared at the newcomer.

She noticed it’s gaze and introduced Gabriel to her technically first Pokémon she befriended.

“Oh, this stardust looking little guy? The name’s Aster. Aster’s not really someone I want to use in battles since Aster doesn’t seem like the kind to like fights right now, but Aster’s a friend.”

Aster the Cosmog smiled at Gabriel, excited at the thought of having a new friend.

#black or white (fanfic)#Twisted Wonderland #Twst X Pokemon #Yuu (Rei)#Shiina Yuu (black or white)#twst grim #dire crowley #Shuu's fics #Shuu Art #even from an alternate universe yuu (rei) has zero mercy for grim #pokemon #pokemon x twisted wonderland #Twst OC Week

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strong-as-a-tree · 3 years

Text

LEVI X HANDMAID!READER (THE HANDMAID’S TALE X SNK - CROSSOVER) // PART. 7

Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Reader (also Erwin but not romantically)

Disclaimers: Considering what the Handmaid’s Tale is talking about, expect to have some shocking scenes in this. If you are not sure, please look out for a summary of the show on the internet before reading. This story will contain sensible topics if you are not comfortable with the followings, please don’t read this story ♡

Also, yeah the characters will be slightly OOC, because of the nature of the story I couldn’t do it differently, I know Canon Erwin would never endorse Gilead, it literally hurts me to write him as this disgusting Commander… Sorry in advance for any Erwin’s simps !

TW: Emotional Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Female Oppression, mention of executional death, childbirth

Minors DNI

Word count: 1,852 words MASTERLIST

PART 1 // PART 2 // PART 3 // PART 4 // PART 5 // PART 6

"Ofdaniel is in labour!"

Ruth had woken you up with this amazing news, the older woman immediately helped you get dressed, as the minivan was on its way to pick you up. You had never witnessed a birth yet, of course you knew what you would have to do, they prepared every handmaids for those kind of events back at the Red Center. Despite knowing what was to come, you couldn't help but feel a little nervous at the prospect of witnessing the birth of a child.

The red mini van picked you up, it was raining outside, you could hear the rain hitting the van from inside. As usual, the handmaids weren't allowed to talk in the vehicle, but you could all feel the excitement filling the air.

You were the last handmaids to arrive at the house, and Aunt Olga greeted you with a large grin on her face. She made you all walk in single file along the long corridor leading you to Ofdaniel. You spotted the wives on your way there, all dressed in their regular blue dresses, crowded around Ofdaniel's Commander's wife, who was on the floor, acting as though she was having contractions. Childbirth, like the Ceremony, had a strict protocol to follow, one of which was that the wife must act as if she is in labor herself, allegedly to strengthen the bond between the future mother and the baby.

When you entered the master bedroom, Ofdaniel was panting and her contractions were getting harder and stronger, and the image of the wives soon faded from your mind. The majority of the handmaids had already gathered around her, doing the breathing exercise with her, you joined them. When it was time to push, all the handmaids assisted Ofdaniel to sit in the wooden birthing chair, 'breath in, breath out'. 'Breath in, breath out', the wives entered and helped the Commander's wife to sit on the chair too, right behind Ofdaniel, you didn't even laid an eyes on them, you were sorely focused on Ofdaniel. She was amazing, breathing at the right times, pushing like they taught you at the Red Center.

There were so many people in the room, but still, you thought Ofdaniel was the epitome of dignity, you were awestruck by her strength. Meanwhile, the Commander's wife was also letting out small whimpers, acting as she was pushing along with Ofdaniel. As Aunt Olga announced that the baby's head was out, you patted Ofdaniel's back, 'breath in, breath out,' and the baby was eventually out after a few pushes. Silence fell in the room, when a cry finally escaped the infant's mouth, everyone let out a cry of relief. "There is no greater miracle than the miracle of life." said Aunt Olga with a smile on her face. Ofdaniel was glowing, already putting her arms towards the baby, but Aunt Olga ignored her and gave the baby to the Commander's wife.

One of the handmaid took Ofdaniel's hands so the wives wouldn't notice her previous gesture, you could see that Ofdaniel eyes were glued to her baby, the wives were already leaving the room. You noticed Ofdaniel's face contort in a desperate state, tears streaming down her cheeks, and you knew she was about to explode; you weren't the only one who realised it, and all the handmaids gathered around her and hugged her, preventing the woman from doing anything that would result in her punishment. Her muffled cries could be heard, and silent tears welled up in your eyes as well.

Most of the other handmaids had left, the other that stayed were helping the Martha of the house with the buffet for the Commanders and the wives. You were still in the master bedroom, Aunt Olga had asked you to stay with Ofdaniel, the older woman was surely with the Commander's wife, examining the baby, it was also part of an Aunt's job after all. You were sitting on the bed, next to you was Ofdaniel, she was laying under the covers, you had helped her get cleaned with Ofgrisha earlier. She was silent, her eyes were wide open, looking at the ceiling above you. You were holding her hand that was resting on her still swollen stomach, "It's funny, y'know", Ofdaniel's voice was so faint that at first you thought you had imagined it. The woman didn't wait for you to ask her what was funny as she continued, "Every month they desperately tried to put a child in me here, in this bedroom, and today they placed me in this bedroom again, but this time, I had to give them back this child..."

You pinched your lips, unsure what to say; although Gilead taught you that your whole life should revolve around having a baby, you had a nagging feeling that if life had been different for you, if Gilead hadn't existed, if they hadn't taken you away from your parents when you were still a teenager, you wouldn't have wanted children. Maybe Gilead simply ruined the idea of motherhood for you, and you were lying to yourself, 'there is no use to think about that, it's not like you would ever be a mother anyway', you thought as you tried to push the mental image of a baby in your arms out of your mind.

Having a baby would entail, like Ofdaniel, having to give it up and immediately go to another 'family' to give them another child. You knew it was your fate, Gilead frequently tested their handmaids, and you knew for a fact that you were very much able to get pregnant. As Aunt Olga would say, that meant you'd never be transferred to the colonies; you'd been blessed. Still, after every Ceremonies, you couldn't help but pray that your Commander was sterile, every month without getting pregnant, were days of semblance of 'freedom'. Not being pregnant, not being under a man's body, not having to take care of another person's child, was the maximum freedom a woman could get in Gilead.

"Ah, my girls!", your thoughts got interrupted as Aunt Olga entered the room, she was beaming! Ofdaniel looked at her with an absent look on her face, you recognized that look, you had worn it before, she had given up. You immediately thought of Levi's words; 'If you continue to shield your mind like this, [...] you'll lose yourself'. You tried to catch her attention by shaking her hand a little, but it was in vain, she didn't acknowledge your gesture. "Oh! Ofdaniel, you did such a good job!" exclaimed the older woman as she sat on the opposite side of the bed, taking Ofdaniel's other hand, "Your Commander is so happy! And his wife too!", Olga was overjoyed, you couldn't help but think she must be even more happy that the parents, you had seen the look on her face when she handed the infant to the wife, there was a tinge of envy, if not outright jealously, beneath her plastered smile. It was not the first time you had seen that look on her face, on your way to the your Commander's house, you also had that thought about the older woman.

"The baby is an healthy little boy, five fingers and five toes on each hand and foot!", said the woman with a laugh, at that statement Ofdaniel's eyes shot up, "C-can I see him?", Aunt Olga sighed, her palm resting on Ofdaniel's cheek, "Oh my dear..." she whispered, "I wish I could say yes for the sake of the baby's health! But the Commander's wife doesn't want you to breastfeed the baby", she said with a disappointed voice. Ofdaniel looked at the ceiling again, a single tear streaming down her cheek, as Olga continued blabbering about how it was a shame that the baby will be fed with formula instead of breast milk. The older woman was known for always saying how much she cared and loved her 'girls', what a lie you thought, right now her only worry was on the infant, not on Ofdaniel.

"I think Ofdaniel needs some rest, Aunt Olga," you finally murmured, interrupting the woman's outpouring, "Oh, you are right Oferwin, how lucky you are Ofdaniel to have such a caring friend beside you!" You cringed at her words; 'lucky' was not the word you had in mind right now. Suddenly Ofdaniel sat up and grabbed Olga's hand, stopping the older woman as she was about to get up, "What's his name?". Olga hesitated a second, studying Ofdaniel's face, "They named him Armin."

You spent the entire day with Ofdaniel, Ofgrisha had come at some point to keep you company, but it was very silent. As the day progressed, Ofdaniel's sadness worsened, and she was forced to return to her chamber. The new parents no longer needed her, therefore she will return to the Red Center tomorrow to rest before being assigned to a new family.

It was late at night and all the other handmaids had left, Aunt Olga had called for Levi to bring you back home, you kissed Ofdaniel's forehead, "I'm sorry" you whispered. You weren't quite sure why you were apologizing, maybe you said sorry because you knew no one would apologize to her; her Commander would never apologize for the Ceremonies, his wife would never apologize for taking her baby away, Aunt Olga would never apologize for not defending her right to see little Armin, Gilead would never apologize.

As you were leaving, you passed by the living room, you caught a glimpse of the baby, he was in a little bassinet, his eyes were closed, but you saw some light almost white hair sticking out of his bonnet. Levi was waiting for you in front of the black Range Rover, he opened the door for you, after making sure you were comfortable, the driver took a seat behind the wheel. You were in the back, you felt tired, all of the emotions of the day took a toll on you. "It's a boy" you suddenly said, you didn't know why you said it, you were sure Levi couldn't care less about the child, but you felt the need to talk. The man didn't react at your words, his eyes were focused on the road, "I think he'll have blond hair, like Ofdaniel", you said, smiling at that thought, neither the Commander nor his wife had blond hair, so the child would at least get something from his mother.

Levi looked at you in the rearview mirror, "Hopefully he won't inherit the Commander's nose", you snorted, he said it with such a nonchalant voice. You continued to tell him how the day went, not forgetting to mention every little detail that you thought were important, like how amazed you were at Ofdaniel's strength or how ridiculous the wife looked when she faked having contractions. Levi didn't speak much, only nodding or giving a witty remark here and there. It was relaxing, it was strangely normal. Normality was such a foreign feeling since you arrived at Gilead, so you embraced the moment.

lovely people: @rapsgoddess @a--nonymousse @gothiccii @omlbarnes @hybrid-huntress

PART 8

#levi ackerman x reader #levi x reader #levi ackerman #the handmaid's tale #aot x reader #snk fanfiction #shinjeki no kyojin

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pi-cat000 · 3 years

Text

BNHA: Kakashi dimension hops crossover (5)

Summary: Kakashi gets dumbed into the My Hero Academia universe through random plot devise.

Characters: Kakashi Hatake

Fandoms: My Hero Academia and Naruto

WARNINGS: Mentions of violence/injury

START / RREV / NEXT

Ms Iroi always tries to engage him in conversation whenever she comes in, asking questions and chatting to herself in a fruitless attempt at helping him recover his 'lost' memories. Most of the time, Kakashi is indifferent to her presence and always has a magazine handy as an excuse not to talk.

Today, Iroi is in a particularly good mood, humming to herself, greeting him with an energetic, “How are you doing today!”

Kakashi grunts a noncommittal response which doesn’t do much to discourage the woman’s good mood as she runs through a check-up routine.

“You should try watching U.A’s sports festival tomorrow. I hear it’s going to be particularly spectacular this year,” she says as she pulls the blinds on Kakashi's window, blocking out the distant city lights.

U.A? he recognises the name. Kakashi glances up over the pages of HERO!! MONTHLY BREAKDOWN. It is the third time he has read this issue.

“You know, since you like reading those hero magazines, I figured you would be interested in watching the ‘next generation of heroes’ debut,” she continues, noting his attention, “U.A always puts on a good show.”

Kakashi frowns. The problem with his amnesia cover story is that he is still trying to figure out what he can get away with not remembering. So far the doctor’s seem content to chalk up the disappearance of his long term memories to a ‘quirk’ accident but were always more concerned when he failed to recall basic factual information. Something to do with different parts of the brain being responsible for different types of information.

“Watch how?” He settles on asking. U.A. was supposed to be a hero-training academy so whatever this ‘sports festival’ was was worth checking out.

“Oh,” Iori pauses to think, “I, ah, think channel 2 with be covering it?” she hesitates, “You know what. I’ll look it up and let you know later. Sorry, I can’t carry my phone around with me while on shift.”

“Thank you.” He smiles and makes a show of returning to his magazine to dissuade further conversation.

Later the same evening, just before the end of the evening shift, Iori pokes her head into his room again. She is out of uniform, long hair untired, waving to catch his attention.

“The coverage is on channel 2 and starts at 11am,” She holds up her portable communication devise like it means something. It probably did mean something. The frequency by which people checked them suggested it had a function beyond basic communication. He has held off attempting to steal one because, unlike pens, people would notice and care if one went missing.

“Have fun watching! Oh… also, I forgot to ask…”

Kakashi raises a brow.

“I have a bunch of old gossip magazines. Mum used to read them all the time and there are a few hero-themed ones in the mix. I can bring them in if you want more stuff to read.”

“If you want.” Iori must have noticed him re-reading the magazines.

"I'll bring them on Friday!"

Iori had been unsubtly hinting that Kakashi might have had a history in heroics. It definitely wasn’t because reading information on a page just made sense when compared to the barrage of conflicting reports the television gave him. A few weeks with only the television as his information source has him writing off most of its information as useless or propaganda.

…

...

“HEELLLOOOOO, LISTENERS!”

Kakashi stares dully as the video footage, which had been giving him a bird’s eye view of a positively massive stadium, changes to a sweeping shot of what must be thousands of people crammed into seats. It almost makes him claustrophobic just watching it.

“WELLCOME TO OUR ANNUAL U.A. SPORTS FESTIVAL! THE HIGH SCHOOL ADOLESCENT RODEO YOU ALL LOVE TO WATCH. CAN A GET A ‘OH YEAH!’”

As if of one mind, thousands of people leap to their feet screaming. The camera angle changes again to show a grinning blond-haired man, seated at a desk and pointing enthusiastically at the camera. All these shot changes are going to give him a headache. Kakashi is already having reservations watching this and its only10 minutes.

“Thank you! You’re an AMAZING audience!”

It almost reminds him of the final Chunin Exam stages -if the Chunin exams had had three times the audience - which always involved some sort of combat display. There hadn’t been any public Chunin Exams recently for reasons such as a large portion of Konoha being flattened by Pein.

“FIRST UP ARE OUR FIRST-YEAR EVENTS! And what an exciting round of events they are, perfect for debuting our newest students! Give us a shout so they can feel your support!”

Another loud shot as thousands of people yelled in unison.

“Come on! Louder than that! These are your future Heroes I’m talking about! SHOW THEM SOME LOVE!”

More yelling. Kakashi turns down the volume.

“But! Wait just a minute!! We're not only here for our Hero students! As I'm sure you all know, behind every great hero is a hardworking support team! GIVE IT UP FOR our Support, Management and General departments who are also competing for a chance to face off in the finals!”

Kakashi sighs. He is getting the sense that this might be more for entertainment than utility purposes, conforming to the general trend of Hero-related stuff being flashy. Different from the Chunin exam which had deadly consequences if not taken seriously.

“Hey. Hey! HERE THEY COME NOW! OUR STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN THE FIRST YEAR STAGE!”

What follows is an overly dramatized race where the only thing of interest to him are the obstacle types, including robots, - mobile mechanical weapons of some sort that produced a lot of environmental damage but were taken down fairly easily- and explosive devices that acted a lot like explosive tags. Then there was a team elimination round and one-on-one tournament fights after which the coverage shifts to the second year and third year stages.

He uncovers the sharingun only to discover that, while its memorisation function worked fine, the part that translated the movements into muscle memory felt off. Perhaps, the replication and copying component of the eye didn’t work when viewing a technique through a screen rather than in person. Interesting. As there wasn't anything particularly impressive technique-wise during the events he counts the new information as a net gain.

The student-heroes – he is not sure if there is an official term for a hero in training – barely match Konoha’s academy standard in their taijutsu and physical conditioning though there was marked improvement between first, second and third-year groups. These students were what...between 14-18 years old...and yet most had the skill level of an academy students and fresh genuin with only a few notable exceptions?

Sure, there were - honestly ridiculous- versatile and powerful bloodline abilities being thrown around like nothing, but ninjutsu techniques only took a shinobi so far without a strong base to work from. He shakes his head, reminding himself that these kids - because what else did you call combatants who hadn’t graduated yet- weren’t shinobi in training and would be policing civilians and engaging ‘Villains’ of similar skill levels. It was obvious that the students favoured non-lethal takedown methods and put little to no thought into stealth and misdirection during fights.

Different words…different priorities.

As Kakashi has yet to see any evidence that the country, Japan, was at war with another he thinks the skill level displayed might be serviceable. There were also no major conflicts between the country’s large cities over farmland, water sources and the like. Obviously, this place had sorted out the resource and distribution issues usually encountered when supporting such large populations. Or, who knows, maybe everything on the television was a carefully constructed lie to lull people into complacency.

Now he has seen an example of hero-students, he better understands the low combat ability demonstrated by the police. It also gives incite into the blurry recordings of Hero/Villain confrontations which played on repeat across the various ‘news’ reports. They all tended to hover around Chunin or maybe Special Jounin in terms of skill. He knows generalisations are dangerous so, until he saw the combat in person, he would exercise his usual level of caution. There were bound to be outliers after all-the impressive brute strength of the number one hero comes to mind- and there was no telling what advantages a bloodline ability might provide. Absently, he makes testing the susceptibly of people without chakra to genjustu as something to figure out sooner rather than later.

He sighs. This is why he hated the television. Whenever he watched it, he came away increasingly confused, with more questions than he had answers. Not to mention anything useful being constantly interrupted with information detailing one of the many products that he could apparently buy here. It irritated him to no end.

...

The chakra collecting seal is ready before the week is out. Mostly ready...it was ready enough.

Kakashi returns to the roof. Sitting cross-legged, back against the stairway entrance, he works his way through the 100 or so pens, cracking them open and tapping out ink into a large bowl, stolen -like the pens -from hospital staff.

The mix of black, blue and red ink is gluggy, forcing him to add water to thin the solution out. Once satisfied he pulls out an appropriated scalpel – one of a growing collection hidden alongside his pens because having a stash of weapons is never a bad thing- pricking his middle finger, watching the blood drip and curdle with the mixture. The blood would be absorbed into the ink, allowing it to conduct chakra. He mixes everything with pair of disposable chopsticks, taking care not to spill it on the ground or stain his hands.

The whole process reminds him of other insistences where he had improvised fuinjutsu ink in the field. The last time being during his final Anbu missions where he had created a body storage scroll from scratch after unexpectedly losing a squad mate on what should have been a simple intel retrieval mission. Not a particularly fond memory but a memory he was stuck with.

Since his demotion to Jonin-sensei there had been fewer of those sorts of missions. Not that being a Jonin-sensei had been easy – considering all his students had gone off to find other teachers he didn't even think he had been particularly good at it - bringing with it its own special brand of stress, culminating in a stint as Hokage, a fourth war and him stuck here. He is pretty sure his experiences aren't universal. Team 7 was just cursed to fail in increasingly spectacular ways.

He lets out a heavy sigh, leaving his airways open to a sudden gust of cold wind which carries the scent of cleaning chemicals from the hospital and oil from the road straight up his nose. He exhales forcefully and mentally bumps finding a face mask up his list of priorities. It would be good for hiding his features and dulling the artificial smells of a city housing over a million people.

The sound of wind whistling around the building almost blocks out the echo of feet in the stairway, approaching his location. In one smooth motion, Kakashi stands pushing the remaining broken pen back into the vent, nudging the cover back in place with his foot. Carefully he holds the bowl of ink in his injured arm and a scalpel in the other. Kakashi steps back against the entrance so the outward opening door would hide him from whoever came out.

A crying kid comes barrelling through the door.

Well, not completely crying, more like sniffing loudly, eyes all shiny. He even recognises the kid from the U.A combat demonstration, as improbable as that was. It is the first year hero student with the speed-enhancing ability which, seeing him up close, probably had something to do with the strange growths coming out of his caff muscles. High speed movement put enormous strain on the body so he could reasonably conclude that the kid was physically resilient to acceleration stress and similar forces. Not resilient to stabbing though....

Kakashi forces himself to relax, his scalpel lowering ever so slightly. Lucky he had heard the kid coming or he might have accidentally hurt him. A few weeks of reduced sleep coupled with a lot of time to ruminate on past missions and failures has put him on edge. This was exactly why he disliked taking extended breaks.

Maybe, Kakashi should start relocking the stairway if he was planning to make regular trips up here because the young male probably hadn’t had the roof in mind as a destination. Kakashi knows from experience that, unless you were injured or a member of staff, there were few good reasons to wander around a hospital at odd hours.

With the hero-student distracted sniffling into his arm, Kakashi slips around the door and back down the stairs. He hadn’t planned on applying the seal on the roof anyway. Too exposed to the elements and the concrete was too rough for the delicate line work.

He continues mixing while he walks, having mentally mapped the hospital well enough to know which hallways to use and which to avoid. There is a surgeon with some sort of heat-sensing vision who works late most nights that he must be careful around and a nurse with a weak proximity based empathic ability working in paediatrics. Both obstacles force him to take a meandering detour on his way to the ground floor and the larger shower blocks which housed cubicles the size of small rooms. Enough smooth floorspace for the expanded seal design and easy to clean afterwards. He supposes he is lucky, some complicated fuinjutsu required several meters worth of floor space. The containment on Saskue’s cursed seal comes to mind and he is glad that this seal is infinity smaller.

Not one to waste time knowing that nurses and patients regularly used the space even this late in the evening, he immediately slips into a cubicle upon arrival. Flopping onto the floor he pulls out the paintbrush he had had scour the hospital for and eventually to steal from the children’s ward. Carefully, he begins the slow process of application.

…

The final seal design is circular, about the size of his splayed hand, positioned on his uninjured shoulder just above where his Anbu seal had previously sat. The sleepwear provided by the hospital had sleeves that extend just past his bicep. It hid the design, for the most part. The final visible seal is a bit bigger than he had predicted or planned for. If this were a proper infiltration mission, where blowing his cover came at the price of death, he would be in big trouble. If this were a proper mission, he would have waited before applying this. An unnecessary risk. He itches the back of his head, turning from where he is craning his neck to see the seal, gathering up his supplies to be thrown in one of the hospital’s many rubbish bins. Kakashi lets out a breath. Maybe, this whole ‘trapped in a different world’ thing is affecting him more than he was willing to admit and making him sloppy.

He pulls down the sleeve so it mostly hides the design. Not like the doctors here would recognise the significance of fuinjutsu, he reminds himself, even if their questions would be annoying to deflect.

He pumps chakra into the seal and a jolt akin to lightning runs down his limb. It activates without issue and Kakashi grimaces as his chakra is slowly drained and collected. The rate of the drain is pathetically slow. Three years too slow. But, between this and his sharingan - which was always active and draining chakra- he can’t risk making it quicker. Despite the relatively low-level threats around him, Kakashi is, first and foremost, a Jonin in an unknown territory who is already taking risks simply making and applying the seal. He can’t afford to impair himself with poor chakra management on top of everything else.

Kakashi pops his head out of the cubical, scanning the shower block. Nothing of note has changed and he darts out, intent on returning to his room. He is tired and it would be a long, tiresome week as his body adjusted to the strain as well.

#bnha #bnha fanfic #naruto #CrossOver #dimension travel AU #hatake kakashi #kakashi headcanons #cultural shock #Iida makes a breif cameo #fanfiction #my hero academia #plot continues to move at a glacial pace

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mrsalwayswrite · 3 years

Text

Say You’ll Stay - Chapter 9

Fury/Band of Brothers Crossover Fic

There are a million excuses I could give as to why its taken me so long to update. So I will simply say- writer’s block. Here we are though!

Tag List: @happyveday @alwaysindecemberfeels @saritanotserena

Series Masterlist

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

He did not know what to do. He knew what he wanted to do. He knew what he should do. But when those two options were at odds, that left him in the quandary of what to actually do.

Either way, Anna was in trouble and did not even know it yet.

"Fuck." He muttered to himself.

"Something to add, Sergeant Collier?"

Don looked over to meet the stern, blue eyes of Captain Winters. "No, sir."

The redheaded captain stared at the tank commander for a moment before continuing speaking to the other officers in HQ. "This town here is a key point for supplies for the Germans. There is a railroad next to the town that intelligence says is crucial to them. Once we get control of the town, we'll secure it until 1st Battalion can relieve us." Winters said, pointing at a spot on the map laid across the table.

Don glanced back out the window, watching Captain Evans walk away from the HQ building. It had been three days since they arrived in Haguenau, and Captain Evans planned on leaving in two more.

The dark-haired intelligence officer began speaking next. "Our sources say it's only infantry there. It seems most of the tanks have been recalled back to Germany. Either way, we expect resistance but as to how much, we aren't sure."

"That's why we are sending the Armored Division with you. Sergeant Collier will lead the four tanks in assistance." Winters said. "They will follow behind. At this point we've been asked to minimize damage to property but I will not trade it for lives. Understand?"

A chorus of "yes, sir" answered him.

"Excellent. Fox Company will lead the assault with some of Dog Company in reserve. Have your men ready, you leave at oh-six hundred tomorrow. Any questions?"

Don tried to focus on the rest of the discussion. He was leading his platoon for fuck's sake into another fight, but his thoughts kept drifting to Captain Evans leaving and what that meant.

Anna would be leaving too.

She had been sent to stay with Captain Evans, to be a medic and translator. She was never supposed to come to Haguenau. Don was never supposed to give a fuck about her. Their brief encounters back at that field hospital were supposed to be the extent of their interactions. Yet here he was. Worried for her safety. He and his crew were leaving tomorrow for the next fight. Captain Evans would leave the next day to start pushing into Germany.

His mind whirled with questions. Who would protect Anna? Who would make sure she ate and slept? Who would make sure she was looking out for herself just as much as her patients?

Don barely heard the dismissal from Captain Winters. The shuffling of feet and low cadence of voices heading towards the door thrust him back into reality from his dark thoughts. Without a word or acknowledging the paratroopers he would be working with, he headed out of the Battalion HQ and walked towards his lodgings. His mind raced with more questions than answers.

He knew what he wanted to do.

He knew what he should do.

Both options made him clench his jaw and want to punch a hole in a wall.

He trudged back to the house, throwing open the door, uncaring of the way it slammed into the wall. Stepping towards the common room, he saw Davis, Binkowski, Grady and a few others playing cards on a short table. A few others lounged around in the sunny room.

"What's the news, Wardaddy?" Binkowski asked, keeping his eyes on the cards in his hand.

"Leaving tomorrow. Oh-six hundred. Make sure your men got their shit together."

"You alright, Don?"

He had not even heard Boyd come around the corner from the kitchen. His sharp gaze landed on his gunner, who was watching him warily. "Yeah, fucking fine." He snapped; his frustration was a writhing mess of snakes in his gut.

Christ, he needed some peace and quiet and a cigarette. Don stormed through the common room to head up the stairs, uncaring of the confused looks around him. In his haste to leave, he accidently bumped a flimsy chair someone must have left out. It just caught him at the right angle and dug into his side, nothing painful but just enough to infuriate him even more. He had not even realized how angry he was until the chair caught him, but it was the catalyst that released the pent-up frustration.

With a snarl, he grabbed the back of the chair and threw it against the wall. The sounds of wood snapping and breaking filled the now silent room. Without a word, without stopping, because if one person said something to him, he would beat the fucking shit out of them, he stalked up the stairs to his shared room.

After throwing the door open, he kicked it shut. The solid boom of the door slammed back only made him want to do it again and again. Instead he moved to drop onto the bed, sitting on the edge and quickly lit a cigarette. He took a long drag, the smoke immediately bringing some relief to him.

He was surprised Norman was not in the bedroom. When he left for the meeting, Norman had been curled up in the bed sleeping still. At first, he thought Norman slept so much because he was sick. Now he was beginning to wonder if the kid absorbed sleep like a desert soaking up a rainstorm; the rarity of it making it harder to ignore and easier to overindulge.

It could not have been even two minutes later when the bedroom door slowly opened. Don dropped his head in one of his hands, the other still holding the cigarette.

"Wanna explain what that was?"

"Not now, Boyd." Don hissed, not looking up.

The gunner rocked back on his heels, the floorboards creaking under the motion. "A'right. Well, I'm just gonna be right here when you ready to talk."

He chuckled darkly. Five minutes. He could not even get five fucking minutes alone. He tried to ignore Boyd as he stared out the window.

"Where's Norman?" He finally asked after taking another hit of his cigarette.

"Gordo took 'im to the aid station to see Anna."

"She's not coming here?"

"Dunno."

"Fuck." Don whispered, rubbing a hand over his face. He suddenly felt like he should be in his sixties or seventies, not just recently turned thirty. His mind played over the past three days since they arrived in Haguenau. Besides that first day of their arrival, Anna had been over every day. He knew it was mostly to check in on Norman and make sure his cold did not worsen but she usually ended up staying for some time or if someone could convince or threaten her enough, she would also catch up on some sleep. During that time he had become so used to seeing her around, it felt strange to question if she was coming back or not. In his mind, she was a part of his crew, and he was positive he was not the only one to feel that way.

He needed her safe.

That was what everything seemed to come back to for him. He cared about her safety, like he would any of his crew. Except he knew, he wanted to be the one to keep her safe. To keep her gentle smile on him. To be the one she turned to. He felt like a moth drawn to her flame.

He knew what he needed to do. He doubted she was going to like it. Hell, if they got caught he wondered if he would lose his rank by going behind the backs of his superiors. He had to do something though. He had to keep her safe. Well, as safe as anyone could be while at war.

He knew the truth though- he wanted her close….to him.

With a groan, he stuck the cigarette between his lips then pushed against his knees to stand up.

"Where you goin'?"

"Stay here."

Boyd stood up, blocking the door. "What's goin' on, Don?"

He debated just pushing Boyd out of the way before shaking his head. "Captain Evans leaves in two days."

"Uh huh. Anna mentioned somethin' about the wounded finally being moved to a field hospital today. Probably why she ain't here."

"We leave tomorrow." Don flatly stated.

Boyd's eyebrows drew together. "I feel like I'm missin' somethin'."

"Anna is supposed to go with Evans. That was why she was sent."

He could see the light bulb go off in Boyd's mind when what Don said finally clicked. His eyes widened, a myriad of emotions flickered across his face ranging from horror to frustration and what could be despair.

"What…." Boyd stopped, looking off to the side and taking a deep breath before turning back to his commander. "What we gonna do?"

"I'll take care of it."

"Don…."

"Stay here, Boyd. Start gettin' ready to leave tomorrow. I won't be gone long." This time he did gently push Boyd out of the way and with a long look, he stalked out of the room, down the stairs and outside.

He made his way to the aid station, only having to jump behind a building once to avoid a mortar. This was his first time coming to the aid station in Haguenau, having had no reason prior to come. He was pleased it was in better shape than most of the other buildings and further back from the river and Nazis.

Soon as he stepped through, he was hit with the smell of sanitation, coffee, and dried blood.

"Where's the nurse?" He growled at a pair of medics who stared at him like he was the grim reaper come to take their souls. One pointed towards the back. Don stormed in that direction, boots pounding on the wood floor.

He arrived at what most likely had been someone's study or library prior to the war but had been converted to the aid station. His gaze zeroed in on her folding up some blankets while she chatted with a medic. He stalked towards her. She only turned her head to look up at him as he was within five feet of her.

"Don?" The sweet smile on her face immediately faded away as she took in the serious expression he wore.

"We need to talk." He stated, moving to stand beside her.

"Of course, let me…"

"No. Now." He grabbed her upper arm and started to pull her from the room. The other medic started to say something but snapped his mouth shut at the icy glare Don sent him.

"What's going on?"

He ignored her question, looking down at her once they were in the hallway. "Where can we speak in private?"

"Upstairs."

Once she seemed to sense his urgency, he allowed her to lead him up the stairs and into a room that seemed to be used by the medics to store their personal effects. Two cots were pushed against opposite walls, both empty thankfully. Soon as he shut the door behind them, he rounded on her.

"You need to hide."

"Ex....excuse me?" She stuttered, sapphire eyes peering up at him, wide and unblinking.

"Captain Evans plans on leaving the day after tomorrow."

"We heard. One of the lieutenants stopped by after the wounded were taken to inform us. Why does…"

He cut her off. "My crew and I are being sent out. We leave tomorrow. I don't know how soon we'll be back. So, you need to hide until Captain Evans leaves."

"I don't.… I don't understand, Don."

"Fuck!" He moved closer to her, grabbing both of her upper arms, his hands wrapping completely around them. "Listen. I can't protect you if you are in some other goddamn country. You can't leave with the Captain, alright? You stay here. You stay low and you'll get left behind. When we come back, I'll take care of you."

"But…. I mean, I'll be fine. The men are….um…. It’ll work out. I'm more worried about you and the others. You are going into a fight!"

"Fuck them and fuck the fight!" He shouted, moving away before he shook her, trying to make her understand. How could she not see what he was trying to do? "I don't trust those bastards to keep their hands off you! And you shouldn't either! Who's going to look out for you? Huh? Who's going to make sure they don't lay a fucking finger on you?! Cause I can promise you, it won't fucking be them!"

He stood in front of her, chest heaving from the anger rolling through him like a tsunami wave. Only now, after his words spewed out like vitriol did he witness the effect. The tears that welled in her eyes, how one of her hands covered her mouth, the other wrapped around her torso almost in a self-hug.

"Anna…" Resentment towards himself flooded through his veins. Slowly he tried to reach out to her, to place a hand on her shoulder with an apology dancing on the tip of his tongue, but froze when she flinched.

And that hurt worse than being pierced with a bullet.

He made no further move towards her, afraid of her reaction. Frustrated at everything but mostly himself in the moment, he ran his hands through his hair.

Her gaze had dropped to the floorboards, hunched into herself. Finally after several seconds, she whispered. "What do you want from me, Don?"

What did he want from her? Hell, if he was still trying to come to terms with that answer himself. In the moment, he chose to honestly answer.

"I want you safe."

His equally soft reply made her head jerk up, eyes meeting his. "Why?"

"You're a part of my crew...and I swore to make sure they survive this war. I can't do that if you're in another company."

"Is that the only reason?"

Did she know how loaded that question was? How this growing tension between the two of them grated on him? Not because he disliked it. No. Because he wanted her closer. But this was war, and no one was guaranteed tomorrow. So he answered with something that tasted like a half-truth. "The only one that matters right now."

She sniffled, wiping away the moisture from her eyes with her dainty fingers.

As if approaching an injured animal, he carefully shifted closer to her. Seeing the tears in her eyes broke what resolve he meagerly held. He hated that he made her cry, made her flinch. It tore at his soul. Something his mind demanded he fix, for both of them.

Hesitantly, he reached forward and clasped her hands in his. She inhaled sharply, but only tightened her grip on his hands. The air between them felt charged with something unnamed but powerful. The way their gazes locked, hands holding each other, as if they had been put under a spell neither wished to escape.

"I need you safe, darling…." He murmured, the words flowing out of him without his conscious approval. Only after did they hang in the air, waiting to stoke the fire between them or shatter everything like glass.

"Darling?" The corners of her lips turned up in a barely-there smile.

He huffed a short laugh. "That alright?"

"Yes." She answered with a blush growing on her cheeks.

And damn if that sight didn't stir something within him. Following his instincts, he gently tugged her closer, pulling her into a warm embrace, beyond pleased when she practically melted against him. His arms went around her back while her arms wrapped around his waist. Her cheek laid against the middle of his chest and he wondered if she could hear it pounding within him. Not for the first time was he reminded how small and vulnerable she seemed, tucked against his body now. He knew and witnessed how strong she truly was though. Faced with blood and death and distraught, she still persevered.

She sighed after some time, neither attempting to end the embrace. "I'll try to hide but I don't know where I could. All the medics know I'm here. Arthur and the others will be expecting me to join them especially after losing…" Her voice trailed off.

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "We'll figure it out. I promise."

"I trust you." They continued to stand there, finding solace in one another but also a silent understanding between them. Of affections that were too dangerous to say aloud but still lingered in the air. A few seconds later, her whisper disturbed the peace. "I'm so tired of this war."

"Me too."

A knock on the door broke their moment but when Anna tried to step away from Don, he only held her tighter, unwilling to give her up but also wanting to protect her. He watched the door open to reveal a medic, who although his face seemed calm, there was an undercurrent of tension in the way he clenched his jaw and the shifting of his eyes as he immediately took in the scene before him.

"Chérie? Everythin' alright? Spina said he 'eard yellin'."

Only when she turned to face the medic did Don let her go. "Yes. I'm sorry, Gene. It's nothing.... just a misunderstanding."

"Mmm." The medic glanced back down the hallway then stepped inside the room, closing the door behind him. "Someone wanna tell me what's goin' on?"

Don immediately recognized the name Gene. She had referenced him multiple times when she had been over taking care of Norman. By the way she spoke about him, Don picked up that she trusted him and they were friendly. Perhaps he had an ally here after all.

"Are you able to hide her?" He asked bluntly, knowing his time was running short to figure out a plan.

Gene's eyebrows scrunched together. "What?"

"Don, no... it’s fine," she answered at the same time, placing a hand on his arm, "I'll figure out something."

"Nah, chérie." Gene looked back over to Don, expression reserved but determined. "What do ya mean?"

Don quickly explained the situation, impressed by the medic with the thick accent and how he absorbed the information thrown at him without too many questions.

Gene nodded once at the end, gaze downward as he ran his tongue over his teeth. Finally, he looked up at the two. "I know somewhere. They got some extra room. Lemme talk to their Sergeant first."

Anna's gaze bounced between the two men, clearly unable to believe what she was hearing. "We can't do this. We'll get…. I don't want to cause more problems or get people in trouble. What happens when your Captain finds out?"

Gene shrugged. "Winters is a good man. He might not like it but he'll understand." He paused, tapping a finger on his crossed arms. "I'll go now. Anna, stay here, get ya things gathered. We'll bring ya over tonight."

She stared at both of them again before Don could visibly see her acceptance when her shoulders sagged. With a roll of her eyes, she gave the medic a cheeky salute. "Yes, sir."

"Fille effrontée." He grinned.

She blew him an air kiss that made him shake his head, a small grin on his lips. The two men nodded at each other once more before the medic slipped back out.

Once alone again, she turned back around, placing her hands on his chest, peering up at him earnestly. "Be safe, please...tell the others for me too."

"I will."

This time he leaned down as she rose up on her toes to press a kiss to his jawline. His hands tightened on her waist, where they had landed. Instead of immediately pulling back after she fell back onto her flat feet, he lingered. Hovering over her, he cupped her cheek, guiding her head. She was completely pliant under his touch, allowing him to tilt her face until their noses almost touched. He was spellbound, staring down at her. Her gentle breaths sliding across his mouth tantalizingly. It was the soft adoration and trust in her sapphire eyes that pulled in his chest and stole the breath from his lungs. She was too good, too pure for someone like him. Yet he could not draw away from her, captured in her tender affections, left breathless by her kindness. Turning his face just slightly, he could feel the corner of her mouth against his, her warm breath hitting his cheek.

"I should go." He whispered, without moving away.

Her hands slid up to the nape of his neck, causing him to suppress a low groan as her chest pressed against his. "Don, please come back." Her words pierced his heart.

"I will, I promise." This time he brushed his lips over hers. It was just a moment, the faintest of touches but the spark it ignited in him felt like an inferno awakening.

Abruptly he pulled back, turned on his heels and walked out. If he stayed any longer, she would be in his arms, his mouth devouring hers, her back pressed against the nearest wall. He had half a mind to turn back and do that just now. But he kept walking. Why she held any affections for him left him boggled. She deserved better than him. He wanted her though. Christ above, he wanted her. It was becoming a truth he could not ignore.

And that barely-there kiss only proved it.

*****

Anna followed behind Gene as they headed to a different building, supposedly where she would stay hidden. She worried all of this would blow up in their faces eventually, that the men would get in trouble because of her, that she would be sent away to a company she did not know. Would the army count this as desertion? Fears and concerns tormented her mind, but it was too late now. Her feet were already planted firmly on the path. Physically and metaphorically.

Gene had told her that she would stay with the paratrooper platoon until after Captains Evans and his company left. The Cajun medic had already started a rumor along with Spina, who seemed to be enjoying all this espionage a little too much, that she had been sent to assist a family living just outside of Haguenau where the wife was in labor with her first child. It would explain why she was only gone for a short time and as to why her sudden disappearance. Plus, Gene reasoned it sounded like something she would do. She could not blame him there. It would be.

So now, they walked in the late hours of the night, moonlight highlighting the ground beneath their feet. The ill-fitting ODs, the coat from a dead soldier and her medic satchel were the only things she owned. All of her other possessions and clothing had blown up when the medic truck was hit during the surprise attack. She desperately tried not to think about that fact. She was alive and with no injuries. Twenty-two men lost their lives that day. Her few belongings were minimal compared to that.

She still missed her book though.

Gene did not even knock when they reached the damaged house. Quietly, he opened the door and shifted so she could walk in first. The wooden floorboards creaked beneath her feet, making her freeze for a moment. Only after a word of encouragement from Gene did she continue. As she stepped in, she could hear the murmuring of voices suddenly fall silent. Knowing Gene was at her side and he trusted these men, she took a deep breath before taking another step forward.

She rounded the corner from the entryway and towards what must have been a common room before the war. There were three men, two sitting on beat-up looking couches and one standing. The moonlight shining through the window cast everything in deep shadows. Somehow it felt appropriate for all that these men had been through. How they were still waiting for the sun to shine on them again, to beat back the shadows and nightmares and remind them to hope and dream of the future without war hovering over them like a furie.

It was as she met the gaze of the one standing, staring at her, that she could feel tears well up in her eyes. He looked so world-weary, as if he had not slept in years and all peace had abandoned him. His eyes once so bright with laughter and life were now dull. His once expressive face was now weathered and closed-off. Only his red hair looked the same. It broke her heart.

"Donnie…." She softly said.

The corners of his lips lifted up at the nickname she bestowed upon him so long ago. "Hi, Anna."

Without warning or a care for his reaction, she flew across the room. She threw her arms around him, the top of her head just at his chin. A few tears spilled as he seemed to hesitate at her action, as if he had forgotten what a hug was, as if he no longer understood how to be comforted. Then slowly his arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer to his chest.

"I'm so sorry, Donnie." She mumbled against him, fighting a losing battle against the tears flooding her eyes. "Muck and Penkala…. they were the best of men. I'm so sorry. And for the others too."

He stiffened at the names of his deceased best friends. She could feel the shudder that ran through him, the soft sob he forced back. "Not…. not your fault." He finally whispered, a faint quiver in his voice.

She pulled back to meet his eyes, uncaring of the tear tracks staining her cheeks. Carefully she moved her hands to cup his face between them, forcing his gaze to stay on hers. "If you need to talk, I'll listen. Or just cry. Or hold your hand. I'll do it, without any questions."

"Sure."

"I'm serious."

"I know. You sound like you've been hanging out with Doc Roe too much." He teased, forcing back the pain in his voice. A slight squeeze of her hand let her know he appreciated her words.

She giggled, sliding out of his embrace to glance at Gene, who had moved to sit next to another redhead on one of the couches. "He does start to rub off on you, can't decide if he's a good influence or a bad one."

Gene scowled at her, making her giggle more.

"Who's the dame? Easy taking female paratroopers now?" The other redhead asked, his Philly accent unmistakable.

"Nah, this is Anna Cooper, a nurse. She's gonna stay with ya fellas for a couple days." Gene said casually.

The redhead's eyebrows were furrowed as his gaze darted from Gene to Anna and back. "Why?"

"I just missed Donnie here so much." She smiled up at the man, who just gave her an awkward smile, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Uh huh. So, what's the real fucking reason?" The third man asked, twirling a cigarette between his fingers.

"Joe, nothing you need to worry about right now." Malarkey answered.

Anna wondered if Gene expected the whole platoon to know of her existence there and why or only Donnie and himself. That was probably something she should have asked before their arrival but her mind was too caught up in its tornado of fears.

"How do you two know each other?" The other redhead asked, now eyeing her like she was a rare specimen.

Roe sighed, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his thighs. "She was in Albourne with us medics when we were training before the jump into Normandy."

"Donnie here also took me on a date." Anna blurted out, a smile on her lips.

"What?" The one Malarkey had called 'Joe' stared with his jaw dropped. "A'ight, now I gotta hear this."

Malarkey rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he looked down at her. "Not sure I'd call that a date, Anna."

"Mmm...it's a date when you kiss the girl after, right?"

For a beat there was shocked silence before the two on the couches started laughing, Roe just shook his head and muttered something to himself.

"Holy shit, Anna…" Malarkey rubbed a hand over his face. If there had been more light, his face most likely would have matched the color of his hair. "I thought we agreed never to mention it ever again?"

"It wasn't that bad, Donnie."

"Yes, it was. That damn shovel almost broke my nose. You had to walk me to the aid station instead of me walking you home."

"I mean.... when you say it like that." Anna teased.

"Shit, I really need to hear this now."

"Babe, no." Malarkey pointed his finger at the other redhead then moved it to the other man. "Joe, not a word."

The one, Joe, shrugged, a smirk on his face. "How come I don't remember this?"

"Cause you was in London chasin' skirts and gettin' in fights that weekend." Gene stated evenly. "It's late, I need to head back to the aid station. Malarkey, where is Anna stayin'?"

"Right. This way." Malarkey led the way with Anna and Gene following up a set of stairs and down the hallway to a bedroom. "Supposed to be for officers I guess but since we don't have any…. the door locks too."

"Thank you, Donnie." She smiled up at the man, someone she had thought she would never see again. It was funny how fate had brought Easy Company back into her life. Moving further into the room, she was pleased to find a single bed pressed against the wall and a desk across from it. Otherwise the room was completely bare of any other furniture or decorations.

"Ya ok here, chérie?" Gene leaned against the desk, arms crossed over his chest.

"Yes."

"Good, good. One question then." Gene paused, an intensity in his eyes that startled her. "What's ya relationship with that Sergeant?"

In the middle of slipping the coat off, she froze, having not been expecting that question. Her mind raced with trying to find an adequate answer. Although it felt futile. How could she describe her relationship with Sergeant Don Collier? Not that there was a relationship, per se, even if memories of their last encounter sprung forth in her mind's eye. Even though they had not known each other long, he was someone she found herself trusting wholeheartedly and feeling safe around. The loyalty of his men inspired her. The brutality of war was evident in the way he carried himself, the shifting of his eyes and the perpetual frown on his face when he was thinking. Yet he still cared. He still went out of his way to take care of a nurse who meant nothing to him. How when he was close by, her heart beat a little faster and butterflies danced in her belly. On more than one occasion, as she laid down waiting for sleep to find her, she wondered what his kiss would feel like.

Finally, she settled with a glossed over version, hoping Gene would be satisfied with just that. "Um....we don't…. he’s just looking out for me. Him and his crew kind of took me in."

"Mmm….and when I walked into him holdin' ya in his arms, lookin' ready to kiss ya?"

"It's....it's not like that."

Malarkey spoke up, leaning against the doorframe. "Who’s this Sergeant?"

"In charge of the armored division." Gene answered, dark eyes staring at her as if to sift the secrets out of her words and wide eyes.

"Don's just looking out for me…. him and his crew, they've, well, they've protected me several times already from…. others." She finished lamely, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to push the memories away.

He must have sensed her discomfort. "Alright, chérie, just be careful."

She nodded. She appreciated his concern but felt it was misplaced.

"Don, huh? Do you call him Donnie too?" Malarkey broke the following silence.

She rolled her eyes but smiled at the slight change of subject. "No, only you get that nickname."

"Lucky me. So, is he a redhead too? You have a thing for the name Don?"

She covered her face as her cheeks warmed.

"Ya two can discuss this tomorrow." Gene pushed off the desk. "I'll come get ya the day after tomorrow. If ya need anythin', send someone to get me."

She dropped the coat at the end of the bed and moved to give him a quick hug. "Thank you, Cajun angel."

He rolled his eyes while Malarkey snickered in the back but returned the embrace.

Next, she walked over to Malarkey and gave him another quick hug. "Thank you too. For doing this for me."

"I'm in the room across, if you need me. Bathroom is two doors down."

The two paratroopers then left, closing the door behind them. Taking a deep breath, she surveyed around her as she stood there in the small room under the moonlight shining through the window. The future was always unknown but especially now, she felt tossed about on the waves of uncertainties. She hoped this plan was not completely foolhardy, but she would admit, she felt safer with Gene and Malarkey looking out for her while Don and Boyd were gone. She would never admit how she had cried while hiding away from everyone when she realized she was no longer alone, that she would not be sent with Captain Evans and his company. There were good men looking out for her.

She crawled into bed, slipping under the scratchy covers. All the while, her mind sent a fervent prayer that the crew of Fury would be safe. That they would return to her uninjured. That Don would be okay.

#Fury movie #fury fanfic #fury 2014 #band of brothers #Band of Brothers fandom #band of brothers fanfic #Don Collier #Don Wardaddy Collier #Don Wardaddy collier x OFC #don collier x OFC #boyd swan #boyd bible swan #eugene roe #babe heffron #joe liebgott #donald malarkey #mzwrites

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gwoongi · 3 years

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wordless pt.4

jeon jeongguk / reader genre: hitman (john wick au), sugar daddy au, angst, crack, fluff rating: mature words: 3.5k warnings: toxic relationships, non graphic sex a/n: u guys asked and i delivered...tag yourself i’m me saying dancer in the dark was coming first....i was wrong...this is also very sweet considering part 5 will not be :D enjoy while u can!

Sometimes, saying “I love you” is inappropriate, and given your circumstances, you think it might send Jeongguk over the edge if he hears them again.

Parts: One, Two, Three, Four, Five

(31) Pulling a chair out for them to sit down at the table.

Jeongguk’s not a gentleman.

Everybody knows it, and he’s not ashamed of admitting it. Half of the time, he thinks that it’s what makes him unique, at least. If you (or anybody else, even though since you walked out on him that one time, he’s been seeing all the others less and less) were going to be with somebody, then you might as well just make it different. Spice it up a little bit.

“It will be nice.” Jeongguk, because he’s not a gentleman, is not really listening to you. He sits behind the steering wheel and tightens his hand against the wheel, the other is on the clutch.

“Are you listening to me?”

“No,” Jeongguk replies. He turns the corner, and the car slightly leans you to the right.

A sigh fills the car as he pauses as a set of traffic lights further down the street.

This red light drags forever, and Jeongguk sighs instead and looks at you pointedly, “What, then?”

It takes reluctance to pull your gaze away from the pigeons near the bins on the side of the road, but you do, and you look at Jeongguk. “I just think it will be really nice to grab dinner together.”

“We do that all the time,” Jeongguk says.

“Yeah, but I don’t mean us, or just us,” you affirm, “I mean, like all of us. Family, I guess.”

Jeongguk bristles. “Family? We don’t have any family, baby.”

“We do,” you moan. “I mean. Not family-family, but family. The kind of family we get to choose. Taehyung, and Eunji and whoever.”

Jeongguk nods sarcastically, “Oh. Wrong F word, Y/N, those people are called friends.”

“Oh, whatever then,” you huff, turning back towards the window. “Forget I said anything, Jeongguk.”

Jeongguk wants to forget, but he doesn’t. Something about that line, about the way that it stuck with him: The kind of family we get to choose. He thought about it all night, groaned, and then swore and called Taehyung. Alright motherfucker, we’re going to dinner with Y/N so you better shut the fuck up, get a suit, and meet us at that fancy Gangnam restaurant.

So, it’s a Friday evening, and it feels like a Disney Channel crossover episode. Eunji definitely feels out of place in this restaurant, and Jeongguk acts uncomfortable about the way Taehyung sits opposite you, gauging your every move and word with overacted enthusiasm. Actually, all Jeongguk is thinking about is the moment that they got here.

“Here, honey, let me get that for you,” had appeared to be Taehyung’s favourite sentence to say to you; he used it when he opened the door for you, and again with the chair to the table. Jeongguk sat seething, almost red like a ruby. Eunji sips nervously from her glass as Taehyung laughs again at something you said.

Dinner went great, he would have to admit that.

“Oh, we booked the patio for desserts,” Taehyung says. One of Jeongguk’s other friends, Seokjin (who honestly came to observe rather than to fill in for the surprising lack of family at this family dinner) looks left and right to each person on the table and follows the crowd as they leave for the patio once the main courses are done.

Taehyung once again reaches for the door and lets you walk outside. As Jeongguk passes Taehyung at the door, he glares at Taehyung with eyes that could murder. Taehyung doesn’t waver but he does get the hint, even more so as you stroll towards the table. Before Taehyung can even move towards the table, Jeongguk curves in front and puts his hand on the back of your chair.

“Here you go, baby, let me sit next to you,” Jeongguk says, dragging it out for you to sit. You watch him with one raised eyebrow but say nothing. Taehyung says nothing for a few minutes but decides to get right back to it as the desserts begin. It pisses off Jeongguk to the point where his hand leaves fingerprints in your thigh, but you can’t find it in you to be mad about it.

(32) Wrapping a blanket around them when they are sitting on the couch and watching a show.

“You gotta stop letting yourself in here, it scares the shit out of me.”

“I own this dump.”

You gape over your shoulder, “Fucker, you own this dump that you call a dump but you gave me this dump, it’s my dump, don’t call it a dump.”

“Say dump one more time,” Jeongguk warns, shrugging off his jacket and ruffling his hair. It’s wet thanks to the torrential rain outside. His socks squelch across the floor because he left his slippers back at his place, and he’s not here often enough to have his own pair at your apartment.

The apartment is toasty and warm, the heating on high. Except the living room is chilly and dark, dark blue almost.

“What are you watching?”

Jeongguk moves towards your bedroom but can still hear you as he moves.

“Just this show I found,” you reply, watching the screen. “Dead To Me.”

“Never heard of it,” he yawns, and emerges from the room. He’s holding a heavy blanket in his arms, moving to the living room to sit next to you. He plops next to you and glances at the screen, wrapping the blanket around your shoulders, over your head like a cocoon.

You laugh softly, shifting it off your head and leaning up against him. “It’s American. It’s got Velma in it.”

“Linda Cardellini?” Jeongguk asks, settling back. “She’s hot as fuck.”

“I know, that’s why I thought I’d watch it, I love her,” you say.

Jeongguk wraps an arm around your shoulder and smushes closer towards you.

“Good day?” you ask quietly.

He takes a few seconds, like he’s truly trying to think about whether he wants to answer or not.

“Okay,” he admits. “Don’t care, it’s over, I’m here, don’t wanna think about work.”

You don’t push him to talk, and instead, let him sit next to you. He likes the darkness because there’s no way you can see his discomfort, his pain, the blood under his fingernails.

(33) Throwing away their piles of tissues when they have a cold.

Jeongguk travels for work a lot, and it’s no secret to anybody he knows. It was midday when he got a call, just a few words over the phone, and then he was moving out of the shower and into the bedroom to get ready.

He had told you to stay, stay until he got back. Unfinished business, he said, that would need dealing with when he got home. So you did, you stayed and he left, and that was that.

Jeongguk sighs and shuts the car door. Until next time, he thinks to himself as he watches the car pull away. Frowning, he straightens his blazer and walks up the steps to the complex he lives at and enters. When he gets to his apartment, he kicks his shoes off right away and as he steps inside, he notices that the apartment is unusually silent.

Normally at his home, his big mansion that he loves up in the hills, there’s some sort of noise. Maybe it’s the sound of the TV on in the kitchen, or the bubbles in the hot tub, or the sound of Elio prowling around the bedroom. This apartment is in central Seoul, closer to work and closer to school. He hates how silent it is, how empty it feels.

“Y/N?”

There is no instant reply. He moves across the apartment, searching silently.

“Babe, you here?”

Worry bubbles in his stomach and he moves in search of you. After searching everywhere, Jeongguk scoffs like it’s a sick joke that you’re not here, until he hears a noise, a croak and a cough from the spare bedroom.

“Y/N?” calls Jeongguk. He moves to the door and twists the handle, and is a few shuffles inside when a grottal, gross noise emerges from the darkness.

“What?” he asks.

“I said don’t come in here,” you croak out in reply, because it’s you, and who else would it be in his apartment?

Jeongguk enters and reaches for the light, pausing when you grunt in his direction. He can see you in the dim light of the spare bedroom, the sun outside the curtains, and he suppresses a smile.

“What happened? I said we had unfinished business.”

“I know,” you rasp. “But one of the kids in my class came to the lab with a sore throat, I thought I’d be fine. But, ta-da.” He can see in the light that there’s a plethora of tissues around your body, like a barrier. So many, snotty and probably damp and scrunched into balls. “Guess he had a cold.”

He grimaces, shuffling into the bedroom despite you telling him otherwise. It’s unsurprisingly stuffy in the room, a given since the room is closed off from the sunlight that bleeds behind the curtains. Like you requested, he doesn’t turn on the lights, keeping you safe in the darkness.

“Shitty kids,” Jeongguk grunts. Finding a lack of interest in the germs that breed in the tissues scrunched into balls, he moves them from the covers and tosses them towards the small bin next to the bedside cabinet. You sniffle, snotty and stuffed, and peer from over the duvet at him.

Jeongguk looks tired, as he always does when he gets back from work. He sports a brand new cut on his lip, one that will probably scar when it’s done showing crimson. There is blood on his shirt, and you know that it’s probably not his. That doesn’t make you feel better.

“How long you had it?” Jeongguk asks.

“Two or three days,” you estimate. He’s been gone almost a week, the seventh day being tomorrow. “Should go soon, don’t worry.”

He smiles, “Not worried. Did you get medicine, or something?”

You sniff once, the air hot in your nostrils. “Nope. I haven’t managed to leave since I came down with it. I only went to the door to collect soup and then I went back to bed in here.” Another sniff and Jeongguk’s eyebrows raise with amusement, “Didn’t want to infect your bedroom, so I came here instead. Hope that’s okay.”

“Sure, it’s okay,” he replies. “I’ll find something for you, I’ve got a bunch of shit that might help.”

“Really?”

Jeongguk nods, “Yeah. Stay put, buttercup, B-R-B.”

(34) Mending an item of their clothing that was ripped.

“Who even takes the subway anymore?”

In reply, Jeongguk gets an appalled scoff. “I’m sorry, not all of us are rich enough to have fucking chauffeurs taking us places.”

“What’re you talking about, you’re rich,” Jeongguk says, his voice kind of muffled due to the sewing needle between his teeth. He sits on the edge of his sofa, your skirt spread over his lap like a napkin at dinner. Down the leg, the seam is torn, showing what could have been an erotic amount of leg. Unfortunately, he’d only got a glimpse of your skin when you shuffled into his home.

As the CEO of ripping his clothes, Jeongguk became familiar with sewing over the years, figuring it was less expensive to sew than it was to replace. So, of course, when your skirt got torn on the subway home, Jeongguk tested his principles and dug out the sewing needle.

“No thanks to you,” you sigh. “You didn’t need to, by the way.”

“Need to what, pay you?” Jeongguk laughs, sewing the seam. “Come on, Y/N, it’s overdue.”

“True, but I don’t really need your money that much anymore.”

“Funny, since you needed it when you didn’t have it,” he sighs dramatically. “Anyway, it’s barely a dent out of my bank account, I wanna spoil you. You’re welcome.”

You frown, shuffling to the couch and throwing yourself over the back so that your head is by his legs. Jeongguk spares you a glance from the skirt and smiles, returning back to the work.

“Thanks,” you mumble. Nothing is said, but he appreciates it, even if he did it out of guilt.

(35) Running out in the middle of the night to get a food item they’re craving.

“I think I’m pregnant.”

“What the fuck?”

Jeongguk shoots up from bed into a sitting position, his eyes blown wide as he stares at you. Whenever Jeongguk invites you to stay at his apartment, he always keeps a light on in the evening. His apartment is in a somewhat busier area compared to his house, which is stationed in a private neighbourhood only touched by the wealthiest of the wealthy. His apartment was supposed to be for ease, for if he had to do dirty work in the city and didn’t want to tie his name to a hotel. It wasn’t often that you stayed the night here.

In the light of the dim lamp on your side of the bed, Jeongguk can make out your face. You’re still lying down, staring up at the ceiling. After he stares long enough, you look over at him.

“Why the fuck would you say that,” he breathes, like it’s an insult.

“Wow, would it really be so bad?” you ask, curious now.

He blinks like an owl. “Obviously, dipshit.”

Sigh. “And here I was thinking it would be like the movies and you’d love me.”

“Even if I loved you, do you think I wanna have kids?” Jeongguk questions rhetorically, because he’s actually already talked to you about this. Jeongguk never wants to have children. His life is constantly on the line. There is no way he’d bring a child into the world, just for them to either be used as bait, or grow up in a world without their father. He knows how that feels.

“Fair,” you reply. “Still.”

Jeongguk shudders, it’s cold in here. “Wait, are you for real?” He shifts, the covers make a disruptive noise in the night, “what makes you think that you’re...you know…”

“I keep getting weird cravings,” you explain, like it’s the craziest science that he won’t understand. As soon as you say it, he feels almost instantly better. It’s not like cravings are the most reliable symptom of a pregnancy. Besides, you’re on the pill, and when you’re not, he’s safe. He’s not an idiot, he’s not about to accidentally ruin both of your lives with a few squirts.

“Like what?”

You shrug, “Really craving the Fairway to Heaven ice-cream.”

Jeongguk scoffs. Actually, it’s almost a tch under his breath. “Yeah, of course, you’re craving the most expensive icecream. Predictable. Cute, almost.” He pats your leg over the covers, “We all know Phish Food’s the better flavour, by the way.”

“Tell that to the cravings, sir,” you reply. You frown, then, “I’ll pick some up tomorrow. Maybe I’ll dream the cravings away…”

“As if,” Jeongguk barks, knowing you better. If he knows you at all (which he confidently does), you’ll press about this for the rest of the night until you fall asleep bored of trying. So, Jeongguk enjoys the last few seconds inside a warm bed before climbing out, switching on the light so it burns your eyes as the room fills with it.

“Ouch, too bright!”

“Pussy,” he smirks. “Bro, get your coat, we’re going out.”

“Oh yeah, at midnight?” you ask sarcastically, sitting up. “Where’re we going?”

“Ice cream,” he replies, like it’s obvious. To him it is. “That store down the road sells it and it closes at 2, so get your big coat and let’s get moving!”

“Are we seriously going to get ice cream at midnight?” you laugh, doing as he says.

“We both know you’re not gonna shut up about it if we don’t.”

Jeongguk grabs his own coat and zips it up. Nobody’s gonna care that he’s wearing PJ’s, and even if you’re sleepy and grumpy on the way there, it’s better than keeping you at the apartment alone. He’d have to be crazy to leave you here than he is going out for ice cream at midnight.

(36) Helping brush their hair after a shower.

You’re the best he’s had, really.

Jeongguk knows this, because he’s not stupid or blind or oblivious. Compared to the other girls he’s had, and the ones he left not too long ago, he knows how lucky he is to have someone like you. Someone who doesn’t just want him for the sex and the money. Although scary, it’s reassuring.

Jeongguk comes out from the kitchen to the bedroom where you’re sitting, hunched over a laptop watching a YouTube video that bores you to sleep. Your hair is damp and matted, left to dry as you watch. Fourty minutes into an hour video. Jeongguk narrows his eyebrows, wondering if he’d ever have the patience to watch something like that. Probably not. He barely has the patience when he works, and he has a job that demands it 99% of the time. When he can be hasty he is, but when his job is to kill and protect, patience is a must.

As you watch, Jeongguk moves to sit behind you and he sets his chin on your shoulder, boredly looking at the screen. Your eyes are glossed over, possibly not even watching at all. Regardless, he stays there and slowly rakes his fingers through your hair, straightening out the curls that are close to knots.

He still blames the video for you falling asleep, although it’s probably his fingers. He won’t admit it.

(37) Making sure to be quiet while they’re taking a nap.

It’s not just that. Jeongguk enjoys being gentle, but only when nobody can see him doing it. When you fall asleep, slouched over like a zombie, he smiles and gently closes the screen of your laptop. Whatever garbage your Uni have you watching can be watched tomorrow.

Until then, you must sleep. He moves the laptop away to the cabinet across the room and comes back, collecting you in his arms and moving you into the bed. Once the covers are draped across your body, he takes extra care to be quiet leaving the room and shutting the door. There’s some food leftover in the kitchen from dinner that he’ll eat before joining you, and you don’t wake up, not even when the bed dips as he climbs into it.

(38) Letting them warm their cold hands under your shirt.

Despite his work often demanding him to be around people, Jeongguk isn’t really a big fan of crowds. If he can get out of going out in public, he will jump at the opportunity. He just can’t see why you’re so miffed about not being with the crowds of people on the Hangang Bridge waiting for the fireworks- he’s got a balcony that looks out over the city and the river, so what’s the big deal?

“It’s all about the vibe,” you say with a slight sigh. Your arms are draped over the balcony banister, legs slowly vibrating in the bitter winter air. “As a broody killing machine, I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“That stings,” Jeongguk replies, closing the door behind him as he wanders back towards you with a blanket. His eyes glaze over your face as he arrives and Jeongguk rolls his eyes, “Hold your face that way and it’ll stick.”

“Heard it all before from my Mom,” you reply boredly. A quiet thanks is spoken as you take the blanket shield and snuggle closer to his chest, staring expectantly at the black sky. “What time will they start?”

Jeongguk presses his cheek to your hair. “Considering three minutes ago it was only ten to midnight, I can safely assure you that it is not time yet.”

“I’m bored.”

“Why are you so hard to please today?” Jeongguk groans. He wriggles around, “And don’t try me with that ‘I think I’m pregnant’ bullshit. Spare me the moody bitch performance for today, please?”

You pug to yourself. “Sorry. Sorry, you’re right. And I shouldn’t be so...I don’t know. I’m sorry. Thank you for tonight.”

Jeongguk shakes his head slightly. He may never understand women.

“You really that mad over the bridge?” he asks quietly, his mouth against your head. It’s hot, and you lean back towards his minimal body warmth. “I’m sorry I didn’t pass your vibe check for tonight, but I thought it might be romantic or something for us to be up here.”

You almost laugh. “It is romantic. You’re right.”

Jeongguk brushes it off. Lately something has shifted, a comfort in the air that grants you permission to be in his life as someone more important than a ‘sugar baby’. Dare he say it, but Jeongguk actually considers you a friend. Now, you’re at the point where neither of you give much of a shit about the sugar clause you wrote yourselves into quite some time ago. An unspoken thing hangs there like Christmas mistletoe, seen but prayed away.

Distant laughter and a bang grows near the direction of Hangang bridge, and Jeongguk feels you perk in his arms. As a small warmth bursts across his chest, Jeongguk hisses in the cold and stuffs his hands up your shirt, where they curve around your body to cheekily hold both of your boobs. You jump, because his hands are freezing.

“You’re cold!” you whine. “What are you doing?”

Jeongguk shrugs, “My hands are freezing. I’m keeping them warm.”

You briefly glance down at his knuckles outlined by your jumper. “Oh yeah, because I’m sure that’s the reason why you’re literally groping my tits right now.”

“They feel warmer already,” he continues.

(39) Giving them your dessert when you eat out because it’s their favourite.

On the rare occasion that guilt consumes Jeon Jeongguk, he allows his guilt to control his feet. Usually, they end up on a pathway to the bedroom, or in the car where he drives you somewhere nice, or perhaps he picks you up from school instead of cruelly leaving you to take the subway. Now that things have shifted slightly in your dynamic, Jeongguk isn’t sure what flies as romantic anymore. He doesn’t want to leave you with the wrong impression. You’ve had the talk together, the one that touched upon what the future looked like and how quite definitely it looked as though you wouldn’t be with each other, but surely, dinner overlooking the sea in Busan isn’t too fancy or romantic, right?

“Here is your patbingsu.” The waiter circles around the table and gently lays a dish in front of you. Jeongguk carefully watches over his glass of wine as the waiter also announces his own dessert, the exact same. His eyes move down to the display set before him.

He’s never really been keen on dessert, but Jeongguk is the type of person who doesn’t enjoy the idea of one person eating when the other isn’t. So he had just ordered the same thing as you had, nice and simple, without giving it much thought.

“I love this,” you sigh happily, fiddling the metal spoon in your hand and peering up at him, “This is sick. Thank you.”

“I didn’t make it,” he replies.

You roll your eyes, spooning out some of the dessert, “you know what I mean.”

Something in the beach-fronted restaurant shifts as the sun sinks deeper into the ocean, and Jeongguk twirls his spoon anxiously whilst observing the patbingsu. He’s never been a huge fan of bingsu in general, and he looks with slight distaste at the green blob on top of what looks like cornflakes. He doesn’t get Korean desserts. Why can’t Korea be satisfied with an ice-cream sundae?

He dips his spoon into the dessert, taking a polite amount and very quickly taking a bite. For around twenty seconds, he thinks it’s okay, but the aftertaste makes his whole body shudder. Fucking hell, he really hates desserts.

After a few minutes, you finally move your attention away from the scraped clean dessert dish and take a glance over at Jeongguk, who is already watching you with a lack of interest for his own dessert.

“Is everything okay?” you ask, subtly wiping around your mouth just in case. You take in the sight of his unfinished treat, “not hungry?”

Jeongguk shrugs awkwardly, “I don’t really like bingsu.”

“Then why’d you order?” you question quietly.

“I panicked,” he replies, “you ordered it and I don’t like desserts but I didn’t want you to be eating alone.”

You pause, eyebrows quirked: “I don’t mind.”

He sighs. Of course. “Well…” He twirls the dessert dish and pushes it in your direction, “Since it’s your favourite, or whatever, you can have it.”

Your eyes light up, “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool,” you squeal, happily taking it from him. “Thank you~”

Jeongguk rolls his eyes playfully and sits back in his chair. Whatever he didn’t eat from the dessert he instead eats up in the sight of you.

(40) Making a goofy face until they notice and laugh.

You don’t quite know how you ended up at Jeongguk’s work, but here you are. You could probably trace it back to Taehyung swinging by to get you from school since Jeongguk felt bad he couldn’t, and to be honest, you had been confused when Taehyung drove past the turning to your apartment and kept going further into the city.

Jeongguk’s workplace is pretty big, but still significantly hidden inconspicuously to avoid attention. As you slowly wander around the hallways, you begin to daydream about where Jeongguk’s office may be, what he might be doing and what he might think if he sees you.

Quietly passing through what appears to be a recreation room, filled with tired faces who blink curiously as you brush by, you finally step out into a web of hallways that connect to small rooms walled in glass. Each is empty, besides one at the very end that bustles with tense conversation, and you’re drawn to the sound of Jeongguk’s voice as it carries through the silent hallways.

You push forward, stopping not too close to the doorway so that if somebody who isn’t him happens to see you, you can make a hasty escape.

The room is filled with strange faces, strange men in tight suits and briefcases next to their feet. A man stands up beside Jeongguk at the head of the table, his hands animated as he presses on about something you’re not well read on. Hell if you know a single thing about gun models and firing ranges. You can just about tell apart Fortnite weapons and that’s only because they’ve got colours.

Jeongguk, however, is a sight that captures your gaze. For a while, he sits with his back turned to the man standing, his eyes observing each individual around the table, of who squirm under his watch. He eventually looks back at the man, his jawline sharp and his hair styled so that it only slightly falls into his eyebrows. God damn it, he looks sexy as hell; his shirt is black, cuffed, unbuttoned at the top revealing his skinny collarbones. He’s probably wearing the tight trousers too, the ones that make his ass look good.

A thought strikes you: how would he feel if he saw you outside? While it shouldn’t, the thought fills you with adrenaline. The idea of not him but somebody else seeing you, a girl dressed in white jeans and a red shirt, your coat discarded somewhere on an office chair. Would he be mad? Would he be turned on?

Would you die?

Deciding that the worse case scenario only involved you being yelled at, you decide to dip your toes into the water and tease the sharks; you wonder how long you can hold this silly face for until he finally notices you out there.

It seems like a long shot, and you’re quite close to giving up when finally Jeongguk returns his attention to the table. Heads begin to move in conversation, and Jeongguk’s gaze passes from gentleman to gentleman until they pause abruptly, locking onto you behind the glass. For a moment, he does nothing besides stare. Perhaps he doesn’t care. Then, his eyes widen, like he’s confused and alarmed and slightly impressed. Before his disturbed posture is noticed, you laugh to yourself and run away, back in the direction you tiptoed through.

(Later, Jeongguk finds you in Taehyung’s office sitting on an uncomfortable and torn armchair, a Rubix cube moving back and forwards in your hands. You’re not matching any colours. It’s going nowhere. He smiles.

“Field trip?” he questions, making your head snap up suddenly. He slides next to you on the free chair, “I’ll skin that prick alive, you know you’re not supposed to be here.”

“I know, but I’m here against my will!” you promise, putting the cube down. “I really wanted to go home. Dead To Me episodes don’t watch themselves, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” he sighs. “I gotta go to a meeting again, then I’ll drive us home, okay?”

You nod. “I’m sorry I distracted you, by the way. I realise now I’m actually very lucky that it was you who saw me and nobody else.”

Jeongguk laughs, kissing your forehead as he rises to leave. “Yeah, well, I’m the most dangerous guy in there, so consider yourself very lucky.”)

#almost over #jungkook scenario #bts scenario #jeongguk scenario #bts #bangtan #bts imagine #jungkook #jungkook imagine #jeongguk #jeongguk x reader #jungkook x reader #jjk #jeon jeongguk #bts jungkook #bts mafia #bts sugar daddy #wordless

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