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rebeccccccaaa · 3 years

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Ѕтдсч'ѕ Мом | Рдгт Тшо

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ɴᴀᴛᴀsʜᴀ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴏғғ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ:

sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: Nat has you all to the herself just the for weekend. And she’s gonna take every second for granted.

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs: milf!nat again bc i luv her, so major age gap (reader 21+), pool sex, stacy almost catching y’all, somnophilia/waking the r up with sex, tiny tiny bit of angst

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ’s ɴᴏᴛᴇs: I’m having writer’s block atm but i did have this in the back of my head. Might do a part three?

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The white sunshine woke Nat from her peaceful sleep slightly irritating her but when her eyes landed upon your tranquil form beside her, she forgot what put her in a bad mood in the first place. She brushed the hair from your face listening to the quiet snores with a small smile on her face.

Last night was incredible for her. She couldn’t stop thinking about how beautiful you looked under her; squirming and whining as she drilled her hips into you. She hadn’t remembered the last time she’d shared her bed with someone she cared about. You made her feel young again. Reminded her what it felt like to be desired, to be craved by another woman again.

She couldn’t resist her hands roaming across your soft belly pulling you closer to her warm body. She kissed the side of your head down to your ear nibbling softly on your earlobe making your stir in your sleep. You turned your head to face her and she brushed her nose along yours before pulling away to see a faint smile on your sleepy face.

A mischievous idea popped into the older woman’s head and before she could dwell on it much longer she moved her body down your naked one before settling between your thighs. She hadn’t gotten a taste like she had wished for last night but this would be the first of many times she was going to get to.

She kissed your hips and gently caressed the inside of your thighs softly. Your knees pushed back subconsciously allowing her to settle more comfortably. She leaned down kissing the inside of your thighs softly pulling sighs and moans from you already. She kept her eyes trained on you as she licked your pussy.

Your hips wiggled and bucked forward into her mouth; your sighs and whimpers grew louder at the feeling. You thought you were dreaming. Feeling the older woman between your thighs felt surreal. You woke up hazy quickly registering the beautiful redhead that buried her tongue deep inside you.

Your hands found home in her red and blonde locks that you spent many nights dreaming about tugging on. Her big green eyes were trained on yours with nothing but a mischievous and lustful glint in them. She inserted a finger past your folds; it felt cold and soft. Your body unable to resist shuddering.

"Nat," you sighed, keeping your fingers buried in her long locks.

"доброе утро," she hummed against your skin making your stomach tighten with pleasure.

She skillfully added another finger stretching you out just a bit but nowhere near as much as her cock did the night before. She spread your folds with her outer fingers before leaning down again flicking her tongue against your bundle of nerves. She moved her fingers quicker in and out you wrapping her lips around your clit sucking harshly.

"Fuck, that feels so good, mommy," you whined, wiggling your hips wildly.

Nat brought her forearm up, resting firmly on your hips to steady your wild movements. She didn't slow down her pace as you got closer and closer to your release. Your moans grew louder as did your whimpers and whines. Your body shook in pleasure as you fell over the edge, crying Nat's name in ecstasy.

You slowly came down from your high in a pan`ting mess. Your skin felt hot and sticky, the sheets clinging on to you. Your tummy flipped and fluttered when you laid your eyes on Natasha. She brought her fingers up to her lips sucking lewdly on them keeping her eyes trained on you slowly crawling back over your body.

"Good morning, красотка," she hummed against your lips before kissing you properly.

"What a way to wake a girl up," you giggled, cupping her face in your hands.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. You just looked so fucking sweet lying there, practically waiting for me to ruin all over again," she whispered huskily.

"Nat," you breathed out.

"Y/n," she whispered with just as much desperation in her voice as yours did.

Reality struck suddenly. This was the mother of one of your closest friends, your best friend. she practically twice your age and here you were naked in her bed while her daughter was away. This was so inappropriate. What would happen if you were to get caught by Stacy, finding her best sleeping with her mom? She would kill you, never trust you again.

"This is wrong," you turned your head away.

"Then why does it feel so good? So right?" she ran nose along your jaw and around the shell of your ear.

"Fuck," her cold fingers grazed your soft skin making you burst into chills.

"Just for the weekend, please," she begged.

"Let me have you all to myself for the weekend and when Stacy comes back, we can pretend this never happened. I promise."

"Nat," you whispered.

"Please," Nat begged.

"Just for the weekend?"

She nodded with sadness in her eyes. You pressed your lips to hers momentarily before Nat slowly crawled out of bed. She disappeared into the bathroom quickly coming back out with a fluffy white robe wrapped around her beautiful body. She was ready to walk out but stopped in the doorway turning back to you with a coy smile.

“What do you want for breakfast, baby?”

The day went by and Nat refused to take her hands off you. Making breakfast ended with you on your knees, head between her thighs as she patted your head drinking from her mimosa; of course having to put that down and steady herself from how good your tongue felt. Having lunch ended with your hands tied behind your back bent over the couch as she pound her faux cock into you from behind. And it hasn't even surpassed one pm.

The sun shone brightly and you and Nat dressed to spend a couple hours by the pool. She wore a stunner leopard print bikini that you couldn’t help but gock at. She wore a straw sun hat and carried a small book with her. Her curves and long legs on display made your tummy fluttered. You felt unimpressive and somewhat self conscious wearing a simple white bikini.

“Such a beaut,” she smiled, pressing her lips against yours. Well, that certainly made you feel better. She walked hand in yours outside, settling down on a lawn chair. She pulled you on top of her, your knees falling either side of her hips. Her delicate hands rubbed softly over your thighs and hips to cup your cheeks.

“God, I could just kiss you all day,” she grinned.

“Really taking this weekend for granted aren’t ya?” you giggled.

“If this is the only time I get to pretend you're mine, I'll take every second I have for granted,” she whispered.

You looked into her teary eyes, tears building up on your own. It’s not that you didn’t want her just as bad, what will people say if a very popular and successful billionaire business woman in New York City was found dating a significantly younger woman, her daughter’s best friend to be exact, she’d be torn to shreds by the public. That’s not fair to her, or to Stacy.

“I- I’m gonna take a dip,” you smiled softly. Nat could see the cogs whirring in your pretty little head but she knew it wasn’t something to talk about right now; so she didn’t push.

“Kiss,” she pulled you back to her.

You smiled in the kiss before walking over to the pool swaying your hips a little extra knowing she’d be eyeing you up and down. Nat bit her lip and watched you slowly walk into the pool soaking your gorgeous skin that practically glowed under the sun. She knew what game you were trying to play so she shoved her face in her book for the time being.

A few moments went by and you just relaxed by the edge of the pool soaking in the sun and the view that the backyard gave you. You turned your head to look for Nat seeing as this had probably been the longest she’d gone today without taking you in some way, but she wasn’t lounging where she had been for the last twenty minutes.

“Miss me already?” she said walking back outside with two drinks in her hand and a smirk on her face.

“Well, considering you haven’t tried to jump my bones for the tenth time today I was beginning to get worried you might’ve gotten tired of me,” you retorted.

“Hon, I could never get tired of you,” she handed you the glass.

“What is it?”

“Just a pina colada,” she smiled.

“You don’t strike me as a woman who likes to drink pina coladas,” you grinned taking a sip.

“Well, no. I’m Russian. I like vodka; straight,” she said with a thick heavy Russian accent, making you giggle.

“But lucky for you, I’m not,” she wiggled her brows making your eyes widen momentarily before bursting into laughter.

“That was a good one,” you giggled.

“Come here,” she chuckled.

You pressed your lips against hers moving perfectly like two pieces of a puzzle. She pressed your back against the edge of the pool slipping her tongue last your lips. She caged you in her arms and yours wrapped around her small waist pulling her body flushed against you.

“God, so fucking sweet,” she whisepred tasting the remnants of the fruit drink you just drank.

Her fingers dipped in the water tracing the waistline of your bikini bottoms. She curled her finger over them pulling them down and you watched them float to the surface gasping when her finger grazed between your thighs.

"красотка, I can feel how wet you've gotten. And I know it's not the water," she nibbled on your earlobe.

"Oh, Nat," you moaned breathlessly.

She pushed her finger past your folds, instantly feeling your walls clench with need. She circled your clit expertly with her thumb, pressing her lips back on yours desperately. You brought your hands up and playfully flicked her sun hat off before wrapping your arms around her neck, arching your chest into hers.

Your leg wedged between her legs and she slowly grinded on your thigh. Her lips went to your neck softly sucking and biting the delicate skin as her fingers moved quicker and quicker stroking your velvety walls perfectly, chasing your release for you.

That was something you quickly noticed about her. Nat was an extreme giver. She always went out of her way to make you come undone for her. You had tasted her already but you had yet had a chance to have your own way with her. As much as the thought alone made you tingle, she always beat you bending you over whatever surface was available, the bed, the couch, the counter, anywhere taking you however she deemed appropriate from behind.

"Shit, I'm gonna- Fuck!" you squeaked.

"Come on, baby. Come all over mommy's fingers. Look at me," she demanded, her hips grinding wildly along your thigh chasing her own orgasm too.

You stared intimately into her eyes as your stomach tightened and your legs shook. If you weren't floating between the wall and her body, without a doubt your knees would've buckled sending you to the floor. You grip tightened around her neck pulling her forehead against yours as you felt yourself topple over the edge. Your body reaches nirvana as you cry her name.

Nat watched you with pure adoration and an open mouth as she came on your thigh. When you both eased back to reality her lips immediately found themselves back on yours. You breathed heavily through your nose and when she pulled away you couldn't help but chuckle.

"What?"

"You're addicted to kissing me," you giggled.

"I can't help it, красотка. Taste so sweet," she bit her lip.

"Let me grab some towels, baby."

Nat went inside leaving wet footprints along the house. She'll clean that up later. She grabbed a bundle of towels for you after putting on her fluffy white robe she usually wore. You stayed in the pool still breathing heavily waiting for her to return with those towels. Seeing as the pool wasn't necessarily as 'clean' as it was moments ago you opted to just get out and wait on a chair instead.

Suddenly, on her way back to the pool the front door opened and Stacy and her boyfriend walked in arguing. Nat's eyes widened and she looked at you who stood butt naked in her pool. You heard the two's sudden appearance, freezing in fear before realizing you needed to get dressed before either one catches you.

You jumped back in the pool treading the water to grab your bottoms that practically floated away and Nat tried her best to distract them for the time being until you were decent.

"Hi, you two are back so soon?" Nat said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"Jason booked the hotel room for one night instead of three," Stacy said frustratingly.

"I didn't mean to," he responded shyly.

"Can Jason just stay with us for the rest of the weekend?" Stacy asked.

"Sure," Nat sighed.

"Is everything ok, mom?"

"Yeah," No it's not.

You put your bottoms on overhearing the conversation. Your heart sank. Was it over? Did your glee filled weekend with your forbidden love end already? You looked sorrowfully at Nat who too looked to be in complete frustration and anger.

“Did I interrupt anything?” Stacy chuckled clearly joking but unbeknownst to her she really did.

“Oh, no. We were just tanning by the pool,” Nat shrugged with a half hearted smile. You hesitantly walked towards Nat seeing as she still held all the towels. You could still feel her; her lips on your neck, her fingers between your thighs, her core grinded against your thigh, her breasts pressed against yours, fuck. Fuck Stacy and her boyfriend coming home early.

“What happened?” Jason asked passing by you towards the pool.

“What do you mean?” Nat asked, handing you the towel.

“There’s something gooey, like white slime in the pool,” Jason called out and your eyes widened; you came pretty hard in Nat’s fingers but you didn’t know it was that much.

“We uh… we were having a drink, spilled some in the pool. Hence why we’re getting out,” Nat lied.

“Want me to call a pool guy?” Stacy asked.

“The filter should take care of it,” she waved off.

“Are, uh- are you kids hungry?” Nat redirected the conversation.

“Starving,” Stacy chuckled.

Stacy and Jason went to the kitchen leaving you and Nat alone for a minute. You couldn’t say anything afraid your voice would betray you. You went to leave, accepting that this fantasy you indulge the past twenty four hours, the best twenty four hours you’ve ever had, was over.

“Y/n,” Nat grabbed your arm as you tried to walk away.

“The weekend’s over, Nat. I’m sorry,” you whispered tears brimming your eyes.

“I’m gonna shower,” you said before walking away; Nat letting you go considering there wasn’t really anything else to say.

She went to the kitchen and opened the fridge grabbing some ingredients and placing them on the counter.

“What happened to Y/n?” Stacy asked.

“She’s gonna take a shower. She’ll be back,” she responded, still holding a solemn expression.

“Are you sure everything’s ok, mom?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine.”

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ᴛᴀɢʟɪsᴛ: (For all my work)

@mathletemadison

@buckybarnes101

@l-sofiamia-l

@pluto-grl

@partr1dge

@stefans-wife

@cordeliaswhore

@fleurlovesbucky

@povsmarvel0720

@missroro

ᴛᴀɢʟɪsᴛ: (Natasha’s Fics)

@natasha-danvers

@fayhar

@mitchiesdungeon

#natasha romanoff smut #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #black widow smut #milf!nat #natasha x reader

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20moonchild21 · 3 years

Text

𝗦𝗲𝗵𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵𝘁 [𝗯𝘁𝘀]

⇉ 𝗰𝗵𝗽𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 17

[pairings]

JK x female!oc, Bunny!JK x human!female!oc, Jin x female!oc, Leopard!Jin x human!female!oc, Jimin x female!oc, white Tiger!Jimin x human!female!oc, Taehyung x female!oc, black Tiger!Taehyung x human!female!oc, Hobi x female!oc, Fox!Hobi x human!female!oc, Namjoon x female!oc, Wolf!Namjoon x human!female!oc, JK x Jin x Jimin x Taehyung x Hobi x Namjoon x female!oc

[warnings]

none

[words]

4.0k

[author]

It has been a long time, but I am back now, and I am more than excited to start updating Sehnsucht again!

I hope you you all checked out the story of my lovely friends @starlightauroras-main. Inferiority complex is super cute story about Hybrid!Jimin. Please, check it out!

I also hope that you like this chapter. Almost all Boys have entered the story yet, only Yoongi is missing. But it still needs a little while until he will be arrive. 🤭

Stay healthy and safe!

Mꨄ

[chapter 16 ||| chapter 18]

Hobi watched in amazement how the girl’s hand was sliding over the piece of fabric back and forth, turning it upside down and back up, before laying it on the table and smoothing it.

“Look.” She said proudly, as she held up the once ripped shirt. “It’s like nothing has happened.”

Despite all the advantaged that came with being a Hybrid, like having extra sensitive senses, there were also more than enough disadvantages too. Especially, when he had never had such expensive clothes to know how to handle them the right way. He had tried to find the right way out for his arms and head but ended up with his head and arm in one hole, which obviously had been too much for the fabric.

At first, he had been scared to tell someone about this accident. Not just because he had felt embarrassed, but also because he had been scared to upset someone to whom the clothes belonged. Sadly, he was like an open book to read for everyone, so Jin had noticed pretty fast that something had been odd with the fox Hybrid. When Hobi had finally told him what happened, Jin began to laugh warmly, telling him that no one would be mad at him.

When Hope had come home from her work, Hobi had bundled up all his courage to tell her all by himself, hoping that she would react in the same way as Jin. Indeed, she had smirked a little bit when he had told her the story, but she quickly had offered him her help to fix the shirt. His old owner would have never reacted in such a kind way.

When he was younger, the man who owned the circus had bought him from the people who had bred him in their laboratories. He brought the small fox boy all the way over to America, just to lock him up in a cage there. But Hobi had never complained though. After all, the man had offered him a place to sleep and something to eat every day.

But of course, he had also been a curious child back then¸ wanting to explore his surroundings and borders. That had often brought him in troubles, leaving him more often locked up in his cage than he had planned. At some point, he had learnt that it was only him who brought himself in such position and from that day on, he had just kept following the rules like he was supposed to do.

Hope meanwhile had put a small, wooden box on the table that was filled with all kinds of needles, threads and other supplies one could need for sewing. He had not even needed to wait long, because as soon as the girl had been sitting, she had already been fixing the small rip in the shirt.

While she had been worked concentrated on the blue piece of fabric, Hobi had grabbed himself a small piece of fabric out of the box as well, trying to copy her movements. Obviously, he was not as talented as her.

“Wow.” He stunned, as he laid his own piece of work down and reached out for the shirt. “I can’t even see where the rip was. Where did you lean this, Hope?”

The girl smirked slightly, while she cleaned the table.

“I was a pretty wild child.” She told him, reaching up to put the sewing box up onto the shelf on the wall. “I always came home with a lack in my trousers. At some point, my mother was tired to fix all my clothes, so she taught me to fix them myself.”

Hobi head the sadness in her voice when she talked about her mom. Beside the picture of her on Jungkook’s favourite wall, Hobi had never seen Hope’s mother in person, so he guessed that she probably was missing her much.

“Your mom was a pretty good teacher then.” He smiled widely at the girl. “Maybe she could visit us some day, so you can show her how well you fixed my shirt.”

If it was possible, the girl’s expression dropped even more, while she clutched her hands onto the mug in front of her. Hobi immediately regretted what he just had said.

“I don’ think that she will be visiting us some day.” She said, as she sadly smiled at the confused boy. “My mom died a few years ago, you know?”

Hobi sunk his ears low when he heard her words. He had never had a mom or a dad, but he could imagine the pain the small girl was feeling right now.

“I am sorry.” He just whispered, not wanting to say anything else to make her sad.

“It’s okay.” Hobi watched, as the girl’s mouth suddenly pulled up. “You know, I like thinking about her. She was a wonderful and strong woman. When I was younger, I always wanted to be like her. She was kind and courteous to everyone, even to Hybrids. She taught me to respect every living, because all of them have a soul and feelings. I am sure she would have loved to meet you guys.”

Hobi could clearly imagine the woman Hope was describing him, because it fit perfectly on the description of Hope. He was glad that her mom had taught Hope all those things, because only she was the reason, he now had a safe place to stay.

“I would have loved to meet your mom. She sounds like a wonderful person.” He carefully spoke, as he reached over and grabbed the girl’s hand that was loosely laying on the table.

It was the very first time that Hobi had made such a big step and actually touched the human girl. Her smaller hand felt so warm and soft, almost fitting perfectly into his bigger hand. It also felt different from when he was touching Jin’s or Jungkook’s hand. He had never felt those little sparkles when touching one of the boys, but he liked it though. Hope gladly accepted this small way of physical affections, squeezing his hand back.

“Diner was so delicious, Jin.” Hope smiled at the older boy, before she put her plate into the sink and kissed the boy’s forehead. “Thank you for that.”

Jin stayed in the kitchen to do the dishes, while Hope walked back into the living room where the other boys were already waiting for her. They all had bombarded her with questions since she had been home again, and now they were waiting for their answers.

“Hope!” Jungkook’s ears were standing up high in the air, as he petted the spot next to him on the sofa, gesturing for her to sit down there.

As soon as her bum met with the soft fabric, the bunny had already laid his head down in her lap, while from the other side, Taehyung was now leaning his head onto her shoulder.

For the next hour, they asked her questions over questions about everything that had happened at work. They asked her about all the Hybrids she had met, about the people she would be working with and about thousands of other things that sometimes made her smirk, because sometimes they were like little kids.

When she told them about the wolf Hybrid, Namjoon, the room suddenly felt silence. All of the boys sitting around her knew fully how that poor boy felt and what he was going through.

“He must be so scared.” Jimin said, wrapping his tail around himself, as Jungkook wrapped his arm around the smaller one’s shoulder. “I wish we could help him somehow.”

The bunny kept Jimin in his arms for a little while longer, before he suddenly jumped up and ran down the hallway towards his room. Hope looked confused at Jin, who was also just shrugging his shoulders. After a few seconds, the slamming of the bunny’s bedroom door rang through the apartment, and Jungkook came running back into the living room.

“Here.” He stopped in front of Hope and held out one of his favourite Hobbit books towards her. “You can give him my favourite book. Maybe he will like it, too.”

“But, Jungkook.” Hope gasped at that sweet gesture of Jungkook, before she stood up and took the book out of his hand. “You love that Hobbit book.”

“Yeah, I do.” The bunny scratched his neck, as his cheeks turned red. “But I – I read it so many times that I can’t count them anymore. I just think that he has absolutely nothing and maybe he will feel more comfortable if he would have something he likes.”

Hope was absolutely touched by Jungkook’s gesture. She knew how much he loved that book and how sad he had been when he had almost given it away a few months ago. She had always known that he had a very big heart when it comes to other people he cared for.

“I will give it to him. Thank you, Kookie.” She whispered, as she stood on her tippy toes and hugged the taller boy tightly, before pressing him a big kiss on his cheek.

“Okay, guys.” Jin announced, looking at his watch just to realized that it was already late at night. He yawned and stretched his arms, tail and ears out at the same time, which looked pretty funny. “I will go to bed. I am pretty tired. Goodnight.”

He went around and gave Taehyung and Jimin a linger hug, Jungkook and Hope a kiss and Hobi a lovely pet on his head, before he went into his room. Next were Taehyung and Jungkook who wanted to play a few more video games in the tiger’s room, and also Hobi stated that he would go to bed, leaving only Jimin and the girl back.

The white tigers sat shyly at the edge of the couch, with his tail wrapped around his legs and a slight shade of red on his cheeks. He looked up at the girl for a second, before he carefully moved closer towards her on the sofa. When he was close enough, he carefully put his head on her shoulder and laid his tail in her lap for the very first time.

“Do you think you can help that wolf in your company.” Jimin carefully asked her, as she begin to stroke his fluffy tail.

“I hope I can.” She whispered back, leaning her head onto his. “But he needs to trust me in the first place, and this needs a little more time, you know?”

Jimin just hummed at her answer.

“I think he is lucky to have you as his lawyer now.” He suddenly smiled. “I know you will safe him, just like you saved us.”

Hope closed her eyes for a moment, thinking back at the time where she first met Jimin and Taehyung. Both tigers had definitely brought some changes into that family, but in a good way of course. Suddenly, she remembered the conversation from earlier, when Namjoon had asked her about their adoption.

“Jimin.” She mumbled into his thick hair. “There is something I want to ask you. You know, Taehyung and you have been living here for a few weeks now, and I think the both of you fit in in our crazy home pretty well. If you would be okay with it, I would like to adopt you and your brother.”

Immediately, Jimin’s head shot up from her shoulder. He looked with wide eyes at the girl, before he nodded wildly and threw himself onto the her, hugging her tightly and whispering ‘thank you’ a thousand times. This sudden movement caused both of them to fall over and fully onto the couch. When both young adults realized in which position, they were now in, with the girl on her back and Jimin over her, they both turned bright red.

“I am – “

“Sorry.”

They both stuttered at the same time, before they broke out in a laugher together. Hope looked up into Jimin’s eyes when she had calmed down again. From the first day, Hope had adored those beautiful, dark orbs that would form into halfmoons when he was laughing or smiling. Slowly, she brought her left hand up towards his thick hair, driving it towards the back of his head and back towards his cheek.

Her heart was pounding in her chest like crazy, when Jimin’s face came closer and closer, until their noses were touching each other and their lips just inches apart. They stayed like that for another few seconds, before the boy was the first to make the move forward.

The kiss was shy but full of emotions. They lips stayed still on each other, before Hope carefully started to move. After a few seconds, Jimin also began to press his lips on her stronger and braver, before, after a few minutes, they both ran out of breath and let go of each other.

Hope didn’t know if it was possible that her face was even redder now, but before she had the chance to say something stupid that could ruin the moment, Jimin pushed himself off the sofa and pulled her with him.

She gasped slightly from the sudden movement but giggled at the same time when Jimin pulled her close towards his chest in the middle of the living room. She leant her head against the white tiger’s chest, while Jimin wrapped his arms and tail around the smaller girl. The pair was now standing in the middle of the living room, rocking slightly from side to side, doing some twists and turns from time to time.

“When did you learn to dance?” Hope whispered into the comfortable silence.

“I watched a video on the YouTube today.” He whispered back, rubbing his nose against her hair. “One day, I want to take you out on a dance date, you know?”

Surprised by the tiger’s words, Hope lifted her head and looked into Jimin’s eyes. Never in her life had someone wated to take her out on a date, and the fact that Jimin was asking her out in his cute, innocent way, let her heart swell with pride a love.

“I would love to go on a dance date with you, Jimin.”

“Okay, I don’t know what you did or how you did it but somehow, you got Namjoon to talk to you – willingly?” Laura was walking next towards the smaller girl down the hallways of the company. Hope just nodded proudly, clutching the book Jungkook had given her for Namjoon tightly under her arm. “And now you want to give him – a hobbit book?”

She looked confused at the book and then back up at Hope.

“Yes, Jungkook thought it would be a nice gesture to give him that.” Hope simply replied. “I think Namjoon just needs time. He will talk to us at some point.”

Laura hummed in response, before she cocked her eyebrows up and began to smirk slightly.

“Is Jungkook your boyfriend?” She teased the smaller girl.

Hope’s face immediately went red. Though both of them had already kissed, they never decided on what their relationship would change after that. There were also the other boys that Hope had takin inside her heart.

“I – no.” She just smiled, her face still red. “He is my – Hybrid – at home. We – “

“You have a Hybrid at home?” Laura suddenly stopped walking, before she grabbed Hope’s shoulder and turned her around so she could face the taller girl.

“I even have 5 Hybrids home.” Hope almost didn’t dare to say it out loud, not knowing how to interpretate Laura’s facial expression.

“You have 5 Hybrids home?!” Laura’s voice was now loudly bouncing through the hallways, before she began to smile widely. “Girl, you are crazy, but I love it! I think you will achieve great things in that world, Hope.”

Hearing those words from someone who already had much more experiences than her made Hope proud. She wanted people to see that there was no need to be a superhero or to be powerful to change something. Everyone who had the will can change something, everywhere and every time.

Together, both girls took the same way as the previous day until they reached the interrogation rooms. Laura told her that she would wait outside, not wanting to inhibit the progress Hope had achieved the previous day.

Taking a last deep breath, Hope carefully knocked at the door, before she pushed it open and entered the door towards the interrogation room. Like the previous day, Namjoon was standing at the window with his back turned towards the door. He didn’t turn around when she entered the room, but Hope could clearly see his ears twitching into her direction for the split of a second.

“Good morning, Namjoon.” She calmy said, before making her way around the table. “How are you feeling this morning.”

The boy didn’t reply though. He just kept looking outside the window. It was one of those beautiful winter mornings in New York. The sun was just rising behind the skyline of the big city, flowing the streets with it’s warm and golden sun beams. The small park that had been created between the big building of the company and the smaller building where the clients were living was shining with all kind of golden colours.

When she looked at the boy’s profile, she could clearly see that he was looking at that scenario outside as well. But in difference to her, he was not looking like would be amazed. He was yearning for seeing the world outside and not just through a window.

Suddenly, Hope remembered the small gift that Jungkook had asked her to give to Namjoon. She carefully pulled the book from under her arm and placed it on the window sill, before pushing it into Namjoon’s direction. The tall boy noticed her gesture and looked confused from the small book upwards to the girl.

“The boys at home wanted me to give you this.” She told him. “It’s Jungkook’s favourite book, but he said that you can have it. Maybe if you are bored you can try and read it. It’s pretty good.”

Namjoon was now looking with wide eyes at the girl in front of him, as he wrapped his tail tightly around his right leg.

“You told your Hybrids about me?” He cocked an eyebrow up.

“Yes, I told them about you.” Hope carefully replied, no sure if he was okay with it or not. “I mean – I just told them that I was working with you from now on, nothing more. We are a family, you know? We tell each other everything.”

The wolf Hybrid sunk his ear down, before he whispered a small ‘thank you’ and turned his attention back towards the morning sun, sighing slightly. The room fell back into silence, as both young adults were looking out of the window again.

Hope noticed that Namjoon was still trying to process everything that had happened since the previous day, but she would give him all the time he needed, even if that meant that they would both spend the whole day with just looking out of the window.

“I sometimes whish that I just could walk out of this room like you do.” He suddenly stated after a few minutes of silence. “But I can’t. I need to stay here and wait for the day they lock me away.”

Like the previous day, Namjoon’s voice sounded tired and powerless, without any hint of emotions.

“We could go outside – “ She said back, but Namjoon was already shaking his head.

“No.” He cut her off in her mid-sentence. “People don’t trust me. They would never let me walk around just like that and if, I need to wear those stupid hand cuffs and foot locks.”

Before his could voice get louder, Namjoon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His hands were holding onto the window sill tightly, as if he was trying really hard to not burst out. Hope was shocked by all those bad emotions he obviously carried inside himself.

She didn’t want to make him feel like she would pity him. That was not what he needed right now. He needed to realize that there were people on this world who truly wanted to help him, and that one of those people was already standing in front of him. Hope excused herself, before she quickly walked towards the door and peeked her head outside, gesturing for Laura come closer.

“Did you make any progress?!” She whispered-screamed, as she excitingly stepped closer.

Hope took a glance back at the boy, who was still looking outside the window. Maybe he was not looking into their direction, but Hope saw that he had his right ear turned towards the door.

“You can talk normally, Laura. There is no need to whisper.” Hope said in a normally volume, leaving a red shade on Laura’s face. “I wanted to ask you something. Is there a chance that Namjoon and I can take a walk across the site without him wearing any cuffs?”

Laura looked at the smaller girl in shock, before she snapped out of her state, shaking her head carefully.

“I am sorry.” She said. “But he showed aggressive behaviour. I wish I could change that, but it is not in my hands.”

Hope sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Namjoon would never open up while being locked in that small room.

“Can’t you call your boss, please?” She tried again. “It would be just for a little while.”

“Hope, I can’t just call him and – “

“Laura, please. I take the full responsibility.” The blonde girl was almost begging Laura by now.

The two girl kept staring at each other for another few seconds, before Laura gave in first and sighed heavily. She hesitantly took her phone out if her purse and dealt her boss’s number, giving Hope a playfully angry look, before she energetically discussed with him for a few minutes. Luckily for the blond haired girl, their boss was a nice man, so he allowed her and Namjoon to leave the building.

Of course, with his extra sensitive ear Namjoon had already heard what you had asked Laura. He hesitated at first, not moving when Hope held the door open for the both of them. His eyes flickered between the window and the open door, before he carefully made his way around the table, his tail still wrapped around his leg.

The walk through the company was silent, but Hope felt the tension falling from the taller boy’s shoulders, until they finally reached the door that lead them outside. The fresh air hit the girl’s face when she took the first step outside. Even though winter had already begun, the morning sun was warming the air up, making it comfortable to walk around.

When Hope turned her head to look at Namjoon, she saw him doing the same. He had closed his eyes, letting the sun warming his face up and taking deep breath of the clean air. Hope knew that it seemed like a simple thing to just take a walk outside, but she had learnt from all her boys that she had taken those simple things for granted for too long.

Nothing she had done or what she had ever possessed in her life was normal for all people around the world. Maybe she had been lucky so far, but also she needed to be thought that ever moment in life needed to be appreciated, because other people didn’t have the luck like she did.

That day, there were no other words spoken between Namjoon and the girl. Just the situation as its own was enough to make another development in their relationship towards each other. They were just able to enjoy the moment together. No pressure, no words, no worries.

[taglist]

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[Inspirations ||| Recommendations]

@starlightauroras-writes

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@ditttiii

@angelicyoongie

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be-ace-write-crime · 4 years

Text

Too Many Kitties!

“I had six cats… Now I have six nearly naked men in my house…” you summarized out loud, rubbing your temples.

The cats you adopted turn out to be magic hybrids and they are so glad to be adopted by such a sweet mistress! You're not sending them away are you?!

Reader x Cat hybrid Bucci gang!

Wish fulfillment, fluff, cat hybrids, poly ships, surprise adoption, reader insert.

You were driving home after a long day at work. Nothing was going right at all. You had received a promotion at work a while ago, which you were initially excited about, but it really just meant you were handed off a complete dumpster fire for a small pay raise and your cat was your only salvation in these dark times.

You were actually thinking of getting a second one to keep Leone company. You’d get one from the pound when you had a little more free time. You weren’t really picky about breeds or things like that, but you wanted something cuddly.

Leone you had found on a rainy day under a dumpster. You had carefully kneeled in the filthy puddle around it and reached out to him. The look in his eyes broke your heart and you ran home with the big, soaking fur ball. He’d not even struggled when you bathed him, although he certainly howled like he was being murdered. It took him a long time to want to be touched after that first night, but now he greeted you when you came home with a rub against your legs, headbutts when you fed him, and he slept on the foot of your bed.

Thinking about it, it was raining just like that day now. Only by now you had a car. You looked into the grim alley you had found Leone in nearly steering off the road when you saw what you thought was a crate full of cats there. You blinked at yourself, thinking that had to be some kind of mistake. Who would leave a crate full of cats in this weather? You needed to check.

That U-turn you made could have landed you in prison if anyone was around, but you drove back up to the alleyway and heard the unmistakable yowling of cats. The bottom of their crate had filled up and the wet, mangy looking little gremlins were pawing at the bars, begging to be let out of the small basin they were sitting in. You slapped a hand over your mouth, shaking your head.

“Oh, no, babies. I’m not letting you out into the street, but I’m not leaving you here,” you said, grabbing the crate and tipping it over until the water was mostly if not completely out. It was hard to tell with the wet, furry sponges inside and the pouring rain that had soaked your hair and clothes as well now. It wasn’t just a drizzle, it was bad. You moved your car closer and hauled the crate the rest of the way and by some miracle got it into the trunk.

You turned the heat up for all of you and drove home, cooing soothingly at the soft meowing in the back.

When you opened the door Leone was there, joining the chorus of meows all around. You were all kinds of tired though, kicking the door shut and opening the big crate. You tore off your wet clothes down to your underwear, because it was freezing and examined the cats more closely for the first time.

They were a mixed bunch. One was white with black spots all over and bright blue eyes, almost snow leopard like, but it was most certainly a kitty. It was the first to tentatively step into your apartment and let out a less offended or scared sounding meow.

There was another white one, this one looking like one of those fancy, purebred, long haired ones, and it had bright red eyes. That one in particular was pressed as far back as possible, hissing even. You couldn’t really blame it. Your transport here had been less than gentle.

Then there was the small back one with little patches of orange. It was small and scrawny, you could tell it would be even when it was dry, but it had the brightest, most adoring purple eyes you had ever seen. It stayed cuddled close to the spotted white one, getting it all wet again trying to shake off.

Then there was a very exotic looking one. It was long and slender, with bronze fur and elegant spots and tiger like stripes. It had cheerful brown eyes and was the first to start looking around, under loud, meowing protest from Leone.

The last one was a small, fluffy one with gold fur and a slightly lighter patch in the shape of a heart on his chest. It’s green eyes studied you inquisitively, before getting out of the cage and bolting deeper into the apartment, getting a loud yowl of protest from Leone, who gave you an accusatory glare.

“Sorry for the surprise, Leone floof… I couldn’t leave them out in the rain, could I? And I do feel bad leaving you home alone all day now, so maybe you can get along? I’ll put up lost cat posters and call in with the local shelter, but I don’t think they were left out by accident…” you explained sadly, scooping the big, silver grump into your arms. He was so warm against your rain chilled skin and he didn’t even protest, just kept staring down at the other cats imperially from his place in your arms.

First order of business was getting the cats and yourself dry and warm. You toweled off the spotted white one, the exotic one, and managed to give the black one a cursory ruffle with a towel before it bolted. The blonde one had hidden under your couch, looking at you quietly with its tail twitching restlessly. You decided to leave it. You also didn’t dare get near the long haired white one.

Next was food and you wanted to be sure they all ate so you split them into different rooms, as much as possible, with a bowl of wet food each. White one in the crate, Leone in the kitchen as usual, gold in the living room, spotted white in your bedroom, exotic in your spare room, and black in the bathroom. In the minute or two they were all eating you quickly changed into something warm and dry and comfy. Dry and comfy being the dumbass giant onesie in your favorite color that you only ever wore around Leone.

You ran around to let the cats out of the rooms and checked to make sure they had eaten. They had. You collapsed on your favourite spot on the couch. You threw your electric blanket over your lap and turned it on and laid out the other over the free space on the couch where Leone liked to nap. As expected, your oldest cat curled up on it, purring happily, and the other cats caught on quickly, flopping down on either Leone’s blanket or you while you browsed your phone and decided tonight was a takeout kind of night.

The long haired white one came trotting over eventually and you slowly held out your hand to it until it dared come close enough to be lifted onto your lap. It was still kinda wet, but you could ignore that for now. The gold one peeked out from under the couch, still damp and sad looking as well, and you tried to reach, but it already hopped onto the couch and laid down on the backrest, watching you with its big, bottomless emeralds for eyes.

“I’ll probably have to name you all something, huh? Hmm…” You mused, holding the hissy baby still in your lap. It needed to dry up a little and you knew you’d never be able to pin him down with a hairdryer, so this was the best place for it. “You can be Pannacotta. Like the desert~” she told him.

The exotic looking one meowed as if to say they wanted to be named next. “Alright, you… Guido? Do you like that?” The cat meowed affirmatively and looked at the gold one.

“How about Giorno?” you asked the blonde kitten. It showed no outward response, but it didn’t seem to object. About what you could expect from a cat.

“You can be Arancia, with those bright orange spots~” you told the black cutie. Right away it seemed to meow something like the name and you laughed. “Narancia? Would you prefer that? Okay, it actually sounds cuter that way. Good call!” you laughed.

Last was the spotted one. You struggled with a name for a bit, thinking of a few and dismissing them. “I really like the name Bruno, but you’re a white kitty,” you eventually said. You’d already gotten kind of fixated on the name for him, assuming he was even a boy. You hadn’t checked. The spotted cat purred and came to cuddle up to you, which had to be the clearest consent you could get from any feline. “Alright, Bruno it is!” you agreed, snuggling with your new cats until the food arrived.

You didn’t feel like staying up late or doing much the rest of the evening. You checked a few missing pet sites and set a reminder in your phone to call the pound during your lunch break tomorrow. You were starting to hope no one was looking for them, because these kitties made you happy beyond belief in just one night, even if you felt a little bad for Leone now. However, strays don’t end up in a giant travel crate together and most of these cats looked like very expensive breeds.

You left the heated blankets on the couch on a low setting and quietly went to bed while the cats slept. Only Leone got up to follow you, as he normally did. You got in bed and he made a soft mewl that drew your attention.

“What’s wrong, Leone?” you asked softly, smiling as he rolled onto his back and exposed his soft little cat belly submissively. He’d never done this before and you giggled and rubbed his belly in slow reassuring strokes. “Don’t worry, baby. Someone’s probably busy looking for them right now. I don’t think I can take care of that many cats anyway. I’m too young to be an old lady with six cats, right? You’ll always be my favorite, Leone. Just don’t tell them, yeah? Kitty promise?” you whispered softly, smiling wider when he purred and cuddled up against your side.

The next morning you tried to feed all your new cats their wet food the same way you had the day before, but Giorno had somehow made it to the top of your bookcase and was not coming down. Panna had taken his spot under the couch and was similarly unmovable, and Narancia and Guido were both hovering by your door, ready to make a break for it.

You had a kibble feeder set up, so you fed Leone so he wouldn’t get grumpy and set out a bowl of special cat milk your first cat didn’t care for. It did catch the attention of your other cats, who were more interested in it and satisfied you hadn’t left out the new kitties food wise you got showered and dressed for work.

“Be good babies! I love you!” you called out, already excited to come home to your sweet cats tonight. You forced yourself not to get too excited. You also forbade yourself from shopping for an extra big litter box and collars and cat beds, because you already knew that the second you got a call about the owner being found you’d be heartbroken.

During your break you called a few of the shelters near you, reporting what had happened. They all recommended you take them to the vet to check for a chip, which you agreed to do. You booked an appointment at the vet and with gritted teeth you begged for the time off from your boss. He was not happy, since you were still in charge of a shitshow from hell and your predecessor had left a mountain of work to be sorted out for you. You were entitled to that time off though, so you got your vet visit, under the condition you worked some overtime again, which you already expected.

It was getting dark by the time you were on your way home and while you were happy there was the slight underlying anxiety your new babies might have demolished your home in your absence. You had no way of knowing if any of them had spraying issues or if they might need a special diet. Leone was a very clean and neat cat, who’s only messes were his litter box and some shed fur that couldn’t be helped.

There was also the chance they might have fought for whatever reason and you quickly forced that thought out of your mind.

You would come home and there would be six lovely kitties meowing hello and wanting food and you’d all cuddle on the couch together and you’d be alright.

You opened your door and were shocked by the smell before anything else. It wasn’t the smell of cat pee or blood, which you were happy about, but it smelled like food. Like pasta with red sauce, to be precise.

Okay… maybe your mom had come over and let herself in and made you dinner? It was unlike her to do that, especially unannounced, but it was the only semi-reasonable explanation you could come up with until a stranger came walking out of your kitchen.

“Mistress, you’re home! Bellissimo! Leone said you’re usually home sooner, so we were getting worried-”

“Who the fuck are you and why are you in my house?!” you yelled. You didn’t want to be rude, you really didn’t, but you did not know this man and he was standing in your hallway, wearing nothing except your girly white apron that you rarely ever used. The man was of medium build, tan skin and a black bob cut, with two black cat ears perched almost cutely on the sides. You weren’t sure if the not knowing or the almost naked part disturbed you more.

A few seconds later you would discover it was in fact neither of those things that bothered you most, it was that apron man wasn’t the only under dressed intruder in your house! “You don’t have to yell. You invited us in,” a tall, lean, brown haired male with leopard spotted cat ears said, coming out of your living room wearing a pair of your hipster panties with a leopard print that matched his ears and at this point you were groping behind you for the door handle.

“Vecellio is next door...” you said, thinking these guys were probably friends of your neighbors who let themselves in. Did you not lock the door? Did they find your spare key? Did they not realize they were in the wrong house?

“That’s… nice? But I don’t think that’s got anything to do with us,” apron man said.

“You’re home~!!!” a small, black haired boy yelled, coming down the stairs in a bright orange mini skirt that you had only worn for Halloween once. He looked like he wanted to come up and hug you, but your indignant yelp stopped him.

“Why are you wearing my clothes?!” you demanded, tucking yourself way back into the corner.

“Chill, you didn’t have any guy clothes. Just thought it’d be more polite to put something on than to greet you with our dicks out. We’ll take ‘em off if you want,” leopard print said, already hooking his thumb into the panties he was wearing.

“N-No, keep that on! That is not what I meant!” you said quickly.

“If she’s home, does that mean we can have dinner now?” the black haired boy in the skirt asked.

“Not yet, Narancia. I think our new mistress needs a little more explaining,” the first said, beckoning you further into your apartment. By now two more guys had appeared. One was wearing the bottoms of your strawberry print pajamas and more egregiously, holding your laptop! The other only had a white sheet around his waist like he belonged in a renaissance painting, which quite frankly, would not be wrong.

“You're damn right I need a fucking explanation!” you snapped, already at a point where you were willing to overlook the mistress part of that statement when you realized something that had you ready to escalate this situation from potential battery to potential murder. “Where are my cats?!”

Around the corner at that very moment came your big, silver fur ball and you exhaled a sigh of relief, getting down on one knee to pick him up quickly.

“Hey, Leone,” you said, considerably more calm, only for the sweet but distant tomcat you’d had for over a year to transform before your very eyes into a tall, naked, silver haired man with an impatient scowl, with you still kneeling at eye level with exposed groin as he cocked his hip and crossed his arms.

“Now will you make them leave?!” he asked.

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hannasational · 3 years

Text

the end of this secret is a new start

here’s chapter 1

chapter 2 is also up on ao3!

Eret opened their eyes to the feeling of a sore neck and blinding light. But they had expected it, the couch was rather old. Without even looking, they reached over and grabbed the sunglasses from the coffee table and put them on. Once the sunglasses were on, Eret felt like they could breathe. Or more accurately, see.

Getting up, Eret wandered over to the only bedroom in the cabin, with their leopard tail brushing against their legs, and pushed open the door to see that both Niki and Fundy were still asleep. Eret figured that a little more sleep wouldn’t hurt the two, so they walked back to the main room.

After grabbing a few cans, and noting that their supply was nearing its end, they placed it on the coffee table. It didn’t take long for Fundy to appear. With his fluffy tail and chopped hair that somehow both managed to hide and accentuate his fox ears, Fundy was easy to tease. But when times were tough, he was the most serious out of all of them.

“Hey man,” Eret said.

A quick smile flashed onto Fundy’s features at those words. “Hi, Eret. Niki’s still asleep but she should be coming soon. How’s our food situation?”

“Not the best,” they admitted. “I think if we’re smart about it, it’ll last a few weeks.”

“So be smart.” Said a third voice, and the two of them turned around to see Niki awake. “If anything, we should use these few weeks to figure out our food situation.”

Even though she was the youngest and quietest of the group, that didn’t mean she was passive. Her small stature and graceful swan wings, which she kept tucked against her back, fit well in the trio.

“Agreed. But first, we eat,” Eret replied. At his words, Niki joined the two at the coffee table, where they all dug into the canned foods. Once they finished their meal, Eret sighed, leaning back against the couch.

“What?” Fundy asked, also leaning against the couch.

“We’re free,” he said. “We’re free from them, we’re free from fear, we’re free from society. Although that just means we’re bored now.”

That earned a chuckle from the other two.

“Any suggestions for what to do?” Eret continued.

“Survive?” Fundy suggested the corner of his mouth quirked up.

He laughed. “That was given. But seriously, any ideas of how to spend today?”

“I might stretch my wings and fly around a bit,” Niki said. “You’re welcome to come outside and watch me.”

“Make sure to not be seen. You don’t know who could be nearby,” Fundy added.

She grinned. “That was given.”

Sensing that the conversation was finishing, Eret got up and grabbed all the empty cans before dumping them in the pile. It was getting bigger by the day, but that was a problem for another time. He turned around and followed the other two outside, to where the sun slashed through the dark clouds and shone onto the trio. It was a good day.

Eret watched as Niki unfurled her wings before taking off, flying towards the rising sun. She looked so majestic flying around, it almost made all the fucked-up shit worth it. Almost.

As Niki began descending, he noticed this strange humming sound and faced Fundy.

“Do you hear that?”

Fundy nodded; his eyes narrowed, and as Eret tried to place the sound, a shriek interrupted her thoughts. Jumping up, she watched as Niki dashed to the ground.

“Helicopter!” she cried. “A helicopter!”

Fundy and Eret helped Niki up before they all rushed inside. Hiding underneath the window, Eret watched as the helicopter lowered itself in front of the cabin. A scientist stepped out, along with three Erasers. She had no idea how to outrun a helicopter, but outrunning three Erasers was possible, but still tricky.

“We meet again, TREJDE, 8GIUV8…” the scientist called out. The other two looked uncomfortable hearing their old names.

“…And HLBZN3.”

Eret frowned upon hearing that.

“What? Did you think we forgot about you?” the scientist continued. “We couldn’t have you guys running around free like that.”

Apparently, that was a cue because after the scientist said that, three hummers drove up to the cabin, all containing Erasers. Deep down, she knew that there would be no way of escaping all of them, but they weren’t gonna go down with a fight. They didn’t have a choice.

The next moments felt like a blur. Suddenly, the door burst open and Erasers began pouring in. Eret tried fighting the Erasers that came for her, kicking and punching as much as she could. It was working for her for a while, but once she heard a cry from Niki, Eret froze, giving the Erasers enough time to grab her. She was dragged out of their cabin quickly, but it wasn’t quick enough to miss the helpless look in Fundy’s eyes.

I’m sorry Fundy, Eret thought. And I’m sorry Niki.

A sack was tossed over her head, but that didn’t stop her from feeling the helicopter under her feet and the feeling of lifting off into the sky before she blacked out.

The first thing Eret noticed when he woke up was the blinding light. The second thing he noticed was the feeling of cold steel and even colder chemicals in the air.

He heard a groan and turned to his right; although, without his sunglasses, it was difficult to make out his surroundings.

“Where are we…?” Fundy murmured. His voice thick, probably from fighting all the Erasers or from crying. Both were very probable.

“The Facility.” Came a quiet voice, which Eret knew to be Niki’s.

Eret checked his cage with his hands and noted that his sunglasses were nowhere to be found. Of course, the scientist would take them away, but it was still hard knowing they were gone.

“I can’t believe we’re back here,” Fundy said. “I thought we had finally gotten away.”

“…Not to bring you down even further Fundy but, I don’t think we can ever really get away,” Eret replied, keeping his head down. The bottom of the cage was much darker than the rest of the room, especially with the fluorescent lighting.

“Can you never get away from here?” said another deep, but unknown voice. Eret flinched. He was under the impression that the three of them were alone.

“I guess not,” Niki replied. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t try.”

“We will get out of here.”

#maximum ride au #mcyt au #dsmp au #eret au #fundy au #nihachu au #ranboo au #dsmp #mcyt #mcyters #mcytblr #eret #the eret #fundy #its fundy #nihachu #niki nihachu #ranboo #random

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megastarstriker · 4 years

Text

{𝐀𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫}

~Nikki Sixx x reader~

======================

★Prologue★

“Pilot: When L.A. Burns”

Part 2

====================================

< Prologue (Part 1)

Warnings: Cussing, suggestive jokes, slight angst and mention of violence

𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜: Nikki Sixx x Female Reader

𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩:

𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙮: When her step-brother and ex-roommate ,Casey Jensen(Cage), decides to leave home to go to L.A. and form a band. Although hesitant, she decides to take his invitation to go with him to escape her alone and pain-in the-ass life behind. Looking back as she leaves, she wonders if she made the right decision or if she should go back.( I don’t own Mötley Crüe or the actors used in this story, I only own the plot and the band characters I made up. This book and maybe for the entirety of it, will be based off and detailed from the books the Dirt and the Heroin Diaries. Some lines are used from the movie the Dirt, all of these books or movie lines that I mentioned that I will use for the story belong to their creators.)

Taglist: @leatherandheels @xxqueencolourxx @suranne-doesstuff @littlemisscare-all , @niksixx, @nikkisiexx, @nikki-fucking-sixx @prettyyoungandbored @matchaandhoney @savannahgrace98, @metalheartofgold, @dustnbones , @sikinikx, @seventieshead-modernlover, @tbonelee, @mrsixx, @queen-crue, @mikaiya1313, @ginny-rose-sixx, @bus-jackson,

LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANNA BE TAGGED TO THIS STORY WITH AN ASK MESSAGE 💕

𝙆𝙚𝙮𝙨:

(Y/N) - Your Name

(L/N) - Last Name

(N/N) - Nickname

(S/C) - Skin Color

(E/C) - Eye Color

(H/C) - Hair Color

(H/L) - Hair Length

(F/S) - Favorite Shirt

(F/F) - Favorite Food

(F/D) - Favorite Drink

(L/C) - Lipstick Color

(F/A) - Favorite Animal

Characters:

BEN HARDY as CASEY CAGE

MÖTLEY CRÜE as THEMSELVES

WILLIAM FICHTNER as ROBERT JENSEN

___________________________________________________

=================================================

1978, L.A. - Whiskey -a- Go Go, Backstage.

“You’re out of the band”, The man said simply as he was holding a cigarette to his lips as he looked at a young man with messy blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Holding the guitar in his hand, he gripped tightly as he looked at the guy who gave him the news as he stood there, still smoking his cigarette,” You’re obviously not cut out for this. Too slow and too much of a waste if we kept you.”

Casey stood there with a shocked, yet pissed look at the man as the sharp and hurting words reached his ears. He turned his attention to the other members who didn’t speak up or anything and simply just minded their own business.” So this is how it is then.”, Casey said as he looked down, trying so hard not to punch the asshole that took him off the band he formed,” Alright. I see. If you’re gonna seriously take someone of the band it should be yourself you fucking asshole.”

“We don’t need you anymore. We already found another guitarist.”

“Look if you’re gonna whine like a baby. Do it outside.”, The other man, with brunette hair and who was next to the guy said in a pissed manner as he approached him. Holding his hands out as he shoved and pushed him away in a rude manner.,” Back off.”

Casey took this as offense and punched him in the center of his face. When this occurred the brunette and him started to fight each other punch after punch and kick after kick, as the others were alerted immediately and tried to get them from each others claws and from killing each other.

As they separated the brunette from the blonde on the floor, Casey’s lip had a tear, that started drip with blood and the side of his eye had an ugly bruise, but it wasn’t any prettier for the guy standing above him who was being restrained by two other men. His nose was busted, and blood was slowly trailing from underneath it towards his lips as it reached down his chin, in a brutal manner.

Casey then stood up from the ground, slightly wincing in pain as he held his side, looking at the men with a furious gaze. If looks could kill those men would be dead in the most gruesome way possible, like a tiger ripping a part its prey. “ What the fuck is wrong with you?!”, one of the members shouted at him.

He stood up as he tried his best to not limp, looking at the members, his brows still furrowed at them as he looked at his bruised knuckles.” I’ll tell you what’s fucking wrong. I quit!! ”

He then took the strap of his guitar and swung it to the wall, smashing and breaking it in half. He then threw the broken neck of the guitar that was still in his hands and threw it above the group.

“So Fuck you and go to hell with you all!!”

“Because you’ve just lost yourself a musician who can actually play unlike the rest of you cunts.”

He then looked at the lead singer who was behind the guy with the broken nose.

“Just so were clear....”

He then took a glass cup with a few drops of whiskey and threw it at the guy a few inches away from him. Smashing at the wall behind him with a clear shatter.

“Your singing sucks balls!”

He then exited the room before taking the bottle of Jack Daniels with him and leaved the area outside. It was cold and dark, neon lights illuminating the streets, with crowds of people in every corner in the Sunset Strip. There was many people around him doing a load of crazy sort of things. Whether it was smoking, doing drugs, drinking, or having sex it didn’t matter. He was now busy in trying to figure out how to tell (Y/N) about the fact that he was out of the band.

“Shit, I seriously fucked up now. Didn’t I?”, He said under his breath as the wind flew past him, brushing few of his messy strands to the side of his face.,” Fuck!”

He grabbed at his hair in frustration as he cursed at himself. He thought about how you would feel about all of this. If she would be angry or sad? or worse? He was supposed to be the responsible sibling and friend. Yet, here he was messing everything up for the both of you. Ever since that day... when they both made that deal. He promised himself and mainly to her, he would try his best to make a living together, and never break it. He didn’t want her to leave back to they’re parents. They were bad people. He knew it and he knows she knew it too. But she was very sympathetic, always ignoring the bad and trying to change it for the good. That’s how she managed to even befriend him.

Thinking about you now that the show was finished, Casey then decided to enter the bar once again as he finished getting his stuff packed. Not wasting, anytime he finished the beer he took from the backstage and threw it on the ground, disposing of it. He knew you were waiting in there, as he saw you watching the gig at a distance swaying a bit to the music. So that’s what he did, he went inside the bar and just like that....

════ ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ ════

“Get the hell off of me!”, I yelled at the guy who was obviously shitfaced from too many drinks. I tried my best to be polite to the guy and told him I wasn’t interested, but he wasn’t having any of it apparently. So here I was in the most horrible situation any girl could ever be in.” Let me go, Damnit!”

I said as I repeatedly slapped his gripping hand from mine, only to figure out it only made him grip it much tighter. Knowing it wasn’t working I took the opportunity and used the heel on my boot and with whatever force I could muster brought it down to his foot and squished it.

“You Little Bitch!”, The man shouted in a groan filled with pain from the impact on his foot I gave him. In one swift movement he slapped me with his free hand, causing me to stumble and fall on the floor as I held my burning cheek that stung, making me wince by just touching it. “Now you’re really gonna get it.”, He said in a menacing tone as he stood above and towered over me, making me feel cornered with no way out. I ,of course, started to panic and without thinking I quickly kicked him in the groin. Causing him to bend down and grab it in pain, I tried scooting myself away from him and try to stand up. But as soon as I did, the guy just grabbed me by my neck and propped me against the wall. Alarmed and extremely anxious, I started to breath heavily as tears started to brink at my eyes. I tried clawing at his hand that was gripping slowly at my neck. “P-please stop!”, I said loudly and a bit out of breath from the pressure at my throat.

“Listen here. You can cry and shout all you want girly, but no ones gonna hear ya. Got it.”, He whispered lowly and uncomfortably next to my ear, causing me to gag at the strong smell of booze coming from him,” So why don’t you be good girl and shut that pretty mouth of yours.”

“The hell’s going on here?”, A voice said from nearby, from a slight glimpse I could see a young lean and tallish man with long, brown and slightly curly hair, wearing a leather jacket over a plain white t-shirt with leopard printed pants that looked a bit small on him. The guy had this look of suspicion, but then changed as he saw what really was going on. “Hey! Back off you’re hurting her!”, the guy said.

But the man didn’t do anything I looked at the young brown-haired guy with a pleading look as tears stained my reddish cheeks. “ I said let her go you jackass!”

Suddenly, as if a miracle just happened I caught a glimpse of blonde hair rushing behind the drunk man who was gripping my neck harshly, and felt his weight pressed against me disappear as he was pulled and ripped away from me. I then fell on the floor as his hand lost its grip and coughed a bit violently as I breathed the air heavily. I then noticed someone else punching one of the men who assaulted me, along with the blonde guy who had the shitfaced guy pressed up against the wall.

Casey...

“Is that how you treat a chick you fucking asshole”, Casey sneered at the guy as he kicked the guy on his side. The guy that was being brutally kicked and punched by him shuffled away from him as Casey panted.

Slowly, I started having a panic attack as tears started to drip from my eyes, I then felt two hands grip my shoulders softly, and as I traced them they belonged to the guy who tried helping me. My (E/C) irises locked with soft hazel ones as they traced my terrified and teary eyed ones in concern. He then put his hands on my face gently and gingerly, causing me to flinch at the contact, not only because it was from a complete stranger, but because of the bruise I had that lingered on my cheek.

“H-Hey, are you okay.”, He asked me as he looked at my face, a bit out of breath as he scanned my face to look for any injuries. He then noticed me wince as he made little pressure with his soft hands on my cheek. He then left his hands of my face as he held them up slightly in defense and mumbled a little ‘sorry’ that sounded genuine and quite sheepish. “ I just want to make sure you’re okay, Dude. I’m not gonna hurt you like that shit-faced guy did, Okay.”

I nodded silently and whispered an ‘okay’ completely trusting him as I was still quite traumatized and panicked with what just happened. I then saw Casey from the corner of my eyes as he looked at me. His baby blue eyes that were fused with rage and anger turning into concern and worrisome as he rushed over towards me before turning to the other guy.

“Are you another one of those assholes!”, He shouted at him as he raised his fist up his whole body leaning over his sitting figure.

“Woah, Chill man! I didn’t try to do anything to her I swear, Dude.”, He replied as he held his hands up slightly to tell him that he wasn’t part of the almost sex assault that just happened,” I just saw the chick getting strangled by the guy and sort of kicked his ass for it, but that’s it!”

Casey then as he still held his fist to the guy, turned his eyes to me for confirmation and I slowly nodded a ‘yes’ towards him. He then lowered his fist and backed away slowly from my ‘savior’. Casey then went to my side and reached over to look at my face and noticed the marks on my neck and cheek,” That fucker.” he muttered harshly under his breath with furrowed brows as he gulped slowly at the lump in his throat.

“Thank you”, I told the guy as he looked between me and Casey.

“Its cool, someone had to step in to teach those men a lesson, and with the many punches we gave to those dickhead’s....”, He replied as he made a punching motion as if he were boxing in a comedic manner, ”They’ll never wanna come back now and mess with us.”

I laughed a bit with a wince as he did that.” You’re not a boxer.”

“Whose to say that? You never know what’s under these fucking fists.” He replied with a grin as he held his fist up in a fighting stance.

I chuckled again at his goofy manner as he joined in along with my brother who was trying so hard to keep a bold hard face, but couldn’t from how ridiculous the guy was being and so he joined in the laughter.

“Name’s Tommy Bass, but my friend’s call me Tommy”, the guy said as he held his hand out in a greeting and friendly fashion.

“(Y/N)”, I answered as I held his hand shaking it softly. The guy named Tommy seemed very enthusiastic and excited in his own childish but cute way.

He then looked to my brother over my shoulder while he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, sitting next to me in the ground.” Casey Cage, but Casey is just fine.”, Casey simply said followed with a sigh.

“Rad name. You were also pretty fucking hardcore, by the way when you kicked that guy in the nuts, you really showed him.”, Tommy complimented with a happy smile as he then went to fumble something on his pocket and took it out to reveal a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. My brother in return just shrug his shoulders, like he didn’t really care whether he thought it was cool or not, but the smile on his face proved he was kind of happy to hear it.,

We all talked for a few hours making me feel more calm and relaxed and a whole lot stressed from what just happened a few moments ago.

“ Look I know we just got out of some messed up shit, but I was thinking maybe we could all go down to the diner down the street and hang out there. It’ll cool things down, lighten the mood Y’know. They’ve got some killer pancakes too. That’s if you dudes are cool with it.”

I laughed softly at Tommy’s adorable behavior, and thought about what he said for a moment. To be honest, it was a great idea. The last thing I wanted to think about was getting almost raped and my virginity away by those bastards. It’ll calm me down from my anxious and shocked state. Besides, Casey being there it will make me feel safer. His suggestion was all for good intentions too and he did save my life it was the least I could do. Plus, he seemed pretty friendly, and I want to get to know him better. After all, he did just comfort me and beat the guy’s ass and teeth off.” Well, I am kind of hungry and I think you are pretty cool. Sure. Lead the way.”

“Okay then, Let’s go.”, Tommy cheered as he stood up and took the cigarette out of his mouth for a moment, letting the smoke leave his rosy lips, before putting it back on his mouth, giving me a tight-lipped smile that adorned his face very nicely, the sense of its comfort making me smile as well.

Casey gave me and Tommy a face that read “seriously” to us both, as he raised an eyebrow.

“What?”, Tommy and I said in unison as we looked at him in confusion, as we started to walk away from the cramped and dark alleyway, that had barely any light.

“Nothing.”, Casey replied as he shook his head in disbelief as he uncrossed his arms, letting them fall gently at his side, as he let his back scoot away from the wall and walked towards us, dusting his pants of as he did. Following Tommy, we walked side by side all three of us on the sidewalk of the street.

A few moments passed and it was somewhat quite. Awfully quiet. I thought of asking Casey about his broken lip and his bruised eye, but I somehow decided against it. I knew it couldn’t have been from the fight, being that he didn’t get punched rather he was the one who attacked first.’ Did something happen to him while he was backstage?’ I thought as I pondered a bit over that fact. I knew he was perfectly fine with defending himself and standing strong, being that he did just punched that bastard and he has been in many fight in the past. But as his closest friend and only sibling, I couldn’t help but feel a bit worried about him. Sure he was sometimes a jerk and all, he sometimes got himself into trouble, but still...

“So, what kind of music do you like?”, Tommy asked breaking me from my thoughts and the ice that was growing between us as we walked quietly, his bright eyes met mine,” Rock ‘N’ Roll?”

“Yeah, we listen to rock n roll. Both of us.”, I answered with a sweet smile as I gestured to Casey who was walking silently beside us both, his shoes grazing the pavement beneath him with each step, limping slightly as he did.

“Really?! Sick!”, He replied as he held a rock sign on his hand with a joyful grin on his lips, ”What bands do you listen to?”

“We listen to AC/DC, Kiss, Queen, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, and a whole lot more than I can count.”, I laughed a bit as I listed.

“Nice, What’s your favorite. Mine’s is KISS, their music is fucking fire.”, He said in a almost awed manner as he talked about them.

“Well, I think every band has their own charm and flaw that makes them unique and a favorite to everyone. But since you asked, I love AC/DC.”

“Not Bad, babes. I think their pretty sweet too.”, He said as he glanced out at me through the corner of his eye, as he smoked his cigarette.

As we were approaching the diner up ahead, a few drops of what appear to be rain came to fall from the late midnight sky, wetting my jacket a bit. Tommy and Casey noticed it too as they felt the raindrops that turned into almost pouring water to fall on their dry heads.

“Last one to the diner is an old chicken!”, Tommy yelled as he ran his fast legs carrying him to the diner. His hair flying behind him as he ran like crazy as if his life depended on it.

“No fair! You got a head start.”, I yelled as I laughed a bit, running behind Tommy, as Casey started to run beside me, the rain pouring down to the grown and underneath our feet each second.

“Slowpoke!”, He yelled back as he kept running at a fast pace, reaching the diner’s doors. He held his arms wide in the air, as he released two rock signs on both of his hands.

I then stopped running as I stood in front of Tommy, Casey right beside me, holding his mouth as he tried not to laugh at my tired expression.

“Finally, for a second I thought you were gonna be last!”, Tommy laughed out as he held the door to the diner.

“What is that suppose to mean?”, I asked in a sassy remark with my arms crossed as I furrowed my brows.

“Ooh, Cocky are we?”, He replied as he held the door for me with a grin,” Ladies first.”

“Asshole”, I muttered lowly but a bit louder enough so he can hear me, as I tried to suppress a growing grin on my face.

Looking at inside the diner, it was pretty much packed with a lot of people in different booths. Luckily there was an empty one from between a couple of ones that were full. We took a seat on the empty booth, Casey went on the front, inside as I followed and entered on the edge of the seat, Tommy sitting across from us both and waited until the waitress came to take our order.

The place was loud and filled with chattering as the people around us talked, the only ones quiet and waiting patiently was us. Tommy was impatiently tapping his foot on the ground like a little kid waiting for the school bell to ring for the end of school, while Casey with a bored look took a napkin from the tabletop napkin holder, rolled it up a bit. As he held his nose with one hand, leaning his head back, and with the other placed the rolled up napkin inside, as hints of blood started to drip from underneath his bruised nose.

“Damn, that nose looks seriously fucked up. Did you get into a fight with someone?”, Tommy asked directly at Casey as he looked at my brother’s wound on his lip, nose, and on the side of his eye, hissing at the sight. Casey simply turned his head away as he dabbed the napkin into his lip holding it in place to stop the bleeding, ignoring his comment as he simply didn’t want to talk about it, avoiding his question. Tommy took this as away to not lead that conversation forward and simply dismiss it, as he leaned his upper half body on the table, both of his arms standing and laying on it for support as he scratched his head, while his head was turned away to look at something else.

Then as if it were a miracle, the waitress came and stood before us. Tommy instantaneously sat up as he looked at the young attractive waitress that was holding a small notepad and pen in her hand. “May I take your order?”

“I’ll have Blueberry Pancakes, please and maybe something a little extra...”, He replied to the waitress as he flirted with her. Getting the message, the waitress simply rolled her eyes at him and looked towards the both of us, awaiting our order so she can write it down.

“Umm..”, I tried to think as I looked at the menu that was placed in front of me,” a (F/F) and (F/D) would be nice.”

Then the lady looked towards my brother, in which in return he stared at her, while she tapped her foot at the outside corner of the table.

“I’ll have a Jack-”Casey managed to say, before I stomped his foot that was next to mine from underneath the table, not letting him finish his sentence at all.

“A coke, please.”, I replied sweetly as I turned to Casey, who was pissed at me for not letting him speak to the lady and order what he really wanted.

The lady then nodded to us as she then flipped the page on her notepad and wrote, what I assumed was our orders.

“Your order will be out shortly.”, She said as she placed the pencil to her ear with a hand on her hip, as she finished writing and closed the notepad,” In the meantime, I’ll bring you guys some water while you wait.”

“Thank You.”, I said to her as she hummed in response as she left the table.

Once she was out of ear shot, Casey then spoke out,” What the hell was that for?”

“You’re not drinking. Especially, when you are gonna be the one driving the van.”, I whispered-shouted at him.

He then rolled his eyes at me and simply answered,” I wasn’t gonna get wasted like that.”

“I know, but still...”, I told him as I looked down at my lap fiddling with my fingers and my hands.

I then pressed the jacket closer to my neck trying to cover the slightly marked bruise spot there, so no one can get the wrong idea of one of the boys hurting me in any way. The world seem around us seem to move on, except for us three who where still sitting in awkward silence.

“Here”, The woman who was first attending us brought us our water,” I’ll come again when your order is ready.”

Placing the tray in front of us and then putting the glasses of water in front, she then left as she took the tray along with her.

Casey then took the water as he drank from it. I on the other hand played around with the straw inside the glass. While Tommy, was surprisingly quiet this whole time, probably feeling a bit awkward. Who am I kidding? This was awkward. We were all feeling awkward.

“So...”, Tommy started to say as he drummed his fingers on the table, pursing his lips as he tried to think of something to say, with slightly wide eyes as he looked at the table as if it were the only interesting thing right now.,” Are you guys....like a thing?”

Casey as he heard that choked on the water that he was drinking, that was brought to us on the table by the waitress as we waited for our food, and holding the napkin he had on his nose that was keeping it from bleeding in surprise, making him cough as he tried to compose his fit, his eyes watering and wide as he covered his mouth with his left arm.

“You okay?”, He asked worriedly as he watched him coughing. I looked at him as well, a hand resting on his shoulder as I tapped it gently.

Casey then in a raspy voice managed to say ‘I’m good’ as he let out a few coughs, before he finally finished.

“We...aren’t a couple.”, I responded Tommy’s question,” We’re related to each other” .In which he let out an ‘Oh’ in response, as he realized.

“Sorry, It’s just. You guys fight like an old married couple. It sorta gave me the idea you both were hooking up or dating, some shit like that.”, Tommy said laughing a bit, as he said that.

“No we are not.”, I said as I laughed a bit too, nervously.,” But you do have the arguing part, down right.”

I then looked around the place of the diner a bit as I watched people eating or just talking.

“This place is really nice, I didn’t think there was a diner near the bar we were just at.”, I said with a smile as I looked at Tommy.

“I know, right. I usually come here often after I watch a few of the gigs down at that bar,. Speaking of which...Care to tell me what a pretty chick like you was doing in a place like that?”, Tommy asked out of nowhere curiously, as he sat across me from the both we were in, trying to be flirty but at the same time to not be awkward.

“Umm, I was seeing him play, his gig, at.. the bar ,‘Whiskey-a-Go Go’.”, I replied nervously, pointing at Casey as I stared at Casey through the corner of my eyes and explained to Tommy,” He invited me to come see his show.”

“Oh, Now that you mention it....Wait a minute! I think I’ve seen you before”, Tommy said as he looked at my brother with furrowed brows, squinting his eyes and pointing at him as he tried remembering something,” No fucking way! You’re the dude that played that rad guitar solo onstage at the Whiskey.”

“Yeah, So?”, He asked slightly annoyed and defensive, I elbowed him gently as I glared at him at the corner of my eyes, trying to remind him to be nice.

“What you did onstage was so awesome. You had the whole audience begging on their fucking knees for more!.”, He said followed with a laugh as he finished his sentence.

“Well, some of them didn’t think so. Those crackheads kicked me out of their shit-show. We’re done and over with. Couldn’t be more happier about it.”, He replied lowly, mumbling the last sentence to himself, as he looked down at the napkin that he pressed on his lip, that was stained with dried blood as it trickled a bit from his torn lip.

“Dude! That’s definitely their damn loss, they are seriously gonna miss out on your skills. What you did was pretty badass. The show, not the nose, but...the Nose looks pretty badass too.”

“Yeah, the singer was such an ass.”, Casey replied in a muffle as he held the blood stained napkin in his fingers, pressed against his mouth and nose.

“Yeah I saw the banter that happened onstage. Hey, fuck him, though. He deserved it. Besides, he wasn’t much of a good one any ways.”, He said with sincerity as he looked towards my brother and then to me.

“He is right, you know. You were pretty good up there.”, I said

I nodded at him with a smile, as Casey looked towards Tommy a small smile starting to reach on his lips, but silently dismissed it as he downed more of the clear liquid from his glass of water and turned his head away from him.

“Do you play in a band?”, I asked Tommy as I drank from my still full water on the table.

“Not at the moment, But I’m planning on joining a band called ‘Suite 19′. I’m gonna be their new drummer.”, He said taking out from his belt, in what looked like to be drumsticks,” That’s when the guys decide to kick the other guy out. I talked to them about it too, But I don’t know. They are still kind of thinking about it.”

Casey then looked at him with furrowed brows as he saw the drumsticks he was carrying.” Do you carry those with you, everywhere you go?”

“Yeah.”, He said as he began to play around with his drumstick in his hand, twirling them around in a very fast motion, without making a mistake as to drop it.

“That’s great. Casey also knows how to play the drums.”, I said as he kept twirling them at a quick pace keeping his gaze at us.

“Nice. Does that mean you can do stuff like this?”, He said as he began to do many twirls around his fingers with the drumstick, in different movements all in one hand. Only for him to drop them by accident as he made the drumsticks stop turning around and rested them on his hand. Leaning down to pick them up from the ground as he muttered ‘shit’ under his breath silently.

“Huh. Not bad. Where’d you learn to do that?”, Casey asked Tommy as he kept twirling his drumsticks between his fingers.

“I’ve been practicing since I was three. Also, High school marching band. ”, He said with a sigh and laugh as he stopped twirling his drumsticks, letting them fall on the table gently, as he gave us a tight lipped smile.,” Hey, but I rock too.”

Casey looked down at the table shaking his head as he let out a chuckle to escape his mouth followed by a smirk.” Yeah, I can see that.”

Then from a distance the woman held a tray of our order towards us. She held it down on the table. and passed each of our plates in front of us. Afterwards, she placed an icepack right next to me and my food on the table. I then looked towards her only for her to respond, “Its for the bruise. It will help with the swelling. Enjoy the food, hon.”

She then left leaving me shocked and a bit happy as I thanked her shyly for the ice pack, I then placed the small ice pack around my neck, tensing at the coldness of it coming into contact with my stinging skin that still hurt quite a bit from earlier. A few moments later though I relaxed as I adjusted to the feeling.

“You seriously eat that at this time?”, I heard Casey asked Tommy from beside me.

“Yeah, I mean its Pancakes. Nothing is late ”, He said as he started to take a bite of the delicious and warm stack of pancakes.

“I know that, but Don’t you think its a bit late for that?”, I asked him with a laugh.

“Hey, food isn’t late for anything, especially Pancakes. Besides, they taste fucking amazing.”, He said a bit muffled as he started eating his Pancakes with a smile, like a kid eating a sweet treat.

“Yes, we fucking now that by now. Now can we please just eat, right now”, Casey said as he laughed afterwards a small smile on his face.

“Okay, Geez....”, I replied with a tiny laugh.

We all three laugh together, as we talked and talked, while we ate. The mood was comfortable and relaxing. Everyone was having a good time, even Casey surprisingly as well. But then it was already time to go as we finished eating our food and I checked the time on my watch.

“Anything else, you want?”, The lady prior to coming at our table with our orders said, as she stood in front of us.

“No just the check. I’ll pay”, Casey spoke as he looked at the lady in front of us taking out his wallet from his jacket’s pocket.

She nodded and went to the cash register at the front, passing around a group of people behind it. We then left the booth, and approached the register as Casey paid for the food. Afterwards, we left the place walking on the streets.

“So, what did you guys think?”, He asked as he walked beside us.

“It was nice. you’re pretty cool and you aren’t so bad at all.”, I responded a bit shyly and Casey replied with a simple ‘yeah’ as he walked to the right side of me.

“Thanks, you dudes are pretty cool too.”, He said with a laugh as we both walked towards the parking lot, where our van was parked right next to the ‘Whiskey-a- go go’. “ Do you come to this place often?”

I nodded with a yes and a small giggle,” Usually, to see bands play.”

” Guess we will be running into each other a lot, huh.” Tommy said as he put his hands in his jacket’s pockets

“Yeah, I guess so.”, I then said as I moved towards Casey.

From there, we parted ways and said goodbye to Tommy, hoping to meet again tomorrow at the same time and place for the last day of the weekend.

Entering the car and pulling away from the parking lot that was next to the bar as we drove away back to our house. It was pretty quiet. Too quiet. I wanted to talk to him about the situation about how he got fired from his band, but I new that was a very strong subject, especially since he was more calmer now then ever.

The rest of the way home was quieter than ever as a random song from the radio was playing in the car. He then parked away next to our place. and just stood there.

“I can’t believe that fucking happen to you.”, He told me all of a sudden as he kept his eyes on the wheel, making my hand pull away from the car’s doorknob as I was ready to leave the car and into the house.

“T-tommy was there when it happen and h-he saved me from that, I-its ok-, ”, I mustered to say as I kept my eyes down, and sunk my body deeper in to the passenger seat.

“No its not fucking okay, those fucking creeps could’ve raped you, because of me!”, He said guiltily with anger as he gripped the wheel a bit tighter and yelled at me,” What if- what if he wasn’t there at all! Damnit”

“Casey!”, I yelled at him so he could hear what I had to say, as he scolded himself for leaving me,” I’m fine, and that’s what matters. Stop blaming yourself for it, It wasn’t your fault. None of it, Okay. You were there too, and you prevented it from happening. Those bastard got what he deserved. I’m safe right now, because of you. You’re a good brother. And a good friend”

He looked at me from the corner of his eyes before leaving his gripping hands away from the wheel and wrapped them around me. He hugged me.

“I know. I’m just afraid that one day I’ll mess up and fail.”, He said his voice cracking by just a bit as he sucked in a breath, trying to hold his emotions together.

The grip he had on me was strong but not too tight either as he buried his face on my neck, embracing me. It startled me at first, but then I let my arms wrap around his strong frame.

“You won’t”, I reassured him with sincerity as I soothed him by rubbing his back gently. Burying my face on his firm shoulder.,” You never did.”

We stayed there for a few moments that almost lasted forever, before he moved himself away from me giving me my space.

“How can you say that. How do you know for sure?”, He said almost as a question as he stared at me softly.

“I just know.”, I told him as I held his hand in mine gently,” Trust me.”

He nodded silently at me as his blue eyes soften as he stared at mine.

We held hands and walked towards the house. As soon as Casey opened the door and turned on the lights to the house, I rushed to my room and to my bathroom. Looking at the bruise more clearly, it wasn’t that bad but it was a bit noticeable. Laying down the icepack that I carried all the way from the diner on the pale sink. Quickly, I went to the bedroom and took my midnight clothes. Then I moved on to the bathroom and closed it behind me taking my clothes off and ready to take a shower. Letting the warmth of the water above me soothe my skin and bruises, as I let my brain and thoughts relax and escape.

....

A few minutes after I got dressed and dried my damp,(H/L); (H/C) hair, I opened the cabinet underneath and pulled out a cream that helped with the mark. I applied it gently onto my skin, careful not to press or put pressure on it too much so it wouldn’t sting. Afterwards, I laid down on my bed wandering what I should do now. I thought writing in my diary or lyrics in my notebook could help. That and there is also my sketchbook in which I spend many ours drawing. As my feet came into contact with the floor, I made my way towards the closet and, reached my hands to the top it, where a bunch of boxes were resting in along with my composition books. Taking the books out from above the box, I accidentally stepped on a shoe as I backed away, causing me to slip from having to stand on my tippy-toes from how high the books were in the closet. Groaning, I stood up and looked at the box that was now opened and had a bunch of photos scattered around in the floor along with the three books. The sound of clatter caused my brother to yell.” Are you okay?!”, He asked from his room as I heard his voice through the thin walls with a yell. “Yeah! I just tripped.”, I yelled back letting him know I was fine. I then gazed towards the photos in the floor, ‘Shit..’, I thought in my head as I looked at the mess,’ Better clean it up.’

As I brought the box on my neatly made bed, I then leaned down to pick the photos each one catching my eye. I then stopped to look at them, sitting on the bed. There was a boy with blonde hair and bright eyes in the picture as he smiled with a toothy grin, one of his front baby teeth being lost, as he held a large hockey stick and wore a warm uniform in the snow. The young boy looked a lot like Casey as he had the same eyes and growing blonde hair. ‘This was Casey!..”, I thought in my head as the young boy in the photo looked exactly like him, examining further as I realized it.

I then brought my attention to the box next to me looking inside and taking the top of it, placing it gingerly to the side. Inside the box, was a photo album. Taking it out and fixing it as it was all messy from the fall and impact, I looked at the photos inside it all being the same boy; sometimes younger or a bit more older and sometimes with a moan, presumably his father, along with other people I didn’t recognize or know of.’ Was this his photo album?’, I thought as I focused on some baby pictures with the same boy, having short blonde strands on his feeble head, looking curiously at the camera in pure adorableness, as he stared with a big and cute smile on his face, that made my heart melt in awe gushingly.

Flipping through the pages, I found one that caught my sight through the corner of my eye. Stopping my actions to look at it, I inspected the photo. It wasn’t just him in the photo. There was an older yet young blonde boy wearing a light blue puffed jacket with a beanie made out of wool and jeans along with dark blue gloves, and a small girl wearing a sweater underneath her warm and big jacket along with warm gloves on her tiny hands, holding a stuffed bear as they stood in the snowy winter behind them. Staring at the camera with serious yet warm expressions in their faces. It was a photo of Casey and me.

What made it more shocking was that I remembered this day that it was taken, despite how young I was. Because it stuck to me for a very long time. It was very important to me.

========================================

1974, L.A. - New York (During Winter)

I was playing around in the snow as I was giggling happily at the sight of it. Aunt Donna was standing beside the car as she stared at me with a warm smile. Grandma was on the porch in her chair on the left side of the porch,

Then I saw Uncle Robert in his brown coat and bored look on his face, as he lit a cigarette on the right side, and Casey standing a few feet away from him leaning on the side of the door.

I then looked towards Auntie and rushed towards her with my tiny feet up the stairs until I reached her on the porch.

“What is it, sweetie?”, Aunt Janet asked as she saw me approach her with a sweet smile.

“Can I, please, go to the park?”, I asked her as I held the stuffed bear close to me.

“Of course.”, She said with a giggle as she walked towards me and leaned down to my level,” I won’t be able to. But I’ll ask Casey to take you.”

She then called Casey over to her, as he stood they’re groaning approaching Aunt Donna as he rolled his eyes, coming down the few set of stairs only to hit the snowy ground to stand right in front of her.

“I need you to take (Y/N) to the park, while I go to the store to pick some things.”, Aunt Janet told him as she then gave him money,” I’m trusting you to watch over her. Buy yourself and her a treat on the way here, Okay.”

She then ruffled my head and Casey’s and went towards the front of the car as she closed the door behind her, starting the car. Pulling away, she waved at me in which in return I did slowly with a gloomy face,” I’ll be back soon.”

Casey and I stood there in the road as she drove away. I went to take Casey’s hand in mine, but he then tugged it away from me rudely, giving me a mean look. I timidly looked down as he did that a bit afraid of him, cowering in fear.” C’mon dork, Let’s go.”, He said as he released a heavy sigh that turned to smoke from the cold, walking away from me.

Walking towards the park nearby, I started to rush towards the swings happily. Playing around the park, I started to look around for Casey only to realize he wasn’t there. This wasn’t the first time he has left me though. Back in school when we would leave after the school rang, we were both supposed to walk to the house together that way I was safe, but he ended up leaving me to walk alone all by myself to the house, not caring what Aunt Janet said about it, even though sometimes she herself would pick us up sometimes from school after work. Once she found out about it, she started to yell at him for doing that and grounded him. But he later sneaked away a couple of times, but I didn’t tell anything to her about it though, because Casey threaten me sometimes.

That didn’t help me from feeling sad and lonely, though, since I was always alone most of the time. I started to walk towards the direction to the house only to be stopped by four boys around 12.

“Looks like, we meet again crybaby.”, Tyler ,One of the boys said as he looked at me, noticing I didn’t say anything back to him,” What not gonna say anything about it?”

He then snatched my teddy bear away from me.

“Aren’t you too old to be playing with toys?”, Tyler mocked as he raised it high above me.

“G-give it back.”, I stuttered silently as tears started to prick at my eyes, trying to act tough and remembering something Casey would say when they messed with him from a few fights I have seen him in at school.” or e-else.”

“Or else what?”, He said his face contorting to anger.

Those boys were the bullies at my school. They made fun of me for liking rock music, plus many other things and would embarrass me in front of the whole class with they’re stupid and cruel pranks, they would also harass me constantly nonstop afterschool. They would push me or fight me a bunch of times. No one knew about it though, because I was scared and just weak. Sometimes, I would come to school with bruises on my knees or arms or I would wet myself on the bed because of how panicked I was, even my Aunt notice it and ask me about it. But I would brush it off as a nightmare or that I accidentally tripped on my. There was one person who did though, Casey. I knew because the fights were always after school and he would just stand there from a distance watching me as he drank from a bottle of booze that if Auntie saw he would get punished for it.

“Hey! Did you hear me, you little bitch.”, He shouted at me as he grabbed me by my shoulders shaking me violently.

“L-let me go.”, I told him as he gripped my arms tightly,” Y-you’re hurting me.”

He then shoved me hard on the floor as he then stood above me.” Ouch!”, I yelled as he kicked me making me tear up from the pain.

“Aww, the little baby’s gonna cry.”, One of the boys said as the other two chuckled cruelly at me.

Tyler then snatched my hair as my back was towards him on the ground, then pressing my head against the ground.

The other boys then started to gang up on me and surround me as I felt small beneath their gaze.

They all started kick me, each impact of their feet making me tear up and suffer much worse. It didn’t help it either that they were wearing shoes. I begged them with tears in my eyes to stop, but they only kept kicking me and mocked me for being weak.

I begged and cried I then scooted away from them with as much force as I could to my already throbbing legs, I then felt my leg being grabbed. As reflex and defense, I used my other leg to kick the person hard in the face causing them to let go of my leg and grab at their face, groaning. I then leaned both of my arms as I looked at the person that snatched my leg ,Tyler, in shock at what I did.

As he let his hand fall away from his face I notice his lip begin to drip with something red as he spit some on the ground, tainting the pure white snow with it. He then looked at his hand as hand that had a few drops of them and stared at me with a steely look that could kill anyone.

“I-i’m sorry.”, I whimpered out as I sniffed out, still scooting away from him as I laid at my side, looking at him with tears in my eyes, my nose red from the cold and from crying too much in agony.

“You are so dead.”, He said with a dark stare as he angrily approached me. Tyler then snatched my hair as my back was towards him on the ground, then pressing my head against the ground., ” No one is gonna fucking hear you, because you are the annoying, fat , weak, freaky ,little crybaby that you are. You hear me!”

Hearing these words made me tear up even more making my cheeks red and damp as he kicked me with each word said in my ear, it also got me thinking if whether that was true or not. If I was really alone right now, that no one was gonna help me. I then laid my head down as I kept crying silently, giving up.

The boys kept kicking me of course, as I begged them to stop. Then suddenly I heard someone yell.

“What the fuc-!”, Before they were cut off.

Tyler’s grip on my hair loosened as he watch the scene, giving me the perfect time to quietly escape from his grasp. Hissing and groaning slightly from the suffering that was inflicting my body. I tried to crawl away from the scene. I then looked over my shoulders to see a boy with blonde hair on top of someone punching Tyler’s face over and over again. Only to stop and get off of them. The boy then turned around to look at me only for their face to be recognized. It was Casey, who’s nose was dripping red with blood. He then rushed towards me and leaned down, with his eyes wide and sucking a breath as he saw my state. He then looked towards the boys who were helping Tyler out from the floor. Breathing heavily in the middle of a panic attack, I curled into a ball crying silently.

“Do you need a fucking hint?”, Casey yelled at them his eyes pissed with furiousness in them as he pierced them with his intense stare.,” Fuck off!”

The boys as soon as they heard that dashed away, dragging Tyler along with them.

Casey ignoring them and looking at my traumatized face, with guilt and regret.

“Fuck!”, He said as he looked at my legs and arms.

“Y-you’re hurt.”, I whimpered out as I was still curled into a ball looking at him.

“What.”, He said as he looked at me with worry.

“You got hurt because of me! I’m sorry!”, I cried out as I closed my eyes letting my tears to fall down my already puffed and red cheeks. Casey seeing this panicked and held my shoulders gently. “No no no no It’s not okay. Forget about the fucked up nose. I’m fine. Okay.”

He then extended his hand towards me which I took in mine with a tremble. Helping out from the snow.

He then hugged me tightly all of a sudden, catching me by surprise and making me flinch but later I, with shaking and feeble arms in pain, embraced him back, as I sniffled. Calming down from the embrace, Casey softly and slowly released me letting his hands to fall on my shoulders. “You wanna go on the swings.”

I then nodded sadly as I sniffled, he then grabbed my hand gently, not letting it go or shooing it away. I in return gripped it tightly, afraid that it would soon disappear from my hands as I stuck closely by him shaken a bit still from what happened.

We then walked silently towards the park again. I couldn’t help but look at his nose in shame as it kept dripping, staining his shirt.

“Y-you’re nose. its red.”, I told him in a whisper only for him to look towards me.

“What?”, He asked as he kept walking, his feet scrunching beneath the snowy white ground.

“Y-you’re nose is red.”, I commented this time a little louder so he could hear me clearly.

“Yeah, No shit sherlock.”, He said sarcastically as he looked ahead, making me looked down sadly. Casey noticed this and muttered a small ‘sorry’ to me

We spend the rest of the day, on the park hanging on the swings. Casey sitting on one of them next to me, and I on the other as we both held hands, afraid to say any words or to let go.

“Casey....” I spoke quietly not looking at him.

“Yeah...”, He said as he didn’t look at me as well.

“Do you think I’m annoying and a freak?”, I asked weakly as casted my eyes down sadly at the white and pale snow on the ground.

“Well.....no.”, He said as he turned his head away,” I think you are a whole lot more than those things.”

“You mean it.”, I said as I looked at him with wide eyes.

“Yes I do. Trust me.”, He said as he squeezed my tiny hand into his large warm one for comfort and to reassure me.

“What if those bullies come back?”, I asked worriedly as my hand and body stiffened at the thought, suddenly unmoving.

“They won’t”, He said with confidence as he looked towards me with soft eyes.

“How do you know for sure?”, I asked him not convinced with his answer or trusting his words, filling my mind with doubt.

“Because, I will kick their asses again if they do.”, He said firmly as he held my hand in his tightly and softly as he squeezed them.,” and I- I will always be there for you....”

“I promise”

========================

{AUTHOR’S NOTE}

Hello again dear reader’s this is the last part of the prologue. We finally met our adorable and crazy Tommy in this one. I hope I wrote his personality and his character as I accurate as I can. This took me a lot to write too. Anyways, thanks for anyone who reads this and loves it as much as I do. Sorry for any one who was awaiting a lot for it. Comment your thoughts about it if you liked it. Hope to see you again on the next update. Love you guys and Hoped you Enjoyed it!

{LIKE AND REBLOG IF YOU LIKED IT 💕}

#nikki sixx #nikki sixx x reader #the dirt #motley crue #tommy lee #vincent neil #mick mars #rock n roll #heavy metal #80's rock #motley crue fanfic #motley crue fanfiction #nikki sixx fanfiction #nikki sixx fanfic #motley crue x reader

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daydream-hobii · 5 years

Text

Hybrid Heart Attack | Chapter 1

Genre: Poly!AU; Hybrid!AU; Fluff; Angst

Pairing: BTS x Female!Reader; Human!Seokjin x Human!Reader; Eventual relationship with Snow Leopard!Yoongi, Red Panda!Hoseok, Koala!Namjoon, Calico Cat!Jimin, Husky!Taehyung, Doberman!Jungkook

Summary: Y/n finds her current fiance during college, his name is Seokjin. They fell in love and dated for three years before he proposed. Now, Seokjin is a lawyer for hybrids, and Y/n, well, she has the perfect stay at home job. When Seokjin invites her to move in, she wasn’t expecting that he has six hybrids. She doesn’t know why a hybrid lawyer wouldn’t have hybrids, she just didn’t think about it…. Y/n is petrified of hybrids, something happened to her when she was little…. Guess she’ll have to adapt… or leave.

Warning: Mentions of Animal Attacks, Abuse (Physical & Mental), Depression, Anxiety; Possible PTSD mentions; Suggestions of Smut; Read with caution. <3

Word Count: 1,353

// Previous // Next //

Author’s Note: I AM STILL SO VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS!! I am back from Vacation and should have much more time. I hope you all enjoy it!! ^_^

Three years from our first meeting, we’re happily engaged. We both graduated and Seokjin was working at the number one hybrid law firm in the city. I had a quaint, stay-at-home job that just required a computer and a telephone, maybe even an office. It was perfect. The only problem….

Seokjin really loves hybrids. Any time we’re walking around at a park, he’ll stop and say hello to the hybrids, scratching behind their ears. I keep my distance, not making eye contact and trying not to show Seokjin my fears. I was worried he’d leave me if he knew I wasn’t a fan of them…. What if he wanted to adopt hybrids with me…?

Now, being engaged, it was the day I moved into his house. Looking at it, it was quite large, a farmhouse. He had quite a bit of land with a forest bordering the back. The house itself was far back off the road, the driveway up to it lined with more trees for privacy.

The giant moving truck with my things was sat in the driveway. Seokjin came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I placed my hands on top of his arms, smiling at the beautiful white house.

“It’s so gorgeous,” I whispered.

“It’s crazy that you hadn’t come before,” Seokjin said, chuckling. I shrugged, smiling again.

“My apartment was closer than your home. If you remember, you’re not very patient,” I said, making him groan and hide his face in my shoulder. After a while in the dorms, I found a cute apartment close to campus, one that I could have on my own. Seokjin became a regular guest there.

“I hate when you mention that,” Seokjin said, placing his chin on your shoulder. “How can I be patient when it comes to you? You’re just so delicious.” He smirked, making me roll my eyes.

“Alright, you nasty,” I said, shoving him off and smirking. “Let’s get this stuff inside.”

“Wait!” Seokjin exclaimed, making me raise an eyebrow. “I want you to meet some people first.” I stared in confusion as he grabbed my hand, dragging me inside. His family wasn’t here, were they? I know I haven’t met all of his family, but I had no clue why they’d pick such a busy day…? The inside of the house was stunning, and so large. Sat in the living room, however, were six people, six boys… all with animal ears.

My vision blurred as I gasped slightly, stepping back. Memories flooded through my head from when I was ten. The six hybrids who attacked me, they punched, kicked, scratched and bit. The pain and fear came back to me, the six new hybrids moving their heads to the side. I heard a couple whine in concern. Seokjin’s face was in front of me. I was having a panic attack.

I ran out the front door, heaving in the fresh air with my hands on my knees. Seokjin followed closely, shutting the door. He looked worried, but I held my hands up. I could get rid of it myself, I didn’t need him touching me, it would make it worse.

Once I had calmed down, tears streaming down my face, I looked at Seokjin with fear, no longer from the hybrids, but from him…. How did I not know he would have hybrids? How could I have been so naive? So stupid?

“Jagiya, what happened?” Seokjin asked, taking a step forward. I grabbed his hands, frowning and letting out a shaky sigh.

“I didn’t know you had hybrids,” I whispered, blinking away tears. “I don’t know why, it just never came up and I just thought maybe not!” I was rambling now.

“Y/n, please talk to me,” Seokjin whispered, placing his hands on my arms, keeping my eyes to his. I let out another long, shaky sigh.

“When I was ten, a pack of six hybrids attacked me…. They used their human and animal instincts: kicking, punching… scratching and biting…. I was in the hospital for a long time, I still have some scars from it…” I whispered, fear engulfing me.

“Jagiya,” He whispered. “I’m the stupid one here…. How did I not notice? You not petting any hybrids or keeping your distance…. I didn’t even notice your scars….” He looked disappointed in himself….

“The lights were always off,” I said, smiling softly. “I don’t hate them! I wouldn’t wish them dead or harmed or anything…. I’m just terrified…. I’m so scared….”

Seokjin stood there for a moment, thinking to himself. Another wave of fear rolled through me. What if this changes how he views me? What if he doesn’t want to get married anymore? God, I’m such an idiot, why didn’t I think about him having hybrids? It’s the logical thing to think for his career! I steadied my breathing before coming to terms with myself.

“I’d never ask you to choose between them or me,” I said, making him look up in surprise. “I know that a lot of hybrids are in bad situations, and you’re the best person they’ll ever have. I’d want you to choose them.”

“What if I want to choose both of you?” He questioned, coming back and wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Seokjin,” I started, but he stopped me.

“Wait here,” He said, running back inside the house. When he returned, there was a tall man following him. He had light gray, bluish ears that were rounded and fluffy. He didn’t have a visible tail, so it must’ve been a stub. I held up my hands, panic rolling through my veins as more tears flew down my cheeks.

“No no no, it’s okay,” Seokjin said, gently. He got between me and the hybrid, holding my hands gently. “I promise, nothing will happen to you…. This is Namjoon, he’s a koala hybrid. He’s the least intimidating out of the group.”

My breathing was heavy and I was shaking, but I peeked over Seokjin’s shoulder at the large hybrid. He seemed a bit shy, looking at the ground and frowning. He kept a good distance from me, and it actually made me feel a bit more calm. If I wanted to stay with Seokjin, I had to at least try, no matter how terrified I was….

I gulped, holding my hands together to stop them from shaking as I stepped around Seokjin, standing next to him. He put his hand on my lower back to relax me. It worked. Namjoon looked surprised as he watched me. He held out his hand, making me wide eyed and shake my head slightly.

“I-I’m s-sorry, I-I,” I stuttered, still trembling, but he shook his head, taking his hand away.

“I get it. Jin told me you were attacked by some hybrids when you were younger,” He said, softly. He had such a smooth voice, it was relaxing. “I’m sorry you experienced that. You seem like such a nice person…. Seokjin has told us a lot about you….”

“Things happen,” I whispered, trying to make him feel better, but it wasn’t working.

“When I was younger, I was put into a really abusive household,” Namjoon explained, making me look him in the eye. “There were the parents and a couple kids. They were very aggressive towards me, beat me. My bed was a cage in their living room….”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, curiously. It sounded ruder than I wanted, but Namjoon didn’t look offended, just thoughtful. My shaking hands were becoming smoother, calmer.

“I understand your fear,” He said, keeping my eyes. “I was so scared of humans…. No one at the shelter could come near me without me screaming. Seokjin… he just saw me once and adopted me. No matter how scared I was… he kept trying.”

“He can be pretty stubborn,” I whispered, showing a small smile. Namjoon chuckled, nodding in agreement.

“He can be,” Namjoon said. “The point is… if he could help me, along with the other five in there, adapt from the horrible situations we’ve all been through… he can help you too….”

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orihara-infobroker · 4 years

Note

All of those prompts are great :o it's really hard to choose. But---- 37 for Shikizaya and 44 for any pairing you want. I'm so curious :D

(I was trying to get both done at the same time but it’s taking too long so I’m going to break them up. Here’s the first. I’ll try to get the second done by Tuesday)

37 - “Feel Free To Admire Me” - Shikizaya

“I’ve run into a bit of a unique problem.” Izaya’s eyes flickered immediately to Shiki at the executive’s measured words. Izaya kept his expression pleasantly neutral but Shiki knew he had caught the raven’s attention. He dropped a file onto Izaya’s desk. “One of our shipments was stolen. I need you to track it down."

Izaya arched a brow. "That doesn't sound unique."

"It appears to have been stolen by a small research company."

"What was in the shipment?"

"Guns."

"Why would a research company steal a yakuza shipment of guns?"

"That's what I would like to know."

"OK… But… How did a research company steal a shipment of guns from the yakuza?”

Shiki’s expression twisted into one of irritation. “They stole the truck.”

“The truck your people loaded…?” Izaya arched a brow. “What were your men doing?”

“Not my men. I wasn’t in charge of this. They were taking a smoke break. The driver went to take a piss. No one was paying attention. The thief just got into the driver’s seat and drove away. And now I’m the one who has to clean it up.”

Izaya’s eyes widened. “Whose men were they? Is he going to lose a finger? Or maybe get kicked out? Or murdered?”

Shiki scowled at Izaya. “Why are you excited about that? Just find the shipment and find out why they stole it.”

“I’ve never seen someone lose a finger. Will they really have the guts to follow through? What kind of person would be able to do it? Humans are usually so cowardly, after all. I’d be interested to see if this man has the will to go against natural instincts for the sake of personal honour.”

“No one is going to lose a finger,” Shiki informed Izaya with a hint of amusement. “Call me when you have something.”

“Fine. But if someone loses a finger, can I watch?”

“If you don’t find my guns, you might be the one to lose a finger,” Shiki replied ominously and Izaya shivered.

“Scary~”

“I found your missing shipment,” Izaya announced through the phone. “I have an address and I’m heading there now to confirm. Care to accompany me?”

“Did you find out why they stole it?”

“Yes. Someone hi-jacked your shipment to piggyback their own smuggled goods into the country.”

“Why steal from the yakuza instead of hiring us to do the smuggling?”

“If I were to provide a conjecture, it would be because they are, by all appearances, a legitimate company and do not wish to tarnish their image by associating with the yakuza. If this isn’t a consistent need, something they only need to do once, they may have considered it lower risk.”

“Lower risk to steal a yakuza shipment?”

“Well, considering how easy it was for them to do it…” Izaya replied with mockery in his voice.

“Tch.” Shiki clicked his teeth in irritation. “A mistake that won’t be made again. Send me the information, I’ll meet you there.”

Shiki’s car pulled up in front of the research company, a relatively small building sandwiched between a strip of stores and an apartment complex. The front of the building was glass with clean lettering announcing the address and name of the company. It could have been one of a number of small companies like it, not at all terrifying like the looming tower that was Nebula. Izaya was lingering near the door as he watched Shiki and two of his men getting out of the car.

“Feel free to admire me,” Izaya responded with a smirk as Shiki approached.

“For doing what I pay you very generously to do?” Shiki replied and Izaya huffed.

“Do you want to know what it was that they were hiding in your shipment?”

Shiki arched a brow as they entered the building, the two thugs falling in step behind their boss. “Are you withholding information, Orihara?”

“You didn’t ask me to find out what they were smuggling.” Izaya’s eyes shone with amusement.

Shiki gave him an exasperated look. “We will be discussing this later.”

There was a small reception desk behind which sat a tidy-looking woman in a suit. “Good afternoon, do you have an appointment?” She asked politely, a fake smile plastered to her face as her eyes shifted from Shiki to the thugs and back.

Shiki gave her a cool look as he pulled out his card case and handed her his business card. “I would like to speak to Director Takeshi.” He spoke coolly. She took the card, eyes widening as she read it.

“O-of course, sir,” she stuttered as she reached for the phone. “Takashi-san, Shiki Haruya of the Awakusu-kai is here to see you.” After a moment she hung up and stood, gesturing to the doors behind her. “If you will follow me please, I will show you to his office.”

The director’s office was just as white and sterile as the rest of the building and the man sitting behind the desk was exactly what one might expect the director of a research company to look like. Sharp eyes hidden behind black frames, lab coat over business attire, a desk covered in books and reports. He rose and bowed low to Shiki.

“Shiki-san, my apologies for causing you such an inconvenience.” There was a nervous undertone to his polite words. “We will return your property to you, of course, and the man responsible has already been disciplined for his overreach.”

“Overreach?” Izaya snickered.

“I appreciate your honesty in this, Takeshi-san,” Shiki responded, ignoring Izaya’s insert as he took a seat and gestured for the Director to do the same. “However, I believe the overreach began when you decided to use the yakuza without paying the appropriate costs.”

“My apologies, Shiki-san.” Director Takeshi repeated. “It was… an ill-advised plan based on advice given to me by an untrustworthy sort of person. I am prepared to forward you whatever compensation you require.”

Izaya leaned against the chair Shiki had taken a seat in. “And the very interesting item you used the yakuza to smuggle?”

Director Takeshi’s gaze snapped to Izaya and he frowned. “We need those animals for a study.”

“Yet you couldn’t acquire them legally?”

“The costs and requirements were prohibitive since they’re all rare species and it would have taken far too long…”

“Well, since you used yakuza transport to bring them over, and should any investigations be done, it would lead back to us, that makes them our property.” Shiki gave the man a smirk. “Of course, for a small addition to the cost, we can overlook it.”

Director Takeshi paled then nodded. “O-of course, Shiki-san.”

“We would like to see the animals, to verify them against our own shipment information,” Izaya spoke and Shiki gave him a questioning look.

“Very well…” Director Takeshi agreed hesitantly, standing and leading them to a small lab area with rows of animal cages. Only a few had animals in them and Izaya scanned the cages until he found the one he was looking for. He opened the cage and Director Takeshi moved to protest but one look from Shiki silenced him.

“Hello, beautiful,” Izaya crooned as he picked up a tiny ball of fluff. It let out a pitiful squeak of protest, stretching out its paws to claw at the air. “What kind of horrible scientist would experiment on a baby like you?” He continued, sending a judgemental look toward Takeshi. “I have just the place for you.”

“You can’t take it! It would be an invasive species!” Director Takeshi protested though he made no move to stop Izaya. Shiki eyed Izaya suspiciously as he approached with the kitten.

“He’s a leopard cat,” Izaya informed Shiki, eyes bright. “From the markings, I think he’s from the Indian region.”

“Izaya…” Shiki murmured as he gazed at the spotted ball of fluff. It let out an indignant squeak. “This is why you came instead of just sending me the information.”

Izaya beamed at him smugly. “Admire me now?”

“Takeshi-san, we will waive the additional charges but the leopard cat will be confiscated.” Shiki turned to the Director and the man, looking defeated, gave Shiki another deep bow. “I will draw up the bill and have it delivered tomorrow. Please show my associate to our property.”

Director Takeshi led one of the thugs away to where they had stored the truck and its contents while Izaya and Shiki returned to the car. Izaya placed the kitten on the seat between them with a grin and it immediately clambered over to Shiki climbing onto his lap and stretching it’s paws up to grab onto his suit jacket. “He isn’t even old enough to be on his own,” Izaya spoke critically. “Poor guy was probably stolen from his den.”

“When did you find out about the cat?” Shiki asked as he attempted to disentangle the kitten’s claws from his suit. The kitten immediately switched his attention to attacking Shiki’s hand.

“When I tracked the shipment information back to the source. There were some other rare animals but when I saw this guy on the list, I had to see him for myself. I didn’t expect him to be a kitten though.”

“And you just expected me to foot the bill for your cat crusade?”

Izaya smirked. “No. I expected to come back later and break him out. It seems I’ve discovered one of your weaknesses, Haruya.”

Shiki gave him a long look as he scooped up the kitten. “Perhaps I will keep him, then.”

“Ehhh?!” Izaya exclaimed. “Haruya! You can’t steal what I rightfully stole!”

“Of course I can. Technically it was the Awakusu who paid for him.”

“You wouldn’t have known about him without me!” Izaya protested, pouting.

“What are you willing to pay for your little furball?” Shiki gave Izaya a sadistic smile.

“Haruya!” Izaya complained and the kitten squawked in protest, attempting to chew on one of Shiki’s fingers. “That’s just unfair to the kitten. You’d never be around to take care of him.”

Shiki chuckled. “What should I name him?”

Izaya pouted. “He’ll eat your fish.”

“If he manages to find a way into a sealed tank, I’ll be impressed. Especially considering his current size. Maybe I’ll call him Fujin.”

Izaya’s eyes lit up at the reference. “Oh, that’s perfect. Little demon god.”

Shiki dropped the newly named kitten into Izaya’s lap, giving him a slight smile. “Such a troublesome cat.”

#fanfiction #durarara #pride prompts #shikizaya #and cats #because I haven't written a Haruya Cat Tamer story in a while #my writing

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laurelsofhighever · 4 years

Text

The Falcon and the Rose Ch. 63 - The Flotsam

Chapter Rating: Teen Warnings: None Relationships: Alistair/Female Cousland Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Fereldan Civil War AU - No Blight, Romance, Angst, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Cousland Feels, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Read it on AO3 or start at Chapter 1

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Ninth day of Haring, 9:31 Dragon

Her eyes snapped open with the gasp of air into her lungs. Awareness flooded into her all at once, the crack of the fire, the ache in her head, the brightness of the room about her, so much it made her dizzy, spots in front of her eyes until she remembered she had yet to let the breath go. She blinked again, and focussed on the familiar canopy of her own bed and its raised embroidery of wildflowers, the leopard stalking through them with golden eyes that had been her companion through so many bedtime stories. The details of the dream were fast fading, but the ragged edges of it drove the drum of her heartbeat in her chest and rose a dull, aching throb in her side. Her head felt raw, her tongue thick against the roof of her mouth. Worse were the ideas swimming through her mind – Howe, a traitor, and Highever lost, the entire country mired in war with something darker stirring above it like a spider lurking in the corner of its web. It would be an interesting story to tell over breakfast, even if her father would tease her that the cause was taking too much of the pudding the night before. And she would not be mentioning the lover her mind had conjured; she had no need of such things.

A dream, but over now.

With the surety of that thought to calm her still-racing pulse, she sighed and brought her hand up to knead the heel of her palm against her forehead. Cuno’s breath fanned against her collarbone, drawing a smile across her lips. Usually, he slept at her feet, but he must have worried for her as she dreamed and shuffled up to be next to her on the pillow.

But when she reached for him her fingers met cloth, not fur. She turned, confused, and found Alistair stirring beneath the brush of her fingertips. A cold trickle of horror ran down her spine to settle in her stomach, heavy and poisonous as lead. He had been part of the dream. He couldn’t be here. If he were here then her nightmare – everything she had imagined – it would all be real. Howe. Her family. His eyes squinted in the light, but then blew wide as he noticed her regard, and with a rushed breath of her name he propped himself on his elbow and reached for her, his gaze darting about her face as if she were too much to take in all at once. Such wonder in his look, dashed so suddenly as she flinched from his touch, as revulsion that wasn’t his fault slithered in her veins. Her stomach turned. It was all real. It was real.

She rolled and heaved over the side of the bed. Her fingers clutched the sheets as a thin stream of bile pooled on the floor, her name a hoarse whisper from his lips. Her side flared with pain. Gentle fingers combed her hair back from her face, a counterpoint to his panicked shout for the guards as those same fingers fell to her shoulders to gather her away from the rebellion of her own body and her harsh reintroduction to the world.

He wiped her mouth on a spare corner of the blanket as he wrapped her in his arms, murmuring reassurances into her hair, his own relief slipping loose in the tears that ran down his face and the reverent, disbelieving way his hands roamed over her back. He rocked them both, clung to her. She shook. The pains in her side and her right arm throbbed with every judder in her body as she gave up the fight and wept into his collar, and only her shattered breath and sheer exhaustion kept her from yelling in the face of every one of his soothing words, because she ought to be dead and everything hurt and every single one of her nightmares was real.

A door opened, and distantly she felt Alistair turn just enough to issue orders to someone over her shoulder, before they were alone again and he was pressing a desperate kiss into her hair, cradling her like a child. Her body’s weakness told her she must have been asleep for days at least, and it grew weaker still as the tears ran dry and her sobs quelled into jerking, broken breaths that drew a wince with every inhale. She couldn’t tell if dehydration or blood loss was causing the new ache in her head, so she fisted her hands tighter in Alistair’s shirt, ashamed of the soaking she had given it but unwilling to allow him even the option of pulling away. Every other horror might be real, but he was solid and warm against her cheek, he smelled of sweat and ointment and smoke, with a sour tint like he hadn’t washed in days, and his heart beat a strong rhythm beneath her ear. She couldn’t have imagined such detail. She had been too long without any such sensation in the dark place she had been. So long as she could anchor herself to him, she could endure the rest.

The protection of his arms stayed around her as the door to her room opened again, but she only buried her head deeper against his chest, aware of the silent conversation going on above her head and too tired to care about it.

“Your Ladyship?” Wynne’s voice. “It’s good to see you with us again. I need to look at you.”

Her throat burned, too dry for words, so she just shook her head.

“Has word been sent to the kitchens?” Alistair asked.

“As instructed,” came the steady reply. “I need to check Her Ladyship’s wounds. Your Highness, if you would step outside?”

Fear clutched at her chest as he shifted next to her. “No –”

“Wynne’s right, love,” he murmured, kissing her fingers as he untangled them from his shirt. “I’m not going far – I’ll be right outside.”

“Now that the worst of the danger has passed, perhaps Your Highness will finally submit to a bath, instead?” Wynne interrupted, with a sardonic purse of her lips.

Chastened, he looked down at himself. “Maybe I am a bit… But I’ll be right back,” he promised, leaning towards Rosslyn again. For an instant, his gaze dropped to her mouth, but with an audience he couldn’t follow through on the intent, and with his thumb brushed across her cheek he pressed his lips to her forehead instead. “I love you.”

She only managed a smile in return as all the things she wanted to say clogged in her throat, but her gaze remained hungry on his back until Wynne chivvied him all the way into the corridor and shut the door behind him. In a way, she was grateful, because the healer knew enough not to dance around plain truth, and now that her initial shock had calmed, the number of questions unanswered was growing. Gritting her teeth, she sat up straighter in the bed and pulled in a steady breath.

“What happened to me?”

The hot-water sluices of Orzammar felt particularly distant to Alistair as he roughly washed himself with the cloth and cold water in the ewer in his room, then shaved himself without waiting for Marten or a decent amount of light. He was out of practice with the razor, so when he ended up outside Rosslyn’s door again, he had to resist the urge to fidget with the small, scarlet nicks on his chin where his hand had passed too impatiently over the bristles. Tiredness itched at his eyes, but the rest of his body chafed in the quiet, and as the first wash of blue lit the sky over the keep’s inner courtyard, it illuminated him in indecision, either leaning on the windowsill with his arms folded, or pacing back and forth in front of the door like he was on the inside of the cage. He only stopped when the clack of wood on the floorboards announced Fergus’ arrival. In the week since the battle, his health had improved a great deal, but walking was still an effort for him after months of incarceration and Amell had provided him with crutches so he could exercise the muscles in his atrophied legs without putting his full weight on the still-healing bones.

“She’s awake?” he asked.

Alistair nodded, swallowed, and returned to his pacing. “Wynne is… She’s looking her over now.”

“How did she seem?”

At that, he could only shake his head. He had lost count of the number of times he had imagined Rosslyn waking, hoped for it so much the vision entered even his dreams, but the disorientation and the panic in her eyes had been unexpected, and his own easement at finding her conscious had only lasted as long as it took to realise she was still very, very lost. And now another worry entered his mind as Fergus settled himself on the windowsill with a grunt of effort, one that had been pushed away by the horror of the battle. The man was her brother, the only family each had left in the world, and compared to that, he himself was nothing more than an intruder on a lifelong relationship – and he had spent the past week entirely fastened to her side, sleeping next to her in her own bed.

“Uh, my lord?” He cleared his throat, willing the heat on the back of his neck to subside. “I – about me and Rosslyn –”

“I’ve never seen my sister behave with anyone the way she does with you, otherwise I wouldn’t have let you anywhere near her,” Fergus interrupted. The set of his jaw was the same as his sister’s, and his tone, like hers, offered no room for argument. “I didn’t thank you for your intervention with Irminric.”

Alistair looked at his hands. “I shouldn’t have left her.” A few moments more, and not even Morrence would have been enough.

“How’s the dog?”

“Getting stronger,” he replied. “Once he knows she’s awake he’ll probably try to climb the stairs again.”

“You should’ve locked that cage,” Fergus said.

“There wasn’t time to think.”

Silence fell over them. Somewhere below the castle walls, a rooster crowed, answered by the bark of a dog and the babble of distant voices waking up to start the day’s chores. At any other time, Alistair’s discomfort with silence would have had him scrambling for some topic of conversation to pass the time, but the longer Rosslyn’s door stayed shut, the more he glared at it, and his focus left no room for idle talk. He only moved when the click of the latch sounded in the quiet, and Wynne stepped into the corridor, adjusting the bag of potions she held over one arm. Before either of them could say anything, she held up her hand.

“Her Ladyship is resting,” she said. “As she needs to after a week battling for her spirit in the Fade.”

“So there was something keeping her there?” Fergus asked.

“Yes, but fortunately, beyond some bad memories I can detect no traces of it remaining. She has eaten, and knows to call if she has need of anything, but for now I must ask you both to please let her be.”

Alistair frowned. “Have you told her about Cuno?”

“Your Highness, I have lived long enough to know that few things motivate people to ignore healers’ orders like the plight of a distressed animal.” The enchanter pursed her lips and huffed. “I remember one particularly stubborn apprentice in the Circle who was adamant about caring for a stray kitten that somehow found its way inside, no matter how I pressed him to mind his own matters instead. I trust I can leave that happy news to you?”

He nodded. It wouldn’t be information she’d forgive being kept from her, but after a week of so little good news, telling her that her dog still lived would make a welcome change of mood. And yet, Rosslyn might not wake for hours; he had been so consumed with worry over recent days, he had almost forgotten how to do anything else. Should he go to his room? Try to sleep? Cailan might accept some help with the logistics of the army, but it was unlikely either he or Anora would be awake so early. For an instant, he considered going to the kitchens to make sure the servants would be on hand, but dismissed the idea quickly, because for one thing, he didn’t know the best kinds of foods to combat sickness, and for another, after a lifetime of living with Rosslyn, the cooks probably knew already that she liked honey and dried apple slices in her porridge.

Wynne was already halfway to the stairs. He made to call after her, but Fergus laid a heavy hand on his shoulder.

“This is good news,” he said, and coughed self-consciously. “I’m going down into the city this morning on business. You should come with me.”

“But –”

“I know your worry,” Rosslyn’s brother told him. “I share it, but duty cannot be neglected, especially not now.”

“What do you mean?” It sounded like something she would say.

“Many families were torn apart by what happened here, and they need our help – what little we can offer.”

Rosslyn would have agreed. His thoughts flew to the argument he had overheard between her and Gideon on Summerday, the righteous anger that had goaded her to stand before the king and demand he do something other than run away, and to the moment in the Circle tower after everything they had seen, when she had confessed that she would have committed treason to keep Ferelden from Orlesian hands.

“Alright.” She would chide him for not getting out to stretch his legs, anyway – and perhaps he could find something cheery to bring back for her.

“Good.”

It had snowed during the night – not much, certainly not as deep as the winter blizzards that settled over Redcliffe, but enough to cover the still-churned earth of the battlefield outside the gate so that the crows fluttered across the expanse like specks of soot on clean linen. The carriage they rode in had been piled with furs and warmed with a heat rune to stop Fergus catching a dangerous chill, and it rumbled along the road with a convoy of mounted Highever guard and what few supplies they could spare from their stores. They had butchered the horses slain on the field and dried the meat, but with Gwaren’s soldiers to feed as well as those that had travelled from Aeylesbide, even that source of food had been stretched thin. A broth made from the bones had served as the bulk of the army’s rations for four days now, mixed into a rough gruel with mashed grains and what few wild greens could be sourced by the foraging parties. Alistair remembered such fare from his time as Teagan’s right-hand, without much fondness; aside from the lumpy texture, the stench of boiled bones lingered in a greasy film at the back of the throat, a sour taste like the guilt as he picked at his own, significantly better meals, but better than nothing.

The blank landscape invited such introspection. What would Rosslyn think when she saw the accommodations for her soldiers? Shame wormed uncomfortably in his stomach for the way he had dismissed his share of the work since Loghain had fled. Aside from the paperwork he had taken on to pass the long hours while she slept, most of the day-to-day logistics had been passed to Anora once Gwaren’s soldiers surrendered. While he appreciated the reprieve, his time among dwarven politics had taught him to recognise the queen’s help as an attempt for her to reassert her authority over a leadership that had learned to cope with her absence. It didn’t help that rumours about Cailan’s intentions towards Rosslyn had reached even to Denerim, nor that their near-confrontation before the battle had pitted the two women so neatly against each other, like flint on steel.

“Didn’t Cailan want to come?” he asked, to break the silence. In truth, the few times his brother had made an appearance outside his rooms, he had been snappish and withdrawn, with a forced, brittle energy that could not be entirely faulted given his guilt over Rosslyn’s injuries and the loss of most of his guard – but which did not entirely explain it, either.

Fergus turned from the view out over the cliffs. “I asked, but His Majesty said he had a headache. He seems very different to the man I knew.”

“Rosslyn said you all grew up together,” Alistair prompted.

“Not quite,” Fergus chuckled. “Though she tried. The king and I were of an age, and there was Nate. Rosslyn never really had that, mostly because she never got on all that well with Delilah, so she would follow along after us, trying to prove she could match three boys twice her age.”

“What did you do?”

He smiled. “Oh, we thought she was a pest, especially the time she stole Father’s horse and made us chase her half way to West Hill. I never did work out if she’d done it on purpose or if it had just taken off with her.” The expression faltered, and he took to gazing out of the window again. “I hear she’s taken to leading cavalry now.”

“She’s an excellent rider,” Alistair replied. “She’s…” But outing her once-plan to revive the stock of Ferelden’s horses wasn’t his place, not least because it had seemed so impossible before her brother’s unexpected return from the dead, so he bit his tongue. “She’s saved a lot of lives with that cavalry.”

The rest of the journey passed in spurts of uncomfortable and short-lived conversation, an itch of awkwardness that left Alistair shifting in his seat with every bump in the road, and trying not to make the movement too obvious. As the buildings of Highever rose higher around them, the more he felt out of his depth, and the ever longer pauses between him and Rosslyn’s brother were filled with the rattling of the carriage and the jingle of harness. When they finally stopped in the main chantry square, he followed mutely behind Fergus as the supplies they had brought were unloaded directly to the revered mother, watched over by the guards to ensure everyone got a fair share. After that, they drove on further to meet a man in a carpenter’s smock who shook his head over the progress of street repairs, and from there to the wharves, where fresh catches of fish were being hauled in for gutting now that the Clayne blockade of the port had been lifted, and every slow, laboured step of the tour drove deeper the guilt that he had not done more to help.

And yet, as they passed, more than one dark look followed after them, and once away from the broadest thoroughfares into the maze of ancient, winding alleyways, he noticed how their guard tightened their grip on their swords. Apparently unconcerned, Fergus turned off the street and into a tavern with a board over the door painted with a strange, fish-like creature with a single, spiralling horn rising from its forehead. The tavern’s glazed windows had been smashed and boarded with planks, and the plant pots resting on the upper windowsills contained only dead stems. The few other patrons already inside turned baleful eyes on them as they entered with the cold air, before those same gazes slid to the armed and armoured guards, and finally back to the foamy depths of their tankards.

“They’re angry,” Fergus explained quietly as they crossed the rush-strewn floor to a table in the corner. He hissed as he sat down, and laid aside his crutches to massage his legs. “Many of them ended up desperate under Howe’s thumb, and they think we did nothing to stop it.”

Still wary, Alistair kept his silence until the barkeep had taken their order for ale. “They aren’t happy for the supplies?”

“Their children are starving,” Rosslyn’s brother pointed out. “And the soldiers were brutal to them. I can understand them wanting to protect those they love, and trying to reason that what little we do have needs to be rationed isn’t going to mean much with those who still need to feed their families.”

“And yet if you gave them as much as they wanted, there’d be nothing left to eat next year, or enough seasoned timber for good quality houses.” Brantis had taught him as much; and Cailan, too, had worried about the harvest.

A nod. “Not without expensive imports from elsewhere, and Howe drained too much of the teyrnir to fund his bloody mercenaries. We can only do what we can, and hope to win back their trust.”

The declaration made a weary kind of sense, but even after the barkeep returned with two glazed mugs of mulled ale and a bowl of fried sprats to keep hunger at bay for the midday meal, Alistair’s frown didn’t ease.

“If they could have seen what it did to Rosslyn, having to leave them behind…” he started, and bit his lip. Those were days he wasn’t proud of, when he had wallowed in his own hurt pride and pushed her away.

“They would have resented her for hesitating to do what she had to.” Fergus took a long, slow gulp of his drink and wiped the foam from the trim of his moustache. “As a ruler, you cannot show weakness, or else people will lose faith and stir up trouble where it is least needed. Getting too embroiled in personal problems means you stop thinking for the good of the majority.”

“That seems rather cold.”

“Is that how you would describe my sister?”

“What? Of course not.”

She could seem distant at times, but only to those who didn’t know her, and only when the politics of a situation demanded it. Having been a soldier, sometimes her dismissiveness towards commoners irked him, but to see her get so little recognition for how hard she worked – after everything that happened – turned his stomach in an entirely different way. It didn’t help to have her brother watching him, evaluating like he was some recruit being paraded about for the good of the sergeant on inspection day.

“Rosslyn is… She cares a lot,” he said at last. “When I first knew her, she spent weeks sleeping in ditches and fighting to stop Howe’s soldiers gaining a stranglehold on Highever, and when she came back, a child ran out in front of her horse and he nearly threw her. She could have lashed out, but she didn’t – I know a lot of people who would have scoffed at her taking time to comfort a crying peasant girl, but it’s what she did.”

Fergus leaned back in his chair with a smile faint on his lips. “Compassion isn’t weakness,” he replied at last. “My father said once that it was like fire forging a sword – too little and the metal becomes brittle, too much and it will melt and be lost entirely to the coals.” A sigh. “You saw the people we passed. What use would we be if we spent our energy trying to be their friends? They want solutions to their problems, with as little interference in their lives as possible.”

“Have you asked them?” Alistair countered.

“Four days ago,” came the cool reply, “when I first came down here to see the extent of the damage.”

Stung, he dropped his gaze to the wood grain of the table, unable to match the impassive stare that came across so familiar, even if the eyes that held it were sea-blue instead of grey. A proper apology was just forming on his tongue when his companion grunted and slapped the table.

“Enough,” Fergus said. “I have had precious little to celebrate this past year, and now finally, my sister is awake. This is damn well worthy of an occasion.”

“It is.” Alistair raised his mug, unable to stop the relieved spread of his smile. “She’s awake.”

“And thank the Maker for it,” Fergus agreed, watching him again as he tipped his head back. “But now that she is, there’s a question.”

“Mm?”

“It’s very obvious you’re in love with her.”

Alistair choked. Coughed. Felt his ears turn scarlet.

“And since you are,” the older man continued, slowly, leaning forward with the same rapt attention a wolf might give a ram, “what do you intend to do about it?”

As afternoon drew on, Rosslyn’s attention wandered from the papers in her hands to the blank white world beyond her window, the fields of blinding snow and the winding course of the Donmarl cutting through the landscape like a vein of black flint through chalk. After a week in the dark her thoughts flitted too quickly for her to catch, forming patterns here and there like a murmuration of starlings over an autumn field, but exhaustion dogged her and she let each one surface and fade as it willed.

Cailan’s advance guard had arrived in Denerim, just in time for the weather to close behind them and cut off all communication. They knew the city had been relieved, and that Loghain and those loyal to him had fled, but his plans beyond that remained shrouded, and there was nothing they could do about it, no way to make him pay. Meanwhile, the casualty list from the battle stretched as long as her forearm. While she didn’t recognise every name, the number alone brought her to the edge of despair. Hobbs, who had ridden with her since Wythenshawe, had fallen to Erimond’s magic, and every other soldier who had travelled with her aboard the Windcaller had either met similar fates or were missing from the final tally. Gideon had lost his left arm below the elbow. Morrence, though mostly unharmed, had stared glassy-eyed as she delivered her reports earlier that morning, still in shock from the news of her father’s death, and the death of the last small bit of hope she had carried unnoticed through the summer campaign.

“If you need some time…” Rosslyn had murmured to her when the truth first came out.

“You didn’t have any,” her captain had replied. “And it’s better to be doing, anyway.”

That, at least, Rosslyn understood. Harder to grasp was the way time seemed to slip from her, how the world moved on regardless of personal hurts. So much had changed, she might have been asleep for an age, rather than just a week. In a few short weeks more it would be First Day, and from there, only a month until Wintersend, the anniversary of the day she left, and the day she watched her father ride away for the last time. She still had his ring snug about her finger, the once-sharp fracture in the band worn down by months of use, and in the corner of her room the heirloom sword that had been plucked from the battlefield and given to her because there had been no one else to take it now rested propped up in its sheath like a malignant shadow, waiting for her to make a decision. It ought to go to Fergus. He was the rightful heir, the eldest, but though the sword would fit him better, and she longed to set down the burden of her title, she could not help the wriggle of guilt in her chest for her selfishness when he had suffered so much for it already.

A knock on the door interrupted the ramble of her thoughts. Checking the tears that had rolled unobserved down her cheeks, she stuffed the casualty list in a drawer of her desk and called for the visitor to enter, her shoulders thrown back despite the strain it put on her injuries. When a familiar mess of tawny hair poked around the door, she relaxed into a smile, and started forward as Alistair swept into the room. He got to her first, arms outstretched to catch her fingers, gaze soft but missing nothing as he looked her over, trying to squash the disbelief that had yet to fade from the early hours of the morning. Now he appeared in daylight, it was easy to see the fatigue shadowed in his eyes. Unsure how to answer all the silent questions crowded in them, she stepped close and tried for a teasing smirk.

“You’ve brought the cold in with you.”

He heaved an unsteady breath. “My most sincere apologies, dear lady.” Before she could retort, he flourished the two wings of his cloak and wrapped them around her back so she was enclosed, snug, and unable to escape. “Is this better?”

The suggestive tilt of his eyebrows brought a giggle to her lips. “Maybe a little.”

“That’s my girl.” For an instant he leaned down as if angling for a kiss, but then checked himself and turned back to the doorway, looking entirely too sheepish.

Fergus watched them, leaning heavily on his crutches. Startled, Rosslyn pulled away from Alistair’s embrace sharply enough to send a stab of pain along the line of her wound, but if either of them saw her flinch, they ignored it. Her brother’s expression held the same wry amusement she had seen so often on her mother’s face, in the same blue eyes, and yet there was a sombre edge to it that only increased his resemblance to their father. It had been easy to forget that with a castle under siege, when he had been unwashed and dressed in only filthy rags.

He cleared his throat. “So. You two.”

“Fergus –”

“All I can think is what Mother would have said about it,” he chuckled, limping forward. “If we were playing fair, I’d pay you back for all the smart comments you gave me when –” A pause, and he took her hand. “Well, never mind. At least he’s a prince. Couldn’t have picked better for you myself.”

“Your taste in men is terrible,” she reminded him with an arch of her brow, but something in his expression, a glance that flickered to Alistair over her shoulder, rose a suspicion in her mind. “You two have been talking about me.”

“We’ve been worried about you, love,” Alistair told her hastily, brushing a touch over her shoulder. “We were just happy you woke up.”

Something dark loomed at the back of her mind, a trick of stray thought that vanished before she could really notice it, but it left her too unsettled to answer. She remembered little of what she had seen in the Fade, despite Wynne’s attempts to coax more information out of her. Instead, she turned to Fergus.

“And am I allowed to worry about you?” she asked.

Her brother sighed. “The mages are already doing enough of that. Enchanter Amell is skilled, but there’s only so much even she can do. This morning took it out of me, but I wanted to see how you were before I took myself off for a nap.”

Despite his smirk, she couldn’t miss the pallor in his sunken cheeks, or the way his restored finery hung off his shoulders despite the padding of extra layers to keep him warm.

“Well, I’m out of bed,” she tried, gesturing to herself. “You should get some rest.”

“If you insist. You two play nice.”

She coloured at the suggestion in his tone, but refused to rise to the bait, standing perfectly still as he made his exit. As soon as the door closed behind him, Alistair’s hand cupped her cheek and brought her round with only the barest hesitation to ask permission before he leaned down and kissed her, fiercely, as if he could push all of his relief to her lips at once. She swayed into his embrace as his tongue grazed her lip, stealing her breath in a whimper that only brought him closer. His hand splayed across her lower back, her fingers winding into the fabric of his collar, and when they ran out of breath he didn’t pull away, only pressed his forehead to hers as he caressed her face.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you,” he breathed.

Smiling, she nudged another kiss against his mouth. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

The laugh that burst from him held more than a note of hysteria, but he kissed her again anyway, a slow, desperate movement that banished thought of all else – until she stretched too far and broke from him with a gasp.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as she clutched at her side. “Do you need to lie down?”

She shook her head. “I’ve had enough of lying down – I never want to go back to bed again.”

“Never never? That’s too bad.”

The joking tone didn’t quite touch his face, the anxious way his hands reached to steady her, but she appreciated the effort nonetheless. When she had imagined being with him in her bedroom, the nausea and fatigue had definitely not been part of it, nor the pain barely masked by Wynne’s potions, and she pushed herself against his chest again to pretend it all away.

“Where are you sleeping?” she asked.

“Officially?” He chuckled. “The blue room across the hall. I’ve been told it’s technically the royal suite, but your brother gave Cailan and Anora the teyrn’s rooms, and he’s in the one next down from you.”

“He hasn’t been back to his own?”

He stroked her hair. “I couldn’t blame him. I can’t stop thinking about how I’d feel if I lost you, and… Maker, I’ve come too close to that for comfort.”

“I’m alright,” she murmured, and pressed a kiss to his collarbone where she could reach.

“When I close my eyes, I keep seeing you lying there, and when it’s not that… I don’t want to let go of you.”

“Then don’t.” Later, she could be glib, but for now all she wanted was his warmth and the even beat of his heart.

They stood together for long enough that she slipped half into a haze, drawing comfort from the shield of strong arms and the sigh of breath above her ear. Even when her legs began to shake from an exhaustion she shouldn’t feel at all, he never let her go.

“You’re tense,” he said, after a while.

She forced a breath through her nose, ordered her thoughts. “This – retaking Highever – it should have solved everything, but it hasn’t. We lost so much, and… Howe got away again, and I can’t go after him.”

“There are search parties out,” he replied, cautious.

“It’s not the same as being out there. He might be halfway to Antiva by now.”

“I know.” A kiss fell against the top of her head. “But… since there isn’t anything we can do, why don’t we get out of here? Go somewhere that’s less… here.”

It hurt to laugh. “Wynne won’t be happy.”

“She can hardly object if you’re escorted, now can she?” he reasoned. “And since I’m a prince, I can overrule her.”

“Where did you have in mind?” she asked.

“Why don’t we see where we end up?”

After taking an extra blanket from the bed to wrap around her shoulders, he offered his arm with a teasing grin and they went slowly. Part of her wanted to chide him for the frequent glances he cast her out of the corner of his eye, but almost as soon as she stepped across the threshold of her room, her frustration at being caged gave out to the deep weariness she had been ignoring for most of the day as a symptom of her close mortality, and she didn’t want to think about it. Being able to lean on Alistair helped, especially when they reached the stairs. She didn’t want to look at her surroundings, didn’t want to hear the quiet of the castle settled about her. Snow had fallen outside and drifted against the corners of the windows. That morning, she had checked and found all of her valuables taken, her things rifled through like goods at a flea market, and as they walked along they passed squares of bare, whitewashed walls where her memory held paintings and tapestries that could not be replaced. The sense of violation followed her to the first floor landing where most of the guest bedrooms were, but of more immediate concern was the shortness of breath that spotted behind her eyes and left her dizzy. Once, she had bounded up those stairs like a deer.

“Where to now, my lady?” Alistair asked, keeping his voice deliberately light.

She dropped her head against his shoulder with a weak huff of amusement. “I was supposed to give you the tour.”

“Any excuse to spend time with me, I know,” he teased. “Are you hungry? Do you need to sit down? I should have asked if you were warm enough.”

“Surely I don’t look that bad? You don’t need to fuss.”

“Yes I do.”

The sincerity in his voice stole what little breath she had left. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry. “The library,” she managed after a moment. “I’ve always liked the view.”

Beaming, he stole a quick kiss and tucked her arm into his again, then led the way down the corridor. She rested her head on his shoulder, smiling at his familiarity with her home. She only lifted it away when they approached the library, but as they stepped through the door, the little strength remaining in her limbs bled away like sunlight from the sky.

The shelves had the look of carrion picked clean. Where once shining leather volumes had been set in neat rows, the shelves now had great, yawning gaps where the books had been torn away by people wanting kindling, or just amusement. The glass fronts of the cabinets had been smashed. The marble bust of King Calenhad that had sat on the desk for as long as she could remember looked like it had been knocked over and glued back together, and a chunk was missing above its left eye. She felt Alistair’s gaze on her as she followed her mounting dread to the corner behind the door, where her family’s most prized tomes were kept, hoping that their half-hidden alcove had been enough to spare them from the fate of the rest of the books.

It was gone. The manuscripts remaining in the case showed signs of rough handling in the scuffs to the edges of the vellum pages and the cracks along their spines, but they meant nothing to her in the face of the conspicuous gap on the shelf like a knocked-out tooth, the spot where the volume of her family’s history had once sat in pride of place.

“Rosslyn?”

This – this was worse than the rest of it, Howe’s greed and lack of respect for her family’s things, because the Cousland book hadn’t been just another tapestry or a trinket. It had borne the handwriting of generations, counting back all the way to Sarim’s dealings with Flemeth almost seven hundred years before, before the castle had been built and before Ferelden had even existed. It had contained illuminations in vibrant inks that matched any in Southern Thedas. As a child, she had spent hours gazing at the illustration of Elethea bending knee to King Calenhad, and the chase through Cullodhne Forest as the twins Haelia and Mather drove the werewolves from the north. It had survived coups and feuds, had been smuggled out in her great-grandmother’s saddlebags during the Orlesian invasion, and now…

“I can’t believe it’s gone,” she whispered. She squeezed her eyes shut as Alistair’s hand fell to her waist. “Everything my father built. How could he hate us so much?”

“I’m sorry.”

There were copies of the book, which her father had had made at the end of the Occupation and locked away against calamity, but those were just words and imitations, lacking the stains and imperfections accrued over ages of use, the intangible history that linked her through messy fingerprints to every one of her ancestors.

“My father loved this room,” she said, almost to herself. “He grew up running from the Orlesians, but he always loved to read. Anything he could get his hands on, he would say. When he finally took this place back at the end of the war he built this library up from nothing. There are so many memories here… I used to balance the accounts in that chair, with –” Heat itched sudden behind her eyes, blurred her vision, and she had to bite her lip. The crossbow rising. “Cuno used to sleep by the fire.”

A breath hissed in between Alistair’s teeth. For an instant, she thought he might be working out what to say, but the look in his eyes as he cupped her jaw in his hands showed only softness.

“He’s alive,” he said. “Cuno. The shot missed its mark, and Howe’s apostate changed sides to save him.”

She jerked away. “Alive? Why hasn’t anyone told me this? What are we doing here when we could be –”

“He’s still very weak.” He licked his lips, choosing his words. “They had to amputate his leg, and he’s still learning to manage. It’s partly my fault. I went down to see him, and… I accidentally left the run unlatched. He tried to follow me, and it was too much too soon.”

“So he can’t come and see me,” she surmised. “I have legs, I can go to him.”

“Rosslyn, you barely made it down one flight of steps. He’s all the way in the kennels. Wynne didn’t want you to know because she thought you’d go flying down there and ruin all her hard work, and that’s just what you’re thinking of doing, isn’t it?”

The touch of humour brought a pout to her lips, as always happened when logic and common sense outweighed her need to act.

“I promise, tomorrow I will make it so you can see each other. You can – meet in the middle, and go for a walk in the garden,” he suggested. “And I’ll go down this evening and tell him you’re awake.” He looked at her with such worry she had to bite her tongue against the impulse to argue, until the familiarity of their positions struck and painted a laugh on her lips.

“This is like the morning we met, when I demanded to see Teagan,” she told him.

He smiled. “We had breakfast.”

“We did.”

“Does that mean I can let go of you now?” he asked, having stepped close enough their breath mingled.

“I don’t want you to.”

And yet she couldn’t fight the red edges creeping in at the corner of her vision, or the way her limbs deadened in a cloud of pins and needles. He pulled away from the kiss with concern written in all the lines of his body and helped her to the window seat before retrieving every soft furnishing from around the room to prop her up and tuck her in.

“Are you quite done pampering me?” she demanded in mock exasperation.

“No.” The answer was smug. “Now wait there while I find someone to bring us some food.”

“Dinner’s only three hours away.”

“And Wynne said you were to eat little and often,” he pointed out. “I’ll be right back. Be good.”

She accepted the peck to her forehead with a good-natured grumble but wriggled deeper under the blankets nonetheless, too tired really to be disobedient. Once Alistair’s footsteps died away, her attention turned to the window. Snow was falling again, thick, fat flakes swirling fast enough to blot out the line of cliffs and the iron-grey sea beyond, batted by the wind into the shape of roaring dragons and galloping horses. It felt better to follow the patterns in the weather than dwell on thoughts of Cuno. Hope tickled like a cough in the back of her throat, but she refused to entertain it, or to unleash it until she saw her dog for herself. Until he greeted her with his big slobbery grin and a headbutt that knocked the wind from her stomach.

But would he even want to see her? What if he associated the pain of his injuries with what she had done, with the fact that she had been too proud to beg even for the life of the one creature that had kept her from spiralling into the dark after Glenlough? She had been so focussed on Howe, she hadn’t even thought to look after the shot was fired – couldn’t look – with all the details of the room crowding in on her, narrowing down her focus, the taste of blood, the crazed shouts, the stench of sweat and rotten breath, and a deeper, more profound hatred than any she had ever thought to experience.

She hauled in a deep breath to rid herself of the echo of Howe’s voice. Her hands were fisted in the blankets and she forced them to unclench. Snowflakes half-melted against the window pane then slid down to solidify at the corners, building up a layer of white already more than an inch thick with the storm still raging and rattling around the keep’s walls. Wearier than she had expected to be, she let her mind drift on the eddies as the fall brought on an early twilight, trying to block out the worry of what might happen when she fell asleep again, if nightmares would plague her, or whether she would wake up again at all.

She didn’t realise she had drifted off until she blinked her eyes open to find Alistair back at her side, holding her hand with a tray of green tea and small platters of food set on a parlour table next to her. The smell reminded her stomach of its leanness and her mouth watered, but she was distracted from the collation by the knot between Alistair’s brows, the pull at the corner of his mouth. The crick in her neck told her he must have been gone some time.

“What’s wrong?” she mumbled, unable to resist trying to smooth the expression away with her fingers.

Something guarded entered his expression as he sighed. He dropped his gaze. “I guess I’m still a little worried you won’t wake up.”

“You don’t need to worry.”

With a brief smile, he turned a distracted glance towards the food. “I hope you’re hungry - the cook has orders to stimulate your appetite by whatever means necessary. We’ve got breaded eggs, mince dumplings, apples stuffed with cheese curd – and I think Graela said those are pomegranate seeds? – and spiced potatoes with garlic.”

All favourites. All things she had missed during her months on campaign.

“I hope you’re not going to kneel down there like a page and feed me like some grand duchess,” she teased. “There’s no way I could eat all of this by myself.”

“What would you suggest, my love?”

She shrugged, traced her thumb over the back of his knuckles. “Why don’t you join me on this very comfortable seat?”

The summer sun couldn’t compare to his grin. He brought the table within arm’s reach as she shifted to make room for him then settled, with gentle guidance on her arms to pull her back against his chest into the fit that had already become so familiar. It was difficult to get comfortable without putting pressure on her injuries, but drawing the blankets up to her chin made things a little better. They worked their way through the food in comfortable silence, except for the moment when Alistair had to gulp down an entire cup of the tea because he failed to take a warning about the amount of spice on the potatoes. Much of the food produced in the castle’s kitchens benefitted from connections with the northern trade routes, with Castle Cousland especially adapting to the hotter palate favoured in Antiva, and while his spluttering shouldn’t have been quite so funny, Rosslyn had to bite her lips together as she passed him one of the apples so the cheese-curd stuffing might cool the pepper on his tongue.

Even before the food was half-finished, however, she began to doze again. Wynne had said her body would have to be eased back into its normal portions, especially given the amount of blood she had lost, but this time at least sleep felt welcome, the fingers playing on the side of her neck a comfort she wasn’t aware she needed. The only thing that disturbed her was a bizarre, intermittent squeak she couldn’t place, and it was a few moments before she realised the sound wasn’t a figment of her imagination. Twisting to see better, she squinted in the low light and found her lover tracing shapes in the condensation on the window. As she watched, he formed the last arcs on the ‘R’ and the ‘C’, before breaking the line to draw the shape of a heart around their joined initials.

He flushed when he caught her looking. “What?”

“Nothing,” she answered, laying her head against his shoulder once more. “I’m… I’m happy.”

His chest expanded in a deep inhale, a weighted silence.

“I know it sounds weird – I shouldn’t be, given everything that’s happened.”

“No.” A hand threaded into her hair. “It doesn’t sound weird, I… You deserve to be happy.”

#dragon age #dragon age: origins #dragon age origins #da:o #alistair theirin #rosslyn cousland #alistair x cousland #cousland #dragon age au #cousland feels #fergus cousland

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projectnoah · 4 years

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Burmese Pythons in the Everglades: How an Invasive Species is Hurting Native Wildlife

As of February 2013, scientists estimate anywhere between 30,000 and 150,000 Burmese Pythons exist in South Florida. As you may have suspected, Burmese Pythons are not native to Florida. They are native to Southeast Asia and south China.

The problem? The pythons are completely decimating populations of native wildlife. A study conducted by Michael Dorcas, a herpetologist at Davidson College in North Carolina in 2011 documented “severe declines” in mammal sightings. The 2003 to 2011 surveys compare mammal sightings to data from surveys conducted in 1996 and 1997 – before the python was breeding in the wild.

As the population of pythons has spiraled upwards in the last decade, mammal observations have declined by the following percentages:

87.5% bobcat decline

94.1% white-tailed deer decline

98.9% opossum decline

99.3% raccoon decline

100% rabbit decline

100% fox decline

Not a single rabbit or fox sighting was found. Furthermore, the impact of the invasive species on rare animals is unknown. It’s unclear whether or not the python is consuming the Florida panther. It’s quite possible, as these snakes eat leopards in their native habitat of Southeast Asia.

As per above, the pythons aren’t picky eaters. They will often eat any animal they can find. Even large numbers of birds are being consumed. Over 25% of the pythons found in the Everglades contain bird remains.

The above-listed mammals simply have no instinctive defense or fear from a large carnivorous snake. As a result, they fall easy prey. Before the Burmese Python in early 2000, the last large snake to live in this region was 16 million years ago, when a boa-like snake became extinct.

The study does report that certain animals, like turtles, may thrive as a result of this ecological distortion. Raccoons routinely prey upon turtle eggs. With severe declines in raccoon population, turtles have the potential to grow at a higher rate. Of course, this argument assumes the python doesn’t eventually turn on the turtle as food sources dwindle.

In addition to the above report, the National Academy of Sciences published a separate report suggesting bird and coyote populations are also threatened due to the invasive species.

“Survival of the Fittest” Argument Rebuffed

Some counter that survival-of-the-fittest dictates the pythons should spread, as they are simply more powerful predators than their prey. They argue there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with this scenario as it simply represents natural selection playing course. But this argument makes little sense as it runs counter to how ecosystems function.

Burmese pythons in their native habitat in Southeast Asia do not cause a 90+% decline in the population of their prey. And neither do large carnivorous snakes like anacondas in the Amazon. Populations of predator and prey evolve together over time and live in balance. Prey develop natural instinctive defenses from these predators. The animals of the Everglades have no natural instinctive defense from these large snakes.

It’s worth noting a further element of tragic irony in this story. While the pythons are spreading like rabbits throughout south Florida, they are endangered in their native habitat of Southeast Asia. Back home, they are hunted for their skins and captured alive for sale abroad as pets.

How did they get here?

Between 1996 and 2006, roughly 99,000 pythons were imported into the United States as pets.

It’s believed the pythons began breeding in the wild as a result of two primary causes: irresponsible pet owners releasing them and the animals escaping their loosely-kept cages as a result of hurricane or stormy weather.

As for the former, these snakes grow to an average of 12 feet. Pet owners likely grew uncomfortable with the health risk and financial burden of securing and feeding a 12-foot snake in their home. After not wanting to deal with these challenges, many released them into the wild.

As for the latter, in 1992, Florida’s Hurricane Andrew was responsible for destroying a python breeding facility. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, other less severe storms likely enabled snakes in loosely secured cages to escape during stormy weather.

Here’s a brief timeline of how the population began to spiral out of control:

2000: A breeding population was confirmed in the Everglades.

2001-2005: 201 pythons observed or killed in the Everglades.

2006-2007: 418 pythons seen or killed in the Everglades.

2009: 5,000 – 180,000 estimated by South Florida Water Management District

It’s difficult to know exact population numbers over the last decade as these animals are difficult to spot. The above numbers are based on sightings and killings of pythons. The bottom line is that from early 2000 to the present, the population of breeding pythons in the Everglades spiraled to well over 30,000.

More on the Python’s Biology

The severity of this proliferation is better understood after learning about certain aspects of this snake’s biology.

For starters, the Burmese python routinely lives 25 years or more. Astonishingly, the record life span for a python in captivity is 47 years!

Females typically lay one clutch of eggs per year, usually in the spring. Each clutch contains somewhere between 12 and 36 eggs. But much larger numbers have been recorded. This August 15 report from the New York Times included finding a 17-foot python with 87 eggs.

These key aspects of the python’s reproductive behavior, combined with the prey’s lack of natural defenses, have led to a perfect storm of ecological collapse for the land-dwelling mammals.

Some Good News: Pythons Can’t Survive the Winter

I was thrilled to learn some apparent good news in this otherwise awful story. The consensus among herpetologists appears that the python cannot survive through a winter beyond south Florida.

An initial USGS study by Reed Rodda in 2008 claimed the pythons could expand as far north as the southern third of the United States. But that study appears to be an outlier.

Consensus among snake biologists is that Burmese pythons are unable to withstand a winter beyond south Florida. An experimental closure in South Carolina kept a number of pythons over winter. All of the animals died, as they could not properly acclimate to the change in climate. When it gets cold, these pythons simply die. The study did note, however, that the pythons could survive extended periods of temperatures lower than southern Florida.

Python's inability to survive winter, however, may very well be the only good news with regards to their ability to spread throughout the region.

Research in an early 2012 issue of the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology report concluded that pythons are able to tolerate salt water and can therefore travel through marine and estuarine environments like bays or inlets. The open seas are also a possibility. Prior to the report, it was hoped that the pythons would die in saltwater and would therefore be primarily limited to the freshwater of the Everglades.

The snakes can therefore travel along the southeastern coastline and would only be limited by climate restrictions. Worse still, many climate biologists and snake herpetologists claim this climatic range is quite suitable habitat and very similar to that of Southeast Asia.

Burmese Pythons and the American Alligator

One animal in the Everglades appears able to pose a threat to an adult python. In a battle between the Burmese Python and an American Alligator, who wins? The answer: it depends. Both animals have been found to prey on one another. A large alligator can kill and eat a medium-sized python. And the opposite holds true for a large python.

To be fair, newly hatched juvenile pythons are vulnerable to predation by birds and other animals; but that doesn’t say much as the young of any species are always vulnerable.

Back to the alligator-python battle. How is it decided? The battle is often decided by two main factors: the respective size of each animal and the caliber of the first strike. If the alligator secures a swift bite at the python’s head, the snake’s neck will snap and it dies instantly. The python, on the other hand, aims to wrap itself around the alligator, as it would any other prey. After securing a full wrap, it suffocates the animal and then eats it whole. For a successful alligator hunt, size is key for the snake. The larger the python, the greater it’s chance of successfully wrapping itself around the alligator. Pythons are not venomous and must wrap around their prey to secure a kill. Naturally, small and medium-sized alligators are more vulnerable.

Some sensational pictures have showed up online of battles between the python and the alligator.

There’s even a grotesque story of a python’s stomach exploding after attempting to consume an alligator too large to digest. Its body rejected the meal outright and the snake died a gruesome death. For any remaining survival-of-the-fittest arguers out there - no, ecosystems are not supposed to function in which a predator’s remaining food source causes its stomach to explode.

If there’s any silver lining here, however small, some predation of the python is good and healthy.

Size becomes a key-determining factor of survival between what will inevitably be the two significant remaining animals. Over time, as evolution runs its course, natural selection would favor increasingly large alligators and pythons.

Yes, what was previously a balanced and varied ecosystem of rabbits, foxes, bobcats, deer and opossums in the Everglades is now becoming a battle between larger-and-larger pythons and alligators.

Public Hunts to Raise Awareness

In February of 2012, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission initiated a 30-day hunt to raise public awareness on this issue. Around 1,600 people from 38 states participated in the hunt. 68 pythons were killed. 68. Assuming 30,000 are in the wild, the low end of figures, 68 represents .2% of the python population. The primary reason for this low number is that the snakes are notoriously difficult to locate.

A more recent hunt, as part of Florida's 2016 Python Challenge, took place this past January. 106 pythons were captured this past year. This represents an improvement from 2013 but hardly puts a dent in the total number in the wild. Cooler temperatures have forced snakes into open spaces and assists hunters in finding them. In addition, hunters are improving their hunting skills.

Florida's approach appears to be containing the snakes as the solution. This hunt represents one of the first steps in the process. And the hunt also was meant as a way of doing some introductory research on where the snakes are located.

The Nature Conservancy also launched a Python Patrol Program in 2008 where citizens are trained to alert authorities of snake sightings. As part of the program, wildlife officials then move forward with capturing the snakes. The program was effective in the Florida Keys and then was expanded mainland to the Everglades with support from the National Park Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. In total, 200 python capture responders are trained.

This python patrol program is unquestionably a step in the right direction.

Preventing the spread of these animals is an enormously challenging undertaking. I have no idea how it can be done. These animals are excellent swimmers and travel extensively through marsh, swamps and river valleys. They also travel by land and are great climbers with prehensile tails.

Worse still, a challenge exists with Florida’s proposed attempt at containment. Reducing the population of pythons decreases the competition for remaining food resources. As a result, the pythons that do remain become healthier, stronger and more fertile. And in the end, the population continues to grow at high rates. Yep, decreasing the population in the short-term might actually cause it to spike in the long-term. The brutal reality is that preventing the spread of these animals appears nearly impossible.

In Conclusion

It's a tragic situation for all the native wildlife defenseless from these invasive animals - bobcat, deer, opossum, raccoon, rabbit and fox. When these animals run out, it seems any remaining animals would be vulnerable as the pythons basically eat anything.

My point isn't a sentimental one in favor of one specific animal over another; I have nothing against the pythons. It's simply an appreciation for ecological balance, sustainability and life. The situation now is completely imbalanced and unsustainable. It's truly tragic to see the devastating consequences humanity can have on an ecosystem because of some people's misguided desire to own as a "pet" a 12-foot wild snake.

In January of 2012, the federal government announced a ban on the import of the Burmese pythons, South African python, North African python, and yellow anaconda. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar acknowledges the severity of the crisis when he uses the word "forever" to describe how long the ban would last.

Apparently, the law was held up in bureaucracy for nearly two years by the reptile industry. Furthermore, environmentalists were pushing for 9 species of non-native snakes to be included in the legislation but only 4 were listed.

Thank you to the federal government for finally getting this right. Naturally, this ban represents progress and is a good thing.

At the same time, the ban seems monumentally overdue, at least 7 years too late. With populations of many native mammals down 90+% and the most conservative estimate pinning 30,000 pythons breeding in the wild, the damage is done and irreversible. While good and necessary, this ban is a bit like administering a vaccine to a patient that died years ago. Perhaps, we will learn faster next time.

#invasivespecies #everglades

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dante1138 · 4 years

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Okay just a few questions you don't need to answer them all but 3, 14, 16, 18, 34, 46, 84, 98, 99

Hi!!!!!!!

3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books?

I try not to bend my books too much, so usually coins and small pens, but I’ll use whatever object is nearest at the moment usually. Real bookmarks are for nerds

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?

Uhhhh I don’t really know?

16: what’s your favorite pasta dish?

Just good old spaghetti! [I didn’t type goold three times in a row what are you talking about]

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.

God which one of the many stupid things I’ve done that y’all still torture me about should I bring up? The “using a kazoo as a straw” I think is the latest one I can remember.

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it?

Well, the first one was trevor. It was a scruffy brown dog that had a burn on one ear because I was trying to warm it with a hair dryer as a little kid. I lost him and I was devastated. Then there was Leo who was a leopard I had gotten from the zoo. That one met a, uh, very untimely end with scissors after an argument. And then there was Ray. He was a sting ray I’ve had since I was 2 and I think he got thrown out last year because my cat barfed on him and my mother refused to clean him after promising to do so a week before.

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of.

I’ve always been fond of pasta puns. At some point I tried to incorporate them into my daily rotini but, you can see how well that’s gone.

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones?

Nope! I’m terribly afraid of needles!

98: when’s the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it?

The last time I went hiking was November of 2018 and it was alright. I had to go with my brother’s friend’s family. The kiddos were paired up, the mom’s were paired up, and I knew the eldest sibling but we didn’t quite get along? Like we were indifferent so we both kinda just played on our phones the whole time. The hiking itself could have gone better if I had gone with people I actually liked, but it was fine I suppose.

99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them.

Oo! Trouble by Cage the Elephant, Karma by AJR, Sweet Dreams, TN by The Last Shadow Puppets, Music for Sad People by Zalinki, and Mr Loverman by Ricky Montgomery!

#arc-gx #dante babbles #enn!!#thank u for the ask!

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20moonchild21 · 3 years

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𝗦𝗲𝗵𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵𝘁 [𝗯𝘁𝘀]

⇉ 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 4

[pairings]

bunny!JK x female!oc, Hybrid!Jungkook x Human!oc, Leopard!Jin x female!oc, Hybrid!Jin x human!oc, JK x Jin x female!oc

[warnings]

violoce, mentions of violence, mentions of teasers, abusement, traumatic actions, force, forceful behaviors, forced fightings, illegal fightings, mentions of death, angst, corruption, injuries, sexual harassment, fainting Jin, scared Kookie

[words]

4.6k

[author]

Hey there! I hope you allem are doing fine. My next updates will only be out on Sundays, because I have a lot of exams coming up at school. Hopefully I will find the time to continue writing, but I am optimistic. Wish me luck!🥺

Don’t forget to check out @starlightauroras-writes and her story Inferiority complex. She puts so much effort and passion in that story, and that’s why it deserves to be read by as many people as possible. Also, check out my other inspirations and recommendations below this chapter. They all wrote amazing stories!

Leave a like or comment or reblog if you like this chapter. There is nothing more motivating for an author! Of course, if you have criticism or other remarks referring to the story, I am always open to hear! Don’t hesitate do write me.

Stay healthy and safe!

Mꨄ

[ chapter 3 ||| chapter 5]

The big, black collar was strapped way too tight around the boy’s neck, as he was pulled through the huge crowd of people. He didn’t know where he was going, he was just stumbling behind his owner, who was forcefully and careless pulling him by the leash, not caring if he was chocking or running out of air.

Sometimes, when the crowd was especially tight squeezed, he felt a hand or two on his body. They were either petting his bum, or pulling his fluffy tail or squeezing his sensitive ears.

“Come on, my bunny. We don’t wanna miss the fight.” The man was tugging the leash hard, gesturing for Jungkook to go faster.

His heart was beating in his chest, though it was not the first time his owners had taken him with them to one of the ‘Zoo Meetings’ how they called it. He was not there to fight, but he was there to be shown off in front of his owner friends, while they sat right in the front row and watched the fights.

A shiver ran down his spine when he thought about the last time. The woman who had sat next to had an awful laugh, and every time she had opened her mouth, showing her way too white teeth, it would made the poor Hybrid’s ears hurt.

She had been scratching her long fake nails over his thighs all evening, pinching and squeezing it from time to time, or going way too hight with her bony hands.

“Ladies and Gentleman…” A loud voice rang through the big boxes, and Jungkook knew what was coming next: They were announcing the next fight. “Please take a seat and make yourself as comfortable as possible, for the very last fight of the eeevvveeennniinngf!”

Jungkook pressed his ears flatter onto his head, hoping to block out the loud voice that made his ears hurt, but the volume and the cheering crowd were too loud.

“In the right corner, we have a very special fight. Please cheer and clap for our black Panther!” Though the crowd cheered, Jungkook knew that their intention was not to motivate the poor Panther, it was meant to scare him even more, so he would fight with all his animal instincts. “And in the left corner we have our well known champion, the one with the lovely owners Mr. and Mrs. Chefferson…” Mrs. Chefferson, his female owner, shot up from her seat and waved wildly in all directions, enjoying all the cheer for her like she was a celebrity. Her way too short skirt and cleavage were making a terrible job to hide something. “Please cheer for our Leopard!”

The woman next to Jungkook was screaming so loud with her shrill voice, while lifting her campaigner glass in the air.

“Jin.” The bunny whispered, as he watched his older brother being shoved into the fighting ring.

The ring was a big square, maybe about 5x5 meters each side. The floor was made out of hard stone, that would make the fighting Hybrids feet sore when they would push themselves over it. It was also the reason most Hybrids die while fighting, because they fell into the hard floor and hitting her heads open. Around the floor was a big metal grid, that would protect the visitor from the Hybrids if they wanted to break free.

Jin was never the type to fight. He was an Amur Leopard Hybrid, one of the peaceful breeds. The only reason he had won so many matches was because he was pumped full of doping liquids, that would make him stronger and faster. At the Zoo Meetings, no one cared about doping or other illegal medicaments that would push a Hybrids, the visitors were here for fun and entertainment.

While the crowd was still cheering and screaming, Jin turned his head wildly into all directions, as if he was looking for something. When he looked over his shoulder, he suddenly made eye contact with the thin bunny Hybrid.

They were staring at each other eyes, before the older one nodded his head, almost unnoticed.

Jungkook knew what he was saying in his head. He had told him about his plan the previous evening, when the younger one had brought him food to his cage. Yes, Jin was caught up in a cage in the basement, and beside the fights, he was never allowed to leave it.

Jungkook gulped but nodded, too. Even though every part of his body told him to not do it. The plan wasn’t bulletproof at all, and even if he would make it out alive, they would probably catch him out in the streets.

The loud ringing of a clock ripped him out of his thoughts. The game master had declared the fight to begun, and now there was now way back, for Jungkook and for Jin.

Once a fight has started, the two Hybrids had to fight until the very end…and with very end he meant that one of them had to die. If both of them refused to fight each other, they would both be killed. There was no way out for them.

The room had fallen silence after the clock had rang, watching expectantly at the two Hybrid who were standing opposite of each other. Both were waiting for the other one to make the first move.

“Come on, you stupid tiger.” The man next to Jungkook whispered angrily. “I bet a lot of money on you.”

After another few seconds of silence passed, when with a sudden movement the Leopard shot forward, but not because he wanted to attack his opponent. Instead, he had turned around with an enormous speed and with a clinging sound he threw himself against the heavy metal grid, right were Jungkook and his owners sat.

Scream broke out among the people sitting in the front row. Woman were jumping up from their seats, throwing away their glasses, men were cursing and standing up, calling to get the security guards. In all the mess going on, Jin’s plan went exactly like he want it to go.

Mr. Chefferson, as well as the others, got scared so much that he let go of the leash which was connected with Jungkook’s neck. When Jungkook noticed the piece of leather hanging loosely by his feet, he lifted his head, looking one last time at his older brother. When their gazes met, he mouth ‘Run Jungkook’ towards the younger one, before he was sent to the ground by an electro shocking stick.

The bunny felt paralyzed. He wanted to help his brother. He wanted to rip all those people away from him, but he knew he couldn’t.

Jin risked his own life to save him. He wanted nothing more for the young boy to be free. Jungkook knew that it was selfish, but he needed to move now, or else someone would notice him being unleashed.

With tears streaming down his cheeks, he pushed himself through the crowd of people that were in great turmoil because of what was going on in the fighting ring.

Finally out of the building, he kept running and running, pushing his feet stronger into the ground. He don’t know how long or where he had been running, but he didn’t look back once.

The night air was cold against his naked upper body and face, and the hard floor was scratching up his bare feet. He passed buildings and woods, houses and fields until his lungs were burning and screaming for him to stop running.

When he looked around, he saw that he stood in the middle of a street, surrounded by many big houses and shops. He panicked. Many houses meant that there were many people that would call the police when they saw a strolling Hybrid on the street.

He needed to hide somewhere.

He pushed his feet in the ground once again, running over to a small dark passage. No one would willingly go in there, meaning that he would at least be safe for a few days. He walked further down the allay until he reached a dead end.

With his sensitive eyes, he spotted a small gap to the left side. He bent down and crawled between the dumpster and the wall, curling himself against the wall. When he realized that he was completely on his own now, with his brother probably dead by now, he began to cry.

Small cries and whimpered left his mouth for several hours, until a soft voice filled his ears.

“H – Hello? Who are you?”

With heavily shaking legs the girl made her way up the well maintained driveway. She stumbled a few times because of those damn high heels, and the short skirt was sliding dangerous high up her thighs, sometimes.

It had been two day since Jungkook broke down in front of the TV in the living room. He cried and whimpered, crawling away from the girl as she tried to help him. He had sat there in the corner of the living room, shaking and mumbling this name for several minutes.

Hope had been crying as well. She didn’t know what was going on with him, and why he suddenly was scared of her again.

Eventually, they both had managed to calm down after 30 minutes. Though Jungkook had still be shaking, he had allowed her to come near. She carefully had wrapped her arms around the boy’s trembling body.

It had been the very first time that they had such an intensive physical affection, but they both needed that.

Jungkook had told her about his older brother Jin. Jin actually wasn’t related to the bunny, but living together for several years he saw him as his brother. He had told her about the illegal fights that his owner had forced the Leopard to go, and about the night, when Jin had told Jungkook his plan.

She was shocked when he told her how good he was threatened in comparison to the Leopard Hybrid. She didn’t want to imagine what the poor cat must had gone through and what his current state of health was.

Jungkook had told her, how he had watched the people shocking his older brother down to the ground without hesitation, and how he had found his way into the allay that night she had found him.

They both had cried that night, hugging and holding each other.

When the next morning had arrived, Hope had decided to save Jungkook’s bother, at any cost.

She didn’t know how she had come up with that plan, but it was the only idea that could save Jin without anyone getting hurt. She didn’t want to risk the Hybrids safety by a stupid idea…if he even was still alive.

She gulped. What if Jin wasn’t alive anymore? What would she tell Jungkook? He would be heartbroken forever if his older brother would be dead. She quickly shook her head and tried to not think about it.

If she left again, then with another Hybrid. An that’s it.

Jungkook could weakly remember where the Cheffersons had their residence, so he could guide her the way.

So right now, she was dressed in her most expensive clothes. Why? Well, Alice and Bill Chefferson were one of the richest families in the whole New York. They have so much money, that probably the doorknob by itself was worth more than her entire apartment. If Hope wanted to let an impression, she needed to pretend to be someone.

She tugged the hem of her black dress down one last time, before she put the black sunglasses over her eyes and lifted the purse on her arm higher. The she rang the doorbell.

A few seconds passed and she thought that her heart would jump out of her ribcage, when suddenly, the door was pulled open.

In front of the small girl stood a tall woman, maybe in her 50’s. She wore a tight red skirt that almost reached her knees, along with some expensive looking heels. She was thin. Under the white and really revealing blouse, her collarbones stood out sharply.

When Hope looked up into the woman’s face, she wanted to take her heels and run far away. With her lips pressed straight onto each other, the extremely straight nose with the sharp top, the strict tied braid and eyes looking arrogant and disgusted, she looked like she could destroyed the girl with one word.

“Yes, please?” She asked with a bored and cold voice.

“I – ehm…” Hope coughed. If she wanted to sound authentic, she needed to pull her act together. At least this one time. She coughed again and began to talk again, this time with a higher and shriller voice.

“Good morning, Mrs. Chefferson.” She smiled with her lipstick covered lips, holding out her hand.

The woman didn’t even move an inch. She stood in the half opened door and watched the girl up and down.

“What do you want? If you are some of those company chicks that want our money, go away!” She didn’t even waited for an answer, before she turned around and kicked the door shut. Hope reacted quickly, she took a step forward and stopped the heavy door with her feet.

“Oh, no. How could I?” She fake laughed. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hope Carson. My father owns one of the biggest Hybrid breeding stations of the New York. I heard that you own that – ah, what breed was he? Oh, yes. You owned that cat that won the last Zoo Meeting in downtown, right?”

“He is an Amur Leopard and yes, my husband is his owner.” Mrs. Chefferson had pushed the door open again. “But he is a good-for-nothing. Believe me, it is a waste of time to try to train him. Good day.”

She was about to shut the door close again, and once again, Hope blocked it with her foot.

“Oh believe me, I know he is good for nothing. I saw him fighting at the last Zoo Meeting. A pathetic little creature.” Lie. She had never been a visitor of an illegal fight club, nor did she really think what she was saying right now. Though, she put as much disregard as possible in the tone of her voice. “The only thing he could be useful for is to do some researches on him. That’s why my father sent me. I wanna take him with me.”

For a few seconds, the woman looked like she didin’t believe the girl’s act. Once again, she eyed her up and down, before she fully pushed the door open.

“What can you offer for him?” An evil smirk formed on the woman’s lips.

Hybrids did absolutely not worth anything to human. Though there is a law that made it illegal to deal with Hybrids, they were sold for so little money that it didn’t worth to most courts to initiate a proceeding. Especially not, if buyer and seller are clever, and exchange the Hybrid’s deed of ownership, because with official documents, it was no dealing. At least that’s what most of the judges justify their verdict.

A deep of ownership is an official paper, which every Hybrid got from the moment he was bred, and what every owner got once he adopted his Hybrid. It was mostly used for owners to prove that they are in charge of the Hybrid, or to assign a free strolling Hybrid. It is comparable to a human’s birth certification.

“I can offer you a lot of money for this worthless animal.” Hope forced an evil smile back, even though she wanted to throw up.

She followed Mrs. Chefferson into the living room, where also her husband was sitting. In his one hand he hold a glass of what looked like Scotch, and in the other hand he was reading a newspaper, not even bothering to look up.

The living room was huge and cold. Though the wall were white, there was not the tiniest piece of…love and effort that would make this house a home. Instead, they had placed a huge, hard looking sofa in the middle of the room, along with a giant chandelier hanging directly above it.

“Honey, who was at the door?” He mumbled while flicking the page, still not looking up. His voice was deep and careless, like his wife’s voice, bouncing around the naked walls.

“Darling!” Mrs. Chefferson squeaked with a shrilling voice, as she sat down next to the man, placing her bony fingers onto his chest. “This woman offers us a lot of money for that cat in our basement. She said that she would pay 1500 $ for him. She says that the only thing left to do with him is to do some researches on him.”

Finally, the man looked up. His gaze was piercing sharp when he met Hope’s. The girl wanted nothing more than to turn around and run as fast as her feet could carry her, but she stayed still with her lips presses hard against each other. She needed to stay strong. For Jungkook and Jin.

When Ms. Chefferson had eyes the girl for a few seconds, he sighed and turned his attention back to his newspaper.

“Save your money, Miss.” He said bored, not even looking up. “We still earn much money with him at the Meetings. Why would we sell him?”

Miss Chefferson, who somehow seemed to have a strong urge to sell the Hybrid, was about to say something towards her husband, but Hope was faster.

“Mr. Chefferson.” She said loudly, making him look up from the piece of paper. “I offer this one time chance to sell me that Hybrid. I saw him fighting. He won’t do it much longer, believe me. Soon, you will loose a lot of money because of him, and no one will be there to buy him from you, because he will has no worth at all. So why not taking all you still can get for him?”

“She is right, darling. Think about it. Who will buy such a weak Hybrid?” She leaned further into his, before whispering something into his ear.

Hope’s heart felt like it would be exploding any moment. She had prepared for any scenario that could have possible take place, but what would she do if he would say no? What –

“Alright, Honey.” He signed again, before closing the newspaper. He stood up from the sofa and smoothed his beige trousers. “You can have him. But you won’t see him just yet. Either you sign his papers and pay for him just now, or never.”

The girl didn’t have to think about this condition long. The sooner she would sign the papers, the less high is the chance that he would change his mind before she can leave with Jin.

“That is fine by me.” Hope said, as she pushed her glasses higher onto her nose. "The sooner I am done here, the sooner I can spend my energy in much more important things. After all, I am a busy woman.”

Together, the trio made their way into another room. On the way, Ms. Chefferson had asked on of his housekeepers to get the papers from his office. She arrived a few minutes later with some sheets of paper in her hand, lying it on the big desk in the middle of the room.

Ms. Chefferson pushed the deed of ownership over the table, gesturing for the girl to read it.

Name: Kim Seokjin

Gender: male

Breed: Amur Leopard

Generation: 04.12.2024

Laboratory: Seoul, South Korea

“Where can I sign?” Hope asked, as she laid the paper down on the desk.

Ms. Chefferson gave a few papers with conditions and legal protections to read and sign. To her luck, she had been studying law for about 3 year, she knew how to read a contract and what dangers it could bring, but the Chefferons really seemed get rid of the Hybrid. She signed everything and put the deed of ownership into her purse.

Her heart stopped for a moment when she realized what she just had done. She had practically adopted a Hybrid, a living being that needed to be provide and cared for. She didn’t even had a steady job, nor did she had a college degree.

Her mother, who had died a few years ago, inherit her a lot of money she had saved over the year, and in addition to that, Hope worked parttime in the college’s library, but with three people that needed to be provide, they would need to be really economical.

But it had been the only way to save Jin, and that was the only thing that mattered.

“Well, then congratulation miss Carson, for adopting such a lovely Hybrid. I think you will have plenty of fun with him.” He waited a second, before breaking out into a loud laughing. “Follow me and you can finally take that worthless animal out of my house.”

Once again, the trio waled through the endless hallways of the mansion. They passed several doors that lead to several rooms, but as they crossed the front door, something caught Hope’s attention. Next to the black door, on a small hook, hung a long, pink leash. The leash was connected with a big collar at the end, on which two capital letters were printed with big gemstones:

“Jungkook.” The girl whispered under her breath, unnoticed by the couple.

“That leash belonged to our bunny Hybrid.” Ms. Chefferson has caught her looking at the leash for too long. He walked past the girl with shaking head. “Annoying little rodents. Always made a mess and never listened to what he was told. I am kind of glad he ran away. He probably died the first two hours being out there alone. We gave him up for adoption though, should he be someone else’s problem.”

Hope balled her hands into fists, wanting nothing more than to punch this man. But she needed to focus on Jin now.

They walked down a long staircase, downwards towards the basement. A shiver ran down the girl’s spine. Down there, it was dark and cold. The sound of their feet hitting the cold, marbled floor bounced around the wall, and for a moment Hope thought that she would never leave this house again. This was the start of a horror movie.

Ms. Chefferson stopped in front of a big, metallic door. He pulled out a key and unlocked the door, before pulling it open.

“Don’t worry.” He said as he took a step inside. “He is cuffed up.”

Hope’s legs started shaking again. She didn’t know what scenario would be waiting for her just around the corner. She made a few careful steps forward and walked into the small cell, immediately, she wanted to cry out.

The room was small, maybe 3x3 meters each side. There was no window, or bed, or table, or anything. Just walls and a hard stone floor. The only source of light was the beam of light from the open door.

In the corner of the room, on the cold floor, sat Jin. His thin body was only covered by a pair of dirty pants and a ripped and blood stained shirt. His head was leaned against the gold wall and his eyes were closed, while his angles and wrists were cuffed with a heavy metallic chain, like he was a wild animal.

“Stand up!” Ms. Chefferson screamed at the poor boy, while walked over with a black leash in his hands. “I said: Stand. Up!”

He had reached the helpless boy and bent down, before hegrabbed his right ear forcefully, pulling him up. Jin cried out in pain, but with is hands bound together there was nothing he could do to defend himself.

“I dare you to touch my Hybrid!” Hope lost her temper at this point. “This is my Hybrid, and I don’t want you to touch him. Now, get out! I want to inspect him properly.”

The older man let go of the Hybrid’s ear abruptly, making him fall to the ground again. A small whimper left the Hybrids when his bum hit the hard floor. He tried to push himself as far away as he came with his angles cuffed.

Ms. Chefferson looked confused in the first moment. He struggled to say something, but eventually, he gave her the keys for Jin’s cuffs, before he left the room, leaving the two young adult alone.

Immediately, Hope let her purse fall to the ground. She let out a small cry, before she covered her mouth with her hands to not cry out louder. She took some deep breaths and tried to calm herself down a little bit. When she opened her eyes again, the Hybrid was staring directly into her eyes.

“H – Hey, Jin.” She whispered with her normal, soft voice, as she kneeled down on to floor. Her voice cracked a few times from the shock that was still running through her veins.

She crawled closer towards the boy. When she was just a few inches away from him, she lifted her hands to unlock the cuffs around his neck. Jin, on the other hand, misunderstood this gesture. He closed his eyes and turned his head away from the girl, as whimpers left his mouth.

“No – No don’t be afraid, please.” She fiddled with the key around his neck. The collar snapped open and the metal chain fell to the ground with a loud clinging sound. She then uncuffed his wrists and angles. “I am here to help you. But we have to hurry, Jungkook is waiting for us.”

As she mentioned the younger boy’s name, Jin’s head shot around.

“Jungkook.” He whispered with his raspy voice.

“Yes, Jungkook is with me. He is all safe and sound.” Hope threw the key away. “Listen Jin, you need to play along with me. I need to strap this leash around your neck, but only for a short moment. Please, don’t be afraid of me. Okay?”

Jin didn’t put up a fight as she strapped the collar loosely around his neck. She helped him to stand up on his feet, and he wobbly followed her out of the cell. Hope changed some more words with the couple, before she and Jin left the house.

The girl just wanted to leave as quick as possible, but was always careful to not tug on the leash too hard. When she turned around, she gasped.

In the light of the sun, Jin looked much worse than in the dark cell. His face way thin and bony. The dark circles stood out of his pale skin, and his full lips were bruised and crusty from all the dust and dirt. His deep brown hair, as well as the fur on his ears, was greasy and falling over his forehead.

As he walked behind her, he had his head sunk down, not looking up at anything.

It took Hope anything to not turn back and punch those two disgusting creatures that called themselves human. How can they be even sleep at night, knowing that in their basement a living being was starving and bleeding to death. How could they watch themselves in the mirror every day, knowing that they live in luxury while Jin laid between dirt and dust.

“Almost there, Jin. Just keep going a few more meters.” She took his bloody and icy hand carefully, leading him the way to the car, where also Jungkook was waiting for the both of them.

“Jin!” He yelp, as the girl opened the car door and carefully pushed Jin onto the back seat. “Jin Hyung! Oh no, Jin! Are you okay Hyung! You are safe now, don’t worry Jin.”

The bunny was calling Jin’s name all over again, as the older one just had his eyes closed and his body lying weakly on the backseat.

“Don’t worry, Jungkook.” Hope had walked around the car and was already staring it.

“He will be okay now.“

[inspirations | recommendations] ⇉ 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀!

@wishesunderthestars @agustdakasuga @ditttiii @angelicyoongie @starlightauroras-writes

194 notes · View notes

pynkhues · 5 years

Note

Hi! So I love your blog and your headcanons and ask responses but and I really want to ask you something thought provoking but my brain is like not cooperating so... what I really was wondering is do you have any hot tip fic recs? I am pretty new to GG and the tag on Ao3 is starting to get kinda long so I would love to know your picks before I start trawling through!

Ah, thanks, anon! And oh my gosh, there are somany great fics on ao3!! I barely know where to start, so I’m just going torec my straight up faves. This kind of blew out a little bit, so I’ve kept itto one fic per author (but assume I’m like, reccing all their works, haha)annnd I’ve put it under a tag to save everyone’s feeds, haha.

Happy reading!

Fora Moment We Were Strangers byopenhearts.

I think I’ve already re-read this one like, a hundred times, and it’sjust so, so perfect. Intimate and domestic and sexy and sweet and just the rightamount of heartbreaking. Basically Rio, Beth, Marcus and Emma end up playinghouse due to Reasons, and it feels so true to character, and true to the show.It’s great.

He looks for another several seconds before a mild little grin colorshis face for a moment, then vanishes as he backs away.

“Nothin’. You just get pissed about weird shit is all.” He actuallyturns to leave the room, adding, “Laundry,” as he does, for emphasis.

Beth could probably choose not to rise to that, but she doesn’t. He’s inher house, messing with her, getting in her space and doing things withoutasking or being asked and it’s freaking her out, beyond just the fact that he’spresent and has made it clear he’s ready for a repeat performance of the barrestroom whenever they can find the time and privacy.

“My laundry,” she corrects, following on his heels, and she thinks shecan tell just by his shoulders that he’s holding in a laugh, which is obnoxiouson both their parts. “My house. My kitchen, my dishes-”

“I’m tryna be a pleasant houseguest, damn!” he says under his breath,both of them immediately mindful of Marcus in the next room. Then, “thissome real last year shit, you know? You got all bothered about me bein’ in yourhouse where people could see, what your friends gonna think, how’m I gonna makeyour pretty life messy today like you-”

“Rio?”

StayPut and Play Along by FakePlastikTrees.

There are almost no words for how much I love this fic. It’s set after1.10, so it’s a little older, and basically assumes Rio really did cut Beth andthe girls loose after beating the crap out of Dean. They didn’t retaliateagain, but started their own shady business in the world of highstakesgambling, and it is just sogood and hot and the dynamic between them is *chef kissy hands*.

Eyes trained on the wall, she takes a deep breath and asks, “Why did yousend me my necklace?”

“Well, what do I want with your necklace? Plus, you have my gun. Thoughtwe could trade.”

The statement makes her want to punch a hole in the wall and she has totake a steadying breath before slowly turning back around to face him. When shedoes, he’s standing, looking at the picture of the kids on the nightstand.

“Car man’s gone, huh?”

“Rio–”

He turns to her before she can finish a thought and as if he’s beenwaiting to say it, blurts, “You look good, Elizabeth.”

He’s serious now, all mischief gone from his demeanor.

FierceKingdom by emeraldcut

I’m a total sucker for fic which focuses on Rio’s relationship withour other good girls, soemeraldcut’s story with Annie and Rio sitting in a car basically baiting thehell out of each other makes me totally giddy every time I read it. It’s so, somuch fun, and she gets both their voices down perfectly.

“Are you married?” she asked.

That got his attention. He gave her a blatant once-over. “You’renot my type, sweetheart,” he said, mock apology in his voice.

“Ha!” She scowled, fighting the urge to stick her tongue out.“You would be so lucky, but I never thought I was. You obviously like theolder ladies.” She didn’t know his age, but beneath the scruff, he had ababy face, she could tell.

“Why do you care?” The glint in his eyes told her that he knewexactly why.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s my job to care. Don’t you havesisters?” Now she was just baiting him.

Rio’s jaw rocked back and forth. There was a shift in the energy aroundthem, and he almost looked uncomfortable.

Annie had watched this guy hold a gun to Beth’s head without flinching,but her messing with him about something romantic with the same woman had himlooking uncharacteristically awkward. “Her husband’s a super douche.Capital S, capital D,” she announced in the midst of his silence, feelingher stomach lurch. Annie thought this was a joke, thought it was all in goodfun, just entertainment, but now she wasn’t sure.

WeSuck Young Blood by sylvianorth

Another one thatmarries domesticity with wonderful character insight and great writing! Thisone basically diverges from canon at 2.03, but it honestly could’ve replacedit. It’s such a logical progression, beautifully drawn, and with some prettysexy scenes too (a running theme in these recs, haha).

“It’s been two weeks since you said you were going to teach me.”

Rio squints at her. “Uh-huh,” he says, like he’s not sure where this isgoing. He takes a piece of bacon off her plate. “I am teaching you.”

(Sitting here at the table in her sun-drenched kitchen, Beth feels likeshe’s trapped in a cage with a leopard but Rio is genial, drinking coffee,discussing current events in the paper and asking questions about her kids.Sometimes his questions get so specific that she wonders if he goes throughtheir backpacks when she’s not looking. Once, he brings a box of Danishes forbreakfast and recommends that she save some for her children’s afterschoolsnack.)

Beth shrugs. “It’s just – it’s been a while and we haven’t doneanything. You just show up here and drink my coffee and tell me to be a bossbitch and leave and I don’t know what’s going on. You haven’t even showed mehow to fire a gun. I still can’ t lie. I still can’t kill anybody. You don’teven tell me what being a boss bitch entails, only that I’ve gotta do it. Imean, I got rid of Annie’s boss, so if anything, you owe it to me to teach me.”

Una Lady Como Tú bySleepylotus

This one haseverything! Beth and Rio on a stakeout! Snarking! Shotgunning! Car sex! It’s sogood, and so sexy, and just genuinely a lot of fun.

“This wasn’t supposed to take this long,” Rio grumbled, tapping theclock with one long finger. “Your kiddos gonna wake up wonderin’ where Mamais?”

He almost sounded worried about them, which threw Beth off a fewdegrees. “No, they’re with their father at the family cabin up on thePeninsula,” she answered. “They’ll be gone all week.”

This won her a sideways look that sent a small shiver down her spine.“You all alone in that big house, baby girl?”

Narrowing her eyes, she lifted her chin. “I’m perfectly fine on my own,thank you.”

Rio chuckled under his breath. “Yeah, I believe that.” Strangely, itsounded like he really did.

PTA Vibes by greyish

This is just so.much. fun. The banter! The Rio POV! The swings and roundabouts of the Beth xRio intimacy! It’s honestly just got such a great energy to it, and is sowell-written, I love it.

The first PTA meeting he walked into, she’d given him a look of totalabject horror before quickly resuming her standard Passive Housewifeexpression. He’d enjoyed riling her up until she completely cracked, yellinggluten-free snacks are non-negotiable! at him across the table like a maniacand stunning the rest of the room into silence. They’d stared at each otherintensely until someone awkwardly cleared their throat and suggested they takea tea break

(She’d pulled him aside and demanded to know why he was trying to fuckwith her by attending a PTA meeting. He denied it lazily, not even trying tosound genuine. She’d carved out a space in his life like it was nothing. Hewanted to retaliate. Invade every aspect of her existence.)

She’d stormed off and spent the rest of the break agressively loading apaper plate with pieces of cantelope and then left it on the table withouteating any. He’s pretty sure that’s when the betting started.

A Bit of Reciprocity by nottonyharrison

Another one set post2.04, this is just really, really great. It’s more these quick snapshots ofBeth and Rio that comply with canon, but also give really great insights intoboth characters. It’s fun, and dirty, and complicated, because the charactersare fun, and dirty, and complicated, and I just love that.

She straightens her dress and checks her makeup before she leaves, Heruns a hand over her hair to flatten a couple of strands at the back, and runsa hand towel up her leg and then she’s gone, the door closing softly behindher. His eyes lift to the mirror and he can see his hands shaking.

He didn’t kiss her, not on the mouth. He recognised her husband as heturned in his chair trying to catch the wait staff’s eye. If he’s being honestwith himself, the idea of her returning to the table dishevelled and obviouslyfucked out turns him on more than anything, but there’s a time and a place andthis definitely isn’t it.

HaveIt Your Way by ohmisterjapan

Oh my god, everything about this series is just hot. It’s a realpowerplay series, so if you’re not into that, it might not be for you, butohmisterjapan captures so well the dynamic between Beth and Rio, and both oftheir alpha personalities competing in, ya know, a very sexy way. It’s so, so,so good.

“You set up a meeting already?” he cuts her off, visibly irritated.

There’s a beat.

“I handled it.” She holds his eye contact. He feels one of his guysshift behind him.

Another beat. He grimaces a little then leers.

“Oh you handled it? You made a decision without talking it through withyour partner, huh?”

“I did what needed to be done.” She’s deliberately light and assertivewith him and he’s so pleased and displeased at once that he barks out a laugh.He looks round to both his guys; they’re poised but, Rio notices, look a littleuncertain. He’s tries to push that observation away because if he acknowledgesit then he might also acknowledge that he, too, feels little uncertain ofhimself. And then he feels a twinge of foolishness. He snaps himself out of it.He taught her.

Suream using you byAniara

This is actually, I think, one of the most underrated fics in the GGtag. It’s tagged as Rio/OC, but it’s actually more like Rio/Beth but from theopinion of an OC he’s fucking instead of Beth, and ugh,it’s so good. I mean:

“[Rio’s] eyes soften and he looks away. It’s too late because before hedoes she catches the rest of his features turn almost tender. She’s seen thatlook, not just in Lee, but all the men who’ve been interested in her. It’s alook of beginning but this one is clouded with apprehension. He’s hot for thispearl lady and not just for her body.

It gets to the point his skin buzzes sometimes when she sees him. Shehalf expects him to whisper her name when they’re getting it on but he doesn’t.He’s tight lipped about most things, she figures, so why not this.”

Annnnnnnd, I mean, it’s not a rec exactly, but a casual reminder that I’mflashindie on ao3 and you can read my stuff here, haha. :-)

#beth x rio #fic recs #nbc good girls #welcome to my ama

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