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tojiswhore-nanamisslut · 3 months

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Good Movies and Better Friends

pairing: Nobamaki but really this is more about friend dynamics between Nobara and Yuuji with a little bit of Megumi and Yuuji.

warnings: N/A this is primarily fluff! Little bit of angst because Nobara gets her feelings hurt but it all ends well :)

synopsis: Nobara ends up getting in a fight with Maki but Yuuji comforts her with a hug and multiple rom-coms.

word count: 3k

a/n: This was inspired by this fanart! It was so hard to think of a reason for Nobara and Maki to fight but I did my best lol. Also it's almost 6AM and I'm posting this I wrote it in one-sitting bc I needed to just get it out so hopefully the writing isn't too bad.

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Yuuji was awake watching Human Earthworm 5 when he heard the sound of the front door opening and closing. Who was coming back at this hour? He had asked if Fushiguro and Kugisaki wanted to binge the Human Earthworm series with him but they both said they already had plans.

“I have...errands to run.” Megumi responded. He didn’t meet the other boy’s eye when he said it, though.

“Aww all day?” Yuuji pouted.

Megumi cleared his throat, still not looking at his best friend and just gave a curt, “Yeah.”

Yuuji, bummed by Megumi’s response, looked hopefully at Nobara, “What about you Kugisaki? We could even do face masks!” Yuuji wasn’t one to have a skincare routine, but he knew how much Nobara enjoyed cosmetics, so he hoped the idea of a face mask would be enough to entice her.

“Hmm, while the face mask is tempting, I’m not interested in some gross worm man. Plus,” and she gave a little flick of her hair with a smug expression on her face, “me and Maki are finally going on another date tonight and I’ve been prepping for it since yesterday! I got my hair cut, painted my nails, and bought a whole new outfit just for tonight!” Kugisaki said excitedly. “You should probably still do the face mask though, Itadori, your skin looks like it could use some hydration.” At that, she gave a little wave to the two boys saying she needed to start getting ready.

Yuuji looked at Megumi, a confused expression on his face, “Why is she getting ready so early if she said her plans are tonight?”

“I don’t know... But I should also get going. See you later, Itadori.” Megumi gave a wave and then there was nobody in the common room but Yuuji.

“Welp! Their loss.” And Yuuji made his way to the kitchen to start warming up some popcorn.

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Nobara met Maki at the school gates, excited for their date out on the town. It wasn’t often they found time to go out and Maki had been away on a mission, so it had been a while since they really got to have a conversation too.

“Hi Maki!” Nobara skipped excitedly up to the girl.

“Hey. You ready?” Maki responded with a smile and hooked her arm out.

“Of course!” Nobara beamed and hugged Maki’s outstretched arm.

The girls spent some time in the city, getting food, shopping (although it was mainly Nobara shopping and Maki holding her bags), and just generally enjoying each other’s company, walking hand in hand.

Everything was going great until they ran into Mai. She was out with Momo and Miwa, the latter girl the only one who wasn’t carrying a bag.

When Mai noticed them, she smirked, “Wow Maki. I never expected you’d meet anyone who could put up with you in a relationship.”

“Yeah I guess I got lucky. I’m not surprised you still haven’t found anyone yet, though.” Maki smirked back.

“Oh I’m just more selective with who I choose to share myself with.” And she looks Nobara up and down with a slightly disgusted look on her face.

Nobara’s face flamed. How dare she talk about her and Maki like that! “Don’t kid yourself! Maki is prettier, smarter, AND has a better personality than you!”

“Aww Maki your plaything seems to actually think highly of you. Too bad we’re the rejects of the Zen’in clan.” Mai cooed.

Maki’s face hardened, “Not for long. I’ll make them recognize me one way or another.”

Mai laughed, “How? By being pretty, smart, and having a great personality? Stop fooling yourself.”

Nobara had a choice insult on the tip of her tongue when she felt a hand on her shoulder, cutting her off.

“You’ll see. They all will.” And with that, Maki turned and walked away.

Nobara stuck her tongue out at Mai, accompanied by a rude gesture, before running to catch up with Maki.

“She’s so mean and it shows in how dry her skin is, but you’ll make her eat her words!” Nobara beamed at Maki.

Maki kept walking, not looking at Nobara, “Yeah.”

Nobara could sense the tension in her tone and laced her fingers in Maki’s, “Hey, I think you’re amazing and strong and can do anything. I don’t think you need to prove anything to anyone. You’re perfect just as you are.”

Maki’s grip on Nobara’s hand tightened as she balled her hands into fists, “I don’t need your approval or your pity. If I was perfect then I wouldn’t need these damned glasses or be stuck as a grade 4 sorcerer. If I was perfect I wouldn’t have been disowned by my own family.”

Maki gritted her teeth, anger flaring. Nobara winced as Maki’s grip on her hand tightened, “Maki my ha-” but she was cut off by Maki’s yelling.

“And I don’t need you to stick up for me especially if you’re just going to lie about who I am! I’m not perfect, I can't even see curses! That’s the bare minimum someone needs to even be a sorcerer! Don’t you know that!?” Maki finally turned to Nobara, who was in tears. It was at that point that she realized she was holding Nobara’s hand which had fingernail marks on it from where Maki’s nails were digging in.

Maki’s anger immediately vanished, only to be replaced by guilt and shame. Hadn’t the Zen’in ruined her life enough? How could she let them get in the way of her relationship and even worse, cause her to hurt someone she cared so dearly for? She hadn’t even realized Nobara had grabbed her hand; she was so lost in her angry thoughts.

Maki opened her mouth to apologize but Nobara cut her off, “Well fine if you don’t need my pity then forget I said anything! I take it back, you're no better than Mai!” And with that the girl ran off, leaving Maki standing on the sidewalk.

It was 8pm by the time Nobara made it back to the school. She cried the whole way home, and even though she tried calming down, she couldn’t get the tears to stop flowing. How could Maki say those things to her? Her hand didn’t hurt anymore and she knew Maki would never intentionally hurt her, but in the moment it just made everything Maki said feel ten times worse.

As she approached the front door of the dorm building, she did her best to wipe the tears on her face. She knew Yuuji would still be watching human earthworm and she didn’t want him to notice her crying. So once she felt composed enough, she opened the door and walked through.

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“Hey Kugisaki! You’re back ea-” Yuuji’s expression went from pleasant surprise to immediate concern when he saw how red and puffy her face was. She tried to hide it but wasn’t fast enough. “Kugisaki....are you okay?” Yuuji got up and went straight to Nobara, movie forgotten.

At Yuuji’s kind voice she couldn’t help but burst into tears again, “Maki and I had a fight.” She gripped her arm and bit her lip, trying to keep her voice steady and not devolve into a fit of hiccups.

“Oh...I’m sorry. Do you want to talk about it?” Yuuji asked, brows creased in concern.

Nobara sniffled, “Not really no.”

“Would a hug make you feel better?” Yuuji asked. He understood if she didn’t want to talk about what happened, but hugs always made him feel better when he was upset about something.

Nobara sniffled again and pondered for a minute before nodding. Soon, she felt two strong but gentle arms wrap around her, her tears staining Yuuji’s jacket. He clasped his hands behind her back, holding her close. She returned the hug, burying her face into his shoulder as the tears continued to flow. Yuuji felt warm and comforting, like your favorite blanket or your favorite mug filled with a warm beverage on a cold day. Nobara took deep breaths, inhaling Yuuji’s familiar scent and slowly began to calm down. The boy made no attempt to move, allowing Nobara to determine how long she needed to be hugged for. When he felt her stir and begin to pull away he unclasped his hands and looked at her. Her face was a little less puffy than when she walked in and her breathing was steady.

“Do you feel a bit better now?” Yuuji asked.

“Yeah I do actually. Thanks, Itadori.” And Nobara gave him a small but genuine smile.

At that moment, a loud explosion went off in the movie and startled them both, heads turning to look at the screen.

“Oh! Oh! That was the best part of the movie! Hold on, let me rewind it.” And Yuuji excitedly ran back to the couch to grab the remote. He began to rewind it when he glanced at Nobara who was standing there, rubbing her arm awkwardly.

“Actually, I’m kind of sick of watching this movie. I’ve seen it like 5 times at this point. Is there anything you wanna watch, Kugisaki?” Yuuji was in fact very much still into these movies, but he could tell his friend needed him, so he would gladly save the rest of his binging for another night.

Nobara looked at him, “Oh, are you sure? You seemed so excited to watch these movies...”

“Eh it’s okay I’d rather watch something we both wanna watch! It’s more fun when everyone is into it.” Yuuji grinned.

Nobara gave a small smile in return, “Okay...do you know any good rom-coms? I like watching those.”

“Oh yeah! I know a bunch we can watch! I’ll get it setup.” And Yuuji began clicking buttons on the remote.

“Okay!” Nobara’s smile was bigger now, “I’ll go make some popcorn!”

“Good idea!”

When Nobara came back to the common room with a big bowl of popcorn in her hands she saw the movie paused on the TV and Yuuji wearing what looked like a face mask.

“Uhh, Itadori what’s on your face?” Nobara asked.

“Huh? Oh it’s a face mask! Here I brought you one too.” And Yuuji held out a thin packet to Nobara. She set the popcorn down and looked at it, it was a good brand, one she had actually bought often....wait a second. “Itadori, did you take these from my room!?”

The boy gave a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his neck, “Sorry...I don’t have any face masks of my own and I figured it would cheer you up if we did one. I’ll buy you more though, promise!”

Nobara fought the smile that tried to make its way onto her face but eventually gave up. It was a really sweet gesture, and plus, if he said he would buy her more then maybe she could convince him to buy an even better brand.

Nobara smiled, “Well all right but I don’t want you using my stuff again and I’m gonna hold you to that promise!” She put the face mask on and told Yuuji to scoot over on the couch, where she curled up and laid her head down on his lap, throwing the occasional piece of popcorn in her mouth and laughing along with Yuuji at the movie.

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Nobara woke up the next morning to six missed calls from Maki, 20 unread text messages, and the girl banging on her door.

“Nobara....Nobara please can we talk? I'm so sorry.” Maki’s voice sounded hoarse, like she had been crying.

Nobara got out of bed and opened the door, seeing Maki made her hurt all over again, but she at least didn’t feel like she was going to cry this time. After spending the night watching rom-coms with Yuuji she felt a lot better, and was ready to hear Maki out.

“Nobara...can I come in?” Maki asked weakly.

Nobara stepped to the side to let her in and then closed the door behind her before going to sit on her bed.

Maki stayed standing while she spoke, “I am so sorry for everything yesterday. I don’t even know where to begin. Is your hand okay? I’m so sorry I didn’t even realize I was holding your hand. I was just so wrapped up in my own anger. I never meant to hurt you and the things I said aren’t true at all. I said them out of anger not at you but at the Zen’in and I’m usually better at not letting Mai get to me but when she said those things in front of you it just made me feel like I wasn’t good enough to be with you. And then when you were cheering me up afterwards I felt like you were trying to convince yourself of why you were with me and I know I was wrong and this isn’t an excuse but I just need you to know I am so sorry.” Maki didn’t take a breath that entire time. She had clearly spent the night thinking about and regretting her actions.

Nobara was silent for a moment before she spoke, “My hand is fine, you just left some marks from your nails on it but they went away after a few minutes...And I understand. I mean, I don’t understand exactly how you feel or what you’ve been through, but I get what you’re saying. You’re right it’s not an excuse for how you treated me yesterday, but I understand how one thing led to another. That being said though, I don’t ever want you to doubt how I feel about you. I’m not such a simple woman that the words of someone else can change my feelings. I know you and I know who you are. You have flaws and maybe you’re not a perfect jujutsu sorcerer but you’re perfect for me.”

Both girls looked at each other before Maki made the first move, walking to Nobara and gently grabbing her soft hands in her own calloused ones, “I’m sorry again. And you’re right. I should never have doubted you. Can you find it in you to forgive me?” Maki was staring intensely into Nobara’s eyes, which had softened. Nobody else got to see this soft, vulnerable side of Maki but her. She felt so special when it was just the two of them.

Nobara cupped Maki’s face with one hand, “I’ve already forgiven you. But I do expect a redo of our date.”

Maki smiled and gave Nobara a quick peck on the lips, “Anything for you.”

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Yuuji woke up late the next morning, he was up late last night watching movies with Nobara until they could both barely keep their eyes open. Surprisingly though, he never saw Megumi come home. Curious, he headed towards the boy’s room and knocked on the door. When he didn’t answer, he peered inside and saw the room was empty with the bed neatly made.

Huh, where’s Megumi? He got changed and walked around the school until he found Megumi with his divine dogs out, having just come back from a run.

“Fushiguro! There you are! I was looking for you. What time did you get home last night?”

Megumi’s eyes widened at the question, “Um, late.”

Yuuji’s head tilted, “Oh really? I was up pretty late with Kugisaki but neither of us saw you come in.”

Megumi looked away, “Yeah it must have been after you guys went to bed...”

“Wow and you still woke up early enough to take your divine dogs on a run? I woke up not too long ago and I’m still kind of tired.” Yuuji yawned to prove his point.

Megumi began shifting between his feet, clearly growing uncomfortable, “Yeah I guess I do well on little sleep.”

At Megumi’s statement, Yuuji grew skeptical, “Wait a minute...no you don’t. Don’t you remember that time we stayed out late watching a movie but then had to wake up early for training the next day? You were so grumpy! You yelled at me not to talk to you before you had your coffee!”

Megumi’s face warmed at being caught in a lie. Ugh, why did Itadori have to be so attentive towards his friends?

Megumi gave a deep sigh, “Okay, I never actually went out last night. I was in my room the whole day.” Megumi couldn’t look Itadori in the eye. He felt bad for lying to the boy about running errands but he really did not want to watch the human earthworm movies.

Yuuji pouted, “Fushigurooo why’d you lie?”

Megumi’s face reddened even more, he really wanted to avoid this but he supposed he did lie to his friend, and Itadori didn’t deserve that, so he told him the truth.

“I’m...not a fan of those types of movies.” Megumi said quietly.

“What? You’re not a fan of slasher films?” Yuuji asked incredulously.

“Yeah...and Human Earthworm in particular creeps me out. He just...doesn’t look right.” Megumi was avoiding eye contact at all costs when Yuuji broke out in laughter, causing Megumi to look up at him in shock.

“Fushiguro, you could have just told me that! If there’s a different genre you like we could have watched that instead! Last night I ended up watching rom-coms with Kugisaki.” Yuuji was grinning at his friend.

Megumi was always taken aback by how kind and genuine Itadori was. Especially living as a jujutsu sorcerer, it was easy to let the nature of the work get to you. But Itadori always seemed to have a smile on his face. He was like a ray of sunshine breaking through a cloudy day.

“Well, I like watching documentaries if you have any of those.”

Yuuji’s smile didn’t waver, “I can’t think of any off the top of my head but I’ll look some up and maybe we can watch one tonight!”

Megumi couldn’t help but sink into the boy’s sincerity and enthusiasm, and he also felt like he owed it to Yuuji after lying to him, “All right, I look forward to what you choose.”

Yuuji beamed and gave him finger guns, “Leave it to me!” And ran off, leaving Megumi to watch Nobara and Maki walking on the opposite side of the training field, hand in hand.

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fumifooms · 1 year

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Mithrun x Marcille

Second part of my “Dunmeshi rarepairs I will birth with my own hands if I have to” series

Marcille and Mithrun… No no HEAR ME OUT besides chap 94 I think Mithrun was the most emotional when confronting Marcille about the whole situation of her maybe being on the edge of becoming dungeon lord AND he seemed to empathize with her?!! Look at his face! Listen to his words!

He desired to save her. The ex-dungeon lord who lost everything and the newly dungeon lady about to walk herself into a trap and lose everything. They seem very compatible to me attitude wise, without mentioning that they seem to be each other’s type (Marcille’s succubus, Mithrun’s love). Marcille could even put an eyepatch on him lmfao. I feel like his very blunt attitude (most shown when he confronted Thistle about the flaws in his plan and perspective, but also the whole interactions with Marcille at Thistle’s home) would be good for Marcille, both in a ‘convincing her’ way and just in a general relationship & dynamic way. They’re both pretty tragic characters, who need the same kind of comfort imo. They’re mirrors of each other, he reflects what she would become. The Marcille that has been tempted by Power and desires and is left wrecked from it, regrets, is filled with nothing but vengeance. The Mithrun of the past that might yet still be able to be reasoned with, to be saved. People who wanted to live in an utopia with their loved ones. Listen, everyone by the end is left needing to find themselves a new dream and goal, that’s sorta the point with character arcs and it’s very in theme with the series’ message of constantly desiring new things, BUT I just think it’d be cute if specifically Marcille & Mithrun found a new purpose together ok <3 Mithrun could walk over to her to apologize for the murderous behavior and an acquaintance would start from there. Hnng idk idk it’s understated quiet romance and I love that I’m sorry!!

THIS POST’S TAGS YES YES YOU GET IT!!!!! Listen my fave thing in ships is when the characters surprisingly have that 1 fundamental thing in common like a fear or desire and that is them!!! I love them sm. This is currently the dunmeshi ship I like the most, sorry. I wanna do a full character and dynamic analysis and write a longfic and do fanart and- Edit: here’s some fanart and more rambles about them hehe!! I make some new points I like in it, like how Marcille’s a mom friend who likes caring after her loved ones.

Somewhat related but I think Mithrun overall is a closer allegory to PTSD and brain damage than depression, and ye I do think that would work well with this dynamic’s potential as well- but that’s a topic for another day

Ok btw ship name wise what are we thinking mithrille to be close to “mithril” or “myrtille” which is essentially french for blueberry? Gonna use mithrille esp since it’s an unique word for practicality but there are fun little motifs we could use with their names there

The leftovers </3 The abused second heir bastard that a demon didn’t deign to finish eating and the girl who’ll always outlive everyone she knows and loves.

They met each other when they were both at a mental low, and they can get better from there. It’s a special kind of intimacy when you both intimately know each other’s lowest moments idk. They’ve fought to the death like 3 times they can drop the formalities at that point lmao. (she never wanted to kill him btw, only "overreacted” as instinctive self-defense). I love how everyone had to keep pulling Mithrun off Marcille bc it looked so bad and he couldn’t stop going straight for her throat lol

Presidential alert the babygirls are fighting

#dungeon meshi #mini ship analysis #mithrun #marcille donato #actually a tag that’s literally just a word that’s commonly used would be a bad idea #Mithrun x marcille #marcille x mithrun #marcille #Mithrille #Dunmeshi rarepairs #I think he’d find it comforting that she knows how it’s like to be a dunlord. No judgement yk yk. Tho he wishes he could have prevented it #Spoilers #dungeon meshi manga spoilers

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momobani · 1 year

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GHOSTS NEVER SAID NO TO A POT ROAST

If Your Winter Is Hard - Chapter 9 - 13.5k

medium!minghao x exorcist!reader

SERIES MASTERLIST

Warnings: exorcism(duh!); discussion of ghosts + death, reference to death of family members, light violence/ fighting, mention of guns, light police work, food + alcohol mention, depiction of [magical] rituals, minor blood tw

Sum: after everything that you’ve been through, you can finally finish what your sister started.

Song rec: Fearless - Seventeen, also Super - Seventeen (it slaps and it also fits the vibe, thank you svt for releasing this bop while I’m still writing)

TAGLIST: @sleeplessdawn @aceofvernons @kyeomsworld @lilactangerine @candidupped

A/N: it’s been a long work in progress, but goddamn I will finish this series no matter how long it takes haha, thank you for being patient guys. Spring is coming (or is already here?) anyway, stay tuned for the last chapter!!!! Enjoy <3

“Remind me again why we have to do this?” Minghao asks as he makes to pick up another crystal.

“Hands!” You snap quickly before he touches it.

“Oh shit, right.” He says then gingerly picks up another crystal using the barbecue tongs you’d made him dig out of your kitchen drawer. You hold the tiny, colourful pouch open as he deposits it inside amongst the dried herbs and other few crystals.

These weren’t just any crystals - they were freshly charged with pure aura from your friend’s nieces and nephews. You’d gone to the trouble of babysitting in order to get the kids to play with the crystals for a little while so they could fill them up with energy. You would have mentioned it to your friend but somehow you weren’t sure they’d be too happy to let the kids spend any time with the crazy crystal hoarding freak.

So you didn’t.

“Because,” You sigh because that is the nth time you’ve had to answer the same question. “If we don’t, then we will definitely be making our own lives much harder. And I don’t know about you, but after this whole thing, we’re going to take a hiatus.”

“Alright, first - a holiday, Boss.” Minghao replies while you hold the bag and wriggle it to make everything fit without touching it. “Second, can’t we just let those bastards get haunted for a while? Isn’t it deserved after everything they’ve done?”

You don’t let yourself consider the possibility. It was tempting, you had to admit. The people from Platis like the President and the new CEO, as well as the organised crime bosses, had all caused so much grief to countless people, some of whose spirits were lingering and wandering aimlessly because of their wrongdoing, that yes, you wanted to hurt them. To give some kind of retribution for their evil.

“It is, but it’s unfair to the spirits, Hao.” You say, pulling the strings on either side of the pouch’s opening and tightening them closed. “Or at least, that’s what I’ve been taught growing up. If it were up to me, I’d let the spirits wreck havoc because it’ll probably mean they can rest after, but apparently the Council has like ethics rules or whatever and we can’t.” You shrug.

Minghao nods. “Must be some kind of Hippocratic oath for exorcists.”

“I guess. But I’m legally and ugh, morally obligated to protect those fuckers regardless of whether they deserve it or not.” You conclude while tying knots on each of the five pouches on the table in front of you.

“Oh, you poor thing.” He says sincerely as he gets up. You expect him to just walk away but he takes a step and leans over to you and plants a soft kiss to your temple before doing so. You had got to get used to that.

To what exactly?

To someone being affectionate to you? To Minghao specifically being really touchy and clingy - much more so than you’d expected? To actually being with someone after all this time you spent alone? It was definitely weird at first; the two of you would be doing something as normal, maybe work or stuff around the house, then suddenly he’d just hug you or hold your hand out of nowhere, or even kiss you.

It was rattling to say the least.

You followed Minghao upstairs to your conference room. You were about to have a meeting about the final steps of your exorcism and you’d invited everyone involved to be present. Hoshi, Seungkwan, Vernon and Chan were already seated, chitchatting about this and that, mostly the others trying to gaslight Chan into thinking this job is the best in the world (it was not).

You waited while the rest of your guests arrived - Seokmin and Mingyu stumbled in (quite literally because Mingyu tripped over the door of your office), Seungcheol and Wonwoo strode in in aviators and leather jackets (like cooler versions of Jake Peralta), then Jeonghan rolled up lastly, fashionably late, although he had an excuse since you’d sent him to pick up a special delivery from one of Jun’s contacts.

Once everyone was seated you took the helm at the head of the table.

“Alright, team. We have several days left until the winter solstice and we still have a couple of important things to take care of.” You said. “We’re going to need to split up in order to complete these tasks by the day before the exorcism so that we have enough time to organise the site.”

“We’re going to need a few volunteers to help set up shop at the apartment block, who’s coming with?” Jeonghan asks from your left. “Our cop friends included, of course.” He says with a sly smile toward Seungcheol and Wonwoo.

“The police is always on the citizens side.” Seungcheol replies in just the same tone. You roll your eyes because well, it was a reflex but Minghao nudges your right arm. Right, you still needed the police help so you pretend you had something in your eye.

“Before we get volunteers, you should know that whoever takes one of the tasks will not be able to come with to the site. You’ll still be dealing with your task by the time we set up.” You say. Part of you wanted to see who would volunteer since only a few of you knew what the tasks actually were.

That and you may or may not have had a loose bet going with Jeonghan, who was now diligently waiting to take note of who’s signing up to what.

“Phah! A tiger never runs from danger, I volunteer to help set up.” Hoshi announces boisterously.

“You know I’ll be there, so that’s two. Then you, Seungkwan and Jeonghan, so five.” Minghao says, mostly addressing you.

You met his eyes for a moment and nodded. You felt unexpectedly exposed in front of everyone, like your - who was he now? Boyfriend? (jeez) - was looking at you, even though technically speaking he was a medium that was under employment in your office so obviously he would come help but still, you averted your eyes to the papers in front of you since they looked incredibly interesting all of a sudden.

“Well, I’m incredibly scared of ghosts, which probably explains why I have a desk job, so I’ll take whatever the other thing is.” Mingyu pipes up.

“I’ll second that.” Seokmin grins.

“Dude, you’re a medium; working with ghosts is your whole job.” Chan points out.

“Your point?” Seokmin replies. Chan frowns for a second but accepts the reasoning.

“I’ll go too, why not.” Vernon raises his hand.

“Okay, I think we misunderstood what the question was, but guys - congratulations. You just made kitchen duty with Joshua.” You smile at Mingyu, Seokmin and Vernon.

“What do we need kitchen duty for?” Chan raises his eyebrows. You’d picked him for his potential but you were realising he was still too green so there was a lot you’ll have to teach him.

“Sacrificial purposes. Besides all the protective rituals we have to do, we must also offer sacrifices to appease the spirits. And you’re new around here, but you must know that ghosts never said no to a pot roast.” You explain to Chan.

“At least kitchen duty is safe.” You hear Mingyu mutter.

“Not if Joshua is in charge. The guy is a madman.” Jeonghan warns him but offers no explanation. Classic Jeonghan; unaware that he and Joshua are cut from the same maniacal cloth.

“Right, so that leaves everyone else for the other mission.” You look around the table; that left eight people including yourself, which was more than enough.

“So what are we doing?” Hoshi asks excitedly. You attempt to open your mouth but clearly you take too long because Jeonghan beats you to it.

“Breaking into Platis.” He declares.

You sigh at the shameless thunder-stealing. If you had a buck, or better yet a gold bar, for every time Jeonghan managed to do that, you’d be rich enough to buy Platis and save yourself the whole plot.

“Oh my god, for the last time you are not ‘breaking in’ to Platis.” Seungcheol shakes his head in disbelief. “I am not letting you participate in a sting for you to fumble the name.”

“Fine, we’re infiltrating Platis.” Jeonghan corrects himself. “Happy, Chief?”

“Very.” Seungcheol pouts.

“Anyways,” You try to steer the conversation back. “Yes, we are going in partially to complete our project, but also to wreck general havoc internally. It’ll be fun.”

“That leaves us with one question before we hear the plan.” Jeonghan says, standing up. “Anyone else want kitchen duty? This is not for the faint hearted.”

“Oh, will you cut it out? We’re headed into a company building, not a haunted temple.” You smack Jeonghan’s arm lightly to make him sit back down. Judging by the silence and tentative glancing around the table, you see that everyone seems to be happy in their current teams. “Good, in that case, you can start brainstorming a menu of easily flammable food. Enjoy, guys.”

For the sake of efficiency, you let the cooking team split off and mind their task while you swapped places with Seungcheol and Wonwoo so they could share the plan they’d come up with after you asked for their help last week.

Wonwoo plugs in his laptop to your projector like many times before and settles as Seungcheol stands in front of the white wall, ready to lecture you through it. What appears to be a mix between a blueprint and floor plan appears on the screen swiftly.

“Okay, listen up. The plan is very simple; create a distraction so that YN and Minghao can move unnoticed.” Seungcheol begins. “Wonwoo has managed to hack the system and add in another sales pitch team that will see the company’s investment department, which includes the CEO and the President. That’s going to be the distraction.”

“I’ll be able to monitor and coordinate each group in order to keep you in the camera’s blindspots and cut the footage at the correct timestamps.” Wonwoo continues. “We’ll keep communication lines at all times so I can also open the correct doors since you won’t have access to certain areas.”

“YN and Minghao, you guys are going to pose as cleaners. Then we just need someone to do the sales pitch and keep the investors occupied.” Seungcheol says.

“Alright. Not bad.” Hoshi nods. “But who do we know is shameless enough to bamboozle executives of a big corporation?” He asks. The question hangs in the air for a split second as every head in the room swivels towards Jeonghan, who’s doodling on a piece of paper in front of him. He notices the silence and looks up.

“Huh?”

“Perfect. Jeonghan, Hoshi and Seungkwan will go in as the sales team.” You suggest.

“What about me?” Chan asks, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

“Ah,” Seungcheol pauses for a second, as if he’s almost startled that Chan is even there. “You’ll be backup with me. You can be our runner in case we need one.”

“Sounds doable.” Seungkwan nods. “What exactly are we pitching?”

“Exactly what they want to hear: how to finish the apartment complex. That will definitely get their attention.” Seungcheol replies. “And it’s also an opportunity for us to hear anything they might let slip. Your job is very important. All you must do is sow the seeds of discord amongst friends.”

“That we can do, gentlemen. That we can do.” Jeonghan says determinately. You glance at him and find the almost-disturbing smirk on his face. Of course, this is what he excels at - causing chaos. You’ll never forget his and your sister’s graduation party - and neither did their classmates or lecturers. Or other faculty. (You were pretty sure it might be the reason why your family discouraged you from going to college).

“Okay, so here’s how we’ll begin…” Seungcheol continues.

After what seems like an eternity, the whole team is clued into their roles and what they’ll have to do in order to keep this operation running smoothly. You just hope it would be enough to get the job done.

The next day, you send off the kitchen duty goers to Mingyu’s tiny box apartment where they’ll be joined by Joshua. As it turns out, Mingyu has the most kitchen utensils and whatnot, though that’s hardly a surprise. (You’d heard that Mingyu was attending culinary school before his ass got haunted by the ghost of failed chef and he had an epiphany that he too should throw his life away and work in paranormal activity because of course, why wouldn’t one come to such a conclusion.)

In the meantime, your squad gets geared up courtesy of Seungcheol and Wonwoo and it becomes apparent to you that your mission just got a whole lot bigger and very much realer.

You see Minghao materialise next to you in the corner of your eye and you glance towards him. He and you were wearing identical grey overalls that were the so-called uniform of your cleaning company. He smiles at you almost apologetically.

“Oh no, one of us is going to have to change, babe.” He jokes. “We’re a fashion disaster.”

You ignore the way your heartbeat spikes at the nickname and sass back.

“Keep that up, babe, and you’re sleeping on the couch tonight.” You warn, equally unseriously.

“Wow, you guys! This is your first couple item!” You hear Hoshi yell from across the table. Clearly he hadn’t heard the exchange between you two about your outfits or he’d have had something to say about it. You cringe internally at the prospect; god forbid you and Minghao became one of those cringey, cavity-inducing sappy couples who consciously and purposefully sought out couple items.

“Okay, everyone, are we ready to go?” Seungcheol calls from the door way. He and Wonwoo are the only ones not in some kind of disguise, although to be fair to them, they are supposed to pretend to be civilians for the day.

“All set.” You confirm and grab your exorcist bag. Today you’d chosen a smaller one that could be hidden easily because it was full of smaller items.

“Let’s roll.” Seungcheol said. “Don’t forget, we need to establish coms as soon as you’re on site.” He reminds everyone.

And with that, your squad left the office.

Going first by car were Seungkwan, Jeonghan and Hoshi, all clad in suits - light grey pinstripes, solid navy, and charcoal respectably. It was hard to believe they looked the part, since you’d personally never be able to disregard the clownery that lurked underneath the veil of professionalism.

Chan was posing as an office worker should the opportunity call for him to act and went with Seungcheol and Wonwoo in their car, which left you and Minghao to the monstrosity waiting for you adjacent to the door.

“I hope you didn’t want to date me because I drove a motorcycle, ‘cause this is…uh, well, I can’t explain.” Minghao says as you gaze upon the fiery steed that will carry you on your mission.

Parked in all its glory, was a semi-busted up Ford Econoline white van that was screaming for a good bath. On its side was a freshly placed sticker of your fake company’s name. You looked at the smiling tiger character underneath it and gritted your teeth. That’s the last time you let Hoshi do anything.

“Oh god, we’re gonna look like drug dealers.” You deadpanned.

“Or worse.” Minghao adds.

“Nope, nothing is worse than Horangi Cleaning Power.”

You reluctantly got into the van and set off. You had a schedule to adhere to after all.

You let Minghao drive since you were beyond grossed out at the prospect and sat in the back part with the cleaning supplies instead. You didn’t want to be seen in that thing in broad daylight.

Minghao found the parking spot Wonwoo had secured for your van beforehand easily enough, mostly because it was near one of the staff back doors, to which he’d also given you fake real passes to open. Once parked, Minghao made his way to join in the back.

“Okay, let’s contact the others.” You said, bringing out the ear pieces Wonwoo had provided. You each took one and positioned it the way he’d taught you. You texted in the group chat to let them know your ear pieces were on so Wonwoo could bring them into the network. Or that’s what you thought - you truly had no idea how this crap worked.

“Now what?” Minghao asked. The two of you sat amidst your fake real cleaning supplies, waiting dumbly.

You don’t know where the thought comes from, but you look at the tiny proximity between you and Minghao and get an idea. You hum, thinking for a moment, then look up at Minghao only to find him already looking at you, a mere few inches between your faces. You start smiling since you figured he was on the same page as you, as the two of you close the distance and lean in to kiss.

His lips are addictive, you couldn’t help it, you wanted to be close to him, to be around him like he was your sun and you were a little planet gravitating to him regardless of how far away you were. Minghao pulls you closer and into his lap, your arms wrapping around him on instinct. You had time to kill so you didn’t care for a few minutes. You’d been to busy to do anything like this in the past week, mostly just conking out as soon as you got to bed because of how drained you were from making final preparations.

Out of nowhere, there was a crackling noise right inside your ear and you jumped apart, startled. You were panting, mostly because it had caught you off guard and scared you but also because you were getting so heated while you sat in Minghao’s lap.

“YN? Minghao? Check in. Over.” You heard Wonwoo’s voice in your ear. You were suddenly hit with a horrible flashback of your near death experience on the train tracks when you’d also worn an earpiece. You shook your head slightly and snapped back to reality.

“Yes.” You said.

“Here.” Minghao adds, clearing his throat, totally not awkwardly. Or at least you hope.

“Copy. That’s everyone then.” Wonwoo confirms.

“Okay, YN, Minghao, standby. Sellers, remember to be careful of exactly what you say. Stick to the stuff we discussed in the script. Platis is tied with one of the biggest organised crime syndicates in the city and we cannot make their side suspicious. Especially not enough to trigger them into starting a turf war with the other organisation. Over.” Seungcheol says.

“You got it, Chief.” Jeonghan replies. “Controlled chaos only.”

“Exactly. We cannot have any casualties. Also, stop calling me ‘Chief’. Over.” Seungcheol says.

“Ha, this is so cool, we’re like actual cops!” Hoshi giggles over the line. There’s a loud thwacking sound and you can only imagine it was Seungkwan making him behave.

“You most certainly are not.” Seungcheol weighs in. “You’re civilians helping out the police. Over.”

“Enough. Any further questions?” Wonwoo asks. There’s a silence on the line. “Good. Okay, it’s almost go time. I’m going to separate the teams; you cannot hear each other. If there’s a problem, report straight to me. Over.”

“Copy.” You say automatically. Minghao gives you a look for a second then looks away. ‘What?’ You mouth, but he only shakes his heads, but you see him suppressing a small smile.

‘Cute.’ He mouths back. Your eyes widen in shock. It’s only temporary as you get up and smack his shoulder gently with the pair of latex gloves you were about to put on. You couldn’t leave any finger prints, of course. That, and you were supposed to be cleaners and it was part of your schtick.

“Seungkwan, Hoshi, have you got the camera glasses on?” Wonwoo speaks in your ears. You cannot hear the response but you remember that you also have to film what you see.

You turn to your cleaning cart and make sure the little GoPro is positioned nicely. You had a cover for yours if anyone asked - your cleaning company’s insurance against being accused of messing up anything in the offices as you cleaned.

After a minute you get the signal to get going from Wonwoo.

“The others are almost in the meeting room, which means that the CEO and President are also gone from their offices. Leave now.” He says.

“Copy, leaving. Over.” You reply as you and Minghao open the van doors and lower your cart down. You move quickly and discreetly to and through the doors, using the passes smoothly and entering the building. You appear to be in some kind of garbage storage facility and you’re reminded of the way you entered that museum a few months ago. “Why is it always garbage?” You mutter mostly to yourself but keep moving.

You’d been briefed on the layout of the building and memorised the route that you needed to take as well as a possible emergency escape route in case Wonwoo wasn’t able to guide you out if anything happened.

“Okay, the meeting is starting. Get to the CEO’s office first.” You hear Wonwoo say.

“Copy.” Minghao says. You were already in the elevator going up to the thirteenth floor. There was nothing but offices up here and the CEO’s was the one at the end of a long corridor.

You knocked for appearances though you knew there was no one in there, then entered swiftly.

“We’re in.” You said instinctively, although you knew that Wonwoo could see that from his computer screen. He and Seungcheol were stationed with Chan in the neighbouring building, monitoring the sting closely.

“Alright, YN do your thing. Minghao, get the cameras. Find the angles - like we talked about. Doors, seats, desk.” Wonwoo instructed through the ear pieces.

You were already opening your exorcist bag to find the bags of herbs and crystals. Minghao dug into his overall pocket and fished out five minuscule cameras from one of those clear plastic seal baggies. You were both looking around the room, trying to decide on the perfect spots for where to put the items.

You walked around to behind the desk.

Perfect.

Only one of the drawers had a lock on it so you decided to go with what you’d thought of the other day. You crouch quickly and pulled on the bottom drawer, gently easing it out of its frame. There were a bunch of files in the drawer, little folders that just looked like regular paper work to your incompetent eye so it was a little heavier than you thought.

When you put it down, you gasped audibly. Someone had beat you to the hiding spot.

“YN? What is it? What’s going on?” Wonwoo asks immediately.

Underneath the drawer in the hollow space between the floor and the drawer was another, slightly slimmer stack of files.

“I found a hidden stack of paper work. Do you want to see?” You ask.

“Yes, get me eyes on it as you look through.” Wonwoo says.

“Okay.” You say and straighten up. “Psst, Hao. Throw me the spare GoPro, it’s under the box of gloves.” You whisper across the room. Minghao is crouched on the ground by a big plant, trying to secure a camera to the pot. He’s closer to the cart and springs up smoothly to grab it and chuck it gently in your direction.

You catch it easily and switch it on.

“Right, got it. Keep going.” You hear Wonwoo. You hum in approval and proceed to take out the stack of files with one hand and prop them up on your knee, all while keeping the camera on it. You leaf through the first file while Wonwoo watches and accesses what he’s seeing. “Right, these are meeting minutes. The real important stuff must be hidden in a safe somewhere. This is useful though, leave it where it is. We’ll pick it up in a search and seize later.”

“Alright.” You say and put everything back. You shove the bag of herbs and crystals to the very back of the space where it’s too dark to be noticed, especially if someone is only reaching under to get the files without being eye level with the space. You replace the drawer carefully and move on to find another spot for the paper talismans.

Minghao seems to still be working on his camera task because he’s reaching up against a bookshelf, trying to position it to it shows a good shot of the seating area of couch and arm chairs.

“Minghao, report.” Wonwoo asks.

“This is the fourth, I’m almost done.” He huffs as he tries to secure the camera.

“Copy.”

You were just about to stick a talisman on the back of one of the tacky wall paintings when you raised the frame away from the wall and sighed.

“Here we go again.” You said. There was a piece of paper already stuck to the back of the frame. Clearly you and the CEO of this office were very much in sync. You’d just pocket the GoPro but thankfully it was still turned on in your pocket so you reached into it and brought it out to film. “Wonwoo, another one for your collection.” You said as you brought the camera to the front of the painting so he could get a good look at where the paper was located.

“That looks like a password for something and I’m willing to bet it has to do with the gold.” You hear. “Good work, YN!” He replies, uncharacteristically upbeat. “Chicken on me next week.”

“Great, I’m so glad I can do your job for you, bestie.” You chuckle and put the painting back against the wall before trying the next one over. It’s equally as tacky, a single duck in a pond watercolour composition and although you know next to nothing about art, even you can tell it’s kind of bad. Thankfully though you can stick your talisman on the back of it.

“Okay, I’m done.” You hear Minghao say as you reach for the final part of haunt-proofing the office.

Salt.

But not just any salt. Since you couldn’t do any protective rituals here and burn any repellant incense, you had had to work on the salt and bring it. It was salt that was ground into incredibly fine dust so you could just throw some around the room without needing to worry about it being seen.

“Okay, get moving, you guys. How long do you think they’ve got, Cheol?” Wonwoo asks. You imagine Seungcheol was paying close attention to the others’ meeting. You hear a faint murmur but not the actual reply as you make sure everything in the office looks immaculately untouched. “Not good, hurry. I think our jesters aren’t entertaining the kings too well.”

You scoff at the suggestion.

“Please, have you met Yoon ‘Big Mouth’ Jeonghan?” You whisper as you exit the office, Minghao leading with the cart.

“Good point.”

You take the elevator up to the seventeenth and final floor, trying to draw as little attention to yourselves as possible as you make your way to the office. When you get there, there’s no one manning the secretary desks and you knock and enter the office with no problem.

Minghao reaches into his pocket again and begins his camera mounting silently while you scan the room for good places to hide your items. There’s no art here so that rules out the back of frames. The desk is more of a fancy piece of modern architecture crap table that has no big storage space so that’s out of the picture too. There is however a massive wall of cabinets and storage units to make up for it, it was like a showroom in here.

“Must be the blood money.” You mutter under your breath. You reach for the sliding door of the waist height cabinet and open it to reveal a two shelf set up and a grey safe on the bottom rack. “I found the safe.” You say to Wonwoo as you bring out the camera and show him its location.

“That’s probably where all the dirt is, although they’d be stupid to leave it lying around like that. It’s probably a decoy safe and there’s another one somewhere.” He says to you as you slide the talisman in the crack between the cabinet wall and safe and stick it on the back of the safe.

“Probably, but that’s your problem.” You straighten up from your crouch and carry on. You manage to stick the pouch of crystals behind a stack of books on a high bookshelf, which judging by the fine layer dust, have never been moved since they were put on display as props. You’re about to sprinkle salt when you hear voices outside the office.

“Hao!” You hiss. He’s already heard it and frozen. He smacks a camera against a lamp frame quickly and bolts towards the cart. You step towards the window and snatch up a rag from your overall’s pocket. The procedure was to act like you belonged there, it was what you’d been instructed to do in case of emergencies.

The office door opens unexpectedly and you force yourself to be leisurely as you turn around while still keeping a steady hand sliding the rag across the window sill. There’s an office worker, who you assume might be the missing secretary from outside.

“Who are you?” She asks, clearly confused with your appearance.

“YN, get out of there ASAP. The meeting is over. The President is on the move. Over.” You hear Wonwoo in your ears.

“Oh hi, miss. Were you not expecting us?” Minghao says. He puts on his best chipper neighbour voice and you feel bile rising to the back of your throat. He doesn’t wait for an answer. “We’ve been called in by Mr Na himself, we usually clean his house.”

The secretary looks blankly at the two of you.

“Hmm, well. I guess maybe he wasn’t satisfied with his office but didn’t want to embarrass the company cleaners.” Minghao continues, voice coating in faux sympathy.

“I’ll say.” You agree, bringing up your rag. “It’s a disgrace, miss. Look at all this dust.” You bring your hand up to the window sill and blow. A small cloud of dust flies up and you fake a stifled cough. Except it wasn’t dust - it was the salt that you were meant to sprinkle all around the office. You just hoped it was enough.

“Right.” The woman looked absolutely mortified. “Well, carry on.” She cleared her throat and turned around. She left the doors open but didn’t stick around outside the office while you and Minghao breathed a sigh of relief.

“Let’s go.” You said and reached for another couple of pinches of salt dust to sprinkle as you left for good measure.

You walked calmly to the elevators and managed to make your way down quietly without any more hiccups. Once you were outside and trudging toward your van, you dared speak.

“Did you get all the cameras?” You ask Minghao as you load up.

“Yeah, that was my last one, I just hope no one looks at that ugly ass lamp too close.” He says with clear distaste.

“Good job coming up with all that crap.” You compliment as you shut the doors. “Have you been hanging out with Jeonghan lately?” You joke.

“Ah YN, jealous much? You know you’re my favourite exorcist.” He replies. “More like desperate times call for desperate measures.” Minghao smiles, shrugging it off.

“More like cowardice breeds ingenuity.” You smile back.

“Guys? Report?” Wonwoo asks through the ear pieces.

“In the van, ready to leave.” You say. You sat up front this time around, you weren’t sure you wanted to leave Minghao alone in the front again.

“Did you position the cameras?”

“All done. Barely.” Minghao confirms as he puts on his seatbelt.

“Good work. The others are out too. We can go back to base now. Over.”

“Copy.” You sigh and lean back on the headrest. “Well, that was easy.” You laugh sarcastically. Minghao cracks a smile as he starts the engine up.

“Yeah, and I never want to do it again.” He adds before pulling out and into the street.

With the Platis business out of the way, you could focus solely on preparing the site for the exorcism. You’d called Joshua to check in on the sacrificial side of things and they were making more progress than expected.

“We did have to fill up Seokmin’s fridge too yesterday and there’s no space left in Mingyu’s.” He tells you over the phone.

“Hey, no one said the food has to be fresh.” You say. “Or edible for that matter.” You add. You knew it was all being taken care of, so you’d just been getting things in order at the office, loading up the cars with Minghao and Seungkwan’s help.

You’d insisted that all mediums take it easy for the twelve hours before the exorcism, because they needed to rest their bodies well before an intense job like this, but Minghao wouldn’t comply. He insisted that he was a perfectly fine specimen and the picture of health so his body could endure the spirits even if he exerted himself lightly.

You’d then conveniently reminded him about how he’d yelled at you for overworking before and that couched him for good. You even attempted to force him to take a nap but you knew he was just lying there, not actually asleep, but you didn’t say anything.

Instead you talked to Jeonghan up in the office as the day drew into darkness and you could start preparations. You’d decided to wait for a few hours before midnight in case there were any people at the site during the day.

“So, how was Jun’s delivery?” You asked, biting into a banana. You as an exorcist also needed your energy but that was going to come from nourishment instead of rest.

“It was more than I expected. Filled my car up to the brim so I suppose it should cover everything.” He nods thoughtfully.

“I just hope we made the right choice,” You hum. “It really does feel like the safest.”

“Yeah, I think it is. Besides, the narc said he’ll hook us up with some more equipment, so we’ll be just fine.” Jeonghan reassures you.

“‘The narc’? You mean Sergeant Choi?” You correct. “Jeonghan, he’s been a big help, as has Wonwoo, we couldn’t have done this without them.” You remind him. He breathes a deep sigh and slouches in his position behind Minghao’s desk.

“I know. It’s just working with the police…” He trails off. You know what he means.

When he and your sister had worked together as the head exorcists of your firm, they’d had some run ins with cops and that’s also the way that Wonwoo had met them for the first time after you’d already shown him the existence of ghosts. He’d been the reason why they hadn’t gotten into trouble for breaking and entering and trespassing. They’d been so close to being charged so it was only natural that Jeonghan was still weary of the police.

“I get it, but you have to trust me on this. Wonwoo would never turn on us, neither would Seungcheol.” Now it’s your turn to reassure him. “They promised they would help, and it’s also in their interest if nothing else. Look how we set up Platis. Those bastards are gonna pay and it can only happen if we all work together.”

“Woah, YN.” Jeonghan’s eyebrows shoot up his forehead. “Look at you being a grown up, kiddo.” He chuckles, then sighs. “When did that happen, huh?” He wonders.

“I don’t know either, but I am a grown up now, and that means you need to trust me.” You say, getting up. “Now, let’s go appease the dead.”

“Right behind you.”

You and Minghao end up taking your car, while Hoshi, Seokmin, Seungkwan and Vernon squeeze into Seungkwan’s car, which leaves Chan with Jeonghan. You call Joshua and Mingyu to make sure that they’ll arrive on time so that the food doesn’t take up space at the site while you’re busy setting up. That just leaves you waiting for Jun’s arrival and he said that he’ll help move the food cargo with the others.

All in all, you feel relieved that so far, everything is going according to plan so you relax as you start the car and drive off to the apartment block. You’d asked Wonwoo to do some editorial work on all the nearby CCTV just in case anything bizarre ended up happening in the area, especially because you knew there’d be a lot of spirits on the move. That, and in order to be able to drive in and around without having to park far away from the site.

You had a ton of stuff to bring after all.

Once you entered the building site, you found Jeonghan’s car already parked near the entrance. Him and Chan were already unloading the cargo from his car’s trunk.

“That’s a lot bigger than I thought.” You call out to get Jeonghan’s attention as you and Minghao get out of your car.

“Well, you wanted the biggest ones. If you have a complaint, kiddo, you can always call-” Jeonghan pauses to read the label on the box. “‘NeoLitCity’ and give them a piece of your mind.”

“Of course not, the supplier is Jun’s friend, they gave us a big discount and did us a big favour. I was just saying.” You counter.

“What on earth are we going to do with those?” Minghao looks at the number of large boxes in abject horror. You’d left the details of the delivery out, mostly because you wanted it to be a surprise. “You bought a ton of super jumbo glow sticks?” He cries. “For what reason?”

“Because we cannot work in the dark, babe.” You shrug, opening a box and taking one neon purple tube out.

“And we need to keep it lit.” Jeonghan laughs. You and Minghao turn to stare at him in unison. He shrinks back a little. “Just trying to relieve the tension.”

“So, this is the big surprise?” Minghao asks, clearly judging your massive boxes of super jumbo glow sticks.

“Yup. And you get to help us hang them up!” You grin at him as you walk past, breaking in the glow stick so it starts glowing. “Now, let’s move them to the third floor.”

“But why glow sticks?” He still asks in disbelief even when he picks up the box you just opened. You sigh but keep walking, lighting the way since it was already dark. You stop to place the glow stick in your hand on a step so everyone will be able to see where they’re going and pull out another one from the box Minghao is carrying, cracking it.

“Because fire is too dangerous around spirits and there’s no electricity here, let alone the fact that with this much supernatural activity, nothing will be working properly. Hence, glow sticks.”

“Fine, I have to respect the hustle, it’s a good idea.” Minghao gives in as you round the third floor stairwell.

You’d chosen the third floor because it had a slightly higher ceiling and less walls since it was mostly large, open office space so you could work easily.

“Hmm, thought so.” You hum to yourself. Downstairs, you hear more voices and car doors slamming, signalling the arrival of the rest of your crew. Perfect, you could get all hands on deck and speed up the process. You leave a few more glow sticks to mark the path that you need everyone to follow upstairs.

Within a few minutes, the group of you has transported the glow sticks up the stairs and have started unloading the actual exorcist equipment from the cars. Seungkwan’s car had all the swords, daggers and blades that you’ll need and yours had all the guns, salt, incense, talismans and other bits and bobs that were necessary for your exorcism.

You ask all the mediums to start securing the glow sticks all around the third floor. Unfortunately, you didn’t have any choice but to stick the glow sticks up with duct tape; the walls weren’t complete, only cemented over what you assumed was brick and smoothed into a uniform grey all around the building so you couldn’t even use normal duct tape, you needed the real industrial stuff - its tougher cousin, gorilla tape.

In the meantime, you, Seungkwan and Jeonghan started on the sword formation. This was crucial to the sacrificial part of things rather than the actual work of exorcising the spirits from the mediums. Indeed, you didn’t need the swords anywhere near the mediums and your glow stuck apartment floor. You needed them stuck into the ground outside, ready for when the food arrived.

You worked in semi darkness, using your car’s headlights as the sole light sources and tried your best to follow the arrangement that Jeonghan had sourced from his research. You knew that he had gone the miles to get it perfect so you didn’t worry about there being something unexpected. It shocked you that you thought that way, as you stuck a particularly old blade into the ground.

Behind you, you heard approaching footsteps and turned around to find a silhouette walking towards you. You recognised Minghao’s figure immediately and greeted him.

“How is it going up there?” You asked. You were done with the few bigger swords, now you had the daggers left.

“We’re pretty much done. I came to check up on you.” He says. You smile, appreciating the gesture.

“Thanks. We’re in the home stretch too. Do you want to help me with the blades?” You nod toward the box to your right. Minghao goes to open the lid without hesitation. He picks up the first dagger and weighs it up in his hands. You expect him to just put it back but instead he twirls it around in his hand. You stand there stunned for a second, then you remember he’s a trained martial artist - knives were no big deal for him.

“Where does it go?” He looks around the swords. You step to the left and look up at the formation, making sure to point out the correct spot.

“Here.” You point, checking the angle with your hand. “Yup, here.” You point to approximately where you’re standing. Minghao follows and crouches to the ground next to where you stand, and looks up at you for reassurance. You nod and he sticks the blade into the ground, mimicking the angle of the others in the formation.

“Oh my god!” You hear a screech behind you. The joyous shrill of Hoshi’s voice is unmistakeable and you mentally prepare yourself for whatever the hell he’s about to say. You swivel you head in the direction of the noise and notice that you had company. “Hao, bro, this is not the time to be proposing. There’s like demons here!” He says earnestly. “It’s scary and totally not romantic.” He adds, eyes wide with conviction.

You purse your lips and wait for the ground to open up and swallow you up. Of course, it doesn’t; that’s not the type of ritual you were running over here.

“Hoshi, I’m going to need you to never open your mouth again.” Minghao grumbles as he gets up. “If I was going to ask YN to marry me, you wouldn’t be within a five mile radius.” He clarifies. You think your ears deceive you, and you swallow thickly. Even a minor utterance of the possibility of marriage coming from Minghao shook you to the core. But you didn’t hate it.

You snap back to reality.

“If you’re running your mouth, then you better have every single glow stick stuck, bestie.” You warn, walking away and not meeting Minghao’s eyes.

“As a matter of fact, we do.” Hoshi grins. “And we found an extra box. Here, look at it.” He says, Vernon and Chan are standing over the final box of glow sticks and Vernon pulls back the flaps to reveal its contents.

“Aw, hell no.” Minghao shakes his head defiantly. “Not gonna happen.”

“But they’re so pretty, and we need the extra light.” Chan argues. You hated to agree but he was right, any extra light would be useful, no matter how gaudy it was.

“I am not putting that on.” Minghao throws his hands up.

And that’s how you ended up getting decked out in tiny glow sticks; there were bracelets on your wrists and ankles, positioned exactly so they wouldn’t restrict your movement. The mediums were far more decorated than you were, most of them sporting several on each arm and some on around their ankles. While you were putting on your gear, Seungcheol and Wonwoo had arrived on the scene.

“You’re just in time. Here, put these on.” You offer each of them a pair of neon yellow and green glow stick glasses.

“You’re kidding.” Wonwoo deadpans, not taking it. You say nothing for a second. Then smile.

“Yeah, I totally am.” You reply, shrugging. You pocket the glasses instead.

“We bought torches, the kind you can strap on to your arms or shoulders. You know, like a normal human being.” Seungcheol says. “Also there’s an emergency medical team back on the main street. They think they’re waiting on some event, but they’re there in case you need them.”

“Thanks, we can try using the torches, but I doubt they’ll withstand the spirits’ energies.” You say.

“Okay, we’ll be on standby, just call us if you need anything.” Wonwoo gives you a firm nod, which you return. You’d asked them to be in the area just in case you needed back up if anyone from Platis showed up and so they could secure the perimeter around the complex so no outsiders came in.

You heard your name being called. It was time to lay out all the talismans, incense and protective ornamentation up on the third floor.

“Take a break, you guys, and wait for Joshua, Mingyu and Jun with the food.” You instruct the group of mediums that’s gathered in and around the cars. It was incredibly cold tonight, yet was still warmer for this time of the year. Those spells of snow had gone just as quickly as they had arrived, thankfully. You left them in the warmth of the cars and ran back upstairs to join the others.

The task of putting up the talismans and arranging the protective charms all around the floor was tedious but possibly the most important part of your whole operation since that was the stuff that would help you summon the spirits and do the actual exorcism.

You laid it all out, carefully, putting the paper talismans up around on the walls, then drawing a large salt cage where you were going to separate the mediums, as well as a small protective station for Mingyu and Joshua to stay on each end of the space you were using. They were going to help you man the incense and get you supplies if you needed, as well as keep an eye on isolating mediums and spirits, kind of like snipers.

Seungkwan and Jeonghan were busy setting up the incense and organising the supply stations for Joshua and Mingyu, while you gathered the crystals and talismans necessary for the pre-exorcism ritual. According to Jeonghan, when dealing with any type of vaguely demonic entity, even spirits, you needed to state your intentions. You knew what that meant and you were somewhat dreading it.

“YN!” You hear Seungkwan shout from the other side of the room. You look up expectantly. “Food’s here.”

“Alright.” You say, ignoring the way your anxiety spikes.

You’d been preparing for weeks, months even and it was all coming down to how you did tonight. The pressure was just hitting you now. You had to get this right, or something bad might happen. The thought of your sister was still passively haunting you; she had lost her life trying to do something like this; granted something more extreme, nonetheless, the whole ordeal still filled you with fear.

You finish the last part of your set up - a small metal bowl filled with dried herbs and incense. You’d spent a fair amount of time scrutinising over the collection of items, but you call Jeonghan to check over it too since he would know if something was out of place.

“It’s perfect, kiddo. Don’t worry so much, we’ll be finished soon.” He says, planting a cold hand on your shoulder. You nod, believing him. “Now let’s go see what feast.”

And a feast it is.

Joshua, Mingyu and Jun have already unloaded most of the food with the help of Seokmin and Hoshi. You stop and drink it all in; calling it a smorgasbord on meth would be an understatement. This was a super king seized, mammoth amount of food. It was truly a thing of beauty but you didn’t want to look too hard at everything since it made you sad it was all going be purely sacrificial.

“You guys did a great job. Well done.” You shake your head in disbelief. Mingyu beams with pride as he crosses his arms and looks at the food.

“We did alright, didn’t we?” He giggles. You sigh because you know how devastated he will be once he sees it all burn up to a crisp.

“Prepare the fire pit.” Joshua instructs. Mingyu and Jeonghan get on it right away. “YN, can I talk to you for a sec?” Joshua catches your attention. You follow him back to his car, inside which you find Jun sitting in the passenger seat, shivering as the heater turns on. You give him a small, apologetic wave.

“What’s up?” You ask Joshua. He’s opening the trunk of the car, reaching in and pulling out an old bottle. It looks familiar as you look at it and you try to place it. It’s a black glass bottle with a wide oval base. It’s obviously home brew, not commercial as there’s nothing on the bottle and- “Oh my god! I haven’t seen this since my grandparents were working in the office.” You exclaim.

“I thought you’d recognise it.” Joshua smiles.

“Of course, I would. Where did you get it?” You ask, a little giddy at the sight of the family heirloom. It was special spirit brewed by your ancestors to help withstand the energy expulsion that exorcists faced during exorcism. It was a unique recipe and very few people still made their own stuff. It was a handy little tool but very old school as far as you knew. It would certainly keep out the cold tonight.

“Your aunt had given it to my mother for safe keeping. I’m not sure she really wanted your sister and Jeonghan in charge of it.” Joshua explains. “You should take it, so the three of you can have some before we start.”

“Yeah,” You nod, a little overwhelmed. “I’ll take it. Thanks for bringing it, Shua.”

“No problem, kiddo.” He hands you the bottle. The cool glass freezes your hands immediately but you ignore the urge to put it down. Joshua hesitates, looking down at the trunk. “There is one other thing…” he trails off.

You perk up, listening. It’s dark so you hadn’t noticed it before, but Joshua reaches down and pulls a wooden box across the soft fabric of his trunk. You know exactly what that is and you step back slightly.

“YN, you’re going to need it. What was started with this, must also be finished with this.” He says solemnly. You know he’s right but you can’t bring yourself to reach towards the box, clutching the bottle to your chest instead.

“I know, but can’t you do it?” You ask, finding yourself sounding childish for a split second.

“Do what?” You hear a voice materialise next to you. Minghao stands beside you in his coat, hands in his pockets.

“It’s the final piece of the sword formation.” Joshua says. “I’m asking if YN will take it and put it down.”

“Of course, you will. Won’t you?” Minghao looks at you expectantly. It’s as if Joshua planned it, but you find yourself nodding. “Good, I’ll take it since your hands are busy.” He offers and Joshua hands him the box.

You throw Joshua a pout but follow Minghao back to where almost everyone is gathering. The fire pit has been set up in the middle of the swords sticking out of the ground and the food laid on top of it. You spy several bottles of what appears to be vodka in the hands of some of your companions and you know they’re waiting to douse the food. Mingyu is unwittingly still smiling as he arranges the food in the fire pit, dishing it all out on paper plates.

You go to stand next to Seungkwan and Jeonghan and show them the bottle in your hands. Jeonghan gasps and reaches for it, but you hand it to Seungkwan instead. “You’re in charge, Boo.” You tell him. He nods and gives Jeonghan a smug look.

You glance at the time on your pohne and see it’s getting closer to midnight. You’d better get moving because who knows how long it might be before the spirits take the bait and show up?

You take stock of everything and run it against a checklist on your phone. Lighting, swords, food, fire pit. Check. Police, mediums, runners, exorcists. Check. Now you just needed to finish the rituals and wait to begin.

You could do that.

You could totally do this.

You clear your throat and try to get everyone’s attention.

“Hey guys, is it okay if we get started around 11:50?” You ask. You see the show of nods and mutterings of ‘yes’ and ‘let’s go’s, so you take it as a signal to go to your car.

Jeonghan and Seungkwan follow you as you pop the trunk, opening the boxes that lay there. In the first two, there is a number of guns and several cartridges of salt bullets, waiting to be loaded into the hardware. In the next, there is a large pile of exorcist blades, the enforced ones that Joshua had told you were strong enough to deal with demonic entities.

“There’s twenty all together, everyone grab at least five. Hopefully we don’t have to use all of them.” Jeonghan says. You reach in first, distributing the holsters and securing one around your thigh. You count five blades and put four around your thigh and one around your opposite calf, in case you were mid-acrobatics and couldn’t reach.

Seungkwan copies you, but instead he puts his around his upper arm. Jeonghan twirls his fifth around then decides to use it as a hair pin, twisting his hair into a bun using the instrument. He’d dyed his hair a darker shade of red recently and in the darkness it looked almost black.

You take the box of guns out and leave it on the ground so you’d take it upstairs with you. You shove the remaining five blades in there too and you make a mental note to tell Joshua and Mingyu they’re all there.

“A toast, gentlemen?” You ask, as you pluck up the plastic cups that Mingyu had swished by and deposited in your car’s trunk while you were preparing.

“Don’t mind if we do.” Seungkwan smiles, grabbing the bottle of special exorcist spirit. You assist him in pouring out a smidgeon of booze in three cups, just enough to call it a shot. You hold the cup up to your face and sniff it experimentally. You hadn’t ever properly smelled it, let alone tasted it, so you were astounded by the strength of the smell. It almost makes you double over.

The three of you raise your glasses slightly.

“Here’s to our hard work.” You say, looking at the two, letting your eyes linger on Jeonghan. “I’m really thankful we can finish this.” You feel the tears well up in your eyes, not sure it it was just from how strong the alcohol was.

“Here’s to a successful exorcism. Let’s do it without mistakes.” Seungkwan adds.

“Here’s to family.” Jeonghan finishes. You look at him, glassy eyed in the semi-darkness. He looks back at you with much the same expression and blinks at you with a nod. “Cheers.”

You bring the cups to your lips and throw back the shot. You’re certain it’s going to burn so you did it quickly, not wanting to savour the stinging of the alcohol as it went down your throat. You’re too busy trying not to cough up a lung to notice as Seokmin creeps past you and attempts to sneak the bottle from the trunk. Luckily, Seungkwan is closer and hand slices at Seokmin’s arm before he can get his hands on it.

“Listen, that shit might kill you.” He warns a sheepish Seokmin. “It’s not meant for mediums, dude.”

“Whatever, man. I’m just freaking out here.” Seokmin replies, jiggling his legs, probably without meaning to. He looks like he’s about to bolt the hell out of here. You couldn’t let that happen.

“Seokmin, can you do me a favour?” You ask him gently. Best to pre-occupy him, in case he gets any ideas. He looks at you, paled but seemingly conscious. “Can you get everyone moving?”

“No prob, YN.” He says, looking a little dazed but he complies. He turns away, heading back toward the crowd around the fire pit. “Alright, places people,” He yells. “Curtain in ten.” He continues, clapping his hands and making a ruckus.

You’d chosen the right person; after all, Seokmin was a theatre man, he knew what to do. Without thinking, you walk toward the fire pit and find Minghao waiting diligently for you with the box in his arms.

“It’s time.” He says simply. You place your hand over the lid, and lift it open to reveal the inside.

Lying in a soft casing, is the familiar purple leather and almost charcoal shine of the most cursed, wretched blade you had ever known. Just looking at it made you feel sick. But you had to carry on, despite your feelings.

Your hand hovered above the handle, and you could already feel its intense energy. You looked around you; Joshua and Mingyu had doused the food in the vodka, a sheen of wetness coating everything in the fire pit. All that was left was for you to deposit the final piece.

Without another moment of hesitation, you grabbed the leather, your fingers curling over its smoothness, and picked it up. It weighed a ton in your hand as you walked to the edge of the pit and threw the blade into the middle, where you hoped the fire would become the most powerful.

“When we give the signal, you can light it up then come upstairs.” Jeonghan tells Joshua, who nods in agreement. The three of you had made sure to steer Mingyu upstairs before he had to witness his beautiful works of art disintegrate into char; it’d just be too cruel to make him watch it burn.

It’s a few minutes before midnight and you call Wonwoo, letting him know you’re starting.

“Good luck.” He says, over the line.

Seokmin has already ushered the mediums upstairs and you can hear their voices as you and Jeonghan get up the glow-lit stairs. You find Mingyu and Seungkwan fussing over the box of guns near the staircase and Jeonghan goes to see what’s going on.

You’re about to follow but Minghao walks up to you, walking carefully so he doesn’t disturb the salt. You stand in a semi-lit part of the room, the closest light source being a purple glow stick stuck outside the door of the room.

“How are you doing?” He asks quietly. You take one of his hands in yours and attempt to smile at him, trying to be reassuring despite your nerves.

“I’m okay.” You whisper. He can see right through you and steps closer, bringing his free hand up to your cheek and stroking it gently. You close your eyes for a moment, finding comfort in the gesture. You find yourself leaning in to kiss him, unbothered by the number of people standing around the corner. “For good luck.” You say as you do. He hums in agreement and kisses you. You’ve been cold so far but you find Minghao’s lips so warm, his body radiating heat next to yours. You pull away after a moment.

“Ew, get a room.” You hear from the side. You narrow your eyes at the source of the comment and glare at him.

“Oh, be quiet. It’s about time you got a taste of your own medicine.” You snap at Jeonghan. It had been years that you’d felt like a third wheel, so you didn’t mind sharing the experience with him, after all, sharing is caring.

You join the others in the main office space you’ll be using for the exorcism and everyone is in position. The mediums are standing in the salt cage you’d drawn earlier, playing rock, paper, scissors for who has to go first. You leave Minghao with them and he reluctantly joins the game while you go over to Mingyu and the box of guns to get your weapon.

“I left half the ammo on Joshua’s side and put several lighters there too.” Mingyu tells you as you grab a gun and load it.

“Great. Thanks, Mingyu.” You say. “Make sure you keep some for yourself too. You’ve got your protective talisman on?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’m all set.”

And with that you walk to the centre of the room where Seungkwan and Jeonghan wait for you. They greet you with hand sanitiser and you comply.

“Alright, hands in, palms up.” Jeonghan instructs. You’d been dreading this part of the ritual. Indeed, you’d been sceptical when you’d first heard about it, but you trusted Jeonghan to know what he was doing after all this time so you’d accepted that you’d have to do it.

In order to declare your intentions to the spirits and show your sincerity, beside the food sacrifice, each of the exorcists had to offer a blood sacrifice too. It was just a prick of the finger, just to add to the small bowl of dried herbs and incense where you’ve added the individual names of each of the spirits in rolled up piece of paper, which usually went into your exorcist blades.

You hold out your hand and Jeonghan pricks one of your fingers, then one of Seungkwan’s and finally his own. The three of you let drops of blood fall into the bowl and then withdraw your hands. You suck on it, semi-grossed out and accept the band-aid that Seungkwan hands you.

“Okay, it’s midnight. I’m lighting it.” Jeonghan declares. He turns around and raises his hand, signalling Mingyu, who reaches for something dangling around his neck and picks it up to bring to his mouth. You realise it’s a whistle and he blows it, presumably to let Joshua know to light the fire.

The three of you say an incantation and Jeonghan produces the daisy lighter from his pocket, clicking it open. The flame starts off small, the dry herbs catching fire, then the incense. You and Seungkwan each run toward an incense pot stationed around the room and light them in turn.

Soon there are several different sources of smoke in the room and you put away your lighters. Joshua jogs in and makes his way to his station, standing in the protective circle you’d created earlier.

You all stand still in the neon-lit room, the glow sticks and burning bowl the only things illuminating the room. The few torches that Seungcheol and Wonwoo had lent you are being held by some of the mediums, their light reaching only a few feet in front of them so not enough for the rest of you to benefit, although your eyes have adjusted to the darkness a long time ago.

It’s no time until you’re feeling the air thickening. There’s change in the atmosphere - there was a sudden, intense anticipation in your surroundings, the tension deepening. You clutched your gun, ready to start isolating spirits or the mediums.

It was then that the torches started flickering. You heard someone (probably Seokmin) yelp in surprise but you didn’t see anyone really freak out over it.

Next, you felt the temperature dropping as was expected. You were grateful you were wearing layers under your coat because you could see your breath now frosting in front of you. The small fire in the bowl was flickering too now, the wisps of the flame licking at the bowl unnaturally.

Some of the torches had already gone out, so you were relying on the glow sticks to see properly. Luckily, there really was a million of them so the room was fairly well lit although there were many shadows cast upon the walls too. You felt like you were in a basement of a club or something, especially with how everyone had glow bracelets and anklets.

A particularly strong gust of wind blew through the building and managed to knock over the bowl to the ground, spilling its half-burnt contents on the cement.

“Leave it, it’s still burning.” Jeonghan warned. “As long as it’s still alight, then it’s okay.”

You nodded, looking down at how the embers lay strewn across the ground. Then, in the corner of you eye you see it; a lightning flash. It’s followed by the loudest crack of thunder you’ve ever heard in your life, or perhaps the second loudest, if you count that night three years ago. You all whip around to the sound, searching for any movement.

“It must have hit the fire pit.” You say out loud, walking around to the edge of the building to look out through the whole in the wall meant for a window. And you see that you’re right; there is now a large fire in the pit and no traces of lightning around it. It must have struck right in the centre.

You have half the mind to wonder why no spirits are showing up yet, even though you’re using every ounce of equipment to summon them. Then, it hits you - the gnawing feeling of dread settles in your stomach - and you grimace.

They were here.

You put your guard up, zeroing in on any movement in your surroundings.

“There!” You here Seungkwan exclaim. You turn around and locate what he was talking about and you find yourself several meters away from the first spirits. There are four of them, three coming very close and a fourth one lagging near the door way.

“I count four.” Jeonghan says.

“Me too.” You confirm. “We need four mediums.”

You hear some shuffling and whispering and hissing behind you and then Jun, Minghao, Vernon and Hoshi step out of the salt cage, waiting for further instructions. You’re all facing the oncoming spirits as the glide forward fairly quickly, somehow urgent but languid at the same time. Maybe the urgency was in your own head.

They’re getting closer so you all step back while the mediums step forward.

“I’ll take Jun and Minghao. Seungkwan take Vernon. Jeonghan stay with Hoshi.” You call out.

“Okay!” Seungkwan calls from the side. He rushes to Vernon to make sure he won’t run off when possessed.

“I think we’ve waited long enough.” Jeonghan says. “Now!” He yells.

The mediums all take off their protective talismans, keeping their hands in their pockets as they did it so the talismans could hopefully remain on their person. Each exorcist had two spare talismans in their pockets in case anyone lost theirs, just as a precaution since it was dark and you couldn’t see where it might fall. And if that failed, then you’d have to resort to throwing salt at them.

Within a blink of an eye, the spirits zip into the mediums’ bodies and you grab a blade off your thigh holster, approaching Jun and Minghao. You can tell Jun gets possessed first and you think to tackle him first too. He dodges your attempt to grab his arm and spin him around so he faces you, instead grabbing your arm and twisting. You’re anticipate it and follow the motion so you flip around and it doesn’t hurt you when he does. You then aim a light kick to his shin and watch him crumble quickly, and you aim the blade at his chest but something grabs you into the air and throw you down.

You’d been paying attention to where Minghao had been but he’d moved too fast while you were busy flipping around with Jun. You roll on the floor, using the momentum to land back on your feet. Jun and Minghao are ready to run away but you shoot your gun and isolate the three of you in a large box. As you do, you notice the movement outside of the crystals walls - there are three more spirits lingering.

While you attempt to chase down Jun, you keep an eye out to see if Seungkwan and Jeonghan have managed to exorcise their first ghosts. You notice Vernon struggling with Seungkwan and what looks like Hoshi kicking Jeonghan.

Jun doesn’t want to run away and instead charges you, aiming to tackle you, so you prepare to grapple with him. You end up on the ground, the cement coming up to greet your back but you push him off and throw yourself over him, stabbing his chest with lighting speed.

“Go peacefully.” You say. You can’t watch the blade burn up because you immediately snatch another one of your holster in anticipation for Minghao dragging you off Jun. You flop around a little as he does and then you kick out at him, tripping him so he lands on the ground. You practically fly on top of him and stab down. “Go peacefully.” You repeat.

“YN?” You hear Jun croak. You turn and isolate him with four salt bullets while he gets his bearings. You’d planned that after each possession, the mediums would have a resting period. You isolate Minghao too and look around to monitor the situation. Seokmin and Chan have used the gun left to the mediums to keep themselves in a crystal cube.

In the meantime there are about five spirits just flying around the empty part of the room. You see Hoshi lying in a cube and Vernon too.

“Seokmin, Chan, it’s your turn.” You call out. You watch as they come out of the salt, taking off their talismans. The closest two spirits fly into them and you barely jump out of the way so they don’t pass through you.

What you don’t notice is the other two spirits flying behind you into Jun and Minghao’s bodies, so when you run to confront Chan, you have two tails. Chan wants to grab you by the shoulders while Seokmin is still stumbling around, but you don’t let him, pushing his arms outwards and grabbing him instead. You’re about to stab the blade down but get thrown again, this time by Jun. You slide down on the floor and look up, trying to get your bearings.

You realise there’s suddenly too many of them. Jeonghan is dealing with Hoshi again while Seungkwan is fighting off a very aggressive Vernon. It was possibly the most you had ever seen him move ever in your life. You raise your gun instinctively to isolate them but after you fire off several bullets, your gun clicks on empty.

“Shit.” You spit and jump back to your feet. You’re just in time to miss a very focused Seokmin running at you. “Mingyu! Reload!” You yell, hoping he hears you. He notices immediately and throws a cartridge in your direction then fires off several bullets from his own gun to isolate Jun. You try to catch it but miss because Minghao tackles you to the ground and you’re stuck under him. You stretch your arm to reach the cartridge which landed just out of your hand.

Suddenly, his weight is lifted off you and you roll over and get up, finding Seungkwan trying to deal with a kicking and screaming Minghao. You grab the cartridge, reload and fire a wall to stop Chan and Seokmin from wandering to far away. They seem to be quite enraged now.

You spy Jun isolated and running into a crystal wall curtesy of Joshua over and over again. For the moment you breathe out then realise you’ve only exorcised four spirits so far and there’s several more floating around the room. You hear gunshots and know that Joshua and Mingyu are isolating them as much as their position allows.

You go for Chan first because you’d promised him that you wouldn’t allow him to stay possessed too long since he was still new and didn’t know what he was doing. The wall stopping him from moving evaporates and you yank him by the collar to make him face you, stabbing down your third blade and letting it dissipate.

“Go peacefully.”

Chan becomes dead weight in your grip and you struggle to catch him and bring him to the ground gently. You isolate him and move onto Seokmin, who’s also broken free by now.

He throws a punch in your direction but you grab his punching arm and twist it behind his back to make him buckle down on his knees. You stab the tool down once again. “Go peacefully.” You only had one left. Which means you’d done four alone. Add the first two Jeonghan and Seungkwan did, six, then Jun and Minghao were still possessed, that’s another two, eight, but Jun wasn’t exorcised yet, was he? Minghao was sitting in a cube catching his breath, so he was done with another one.

“Seven.” You say out loud. You find Vernon was just tackled to the ground by Jeonghan. In the mean time you find Seungkwan now running after a screaming Hoshi. “Eight.” You turn around and look for Jun, who’s now way out of Joshua’s gun’s reach and find him banging on Minghao’s cube. You only had one blade left so you decided to take the route that takes you past Joshua. “Blade!” You called as you ran.

Joshua held it out so you could grab it as you whizzed past. You pulled Jun away and turned him around, moving your arm as quickly as you could to stab down into his chest. “Go peacefully.” You said. You let Jun fall limp against you and you helped him sit down on the ground.

“Guys! That’s ten!” You hear Mingyu shout. He and Joshua were supposed to keep count because you weren’t able to be totally sure about what the other exorcists were doing at any time. You’d missed the one that had made nine, clearly.

“Okay, three more.” You call. “Three mediums.”

“I’ll go, I can take ano-” You hear Minghao say near you but he’s cut off when the cube evaporates and a spirit smashed into his body. You call for a reload from Joshua while you have two seconds. As you do, you try to pay attention to the conversation in the room.

“I’ve got Seokmin!” Jeonghan yells. That’s two.

“Hoshi’s the last one.” Seungkwan confirms.

“Okay!” You yell, keeping an eye on Minghao getting possessed. He’s been stumbling away from you as you were reloading your gun so you run after him. He seems to get that you’re coming and bolts away unexpectedly. You fire your gun to create a wall in front of him but trip over something and end up flat on the ground, your bullet misfired. You realise it was that stupid bowl from earlier that made you land on the ground.

You look behind you and notice Seungkwan and Jeonghan struggling with Hoshi and Seokmin respectively, while Minghao was getting away. He was running toward the stair case. You cursed and dragged yourself to your feet, stumbling after him. You have a horrible sense of deja vu, originating at those train tracks a couple months ago.

This time was different.

You were suddenly thankful for all the running sessions Minghao had forced you to go on; you knew his speed and how to follow him. That, and you were thankful for the stupid glow sticks you’d made everyone wear because it was incredibly dark on the staircase leading upstairs but you could still see the faint neon pink glow ahead of you.

You remember those silly glasses you’d pocketed earlier and bring them out as you run, snapping them to glow so you had some extra light. It was hard to believe this piece of crap was useful for something.

He made you follow him to the fifth floor. You were catching up however, so once you were in the main long corridor of the fifth floor, you shot your gun to block off the directions in which he could run. He ran into the wall and screamed at the impact. He didn’t hesitate for long to turn left and run in that direction. You ran as fast as you felt like you could.

It wasn’t as dark as you expected here and you wondered why.

It was several seconds that you got your answer.

The fifth floor had a balcony so Minghao had run out to where the moonlight was shinning in the night sky, illuminating the scene in front of you. He realised he’d reached some kind of limit when he bumped into the ledge.

Your heart stopped.

What if the ghost made him jump?

“Hey!” You screamed, throwing the neon yellow glasses at his back and trying to get the ghost’s attention on you. You needed to think of a way to get Minghao away from the balcony.

Luckily, it does work and he whips around to stare at you as you close in on him. You fire a shot to your left and to your right, sealing you into a smaller area so he couldn’t keep running. Minghao’s eyes stay on you, their ghostly silvery glow glimmering in the moonlight, as if the spirit’s sizing you up.

You figure this one responds to sound, so you keep talking.

“Why don’t you come here and I’ll set you free? Just leave him alone.” You say. You don’t know if the ghost understands anything but he steps towards you and you think it’s working -

And then he launches himself at you. You dodge as much as you can, letting him fall on the ground away from the ledge of the balcony. You place yourself between him and the edge, pulling your last blade off its holster. The ghost doesn’t look happy and he’s already up on his feet, charging at you again.

You take a good aim at Minghao’s chest but he knocks both your arms away, sending your gun skittering down on the ground while you clutch the blade. Then you’re in his grasp, struggling to get free. You’re moving without realising, trying anything to free your arms from his grip but you instead you feel the solid balcony ledge at your waist and find yourself backed up against it with a very angry ghost.

With Minghao’s strength, the spirit lifts you easily enough so that your upper body is dangling off the edge. You’re immobilised completely and that’s when the fear shoots through your veins.

You were on the fifth floor; if you fell from here, you’d probably die. You glance to the ground in your peripheral vision and see all the cars underneath you and the fire pit some distance away. They looked incredibly far away all of a sudden.

You stop struggling in Minghao’s grip and exchange it for clinging onto him as much as possible.

“Don’t do this, please!” You beg, still trying to get your arm free enough to get the blade to his chest but he has an iron grip on your forearms, sticking them close to your body as you half dangle off the ledge.

You can’t help but think that you falling was inevitable as you look up at the moon.

You really were balancing on the edge, and completely at the ghost’s mercy.

And whilst you were freaking out that you were going to die, there was a plaguing worry about what would happen to Minghao after you fell. Would the ghost make him jump? You couldn’t stomach that the idea.

He could push you down, but he wasn’t going to take Minghao with you. You wouldn’t allow it.

So with one last effort, you put all your energy into releasing the arm that had the blade with a grunt and you stabbed forward.

“Go peacefully.” You exclaimed, as you wondered if this was how you were going to die.

A/N: thanks for reading!! feedback is always appreciated <3 Gosh, it’s been a long ass time since the last update, I’m really sorry about that, it’s just life hit me a little too hard lately so it was hard to get on to this, but I’ve missed it so much and it made me realise how much I love to write my silly little tales :’) I had to include the sting op thing cuz I’ve been hooked on B99 lately oops and while I don’t believe in any of our institutions truly, it’s fun to write about. And I loved thinking up of all the little details and how they were going to do it all, really let me use my imagination :’) The last chapter will hopefully be done within the next week or two, I can’t guarantee it because I might not be physically able to write it yet haha but I’ll try my best to make up for all the waiting before. Thank you again, and see you next time <333

#seventeen #xu minghao #the8 #minghao #seventeen scenarios #seventeen imagines #seventeen x reader #the8 x reader #the8 scenarios #the8 imagines #minghao x reader #seventeen fics

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falseprophetpoll · 1 year

Note

Ok so if you do want to dare and get into MCD let me set some expectations: It’s a founding father of Minecraft Roleplays, was one of the series that got that genre popular. It is ABANDONED I cannot stress that enough, if you go into it you will find no satisfying ending.

There’s Technically four seasons but you can ignore MCD Origins as that’s jsuy a mod showcase survival series with no bearing on the real start, one and two were both 100 episodes and season three only made it into the 20-30s before it got dropped (season three is also only accessible through it’s playlist on the side channel Aphmau Stories, as Jessica (the creator) kinda started hating MCD towards the end and especially that season). Now the early episodes of season one are more of a survival let’s play with a dash of story, but it quickly ramps into more of a focus on the story (that being said, it’s still slow going. It only really speeds up around Zane’s first appearance I’d say)

Also ships? Don’t have them. Just. Just don’t. Ignore all chemistry placed at your feet to chew on. It’s a whole thing I won’t get into it but my fellow MCD fansy will understand.

Also you may be tempted to jump into MCD Rebirth, the revamped version of season one with Jessica’s team’s new and fancy skills, I wouldn’t do that. It’s also abandoned and spoils some stuff abiut the OG MCD experience, however if you can’t get into MCD proper then yeah give it a shot but you won’t see any Zane in it as I don’t think it even reached episode 20 in regards to its events and Zane shows up around the 40-50s I think.

This is a TIME DUMP! And in this time dump uou CANNOT EXPECT QUALITY! Voice acting doesn’t come in until around s1-90 (and isn’t fully voice acted until the tail end of s2 or started with s3), the set dressing feels a bit Minecraft Basic until season 2, Jessica and her team only started having things like high definition skins and smooth animations by the time MCD was already abandoned, and the story is.

Well here’s a new point. The story. The story is something! The writing isn’t great! It has a lot of potential but because of some....choices there are points where characters get out of character or characters aren’t explored in the ways or lengths you want them to be. That’s partially because of the limited perspective as the main character Aphmau is our camera and view into the world, like a first person book. However the fan rewrites and redesigns and just fanworks in general? Call it MCD brain rot but damn that shit fucks. Someone made an entire Ro’Meave family tree going back hundreds of years. They created a LANGUAGE. Fucking love them shout out to @stellisketches

So I think that covers all the warnings you’d need. If you dare lift the old and mossy rock now, you can’t say no one warned you or hyped it up too much

I genuinely appreciate this honest assessment of the series. Personally, it doesn’t deter me because I know it’s abandoned now, but if I hadn’t known before getting into it, that really would’ve soured the experience. I’m not gonna tag as spoilers because I WANT to anyone else who’s considering it from this blog to see this.

Now, I don’t mind low quality and just, a lot of implications that are explored in fandom (I like the trafficblr series, Hermitcraft, Wizard101 - I get the “I’m gonna take these ideas and make ‘em beautiful” mentality) so I think I may look at it when I’ve the time! Maybe I’ll catch you on my fandom sideblog some time :)

#asks #save

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hexalianrebel-blackfeathers · 3 months

Text

Panda’s Collection

Welcome to a list of all the things I made with my own brain. Well, my favorite ones at least. Once again, exceptions have been made. It’s mostly character chaos; fantasy, some romance. Just stuff I like. >w< I will never say no to questions about OCs, so please don’t be shy.

(Sorted by Post Date; Old to New)

2016

Ticklish Ivories—Technically not the first time I’ve posted OC tickles, with the whole novel and everything, but this was the first one here. I adore the idea of musical tickles.

[Original]

Musical Tickles and Spooky Magic

Word Count: 2,935

Nights in Copper Heights; an Excerpt—This is technically a lie, since I never actually wrote this scene before I posted it here. But it’s a tickle scene; I had to get it out of my head. >w<

Reconciling Through Tickles. A Little Bondage.

Word Count: 2,950

Nights in Copper Heights—Since I’m here, actually, I might as well include this link. I wrote Nights in Copper Heights essentially as a parody of the Twilight series. I never really bothered watching the entire Twilight series, mind you, but I still kinda like the concepts here and ideas that I had. I had written those chapters back in 2016 or 2017, but I didn’t realize you could backdate things in Ao3 yet. >-< If I do go back, I’ll be rewriting it again…

[Ao3 Exclusive!]

Vampires, Werewolves, and the Humans Caught Up In Their Turf War

Current Word Count: 19,138

Satan’s True Weakness—The story I originally had for these guys was called Why I Remarried God, another idea I think is pretty interesting in concept, but might slip better into an anthology than a whole book. Nowadays, they’re slotted into my current universe as Ethereals.

Insubordinate Tickles and Immortals Disguised as Humans

Word Count: 1,567

Kissing Colors—I’m tempted to think I have completion anxiety. Jacob’s Ladder was a story about a pretty tsundere high schooler realizing he might not be entirely straight. It got a bit intense. Or it would have if I finished it.

Makeup and Tickly Kisses. Puppy Love

Word Count: 1,631

Laughter—Short and simple. Pretty cute, I think.

Movie Night Tickle Attacks

Word Count: 607

A Fairy and a Vampire have an Argument—Set in the Copper Heights era. I don’t think these two would have appeared in the book, but I love making characters, okay? >w<

Tummy Tickles in a Tree. Minor Sads

Word Count: 1,291

Never Tell—Remember when those video games about accessing the Dark Web were all over Youtube? This is from that. I love writing dialogue.

[Ao3]

A Little Spicy, I Guess? Barely. Talk About Tickles and Implied Danger

Current Word Count: 1,346

~~~~~~~

2018

Tabletop—This one is still my favorite non-novel thing, and I refuse to shut up about it.

[Ao3]

Dungeons & Dragons, But with Tickles.

Current Word Count: 5,612

The Power of Laughter (2011)—The first time I ever actually mentioned my novel here was around this time. This is the universe I’ve been working on reviving lately, as I’ve probably mentioned way too much. This is my favorite thing. Ever. It’s my baby. >w< This version specifically is technically the third draft of the book. Tabletop is technically part of this universe. One day, you might find out why~

[Ao3]

Kids Get Magic Powers to Fight Tickle Monsters. Espionage, Casual Murder, and 30 Chapters of Nonsense Written By a Thirteen-Year-Old.

Word Count: 56,887

~~~~~~~~

2020

The Lighthouse Keepers—A glimpse into Panda’s horror brain, and the land of Esker itself. Part of an Anthology I had in mind

[Ao3 Exclusive!]

Magic, Violence, Unknown Cryptids, and Death

Word Count: 1,849

Whisker Wizards: The Elegy of the Ashen Bastard—The first “episode” of the Whisker Wizards series. They all follow fluffy animal friends and magical crises.

[Ao3 Exclusive!]

Magic, Violence, and a Hero’s Journey

Current Word Count: 1,291

The Magic Man’s Face—A sort of rewrite I tried to start of an older story: “Andrew Taylor is in Love”. It was from an anthology of romance and slice of life stories a younger Panda wanted to write.

[Ao3 Exclusive!]

Stage Magic, Pining, and Love at First Sight

Current Word Count: 851

~~~~~~~~~~~

2021

The Facility—First time introducing you guys to Trevor Bansel outside of his setting. His role changes a lot in-universe, but he’s always been around; one of my favorite characters to play with.

A Tickle Monster Getting Tickled For Misbehaving

Word Count: 1,460

~~~~~~~~~~~~

2023

Panda’s Tree—I’ve always kind of been an idea factory. As we all know by now, execution is a different category altogether. >-<

A List of Panda’s Current Plans for Novels, Stories, and Whatnot.

#a panda writes a thing #a panda says a thing #original story #Panda's Masterposts

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pashminalamb · 1 year

Note

Oh! Okay I’m really glad and that’s a huge relief too. Oh ho ho ho I’m sure that NNN challenger idea is gonna be great I look forward to it! 😌 AHHHHH I also can’t wait for Bachira to be added into the series. I saw him the first episode and I was like “yes that one. the insane adorable one? yeah he’s mine now.” Asdhjkgfghh I love him so much. And those are some solid pieces of advice. I should probably remind myself of them more often. Ohhh what book? I recently went on a book shopping spree (that was my birthday gift) and got a whole bunch of books that I can’t wait to read once I have the time. The to-be-read list keeps getting longer and I’m like “…… but one more book wouldn’t hurt.” And then proceed to add 5 more ajshkjfdfcchjfdfg 💀💀. Anyways. Also kind of a random fact abt me but like I’m anime-only for Blue Lock rn and I KNOW WHAT YOURE THINKING BUT HEAR ME OUT. No I promise you didn’t spoil me. I’m a master at avoiding them now because I have this habit of like watching the first episode and then deep-diving into the shows tag on tumblr (x reader too ofc) and like seeing if I like the vibes. I have not yet gotten spoiled because I’m so practiced at dodging spoilers now. Anything that remotely even LOOKS like a spoiler I’m like “nope” and keep scrolling even tho it doesn’t get any easier each time 😭. So like don’t worry abt spoilers with me. But with this I’m always so excited for upcoming events and meeting new characters in the show. And especially with Blue Lock, cause like I’m a sports anime lover and the concept of Blue Lock is so different and new and it was so hyped up that I knew I had to try it. Fast forward to now and I have volume 2 of the manga and am waiting on my orders for volumes 1 and 3 😌😅💀. I’m still anime only tho cause I wanna finish the first season before I start the manga, that’s my policy. And like it’s so interesting how this show hooked me with the first episode (cough cough Bachira cough cough) and now I’m planning on reading the manga which is a huge surprise because I never read sports anime manga cause I feel like watching it is just more of a experience you know? Haikyuu being the only exception for me ofc. I’m currently in a mission to collect all 45 volumes. But it’s gonna take me a minute for obvious reasons. Anyways. But like Blue Lock just came in and swept me away. So like I’m really excited to see what happens in next weeks episode. Also your works were one of the reasons I decided to watch Blue Lock in the first place because they were so amazing to read even though I didn’t know any of the characters. Like your writing is just THAT good. So thank you for feeding into my new obsession 😌. Also I read in your bio awhile ago that you’re a November Scorpio? Happy early or belated birthday!! 🥳🎉🎂 I’m an October Scorpio so reading that was a pleasant surprise. Anyways. Thank you for your kind words in response to my earlier ask, they really meant a lot. Your blog is a huge comfort for me, all of tumblr really, but there are only a few blogs that I actually intact with because I love the vibes and energy and writing and the person behind it all (ie you), it’s just overall really comforting and makes me feel safe. ALSO do you mind if I give you my review and analysis of the episodes as I watch them?? Maybe occasionally?? I cant do that with your works yet unfortunately but I will try to as soon as I finish the first season or give into reading the manga before the season ends, whichever comes first. You can clearly tell that my self-restraint is on thin ice 💀💀. Anyways as always I hope your day goes good! *sends virtual hugs*

- ✨ anon

✨ anon !! ૮₍ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ₎ა

Oh yeah the idea I have for the NNN challenge is gonna be a tempting one but at the same time not everyone's cup of tea cause its kind of an old school idea; but at the same time. I know watching this thing made me go 'That's hot.'

Oh yeah i totally know that feeling of seeing someone and just falling for them. Like when I saw Yoichi I was all like 'he is so cute. lil blueberry muffin' and when I saw Kunigami I deadass went 'that's literally football bakugou and there is no way you can convince me otherwise. Cause just look at him, man wants to be a surperhero and looks EXACTLY like him, but he wasn't that much of an asshole' (he gets turned into one later during the series tho) Meguru looked so cute just lying on the floor and I kinda get him and his monster cause its a way of saying that he's in the zone (like the aomine and Kagami knb reference if anyone knows what I'm talking about?)

As for me; the moment I saw Aiku... I was like 'you have my attention.' But I knew something wasn't right cause I knew that this looked a little too good. Then i find out that he is a womanizer. And to add more onto that, he even got slapped and didn't care. He likes summer cause he gets to see girls in bikinis. And I was right about him liking baby chicks

Out of EVERYONE how is it that I get stuck with a person like this (me just proving that I fall for red flags) but i still love him and watch me defend this man .

(like even if you look at my track record with Haikyuu; likes Miya twins, Sawamura Daichi, Kageyama Tobio, Kuroo Tetsuro. Istg I'm asking for it)

So I'm currently reading Tuesdays with Morrie; its a heavy book based on the conversation between a dying teacher and his student and its based more on philosophy and the books I got were the old man and the sea by Ernest Hemingway, the alchemist by Paulo Coelho and books based on psychology. I have a very mixed taste and from the looks of it, its not very interesting is it? my personality is a mess and so is the aesthetic i roll with atp

Which books did you get? Must be some pretty good ones if you can't stop and you need to read 5 more? Is it a manga?

Oh yeah i totally get it. Reading a football manga and actually seeing it animated are two very different things (I wanna see how they animate Aiku cause I already got early spoilers for how everyone else looked. But aiku? I am waiting. I spoiled chainsawman for everyone and I was really surprised that Pochita's voice was so soft cause I was expecting something as deep as Daichi's voice? And same. Even if I get spoilers I will watch the whole thing; its a different story when i figure out the plot tho (i was forced to watch YOU despite predicting the entire plot of season 1 and season 2 in 5 minutes ; its the typical 'if I can't have you no one can' but I watched it anyway cause of my ex. couple goals ) I wish you luck on the journey of collecting all 45 mangas; cause even I wanna get bllk mangas ngl and I plan on buying one this week ig but I keep pushing it off ૮ ˶´ ᵕˋ ˶ა

I- I am surprised but happy that I got you into bllk ૮⸝⸝ > ꇴ <;⸝⸝ づ with time i'll even get you to like Aiku

And we can obsess together

And yeah i am a november scorpio; thank you for you wishes anon!!

( ⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝) we're scorpio buddies

I'm glad you like my writing though cause even if the content and the pace I keep with the posting is according to my comfort, at the end of the day, its an 'x reader' edition and you guys are the ones reading it; so it means a lot to me when every one of you reads my works and likes it ૮₍ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ₎ა and I'm glad that you feel safe here and that this is your comfort blog.

Of course !! You're very much welcome to give an analysis or a review whenever you want and ready!

go wild bb. Tumblr is supposed to be chaotic and that is welcome here ♡꒰ᵕ༚ᵕ⑅꒱

*sending hugs back*

#saint.σ #.lost sheep : ✨ anon

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highdefinitions · 1 year

Text

2022 Writer’s Tag.

I think it might be fun to look back on what we’ve all achieved this year, let you give yourselves a well deserved pat on the back and also share what you love. When you’re done maybe tag someone else so they can share too?

1. How do you feel 2022 has gone in terms of writing?

i am so excited with how 2022 had gone in terms of my writing. felt like i improved a lot and was really glad to have gotten back into it!!

2. What piece are you proudest of this year? It can be a shot/blurb/headcannon, a whole series or even a specific chapter.

you already know what i'm going to say...the dead don't die is by far my favorite...i do however hold a special place in my heart for closest to heaven i love iris and josh and YOU SHOULD TOO

3. Is there anything you posted that you wish had reached more people? (No such thing as a flop here!) Shout it out, it might catch a new pair of eyes!

oh 100% closest to heaven!! i felt like some of my best writing was put into that fic and i still do. i know it's long but it's cutie and you can read it here !

4. Can you give us a hint of anything coming before the end of the year? Maybe even a little taster?

i KNOW you're all on the edge of your seats for the Next Big Percy Project ! god i love being sarcastic ! you know what i also love being? cryptic ! no but for real, some of you already know, i've hinted at a new series coming...soon-ish(?)

5. Are you setting any writing goals for next year, or just going with the flow? If you are, what are they?

i try not to set too many goals for myself. oh my god that sounds terrible. no i just mean like...i don't want to say that i'm going to do something and then not do it...if that makes more sense. i definitely want to finish the dead don't die (if i don't finish it this year which is unlikely), and i want to work loads on the next series project and get back into the groove of writing that again since i started it before picking up the dead don't die!! also potentially another series if i finish this next one? who knows. hopefully i can squeeze in some time to write some more oneshot stuff or even expand on the sparrowverse. i have lots of ideas of ideas to do, but right now it's hard to set anything in stone :)

6. Do you have any one shots or finished pieces you’re tempted to expand on or revisit next year?

uhm really the only pieces that i would continue to expand on is the sparrowverse. hopefully maybe eventually i'll get danny's addition to the story... i don't think i'd add to the dead don't die once it's done i think that one is going to be finished when it's done

7. Is there anything new you’re tempted to try out? A new style/trope/AU/another person in the fandom?

i do not know...maybe inspiration will strike me for some danny fics...as for aus i'll probably delve into another one i won't lie to you i am not at all immune to them

8. Now to hype some other writers! What’s a piece you read back in the first half of the year that you can shout out?

oh i'm terrible at reading and remembering things...uhhhhh YOU'RE ASKING FOR HALF A YEAR AGO UHH I STARTED THIS SHIT IN APRIL UHH

like friends do by my bff @gretagolden <3

and of course like the first fic i ever read lazarus by @garbagevanfleet

9. And how about something you’ve read more recently?

i feel awful. i haven’t been too good at reading this recent because i’m a LOSER and school sucks a little bit. but summer in the city by @gretasmokerising was so fantastic!!

10. A fun one to finish...If you could insert yourself into any fic in the fandom, which would it be and what do you think would happen?

hmmm i’m not sure really!! maybe any cabin fever fic universe by @hearts-hunger !! anything maddie writes is so sweet i could die

I was tagged by the ever lovely @writingcold and I am tagging @gretasmokerising (or really anyone that wants to do it!!!)

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t00turnttrauma · 1 year

Text

I was tagged by my lovely co-host @jackiidk to do this a few days ago and I forgot about it until tonight hehe. oops.

How do you feel 2022 has gone in terms of writing?

I think it’s gone fairly well. I wrote what I want to see and I made it to where I want

What pieces are you proudest of this year? It can be a shot/blurb/headcannon, a whole series or even a specific chapter.

My personal favorite was Money. Money, Money. Even though I never finished it, I love how i started it

Is there anything you posted that you wish had reached more people? (No such thing as a flop here!) Shout it out, it might catch a new pair of eyes!

Lowkey, Year Round Snow. That one just holds a special place in my heart.

Can you give us a hint of anything coming before the end of the year? Maybe even a little taster?

Shut Up and Drive will make its return by Saturday night- here’s the next snippet

Jake Kiszka seen shouting at opponent Y/N Y/L/N after coming in sixth place

Kiszka- losing his winning streak?

“What did we tell you?” Sam snapped. “After last season? We told you to keep your head down and your mouth shut. Do you know how long it's going to take me to sort this shit out? Do you realize how embarrassing this is? And not just for you, but for all of us. Mom’s going to lose her shit when she finds out. She raised us- she raised you better than this. You’re ridiculous.”

Are you setting any writing goals for next year, or just going with the flow? If you are, what are they?

I can never meet the goals I set so I’m going to just write and post when I have a chance to

Do you have any one shots or finished pieces you're tempted to expand on or revisit next year?

I kinda want to rewrite Year Round Snow and add some more bits in there. Or even my Deaf reader and Sam series. I had someone ask where Sam and Y/N are now and I kinda want to know too.

Is there anything new you're tempted to try out? A new style/trope/AU/another person in the fandom?

I’ve been sort of dabbling into AUs. I don’t want to say what I’m going into since it’s still the early stages of each project.

Now to hype some other writers! What's a piece you read back in the first half of the year that you can shout out?

I really don’t remember a whole lot from this year- and I quite frankly don’t want to remember.

And how about something you've read more recently?

Everything Leaves You Hungry by @jackiidk. I don’t think I have ever had a series captivate my attention and have me nearing a hive breakout for a new update.

A fun one to finish...If you could insert yourself into any fic in the fandom, which would it be and what do you think would happen?

If I could put myself into any fic, I would jump my happy ass into My Rosie by Jacki. Danny and Rosie??? Please I would do anything to see them firsthand.

Tagging: @kerryxgvf and @jakekiszkasnose

#ketamine and friends #wacki jacki #kims asks

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ageofnations · 1 year

Text

2022 Writers Tag

thank you @sammysvanfeet and @streamingcolors-gvf for tagging me in this! sorry this took so long!

I think it might be fun to look back on what we've all achieved this year, let you give yourselves a well deserved pat on the back and also share what you love.

1. How do you feel 2022 has gone in terms of writing?

the beginning of this year was great in terms of writing, i had a somewhat easy semester of classes so school didn’t really get in the way, and i didn’t have to work too much this summer, so that was great! as the year progressed tho, my confidence started to struggle, and my self-worth in this fandom kinda declined. i’m still working on getting over that and creating something i know you all would like and i would be proud of. a new job, a harder class load, and grad school prep really made it difficult for me. i’m proud of how far i’ve progressed though!

2. What piece are you proudest of this year? It can be a shot/blurb/headcannon, a whole series or even a specific chapter.

ego. next question

3. Is there anything you posted that you wish had reached more people? (No such thing as a flop here!) Shout it out, it might catch a new pair of eyes!

i believe that all of my fics have done as well as they possibly could’ve, but i wish ego parts 2 and 3 would’ve gotten more attention. i know that unexpected additions to fics don’t do as well as the first part sometimes, though. i think ego is just my proudest bit so im protective of it lmao

4. Can you give us a hint of anything coming before the end of the year? Maybe even a little taster?

before the end of the year, you’ll certainly get more Table For Two (maybe even the finale of the series?) but from me specifically, i’m hoping to finish up a sammy wip to hold you all over until my new josh series is ready to be posted!

5. Are you setting any writing goals for next year, or just going with the flow? If you are, what are they?

mostly going with the flow, but i am setting goals to work on my confidence, discipline, and time management. i am working on sticking to smaller goals (such as writing a certain amount a week) and staying true to it, not posting for notes and rather posting because i am proud of what i’ve done, and figuring out ways to fit writing into my life as a student.

6. Do you have any one shots or finished pieces you're tempted to expand on or revisit next year?

ego, when the night is over, and maybe even a little josh x bip and danny x bip action in the chamomile au. we will see about all of that tho.

7. Is there anything new you're tempted to try out? A new style/trope/AU/another person in the fandom?

i think Wings of Midas will be a new stretch for me in many ways. forbidden love, suuuuuuper slow burn, and unrequited love. not to mention the research im trying to do in order to build the au and the mysteries behind it. it’s a really intricate piece

8. Now to hype some other writers! What's a piece you read back in the first half of the year that you can shout out?

oh dear i have the worst memory. tears of rain by my love @streamingcolors-gvf was (and still is) one of my favorite series. pretty by @jakekiszkaenthusiast is another off of the top of my head. and lazarus and abaddon ofc by @garbagevanfleet

9. And how about something you've read more recently?

the perfect treat by @streamingcolors-gvf has been in my head a lot recently (i wonder why…) so there’s that.

10. A fun one to finish...If you could insert yourself into any fic in the fandom, which would it be and what do you think would happen?

is it vain to insert myself into my own fic… kidding kidding.

put me in sugar plz, im tryna see something…it wouldn’t end how it did, just know that (but i know it had to end like it did, so this is all just /lh)

#writers tag #gvf #greta van fleet #gretavanfleet #josh gvf #josh kiszka #jake gvf #jake kiszka #sam gvf #sammy gvf #sam kiszka #sammy kiszka #danny wagner #danny gvf

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in-a-slanted-outhouse · 2 years

Note

for the fic ask game: 5. Is there any scene you're excited about writing?

Oooooo! Thanks for the ask Noa!

Yes! I have a couple things that I’m very excited about writing. I know it says scene but I ended up just writing about things I’m excited about writing as a whole. Sorry it’s kinda long lmao. I'm putting it under read more

There are a couple scenes in icttwya that I think are cool. I’ll go in order of when they show up. One of them is a bit of an elaboration on some things that happened prior to the fic which I guess is brought up briefly in chapter three. I’m excited to write that because Allison gets very upset and angry and I’m excited to explore that a little bit. Not really much for me to say about it because it’s a fairly new thing I’ve added but it’s going to be in the next chapter.

I’m quite excited about people finding out what happened to Five and why he basically went apeshit because in my mind it’s kind of an “ohhhh” and then “oh dear” moment y’know. I have been waiting for that moment for literal months. I actually saw a post today and I was like 'if anyone who's read icttwya sees this post then they will totally be onto me lmao.' Was almost tempted to reblog it I'll be honest

But the whole thing is kind of going to come out in bits through flashbacks and Five telling Allison a little here and there. Something that I am excited about writing for that is a scene later on which is half written and planned but needs a serious rewrite is where Five backtracks and lies about what happened to him which ends up really frustrating Allison

They don’t really argue about it per se. It’s more that there’s a misunderstanding. Allison is upset and annoyed because she’s only trying to help him and he’s refusing her. Five is still in emotional shock and still trying to process what happened to him. It’s been a little while but it’s still within twenty four hours of the incident occurring and he’s still feeling a bit numb and “this isn’t real” about the whole thing that lead up to him breaking

Allison isn’t really trying to force him to do anything. She’s just dealing with her own shit on top of trying to look after him. She knows something is wrong with Five and gets frustrated when he blatantly lies about it

It’s a misunderstanding because Allison thinks Five is pushing her away and is hurt by that, whereas in reality he’s still processing and doesn’t want to tell her what Reginald did to him because it makes the whole thing real. Five doesn’t want to be real. It’s easier for him to lie to himself except that also means he has to lie to Allison. Five is constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. He’s extremely on edge and despite opening up to Allison he’s scared that she will turn on him if he does or says something wrong. But Allison is just tired and struggling like he is and really she only wants to help

And as you all know I like whump so there’s also a couple flashbacks to what happened peppered in here and there

It’s really interesting to write the ways that they respond to and misunderstand each other. *Holds up icttwya Allison and Five in my hands* I just think they’re neat

Sorry if this is starting to get long but another thing I’m excited to write is this little series I’m gonna start which branches off of Problems That You Made In Your Own Head. It’s called Lila and Five vs The New Timeline and it’s basically about what happens after Five crashes at Lila and Diego’s place and I have maybe three or four one-shots planned for that. There’s not set plan of a story for it, it’s more just little scenarios. A bit of angst and fluff here and there. It’s essentially just me having fun with their relationship. It’s gonna include the fic I said I’d write a while ago where Lila dyes Five’s hair and I’m pretty excited about that. There’s some other things that I have planned for it as well so yeah!

#thanks for the ask noa!!#took me a while to upload this because i wanted to put it under read more #so i had to wait to use my laptop #louie says shit #icttwya updates #my fan fiction

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patheticlittleguy · 3 years

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i am not going to start writing a new whump series before finishing my last one. i am not going to start writing a new whump series before finishing my last one. i am not going to start writing a new whump series before finishing my last one. i am n

#shark speaks #whump writing #manifesting this #i havent even gotten to the good shit yet. like my whumper hasn’t even don’t any whumping yet!#and I’m still tempted to start writing a whole NEW series

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loki--fics · 3 years

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Hey !!! I love your writing !!! Could I possibly request a super fluffy like wedding day where both you and Loki are nervous but it all goes away when you see each other and a wee lil bit of smut at the end? Totally cool if not !!! ✨💜

sorry this took so long, this was by far my longest oneshot! i wanted to fit in as much detail as possible, though i was tempted to turn this into a series as well haha. thank you for the request though, and feel free to ask for more :)) i hope you enjoy!

Loki's Bride

Pairing: Loki x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 4,668

Content Warnings: fluff, lots of smut at the end

It was late afternoon, the warm sun guarding against the chill of the autumn breeze. You sat in front of the window, your eyes closed as a handmaiden worked on your makeup, another one standing behind you working on your hair. They had been doing this for what felt like ages, but you didn't mind; it took your mind off of how nervous you were. But then, you had reason to be nervous - today was your wedding day.

The crisp breeze wafted in from the open window, caressing your skin like a whisper, but you could barely feel it over the cold pricks of anxiety. You and Frigga had been planning this day for months now, and throughout the months you had been excited, but now that the day was here, you were nervous.

"It is time for the dress, Lady Y/N," Said the handmaiden who did your hair. You recalled her stating that her name was Ingrid, and the other maiden was named Eira.

Nodding, you stood and walked with Ingrid to the wardrobe, from which she grabbed a large garment bag.

"Her Majesty had this dress made for you," Eira said happily as Ingrid unzipped the bag. You were met by the most beautiful dress you had ever seen, a creamy off-white number with off the shoulder sleeves and intricate gold lacing, the skirt wide and puffy with a short train. Its beauty was almost unreal.

"It's gorgeous," You said, your fingers brushing the fabric.

Eira slipped your robe off of your shoulders, placing it on the bed as Ingrid helped you carefully step into the dress. As she zipped up the back, it hugged your waist and bosom snugly, but not uncomfortably tight. It was a perfect fit, as were the shoes and the waist belt for the dagger ceremony.

"This is amazing," You breathed, smoothing out the dress. It felt as though you had been transported into a faerie tale, with the dress, the handmaidens, the stunning view you had from your window, and the fact that you were marrying a prince.. You were afraid it was too good to be true.

A knock sounded at the door, and Eria walked over to answer it. "Your Majesty!" She said, bowing. "I was wondering when you would arrive, we've just finished getting Y/N into her dress."

Your eyes met Frigga's as she walked into the room, ever the epitome of grace. "Dearest Y/N, you look beautiful!" She said happily, her eyes trailing over you.

"Thank you," You replied, bowing slightly. "The dress.. I'm not sure how I could ever thank you for it, it's perfect."

Frigga waved you off. "I assure you no thanks are needed." It was then that you noticed the square, velvet box in her hands, and she followed your eyes downward. "Oh, yes. This is for you as well, dear." She opened it, and resting inside was a beautiful gold circlet with emeralds and diamonds inlaid, delicately woven to resemble leaves.

"Oh, Frigga, you shouldn't have," You said, feeling tears well up in your eyes. "I couldn't possibly accept this!"

"You can, and you will," She said gently, removing the circlet from the box. Gently clasping it at the back of your head, she turned you toward the mirror. "Go look."

Your eyes widened in shock as you looked at yourself in the mirror. Never in your life had you looked so beautiful, you were sure of it; your skin had a dewey glow, your hair was left down and curled simply, with intricate braids on either side of your head connecting in the back, the circlet pulling the whole look together. You truly looked like royalty.

The thought still nagged, however, that this was all too good to be true. Turning away from the mirror with a sigh, you took a seat in front of the window once more.

"Is there something troubling you?" Frigga asked, shooing the handmaidens out of the room and taking a seat on the wooden bench next to you, her eyes alight with worry.

"This seems too good to be true," You admitted. "What if Loki realises that he's making a mistake, or he realises he doesn't love me anymore? I'm only a mortal, and he's going to live on far longer after I've gone from this world."

Placing her hand over yours, she spoke. "I know my son, Y/N, and I can see from the way he looks at you how deeply he loves you. Please trust that all will be well."

"He's going to have to watch me grow old and sick and die, while he stays perfect," You voiced. You had realised this quite some time ago, but hadn't let yourself truly come to terms with it until now, and you felt yourself begin to panic. "I'm going to die centuries before him, and then he'll remarry, and-"

"Y/N!" Frigga said, snapping you out of your ramblings. "Do not think of such things. Focus your mind on the love you hold for him, and the love he holds for you; a love as true and pure as yours does not happen often, believe that Loki will not allow anything to happen to you."

"Your Majesty," Ingrid spoke from the doorway. "It's time."

As the two of you stood, Frigga wrapped her arms around you in a warm embrace. "Focus on your love for him," She repeated in your ear. "All will be well, I promise."

~time skip~

All too soon, you stood facing the doors that led out into the garden, where the wedding was taking place. Thor was at your side, your arm looped through his as the two of you waited for the music to start, your cue to walk down the aisle.

"What if I forget my vows?" You asked frantically. "What am I supposed to do then?"

Thor chuckled, patting your hand. "Lady Y/N, you have been studying your vows for weeks, I have good faith that you will not forget them. However, if you do, simply speak from your heart."

You heard the low sound of the music begin, and that meant there was only a moment before the doors would open and you would face the people of Asgard and the Allfather, and you felt your heart race. "Please don't let me fall," You whispered.

"Never," Thor whispered back, squeezing your hand. Taking a deep breath, you squared your shoulders as the doors opened.

It took only a moment for your eyes to adjust to the light, and almost immediately you spotted Loki. As you and Thor began walking slowly, you watched Loki's eyes widen as he looked at you, his lips parting slightly as a blush rose to his cheeks. You saw nothing but love in his eyes, and you smiled as your own eyes took him in, looking handsome as ever in the Asgardian leather suit he so prided himself on.

Looking down, you saw that the white carpet that stretched from the doors to the altar was sprinkled with beautiful red bougainvillea flowers, which you'd requested as soon as you'd discovered that they were Loki's favourite. He noticed this as well, looking down at the flowers and giving you a small smile.

There were hundreds of people in attendance, most of them being residents of Asgard, many of whom you had yet to meet, all standing with their eyes on you. You saw many happy smiles, but also caught a few jealous stares from some of the women, and flushed. Continuing your slow steps, you focused your gaze back on the handsome groom waiting for you.

As you neared the altar, you spotted your team - your family, standing in the front rows greeting you with wide smiles. When you had first told them about your relationship with Loki, a year and a half after he'd returned to New York to gain pardon from the people of Earth, and six months after your relationship had begun, they were understandably shocked. But through your time spent with him, he had shown you a softer, gentler side to him, one that they had not yet seen. An even bigger shock came when Loki had proposed to you in front of everyone at the New Year's Eve party that Tony had thrown, but now, they expressed nothing but happiness for the two of you.

You felt your heart swell as you looked at them, even more so as you looked back at Loki, and it took everything in you not to pick up your dress, run to your groom, and throw yourself into his arms. This was everything you had dreamt of and more since he proposed to you eight months ago, and you wanted to laugh at yourself for being so nervous. How could you have thought, even for a second, that he would just stop loving you?

Thor pulled his arm out of yours, placing his hand on your shoulder and smiling as he took his place with the rest of the team in the front row. You picked up your dress and walked up the steps of the beautiful stone gazebo, decorated with bright, beautiful flowers and leaves, taking your place across from him.

"You are stunning, my love," Loki said quietly, his blue eyes gazing into your e/c ones as he took your hands.

"As are you," You replied, squeezing his hands. "I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Nor can I."

The music quieted as Odin stepped in front of the two of you and raised his hands, cueing everyone to take their seats.

"Good evening, people of Asgard and guests." Lowering his hands, he continued. "Today, we have taken ourselves out of our usual routines of daily living to witness the union between Loki of Asgard, and Y/N of Midguard." He gestured to each of you respectively. "As Loki and Y/N prepared for the ceremony, they took time to reflect upon what it is they love in the other, and they will now state these vows, starting with the groom."

Loki smiled at you lovingly. "I, Loki of Asgard, by the life and seidr that flows through my blood and the love that resides for you within my heart, take you by my hand, my heart, and my spirit, to be my chosen one. There is not a moment where you do not take my breath away, and I will never seek to change you in any way. I will trust and respect you as your own person and realise that your needs are no more important than my own.

"I hereby promise to love you wholly and completely, without restraint, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in poverty, in this life and beyond, where we shall meet, remember, and love again. I will grow along with you and I am willing to face change with you. I will always respect you, your beliefs, your people and your ways as I respect myself, as I am your partner and we shall be equal in all things.

"I cannot begin to describe how happy I am to have won the joy of such a consort, and I will forever delight in the love of you. I will cherish each tear to fall from your eyes, both in sadness and in joy, and I will do my best to ensure you are safe and secure, and to honour the love you have for me. To find someone as special as you, out of all in the Nine Realms, is something I never imagined possible. Today, Y/N, I give myself to you and vow to love you eternally."

You couldn't stop the tears that welled up in your eyes as he finished, looking at you with such love and adoration you had to restrain yourself from kissing him then.

"And now, the bride will state her vows," Odin said.

Taking a deep breath, you squeezed Loki's hands. "I, Y/N of Midguard, by the life that flows through my blood and the love that resides for you in my heart, take you by my hand, my heart, and my spirit, to be my chosen one. I promise to love you when you are confident in yourself, as well as when you cannot bear your own reflection. I will love you when all is perfect, and when it seems all is falling apart. I promise to never judge you, nor your feelings, and to listen to you always, even when it's hard.

"From the moment our paths crossed you have surprised me, distracted me, captivated me, and challenged me in a way that no one ever has. I have fallen in love with you countless times, again and again, without reservation, and I still cannot believe that I am allowed the honour of being your bride.

"Whilst I cannot promise that dark clouds will never hover over our lives, or that the future will bring us many rainbows, I can promise that regardless of what lies ahead I will be by your side through all of it. You have my everlasting devotion, my loyalty, my respect, and my unconditional love.

"You are what makes my life a joy to live, and I vow to cherish every moment that I get to spend in your company. I would, on no uncertain terms, do anything for you. I will always choose you, in this life and every one beyond, in any world, and in any version of reality, I will find and choose you. Today, Loki, I give myself to you and vow to love you eternally."

"Now," The Allfather said after a beat of silence, "The couple will now exchange their handmade daggers."

The two of you released each other's hands, and you turned behind you to receive the dagger that you had made for Loki from Frigga. At the same time, Loki had turned to Odin for the dagger he made for you. Turning back to each other, you each held up your daggers, then Loki leaned toward you and placed the dagger into your waist belt, and once he was finished you repeated his actions, placing your dagger into his waist belt.

"Present your rings," Odin said, and both of you complied.

"I give you this ring as a symbol of my love everlasting," Loki said as he slid the ring onto your finger.

"I give you this ring as a symbol of my love everlasting," You repeated, sliding the ring onto his finger.

Odin spoke once more. "Loki of Asgard, and Y/N of Midguard, today you celebrate one of life's greatest moments and give recognition to the worth and beauty of love. As you have stated your vows with your lips, so you shall seal them with your lips."

Throwing your arms around your now husband, you pressed your lips to his with such force it was as though you had been starved of his kiss for years. The thundering applause and shrill cheers seemed to fade away as you kissed Loki, your fingers tangling in his jet black hair as his hands wrapped around your waist and lifted you, spinning you in a circle.

Setting you back down, Loki broke the kiss, leaning his head against yours and looking at you longingly. "I love you so very much, Y/N," He whispered with a smile.

"I love you, too, Loki," You whispered back, feeling happier than you had ever thought possible.

~time skip~

After you had changed out of your wedding dress into your reception dress, you and Loki enjoyed the festivities and feast for a while, dancing in merriment with everyone until Loki had pulled you aside.

"I need to speak with you," He said lowly, leading you over to the balcony. The two of you stepped out into the crisp night air, and Loki shut the doors, presenting you with a black box.

"What is this?" You asked, confused.

"I have one last proposal to make," He said, getting down on one knee. "If you truly wish to spend forever with me," Opening the box, a single apple that appeared to be made of gold rested inside, "All you need do is eat this apple."

Your throat felt tight as you looked at the apple. "Loki…"

"This is an Apple of Idun, it is what originally granted the Gods and Goddesses immortality, and if you wish, it will grant it for you as well," He explained.

Your eyes welled up with tears as you touched the apple. It was cool, and felt like a normal apple. Frigga's words from earlier when you voiced your fear of dying before Loki poured into your mind and you gasped. "Frigga-?"

"It was her idea," He admitted. "She convinced Idun to spare an apple in the name of love. Do you accept?"

You sank to your knees, putting yourself at the same level as Loki. "Forever?" You asked, searching his eyes.

"Forever," Loki replied sincerely.

Slowly grasping the apple, you considered the weight of what you were about to do. Were you truly ready to give up mortal life, to live for thousands of years like the people of Asgard?

Looking into Loki's blue eyes, full of love and hope, you knew the only answer was yes. For him, you would do anything.

Bringing the apple to your lips, you sunk your teeth into the soft flesh, biting a chunk out and chewing it slowly. It was sweeter than any apple you'd ever eaten on Earth, perfectly ripe with juices trickling down your chin. Taking another bite, you almost moaned at how delicious it was, reveling in the taste. It seemed the apple had no core, no seeds, so it was unable to be replanted, and you were able to eat the entire thing.

You felt something akin to the feeling of your limbs falling asleep, the tingling sensation spreading over the whole of your body. Your vision blurred, and you would have fallen back if Loki had not caught you and laid you in his lap. A strange, out of body feeling overtook you, as though you were hovering over the two of you, the body laying in Loki's lap no longer yours. It was as if the universe had poured a bit of its everlasting essence into your veins, feeling like the purest magic had filled your body. Then, as soon as it started, it was over.

Vision cleared, you looked up at your husband, seeing him much more clearly than you had before. Every strand of hair caught your attention, every wrinkle in his suit, every line in his hands.

"You are breathtaking," You gasped, your eyes wide in awe. "What just happened?"

Loki smiled softly. "You became immortal."

Sitting up, you threw your arms around Loki, and he grunted, your new strength taking him by surprise. "I cannot wait to spend forever with you," You whispered. "I love you so much."

"Nor can I, my love," He whispered back.

~ time skip ~

The two of you had rejoined the festivities, dancing and grazing on the plethora of food, conversing with the people of Asgard and your team, but now it was time for your honeymoon to officially begin.

Grasping your hand, Loki put his lips to your ear. "I do believe it is time we consummate our marriage, my love," He said lowly.

You felt heat blossom in your core, and blushed. Bidding goodnight to your team, you followed Loki out of the room, followed by a chorus of cheers and wolf-whistles. Tonight was the first night you were to be intimate with Loki in such a manner - he had been being watched by Heimdall and the Allfather most of the time the two of you had been dating, so you had only been able to steal kisses here and there. Not the most romantic, but it was better than nothing.

Now, however, as Loki pulled you to his chambers, you felt almost as nervous, if not more so, than you had before the ceremony. No one was watching you now, the two of you were utterly alone.

Loki stopped outside the door to his chambers, turning to you. For a moment you were confused, but then he scooped you up, bridal style, and carried you over the threshold. The door closed with a solid thud behind you as he walked you to his bed, setting you down gently. After the ceremony you had changed into a shorter dress, the hem reaching your mid-thigh, with a white skirt and lace top that wrapped around your neck. Now, Loki eyed it hungrily, wanting it off.

Gently holding the back of your head in his hand, Loki kissed you, laying you down slowly as he hovered above you. His lips claimed yours completely, his tongue swiping along your lower lip. You gasped lightly, and he took the opportunity to slide his tongue into your mouth. Feeling a familiar tingling sensation, you realised Loki had used his magic to remove the clothing from both of you, leaving you in undergarments, and you blushed, instinctively moving your arms to cover yourself.

Pulling back, Loki met your eyes. "Hear this now. You need never cover yourself in front of me. You are a treasure to behold, my love, and in my eyes, you are nothing short of perfection." His hands gently pried yours away from your body, his eyes relishing the sight. "There is not a single soul in the Nine Realms that I would rather be with right now, and not a single thing in the Nine Realms that could take me away from you. I love you, not only for your body but for your soul, your mind, your heart and your spirit."

He said every word with such sincerity, his eyes showing nothing but love for you, that you could think of only one thing to say.

"Kiss me."

He did, with an intensity that rivaled every other kiss he'd ever given you, including your wedding kiss. It was so filled with passion that you were certain no being in the Nine Realms and beyond had shared such a kiss before, it felt as though the universe itself was bowing from the vehemence of the kiss.

Every inch of your skin that Loki caressed seemed to be set alight, and you were certain that, had you not been holding him, you would have floated away to Valhalla. You felt his hardened member brush the thin lace veil that covered your core, and were unable to quiet the moan that fell from your lips as your hips bucked, desperate for more.

Loki's lips left yours, venturing down your jaw, your neck, your collar, kissing every inch of exposed skin. You were hot and cold all at once, your body nearly vibrating from the force of your arousal as his lips travelled lower, between your breasts, down your stomach, to your thighs. He peppered delicate kisses along the inside of your thighs, looking up at you as his fingers hooked in the waistband of your panties.

"Is this okay?" He asked, pausing.

"Oh Gods yes, Loki," You breathed, your chest heaving with the force of your breaths as you met his eyes.

Slowly, deliberately, he pulled the thin lace fabric down your hips, tossing them to the side as he took in the sight of your glistening core before him. He pressed two long, dexterous digits against your opening, sliding them inside of you and pumping at an agonisingly slow pace. His head dipped down, lips just barely brushing your sensitive nub, inhaling your sweet, musky odour before pressing a kiss to your core.

"Please, Loki, stop teasing me," You whined, gripping the sheets.

He smirked. "As you wish." With force, he launched an assault with his lips, his tongue expertly swirling around your nub whilst his fingers curled perfectly against your g-spot. Your eyes rolled back in your head as you moaned loudly, fingers tangling in his soft raven locks.

Loki's free hand gripped your thigh so tightly as he devoured you, you were sure it would bruise. He moaned, sending delicious vibrations through your core and your orgasm ripping through you with a force you had never before felt, your body set aflame as his name fell repeatedly like a prayer from your lips.

Pulling his head back, your husband looked at you with dark, lust filled eyes as he brought his fingers, covered with your arousal, to his lips. Slowly, he put them in his mouth, sucking off every bit of your juices before pulling them out and climbing on top of you, pressing a kiss to your lips and allowing you to taste yourself.

"You are sweeter than the finest søt vin," Loki said lowly.

Butterflies were no match for the hurricane that erupted in your stomach. "I want you," You begged softly. "All of you. I'm yours."

With a flick of his wrist, the rest of the clothing was removed from both of you. Your eyes moved down, almost of their own accord, taking in the size of his member. You were no virgin, and you were sure Loki wasn't, either but you had never been with someone of such size and girth, and it would be dishonest to say you weren't intimidated.

"I'll be gentle, love," He said softly, his hand caressing your cheek.

"I trust you," You replied, leaning into his touch.

Kissing you softly, you felt the God position his manhood at your entrance, sinking himself into you slowly. He groaned at your tightness, his head falling into the crook of your neck as he waited for your hole to adjust to his large size. The sensation of being so wholly filled by him was a bit painful, your walls stretching to their limit as they tried to accommodate him, and after a moment you bucked your hips.

Pumping into you slowly, the pain morphed into pleasure as your legs wrapped around his waist, allowing him to sink deeper into you. He quickened the motions of his hips, the head of his manhood perfectly hitting your g-spot as he thrust into you. Both of you were moaning, your lips roaming each other, hands groping anywhere they could reach as Loki plunged into your opening again and again.

"Please, harder," You moaned, gripping his shoulders.

All too happy to oblige your request, Loki brought his hips to meet yours with such force that you saw stars. Moaning loudly, your nails dug into his skin as he thrust into you harder, his movements growing faster as you both neared your climax.

Wrapping his arms around you, Loki pulled you upright so that you were sitting on his lap, continuing to pound into you as he brought your nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it before nibbling lightly. Delirious with pleasure, you gripped his hair and pulled, earning a loud moan as his nails raked down your back. He smashed his lips to yours, and you bit his lip so hard it drew blood as your orgasm hit you with even more force than the first, your primal screams of pleasure filling the room as he buried himself to the hilt inside of you, releasing his seed as he shouted obscenities.

After a final few pumps, he pulled out of you, the two of you falling back onto the mattress, limbs entangled and your head on his chest.

"I will never grow tired of that," You giggled, fingers drawing lazy swirls on his pale skin. "This has been the best day of my life."

Loki smiled. "It was mine as well." The two of you were covered in a sheen of sweat, and with a lazy wave of his hand, the window opened and a cool breeze wafted over the two of you.

"I love you," You said sleepily.

"I love you," He replied.

"Forever?"

"Forever."

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