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themxlkyyway · 2 years

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0. The strange girl and the letter

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Warning: Fights, yelling, family problems, poor treatment, abandonment.

Word Count: 2.1k+

Copying, adapting, and plagiarism, whether in person or digitally, is totally prohibited. Please do not translate and use it as your own work.

May 3, 1983

Mr. and Mrs. Barnes lived a normal life at 6 Magnolia Crescent, where outside the house they made believe they were a perfect family but inside the four walls they were demons.

Mr. Barnes was a doctor at the nearest hospital. A tall freckled man with dark hair resembling the color black. Mrs. Barnes was a housewife. A woman of short stature, red hair resembling fire, skin as white as paper and lips the same color as her hair, which made anyone who turned to look at her notice her lips. The Barnes had me, Amelea Barnes, they always made it clear to me what a terrible decision they made, which was to have me. They always compared me to the other children, telling me that I should be just as normal as they were. They said that because of my eyes, making me feel insecure about myself when I was 5 years old.

That is how at the age of 5 I was left in the hands of my paternal grandmother Isabela Barnes and nothing got better, or rather, worse. For years I suffered mistreatment from her, every day I heard the same phrase "you are good for nothing". During the years with her, my voice was muffled, I felt alone, no one understood me. I had no social life, I had no friends, everyone kept me away from the outside world as if they wanted to hide me from something, I didn't understand and I don't think I would ever understand it.

March 14, 1988

Today was my 10th birthday, I was still living with my grandmother Isabela and nothing has improved, the mistreatment continued and my spirits were disappearing more and more. I could see the window from my bed and the sky was not pretty at all, it was full of clouds, but it didn't look like a threat of rain. In a matter of seconds the day got worse just by hearing his voice.

— Come on, get up, you have to make breakfast! — Isabella shouted as she knocked furiously on the door.

That made me snort angrily.

— I said, get up!

— I'm coming, I'm coming! — I mumbled as I pulled the covers off my body, brushed my teeth in the bathroom before heading downstairs to the kitchen, watching as Grandma Isabela calmly read the newspaper. I rolled my eyes walking to the fridge to take out the eggs and bacon so I could fry them in a pan. My grandmother was a chubby woman with a large amount of dark hair covering her head and short neck. I placed the plates full of cooked eggs and bacon on the table and left again to toast the bread.

— Don't forget the peanut butter. — Grandma Isabela said without looking up from that boring newspaper.

I snorted again as I had done minutes ago in my room.

— What did you say? — she said raising her voice.

— Nothing...

I took the toasted breads to the table and looked for that peanut butter for grandma Isabela, I didn't feel like fighting with her today and even more knowing that she didn't remember my birthday, I don't think she has ever congratulated me nor anyone has ever celebrated it.

We ate in silence, I never looked up from my plate trying to eat as fast as possible so I could go back to my room to read one of my many books.

— Clean the dishes, I want everything as it was. — Grandma Isabela said as she got up from her chair with her newspaper in hand leaving her dirty dishes and the peanut butter container open. She walked through the narrow kitchen door leaving me at the table with half my plate still full. I threw the food in the trash can and began to clean up with no emotion on my face. I put the container back in the cupboard from which I had taken it and quickly walked back to my room.

My birthday was an ordinary day, nothing exciting, like every year after I started living with my grandmother Isabela, if my birthday fell on a weekday, I could miss that day of school, but I would rather be at school than in this hell under grandma's roof. She had the luxury of being present every moment to make everything worse, when I find friends, she has the task of taking them away from me, as if I were a flea dog, making me live alone, without any joy.

I would stand by my bedroom window with a book in hand after taking a shower. These were the best times where there was peace and quiet, no screaming, just me and my book. The day I once said it looked like it would not rain, it made a change of plans and it showed when from the sky there was a large light and then it made the roar of thunder causing me to startle and leave my book next to me.

I took my gaze to the courtyard, where the poor flowers that my grandmother Isabela "took care of" were, which I really took care of. In the distance I could see a small figure that I couldn't decipher, could it be a bird? No, it looks too big to be a bird. A dog? It could be, but I couldn't see the similarity. A cat? Possibly, but when I got ready to take a closer look at it, the rain began to fall harder, making that little figure run away.

Night fell and it was time for dinner, after breakfast I hadn't eaten, as grandma Isabela wouldn't allow me to, because I was a bad girl. I was in the kitchen already making dinner when grandma Isabela came through that narrow door, the floor was rumbling letting me know she was angry.

— Can you tell me what this is? — Grandma Isabela said in a loud tone as she threw a letter on the dining room table. I left some potatoes boiling and walked over to the table and frowned at the letter.

— The bill is expensive again, don't you have any consideration! — I could feel Grandma Isabela's saliva on my face when she started yelling at me in an aggressive manner.

— You don't allow me to use the light and you only allow me to bathe once a day, maybe you are the one who is overspending. — I tried to sound as calm as possible so I wouldn't get any more scolding, but that only made her even angrier.

— You know what? You've already overflowed the glass, I've had to put up with you for 4 years-

— 5 years. — I whispered.

— For 5 years and you've only been able to complain, I've given you everything, a roof to sleep under, food, water, studies, you're just a spoiled brat, a good-for-nothing. That's why your parents don't love you and left you!

I knew that none of that was real, I have never complained, yes I have a roof to sleep under, but food is limited to me and water too. I haven't heard from my parents since the day they left me with my chubby witch of a grandmother. Despite my parents' treatment, I would rather be with them than, with grandma, I never knew what I did wrong as to make them leave me completely. A sentence brought me out of my thoughts.

— You're leaving the house tonight, I can't stand you anymore, I don't care where you have to live, but I don't want you on my roof, get all your things out and before 10 o'clock, I want you out! — she screamed as she took the bill from the table again and headed to the door.

— You can't leave me like this grandma Isabela, I have nowhere to go. — I said in panic, again they wanted to take me out of the house, I couldn't stand another abandonment.

— I don't care, get out, I don't want to see your stupid face again, get lost from my sight! — With that he walked out of the kitchen leaving me with nerves and lots of boiling potatoes. I heard a door slam shut letting me know she had left the house. I ran out to my room leaving those potatoes on the fire, I didn't care about them anymore, I wasn't even hungry after that little argument. I looked around the house for suitcases so I could put my few clothes and books in them. Having two suitcases in hand, from the door I looked into the empty room.

I opened the front door and walked out of the house still listening to the water boiling the potatoes, nothing mattered to me anymore, I had dried tears on my cheeks and in my eyes there was no feeling. I just dragged my suitcases with me in search of some shelter while I recovered from everything that had happened.

March 14, 1989

It was my birthday again, exactly one year ago my grandmother Isabela had literally thrown me out of the house. Her voice and her words still echoed in my head. I found myself living in an alley, close to where I had lived, under some pieces of wood covering me from the hot sun, the rain and the night.

I had gone out a few minutes ago to the street in front of the alley in search of some food that I could find. Out of nowhere, or so I thought, an owl arrived with a letter in its beak, but what was an owl doing in the middle of the city? It left the letter in my hand before flying off back the way it had come.

Miss A. Barnes Alley 6 Magnolia Crescent Little Whinging Surrey

How did they know where I lived? That was very strange. The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald green ink. It had no stamp.

I turned it over so I could open it and noticed a purple wax seal with a coat of arms: a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake, surrounding a large letter H. I opened the letter carefully so as not to damage it and took out the letter so I could read it:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF MAGIC Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Head Wizard, Supreme Head, International International Confederation of Wizards).

Dear Ms. Barnes

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Magic. Please notice the list of required equipment and books.

Classes begin on September 1. We are waiting for your owl before July 31st.

Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall Deputy Headmistress

My owl? What owl? I don't have an owl. Besides, there's no such thing as Magic School, and where is Hogwarts? I had never heard of a school by that name. My head was full of questions. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a small figure pass by me, I quickly looked up and saw a very beautiful tabby cat, it had an elegant demeanor. I approached him and when I was about to touch his head he ran off into the alley.

— Wait, don't go, my friend!

I went after him, forgetting the food I had picked up and still holding the letter in my hands. Instead of meeting that cat, I met a lady, who was wearing square glasses, her hair was in a bun.

— How did you get in here? — I said as I tried to look for that cat with my eyes.

— That cat would be me, my dear. — said that woman without any expression on her face.

— But you can't be a cat if you are human. — I answered confused.

— That doesn't matter, you got the letter, I see. — She said as she looked at my hands which were holding the letter.

— I think you are wrong, there is no Hogwarts School, and there is no such thing as magic. — I looked over the letter again.

— There is, my dear, and you are one of the many chosen to study there.

— Chosen?

— You are a witch, Miss Barnes.

— Me? A witch? You must be mistaken. — I said with a frown as I shook my head. - I can't be a witch, I'm just an ordinary girl.

— You're much more than that, and you'll notice it soon enough.

My head had even more questions than when I was reading the letter. My mind did not know how to understand the information that the lady in front of me was telling me.

— My name is Professor McGonagall and I will be your guide during this time until you enter school.

Tags: @imma-too-many-fandoms

#Amelea Barnes #harry potter #harry potter imagine #harry potter x y/n #charlie weasley #charlie weasley x reader #charlie weasley x you #harry potter oneshot #harry potter x reader

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whats-wild-to-you · 2 years

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100 Days To Fall In Love

[day 25]

“Rise and shine!”

“Ugh! I’m not ready!”

“C’mon. You have a long and important day ahead of you!” Mr. Kim said while pushing the curtains open.

For the past 14 days Jay has been talking my ears off about today. Today’s fundraiser gala was crucial. Many important people would be there, and all eyes would be on Jay and me.

Since my fainting episode two weeks ago, Jay had been nicer and friendlier towards me, even taking me to casual business dinners so I could meet some of his associates. Practise rounds he called them, for the main event.

Well, that main event was today, and that meant getting dolled up from head to toe and standing in uncomfortable high heels for hours.

“This isn’t just about convincing the public that Mr. Park has finally settled down. I was just told there will be one very important guest tonight.”

“Who is it? An ex? Someone he casually hooked up with? Someone who wanted to hook up with him, but he turned them down?”

“Mrs. Choi.”

“Who’s Mrs. Choi?”

“Mr. Park’s mother.”

“Then why isn’t she called Mrs. Park?”

“Because she’s only his stepmother. But in public he calls her mother.”

“Will she be joining us?”

“Not if Mr. Park can avoid it. He doesn’t have the best relationship with her.”

I had to admit. Mr. Kim was full of surprises. Every day I learned something new about Jay from him. Small things, like the fact that he skips breakfast so he can beat everyone to the office, or big things like his complicated relationship with his stepmother.

“She can smell a phony from a mile away. Be very careful around her!”

“Right.”

As soon as Mr. Kim left, Seolhyun and Jiyeon arrived with bags and boxes of all sizes.

“Mr. Park picked out several dresses with matching shoes and jewelry for you to try.” Jiyeon stated.

“But I alr-” It was useless arguing with her. She was Jay’s most loyal employee, and she had a way with everyone else on the staff.

“Fine. What’s the first outfit?” It was a meticulous and painstakingly slow process. I wore the dress and jewelry, the shoes, makeup, Seolhyun styled my hair appropriately, and then Jiyeon took a photo with her phone and immediately sent the picture to Jay.

After what felt like an eternity, Jay decided on the ranking. Of course, he picked the dress I liked the least, which was also the most uncomfortable one, plus the matching shoes hurt my feet after only five minutes.

Seolhyun brushed my hair and took off my makeup, while Jiyeon ran a hot bath. After one hour they would be back, they said on their way out, to style my hair again and reapply the makeup. What a waste of time and resources.

At exactly 5pm, Jay waltzed in, needing an additional hour for himself to get ready. The limousine would pick us up at six. My stomach had been growling for hours at that point and I prayed to God we would have enough time to eat a quick bite.

Five to six he stood in front of my door, his voice muffled by the wood. “Hurry, we need to go!”

“Coming!” I yelled back, spritzing perfume all over me.

“We don’t have time for dinner.” He suddenly exclaimed as I climbed onto the limousine.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Could he have heard my growling stomach?

The drive to the venue was silent. Only my occasional growling disturbed the peace. I coughed strategically to drown out the noises and was convinced that he didn’t notice anything.

When we arrived at the venue, we sneaked in through the back entrance, avoiding the photographers and interviewers.

“But don’t we have t-”

“They will be here all night, we’ll pose for them on our way out!”

Inside, Jay led me to the buffet and took a plate, loading it with everything he laid eyes on.

“Any allergies?”

“Not that I know of!”

“Oh, well. We might find out tonight.” He snickered, guiding me to our table.

The venue was packed, Mr. Kim wasn’t lying. Everyone and their mother were here, but luckily the tables were on the smaller side and spread out far enough, so you still had a feeling of intimacy.

“Eat!”

“Aren’t you going to join me?” I said skittishly, looking around. People had already spotted us and were gossiping. Jay read the room and sighed.

“C’mon, let’s make a show out of this!” I suggested, dragging Jay down onto the seat next to mine.

First, I took a bite of the giant cocktail prawns, moaning in satisfaction. A smile was dancing around my lips when I took another prawn and wiggled it in front of Jay’s face.

“C’mon now, don’t make a scene!”

He gave in, opening his mouth so I could feed him. A drop of sauce stained his bottom lip. I used the opportunity, since I noticed several people staring at us, to wipe it off with my index finger, which I then licked off suggestively.

“Who are you?” Jay mumbled, while chewing on his prawn.

A heartfelt laugh escaped my lips, even Jay couldn’t resist, and chimed in.

Little by little the food on the plate disappeared. Some in mine, and some in Jay’s belly. Afterwards Jay got up again and came back with two glasses of champagne. A little while later our table filled and the event began.

We were halfway through the program when I noticed a familiar-looking silhouette by the entrance. Convincing myself that I was seeing things, I turned to Jay, watching him as he listened to the speaker intently.

“Everything okay?” He asked without looking away.

“Everything perfect!” I replied, putting my hand on his shoulder. Minutes later, his whole composure changed. Following his eyes, I quickly figured out the reason why.

His stepmother made her entrance, surrounded by several people trying to shake her hand. She hadn’t spotted us yet, but her head was turning left and right, scanning the room.

Eventually she spotted Jay and with quick steps, made her way towards us.

“Stay calm.” Jay ordered as the woman was approaching our table.

“Mother.” Jay said in the coldest, most detached tone ever. Just hearing him talk like that ran a cold shower down my spine. He was downright frightening.

“Jay, honey, it’s been forever since I last saw you! I heard you’ve settled down. I’m assuming this is the young lady?”

Something about the way Jay’s stepmother spoke, rubbed me the wrong way. Her whole appearance was a theatrical show, and she enjoyed the attention a little too much.

“This is Hyo Ri. Hyo Ri this is Mrs. Choi.”

“It’s so nice to meet you!”

“Likewise child.” She replied dryly, scanning me up and down.

So we stood there in awkaward silence for what felt like hours before Mrs. Choi spoke up again. “My table is over there. Come by later and say hi to your stepbrothers and stepsisters.”

Jay groaned but didn’t reply. Mrs. Choi waved her wrinkled hand and took off.

“That went well.” I joked in a desperate attempt to lift the mood. But Jay looked gloomier than before.

“Don’t make that face, she’s watching!” I told him, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Stop that!”

“Fine!” I pouted, taking a big sip of my champagne.

When I set the glass down, I spotted the same silhouette from before. Only now the person came closer and I was able to make out who it was.

“Oh shit!”

“What?”

“We have to leave. Right now!”

“What is it?”

“My ex-fiancé. Over there, with the striped navy suit.”

“Did he see you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. But Jay, he could blow my cover!”

I watched with horror in my eyes as my ex-fiancé was making the rounds, stopping by each table.

Jay’s face darkened, he grabbed my arm and quickly lead me away from the crowd and towards the back entrance. On our way in he saw a spare room, he said, we could hide in there and when the time was right, sneak out through the back.

“What the hell is he doing here?” I was shaking by the time we got to the door of that spare room. Unfortunately it was locked.

“Fuck!” Jay hissed, kicking the door with his foot.

“And now? What if he sees me? He’ll recognize me for sure! This could end very badly.” I whispered.

Jay’s hand rose and covered my mouth, while the other pointed to a shadow slowly approaching us. We were stuck, there was no way out of this situation. My breathing hitched, I was hyperventilating, while Jay was trying desperately to shield me with his body.

The shadow was quickly approaching us, it looked like the person was talking on the phone. When it spoke, I recognized my ex-fiancé’s voice and panicked. My eyes threatening to bulge out of their sockets, I stared at Jay in pure horror.

Although Jay tried to remain calm for my sake, I saw his eyes darting around, frantically looking for a solution. As the voice became louder, Jay came closer to me, pinning me against the wall, shielding my body with his. Suddenly his head dipped and our lips connected.

Without wanting it, my heart rate sped up and my knees turned weak. I moaned involuntarily into the kiss, that seemed to go on forever, and grabbed the fabric of Jay’s shirt.

When Wooyoung passed by, Jay let go of me immediately, looking distraught. Instinctively I apologized and we both made our way back inside the main room. Our plan was to leave through the front but we also somehow had to dodge the photographers, interviewers and general crowd that was camping outside. I watched as Jay took his phone out, most likely calling his limousine driver to get to the main entrance.

Once we were outside, my eyes scanned our surroundings for any sign of Wooyoung. Jay spotted the limousine and dragged me down the stairs. I tried my best not to trip and fall and when we were inside the limousine, Jay instructed the driver to take off quickly.

With screeching tires, the limousine made a left turn and sped off.

I was avoiding looking at Jay who was staring out the window the entire time. I wished he would’ve said something. We both knew what he did was impulsive and didn’t mean anything. He was just trying to hide me. I wanted to say that I understood why he did it and that I wouldn’t take it the wrong way. But since he remained silent, I didn’t think I could speak up either.

When we finally arrived at Jay’s home, he got out first, practically running away from me. My hand reached for the door handle, when I heard a familiar voice.

“Let me get that for you, Ms. Lee.”

It was Changmin. I didn’t recognize him before since the partition was up the whole time. Upon seeing the confused look on my face, he explained. “I sometimes fill in as his driver since his current one is just a part-timer.”

I nodded my head in understanding as he came round and opened my door.

“Did something happen?” I couldn’t overhear the concerned tone in his voice. Surely he was out of place and might get suspicious if I don’t shut him down.

“Everything is fine. Now if you excuse me, I’d like to go to my room!”

He bowed his head apologetically which made me feel bad. Regardless of that, I didn’t look at him as I passed by him on my way up the stairs.

In my room, Jiyeon was already waiting for me, ready to help to out of my dress and run my bath. I told her to just undo my zipper then leave, I could take care of the rest myself.

“Very well.” She responded, leaving once she lowered the zipper. Moments later I heard her knocking on a door down the hall, Jay’s door. The door opened and closed immediately.

Jay’s first and most loyal employee? Could there be more to it? Was Jay having a secret affair with his maid? Could they be in love?

“What do you care?” I said to the empty room.

Flashing images of Jay’s lips on mine, his hot skin under my fingertips, his perfume intoxicating me flooded my mind.

“No!” I got undressed on my way to the bathroom, in desperate need to wash the day and everything that happened away.

***

[day 32]

#h1ghrmusic #h1ghrgang #jay park #park jaybum #park jaebum #aomg jay park #jay park aomg #aomg imagines #aomg scenarios #jay park fanfic #park jaebeom #jay park imagines #jay park scenarios #aomgofficial #khh imagines #more soju please #more vision #aomg

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thevibraniumveterans · 2 years

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Ms Marvel Ep1! - “Generation Why”

Live-blogging spoilers!

1. I caught this in the title:

2. “Can a woman just live, hmm?” YES 🤩

3. “Thor is secretly a gamer!” Yes because some dude got yelled at by him thru the headset in Endgame and was like WTF 🤣

4. “Remember, new episodes drop every Wednesday.” KAMALA PLEASE 😂 You going meta?! 🤣

5. Wait, when Kamala’s dad told Aamir (is that his name? Kamala’s bro?) to eat his breakfast, I swear that was right out of the comics! I feel like I’ve heard that line before.

6. Crashing the car before you even start your first lesson, Kamala? 😏 I remember my own driving lessons, nerve wracking, every one of them 😅

7. Ok that’s not nice, the teacher misnaming her 😔 And like, the fact that she’s getting weird looks? Oof.

8. “No, no, no, Bruno” 🤣 SORRY NOT SORRY 😈

9. The school counselor is hilarious 😂 Kamala just zones out, like girl? I would too 😌 (I still do, too!)

10. “Kamala, who is that girl I see staring straight back at me?” I love it when Phase 4 is all about ✨identity✨

11. Oh that dividing effect is so cool!!

12. Bruno Carrelli is kinda adorable though, and I LOVE THE FACT THAT KAMALA LOVES STAR WARS 🤩

13. Those chalk animations are amazing!

14. Kamala’s family absolutely love Bruno.

15. Kamala’s parents not letting her out with a boy? oooh, that sounds familiar. Was forever until I got to do that once, and then it went south, so. Never did that again 🤣 I relate to that “don’t go out at night” thing. Still don’t wanna do that, and I’m no longer a teenager 😅 Protective moms, am I right, or what

16. “Come on, beta. You’re not normal.” “UGGHHH!!” yeah, neither am I, Kamala xD

17. I LOVE THE COMICKY effects!! The speech bubble as Bruno answers his bestie Kamala. AND THE NEON LIGHTS ON THE WINDOW WTF this is so cool!!!!! HOLY SHIT I AM GEEKING OUT AT THE EFFECTS HERE IT EVEN EXTENDS TO THE LED SIGN ABOVE THE DOOR WHAAT

18. Bruno the tech guy, very like his comic counterpart. Love to see it.

19. “If you don’t go with your dad, you’re not going at all.” How on earth did this either-this-or-that ultimatum hit me so hard 😫 It’s not what was said, it was what was implied.

20. I love that there’s a rooftop scene, because the first time I saw Kamala in the comics and there’s a rooftop scene, it was with this dude who turns out to be a huge jerk, so there’s that. But Bruno’s nice. He’s a great guy. Get yourself a bestie who believes in you. 🥺

21. Kamala play fighting with her bestie Bruno reminds me of way back when I was 9 and pretended my pencils were lightsabers at school. Ah, fun times.

22. WHEN A LIGHTBULB LITERALLY GOES OFF ABOVE KAMALA’S HEAD OMG. I CAN’T. I AM IN LOVE WITH THE ANIMATION.

23. Kamala has the most adorable little giggle.

24. CAMP EFFIN’ LEHIGH.

25. Man, I love the dream montage, instagram posts and all. Outdone itself.

26. “Between the authorities and us the people, we are to blame.” WOW! How is this so true for nearly everywhere on Earth nowadays!

27. I wonder why they’d open Camp Lehigh, given how in CATWS it was all fenced off and whatnot. What’s the story there? What, heroes save the say and suddenly everything’s open?

28. AVENGERCON is something that must happen. I WANT IT.

29. CUTE 🤣

30. That America’s Ass reference, well done 🤣

31. YOU LEFT YOUR GLOVES KAMALA oh my god. You don’t just leave your gloves your bestie made for you 😫

32. I LOVE THE COSMIC SUITUP. The way it’s almost like a jelly-like crystal, it is so beautiful.

33. THE EMBIGGENING!! YESS!!

34. I love that she can just… make the stuff? Even with her foot!

35. “Who do you want to be in this world?” I wish I knew too… I too sometimes have my head in the clouds, like Kamala’s mom says to her.

THIS FIRST EPISODE WAS AWESOME!

#mcu #ms marvel series #kamala khan #iman vellani #bruno carrelli #ms marvel spoilers #she is awesome #i love it 🤩#ms marvel ep 1 #live blogging

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dreamkidddream · 3 years

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Hello there! I totally agree Kunikida is soooo underrated!! one of the best BSD charatcters in my opinion! do you still take requests? if so, could you write a Kunikida story with Quote number 14 please? He deserves so much love, but if the requests are closed it's okay dont worry omg I understand you have many requests already! take care <3

Kunikida finally getting the love he deserves >>>>>>> literally anything else. This got a little shorter than usual so hope that’s okay. Thank you guys for requesting and liking my work 🥺💚💚 reader is gender neutral!

Prompt: “You’re so cute when you’re half asleep like this.” with Kunikida!

You don’t know if you can do this.

“(Y/N) pl-please, just listen”, a harsh cough erupted from his throat. “I’ll-I’ll be okay, just please, you have to let me go.”

“Kunikida, you know I can’t do that! I won’t leave you! So please...”

His eyes were watery, hair disheveled, bags under his eyes, form shaking and barely standing. He looks like he’ll drop at any second, and you don’t know how much longer he has until he collapses...

“Get back in bed already! I told you that you have to sleep so you cannot go to work today. I already told Fukuzawa, and he said that it’s fine, so go get in the bed!”

Yeah you couldn’t do this. Kunikida, the man who never misses a day of work and who is determined not to, came down with a cold. His body would have been able to fight it off, but after working on this case nonstop for three straight days and cutting back on his sleep every night, his body gave out on him.

Good news: you and the President predicted that he would still try to come to work, so he asked you to stay home and stop him at all costs. Bad news: Kunikida is very determined to go to work, and has not stopped trying to leave the bed every time he wakes up from his naps.

“Please I’m...already late.”

“Kunikida, the day’s already over with and you need sleep.”

“But, I can’t just...abandon my work...the agency...what if-”

“Everything’s okay dear, just lay back down for me. Okay?” His forehead is burning up and he keeps fighting his sleep like a child. Despite how troublesome and stubborn he’s being, you couldn’t help that a little part of you was enjoying taking care of him. You don’t understand why he would be so embarrassed by this (I mean hello, you are his romantic partner after all) but this is Kunikida you’re talking about, so you’re not too surprised.

You know that he’ll be mortified when he remembers this- if he remembers this- but you don’t care.

Also, the fact that he’s acting so clingy and pretty much saying anything that’s on his mind the longer he’s awake isn’t helping his case either (and just making you enjoy this more and more).

“(Y/N)...why don’t you ever call me by my name?”

“Why, are my nicknames not good enough for you?” You were feeding him some homemade soup, making small talk and teasing him to try and keep him awake long enough to eat.

“No, I love it when you use them. But why don’t you ever use my name?”

You weren’t expecting that answer, but a half asleep Kunikida is an honest one, “I do call you by your name Kuni-”

“No. My first name.”

That’s...actually a good question. Why didn’t you call him by his first name? You’ve been thinking about it for a while now, but you’re just so used to calling him Kunikida that it hasn’t crossed your mind yet. Your relationship isn’t new per se, but you didn’t want to make him uncomfortable or make him feel like he has to do something that he’s not ready for. He does pretty much everything by his notebook, and what if he had it written down when he wants to bring this up? Maybe you’re overthinking it-

“(Y/N), call me...call me Doppo. Please.”

“You sure? Maybe we should wait to talk about this late-”

“I’m sure.”

He gazed at you with so much sincerity in his eyes, his hand laying on top of yours before sliding under to hold it. “I don’t want- I don’t want to wait any longer.”

You could only smile, and lightly squeeze his hand, “Okay, Ku- Doppo.”

You don’t recall ever seeing a smile so bright on his face before, but you wished it happened more often. It just brings a sort of glow to him, one that really suits him. “It’s late, and you need to get some sleep. Call me if you need anything-”

“W-wait!”

You hoped he wasn’t trying to fight his sleep again, “Yeah?”

“Can”, his face was flushed, and not just from his cold. “Can you...c-can you stay the night?” He tighten his hold on you, so scared that you’ll disappear forever if he dares let go. “Only if you’re okay with that, of course!”

Ever the gentleman even when he’s sleep deprived, you couldn’t stop the giggles from escaping your lips. You weren’t leaving anyway, but it was still sweet. “You’re so cute when you’re half asleep like this.” He was about to protest that he’s not cute (you’re the cute one, not him!), but he stopped after you brought the blanket over him and took his glasses off his face. “Let me go get changed, and I’ll be back, I promise.”

He heard the door click and felt his head land on the pillows below. He couldn’t believe that someone like you wanted to be with him. Someone so kind, so caring, someone that was so tender and compassionate with him. Words alone can’t describe just how...breathtaking you really are.

It’s no wonder he became so smitten with you.

He could feel his eyes drooping, but he didn’t want to go to sleep yet, he had to wait until he saw you again! You still had to come back, you said you would-

The door clicked open, and you came back changed with your own set of blankets and pillows. You aren’t shocked to see that he’s barely awake, his eyes slid closed with a smile on his face. “You came back...”

“Of course I did, I said I would didn’t I? Now”, you already laid your blankets out on the floor. You would sleep in the same bed, but you two being sick wouldn’t help the situation (as much as you wanted to cuddle, his health comes first). “Goodnight Doppo.”

A yawn left his mouth, “Goodnight (Y/N)...thank you for...everything.”

If you strained your ears hard enough, you could have sworn that you heard him uttered that he loves you, but either way, you fell asleep content.

—-

Kunikida woke up feeling refreshed and clear minded, not having that sluggish feeling anymore. He doesn’t remember parts of yesterday, and the parts that he does remember feels like a dream (were you really calling him by his first name now? Something that he’s been wanting for forever it seemed). He reached over for his notebook, but he felt something holding his hand, or really, holding his pinky.

Looking down, he saw you, his lover, sleeping on the floor, your pinky interlocked with his. He would have yelled at you for sleeping on the floor, but you looked so peaceful and he didn’t want to disturb you. All he could do is shake his head, “You fool.” His words held no bite, and he had a smile gracing his face.

He picked you up and put you on the other side of his bed (the one that you’ll hopefully be sleeping in by his side more and more), making sure not to wake you up in the process. Looking at his notebook, he’s already behind schedule on making breakfast, and he has to make sure that everything else happens on time.

Today is all about you, and it’s the day that he’s been planning on for a long time.

It’s the day that he plans on being the first to say that he loves you after all, and everything needs to be perfect. It’s for you, after all.

#bsd #bsd x reader #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs x reader #bungo stray dogs #bsd kunikida #bsd kunikida x reader #doppo kunikida x reader #kunikida x reader #dream’s 100 + 200 followers prompt special 💙

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study-coffee-chicago · 3 years

Text

Seasons of PD: Season 3: Jay’s Missing (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister! Imagine)

As always, I don't own any quotes from the episode that happen to be in here!

Your age: 14

Jay's age: 28

Will's age: 30

"C'mon Jay," you muttered as you called him for the third time in an hour.

It was the one night a month where you and your brother would go out to dinner together and if there was a hockey game on, you'd finish watching it at his apartment. Then, he'd take you home. He was skeptical about doing it tonight since you had end-of-the-year exams next week, but you reassured him that you'd be fine; taking a break for a few hours never hurt anybody. And, you had all Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night after school to study since exams didn't start until Tuesday.

"You've reached Jay Halstead--" You quickly ended the call and began texting Ruzek. Hopefully, he'd cave and tell you what was going on.

But, when the read sign popped up seven minutes later, you knew something was up. If Jay was going to be late, he would've called you, or at least texted.

Since it was late May, the sun was out later than in the winter, which meant that it wouldn't be dark for another couple of hours. So, you grabbed a light sweatshirt and pulled it on, grabbed your phone and a few dollars and put them in your pocket, shouting a "bye Dad" on the way out...not that he cared what you did anyway.

You walked a few blocks to the El train stop, put your dollar in for your ticket, and hopped on. While you were on there, you were sure to have Ruzek's number pulled up on your phone and were ready to hit the call button in case something happened to you.

You looked at the map. The 21st District was just a few stops away. Soon, you'd know why Jay wasn't answering you. Hopefully, he was just out on a raid, handcuffing the bad guys.

***

"Kim," you said as you rushed into the district and saw the officer. "Do you know where my--"

You were cut off by the faint sound of a scream.

"Do I know where who is, Y/N?" she asked, completely ignoring what she had just heard.

"Jay, but that sounded like him screaming!"

You ran up the stairs to Intelligence, tugging on the gate even though you knew it wouldn't open without a member scanning their palm or Platt buzzing you up.

"Was that Jay? Is he there?" you yelled.

"Y/N, we can't let you up there right now," Kim explained.

"Why not? Jay told me we'd go out for dinner tonight and he always calls if he's gonna be late."

You looked up to see Ruzek coming towards the door.

"Would it kill you to answer a text?" you asked.

"Sorry, been busy."

"At least let me upstairs and then you can tell me where Jay is and I'll be out of your hair."

Ruzek sighed and allowed you to go up, Kim following you as well.

"Or Detective Halstead winds up as fertilizer in some cornfield in Indiana. We understand each other, Sergeant?"

"What'd he want?" Antonio asked, everyone totally unaware that you were now in the room.

"Halstead's life for all our CI files."

"H- His life?" you asked, frozen on the top step to the bullpen.

"Shit," Kevin muttered.

"Is he in trouble? Is he dead? Is that why he didn't answer my calls?" Your bottom lip started to tremble.

Antonio took a deep breath. He knew that if Gabby was in trouble that he'd want as much detail about what was happening as possible. "Something uh, something went wrong earlier," he supplied. "And then, because of that, some dealers took your brother."

"They took him? Took him where?"

"We don't know yet, kid," Al said. "But, that's what we're trying to find out."

When you heard that they didn't know where he was, you ran off towards the locker room. Ruzek tried to put his foot between the wall and the door to stop you from closing it and locking yourself in, but you were too fast for him.

You pulled out your phone and dialed a number you knew you probably should've called earlier when you first thought that Jay was in trouble.

"Erin? Jay's missing. You gotta find him. You're his partner."

***

Erin blearily reached for the phone, still trying to get over her hangover from last night--which lasted well into this morning--to go out for another night of non-stop partying, drinking, and drugs. She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw your name pop up.

"Hell--"

"Erin? Jay's missing. You gotta find him. You're his partner."

"He's--" She cleared her throat. "He's missing? What happened? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. I- I called him because we had a dinner and he didn't pick up, so eventually I just- I came down to the district and I heard someone on the phone say they're going to turn him into fertilizer, Erin."

"Do you know who it was?" she asked as she grabbed her service weapon and slid it into the waistband of her jeans...the same clothes she had been wearing since last night. A call that her boyfriend was missing was definitely curing her hangover fast.

"I don't know. It was- It was some dealer. But, you gotta come here and help them find him. You're his partner. Please." Your voice cracked on the last word.

"Okay, okay, I'll call Will to come pick you up and explain the situation. I'm leaving my apartment right now. I'll be there soon."

"Please don't call Will," you urged. "He's gonna be mad at me."

"Why's he gonna be mad at you?"

"Because I took the El and I'm not supposed to take the El by myself."

"Y/N, you taking the El by yourself is the least of his problems at the moment. Just sit tight and I should be there in about ten minutes."

***

"Y/N, c'mon open this door. Please?" you heard your oldest brother's voice on the other side of the door. "I know you're worried about Jay, but it's not gonna help at all if you just lock yourself in here all night."

You sniffled and then walked over to the door and unlocked it. "Will!" you cried, rushing into his arms. "He's gone, he's gone, he's gone."

"Hey, hey it's okay. You're okay. They're gonna find him and then you can have two dinners with him next month because you missed yours this month."

The number of times Jay had been shot or hurt on the job had caused Will to basically be immune to hearing bad news about his little brother. But, if Jay didn't come back or flatlined, then he'd be freaking out. And, despite Will wanting to scream at all of Intelligence to go find him, he knew he couldn't do that. He couldn't lash out right now because it'd only make it worse for you.

Your stomach growled, making Will go into even more protective brother mode. "When's the last time you ate?"

"Lunch," you answered.

"Y/N, it's 7:30. We gotta get some food in you."

"But, but what if he comes back? I wanna see him when he comes back."

"I'm gonna be honest with you. When he comes back, he's probably gonna need to go to the hospital just as a precaution. And, I know you have exams soon and your algebra one is stressing you out. I don't think Jay would want you to fail an exam just because you were worried about him."

"I hate math," you grumbled.

"I know. That's why you need to make sure you study."

"Doesn't mean I'm gonna end up liking it because I have to work on it."

Will didn't know what to say to that because he knew that you were right. So, he reiterated his previous point. "Let's go get you some food."

"Can-Can we just eat at home?" you asked. "I don't wanna not be home and hear bad news about Jay."

Will knew what you were getting at: you didn't want to break down in public.

"Yeah, we can do that. Still got a bunch of mac n cheese at home?"

"A few boxes," you answered, remembering how bare the cupboards were at your and your dad's house.

"We'll just grab something on the way home. C'mon."

"Can Erin come, too?" you asked.

"Go ask her. And, don't take the El by yourself. That's dangerous."

You rolled your eyes and followed him out of the locker room and into the bullpen.

"Erin," you started as you walked up to her desk. She had her head in her hands.

"Hmmm?" she asked looking up.

"Do you wanna come back to my house and eat dinner with me and Will?"

"I don't know if--"

"She'll come," Voight answered before she could finish.

"Hank!"

"Erin, we'll still be here working when you're done with dinner. Lord knows you could use some food in you."

"Fine." She stood up and grabbed her coat. "Not like you're letting me help with the case anyway," she muttered. But, no one heard that part.

Since she had quit Intelligence in Bunny's bar a few weeks ago, Voight was right in having her not work the case...not that she'd admit that. But this was her boyfriend, her partner, that was in trouble and she'd be damned if she didn't help get him out of this mess.

***

"Dad's not home?" Will asked as he let them into the house using the spare key that was hidden under a layer of dirt in the flower pot.

"He never is," you mumbled.

"What? What do you mean he's never home?"

"I mean, he's never home on Friday nights because he always goes out to the bar with some old friends," you told him. That was at least true. He did go out to the bar with some old friends...but it wasn't just Friday nights anymore, it was Friday, Saturday, and sometimes Thursday and Sunday, too. Because of this, he ate out a lot and didn't cook. Therefore, he had no reason to buy a lot of groceries, which was why there wasn't a lot of dinner food left in the cupboard...not that there was a lot of breakfast or lunch food here either, though. There was just enough for you to play it off that your dad just needed to go to the store. There was just enough for your brothers not to worry.

"Okay." Will started to grab the Olive Garden you had ordered out of the bag. You said you weren't hungry--you didn't want to eat when you were this nervous-- and had only wanted to get some minestrone soup. But, Will insisted that you needed more than that so you compromised: minestrone soup and half an order of fettuccine alfredo...plus the breadsticks and the salad that came with the meal obviously.

A while later, Will was almost done with his food and was grabbing another breadstick and Erin was putting more salad onto her plate. You, on the other hand, had barely managed to finish your minestrone.

"Y/N, can you please eat a bit more? How about a breadstick? I know you love those," Will said.

"I'm not that hungry," you said quietly.

Will was about to say something when Erin stepped in. "How about you work on some of your homework? Maybe that'll make your appetite come back since you're using a lot of energy to focus. And, Jay mentioned that you have exams next week."

"He did?" you asked. You didn't think that Jay would mention stuff that you had going on in your life, like exams, to Erin.

"He always says how proud of you he is for working so hard in school...because he says that he was never as good in school as you."

"He really says he's proud of me?"

"He sure does."

"You guys mind if I do it out here? It's a lot easier to write stuff down when I'm writing in my notebook on the table instead of balancing it in my lap on my bed."

"Sure, kiddo," Will said.

You went to your room and grabbed your backpack and then started to work on your homework.

As you were working on it, your brain wandered back to the first time Jay had helped you with your math homework, all the way back in kindergarten, at this very kitchen table, when both of your parents had been working and Will was all the way in New York for his first year of med school.

You were sitting at the kitchen table, trying not to crumple up your math homework sheet and throw it across the room. It was only five subtraction problems, but subtraction was hard! You had only just started understanding addition!

You threw your pencil across the kitchen, where it narrowly missed the wall. It clattered to the floor, causing Jay to look up from where he was reading a book in the living room, the chair he had been sitting in was facing the kitchen, so he could keep an eye on you.

"Did you throw that?" he asked as he walked towards you.

"No," you lied.

He picked up the pencil. "If you lie, you get nine minutes in time out instead of six."

You didn't want to go in time out that long!

"I throwed it," you admitted, looking down at your math homework.

"It's threw, but thank you for being honest. Can you tell me why you threw the pencil?"

That was something his mom always did with him when he was younger: asked him why he did something and then, possibly put him in time out. Sometimes, he just needed to talk it out, and if that was the case, he didn't have to go into time out.

"I don't get sub-trac-shun!" you complained. "It's stupid!"

"Hey, we don't use that word."

"But it's hard."

"I know, but what if I help you? Would that help you to get it?"

"But Will said you not good at math," you pointed out, remembering something your oldest brother had said.

Jay chuckled. "I'm not good at big kid math. This stuff is easy for me."

"It's easy?"

"Oh, yeah. And, I think I might have something that can help you."

He walked over to the cupboard and reached up to the top shelf where he grabbed a bag of chocolate chips. He poured some into a small bowl and then walked back to the table and sat down next to you.

"We gonna eat chocolate?" you asked. "Even though I throwed-- I threw my pencil?"

"This is gonna help you learn subtraction."

"How?"

"Just watch." He paused and looked at the paper in front of you. "So, this one says five minus two."

"I know that," you told him proudly. "I know it says five minus two. I dunno what the an- the answer is though."

"Okay, well, take five chocolate chips out of here."

He held the bag out to you while you took five out, counting each one out loud. "What do I do now?"

"Now, if I eat two--" he popped two in his mouth. "--how many do you have now?"

You looked down at the chocolate chips. "One...Two...Three. I have three choc-chips!"

"That's right! So, five minus two is...?"

You scrunched up your face, trying to piece together what he had done. "I dunno."

"We had five chocolate chips. I ate two. How many did you say we have left?"

"Three!"

"Yeah. Five minus two is the same thing...just without me adding chocolate chips to the end."

"Huh?"

"Here." He took your paper from you and on the first three problems, he wrote chocolate chips after each number. "Five chocolate chips minus two chocolate chips is...?"

"Three!"

"Yeah! Good job! Now, write three down as your answer."

The next problem was three chocolate chips minus one chocolate chip and you did the same thing this time. Except, you got to eat the chocolate instead of Jay. You had two chocolate chips left this time.

Then, when you got to the last two problems that didn't say chocolate chips after the numbers, Jay showed you on your fingers how to figure out the answer.

Then, since you did such a good job, he let you watch Dora and eat some more chocolate chips.

"Y/N? Y/N? You good?" You were snapped out of your thoughts by Will saying your name.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine." You reached over the table to grab your pencil that had rolled towards Will. But, as you were reaching for it, your elbow knocked the two-liter of pop. "No!" you cried out as it spilled. It didn't just spill anywhere though...it spilled right on top of your algebra notebook. "Fuck this! I can't do this!"

You threw your pop-covered and sticky notebook on the ground and sprinted to the bathroom, ignoring Will and Erin's calls for you to come back.

You locked the door and slumped down against it. God, you needed that notebook. That had your entire exam review in it. And, if you didn't finish the exam review, you couldn't take the exam.

You only had 25 more problems left out of the 220 you had to do, hence why the review was given to you a month before you actually had to take the exam, so you had time to do it. And, some kids would wait until the last minute, but you figured you'd start early and do a certain number of problems a day so you didn't have to stress out and had time to ask your teacher questions if you had any.

But now, now you had a matter of days to do all 220 problems...and you had other exams to study for...and your big brother was missing...and...

Shit, here comes the Olive Garden.

You jumped up and lifted the lid of the toilet, quickly emptying the minestrone soup from your stomach.

"Y/N? Y/N! Open this door!" Will yelled as he banged on the door.

You leaned back against the bathtub and took a few deep breaths, willing yourself not to throw up again. You groaned as you felt the liquid rise in your throat and were back above the toilet in a matter of seconds.

You were panting at this point and trying to take a few breaths before more came out. Because you were so focused on making sure you didn't inhale your own vomit (ew) you didn't hear Will pick the lock and enter the bathroom.

When all that was left for you to throw up was bile and you were finished, you closed your eyes and leaned back against the bathtub once more, and took deep breaths.

"So that's why you didn't want to eat any more than you did," Will said.

"Will? How'd you get in here?"

"I picked the lock, Jay's not the only person in this family who knows how to do that, you know."

"I hate this," you mumbled, eyes still closed. "It happened last semester with exams too, but it wasn't this bad."

"Kid, you're stressing yourself out too much. You have to take a chill pill."

"I c-can't!"

"Okay," Will started as he crouched down next to you. "Why can't you relax?"

"I spilled pop all over my notebook!"

"So? You already practiced those problems. You know you don't need to practice them again, so just do the ones you need to practice."

"You don't get it!" You frantically rubbed the heels of your hands over your eyes as tears started to stream from them. "I needed that notebook! If I don't turn in the entire exam review I c-can't take the exam." You sighed and just put your head in your hands. This night seriously could not get any worse at this point. "And, Jay's miss- Jay's missing!"

"Y/N, I need you to take a deep breath for me, okay? Just take one."

"O-Okay." You took a deep, yet shaky breath.

"Now another."

You took another deep, yet shaky breath. And, you continued this cycle until Will deemed your breathing to be back to normal.

"How about you brush your teeth and then we'll figure out what to do for the homework once you do that. Sound good?" You nodded and stood up to go to the sink. "I'll be in the kitchen with Erin."

Then, Will exited the bathroom to go back into the kitchen like he told you.

"How is she?" Erin asked when she saw him come in. She had started cleaning up their take-out containers while Will had been busy trying to calm you down. "Sounded like she was puking."

"Because she was."

"Is she sick?"

"Not in the technical sense. But, she is what I like to call stress sick."

"Stress sick?"

"Exams are stressing her out, so add on top of the fact that Jay's missing, and she got so stressed out that she threw up."

"Poor kid," Erin sympathized. Then, her phone buzzed. "I gotta get back to the district. Tell her to feel better from me."

"Will do." He started to walk Erin towards the door, but stopped when they were almost to it. "And Erin? Bring my little brother back. Even though he's a pain in my ass half the time, I can't lose him. And, I know Y/N would take it really hard."

"Will, he's got the best unit in all of Chicago looking for him. We'll bring him back."

A few minutes after Erin had left, you walked into the kitchen, with clean teeth and the gross taste of vomit now out of your mouth, to see Will sitting at the table, staring at your notebook with a roll of paper towel next to him. "What are you doing?" you asked as you sat down.

"Trying to get the stain out," he replied.

"How? It's like the entire notebook, not just one page."

"You're talking to the king of spilled coffee on homework. And, lucky for you, pop and coffee are both water-based. So, I think I know how to get this out. You're gonna need to rewrite it in a new notebook, though."

"Okay. Need any help?"

"Can you just get me a bowl filled with water?"

"The paper's already wet. Why do you want to make it wetter?"

"Just trust me on this one." You yawned. "After you grab that for me, maybe you should go to bed. It's been a long day."

"Will you stay here?"

"Of course. I can just sleep in my old bedroom...unless Dad did something to it. Speaking of Dad, is he usually out this late? Does he usually leave you home alone this late at night?"

You were filling up a bowl with water and turned to look at Will. You shrugged. "Sometimes. It's okay, though." That was a lie. Most nights he didn't get home until two or three in the morning...but, Will didn't need to know that.

"I'm going to have a chat with Dad about that. He shouldn't be leaving you home alone this late at night."

"Will, it's not even that late. I'm fine." You placed the bowl of water on the table.

"Fine. But if it hits midnight and he's not home yet, then I will be talking with him about this."

You nodded. "Well, I'm gonna go to bed. 'Night Will. Sorry about getting sick."

"You don't have to apologize for that." He stood up and pulled you into a hug. "Goodnight."

You started to walk towards your bedroom when you remembered something and turned back to Will. "Will?"

"Hmmm?"

"Do you think Jay's okay? He's gotta be okay, right?"

"Y/N, he's got the best unit in the city looking for him."

"And Erin."

"And Erin," he confirmed. "He'll be okay." But, in that moment he didn't know who he was trying to reassure more: you or himself.

***

"You wanna go somewhere today?" Will asked as you were both sitting at the kitchen table eating cereal the next morning.

"I have homework to do...a lot more than I thought I'd have, too. Did Erin give you any updates on Jay?" you asked.

He shook his head. "But, he's gonna be okay. And, you don't have a ton of homework to do. You have a ton of homework to copy."

"What do you mean?"

At this, he placed the notebook on the table. "I told you I knew what I was doing."

You flipped open the notebook to see that Will was right: he did in fact know what he was doing. Even though the pages were all still tinted a light brown from the pop, the writing from you doing all the practice problems was still legible. "How did you...?" you trailed off as you continued to flip through your algebra notebook.

"Like I told you, I spilled coffee on one too many notebooks in college. Now all you need to do is copy the problems down into a clean notebook. Save you some brainpower."

"Thank you."

"Now, I suggest we got to CCU's library so you can get a change of scenery while doing that."

"CCU? Why? And, you're not a student there anymore. How are we gonna get in?"

Will scoffed. "They don't check student IDs when you go in. And, a change in my workspace always helped me to focus when I was studying, so maybe it'll help you."

"Workspace," you mocked. "So professional. But, yeah, let's do that. Can we keep our phones on though in case Erin calls?"

Will nodded. "Of course."

***

Getting into CCU wasn't actually that hard. All Will had to do was pay $10 for a day pass to park and then you walked into the library, no student ID necessary.

"Okay kiddo, where are we sitting?" he asked.

"I don't know. I've never been here before. Where did you normally sit?"

"Second floor. It's generally quieter up there and the tables are big, so I could throw my books all over it. But, I'd come back down here for coffee a lot, too."

"There's a coffee shop?" you asked as you widened your eyes. "In the library?"

"Well, tuition is out of this world. So, at least we get something out of it."

"Can we go? I think I have $5 somewhere in my backpack."

"If prices haven't gone up since I was here when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, then I can get a muffin and a large coffee for $5. I'll have the coffee and you can have the muffin. I'll pay," Will told you.

"Okay, thank you! And, you're not that old, Will."

You got your triple chocolate muffin and Will got his large coffee. Then, you found one of the big tables that he had mentioned and started copying your algebra review into another notebook.

"What are you going to do? Sit here and stare off into space?" you asked your brother. "Wait," you began as you started to rummage around in your backpack for an eraser, "What's this?"

You set a big book on the table. And it's definitely not something you'd read because it was called "How We Learn", which you assumed meant that the book was nonfiction and went into the science of learning.

"I found it in my room. Must've left it there from Christmas last year and I haven't had a chance to read it, so I figured I'd bring it to read now."

"Fair enough."

***

"Did Jay ever want to go to college?" you asked a few hours later. "Or, did he know it just wasn't right for him?"

"I think he always knew he wanted to do something involving being on the front lines and being in all the action," Will answered, dog-earing the page in his book and setting it down. "Why? You don't want to go to college either?"

"No, I do," you said quickly. "It's just- I just want to know things that I've never asked him if we...you know..."

Will nodded. "I know you're worried about him, but if Hank Voight's anything like Jay's told me, he won't let anything happen to one of his own."

"But he let it happen to Jules," you said. What if Jay was the next Jules?

"Jules? Who's Jules?"

"She was Antonio's partner. Antonio's the reason Jay got into Intelligence. And one day, he said we were going to go see a movie. Like, he just randomly picked me up from school and everything. I could tell he was sad after the movie, and it wasn't a sad movie, and he told me that someone he worked with died. A little later, we were walking by the memorial wall by the district and he showed me her name."

"I see," Will said, drawing on his talking-to-patient skills because what else was he going to say?

Luckily, he was saved by his phone ringing.

"Hello? Erin?" Pause. "He's at Med?" Pause. "Okay, yeah, we'll be there in ten minutes."

"He's okay?" you asked as soon as Will ended the call. "Jay's okay? They found him?"

Will nodded. "He's at Med. Erin said he's a little bruised, but he was conscious, so that's good."

You took Will's book and shoved it in your backpack along with your schoolwork. "Let's go."

***

"Nat, really, my ribs don't need to be wrapped. I'm fine," Jay protested as he sat in a treatment room at Chicago Med, Erin standing next to him in some clean clothes that Natalie had let her borrow.

"Jay, your ribs are badly bruised. They need to be wrapped. If you're more comfortable with a guy wrapping them, I can easily call in a male nurse for help," Natalie suggested.

"No, it's not that. I don't care who does it."

"My little brother just doesn't want to bruise his big ego, that's what's going on, Nat," Will said as he entered the treatment room with you by his side.

You jumped when Jay turned and you saw his face and his chest: a black eye that went from the inside corner of his right eye to his right temple, a gash on the top right of his forehead, another gash on the left side of his forehead which was diagonal and above the outside portion of his left eyebrow, a jagged cut that went down his left temple starting at eye level, a split lip, and purple, blue, and red bruises along with some cuts and welts that littered his ribs and chest.

"You're okay?" you asked as your lips pulled into a frown and tears stung your eyes.

"I'm okay. Just a little beat up right now. Nothing to worry about."

Without thinking, you ran to his bed and gave him a hug. He let out a groan as you squeezed a bit too tight, irritating his ribs.

You pulled away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's okay, my ribs are just gonna be a little sore for a few days."

"I thought you were going to be turned into fertilizer."

"Fertilizer?" Jay furrowed his eyebrows. "Who told you that?"

"When you didn't call me back about dinner, I tried calling Adam, but he didn't pick up either, so I went to the district. I heard some guy on the phone saying he was going to turn you into- into fertilizer. I was so scar- so scared."

Tears rolled down your cheeks faster than you could wipe them away.

Jay stood up with a grimace and walked the few paces over to you, wrapping you in a hug. "Hey, I'm okay now. That's all that matters. And, you did a really good job calling Erin."

"I did?"

"You sure did. She told me all about how you told her that I was gone and that she'd be able to get me out because we're partners." He paused. "She also told me that you took the El by yourself."

"Erin," you whined. "You weren't supposed to tell him that."

"It's okay," Jay said. "I won't tell Dad as long as you don't do it again."

"I won't," you replied. Not like Dad would do anything anyway, you thought to yourself.

"Jay," Will started, "You need to get back into bed."

"It's just bruised ribs, Will. I'm fine," Jay argued.

"It's just bruised ribs, Will. I'm fine," Will mocked. "Yeah, tell me that tomorrow when you can barely walk because of how sore they are. Bed. Now."

"Fine." Jay sat down with a huff and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I swear, you're such a child, Halstead," Erin said.

***

You walked out of school a few days later feeling free. Summer was here and you were no longer a middle-schooler. You were now a high schooler.

You started to walk out of campus, the way you took to walk home every day, when you heard the thundering of footsteps behind you, causing you to jump and turn around.

"Jay." You breathed a sigh of relief when you saw it was your brother.

"Hey, figured I'd pick you up. My text must not have gone through."

"Oh, I turned my phone off because of exams. Sorry."

"No problem. C'mon, we're going out to lunch and then we'll stop home to grab your swimsuit."

"Swimsuit? Why?"

"Mom would always take us to Navy Pier on the first day of summer to go swimming. And, since Will's shift ends at 1:00 and I'm on leave because of injury, it's the first year we can actually do this all together."

You nodded, trying to hold back tears at the mention of your mom.

"Hey, let me take your backpack. That thing looks like it's gonna make you topple over." You took it off and handed it to him. "Whoa! What's in here? Rocks?"

You laughed. "Nope, end of the year locker cleanout. Everything that was shoved in my locker is now in there."

"No rotten food I hope," Jay joked.

"No," you laughed. "Why? Did you or Will leave food in your locker?"

"No, we knew better than that. But the kid next to me left a milk carton in there over spring break and that smelled funky when we got back. I started bringing my backpack around with me just so I didn't have to go back to my locker because it smelled so bad."

"We can't do that. Teachers say it's for our safety because of bombs."

Jay opened the door to the backseat and put your backpack in there while you got into the passenger seat. Then, he got in the driver's seat all the while thinking how you knew that that was the reasoning behind that rule. He knew the reasoning because he was a detective. But he thought that most of the time, kids just thought it was some stupid rule.

"How do you know about that?" he asked once he started his truck.

"One of my teachers told us. She was mad at a kid who kept bringing his backpack to class even though she told him not to, so he went off on her and called it a stupid rule and asked why we even had the rule. She told him it was because if there's a bomb threat then she has to check every single backpack. That's why."

"Oh," was all Jay said. He really didn't want to be having this conversation with you, but here he was.

"Is it different?" you asked.

"Is what different?"

"Like, is high school different now than when you were in high school? And how different is middle school from high school?"

"Are you nervous for high school already, kiddo? You just finished eighth grade like fifteen minutes ago!"

You shrugged. "I'm just curious is all." Jay quirked an eyebrow at you while he took his eyes off the road for a split second and then returned them back to the road. "Okay, fine. I'm a little nervous."

"Let's talk about this over brunch, okay?"

"Okay."

***

Of course, Jay knew that you wanted to go to iHOP because breakfast was good at any time of the day. Jay thought differently though and ordered a sandwich instead of breakfast food like you. You had gotten their cinnamon roll pancakes with bacon, sausage, and hashbrowns on the side.

You were waiting for the comment about it being a lot of food, but that never came...which you were thankful for. You didn't know how you were supposed to explain to your very perceptive brother that the reason that you were eating a lot here was that you only had about 3/4 cups of dry cereal this morning before school because you were out of milk. You were out of milk and your dad didn't go grocery shopping. And, it's not like you had enough money to buy groceries or that you knew where your dad kept the money so you could take $20 just to buy food and hide it in your room so that you had something to eat.

"So, what do you want to know about high school?" Jay asked. "Did you get your schedule yet?"

If you were going to Central Chicago High School after going to their middle school, you had the option to schedule your classes the month prior and then you'd see if you'd get those classes. Of course, it might not be possible to get every class with every teacher you want, but it was cool that you got to know right when you finished eighth grade. And, in high school, it was the same thing: on the last day of ninth grade, if you were staying for tenth grade, then you'd get your schedule on the last day of ninth grade. It was sort of weird to you, but you got used to it.

"Is Eva going to be at the beach, too?" you asked. You knew it was her's and Diego's last day of school along with Jordan's and Vanessa's, so you wanted Jordan and Eva to be there when you told everyone your schedule so they could tell you everything they knew about the teachers you had next year.

"I can text Antonio. Why?" Jay asked.

"I just wanted to see if Eva and maybe Jordan would be there because they could tell me everything about the teachers I have."

"I can text Antonio and Kevin. You know what, I'll text Ruz and Burgess too."

"And Mouse."

"And Mouse. Can't forget about him now, can we?"

"What about Erin? Is she coming, too?"

"Uh, I don't know about that. She's had a rough couple of days."

You furrowed your eyebrows. "Why?"

"You know how Voight took her in?" You nodded. "Well, after Nadia died, she was backsliding. Badly. And now, she's detoxing and it's kinda hard on a person's body."

"Okay, but seeing you would make her feel better. She's always happy when she's around you. And you always have this big, dopey grin on your face whenever you're around her."

"I do not," Jay protested. You raised your eyebrows at him. "Okay fine, maybe I do that occasionally. I'll text some people and then we can talk about high school."

Jay sent the texts while you continued to eat. He took a few bites of his sandwich and then broached the topic of high school once more by saying, "So, what do you want to know about high school?"

"I dunno. How's it different from when you went to school like twenty years ago."

"Hey! It was not twenty years ago. I'll have you know it was ten years ago!"

"Same thing."

Jay rolled his eyes. "Well, shootings happened, but not as much as they do now." You opened your mouth to ask if Jay had ever responded to one, when he stopped you. "And I know what you're going to ask. No, I didn't respond to one and I wouldn't tell you if I did. What do I always tell you?"

"I'm trying to keep you innocent and sheltered from all the bad stuff in the world," you said verbatim of what he had told you dozens of times when you asked for details of what he was doing at work.

"Word for word. So, we got to carry our backpacks around and it was an open campus."

"It used to be an open campus?" you asked, shocked.

"Yup, we rarely even had to sign out."

"Lucky! I wanna leave school and go to Mcdonald's for lunch!"

"Too bad you weren't born like fifteen years earlier and that could've happened."

"Oh, and we could eat lunch on the roof. There was a way to climb through the ceiling above the indoor track. It's closed now, though."

"Why'd they close it?"

"Yeah, you might want to wait until we're at the beach for me to tell that story since I'm sure everybody else would find it funny."

"Okay..." you trailed off, drawing out the "y". You didn't know why everyone would find a story of a hole in the ceiling being closed funny, but you figured it was best to let Jay have his way...with this one at least. "What's the difference between middle school and high school?"

"Now, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: nobody cares in high school."

"What do you mean?"

"Just ask Eva when we get to the beach."

"She's coming?"

"Her, Diego, Antonio, Kev, Adam, Kim, Jordan, Vanessa, Mouse, Erin, and of course Will are all coming."

***

Luckily, Jay decided to stay in the car while you ran inside your house and changed into a swimsuit, slipping your clothes over top of it so it would be easier when you got to the pier.

"Dawson!" Jay yelled as he walked up the beach, bag in hand filled with his swim trunks, water bottles, and a few bags of chips. Typically, he would've brought beer to the beach, but he had to drive home, with you in the car no less, so no drinking for him.

"Halstead!" Antonio yelled back.

Once you got up close enough, you saw that Gabby was there, too.

"Bring Gabby to be your DD, Antonio?" Jay jokingly asked.

"I mean, I'm sure Ruzek's bringing beer, so I might be able to get away with one."

"Uh uh," Gabby said. "If Kim brings some fruity drinks, you're driving home."

"So, if she brings regular drinks I can have a few beers?"

"Your cap is two, Antonio. You've got these two to take care of." She gestured to Eva and Diego. Diego was already jumping the waves and Eva was laying down on a beach towel starting to get a tan.

"Eva!" Antonio yelled. "Y/N's here!"

"Oh thank God," she said and walked up to you. "Girl, come sit your towel down next to mine and then we can look at your schedule."

"Yeah, I wanna see that, too!" Jay exclaimed.

"Should we wait for Will? And Jordan? Maybe Jordan has some input about the teachers. And, Jay said he has a story to tell about a hole in the ceiling of the high school and he wants to be sure everyone is around to hear it."

Ten minutes later, everyone had arrived and was in their swimming gear. "Okay, what's this story about the ceiling, Jay?" you asked.

"Oh, that story," Will joked.

"Yeah, that one. What other one would there be?"

Will rolled his eyes.

"Okay, before I start, I am going to preface this by saying that I was young and I was very stupid."

"He's stupid every day," Will dramatically leaned over Jay and whispered to Erin.

"Man, would you shut up and let me tell the story?" Will sat in silence for a few seconds. "Thank you.

"We all know about senior pranks. Well, it was my senior year and a few of us from the soccer team decided to pool our money together and buy some live chickens--"

"Did you say chickens? As in chickens with feathers? That squawk?" Kevin asked.

"Yes, real chickens. What other ones would there be?"

"Maybe they were chicken nuggets," Adam suggested.

Jay dramatically sighed. "Antonio, did you miss having me in the unit this week? You and Erin had to put up with these two bozos all by yourself."

"Hey!" Adam and Kevin yelled in unison.

"Anyway, as I was saying, some of us from the soccer team pooled our money together to buy chickens. Real live chickens, not chicken nuggets, Ruz. Then, we chose a Sunday night to get into the school--they always left this one back door unlocked--and we climbed onto the roof from the stairs/hole thingy in the ceiling right above the indoor track.

"Once we got to the roof, we dropped the chickens off of it. But, our stupid lookout got caught and then the cops came."

"You got arrested?" Adam laughed. "This is priceless."

"Didn't get arrested. Just had to do community service to be able to walk at graduation. But, nowadays, yeah, I'd have probably gotten arrested."

"So, that's why they closed it? Because you and your friends decided to drop chickens from the roof?" you asked.

"Exactly."

"Were Mom and Dad mad?" you asked. "I was little. I don't remember."

"They weren't thrilled, I'll tell you that much. I think if I would've gotten arrested it would've been a lot worse."

"He's downplaying it," Will said. "Mom grounded him from everything. Car keys, those crappy Motorola phones we had back then, GameBoy, dates with Allie. He couldn't do anything."

"Does not sound fun. I won't be trying that." You pulled your schedule out of the bag Jay had brought and passed it to your brother first.

"Aw, man, you got Cunningham for history," Jay groaned. "Or should I say Cuntingham."

"Jay!" you yelled.

"That old hag is still teaching? Damn," Will added.

"Okay, what's the issue with her? Eva? Jordan? Anything about this Cunningham lady?"

"She just hates freshman," Eva supplied. "When you become a sophomore it gets better."

"And she hates when you tip back in your chair," Jordan added. "She'll make you pay her 25 cents if she sees you do it in her class."

"Okay, no tipping in chairs, and I have to deal with her for a year, noted." You turned to your brothers. "How do you know of her?"

"I didn't have a problem with her other than the fact that she's a crappy teacher," Will said. "But Jay, on the other hand, he's a different story."

"What'd you do?"

"So, I was a freshman when you were born and Mom went into labor the night before I had a test. And, because everyone hates tests, I went to the hospital with Will that morning and we waited for Mom to you know, be done giving birth to you.

"And, I went to school the next day and this old hag said that because there wasn't a doctor's note that I couldn't take the test--"

"He was this close--" Will pinched his pointer finger and thumb together so that they were almost touching. "--to taking you to school one day just to show you to Cunningham and saying is this a good enough doctor's note for you?"

"But Mom wouldn't let me do that...for obvious reasons. And then, because I couldn't take that one stupid test, I did not do well in that class."

"Just say you're related to me," Will said. "Don't mention Jay's name at all and you'll be fine."

"Got it. I'm gonna go in the water now."

You started to go in the water when you heard Erin and Will trying to convince Jay to go in.

"Dude, I can't roughhouse because of my ribs, you know this!" Jay told Will. "And, I am not going in the water with you again, not after what happened last time."

"Jay, that was twelve years ago, give it rest."

At this, your ears perked up. "What'd Will do?" you asked, walking back up to your brothers and Erin.

"He tried to drown me."

"Did not! I just wanted to see how long you could hold your breath."

"Yeah, see how long it would take me to drown!"

"He tried to drown you?" Erin asked.

"Yeah," Jay answered. "Me and Will were playing in the water. I was like 16 and Will was like 18. Y/N was a little toddler and was playing with her shovel on the beach. Then, Mom had to go to the bathroom, so she left me and Will in charge."

"Bad idea number one," Will said.

"There's more bad ideas. So, Y/N's playing in the sand, me and Will are playing in the water, and then next thing I know, Will's practically on top of me and holding my head underwater."

"And the minute I let you up was the minute Mom came back."

"Yup, perfect timing."

"And then you have Y/N who's sitting on the beach and decided to watch us and was just clapping her hands and chanting again, again!"

"Really?" you asked, as you tried to hold back your laughter. "I did that?" Will nodded and you shrugged. "Sounds pretty accurate to me."

"And then I didn't get ice cream after."

"Yeah, you didn't get ice cream after." Jay took a deep breath. "You almost killed me!"

You rolled your eyes. "I'm going in the water to cool off. Maybe it is best that you guys stay here. But, I mean, Gabby's here and I hope to God Will knows CPR because he's a doctor and that you cops do, too."

Once Will saw that you weren't focused on him and Jay anymore, he turned to his little brother. "Hey, how old was dad when he kinda, you know, clocked out on parenting us?"

"Early high school," Jay answered. "Why are you...oh shit, Y/N."

"Yeah, Y/N," Will reiterated. "And, we had Mom, so it wasn't that bad. But, she doesn't have that."

"She's got us," Jay said. "That's gotta count for something."

A/N: I was going to post this last night, but I almost fell asleep while editing, so it's coming out now. Anyway, not sure how I feel about this one, but I got it done, so that's all that matters. Thank you for reading! Please vlike/reblog and comment and tell me what you think! As always, if you want to be added to the taglist, just comment that you want to be added down below. PS: That story about chickens being dropped into the courtyard at school, yeah my older cousin did that for his senior prank and the lookout got caught and they had to do community service to walk at graduation.

taglist: @theambracer88 @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @onechicago18 @iamasimpingh0e

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inctlife · 3 years

Text

20 Years | LTY ~ Siwoo, Nari, Wonsik

genre: fluff

summary: growing up with the lee family

warnings: none

________________

Siwoo = 5 / Nari = 4 / Wonsik = 1 week

"Nari, Siwoo!" Taeyong called, his voice still soft, so as not to disturb the sleeping baby in the car seat in your arms.

"Daddy!" Nari exclaimed, running into the hallway, Taeyong scooping her up into his arms and spinning her around.

"Oh, baby girl!" Taeyong cooed, "I missed you!"

"Where's baby?" she asked, peering over Taeyong's shoulder.

You laughed, "he's here, Nari, don't worry."

"My little brother!" Nari cooed, wriggling out of Taeyong's arms to see the baby in the driver's seat.

“Our little brother!” Siwoo shouted, running after his little sister, crouching down to see the baby in the car seat.

“Careful, careful!” you chuckled, “you two have all the time in the world to see him, okay? He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

Siwoo = 9 / Nari = 8 / Wonsik = 4

“It’s okay, Wonsik-ah,” Taeyong smiled.

Wonsik frowned, turning to you; that was not what he wanted to hear at all.

“Mummy, I’m nervous,” Wonsik pouted.

You chuckled, taking him into your arms and kissing his head, “I know you are, baby boy, but everyone has to go to school some day. Aren’t you excited to play with some new friends? And some of your cousins will be there!”

Wonsik protested, wriggling around in your arms.

“Look, Lee Wonsik, that’s not going to do anything. Why are you so nervous about going to school?” you asked, pulling him away from your chest so you could see your son’s face.

“I miss you and Daddy,” he whispered.

You laughed, pulling him close, “we’ll miss you too, Bubba.”

“Wonsik-ah,” Taeyong cooed, “Mummy even cried last night because of how much we’ll miss you! But school is fun, okay? You’re gonna have so much fun, buddy!”

“Wonsik-ah!” Siwoo called, “I’ll be at school too! And Nari! You can stay with us at break time and lunch.”

“I can?” Wonsik asked, his big eyes shining with the threat of tears, until his big brother spoke to him.

“Of course!” Nari smiled, “come on! We’re already dressed!”

Wonsik giggled, wriggling; now to get out of your arms, and down to the floor, ready to get dressed for his first day of school.

Siwoo = 11 / Nari = 10 / Wonsik = 6

“Wonsik! Throw me the iPad,” Siwoo said, motioning for his little brother to pass it over to him.

But Wonsik’s head hadn’t wrapped itself round all the different ins and outs of language yet, and his brother said what his brother said.

Lifting his arm into the air, he threw the iPad across the room.

“Wonsik! What the heck?!” Siwoo exclaimed, as the flying metal hit his arm and landed on the floor beside him, the screen cracking.

“Wonsik!” Nari shouted, the iPad being a shared possession between the three.

“What happened?” you called from the kitchen, Taeyong stood beside you, rolling his eyes.

“Wonsik threw the iPad!” Siwoo yelled, storming into the kitchen.

“He told me to,” Wonsik said, waddling in after him, a sad look in his eyes.

“Why would he have told you to throw it?” you asked.

“He said ‘throw me the iPad’,” Wonsik repeated.

“Yeah! And that means give it to me! Oh my god,” Siwoo seethed.

“Shh, calm down, Si,” Taeyong said, stroking his eldest son’s hair, “it was just a little misunderstanding, okay? We’re not mad at either of you.”

“Yeah but dad, look at the iPad!” Nari exclaimed.

“Is it cracked?” he asked.

“All over!” Siwoo huffed.

“We can get you a new iPad, guys,” Taeyong said, “can you two just apologise to each other please?”

“I’m sorry for throwing the iPad, Siwoo-hyung,” Wonsik muttered.

Siwoo frowned, “I’m sorry.”

“For...?”

“For... For shouting at you,” Siwoo said.

“Okay, I’ll get you guys a new iPad. Why don’t you play with Legos for now?”

Siwoo = 14 / Nari = 13 / Wonsik = 9

“It is 3 o’clock in the morning!” you yelled, “what the fuck do you think you’re doing?! Taeyong, you’re killing yourself and you’re abandoning us!”

“I’m not abandoning anyone! I’m fucking working all for your guys!” Taeyong yelled back, both of you heated as you shouted back insults and arguments, most of them not even making sense.

“Wonsik-ah?” Nari called gently, pushing her younger brother’s door open, “you okay?”

You never meant for the kids to hear you, but you two were loud.

Wonsik nodded slowly, moving up in his bed, Nari coming to join him.

“You two are babies,” Siwoo said, but still came quickly into his little brother’s room, joining the two on the bed, “I’ll protect you.”

Siwoo = 17 / Nari = 16 / Wonsik = 12

“Hey, Siwoo-hyung?” Wonsik called sheepishly.

“Hmm?”

Siwoo didn’t look up from his textbook, furiously writing out notes.

“I– I just wanted to get your advice on something.”

“I’m a bit busy,” Siwoo sighed, looking up at his younger brother for the first time since he entered the room, “what’s it about?”

“Um... a girl.”

Siwoo smirked, sitting back in his chair, “oh yeah? Then I have plenty of time, what’s your question?”

“W-Well I wanted to confess. And I was going to on White Day but I don’t really know how...” Wonsik trailed off, he was so embarrassed, but he didn’t know who else to turn to, “can you help?”

“Our baby!” Siwoo cooed.

“Oh my god, fuck off,” Wonsik whined, going to leave, when Siwoo rolled his chair over and grabbed his wrist.

“Wait, wait, wait!” the elder laughed, “I’m just joking with you. What’s she like? Did she give you anything on Valentine’s Day?”

“Oh my god, who?” Nari asked, stopping her journey past Siwoo’s door.

“No!” Wonsik whined.

Siwoo cackled, “Wonsik has a crush.”

“Shut up!”

“Wants to confess,” Siwoo giggled.

Nari laughed, catching her little brother as he tried to leave.

“I’m helping,” Nari announced, shoving Wonsik onto the bed and sitting on the floor in front of him, “so, what’s she like?!”

Siwoo = 18 / Nari = 17 / Wonsik = 13

“Can you just fuck off?!”

“But you’re crying,” Wonsik said.

“Wow,” Nari scoffed, “really? I didn’t know.”

“Who’s crying?” Siwoo asked.

“Go away!” Nari yelled, throwing a stuffed toy from her bed at her brothers.

“Woah! That was so unprovoked!” Siwoo exclaimed.

“I just wanted to know why!” Wonsik laughed, “I’m sorry.”

“Why?! Why am I crying?!” Nari yelled, “I don’t know, maybe it’s because Hyunjin fucking cheating on me!”

The brothers were speechless, stood in the hallway as Nari slammed the door in their faces.

“Nari?” Wonsik finally said, after a pause.

“Just go away.”

“I have chocolate. I bought it on the way home from school today,” he continued, “do you wanna share?”

Siwoo smiled at his little brother’s heart, “I have this really good series we should watch as well, Ri!”

“What kind?”

“Plain.”

“Comedy.”

Nari paused, picking the toys up from where they’d landed by the door, “come in.”

Siwoo = 20 / Nari = 19 / Wonsik = 15

“Okay guys, we should leave Siwoo alone now,” Taeyong smiled, watching as you gave your son one last, long hug.

Nari sheepishly approached after you, her brother pulling her into a hug before she could.

“I’ll miss you,” she whispered.

Siwoo chuckled, “no you won’t.”

Nari scoffed, pulling away with a sad smile.

“I’m literally gonna be back at Christmas!” he exclaimed, pulling his little brother into a hug, “next you’re gonna say you’ll miss me.”

Wonsik sniffled, “I will.”

Siwoo smiled, “you finally admit I’m cool, huh?”

“I’ve always said you were cool, actually,” Wonsik said, Siwoo laughing as he pulled away.

Siwoo put his hand on his little brother’s head, “be good, okay?”

Wonsik whined, joining Taeyong outside the door as Siwoo laughed, looking at Nari, “you too.”

“I’m going to college next year, don’t get too cocky.”

“Okay, okay, let’s go,” you chuckled, wiping away your tears, “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Bye Mum, bye Dad,” Siwoo smiled, waving, “bye guys!”

Wonsik and Nari laughed, walking backwards and waving until the moment they were out of sight from each other. Maybe they liked each other just a little bit more than they were each willing to admit.

Siwoo = 25 / Nari = 24 / Wonsik = 20

“Happy Birthday our Wonsik! Happy Birthday to you!”

“Don’t forget to make a wish!” you exclaimed, watching your youngest son blow out his candles.

“Does this mean we’re getting cake for breakfast?” Siwoo asked, looking at you and Taeyong.

Taeyong laughed, “buddy, you’re all adults now, we couldn’t tell you what to eat for breakfast even if we wanted to.”

“No! I’m not listening!” Nari exclaimed, “no way! I’m still 14!”

You laughed, “of course.”

“Hold on, why are you more distraught about your age?! Wonsik’s an adult, Nari,” Siwoo cringed, “how?! You were born like yesterday!”

Wonsik rolled his eyes, picking at the chocolate on top of his cake, “I really wasn’t.”

“It felt like it,” you commented.

“Yeah! I remember it!” Siwoo exclaimed.

Nari smiled, “so do I. Uncle Jisung was looking after us for a whole weekend.”

Taeyong sighed, “and now you’ve all become adults too fast.”

“I wouldn’t say it was that fast,” Wonsik said, “felt like fucking ages.”

“Oh you would say that, youngest sibling,” Siwoo tutted.

“Um, Wonsik! Language,” you scolded.

“Seriously?!” Wonsik exclaimed, Nari and Siwoo laughing at him, “Mum! I’m 20!”

“And I’m still your Mum? I’ll shout at all of you for swearing.”

“Not Siwoo!” Wonsik exclaimed.

“Well he’s the oldest, it’s different,” Taeyong shrugged.

“So unfair,” Nari laughed.

“Says you! Dad buys you literally everything!” Wonsik shouted.

“Oh my god no, you’re the most spoilt!” Siwoo cackled.

It didn’t really matter if they liked each other or not, in the end. They were still siblings; that’s all that matters.

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leighistired · 3 years

Text

Out Loud

A Martin character study AO3 Link

“G’night mum, love you.”

“Make sure you put the trash out, don’t want it stinking up the house.”

At 12 it occurs to Martin, he can’t recall the last time his mother said “I love you” to him. She must have. He knows she loves him, so why can’t he remember her saying it? Was it before dad left? It can’t have been that long ago. He knows if he brings it up she’ll just tell him off for being silly so he just decides to not say it unless she says it first. She doesn’t say it.

“Look how nice our neighbor’s garden is,” she says instead. “If only we could have such a nice garden.”

“The neighbors hire a man-” Martin tries to explain. He had just done law maintenance over the weekend; he would have to bring up memory issues next time they saw a doctor.

“Aren’t you happy with how I provide for you?” She snaps. “Ever since your lousy father left us I have done my best even with my health and all you can talk about is getting a bloody gardener.”

“Sorry, mum,” he says. It’s better not to argue when she gets like this.

“Forget it. Just get me my tea.”

He goes and brews her a cup of Oolong tea. It’s far too bitter for his tastes but it’s all he buys when he does the shopping. Perhaps that was it, instead of saying she loved him she just provided for him.

Martin tells himself that until she gets too sick to work and begins needling him to get a job at 14. Suddenly he’s providing for her on top of school and everything else but that didn’t mean she didn’t love him. She was just sick and the medication she was on made her tired most of the time so it wasn’t like he could expect her to be excited to see him; especially not when he’s the one bringing it to her.

“Is soup the only thing you buy?” She asks one evening when he brings her dinner.

“You didn’t have soup last night,” he reminds her patiently after a long day of school and work.

“Oh, so you think I’m ungrateful? I am your mother! I gave birth to you! You should be happy to take care of me!”

“It would be nice if you acted like a mum for once!” Martin snaps back. He regrets it as soon as he says it and doesn’t wait to hear her response. He leaves the house and sits in the park near his house for a long time and cries. Of course she loves him. It must be so hard on her to be stuck at home all day with no one to talk to and there he went snapping at her. She’s asleep by the time he comes home and neither of them mentions it in the morning.

Martin doesn’t know what he expects when he starts to transition. He hadn’t even called it a transition at first, he just likes how he looks with short hair, baggy clothes, and a sports bra. His mother disagrees. There are days she won’t even look at him and when she does it’s usually even worse.

“You cut your hair again,” she mentions one morning over breakfast. “Just when you were starting to look like a girl.”

“Yup,” Martin replies tight-lipped. He had been thinking it over for a while and he’s slowly coming to terms with the fact that he isn’t a girl. The way she says it hits him sharply. If she was never going to say “I love you” to a daughter, why would she say it to a son? He doesn’t bother coming out to her properly because he can already see the disgust on her face when he gets a proper binder.

When she decides to move into a full-time care facility, it’s almost a relief. He feels foolish for expecting her to say it when she leaves. He feels even more foolish when he says it in goodbye. The receptionist gives him a sympathetic look when she doesn’t say it back but the receptionist probably assumes his mother has memory issues and forgot who he was. She doesn’t. Still, he appreciates the gesture.

Dating is nearly impossible for most of his life. It’s easiest to blame his busy schedule; he doesn’t even have time for friends outside of school. The fact that no one even asks him out isn’t something he wants to think about. After he drops out of school and his mother leaves, dating and friendship don’t get any easier. He can’t let anyone he works with get close enough or they’ll find out his real age and utter lack of qualifications. Online dating is also out of the question for similar reasons. If one of his coworkers saw him with the age 19 in his profile they would either know he wasn’t actually 25 or they would think he was a creep and he didn’t exactly feel comfortable lying about his age to potential dates. Meeting people organically isn’t the worst thing in the world but it’s difficult. He makes a few passing friends at a local trans support group but even then, he can’t get close to anyone without risking someone discovering his falsified CV.

He doesn’t have his first real boyfriend until he’s 23 years old. They meet at a Holloween party thrown by a mutual acquaintance and date for almost five months before Martin ruins it.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Dominick, I love you,” Martin says as he serves dinner.

“Oh, uh, it’s a little fast to say that, don’t you think?” Dominick had stammered awkwardly. Was it? It didn’t seem like it to Martin and even if it was, it was true. He loved Dominick.

“I-I don’t think so,” Martin replies nervously. Some distant part of himself starts to berate him for being so needy.

“It kind of is. Let’s just pretend you never said it and we’ll see how we feel in a few more months, ok?”

“You mean we’ll see how you feel,” Martin says a little bitterly.

“Why can’t you just relax and enjoy the holiday?”

Martin had sighed in resignation and picked at the rest of his plate. They broke up a week later because Dominick felt like they were “looking for different things.”

Martin doesn’t have another serious boyfriend after that. He goes on a few more dates over the years but nothing that lasts longer than five months. Nothing that lasts long enough to say “I love you.” In some deep dark part of him, he wonders if he was ever meant for love. His father hadn’t loved him enough to stay, his mother hadn’t said she loved him in over a decade, and he’s not even sure he was in love with Dominick. He gets crushes, sure, but he just throws himself into his work at the Magnus Institute instead.

Working in the library isn’t bad. He gets along with his coworkers well enough but he can never get close to them. Not close enough to love them as friends or be loved in return.

Then he gets transferred to the Archives.

Jonathan Sims is not the first asshole boss Martin has ever had. He doesn’t understand why Mr. Bouchard sent him down to work in the Archive in the first place and his first impression with his new boss is less than stellar when a dog follows him into the building. It doesn’t help that Jon is good-looking and every once in a while Martin catches glimpses of a version of the Archivist without a stick up his ass. Like when he spends Martin’s ice cream birthday talking about emulsifiers. If only he would be clearer about what he actually wants from Martin. No report or follow-up seems to be good enough, even with the help of Tim and Sasha.

Martin works hard for Jon’s approval. He doesn’t know why he wants the recognition but it’s either this or quit and he really, really can’t quit. So he spends three full days looking for every woman named Angela over fifty in Bexley only to be berated for actually talking to one of them and then he offers to look into a case about spiders that clearly upsets Jon only to get trapped in his flat by a zombie worm woman.

When he finally escapes, he takes a few worm corpses with him and he dumps them on Jon’s desk while he’s in the middle of a statement. Let Jon try and disprove that When he gives his own statement he makes special emphasis on reminding Jon how hard he worked to meet his exacting standards. He refuses to be yelled at for this.

Except Jon believes him. More than believes him, in fact. He offers Martin a place to stay. Of course that would be enough to ignite a crush in Martin.

As soon as they get to document storage Martin sits on the cot and begins to cry with exhaustion. He expects Jon to leave but again he surprises him.

“I-it’s alright, Martin,” he says awkwardly as he pats Martin’s shoulder. “You’ll be safe here and I’m certain Elias will respond promptly to my request for extra security.”

“Thanks,” Martin sniffs. He can’t remember the last time he cried in front of another person.

“Would...would you like me to stay until you fall asleep? If- if you think it will help.”

“Oh, er...no...I’ll be fine, thank you. You should be getting home, anyway. It’s Saturday, Jon.”

Martin blacks out as soon as Jon shuts the door to document storage. When he wakes up he finds his crush on Jon stubbornly still in place.

He can’t help himself after that. He starts taking special care of Jon in hopes of encouraging the kind man he saw that night into emerging. At the very least Jon doesn’t yell at him as much and he even thanks Martin for the tea he brings. It’s then that he notices other things about Jon, like how rattled he gets by certain statements and how he’ll often go an entire day without eating or drinking anything unless someone brings him something. That someone being Martin. He also notices how late Jon leaves, if he leaves at all.

It’s on one such night of Jon still being in his office at 11 o’clock that Martin knocks on Jon’s office door.

“Jon?” He calls gently.

“Hzzmt! Martin?” Jon responds, having been startled awake from dozing at his desk. “You should be asleep.”

“And you should be home.”

“I see your point,” Jon sighs. “I’ll finish up here and head home. Unless you need something?”

“Actually….I-I was thinking,” Martin beings. “Since I sort of kicked you off your cot...D’you want to come back to document storage with me? You know, get some sleep?”

“What?”

“Er...forget I-”

“The cot would be rather cramped with both of us,” Jon warns as he gets up from his desk. “If...if you’re sure you want me to join you.”

“Yeah...I thought you had work to do?”

“It can wait until morning, no use keeping you up longer than necessary.”

Martin only half regrets offering to share a bed with his crush. Jon was right, the only way to fit both of them on the cot is for both of them to sleep on their sides (or for Jon to sleep on top of Martin but even the thought has his face burning) and it’s difficult for him to fall asleep with Jon’s back pressed against his. It’s good to hear Jon fall asleep, though, and as time wears on it’s easier for Martin to goad Jon away from work to sleep a few hours.

The more of himself Jon reveals the harder Martin falls for him. Especially after Jon accuses him of being a ghost during the Prentiss attack. Even with the guilt Martin feels every time he looks at Jon mummified in bandages. That was Martin’s fault. If he had just paid more attention then he wouldn’t have lost Jon and Tim in the tunnels. He does everything he can to try and make up for it; despite Jon becoming more and more closed off by the day. Intellectually, Martin knows that Jon has gotten like that with everyone, but something deep down makes Martin feel like it’s his fault Jon’s gotten so cold. It doesn’t help that Jon seems to have gotten friendly with the policewoman investigating the murder of the previous Archivist. Tim even seems to think they’re having an affair which does wonders for Martin’s self-esteem. Jon wouldn’t be the first straight man Martin has ever had a crush on but Martin was pretty sure Jon wasn’t straight. Again, he wonders if he’s done something wrong to push Jon away.

After Jon stumbles out of his office covered in blood claiming to have had an accident with a bread knife Martin finds all the excuse he needs to regularly drag Jon to the canteen to make sure he eats something. The silences during those lunches are hard. They had eaten together before but now Jon wasn’t talking to him. The most Martin could get out of him were a few one-word answers. He tries not to think about how it reminds him of his mum.

“So,” he tries for the millionth time while Jon picks at his sandwich. “Did I tell you what happened while you were at physical therapy the other day?”

Jon doesn’t say anything but he looks up with a gaze that bores into Martin.

“Uh...A little girl came in alone with a statement, she must’ve only been eight years old,” Martin says. Jon looks at him with an expression that almost seems afraid. “Don’t worry, it recorded fine on digital. She walked right down into the Archive, walked up to my desk, and said ‘Excuse me. My name is Beatrice Walker and I’d like to make a statement about a supernatural occurrence.’ She sounded so grown up and she refused to leave until I had recorded her statement. Turns out her dad was using the library for research and she had just wandered off.”

“What was her statement about?” Jon asks to Martin’s surprise.

“Oh, a hamster with mysteriously changing spots.”

“Ah,” Jon replies thoughtfully. “Not much need for follow-up there, I suppose.”

“Not unless you really need me to track down the shop where her parents picked up the new hamster.”

He catches the briefest of smirks from Jon before the conversation dies again.

After that Jon’s coldness and paranoia comes out in the form of a screaming accusation over letters Jon found in the trash. Martin barely manages to make it to the bathroom before he bursts into tears after coming clean about his CV. Tim thankfully doesn’t check on him while he silently curses his taste in men. Jon doesn’t meet his eye for the next week in what he bitterly hopes is guilt. He does seem slightly more willing to talk with Martin at lunch, though.

Then Jon goes missing. After trying to get Martin and Tim to go home early because Jon was feeling under the weather; he disappears. Not before apparently bludgeoning someone with a pipe and isn’t that exactly what he and Tim need to see as soon as they get back from a two-week kidnapping by a spooky door monster?

With Sasha gone, Jon missing, and Melanie King being suddenly hired by Elias, whatever’s left of Martin’s relationship with Tim deteriorates. More so when Martin becomes the only one in the world to believe Jon could be innocent. It’s probably that that makes the police detective “investigating” Jon so actively hostile toward him. Apparently, people say he and Jon are “close” and that probably only means the lunch thing but he wants to imagine it’s something more. Like people are somehow picking up that Jon likes him back.

When Jon comes back to confront Elias it’s all Martin can think to do to fall back on his tea-making. He ducks into Jon’s office with a piping cup of the overly sweet tea he spent months perfecting to Jon’s taste and finds him with his face buried in his one non-bandaged hand.

“Jon?” He calls as gently as he can while he closes the door behind him. “I brought you some tea.”

It’s when Jon looks up that Martin notices the bloody mess down the front of his shirt.

“You’re hurt. Let me go get the first aid-”

“No!” Jon interrupts frantically. “Just...Could you just stay with me for a moment?”

Martin acquiesces and they sit side by side on the sofa in Jon’s office in silence until Jon starts sniffling into his tea. He offers Jon a hug and Jon all but dives into his chest to cry. It’s the saddest most broken thing Martin has ever heard and it’s all he can do not to pull Jon into his lap and curl around him protectively.

“Martin...I-I...I’m sorry,” he says quietly. “For everything. For Sasha and Prentiss and...and for the way I treated you. You didn’t….no one deserves that.”

“None of that was your fault and I sort of deserved it. I didn’t actually know what I was doing.”

“You didn’t deserve it,” Jon insists before going back to quietly crying into Martin’s jumper. Martin doesn’t respond. He can’t recall the last time someone’s apologized to him. At least not like that. He’d been told off most of his life for not doing things up to people’s standards. A few people over the years had told him he didn’t deserve it but Jon was the first person to apologize. No wonder Martin was falling in love with him.

Damn it.

Cuddling doesn’t become a regular occurrence for them by any means but Jon begins doing more to seek Martin out after that. They eat lunch together more often and Martin stays up late to talk to Jon while he’s abroad. It drives home how deeply buried into Martin’s heart Jon has become. Especially after he comes back after going missing for a month and has the audacity to joke about being moisturized by a clown mannequin for a month.

He wonders if Jon feels the same way. Sometimes Jon will smile shyly at him, and he can almost believe that Jon would be interested in a relationship if the world wasn’t ending. The last time they speak before the Unknowing they’re in document storage.

“Are you ready?” Jon asks as he shifts nervously.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Martin signs. He heard what happened to Melanie. He knows what’s likely to happen to him. Some small part of him is screaming to just tell Jon his feelings like it’s the climax of an action movie.

“Stay safe,” Jon says.

“Come back,” Martin replies. Jon offers him a hug. It’s no movie kiss but it allows Martin to hold Jon as close as possible. Jon himself is hanging off of Martin’s neck and it feels like a final goodbye.

Then Elias confirms what Martin has always suspected deep down. That his mother never loved him or if there was a time when she did, she stopped when his father left. Even after everything. After he spent years taking care of her. After he had to quit school to care for her. All she ever saw was his father. All his transition did was to remind her further of how much he looked like his father’s son. At least it was worth it. To distract Elias so Melanie could find evidence to arrest him.

Then Peter Lukas shows up and reveals that Elias planned to get arrested. Worse than that, he offers Martin a promotion of sorts.

Then they get the news from Yarmouth. Tim’s body is found in a charred heap, Daisy is missing, and Jon is dead in all but brain activity. At least Basira is physically alive.

Martin spends as much time as he can next to Jon. He’s used to loving someone who can’t love him back. Maybe this is all he’s destined for. Love unrequited. He talks to Jon’s dreaming corpse. Tells him about his day, reads him poetry, even a statement, but nothing draws Jon out of his coma.

Then his mother dies. He barely has the emotional strength to mourn her. Instead, he scatters her ashes and mourns his childhood lost to trying impossibly to earn her love.

After the Flesh attacks, Martin makes a decision. He’ll join Lukas. It’ll probably lead to his death but what did that matter? His mother was gone and didn’t care about him anyway. Tim and Sasha were gone. Jon was basically gone. Basira and Melanie were the only people left that he vaguely cared about and by doing this he could at least protect them.

He visits Jon one last time in the hospital. He’s still covered in wires and his eyes still flit around violently behind his lids as Martin sits down next to him and takes his hand.

“Hey Jon,” he says quietly. “I...This is the last time I’m going to see you...Probably ever. I know, I know old dramatic Martin surely he’s exaggerating. I’m not. The Institute is in danger and...I have a way to keep Melanie and Basira a little safer, so I’m doing it. I just came by one last time to say...Jon, I...I love you. Goodbye.”

He gets up and presses a kiss on a part of Jon’s forehead not covered in wires before leaving. It’s alright that he doesn’t say it back. No one ever says it back to Martin.

When Jon wakes up everything becomes that much harder. Suddenly he had a reason to live and the way Jon pursues him makes him almost believe...No, even completing the thought would be dangerous for all of them. Jon trusts him enough not to be constantly badgering and that makes it worse. When Jon is there the Lonely makes Martin resent his presence and when Jon’s gone Martin resents his absence.

The final, most excruciating pain is when Jon comes after him in the Lonely. He’s excepted his fate in the chilling numbness of the Lonely. Maybe that’s why he says it. The certain, inevitable rejection would be numbed utterly. So he says it.

“I really loved you, you know?”

And Jon looks broken. Even after he rips Peter’s statement from him. Even when he reaches for Martin’s face with hands that seem far too warm and makes him See. Knowing Jon loves him isn’t like “knowing” his mother loves him. Instead of a lie born in Martin’s mind to stamp down the fear of rejection, it’s a reality pouring from Jon’s mind mingled with Jon’s fears of rejection.

Jon’s hands still feel too warm compared to the icy chill of the Lonely as he leads Martin out. Still, he refuses to let go all the way through the tunnels, the Institute, talking to Basira, packing at each other’s flats, and on to the train. The way to Daisy’s safe house feels like a blur and when they finally arrive it’s all Martin can do to remember to take off his binder before collapsing into bed with Jon’s warm arms around him.

He wakes to Jon’s quiet crying. The awful, stifled thing that breaks Martin’s heart.

“Jon,” he whispers.

“Martin? Did I wake you? I’m sorry, I’ll-”

“It’s alright, Jon,” he assures as he swaps their positions so Jon is tucked firmly against him. Jon makes another broken noise and Martin can’t stop himself from crying, too.

“I-I’m here, Martin. You aren’t on your own,” Jon soothes and Martin almost has to laugh. They lay crying and comforting each other until they both fall back asleep.

When they wake up properly they take stock of the safe house’s pantry and make a list of things to pick up in the village after breakfast. Martin gives in to the temptation to buy a new notebook to try and write poetry in. They have enough canned food to survive to the next ice age so they pick up perishable items like milk, bread, butter, and eggs. Jon also picks up fresh peaches and a box of Martin’s preferred tea. It’s easy to pretend like they going on a normal shopping trip as they walk up and down the aisles to check things off their list.

They return to the cabin and settle in. Martin sits on the sofa and tries to write out a poem while Jon tries to read a book from Daisy’s personal collection. After a while, Martin beings to feel Jon’s gaze on him.

“Is there something on my face?” He tries casually as he’s met with an expression he’s never been on the receiving end of.

“I was just thinking about how much I love you,” Jon sighs. Martin can’t stop the noise that comes out of him. All his life trying to earn love and Jon just says it while Martin’s thinking of a synonym for ‘yellow.’

“I-I don’t expect you to reciprocate,” Jon says quickly, his soft expression suddenly turning worried.

“But I do.”

“Oh…Oh!”

“Yeah.”

Jon starts giggling and it’s impossible for Martin not to follow suit until happy tears stream down both of their faces.

#the magnus archives #martin blackwood #jonmartin #jonathan sims #I wrote a fic #this was supposed to be posted on valentines day

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sweater-daddiesdumbdork · 3 years

Text

Real Life Tasks With Ransom Drysdale

An Advent Calendar Of 24 Normal Human Tasks As Performed By A Huge Man Baby

Day 14: There Is Only One Way To Load A Dishwasher

Warnings: Bad Language Words

Pairing: Ransom Drysdale x Reader

A/N- Oh we are getting closer. And this particular scenario happened between my father and me one night. Luckily no one cut themselves, but we were in a severe disagreement as to how sharp knives were to go into the dishwasher. Turns out I was the logical one. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for @what-is-your-plan-today and @ohthankevans13 for there updates.

Series Masterlist

There was the loud sharp sound of laughter from the outdoor patio, which Ransom joined in as well with his own genuine laugh while having a firm hold of your thigh under the table, his thumb sweeping back and forth over the soft material of your leggings while your hand was clasped over his in reassurance, easing his hand loose to weave your fingers through his.

This evening a couple friends of yours came over to the house to visit and have dinner, which you knew Ransom had been a bit apprehensive with. Not that he didn’t like your friends, sure he did, they were perfectly nice people you had grown up with, Rick and Sandy. But they weren’t like Ransom’s usual friends, other people in the same arrangement he had been, trust fund kids who didn’t give two shits about anyone but themselves. Perhaps that was a good thing. He was still learning how this whole being married thing worked.

So Ransom was a bit nervous all damn day, brushing it off though as in ‘He was Ransom Drysdale and did not give a shit what anyone thought about him.’ You knew this to be a lie, that he actually wanted to make a good impression on them. Just from the way he was acting all day, double checking there was enough wine and beer for your guests. That the house was generally picked up looking. He even offered to go pick up dinner, which you were not going to say no to. Writing out a list with a firm “Just pick up this list, NOTHING ELSE.”

And it just raised your suspicions when he came home with steaks. High end expensive steaks that had been hand cut by the butcher at their local shop. You gawked at them as you had actually put burgers on your list. You peeked in the rest of the bags. There wasn't the buns, chips or anything else you had written. But the ingredients for grilled veggies, potato and garlic bread.

“You didn't have to do this Ransom. I thought you were going to stick to the list?” You remarked as you looked at the steaks he so carefully let laid to rest on the kitchen counter before taking them to be grilled.

“Well if we're going to entertain, we’re doing it right.” He responded and that's when it clicked, this was his way of showing he could take care of his family, be something more than what everyone thought him to be, so you dropped it. Going to your tiptoes, you pecked his cheek with a thank you, and went from there.

Now it was the end of dinner, you felt Ransom relax more and all four of you enjoyed a fun conversation, some of which was Rick and Sandy filling Ransom in on some of your younger years, a devilish grin would spread across his face. “Oh trust me, she's still just as bad, just better at hiding it.”

“Hush I'm an angel.” You made a move to gather some dishes when Ransom sprang up to take them from you. “You are the one who fully corrupted me Ransom.” you smirked at him, which you could see a bit of color rise in his cheeks and his eyes crinkling in the corners with a grin.

“Something I take great pride in Princess. I got the clean up, you continue visiting.” He offered and you smiled a thank you while settling back down. Rick and Sandy gathered their plates, with nothing but praises for the whole meal, especially those perfectly grilled steaks, which you glanced at Ransom to see a slight satisfied smirk tugging at the corner of his lips before you turned back to your friends.

Ransom headed back into the house from the patio with the plates and utensils, listening while you restarted the conversation. He didn't bother shutting the door, leaving it open to let the conversation flow into the house as well as the breeze of the evening. Flicking on the overhead light, he popped open the dishwasher and started to randomly put plates in wherever they fit as the dishwasher was already half full from the night before’s dishes as well as their breakfast ones. Then he started dumping the utensils into the tray lining the side made specifically for them. He wasn't paying attention though, forks were going in tines down or up, spoons shoved in any spot they would fit and the wickedly sharp steak knives went in handle down, their points glinting maliciously face up, ready to strike any unsuspecting hand.

Which Ransom did, when he grasped another bundle to shove in, and his palm, slid along the tip of the knife along the meatiest part, near his thumb.

A blossom of red spread on his hand, as well as a sharp surprising pain, making him jerk back and clatter the handful of forks across the dishwasher and floor. “Son of a Bitch!” He yelled rather loudly in shock as red droplets dripped over the dirty dishes and across the tile floor till he got to the sink and turned on the tap. He could feel a wave of naseau wash over him as his vision blurred a moment and sharpened seeing the red swirl down the sink.

You happened to hear Ransom yelp and curse as the door was open, as well as Rick and Sandy who looked with concern towards the house. A glance over your shoulder showed Ransom standing at the kitchen sink, and you could see from there that his face was tensed and almost in pain looking. “Excuse me.” You said hurriedly and pushed from the patio table to rush inside. “Ransom? Oh god what happened?” You grabbed a hand towel to press against the gash on his hand to get the bleeding to stop, his face whiter then usual. “Breath Ransom, don’t pass out.” You tried to draw his attention to you instead of at the red welling up again before you pressed the towel against it.

He hissed when you pressed down from between clenched teeth. “Fucking knife got me while I was loading the dishwasher.”

You glanced at the dishwasher and could see the mess that it was left in. Knowing you would have to set it straight, especially the knives, as half of them appeared to have been tossed in point up.

“Christ Ransom, you gotta put the knives point down for this reason.” You said hurriedly as you pried the towel up to take a peek at his hand. “We have to take you to the emergency room, this is pretty deep. You are going to need stitches.”

“Nah- I should be alright.” He started when he wobbled a bit, his other hand grasping the edge of the counter. Its that moment Sandy poked her head in.

“Do you guys need any help?”

You were immediate before Ransom could protest. “How about a rain check on Cards Against Humanity? I think we need to get some stitches for Ransom.”

Sandy then came in fully to take a look at Ransom's hand. “Let me take a look? I’m a nurse, and can tell you if they will give you any stitches.”

Ransom lifted the hand towel once more and she hummed while looking at it. “Yup, looks just like the cut Rick had a couple years ago. Steak knife get you?”

“Not fucking intentionally.” Ransom growled a bit, getting agitated now feeling he was under scrutiny.

“Ha, Rick said the same thing.” Sandy chuckled and her husband came in, happening to hear her.

“Well I forgot I put the knife in the water when I was washing the dishes.” He came to Ransom’s defense with a dumbass excuse and at this point Ransom was ready to go to the emergency room, just to get out of this curve of a disaster the evening took.

Sandy dabbled at the wound with the cloth when the blood welled up again and Ransom this time felt his head swarm. “Im going to...” and thats when he slumped, you and Sandy trying to catch him and Rick managing to get his arms under Ransoms armpits and ease him down to the floor. You straightened up with a hand against your lower back and one pressed to your baby bump, sighing.

“Ransom can’t handle blood... I’m hoping this isn’t whats going to happen with shitty diapers to.”

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

After You managed to get Ransom to the emergency room, and he was once again patched up and left alone, you were sitting nearby, counting your fingers and muttering to yourself.

“What are you doing Y/N?” Ransom winced as he flexed his hand a bit, and you smirk at him.

“Counting how many times we have been to the emergency room in the past 6 months. This makes three times. You are like a walking talking disaster Ransom, I’m a bit surprised it has been this long since we’ve last visitied.”

He glared at you while he stood and took his coat from you to shrug it on. “Eat Shit Y/N, I never visited the emergency room till I hooked up with you. What does that say?”

You shrugged. “That I’m not as much as a dumbass as you Ransom, but that’s okay. I love you anyways.” You tuck into his side as you two leave the room.

“Yea yea, Love you to Y/N.” He rolled his eyes, wincing as he dug his injured hand into his coat pocket, looking for the Beamers keys.

#real life tasks with ransom drysdale #ransom drysdale x you #ransom drysdale #amber writes #sweater writes

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mull3ts · 4 years

Text

Quarintine Boyz, Part One

Pairing | NCT's 00 line x Reader

⚠ Warnings! | Smut, Orgy (5some, but that comes in part 2), Swearing, is this qualified crack?, Just a bunch of flirting too, Fingering, Dirty Talk, *not proofread, Requested!

↳ Word Count: 3.1k

· Part 2

Week 1:Day 1/14, 8:43 am

"You need to stop eating my coffee, Donghyuck"

He gasped

"Um? Eating? Really? You're a bit stupid, Jaemin." Donghyuck fought back

"Think again," Jaemin hissed "I'm not the one stupid enough to drink coffee that's not theirs!"

Jeno glared at them

"Will you guys just-"

"Butt out of it, sexy guy" They both yelled

"That one's new" Jeno mumbled

"Will you bitch asses shut up, there's a pandemic for crying out loud!" Renjun yelled from the couch

"I have litterally never heard that word once in my life" You said streching as you just woke up

"Y/N" Donghyuck and Jaemin said both storming towards you

"Tell him he shouldn't drink my coffee" Jaemin said

"Nu-uh tell this hoe to back off because if it's on the counter, it's free real estate" Donghyuck said

"That's really not my problem, what's a pandemic?" You asked

"Apparently it's when we can't go outside anymore and quarantine for 2 weeks." Renjun sighed

"How am I supposed to work out!" Jeno shrieked

"How am I supposed to get laid!" Jaemin said dropping his bag of coffee grounds

"How am I supposed to leave and see Mark!"

"How am I supposed to care about that, Hyuck" You mumbled

"How am I supposed to live with all of you!" Renjun screamed grabbing his hair

"First of all," You began, "Jeno, you can do home workouts"

"But my weights..." Jeno whispered

"Jaemin, just jackoff for god's sake!"

"It's not the same...Can I use you?" Jaemin said, being absolutely serious

"That sounds horrible, no. Donghyuck, just call Mark or something!"

"But I wanna kiss him!" Donghyuck cried

"Kiss your phone! Renjun...let's go jump off of a bridge" You sighed

"Let's go!" Renjun said grabbing his car keys "We'll miss you all...not really but still!"

Jeno blocked the door

"Nope. You two aren't going anywhere" He said crossing his arms

"Yeah, we wouldn't want you two catching Corona" Jaemin pouted

You both sighed "Fine"

"So, what's for breakfast?"

"So, what's your social security number?"

"What?"

Day 2/14, 6:23 am

"Oh, hi Jaemin"

You were taken aback, Jaemin was cooking, at 6:00 am

"What's cooking good looking?" He smirked

"Um, nothing, I'm not cooking?" You questioned

"Shit, um....y-you'reeeeeeee hot, mmhm, hot like hot, really hot." Jaemin said thinking about it as he spoke

"T-thanks?"

Jaemin got a plate for the both of you and turned around making you actually look at him

You screamed while turning red

"NA JAEMIN WHY AREN'T YOU WEARING A SHIRT?!"

"It's hot?" He stated plainly "So I'm not wearing a shirt."

"I'm fucking cold Na Jaemin, what makes you think it's hot?"

He smirked again, you'd really like to wipe that smirk off of his pretty face

"You're in the room, makes it hotter"

"I KNEW THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN. I KNEW YOU WOULD DO THIS TO HER NA JAEMIN!" Renjun yelled waking down the stairs

"Y-you what?"

"Shit. I've been exposed"

"And what are you gonna do about it" Jaemin said slamming his fist on the table

"Nothing, except go back to bed. Oh and by the way...the AC is broken and that's why it's so cold" Renjun said yawning and walking back up the stairs

"Yeah, aren't you cold, Jaemin?" You questioned looking at the goosebumps on his biceps

"I'm fine" He said placing your food on the plate "So, you gonna put on a shirt-" He stopped you. "Nope. I'm staying shirtless with this apron".

"You know that's a Peppa Pig apron right?"

"It was cheap! Your point is...". You shook your head "It's nothing".

Day 2/14, 2:55 pm

"You don't mind if I workout while your here, right?" Jeno asked holding a workout mat

"No, this is your room anyways"

"Cool" That's when Jeno started to remove his shirt

"A-aren't you gonna keep that on"

Smack

"Keep it, babe. Wear it sometime" He smirked while beginning to stretch

Then an idea popped into his head

"Why don't we stretch something else, hmm?" Jeno said playfully

"Like what"

He motioned you to come to him with is finger

He started to remove your clothes until you were bare

"J-jeno"

"Shh, keep it down babe, the others will hear you"

Jeno released his cock from his shorts and rubbed your entrance making you whimper

"Already wet, babe?" He chuckled

"J-jeno, please" You begged

"What is it you want babe, tell me"

"I want-"

It was just his imagination, and he was already doing his push-ups. He looked at you to see what you were doing

"Sniffing my shirt? Do I smell that nice?"

"Hey Jeno you-" You paused examining his body

"-you have a really big...dick"

Jeno stopped doing his push-ups looking at you like you told him something dumb

"Well geeze, babe, you don't have to remind me" He said going back to his push-ups

You heard a laughter erupt from the door

"Pft, Y/N, you haven't even seen his dick out of his pants" Donghyuck laughed leaning on Jeno's door frame

"Well is it big?" You asked innocently making Jeno's dick harden

"Are these two really having a conversation about my dick?"

"Oh my sweet Y/N, it's big, until the day Jeno decides to bed you...I'll tell you it's big"

You seemed so fascinated

"Woah, cool"

Day 3/14, 1:22 am

"Renjun?" You questioned

"Huh?" He looked at you

"Why are you painting at...1:22 am?"

"I don't know, why are you up at 1:22 am?" He questioned back

"I'm looking for Jaemin's Peppa Pig apron"

Renjun laughed

"Jaemin's sleeping in it" He responded

"Isn't that a choking hazard?" You asked, concerned

"Jaemin likes to choke people-"

Renjun's phone went off

"Hang on"

[Na Jaehoe, 1:23 am] Shut up you shorty Bob Ross don't fucking tell her that 😤😤😤

"Nevermind" Renjun chuckled "So I heard the Jeno's dick conversation"

"Gosh don't remind me, Renjun"

You looked at what he was painting

"Is that-" He cut you off "Peppa Pig, yeah. I'm gonna use it to haunt Jaemin if he gets married."

"So like as his wedding gift?"

"Exactly" Renjun looked at the clock "You should go to bed ya know"

"So should you, ya know"

"I'll go at 2:00, night Y/N"

"Night, Renjun"

Day 3/14, 12:44 pm

"Looks like sleeping beauty woke up" Donghyuck snickered from the dining table

"Oh, shut up" You said looking at all of your roommates who were eating lunch

"Here, it's uh...What's this again, Jaemin?" Jeno asked. "It's uh...Chipotlé? Wait- Yeah, Chipotlé" Jaemin said blandly

"Are you still wearing that Peppa-"

"AnD?" Jaemin clapped back, Jaemin sighed "I HAVENT BEEN LAIED IN MONTHS!"

Everyone groaned "JAEMIN! What did Y/N say?"

"She said to just jackoff...BUT ITS NOT THE SAME!"

"That's really not my problem..."

"Maybe we should sign you up for therapy-"

"No, no, I'll live like the Virgin Mary" Jaemin protested

Day 3, 12:55 am

You were all in tears (except for Jeno) and Donghyuck was already sobbing his eyes out by the time The Titanic started sinking

"Donghyuck, your eyes are so puffy!" Renjun pointed out laughing though the tears

"S-shut up you oompa loompa" Donghyuck sniffed. "You guys are babies, right babe?" Jeno said looking at you who was gripping on to him tightly. "SHUT UP LEE JENO YOU ARENT DATING" Jaemin hissed from his side of the couch bursting out in tears

"J-jaemin, is that my shirt?" You asked drying your eyes on Jeno's shirt

"It's the goddamn laundry Y/N..." He sniffed. "Hey, Y/N" Donghyuck called, still sounding stuffy "Can I draw you like one of my French Girls?"

"You can't even draw that well" You defended not wanting to be drawn nude. "Then Renjun, you do it, I'll pay you like 20 bucks" Donghyuck said nudging Renjun, "$150" Renjun responded

"Nevermind..." Donghyuck huffed

Day 4/14, 10:49 am

You didn't wanna knock, and it didn't really sound like anything was in there

But you forgot about anyone

"AH SHIT" You screamed, clearly not prepared to have seen a naked Jaemin

He scoffed, "Don't act like you don't fucking like seeing me like this, Y/N" He inched closer to you. "Don't act like I haven't noticed you checking me out when I wore that apron or when I was wearing that small ass t-shirt of yours-"

"Oh, so now you know how I feel when you're overthere at the other end of the room clearly biting your lip-" Jaemin cut you off by slamming his lips against yours

"Shut up, princess. How about I give us both what we want, how does that sound?". You noddes your head while Jaemin removed your shorts along with your underwear

"You drive me so fucking crazy walking around the house with these on. What makes you think you can just dress like a slut everyday around 4 boys hmm? Tell me" Jaemin taunted

"I like wearing them" You pouted. "Yeah? Well all of us like seeing you wear them, so why don't we put on a little show for the boys?" He reached down and entered a finger in your pussy.

He chuckled, "So wet huh?". You whimpered "Please Don't stop Jaemin"

"Na Jaemin, you're staring" You said snapping him out of his trance. You couldn't bare his gaze on you, looking at you like he was gonna eat you. "It's not my fault you're so cute." Jaemin smirked

"Well then it's my mother's?!?" You said. Jaemin was inching closer and closer to you as your back hit the wall

"Kiss me right now, Y/N"

"Oh, there you are Y/N!" Renjun chirped "What are you doing to the poor girl, you man whore" Renjun said sassily

"Why didn't I close the door"

"N-nothing...man virgin" Jaemin snickered

"I AM NOT" Renjun said tilting his head a bit, "C'mon Y/N, lets do the laundry for our resident man whore" Renjun said making you giggle "Man whore". Jaemin rolled his eyes at you

Day 5/14, 6:57 pm

"Where the HELL is Donghyuck!" You yelled

"I dunno" they all said in unison, so you decided to call Mark

"Mark?"

"What's up?" He answered, "Do you know where Hyuck is?". Mark sighed, "He's not my responsibly Y/N"

"Sure does seem like it" You said before hangging up. His room light was closed so you didn't think to check, but you'd rather be safe than sorry. "Donghyuck?" You knocked as you swung the door open.

You shrieked

"Hey, baby" He cooed before he went back to jerking off "Care to watch?" he asked making it sound more like a demand

"I think I'll..."

"Stay? Yep, that's what I thought"

So you watched Donghyuck, jerking off to you, for 15 minutes

"Y-y/n ah!" He said as cum leaked out of his dick. Donghyuck got cleaned up leaving you at a loss of words

"You're welcome, sweetheart" He said grabbing your chin making you look up at him

"yA! Y/N, Jaemin needs you in the kitchen cause he burnt one of the frying pans" Jeno said opening the door

"Tell him I'll be right there"

"Bye bye, sweetheart" Donghyuck cooed causing Jeno glare at him

Day 6/14, 9:32 am

Jeno knocked on your door

"The only considerate one"

"Hey, I'm gonna go to take a shower" He held up one finger to stop you from saying anything. "I'm telling you this so you don't think you're home alone because..." Jeno was hesitant, making you realize what he knew

"LEE JENO-"

"Mmm, Jeno, Fuck! Jaemin! A-ah Renjun! S-shit, Donghyuck, M'gonna-" He moaned trying to recreate what you sounded like that one time you thought you were home alone

"JENO FORGET ABOUT THAT!" You screamed in embarrassment making him chuckle. "It's ok babe, nothing to be ashamed of all of us have done it with you in our head" He said walking off while giggling

"Shit, my face is red, hold up, where's my phone?"

You looked everywhere so you accidentally thought Jeno's phone was causing you to read the notifications displayed

[Nana Jaems]: So we're gonna ignore the fact we all jerk off to y/n?

[Injoon]: Well do you expect us to go up to her and say "You're fucking hot in thoes shorts and you're hot and nice so wanna fuck?"

[Nana Jaems]: Isn't that what we have to do tho?

[DngHyk]: Or ya know you could just hide in your room and wait for her to catch you jerking off? Thats what I did yesterday. Be jealous hoes

[Nana Jaems]: No way!

[Injoon]: Well shouldn't we wait for what Jeno has to tell us?

[Nana Jaems]: Yeah, AND WHY HAVENT YOU COME BACK WITH THE MILK YET LEE DONGHYUCK

[DngHyk]: Calm your titties, I'm going

"Whatcha' doin'?" Jeno asked, clearly fresh from the shower. "Oh, I was looking for my phone and thought this was m-mine. whydontyouhaveashirton?"

"Why don't I have a shirt on? I just came out of the shower, babe. Gimme my phone" He said as you handed it to him

He read the messages and smirked. "How long did you have my phone for?". You shrugged "I picked it up when you came out of the bathroom" You said still flustered, Jeno nodded

"M'kay" He said looking at you with a dark glint in his eye before walking to his room

"damn, he looks good with glasses"

"Y/N, stop checking me out" He smirked

"I-i am not, you stop" You defended making hin shrug "Meh, I kinda like doing it though. It's a...good view" He said with a cocky smirk you wanted to wipe right off of his face

"Whatever"

Day 7/14, 2:42 am

You attempted walking down the stairs as quietly as possible

"Y/N?" Renjun said sitting at the dining table

"Renjun? Why are you up this early in the morning?" You questioned

He shrugged "I like going to bed at like 4"

"4 hours of sleep?" You said in disbelief

"Gives me my personality" He said winking making you laugh "I guess that makes sense"

"Renjun?" you asked, "Can you tell me a day you'll never forget?"

He thought for a second

"Maybe, when I first bought this place with the rest of the guys, or when you moved in. The day me and the guys bought this house we weren't told that there was 5 bedrooms instead of 4, but we didn't know. We just thought this place was expensive for no apparent reason." He laughed, "First Jaemin and Hyuck thought it could just be a guest bedroom or something, but Jeno was like, "

"Nooo, I want it as my workout room!" Jeno cried making the others scoff. Renjun quickly stepped in before this became a fight and only Jeno and Jaemin were left fighting eachother. "Here, why don't we get a roommate? They can pay 1/5 just like the rest of us?" Renjun suggested. They all nodded, "I know who can be our roommate! Lemme call Y/N!" Jaemin said happily as the whispers about how was a girl supposed to live with 4 boys went on between them as Jaemin was on the phone with you. "Looks like we got a roommate" Jaemin said happily. "Isn't Y/N a girl though?" Jeno questioned. "Yeah, but she's willing to also cook for us, and you." Jaemin said making Jeno shrug.

"What does happen when Jeno amd Jaemin are left fighting eachother?" You questioned. Renjun laughed, "It's not very pretty, and it goes on for a while".

"So is it like a physical fight?" You asked still confued, Renjun nodded. "Geeze"

"What about you Y/N, a day you'll never forget"

"Y/N HIIIIII! COME HERE!" Jaemin shouted from the door step, "I'll get your bag, go meet the rest of them!" Jaemin said already picking up a luggage. You looked in the direction of the house. There was a boy leaning against the doorframe, another one standing on the other side, and one who was in the back. Jaemin yelled at them making them walk over to you. First it was the one with his arms crossed leaning against the doorframe

"Hi, I'm Jeno"

"That one looks intimidating"

"Hi, I'm Renjun"

"He's kinda short compared to the rest of them"

"Did you really think that I was short?" Renjun questioned, interrupting your story. "Yes, and I still think you are"

"Hello, I'm a 10, I'm Donghyuck"

"Thank you for shoving that fact in my face, he seems full of himself"

"Go show Y/N her room" Jaemin said exitedly. While you were getting sitiuated in your room you overheard their conversation in the kitchen downstairs. "So..." Jeno started, "Can we fuck her?". Jaemin choked on his water only to find his roommates all staring at him seriously. "W-what, I mean- S-sure, ask her?"

"Did you really hear that?" Renjun asked, shoked. You nodded your head, "Every word" you smiled.

Jaemin was trying to tip-toe to the fridge while the both of you were staring at him

"Oh, hi"

Day 8/14, 9:15 am

"Y/N, would you let any of us fuck you?" Jeno asked while the both of you were eating breakfast. You thought for a second.

"Sure" You shrugged, "Maybe you though". Jeno's eyes lit up, "Me?".

You nodded, "Why not? You seem like the only responsibe one along with Renjun"

"What about me?" Renjun questioned. "She'd let you fuck her"

"But I wanna fuck her!" Donghyuck and Jaemin said in unison. "There's only 1 of me and 4 you, and I'm trying to eat or god's sake" You said glaring at the two boys infront of you.

Day 8/14, 9:22 pm

It was Monday movie night with Jeno and Jaemin as per usual, despite the fact of Jeno's hand in your shorts. "You make a sound, and I'll take this blanket off of you letting everyone see what a dirty girl you are. Understand me?" Jeno whispered. You nodded, "But I guess it wouldn't really matter since they already know you're such a dirty girl". Jeno chuckled, "Only for us though, right?". You nodded your head again, your breathing quickening as Jeno's fingers curled inside of you. "Good". His fingers worked their way in and out of you eventually leading you to start to clench on them. "You gonna cum? You're clearly clenching around them, am I that good, babe?" Jeno taunted. "Y-yeah, J-jeno, please let me cum" you plead. He nodded his head causing you to make a mess on his fingers. "Such a good girl for me" Jeno said licking his fingers clean.

Jaemin cleared his throat, "You two are quite the shamelss people" he said causing you and Jeno to look at him.

"Don't act like I didn't know what you two were doing. How dare you not let me have some fun too?" Jaemin said in utter disbelief.

"Here," Jeno said picking you up and placing you on his bed, "Let's have some fun with her then"

Jaemin let out a dark chuckle, "C'mon princess, let us play with you". They both started removing the very little clothing you had on along with theirs. "Open up, babe" Jeno said with his fingers held out infront of you. "Spread your legs, princess" Jaemin instruced behind you.

Spank

"Wider" He demanded

#nct smut #nct fluff #nct angst #nct #nct dream #nct dream smut #jeno #renjun #jaemin #chenle #jisung #haechan #donghyuck #jeno smut #na jaemin smut #na jaemin #renjun smut #haechan smut

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whatifxwereyou · 3 years

Text

Ashes Chapter 14: Calligraphy

Fandom: Mortal Kombat 2021

Pairing: Liu Kang x Reader

Warning: This chapter has SPOILERS and some upsetting content (character death) so brace yourself.

A/N: boy oh boy what have we here. smooches, folks. genuinely cried writing this chapter, but also had a ton of fun putting it together! hope you like it!

First Chapter << Previous Chapter Next Chapter >> Chapter Index

You were early to meet with the others in the lobby the next day. You’d finally gotten some greatly needed sleep and felt more like yourself. There was still a cloud hanging over your head of mixed-up emotions but there was no helping that. You’d gotten good at hiding it anyway. No one was there to meet you in the lobby so you went back to the little restaurant attached to the hotel. As you were about to be led to one of the tables, you spotted Cole and Emily waving to you to get your attention.

You thanked the hostess but let her know you would be joining your friends and walked past her.

“Y/N!” Emily beamed and offered you a hug, much to your surprise. You returned it and then took the seat between her and Cole.

“Glad you came to join us.” Allison smiled pleasantly though she looked weary, as if she hadn’t gotten much sleep the last few nights. You imagined this was much more difficult with a family to look after. “We just ordered so if we can catch the waiter then you’ll be right on time with us.”

“Perfect.” You then asked politely how everyone was doing that morning. It was nice to listen to them talk. It was such a normal conversation. Something you’d taken for granted in the past. You’d run from normal conversation for a while there. You’d run from any conversation now that you thought about it. You didn’t have much to contribute to the conversation but that was fine since Cole and his family were happy to talk. Emily showed you pictures that she’d taken while out and about in Los Angeles the afternoon before.

The waiter returned and you ordered granola and yogurt but even as you thought about eating it, your gag reflex kicked in. You just weren’t hungry. In fact, you were a little nauseated at the idea of it. The food was fine and you shoveled it down anyway but weren’t happy about it. It didn’t sit right either.

After you finished eating, Allison and Emily excused themselves to the restroom leaving you and Cole alone and waiting for the check.

“How’s things?”

“They’re about the same as yesterday.” You shrugged.

“How’s nothing?” Cole gave it air quotes this time, a bemused sort of look on his face.

“Are you really bothering me with that nonsense already today?”

“I wasn’t planning to but then…” He pointed to you as though you gave him an obvious reason to. You searched yourself but didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

“What? What is it?”

“I’m pretty sure that nothing left you a souvenir.” He made to push your hair away from your neck and you swatted his hand away. Was he serious? Or was he just giving you a hard time. Had Liu given you a hickey like some horny teenager marking his territory? There was only one real way to find out but any sort of reaction was going to give you away to Cole. Your silence had probably already done that. Cole was looking at you as if to say ‘yeah, nothing’ again. You narrowed your eyes at him. “Hey, I’m not judging.”

“Cole… It’s…”

“I know, I know. It’s none of my business.” He tapped a finger against the table. “Whatever nothing is? It seems complicated. I get that. I’m just trying to help you out before someone with less discretion points it out.”

You sighed heavily and pushed your chair away from the table. “We are going to have words later.” You left money on the table for breakfast. “I have to grab something from my room.”

“Sure you do.” Cole laughed as you walked away. “You’re welcome!” He called after you. You walked into the lobby and found the restroom there, hoping to avoid Allison and Emily in the restaurant. You checked yourself in the mirror which was something you’d avoided doing the past few days.

Huh, funny, you were a little pale even though you felt much better. Maybe you’d hid in the temple too long after everything. You avoided thinking of the reasons behind the word ‘everything’. Sure enough, right on the side of your neck was the bruise-like mark that Cole had pointed out. An unmistakable sign that you’d been making out with Liu Kang. Oh the audacity of that man. After all the drama you had between you, after how complicated it already was, he’d given you a damn hickey.

You laughed, hands on the bathroom counter.

“Fuck.” You had to cover it up. So you went back to your room and covered the mark with makeup. You’d do your best to keep your hair over your neck but changed your jacket to one with a higher collar just in case. Then you made your way back to the lobby and to the restaurant where you found Cole, Allison, and Emily still seated. However, Liu Kang had joined them in the meantime. When you approached, he stood and grabbed a chair for you. Cole couldn’t have looked more amused. Liu bowed to you politely in greeting and then offered you the chair.

“Thanks.” You tried not to sound annoyed but you were annoyed. You couldn’t just yell at Liu Kang for giving you a hickey in front of everyone so you had to pretend you weren’t annoyed which was also annoying. You made casual conversation but you caught Liu throwing you a glance now and then. Eventually you chose to excuse yourself and joined Jax and Sonya in the lobby. Sonya was just as grumpy as you were that morning which was nice. At least it wasn’t just you. She was likely not looking forward to spending more time with Johnny Cage. Jax didn’t seem too keen on it either.

The others joined you in the lobby where Allison and Emily wished you luck and then left to go about their day. Then the group of warriors made their way to meet with Johnny Cage. It wasn’t a particularly long ride but it was long enough that the silence felt awkward. You wondered again why Raiden had sent you all there. There was something he foresaw as a possibility that you didn’t. There had to be. You could see why he would send you and Liu somewhere to sort out your shit but why everyone else?

When you arrived, you found that the house was surprisingly modest. A two-story bungalow standing alone on the side of the highway. Johnny met you out front and greeted you jovially but you checked out pretty quickly. The conversations with everyone were fairly circular. Too many hands in the pot. You enjoyed Johnny for the most part. He was quite funny.

The truth was that your fuse was short that morning and you were better off staying out of the conversation. To you, it didn’t matter how the conversation ended because if Johnny resisted then you were going with the backup plan.

Kidnapping.

A word that you had thought so many times the last few days it was funny. You kind of wanted to make it happen now. Could have been a fun change of pace.

That probably wasn’t healthy.

When you were restless the idea of causing trouble became tempting and this was one of those moments. It was something you could control in a world of things beyond your control. Kung Lao had kept you in check in moments like this. He’d allowed you to cause trouble without actually causing trouble. There was no one there to do that anymore. Except Liu. But causing trouble with Liu was exactly the kind of destructive thing you shouldn’t do.

“It’s beautiful, right?” Johnny beamed next to you, proud of the view of the beach from next to his house. You’d been walking alongside the fence. Where the hell was everyone else? Weren’t they supposed to be talking to Johnny? This was going great. “It’s part of why I bought this place. I know it’s old school for someone like me, but the view? Can’t be beat.” He continued on and on about the things that had drawn him to the house. The smell of the ocean. The moment he’d known it had to be his. The renovations that he’d had to do. It was nice to listen to him drone on, honestly. Had the others already managed to lose him? So much so that he was babbling about nothing to you?

Kidnapping.

You considered this would be a good moment to just knock him the fuck out.

“That’s a great idea. We’ll finish this discussion on the beach. The gate leads right down there.”

“What?”

“You talked me into it, Y/N.” Johnny patted you on the shoulder then walked over to the gate and hollered for the others to follow him. Weather worn wooden stairs led from the gate next to the house and down to the shore. You hadn’t said anything so you had no idea what he was talking about, but fine. The others were soon walking past you. Sonya was grumbling something to Jax who was laughing in response. Liu walked past them all and was the first person down the stairs. Cole stood by the fence, hands in his pockets while he waited for you to join him. He nodded toward the fence. You shrugged and then joined him. You and Cole trailed behind the others.

“Now, hypothetically, if I agree to go on this journey with you then when exactly were you thinking we’d head out? Still unclear how we’re getting there but plane tickets are expensive short notice.”

“Tomorrow. Don’t worry about the flight. We have that handled.” Jax was the sternest negotiator amongst you and had the highest tolerance for Johnny Cage. You thought that Liu was more qualified and understanding at one point, but he was unpredictable now. So Jax it was. He was convincing and for some reason you trusted him immediately. That was not something that often happened for you.

“Yeah, that doesn’t work for me. I’ve got things to reschedule. I’m a busy man, I thought I made that clear.” He went on and on. You were over it. Just knock him out already. You walked past them to an old dusty picnic table in the sand. You’d let the others sort it out. Jax seemed to have it under control for now. Cole joined you at the table.

“Is this about what you expected?”

“Do you think if we let him keep talking until he’s tuckered out then we might get a word in edgewise?”

“I think that motormouth could go on forever if we let him.”

“Well, alternatively, we could just knock him out. Then I’ll call Raiden. Boom. Done. I’ll just drag him.”

Cole chuckled and ran his fingers through his short hair, elbows on his knees. “If it comes to that then I’m happy to help with the dragging.”

“I was hoping.”

Cole clasped his hands together, tapping one foot impatiently. You couldn’t blame him. You’d been given the runaround since you and Liu got there and you were certain it had been more of the same before that. “It’s strange seeing the beach this empty.”

“Rich people.” You gestured to Johnny and Cole chuckled again. “Look at those clouds rolling in. Looks like rain.”

“I didn’t see any in the forecast. Weird.”

“Weirder things have happened.”

Jax, Sonya, and Johnny were arguing. About nothing. You could hear their irate voices from there. Johnny had offended them, apparently. Liu was quietly trying to diffuse the argument but it seemed to be going poorly for him.

“You sneak over there and knock him out. I’ll carry him.” Cole joked. You laughed but when you turned to watch the waves roll out your stomach sunk.

There was a familiarity that you couldn’t shake and you couldn’t turn your gaze away. You got up and walked closer to the water. Even your shoes in the sand felt familiar. You’d walked here before. You’d seen these waves before. Even the clouds were ones you’d seen. Cole was following you.

“What is it?”

“I know this place.” But why? Why did you recognize it? You didn’t know. You just knew that you did. That happened to you sometimes but it had been years. With the visions you’d suffered as a child and the ones you’d had after discovering your arcana it had been a common thing once upon a time. It had been impossible to decipher what was a coincidence or déjà vu without help.

But this didn’t feel right and the drop in your stomach made you concerned enough that you had to say something.

“Liu?” You shouted with some urgency and he snapped his head toward you, stopping the conversation with Johnny with a wave of his hand. He started toward you but before he could ask you what was wrong, what was wrong made itself apparent.

The dark clouds spread unnaturally across the sky and the ocean shrunk back from the shore and crashed against an invisible wall instead of rolling back. Green mist swirled beyond the waves and gathered in a spiral energy. Opening at its center was a mirror of fire and darkness. You could feel the heat of it from there.

Your vision from the roof.

Unlike your vision where there had been a wave of bodies rolling in from the ocean, there were instead monstrous warriors with fire beneath their skin that rushed out of the hellish void behind the dark mirror. Was this why Raiden had sent you all there? Had he foreseen something like this happening? You stepped back into a defensive position and Cole joined you at the ready.

“What the hell is this?” Johnny shouted, lumbering through the sand to your other side, fists in a guard position. You were all ready for a fight. From behind the monstrosities emerging onto the beach an imposing armored man stepped from the portal of fire and green mist. Bald, gray skinned, symbols on his forehead and dark lines traveling up from his eyes, he was intimidating. Power radiated from him.

The monstrous warriors he’d summoned were snapping at you, growling, some holding weapons, others armed only with claws. With a wave of his hand, the monstrosities rushed forward.

You were ready for a fight but stumbled backwards in the sand. The déjà vu left you dizzy. Jax was in front of you smashing the creature that had come for you. You would have rolled out of the way but you appreciated the assist. “Get it together, Y/N!”

You put some distance between you and the others. You could handle the fight but you were better off in the back given what you specialized in. Then it was pure chaos. This was what the vision had warned you about. There was fire and the crashing of metal. Blades sliced and projectiles were thrown. Fingertips turning black, you summoned your arcana into blades and spun them at the ready.

Fire roared from Liu as he fought nearby. Jax was plowing through enemies while Sonya fought back-to-back with Cole who had not yet used his arcana but was doing just fine without it.

One of the monsters came toward you and you ducked beneath its blow then stepped back strategically in the sand. It rushed you and you twisted your blade and sliced the grotesque creature’s face. It roared, spit flying past its lips, then lumbered toward you even as your blade cut through it. You twisted aside and sliced across its chest and the creature fell into a pile of ash but you lost your footing on the sand. What the hell was wrong with you? It was like something had pulled your leg right out from under you but there was nothing there. Johnny helped you to your feet.

The creatures were no match for everyone’s arcana. Even Johnny Cage put up one hell of a fight which you were glad to see. One of the creatures struck him and he faked left, slipped beneath the blow, and then struck it repeatedly then kicked it toward you. “Catch!”

You spun and sliced the creature gracefully, relieved your body was obeying you this time. With a yell, Johnny kicked the creature to the ground. He stepped back into his stance and you grabbed his arm to pull him out of the way of a creature coming from behind him. He stumbled but caught himself quickly. Your blade pierced the monster’s chest and Johnny struck the monster in the face but then shook out his hand in pain. Then with a yell he kicked the creature so it slid off of your blade.

“Chill out, man!” He then targeted the wound your blade left behind and the creature fell to the ground and burst into ash with a comical spin. “Hey, can you do that thing where you duplicate me?” Johnny had nothing but excitement in his eyes.

“Is now really the time?” You laughed, shaking out your blade. Doing so would mean you had to take a back seat to the actual conflict.

“Come on, Y/N! Double Johnny! That’s my next damn movie!” He assured you with a big grin. “It’ll be a hit. No one will know how we did it!” There were more of those creatures coming through the sand toward you.

“You had me at Double Johnny.” You tossed the swords behind you and they disappeared in a spray of ink. Bracing yourself in the sand, you drew Johnny out of ink and had him join him at his side. While you controlled the drawing, you backed up and watched the others to make sure that they were holding their own. Cole had summoned the armor and tonfa of his arcana and was absorbing blow after blow before redirecting that energy back at his attackers.

Liu wielded fire in a graceful dance, holding his own with ease. Jax and Sonya held the front line, trying to make their way toward the man who ordered the monstrosities toward them from the portal by the water.

He made eye contact with you and then a horrible ringing began across the beach. You kept your grasp on the drawing of Johnny but it took tremendous focus not to fall. It was fighting more like you did but it was still doing its job. You dropped to one knee in the sand as the ringing in your head continued. You focused only on your ink and tried to drown out the horrible sound as it deafened you. Then an arm slipped under yours and helped you back to your feet.

“What happened? You hear something?”

“You don’t hear that?” You shouted over the horrid screeching.

“No, just fighting!” He steadied you then let go.

“There’s this ringing!” You shouted.

“There’s no ringing, Y/N!” Cole swung the grip on his tonfa and leapt before you, knocking the creature coming toward you aside, then spinning back and piercing it with the sharp end.

“Fuck this.” You muttered beneath your breath and then, despite the ringing, you drew Cole to join him in battle and together they batted back the flood of creatures rushing toward you. You were going to drive these things back to wherever the hell they’d come from. You stepped further back and drew Liu to join him. There was a deep pain in your chest and you pushed anyway. If you had to sleep for the rest of the evening it would be worth winning the battle.

The ink staining your fingers spread over your wrists and up your arms. You tossed your jacket off and into the sand. You drew Jax and the screeching in your ears was muted by exhaustion. The creatures were falling back, overwhelmed by the duplication of your fellow warriors. You kept scanning the beach to help your creations mimic their fellow warriors. You made to draw Sonya to help finish them off but then something struck you hard in the chest. There was nothing there but the blow was enough to knock you several feet backwards.

As you fell into the sand, you didn’t crash but were instead swallowed by darkness. You tried to fight it but your limbs snapped together and it was like you were bound, floating in a sea of shadow. You could hear combat below you, the grinding of a saw blade, and a familiar voice. It was like someone was controlling your body, guiding you through the wall of shadow against your will. It was like water, you couldn’t breathe.

Then your heart stopped.

You heard Kung Lao.

He was screaming in agony. Screaming for Liu Kang. Your whole body went rigid.

Then you fought to get free. You fought harder than you had ever fought in your entire life. He was screaming in agony and you were in the fight pit, floating above it. Shang Tsung had Kung Lao in his grasp and right before your eyes, you watched the life drain from the face of the man that you loved.

Liu Kang was running to him but it was too late. Anguish radiated from him but as he opened his mouth to scream, you heard nothing but that ringing again. In his last breath, Kung Lao froze. Then, quickly, the scene rewound before your eyes and you were forced to watch it play out again. You couldn’t breathe, you couldn’t think. You tried desperately to get to him, but you were trapped.

“You couldn’t save him.” A deep voice whispered, fading from one ear and into the other. “And you won’t be able to save them either.” You wanted to scream, to fight, but you could barely move, could barely breathe. The scene rewound again and you shook all over in terror. Darkness swallowed you and you tried desperately to close your eyes to it, to get away from the screams of the man you loved at the last moments of his life.

You tried to summon your arcana, to lash out like you used to in a panic with spears of ink.

In a burst of energy, you fell through the shadow, limbs free of where they’d been bound. You collapsed in a heap onto something hard and solid but it wasn’t the beach. You weren’t anywhere. You didn’t care where you were. You grasped your hair desperately, sobbing hysterically. Why? Why?

You hadn’t ever wanted to see that!

You didn’t want that in your head!

His last moments alive captured and replayed. You couldn’t help him. You pulled your hair, tried to get a hold of yourself but you couldn’t stop sobbing, couldn’t catch your breath. You were hyperventilating, shaking.

Footsteps approached you but you didn’t get up to greet them. You were helpless, sobbing and curled up on the ground. Whoever it was approaching you stopped right in front of you and crouched. You froze.

It was Kung Lao. You didn’t have to see him to know it was true.

He wrapped his arms around you and you sobbed against him, grasping onto him desperately. He felt so real, warm, and comforting. He was there. But you knew it wasn’t real. He wasn’t real. You could see the last moments of his life repeating in your mind’s eye. His lips brushed against your forehead, one of your fondest memories, something you were sure your subconscious was repeating to comfort you.

“They need you, Y/N.” He whispered. His voice was so familiar and comforting that you clung even tighter to him, your sobs catching in your throat. It hurt. To hear his voice so clearly in your head and know it wasn’t real. “Breathe, please.” His strong hands brushed down your arms to try and soothe you. You nodded and shakily took deep breaths. Even if it was just your subconscious, it felt so real that you took comfort in it.

He left that kiss on your forehead again.

“I didn’t… I didn’t, Kung Lao… I didn’t want to see you die, I… I can’t… I couldn’t… I’m sorry.” You sobbed, covering your mouth. “I miss you so much.”

“I know. I know you do. But you have to wake up, Y/N. I need you to wake up.”

“I don’t know how. I don’t know where I am, I don’t know… I don’t…” You wiped your eyes furiously but couldn’t take your eyes off of him. This was how you wanted to remember him. Not rotting away. “I can’t do this without you.”

“Yes, you can, Y/N. You have to wake up.” He tilted your chin up and just as his lips brushed against yours in a kiss, he was gone and you were alone.

Gasping for breath, you opened your eyes to the tumultuous skies over the beach. Liu Kang was pulling you from the sand and into his arms. It was chaos. There was yelling you couldn’t make out all around you. Green smoke engulfed the beach and your fellow warriors were falling back. Liu scooped you up into his arms but you fought him and he stumbled.

“Y/N! Y/N, don’t! We have to go!” Liu grasped again for you but you fought to get away from him and fell into the sand.

“He’s right, we have to go!” Cole argued and tried to help get you back up. Johnny stopped him.

“Let her do what she needs to do.” Johnny knelt next to you. You were shocked by how much he had chosen to trust you. Now you felt a little bad about the kidnapping thing but you were too emotionally raw to even be sarcastic. The monstrosities were rushing toward you, barely kept back by Sonya’s arcana.

Getting back to your feet, you focused on your arcana. Even if it took every bit of the strength that you had left, you would make them pay. You were furious. The last thing you’d remembered before you fell were the eyes of that man. He’d made you watch Kung Lao die again and again. He had imprisoned you in somewhere dark and he would pay.

You would do this for him.

For Kung Lao.

The ink covered your hands again and spread up your arms. You imagined the world as your canvas, the whole beach your art. You drew around the creatures running toward you and it felt to you that they moved slower than your arcana did. The stone walls that you drew on either side of them popped into existence and then slammed into the sand. They were huge, towering above the creatures. You collapsed to your knees in the sand but Johnny slipped his arm under yours and helped you back up. You made eye contact with the leader of these horrible creatures. He was scowling behind his warriors and then he turned and stepped back into his portal.

With a yell, you slammed your hands together and the stone walls crashed together, crushing every single one of the monstrosities that had come through the portal that was closing behind your arcana. The sound of the ink slamming together was deafening and the ground shook beneath you. Your ears were ringing now for a different reason.

Exhaustion.

You dropped into the sand, only kept upright by Johnny Cage. You sat back on your heels. The ink walls disintegrated and poured like rain into the sand, staining it. The creatures within had fallen to ash. Dark clouds grumbled overhead.

All that remained was the inky silhouette of a man.

Kung Lao.

Vision blurred by tears, you commanded the drawing of him to brush his fingers over his hat in victory. Then he disappeared into nothing. You let your weight fall back against Johnny Cage. He was talking to you but your head was spinning and everything was muted. Liu crouched in front of you and took your hands to help you up. He was talking but you were struggling to even read his lips. You blinked your eyes closed to try and focus. You swatted Liu’s hands away and then pushed Johnny off of you too.

You took deep breaths and regained yourself before getting to your feet. Then there was silence. None of you were sure what had prompted the attack or who had even been behind it. The only thing any of you were sure of was that it was not good.

You were still furious.

“Okay.” Johnny broke the tense silence. “I’ll clear my schedule by the end of the week and we can go. No more questions… well, about that, at least. I have lots of other questions.” He looked to each of you. “That okay?”

“End of the week? Did you see what just happened? We are at war.” Jax argued. You got to your feet and walked a little away from them to let them talk. You shouldn’t have but you didn’t have it in you to listen to them arguing about something that seemed so trivial to you in the moment. You knew it wasn’t trivial but nothing else mattered to you right now.

Sonya joined you closer to the water. “That was impressive.” The blond had her arms folded over her chest. She was scraped up and looked weary but you weren’t worried about her. Sonya had more than proven herself as a warrior.

“Thanks.”

“Couldn’t have done that earlier?”

“Draining.”

“What made you do it?”

“I’m furious.” You didn’t offer any further explanation. The last thing you wanted was to talk about it. You didn’t even want to think about it. But it wasn’t like you could get it out of your head. Who was that man who had done that to you? What were his motives? What good did he think would come of it? Why show you that? Why taunt you? To break you?

“I’d hate to be the one who made you that angry.” Sonya attempted to joke with you but you had zero sense of humor right now.

“I wouldn’t recommend it either.”

Sonya offered you a pat on the back. “Take it easy after that.”

“You too. Clean that up.” You gestured to Sonya’s arm. At least Sonya wasn’t treating you with kid gloves like the guys sometimes did.

“It’s just a scrape.” Sonya assured you. Liu joined you on your other side. The others were close behind now.

“We need to get back to Raiden.” You turned to Liu only for a second. You couldn’t look him in the eyes right now. You could only picture the anguish on his face in those last moments. “They weren’t from Outworld. They were from somewhere else.” Liu was watching you in alarm.

“End of the week is the best I can do.” Johnny spoke over anyone else who may have had something to say on the matter. “It’s only two days away. After that? I’m all yours.”

“That’s fine.” You agreed before the others could argue. If they disagreed then they could argue with you later. You were ready for a fight at this point. You didn’t care what their opinions were on the matter. Johnny had stood by you when you’d needed help even when he didn’t have to. You’d step up for him too. “It’s only two days. He’s right. By then Nightwolf should be up to speed and already training. With any luck it’ll be the leg up we need.”

“Nightwolf? Sounds like a Nordic death metal band or something.”

Sonya swatted Johnny on the back of his head inciting a laugh from Cole.

“Fine. Two days. That’s it. But we’re leaving first thing Saturday morning and if you don’t show up, then so help me, when we find you…” Jax continued to threaten him. Johnny insisted that his word was solid. You didn’t care what either of them said. If Johnny bailed then you would drag him kicking and screaming to China. But you had also accidentally bonded with Johnny Cage and trusted that he would do as he promised. You stepped away from the others, getting closer to the waves.

The ink had faded and so had the ash. The only signs of the battle that had taken place was the dug-up sand from the fighting. You felt Liu walking toward you before he was at your side. His energy was tangible and so uniquely him.

“What is it?” He whispered, voice nervous. “What do you know?”

“I know that I need to talk to Raiden.” You felt heavy, like another version of you sat on your shoulders. Grief. “I don’t know exactly what it is I know. I just know that it’s bad. That man… he’s trouble.” You knew that was vague but you had no other words to describe him without explaining what had happened to you. You knew so little other than a feeling. He had been trying to manipulate you. If that was his intent then he clearly knew nothing about you. All he’d managed to do was make you angrier.

You supposed it had beaten you down but you wouldn’t let it keep you down.

Kung Lao was still alive even if only in your head

Living enough to have comforted you when you’d needed it. The strength that you’d used to crush those creatures had been all because of him. You silently thanked him for watching over you as you admired the waves recovering from the magic of that horrible man.

“I can call Raiden. The others can meet us in China on the weekend.” Liu was terrible at hiding his worry.

You considered his offer but your gut was saying to stay in Los Angeles until you were all leaving. Raiden had to have known that something would happen. He had known you had to be there. Why? You hoped that he could shed some light on the truth of what was happening. This war had become more complex than any of you could have imagined. “No. I think we should wait. But I’m worried, Liu.”

“Yeah, me too.” Liu folded his arms over his chest. The tension in the air couldn’t have been more different than the last time you’d stood together on the shore.

“Are you okay?” You turned to give him a cursory glance. He was covered in soot. No surprise.

“I’m fine.” You felt the smile on his lips. “You’re gray again.”

“Well, I crushed an army.”

“Still.” He wiped the soot off of his shirt fruitlessly. “We should go.”

“I need a minute, Liu.”

“Okay.”

“You can go, Liu.” You didn’t necessarily want him to go but you didn’t want him to sit there worrying about you pointlessly either. You would be okay. Probably could use a nap but you would bounce back from that just fine. It was the rest of what had happened that no one else had seen that would stick with you. Liu bowed his head respectfully but didn’t leave you alone. You had plenty to discuss but you had no words. Cole joined you moments later.

“You okay?” He asked casually and you were grateful that he wasn’t nearly as concerned as Liu was.

“I’m fine. You good?”

“I’ve had worse.” Cole smirked, arms folded over his chest. “You saw something back there, huh?” You supposed that of all the people you owed an explanation to, Cole was pretty up there. He’d been there when you’d realized what was happening and that you’d seen it before.

“Yeah. That happens sometimes.” You weighed whether or not you should elaborate. Later. It wasn’t the time or place.

“Good to know.” Cole offered you his arm. “Come on. We’re heading back. No one feels safe here now.” You took his arm and then started slowly with him back toward the steps leading to the beach house. Liu followed behind you. Your mind was buzzing with anger. He would pay. You would make that man regret putting those visions in your head.

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