#and i was by myself in cashier land for four hours

[666writingcafe]

Level One

Dedicated to @completelyshatteredbrokenmschf and @thunderlightning351

Content Warning: referencing human sacrifice, slightly(?) unhinged Barbatos

"Hello, MC." Barbatos' sudden appearance at my side causes me to curse. I know he has the ability to teleport anywhere he wants to, but a little warning would have been nice.

"Apologies, MC," he continues. "I was simply following my instructions. Did you have a nice time with your parents?"

"Y-yeah, I did," I respond, still a little spooked. "We went out to eat at a Chinese buffet."

"That sounds lovely." He wraps an arm around me and guides me to the couch, remaining glued at my side as we sit down. This isn't the first time we've sat next to each other, but he's never been quite this close before.

And then I take a proper look at him. I'm not dealing with Barbatos the butler, but rather the Barbatos that accompanied me to the Severa concert. The one that I told Asmo I found incredibly attractive in great detail.

The Avatar of Lust is playing dirty right from the start.

Barbatos' lips are moving, but I'm not registering a single word he's saying. The parts of my brain that aren't obsessing over his natural scent are short-circuiting due to him being so close to me. One hand rests on my thigh while the other one plays with my hair and gently brushes up and down my arm. It all makes me rather jittery. I'm surprised I'm able to remain still. I want to simultaneously bolt out of the room and--

"You're not listening to me." Barbatos' harsh tone forces me to pay attention.

"I'm sorry. I'm finding it incredibly hard to concentrate." My explanation makes him smirk.

"Am I making you nervous, MC?" I can only manage a nod. "Good. Now you know how I felt when the roles were reversed."

"That's not fair!" I exclaim, remembering the exact moment he's referencing. "You told me to seduce you!"

"And you did, much to Diavolo's joy. He wouldn't stop teasing me about it for weeks." He repositions himself so that he's able to lean in closer to me.

"Once upon a time, you would have been given as an offering." His voice is low and menacing. "Not to the gods, like so many people believed, but to us. We're able to be entertained by sacrificial lambs for a long time. Inevitably, though, they become dull and boring. It's not their fault; it's simply the result of being exposed to sin over long periods of time.

"But your soul is different, MC. Due to the angel blood that flows through your veins, it maintains its brightness despite it constantly being surrounded by sin. Some might even say it feeds off it, making it that much stronger. If it weren't for Diavolo's mission, we'd have so much fun with you." His smile is that of a predator. I should be shitting my pants right about now. That would be the appropriate reaction to having a demon look at me like I'm his next meal.

Instead, I wait with bated breath for his next move. Barbatos tilts his head to the side.

"Of course, that doesn't scare you." he asks. "You find the idea rather arousing, don't you?"

It's messed up, I know. I shouldn't be turned on by any of this, and yet...

"I told myself long ago that I would only use my powers to help Diavolo, but you've made me reconsider that decision many times." He's pretty much on top on me at this point, holding me in place with his body weight.

"Why?" I whisper. He brings his mouth right up to my ear.

"Because the idea of messing with time in order to play with you is incredibly tempting." He kisses the base of my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.

Do not succumb to temptation.

I grab his shoulders and squeeze them as hard as I can, making him pause on his trail down my neck and look up at me.

"I can't," I tell him, despite my body screaming at him to continue.

"Are you sure?" I close my eyes and take a deep breath, forcing myself to answer,

"Yes." I feel him get off me. Seconds later, he grabs my hand.

"It's okay, MC. You can open your eyes." Doing so makes him smile softly. "The first stage of your test is complete."

"Did I pass?"

"See for yourself." Looking down at the ring I slipped on earlier, I notice a mark that I'm pretty sure wasn't there before.

"From my understanding, a tally will appear for every stage you complete successfully," Barbatos explains.

"That makes sense." He walks out of the room, returning moments later with a note in his hand.

"When you are ready, this contains information about the next stage," he tells me, handing me the note. "Of course, you're allowed to take as much time as you need to recenter yourself. I can make you some tea if you'd like." I shake my head.

"I know this might sound crazy given what we just did, but would you mind holding me?" He chuckles.

"Not at all." He stretches out on the opposite end of the couch, and I snuggle up to him. He begins stroking my hair. After a few moments of calm, I gather up the courage to ask,

"Did you mean what you said about time, or was that part of the act?"

"I wasn't acting," he answers. "I merely displayed emotions that I normally keep suppressed. Everything I told you is one hundred percent true."

#obey me shall we date #obey me mc #obey me barbatos #so it was so slow at work today that i started writing this on post-it notes in order to pass the time #for context i'm a retail cashier at an outdoor equipment store #and i was by myself in cashier land for four hours #also #i'm going to include some sort of aftercare after each stage is completed #that way mc doesn't go completely insane from their emotions running wild #i feel like that's something asmo would account for as he's creating this test for mc

[jerzwriter]

Tricks and Treats

Thank you to @aces-and-angels for this ask for Halloween prompt #28. It's the perfect prompt for them. I hope I did it justice. :)

Book: Crimes of Passion Pairing: Trystan Thorne x F!MC (Carolina Rose) Words: 1,400 Rating: Teen Warnings: Some violence, though nothing too intense; cursing Summary: Trystan & Carolina are running late to Ruby & Luke's Halloween Party. They have one stop to make on the way, but things go awry. A/N: It helps if you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but you don't have to. Participating in @choicesoctober Halloween, @choicesholidays Halloween

CoP Masterlist Main Masterlist

“One, two, three, four,” Carolina’s red cape fluttered behind her each time she raised her arm to grab another bottle of wine from the shelf. She had her hand on the fifth when she paused. “Five? Is five necessary? Maybe four will do... I can’t be the only one bringing wine... and I’m not just saying this because my shopping basket is so freaking heavy...”  

She could feel the weight of someone’s stare as she continued the animated conversation with herself. Turning her head quickly , she found a mildly amused shopper looking her way.

“My friends like wine,” Carolina shrugged. “A lot, actually... but... this is getting heavy, and I need to make a decision. I don’t normally talk to myself like this!” As the shopper shuffled away, Carolina yelled after her. “I don’t! I really don’t... I’m a very sane person! Totally sane... except... for right now.”

She let out a snort imagining how ridiculous she must have looked... Little Red Riding Hood standing in the middle of an aisle at Westside Market, rambling aimlessly about how much alcohol she needed to buy while declaring herself sane. New Yorkers were used to unusual sights, but she didn’t blame the woman for rushing away. 

She looked at her watch with a frown. They were already twenty minutes late for Ruby and Luke's party and still had midtown traffic to grapple with, so she set off to find Trystan, still talking to herself as she turned her neck to look down each aisle.

“Trystan, where are you?” Though she was actively looking for him, her heart still skipped a beat when a big, furry paw landed on her shoulder.  

“Trystan!” she startled, “you scared the shit out of me.”

“There is no Trystan,” he snickered, playfully pulling her close. “Only the Big Bad Wolf..uh.. no.. I mean Grandma! I’m Grandma, trust me.”

“Grandma? What big paws you have!” she beamed as he nuzzled into her neck and playfully growled.

“The better to paw you with, my dear...”

“Well, you can paw me once we get to the party. We’re very late.”

She went to reach for his hand, bursting into laughter when she saw the contents in his basket. “What are you buying?”

“Sausage and whipped cream,” he answered matter-of-factly.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Caroline winced. “Sausage... and whipped cream?”

“Yes. Ruby asked me to pick up chorizo, and there is no way I’m partaking in Luke’s pumpkin pie without the benefit of whipped cream. What do you take me for? A heathen?"

“But, Trystan... we’re walking up to the cashier to purchase a lot of wine, an obscenely large chorizo... and whipped cream.... how does that look?”

“Like we’re on our way to one hell of a party,” he winked. 

“Why don’t we stop on aisle five and throw in some Vaseline. That should give the staff something to talk about for hours, maybe days, to come!”

“Aisle five, you say?” he said, grabbing her hand.

“Can we forget I mentioned that?”

But his impish grin gave her all the answers she needed.

“I should know better by now,” she sighed.

~~~~~

Carolina was lost in thought as they waited on the barely moving line. Trystan scrunched his nose to wordlessly to inquire about her thoughts.

“I should get more wine,” she insisted. “I mean... you know our friends. This won't be nearly enough.”  

“Well, I don’t think this line is going to move anytime soon. Would you like me to run and get more?”

“No, you wait here,” she insisted. “I’ll go.”

“Just be quick,” he smiled. “It's dangerous out in the woods.”

“I know!” She said with wide eyes. “We even have Drakovian wolves now!"

“Oh! The worst kind!” he scoffed, patting her bottom quickly as she rushed off, his eyes never leaving her until she was out of sight. He turned back to face the front of the line and met the disapproving gaze of an elderly woman in front of him.

“It's OK," Trystan insisted. "She’s my girlfriend, that was perfectly acceptable behavior.”

Not sure she was satisfied with his answer, he pulled out his phone to check messages. He was lost in thought when...

“Freeze!” A masked man wearing an undistinguishable costume yelled as he launched at the cashier, gun blazing.

The teenage girl at the register began to scream.

“Shut the hell up and keep your hands where I can see ‘em... then no one gets hurt!”

Suddenly, another man dressed as Chewbacca whipped around and pointed a gun at the customers waiting in line.

“Don’t any of you get any ideas either!”

Trystan held up his hands with a roll of his eyes. “This behavior is so unbecoming of a Wookie.”

But his bravado depleted at once when the man cocked his pistol and aimed it at Trystan.

“Think you’re funny there, Scar?"

"Scar? No...I'm the Big Bad Wolf."

"SHUT UP!!! One more out of you, and you’ll be laughing at the morgue.”

Back at the register, the young cashier nervously tossed cash into a shopping bag as the robber was losing patience.

“Make it quick, Blondie! We don’t have all day!”

The old woman in front of Trystan began to hyperventilate and appeared to lose her balance.

Trystan reached out to touch her arm. “It’s going to be all right,” he whispered; but his sudden movement jarred the Wookie assailant, who fired a shot in the air.

“I SAID DON’T FUCKING MOVE! DON’T MAKE ME DO SOMETHING I DON’T WANT TO DO!”

But eyes lit up when he caught a flash of light from the old woman’s direction.

“Well,” he let out a slow whistle. “That’s one hell of a diamond ring you’ve got there... hand it over!”

“No..." she cried. "I’ll give you all my money, but not this! Please! My Harry gave this to me for our fortieth anniversary! I remember him every time I see it!"

“Lady, unless you want to join Harry tonight, HAND IT OVER.”

Trystan clenched his teeth as the old woman tearfully removed the ring from her finger; that’s when he locked eyes with Carolina. A knowing look passed between them, and she gently nodded, mouthing the words... one... two... three....

Carolina rushed to the register, raising a bottle of wine high above her head, breaking it over the gunman’s head. Meanwhile, Trystan charged Chewbacca. He wailed as Trystan twisted his arm in an inhuman position until his gun fell to the floor. The first man began coming to and attempted to reach for the fallen weapon...

“Oh, no, you fucking don’t!” Carolina yelled as another bottle of wine crashed into his temple.

Trystan sat atop the other man to hold him in place. But when the police arrived, they took aim at Trystan.

“NO!” Carolina yelled. “The Big Bad Wolf is the good guy! He's with me. Chewbacca is the one you want!”

“My mistake,” the officer nodded. “The call just said a hairy beast was one of the assailants."

"It's OK," Carolina smirked. "It’s not every day we see the Big Bad Wolf and Chewbacca wrestling on the floor!”

“Wrestling?” Trystan spat. “There was no wrestling! I had this second-rate mongrel fully under control!”

“Of course, you did, dear,” Carolina smiled as the other officer took the wine-battered criminal off her hands.

The officer couldn't help but laugh. “It’s not every day you see Red and the Big Bad Wolf taking out the bad guys, either.”

“Hey, it’s New York,” Carolina shrugged. “You never know what you’ll see... especially on Halloween.”

With that, she turned to the wine-battered criminal. “Speaking of which... what the hell is your costume? I can't even tell what you were supposed to be."

“Sinatra!” The man answered bitterly.

“Sin... SINATRA! Frank Sinatra!” Carolina spat. “If I had known that, I would have hit harder! How dare you disparage Frank like that!”

“Do you have a thing for Sinatra?” Trystan questioned. “Perhaps I should have chosen my costume more carefully.”

“Sinatra was one of my father’s favorites,” she smiled softly. “And this SOB has the audacity....”

“Detective Rose,” the officer interrupted. “We need to take your statement.”

“Oh, of course,” she said as Trystan's phone rang.

“It shouldn’t be long. Then you two kids can head back to grandma’s house.”

As the officer took out his notepad, he and Carolina heard bits and pieces of Trystan's conversation.

“I know you’re desperate for the chorizo... we stopped a robbery.... yes, a robbery.... we’re fine... we’ll be leaving shortly... I have whipped cream, too.”

Carolina shook her head. “Whenever I'm with you, it seems words I could never have imagined in the same sentence all just meld together."

"I'm confident I'm not the first person to say chorizo, whipped cream, and robbery in the same breath."

"I don't know," the police officer muttered. "I think you might be."

After wrapping things up, the store manager came over to thank the couple, insisting they take their order for free. As they made their way out into the cold, moonlit night, Trystan suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"We just can't have a normal night out, can we?”

“Hon, this is normal for us,” she smiled, reaching up to kiss his cheek. “Now, keep moving. Luke is desperate for his chorizo.”

"Talk about words I'd never hear strung together," he laughed.

It was a Halloween they'd never forget. 🎃

@choicesficwriterscreations Tagging others separately.

#choices fanfic #crimes of passion #choices crimes of passion #trystan thorne #trystan thorne x mc #trystan x carolina #playchoices #choices stories you play #halloween #fic reqs

[secretly-small]

Gotta love throwing y’all stuff I blurted out in the middle of the night 👍🏽

Here’s a new OC. This piece was based off a dream I had the other day.

Description: Harper, a teen girl with very weak sizeshifting abilities, is caught alone is a toy store with two equally curious little kids. This couldn’t end well.

CWs: assault, struggle, attack by children, non-sexual forced removal of some clothing

Word count: 960

Disclaimer: I haven’t edited this yet XD

Living Doll 🪆🧒🏼

1/3

“Oh, please!” I chuckled into the phone, “I’m right next door!”

The line went silent, and I could practically feel my mom’s worry. It was understandable, of course. The absolute longest I could hold a human form was an hour or two, and most of the time I lasted mere minutes. But we’d both agreed it would save time if we split up, and it wasn’t like I was incapable of handling myself anyway.

“All right…” she finally sighed. “Just promise to be quick.”

I smiled, going through our usual routine before hanging up and pocketing the device. My eyes scanned the shelves, each lined with different toys. Most of my cousins were rather young, so the seemingly-infinite number of cars and dolls told me I was in the right section.

My hands slipped onto my hips as I considered which ones would be most suitable. It didn’t take long to pick them, despite the number. By the time I’d grabbed the last, my cart was filled with about eight different gifts. Three of them would be for the new cousins who just married in. They were all boys, and even though we’d never met, I felt confident in the assortment of trains I’d collected.

I allowed myself a triumphant grin as I took the first step to the cashier. Almost immediately, though, a sharp flare emanated through my  body, and the beat of a second passed before my view of the store shifted drastically. 

I groaned as I pulled out my phone, speed dialing my mom. It rang a few times too many, and my heart dropped at the sight of shoes clomping in from the neighboring isle. 

It wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. In fact, it was common. But normally my mom or sisters were here to help.

Rather than running like I should’ve, I stood frozen as three people rounded the corner. Two of them were little blond boys, perhaps no older than four or five, and the third was a nearly-identical woman whose arms were… way too full.

The woman bent down, dropping all the items from her grip to the floor. Before I could even process, she’d darted out of sight, leaving the children unattended in a toy store. 

I grinned. I didn’t know her, but that woman gave off some dang good vibes.

Before I could think, the boys’ eyes landed on me. I stifled a curse, darting to hide under the nearest shelf. It was mere paces from me, but I was still too slow. Grubby, little fingers wrapped around the length of my body, yanking my hair and limbs into horribly uncomfortable positions. 

I gasped as my phone fell from my hands onto the tile floor. He didn’t seem to care, though, as he lifted me up to his curious eyes. 

My mind whirled as I attempted to come up with something, anything, to say. With just the right words, any child would put down a toy. But any hope I had was immediately crushed when his brother waddled up and blabbered something unrecognizable. He responded back in the same language.

Not good.

My fists banged against his fingers. It was harmless, obviously, but his clear blue eyes immediately fell from his brother to me. They widened, and his jaw fell open in astonishment. He squealed a few more incomprehensible things to his brother, pointing at me.

“Put me down!” I demanded, using a loud voice and strong tone. Words weren’t needed with children, anyway. As long as they knew you meant business.

Or maybe that was just dogs.

His grip tightened, and all the blood fell to my head as he twirled my upside down. I wrenched, squirming and kicking in his hand, but as my eyes landed across the shelves before me, it became overwhelmingly clear how this would turn out. I was a living doll. 

The boy squated, then dropped me ungracefully onto the floor. I didn’t even have time to get my bearings before they’d both leaned over me, four hands tugging at my limbs and hair. 

The younger boy seemed to find particular interest in my clothes. He pulled my jacket, ripping my arms out of the way when I attempted to stop him. In seconds, he’d removed it completely, and seemed to take great pleasure in the action. 

I screamed and fought, but to no avail. His hands moved down to my jeans, and this time he wasn’t as gentle. He fumbled with the button, his frustration causing him to tear them in two. This made their removal much easier, apparently, and my legs were suddenly naked against the freezing tile floor.

Finally, they seemed to have enough of my noise. The older one pressed his thumb against my mouth and nose, cutting off my airway.

I shook, tears streaming down my face as the youngest picked me up by one leg. 

Every kid did this. Every kid peeled the clothes off a Barbie to see what was underneath. Every kid would feel around the unspoken part of the doll to see if the underwear was real, only to find out it was just painted on. 

They didn’t know what they were doing. After all, I was just a moving doll.

His finger brushed between my legs, trailing down my spine. He eventually made it back to my hair, which he made sure to give a strong tug.

When they once again dropped me to the ground, this time leaving me banged up from the impact, I knew. Their faces peered over me, looming like an unsatisfiable force above, and I knew I would die. 

I drew in what would likely be my last breath, closing my eyes. I’d always liked kids.

#Harper and Alex #G/t #giant/tiny #gentle giant #g/t related #g/t scenario #g/t concept #g/t idea #g/t writing #g/t community #g/t story #Angst #g/t angst

[stradlingmrstradlin]

So I enjoy writing and I this is the first story that I wrote with the intent of being posted. Constructive criticism is always welcome ♥️

Here's the story

Steven x Duff

Reader x Izzy

(No warnings, maybe swearwords if that counts, also I don't promote underage drinking)

I think I managed to stay gender-neutral

Words: 2794

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

You were on a road trip with the guys, how did you end up here? Oh well, you've known the guys for a few years as you were good friends with Steven since you were kids, but you had a falling out because he moved around quite a lot and your family did too.

When you were 14 your family moved to Seattle and stayed there for 4 years. In those years you met a blond-haired dude whose name was Michael or as you and a few other people called him, Duff. You and Duff met at a corner store when you were 15 and tried to steal a bottle of vodka. Duff was also lurking around the alcohol section, also probably trying to steal some alcoholic beverage.

But he was, according to the store manager, a suspicious punk guy...so he got kicked out before even getting his hands on anything. You felt bad for him so after sliding a bottle in the inside pocket of your denim jacket and throwing a wink and a charming smile towards the cashier you walked out.

So there you were at eighteen having to say goodbye to Duff because your family was moving away... again but now to Ireland. You had a huge argument with your family about always moving and you losing all of your friends because of them so you made a decision, to run away. Ok, I know that's a stupid idea because how the fuck will you survive on your own?

Your family was well off so you decided to take a bit of money with you, they probably wouldn't even notice.

You lived in quite a few places after that, from the back alley of the theater to Duff's place, his family loved you so it was ok. When Duff decided to move to LA to pursue his dream of being in a band you of course followed him.

You moved into a small one-room apartment together, but it was great. Living with Duff is fun. But he always moved stuff on the top shelf to mess with you, and also money was tight. You guys both worked a lot but it was alright.

He joined a few bands and played a few gigs in shitty bars but none of them worked out. You played guitar so you tried but it was the same with you, never being able to keep a band together for more than a month. Also being a girl didn't help, because many bands thought that it'll ruin their image if a girl is in the band.

Eventually, he put an ad in the paper looking for a band and that's how he met the other guys. You were super surprised to see Steven there but also happy to see him. Also, you remembered Slash from meeting him with Steven maybe a couple of times. The only new people were the two boys, who, as you later found out were from Indiana. The one who looked a bit like Johnny Thunders was hot, but you ignored that fact for now.

The first thing you noticed between your two blond friends was a bit of jealousy, at first you thought maybe they liked you and were jealous of each other, but after a while, even before they knew it, you caught onto the real reason. They didn't like you, at least not romantically, they liked each other. But for about four years they didn't act in their feelings...(later on about that)

Eventually, in 1985 they formed Guns N Roses. The guys liked you, and Axl tried to fuck you, but after a big smack on the head and an angry talking to by Duff he quickly forgot that idea.

So now in 1988 here you were sitting in the back of a van, that Izzy was driving because he was the only sober one...today. Tomorrow probably you'll have to drive.

Your pov.

We were in the car for about twenty minutes and everything was calm...for now. Led Zeppelin was coming from the radio and Axl was softly singing along, in the front seat and Izzy was driving. Duff sipping something from a bottle, probably something alcoholic, and slowly falling asleep and leaning on Steven's shoulder. Steve was smiling per usual, but if possible his smile got even bigger when Duff's head landed on his shoulder. But as all good things come to an end, the comfortable silence got broken.

"I have to pee!" Steven suddenly yelled out, causing Duff to lift his head off of Steven's shoulder and look around in confusion. "The fuck is going on?"

Axl just grumbled "Steven is a fucking baby and can't go and use the toilet before road trips...no he has to use them when we are in the middle of a fucking highways"

Slash snorted at Axl's response but didn't say anything as he didn't want to get into this argument, surprising.

Can't the guys stay still for one second?

"Izzy, can you please stop the car at the next rest stop?" I asked, as kindly as possible not wanting to further upset Rosie and listen to him throwing a temper tantrum for the next hour or so, he's annoying sometimes.

Anyways we stopped at the next stop, and Steven almost ran to the restroom. I switched places with Axl because he was tired and wanted to sit in the back, so he could stretch out a bit. Now Axl was sitting next to Slash, and Steven came back jumping in next to Duff. We're on the road again.

"Can I switch the music?" Izzy looked at me with almost puppy dog eyes, well I didn't think that was possible.

"Of course, what do you have in mind?"I replied almost laughing because of the face he was making

"Maybe Hanoi Rocks?" He again looked at me with the same stupid face.

"Fine, just stop making that face because I'll probably die from laughter" At this point, I just straight up burst out laughing and he just threw a cute lil smile my way. I was super proud of myself because I made THE Izzy Stradlin laugh.

A little background on me and Izzy. When we first met I ignored that he was hot because I didn't want to mess anything up for Duff with the band, but in the next two years that feeling grew from "oh, he's hot" to "I want to fuck him". No, we never fucked, but at a party in 87' we had a really hot make-out session which was sadly ended by a drunk Slash passing out on top of me...that was a wild party. There were no awkward feelings between us but we never took it further either. We sometimes cuddled and kissed when we needed human contact but nothing else. I always wanted more, but Izzy...Izzy is a mysterious guy, hard to figure out, the only person who somewhat is able to figure him out is Axl...but you don't go to Axl asking for advice, because Axl's advice is usually bad advice.

..My thoughts were interrupted by the opening cords for Don't You Ever Leave Me, which's one of my favorite songs. Izzy glanced at me and seconds later we were quietly singing because we didn't want to disturb our four friends who were asleep in the back. Axl and Slash were leaning on each other and Axl's face was barely visible because of Slash's hair. Duff was leaning on a window and Steve was cuddled up to him.

As I was looking at my friends when Iz asked me a question "When do you think they'll realize that they like each other because you have to be an idiot to not realize it, I mean Steven always smiles around Duff, and Duff is so cuddly with steven?" Oh boy, the problem was, that our friends were indeed stupid, at least on the topic of love. "I don't know Iz, they are after all a bit ignorant when it comes to love" As I said this I saw something in Izzy's face change, but I couldn't identify it because it was gone pretty soon. After that we didn't talk much, only glancing at each other a few times but it wasn't uncomfortable or anything, we just didn't have anything else to say out loud.

However, my thoughts were really loud... Ignorant with love? That sounds like us, maybe after all Duff and Stevie weren't the only stupid ones.

...It was around 6 pm when we got to our destination, a fairly large cabin up in the hills, between a shit ton of trees. Nice, finally we can rest without reporters, fans, and annoying paparazzi asking about the private life of the guys.

Everyone had their own room as nobody really wanted to share, we specifically looked for a cabin with 6 rooms, we love each other but sharing a room is annoying. In the beginning, when we didn't have much I shared rooms with probably all of the guys.

Axl is an annoying little fucker, he kicked me in his dream a lot of times, my back hurt a lot after. Slash is nice, he let me have my own space on the small bed we slept on and didn't bother me, well he accidentally woke me up when he fell off the bed, but that sucks for him, not me. Steven and Duff both love cuddles, Steven almost suffocated me once but other than that it's nice sleeping next to them. Izzy...He doesn't hug you or cuddle up to you when you're going to sleep but somehow you always wake up tangled together.

After we brought up our luggage to our assigned rooms Slash had the awesome idea to watch a film. Steven wanted to watch something funny but Axl quickly told him to fuck off.

"Axl, that's very rude" Duff quickly came to the help of Steven. "Yeah, well I ain't watching some shitty comedy, that's for pussies" ..Axl is an asshole sometimes

Slash had enough of arguing and just put on a horror movie and told everyone to shut up and watch the movie.

Halfway through, Steven was cuddled up to Duff, hiding in his chest.

Axl laughed every time someone died, and Slash always shushed him.

Outside pov.

As the movie went on Steven was buried under his hair, two blankets, and most importantly to him, in Duff's arms. How can they be so stupid? Not noticing something that's there?

But they weren't the only stupid ones, no there was a black-haired boy, and you. Also stupid... too stupid in love to notice what's there.

After the movie ended you made food for the guys. Duff decided to help, as the others were pretty incapable of cooking or didn't want to help.

Your pov.

"You know y/n you're blind for not noticing how Izzy looks at you." Duff stated bluntly. "Well McKagan then you're pretty blind for not noticing how Steven looks at you"

"What do you mean?" He asked with...hope? His eyes got wider and you could hear his voice shake a bit.

"Duff, are you serious? Steven likes you, he always tries to be close to you, looks at all the groupies you fuck with so much anger in his eyes, I never thought he could be so angry. And don't think I don't see you staring at him all day" I said with a sweet smile on my face.

"I don't get it y/n..he..he likes me?"

"Yes Duff, he does, he really does, so please don't mess this up, promise me you'll talk to him while we're here"

I really hope he'll talk to him because it's probably eating them up from the inside to keep these feelings locked away.

"But! Y/n, you should talk to Izzy too, you have something between the two of you" Duff looked at me with pleading eyes

"Duff, things are complicated, we.... well, we know about each other's feelings but, I don't know, I guess we're just too afraid to fuck it up"

I don't know about his feelings, to be honest, but I'm definitely scared to fuck up because I really like him. For a time I never thought I'd be able to love someone, and I know that's a strong word to use, but when he came along, stuff changed.

By the time we were done cooking the guys were all hungry and basically ran to the kitchen, I was really conflicted inside from our conversation with Duff. Should I mention it to Iz? Probably should. Whatever, I'll think about it later.

Night came around and everyone retreated to their own rooms to sleep, or in my case think.

Outside pov.

Slash and Axl were fast asleep in their rooms, but the others weren't.

Duff was sitting in the kitchen, head in his hands muttering to himself about being a coward and stupid. Steven however noticed someone downstairs and when he saw Duff and what he was muttering to himself he got sad. How could this perfect human being think that he's stupid? He tiptoed behind him and pulled Duff in his arms from behind. Duff was sitting so the back of his head was pressed into stevens chest. At first, Duff was scared but as soon as he smelled the familiar and calming scent of Steven he instantly felt comfortable, like he was at home. Steven turned Duff around and carefully put his fingers under the taller man's chin and leaned down to press a love-filled kiss onto his lips. At this moment both of them understood everything without words. Duff stood up hugging Steven and lifting him up to take him to his room. They didn't do anything else besides cuddling and a lot of kisses, but both of them felt safe and eventually, they fell asleep with Duff on his back pulling Steven close to him, almost on top of him. This is how they'll be found when you walked into Duff's room in the morning to tell him something.

What was that something?

Well after a lot of thinking you got up and went to Izzy's room. It's now or never you though.

Your pov.

My fingers softly collided with the wooden door and a rustling noise inside told me that Izzy heard it. This seemed like a really bad idea all of a sudden. Well, can't do anything about it now.

A soft "Who's there" could be heard from inside the room "Just me, can we talk?" I replied really quietly wondering if he heard me.  "Yeah, come in"

"Iz, look I'm going to tell you something, ok? Please don't interrupt me."

"Alright"

"So you know when we met, I immediately found you extremely hot. Well, those feelings grew a lot since then, and when we kissed at the party, it just, felt so...right? I know you'll probably tell me that you were just drunk all of the times you kissed me, or just felt lonely. But Iz, I like you, a lot." Silence, that's all, he said nothing. Just staring at me with his signature poker face.

"I knew it, sorry for disturbing  you, I'll just go now, forget it please!"

As I turned to walk away he grabbed my arms and pulled me back into a hug that soon turned into a kiss. When I opened my eyes again we were cuddling on his bed. This is where I felt home, felt alright, in his arms.

"I'm sorry for not responding love, it was just shocking to hear that you liked me. I thought you kissed me all those times just to anger Duff or Axl. I guess I just never thought you'd want to be with a junkie " Izzy whispered looking down at his arms sadly

"You thought wrong Iz, I don't give a fuck about what you do, well yes I don't like you doing drugs, but also you can get over that and to me you are perfect" 

"Maybe it's too soon to say, but I love you y/n, I really do."

"I love you too Iz"

Outside pov.

Maybe they weren't so stupid after all, just scared of their feelings. The two blond boys, who understood each other without words. Izzy and you, on the other hand, needed words to understand each other fully.

But what matters is that in the end, everything was alright.

#steven x duff #izzy stradlin #izzy stradlin x reader #izzy stradlin one shot #guns n' roses #axlrose #axl rose #steven adler #duff mckagan #slash gnr

[misteria247]

Forgotten

Chapter Four

April stood on the sidewalk, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for Casey to arrive at her apartment. From the moment she'd called him last night, the two had began to plan. Since they didn't know if what the driver saw was actually who they hoped it was, the duo had decided to keep the information to themselves. The last thing they wanted was to get the others hopes up only for it to be a bust. Which led to their current plan. Search the gas station and the surrounding areas. See if they find anything and go from there. Not really the brightest idea the two had come up with but it was better than nothing. April sighed and pulled out her cellphone to scroll through her social media while she waited.

The sounds of the early birds echoed throughout the usual busy streets as April scrolled, enjoying the somewhat peace and quiet that was rare for New York. Then again it was rather early for anyone other than workers or animals to be awake. April had insisted that she and Casey left early in the morning when she'd called him, wanting to use as much time as she could to search thoroughly for any sign of Leonardo. Surprisingly Casey agreed with her, the young man itching just as much as she was to get the search started.

'Hopefully we'll find something....'

April thought, trying not to let the feeling of doubt overwhelm her. She wanted to be somewhat positive with this and hold on to hope that she and Casey would find something. Even though it seemed unlikely. After four years of nothing but grief and mourning only for something like this to happen out of the blue. It was suspicious if she thought about it logically.

'It could be a trap, after all The Shredder is still out there running at large.'

Her mind supplied. The woman couldn't help but feel a hot shot of anger consume her as she thought about the Foot Clan's master. The Shredder, the most dangerous enemy she and the boys have ever faced. He was cunning and ruthless and downright monstrous when given the chance to be. He lived for the suffering of others, especially the Hamato family. The Shredder who had caused so much damage and suffering to many innocents in New York City. April was so caught up in her angry thoughts that she didn't notice the large van pulling up in front of her until the sound of a beeping horn startled her half to death. April jumped tripping backwards onto the sidewalk as she let out a startled shriek. Her startled state turned into annoyance as the sound of familiar laughter filled the air.

"Oh God! You....! You should've seen.....! Your face....!"

Casey said in between bouts of laughter. April felt her face break out into a bright red blush from embarrassment and anger as Casey wheezed in his van.

"Casey Jones!"

April seethed standing up with a glare. Eyes narrowed she nearly tore the passenger door open and hopped into the van, fuming while Casey tried to calm down.

"Sorry....Ape. Here a peace offering."

Casey said with another shutter of laughter as he handed her a hot cup of fresh coffee. April glared at it for a beat before taking it with a grumble while Casey smirked in amusement. Once April was buckled into her seat Casey took off towards the city limits, his dark eyes focused on the road. The duo was quiet as he drove through the streets, watching the sun start to rise over the tall skyscrapers. The silence didn't last too long as Casey finally decided to break it.

"Do you really think it could be him April?"

Casey asked his voice serious and quiet, no longer filled with his earlier amusement and laughter. April stiffened a bit before letting out a sigh.

"I....I don't know Casey. But I have to go and look. If I don't I'll never forgive myself."

April replied softly her voice wavering slightly. Casey gave his companion a slightly concerned look. He knew how much this effected her, how much it effected the Hamato family. He just like her had been grieving for the loss that they'd experienced. When he'd received the phone call last night he'd been shocked to say the least. The news that Leo could still be out there.....that he could still be alive had shaken him more than he'd care to admit.

"If he's out there Ape, we'll find him and bring him home."

Casey said giving her a determined side glance. April looked at him before a small dull smile came onto her face.

"Yeah....we will."

She said softly before turning to stare out the window. The two didn't talk anymore after that, both lost in their thoughts. They knew that this was a shot in the dark, that they'd most likely come home empty handed and devastated but they wouldn't give up on that small sliver of hope. Not now, not after four years of nothing. They had to hope or else they'd completely break.

~~~~~

The drive out of the city felt like an eternity before they'd finally made it to the gas station. Casey drove the van into the old gas station's parking lot, the tiny building looking old but still working. Finding a place off to the side to park Casey parked the van and turned it off. The duo exchanged a quick look before they unbuckled and got out of their vehicle. April blinked as the sun hit her face, the early morning rays painting the somewhat small woodland area and gas station in shades of pink and white. April had to take a breather as she started to process that this was happening. She and Casey were really doing this thing.

"So where should we search first?"

Casey asked opening up the back of his van and reaching for his duffel bag. April spotted the familiar baseball bat sticking out of the one side as Casey slung the bag over his shoulder.

"We'll go inside the station first and find a map of the surrounding areas so we can keep track of which places we've looked. Once we've got our map we'll start with the wooden area behind the station here. If whatever that driver saw was near the gas station then it probably couldn't have gone too far."

April stated adjusting her jacket a bit. Casey nodded and shut the van doors.

"Alrighty then. Lead the way red."

He said with a small smirk. April shot him an unamused look before walking towards the station to get a map. Inside the building was small, much like a small home owned store. The old sounds of an air conditioner could be heard as April and Casey made their way inside to search for the map section. Looking through the racks April skimmed through them before finally finding what she was looking for. Grabbing one she made her way to the checkout. Shortly after Casey joined her with a few snack foods, granola bars and several bottles of water. The cashier looked at them before scanning their items and asking for the payment. One payment later and the duo were again back outside and made their way into the woodland area near the station and began their search.

~~~~~

Nothing.

They'd found nothing.

Other than the normal things and trash that littered the woods from time to time, April and Casey had found nothing. No footprints, nothing out of place, no broken branches or any other signs of recent interference other than old garbage. It was soul crushing to say the least. Casey stood a few feet behind April as he watched her search in an almost desperate way. It broke his heart seeing the usually strong woman look so broken down.

"April....I think we should call it quits......"

Casey said in a somewhat hesitant manner. April stopped in her searching at his words, her posture going rigid.

"But....but Casey...."

April started to say, turning her head towards him. Casey couldn't help but flinch as he saw the broken expression on April's face. He'd known that the chances of finding anything involving Leo were slim and he knew that April knew that too.

"We knew that there was a slim chance of.....of finding him alive....."

Casey said softly his tone shaking slightly. April stared at him, looking so broken down at that moment. He couldn't help but think back four years ago, when she'd given him that same broken look when the news of Leonardo's demise was told to them.

'Maybe this was a mistake. Coming out here and chasing ghosts from the past. She's still not over it. None of us are and we probably never will be.'

He thought as he went to squat next to her. With a small movement he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into a hug. As soon as she was in his arms the damn broke for her as April began to silently cry into his shoulder.

"I.....I had hoped......damnit why....?!? Why!?!"

April choked out gripping his shirt. Casey just held her tighter.

"I know, I was hoping too April. Let's just.....let's just get home. We've done all we can."

He said soothingly. April nodded slowly before letting him go. Wiping her eyes she tried to pull herself together but it was hard. Logically she knew deep down that this was the outcome of searching for Leo but emotionally she'd dared to hope that maybe she and Casey would find him. Sniffling she let Casey help her up onto her feet and with a gentle but supportive hand he started to led her out of the area they were in. The walk back to the station was about thirty minutes to an hour depending on how long the person walking them took. The duo started their journey back, a somber silence stretching between them. The sky was growing dark and the crickets began to chirp around them, the evening surprisingly peaceful.

April should have known that it wouldn't last long.

It'd only been a good five minutes before everything went to hell in a way. She hadn't watched where she was walking too consumed by her grief when her foot went sideways causing April to stumble over. She let out a startled shriek as she fell, grabbing onto Casey and unintentionally dragging him down with her. The two went tumbling rolling on the uneven ground as they descended. In a pile of limbs they landed on the ground off of the trail, pained hisses and groans coming from them.

"You ow, alright April?"

Casey groaned out as he was elbowed in the ribs by accident.

"Shit I'm sorry Case, and I'm good just bruised....."

April mumbled out before trailing off staring straight ahead of her. Casey managed to get untangled from her and sat up rubbing his ribs before noticing that something was wrong.

"Ape? You okay? What's gotten you so...."

Casey stopped dead in his sentence as he looked in the direction that she was, his dark gaze going wide. There a good few feet or so away from them was a small shelter, just hidden from view with leaves and branches. It was new and hastily made but it was serving its purpose.

"You've got to be kidding me...."

Casey breathed stunned at what he was seeing. April didn't say a word instead stumbling back up to her feet and she scrambled towards the shelter to look at it better. Casey was right behind her, his own klutzy footsteps following. The two stared at it in a stunned silence, daring to hope once again.

Could it be.....?

April reached forward with a shaking hand and moved the leaves from the entrance way to look inside. Littered on the ground was a bag with all sorts of things in it from herbs to granola bar wrappers. All of it new and barely a day or two old. April snapped her gaze to Casey, her eyes shining so brightly it nearly blinded him.

"Casey....! I think we found him-!"

April didn't get to finish her sentence as something large came from above them and slammed them into the ground. April let out a pained yelp as she felt an arm swing out and slam into her gut. Casey's pained swear rang out as he was kicked to the ground. April forced herself to breathe as she watched Casey recover quicker than her and pull out his baseball bat swinging it as hard as he could. The thing that attacked them remained unseen, dodging out of the way. From there out a full fight broke out. Casey swung and fought the shadowy creature, while April got herself together again to try and help him.

'It's fast-!'

April thought startled as the creature kicked Casey in the chest making him stumble over. April didn't think as she grabbed a nearby branch and swung it hitting it in the back. She heard a pained hiss before it turned on her and launched itself at her. April fell the thing on top of her and pinning her down. She barely managed to make out the hint of metal in its hand as she squirmed to get free.

'Knife, its got a knife!'

She struggled to get out from under it as it raised its blade ready to run her through when Casey came up from behind and smashed the baseball bat against its back. A pained scream rang out as Casey grabbed April and yanked her up before shoving her behind him ready to attack again when they both froze. Now bathed in the fading light of the evening sun they finally saw who their attacker was. Dark green skin, a hard shell and two terrified and pained blue hues stared at them. April's heart stopped.

"L-Leo....?"

She whimpered out making the turtle stiffen. Confusion filtered his gaze before he snapped out of it and went for them again, his eyes wide and desperate. Casey didn't hesitate as he swung the bat again this time knocking him down for good with a hit to the head. Leo fell to the ground in a pained yelp before going out cold. The only sounds were of April and Casey's heavy breathing as they stared at their friend, shocked and confused. It was only a second later before the two of them broke. Casey dropped his baseball bat and began to apologize over and over again as he fell to his knees to look the unconscious teen over. April's legs gave out as the adrenaline wore off and the shock and disbelief and pain overwhelmed her. The red head didn't even stop herself from bursting into tears as she shakily grabbed Leo's head to look at him, the look he'd given her burned into her mind forever.

The fear, the pain, the lack of recognition as he attacked them in what she now understood was self defense. All of it came crashing down and broke her in a way. She was conflicted, emotions fighting within her. Relief, shock, disbelief, hurt, guilt. All of it swallowed her and she could see that Casey was feeling the same way.

They'd found Leonardo.

But at what cost?

~~~~~

All was quiet in the lair save for the lone rat that sat in the dojo alone, a small shrine in front of him. His sons had retired for the night leaving him alone with his thoughts and grief. Splinter stared at the shrine with a broken look, a picture of his eldest son and his broken katanas hanging on the wall. The old rat fought the wave of pain that threatened to consume him, silent tears running down his fur.

Four years.

It's been four years since the death of his eldest son.

Four years since he and his family struggled to overcome their grief and loss. Many would think that after four years would ease the pain for the ninja master but it didn't. It still tore him apart, it still ate away at him slowly. Losing one of his children was one of the worst things the rat could have ever experienced in all his long life. Splinter loved his sons more than anything in this world, he treasured each and every one of them. He raised them and cared for them. He taught them to defend themselves and the innocents of the city. He taught them the importance of family and everything else he'd learned in his lifetime. Yet nothing could have prepared them for this. Splinter gripped his robes, fighting off the grief as he remembered that day. How his youngest children Donatello and Michelangelo had made it back to the lair.

How they'd waited for the two others, Leonardo and Raphael to return home. How his second eldest son came home, bloody and bruised and cradling something in his arms in a protective way. He remembered how his boy, his strong son fell to his knees and sobbed as he laid the two broken swords on the ground and the sentence that had broken their entire family.

'Leo's gone. The Shredder....he....he killed him.'

At that moment something broke in Splinter and his sons. Like a string that held their family of five together had been snipped and with it his eldest son. For four years he and his sons grieved and mourned for their loss. For four years they felt nothing but rage towards The Shredder who had already taken so much from them. Splinter had noticed that over the years his sons had began to harbor hatred towards their enemy, especially Raphael. Not that he could blame them for he too deep down held some himself. Before Splinter could dig deeper into the memories the sound of a phone ringing sounded out through the lair. The old rat got up from his position, saying a small prayer to the shrine before going to answer the phone. Stepping out of the dojo and into the kitchen he grabbed the house line phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

He spoke his voice raspy and somewhat thick sounding. He cursed himself for it.

"Master Splinter? It's April."

April's voice spoke through the phone.

"Ah Mrs. O'Neil. I wasn't expecting a call from you this evening. Is there something that you need?"

Splinter asked somewhat nervous for some reason. April was quiet for a moment before she took a deep breath. Splinter felt himself stiffen up at that, his whiskers twitching in his unease. When she answered the world spiraled into chaos.

"Master Splinter. We found him, Leonardo's alive."

*Whoop we're on a roll tonight aren't we???? I honestly wasn't expecting this to become a series but I'm a self indulgent bastard so I'm sticking to the train lol. Anyways I've decided that the turtles are probably gonna be the 2012 ones with a little bit of the 2003 ones (sorry 2018 boys maybe next time). Maybe a little bit of the 1990 ones mixed in who knows. Also it seems we're finally getting somewhere with our main boys! Anyways if any y'all read this I hope you enjoyed it!!!!*

#oli talks #ooc #muns ramblings #my writing #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #tmnt #rottmnt #tmnt leo #rottmnt leo #tmnt April #tmnt Casey #tmnt Splinter #tmnt Shredder #tmnt fic #Leonardo Hamato #April O'Neil #Casey Jones #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2003 #tmnt 1990 #Leo Centric #i can't write fight scenes sgdgdgdgg #forgive me y'all #ooc probably sorry #anyways enjoy I guess #tmnt raph #tmnt donnie #tmnt mikey

[wings-n-tings]

Breaking In

Part 2

You woke up to the bright sun as sweat dripped down your forehead. You should’ve left a window cracked or something, it’s hot as hell. A drop of sweat roll down your face as you sat up to check the time.

It’s almost twelve which means you gotta get going before they catch up to you. They might be following you, so leaving now would be your best option. You jumped back to the drivers seat, started up the car, and drove away as quickly as you could.

I was in the room before them. What’s the big deal with those weirdos? It’s not like I had a gun pointed at their heads or anything. You told yourself that trying to convince yourself that they over reacted, but you couldn’t put it all on them. A random person was in their room. They probably thought you were watching them while they slept. A cold shiver ran up your spine as you processed this. You just became fully aware of why they reacted the way they did, I mean imagine waking up to someone you don’t know and have never seen before in your life sneaking around your room in the dead of night. They behaved the way any sane person would’ve in this situation.

You drove a few more hours crossing state lines into Nebraska and then South Dakota. The pressure in you’re bladder was building up minute after minute. So you pulled into a gas station in a town called Dimock and ran inside before you’re bladder exploded.

After you did you’re business and stepped out the restroom you decided to get a snack before leaving again. So you walked through the isle unable to decide if you want the hot Cheetos or some crackers so you just got both. You walked up to the counter and placed everything down. “Is that all for you?” The cashier asked. She seems nice. “Yes, thank you.” You smiled at her as she scanned your items. “Would you like a bag?” You nodded at her while as you pulled out the credit card you found this morning. As she was bagging your items you noticed the “Now Hiring” sign on the counter. You drove pretty far from where you stole the car maybe you can hang around here for a little bit and try to get a job and save some money.

“Are you guys still hiring?” You asked the cashier. You looked at her name tag to get her name.

“Yes we are. Do you need an application?” She turned to grab the application from the countertop behind her after you nodded eagerly. “Thank you so much Ms. Emily. Is it alright if I fill it out here?”

“Yeah that’s no problem. Here’s a pen.” She pulled a pen out of a little cup and handed it to you while admiring your car outside. You didn’t say anything about it to her though because it’s not really your car, you don’t even know what kind of car it is, and you didn’t care enough to check, so you shrugged it off and wrote your name on the application after thanking her for the pen.

You didn’t know what to put down for your address but you remembered seeing a motel not too far away from here so you just wrote the name of the motel there. You’re gonna live there for a bit, just until you accumulate enough money to get an apartment. Now you didn’t have a phone number you don’t even own a phone because you don’t have money for one. You have an email but no way to check it. You’re going to have to come back everyday to ask about an interview.

“After you finished putting in your personal information you called Emily back and handed her your application. She smiled at you and read your name on the application. “Thank you, (Y/n).” She paused. “Actually do you think you’ll be available for an interview in the morning at 8AM. We desperately need the help.” That came as a surprise to. They usually take your application and forget about it. “Yes, actually I can. Should I ask for you when I come?”

“No need I’ll be here. I own this store and it’s getting difficult to run things smoothly by myself. You’re the first person that’s applied and I’ve had the sign up for a few weeks now.”

“I’ll be here at 8. Thank you so much.” Gathered your things and walked out the store and started heading to the motel you spotted earlier.

———————————

You paid for one week to stay at the motel. After that you’d have to sleep in the car because after seeing the charge on whoever’s credit card that is they’ll most likely cancel and report it.

It’s been a minute since you had a nice warm shower so you took off your clothes and just soaked in the water. Motel soap isn’t that great, but it’s all you have right now. So you lathered it over your skin. You even used the shampoo to wash your hair. You want to look your best for this interview.

After you got out the shower you wrapped yourself in the towel around yourself the turned and filled the bath with water and every soap you could find in the room. The motel didn’t have washers and dryers so you had to do it the old fashioned way. You threw them in the water and let them soak for thirty minutes before stirring them around in the water for a bit and ringing the water out. There were no hangers so you slung them on the shower pole and let the water out of the bath tub.

You walked out still wrapped in the towel and jumped on the bed landing on your back. The sun was starting to going down so you set an alarm for 7am and laid on the bed. You were flipping through the channels on the tv looking for something good to watch and landed on a show called Doctor Sexy. It’s a weird name for a show but it’s very interesting. You fell asleep in the middle of the episode and when you woke up to your alarm going off some weird tv ad was playing.

Turning it off you headed into the bathroom bringing the towel with you. At some point during the night it slipped off and somehow ended up on the floor.

Your clothes were still a little damp but it was unnoticeable so you shook them out and put them on. After you finished getting ready you hopped in the car heading to the corner store for you’re interview. You pray to whoever could hear you about this interview. It’s only a cashier job but something is better than nothing, and you are grateful for this opportunity. You can finally start to get your life back on track.

——————

“Well (Y/n) this concludes the interview. You seem like a very nice girl. If it’s alright with you I’d like to move on with the hiring process”

“Wait really?” She nodded eagerly. “Yeah of course. What do I have to do?” You asked her. This seemed too easy, but you’re not going to question it. Maybe she really is desperate to get some help around here. “Well I just need to get you a name tag and put you on payroll. Just confirm your name and birth date are correct and you can start on Monday.” You did as she said then stood up and shook her hand. “Thank you so much Ms. Emily. I’ll see you on Monday.”

There was something off about all of this, but you disregarded it. You finally got a job. A job that you start working on Monday. Which was two days away. You are, honestly, excited. Who knew a job at a corner store would bring you such joy.

——————

You got back to the motel at eleven, which is really early. You didn’t know what to do with the rest of your day so you decided to waste it by watching tv. You took off your jeans and your sweater, leaving on your tank top and underwear and jumped on the bed. You haven’t had a day like this in a while and you wanted to cherish it.

Unbeknownst to you, the car you’d stolen was for the two men you were trying to forget about. It is very precious to them so they were tracking it down during the two days you were resting on.

——-——

One week later...

Although you’d only worked for five days, you were hired on week of payday which means you get your first pay check today. You were kind of excited about it. You normally work the closing shift, but today Ms. Emily asked you to open because she has to run some errands.

You were supposed to get off at four so you were getting a little worried because Ms. Emily said she’d be back at a quarter til three, but it’s 3:50 now and she still isn’t back. As time went on you realize she isn’t gonna get back today. I hope she’s okay. Weird things have been going on in this town this past week. Some people even went missing so you were worried for her safety.

When seven rolled around you decided to call her. She probably got held up somewhere, but she didn’t answer. You made the executive decision to close early, you had walked to work today to take in the scenery and you didn’t want to leave work too late, the dark is a scary place. You went to her office to grab your check and used the ATM to cash it then pocketed your money.

As you walked out the store you made sure it was clean and turned off all the lights. You took the key out your pocket as you walked out the door then turned and locked it.

You’re on high alert now since it was late out. You were walking back to the motel when you got this eerie feeling that you were being watched causing you to pick up your pace to get to the car faster. You turned in the room key this morning on your way to work since today was you check out day, however you talked with the manager about leaving your car parked there until you get off of work so you had nothing to worry about as long as you move it by the end of the day.

As the motel came into view your paranoia got the best of you and you started running to the car. Someone is watching you and you know it. Your heart started beating a little faster as you got in the car. You accidentally touched the hot wire and jumped as electricity surged through your arm. “Fucking shit Mother fucker!” You screamed. Your entire arm felt numb, you were careful about the wires this whole week, this hysteria is throwing you off. So you took a moment to recoup and recover. Your entire arm feels sore and you’re still a bit disturbed, so you started the car and drove away from the motel.

—————

You parked in front an abandoned warehouse and killed the engine. You were gonna have to sleep here for the night and find a different spot tomorrow. It’s dark out so you decided to call it a night and go to sleep. You have to open the store again in the morning.

You were very curious about what may be inside the warehouse though. You didn’t want to go in, yet still you got out of the car and started walking to the door.

What am I doing? This is so stupid. Why am I walking to this building? What if there’s dead bodies in there? Don’t go you dumb bitch!

Against your better judgement you walked in anyway. To you’re surprise, though, it was completely empty. You walked towards the middle of the room and looked around curiously. Maybe you can sleep in here instead of the car. It might be more comfortable, and no one would walk inside the building. Well, no one except for you.

You walked next to a pallet and laid down on the ground. Positioning yourself so that if someone were to walk through the door they wouldn’t see you. You closed your eyes and slipped into unconsciousness and before you knew you jerked awake and had to take a moment to catch your breath.

You weren’t sure why you woke up so suddenly so you stayed awake and made your way to door. You stopped in your tracks when you were in front of the door. You heard voices so you cracked the door open to peek out and see who was there. It was still dark out but you could still see them.

You saw two very large men. One a bit shorter than the other. They looked familiar but you couldn’t pinpoint where exactly you saw them before. You couldn’t take your eyes off the taller one. It was something about his hair. They were examining your car and when the taller one walked around to the passenger side and you finally saw his face. Your breath caught in your throat as your face paled. The strange men from the motel. You didn’t think you’d see them ever again in your life. Why are they here?

You slowly pulled your head back in from the crack in the door and slowly started to back away from it. Suddenly a hand was covering your mouth and something sharp was poking at your side.

“Don’t scream or I will kill you.”

You couldn’t see her face, but you knew exactly who she was.

“Ms. Emily what are you doing?” You asked lowly the fear in your voice was evident.

“Just be quiet. Do everything I say and maybe I’ll let you live” She growled in your ear.

“Please don’t hurt me.” You said louder this time. Hoping the men outside heard you.

“Shut up!” She yelled this time.

She dug the knife into your side. She didn’t stab you bad enough for medical attention, still it was deep enough to leave a mark. You cried out in pain but she grabbed your mouth harder so that your groans were muffled by her hand.

Suddenly the door was kicked open and in came the two men with guns in their hands. They both looked at you for a moment before looking at your boss. “Let her go.” The taller one said. If you remember correctly his name is Sammy.

“I don’t think so. You know when I saw her in your car I though she knew who you two were. I was hoping to use her to get to you Winchesters. But turns out she just stole your car.”

“Wow, I feel used and abused.” She dug the knife a little deeper and you cried out in pain as you were starting to see black dots in your vision. Your legs gave out under you but she held you up like you weighed as heavy as a piece of paper.

“A gun won’t kill me. If you let me walk out that door you can have the girl.” What do these guys want with your boss? And why is your boss trying to kill you? “Witch killing bullets.” The shorter one stated.

Sammy was still aiming his gun at your boss. You were scared that he was going to shoot the both of you, and if he didn’t shoot your boss she was going to stab you to death. You don’t want to die, and you don’t want to sit here and wait for something bad to happen. Thinking quickly you bent your arm to prepare yourself. You forcefully yanked your arm back hitting her as hard as you could in her gut and as suspected her grip loosened on you and you ran away from her as best you could before falling to the ground.

That’s when you heard the shots ringing throughout the building, and you watched your boss fall to the ground. Dead.

You were frozen in fear. You couldn’t stop staring at the dead person in front of you. Everything went by so quickly. Sammy came to aid you while the other guy, Dean, went to your boss, or ex boss, or whatever.

“Are you okay?” He asked but you didn’t answer. You couldn’t answer. It was like someone took your voice away from you. You started to breath harder and harder which was making the dots in your vision worse you’re breathing was all you could hear until Sammy yelled at you “Hey! Look at me. Hey!”

You averted your gaze away from where Ms. Emily was and looked Sammy in the eyes. “Are you okay?” He asked you once more. “I’m gonna pass out now.” Your voice was weak and the dots in your vision connected and you were engulfed in darkness.

Part 3

#spn fanfiction #supernatural fic #supernatural #fanfiction #dean winchester #sam winchester #supernatural fanfiction #spn fanfic #spn fic #supernatural fanfic #imagine #supernatural imagine #spn imagine #part 2 lol #sam x reader #dean x y/n #dean x reader #sam x y/n

[blerdstatic]

Microsoft Surface Headphones Review: 1st vs 2nd gen, and why they're great to Work-from-Home or anywhere.

So you're on the market for some new gear, and in your search you stumbled upon Microsoft's Surface Headphones, but you're not ready to make the plunge until you get some more research under your belt, right?

I don't blame you. The right head candy can be an expense these days, but hopefully this short and concise review can help!

Let me start by acknowledging that sound and music are more personal in nature, and everyone has their natural preferences. I happen to dig all kinds of music from musical soundtracks and trap to neo-soul and hip-hop. That aside...

Let's begin!

How much do Microsoft Surface Headphones cost?

Surface Headphones (1st gen) - $139.89 on Amazon

Surface Headphones 2 (2nd gen) - $250 from Microsoft Store

What's the difference between them visually?

To be honest, not much has visually changed at first glance. The design was pretty slick the first time around, and was well received. Even as I rode the subway or walked through the aisles of the grocery store, you could tell people admired the unique modern look. It's simple and clean just like the original.

The first gen headphones are grey/off-white while the second gen are charcoal black. They are beautiful shades, however it does make me wish for more colors. It would kind of be a good look if Microsoft offered four more colors that matched the colors of their logo (red, yellow, blue, green). But, I understand the safer play as opposed to going bold.

So what are some key differences that stood out?

Buttons: The 1st gen headphones had buttons that were almost flush with the cup, which was annoying. There were plenty times where I had to search frantically for the power button. The second gen fixes that by making the buttons pronounced.

Ear-cup Size: The size/diameter of the 2nd gen earcups are definitely larger, which is welcome because I have Will Smith ears. But not only that, it makes for an over all cozier feel.

Earcup Swivel: The Surface Headphones 2 earcups can spin around almost 360, which is great because I have more ability to wear them comfortably around my neck! I'm glad they fixed it this time around.

Multi-Bluetooth Connection: I was easily able to set up multi-bluetooth connections to my various devices, including the Android Pixel4a and Pro7. It was amazing to listen to music or video on my phone, then continue right where I left off on the Pro7.

Grease: One other thing to note...don't touch the black Surface Headphones with greasy hands, it shows much more than if you did with the white 1st gens. That's a user issue though, not a hardware one.

How do they feel once you pick them up?

Without a doubt, the difference is night and day. The 2nd gen headphones are more weighty, and for me that's a great thing. I honestly don't like my hardware/electronics to feel too light, because it makes me think there's not much going on inside to produce a quality experience.

Once I picked up the Surface Headphones 2, then picked up the Surface Headphones (1st gen), I was properly excited to listen. The extra weight provided a sense of anticipation that there would be more UMPH, in terms of low, mids, highs and bass tones.

Setup Time?

It took literally less than 5 minutes to open and pair the headphones to begin listening to music. It was quick, easy, and intuitive for me. I enabled blue-tooth on my phone, then powered on the headphones. Found the name of the headphones from my phone's blue-tooth list, and followed the onscreen/audio instructions, and boom I was setup.

Now if it's someone older or unfamiliar with blue-tooth devices, they might need some help going into their blue-tooth settings, etc.

What about the Sound?

I preferred the sound of the Surface Headphones 2 over the 1st gen. During my test I played all kinds of music at a 95% volume (almost on max...yes mom, I know it's not good for my ears).

One of my main gripes on Surface Headphones (1st gen) was that on higher volumes, and listening to music with more bass, it started to sound like 'rattling', as if the headphones could not handle the true sound.

The Surface Headphones 2 fixed that issue completely. I listened to all sorts of bass heavy music and not a single time did I hear rattling.

The treble is also more solid this time around, and truly shines when listening to slower soundtrack or classical music.

I would say that I'm highly satisfied with the sound on both fronts. And if you're curious here are some of the songs I listened to on both Surface 1st gen and Surface 2nd gen.

And here's the rest of the list in case you're curious or want some new jams:

Story of OJ - JayZ

Cyberpunk 2077 - Pacific Dreams Radio Playlist

Father Figure - Tobe Nwigwe

Will (Remix) - Joyner Lucas & Will Smith

O-o-h Child - The Five Stairsteps

This Land - from Lion King original album

Black Panther - Ludwig Goransson

Break You Off - The Roots

All the Stars - Kendrick Lamar & SZA

Nothing Without You - Tanerelle

Adonai - Sarkodie

Be Here in the Morning - Joy Denalane

Noise Cancellation and Ambient Amplification:

The noise cancellation is solid. With no music playing and maxed out ambient filter on, I couldn't even hear myself snapping fingers next to my head, or my wife talking to me in her normal voice (which is occasionally kind of loud - no shade).

The noise cancellation was great on SurfaceMulti (1st gen) but it's now even better with the 2nd gen, especially when drowning out annoying sounds when walking outside (such as people, cars, trains).

I also love the ambient amplification feature, that's easy to use by dialing up the level on the left ear cup. I use that regularly if I'm listening to music, but want to also know if someone says something to me directly. Or the other day, when I was in the grocery store and walked up to the cashier to checkout, I didn't have to take the headphones off. I was able to up the ambient amplifier to max, and speak with the cashier. Once I finished, I immediately turned my music and noise cancellation back up. It was pretty seamless.

Charging and Battery Life:

Officially the 1st gen gets 13 hours and the 2nd gen gets 18.5. After a full charge, and then turning on the Surface 2, the voice said I had 17 hours left. I typically only listen in 1 - 3 hour spurts at my highest usage, so that pans out to about a whole week almost without needing to recharge.

Overall Verdict:

I'm highly recommending the Surface Headphones 2. For the price point and quality, I feel like the Surface Headphones 2 are your better buy, especially considering how they stack up against similar competitors. I felt like Microsoft paid attention to all the things that actually needed improvement, instead of trying to switch everything up. That impressed me more than anything honestly, how they paid attention to the minute quality of life details. Compared to other headphones I've tried in the same range, excluding the Sony XMs, I'd say these are very well priced and outdo the predecessors as well as the competition. But even compared to Sony XMs, which are prices $100 to $150 more, the sound on the Surface Headphones 2 are definitely comparable. I certainly don't think you'll be saying "I'm really glad I spent that extra $100+ on these Sony XMs".

I would have no problem recommending these to anyone trying to figure out what to spend their next stim check on!

#microsoft #surface #headphone #headphones #review #surface headphones 2 #music #sound

[making-more-sense-than-google]

Map Of The Soul: 7 (Ver. 4)

The Notes: English Translation

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Seokjin 11 April YEAR 22

I opened my eyes once again in the pouring sunlight. Beyond my eyelids, I could still see the burning flames in the container, as well as Namjoon’s dead body. I failed again this time. I raised my arm to cover my eyes and I thought, “Is there any way that I can save Namjoon?” I looked back on the events of September 30th. I didn’t feel anything in particular. I wasn’t impatient, nor afraid.     Ever since the first incident, I’ve been sent through countless loops. However, I still don’t know why I’m going through these loops, or what I can do to fix this mess. No—even more than that—I couldn’t even find that ‘Map Of The Soul’, the clue that’s supposed to end all this. Map Of The Soul. The first time I heard of it was after several failures. “You need to find the Map Of The Soul. It will put an end to all of this.” Map Of The Soul? What even is that? I kept asking that, but I never got any answers. Instead, I was left with these words. “Hints always come at a price.”     I could see Namjoon’s gas station in the distance. I flipped on my blinker and changed lanes. I could only think of one thing. I had to stop the incident of September 30th—I had to close the loop. I was moving toward that singular goal. Even if there was a problem with that process, even if someone was hurt or alienated, there was nothing I could do about it. If I let myself dwell on those things or I get overwhelmed, I’ll never be able to achieve my goal. What was even more important than saving everyone was making sure that I myself was able to survive and escape. That was the lesson that those endless loops had taught me.

1 February YEAR 22

There was an announcement that we’d be landing soon. I couldn’t see the clouds outside the window yet. I thought back to my time in LA. The ocean was lovely. Not much else came to mind. The plane made a big turn and the city caught my eye.     Returning to Songju was so sudden. My father had called me. “Come back,” he said. Of course, there must’ve been a reason for it. My father isn’t the type of person to make a move without reason. But he wouldn’t bother telling me what that reason was. I didn’t ask either, since I knew I’d realize when I arrived. But then again, maybe coming back to Songju hadn’t been so sudden after all. Maybe everything had already been decided, and I was the only one left in the dark.        “Is that our house?” I heard the kid sitting in front of me ask. I looked out the window. “No, silly, our house is across the river,” a father-like voice responded. “Home,”  I thought to myself. It didn’t feel like I was going home. Then again, LA didn’t feel like home either. LA and Songju. Those two places were where my address was posted, but they weren’t my home. 

Yoongi 13 June YEAR 22

Jungkook’s words sprung to my mind. “It’s because I like your music, hyung,” he had said. “It’s because when I hear you play piano, I start crying. I’ve wanted to die several times a day, but when I heard you play piano... I want to live. So, yeah. That’s why. I’m telling you, your music reminds me of my own heart.” Drunk and sprawled out on the floor, I thought of Jungkook’s expression as he repeated those words, over and over.

2 August YEAR 22

I sent the music file to Seokjin, laying down immediately afterwards. I had found something written on the border of my sheet music from the old classroom. “If we’re together, we can smile,” it said. It wasn’t my handwriting. I remembered something from a long time ago. A day filled with fog. For whatever reason, Seokjin and I found ourselves crossing the playing field together. We were awkward with each other. I shoved my hands in my pockets, purposefully walking slow. I was hoping he’d leave me behind, but he’s not that kind of person. Instead, he tried to make clumsy small-talk with me, but every time he did, it made everything that much more awkward. I’m not quite sure why, but I ended up asking, “Hyung, when was the last time you truly smiled?” He didn’t answer, I didn’t ask anymore.        “If we’re together, we can smile.” This sentence was most likely the answer to all my questions. I wasn’t sure if Seokjin had written it or not. But in the end, I didn’t need to be sure. The melody on the music sheet was childish. It was only two years ago, but my music from back then was insufficient and overly-aggressive. It didn’t flow smoothly, nor sound beautiful. When I think back to highschool, I only think of getting drunk and stumbling around, but it wasn’t like every single day had been like that. I stayed up all night polishing up my music from back then, and I finally gave it a name. “If we’re together, we can smile.”

Namjoon 25 August YEAR 22

I collapsed to the floor. The inside of the steel-plated container was already so hot, I could barely open my eyes. I looked at my surrounding, a frown on my face. It had been 10 minutes since I told him to wait up, saying I’d be going out to buy some ramen. I heard a cough. When I turned around, I saw Woo-chang crouched further inside. I doused a blanket in water, wrapping it around his body. I pointed out the window. “We’re gonna have to jump out of there,” I said. “Woo-chang. You can do it, right?” Outside the door, the crimson flames were growing stronger. I grabbed Woo-chang’s hand tightly. “We’re gonna jump on three,” I told him. “One, two—” At that moment, something fell in front of the door. The materials piled next to the container seemed to be collapsing in the flames. Sparks and dirt flew around in the dust. Woo-chang and I stumbled back, shocked. In less than an instant, our exit was blocked.

18 July YEAR 22

I stared up at the building. They had a few lights on, scattered about here and there. Maybe it was because it was near city hall, but there were lots of signs for accounting firms and offices. On the highest floor of the building—the 5th one—all the lights were turned on. For the past few weeks, Taehyung and I have climbed all of Songju’s tallest buildings, looking out from the tops. We weren’t even sure what we were looking for. Our only clue was Taehyung’s dream. In that dream, he saw canned coffee and a four leaf clover. With those two clues, we went up and down buildings all night long. Some days, it rained. We brought umbrellas in the beginning, but these days, we just let it come. We’d found ourselves caught up in some disputes because of it. One time, while we were soaking wet and walking up the stairs, we were mistaken for ruffians and kicked out of the building. The fence on the roof was usually locked up tight, and we couldn’t see anything from the landing of the staircase.         I looked up at the building again. “Will this be what we’re looking for in the end?” I wondered. There was a familiar name etched onto the door. Office of Congressman Kim Chang-jun. “Who’s that?” Taehyung asked. I looked back at him. “You don’t know?” Taehyung looked back at me, his gaze pure and innocent, completely unknowing. Sometimes, I feel at a loss when it comes to Kim Taehyung. There are some things that seem impossible not to know, yet Kim Taehyung boldly stated that he didn’t know them. Without hesitation, Kim Taehyung would look at the things that I was too scared to look at. He would also willingly reach out to grab someone’s hand, even when no one else would. “It’s Seokjin’s father,” I answered him.

Hoseok 24 July YEAR 22

“Seokjin, can’t you say something to your dad? You know, hyung. You know what that place means to me. That orphanage is like a home to me. And if the orphanage isn’t there, all the kids that live there will end up getting separated. Even if they redevelop the area, they should leave the orphanage out of it.” Words just slipped out of my mouth without explanation as I walked into the container. Everyone was looking at me with shocked eyes. Seokjin hyung was the only one whose expression remained unchanged. I was nearly crying, but hyung just looked at me as if it were nothing.     “Everything’s already been decided. There’s nothing I can do.” Every word that my hyung was saying reached me very slowly. I could see that each of those words drew a precise line between me and Seokjin. Hyung belonged to a decisive world, and I belonged to a world where I couldn’t even stand up against those decisions. I thought that I was Seokjin’s friend, but now the thought occurred to me that maybe people like us couldn’t be friends in the real world.      I was angry at him. I shouted at him, asking how he could be like this, and I begged him to help. But I guess I already knew. All of that was just noise. There was nothing I could do. The words that I said, the anger I showed—it wasn’t meant for hyung. It was meant for myself. It was for me, who could do nothing. For me, who was nothing.

31 July YEAR 2

My first impression of Hagok was that it was similar to Songju, just a little more lively. I fell behind the people rushing to get off the platform, walking leisurely. It was unlike me to move all slowly like that. But I was so slow that I was almost a burden to the flow of people around me. I was acting like someone who had promised to not do anything that felt like Jung Hoseok. I didn’t pay attention to the people around me, I just went on my way. I ate all the spicy foods that I didn’t usually eat, and when I paid, I didn’t tell the the cashier that the food was delicious. When there was no one around me, I even spat on the road.       I followed the map on the internet to the location that the store was supposed to be opened. It was the first floor of a strip mall near a highschool. Next to it, there was a stationary shop and a 24 hour kimbap joint. It was almost funny how similar it was to the two star burger place in Songju. I looked around, wondering where I should be looking for a house if I was really going to move here. As I was glancing around, I bumped into someone. “Oh, I’m sorry—” I started to say automatically, but I stopped myself. I didn’t really need to, but I hardened my gaze, looking at the person critically. “Look where you’re going,” I said. The Jung Hoseok of Hagok was a ruthless jerk and a crazy person, as well as a fool who did whatever he wanted 24 hours a day.      That illusion lasted for all of five seconds. “Hoseok hyung, that’s you, right?” That’s when I realized I knew that face.

Jimin 18 July YEAR 22

I killed my time by wandering around the nearby convenience store. It was at the tail-end of the Songju Middle School. I used to ditch school and secretly head over this way, and I would wait for my hyungs in a small park across from the shop. I checked my surroundings. It had been a while since I’d found myself in this neighborhood, but not much had changed. I recalled that Yoongi hyung’s and Jungkook’s house was nearby. As I glanced around, I saw some graffiti-looking artwork on the wall of an alleyway to my right. It looked like something Taehyung might’ve done. I walked toward it.       Without really realizing it, I stopped in front of the drawing. It was someone’s face, devoid of warmth and scribbled out with rough, black lines. I say ‘someone’, but I knew exactly whose face it was. I knew that face’s owner. It was Seokjin hyung. As soon as I thought of hyung, another person’s face overlapped it. No matter how I looked at it, they weren’t alike at all. Yet, they were. They had the same eyes. Soulless eyes. That was when I realized. I knew who I needed to find.

12 August YEAR 22

I hugged the trembling younger me. I could feel my damp body and my heart that was beating too quickly. I spoke while stuttering, “Wait just a little longer. When you get a little older, you’ll meet some good friends. With those friends, you’ll become a better person. If you can wait until then, everything could be okay. So, just have a tiny, miniscule bit more strength.” When I finished speaking, I hugged myself tighter. I was crying. I couldn’t hold it anymore, so I just cried.        I wondered how much time passed. When I opened my eyes, the younger me had disappeared. I stood up, rubbing my eyes and looking up at the sky. There wasn’t a single cloud in the clear afternoon sky, and everything around me was quiet. I saw the arboretum’s exit in the distance. There wasn’t a single trace of rain.

Taehyung 23 July YEAR 22

We went to the middle of the classroom. I shined my phone flashlight on the old desks, chairs and rolled up event placards. The classroom that no one entered anymore seemed older than ever. I checked my surroundings. I wonder what happened here. Jimin was crouching by the far wall, and Yoongi hyung was perched on the piano bench. Namjoon hyung was writing something on the window with his finger.      “Reminds me of highschool. Since we’re here in the middle of the night and all,” Namjoon spoke after a long time. “Highschool?” Yoongi said, sneering a bit. “No thanks, I’ll pass.” Namjoon started talking. “Why does the world look like this? This world... It isn’t something we created. It was already like this when we got here. But why do we get thrown into this world without any means to survive?”       Just then, Jimin sat up a little. “Yo, look over here,” he said. “This is Seokjin hyung’s dad’s name.” We walked to where Jimin was pointing. Hidden among the scribbles on the wall, there was a few names. Everyone’s flashlights illuminated one particular name. Jimin pointed again, saying that there was another one. “It’s the guy from the psyche ward,” he said. “I don’t know the others, though.” Yoongi pointed to another name. “Choi Gyu-ho. That’s the guy from the missing person’s case, right?”  Underneath the names, there was a message that Namjoon had written. ‘Everything started here.’

24 July YEAR 22

I wonder how long I’d been sitting there. I saw someone walking out into the 3rd floor hallway. They were pretty far away, so I couldn’t see their face very well, but I could tell that it was a slim, middle-aged woman. She rested her arms on the handrail, gazing down at the playground. Then she lit up a cigarette. The lighter’s flame flashed brightly and then disappeared. Cigarette smoke floated up into the blue, early morning air.        I looked up at her without moving an inch. Everything around us grew brighter, probably because of the rising sun. The woman was still leaning against the handrail, her posture staying the same. One cigarette was already burnt to the tip, so she pulled out one more.      I wondered if she had seen me. I was far enough away that she wouldn’t have been able to see me very well, but I still wondered what she might’ve thought about seeing a guy sitting on a playground swing at this hour. I supported the swing with all the strength in my arms and legs so that it wouldn’t creak. I kept seeing the cigarette light flare and wane, over and over again. The sun was rising. The woman lit her last cigarette, as if to greet the sunrise. Then she turned around and disappeared back inside. I counted all the doors in the hallway one-by-one, starting from the left. 304, 305, 306. That was the door to my mom’s house.

Jungkook 13 June YEAR 22

I had a dream. In that dream, I was floating in the air above my hospital bed, looking down at a different me lying there. The me in the bed seemed to be sleeping. I wondered what kind of dream the sleeping me was having, seeing as his eyelids were twitching erratically. All of a sudden, his eyes flew open. Our gazes met.     The next thing I knew, I was laying the the bed. I dreamed of the night of the accident. The headlights formed into a moon, and then they changed suddenly into marble-like green and blue lights. I opened my eyes and saw another version of myself floating in the air above. I met eyes with the floating me. Our gazes overlapped and our consciousness reversed. I was the me floating in the air, and then the one lying in bed, switching back and forth over and over again. The speed of the overlap and reversal was getting faster. I got dizzy and felt like vomiting.     I woke with a scream. The sheets were soaked in sweat. I tried to catch my breath, still feeling nauseous. Suddenly, something that I’d forgotten sprung to mind. Someone’s voice. Living will be more painful than dying. Is that okay with you? Mom called in the doctor to check my condition. The doctor said that since I was recovering so quickly, it was nothing to worry about. I had bruises and fractures, but almost no internal bleeding. He told me that I had been very lucky in that crash. I looked at the doctor and asked him, “Who was it that hit me?”

3 August YEAR 22

“What’re you doing—not killing anyone?!” At the sound of that urgent shout, I pulled myself out of my thoughts. On the screen, there was a shooting game going on. Someone yelled in my headset that the enemy team was approaching. I immediately gripped the mouse. I shot like crazy. The opponents I shot felt like dolls without stuffing. I moved the mouse and pulled up the map. There was a railroad crossing through the middle of it. Next to the tracks, there were huge containers stacked all around. It felt like seeing the container village at Songju Station.      I switched my weapon. There was a machine gun that could shoot nonstop. Someone wearing a black bandanna appeared in the distance. I aimed my gun, but for just a second, he looked like someone I knew. I took him out in one shot. Enemies came in one after another, but I shot them without a second thought. I didn’t know why, but my hyungs were coming to mind. I let out a giggle. When I really thought about it, they were a little similar. I took them out one by one and advanced. I shot the opposition that came from the containers. For a moment, I looked down at one of the ones that had collapsed on the ground. “Is that Namjoon hyung?” I thought. Someone fired their gun, hitting me in the shoulder. I used my mouse to look up, and I saw an enemy carrying a gun. It was Seokjin hyung. In an instant, my rage boiled over.

#bts yoongi #bts jhope #bts fic #bts suga #bts #kpop #kpop bands #kpop merch #kpop lyrics #kpop imagines #kpop memes #kpop aesthetic #kpop moodboard #kim namjoon #kim seokjin #min yoongi #jung hoseok #park jimin #kim taehyung #jeon jungkook #jeongguk #language translator #translation

[uensis]

          𝚒'𝚍  𝚋𝚎  𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚢  𝚘𝚏  𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖  ,  𝚖𝚢  𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍  ;  that  there  is  SIWON  RYU  ,  notorious  for  being  (  materialistic  )  and  (  temperamental  )  ,  but  there  are  times  when  he  can  be  (  individualistic  )  and  (  optimistic  )  .   i’ve  heard  that  he  could  pass  as  a  KIM  TAEHYUNG  doppelganger  ,  but  i  don’t  see  it  .   the  (  twenty  four  )  year - old  agender  (  witch  )  has  been  in  town  for  (  a  few  months  )  and  they  are  a  (  cashier  at  one  man’s  treasure  )  affiliated  with  (  the  blackwood  coven  )  .   they  tend  to  spark  images  of  views  from  a  water  tower  ,  tattooed  runes  and  basking  in  the  sun  .

𝐎𝐎𝐂  :  hello  !  i’m deni and i don’t know what an aesthetic is  .  i use she/her pronouns and live in the gmt+9 timezone  .   i’m terrible with ooc chats and half the time just want to vibe a connection or plot idea  ,  so please don’t hesitate to throw a half-formed thought at me because i swear i’ll do the same  .  my discord is gay fairy#6371  .  anyway  ,  here is one of my characters  ,  a chaos child i adore very very much  !  looking forward to writing with you  ♡

                                 ———      wont let go at any price.

          T  .  R  .  O  .  U  .  B  .  L  .  E  .  some folks are bound to project it out into the universe  ,  aren’t they  ?  and of course it’d come straight from a brown-eyed cutie  ,  two months into an apprenticeship with the high witch of daegu’s coven  .  started small a bit of magic here and there to ace gym class  ,  write that essay and  enchant his music to something irresistible to the ear with half the effort  .  of course siwon’s sudden transformation into a spectacular violinist and a sudden A student caught attention --- questions asked  ,  answers insufficient  .  his parents and maester weren’t happy  ,  the coven making subtle threats about an eviction if siown didn’t stop  .  he tried to make all these little problems disappear before  BANG  !  there’s cops at the door and reporters in the yard  .  the theater’s blown to bits and siwon’s left standing in the embers  .  he didn’t mean to  .  honestly  ,  he didn’t  .  just thought a little tying up loose ends before he poofed over to nowhereville would be a good idea before that tenuous hold on magic just  slipped------

          so  ,  that didn’t work out  .  that’s okay  ,  siwon’s a boy of many talents  .  he peaced out and tried his luck in sokcho  ,  moscow and tokyo --- wandered all the way around with a helping hand outstretched that just really  ,  really wouldn’t cooperate  .  little scares here  ,  some monsters there  .  siwon’s got a number out and half a dozen warrants to his name before he charms his way into the states and steals a junker of an RV for himself  .  sets out across the road  ,  trying hard --- so hard --- to stay out of trouble this time because he so doesn’t want to go to europe yet  .  he sends his loving  ( but TIRED )  parents postcards from cities and quirky museums he visits  ,  and life on the road and jumping from coven to coven was pretty rough before his RV broke down on the outskirts of watermount  .  figuring this was the universe’s way of granting him a new home  ,  siwon threw himself at a coven and struggles --- badly --- to adapt to the town’s laws  .  there’s so much to do  ,  so much to see  ,  and siwon’s terrible in the backseat  .

                                   ———    we gotta make it last.

➤  full name.  ryu si-won  ➤  date of birth.  january 29th ➤  hometown.  toronto  ,  canada ➤  gender.  agender ➤  sexual attraction.  pansexual ➤  romantic attraction.  panromantic ➤  species.  witch ➤  bonds.   i owe everything to my mentor --- a horrible person who’s probably rotting in jail somewhere  ;  i would do anything to prove myself superior to my hated rival  . ➤  flaws.   a scandal prevents me from going home again  ,  that kind of trouble seems to follow me around  ;  if there’s a plan  ,  i’ll forget it  .  if i don’t forget it  ,  i’ll ignore it  . ➤  wants.  stability  ,  power  

          home.  huntington trailer park  .  upon arrival  ,  siwon sold his RV for scraps and moved into an aluminum home outside wickery forest  .  it’s small  ,  cramped with an array of thrifted furniture and old rugs  .  the closet’s overflowing with eclectic clothes and there’s always candles and incense burning  .  the roof leaks when it rains  ,  and the porch is nothing more than a piece of plywood  .  old books and notepads sit in stacks on the floor with pots of half-grown herbs and weeds for his brews  .  his bed’s covered with pillows and fairy lights stay tacked to the walls  .   instead of doors inside  ,  he’s hung beaded curtains and there’s crystals tucked under seats and tables to encourage good energy  .

          when he’s not at home  ,  siwon’s likely to be found at the swimming hole wearing a bandana and board shorts  .  skips rocks  ,  cannonballs  ,  swings from that ratty old rope  .  collects moss and molds that grow around the docks  .  he enjoys sacred ground and lafayette cemetery for obvious reasons  .  spot him scarfing mint chocolate chip cones at the scoop no matter the time of year  ,  grabbing fried rice and egg roll take-out at the china doll  .  he loves the blue and red slushies at the corner street bodega and the vegan pizza at big slice  .  for extra cash on the side  ,  he’ll sell you some magic infused herbs behind wilson’s or the college campus  ,  where he’s taking a few classes .  at one man’s treasures  ,  siwon offers tarot readings and talismans for a fair price  ( though whether they’re accurate depends on how friendly he’s feeling )  and often spends the boring hours talking to the furniture and clothes there  .  curious --- terribly curious --- he’s preparing for a trip to the pit just to see what the fuss is about  .  makes tik-toks  .

➤  connections.  

          what luck  :  siwon’s managed to land himself in a town that doesn’t allow magic outside of sacred grounds  .  how in the hell’s he supposed to get any better  ?  luckily  ,  one man’s treasure and the trailer park don’t get many visitors  ,  so he’s able to sneak in an extra practice or two---  until one day he’s caught  .  but no magic on town grounds doesn’t mean he can’t sell his charms and talismans and brews  ,  so he has a nice set of customers who don’t mind paying under the table  .  of course that sets him up for competitors among the other witches in the community but hey  ,  dude’s gotta pay the bills  .  siwon even takes commissions from supernaturals or humans who need a little something extra --- not to mention the infused herbs he sells to college students and  . . . others that have psychedelic affects  .  for all his talents here  ,  though  ,  he shines the brightest with divination ,  and he’s demanded to give tarot and star chart readings to more than a few people  ,  paid or pro-bono  .  a messy  ,  messy trail he’s left behind has brought him into contact with a few hunters  .  we’ll see how that goes  .

          curiosity gets the best of him  ,  so he makes plans to slip into the forest and the pit for a peek at things he probably shouldn’t see  .  he runs into a few difficulties there  ,  either from others who’re just as curious or people who are hiding something  .  a ritual gone wrong brings a demon or dark energy into his life  ,  and dude he’s not sure if the one offering a cash load for witch’s blood is going to do something shady or not  .  then there’s the typical set-ups  ,  the close circle of friends he studies or hangs out at the bodega with  ,  ones who’re able to drag him out to pandemonium when he’s in a dancing mood  (  and the middle of the street isn’t cutting it for whatever reason  )  .  there’s a few hook-ups  ,  past and present because he gets to hung up on people so fast and someone who arrived to town around the same time he did -- a few months ago -- and was his neighbor at the hotel  .  there’s cops and lawpeople he’s pissed off with antics around the swimming hole and other public property  (  brewed spray paint is awfully hard to get off of metal and bricks  ,  apparently  )  .  he’s got a magical mentor and is even trying his hand at mentoring a mentee’  ,  which should be  . . . interesting  .

➤  wanted connections taken. 

          christopher cho’s monster friend  . 

#hell.intro #. 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐏𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 ➤ SIWON RYU . #intros that are ready to be posted are que'ed throughout the day #likely to catch me on discord for plotting ! <3

[seguinshands]

Hot Cocoa and Cream

Pairing: Tyler Seguin x Reader

Word Count: 1170

Warnings: Swearing, Tyler bein a lil shit

Summary: The reader goes on a shopping spree, the last thing that Tyler wants to do.

Reader’s POV

“I don’t like this,” Tyler mumbled, close enough that I could feel his breath ghosting across my neck.

The mall stretched out in front of us, sparsely populated. The only stores that remained were the cornerstone stores, like Burlington and GAP. It was a wonder that the place was still running. Thankfully, I wasn’t attached to it. However, I had spent two hours looking for a nearby mall to go to that we could go shopping at that was out of the way, and I wasn’t just going to let him step on my toes.

Stopping, I turned to give him a look. “Tyler,” I scolded. “We need to shop, and it was a half hour drive here. We are not wasting gas like that.”

Tyler grumbled, looking remarkably like a pouty little kid. “I make enough money where we can afford that.”

“Yes, I know. But it’s still wasteful. At least let me shop a bit, okay? I’ve been dying to get my hands on some stuff.” After a moment, Tyler nodded, giving in. “Thank you. Now, go mope somewhere else.” He looked at me, frozen for a second. “You heard me, get outta here, tough guy. Unless you don’t want something for Christmas.”

That got him moving pretty fast. Giving me a quick peck on the lips before I could protest, he was gone.

With a sigh, I dug out my phone and looked through the Christmas lists I had patched together for everyone.

The shopping was all done within maybe an hour, and for how uninhabited the mall was, it was insanely difficult to find Tyler. Eventually giving up, I began to look around for a bench to sit on when it came into view. Gasping, I hurried over to the Bath and Body Works, taking a big whiff of the perfumed air. Oh hell yes.

Waving quickly at the employee behind the counter, I started my hunt for a good lotion and price.

I lost track of time as I picked different things off the shelves, putting some back and grabbing others. I had just cycled my way around to the candles when a hand landed on my arm. I jumped about a foot in the air, dropping two of the lotions.

Tyler’s surprised face came into view. “Jesus Christ, babe.” He swooped down and picked up the discarded bottles. “You have, like, $200 worth of lotions. Don’t you have some at home?”

Looking down, I realized that I did, in fact, have a lot of lotions. The woman behind the register was eyeing me up like I was crazy. A deep blush settled over my cheeks. “W-well, a lot of these are seasonal scents, ya know?”

Giving me a skeptical look, Tyler slowly took the candle I had picked up from my hand. “Nuh-uh. I’m cutting you off. No more.”

“But Tyleerrrrrr.” I whined, grabbing the candle again. “Just smell it, it’ll mask the house’s sweaty male smell.”

Tyler laughed loudly, leaning against a table. “Fine, one. I mean that. One. As in singular.”

Plowing through the candles, I got it down to five. “Which one?” I asked. When there was no answer, I looked back. Tyler was sitting on the bench outside, playing around on his phone, one measly bag in hand. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed the two candles that I liked best and swept over to the cashier.

$214.84 later, I was exiting the storefront with ten bags in hand, four of them being from Bath and Body Works. “Tyler! Help, I’m getting crushed!” Tyler looked up and grinned, not moving to get up.

“Serves you right.” He finally stands, walking away. “Let’s go, sexy.”

By the time we got out to the car, which Tyler insisted on parking as close as possible, my arms felt like they were going to fall off. Setting the bags against the brand new Lambo, I glared over at him. “Open the door, dumbass.”

He smirked, but his tone was clipped. “Get your bags off my car.”

Rolling my eyes, I lifted them slightly. “Unlock the doors!” I snapped, and he chuckled before opening the trunk for me. Grumbling, I dumped all of it in and stuck my tongue out at him. “I can’t do anything with sore arms, asshole,” I snapped, rubbing my aching bicep.

Tyler rounded the car, grabbing me from behind before I could move. “Hey!” I gasped as he lifted me by the waist. I scrambled, reaching back to hit at him. “Tylerrrr, I wanna go hoooome.” Grinning, he ruffled my hair obnoxiously and set me back on my feet. My fingers instantly combed through my hair, trying to fix the damage. “Not funny!” I slammed the trunk shut and slid into the passenger seat. He was giggling to himself the entire ride home.

Not that his highness could bother himself with helping once we got home, either. He walked into the house without a look back, measly bag in hand.

“Fucking asshole!” I screamed after him, and heard him cackle in return. Humphing to myself, I hauled it all into our bedroom, having to take three breaks on the way. During the first, I ignored where Tyler was sprawled out, playing some dumb video game.

Shoving it all into the closet, I grabbed a lotion from the bag, Hot Cocoa & Cream. My stomach grumbled as I lathered up my hands with it. Throwing it onto the bed, I plopped down after it, face in the blankets. I could feel my arms throbbing and I groaned.

A deep chuckle sounded from the doorway, but I didn’t raise my head. “Hey, sexy. You look exhausted. You alright?” he teased.

“I hate youuu,” I complained, throwing my arms over my head.

Tyler came closer, floor creaking under his feet. “Don’t be like that.”

I turned my head to glare at him. “Don’t be like an asshole then,” I retaliated, closing my eyes.

The bed dipped and I whined, lashing out blindly at him. His hand grabbed my wrist firmly enough to keep from striking him.

“Hey, calm down, sexy,” he purred, other hand gently stroking over my back. I relaxed into the covers, groaning as the massage worked out the knots in my back. I could hear the smirk in Tyler's voice as he said, “Hm, there we go.”

Mumbling, I opened my eyes, managing a half-glare at him. “I'm gonna wring your neck, you heathen,” I threatened into the blanket.

Laughing, Tyler plopped on top of me, causing me to let out a long whine of complaint. “I'm warming you up, quit bitching.” I squeaked as Tyler's arms squeezed around me. “Gotcha. By the way, you smell amazing.” His nose nuzzled into the side of my neck and I melted into his touch. “Good enough to eat.” He promptly bit me right under the ear.

“Ow! Tyler, I swear to God!” I twisted, but couldn't get anywhere with his arms around me.

“Aw, you're so cute when you're mad.”

“Shut up, asshole.”

#tyler seguin x reader #tyler seguin #reader #hockey #imagine #reader's pov #fanfic #fanfiction #you #y/n #y/n's pov #your pov #tyler seguin x you #tyler seguin x y/n #lil shit tyler seguin #swearing

[multifandom-collab]

Falling in Love with a Playboy || Part 2

Pairings: Jung Jaehyun x OC

Genre: Angst and Fluff

Warnings: strong language and some rough scenes

Part- 1, 2, 3 (coming soon!)

-

Author's P.O.V

Tutoring the biggest player of the school was a big mistake. And Jangmi knew it. Jaehyun was supposed to come at five and she was nervous.

Well, who wouldn't be? Jung Jaehyun is coming in your dorm and hell knows what would happen.

Jangmi went to her dorm and took a quick nap. A half and hour nap would be good to make her energetic.

It was almost five when she woke up in a jolt. She panicked when she felt that she must have woken up late, but she felt relieved when she saw the time.

She straightened her clothes and took a look in her mirror one last time and took out the books that were required.

In a huff, she waited for the guest. After what seemed like hours, the guest of honour arrived almost thirty minutes late.

Knocking at the door repeatedly, Jangmi opened it. Jaehyun was standing there, looking ethereal as always, and looked like he had plans after the study session.

He barged inside the dorm, without saying a hello or can I come in? And made himself home. He sat on one of the couches and looked around the house. Clearly, he was checking out the house.

Jangmi bought her books and put them neatly on the table and went to look for a pen.

When she came back, Jaehyun was looking at his phone and was smirking.

"Okay, if that is what you want, then I think I should give you some notes so that you can memorize everything easily." Jangmi looked exasperated.

"Lets just get over with it, okay? I really don't have much time to give to books since I have to go clubbing." He mused, annoyingly turning the pages of the book.

"Nah, maybe next time. Right now, books are not a good to go to club, right?" He said, impatiently.

Looking up from his phone, he opened one of the books.

"Page 104, paragraph 3. Read and tell me what you understand." Jangmi took the book and looked at Jaehyun.

Jaehyun, on the other hand, looked at the book and tried to read, but looked at Jangmi with a blank expression.

"What? You can understand this simple paragraph? How can you memorize this whole book if you can't read a damn paragraph?" Jangmi flared up.

"You know what? You look drop dead gorgeous when you are angry." Jaehyun smirked.

"Shut up, or I'll punch you Jung Jaehyun!! Your flirtatious comments might work on other girls but not me. Now, if you dont wanna waste time, I'll explain it to you." Jangmi was losing patience.

Rose was right, Jangmi really was something.

After two hours of studying, I finally got up. Damn this girl. Why does she have to be so hot tempered?

I thanked her for the study session and went out. Finally, freedom. All those books make me dizzy. I called Mark, and we went to the club in his BMW. The club was nice, by nice, I mean the girls.

Jaehyun's P.O.V

I scanned my eyes on them, some were dancing, some were drinking, some were completely wasted.

I went towards the dance floor and took a girl in my arms. Mark was happily talking to someone in the other side of the bar.

The girl smirked at me a put her hands on my shoulders. I put mine on her waist and pulled her closer.

The proximity between us was decreasing, and I felt her falling deeply in my trap. I needed a destressor after that horrific study session.

Morning came, and I found myself lying on my bed with this random girl sleeping near me.

My god, she looked completely wrecked. I pushed my covers and went to the bathroom. I showered and had breakfast. Soon after, the girl also got up and I bid her a goodbye.

Oh my god Jangmi, if you keep on doing this dreadly study sessions, I might have to bring every new girl.

After yesterday's bummer, Rose came back from Taeyong's house. She looked all giggly and jumped over the kitchen.

The study session in short would be described in one word. Dreadful. I swear if the teacher wouldn't have forced me, I would have killed Jaehyun.

She looked extremely chatty today. She was smiling at my bad jokes, which she never did and even helped me to cook breakfast.

Jangmi's P.O.V

She must have had a good time with Taeyong.

Today was my day off, so I decided to go to the library. The new edition of my favourite series would have come up.

I trudged my way towards the library, admiring the beautiful flowers on my way. I entered the library and went towards the librarian.

As I approached her, the scene that unfolded in front of my eyes was too shocking.

Jung Jaehyun is making out with the librarian.

I turned in the opposite direction and sprinted towards the books section. I managed to find the edition and sat quietly in the table farthest from the librarian.

After reading a few pages, I felt someone sit in front of me. I looked up from the book and found Jaehyun stare at me. "What?" I asked him irritated.

"Nothing, just admiring your angelic face." He sent a cheesy smile at me.

"Tch! Don't joke around, Jae. Go, make out some more with that librarian." I answered, sarcastically.

"I love how you call me my nickname, princess. That word, Jae, makes me so hard not to fall for you." He counter attacked me. "Are you gonna speak nonsense or let me read my book?" I shifted uncomfortably.

"I saw you looking at me when I was kissing that lady of yours." He spoke with a devilish grin, pointing at the librarian. "You were jealous weren't you, sweetheart?"

I stood up and went towards the other table and pulled a chair to sit down. This boy, really, he is such a nut. He didn't disturb me after that and after reading the book, I thanked the librarian and started to go back home.

I was feeling hungry, since I had only my breakfast and the time was almost five in the evening. I stopped at the twenty four seven, and scanned the foods. I opted for a salad and some bagels.

To my horror, Jaehyun stepped in too and greeted the cashier. He looked for something before his eyes landed on me.

Save me, please.

I looked at him for a split second and looked down at my food. I felt him coming towards me but he walked past me.

I finished my salad and took the bagel in my hand and stood up. I gave him a one last look and went off. I felt my phone beep and I looked at the message.

Miss me already? When should I come to meet you, princess? The study session with you is sooo good! ;) Oh god. Jaehyun and his flirty texts. I quickly typed him Monday. Six PM. And put the phone in my back pocket.

So much for making Jaehyun study.

#nct jaehyun scenario #nct 127 #nct drabble #nct jaehyun #nct jaehyun series #nct u #nct fanfic #nct scenarios #nct Jaehyun series #nct Jaehyun angst #nct Jaehyun fluff #nct fluff #nct scenario #nct series #kpop scenarios #kpop imagines #kpop angst #kpop fluff #falling in love with a playboy part 2

[carry-the-sky]

for the lovely @kastlecastles and @devilbunnyking, thaaanks for your patience bbs

this is my take on frank’s post-s1 road trip based on the prompts petrichor/scrosciare (the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a long period of dry weather/the action of rain pouring down).

Quiet when I’m coming home, and I’m on my own —

.

It takes some time. All he can do is drive, at first, miles sliding past and the thin line of horizon just above the dash. The land here stretches flat like an open palm. Just keep going. Wide sky, wide enough to swallow him whole. Just keep going.

So he does.

.

The Midwest is a scorch-oven. His engine overheats halfway through bumfuck nowhere, Illinois, and he spends the better part of an hour on the side of the highway, waiting for it to air out. Even out of the sun, the heat clings to his skin like wet paper. When he squints up at the sky it’s nothing but blue.

Looks like this heat wave might roll into next week! the lady on the radio chirps after he’s back on the interstate. Frank snorts and scrubs at his forehead, at the sweat slicked there.

He grabs a water and pack of gum at the next gas station. “And this, too,” he tells the cashier, swiping a postcard from the stand near the checkout counter. There’s a river in the picture on the front — nothing special, but he feels calm, looking at it.

He’s sweating through his shirt even in the few seconds it takes to walk to his car, and imagines sinking his feet into that cold river water, all the way to his ankles, leaning back on his elbows and shuttering his eyes, light warm on his skin and his toes slowly going numb.

Frank stares at the card a beat longer, then carefully slips it into the glove box with all the others.

.

Written on the back, later — Thinking of you. I’m always thinking of you.

.

(He buys the first one in Ohio. Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, the script reads, against a backdrop of white roses.

You were right, he scrawls furiously as soon as he’s back in the car. I’m lonely. I told myself I wanted that, but I knew it was bullshit. You’re the first person who saw that. You saw right through that shit.

A pause, pen hovering —

I miss you.

.

He doesn’t send it. He doesn’t send any of them.)

.

Kansas. Dirt and dust and the road streaking ahead, cracked like shattered ceramic. The air conditioner busts just after he crosses the state line, so he drives with all four windows down, wind in his hair and ears.

He watches the sunset from the hood of the car, hoodie pulled up over his head as the sun melts behind the hills in the distance. It’s still warm, so he sits outside until it’s just him and the stars and the ache in his neck, from craning to look at them.

Just keep going, Frank.

.

Scribbled on the back of a Greetings from Colorful Colorado card:

You told me you wanted me to have an after. I don’t know what that’s supposed to look like. I don’t know how to live without the war. There’s some part of me still buried in the desert, and that’s something I have to come to terms with. That’s a part of myself I’m never getting back. I’m scared as hell. I’m scared.

.

The heat follows him west. He takes a two-day detour in Salt Lake, pays for a hotel room just to get out of the swelter. There’s a pad of paper on the bedside table, and he flips his pen between his fingers absently as he watches the news, cranking the volume so he can hear over the whir of the swamp cooler.

He’s never written her name. It’s easier, that way, to pretend he could be writing to anyone, or maybe just to himself. It’s easier than admitting the truth.

I’m not sure I know how to love anymore, he scratches out in jagged cursive, because this isn’t him, these aren’t his words. But with you, I could try.

(He dreams of rain that night, around him and sluicing up from his pores, his veins, tracking across the lines of his palms. It runs red, no matter how hard he scrubs. Red, always. There’s too much —)

.

Frank keeps driving until he hits ocean. It’s the middle of the day, but the beach is brim-full with people, college students playing hooky and kids screeching away from the shoreline as the surf rushes in. He closes his eyes, and for a moment he’s just — here, breath in his lungs and the press of sunlight behind his eyelids. A small, splintering moment of peace.

Laughter peals up the beach and he’s jolted back, swaying slightly on his feet. There’s a row of tourist stands at the edge of the parking lot, food vendors and people selling keychains and t-shirts — he grabs a plate of Korean barbecue and eats halfway down the beach, toes buried in the sand.

The vendors are closing up when he doubles back for a postcard. He picks the simplest one, just a picture of the Pacific beneath a cloudless sky. A blank canvas, the kind of place for starting over.

It’s a short drive to the nearest mailbox. He sits for a minute, leg bouncing so fast his calf starts to burn.

Karen Page, reads the first address line.

He drags a thumb across her name, then pushes the card carefully through the slot and drives away.

.

Printed in slow, deliberate script on the back:

Taking your advice. Hope you’re well.

.

He wakes up to rain, the heavy staccato of it against the roof of the car. It’s a few minutes before he can bring himself to move, blink the sleep from his eyes — when he licks his lips, he can taste it on the air, the smell of earth and things being washed clean.

Frank rolls himself up and crawls into the driver’s seat. The rain is streaking in diagonals down the window, and he presses his fingers to the cold glass before letting his hand fall to crank the window down.

The smell and sound hits him all at once, spray misting against his face and he stretches his hand out into the rain, palm up, an offering. Here I am. Here I am.

He holds out his hand. The water runs clean.

#kastle #kastle ff #kastlenetwork #kastle fic #my fic

[grell-writes-stuff]

@fenfaerie I did something ~*~*~*~Fucked Up~*~*~*~

When the bell rings again, I breathe a small sigh. I’ve made it to lunch without losing my lunch (breakfast). Bryson turns to me as I’m shoving my textbook back into my bag, and I try to read his face. I can’t quite decipher if his offer is genuine, or just out of obligation because I’m staring to feel like the pathetic, left-behind friend that they, for some reason, still feel the need to try to include.

“Hey, we’re going to Wendy’s for lunch. You in, Scott?” he asks. Both he and Matt look at me expectantly.

And that’s how I end up in Cole’s car again, sitting in the back with my crutches wedged on a diagonal between me and Bryson. I’m probably not hungry enough to actually eat – that I’m sure of – but they’d end up worrying too much or maybe scrapping the plan all together if I declined. Or they’d just go without me and I’d be stranded at ECR for half an hour with nothing to do and nobody to hang out with. I figured going to Wendy’s was the best option.

When we arrive and it’s my turn at the counter, I order water and a side of fries, and ignore the look of judgment from the cashier. I figure I won’t actually eat the fries and just let my friends pick at them, and my drink of choice is a safe bet and won’t do anything to my unpredictably fragile stomach. I’m doing so well already. I could afford to vomit, but I’d rather not. If I can finish off this day, it’ll be beyond victory. I’ll give myself a goddamn trophy for doing what every teenager in the history of mandatory education has already done. Which sounds fucking pathetic, but I choose to disregard that.

The four of us claim a booth, and the rest of them dig in. I don’t. I’d rather not even think about food because it makes my gut tense up a little. The only food-related thought I allow myself is wondering if a single burger will be enough to satisfy Cole when I’ve seen him devour three in one sitting before (with a side of large fries).

“So, Scott,” Cole starts to ask mid-swallow. His brown eyes meet mine. “When’s the cast come off?”

I hear the sharp breath that Bryson takes in through his teeth. “Really, Cole?”

My response comes out unfiltered.

“I don’t know, Cole. Whenever they fucking tell me it can.”

I regret it. Immediately. But Cole’s never been great at screening his questions before he speaks, so who cares whether or not I censor my answers? Who cares if I’m snarky? I think I’m allowed to be – expected to be – at this point.

“Scott,” Bryson sighs and scolds me in a similar, exhausted manner.

But that goes unheard, and so does Cole’s attempt at an apology because a voice by the entrance to the building carries on air and sends a bullet of ice up my spine. I only catch the tail-end, but that’s all it takes to make my jaw set.

“–and she was so good.”

It’s a flat tone. Sarcastic. Slightly nasally, yet shrill. As shrill and annoying as tinnitus, and it makes me want to shove one of my balled fists through drywall just to be able to feel something physical because my body suddenly goes numb. I don’t know how since I feel so stiff, my muscles locking rigid like the links of a chain pulled taut, but my head turns robotically of its own accord to zero in on her tiny form, and I wish I could shoot missiles from my eyes because she is in my line of fire.

Along with Roxy and a gaggle of her dumb, bratty friends, Selena Walton has entered the restaurant.

“Why the fuck is she here?” It slips out, a hiss seething through my teeth.

There’s a pause. Probably the guys are following my stare as it pierces her body like a battle axe. Their voices resume.

“Cole and I made the lunch plan at his locker after second period,” Matt begins. “Isn’t hers, like–”

“Right across the hall,” Cole finishes.

“She could have overhead,” Bryson pitches.

“Subliminal messaging,” Matt suggests.

Excuses. They’re all excuses. And I don’t care. I realize while they’re speaking that what I said was rhetorical. Instead, it should be: Who allowed her to be here? I got rid of her – why does she still insist upon barging into my life when she’s done enough shit to me already?

And the three of them need to stop trying to figure out her presence here because their voices are carrying and it’s not a big dining space. Suddenly, Roxy spots us – unlike the rest of them, she’s never trapped in her own, self-centered world, and she notices things in her peripheral. She does a short, cheery wave, and then Selena’s malicious, artificial face turns to me, and her makeup-masked, raccoon eyes meet mine, and then I see red for a minute.

“Hey, guys!” Roxy speaks, knocking me back into reality. I’m sitting in our booth and Roxy’s come up to the edge of the table with Selena, and their minions (two fake-blondes who share seven braincells between them named Tiffany Something-or-other and Ashley Something-or-other).

I don’t greet her back. I’m just focused on how hungry my balled-up knuckles feel, how the sensation has drained from my face, and how the humming molecules of my body are ready to snap and explode like a firecracker and cause the kind of destruction that is only capable of a nuclear bomb. My throat feels like it’s been scooped out piece-by-piece by a melon baller. I’m ready to unleash an airstrike just so everybody can feel how I suddenly feel – smitten to smoldering ash.

And that feeling is so smothering that I can’t find that logical part inside of me that I know is screaming out, trying to tell me that I’m scaring myself. It’s too far away to listen to.

I hear Matt, Cole, and Bryson respond politely to Roxy, but my teeth are fused together, and my eyes are trying to burn holes into the skin that once burned me as toothpick arms wrapped around my neck, so I don’t participate. By now, everyone must be used to that.

Roxy continues, “Bryson, I, uh, think I left something at your place the other day.”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” he responds. “Just text me when you want to come pick it up.”

My hearing starts to seem muffled and distorted as my blood races through every vein like it’s trying to qualify as an Olympic sprinter. I don’t have the time to dissect the fragments of conversation I’m able to pick up because she stops trying to distance herself from our table, and suddenly seems to register my presence. Her brown eyes flick to me and it sends an electric zap jumping through my body as if I’d jammed a fork in an outlet.

“What the fuck are you looking at?”

It just slips out. Unfiltered. I don’t regret it. Not even when the whole earth goes silent, or when her angled brows raise, her pupils beginning to burn. Not when the stunned pause shatters and Bryson says, “Scott, what the fuck?”

It goes unheard.

“You think you have the right to stalk me after what you did to him?!”

Him.

Okay, I wasn’t expecting that. Me. I meant to say me. After all she’s done to me. But that came bursting out instead like a dam finally giving way from the fissures and cracks that went ignored, letting a tidal wave loose to drown an innocent valley. I feel something else apart from the anger festering at my core. At my center, the shadowy mass that has been living inside of me knits itself into a tight, heavy ball. As it begins to run out of threads of itself, it slowly merges with the rage. They are one, yet they wrestle each other in a tangle of metaphysical limbs. The realization has just left my tongue and kicked me in the chest, stomach, skull.

“Excuse me?” Her obnoxious lips say. It’s quiet and I think it’s supposed to be, but that doesn’t matter. Even as a whisper, there’s still a punch to her tone.

I want to punch something – her, or just something hard enough to shatter every bone in my hand. I’m breathing with such intensity that my shoulders are heaving along with my chest, and I can’t suppress it. In, out, in out. Kelley’s suggestion to breathe slow and deep doesn’t work. My lungs are ablaze like her glare. My eyes are stinging, but it’s not tears rubbing salt into my wounds. This time, it’s a memory casting over my vision invasively.

Stupid, bubbly handwriting.

She’s not speaking. She’s waiting, suspended in the silence like a predator devising her next move carefully. Yet her heckling voice batters at my ears and no number of middle fingers will make it stop. I can’t hold it inside of me any longer because the venomous darkness has expanded to fill the furthest crevices of my being. I lose my sanity and I throw it at her with all I have. I’m operating on autopilot.

“It was your idea! It was all your fault! We wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for you!”

“Morgan?!” Bryson sounds shocked and distant, but it doesn’t stop the tragic truth as it comes screaming out of me.

“He’d still be here if it wasn’t for you!”

And, just like that, it’s out there in the universe, and the air feels weighted with my words and ready to crush us all. The atmospheric pressure rivals the mass of four thousand mountains, and the heat boils my blood until it turns to lava. I’m a volcano, and I have just erupted.

Everyone is frozen like they can’t find words, but I’m not focused on that. I’m not focused on the things around me – like the other restaurant patrons who are surely gawking at what’s about to be a verbal fistfight at Wendy’s. The rest of the world goes dark and it’s only me and her.

Her nostrils flare, and somehow, even with a set jaw, her mouth parts. Her eyes are raging forest fires, now infected by surprise, but also by challenge. Her voice has the power to wound, but also has a hollow quality that tells me how deeply my own blow landed. The two words I’ve heard from her a million times are more hostile and poisonous than ever before.

“Fuck you.”

Everyone is surely staring because making a scene isn’t that hard. We’ve been the negative center of attention before.

“Fuck me? Fuck you! You just had to go to that cliff, didn’t you?! You just had to find the ‘perfect’ cliff and hog the spotlight and the praise and just be an attention whore! And it’s not like any of this matters to you because you never cared about any of us – no, you only care about yourself, you conceited bitch!”

“So you’re calling me a fucking narcissist?” she demands, her teeth bared. “Maybe get off your own fucking high horse because you don’t know shit!”

“I know all the shit I need to know! I know you could have picked literally anywhere else and he would still fucking be here!”

I’m even hitting my own nerves like each one is a piece in my drum kit and I’m in the middle of an angry solo. But even though I’m shaking, and she’s just a teary blob in the center of my obscured vision, and I’m fighting just as hard to keep my voice even as I am fighting her, that doesn’t stop me from saying it.

“You led him to his death! He died because of you!”

“Fuck you!”

“Fuck you! It’s all your fucking fault! Just stay out of my fucking life before you take that away from me too!”

Whoever invented the idea of storming off clearly was not bound to crutches, but I’m too riled up to care about the awkward, intricate ritual of pulling myself to my good leg, and hobbling away from her. I think she continues to scream at me, but all I can hear is the rushing in my ears as all the blood must have seeped to my head because none of it is in my bone-white hands where they’re gripping my supports so goddamn tight so I don’t just turn around and slug her in her smug, angry fucking face. And I know I just have to get out of this place before I finally fucking snap and cross that line as well.

California heat hits me once I leave the air-conditioned building and it doesn’t do much to dull the hot rage. It feeds it. I don’t have the stability to consider tearing myself from the hoodie that was such a stupid choice to confine myself to, and I’m half afraid I’ll end up punching the hood of Cole’s disaster of a Cherokee and shattering my knuckles like glass because my entire fucking broken body is about to burst like an over-filled water balloon – except the water is acid.

“What the fuck, Scott?!”

I turn at the voice behind me to see that Bryson’s stormed out after me – and probably with better success considering the drama of it all would have been better on two working legs (though he still would’ve had to ask Cole to move to actually leave the booth, which is also not ideal for stomping away enraged).

This time, the careful façade he’s been putting on for me has just…gone. It’s disappeared. Behind it – and it’s probably been brewing for a while – is the look he gives me now. Frustration, shock, horror, vexation. And his tone, loud and indignant, makes me feel like a wall has been suddenly, hastily erected around me like a defensive barrier, except I’m just as ready to tear it down with my bare hands. I am a stronghold and a war machine. A new verbal fistfight is approaching the vicinity of the Wendy’s parking lot.

“What do you mean ‘what the fuck’?! She stalked us! She’s not leaving me the fuck alone!”

“Will you get the fuck over yourself?!”

That’s the first blow in this brawl, and it hits me like he’s thrown a hammer at my forehead. After over a month of being wary, Bryson’s finally decided to stop pulling his punches. And I don’t know if it makes me angrier or just…shocked. I feel numb all of a sudden. Then I’m grappling for something to scream back at him, but my brain still feels like it’s on fire and there are alarm bells blaring, but I’m stuck.

“So you’re dating Roxy now?! You just weren’t going to tell any of us?!”

Maybe that’s not something that should sound so mad coming from my mouth, but I really can’t find much else to yell at him for.

“This isn’t about me, Morgan!”

 He never uses my first name – or very rarely at that. But this isn’t like the way he’d said it on the worst day of my life, or the stunned exclamations just a moment ago in our booth. This switch between Scott and Morgan is serious. It’s serious in the way that a Shakespearean tragedy is serious where one minute two minor roles are making dick jokes, and the next someone’s been stabbed with a rapier through their kidney.

“Can you just give her a fucking break?!”

“She’s not giving me a fucking break!”

“Oh, my God! She’s not out to get you, Morgan! It’s not her mission to destroy your fucking life!”

“That’s literally always been her fucking deal!”

“Yeah? Then why the hell would she save it?!”

Save it? His eyes are hard, and something must come to my face while I’m staring at him because I watch as his steeliness can’t suppress a tiny shudder because he lets himself remember that day – parts of it that my mind couldn’t close around. His voice softens, and it’s painful, and he’s trying to fight back the emotions just so he can get it out as trembling words.

“You think I know what to fucking do when two of my friends fall off a goddamn cliff? Because I don’t. And neither does Matt. Or Cole. Scott, I…I froze.”

I know how that feels. I’m rooted to the spot and my body feels like it’s full of rocks and one heart that’s beating as fast as a jogger on a morning run. I don’t speak. I can’t make myself, and I’m waiting to hear what he’s going to say because I’m still trying to piece it together, and I’m terrified that I’ve finished the wrong puzzle since the picture no longer looks anything like the artwork on the box that I feel like I’ve been staring at for the past thirty-eight days.

“Did you know she knows first aid and CPR? Because I had no fucking clue. She was halfway down to the ledge before I…even really knew what happened.”

By this point, his voice is slow and careful so he can keep it together, but his face is still soul-crushing. I don’t want to imagine how I must look. My throat has closed, and the only thing keeping my hands from shaking are my crutches because I’m gripping them to avoid falling into Hell as punishment for the things that I screamed at her.

“She made sure you were okay… Breathing… I don’t think I would have had the sense to call nine-one-one if she hadn’t yelled at me to.

“And then she went to him when Cole got him out of the water, and…and she tried, Morgan. She tried to save him too. A paramedic literally had to pull her away from him because she wanted him to be okay…”

I’m hollow and my eyes are blurry and punctured by a hundred needles. My words are tainted with leftover hostility, but they’re only as loud as the whispers of a mouse. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

“Yeah, that’s what you wanted,” he says with a sarcastic edge to it. “When we tell you the worst thing you’re ever going to hear, you want her there? You want to be thinking about Selena? We all thought you’d just…be better off not knowing that she was the only one with her shit together when it happened. She insisted. You know she didn’t leave the hospital until she knew you were going to be all right? She only left after we knew that, and we couldn’t have made her stay for…literally anything in the world. ‘He’s not going to want me here.’”

My legs are going to give way, even with my crutches. I lean against Cole’s Cherokee that’s been baking in the sun, and my burning, protective layer becomes hotter, but I don’t care. I’m still fuming, and her image enters my brain, and those flames don’t stop because of all the shit I’ve had to put up with since I bumped into her that day in a middle school hallway. Her constant torment, and psychological warfare, and pranking, and verbal fistfights both in public and private places.

So why do I feel like the ultimate asshole right now?

Years have passed before I hear Bryson speak again in that tone that he used on me yesterday when he dropped me off at home after I’d failed. “Are you coming back in?”

My lips part to answer, but I don’t have anything to say. I’m too afraid that I’ll still lose it when I see her again because my fists still itch with a ravenous craving. And, even if she’s left, I don’t feel stable enough to go back inside to where I erupted, not when every single person witnessed it, their eyes turned on the scene. It’s the opposite of healing, but I refuse to let myself feel so I can answer him.

I shake my head. “I’ll wait out here.”

He goes back to the booth.

#yay screaming in public #book: interlude #wip: interlude #interlude excerpt #selena walton #morgan scott #writing #my writing

[ferritin4]

Titans Together part 2 (Gen Jon Kent/Damian Wayne)

A follow-up to This First Installment of my mildly absurd headcanon about aged-up Damian Wayne and Jon Kent, based off of the recent, and now ongoing, runs of Tomasi’s Super Sons. The first post got more interest than I expected -- the amount I expected was “none” honestly -- so I’m putting this up as well for you few who thought it was fun. It is fun. It’s a fun ship. This is set on the same visit, the next day.

—

“I have a meeting with my advisor,” Damian said, stepping over Jon to get to his desk. Jon pulled his blankets back onto the air mattress and rubbed his eyes.

“Cool,” Jon said. “Is the cafeteria open on Saturday mornings?”

—

The cafeteria was open.

Damian had demanded he go to some restaurant in town where Damian knew someone, but that didn’t matter. Jon hadn’t even intended to stay the night, but if he was here, he was here, and he wasn’t Damian. He could eat at a normal cafeteria like a normal person.

It was pretty sparse still, because Damian got up at like four thirty in the morning every day — Damian slept between zero and four hours a night most days, which still freaked Jon out a little bit, but if he was going to have a heart attack or a seizure or something he probably would have had it by now — so Jon was showered and dressed in his jeans and boots and one of Damian’s plain white t-shirts by five thirty. Damian didn’t just wear t-shirts around anymore, of course, and this was supposed to go under a dress shirt, but Jon wasn’t wearing one of Damian’s dress shirts. No way.

It was pretty warm for September, but he still needed something between a t-shirt and his jacket. Damian’s dorm or whatever was like, a whole studio apartment, with a closet that Jon probably could have slept in instead of next to the desk where Damian kicked him in the side by accident every time he wanted to get a new pen or something.

Damian probably would’ve kicked him in the side by accident even if Jon had slept in the closet. Jon had spent more than enough time in the Titans headquarters. He knew how Damian operated.

Damian had a couple of sweaters that didn’t look too fancy, for Damian. Jon had pulled a dark red one over his head and gotten his wallet and headed out.

The breakfast in the dining hall was eggs and bacon and stuff. Jon got like six pancakes at the pancake station; he was hungry.

“Hi,” he told the person at the cash register. “I gotta pay with money, like. I’m not a student. If that’s okay.”

“That’s fine,” the cashier said, and then the person behind Jon said, “I — are you — um, Kent?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jon said to Ms. Braxton, who looked even smaller standing up. Her hair was in a very ineffective headband and she was wearing a hoodie, pajama pants, and house slippers.

“Wow,” she said.

Okay?

“Good morning,” Jon said.

“I can get your food,” she said suddenly, apparently recovering from whatever she’d been thinking, and shoved forward to give the cashier her ID card.

“Oh, no, don’t worry about it,” Jon said. “I can pay for my breakfast, Miss, uh, Braxton. For real,” he added when she blinked up at him.

“You remember my name?” she said. “And, no, I got it. It’s not even real money. It’s part of my tuition.”

Isn’t your tuition paid for with money? Jon thought, but it wasn’t like he didn’t know Damian. It wasn’t like he didn’t know a whole lot of people who ran billion-dollar companies and bought newspapers and banks and thought things like it’s not real money, if they even thought about it at all.

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Jon said, following her to the condiments station. “Why wouldn’t I remember your name?”

“Because you were busy getting grilled by the devil himself?” she said. “I think I go into, like, a fugue state most of the time. Like my brain is trying to die while my body’s still alive.” She pumped a giant pool of ketchup onto her plate.

“Oh, yeah,” Jon said. He shrugged as well as he could with a tray in his hands. “It doesn’t bother me anymore. I guess I don’t know if it ever did? But I get it.”

“Other profs don’t bother me,” she said, steering them toward a table. “I’m not, like, a wimp, but he’s like — he’ll fail you as soon as he’ll look at you, did you know that? And he’s, like, I don’t know. He’s so mean. You have no idea.”

“He can be pretty mean,” Jon conceded, tucking into his bacon. He wasn’t going to sit here and try to convince someone that Damian Wayne wasn’t an asshole.

“So,” she said.

“Mgnh?” Jon said. He swallowed. “Yeah? Oh, I didn’t really introduce myself.” He wiped his hand off on his napkin. “I’m Jon.”

“I’m Hafsah,” she said with a weird look on her face. “Mitchell said your name was Jon.”

“Mitchell?” Jon said. He took a sip of his coffee. It tasted okay, but it smelled kind of funny. Whatever, it only cost a dollar.

“Derek Mitchell? He was sitting next to you?” she said, and Jon bit his tongue so he didn’t say, oh, sure, Sweater Vest.

“Yes,” Jon said instead. “He didn’t tell me his name.”

“We don’t talk a lot in that class,” she said, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Usually. You did.”

Jon put half a pancake into his mouth and chewed it while he tried to figure out what she was getting at, but it didn’t really help.

“I didn’t mean to,” he said finally. He hadn’t. He had mostly planned to ask Damian about it after class, if he remembered or if Damian hadn’t explained it already by then.

“Do you work with him?” she said, out of nowhere. Jon frowned.

“No?” he said. “He works here?” It was kind of a lie, but like, he didn’t think she was acting weird and confused because she’d figured out the whole Teen Titans thing.

“Liam Kendry, who is a tool and stalks all his professors online like a creep,” she said, “says that he works for some defense contractor sometimes. And that he works for his dad’s company.”

“Well, okay, yeah, but he’s been doing that since he was like si— sssoo long ago,” Jon said. Damian would have had his ass for that. “He works here,” Jon added in an effort to distract her from the world’s lamest half-lie. “He goes to school here. And that’s not how I know him. I’m just here to hang out with him.”

“What?” she said. “You’re here to what?”

“Hang out?” Jon said. She stared at him, eyes nearly as big as Sweater Vest’s — Derek Mitchell’s — had been.

“Is that some kind of weird slang for like, a start-up tech company thing? Or, like, some kind of military exercise?” she asked.

“No,” Jon said a little more sharply than was polite, because he was getting tired of this. “He’s my best friend. We grew up together. We hang out! We watch movies! I made him go mudding on the farm last spring, he hated it,” he added, smiling.

Hafsah’s mouth opened, but she didn’t say anything. It stayed open.

“Are you okay?” Jon asked.

A small piece of potato fell out of her mouth and landed on the table between her plate and her lap.

“Oh my god, that was disgusting, I’m so sorry,” she said, snapping back to life and frantically attacking it with her napkin. “Okay gross, gross, sorry. Ew.”

“It’s okay,” Jon laughed. “Are you okay?”

“Um,” she said. “I don’t know. You seem so nice.”

That was a real non sequitur, but she seemed awfully sincere.

“Thank you,” Jon said, trying not blush. “I, uh. I try to be.”

“Wayne doesn’t,” she said decisively, and Jon didn’t even try to fight his smile.

“No,” he said, “no, he really doesn’t.” He forked the last of his pancakes into his mouth and took a drink of coffee. Something in his coffee still tasted a little off, or smelled weird. It was cafeteria coffee, so he didn’t want to be mean, but it was definitely getting worse.

“Did you really hug him at the end of class?” she asked, her eyes a little wild. Jon grinned.

“He hates that too,” he said. “But he had it com—”

That wasn’t his coffee. Shit.

“I gotta go,” he said, lurching out of his seat. “I’m sorry, I just — remembered something I forgot to do.”

“You what?” she said, but he was already gone, bolting out the doors and onto the quad.

Shit, shit, shit, where was it coming from? Where was his map? Something was burning, something chemical and strange, and Jon didn’t know where anything was, where were the science buildings — he punched CALL on his phone and started running toward the smell. Thank God it was still early. Nobody was out, nobody was there to see him and say, hey, man, are you —

“I am in a meeting,” Damian’s voice said, sharp and annoyed. “Which I know I told you.”

“Where are the labs, the science, like, the lab buildings?” Jon cut in. “Dami, something’s, I don’t know where, something’s on fire and it smells like nitrogen, or metal.”

“Four hundred yards southwest of Waterstone,” Damian said. “This meeting is over,” he said, not to Jon, “I will reschedule at my —” and Jon hung up.

He rounded in the corner, past Waterstone Hall, up a flight of weirdly broad stairs. There were two buildings, pretty much identical, looming up, and where was it — oh. Oh no, he could see the smoke in the windows of the third floor.

Nobody was coming. There was nobody anywhere, no sirens. Smoke was starting to trickle out one of the windows, but no one was helping.

Well, Jon thought as a dark shape landed on the roof. Not no one. Not anymore.

Nobody was out here, though, which meant Jon could fly up and kick in the emergency door on the third floor fire escape without anyone calling the cops or a TV station.

Damian ducked in through the break room window as Jon came down the hall, and oh, whoa. Shit had been the right word. Yikes.

Smoke was pouring out the open door to the lab at the end of the hallway, acrid and sour and foul. Jon’s eyes were burning; his mouth felt like he’d been chewing on pennies.

“Fuck,” Damian said, covering his mouth. “Even I could smell this from the dining hall.”

“Why isn’t the fire alarm going off?” Jon said. “This should be,” he stopped.

“What?” Damian said. He punched the plastic box of the fire alarm until it cracked, then ripped it off the wall. Wires fell out in a tangle. “There's a short in the system. Jon?”

“Somebody is in there,” Jon said in horror.

He could hear their heartbeat.

The fire alarm surged to life, suddenly screaming.

“Okay,” Jon said. “Okay.” He could barely see the door through the smoke, but they were in there and they were alive, and he could find them if he listened hard enough.

“The local fire department’s response time to this location is an average of eight minutes,” Damian said. Jon turned to look at him. “So stop just standing there, Kent.”

Jon smiled.

“Right,” he said. “Don’t go anywhere.”

The lab was a blinding, suffocating wall of smoke, and Jon shut his eyes against the sting and listened.

They were… to his left. Somewhere to his left. He tripped over something, a chair or a stool, but it wasn’t burning. Some of the furniture was on fire, but most of the flames were coming from a fume hood on the far side of the room, nowhere near him, near him or near them.

They were right under him before he was sure of it, but they were breathing. A woman, in jeans and a puffy vest that had half melted in the heat of the room. She was breathing, she wasn’t moving but she was breathing —

Something made a very ominous cracking noise behind him.

He felt it before it happened: a wet splash of liquid on the floor as a bench collapsed and a pipe burst, and then a thunderous shudder of bottles and jars tumbling and rolling toward the side of the room that was mostly flame, and then that awful, familiar inrush of air before an explosion.

He dropped to cover her just in time.

The windows blew out; one of the lab's doors ripped off and went crashing out into the hallway. A piece of a desk hit Jon’s back, hard, and the ceiling on the far side of the room let out a miserable, terrible groan and started to sag.

Jon grabbed her and ran.

Damian wasn’t in the hallway, and Jon spared a terrified thought that maybe the lab's door had hit him, and he was — no, of course not; he was in the break room, halfway down the hall.

“Put her here,” Damian told him. “Is she breathing?”

“Yeah,” Jon said. “Hang on, hang on, I gotta,” he stripped the melted vest off her and threw it on the floor. Damian’s fingers were at her neck. He had a bottle of water from somewhere, and he was opening it as she began to cough.

“Oh, whew,” Jon said. “Wow.”

Damian looked over at him, his eyes sharp chips of green. Jon heard the heavy footsteps of the firefighters start up the stairs on the ground floor.

Damian’s gaze flickered down to Jon’s chest, then back up.

“Oh,” Jon said, looking down. Damian’s sweater was hanging off him in burnt strips, and the whole left shoulder of his t-shirt was missing. His jeans and shoes were okay — he’d kind of laid down next to her and curled up — but there was no way he looked like he should have all his limbs.

“I, uh, I think I need to leave,” Jon said.

“We need to leave,” Damian agreed. “The easiest roof access is just to the east of the window.”

“No, I need to leave,” Jon said. “You need to stay here and explain the fire alarm, and the getting her out of the lab and stuff.”

Damian rolled his eyes. “Nobody asks why they didn’t die in a fire,” he said.

“Somebody was obviously here,” Jon said.

“And when they’re gone, no one will—”

“She didn’t crawl out here and onto a table and not —”

“People do all kinds of things in critical, life-threatening situations,” Damian snapped.

“Not like this,” Jon stalled.

“Jon,” Damian said suspiciously.

“In here!” Jon yelled as the firefighters burst through the hallway doors, and then he lunged for the window.

He caught Damian’s eyes as he scrambled up to the roof, and boy, was he doubly glad he was impervious to fire today.

#jon kent/damian wayne #dcu #dc comics #batfam #jon kent #damian wayne

[wildefiction]

Of Course...Mr. Collins

TWENTY-TWO

The plane ride home was exhausting, though otherwise uneventful. An early morning arrival met you and Misha with dark, wet roads and a severe drop in temperature, immediately making you wish you were back on the islands.

At just after four in the morning, you said your goodbyes to Misha and Cliff before falling into bed. While Hawaii had been beautiful, you were happy to be home. With the California convention closing out the season, you wondered what Misha would have you do during the winter break. Wrapping yourself in a nest of blankets, your eyes closed almost immediately after crawling into your four-poster canopy bed.

Plaintive cries of indignation tore you from a dreamless sleep and you woke to find both of your cats pointedly staring at you from atop their position on your stomach. One of them had the good grace to at least offer a rumbling purr at the first sign of your stirring. Your attempts to ignore their demands for food by rolling to the other side of the mattress did little to deter them. Snuffling purrs rolled against the curve of your ear, whiskers tickling the skin with their light touch. “Fine, yes, I’m getting up!” With a heaving groan you stumbled from the soft surface, absentmindedly filling the empty dishes in the kitchen so as to dissuade the complaints of the dependents who wound through your legs.

Dragging the comforter from your room to wrap around your shoulders, you settled into the couch for a day of movie watching. Since your sister was still in Hawaii with Galen, the idea of a quiet day at home was just what you needed. Flipping through several social media platforms and seeing no updates from her surprised you, usually she dominated the websites with non-stop photos. Shrugging it off, your attention turned back to the tv, content with your decision to have a Harry Potter marathon. Musing to yourself, you wondered, was it possible to watch all seven movies in one day?

You were able to make it through the first and most of the second film before dozing off, and the rest of the day was filled with a cycle of sleeping, switching discs and eating. Towards the end of the evening, an Instagram notification appeared on your phone, once again startling you from the light state of unconsciousness you’d drifted in and out of today. A half smile of relief at the beachy sunset quelled the uneasiness that had tried to worm its way into your mind. Watching over your sister had been something you’d tasked yourself with from a young age, and even now that the two of you were adults, it was a hard habit to break.

Early the next morning, you dressed quickly. One perk to having an early-to-rise boss was that often by eight am you’d already been awake for a couple hours. This schedule had almost seamlessly transferred to include your days off. Thanksgiving was a week away and you’d finally be able to not only afford all of the ingredients for a literal feast, but also have people to share your efforts with. A beautiful fall day greeted you as you descended the stairs, stopping a moment to appreciate the crisp chill of the air and the dried leaves that painted the ground in values of crimson, gold and tangerine.

Turning your music up and speeding through scattered leaves had you smiling to yourself when you pulled into the grocery store parking lot a few minutes later. Although it was early, plenty of people were already gathering their groceries for the upcoming holiday. Pointing the key fob over your shoulder and pulling the crimson peacoat more securely around your shoulders, the audible beeping of the car locking echoed around you.

Grabbing your phone from the pocket inside your bag, you unlocked the screen and navigated through the applications until you found the list of ingredients you needed to purchase. Humming contentedly to yourself as the pile of produce and baking components accumulated in the cart, you didn’t notice until too late that you’d bumped into another lady in front of you. As you rushed to apologize, you quickly realized it was your old boss. 

The furtive glances and tight-lipped smile she offered created an air of awkwardness as you mumbled an obligatory hello. 

“So…[Y/F/N], ho-how have you been?” The light touch of her fingertips on your shoulder made you flinch, though you doubted she had noticed. Her white-knuckled grip on the handles of her basket betrayed her confident demeanor. Taking a deep breath, you considered. How had you been? Fucking fantastic was the answer. And yes, you had been upset when she’d unceremoniously fired you, but without having had that happen, you might never have been given the opportunity to accept what had literally become your dream-job. 

“Actually...I’ve been great! I found a new position pretty quickly and I’m so grateful that things worked out how they did. Otherwise, I’d still be struggling to pay my bills and feeling like my career was going nowhere.” 

The excitement in your tone was unquestionable, but the look of hurt in the woman’s eyes made it clear that she’d thought you were being frigid. 

“Oh! I mean..I was really appreciative of the relationship we’d formed for the years I worked for you, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not trying to be rude, and I realize you could only offer me so much. Really though, you gave me something I didn’t have the courage to do for myself; an out. So, for that, thank you.” 

The tentative smile and confidence that swept through you allowed you to fold her into a hug, her bewildered expression delaying her reaction. As she brought her arms up to return the hug, you were already stepping back, guiding your cart around her. 

“Happy Holidays!” The lilting tone in your voice settled into the same comfortable humming from earlier as you added the final items from your list to the cart.

Amongst the friendly chatter with the young woman ringing up your groceries, your phone began to ring. The muffled sounds of Louden Swain drifted from the bottom of your bag and you set to work digging through the expansive tote trying to find the device in time to answer it. 

“I love Louden Swain, did you go to their concert in Seattle last month?” The bright brown eyes of the cashier lit up, and with them, so did her entire face. “I didn’t get to unfortunately, I had to work - but I was able to see them perform a few days ago in Hawaii, they are fantastic aren’t they?” 

Nodding as she finished calculating your order, you lifted the phone to your ear just in time to have the ringing silence itself. Flipping through the caller ID, you realized it was Misha who’d called. Not wanting to be rude, you paid for your purchases and thanked the woman, wishing her a Happy Thanksgiving as you dialed the number to reach your boss. 

“Hey Misha, what’s up?” 

“Nothing, just some errands.” 

As you turned to leave you didn’t notice the look of surprise come over the woman’s face who watched you walk away from her checkstand, bags of groceries gripped tightly in your hand.

As you unloaded the items from the back of your car and carried them up the three flights of stairs to your apartment, your phone rang again. Luckily, this time it started right as you reached the final landing. 

“Norman! Wow, I didn’t expect you to call, how are you?!” The excitement in your voice caused you to miss the questioning tone of his voice. 

“Why’da think ah wou’na call ya?” “Happy Thanksgivin’ Sunshine!” Laughing, you returned the greeting only to remind him that you still had a week to prepare and not to jinx you. As the two of you discussed your individual holiday plans, the phone beeped against your shoulder just as you set the milk in the door of the refrigerator. 

“One sec, that’s my other line.” Switching calls, Misha was there asking you to work for a few hours. Looking around to make sure everything was put away, you scooped some food from the container for your cats and lowered the bowls to the ground. Not knowing how long you were going to be gone, you’d rather know the girls had been fed early than making them wait too long. Promising you’d be there soon, you ended the call as you once again grabbed your keys and shut the door behind you. There hadn’t even been enough time to take off your coat.

As you docked your phone in the car cradle, you quickly realized the second line was on hold; Norman was still waiting. Cursing, you quickly fumbled for the screen as you started the car. 

“Sorry, I totally didn’t forget that you were still waiting on me.” Laughter echoed through your car speakers as you turned left out of the parking lot and headed for I-5 North. 

“I forgive ya, swee’har, dun worry abou’ it.” Norman kept you company for the drive to Misha’s house, talking about meeting new people in Australia for the wrap-up of season three. A tired sigh filtered through the space around you and you recognized the sound of exhaustion that came with Norman’s voice. 

“Hey, just one more week till Thanksgiving, you can stuff yourself silly and nap all day!” The laughter in your voice ebbed away when Norman snorted. 

“Nah, gotta work till Wednesday and I’m just hanging out in Georgia for the rest of the week. Gonna be kina quiet, Mingus is spending the week with ‘is mom - so it’s just gonna be me an’ Eye.” A quiet huff punctuated the statement. “Anyhow, ya prolly gettin’ close ta Misha’s place - I’ll talk ta ya later, gotta get back ta work.” After saying your goodbyes, the call ended just as you pulled into Misha’s driveway.

Sitting in the office chair behind his desk, you set to work organizing the newest information for the project that would replace Gishwhes. Although you’d never gotten the chance to participate in the scavenger hunt, the new version sounded just as fun. 

“Hey, [Y/F/N], can you call Jensen and ask if they’ll still be in Vancouver next week? I need a headcount for dinner.” 

Scribbling the note on a scrap piece of paper so you wouldn’t forget, you grabbed your phone to look up his number. 

“Oh! And Rachel is waiting on the final numbers from the Castiel ops we offered last weekend, can you email Creation and have them contact her please?” 

The task joined the one on your notepad as you continued to scroll through your now extensive contacts list. The sheer amount of phone numbers you’d received over the last week still surprised you. Muttering to yourself, you ran through the entries, 

“Briana, Kim, Jared...there, Jensen.” 

A text message from your sister came through just as you were about to call the Ackles'.

‘Hey love, won’t be home for Thanksgiving next week, Galen wants me to stay another few days. Love you.”

As your shoulders dropped at the news, you couldn’t say you weren’t disappointed, but you were happy she was having a good time. Pushing the thought from your mind, you went back to calling Jensen as you opened a blank email and sent the request for a financial report to the convention team.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

TAGS: @jamielea81 @wings-of-a-raven

#WildeFiction #Misha x Reader #Norman Reedus x Reader #Supernatural Fanfiction #SPN x RPF

[kenjiro-s]

What goes well with tea ? A TeruYama story

Ch. 4

Of snow and bad mornings

 The sound simply didn’t fit. Tadashi looked around, but all he could see was a huge wooden chest with hundreds of little feet that pattered after him through the thick forest. Nothing could make the piercing ring he could feel digging in his conscience. Of course, one never knew with those lands, but this was a new level of abnormal. He stopped and just as he was about to dig in his bag for one of the spells, a flat foggy dark grey surface rose in his sight and he gasped.

 It was his ceiling. He was awake, tangled in blankets to keep him warm and one of the three pillows he slept with clutched at his chest for…some reason. His ears were ringing because of the abrupt plunging in the Land of the Awake while the radio clock on the night stand blinked with…He squinted…4:58. Five in the morning. Why was he awake at five in the morning ?

 After a couple of seconds of deep, muddled confusion, his half-asleep brain noted the annoying ringing didn’t come from the engine in his head trying to start but from his phone. Wait, his phone ? Who was calling at five in the morning ? It was completely dark and while not everyone followed the “Not before nine, not after nine” rule, this was ridiculous.

 Grumbling to himself, Tadashi reached outside of the warm blanket, managed to drop his phone on the floor only twice and by the time he’d gotten it to his face, he was halfway out of the cocoon of covers, pillows and blankets, and was not happy. His vision blurry, he didn’t even try to see the name, just did his best to answer it without seeing a thing and tried to slot it to his ear the best he could.

- …at ? – Not his most eloquent, but, in his defense, it was before sunrise.

- Yamaguchi, I am terribly sorry, but could you come earlier today ? I got a delivery that was supposed to come tomorrow and it needs to be put away as soon as possible. You will be compensated, of course, but any kind of help will be greatly appreciated since if I stop even one piece from melting it will be a win. The supplier will be sorry, of course, but this is urgent and you’ll be doing me a great…

 He could honestly say he didn’t understand anything. The words sounded familiar but held absolutely no meaning and the fast way the other…person was speaking was definitely not helping.

- Ugh…

- Yamaguchi. – Oh, his name. He knew that. Giving a little grunt in response, he waited. – Come to the café. Now. – Okay, the café…He knew what that was. He also knew he wasn’t supposed to be there before the sun rose, and… - I’ll make you coffee and breakfast. Huge coffee, ready when you get here if it takes you less than forty minutes. I’ll call you a cab. Yes ? – The short words made a little more sense than before and he made a sound he hoped was affirmative which seemed like the right choice as the other person hung up. Ah, much better. He slid back under the mountain of blankets and chased the dream he’d left halfway through. As the warmth enveloped him, the forest rose around him again and he took a deep breath of fresh green air. Now, where had his Luggage gone…

 And jumped out of bed. What, the…Had he dreamt that ? Had he ? Frantically looking for his phone, he unlocked it and saw…One conversation, marked “Boss”, from two minutes ago. Shoot. Shoot, shoot, shoot. He’d agreed to go to work at five thirty in the morning. Shoot.

 It took him a full minute of fumbling for the several light switches that stood between him and his bathroom to realise he was barefoot. On the tiles in the hallway. Luckily, his toes has jumped over “freeze to the point of falling off” and landed straight in “completely numb”. Socks, he should put socks on his bed to wait for him toni…

 When burning in his eyes joined his frozen feet and he managed to smack himself in the forehead with the door, Tadashi decided, officially, that today was not his day. And it wasn’t even today ! He could almost count it as “last night”.

 The bathroom mirror was about as kind to him as the door had been. Under the harsh artificial light his skin was tight over his cheekbones and the freckles stood out in a way that reminded him how much he used to hate them in school. Bad memories, bad. Go back to where you came from. He didn’t have time to wallow in self-pity about years that have passed, he had to brush his teeth while feverishly hoping to have something work-appropriate ironed in his closet.

 Still stiff and bleary eyed, Tadashi dragged himself back to his bedroom a few minutes later. Three, maximum four. After stopping in the doorway for a particularly good stretch that made his spine, shoulders and even ankles pop a few times, some warmth finally flowed in his muscles, his body reaching something close to the state of “Awake”. Trying not to unhinge his jaw while yawning, he glanced at the glowing clock on the nightstand. And almost bit off a piece of his tongue. If Kawanishi had been serious, and he always was, his transport would be arriving in ten minutes. Ten. Tadashi looked down very, very slowly. He had to make a choice and do it quickly. Clothes or hair.

 In a retrospect, deciding to go for both hadn’t been one of his smartest ideas. Which is why eight minutes later he was shivering on his doorstep, waiting for his ride. Kawanishi had mentioned a cab but no taxis glowed in the empty winter streets. Just as his teeth were about to start chattering, a car turned on the street, almost silent in the fresh snow. And it was definitely not a taxi.

 The vehicle was large, shiny and black. Did Kawanishi have yakuza connections ? Was the government coming for him ? He hadn’t done anything ! He was simply barely out of his teens, with a nice simple job and currently freezing, he didn’t deserve to be kidnapped ! He hadn’t done anything illegal in his life, ever ! True, he’d taken that little rubber ball from his friend but he’d been four, and his mom had scolded him so hard he’d ended up crying and keeping his head down in shame for a week. They couldn’t be coming because of that, could they ? Unless the kid’s parents had been important people and…

- Hey, Yamaguchi, right ? – The question startled him out of his frantic thoughts. The blond behind the wheel was somewhat familiar and it took his half-asleep brain a moment to remember Kawanishi’s partner. Though why he was outside before sunrise was definitely a mystery. – I have tons of work at the station so Taichi asked me to pick you up. Also, he promised food when I get there but that’s a different thing. Hop in, you must be freezing. – Realising he’d apparently abandoned any idea of manners in his bed, Tadashi did his best to shut the door as fast as possible.

- Thank you. – The car felt incredible. Warm and spacious, it was obvious whoever had picked it had had tall people in mind.

- It’s fine. Can I share a secret ? – The man smiled lightly. It was a soft expression, almost careful, and it melted his sharp features in a picture of warmth.

- Um, sure…- He looked around and slowly got out of the narrow street. While there was nobody else out that early, one never knew with all the snow and slush.

- Taichi really, really values you being at the café. – After a tiny glance at Tadashi’s face, the man laughed. – I know he doesn’t show it. To be completely honest, he does it on purpose. It freaks people out and he can be a sadist. – An awkward pause, followed by a throat being cleared. Tadashi was absolutely not going to ask. – Anyway, he won’t say it, but even just knowing there is someone he could count on not only to get up in this completely inhumane hour but also to leave the whole shop to, is of great help to him, especially now when the café is so understaffed. He feels calmer when you’re there. – The last was said with a small shrug, the man still not looking away from the brightly lit streets.

 It was…nice to feel appreciated, even if the compliments were second hand. For…whatever his name was to say things like that, Tadashi hopes it meant Kawanishi had spoken about him. He really, really hoped it was true.

- Oh, I didn’t introduce myself, did I ? Semi Eita, at your service. – The man’s dark eyes were twinkling when he said it, his smile shining in the low light.

- I am Yamaguchi. Um, Yamaguchi Tadashi. Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you, too, Yamaguchi. Oh, look, here we are. And it doesn’t seem like the driver has suffered any life-threatening injuries yet. Good, good, I’d hate to use my connections to bail Taichi again. Really ruins my reputation with my colleagues, I’m telling you…

 Wait, what ? What had he gotten involved with ?

- I swear, Yuuji, if you don’t stop whining, I will take the needle I use to scare minors and stab you in the nearest soft bit you I can reach. Just. Shut. Up !

 It was easier said than done. Yuuji leaned even more on the table in Bobata’s corner. He was currently almost buried under a pile of photos of piercings his friend had done in the past, the explicit ones safely store in special albums, and was trying to nurse a broken heart. The problem was, of course. That his heart wasn’t really that broken but still, he had a right to be upset ! The cute cashier had given him his phone number, quite voluntary, and then hadn’t responded to any of his texts, neither from last night, nor from today. And he’d send, he checked while trying not to alert his friend, four of them. Four, in less than 24 hours. He knew he was being avoided. It was possible he’s scared the other man and he’d just given him a random person’s number to get him off of him, but it was still cruel. He would’ve backed off if only Freckles had said something. Or even shown distaste. Yuuji wasn’t a monster, he wouldn’t push where he wasn’t wanted. But he thought he’d read him right, that he was willing. Obviously, not.

 He’d pushed and pushed and pushed, until Freckles had had no other choice but to lie. It could have been worse, Yuuji though. He could’ve said something to his boss. And then Yuuji would already be in a shallow grave for the coyotes to feast on. Wait, did they even have coyotes in Japan ? It didn’t really matter. Or, he’d be locked in a dungeon somewhere. The man looked like he enjoyed young women in latex and leather, chained to walls. There were probably whips involved. And, possibly, hot wax. Huh, Freckles in leather…Now that he’d pay to see. Yuuj wondered if in case of enough people expressed desire, the café would have a fetish Sunday or something. Of course, even if it did, he’d never see it because he’s be chained and stuffed from all sides, while a cool blond with cold eyes would be doing unimaginable things to him for having impure thoughts about his innocent employee.

 And his mind was wandering again, trying to distract him from the simple fact that the man he’d been trying to court had apparently had no desire to play. True, his “trying” had been pitiful at best and borderline gross at worst, but he’d done his best. Which, apparently, hadn’t been enough. But it was evening and aside from one lone appointment, he’d had the whole day to his thought. His seven o’clock would be arriving any time now and he had to prepare. With a heavy sigh, carefully ignoring Bobata’s stare, Yuuji dragged himself to his part of the studio.

 He thought of his client. They’d met only once, the other man had known exactly what he wanted and how he wanted it done. When Yuuji had asked about other tattoos, he’d gotten a sharp smile and a cryptic affirmative, along with the soft remark that no matter what he did, it probably wouldn’t hurt as much as what he’d had done before. Brave, but the client had been calm and smiling so there was a possibility that everything would go smoothly.

 The bell jingles, followed by a soft conversation between Tsuchiyu and the client. Whatever was said, it got his friend to laugh and that was good in his book.

- Hello and welcome again. I am glad… - His inviting smile froze. Next to his calm, confident client, was Mr Mass Murderer, looking was too smug for someone in a loose t-shirt and soft pants standing next to a partner in a three-piece suit. Well, shit. Things had just gotten much more complicated.

#haikyuu!! #haikyuu fanfiction #fanfiction #teruyama #romance #terushima yuuji #yamaguchi tadashi #rare pair hell #rare pair #COFFEE SHOP AU