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caratmagic · 3 years

Text

—jung wooyoung—

contains: arguing, pretty offensive words, explicit content

word count: 2.3k

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Enemy Territory 🌻chapter 4🌻

You hate that you find yourself dragging your feet slowly—yet quietly— to Wooyoung’s door. Hoping that the noises you hear from behind it aren’t those of pleasure.

There’s an exchange of them chatting, audible enough to hear but not enough to make out the words. As if snooping like this wasn’t enough, you press the shell of your ear against the door. Using the frame of it to steady your body from making any unnecessary movements or noise.

A rustle. Then several more. You think you hear the sheets move.

They’ve stopped talking.

More silence, then a loud thump onto the floor.

Your heart races out of your chest and you have a hard time picturing what could possibly be going on inside Wooyoung’s room.

Footsteps hurry to the door and before you could get more than halfway down the hall, Wooyoung’s body peeks out from behind his door.

“Snooping on me now?” He scoffs with that annoyingly charming sneer. “I thought we were supposed to stay out of each other’s business? Now look who’s breaking their own rules.”

You shut your eyes tightly while your back faces your ex.

Fuck.

A breath quickly fills your lungs as you turn around in efforts to compose your expressions. You’re somehow confused as to why he was suddenly wearing a shirt.

“I— I was just about to knock and ask you what type of meat you wanted to grill, you idiot.” Your mouth moves faster than your thoughts and you’re so glad that your brain was quick enough to pull something straight out of your ass. “I didn’t want to… interrupt.”

Wooyoung holds the door open slightly for you to catch a small glimpse of the girl politely seated at the edge of his bed. Blinking curiously at you with a content smile on her face, although her tears still stain her cheeks. “It’s not even noon yet y/n, I’m smarter than that to start having rough sex knowing that you’re in the apartment.”

This thought somehow makes your stomach turn and not in a pleasant way. You didn't want to imagine Wooyoung like this with someone else. Yet, an image of him bare and in his sexual glory flashes across your mind and for a second you forget that you aren’t single. You forget that you have a neglectful boyfriend who likes to have sex with you once a week then proceeds to avoid you until the next weekend arrives.

Does Wooyoung have sex often when I’m not around? Did he have to use the word ‘rough’? Do they have rough sex together?—

Why was the thought of Wooyoung having sex with someone else more distressing to you than the entire problem of your boyfriend literally using you as a weekend booty call?

Not a single soul should know why, because the reality of it all is that: One, Wooyoung is single. And two, you are not.

So you had no right to be bothered about it.

Right?

“Uh. Right,” You subconsciously mess with the tips of your fingers to think of what to say next since you didn’t expect that his comment would throw your mind into a loop. “Just text me when you’ve, um, decided what you want. I’ll head to the store now since you’re busy… so you’ve got 20 minutes to make a choice.”

“No need to wait 20 minutes for me to text you, y/n,” Wooyoung slowly pulls his lips into a gentle smile. A smile that sets off a million bursts of fireworks through your chest. “You already know what kind of meat I like to grill.”

Instantly you blink away the feeling—or at least try to ignore it. “People change. Just wanted to ask in case you had a change in taste.”

Wooyoung presses his lips together before nodding his head slowly. Clearly catching your composure and deciding not to point it out due to the guest on his bed. “Uh, nope. My tastes are constant, y/n.”

The worst part of it all is, your conversation was being monitored by a ditsy flower, just waiting for Wooyoung to come back and take care of her… You hated it. Everything about this set up.

Now, heading out of the apartment to get groceries seemed like a much better idea to you than twiddling your thumbs to wait for Wooyoung’s pretty guest to leave.

“I’ll head out then.”

Upon grabbing your purse and your keys, you curse at yourself mentally for getting caught snooping. Even scolding your heart for causing your mind to lose control of your emotions.

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

It had only been half an hour since you left to get ingredients for the meal with Wooyoung, yet a familiar vehicle pulls into the apartment complex parking lot.

A few flights up and your boyfriend is back at the front of your door. Sure to himself that your car has left and that you’d be gone for a while.

San punches in the code of your apartment door. When it opens, a girl stands on the other side peering up at San with a shocked expression.

“Oh hey, It’s y/n boyfriend.” She smiles before turning to Wooyoung who, at the moment, keeps a straight face.

They had finally completed their 30 minute rant session, where she comes to him for help with her loneliness. Which was a topic to talk about for another time since Wooyoung felt like it wasn’t even his place to do it for her— also, considering he’s rejected her multiple times to be something more than her emotional support friend.

He never felt like a new relationship was something he needed.

As far as relationships are concerned, Wooyoung has enough on his plate to deal with considering the ugly truth he’s recently discovered. And of course, his unsettled feelings for his gorgeous ex.

“What are you doing back?” Wooyoung asks San, holding the door open for his emotionally unstable friend.

“Uh, coming to see my girlfriend??” San exchanges an offended glare at Wooyoung.

“Oh, I thought you already had your fill for her last night… What happened? Fell asleep before you could finish the job?” Wooyoung’s words are calm yet sharp like knives. Attacking San with precision as he tilts his head in accusation. “She’s out getting groceries.” He adds.

“You know,” San narrows his eyes, striding to level his face right in front of Wooyoung’s. “You have a lot of nerve thinking you can have any say in our relationship considering you’re her fucking ex.”

“We only broke up because I decided to switch colleges last minute without telling her.” Wooyoung doesn’t back down. He’s aware that his choice was the reason why the two of you broke up and that he should’ve told you sooner he wasn’t going to go to the same college as you guys had planned. “At least I never snuck out of bed after having sex with her.”

San scoffs at the gall. “Don’t act like you fucking know me.”

“I don’t.” Wooyoung shifts his weight and sticks his hands into his jean pockets. “But I know every part of y/n way better than you do. Every. Single. Part.”

San’s hand clenches into a fist and right before he draws it back to swing at Wooyoung. The girl awkwardly standing beside them in the threshold of the door raises her voice. “Hey, as much as I like the drama, I kind of have work so if I can just pass through…”

San doesn’t steer his eyes away from Wooyoung as he takes a step to the side for the girl to get around his body. Too peeved to realize that he was blocking the door.

“…I’ll see you later, Wooyoung. Thanks for helping me out again.” She waves before disappearing into the hall.

San huffs through his nose. It’s upsetting to him that Wooyoung doesn’t even seem the least bit affected by the situation. “Why aren’t you packing your shit? Isn’t this your last week?”

As if his train of thought derails, without even waiting for an answer to his own questions, San pushes past your ex and heads straight into your room.

Looking for what he left so recklessly before sneaking away that morning.

Wooyoung, with his hands still in his pockets, calmly follows San. Watching your boyfriend’s frantic search for whatever he’s misplaced.

Since Wooyoung respects your privacy, he stops right at the entrance of your room. “Did you wait for y/n to leave the apartment?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” San tosses a pillow off your bed. Not sparing a single glance at your ex.

“I don’t know,” Wooyoung leans against the door. “I mean, if I had something to hide, I guess I’d want to wait until she was gone too.”

San stops completely. His heart drops to his stomach when he turns to your ex standing in front of your room. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Wooyoung shrugs with a playful smirk etching onto his face as one of his hands pulls something out of his right pocket. “You tell me.”

There. What San was looking for.

His phone.

“Where did you find that!?” San yells as he practically dives for it.

“Ah, ah, ah.” Wooyoung shoves it back into his pocket. Placing his hand in front of himself defensively. “Question is, why are you so upset?”

San swallows and processes quickly before clearing his throat. He couldn’t understand why his palms were so sweaty. “It’s—Because it’s fucking mine! Hand it over!”

Wooyoung shakes his head, angling his body away from your boyfriend. “It can’t be yours.”

“Are you fucking mad?” San yells again. Smacking Wooyoung’s arm away from the position he’s guarding his pocket. “Of course, it is. It’s my phone!”

“No, no, no.” Wooyoung’s stupid, playful smile begins to boil hate into San’s veins. “This can’t be your phone.”

“I’ll drop kick that fucking smile off your face, you son of a bitch, give me back my phone!”

“Dude,” Wooyoung chuckles, loving how riled up your shitty boyfriend is getting. “I swear this phone has got to be someone else’s… because when I saw it on the couch, ringing at 4 am, someone named Eunji was calling to ask if her ‘daddy’ was still going to—and I’ll quote her on this, “Rearrange my guts like you always do on Saturday nights.” And you're telling me you’re certain that this is your phone?”

The reality settles into the air and San realizes that he’s been caught cheating on you… by your ex.

This is when Wooyoung’s twisted smirk turns into an angry scowl. He’s disgusted that you found a man so indisputably vile and unloyal.

“You really think you’ll get away with this? Lying to y/n like this and fucking her once every week just to make up for how shitty a person you are?”

San’s gaze falters to the floor and he snatches his phone from the unguarded pocket of Wooyoung’s jeans. “What are you gonna do, huh? Tattle-tail on me?” He shoves it into his back pocket, scoffing. “She’ll never believe you. She hates you.”

“Even if she does,” Wooyoung turns on his heels and enters into his room across the hall. “She’ll wish you were dead after figuring out that you leave her in the mornings just to be in some other woman’s bed the very same night.”

San follows Wooyoung a few steps into the hall. “You wouldn’t dare tell her.” He spits.

An exasperated sigh paired with the front door swinging open, startles the two men away from glaring at one another.

*********

After 30 minutes of shopping, you head home.

The entire time in the parking lot, you were gathering the courage to talk yourself into confidently walking back into your house.

So what if he was having sex? You have sex all the time with San while Wooyoung stays in the room across the hall from yours.

How is coming back home knowing that he’s having fun with a woman be any different?

Equality at its best example for it. You remind yourself as you exit the elevator.

To your dismay, You were unpleasantly greeted by a very voluptuous woman with intruding questions as to why you were going to enter into her boyfriend’s home.

You push past the nuisance at your front door. Sighing as you lazily drop the groceries onto the floor.

You can only assume that this other girl— an entirely different girl compared to the one from this morning—is Wooyoung's little problem.

This boy must be cheating… What a waste. “Taste’s are constant” my ass.

You pray that Wooyoung’s ditsy girl toy from earlier this morning has left. Though you liked witnessing drama, you didn’t want to see two girls fight over your ex. “Wooyoung? I think you have a guest.” You call out as you take off your shoes.

To your surprise, Your boyfriend is staring at you from the hallway— eyes wide and stunned.

Wooyoung steps out of his room to stand in the hall next to San. A flat smile sets on his features as he stares at you and eunji. “I won’t need to…” He seems to be talking to San when he speaks. “Next time, set a better password on your phone. You never know who’ll scroll through your messages and send people your girlfriend’s address.”

This confuses you. Immensely. More so, when San’s face drains of all color.

“Baby! Who the hell is this girl?” Miss voluptuous checks your shoulder as she rushes past you. Headed towards Wooyoung with her arms stretched out.

What rattles your world from it’s axis isn’t that Wooyoung doesn’t hold her, it’s that the girl doesn’t even look at him. She doesn’t even acknowledge that Wooyoung’s standing there.

Instead,

She’s all over your boyfriend. Calling him “baby’ and glaring at you as if you were nothing more than a disgusting insect.

No, no… I must be dreaming.

“Sannie, who the hell is this girl and why is she coming into your apartment?”

[ chapter 5 >> ]

#wooyoung #jung wooyoung #wooyoung imagines #wooyoung smut #wooyoung x reader #ateez #ateez imagines #san imagines #ateez x reader #ateez smut

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ateezmakemeweep · 4 years

Photo

dom!jongho

word count: 6k

smut

request: @songsoomin

you had nothing but nice things to say about your neighbors across the hall. the three boys, yunho, san and wooyoung, were just about the happiest people you had ever met.

they had welcomed you with open arms, brought over wine and brownies and filled you in on all of the gossip and best places to eat. it's when you first heard about your next door neighbor, the one you still have yet to see a month into moving in.

but, oh, do you hear him.

hear the distinct, obvious noise of a headboard smacking against the wall and the loud, dramatic moans of "oh, jongho!" being cried out. and the first time you hadn't thought much of it, even thought 'good for him, at least someone's getting laid.'

but after the fifth consecutive night of hearing it, the pitches and tones sounding very much like different voices, you were convinced he was a scumbag.

"a scumbag?" wooyoung says, refilling your glass of wine even though you're already far too tipsy. "ouch, y/n."

"oh c'mon," you slur, "i've been here for a month and i've heard his escapades more nights than i haven't."

"but a man has needs," san pouts, stretching out on your floor as all the alcohol hits him at once.

"and a girl needs sleep!" you squeal, "i haven't even seen the fuckers face but i already know far too much about how big his-"

"oh, my god, no!" yunho yelps, throwing his hands out in front of him. "y/n, please spare us. we actually have to hang out with him and look him in the face."

they had told you all about their monthly dinners, each of them cooking a dish and swapping which apartment hosts. they had invited you to the next one that first day they met you and you had agreed; but now, after hearing all you've heard and already disliking someone you've never met, you're having some hesitations.

"so will she because she's coming tomorrow," wooyoung whines, your eyes narrowing at the boy as you shake your head.

"no. nope. no chance," you insist, throwing your wine back in a very impolite fashion. "i refuse to look at that man whore."

"hey! we don't slut-shame in this house!"

you can only roll your eyes at san's words, knowing damn well if the circumstances were reversed, a group of men would have a whole lot to say about a woman having a different person at her house every night.

and it wasn't even the fact that he was having loud, obnoxious sex with different people (okay, maybe it was a little bit). but it was more about the fact that these women might be walking in with the assumption that he was gonna wake them with breakfast and treat them dignity and respect. not replace her with a different face just twelve hours later so he can hear the same shit over and over again.

because it's shit you hear over and over again and you decide that when you finally do meet him, you're gonna give him a piece of your mind.

that day doesn't come until a few weeks later, purposely going out to dinner with your coworkers so you miss the neighborly dinner party that wooyoung was sure to text you angrily about.

you come barreling through your apartment complex from the rain, running toward the open elevator as your umbrella drips onto the floor. "wait! hold it, please!" you squeal, desperate to just flop on to your couch and never get up again.

but the elevator door just slams in your face, quickly catching the sight of a stocky man in a brown leather jacket with black hair. you let out a frustrated groan, cursing at him under your breath before clicking the up button impatiently.

it's when you make your way up to your floor five minutes later that you see the familiar brown leather, his figure standing in front of the apartment door next to yours and you can't help but let out a laugh.

of fucking course that would be him.

you stomp toward your apartment, having every intention to continue ignoring him until you hear his deep voice greet you.

"oh, hey. you must be the new neighbor," he says politely, looking up from the piece of mail he was reading. "i don't believe we've met yet. i'm-"

"jongho," you interrupt, craning your neck to the side to look him up and down. "yeah, i know. i've heard it far too much."

the smirk that crosses his face fills you with rage for multiple reasons, one being that he just looks so smug and cocky and pleased with himself, a confidence that probably lands him so many prospects in the first place. but it's also because even though you really, truly hate to admit it, he's annoyingly handsome.

"oh? did the boys tell you about me?" he quips, the look on his face the biggest indication he knows damn well that's not what you meant. you can only scoff at him, watching his eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"the boys?" you ask, tone feigning sweetness, "try girls. many girls. the walls aren't thin you know."

oh, i know," he says, smirking at how riled up you already are. and it's due to that very fact he can't help but add on, "because i hear nothing coming from your end."

your eyebrow shoots up at his comment, feeling anger and irritation flood through you at the relaxed way he leans against his door and smirks at you.

"what's that supposed to mean?"

"just that maybe you need to get some too, huh?" he says, tone sarcastic and playful. "is that why you're coming off so bitter, princess?"

"bitter?" you laugh out humorlessly, princess? is this guy fucking serious? you take a step closer to him and narrowing your eyes at him, "maybe try exhausted or appalled or disgusted! i've had to hear your escapades for weeks."

"is that really what this is about?" he quips, mimicking your actions and taking a step closer to you. "maybe you're just curious or dare i say....jealous? about my action and your...lack thereof."

and it's at that moment you can not believe he is a real person. how a real, living breathing person could be this dense and arrogant and repulsive to a person they just met (while completely ignoring the fact that you're being this judgmental and rude to a person you've just met).

"you're a sicko, a literal sicko," you spit out.

your comments only make his smirk grow larger, turning his head to the side before his eyes roam your figure. "i mean, if you wanna have an escapade of your own, if you apologize, i wouldn't be opposed to-"

"goodbye jongho," you say, taking out your key as you roll your eyes. "i wish i could say it was a pleasure meeting you."

"oh c'mon, don't be like that," he whines, his eyes twinkling at you in a way that would usually have you hook, line and sinker.

"how about you start being mindful of your neighbors?" you snap, opening your door and stepping inside before turning around to get in one last petty farewell. "because if i have to hear one more woman ask you if you're in yet, i'm gonna lose my mind."

"so... i heard you finally met jongho," yunho says on your nightly walk a few days later.

"ha, oh did i," you spit out sarcastically, remembering how irritated and frustrated that arrogant asshole had made you. "just as big a dick as i expected."

yunho has to bite his lip to he doesn't smirk or laugh, simply raising an eyebrow at you. "what?" you ask, catching the look on his face.

"nothing," he says, throwing his arms up in defense. "i just think...i mean, he's not that bad."

"different girls every night?!" you squeal, "oh, c'mon yunho. and you know what, it's not even about that. it's the fact that i hear every single thing, at all hours of the night. like last night, it kept me up till three a.m."

"okay, that is a bit inconsiderate," yunho agrees, not saying that, now, the boy is probably just doing it on purpose to get a rise out of you. because he knows jongho well and knows that any strong response like the one you give just serves as a way to interest the boy. makes him see just how far he could push someone until they really crack.

"so inconsiderate," you whine, a frown making its way on your face. "it's stressing me out, even, working on like four hours of sleep."

and any time yunho, wooyoung or san hear the words 'stressed out,' it immediately calls for a night of dancing and overpriced cocktails. you were hesitant at first, walking into the crowded bar that friday with an already tipsy san and wooyoung.

but once you got down a few drinks yourself, you were right there with them. dancing on them and doing shots and singing so loudly you knew you'd have that telltale, hoarse party girl voice the next day. but it was so worth it because right now, you were having so much fun.

forgetting all about your work obligations and thesis due in a few weeks, forgetting all about the frustration you've gathered from being single for almost a year and how you're kindly reminded every night you haven't gotten laid since then.

so maybe that's why you agreed to give the guy who bought you a drink your phone number, placing a peck on his lips before yunho works to grab you, wooyoung and san out of the bar.

"you guys are so annoying, we're never doing this again," yunho grumbled on the walk back to the apartment. because that's the only way to feel as he watches san almost get hit by a car three times, wooyoung screaming "hello!" into every open establishment and you asking him one hundred times if he thought it was okay and safe to give that guy your number.

but then once wooyoung and san start projectile vomiting all over the streets, you decide to give yunho a helping hand. you wrap san's arm around your neck, wooyoung's around yunho, and carry the boy's up the elevator and into their apartment. both of the boys promptly pass out on the floor and yunho waves it off, insisting they'll be fine and that'll he be sleeping on the couch in fear that they'll choke on their vomit.

"you're a good friend, yunho," you laugh out, hiccuping the last part of his name. "thank you for this. it-it was so much fun." and the boy can only softly smiling, placing a friendly kiss on your cheek and insisting you'll do it again after he discusses with a few selected few how to act properly.

you giggle as you stumbled toward your own apartment, your head turning to the side when you hear the ding of the elevator. your eyes widen when you see jongho come out, alone, and you can't help the way your hands start slowly clapping.

"wow," you say, "do-do my eyes deceive me? are you actually going into your apartment alone?"

that stupid, arrogant, obnoxiously handsome smirk is on his face immediately, shamelessly looking over your tight jeans and lace shirt. "you went out like that and you're going home alone?" he asks, resting his head on his door. "what was wrong with the men there?"

"if you could believe it, they had a conversation with me. got to know me and just talked. you know, like a decent human being."

he bites his lip to contain his smile, crossing his (large, muscular, exquisite) arms across his chest. "what, because i like to fuck i'm not a decent human being?"

"because you like to fuck in an abundance," you tell him, walking forward and standing in front of him. "and because the porn-like moans keep me up all damn night!"

"now, if you could believe it, those aren't my moans," he says teasingly, liking the way your finger feels on his broad chest. "so i don't know why you're yelling at me in the first place."

"because you're the one making it happen!" you squeal, "if i have to hear 'ugh, harder jongho!' one more time, i'm gonna shoot myself in the face."

he licks over his lips, resisting the urge to laugh at how perfectly you intimidated a fucked out, whiney voice. and something about it causes him to step closer to you, just a few inches of space keeping your fronts from touching.

"what if it's your own voice?" he asks lowly, his words teasing but eyes serious. "would you mind that?" his eyes roam over your outfit again, the curve of your hips and the slight silver of skin itching to have his hand on it. "because i still think that's what this is all about."

you swallow the lump in your throat, amazed and a bit embarrassed by how quickly he's humbled you. but it's the voice, the proximity, his eyes on top of the fact that, yeah okay maybe it's a little bit about that. but who can blame you? it's been far too long of the sad hum of your vibrator and muffled moans in your own hand filling your bedroom.

"i think you're an asshole," you weakly spit out, still trying to keep some of the resolve. but he sees through it, smirking as he allows his hand to touch your warm skin and push you slightly so your back connects with the wall.

"asshole or not, i'm free tonight and you're free tonight," he hums lowly in your ear, his finger tracing your skin tantalizing slow and causing sparks to shoot through you. "isn't that right?"

you swallow again, your arms hanging dumbly at your sides even though they should be pushing him right off of you. but you can only meet his gaze and feel yourself tremble, his eyes dark and teasing and boring right into you.

"i..." you can only stutter, looking from his face to his hand resting on your apartment door. you bite your lip at the sight of it, large and strong and you can only imagine what kind of damage it does. is that what keeps them screaming all night, his fingers toying at their clit or pushing into their-

but then suddenly both your hands are pinned above your head, a gasp leaving your mouth as warmth pools in your stomach. because you were right, they are very strong hands.

"you what?" he hums lowly, his tongue swiping his lip cockily as he takes in your expression. "that shut you up real quick, didn't it?"

you lick at your lips, narrowing your eyes at him which leads him to tighten his hold on you. you hate the whimper that leaves your mouth, feeling so small and defenseless under his touch. "so what, are we gonna do this this right out here?" he asks.

"we're not...gonna do anything," you sigh out breathily, looking from his eyes to the elevator. but he's quick to take the hand on your waist to your jaw, turning your head so you can look right at him.

you don't like this, you really don't.

actually you like this too much.

because his hand is far too close to your neck and if he wraps his hand around it, you'll be done. you'll probably beg for him and embarrass yourself and maybe even come untouched, who's to know really.

"oh no?" he hums, teasing and superiority in his tone. and then he starts doing just what you didn't want, moving down your neck and squeezing at the sides every so slightly. he doesn't miss the way your breath quickens, how your eyes close and you tip your head back further.

"you like this?" he says lowly, "you like my hand around your pretty little throat?" you whimper again, all the pent up frustration and desire hitting you at once.

anyone who says a cold shower is the best way to sober you up clearly doesn't know anything. all you need is a years worth of being sexual deprived and an obnoxious neighbor with strong hands and a high libido. because you feel completely coherent and aware, aware of the how fast wetness is pooling in your underwear and how your mind is flooding with all the things you want him to do to you.

"where else do you want my hand?"

your eyes fly open and now it's his turn for lust to creep on him, the glossy, heated, wide-eyed look you give him all he needs to suppress a low growl in the back of his throat. to move his hand down your cleavage and mumble "here?"

but when you shake your head, he only smirks, giving each breast a squeeze before trailing it down your stomach and right above the waistband of your jeans. "here?"

you feel like you're about to pass out now, your legs wobbly and breath so ragged and shaky. "touch me, please," you whisper, hating how fast he's made you desperate and pathetic. but you don't hate it enough to not give in, wanting and needing his hand between your legs.

"just because you said please," he says and then he's rubbing you over your jeans. you spread your legs out even more, crying out quietly when you feel him graze over your most sensitive spot. you feel how wet your underwear is becoming, wishing he would just stick his hand down there and give you what you want.

"j-jongho," you whine out, head lolling to the side as you look up at him.

"what do you want?" he hums, his hand instinctually tightening on your red wrists. "you want me to feel how wet you are?"

you can only nod your head quickly, thinking that maybe perhaps he can read your mind but not really caring at this point, because then he's zipping down your pants and sticking his hand in your soaked thong.

"shit," he grunts out, his profanity drowned out by the whine leaving your mouth. "i knew you were just frustrated. that's what it was, right?" but you refuse to answer, just focusing on the way his fingers are flicking at your throbbing clit. his fingers are so skilled and long, sparks of pleasure shooting right through you.

but that doesn't do for him. which is why he suddenly sticks a finger in your wet entrance making you cry out. "right?" he growls. "i'll leave you here dripping if you don't answer me."

"yes," you whine immediately. "i...want that."

"want what?" he asks, sticking a second finger in as some type of reward. which is why you speak again, whine out that you want someone to fuck you and make you scream.

"i offered," he said lowly, his finger quickly circling your clit. "but you were such a judgmental, self-righteous little-"

the ding of the elevator immediately brings you both back to reality, that you're both still very much in the hallway of your apartment complex. he immediately rips his hand out of your pants, dropping his hold on you and covering your body with his.

"zip them up."

and just like the past few minutes, you do as your told. the couple coming out of the elevator pass you with a polite hello, the flush on your face and the tent in jongho's pants leaving little to the imagination. but then they disappear around the corner, both of you huffing out a sigh of relief.

"shit, that was close," he says lowly, looking at your face to see you staring right at him. "what?"

"that was...."

he's expecting to hear the words 'amazing' or 'just what i needed' or 'not enough, come inside so we can finish.'

"a mistake."

his eyebrow raises at your words, looking over your flushed face and messy hair and knowing you're just saying that to safe face. because since the second you met, the tension was so palpable with sexual undertones and hidden desires.

"bullshit."

you roll your eyes despite the throbbing wetness between your thighs. "i'm serious," you tell him, pushing past him as you go to unlock your door. "this never happened."

"y/n, don't be so-"

but then the door slams in his face again.

the same way wooyoung slams it two weeks later, calling you innocently and telling you he wants to try out a new outfit for you. "i don't have any professional clothes so i want you to see if it's okay," he had said.

but then the second he walked in, in his normal attire and a determined look in his eye, you knew you fucked up.

"family dinner. jongho's. now. you're coming."

"wooyoung!" you whined, "you're such a dirty liar! that's not fair."

"i don't care," the boy said, running over and grabbing your hand in his. "you ditched last month and i won't stand for it any longer."

"let me at least-"

but you're dragged out of your safe, quiet home, clad in slippers and pajama shorts, before he barges in to the unlocked apartment next door. playful arguing and loud noises from a video game could be heard from the couch, the distinct whine of san's loud voice causing you to smile despite being dragged her against your will.

"look who i got!" wooyoung says chipperly, three heads snapping back to look at you with different expressions. yunho looks apologetic, eyes soft with sympathy as he mouths "sorry." san is overjoyed and clapping, bouncing his way over to you to wrap you in a hug and tell you about the game.

and jongho. the look in his eyes scares you as much as it arouses you.

because ever since the hallway incident, you haven't seen him. you listen carefully outside for the sound of his door opening or the elevator dinging, walking quickly and quietly anytime you go out for the day.

and now, it's like he's warning you just to wait. that ignoring him was the worst thing you could've done and now he's gonna show you your actions have consequences.

and about an hour into dinner, he does just that.

it started subtly at first, snide little looks and chuckles as you watched him and the boys play. but then when you were in the kitchen checking on the dinner, you felt his looming presence.

you acted as if he wasn't there, bending down to check the food in the oven before closing it with a quiet hum. and then before you knew it, his body was pressed right into yours from behind.

"finally done hiding?" he mumbled lowly in your ear. your breath hitches in your throat, his front pressed right into your ass as his deep voice sends shivers down your spine.

"what do you mean?" you ask, attempting to sound strong and unbothered. "i wasn't hiding."

a short chuckle leaves his mouth, hands falling to your waist before he cranes his neck back to see if the boys are watching you guys; but their eyes on trained on the tv, deep in an competitive state.

"were you embarrassed that i heard you?" he hummed, causing your entire body to still.

because after you slammed the door in his face, you really tried to ignore the burn between your legs. you had done everything possible, distracted yourself with tv and schoolwork and even a cold shower; but the second you laid in your bed, you found yourself rummaging through your bedside table and desperately switching on the highest setting.

found yourself wondering if jongho had been on the other side of the wall doing the same thing, relieving himself after trying so desperately to push the feelings and arousal away.

thats what caused the first loud moan to leave your mouth, thoughts of him and the incessant vibrations against your clit. and then the whines and little noises leaving you just continued, not even trying to cover them because it's about time he gets a taste of his own medicine back.

"or did you want me to hear you?" he asks, growling lowly in your ear. "i don't know the last time i had to get off to my own hand."

"i don't know who told you to do that," you say sarcastically, the bratty side of you coming out and causing him to chuckle lowly. and you didn't realize that that was a chuckle that meant 'you're gonna regret that.'

but, really, you should've known you got let off the hook too easily. that his finger rubbing a few circles into your warm skin wasn't nearly enough of a punishment for your sassy comment. that he guided you over to the table by the small of your back and told you to sit too innocently.

and now, in the middle of dinner, you feel his hand on your knee and creeping up towards your thigh. you look over at him warily, the boys deep in a heavy debate about boxers versus briefs.

"what are you doing?" you whispered to him, half tempted to jab your fork into his leg at the lust starting to build in your veins.

"what do you think?" he says through clenched teeth, his strong hand cupping your thigh and causing a breathy exhale to leave your mouth. it's so tight and high on your thigh that you can't help but squirm, feeling especially on edge since they're are three people literally right in front of you.

"if you're really thinking about fingering me under this table, i'm gonna-"

and like he's trying to continually prove to you his sole purpose is to piss you off, his hand slips through your shorts and slowly rubs you over your wet thong. "just playing a little" he says lowly into your ear. "but you're not coming. and you're not allowed to pull that shit again in your room. do you hear me?"

"i don't think you're in any position to-"

his hand is quick to push right into your underwear and cup you, his finger rapidly flicking at your clit and a moan leaves your mouth that you cover with multiple coughs.

"you good, y/n?" he asks innocently next to you, the three boys turning to check as well. you side-eye him in disgust, how he sounds so calm and composed despite the shit he's doing to you right now.

"fine," you grunt out breathily, san raising an eyebrow before wooyoung's loud voice screeches at him. and then again, loud outbursts and conversations are back and successfully drown out the shaky breaths and low hums leaving you.

your legs start to spread wider as pleasure builds between your legs, your hand absentmindedly reaching over to palm him.

"no," he growls in your ear, "don't even fucking try it."

and because he's brought you to this pathetic, submissive side, you pout as you pull your hand.

"are you close?" he asks, his finger sliding inside you nearly making your head loll to the side. "are my fingers fucking you well?" but he knows they are, knows you're close and knows just how to curl them and play with your clit to have your legs shaking and pussy clenching around him.

"next time you wanna pull that shit, remember this," he growls, ripping his hand from you suddenly and successfully depriving you of the orgasm that was deliciously building. you almost cry out in frustration, about ready to beg and plead and do whatever he wants to make you come.

but then he gets up to start clearing the plates and washing the dishes, his teasing eyes watching you for the rest of the night; the blush on your cheeks and the frustration in your eyes never fails to make him smirk. and then when you leave later that night, he whispers one more warning to behave in your ear.

"why should i?" you growl, irritated and beyond frustrated at the wet ache between your legs.

"because i said so," he tells you, lifting your chin with his hand. "the next time you come, it's gonna be me doing it."

and it's with that comment right there that makes him step out of his apartment a few nights later. because around 1:00 a.m., he hears the familiar jingling of your keys in the hallway and your softly spoken voice asking a person to leave.

"c'mon, babe, i walked you home," the male voice says, "the least you could do-"

he doesn't hear the rest, ripping open his door and peeking out at you two. he can tell immediately you're uncomfortable, if the plain fear and disgust in your eyes wasn't obvious enough.

"the least she could do is what?" jongho asks lowly, stepping towards the guy and staring at him challengingly. "she doesn't owe you shit."

"who the fuck are you?" the guy asks, voice dripping with hostility. "mind your business."

jongho's fists clench, tension overcoming him and about ready to punch this guy square in the face. because if there's one thing he hates more than men like this, it's people telling him to mind their own business when they're doing something wrong.

"i don't think she wants you here," is all jongho says, cooly, calmly, a complete contrast to how he's really feeling. "so how 'bout you leave now?"

the guy only lifts his brow, sensing something slightly unhinged and dangerous in jongho's tone and gaze. in the way he crossed his arms over his chest and is clenching his hands into a fist.

"whatever," he mumbles, throwing you one last dirty look before stalking off toward the elevator. you and jongho don't speak until you hear the doors close, just looking at one another with a mix of heat, curiosity and gratefulness.

"thanks," you mumble lowly, "i gave him my number a few weeks ago and he happened to see me when i was walking home."

"careful," jongho mumbles, "he's a fuckin' creep."

a small chuckle leaves your mouth as you nod your head, your tongue coming out to lick your lips nervously. you hadn't seen or talked to him since he fingered you under his dining room table, deprived you of your orgasm and then said you weren't allowed to...relieve yourself.

so, yeah, there's a bit of the elephant in the room.

"apparently so," you say, smiling softly as you look at him. the tension between you is palpable, long heated gazes and slightly shaky breaths. the wall behind you a reminder of the first time all of this started. his arms crossed over his chest with clenched hands is a reminder of what exactly they can do, the way your legs are nearly wobbling from how badly the ache has been between them.

"did you eat yet?" you find yourself asking. it's quick and awkward and blurted out so randomly, you think you might've as well said hey, let's go inside so we can finally fuck.

and even though the smirk on his face says he knows it too, he doesn't say anything but "no, i haven't eaten yet."

"i was gonna order chinese," you tell him, "do you wanna...come in and i'll buy you some? as a thank you?" he nods his head silently and you smile back, turning around to unlock your apartment. but then the second you open your door, he pushes you inside and quickly follows you in. he closes the door behind you and promptly pushes you up against it.

"buy me dinner as a thank you?" he says teasingly, "that's the best you could think of?"

your cheeks flush at getting caught but you're somewhat beyond the point of even caring. because even if you wanted to get off, it wouldn't be the same. after feeling his strong hands and hearing his low teasing voice, nothing else will leave you feeling fulfilled.

"why not just tell me straight up you want me to get you off?"

"i want you to get me off," you snap, boldly and confidently despite the way you're trapped up against the door. "happy now?"

the smirk on his face widens, his hand trailing down the curves of your body slowly and teasingly. it makes your sensitive, heightened self tingle and burn, a whine threatening to leave your mouth.

"depends," he hums, "were you good? i didn't hear anything but that doesn't mean you weren't sneaky." his hands trails over your thigh and between your legs and you don't know which one of you is more grateful that you're wearing a dress.

because while it allows him easy access, it also allows him to feel just how ready and wet you are. your thighs and thong already soaked from days of being pathetically aroused.

"you didn't, did you?" he asks with a smirk, shoving your underwear down and dress up when you whine out a shaky "i didn't."

"i can tell," he says, dropping to his knees as he bunches up your dress. "hold this," his voice deeply commands, his own arousal and lust taking over now. because now he's face to face with your dripping pussy and can basically smell the desperation on you. all because you waited and listened to him.

and then you nearly scream when his hands push down on your hips and his mouth connects with your clit. you moan out over and over as he licks and sucks and eats you out like a starved man, your legs shaking and threatening to collapse had it not been for his tight hold on you.

your one hand is holding your dress while the other is in his hair, tugging and pulling and moving him closer into you as your back is pressed hard against your door. and then, like all of that wasn't enough, you look down at him and find yourself begging him to fuck you.

he stops immediately, pulling his face back and looking up at you. your eyes are dark with lust and arousal, cheeks red and hair a mess from begin pressed against the metal.

"you sure?" he asks, his own excitement brewing in him. he only planned on making you come over and over, with his tongue and fingers and then relieving himself by his own hand again later that night.

but now as you beg "yes please," he's jumping up to tug off his pants and boxers before wrapping his arms around you and lifting you up. and that's how you end up christening your apartment door, his cock pounding in and out of you as your body knocks into the door.

"isn't this what you wanted?" he growled in your ear, "this whole time you just wanted to be fucked like the good girl you are."

and when you moan out his name again and again, you're not able to see the irony of this all. how for months you've berated this man and gave him shit about keeping the neighbors up.

"i knew it! i fucking knew it!" wooyoung says from his apartment, hearing your muffled screams and yelps of jongho's name. "i can't wait to tell her how inconsiderate she's being."

#jongho #jongho smut #jongho ateez #jongo moodboard #ateez #ateez smut #request

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theinvisibledreamergirl · 3 years

Text

The Grinch Girl

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x MC (Klaw Craig)

Warning: Nope only fluff content and bits of sadness.

Word count: ~2.3 k

A.N: Hello again folks! Did you miss me? Well this fic came out unexpectedly and wasn’t even planned lol. But I hope you enjoy this and Merry Christmas! And I know you’re impatiently waiting for Part 6 of my OH AU 1 but still is in progress. THIS IS MY FIRST STAND-ALONE FIC EVER OMG AND I’M REALLY NERVOUSSSS.

———————————————————————

Basically from all of the staff of Edenbrook Hospital there was a certain someone who didn't like Christmas as everyone else- Dr. Klaudia Craig. This wasn't something new for everyone because they knew she detested it.

She was occupying herself with lots of different cases in order to escape from the festive moments and the cheering voices of her colleagues ready to decorate the Infamous Christmas Tree.

At least that's what she thought.

She wasn't into the winter holidays or any kind of other holidays. Maybe she was a Grinch but as much as she had information about him it was completely another history- he hated people but not Christmas. Whereas she hated both of them.

Klaw didn't have any particular reason to be angry with anyone but she couldn't bare the fact to be involved in such kind of parties. Lousy and noisy people were always a migraine for her and would drink two strong pills in a day at least saving from that horrible sinusitis.

Her free times would always consist of reading books or scientific researches on internet for new developments in oncology surgery as she was eager to see the latest news. Furthermore she would watch BBC every time when the British Government released new announcements about the future of the country whom she dearly missed it. Maybe for others it was such a granny thing but for her was the best cure.

And as for today she was stepping into the corridors seeing the nurses chirping and decorating the railways and doors in which she let an exasperated sigh while shaking her head.

Why do they like them so much? It's completely nonsense. All of that glitter. Everyone seems so happy but I'm sure this is a façade.

Well clearly from her point of view it was maybe a façade but actually everyone was happy and was enjoying at its fullest. And that's why she hated it.

She never got to celebrate any holidays with her family as they have been always busy in their works and didn't pay too much attention on how this would reflect on their daughter's character in the future. They would always justify their lateness in house because of the "duty". God she thought that word would never get out of her mind.

When one of her patients asked her to do the Gingerbread House together she stared blankly as she had no idea what was this thing and she immediately regretted her lie to the kid.

Oh yeah of course I'll help you but until i finish my shift alright?

The little girl was smart and understood that she wasn't telling the truth and aside from that she could tell that the doctor standing opposite her wasn't even pleased about it and she let a mischievous smirk.

"You don't know what Gingerbread is, don't you?"

The doctor gulped hardly as ever. The patient saw her hesitation and asked sincerely.

"Don't worry I'll ask someone else but can I ask you why don't you know about the Gingerbread?"

"Mary, I think you need to rest now after your long surgery, right?"

"Got it doc."

With that she trailed off furiously as she didn't want to awake again that memory.

She hated herself.

She didn't want to be like this.

Harsh.

Cold demeanor.

Selfish.

And afraid to be happy.

When she went to the elevator she heard Sienna calling from behind.

“Hey Klaw!"

Oh god please don’t tell me she’s going to invite me to that party.

"Hi Sienna, how you've been?"

"Perfect! May I say everything is going to be awesome and I can't wait to celebrate with all of us in our apartment! You'll come too, right?"

God she wanted so bad to celebrate. But her logical answer was always ahead of what heart truly wanted. You can say without fear that she was an introverted ass.

"Uhm actually I won't."

Sienna's smile immediately faltered and shook her head in confusion. "Why?” Before Klaw could explain herself she abruptly said “Look If you're worried about those scumbag surgical residents, don't worry we won't invite them. And also-"

"Sienna it's not about them. It's just..."

"Just what?"

I don't celebrate Christmas Eve and I don’t have any intention to because I just simply hate it.

“It’s about patients Si and we have lot of work to do especially Dr. Ramsey won’t let me to finish the shift that easy so I’m leaving-”

“Not so fast gorgeous." a sing-along voice stopped her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Oh, Bryce." She put a plastered smile while laughing nervously. As always. "Uhm, well I have to go to a patient now heh."

"Tsk. I don’t believe any single thing what you’re saying girlie.”

She wanted to seem so believable but this time was out of her luck. Before she would protest again he interrupted.

"Come on Klaw. We already know you've been working your ass since five in the morning and you haven't even eaten anything today needless to say- you haven't even wished us for Christmas."

"Oh really?" He nodded "Well- Merry Christmas Bryce!"

He frowned in confusion and was crooking his eyes in suspicion as she sounded differently from usual. Something was wrong and he was about to ask her again when he heard that annoying voice.

"Rookie!" Klaw's eyes widened but in the meantime she thanked him in silence for saving her.

"In my office."

"Yes Dr. Ramsey."

With that she excused herself to Sienna and Bryce who stayed mouth agape and Sienna was finally the one to break the silence.

"So...Plan A and B are ruined right?"

"Yeah" he slid from his pocket the phone in which he called a number. "Jackie." He let a defeated sigh. "Tell the others we need a plan C. That old man Ramsey destroyed everything."

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

When the elevator reached the 3rd floor Ethan guided Klaw to his office gently pushing the door for her to enter first. They made an arrangement before she started her residency- to remain professional but her gut feeling told that something not good was about to happen.

What was weird was the fact that the lights of his office weren't turned on but only those of his little Christmas Tree. She rolled her eyes annoyingly.

Great. Now I have to deal with another Christmas enthusiast.

He saw her expression and when she turned as if questioning, he gave her a rueful smile. "Please sit."

She did as he said raising her left eyebrow. "So? What is the reason you called me?"

"Simple. I want to find a treatment for a patient whose brain is not functioning as usual." He said ironically which she didn't get it.

"What are her symptoms?"

Even though it was not an usual question he would ask as every time- she was ready to show her high diagnostics knowledge despite being a surgeon.

"It's a difficult case and a rare one. I'm not sure if you're going to handle it."

"There's nothing I can't handle Dr. Ramsey." She said while raising her head in confidence. "Remember what you said to me in my intern year? When there isn't a path, you make your own."

"Fair well. This girl is about 5 years old and she doesn't celebrate Christmas because she hates it. What do you think we should do?"

"What? I don't-" Then it all clicked.

It was about her.

"You too?" She scoffed in disbelief while standing up "I really can't believe this!"

When she was reaching the door handle a strong grip on her waist held her in place and growled in her left ear that made her shivered. "You're not going anywhere!"

"What happened with being professional Dr. Ramsey huh?"

He shut his eyes and inhaled sharply. "Please. Tell me what's wrong. I know that you're worried about something."

"You don't deserve to know anything!" With that she kicked his crotch with her left knee letting herself free from him. That self-defense instinct she had- it was going to be the death of him one day.

"And you don't tell me what should I do!"

"Is that so Dr. Craig? Remember that I'm your boss."

"Ouch. So scary. What are you going to do then? Pin me to the wall?" She let out a weary chuckle "Remember Ramsey- I'm not going to play hot and cold game again with you because I've had enough! And don't even try to do the victim's face here 'cause you know that it's your fault that we're in this position now!"

She was the most infuriating woman he had ever met in his life and maybe this was the reason why he wanted her so badly. Her gorgeous face etched to his mind every night before sleep. When she was always angry she looked like a goddess to him no matter how and he would bow down just for her. One word or only one action from her and he was her slave.

"What happened Dr. Ramsey? Cat got your tongue?" said in a sing-along voice and when he didn't answer she wanted to use the opportunity to leave but his eyes were trailing her full parted lips.

No. No. No. Don't let him kiss you Klaw. Just don't.

But his actions were faster than she thought and her fear came to life. He kissed her such gently that made her cheeks blush enough to stop arguing. When they parted Ethan set both of his hands to her face trailing her cheekbones and temples saying in a soothing voice.

"Now, will you tell me what is going on with your cold behaviour?"

She nodded forgetting everything in what they agreed on. Maybe she would regret it later but it seemed that she didn't care for now.

---------

"So that's why I hate it. I mean I don't want to hate Christmas. It's just I don't want to leave the impression to the others that I hate holidays. I don't want to look like Grinch but still...Ughh I don't know.” she placed her palms in her temples. “I feel such in shame now like I don't even know what Gingerbread is!"

"Why haven't you searched on the internet before?"

"Well this is the case. I've never shown interest in it. The only thing that I would search were always something about science in general and projects for school. And I've never received Christmas gifts before which makes me well-" the last words she said almost in a whisper. "- not appreciated person."

Ethan could see himself in her somehow. After his mother left he didn't want to celebrate Christmas anymore as that day was one of the worst of his life. But his father Alan insisted that his son should see his future and letting that pain to go by every year celebrating and reminding him to be a strong man just like now. Whereas for Klaw he felt his jaw clenched in frustration when her parents now that they weren’t anymore never celebrated and not even letting her to go at least at her best friend's house.

"Do you think I'm a Grinch Girl, Ethan?"

When she called him in his first name he felt his chest warming as she was slowly becoming more openly to him.

"No." He said without hesitation. "It's clearly that you were raised like this and you should not blame yourself for that. You're not the only one who doesn't celebrate Christmas Eve. There are many people who don't even know what Christmas is so-" he put a strand of her brown hair behind her ear. "No, you're not a Grinch but...A grumpy one may I- agh!" he winced when she pinched his arm then smacked it furiously.

"That hurt."

"You deserved that."

"Seriously? I'm trying to understand you whereas-" she cut him off guard with another kiss but on his cheeks instead.

"Thank you. For always being nice to me."

"Hey, you know I would do everything for you?"

"Yeah, I know. But what am I going to do now?"

"First things first" he stood up from the couch where they were staying "You're going to say to everyone who you meet the magic words: 'Merry Christmas!'"

He chuckled when she let a groan. "And then you're going to pick some gifts in the shop for your friends because this is the value of this holiday- sharing is caring. And about gifts-"

He went to his drawer of his white wooden-metallic desk to reveal an object packed in a rectangular shape with a white strap.

"Wait is that-?"

"Yes it's for you". She stared at him. "Open it."

She took it hesitating at first because this was the first gift ever someone made especially for her and was fidgeting her fingers not knowing where to start because she didn't want to ruin the way how beautifully it was packed.

When she let go of the strap she gasped when there was an old book of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey and there were two milk chocolates Fin Carré which was her favourite flavour and a little card were was written:

I'm sorry for being an asshole.

Merry Christmas Rookie!

E.R

"So...uhm do you like it?" He scratched the back of his neck nervously. " I know you're a bookworm and I remembered that Oscar Wilde was the only Irish author whom you didn't read so I went to the National Library and asked if there was still an old copy of it and luckily it was the last one."

She immediately left the gift in his couch and pressed a lingering kiss on his lips and said in a whisper while tearing up "Merry Christmas Ethan. And I'm sorry too for being grumpy and harsh to you."

"You don't have to apologise to me. Your friends and your patient Mary need to hear this. Okay?"

"Okay. Seni seviyorum. [ I love you ] “

“Uhm what?”

She giggled “I’ll tell you when the year ends.”

“But-”

“A girl has to keep some secrets, right?” said when she opened the door and left contently with it.

For the first time in her life Dr. Klaudia Craig felt a radiation coming through her body.

She was happy and grateful.

P.S: The words ‘seni seviyorum’ come from Turkish language. And no- my MC is not Turkish but British lol. She is a polyglot that’s why.

if anyone else wants to be tagged please let me know! xoxo

#open heart choices #open heart fan fiction #open heart fan fic #ethan ramsey #klaw craig #ethan ramsey x mc #klaw x ethan #my writing

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engenuity · 4 years

Text

voldy minime and the gryffindor golden boy

A gryffindor!jay and slytherin!reader fic

word count: 2450 words

genre: fantasy

Your teachers and probably anyone who looks at you longer than a second think that you are the next Voldemort.

Well, you can’t really blame them because you have a lot of similarities with the former Dark Lord

A half-blood who was left with the muggles, sorted into Slytherin, full of charms and wit that is both astounding and terrifying

You put all the blame on Tom Riddle on why he had to be a Dark Lord out of all the possible career choices because now, even with all your charm and no matter how much you smile, everyone is just hesitant when it comes to you

It makes manipulating a lot more difficult than it should be and it sucks

You can remember how disbelieving you were when one man suddenly came before you and told you that you are a wizard and apparently, magic really does exist

It’s a prank — probably made by your friends who decided that it was a good time to make you look dumb and dreamy just because you’re way too serious, and “having fun won’t hurt you”

Turned out that the man wasn’t a fraud, and he is a professor in an institution called Hogwarts which you’ll now attend. Congratulations!

You still can’t believe that you get to have free magic education

If you were the next Voldy as everyone lowkey believes, you’ll also hold Hogwarts in a high regard like he did

But sorry to disappoint them, you don’t really want to conquer the world nor annihilate the muggles and muggleborns

Your mother is a muggle and you grew up in the muggle world for god’s sake

I mean, yeah, to live in the streets after your mother died wasn’t easy and some people really deserve to be avada kedavra’d but dark lord isn’t on the top of your career choices list right now or like ever

And you’re so not going to make horcruxes. You don’t fear death, you accept the whole concept of living and then dying wholeheartedly. What you fear is commitment.

So how do we make one Nishimura Riki to go away and pester someone else?

First year, after the sorting, this guy with aristocratic features immediately befriended you. Good thing you’re on the same house. He was the one to teach you most of the things that you needed in order to survive inside the house of the snakes. Apparently everyone knew that you are an illegitimate child, and your father came from a line of a highly regarded pureblood family, so you were a big scandal when you came into the wizarding world.

At first you were really suspicious of Ni-ki, but it turned out that he just really wanted to help you and he’s a big softie under all those piercing gazes

The hat sorted him into slytherin because he asked it to

He’s a vain to your existence because your greatest fear is to get attached but the boy is such a precious bean so you always have an internal conflict on whether to keep him or make him go away

But to think about your bestfriend having other friends kinda hurt

Except that’s exactly what happened when Taki from Hufflepuff easily passed through all the walls around Ni-ki and then he was adopted into K and Seon’s friend group

It’s comprised of wizards and witches from different houses so you really weren’t that worried that Ni-ki will face discrimination

Honestly, ever since Harry Potter ended the last wizarding war everyone’s putting more effort to treat all students equally regardless of their house

You were happy for Ni-ki, of course, because you see him having fun setting pranks among other things with them

Merlin, he even plays quidditch with them when you both already established that he can’t ride a broom even if his life depended on it

You tried teaching him, because, well, you’re one of slytherin’s beater and you’re good at quidditch

(Another point on why you can’t be a Voldemort wannabe)

Then one day, Ni-ki suddenly approached you after you exited the library and you can see his new friend group meters away from where you both stand

He invited you to a quidditch match, and who are you to say no?

You highkey want to prove that, well, you’re better than Ni-ki’s new friends and yes, you’re petty and jealous like that

Pretty sure you glared at everyone included in K and Seon’s little (big) friend group but they just look amused and it’s irritating

It’s not like Ni-ki comments or anything so it’s fine

Quidditch happened, and your team (aka you, sungchul, daniel, ej, heeseung, k and taeyong) won the game so you can’t help but wear a huge ass grin

You definitely proved the point you’re just proving to yourself, and well, you enjoyed aggressively hitting the bludgers to Jay from Gryffindor

You enjoy the quiet yet the guy is just so LOUD every single time

And he clings to Ni-ki so much

You despise him, lowkey, just lowkey

Jake of Hufflepuff commented that you were out for Jay’s blood but is he wrong though

You didn’t miss the way Jungwon of Gryffindor glared at you though

After the match, you sorta also kind of got adopted to their friend group

You didn’t really notice it at first, but when you’re in classes without having Ni-ki with you, one of the guys sit beside you instead.

You find yourself gossiping with Jaebeom of Gryffindor and Sunoo of Ravenclaw in the library instead of doing your essays weeks in advance

That summer, Heeseung of Hufflepuff invited you to stay with them and you accepted the invitation. You didn’t regret it.

You also met with the other guys when you go shopping in the muggle or wizarding world, or when you go for dinner together, and —

Going to the arcade was fun especially seeing Sunghoon, your housemate, who’s mostly calm and poised, lose his voice because of all the shouting he made while playing the vr

Jay also got mad scared but it’s the normal. He’s Jay after all.

You also went to an ice skating rink and Sunghoon is just so majestic

When Jungwon said that he’s better at skating than walking, he wasn’t lying

Sunghoon and Heeseung taught you how to skate. You suck at it, but well you can’t be good at everything. Can You-Know-Who even skate?

It was fun, they’re fun, you enjoy being with them so so much.

Now what happened to not getting attached?

The most unexpected was your friendship with Jay. How did it even happen?

You’re a hundred percent sure you wanted him dead during your first quidditch match. Now you found yourself running and throwing yourself to him when their team won the quidditch cup this year. The fact that they defeated your usually undefeated team went ignored.

A loud cough pulled you away from Jay (it was definitely Sunghoon’s) but you proceeded to ruffle Jeongseong’s sweaty hair anyway while giving him a very very bright smile you didn’t know you can do.

Why are you so proud of him anyway? He was that annoyingly loud guy within the friend group, a pureblooded gryffindor who acts first before thinking, thinks he’s funny when he’s not, had the patience to listen to your nonsensical existentialist ramblings, comforted you when you were having a breakdown about your grades, always shares his plans for the future and all of those plans include you, he includes you?

You still can’t remove Ni-ki’s affronted face matching Jay’s proud one when you helplessly giggle because of a joke the gryffindor made.

In your defense the joke is actually funny (other people says otherwise)

You find it easier to have fun, be happy, when you’re around them, especially when you’re around Jay.

It wasn’t your observation, you see, it was Ni-ki’s. He confronted you about it and that’s how you became more aware of your feelings. It’s all good though, Jay’s just your friend, or best friend? depends on how you categorize or think of the people within the group

Besides, the fear is still there

Except the observation wasn’t solely noted by your first best friend. Sunoo and Jaebeom can tease you with just using Jeongseong’s name. K and Seon sometimes give you advice about love and courting at random times. Taki and Ni-ki literally pushes you to him whenever you meet. Jake and Sunghoon give subtle hints around that you think you’re supposed to remember such as Jay likes sweet things — He likes watching anime, you know what that is right? It’s really weird for a pureblood to know about those muggle things but his aunt is a muggleborn so I think that’s the reason why —Jay’s like a puppy isn’t he? — That Park Jeongseong is still angry at Heesung hyung because he gets to have you the whole summer last year —

Are you crushing on him? Or is this just an attraction you can easily recover from? Or are you feeling this way because of how your friends always tease you?

You have no idea, lol.

And as much as those romance novels you borrowed from Hanbin shows that whenever the main character gets confused, they avoid the other person, you didn’t avoid Jay because well, that would be stupid

But if he ever really do confess to you just like what Jungwon suspects, you’re gonna ride a broom and zoom out of the castle real quick, and probably build a following and actually just be the next dark lord because that’s easier than dealing with feelings

Especially if those feelings involve absolute pure softness to a guy who just used only his arms to crawl on the floor

“That’s the dance step, he’s not high or anything” — Seon, explaining, because he probably feared the way you see Jay will change after what he did

But again those feelings involve absolute pure softness and you didn’t really think before saying “aww, he’s cute” as a reply

Seon looked at you surprised. K, Ni-ki, Daniel, and Nicholas wear huge grins on their faces. Geonu looks so horrified by the statement. Sunghoon snorted, Sunoo rolled his eyes while wearing a knowing smirk, and Jake patted your shoulders. You’re still processing what really happened.

Jay, now walking, came closer to the group and asked why you look so horrified

Of course, you composed yourself aka wore the resting face Ni-ki and Sunghoon taught you, and said “nothing” while the rest of the group snickers

Jay just snorted and put his arms around your shoulders. It’s time for dinner after all.

The thing is, a lot of people are already asking around whether you and the golden boy of Gryffindor are dating. That includes the group and most of all Jay, who just answers those type of question with a bright smile.

They can’t ask you directly because most students and professors are still scared of you. If not scared, intimidated then.

But if ever anyone dares to ask you, you’ll say that no, you’re not dating Jeongseong. It’s the truth anyway. You’re close, and you’re most fond of him ( sorry Ni-ki, I still love you ) but you’re just friends, nothing more.

Then the Hogsmeade incident happened

It’s already a tradition that the whole group visits the village together. Sometimes you separate into groups, but most of the time the whole 24 of you go together. And isn’t that a sight?

Except this time a certain group of slytherins by the looks of their tie, decided that it’s fun to go back to their nasty old ways and insult other people just because of their blood status.

According to them, K’s embarrassing the whole pureblood community by allowing mudbloods to join the group

But to you, they’re just jealous because the group’s quiet really popular, hah

Unfortunately things got really heated and suddenly there’s a whole lot of shouting and shoving around

Thank Merlin, they confiscate your wands before allowing you to venture outside the school property

Jay, no mater how loud and crazy he gets, isn’t really one to fight. So as he was trying to reach out to the opposite and probably suggest peace, someone pushed him in his chest hard enough that he collided with Jake behind him.

You didn’t see red, no, you’re not that kind of person

You were a hundred percent sane when you stepped forward and faced the senior who just pushed jay, gave him the most lethal smile you can give that could have certainly make him pee in his pants, only that he didn’t even have the time for that as you punched him square in the face

Years as a street dweller and as a thief ought to teach you skills.

The fight quietened and your pretty sure your friends are staring at you in disbelief. The accomplices of the guy you just punched look so red with either embarrassment or anger, you really can’t tell.

Your memory failed you this time. You can’t really recall everything you said and did but you’re pretty sure you said a lot of insults, and threw a whole lot of punches and kicks, and what else did you do?

But now you found yourself sitting in the Slytherin common room surrounded by everyone with Jay kneeling in front of you and dressing your wounds.

You didn’t even notice how your hands are hurting, or that they’re bleeding. However, you’re a hundred-percent sure those guys from a while ago have bleeding faces or something which is fun

No one spoke for a while.

Until Jay went on an hour long rant about how you’re so reckless, that you should’ve kept your cool and didn’t physically fight the bigots, then it went on how you’re so amazing, and where did you learn how to fight like that?

Yes, you did notice how you’re sitting there facing the ranting guy while wearing a foolish and fond smile even though the said guy’s one half ranting and another half insulting you. You didn’t stop smiling anyway.

The fear of committing, of loving, of being attached is still there. You decided to be brave anyway. After all, if it’s for your friends, then you can dare.

And if said fear runs deeper when it comes to a certain Gryffindor, you decide to even be braver everyday then.

If it means you get to keep him.

The definite line separating romantic from platonic love is already way too blurry between the both of you, and if Jay won’t ask you out first, then it is also practical to do it first for the both of you.

#enhypen jay #enhypenwriters #jay i-land #eunice writes

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mcousland · 3 years

Text

nobody asked for this at all, the dummies have just become my comfort zone and i love them so a fool filled out a whole meme for them for the fun of it. dietrich belongs to @darlingicarus!

— SHIP QUESTIONS

PRE-RELATIONSHIP —

how did they first meet?

dietrich saved both maeve’s and carden’s lives while he was making a run in the city. saving carden was pure coincidence that came from killing a few of the dead that had been blocking his own path, but maeve was intended as he kept her from meeting a terrible end when one of the dead got hold of her skirt while she tried to run past. as everyone is prone to in those early days—dietrich was fine with protecting maeve and even bringing her back to whatever group there was at the time, but didn’t mind one bit if carden got bit somewhere along the way.

what was their first impression of each other?

maeve thought he was a bit too Blunt about everything that was going on and wished he would stop looking so damned serious all the time, it made her nervous about danger being around every corner and she was already scared enough. she also thought he was a bit handsome underneath that scowl

dietrich had a bit of a hard time seeing her past carden’s [annoyingly] large presence but thought she wasn’t taking things seriously enough, too many witty one-liners and worries about dirtying her hands and clothes. probably worried about the brightness of her clothes attracting too much attention too tbh

did any of their friends or family want them to get together?

family, that’s a good one. ohhhh, i’m sure a few of their friends wanted them to sort things out and just admit to themselves whatever was going on between them, because oh boy did they Ignore a Lot of things for quite a while but a good 80% of the group could spot how close they had grown through all of the things they endured together.

who felt romantic feelings first?

we already know that it was maeve!! we know this, how silly it is to even type it out!!! we know that she woke up one morning after an evening of fwb activities, spent a minute gazing at him while he remained asleep beside her and there was a frightening Oh No realization when she found herself reaching out to touch his cheek without thinking.

did either of them try to resist their feelings?

both of them! big time!! they were fucking terrified. on top of their own already established issues with Feelings, there are the obvious shared fears that come from the world they’re living in. it’s difficult to accept that you’re becoming attached to someone when you know that you could lose them at any moment with so much violence and darkness surrounding you at every turn, especially when you’ve already lost others along the way. (dietrich definitely held out his resistance for longer, though that's a given.)

if you had told one of them that the other would be their soulmate, what would they think?

would depend on the timing, i suppose. early days they’d probably both scoff at the thought, but later on maeve could be convinced. there’s that whole “soulmates can be made” belief and yes it may be cheesy, but maeve’s a romantic at heart and she’d like to think it’s true enough. soulmates are people who understand each other deeply, are connected at the mind, and know without doubt that the other will always be there at their side—consider maeve Convinced.

GENERAL —

who initiated the relationship, and how did it go?

maeve did! technically twice if you count a difference between the beginning of their fwb agreement and then the relationship proper faaaar down the line. i believe the first hook-up came about from maeve making a Very convincing argument for them to find some pleasure and relief from their steadily growing stress while they were away from the group, given that they had become somewhat of a default duo for supply runs and spent so much quality~ alone time together. considering that you could hardcut to five minutes later and find maeve on her knees unbuckling dietrich’s belt, i’d say the proposition went pretty well 😌 the relationship itself came along quite some time down the line, when maeve accidentally slipped up mid-makeout and let the love she has for dietrich Shine through her eyes while looking at him. naturally his instinct was to book it out of there because Feelings Hard, but maeve decided to risk baring her fuckin' heart ((after some months of Pining and a particularly Traumatic series of events that led to them clinging tighter to each other than before)) by asking him simply to "stay" before he could get out the door. arguably that moment was scarier than most of the times they've gone out into the world beyond the safety of their group, but ultimately worth the leap of faith!! because he stayed, and though it was never explicitly stated, they both understood that that night spent together was them putting an end to the fight against the feelings they both knew were there and finally taking the next step in their relationship.

did they have an official first date? if so, what was it like?

they did, but it was purely because maeve labeled it as such and no other reason. a few weeks after their relationship was Confirmed, maeve up and decided that their run into the city would be their first proper Date because they hadn't had some actual alone time in a good while, and it sounded like harmless fun which they didn't get enough of. nothing really Changed from their routine of clearing and scavenging, she just changed up their usual dialogue to asking the "typical date questions. oh, you know! what's your favorite movie? your weirdest fear? the dumbest thing you spent far too much money on?" just a silly excuse to get to know some of the little, random things about each other that popped into their heads or that they'd been curious about for a while.

what was their first kiss like?

tentative and oddly gentle, maeve went for a slow approach in every aspect while testing the waters to see if her last few minutes of attempting to Seduce the bastard into a fwb arrangement had panned out. it was almost Immediately followed up by another kiss and some touching that bordered more along the lines of desperate and eager as they wanted to get to the fun bits, but it was still one of the first notable moments of maeve taking that first step for them and waiting to see if he’d follow suit.

were they each other’s first anything (kiss, relationship, etc.)?

probably first relationship after the world went to shit, but in general nah they’ve both got some prior experiences.

what’s their height difference? age difference?

dietrich’s 5′10″ and maeve’s 5′0″. he’s in his early-to-mid 30s, she’s probably at the end of her 20s?? somewhere around there. who needs solid numbers anyway

what’s their relationship with each other’s families?

😔✌️ new fam found in the group, who dis??

who takes the lead in social situations?

100% maeve baybee. whether she’s talking circles around somebody to keep them distracted, trying to diffuse a situation or just comforting somebody through a difficult moment, we all been knew that maeve’s better suited for almost every kind of social situation. she’ll let him handle any of the ones that rely on intimidation tho, that’s all leitner right there

who gets jealous easier?

ohhhh, that’s another maeve claim. she has Zero reason to worry because dietrich is oblivious to so many attempts at flirtation from others, but it’s still a gut instinct in her to get a little ticked off seeing some rando trying to make moves on him. that’s Her bastard that she spent untold months charming the defenses away from, take a step back and show some respect.

LOVE —

who said “i love you” first?

everybody knows it was maeve, i hardly need to say it. we know she was the one brave enough to say it first, even if it Did take a scare of losing dietrich to tell him. they both already Knew, in that ways of theirs that they have where things are simply Understood between them without having to be mentioned aloud, but she needed him to hear it from her lips at least once. just in case

what are their primary love languages?

i’d say they’re both pretty big on quality time because of them both being naturally inclined to it and how they drifted into becoming partners for supply runs and other action, they spend so much time together it’d be Wild for it not to be their shared #1. not a single doubt in my mind that acts of service is dietrich’s other big one, while maeve’s kinda 50/50 on words of affirmation and physical touch being her runner-up.

how often do they cuddle/engage in PDA?

i’ll out them on main for being cuddlers in bed or just generally when they’re Alone. they’re not very big on PDA as a result of dietrich’s whole “if there’s affection exchanged in public i Will learn how to teleport myself halfway across the planet to escape the embarrassment” deal and maeve respecting that. HOWEVER. it’s still maeve and she sneaks in little things when she can, like hand-holding or winding an arm around his waist while they walk. has been known to sneak in a quick kiss to the cheek if he’s sitting down and she can snatch it while he’s not anticipating it. i think hugs are The Most affection that people would frequently see from them in public ((aside from the soft expressions as they watch each other but those don’t count, don’t @ them about it)). the amount of times people in the group have seen them kiss in public can be counted on Maybe one hand if they’re lucky lmfao they keep that shit locked down

what are their favorite things to do together?

this question deserves to be banned from memes because it immediately erases all creative braincells from your mind. dietrich likes to watch maeve tell stories and she loves to ramble those stories, so that’s a win/win for them. sitting on rooftops to watch the sunrise/sunset together. going out of their way to look through any abandoned antique stores or book shops because they’re both Nerds and willing to put in the work of clearing them out so that they can browse. i imagine their favorite is reading together in some comfortable silence, whether that’s separately or with her curled up into him on a couch so they can read the same book. wait also i think maeve thoroughly enjoys any time they’re on watch together because it gives her the opportunity to freely Tease him (and also Gaze at him while he’s focused on the perimeter but that’s entirely too soft so don’t talk about that)

who’s better at comforting the other?

i don’t think either of them are particularly Better at it than the other?? purely because in the beginning, there’s a balance there between dietrich being reluctant to accept maeve’s comfort when she offers it & her taking a hot minute to understand his attempts at comfort. but then they reach that point where dietrich doesn’t tense up when she pulls him into a hug, and maeve finds the consolation she needs in his quiet assurances. on the surface it’d appear that maeve’s better at comforting dietrich purely because she’s more openly physical with her attempts, but the amount of security and solace that she finds in his words or touch means just as much.

who’s more protective?

dietrich takes it with this one. on top of his already there inclination to protect someone if they manage to get close with him, dietrich’s simply the one with better combat skills. maeve can? kinda?? handle herself, if the danger isn’t too pressing and she can find an opening to take advantage of, and she Does have some very strong protective instincts when it comes to dietrich, but he for sure comes out on top for this one. he has the stronger drive and better skills to back the protectiveness up.

do they prefer verbal or physical affection?

physical for both of them! a lot of their communication lies in the unspoken anyhow, it’s no surprise that most of their affection is expressed physically instead of verbally. dietrich’s preference coming from the fact that he might just actually implode on the spot if maeve showered him in too many compliments and expressions of love through words, and maeve’s from learning to appreciate and bask in the meaning and emotion behind the physical affection that he does engage in. also she’s just,, a slut for any kind of affection to begin with, but it’s definitely a whole Thing with being touched when there’s genuine care and love behind it instead of some other ulterior motive.

what are some songs that apply to their relationship, in-universe or otherwise?

[sweats in Having An Entire Playlist Dedicated To Dummies In This AU]

sunlight by hozier — (video essayist voice) the conclusion: maeve is the sunlight to dietrich’s raincloud, thank you. the vibes for this one are just off the charts, lads. it’s about finding Warmth and Light in this love amidst the horrors of the world and in spite of the initial reluctance to let each other get close.

safe & sound by taylor swift — another one with vibes out of this world, this song is Top Tier for a big part of their dynamic in this verse, which is them finding safety and comfort in each other while the rest of the world goes to shit around them. everything may be going up in flames outside, but they know that they have each other and they’re not Alone in anything they do.

what kind of nicknames do they call each other?

maeve’s the queen of petnames, unfortunately for the easily flustered bastard. her favorites are naturally dear and darling, but she also enjoys an occasional use of lover. has called him baby once or twice just to get the reaction out of him. oh wait she also likes calling him an old man when he’s Like That and doesn’t get her references or grumbles too much.

i mean,, it’s dietrich, he uses Sommers more often than her fuckin’ first name and i don’t think he’s out here using petnames/nicknames on the reg At All, they’re opposite ends of the spectrum with this one. he called her sweetheart once to throw her off and it sent her out of wack for at least the entire rest of the day. so good on him, mission accomplished.

DOMESTIC LIFE —

if they get married, who proposes?

no marriage! dietrich’s not quite keen on it and maeve’s not the type to push him into anything he’s not comfortable with. if anything she might?? bring up the idea of rings if they ever come by some while out and about and they’ve been together for a hot minute, for the sentimental and sappy reason of having little reminders of each other to keep on their persons, but she’s not Insistent about it and is content with what they have.

how many kids do they have, if any? What are they like?

no kids! world too scary, no thank you!! they’re also just Not in dietrich’s wheelhouse, which may have been a Problem for them if they weren’t in the midst of an actual fuckin’ apocalypse where nearly every day is a fight for survival and maeve can Clearly see every downside of bringing a baby into that.

do they have any pets?

don’t think so, but maeve’s probably made a whole Deal once or twice about leaving a little food for any dogs or cats they see along their treks because she has a soft heart.

who kills the bugs in the house?

dietrich!! he’s in charge of doing away with those Creatures because maeve will most certainly not be going anywhere near them if she can help it. which is,, pretty funny. you know considering their Big Picture circumstances. zombies? she’s fine with them after a point, only truly terrifying in medium-to-large numbers. a spider or cockroach skittering across the kitchen counter?? Horrifying! leitner do your job and protect your woman from the hellspawn

how do they celebrate holidays?

generally just by,, Acknowledging them?? at the very least. maeve has her entire Thing that is keeping track of the date with a day planner that she has had with her from the very beginning (though it’s been lost once or twice, always found its way back), but she doesn’t demand anything happen on holidays because they’re usually a bit Busy making sure they aren’t Dying to whatever’s threatening them that day. on the occasions where they have the free time, maeve insists they spend quiet time together without having to worry about any of their daily responsibilities and that’s holiday enough. maybe slips in a small tradition if applicable and not too over the top

who’s more likely to convince the other to come back to sleep in the morning?

maeve is a very ;) persuasive woman ;)) it was more difficult and had a less frequent success rate back during the fwb days, but he’s completely fucked after they’ve been #confirmed. stands not a single chance to resist those eyes and the idea of lying in her arms for just a little while longer before they have to start their day.

who’s the better cook?

😔😔 dietrich by far. maeve couldn’t cook for shit before the apocalypse began when she had access to all sorts of appliances, recipes and helpful tutorials, there ain’t no way in hell she stands a chance at beating him Now. she’ll gladly take up other duties, but he’s their chef unless somebody else in the group has made a big dinner for everyone to share.

#not me constantly yelling from the rooftops about how much i love theym #i had half a braincell while writing most of this but consider: i don't care bc i fuckin adore them and the rambling is on brand #sometimes the romance is stored in the growing and learning from each other until you mirror & perfectly understand each other y'know #witcher au: apocalypse #maeve & dietrich

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ohemgeeitscoley · 4 years

Text

"Do you want the room or not?" Ben asks, pushing his hands in the pockets of his sweater. It's so jarring to her. Every story she has ever heard that involved Ben centered around his confidence, his anger, the way he could just command a room.

None of it matched with the image in front of her.

"Yeah," she finally responds. "Yeah. I do."

----

In which Ben learns Rey's nightmares, her favorite tea, and how to sneak into her heart.

Fandom: Star Wars

Pairing: Rey/Ben Solo (Reylo)

Note: None of this would ever have been written if it weren’t for @andyouweremine Not only is she a fabulous beta who makes my writing better, but she’s the one that sent me the post to Reylo Week and said we should write something for it. Also, she listened to me go on and on about this song and all of the feelings it gives me. Seriously, I have no idea what I have done in my life to deserve such an amazing and supporting friend, but I love you a whole lot. Thanks for being my shipping soulmate and spiraling with me on this.

This was written for Day One of Reylo Week 2020 Favourite Song Lyric or Quote. "For Island Fires and Family” by Dermot Kennedy is the inspiration behind this, so I definitely recommend listening to it.

Read on AO3 or below.

But she’s bringing the moon and stars to me

Damn permanent reverie

***

“What do you mean Ben Solo says he has a room I can rent?” Rey asks Poe. “This is the same Ben Solo that seems to personally enjoy making your life a living hell?”

“He’s a defense attorney. I’m a prosecutor. That’s literally his job,” Poe explains, shrugging. “He’s just… annoyingly good at his job.”

“Thanks Poe. I really needed that brilliant explanation as to how the adversarial American legal system works.”

“I’m just saying,” Poe wraps a glass in a piece of newspaper before placing it in the box next to him. “He’s also one of my oldest friends and despite… well, anything you’ve probably heard about him, I know he’s a good guy.”

"And he just happens to have a room available to rent out to a grad student who can barely afford ramen?"

Poe's smile is more like a grimace as he raises his hand to awkwardly scratch at his neck. "That's what he tells me."

Rey grabs a stack of plates from the cupboard, setting them down on the counter to start wrapping. "I still don't know why you would ask him. We barely know each other."

"I was with him when you texted me," Poe holds his hand out for Rey to pass him a plate. "And he offered.

"Why would he do that?" Rey asks, crossing her arms across her chest. "He doesn't even know me."

"Like I said," Poe shrugs, taping the box closed. "He's a good guy."

***

"That can hardly be considered fair rent for living here, Ben," Rey argues, her eyes wandering around the apartment. It is in a much better location and is at least three times the size of her last apartment.

It also isn't in a building that is being condemned.

Ben blushes, looking away from Rey. "It's the friend of a friend discount."

Rey snorts. “I would think the friend of a friend discount would be letting a complete stranger move in with you on, like, twelve hours’ notice. Not offering a bedroom and free reign of the rest of your apartment for less than what I was paying for an apartment that is being condemned.”

“I really don’t need the money,” Ben says shyly.

“They pay you pretty well to make sure the bad guys remain on the street?” Rey asks. She regrets it as soon as she sees Ben tense, the bashful look gone from his face.

"Ben, I didn't… I'm sorry," Rey sighs, glancing at the floor. She counts to three in her head before looking back up at Ben. She ignores the way it almost hurts her to notice that he's stepped back away from her. "I didn't mean it like that. It's your job. And I'm sure not all of your clients are actually guilty. But even if they are you're still just doing your job."

Ben doesn't say anything. Rey is working her way through her mental list of friends that she could call for a place to crash at least for the night. Certainly Poe and Finn wouldn't mind her staying just one night. And even if they did, it was Poe who thought that her staying with Ben would work out and clearly it wasn't going to work.

She reaches in her purse to grab her phone so she can start looking for hotels. She tries not to think about how she decidedly cannot afford to stay in a hotel for any length of time.

None of it matched with the image in front of her.

"Yeah," she finally responds. "Yeah. I do."

***

Rey has nightmares.

Ben doesn't mention them and he doesn't ask questions. But he does make sure to brew the coffee extra strong the next morning and to hand her a cup first thing when she walks into the kitchen. He doesn't know her yet, but he knows enough to know that Rey isn't comfortable talking about herself or her past.

And he knows enough about nightmares to know that they are rooted in the past.

So he stays away. He wakes up when he hears her rustling around the kitchen, hears the soft whistle of the kettle when she makes tea.

But he stays away.

Rey doesn't mention anything to him and he knows that she would if it was something she wanted to talk about.

The more he gets to know her, the harder it is to stay away. She opens up to him slowly, small glimpses into her past when she talks to him about her day while he makes dinner after work or when they are walking around the farmer's market on the weekends planning meals for the week.

He wants to know everything about her. He enjoys being someone that she's comfortable with to talk to about her days, her dreams, and her past.

But he doesn't want to push her. He doesn't want to be too much.

He's always been too much.

He's never had a roommate before and he isn't quite sure where the appropriate boundary line lies for these kinds of situations.

He's scared of pushing too hard and crossing it.

It's just past three am when he hears her whimpering in bed. He stays quiet in his room, rolling over in bed to his side. He listens as she walks out of her room and he hears her sob, and he can't stay away.

She isn't alone, she doesn't have to be alone, and he needs her to know that.

He holds her and she cries against his chest. All he wants to do is comfort her, to bring her peace the way she does for him without even trying.

So he takes her to the roof and opens himself up to her.

***

Rey curls her feet under herself as she settles into the couch. Ben moves around the kitchen, pulling a mug from one cupboard and honey from another. Her eyes follow him, taking in all of his small movements, the way he squints his eyes in concentration to make sure he is squeezing just the right amount of honey into the bottom of her cup before adding hot water and tea. She still doesn’t quite understand exactly how she got so lucky to fall into being his roommate, let alone someone he cares about.

There was a time when Rey’s only knowledge of Ben had been what she had heard from other people, stories of a rather closed off defense lawyer, all tall, dark and brooding. Full of anger. Rumors that Rey knew were based in truth, but did nothing to actually describe who Ben was underneath the facade that Snoke had helped create. If Poe hadn't offered Ben and Ben’s apartment as a lifeboat when Rey needed a place to stay, Rey never would have known anything different.

Ben had only been a part of her life for six months, but the thought of not knowing him hurts her. The idea that she could have gone about her life without knowing the depths in which he could care, the almost constant actions he took to ensure that the people he cared about knew they were cared for threatens to overwhelm her. Rey spent her entire childhood bounced from one bad foster home to the next. Believing that people cared about her isn't natural, but she believes Ben.

Ben who knows what kind of tea she likes to drink after a long day and knows how much honey she adds. Ben who teased her for her odd precision the first time he watched her make tea after she moved in, but remembers it all the same.

Ben who now makes the drink perfectly for her, because he notices without her saying a single word that she's had a bad day. His reaction is to make her feel better, even when Rey knows that Ben's day has been worse.

He first takes care of her.

“Tell me about your day?" Ben asks, stirring the tea a few times before he walks out of the kitchen and holds the cup out for her to take.

“Or," Rey begins, taking the cup from him, "you could tell me about your day instead."

Ben stares at her, eyes narrow as he sits next to her.

"Don't look at me like that." Rey blows on her drink and presses her feet against his legs. "You made me tea for my day, which has already made it infinitely better. You can tell me about your bad day first."

"And what makes you think I had a bad day?"

It's the way he says it that sets her off. The self-deprecating tone of his voice, the attempt to hide from talking to her by pretending that everything is okay.

As if she can't read him as easily as he reads her. As if she didn't hear the clipped way he ended their call when she called asking if he needed anything when she stopped at the market. Like she didn't notice the lack of grammar and unusually high amount of typos in his messages to her at the end of the day.

Or the way he moved around the kitchen making her tea. His shoulders tense and his thoughts loud. The way he kept brushing his fingers across her ankle as they talked.

How when she walked into the apartment he looked at her like she was something he wasn't sure he deserves. And how he only looks at her like that when he is convinced that there are two versions of him: the monster he is at work and the person he is with her at home. When he starts to believe that maybe he's nothing more than a monster and she just hasn't noticed.

Or that she hasn't had an opportunity to leave him for it yet.

She doesn't tell him any of that though.

"I know you," she summarizes. "Tell me about your day."

"You don't need to hear about the things I do at work." Ben's laugh is hollow. "Some days you're the only person who looks at me like I could be something more than I am."

"I hate when you do that," Rey admits, shaking her head. "When you act like what you do at work makes you a bad person."

"I am a bad person." It's an absolute truth when Ben says it and the clear intensity in which Ben believes it breaks her heart.

"The things I do, Rey," Ben shakes his head, his sentence trailing off. “It’s not something that’s up for debate.”

“You’re not a bad person, Ben Solo,” Rey whispers, glancing down at her tea for a moment before back up at Ben. “I hate watching him try to convince you that you are one.”

"Rey," Ben sighs, "It isn't that easy."

"But it is Ben," Rey says, her voice soft. She knows that she can't push, that every time she tries to push him on this he snaps and shuts down and that she hasn't and won't get anywhere that way. And she knows that she has to get somewhere. She refuses to even think about what will happen if she can't. "It is that easy."

***

Ben knows that something is wrong as soon as he walks into the apartment. For starters, the apartment is almost completely silent. He can hear Rey’s footsteps, but there is no background noise.

Rey hates silence.

Usually when he gets home he can hear whatever movie or show Rey is playing in the background, or, if she’s studying, he can hear music coming from her bedroom. Or, he’ll hear Rey mummering to herself as she reads through her notes or textbooks, or she’ll be humming under her breath.

But he’s taken off his jacket, and hung it on the coat rack by the door, and he’s toed off his shoes and slid them next to where Rey’s are and all he has heard are Rey’s footsteps.

The second sign: Rey is pacing.

Ben has only ever heard Rey pace after a particularly bad nightmare. It’s barely 6:30 and Rey is pacing in silence. She hasn’t shouted at him asking how his day was or what he’s making for dinner.

For the first time in six months, Ben is apprehensive about what he is going to walk into when he finds Rey.

“Hey,” Ben says as he walks into the living room, a tight smile on his face.

Rey stops pacing in front of the TV, which is on a news channel, but the volume is muted. Ben doesn’t need to hear the words to know that the coverage is focused on the trial he won earlier in the day.

The case itself was a high-profile case. It’s the reason the results of the trial are being aired on the news. It doesn’t take a lot to sensationalize a brutal murder and sexual assault. Hux had originally been the attorney Snoke had assigned to handle the case. It was reassigned to Ben after a case review when Ben pointed out the inconsistencies in the interviews Hux had conducted with the detectives about when, or even whether, the arresting officers had read the client his Miranda rights.

Ben hadn’t wanted the case. Ben usually was assigned the more white collar crimes, embezzlement, fraud. Occasionally, Ben would get assigned the larger drug trafficking or prostiution rings. But the homicide and violent offenses were hard for Ben to stomach.

But at the end of the day, Ben doesn’t choose his clients. He represents who he is told to represent.

And in this case, Hux overlooking the inconsistencies in the interviews had just been the start to the amount of holes and deficiencies in the prosecutor’s case.

“How do you do it?” Rey asks, her voice almost cracks and Ben knows that this isn’t a conversation he wants to have with her. “How do you represent people like him?” She points back toward the television. “He murdered that girl, Ben. He tortured her for days, he raped her, and then he murdered her. And he just, he gets to go home?”

“Rey.” Ben leans against the wall behind him, folding his arms over his chest. “You say that he did those things, but 12 of his peers returned a not guilty verdict.”

“Because you convinced them to,” Rey shouts, throwing one hand up in the air. “Your job was to convince them that he was innocent and you did it. And I just, Ben, I don’t understand how you can do it.”

“It’s my job,” Ben shrugs. “He is innocent until proven guilty. And there were procedurally a lot of issues. It’s not my fault that the investigation that led to his arrest was flawed.”

“Is that how you justify it?” Rey asks, shaking her head as she steps toward him. “The investigation was flawed? Some human made a mistake while investigating a horrific crime scene and somehow that’s justification to allow a murderer back into society? Is that what makes it okay Ben?”

“Yes,” Ben argues, watching as Rey moves around in front of him. “I did my job. Maybe next time the police and the state will do theirs better.”

“You mean the next time this guy decides to take another girl and kill her?” Rey glares at him and Ben knows that he should walk away now before the conversation goes any further. He’s angry, and she’s angry, and nothing good is going to come from this conversation. “How is that blood not on your hands too?”

“That’s not how it works,” Ben yells. His voice is too loud, too demanding. He flinches when he sees Rey flinch and pull herself back from him.

In that moment Ben knows that he is everything everyone says: too loud, too tall, too stubborn, too proud. He’s everything everyone says he is.

He’s never hated it more.

“That’s just not how it works. I am not out committing crimes or, God, Rey I’m not murdering people,” Ben says, his voice lower and more controlled. “I don’t disagree that the system we have is flawed. But my job is to advocate for my client and to protect the constitutional rights he is afforded. That’s the society we live in, one that believes that it is better for ten guilty men to be free than for one innocent man to be jailed.”

“That’s not how it works,” Rey throws his words back at him with venom. “And you know it Ben. You take advantage of a broken system.”

“I do the best job that I can for those that I represent.”

“You represent monsters.”

“And does that make me one, Rey?” Ben asks quietly, his fingers pressing at her chin to stop her from looking away. “Do you think I am a monster now? Just because of what I do?”

“I don’t know,” Rey responds and Ben drops his hand, taking a step back. “I don’t know what that makes you.”

Ben takes a deep breath, running his hand through his hair.

“I have to go,” he says after a moment, taking another step back from her before turning around to walk toward the entryway.

He hesitates at the door, his hand resting on the doorknob. And he waits for her to call to him. For her to follow him and to keep the conversation going. He’s almost certain that she will, that she won’t let him leave thinking that she believes him to be a monster.

Only she doesn’t.

Ben’s standing in the entryway in silence again, and when he opens the door to walk away, he’s pretty sure a part of his heart breaks.

***

"I thought I would find you here."

Rey refuses to turn her head to look at him. Instead she focuses on the moon shining bright in the sky, on the feeling of the hard cement under her fingers.

She tries not to think about how Ben knew where to find her because he was the one to show her how easy it was to pick the lock to the roof. She tries not to focus on how it made her feel to be a part of something secret with him.

It’s too much.

The constant reminder that the Ben she knows, the one that she knows she is starting to fall for, is the same Ben that passionately advocates on behalf of deplorable people who commit horrific actions.

She can practically hear Poe telling her that it’s his job. And she knows that people aren’t defined by what they do for a living. She's told Ben countless times that his job didn't define who he was as a person, and she never thought that she could be someone who would hold someone’s job against them as a fault. But she can’t quite wrap her head around how Ben, her Ben, can be someone fighting for the wrong side.

How is it possible that the same person who knows without her saying anything that she's had a bad day and makes her favorite tea and sits with her in silence until she chooses to open up be the same person who represents murderers? And does it well enough that they walk away free of a guilty verdict to go back to society to commit the same crimes. It doesn't make sense to her.

She isn't sure she wants it to make sense. It shouldn't make sense.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," Ben says and Rey finally looks back at him, taking a deep breath as she takes in his appearance.

He looks like a wreck.

She hates it. Hates that their fight is clearly affecting him. She hates that they are fighting at all.

She looks away, pulling her knees up closer to her chest, and says nothing.

It's a beautiful night.

The sky is clear of clouds and the moon is bright. There's too much light pollution for her to really make out too many of the stars, but she can imagine them and it's comforting in a way.

The first time Ben showed her how to get to the roof had been after a particularly bad nightmare two months after she had moved in. She had thought that she was doing a better job at hiding them, but Ben proved that he noticed her more than she thought.

He walked out of his room while she was making tea and hugged her. He just held her until the kettle started whistling.

He didn't say anything about the tears on her face when he pulled away, just finished making her tea and asked if he could show her something and took her to the roof.

He stayed up with her, sitting on the cold cement without any complaints, talking to her about the stars and the stories behind the constellations. He talked to her about his childhood and his own nightmares.

“You left,” Rey notes, breaking the silence. She doesn't say how that hurt her. She knows that she doesn't have to. It's almost painful how well Ben knows and understands her.

“I came back,” Ben points out, sitting down next to Rey. “That counts for something, right?”

Rey nods, because it does matter.

Ben doesn't say anything, just sits next to her in silence and looks up at the sky.

"You aren't a monster," Rey says after a moment. "I shouldn't have… I shouldn't have even insinuated that you are. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize," Ben reaches for her hand, intertwining his fingers with her. "I understand. There is truth to what you said. The work I do sometimes has consequences. And the clients we get at First Order… you aren't wrong about the kind of people I represent."

"Why do you do it?" She asks, turning her head to the side to look at him. "Is this really why you went to law school?"

"No, I went to law school because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. But I had to do something. Crim law was interesting and it was kind of romanticized, protecting people from the over zealous reach of police and the state, all humans that can be wrong and corrupt. And being recruited by Snoke was prestigious and I liked that." Ben sighs, "Plus it pissed my mom off, which was a pretty big deal to me when I was 25."

Rey rolls her eyes, slowly shaking her head. “'I guess I get how you ended up here. I just don't understand why you stay or even how you can stay. You hate your job, Ben. I know you do."

"I do," Ben admits, looking away from Rey. "But it's all that I know. And I'm good at it. What if it is all that I'm good at? What if I leave and I fail? What if I am only good at defending criminals?"

"That's Snoke," Rey interrupts him. She moves until she's kneeling in front of Ben. She cups his face with her hands, her thumb caressing his jaw, and she waits for him to look at her. "You are so good, Ben. You would be great anywhere."

"You don't know that."

"I do. You're smart, and you listen. You could never be anything less than successful. I absolutely believe that."

"Why?"

"Because I know you. And you, Ben Solo, are a good person."

Ben stares at her, resting his hands on her knees, and his expression is so open and vulnerable. His eyes full of wonder and hope. He looks at her like she's something that he cherishes.

Rey leans forward and presses her lips to his. The kiss is chaste at first, then Ben pulls her into his lap, deepening the kiss as he wraps one arm around her waist, the other in her hair.

Rey pulls away first and Ben grins, his sharp and crooked teeth on full display, and he has never looked more gorgeous.

She has no idea where they go from there.

***

Ben still can't believe that Rey agreed to come with him.

She had been apprehensive about going with him to the Christmas party. But she's here, talking with one of the firm's new associates, champagne glass in her hand. She stands tall with a confidence that Ben knows is all her own. The red dress she spent hours picking out sparkles under the light.

She looks like she belongs.

Rey smiles when she notices him. It's small and private, really it's barely noticeable. But Ben notices and for a moment the room seems brighter. Her smile brightens as he walks toward her and his breath catches in his throat. He has no idea what he has done to deserve for Rey to look at him the way that she does. Let alone for her to smile at him alone.

“Where have you been?” She questions, raising her glass to her lips to finish off her drink. “You spent weeks convincing me to come with you tonight and then you leave me alone with the wolves minutes after we get here.”

“I don’t know that all of my coworkers are wolves,” Ben jokes, trying to get away with not answering Rey’s question.

Rey notices. He knows that she does.

“Wolves. Lawyers. Same thing right?” Rey sets her glass down on the table behind her. “Dance with me?”

Rey knows that Ben doesn’t dance.

But Rey asks, and Ben finds that when it's Rey asking, he isn't very good at saying no.

And so they dance.

Ben places one hand across her back, grinning at her as she mumbles something about his height. She's teasing and he knows it because no one has ever quite fit into his arms so easily before.

Ben's not a terrible dancer. Dancing isn't his favorite thing and he doesn't particularly enjoy the attention that actually dancing brings on, but he can dance. He knows all of the steps and movements for the basic dances. It had been important to his mother, making sure that he knew what to do at all of the different events she needed for him to attend.

If Rey asked, Ben is confident that he would be able to lead in whatever dance she requested. But she seems happy to just sway with him, her cheek pressing against his chest.

"You were gone for awhile." Rey's voice is soft, Ben almost doesn't hear her over the music. "Where did you go?"

"I left my two weeks' notice on Snoke's desk," Ben responds just as quietly, pressing his hand against her back, holding her to him.

He doesn't need to see her face to know she is proud of him.

It's clear in the way she says his name anyway.

"We might actually want to get out of here before he finds it," Ben laughs, enjoying how easy it is to smile with Rey in his arms and the weight of his job off his conscience. "I know you were looking forward to dinner, so we can stay, but--"

"I don't care about the food," Rey interrupts, matching his smile with one of her own. "Let's go home. Maybe I'll even make you dinner."

"I just quit my job Rey, I don't have a death wish."

Rey swats at his shoulder, her eyes narrowing as she glares at him. Ben's smile grows.

***

"Mmmm, no, stop" Rey says, trying to yawn away the sleep in her face while grabbing the books back from Ben's hands. She sets them back down on her desk, rapidly blinking her eyes as she tries to take in her surroundings.

"I wasn't asleep," she lies, glancing up at Ben, trying to ignore the concerned look on his face. "I couldn't have been. Because my final is in three days and I am not ready and I need to keep studying and--

"And you need to sleep," Ben interrupts her, placing his hand on her shoulder. Rey tries to resist the temptation to tilt her head toward him, but his hand is so warm and there and-- "You've barely slept all week. You're going to do great. But only if you sleep."

"What if I don't?" She whispers, looking back at the desk and the stack of notes and highlighted sections of books she still hasn't gotten too. "What if I fail? And I don't graduate? And I never become a social worker? Then what?"

"Then you'll figure something else out," Ben says like it's the most obvious answer in the world. "And you'll be great at it too."

"And if I'm not?"

"I'll still be here to support you, to take care of you."

Rey's heart races at the promising look he gives her.

"It's not your job to take care of me."

"It could be," Ben smiles at her, running his thumb along the side of her face. "It's not like I've got another one at the moment."

***

Rey stretches her legs out in front of her, pointing her toes toward the television. The documentary that Ben is watching is playing and even though Rey has been there the entire time it has been on, she really has no idea what the documentary is playing.

Ben is sitting on the couch behind her, running his hands through her hair. It's nice, the way he massages her scalp with his fingers. Rey hums her contentment, pushing her head back further into Ben's hand.

"You're squirmy," Ben points out as he tugs on a piece of her hair.

Rey grins when Ben separates the piece of hair in his hand and starts braiding. "Is that a problem?"

"Only if you want me to finish braiding your hair. It's hard to do right with all the moving."

"You'll figure it out." Rey leans her head back flat against the couch, her smile growing as she watches Ben huff. He takes apart the braid he had started.

"Brat," he says under his breath, his fingers combing through her hair again, pulling the strands stuck underneath her head out, so that he can start another braid. "Give me the hair ties on your wrist?"

Rey pulls the hair ties off of her wrist and hands them to him. Then she closes her eyes, enjoying the feeling of Ben's hands in her hair, the comfort of having him so close to her. She wishes all of her days could be spent like this.

"Your hands are magic," Rey says after Ben finishes the first braid, right when he's starting on the second.

His hands freeze. Rey smirks, but keeps her eyes closed. She doesn't need to open them to know the expression on Ben's face, or to know how his eyes would be darker than they had been before.

Rey has been more and more blatant with her flirting with Ben since she kissed him, waiting for Ben to kiss her again, or make a move, or, really, to do anything.

Ben resumes the second braid, carefully pulling strands of Rey's hair apart and weaving it through the other strands.

Rey knows that she could have brought the kiss up, but she hadn't. She mistakenly assumed Ben would bring it up and that things would progress from there.

Only he didn't and Rey had felt too awkward to bring up the kiss or her feelings for him.

Which she also knows is stupid because it's Saturday afternoon and she is sitting on their living room floor pretending to be interested in some documentary she couldn't care less about just because he asked her to watch it with him. And his hands are in her hair and all Rey can think about is how nice it feels and how badly she wants to kiss him again.

Ben finishes the second braid and Rey immediately misses the feeling of his hands in her hair. She regrets not moving more and making Ben start over again and again.

She sits up straighter, pressing her back against the couch.

She tries focusing on the documentary, which really should be over but is somehow still going on, but her thoughts keep drifting back to Ben, and the kiss, and her hands.

And, God, how she really wants to find out just how magical those hands could be if he would just touch her the way she wants him to.

Rey pulls her legs up, twisting around until she's resting on her knees and facing Ben. She's mostly eye level with him with the way he's lying on the couch.

"Do you like me?" Rey blurts out. She grimaced at the awkward silence that follows, crinkling her nose as she imagines all of the ways she could have approached that better. "I just, I'm sorry, that's not quite how I wanted…"

Rey groans, closing her eyes. She presses her hands into the couch and stands up, moving away from Ben. If she wasn't so focused on being mortified by the situation she put herself in, she probably would have found the speed and awkwardness of the way he got off the couch and followed her amusing.

"Do you like me," Rey repeats in horror, shaking her head. "I sound like a teenager getting ready to ask the pretty boy in school if he wants to go to steady."

"You think I'm pretty?" Ben asks, placing his hands on her waist. He's smiling at her, and it's that same stupid smile he gave her after she kissed him, and Rey would give anything for that smile to stay on his face forever.

"Yes," Rey answers honestly. "I think you're very pretty."

Ben laughs. "So, is this the part where you ask me if I want to go steady?"

"Maybe." Rey teases, rolling her eyes, while Ben pulls her closer. She places one of her hands on his chest, smiling as she feels how fast his heart is beating. "I guess that depends on what your answer would be."

"I think that you'll find when it comes to you, Rey, my answer is always going to be yes."

***

“I love you,” Rey says without much thought one morning while Ben is placing pancakes on two plates next to the stove. She knows exactly which plate is hers, because the stack of pancakes is at least twice the size of the other.

She isn’t surprised with the way she just blurts out the words without any context or pretense. Honestly, she’s surprised that she’s managed to keep from saying them so many times before. Because she loves him with such an intensity that she feels like she could burst at any moment.

He freezes for just a moment, before he resumes making them breakfast, pouring more pancake mix onto the griddle.

“Ben?” She asks, tilting her head to the side.

“I love you,” she says again.

“Okay,” he responds, carefully flipping the pancakes.

“Okay?” She asks, huffing as she looks at him. “That’s all you have to say?”

Ben doesn't say anything and he doesn't turn around. He stays completely silent as the pancakes finish cooking. He slides them onto his plate before reaching across the counter and grabbing two bananas.

"Ben," Rey huffs, unsure if she's upset that he isn't responding to her telling him that she loves him or if she's upset because he's ignoring her. She's pretty sure it's a good combination of both. "Is that really all you have to say?"

Ben turns the griddle off, unplugging the cord from the wall. He picks up the plates and walks over to the dining room table where she is sitting. He sits across from her and slides her plate across the table.

"Is that…" Rey pauses, biting down on her bottom lip as she looks at him.

She knows that Ben loves her. She honestly knows that to be a fact. And even if she didn't know that, she knew in her bones that Ben would never purposefully hurt her.

So she really couldn't figure out why Ben's only response to her had been 'okay' and complete silence.

"Is that really all you have to say?" Rey finally finishes, dropping her eyes down to her plate.

"You love me," Ben says and Rey looks at him just in time to see him slightly shrug his shoulders. "Okay."

"Ben--"

"Rey. You love everyone that brings you food. So, yeah. Okay."

Rey laughs. She doesn't mean to laugh because this is absolutely the wrong time to laugh. But Ben thinks that she blurts out 'I love you' to anyone bringing her food and not because she's in love with him.

"You think I said that I love you because you brought me food?"

"Sure. Why else would you say it?"

Rey almost misses it, the way Ben's lips twist up for just a second in a smirk.

He is messing with her.

She tells him she loves him for the first time and he is fucking with her.

"I sort of hate you." Rey breaks off a piece of her banana and pops it in her mouth. "Just so you know."

"I sort of love you too," Ben grins. "Just so you know."

***

Rey giggles, honestly giggles, when Ben slips out of her again.

She's already bent in an awkward angle, her hands keep slipping against the tile of the shower and she can't quite hold herself the way she needs to for Ben to stay inside of her.

Not that it has stopped him from trying, numerous times.

He's too tall and the shower is too small for them to have sex. She had spent fifteen minutes explaining this to him when he had joined her in the shower.

She's pretty sure that only made him more determined to prove her wrong.

He drops one hand from her breast to her stomach, using it to hold her back up and he's sliding back inside of her.

It takes Rey's breath away every time. The way he stretches her, how full she feels in that moment, especially with the angle. It's exquisite.

His thrusts are shallow and slow, and it's far more intimate than anything Rey thought she would be comfortable with. But it's Ben and Rey quickly discovered that her relationship with Ben was going to destroy all of the walls that she had spent her entire childhood building.

It scared her at first, the way he could hurt her. The fact that she had let herself care enough about him that he could destroy her.. Now it's just comforting, knowing with everything in her that Ben wouldn't hurt her.

So even though Rey knows that he's going to slip back out because Ben has almost no self control when they are together and he won't be able to keep going at this pace for long. And even if he could, she knows that she'd never be able to come this way, she wraps one of her hands around his wrist, the one that's planted firmly against the tile, and moves her hips back to meet him and enjoys it.

He groans when he falls back out, resting his forehead in the crook of her neck.

She giggles again, turning her head to look at him while he backs up.

He looks so determined. His eyes are narrow as he glances at her and the edges of the tub, as if he's trying to determine the different ways he can have her stand and place her hands to make this work. There are water droplets dripping off of his hair and sliding down his chest. He's so absolutely beautiful that it takes her breath away.

"Maybe if you weren't laughing this would be working," Ben mutters, leaning down to kiss her.

"Yeah. It's my laughter that's causing this problem. Not your apartment having ridiculously small bathtubs," Rey points out, standing up and stretching her arms over her head. "You didn't test your shower out before signing the lease?"

"I can't say 'is my shower large enough for me and my future girlfriend to have sex in' was very high on my list of thoughts when I moved in."

Rey shrugs. "Your fault then."

Ben glares at her, but he's biting his bottom lip and Rey knows he's trying really hard not to smile.

"You could just admit that I'm right and take me to bed so you can fuck me like we both want," Rey offers, tilting her head toward his bedroom.

She can see the corner of his bed in between the gap from the shower curtain and the wall, and she would kill in that moment to be on it with Ben above her.

"Oh no. You are not right." Ben shakes his head, spraying water on her. He leans forward, pressing his lips to her forehead. "I still have ideas on how this could work."

"Ben," she whispers, taking his hand in his. She lifts his hand up to kiss his knuckles. "Take me to bed, please."

"Okay," he agrees, just like she knew he would. "Okay sweetheart."

***

"Move in with me?" Ben asks, his voice low and just above a whisper. He runs his fingers through her hair, grinning as Rey somehow manages to pull him closer.

Rey giggles, her breath warm across his chest where she presses her lips against him in a barely there kiss. "We already live together."

"That’s not-- I'm trying-- I mean--" Ben falters over his words, rolling onto his back.

Wordlessly Rey follows him, adjusting herself until she's mostly laying on top of him and not the mattress. Her elbow is pointy and is pressed into his rib. It's not the most comfortable position Ben has ever been in, but Rey sighs and it's almost as if he can feel her happiness and contentment wash over him.

He can't imagine ever wanting to move.

"Move in with me," he repeats. "And I don't mean live in the same apartment with me with a separate room and a separate bed. I want this to be our room, for this to be our bed. I don't want us to have separate anything."

Ben takes a deep breath, glancing down to meet Rey's gaze. "I love you and I just want to be with you. Stay with me?"

"Yes," Rey breathes, stretching up to kiss him. "Always."

***

"Thank you," Rey says, pulling on his hand and leading him toward their bed.

"For what?" Ben presses his lips against her neck.

Rey tilts her head, giving Ben better access as he continued to trail kisses along her collarbone.

"For giving me a home."

#reylo week 2020 #reylo fic #reyloweek #reylodaily #reylo fanfic #my fic

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saiilorstars · 4 years

Text

The Beginning of Everything

Ch. 31: A Time Lady’s Duty

// Story Masterlist //

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 10th Doctor x Female OC

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel

[If you would like to be added to this specific OC’s taglist, let me know!]

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Chapter summary: As the Master gains control of the Earth, the Time Lords strive to save themselves from extinction. The Assessor, for that matter, will do anything to ensure their victory even at the expense of her sister.

[Renata’s new face claim is Livia Brito and the Assessor’s is Ana Brenda]

The Master was relishing in his triumph. He had every single human under his control, every weapon at his disposal, a whole planet just for him...and then came the truly best part. On one side of the room he had the Doctor strapped to the very chair that had kept the Master a few hours ago. There was a thick black strap going over the Doctor's face - finally shutting up that gob of his - with a few other straps to keep him bound. On the other side, the Master had Renata bound to a regular chair but she had no gag on. He wanted to hear more of her excuses, see the shame on her face each time he would remind her of her past. It was his entertainment. The old human beside her was just a plus. He didn't know what he would do with Wilf yet but he was sure to have a plan later on.

"Now, then. I've got a planet to run!" the Master exclaimed, tapping his fingers against each other as he walked towards the controls. He had every world leader as a version of himself.

"This won't last," Renata said after the Master annoyingly checked in with each World Leader. He'd done this three times already.

The Master turned around, glaring at her for a brief second before he grinned. "Oh my dear Renata! You really think that, huh?" he scurried towards her, missing the Doctor squirming under his straps. He wanted the Master far, far away from Renata.

He won't hurt me, he heard Renata's calm voice in his mind. She was having a stare down with the Master three inches from her face. To her credit, she truly did not seem afraid of him.

He's crazy. You don't know what he would do, the Doctor returned.

He won't hurt me because then he wouldn't be able to mock me and shame me if I really died. Renata had no doubt that the Master wouldn't hesitate to inflict some type of pain on her but never to the point of killing her. She was a good source of fun for him, a toy that he could squeeze and laugh at. He could never end that type of game.

"Why are you so silent?" the Master demanded from Renata. Usually by now she would have said something else, something about how this plan was crazy and he would never succeed. But all she did was stare. He looked back at the Doctor who had stopped squirming. He craned his head as if he were going to look at Renata again but he started to laugh. "Oh! Oh! I get it!" He stepped away from Renata so that he was between her and the Doctor. "You opened up your telepathic abilities! You're connected! How romantic. Tell me," his laugh disappeared as he turned to Renata. "How long did that take after I was gone? You waste absolutely no time, my dear Renata."

Renata glared at him but there was still an inkling inside her reminding her that what the Master claimed was true. She did make a terrible mistake in the past. But she would not allow him to guilt her over things that never happened. "I only opened my mind because the situation called for it. I've done nothing wrong."

The Master laughed again and bent down in front of her, shaking his head. "It's hilarious to me that you actually believe yourself. Who would've thought that the noble Renata—" he mocked her name, taking pleasure at her flinch, "—would do something so...primitive like a human. I mean, you—" he gestured back at the Doctor, "—I sort of expect because, well...look at where you've wasted centuries of your lives on." The Doctor glared at him. "Of course you would pick up their ape-like ways. Then again, this did happen before so maybe you were always like this. Having an affair? Hm," he brought a hand to his chin as if he was really pondering on the situation. "I've always been rather infamous myself but you would never catch me having an amorous affair. Pathetic!" He screamed, causing all three of his prisoners to flinch from the sudden volume. "Embarrassment to our people!" A deep, dark fury that crossed his face - that one did make the Doctor fear for Renata's well being. The Master turned on his heels for the Time Lady and rushed right up to her face, so much that she had to lean away. "Betrayal for my brother! He was an idiot but he was still my brother! He showered you with stupid love, stupid gifts and you go and betray him! You should be dead like the rest of them!"

Renata scrunched her face as he kept shouting at her. She could feel some of his spit landing on her skin but it wasn't what mattered. His words were all true. Her stomach churned as she thought of her late husband. Elek. He did give her everything she wanted; everything anyone would've wanted. He was always sweet to her, never once raised his voice even when they did have a arguments here and there. But he was rubbish at arguing - she always pointed that out to him when they made up.

"Maybe it's because I don't want to argue with my beautiful wife," he would tell her later in the day.

"Or maybe you just have no talent at it," she would poke more fun at him to see if she could get one proper argumentative response, but she never did.

There were the gifts that he would surprise her with. Being an Architect gave him ample exploration of the planet. Sometimes he would come home with the rarest of things that he claimed that only fit her. She still remembered her favorite gift: a necklace that he himself had forged. It had her name, her true name, written in Gallifreyan along with hers. He had given it to her just before the War had begun and what truly made it her favorite gift was that it also had their unborn child's name. At that moment, Renata was about four months pregnant and they had come up with a few names until they had decided on their favorite name. She loved that necklace.

When the Master heard the first blip of an oncoming sob, he straightened away from Renata, pleased with his work. Even when she claimed to have moved on, there was always something that would pull her back to her roots.

Renata? Don't cry. Don't cry, you've done nothing wrong. The Doctor struggled even more to get out of the stupid chair holding him back. It was me. It was always me. Gala? I'm so sorry my love. You don't deserve any of this - you never deserved any of it.

Renata could only bring herself to look at him for a few seconds, showing her reddened eyes in the process. That was false. It wasn't all on him. He never forced her into anything. Her thoughts were cut short by the ringing of a cellphone. Everyone froze and slowly their eyes landed on Wilf since the ringing was coming from him.

"But that…that's a mobile," the Master scowled at the old man.

"Yeah, it's mine, let me turn it off!" Wilf struggled to move his hands with the rope around him.

"No, no, no. I don't think you understand." The Master marched over to Wilf's chair. "Everybody on this planet...is me. And I'm not phoning you, so who the hell is that?" He searched for the phone himself and came across the revolver first. "Ooh, and look at this. Good man!" he waved it at the Doctor then Renata. He let it drop to the ground and continued the search until he found the cell phone. "Donna," he read off the screen. "Who's Donna?"

"Nobody, move on," snapped Renata though the tone she was going for didn't exactly portray the snap. She was still trying to recover from her little episode, but she was not going to let it be the reason Donna was hurt.

The Master answered the call to hear Donna's frantic voice telling him all about the "changed people" in her house and in the streets. "Who is she!? Why didn't she change!?" he angrily demanded to know.

"Well, it was this thing the Doctor and Renata did…" Wilf struggled to remember the right name. "The Metacrisis?"

The Master laughed condescendingly. "Of course. "Oh... He loves playing with Earth girls, huh Ren? You would know."

Renata glared at him. At first, the mere mention of the Doctor with Rose Tyler would set her off. A human girl...but things were so different now. She knew better, she knew humans a lot better. She couldn't blame the Doctor for anything. It was his story and it was a tragic one all on its own without her adding ridiculous jealousy.

The Master ordered his clones to track Donna down. Wilf panicked as the clones did the job.

"You just leave her!"

"I wouldn't do that," Renata, on the other hand, warned calmly. Even the Doctor didn't squirm or try to say something behind the mouth strap on him.

The Master craned his head at the Time Lady, smiling sarcastically. "Why?"

"I just wouldn't."

The clones had found Donna in two minutes but just as they closed in on her, she released golden energy from her head that knocked them all out, including herself.

When the Master looked at Renata afterwards, she was smirking but her eyes flickered past him to the Doctor. He was responsible. He growled and stalked towards the Doctor, pulling the gag off him.

"That's better!" the Doctor opened and closed his mouth in strange ways to get the movement back in order. "Hello. But really, did you think I'd leave my best friend without a defense mechanism?"

"Doctor, what happened?" Wilf asked him. He wasn't able to understand if Donna was truly safe or not.

"She's all right, she's fine, I promise. She'll just sleep," he assured Wilf.

The Master exhaled deeply, forgetting all about the stupid human. She would eventually die on her own anyways. "Tell me, where's your TARDIS?"

The Doctor didn't answer immediately. He stared at the Master in an annoying silence. "You could be so wonderful."

"Where is it!?"

"You're a genius," the Doctor continued to ignore the demand. "You're stone-cold brilliant. You are, I swear, you really are."

"Stop it!" he snapped, but instead he got Renata to join in.

"He's not wrong," she said. "You and Elek would have these conversations that I could never dream of understanding. And you know, most of the time Elek was so inspired by you. He admired your intelligence. What would he think right now if he saw this? Wouldn't it be better to travel together?"

"Travel with the likes of you?" he sneered and looked between the pair. "With the likes of both of you!? Ha!"

"But maybe together, all three of us, we could figure out how to stop that noise inside your head," the Doctor said, truly meaning it. He wants to believe that if the noise was gone, things would be so different. Maybe the Master would finally find peace.

"Would it stop, then?" the Master's voice was suddenly quiet. "The noise in my head?"

"We can help."

"I don't know what I'd be without that noise."

"Wonder what I'd be, without you."

The Master stayed quiet for a moment, almost looking like he was considering such an idea. He'd been with that noise all his life, what would he do if he could truly get rid of it?

"What does he mean? What noise?" Wilf asked them.

The Master was too far in thought to deny the human the answer. "It began on Gallifrey. As children. Not that you'd call it childhood. More a life of duty. Eight years old. I was taken for initiation. To stare into the Untempered Schism."

"But what does that mean?" Wilf continued to ask. He had no idea what the man was talking about.

"It's a gap in the fabric of reality," the Doctor simplified it. "You can see into the Time Vortex itself. And it hurts."

"You get three reactions basically," Renata said quietly. She could see the raw pain the Master held just by remembering his initiation. "You either run away, go insane or you get inspired. Very rarely do you see another reaction."

It didn't take a lot for Wilf to decide what reaction the Master had. Renata knew the Master's story, and she knew the Doctor's story.

Which one were you? the Doctor asked her. He was gazing at her curiously, unable to decide whether or not she was as against the Initiation as the Master was.

A small smile came to Renata's face. I was inspired. I saw the Gallifreyans and how they struggled outside the Citadel. I wanted to help them. It was at that moment that Renata set out to find a way to help the people their city had forgotten about simply because they chose against regeneration. It shouldn't have mattered what they decided. They were still of the same species, the same kind originating from the same world. They should have always been one.

You were amazing even as a child, the Doctor remarked and enjoyed seeing the blush spread over Renata's face.

"I saw the worst," the Master bad turned to Renata, once again sneering at her. "Not all of us could be inspired," he mocked her and moved away. "They took me there, in the dark. I looked into time, old man, and I heard it calling to me. Drums, the never-ending drums."

~0~

Gallifrey.

Two Time Lords were bringing in a Time Lady with a ruddy appearance. Her pale face had bruises and cuts that were still open. Her brunette hair was tangled in knots. She had her arms gripped by each Time Lord and they wouldn't let go until they reached their destination. Twice she had tried to run away and if she could, she would.

Finally, they stopped in the Matrix room where the Assessor waited. She stood on a platform when her sister was brought inside. "There you are." She gave a nod at the two Time Lords to leave them. "Renata, you look well."

Renata's emerald eyes glared at her sister. "Why am I here?" She had just received her newest location to move towards to when all of a sudden she had two Time Lords demanding to take her away, all on orders from the High Council.

The Assessor stepped down from the platform and walked up to her sister. "I have a task for you."

"But I just got a new assignment—"

The Assessor raised a hand - a very clean hand which just angered Renata all over again - to command silence. "Forget it. The Council has assigned you to a much more important duty. Failure is not an option here."

"What do you want?" Renata asked. She couldn't understand why the hell the Council wanted something from her. If anything, they needed to get off their behinds and do something to help them. Time Lords were dying outside and yet the High Council - those snobby creatures - wouldn't leave their protected chambers. They were letting everyone else die, including her.

"We got word that the Doctor has stolen the Moment. And just so we're clear, the Moment has the power to destroy the entire planet along with the Daleks. You are going to find him and stop him from activating it."

Renata nearly keeled over but she didn't because she knew that her sister was playing a joke on her. The Assessor would never want her near the Doctor, not after what happened in the Academy. Centuries may have passed but the anger in the Assessor was still as raw and fresh as the day she found out about them.

"I know you must be confused but time is of the essence. If you don't hurry, all of this—" the Assessor gestured to the room they were in, the room where all of their history was in, as an example of what they were saving, "—will be lost."

"You're not joking," Renata whispered. "You really do mean it. You want me to find the Doctor?" Anger quickly filled her face. "You forbade me from seeing him again! Don't you remember!? You literally threatened me! You blackmailed me! You were prepared to hurt him if I didn't end things! You destroyed my life! And now you want me to go find him? You want me to save you? Do you want me to save the very institution you once said would kill the Doctor?"

The Assessor wasn't phased by her sister's outburst. If anything, she thought it was embarrassing. But her sister was always more...emotional than the rest of their family. She didn't understand that things worked in a specific way and each of them had to do their respective tasks. "The situation calls for it. The Doctor's family is dead. You are the only one who could stop him. He will kill us all."

"No! Absolutely not! You will not use me!" Renata was beyond furious that she shoved her sister away.

The Assessor struggled to regain her balance and sent a dark glare her sister's way. "I advice you not to do that again, little sister." She dusted her robes off, something that made Renata want to throw her to the floor. The Assessor's robes were elegant and clean as was her appearance. She was untouched by the war.

And here she was, demanding for a soldier to keep fighting.

Renata had already been beaten and worn down by the war to hold what little restraints she had to keep herself composed. She had lost everything and even then, when she was so alone, the Assessor never once offered her support. They were the last of their family and yet it didn't feel that way. Renata lost it. "You haven't fought for us! You haven't fought for me! You don't care about anyone! Our parents died months ago and you didn't even check up on me!"

"You were fighting," the Assessor said, her tone still untouched by Renata's spats. "You had a duty, so did I."

"You have no duty! You haven't been out there!" Renata frantically pointed out the door. "People are dying! The children—" she stopped to close her eyes, "—are dying. I saw a whole group of them disintegrated in one second." Tears rolled down her face. "Cece," the use of her sister's nickname was the only thing that made the Assessor shift with actual emotions, "My own child died inside me. It wasn't enough that I lost Elek, I lost my child. You did not care."

"The casualties are part of a war. They are not surprising," the Assessor said, though her eyes did linger on her sister's stomach for a few seconds. "You think that I am not affected by the passing of our family? My own husband died, did you forget? But I have a responsibility and I will continue doing it until my last breath. The same goes for you now."

"You still don't care," Renata shouldn't even be surprised by that, but she always clung to a little bit of hope that somewhere inside the Assessor did have feelings. She did love her family, her. "I've lost most of my lives and you are now asking me to put myself in further danger."

"How many lives do you have left?" the Assessor inquired.

"What—"

"How many lives?" the Assessor demanded this time.

"Three more!"

"How would you feel about a whole new cycle?" the Assessor slowly tilted her head, knowing that she now had her sister's entire attention. "The Council understands your journey is treacherous and they are prepared to grant you a new regeneration cycle. All you have to do is retrieve the Moment from the Doctor."

Renata raised an eyebrow at her sister. They must be really desperate to offer that type of deal. Regeneration cycles were not handed out lightly. There had to be exclusive reasons for somebody to receive a whole new cycle.

And yet everyone was dying.

Maybe...the Doctor had figured out a way to make everything stop. He always knew what to do. A small smile came to Renata's face when she recalled the many times he helped her solve her problems. She hadn't allowed herself to think about him much after they parted ways. But now the Assessor was making her go back to a painful moment in her life. Renata was forced to drive the Doctor away and now the Assessor was taking it back just to save her own skin?

Fury bubbled inside Renata. She laid eyes on her sister and the woman still didn't offer up any emotion. Everyone was dying and she didn't care. The Council didn't care. No more, Renata gritted her teeth behind her closed lips. They shouldn't have had the power they did. Oh, she hated them all. She hated all these people in power who did nothing for their citizens. And now the Assessor was dangerously close to being added to that list.

It's time to end it, Renata decided. She had nothing left. Her husband was gone, her child was gone, her parents. The Doctor had long been gone. The Assessor had never been there. I deserve better.

Renata straightened herself up and walked up to her sister. "I want the cycle first," she spat in her sister's face.

The Assessor smirked.

~0~

Present Day.

"Listen to it," the Master commanded the two Time Lords with him. "Listen." But of course, without a mind connection, neither Renata nor the Doctor could hear the drums...but they now knew that they were real.

"Then let's find it, you and us," the Doctor attempted to construct yet another speech to stop the Master, but a new idea had crossed the Master's mind.

"Oh! Oh, wait a minute! Oh, yes. Oh, that's good!"

"What? What is?" Renata dreaded what he had come up with, although a part of her asked herself what more could he do that would be worse than what he had already done to the planet.

"The noise exists within my head. And now within six billion heads. Everyone on Earth can hear it. Imagine! Oh... Oh, yes!" His laughter was cut short with another skeletal flash struck him. He dropped with a groan.

"The Gate wasn't enough. You're still dying," the Doctor grimly.

"This body was born out of death. All it can do is die," the Master was able to pull himself up after a few minutes. "But what did you say to me, back in the wasteland? You said, "the end of time.""

"I said something is returning. I was shown a prophecy. That's why I need your help."

"What if I'm part of it? Don't you see?" the grin was quick to return to the Master's face. "The drumbeat is calling from so far away, from the end of time itself. And now it's been amplified six billion times. Triangulate all those signals. I could find its source! Oh, Doctor... That's what your prophecy was. Me!" He crouched in front of the Doctor. "Where's the TARDIS?"

"No. Just stop. Just think—"

The Master rolled his eyes and suddenly pointed a finger at Wilf. "Kill him!" A helmeted soldier moved towards Wilf and aimed his gun at him. "I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is, or the old man is dead."

"Oh stop it," Renata frowned. "Why not redirect it at me instead? Maybe you're not the only one with a little bit of power left." Had she been anyone else, he might have had the gun aimed at her but here she was completely unharmed. The mental torture was the only thing he used against her, but never physical harm.

The Master shot her a glare, practically warning her to keep her mouth shut. "I'll kill him, right now!"

"Actually, the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone-dead stupid," the Doctor's calmness despite the situation was the first thing the Master should have noticed.

"Take aim," he ordered the soldier.

He never was smart for the obvious. Renata smiled at the Doctor. He over thought too much. His brother didn't.

The Doctor was able to smile back at her. The Master noticed their silent smiles at each other and scowled. "What us going on!?"

"What I think the Doctor meant to say is that you've got six billion pairs of eyes, but you still can't see the obvious," Renata made a face at him.

"Like what?"

"Well, for starters, you're over exerting yourself - oh!" Renata exclaimed as if she only just remembered the real point they'd been trying to make. "And that guard—" she nodded at the soldier holding the gun on Wilf, "—is one inch too tall."

It was only then that the Master finally gave the soldier a good look, but it only lasted a few minutes before the soldier hit him with his rifle. He pulled his helmet off to reveal Rossiter underneath.

"Oh, my God, I hit him. I've never hit anyone in my life!" He was absolutely stunned at himself, but Addams ran into the room looking primed for the job.

"Oh I know, it gets you the first time," Renata smiled at him with a chuckle. "I never hit anyone—"

"What about me?" frowned the Doctor. "You hit me loads of time in the foundation."

"Yeah, but those didn't hurt. I meant like an actual smack or something. And the war doesn't count either."

"You did hit me hard enough to hurt!"

"I did not!"

"Don't you remember when you threw a—"

"Both of you stop!" Addams cut in to scold the two.

Renata flushed with embarrassment. No one had ever scolded her too. What was going on with this new body of hers? She did not want to be like the Doctor. The universe truly could not handle two of him.

"We need to get out of here, fast!" Addams said, throwing a look at the unconscious Master on the ground. She doubted Rossiter had him hit hard enough to be out for anything more than a few minutes.

Rossiter had untied Renata while Addams untied Wilf. The Doctor proved to be a bit more difficult with the multiple straps.

"God bless the cactuses!" Wilf laughed when he could finally stand up from his chair.

"That's cacti!" the Doctor called.

Rossiter stopped struggling with the straps, quite offended with the two of them. "That's racist!"

"Please don't offend the people who are saving us!" Renata scolded the Doctor and Wilf. There we go, she did the scolding because she wasn't rude.

"This prophecy of yours, Doctor...where did it come from? Doctor?" one of the Master's appeared on the screen behind them.

"Come on! We've got to get out!" Addams told Rossiter, she thought he was far too slow.

"There's too many buckles and straps!".

Addams groaned. "Oh just...wheel him!" Rossiter didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed the chair by the handles and started turning them for the door.

"No, no, no! Get me out!" the Doctor shouted at them. "No, no, don't! Don't! No, no, no!"

Renata ushered Wilf ahead of her but she stopped for a moment just outside the room, smiling - almost laughing - as she heard the Doctor ahead of her, shouting for them to properly release him. Her smile suddenly dropped while her eyes widened. "You are not rude!" she scolded herself before finally running after them.

With all the chaos and running away, the Doctor couldn't get either Vinvocci to listen to him and take them to the TARDIS instead. Even Renata, when she caught up, couldn't get them to change course and she wasn't going to let them take the Doctor either. They would have to come back for the blue box afterwards.

"Not the stairs... Not the stairs!" the Doctor fought to get out of the remaining straps but the stairs had come up and now he was being rocked in all directions. "Worst...rescue...ever!" He only stopped fighting for a second when he heard something strange behind him. "...is that laughing? Renata, you're laughing!?"

Renata caught herself quick and covered her mouth. "No!" she gave the muffle answer and focused on running and nothing more.

The Master had caught them in the teleporting room but despite that, the Vinvoccis were one step ahead. They teleported themselves out of the building, off the planet, and onto their ship.

"Now get me out of this thing!" the Doctor practically ordered while he wriggled like a worm.

"Don't say thanks, will you?" Addams scoffed as she went to help him out.

"He'll thank you when we cut off the weapons the Master still has!" Renata sighed as she hurried to undo the straps on him.

"Oh, my goodness me...we're in space!" Wilf had found the huge glass wall at the end of the room. He could see planet Earth, bright as ever despite what was going on. With a view like this no wonder Donna loved traveling.

"We'll come back to the exciting part, Wilf! Promise!" Renata said just as she'd pulled the Doctor off the chair. From her force, he leaned just a bit too close to her face, not that he cared. He quite liked her new face.

"Come on!" she urged him to remember what they were supposed to do.

"Right!"

Adams couldn't understand what was the huge rush. They were no longer in danger since they weren't even on the same planet as that crazy man. "But we're safe! We're a hundred thousand miles above the Earth!"

"And he's got every single missile on the planet ready to fire!" the Doctor said, making her finally realize the problem.

"Oh. Good point. This way!" she took the lead out of the room. Renata hurried for Wilf who was still taken by the grand sight of space.

"But we're in space!"

"Aha!"

"We've got to close it down!" the Doctor said as soon as they found the controls.

Rossiter gave him a mad look. "No chance, mate, we're going home."

"We're a salvage team. Local politics has nothing to do with us," Addams argued as well. "Not unless there's a carnival. Sooner we get back to Vinvocci space the better!"

"No you are not!" snapped Renata and before Addams could open her mouth, Renata continued to shout. "The whole reason Earth is the way it is right now is because of your stupid machine! If you and your people had been more responsible, this machine would have never fallen into the hands of the humans! Therefore you are responsible and under the rules of the Shadow Proclamation you have a responsibility to help us fix things! And just so we're clear…" Renata pulled out her sonic and used it on the controls, effectively killing the entire power line.

The Doctor was stunned by her actions and her entire outburst as a whole. He was about to do the same thing but that's what he always did. That was no shocker. But Renata had finally come around humans and Earth to the point that she would do anything to help them and save them.

Plus, she looked incredibly good arguing someone's ear off. I love that woman, he concluded with a huge grin on his face. Also not a shocker.

"You've wrecked the place!" Addams was in complete outrage. If she wasn't green, she would've turned red from anger.

"The engines are burnt out!" Rossiter was in a state of panic instead of anger like his co-worker. "Just auxiliary lights. Everything else is kaput. We can't move. We're stuck in orbit!"

"Thanks to you. You idiot!" Addams spat enough to make Renata wince.

Okay, so maybe she hadn't thought it through but if she hadn't killed the power, the Master would've killed them. But, there was still a bit of guilt sitting on her shoulders. She might have doomed them anyways. "I'm sorry," she said as Addams and Rossiter stormed out of the place.

"Hey, you did what I was going to do anyways," the Doctor walked up to her and brought his hands to her arms. He offered her a supportive smile and pulled her into a hug while she struggled to accept the reality.

~0~

Gallifrey.

"My Lord, I have my sister," the Assessor had brought Renata into the main chamber of the Council, though not before cleaning her younger sister up a bit. She would be damned if Renata embarrassed her.

Renata's face had been cleaned up for the meeting and any blood dripping on her had been forced shut with a bit of the Assessor's own regeneration energy. It didn't surprise Renata though that her sister had done that, because she knew that the Assessor only did it to make her 'proper'. Her hair had been forcibly untangled and Renata dared to say it hurt almost as much as each of the cuts and bruises she'd gotten from battles.

"Excellent," Rassilon looked the brunette over from his spot at the table. She didn't exactly return the gaze. This was the first time she walked into a chamber of the Council, and much more she was seeing a Visionary. Hardly anyone saw a Visionary up close.

The silver-haired woman continued to write on her scroll, acting as if she was the only one in the room.

"But we may have found another solution," Rassilon said as he gestured to the hologram of Earth behind him.

"But...that's Earth," Renata recognized the blue-green planet almost straight away. She looked at her sister for an explanation, but even the Assessor was puzzled.

"What doe that planet have to offer us?" she asked, sharpness tinging her tone.

"Our very salvation," Rassilon's tone was even sharper, a piercing that reminded the Assessor of her place. "We have sent a signal. A simple task of four beats transmitted back through time, and implanted in the Master's mind as a child."

"What!?" Renata blinked. The Master always complained about a noise in his head, one that - shamefully - she and her husband never believed in. "You...you did that to him? The endless drumming, he would call it. You're the one who put it inside his head?"

The Assessor gripped Renata's arm, silently telling her to shut her mouth. "Forgive me, my Lord, but what is the plan? I thought I presented one myself."

"The Master is on Earth, in the future, and if we can establish a link then perhaps we can leave the Time Lock."

"But it's just an idea," frowned Renata. "To establish a proper link you would need something physical…"

"Something...so simple," Rassilon agreed and turned away to consider what might do.

"So small and shining, shining bright and cold, the tiny, tiny star, falling, falling, burning, burning, burning," the Visionary babbled on to herself.

The Assessor blinked when she realized what it could be. Her head snapped in Renata's direction, her eyes lowering to the jewel around Renata's neck. Without a warning, she reached over and pulled the necklace off Renata's neck, ignoring her sister's cry.

"That's mine!" she made to take it back but the Assessor raised it over her head. This current incarnation of Renata's was quite petite.

The Assessor ordered for her sister to be taken into custody. "The Master would recognize this straightaway," she walked up to Rassilon holding the necklace in her hand. There was a clear diamond at the end of the silver necklace, one engraved with Gallifreyan names. "After all, he did help his brother forge it."

Renata was in tears as she fought the two Time Lords holding her back. "That's mine! Elek gave it to me! Assessor, please! That's-that's mine!"

Rassilon took the jewel into his hand and examined it briefly before looking up at the Assessor. "Do not fail me," he darkly warned, but the Assessor remained calm.

She was always sure of herself. "I would never."

Rassilon threw the diamond into the hologram. Renata cried loudly for her lost jewel but still her sister did not flinch.

It was a means to an end.

~0~

Present Day.

On the Vinvocci ship, the Doctor worked to get the power back on. Renata helped with what she could but she had to stop when she noticed from the corner of her eye something shiny soaring through space. It was heading for Earth!

"The last thing this planet needs is a meteor," she sighed as she walked towards the glass wall.

Down on Earth, the Master and his clones had pinpointed the impact of the 'meteor'. The clones all searched the crash site until one soldier found something peculiar in the middle of the crater. It glittered.

"It's a diamond, sir," he picked it up as he informed the Master. He scraped the dirt of the jewel to see a clear pattern of Gallifreyan names. A laugh came to him. "Oh... the most impossible diamond. You won't believe this. It's a Whitepoint star!"

The Master had enough laughter to last him a lifetime.

~ 0 ~

Wilf had gotten lost in the ship for a few minutes. It was like a maze and after another odd interaction with a woman he was sure was part of his imagination, he finally found Renata and the Doctor in the main room where Renata had killed the power.

"Aye, aye. Got this old tub mended?" he asked the pair, but they didn't seem so cheery.

"Just trying to fix the heating," the Doctor mumbled while he crossed two particular wires.

"Sorry," Renata said yet again. The heat was off because HE she killed it.

The Doctor, by this point, was more than done with her relentless apology for something that was going to be done either way. "Renée, just stop it."

Wilf took a seat near them. Renata drifted towards him, figuring the heat wouldn't be coming back anytime soon.

"D'you know, I've always dreamt of a view like that," Wilf gave a nod towards the glass wall. No matter how many times he looked at the Earth, it wouldn't stop taking his breath away. It was simply amazing. "I'm an astronaut. It's dawn over England, look. Brand new day." And yet there was no cheer for the new day. He kept thinking about Sylvia and Donna, and everyone else he once knew. "My wife's buried down there. I might never visit her again now. D'you think he changed them, in their graves?"

Renata lowered her gaze, unable to answer him because the answer might not be the one he wanted to hear.

"We're sorry," the Doctor said for him and Renata. He came over to the two and sat down next to Renata.

"It's not your fault," Wilf told them. They were the good guys. They had no say in what the Master did.

"The noise inside his head…" Renata scrunched her face as if something was trying to come to her, "I swear there is something I'm missing. There's something tickling in the back of my head about it. Something that's telling me I'm forgetting something."

"Seven-hundred fifty-eight, something's bound to slip your mind," the Doctor joked only to see if he could get her to smile. He did. And it was so worth it.

"Never say a lady's age," she lightly jabbed him on the side, making him smile now.

"You're how old?" Wilf gawked at Renata. He had to study her face again but even when he did, it didn't make sense. Her new face was younger than the last one she had on.

"You want to hear somebody really old?" Renata jerked her thumb at the Doctor. "He's 906! Yeah, he's old!" She thought she would definitely get the Doctor back with that one, but all he did was smile fondly at her.

He just wanted to see her cheer up for a bit. He still didn't forget the fact she'd died only hours ago and he'd missed it.

Wilf shook his head at the two. "We must look like insects to you."

"I think you look like giants," the Doctor corrected him, extending that fond smile to him as well.

"My perspective on humans has changed in this last 2 years," Renata said with her own warm smile. "And I have Martha to thank, and Gabriela...and Donna." Wilf teared up in that moment as he wondered just what amazing things his granddaughter had to have done in her time up here in space. She had changed so much because of it and Renata and the Doctor. She had been a better person - she was a good person right now but being her other self gave her so much more perspective.

He couldn't let them die now, not on his watch.

"Listen, I... I want you to have this," he took out his revolver and held it at the pair. "I've kept it all this time, and I thought…"

"No," the Doctor said calmly. He expected this to come up sooner or later.

"No, but if you take it, you could…"

"I couldn't," Renata confessed. For all the harm the Master had done to the Earth and herself, and the Doctor, she knew she wouldn't be able to end him. She wouldn't even try to fight it.

"You had that gun in the mansion. You could have shot the Master there and then," the Doctor pointed out to Wilf.

"Too scared, I suppose," Wilf said, lamenting his courage.

"I'd be proud," the Doctor suddenly said, starting a new thought.

"Of what?"

"If you were my dad."

Wilf did a double take at the Doctor, waiting for him to take it back or laugh it off. "Oh...come on...don't start!" The Doctor smiled wider at him, but when he did it reminded Wilf of what was coming for him. He didn't deserve that. "But you said...you were told... he will knock four times, and then you die. Well, that's him, isn't it, The Master? That noise in his head? The Master is going to kill you."

Renata tried her best not to react but her body flinched. It was an automatic response to such a horrid thought. She leaned on him, not even noticing it with all the thoughts that ran through her head. "I wouldn't let him," she whispered.

The Doctor put an arm around her, having heard her perfectly well. He gave a nod to Wilf's question and that was all Wilf needed to try and hand him the gun again.

"Then kill him first."

"That's how the Master started. And it's not like I'm an innocent," the Doctor started off on grim note, not that he could help it given his track record. He always knew what he'd become, but he would get by because he would push it away. He wouldn't think about it. "I've taken lives. I got worse - I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long. I can't. I just can't."

"But there's a difference," Renata raised her head off his arm. "The Master likes it. He likes what comes with death. You don't. And you know what? None of us are innocent. I'm certainly not."

The Doctor studied her eyes for any trace of doubt, a doubt for her words that she'd just said. Not too long ago he believed that she would be angry with him for what he did to their planet. Even as she denied such accusations, there was always a part of him that wondered if she was truly sure. It was no secret that she longed to be back on Gallifrey, who's to say that she wouldn't change her mind about him one day?

"If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?" Wilf thought to ask after taking another look at the planet.

"I don't know."

Wilf didn't buy that answer. "Doctor, what happens?"

"...the template snaps."

Wilf blinked. "What, they go back to being human?" He couldn't believe his ears, nor his eyes when both aliens nodded at him. Here they were lamenting the human race's current situation and there was always that one solution!? He was a bit angry now, properly angry. "They're alive and human? Then don't you dare, sir. Don't you dare DARE put him before them. Now you take this, that's an order, Doctor. Take the gun! You take the gun and save your life! And please don't die!" The tears got the best of him, but how could he calm down? He had done so much for their planet and now some man was going to kill him dead? And the Doctor wasn't even going to fight it! That simply couldn't be. "You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die!" He forced the gun onto the Doctor's hand and closed his fingers over it. "You take it!"

But the Doctor still refused.

Renata shut her eyes, wishing everything would just stop. It had to stop, right? One way or another. But he might die. She shuddered a breath.

Maybe it's my rightful punishment, the Doctor's voice filled her mind. He wasn't looking at her, he couldn't. His gaze had become glued to the glass wall out of guilt. I went too far on Mars and I...I've done too much harm. Maybe my time is up.

Renata reached for his hand and squeezed it tight. Only one of us should have to regenerate and I already did it. There's no reason why you need to follow.

Before the Doctor could respond, the Master's voice came over the speakers. "A star fell," his tone was mocking, or at least getting ready to mock. "It fell from the sky. Don't you want to know where from? Because now it makes sense, Doctor. The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond. And the diamond...is a Whitepoint star. And you, my dear Renata, might know about it considering I helped my stupid brother forge it." Renata's body jumped up from the floor on instinct. Her hand immediately went to her neck. "And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching, Doctor. This should be...spectacular. Over and out."

"Renata?" the Doctor cautiously got up and turned the woman around.

Her eyes were widening, as if she was just realizing something. She rose her head with a mouth hanging open. "Oh Doctor...it's my fault. It's my fault."

"What? What does that mean?" Wilf got up as well, but he couldn't understand why Renata was so mortified all of a sudden. Neither could the Doctor.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. A Whitepoint Star diamond was only found on Gallifrey…

"It's coming back to me! The-the thoughts! I-I buried them so long ago - that's my Whitepoint Star! The Assessor gave it to…" Renata swallowed hard as a lump had appeared in her throat. The tears were filling her eyes quickly. It was coming back to her in a rush. "She took it from me, Doctor. She pulled it off me…" her shaky hands found her neck, ghosting the place where her beautiful Whitepoint Star had once hung long ago. "They stole it from me! And now they're coming here! The Time Lords are coming back!"

The Doctor couldn't make sense of everything Renata was seeing but she was letting her mind fully open to his and so he could see the same rush of images she was getting. The Assessor, Rassilon, the Whitepoint Star…

The Assessor had yanked it off her sister and handed it over to Rassilon.

Renata screamed and jumped for her necklace to be returned, but it was too late. It was far gone…

Until now.

A deep fury coursed through his entire body in that moment, a fury that went for so many people on that planet. He didn't know how much of it went to the Assessor, but it was a big one. He turned away from Renata and picked up the gun from the floor as he stormed out of the room.

"What happened? I don't understand," Wilf tried to calm Renata down, but the Time Lady was weeping.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor ran into the control room where Addams and Rossiter were still trying to make the necessary mends to get them home. He went straight for the comms and turned all communications back on. As soon as he did, everyone began to hear the four beats.

"What's that?" frowned Addams. What else could go wrong now!?

Rossiter checked the computer for the information. "Coming from Earth. It's on every single wavelength."

~ 0 ~

Gallifrey.

Renata was sitting on the ground over her knees, much too exhausted to keep crying and thrashing. Her sister had once again proved that she loved nobody, not even her own family.

"Contact! At last!" Rassilon exclaimed, making Renata raise her head. Everyone seemed content with the results, including the Assessor. She was smirking, like she had planned the whole thing.

Of course everything would turn out fine. She had made sure of it, just like always.

Rassilon strode out of the room, prompting everyone else to do the same. The Assessor walked after the group but instead of leaving with them, she stopped beside her sister on the ground.

"You took one of the last things I had from Elek," Renata said, her voice strained from her sobs. She gazed ahead but at nothing in specific, she was just lost. "Ripped it right off me like it didn't matter…like he didn't matter."

The Assessor said nothing as she bent down in front of Renata. She put a finger underneath Renata's chin and turned her head to face each other. "Renata, it didn't. A Time Lady must do what is expected of her. You had the means to help our people and you did. You did your duty."

Renata seized the Assessor's finger under her chin and shoved it away. "This was not to help our people," she snapped. "It was to save you and the Council, to those in power."

"Our people," the Assessor said again, making it obvious that she didn't see anyone else below their class as part of their kind. "Cheer up, Renata. You still have the locket." She barely touched the golden pendant around Renata's neck. "I didn't take it all from you."

"Yeah you did," Renata whispered. "You took it all away."

The Assessor's face went flat when she realized Renata wasn't talking just about the White Dwarf Star. "I saved you," her voice was low, warning Renata not to try and argue that matter with her again. "Because of me you had a life fit for your class. The Doctor would have ruined you."

"And now you're here, asking me to go back to him."

"And you will do it if we need to. Mother and Father raised you to always do whatever was asked of you. Never forget who you are, Renata," the Assessor straightened on her feet and ordered the Two Time Lords with her to make sure Renata did not move.

Author's Note:

The Assessor is, uh...sort of...mean? But at the same time she's kind of stupid for not seeing that Renata is going to double cross her in the end. (Go Ren, scam them!). Also, the next chapter is the LAST chapter of this story *sniff* I'm kind of sad about that. I've had this story for a long time now .

Random but since it's Halloween, and I frikin love Halloween, feel free to drop suggestions for any halloween one shots with Avalon!

P.S As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "noble-crescent" and the tag I created for any posts having to do with my work is # noblecrescentedit.

#ocappreciation #doctor who #10th doctor #dw imagine #10th doctor imagine #doctor who fics #doctor who imagine #10th doctor fics #oc: Renata Cartwright #oc: the assessor #fic: the beginning of everything

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ronniesshoes · 4 years

Note

fem!maylor bookstore AU 🌹✨

brianna collects words.

she lives them, breathes them, puts them on like pretty dresses. she is anne carson, she is virginia woolf, hélène cixous, mary szybist—

on the dust of my pillowslip. i only dream of your ankles brushed by dark violets, of honeybees above you

—and it makes her feel pretty, makes her feel alive.

there’s a new bookstore close to her flat, and she’s shaking a little as she stands in front of it for the first time. she looks through the windows—the store is tiny but not dark, and the rows and rows of books make her heart beat faster.

she doesn’t go in, not today. she’d applied for a position there but never heard back, and it still hurts a little. not that she’d have the time anyway—she’s got uni and a tutoring job already, and she’d spend all of her wages on books instead of rent. a woman behind her tries to get to the door, and brianna steps away with an apologetic smile.

the next time she passes she goes inside. there’s a small café table tucked into one corner, an old man drinking coffee. the girl behind the counter is pretty, and she’s greeting brianna like they’re friends. brianna instantly dislikes her.

the poetry section catches her attention, lures her in, and brianna’s in awe. she wants so much, the spines of the books a pretty blur, smooth under her fingers.

“looking for anything in particular?” the girl asks, touching brianna’s arm. it’s more than a little inappropriate, brianna thinks, rubbing at her skin to stop it from tingling.

“my name's regina,” is what’s offered then, and brianna squints at her. she doesn't look like a regina, and brianna wonders if she's lying. she opens her mouth, forces the words out,

“just browsing.” she doesn’t intend to be rude, but something about the girl irks her. brianna smiles her thanks, then turns back to the shelf.

“can i have your name?” the girl’s smiling—grinning, actually, with the tip of her tongue behind her front teeth—when brianna turns around, slowly, staring.

“no?” it comes out like a question.

“oh,” the girl says, not sounding like she minds. “your hair is so pretty.”

“can i help you?” brianna asks her slowly. she’s pretty sure she’s not supposed to be asking that question, but she suspects the girl’s a bit daft.

the laugh startles her.

“call me if you need anything.”

brianna doesn’t come back for another week. she’s been busy, is all—coursework and tutoring, life, reading, reading—

ALL THE WORLD BEGAN WITH A YES. ONE MOLECULE SAID YES TO ANOTHER MOLECULE and life was born.

—sometimes the skin on her upper arm tingles, and the words swim on the page before her and she is annoyed.

when she comes back, it’s with the intention of being nice. brianna is a nice girl; her nails are clean and she’s got manners and potted plants and curly hair that people always want to touch. she lets them, for the most part.

she’s brought a notebook and her readings and earphones in case the girl is there to bother her again. she orders coffee, says please and thank you, doesn’t leave when she’s greeted with a grin and, “you’re back!”.

“have you read this?” the blond hair is tied in a high pony tail that swishes when she walks towards brianna, coffee in her hand and a book tucked under her arm. it’s to the lighthouse, and brianna stares at her, dumbly. she continues,

“i don’t even read,”

and brianna goes home and meditates on the unfairness on it all.

over the next few weeks, she learns to not mind so much. regina is seemingly always at work, and she’s always, always up for a chat—as soon as brianna looks up she’s there, touchy and chatty, pulling a chair to her table when she takes her earphones out, asking her what she’s reading, if her coursework is fun, if she wants another refill.

a few days in, brianna reluctantly trades her name for a cup of coffee after realising she forgot her wallet, and regina is positively grinning, so much that brianna instantly regrets it.

“here you go, brianna”—she says her name all the time now that she knows, says it with the same pleased smile.

you’re so annoying, is what brianna thinks, wonders what would happen if she said the words out loud, if regina would even care.

“i love your name, it’s so pretty,” she’s saying. her eyelashes are impossibly long, the tips so light brianna hasn’t noticed before. “it really suits you. i don’t like mine.”

she makes a face, pretty features screwing up.

“regina. i prefer reg.”

it’s hot outside one day, and reg is wearing short sleeves. there’s a cluster of violets tattooed on the inside of her forearm where the skin is paler than the rest.

“do you like it?” brianna’s eyes snap away guiltily, but she knows reg is smiling. “i bet you’ve got a secret tattoo. a line from your favourite book, something like that. a beatles lyric.”

brianna scoffs. “i don’t listen to the beatles.”

reg looks offended, almost. “what’s wrong with you?”

stung, brianna turns away. regina lets her browse in peace for a few minutes, then heaves a great big sigh that’s positively irksome and places herself right in front of her.

“you’re always looking at that book.”

brianna's embarrassed, the skin at the back of her neck prickling with defensiveness. it’s not like she's there a lot, no more than three times a week, and regina can’t exactly accuse her of never buying anything. she buys coffee, more than she can afford, and she’s not breaking anything, just looking.

“yeah, well.” brianna tightens her grip on the book. “it's pretty.”

it is pretty, and so are the words; she must’ve read the first few lines a hundred times by now—

I won’t prepare you by revealing myself to you in a bound-about closeness,

—they make her breath catch, and she’s not sure she could bear to read on even if she took the book home.

“you can use my staff discount if you want.”

brianna looks up sharply, the “why” spitting from her lips so very ugly, so full of sharp edges.

regina merely shrugs. “you're gonna buy it eventually, aren't you?”

brianna’s cheeks burn. it's not even expensive, and really, she can afford it, only she’s promised herself not to buy anymore books—

“you can help me,” regina is saying, tugging the book from her hands. “i never know what to say when customers ask for recommendations. you read all the time.”

brianna frowns. “you’re gonna call me every time a customer needs help? what exactly does this job entail?”

“great customer service?” reg grins, and brianna rolls her eyes, willing the corners of her lips to stay down.

she takes the book back, their hands brushing. “you can’t recommend something you don’t know.”

brianna expects her to interrupt—”brianna, i do it every single day, brianna, i hate reading”—but she doesn’t, just looks at her, tip of her tongue behind her front teeth.

something flutters in brianna’s stomach, annoyingly, and her mind provides her with words, soothingly—

Tireless, tied, as a moon-bound sea moves on its root.

—and then are other words, not her own and not from books or journals or pretty poetry collections, but regina’s words, soft and teasing,

“what are you gonna do about it?”

Sweet mother, I cannot weave—

send me an au and i’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it

#shut up i'm gay #blurb #maylor #bookstore au

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mountphoenixrp · 3 years

Photo

We have a new citizen in Mount Phoenix:

Melody Park, who is known by no other name, a 34 year old daughter of Horus. She is a professor and freelance private investigator.

DEFINING FEATURES: Melody looks slim and unassuming but, underneath her poised and perfect exterior she is incredibly strong with defined muscles. She has miscellaneous scars littered along her body from her work in the FBI. The most prominent being a clean but long scar along the length of her abdomen from her sternum to just before her hips from a surgery she received when she was 25. Her only tattoo is on her left collarbone, written in perfect calligraphy is one word; Fighter. When using her powers her left eye becomes a dark grey and her right eye a deep amber gold color.

PERSONALITY: Melody spent the entirety of her twenties as an FBI Agent and university student. With an IQ of 186, the ability to read up to 25,000 words per minute, and savant tendencies, she was a perfect recruit. This left her cold, distant, calculated, and bureaucratic on the outside. However, the one thing the grueling work as a government agent never took from her was her caring and loving nature. Her moral compass is strong and she fights for what she believes in, even if that means she puts herself in danger. Melody is very passionate and kind to those closest to her, once she gets close with others she opens up very quickly and shows her goofy and silly side. That is once she knows she can trust you. She has always exuded leadership qualities and people tended to look up to her a lot growing up so, she’s grown comfortable with being a sister/maternal figure for others. Her younger brother’s especially follow her every word and cling to every single one of her actions. This has lead her to quickly offer familial support and a place in her family to those who lack the love of a sister, aunt, or mother.

HISTORY: Park Minyoung, also known as Melody Park, was born in Buffalo, New York to Park Hejin or Virginia Park. A young girl in law school, doing her best with what life handed her. In this case it was a child - the child of a god no less. Virginia went on to finish law school with the help of her parents watching Melody whenever they could and her friends babysitting her while her mother was in class. Her mother passed the bar one month after Melody’s fifth birthday. Virginia was a good lawyer and an amazing mother, never failing at the perfect work/life balance. She worked hard as a single mother to give Melody the best life they could have. Virginia was apprehensive at first about allowing Horus time with Melody, always protective of her darling daughter. She was heartbroken in her own way but, she still knew it would good for them both for Horus to be in her life somehow.

Melody was I incredibly smart and well liked as a child, being labeled a prodigy at age six due to her advanced intelligence. Despite being pushed into an advanced level and being years younger than her peers constantly, they still gravitated towards her and followed her. She always ended up having an army of older kids that were very protective of her. After Horus taught her how to use her powers, it was a struggle not to use them all the time. What kid doesn’t dream of soaring through the sky, flying with birds and feeling the wind in their hair? Add on top of that he constant need of approval from the older kids she was always surrounded with, it was hard for her not to show off to gain some points with those who didn’t automatically like her. She mastered the art of flying pretty quickly, nothing felt better to her than the rush of wind through her hair and cold air on her skin.

Life was pretty easy for Melody growing up outside of school and the expectations of her teachers. Her mother didn’t date so, it was just the two of them in their cozy home in Buffalo. Melody ran track, was captain of the swim team, and even tried her hand at soccer. If she hand’t been so young in high school, she’d have been the one all the other kids wanted to be. She wasn’t popular by any means, especially in high school. Teachers used to use her as “motivation” for the other kids, constantly comparing 16 and 17 year olds to a 12 year old can have it’s negative effects on her social circle. She compensated for their quiet disdain of her by being the kindest, sweetest, and nicest person at school. She gained even more favor from teachers and less from peers as she made a point to volunteer whenever she could. The work she did was usually for younger, under privileged kids that had much harder lives than her. Being stuck as the youngest in every group thanks to her advanced schooling lead her wanting younger siblings more than anything, so she worked as a big sister when she could.

After graduating high school at 13 years old, she was quickly offered scholarships all over the country, to every prestigious school and Ivy League university. Melody eventually settled on Columbia as it was closest to home and she could live with her aunt while she attended. It was around this time after she left for university that her mother met and fell in love with a man named Jordan Masters. He worked as a defense attorney who also worked in Buffalo, he was known for representing those wrongly convicted and kids being tried as adults. Melody was unsure of him at first, quickly becoming protective of her mother as this was the first time she’d dated anyone since she was born. It didn’t take long though, for Melody to warm up to the man, they became fast friends. Jordan never tried to replace Horus but, he did his best to support Melody and support her and love her as his own.

This friendship between herself and her stepfather helped her discover what she wanted to do at university. Her first year she’d just been working on core classes and flying through the basic program. She knew there was no way she was putting herself through he struggle of law school like her mother so, she settled on Criminology and Psychology. Choosing to work towards a career in catching the right perpetrators and keeping innocent people out of prison. With her advanced intelligence she graduated with a PHD in both fields by the age of 22 almost 23 years old. What she didn’t know is that for her last two years before graduating, she was being watching by some of the top government agencies in the United States.

When Melody was 17, her mother gave birth to twin boys! Suddenly her one wish came true, she had younger brothers and she couldn’t have been more excited. Those little boys are her world and she loves them more than anything.

At the time of her graduation, Melody had been thinking of applying to the FBI academy and she didn’t have to think about it very long before a recruiter was at her door offering her a place in the training program. Her mother and step father were worried about Melody going into a potentially dangerous field of work but, Melody knew she was perfectly capable. She was told she was one of the youngest recruits in years but, she didn’t let it go to her head. That had been her title among peers since she started school, always the youngest to do this and the youngest to do that. Melody could not lie, the academy was hard but, it toughened her up and she learned that it was easy for people to underestimate her due to her appearance and intelligence. She didn’t look threatening or intimidating but, she could take down someone triple her size in less than 20 seconds.

She flew through her training and was instated as a probationary agent after only two years at the academy. Melody was recognized as a star recruit and was quickly placed where her quick thinking and easily underestimated appearance could be used to her advantage.

From the age of 25 to 34 years old, Melody worked for a team that specialized in undercover and international cases. She was worried about it at first but she was surprisingly good at it. Annoyingly good at it actually. In fact, she was almost too good at being under deep cover for long periods of time. Her team was investigating two large, private security firms that worked with the secret service, suspected of disorderly conduct as well as drug and human trafficking. Melody worked undercover at one of the firms for almost a year investigating them from the inside but, this is when things got messy.

Love is already complicated enough if you don’t add on top of it the threat of national security. It was cliché and she knew it, an undercover agent falling in love with someone they were charged with investigating. There was just something about her that made her forget everything she was taught and every order she was ever given. She fell head over heels for her and she also fell for Melody. Sadly, love can make you blind and foolish… Melody falling for her suspect was against every regulation in the book and it was made worse by the fact that it was discovered she was the one running the entire operation she was meant to be investigating and bringing to justice.

When her lover discovered she was a federal agent, she was out for vengeance and blood. Seeing Melody’s cover and emotional connection to her as the ultimate betrayal of their love. She ordered Melody to be killed but, the agency pulled her from the investigation before the murder attempt could be carried out. If her team members hadn’t rescued her when they hey did, she may have had to expose her divine powers to the organization as well, using her wings to escape. Thankfully, it didn’t come to that however, Melody is now in hiding from the woman she loves… Loved.

The agency wanted to put her in witness protection, to keep her and her family safe. She made sure her mother’s family was safe before she reached out to Horus for help, she didn’t want to be moved all over the US to hide from her mistakes. Horus told her of a place only demigods and gods could go to, an island off the coast of Korea. Her life of crime fighting had ground to a halt all because she fell for the wrong woman. Melody left her family in the protection of her team and the agency she was loyal to for almost a decade, knowing they couldn’t be touched as no one outside of her team knew her family.

Thus begins the new story of Melody Park, running for her life to a city where she will hopefully be untouched by her past mistakes.

PANTHEON: Egyptian CHILD OF: Horus POWERS: Natural leaders; air manipulation, falcon wing manifestation and flight (only for short periods of time, flight drains their energy quickly). STRENGTHS: Brave, Driven, Humble, Intelligent, Poised WEAKNESSES: Stubborn, Cynical, Over-Critical, Stoic, Perfectionist

#kpop rp #krp #kdrama #park minyoung #mp; welcome

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fairiesherefairiesthere · 4 years

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5 times people got an insight into Freed and Laxus’ marriage and one time the whole guild did.

For @bluejaii, who sent me the sweetest ask and for @aceofheartsworld who always leaves the most heartwarming comments !

1. Gildarts

On the unique times that Gildarts is present in the guildhall, there are a few things he likes to do. The first being showering his amazing daughter with love and support, of course. Making good use of the guild's alcohol supply is second and his third favourite thing, involves bothering the shit out of the youngsters. Wendy and Romeo are easy to fool, eager to believe anything as long as it's said by an adult (Wendy more so than Romeo). Others are unbotherable (he doesn't know how to tease Erza without gravely insulting her, she ticks in a weird way.) Elfman is very easy to tease (How's your girlfriend doing?) and flustering Juvia is the simplest thing in the world. Now, one of Gildarts' favourite victims must be Laxus Dreyar himself.

The youngster has always been a bit (a lot) defensive when it comes to personal relationships and it's only gotten worse with the years. So of course, Gildarts has been asking the young man the same question every time he sees him : "You married yet?" It never fails to ruffle his feathers and Gildarts' always hides his laugh when the other man starts to look at anything but him before stomping off to God knows where.

Because Laxus probably relates Gildarts to feelings ranging from lowkey annoyance to highkey annoyance, the youngster tends to avoid him. So it comes as a complete surprise when Laxus enters the guildhall, lays eyes on Gildarts and smirks. His surprise gets even bigger when the young man takes a seat right in front of him and says : "Let's talk old man."

Although he's a little put off by Laxus seeking him out, he's not about to let that deter him from bothering the man. Leaning back, he plans to ask his usual question, absolutely sure of its effect until he studies Laxus carefully. He has his hand propped up under his chin and his smile gets smugger when Gildarts' eyes land on his ringfinger. His ringfinger adorned with an actual ring. A wedding ring. On Laxus' finger. After a minor mindimplosion, Gildarts opens his mouth to scream. Laxus stops him by slamming a menu card into his mouth.

"Listen, I'm here for one reason and reason only", Laxus states and glares at him with eyes that are very, very alike to Makarov's when he's displeased. Fucking genetics. "Okay, shoot."

"You had one wife that you liked, right? Cana's ma." He nods. "She was the love of my life. Why do you ask?” For a long time, Laxus stares at him and Gildarts wonders if the other is evaluating how genuine he is. Then, he crosses his arms and lowers his head unto them. "My partner is amazing", he blurts out and after that, he starts a three hour rant about why he loves his spouse.

2. Cana

"Laxus, drink with me!" she yells before plopping down annoyingly close next to him on the bench, invading his personal space just a little bit. She knows it doesn't bother Laxus at all, but it does bother his greenie and Cana has decided that she has the full right to pester him in every petty way possible. Scanning the area, she comes to the conclusion that Freed isn't around. Bummer.

"It's the good stuff", she winks and he gives her an amused huff before shaking his head. "No thanks, I'm good." Sticking out her tongue, she slaps his bicep. "Boo, where did your sense of adventure go? Your tongue for excellent beerrrr", she says while obnoxiously rolling her r's. "I think my husband wouldn't appreciate it too much, should I arrive at home drunk. I don't want to arrive home drunk either, because it makes my memory spotty and you best believe that I do not want to forget a single moment with my spouse."

Oh god. Laxus Dreyar isn't even drunk and he's already sappy. Looking at the clock, Laxus hums before ruffling her hair and standing up. "Dinnertime's rolling around and I'm not a lowly fucker, so I'm going to help my husband. You have fun, Cana." Watching his retreating back, Cana mutters : "Need me a freak like that."

3. Gajeel

On some subconscious level, Laxus still makes him feel a bit jittery. They've both been absolutely shitty, turned around and became less shitty. They have even regularly fought the same fights and Gajeel has teased the man quite a bit (as long as there were other people around). Doesn't mean that his body has forgotten what getting electrocuted felt like. So, one can understand that Gajeel felt an itty bitty nervous when Laxus stormed into the guildhall and then in his direction.

"Gajeel." His hope that the man was seeking out someone else leaps out of the window. "What", he snaps back and the other man's jaw tightens. "Your bookworm." Immediately, the protectiveness flares up, nervousness forgotten. "What about her?"

"She likes books."

What. How the fuck does this man's brain work? Looking at Laxus, who's running his hand through his hair and huffing in frustration, he decides to shut up until the guy finds his words. He doesn't seem to be that good at it. "You guys went to that book convention two towns over a few days ago. Did she think it was worth it?"

Laxus being the reading type? That's one that Gajeel did not see coming. Then it hits him like a freighttrain and he cackles. "Need a place to take your boyfriend to? Don't worry, I won't tell a soul."

"My what? I don't have a boyfriend." Oops. Turns out he was too fast. "My bad, but seriously ask Freed out, he'll say yes. Not to overstep any boundaries or something, but you deserve happiness and shit. People tell me that a lot, so I thought I'd relay the message." The corner of Laxus' mouth turns up and Gajeel mentally pats himself on the back. God, he's good at this. He should start making motivational songs.

"Thanks, my husband tends to tell me that too." Then he leaves. The jackass.

4. Lucy and Natsu

It's a mystery. An enigma. A plotline more intriguing than anything she'd cooked up lately. What is this baffling conundrum Lucy has been trying to unravel? Laxus Dreyar's dating life.

Okay, maybe it isn't that big of a deal, but the man is surrounded by the prettiest people in the world (Mirajane, Cana, to name a few) and doesn't seem to be too interested in them (she can't relate). If she were less... cautious, she would've asked him about it by now, but alas, she's still a bit of a chicken sometimes. Sue her.

"Lucy, what are we doing?" Natsu flatly asks her. "Spying on Laxus", she whispers back and Natsu hums. "Understandable. Why?"

"Do you think anyone is interested in him?" she asks and wonders if the intricacies of romantic attraction even register in Natsu's head. His answer absolutely floors her. "Lucy, there's only two types of people who haven’t had a crush on Laxus once in their live and those are the ones that aren't into men. Or are too cowardly to admit it. Luckily for me, I'm neither of those."

"You had a crush on Laxus?" He rolls his eyes. "Keep up with the plan Luigi, of course, just like ninety percent of the guild. You've ever thought he's hot?" She admits: "Yeah, like once or twice."

"See Lucy, now you're getting what bi/pan solidarity is."

"Bonding over how hot Laxus is?"

"You might as well start calling it bi/pan/gay solidarity then", a new, terribly amused voice says above them and Lucy lets out an "Eep!" and hits her head against the table. Crawling from underneath it, she and Natsu come face to face with Freed Justine, who's looking both too entertained and smug.

Refusing to let go of her pastime, Lucy puts her hands on her hips and faces the captain. "What's Laxus' dating life like?" she demands to know and Freed shrugs. "I wouldn't know, he doesn't have one."

"Oh", she pouts and he chuckles. "If that's all, I'm gonna join the subject of your espionage." Right before he leaves, he looks over his shoulder and adds : "Since his dating life is nonexistent, you should ask him about his marriage."

5. Wendy

The flyer picturing the fair looks positively radiant and Wendy can nearly smell the candy apples and other sugared goods. It's a shame she won't be able to go though, because her team will be going on a mission and it's too far and dangerous for her to travel alone. A shadow alerts her of someone standing behind her and when she whirls around, she comes face to face (well more like face to chest) with Freed.

He too is staring at the poster and shyly she says. "It looks fun, doesn't it? If I were able to go, I'd take someone dear with me." Her voice must've sound a tad bit too longing, because he glances in her direction and asks : "Are you not able to go?" She shakes her head. "No, my team will be away and it's too far to go without adult supervision."

"I could go with you, if you do not mind my company, that is. Ah, I'll be taking someone dear to me along too, so you could invite Chelia if you wanted too." More often than not, she curses her face for revealing exactly what she's thinking, but right now, Wendy is over the moon. "Thank you mister Freed!" she yells before giving him a hug and speeding off. She's gonna have a blast with Chelia!

"Seems like our babysitters are tired", Chelia grins before shrugging. "Eh, at least we got candy out of it." As the two of them share their candy, Wendy looks at the scene in front of them. With an amount of skill that she certainly hadn't expected, Laxus is pinning Freed's hair up with a hairpin that he'd won a little while earlier. The light reflects off the pin and the rings adorning both men's fingers.

"Hey Wendy", Chelia says, laying her head on Wendy's shoulder. "When we're old like those two, let's be like that." Putting her hand on top of Chelia's and weaving their fingers together, Wendy nods sleepily. "Let's do that."

+1 Makarov or actually, + the whole guild

"Hey Gramps, you mind if we throw a guild party?" Well, aren't those words he thought he'd never hear out of his grandson's mouth. "You do whatever you want brat, as long as you can pay for it. What's the occassion?"

"Oh I got married."

"You what?"

(They get to hold the party and yes, Makarov cries over his grandsons. Both of them.)

#Freed Justine #Laxus Dreyar #fraxus #fairy tail #gildarts clive #cana alberona #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #wendy marvell #chelia blendy #gajeel redfox #makarov dreyar #fanfic #TheFairyWrites

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emmvline-blog · 4 years

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˙ ˖ ✧ jennie kim, twenty-three, cisfemale, she + her // was that EMMALINE BYUN stepping aboard the GUCCI jet? oh now it’s a party! we all know they can be pretty INSOUCIANT, but also pretty OPEN-MINDED on a good day, just like an ARIES. they’ll be blasting STORMY WEATHER BY TINASHE for most of the plane ride, i can already tell. i think they added IBIZA, SPAIN to the list of places to visit this year. let’s pop the champagne and get going!

trigger/content warnings: divorce, child neglect

hi babes! i’ve been so excited for this group to open so i could bring my absolute awful trash princess to life. she’s a total sasshole & is basically the product of money and a ton of trauma. a good fourteen years of her life were spent in the middle of a bitter divorce battle between her parents. her father was an exec for a record label, and her mom was a former model who seemed to know where every single skeleton in her ex-husband’s closet was located. that fact alone kept hefty alimony payments sent her way, and a blood feud between them that seemed never ending.

half the time, emmaline felt more like a pawn in their games rather than their actual daughter. any time spent with either of her parents would always wind up the same way: they’d grill her for information about the other, and create some sort of horrific narrative of them that emmaline was far too young to hear. fortunately, she spent more time with nannies and other employees of her parents’ than them, and whenever she’d question it, they’d just shower her in opulence any child would wish upon stars for. she knew nothing but being rewarded for venom and toxicity for much of her life, and the bulk of her behavior began to reflect the things she witnessed.

she constantly acted out in school; taking things from other children because she felt she was entitled to them, trying to embarrass any teacher who gave her a bad grade, her demeanor only growing colder as she aged. her parents didn’t do much to correct it, they’d only give her more presents to keep her quiet. as unfazed as she appeared to be, the fact that her parents didn’t seem to care about being around her or getting to know her was deeply hurtful. she figured if she had to feel that way, why not spread the misery around? of course it wasn’t the right thing to do, but the very people who were supposed to set an example did nothing but tear each other down. and she was nothing if not her parents daughter.

here are some skuhtistics

name: emmaline hana byun age: twenty - three gender/pronouns: cisfemale & she/her occupation: LOL like this bitch works sexual orientation: bisexual romantic orientation: biromantic social class: upper height: 5 ft 2 in weight: 116 lbs hair color: dark brown eye color: brown aesthetics: shimmering lipsticks, worn out credit cards, butterfly doors, corinthian column bed frames, black marble, gem encrusted high heels, lace bustiers, getting drunk in high end boutiques, backstabbing, twin holidays. hogwarts house: slytherin alignment: neutral evil mb: isfj favorite food: duck confit favorite cocktail: flaming volcano (will 100% try to house it by herself) favorite movie: st. elmo’s fire

i would really love any of the following connections for her!!

best frenemies - heavily inspired by this gifset. these two are each other’s closest friends and most bitter enemies. emmaline is extremely competitive and has a major inferiority complex so while she’ll smile in this person’s face and gossip with them about other people and do all the things annoyingly self-centered best friends do, she’ll also trash them behind their back, sabotage them at every turn and get extremely jealous anytime they get something she doesn’t, and vice versa honestly. i just want a super toxic dynamic where they both lowkey hate each other, but keep each other close regardless. whatchamacallit - inspired by this post, this post. romance has always just been a game to emmaline. her sexual partners are nothing more than toys for her to pass her time with. she is a legit fuckgrrl. this (and most of her other issues) stems from trauma she suffered as a child due to her parents’ highly tumultuous divorce that took up her formative years and beyond. she was used as a pawn in their battles with each other for over a decade, and it dealt a tremendous blow to her comfort with herself. she deflects this with an inflated ego and a lot of big talk, but i would absolutely love for there to be someone around her who renders those fort knox defenses completely inoperable. for her to have finally met her match, after years of playing cat and mouse with people’s feelings. to actually, maybe, possibly care for someone; another actual human?? and for it to make her so angry inside that she can barely stand to be around them, or she’ll get too flustered and start cussing someone. *chef’s kiss*

get in loser, we’re going shopping 1/?? - based on this post. just a big ol’ squad? THE BIGGEST SQUAD OF FRIENDS/ACQUAINTANCES PLS? emmaline is insecure, she literally always has to have people around her. shopping trips, yacht excursions, tropical vacays, ski weekends. what fun is any of it if you can’t invite ten of your dearest friends, half of whom’s name you can’t remember?? funding or planning the party has always been one of emmaline’s most tried and true ways of getting people to stick around, so a lot of superficial “friendships” based on that would be cool! - @guerrcros

thought you were bae, turns out you were just fam - a relationship that actually ended amicably for emmaline? the fuck you say. no, it really did happen, and they’re still pretty cool with each other to this day. this person knows all of her dirty laundry anyway, so it’s not like she can just dip, right?? nah but she can actually let down her defenses a bit with this person since they (for some god forsaken reason bless their heart) bothered to try and get to know her despite her treatment of them in their relationship. they learned that emmaline wasn’t all bad, she just hated feeling inferior or unimportant, and it often presented as rude comments and other venomous behavior. they also came to find that a lot of her treatment of others was a direct result of the things she’d seen her parents do to each other and say to and about one another. these things had almost been normalized in her brain, and this person actually takes the time to try and work with her on it. they have hope she’ll wake the fuck up one day and stop emulating the bad things she once saw.

and honestly maybe exes that ended badly, people she’s connected to through her parents, flirtationships, friends who constantly roast each other, neighbors who hate each other are some other things i’d love to ddu-du ddu-du. i’m honestly down for whatever so pls do lmk if you’d like to plot with this gucci garbage pail <3

#luxe:intro

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oh-theatre · 5 years

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Sycamore High: Shatter (Chapter 11)

A/N: I am so sorry about what you are about to read, please forgive me AND PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS!! Also, I love Henry he's my precious

summary: Henry has an unexpected morning, and Ted falls victim to an awful scene cause in the cafeteria

words: 2,648

warnings: FORCED COMING OUT, crying, negative thoughts, sickness, homophobia, suicidal thought

Ao3 link

In Henry's defense, he wasn't a Musical Theatre teacher. Yes, ok, he doubled majored in Theatre and Science but that does not mean he had any intention of teaching it. He enjoyed the steady pace of biology, the thrill of surgery or even just talking about. He can't remember a single day where he doesn't boast to his students about his surgeon years, going over and studying with the class his multiple operations. The thrill he got knowing that every student that walked into class that day would leave utterly in love with him. He liked the attention, what can he say? But something he liked, even more, was his husband. And god, would that be the death of him.

“Henry..” A soft voice pleaded from the main bedroom, Henry sighed and turned away from the vanity where he was getting ready for the day. He peeked his head out of the connecting bathroom. He was met with loving eyes the sweet face of his husband. He bit the inside of his mouth, damnit here come the puppy eyes, He thought. The figure rolled in bed bothered, Henry studied him for a moment, His usually pristine face was red and puffy, his eyes were a never-ending source of watery tears. His voice was higher and stuffier than usual. The figure was weak, this set off alarm bells. Henry's husband was many things but he wasn't weak. He took years of dance, and gymnastics, his body was...well strong. Henry felt his cheeks flush a lovely shade of crimson thinking about this. He cleared his throat and finished examining his sad husband.

“You're sick, aren't you?” He questioned.

“Always the doctor aren't you Henry?” His husband teased, Henry remained unimpressed. He knew exactly where this illness came from and he had previously warned against.

“There is one basic rule all theatre people know” Henry explained, his husband sat up weakly. He faced Henry, eyes growing wide with fake interest. “You don't share water bottles Chad” Henry said simply, Chad groaned happily. “You of all people should know this, now look at you”

“I know” Chad whined “But I was parched and had already used up my own hydration-” He paused giving his husband an adoring look “You would share your water with me wouldn't you?” Chad cooed. Henry let out a boisterous laugh before staring his husband dead in the eye.

“Over my dead body” He retorted returning to his vanity, continuing his routine. He heard Chad let out a small amused moan before plopping back against the pillow. Henry finished and made his way into the main bedroom. He carefully slipped his brown blazer over his turtleneck and went over to his husband's side of the bed. He kneeled next to the bed and began stroking Chads forehead lovingly. Chad lets out a small noise of pleasure and Henry can't help but smile. I love this idiot, don't I?

“I presume in this condition you won't be able to make it to work?” He said finally still caressing his husbands face. Chad thought for a moment, no doubt examining his condition.

“I'll be fine” Chad says weakly, he sits up immediately becoming paler. Henry adjusts himself and sits next to him on the bed. “I have one class today, I'll go to the morning one and return after” Chad compromised, as much as he knew he would regret this Henry simply couldn't let Chad leave home today.

“I will take your morning class-” Before his husband could argue he continued “I don't have a morning class, I will take your lesson plans and you will stay here, watch a lot of bad tv and get better, understood?” Chad furrowed his brows, Henry sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, I can't believe you're making me pull this card “Doctors orders” Henry added, he wasn't asking anymore. Chad let out a loud groan before falling back against the comfortable mattress.

“I hate you, you know that right?” He said Henry smiled un-convinced. He planted a soft kiss upon Chad's warm forehead before getting up again.

“You love me, and you know it” He said slipping out of the room, not allowing Chad a chance at a response. Henry gathered his things for class, and Chads before preparing some breakfast and Tea for his sick husband. Once delivered, with the thank you of many sick kisses, Henry grabbed a nutrition bar and made his way to school. He hadn't expected the nervous feeling in his stomach to arise as he pulled into his parking space at school. He fumbled for his things watching children laugh and sulk in the early morning. He took a deep breath, you're a teacher, this is what you do every day. After reassuring himself he made his way into the teacher's lounge, setting his things into his designated locker. And went over Chad's lesson plan, what could go wrong?

~~~

“Everything! Everything could go wrong!” Ted hollered once the children had been dismissed into their theatre groups. Bill quickly shushed him as other students eyed him cautiously. Murmuring quietly before deciding it wasn't worth their time. Ted mumbled a quiet apology and continued “Literally everything could go wrong” He said in a more hushed tone towards his two friends. Paul, still in a very drowsy state, simply rolled his eyes.

“You think too much” He said, suddenly erupting into a fit of giggles “Or maybe you don't think enough, or maybe no one can think-” His eyes grew wide with excitement “What if, this entire thing is a simulation and all of our thoughts are pre-determined and nothing we think or do is of our own control” he finished flashing an insane smile towards Ted. Bill let out an annoyed groan, with a hint of panic.

“Wh...what the hell is wrong with you?” Ted asked looking at his friend, who sounded like they just escaped Gotham Asylum. “What did he drink” Ted quietly whispered to Bill who waved him off.

“He got a very little amount of sleep last night, and the previous night” Bill explained turning his attention to his script. Ted nodded with sudden realization.

“Looks like Stage 3 Paul is joining us today huh?” Ted teased, Paul did nothing but smile and nod eagerly. Stage 3 Paul was Ted's favorite. Stage 1 was annoyingly grumpy and mean, Stage 2 was overly emotional and much too worrisome, Stage 4 was weirdly smart, and did nothing but correct people but Stage 3? Oh, Stage 3 was an amazing blissfully unaware gift sent from the heavens. Stage 3 Paul was the best Paul. Ted let his worries about Tommy and his father slip away, as he dutifully ignored his current assignment and turned all his focus on having fun with Stage 3 Paul. Today couldn't get any better, Ted thought.

But it could get worse, so much worse

~~~~

“It was not that bad!” Charlotte exclaimed delightfully as she unwrapped a pastry from her mother's bakery and took a mouth-watering bite out of it. The group murmured sounds of agreement and disagreement. “He was sweet! So he was a little nervous, can you blame him? A biology teacher teaching Musical Theatre-”

“Talk about out of your element” Emma chimed in, Charlotte nodded giggling. Emma smiled at her friend before unwrapping her own lunch, 2 pieces of bread, a bag of chips, homebrewed coffee, and honey and as always a handwritten note from her mother.

Have a wonderful day Honey! I hope your bread and honey will bee satisfactory. Also, enjoy the coffee, hopefully, it gives you the buzz you need to get going.

Love you forever and always

Mama

Emma groaned at the forced honey puns but couldn't help but smile at the sweet note. It has always been like this, ever since she was little. Her mom insisted on making her kids lunch, and every day since her first day of kindergarten there was a hand-written note filled with love, puns and more. Emma never dared complain about it, she feared it would stop if she did and honestly? She loved it, she always had. Her sister… She shook her head stuffing the note back into the lunch box and removing her lunch and setting it up. She smiled gratefully knowing no matter what, she would always have her mom… and lunch.

Ted, on the other hand, sat next to Bill empty-handed. This isn't unusual, he rarely had time to make lunch, not that there was any food at home. He was also flat broke so buying wasn't an option, all he could do was sit watching the others eat and trying not to drool over their food. He tried to distract himself by joining the conversation but… other things occupied his mind. He rolled his eyes as the girls playfully teased Paul for all he was worth. Ted had grown bored of Stage 3 Paul, having milked him for everything he could think of. Bill was sitting reading and pleasantly enjoying his food, so not an option. He huffed annoyed and examined the cafeteria, he found himself looking for a certain wide-eyed, glasses-wearing boy. He felt his heart flutter at the sight of Tommy sitting at a table not far from his own. He was sitting alone which sent a pang of guilt down Ted's chest. He was hunched over, reading a book much like Bill. Ted couldn't help but grin at the pleasant comparisons.

One more reason to love him

Like him!

Help me…

He shook his head and looked further, Tommy sat sipping his trademark hot chocolate and munching on a tasty treat. Ted gave his table one more look and decided to make his way over to Tommy finding his company much more exciting. He danced through the crowded room and slid himself into the bench across from Tommy, he cleared his throat to which Tommy’s head shot straight up. At the sight of Ted, Tommy had plastered a giant smile across his face. He bookmarked his page and turned his full attention to the taller boy.

“Heya Ted!” He looked around “What brings you to my corner of the cafeteria” Tommy inquired, Ted marveled at his voice. The sound of constant excitement rushing through him, the eagerness to listen, never faltering loving look he showed. Oh, I have got it bad, Ted thought. He quickly realized he had been gazing and adjusted his position.

“Nothing much just wanted to…” Ted paused, why was he here? He mentally cursed himself for approaching with no plan. Luckily something caught the pair's attention and god how Ted had wished it had not.

“Attention everyone!” A loud voice boomed across the cafeteria. Ted spun around on the bench quickly, he found himself staring at Billy. Billy was standing on the middle cafeteria table and held a speaker in his hand. He was surrounded by his goons who were murmuring excitedly and snickering.”I have a very important announcement to make-” He declared pausing, right cause anything you say is important, Ted thought. “About Ted Porker”

Ted felt his face fall and his stomach knot. Me? Oh god… why me? What could he- Ted felt his entire face go red. The hallways this morning, the conversation, Tommy. He turned to his bespeckled friend who shared the same face of fear that Ted did, except his was riddled with concern. Tommy quickly placed a comforting hand on Ted's arm, who gasped and pulled away. He wanted to stay, he wanted Tommy to comfort him.

HELP

PLEASE

His eyes pleaded but his actions were closed off, he turned back to Billy who shot him a disgusting smirk. Ted felt ill, he couldn't look at him. Frantically, he looked around the cafeteria, eyes were moving between him and Billy. He couldn't hear the confused murmurs of the groups around him. Finally, his eyes landed on his table, his four friends staring back at him. Charlotte's face was riddled with concern and fear, Ted tried to make out what she was mouthing to him but his eyesight dulled. Emma's face was scrunched with anger, not at Ted, at Billy. She shot him apologetic eyes before glaring at Billy. Next to her was Paul, oh Paul. Paul had clearly gained enough consciousness to understand the situation. He was standing now, balled fists slammed on the table sharing the same angry look that Emma had. Ted might have been across the room but he could feel the fury directed at Billy. And then there was Bill, Bill’s eyes were filled with concern but his face stayed calm. After a moment of silent communication between Ted and Bill, his small friend stood and made his way over to Ted. Ignoring all the looks and conversations, he sat next to his taller friend.

“Are you ok?” He whispered softly into Ted's ear, Ted pulled himself away from his gaze of the table and turned to Bill. He ignored the fact that Billy was still talking, and people were still paying attention.

“Whats… what's he saying?” Was all Ted could manage, his mind was silent. But so was everything else, he hated it.

“Ted…” Bill said softly, Ted pleaded once more “He’s… he's describing an encounter with you this morning” That was it, that was all Ted needed to hear. He shut his eyes tight to stop the hot tears from flooding. He balled his fists, he could feel Bill wrap him in a supportive hug. And then… it happened.

“Ted Porker likes boys” The room went silent, not just Teds mind everyone. Everyone froze in shock, Ted felt Bill hug him harder.

Pressure

Breathe

What would your father think?

Pressure

Failure, that's what you are

Breathe

But he couldn't, he couldn't breathe. He heard the room erupt into confusion and excited talking. Seriously? Ted thought Vultures, the lot of them. He pulled away from Bill, failing to stop the tears, he choked back a sob and stood embarrassed, mortified, ashamed. Bill stood next to him, soon joined by Tommy on his other side.

“NO!” He shouted Ted gasped, clasping a hand over his mouth. He frantically spits out apologies before backing away covered in tears and feeling hotter than ever he ran. He ran out of the cafeteria, ignoring Bill and Tommys concerned shouting after him, ignoring Paul who tried to grab him, ignoring the commanding voice of the principal telling everyone lunch was over and to get to their next class. He ran, he didn't know where he was going but it wasn't here. He wasn't staying here.

THUD

Ted shivered as he felt himself hit the floor. He swallowed so scared looking up to realize he had collided with another person. He quickly shot up, terror-filled him, what was he going to do? What was wrong with him? Why was he like this? Panic flooded his thoughts, everything he had tried to keep at bay EVERYTHING was now washing over him and he collapsed in front of the unknown person too scared to look them in the eyes. He collapsed feeling alone, useless, and feeling like he wanted to end it all. So he collapsed sobbing as two warm arms wrapped around him, rubbing comforting circles on his back.

~~~

Henry caught the boy just in time before he seriously hurt himself, immediately engulfed the terrified child into a warm embrace and rubbed his back ever so carefully. Everything about him was soft and caring but his eyes? Oh, Henry's eyes were burning with fiery rage, he knew he couldn't but he really wanted to punch that kid.

‘You can't punch a kid’ Chad would say

He shook his head, he would deal with that cretin later. Right now, he looked down at shivering boy, who had nestled his head into Henry's neck, right now this boy needs me.

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wonderingarmy · 5 years

Text

Prince Park Jimin Part 3

Links - Part 1 Part 2

Jimin hasn’t seen you since the party and he and Jane became official. The media started going crazy about it and everybody ship both of them. Although this happened, Jimin still knows that he’s missing something he doesn’t know what.

He heard from your sister that Jessie asked you out again, but you told him that you’re not planning to be in a relationship for awhile and that you just don’t feel the same with Jessie anymore. He also heard that you’ve been more focused on your studies and even getting a an award for the graduation that’s happening soon.

“Noona, why are you even telling me this?” Jimin asked your sister when she just can’t stop talking about how proud she is of you while she’s doing his hair.

“Ah, I am sorry. I know you don’t care about her anymore. But, I am just really proud of her. She’s come a long way.” your sister replied excitedly. “She even has a job waiting for her she graduates. And she told me she’s already looking for an apartment for herself. I mean, I am going to miss her, but it’s time for me to have my own life and finally find myself a boyfriend.”

“Ah noona, you’re funny.” Jimin said smiling.

He thought of you and what you have been doing lately, or what you’ve been doing at that moment. He misses you and the way you make him laugh at small things.

“If only she feels the way I feel about her, it wouldn’t be this hard for me.” Jimin muttered to himself.

Right then Jane came in the dressing room, went straight to Jimin and kiss him full on the lips. Your sister had to back away, muttering something that nobody heard. Jimin was surprised at what Jane just did and held her shoulders and gently pushed her away.

“Ah, Jane. What are you doing here?” Jimin asked

Jane sat on his lap and said “I just finished with our performance and I know you guys are next to perform and I want to wish you good luck.”

Yoongi who is having his hair fixed and sitting on a chair not to far from Jimin interrupted and said, “That doesn’t look like a good luck wish to me.”

“What did you say?”, Jane asked looking at Yoongi with an angry look but Yoongi just shrugged.

“Jane”, Jimin said, “I would appreciate it if you don’t do that next time.”

“Why? You’re my boyfriend”, she said defensively

“Yes, I know that but it’s kind of disrespectful for other people.”

Jane stood up and said. “Wow Jimin, when did you become like a grandma? Anyways, talk to you later. Love you!”, she said eyeing Yoongi one last time and left the dressing room.

Jungkook who was on one of the couch across the room started imitating Jane and everyone started laughing.

“Word of advice. If you’re going to replace my sister, maybe you should make a better choice next time. I mean my sister is annoying, but not that annoying” Your sister said, getting back to ironing Jimin’s hair.

Later that night, before Jimin went to sleep, he started a live broadcast. He started reading comments from all the fans that are watching when one comment caught his eye.

“Jimin, I hope you’re always happy!”

“Ah”, Jimin said, “I am always happy. I mean it’s not always a good day. But I always try to find something to make me happy or do something that I know will make me happy.Plus, Army always makes me happy.”

After the live broadcast, Jimin received a message from Jane asking why he hasn’t text her but he ignored it. Jimin couldn’t get his sleep that night and decided to open his laptop and browse at your old pictures together. He’s been doing this a lot when he couldn’t go back to sleep, just like how he always needs to text you or talk to you when you were still friends. The pictures brings back a lot of good memories that you have shared with him and he wonders if you even fell in love with him at one point in your life.

The next day, Jane messaged Jimin again to go to the mall with her. Again, feeling bad about last night, Jimin agreed to meet her at the mall at 4pm.

“You’re not going to pick me up?” Jane texted back.

“I can pick you up” Jimin replied, not wanting to argue.

When they got to the mall, Jane started going from store to store and just browsing for a long time and buying one one thing. Jimin is left always sitting on one of the chairs, holding a shopping bag.

“Babe, does this make me look good”, “Babe, does this make me look big?”, Babe, what do you think of this? Is this too sexy?’

And Jimin would always nod and nod and nod without even having a glance at her. Jimin is finally glad when they reached Jane’s last favorite store.

“Finally, I am so hungry.”, Jimin muttered to himself

“What?”, Jane asked

“Nothing.”Jimin replied. “Just pick what you want and I’ll just play my games here”. He found a chair in front of the store and he sat down. Jane went inside and started browsing on some very expensive clothes. After a few moments of being bored, Jimin was about ready to get up, when you passed by in front of him.

“Y/N”, he whispered

He was going to follow you when he got interrupted again by Jane.

“Who’s that?”, she asked

“Who’s what?”

“That girl? You were about to follow her?”

“Jane, I have no idea what you’re talking about?”, Jimin lied.

“Fine”, she said rolling her eyes. “Let’s grab some food? I am starving.”

Jimin nodded and Jane annoyingly hooked her arms around his. When they got to the food court, Jimin excused himself to go to the restroom. He kept thinking about you and how he could’ve had the chance to talk to you but he couldn’t.

As he was walking back to the food court, he saw Jane arguing with somebody. He ran towards her and as he’s getting closer, he noticed that it’s you she’s arguing with.

“You better replace my shoes! Do you even know how much this is?”, Jane yelled at Y/N. Looks like a cup of juice spilled on her shoes.

You didn’t say anything. Jimin started pulling Jane away from you. “Jane, let’s go.”, he said calmly

“I am not going anywhere. This stupid bitch pushed me. And I am not letting her get away with it until she pays for my shoes.”

“I did not push you.”, you finally said.

“Yes, you did Y/N! You think I don’t know who you are? You’re mad because Jimin is my boyfriend? Do you really think you’re good for him?” she yelled even louder. She doesn’t care about all the people who are now staring and wondering what’s going on.

“Jane, this is absurd. I am sure it was just an accident. We need to go.”, Jimin said, trying to pull Jane.

“Why are you defending her?”

Jimin didn’t say anything at first. He stared at you who’s now looking down on your shoes, your face red, and he knows how much you’re forcing yourself not to cry.

“Because I know her Jane.” Jimin finally said. He saw three security guards coming from behind you and before he knew it, he grabbed your hands, pulled you and you both ran away from the crowd, leaving Jane screaming hear heart out.

When you reached the parking lot, you stopped running. Jimin looked at you, wrapped his arms around you and started asking if you’re okay. You finally let go of the tears that you’ve holding for what seemed like forever.

“I am sorry, Y/N.” Jimin said, rubbing your back. He gently pulled you away from him and wiped your tears.

“Why did you grab me instead of her? I am not Jane.”, you said between your sobs.

“Do you really think I’d choose to save that crazy lady before you? I mean, you’re crazy but that one? I am not sure she’s smoking.”, Jimin said smiling. “Let’s go, I’ll take you home.” he insisted.

When you get to his car, he told you how he thought Jane is going to be a great girl for her but after a month of dating, she turned into something he didn’t know. How she is so different from what the fans see and what is behind every stage and performance. That he likes her, but she’s different from the Jane that he first met.

“She even disrespects the other members, who are my friends, my family.”, he finished.

“I am sorry.”, you replied. “Do you think she’s still want to talk to you after this?”

“I doubt it. But hey, enough of her. Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” you replied.

He insisted on staying with you til he knows that you’re really better when you got to your apartment. But you assured him, that you’ll be fine. That it’s not like it’s the worst thing that happened to you.

The following day, Jimin woke up with Jane all over social media. There’s also some of him and you, but they are more focused on what scandal Jane had made. Her agency already released a statement saying that they’ll make sure to take a serious action about what Jane has done and that she’ll be suspended for awhile and will seek help about her anger issues. Jimin tried to call her but it went straight to her voicemail. He sent her a long message how sorry he is of what had happened and how he chose to grab you instead of her. She also decided to send her a big bouquet of flowers and a long message.

After a few weeks of Jane not replying, she finally sent Jimin a long text saying how she is sorry that she was a bad girlfriend for her. That she’ll seek help and become a better person and that she hopes Jimin is still single when that happens. She told her that she’s going to announce her retirement from showbiz industry that day and will find a job that she can handle better. Jimin wished her well and that he hopes and pray that she’ll get better as soon as possible. And that he’s sorry all of this happened.

Jimin tried to do his best for you to become close again, and although it wasn't like before, you are slowly starting to become friends again. He would always ask you to hang out but you’ve been really busy with school especially that you’re graduating in a week. He started texting you more and more when he can, but you both never talked about what you were before because he was too afraid to have it com up again. He finally made up his mind that it doesn’t matter that you are both in a relationship with each other. He can just love you and ask for nothing in return.

The day of the graduation came and Jimin found out that you’re the salutatorian. Jimin and the rest of the BTS members are so proud of you that they decided to go and surprise you on your graduation. They were all sitting with your sister in the very back of the hall, wearing caps and masks, and trying to keep it down low so they don’t take away the attention from the graduates. After a half an hour of boring speeches,, you took the center stage and started doing your speech as well.

You talked about how you wouldn’t be where you are without the help of your sister who took you in and fed you despite all the complains that you always get from her. You told the listeners not to stop reaching for their dreams and to never ever lose hope. You were so nervous about this day that you didn’t really prepare a great and inspirational speech. You just did a usual speech and made sure you didn’t plagiarised. You were about to finish your speech when you remembered something.

“I want to apologize for a real boring speech, but I feel like I really have to say this. Some of my friends know him and some of you don’t, but I want to thank this guy who became a part of my life since I started living here in Seoul. I want to say that I am really sorry that I had to make you wait. I was just really scared because I am so ordinary and you’re like this super extraordinary person. But I wanna let you know that I care and I will always care for you and that you’re very special person. I regret being scared before and not taking a chance but I want to let you know that I want to wait for you this time. No matter how long. Thank you guys for listening, and to everyone that videotaped this please spread it like germs, I hope he sees it. Hope you guys all be successful in the future and always be happy, that’s the most important thing. Congratulations graduates!”

Before you could bow your head, Jimin slowly stood up and walk closer to the stage removing his mask and his baseball cap. He started clapping his hands, and some of the audience and graduates followed. You saw him and you both stared at each other, you waved at him and you both smiled at each other.

After the ceremony, everyone was congratulating each other. You ran towards your sister and the members. Your sister hugged you and was crying non stop saying how she’s so proud of you.

“Ah, unnie, stop making me cry.” you told her when she pulled away.

“I am just really happy for you.”, she replied.

The rest of the members gave you a hug and when it was Jimin’s turn, he didn’t hug you. He pressed his lips against yours and you didn’t know what to do but you just closed your eyes and felt your world has started to make sense again. You can hear your sister yelp and the rest of the members cheering.

“I am not going to make you wait and I am not wasting any more time wondering what it’s like to be your boyfriend.” Jimin told you, you nose still touching.

Everyone was congratulating you when Taehyung’s phone rang.

“Hello”, he said.” What? Okay. I’ll be right there.” Taehyung hung up his phone, stared at all you and shook his head. “I have to go. She’s in critical condition.”, he said, his hands shaking, tears about to fall down his cheeks.

“I’ll drive you.”Jin said. Jin and Taehyung left you and the rest of the members.

Jimin held your hand, looked at you and you can tell that he’s worried about Taehyung. You gripped his hand tighter hoping and praying that everything’s okay with Tae.

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whispersafterdusk · 5 years

Text

The Master’s Apprentice - ch 5

In the two days it took to recover Onmund had a lot of time to think.

The thought of such casually granted immortality was overwhelmingly daunting at first but then he remembered she'd said "as long as she existed" -- if something were to happen to her then he'd go back to normal. Probably. The odds of that happening when it was just the two of them (and with him seemingly unable to harm her) were basically nonexistent but it was still a tiny bit of comfort knowing it wasn't something permanent, and there might even be a chance to reverse the spell sometime in the future...again, he didn't think he had very good odds of that happening but he had to keep his hopes up as resigning himself to living forever wasn't something he would find peace with any time soon. ((Continued below cut))

And thinking on it brought up another question in his mind: if she created this spell with the help of an apprentice, and shared this same gift with him, where was that apprentice? Why was Kestrel alone down here if she'd given immortality to someone else before Onmund had come along? He felt he should ask but almost feared the answer; strangely he found it was much easier to come to terms with his captivity than this whole immortality thing and all that was related to it.

When he was recovered Kestrel continued on as though nothing had happened -- she had him practicing altering the frost and shock spells he knew, both at the start of the cast and mid-channel. The more he practiced the easier it became - not because it was difficult in the first place but because he was letting go of what he knew about them, which he assumed was Kestrel's intention; she wanted him to learn her teachings rather than cling to what he'd been taught at the College and bit by bit he was doing that naturally (not that he really cared about whether he should or shouldn't - this was new, it was interesting, and it was something he'd never been taught before). It did make him wonder why no one at the College had cast like this, or even spoke of the ability to do so...was this sort of thing once common knowledge? He didn't think magic would have changed much over time but people certainly had, and if there had been enough of a push to teach only THIS or only THAT sort of magic and specific, limited ways of casting (and certain ways of thinking) then it seemed possible to him that this knowledge could have been buried and lost.

(It brought him a bit of amusement to realize that 'buried' was a literal term for him, considering where he was).

Once he'd more or less mastered the alterations she set him to a new task: cast one spell with one hand, and something else with the other.

"It can be the paired spells we've been working with," she went on, demonstrating by sending a spray of water and a blast of frost in opposite directions from each hand. "However you'd like to try it, but I want - as you're so fond of insisting - two different spells from either hand at the same time."

At least THIS was something he already could do. Sort of. He knew how - it was one of the most recent things he'd learned at the College - but he wasn't very practiced at it. At the very least he shouldn't look like an idiot this time (he hoped).

First he tried with fire in his right hand and frost in the other - the radius of each wasn't nearly as wide as it would have been if he'd been casting with all his attention on one or the other but he managed it, and felt a small amount of pride at Kestrel's approving nod. It wasn't all that difficult, really...not until he tried throwing water from one hand and fire from the other, anyway. Spells he knew by heart weren't a problem but when he added in the extra step of altering the frost to water the fire in the other hand sputtered out as his focus shifted.

Kestrel smiled faintly at him. "Not as easy as you were expecting, I bet."

"Not on my first try, anyway," Onmund grumbled quietly. "I'm not used to splitting my attention like this."

"Practice makes perfect. Continue."

And practice did eventually make...passable, and it took him two weeks to get the hang of it; there was something very satisfying about finally reaching the point of being able to send a spell - any of the spells he knew, altered or not - out of each hand though there was still a size difference in the spread when he was dual casting compared to casting with one hand or the same spell with both. Kestrel seemed pleased with his progress and set him little challenges like rapidly shifting between the spells with as little time as possible between them, or cast with one hand then pass that spell to the other and start another casting in the same instant with the hand he'd emptied -- there were a lot of them and they were challenging but not impossible, and while he failed them at first (and it was annoyingly embarrassing to realize how terrible he was at multitasking) with repetition and the occasional word of encouragement, hint, or tip Onmund felt he was truly starting to..."master" wasn't quite the word he wanted to use but it was close enough.

"We shall try something different today," was her greeting that morning when he walked out of his room to meet her.

That little spark of interest and eagerness shot through him again. "Oh? How different?"

"You'll find out shortly. Come along."

He was finding she said that a lot, "come along." He didn't really have a choice in the matter, and as soon as the thought came to mind he buried it under the surge of eagerness he'd felt just a moment earlier - it was easier to forget that he was a captive if he focused just on his lessons, and the thrill in general he felt when he learned something new; that little thrill was no different here than it had been when he'd been at College and was a familiar, comfortable feeling overall.

They reached the Hall of Mirrors and rather than take her place not far from the door Kestrel quickly jogged out to the nearest monolith and turned to face him.

"I assume you were taught more advanced spells - specifically, fireballs and the like."

Onmund nodded. "Fireballs, bolts of lightning, ice shards... A bit more advanced than what you've had me working on, yes."

"And what of warding spells?"

"A...few. Mostly meant for myself."

Kestrel nodded. "Show me."

Onmund held up his hands and called one of the lesser wards to himself - a rippling shell of magic that was tinged a pale teal surrounded him in a partial circle, protecting him from every angle except from behind.

Kestrel nodded again and then quicker than he could react sent a fireball blasting into and then through it, shattering the ward and knocking him flat on his back; landing in the floor blasted the air out of him and he lay there, stunned, for several raspy breaths as he tried to fill his lungs properly.

"Is that the strongest one you know?"

Again she didn't seem impressed and, with a slightly red face and an aching head he climbed back to his feet. "N-no, it's not. This one is-" Again he raised up a shimmering shield, putting more of his power behind it.

And again with a single cast - this time one of ice, with a blunt, wide shard in its center - easily shattered his defenses and knocked him from his feet again.

"I didn't realize you were going to abuse me today," he muttered, clambering to his feet again and watching her warily for any other incoming spell. If those had broken his wards that damn easily he was actually somewhat terrified of what they might have done to him if he hadn't been protected.

There was also the nagging doubt that she'd even thrown something fully powered at him - a thought that was also terrifying.

"I feel it's good to make a very direct point early on," she chuckled quietly. "Now, tell me - why did your wards fail?"

"You overpowered them, obviously," he answered. "They can only take so much damage before they break."

"And why is that?"

"...because you're clearly stronger than they."

She shook her head. "No, no, I meant, why is it that they can only withstand so much?"

"Well... Nothing can withstand forever, right?" He actually had no idea what strengthened the ward - was it raw magicka dumped into it, a matter of concentration, was it a series of separate spells of varying strengths?

"Technically you're correct, but only regarding physical items. What about a ward spell makes it break so easily? What strengthens it? Or, more specifically, what can you do to strengthen or prolong it?"

"I'm... I'm not sure."

"Fair enough. Cast it again."

Onmund again raised his hands and wrapped the ward around himself, shifting his feet to brace himself in case she went to bowl him over again; instead of a spell sent careening his way she walked over calmly and held a hand inside and just outside of the ward, sandwiching it between her palms.

"This ward is powerful against lesser enemies." Her face rippled and seemed otherworldly and frightening through the shimmer and shine of the ward. "But a minor detail you have missed is how I shattered this. What did I do?"

Onmund looked at her curiously - he was missing something? "-you struck it with a spell stronger than it could stand."

"I did. But what about that detail do you think caused the shield to break? Think - think on the shape of the spells you know."

The shape... First it had been a fireball, and then a shard of ice - both had easily broken the ward and knocked him on his backside...so what was the similarity between them...

They were both more powerful than the spray-type of spells he knew and could be fired from a further distance because they weren't so widespread as the other-

Wait, that was it: the fireball and ice shard weren't a wide spray. The frost spell, for example, spread its destructive force over a wide area but wasn't very strong, but the ice shard? That was a lot of power concentrated in a narrow point.

"The spells you sent at me were a lot of force in a small package," he said then. "The other spells I know spread their damage out over a much wider area, and the two that broke the wards had all of their damage concentrated at one small point. It broke the ward like a hammer to glass because of how the force was applied."

She smiled widely at him. "You caught on quicker than I'd expected, that's good. And yes, you're correct. These sort of protective ward spells that are focused - centered - on yourself can take a great amount of damage provided that it's not concentrated. The same effect can be said of an actual physical shield: enough damage focused on one area will eventually shatter that defense."

Onmund relaxed his arms and the ward faded away, leaving a pale afterimage in his eyes that he blinked to try and clear. "Is there a way to make the ward stronger? Allow it to withstand a concentrated spell or attack?"

"There are several methods - several types of ward spells for different situations with ways to empower them further, a casting with multiple people pooling their strength will work as well. Can you think of any other way to protect yourself from a harmful spell?"

"Is there..." he paused, thinking. "Is there a way to silence someone from a distance? If they can't cast then they can't harm me."

"There are but that isn't your lesson for the day."

She moved away from him again and back over to stand beside the monolith, turning to face him with her hands outspread; a warding spell appeared around her but it was different than the one he knew: it was a deep purple and swirled like mist around her, and didn't glow much.

"Throw your strongest spell at me, apprentice."

Onmund blinked at her in surprise. She wanted him to attack her? "What? How? I can't- I can't cast anything at you."

"You can if I permit it, and I promise you you aren't capable of harming me. Throw your spell."

A very deep nervousness struck him; the other times he'd tried that he'd "awakened" in the floor with no memory of what she may have done to deter him...but if she allowed it, he could? He certainly hoped she was right as he really didn't want to land on his ass three times in one day; sucking in a breath he threw a quick bolt of lightning in her direction.

The lightning arced toward her and then abruptly angled off to the side to harmlessly scorch the wall -- from where he stood he couldn't actually tell if he'd hit the ward or not, and he'd definitely not been expecting the lightning to deflect like that.

"What - what did you do? I didn't even see you move."

Kestrel smiled faintly. "Again."

After a pause to consider Onmund sent an ice shard at her this time; much like the lightning it too deflected off to the side but at least this time Onmund swore he saw the ward ripple -- he'd hit it, but not...directly? How? He'd fired it right at her, not at any angle.

"How are you doing that?"

She banished the ward with a wave of her hand, sending it scattering like smoke. "Tell me what happened."

"You..." What HAD just happened? It definitely hadn't absorbed the spell. "I think you deflected it, somehow? I know I shot it directly at you but it's like it - like it skimmed the ward instead of striking it."

Kestrel nodded. "Correct. The ward you know is capable of the same thing, sort of. Would you like to try? Can you guess how?"

Again he paused, uncertain - he certainly WANTED to try but based on what had happened the first two times he couldn't fathom how he was supposed to get the ward to do the same as hers had, and based on what she'd been drilling into him these last few weeks he didn't want to assume that her ward was a different spell from his own based on its color and function alone.

As he deliberated in silence she smiled at him and walked back over to stand at his side, her hands clasped behind her back. "What other ways could you save yourself from harmful magic?"

She left him to think in silence but still remained standing beside him; the easiest answer to her second question was 'don't be on the receiving end in the first place,' or at least that felt like the easiest answer to him...but if he was ever in that position he'd still need an answer for it. Finding cover to hide behind seemed logical, but that may not always be an option -- maybe just not be where the magic was, then, or if he couldn't silence his opponent then maybe he could redirect their spells somewhere else.

...sort of like what her ward did.

He looked up to her and found her watching him with an expectant look. "I think the answer is to not be where the spell is going, either by deflecting it like your ward spell did or simply jumping out of the way, or by hiding behind something if I can."

She nodded. "Correct. Now, how would you accomplish that based on the spells you know?"

Once again he went silent, thinking. "I... Would it be possible to...somehow reverse a ward's function? Instead of absorbing it should repel, right?"

"Close enough," she chuckled quietly. "You've done well today - take the rest of the afternoon to practice your spells and see if you can figure out on your own how to alter your ward to do what you believe it should do. We shall test you in the morning and see how close you've come."

With an approving nod Kestrel turned and left; Onmund listened to her retreating footsteps until he heard the soft click of her door opening and closing then huffed out a sigh and stared around the room aimlessly. She'd shown him how to alter the frost and shock spells to change them into water and wind and he felt he had an understanding of how to do that...or did he? Was he just doing that by rote or did he actually understand what it was he was doing?

"I guess I'm about to find out," he grumbled; despite how quietly he'd spoken his words echoed back to him -- he'd not really noticed the echo when he was focusing on Kestrel's lesson or on his own casting and it wasn't even all that loud but 'find out' repeated several times before it faded.

All right then...he had a puzzle to piece together.

#The Master's Apprentice #tma #The Master's Apprentice - ch 5 #Onmund #AU #Skyrim

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sembell · 6 years

Text

Moving Forward - Chapter 53

Merry Christmas to all of you <3 NSFW ahead :)

“We live in a changing world, but we need to be reminded that the important things have not changed, and the important things will not change if we keep our priorities in proper order.“ - S. Truett Cathy

The coffee was hot and surprisingly good, even though it had come without the shot of rum she would have loved, and really needed on this particular Wednesday morning.

The entire lot of the North Shore Studios in Vancouver was exceptionally bustling this morning, and maybe she wasn’t used to it anymore or she really was that stressed out, but she was glad to sit in this quiet trailer on this comfortable couch, far, far away from any trouble. Or so it seemed.

David stepped into his trailer in full Mulder gear. She knew that they had spent the entire previous day in Mulder’s office and would be there until noon today. He’d told her that they’d move to a country club in Pitt Meadows to shoot the dancing sequence this afternoon. And with wrapping the fifth episode, Melanie hoped that the rumors and accusations, which were currently making their rounds on social media, would also come to an end. It had only been a day, but she already had enough of it for a very long time.

Especially since David still appeared to be absolutely relaxed when he closed the door of his trailer behind him and stepped up to the couch where she’d been waiting for him for at least twenty minutes now.

“Good morning!” he said cheerfully and flashed her one of those annoyingly disarming smiles of his before he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and flopped down next to her. He immediately started to loosen up his tie.

“Morning,” Melanie grumbled into her coffee and rolled her eyes. She was still fuming, and he still seemed absolutely oblivious.

When he left their little meeting last night, she’d secretly hoped that the rumors of him having an affair with his very young dancing instructor would evoke the same reaction in Gillian as it had in her, especially after learning that a stupid post on Instagram by said dancing instructor was the root of the problem.

Now, Melanie had to shake her head over her own naivety. As if Gillian, the queen of bad, insinuating social media posts, would’ve been bothered by such a thing.

Apparently, she was the only one of them realizing that David’s name attached to a slinky picture of a half-naked young woman and a suggestive offer wasn’t making that much of a good impression out there.

“And, how are things this morning?” David asked and folded his hands behind his head, looking at her with what she’d call an almost challenging expression.

Greetings from Gillian, Melanie thought and pursed her lips. It wasn’t like she wasn’t up for the challenge, but she’d rather just have a conversation with a fairly level-headed David. “Oh you know, it takes a while before such news make it around the globe, so-”

“So, everything’s fine.”

She shot him a warning look. “You know damn well how fast these things can get out of hand, so don’t you come to me with some bullshit like ‘see, Mel, everything you made me do last night wasn’t necessary’.”

He raised his hands defensively. “Wouldn’t even cross my mind. Look, I’m grateful for everything you do for me. But…” David shrugged his shoulders, “it wasn’t Dani’s intention to cause trouble. And it’s not like I have something to hide, or anything to be ashamed of.”

“I know that, David. But it’s my job to protect you from those who don’t care about you and your family. No matter if it’s a random fan who likes to accuse people of all kinds of things, someone you work with, or-” she suddenly stopped, pressing her lips together in a thin line.

“Or?” he leaned forward, searching her face.

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Or my girlfriend, is that what you wanted to say?”

“I didn’t say she doesn’t care. I’m just saying that… she’s not making the best choices when it comes to her or your public image.”

David sighed and clenched his jaw, leaning back against the cushions. “I think she just doesn’t take it that seriously. As in, it doesn’t bother her what people are saying online.”

“Well, that’s nice to hear. But frankly, I don’t really care if Gillian minds or not. When I say I’m trying to protect her, I basically mean trying to protect her from herself. Because we have a plan here, David, and that goes beyond what she finds acceptable or not. My concern is how things will affect you, your public image, and your children. If Gillian doesn’t care that a young woman lets everyone know that she wants - an affair, or whatever - with you, or if Gillian herself just loves to rile people up on social media with all those innuendos-”

“Mel-” David tried to cut in.

“You know what I think about that, David. It will backfire eventually. You talk to me in a couple of years.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “It’s just for fun…”

“Until it isn’t just fun anymore. We have next to no control over social media. I can’t stop people from talking or spreading crazy rumors, and literally everything could get viral these days, no matter if it’s true or not.”

“And what am I supposed to do? We all know what she does keeps people interested in us and the brand. They want to know and see what we’re up to, especially while we're here in Vancouver. People want the banter. And of course,” he raised his hands and gave a half shrug, “they want to know how the baby's doing.”

“She uses your relationship and plays with your privacy, and I will never be a supporter of that. We’ve been through this time and time again. How come she just doesn’t want to learn anything from the past?”

“Hey, please give her a break. She just enjoys sharing tiny bits of our lives, and she likes to tease. That’s just how she is. I might not participate all the time, but I definitely won’t take that away from her. It doesn’t harm anyone.”

Melanie sighed and shook her head. It was useless. She’d left meetings with him and Gillian feeling like life had been sucked right out of her - not just once, but multiple times over the last fifteen years. While he usually wasn’t that much of a tough case, Gillian had the ability to talk you into the ground, and everything that was left of you, in the end, could be compared to a kitten who’d just gotten run over by a bulldozer.

It had gotten worse in the last two years, and Melanie knew that this was mostly due to her own doing. While she had no idea how on earth Gillian had found out or who’d told her, she knew that ever since Gillian learned that Melanie had advised David to stay quiet about his involvement in Gillian’s pregnancy, she’d lost her.

It had been a mistake, one that had hurt Gillian very bad, and one Melanie was trying to make up for it ever since, and if it was just for Eaden - that wonderful little girl that was the best thing that could’ve happened to David and Gillian. She would do everything in her power to keep her out of the spotlight and make sure she could live a normal, happy life. Because ultimately, that’s what David and Gillian both wanted for their daughter.

Melanie just didn’t understand why Gillian was acting so carelessly these days. She clearly had fun and was receiving the attention she was looking out for. But after so many years, she had to be aware that everything came with a price - right?!

“Okay, what do you need me to do?” David offered, taking her hand.

She huffed out a laugh and shook her head.

A knock on the door made them both jump, and without waiting for an invitation, the door was being pulled open and a tall man with long brown hair stepped into the trailer. Set life had always been more convenient than polite, Melanie remembered.

“Dave?” the guy asked, and his eyes grew wide when he spotted Melanie. “Oh, sorry! I don’t wanna disturb, but we need you on set.”

David looked up and furrowed his brow. They’d been told it would take another half an hour to finish setting up Mulder’s office for the next scene. “What, why?”

The man shrugged his shoulders, but his one corner of his mouth tilted up in a lopsided grin. “Hurry up, they’re waiting!”

David groaned. “I’ll be out in a minute, Fred,” he finally replied and waited until the man had disappeared before turning back to Melanie, looking at her with an apologetic smile. “Sorry. You want to come?”

With a light chuckle, she patted his hand, inhaled deeply and shook her head. “Thanks for the offer, but no,” she stood up and grabbed her coat. “But don’t you worry… you did what you could do. Everything else’s my job,” Melanie winked and turned for the door.

Just when she was about to open it, he stopped her with his hand on her shoulder and smiled as he took her coat and held it up so she could slip in.

“You keep me updated?” he asked and opened the door for her.

Melanie looked up at him and managed a weak smile. The whole situation had put much more stress on him than he was willing to admit. She knew him, very well actually. His first concern was always his family, and how his actions would affect every single member of it. And while it wasn’t his doing what had happened in the last twenty-four hours, Melanie was sure that if Gillian had reacted differently, she’d have much more work to do now. In that respect, he was just a normal man deeply in love with his woman.

Mulder’s office hadn’t been used for over 13 years, and that’s exactly what it looked like in 2015. That was the weirdest part about coming back; that nothing was looking the way David was used to. It was stupid, really. The show had ended a lifetime ago, and everything had changed since then. But this modern, half furnished, too tidy and too spacious office didn’t resonate well with him, and he couldn’t really pinpoint why.

Another thing David didn’t understand right away was how his baby daughter and Piper had ended up in the middle of all of this, and it took him a few moments to take the whole scene in.

Eaden was standing by the desk, still clad in her bright pink pajamas, bedhead at its finest, holding onto one of the blue chairs for dear life. Chris was standing a few feet behind her with a full-blown grin on his face while Piper was kneeling at the other end of the table in front of Eaden, waving her little sister nearer. And Dean, their camera first assistant, was filming everything with their documentary camcorder.

“This is our little girl Eaden, who’s so close to taking her very first steps,” Dean announced proudly and panned the camera away from Eaden to Piper, who gave him the thumbs up, “and that’s her big sister Piper, who took her first steps on this very same lot twenty years ago. Isn’t that cool y’all?”

“Although I was much younger than this lazy little cub,” Piper added with a laugh and extended her arms towards Eaden. The little one was just standing there with her feet wide apart, chewing on her fingers and looking cautiously up at the tall man with the unruly gray curls. “Come on, baby! Come to me!” Piper cheered exuberantly, trying to get Eaden’s attention.

David spotted Gillian to his right standing by the room divider, all dressed up as Scully and taking pictures of her daughters with her phone, her expression a mixture of sheer pride and childish excitement. He couldn’t help but grin at that sight. She was so darn precious.

Coming up behind her, David put his hand on Gillian’s waist and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Hey, what’s happening here? Is she about to walk or are they just taking over our show?”

With a big smile sneaking up on her face, Gillian leaned back against him and shrugged her left shoulder. “Maybe both, I’m not so sure of the walking yet, though. She just woke up and Tina brought her in for her good morning kiss, but she wanted down and crawled around and all of a sudden, she pulled herself up and attempted to take her first step. She just put her foot forward, looked at it for a few seconds, and then pulled it back. She’s making it super thrilling here.”

“Hmm,” he hummed amusedly and pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek. “I wonder who she got that from; that streak for the dramatic.”

“Hey!” she lightly stabbed her elbow into his side, and after he winced almost dramatically, they fell into soft laughter and he pulled her closer to his chest.

“Come here, honey. You can do it! Just one step, sweetie!” Piper continued to encourage her little sister, who was now concentrating on Chris coming closer to her.

“She’s not gonna do it,” Gillian sighed, watching Chris squatting down beside Eaden and starting to rub her back.

“Nah, have some faith, Mom. She will, she will… although, can you see how she’s looking at Chris?” he nodded his head towards them, and they started to chuckle at the same time.

Eaden’s little face, the big, doubtful eyes and scrunched eyebrows were just too much. Chris and kids, that combination had always provided the best material for some good laughter. He was so, so nice and gentle with them, but unbelievably awkward at the same time. Piper had always loved him to pieces, but Eaden still wasn’t entirely convinced.

“There’s a fifty-fifty chance that in the next ten seconds, she’ll either start to cry or run away from him. My bet is on the crying, though.”

Gillian chuffed a laugh through her nose and nodded.

He crouched down a bit and rested his head against hers, his gaze shifting between her phone and her face. She was concentrating hard, tilting the device from one side to the other, then tapping on the screen repeatedly to try to get her daughters, and Chris, in focus.

It was moments like this that made him the happiest, simply because she was happy.

For a long time, David had wished he could bottle those moments and feelings up and pull them out whenever needed - whenever she was unhappy, or whenever he’d made her sad again. But over the years, he’d learned to concentrate more on the present, on what he was doing and what was happening now instead of holding too tightly onto the past. Cherishing each moment, each memory, whether they were good or bad, but trying his best to make good decisions for everybody’s happiness and joy, that’s what he was concentrating on nowadays.

“Oh!” Gillian’s eyes widened, and David looked up to watch Eaden putting her right foot forward while Chris slowly let go of her. “David!” she breathed almost inaudibly, too scared that she would break some kind of spell if she spoke any louder. He gave her an affectionate squeeze, letting her know that he was just as excited as she was.

When Eaden’s little foot hit the ground, they both gasped and held their breaths. She was standing up all by herself now without any support, and the whole room had gone completely quiet with everyone’s eyes glued to Eaden, who was cautiously putting more weight on her right leg.

And then everything happened so unbelievably fast, almost too fast for a 15-month-long wait.

She lifted the other leg, and all of a sudden, she was standing a whole step away from Chris, arms outstretched to her sides to help maintain her balance, mouth and eyes wide open in both awe and shock at what just happened.

“There you go, girl!” Piper laughed and clapped her hands.

Realizing that Gillian was just staring at the girls by now and had completely forgotten about her phone, David reached over her shoulder and took a couple of pictures for her.

She just nodded her thank you, too awestruck to say anything in that moment, and sniffled. He was sure that she was already crying, and that someone would need to redo her makeup before they could start to shoot the last scene in here. Not that it mattered; not in the slightest.

The only thing that mattered was their little girl with that huge smile taking another wobbly step and then a third, getting more and more confident with herself, and determined to reach her sister’s waiting arms. He couldn’t be any prouder.

“We have a toddler, babe,” David whispered, and Gillian took a deep, shaky breath, before answering, “We sure do.”

And what a toddler they had all of a sudden.

By the time Gillian was done for the day, Eaden was able to walk along the whole length of her mother’s trailer and was immovable of her decision to do it over and over again, much to the dismay of her nanny Tina.

The rest of the day was, to put it mildly, exhausting beyond words.

From the point Gillian had strapped her daughter into her car seat and headed off for lunch with an old friend, the little girl wouldn’t stop screaming until Gillian sat her down and let her run loose. Which had made having a decent conversation or time to eat in peace almost entirely impossible.

With her mother hot on her heels, Eaden walked to everything and everyone she found even remotely interesting, and even though she wasn’t very fast yet, she was tripping over her own feet very, very often, which lead to quite a few tears over the course of the day.

After settling the boys for the night, both tired to their bones due to an adventurous day at a children's camp out in the forest, Gillian contemplated whether she should run herself a bubble bath or simply crash on the couch to watch whatever bad soap opera she happened to come across first.

But she was restless, agitated even despite the long, draining day and the short night prior to it.

Shortly after Eaden and Felix had finally fallen asleep in her bed last night, Gillian went downstairs to give her assistant Alison a call, who’d unsuccessfully tried to reach her while she almost got knocked out by one of Eaden’s knees.

From what Alison had told her alone she wouldn’t have been able to fall back to sleep right away, but then David came home, joined her on the couch, buried his head into her lap and started to talk for the next hour.

Now that the house was quiet and she had nothing to do, Gillian was slowly starting to process everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. And all she wanted to do now was burying her own head into the warmth of his lap and let it all go.

She was sitting at the kitchen counter, chewing on the straw she’d put in her can of Red Bull when she heard someone coming in the front door at around 8 pm.

Piper was mustering her mother and that faraway look of hers suspiciously when she entered the kitchen and let her heavy backpack slide to the floor.

“Hey, baby. How are you?” Gillian asked and ran her hand over her face in an effort to pull herself out of her reverie.

“Hey, I’m good, but busted. Is everything alright?” Piper retorted and headed for the fridge. Her entire shirt was covered with splashes of red paint.

Must’ve been a busy day for her as well, Gillian determined as she watched her daughter retrieving a bottle of coke, and began to nod slowly. “Yeah, I’m just… I can’t sleep.”

“Still too excited?” Piper grinned and took a swig, but Gillian gave her a questioning look. “Because Eaden’s walking now?”

“Oh that, yes... yeah,” Gillian chuckled. “But, um…” she licked her lips. “Would you mind terribly looking after Eaden and the boys for a couple of hours? They’re already in bed.”

“Umm, no. No, I wouldn’t mind. I just wanted to watch some TV before going to bed anyway. Why? You wanna go out?”

Gillian nodded with a smirk. “I think I’d like to surprise someone.”

The parking lot of the Rooster’s Country Cabaret was filled with trucks and trailers, so Gillian parked at the nearest McDonalds, bought herself and Rob, the elder security guard standing in front at the parking lot, a coffee and walked over.

The air had cooled considerably in the last couple of hours, and Gillian was glad she’d put on her black leather jacket over her sleeveless dress and had chosen the knee boots over the heels. With this outfit, she might’ve been able to convince Chris to let Scully do a lap-dance after all, she thought and snickered to herself. Not that she was intending to go anywhere near him again tonight, or anyone on set for that matter. Except for one.

Rob had no problem to let her sneak into David’s trailer, happy with his warm beverage and the quick hug he’d been given.

They were still laughing hard when they stepped out of the stuffy, hot club and into the cool summer night, having had one of the best and most memorial shooting nights thanks to Mitch, Tom, Dean and Bruce. And, of course, the mushroom stamp.

Honky-Tonk Mulder with his eagle shirt, the cowboy hat and the girls dancing around him really was the weirdest thing David had done in a very long time. And that was pretty telling.

“Hey, some people and I will have a drink Downtown, just to unwind a bit. You wanna come?” she offered, and he stared at her for a couple of moments before he found his voice again.

“Um,” David chuckled nervously and averted his eyes to the ground. At this point in his life and at his age, he found himself actually blushing at such an offer. He cleared his throat. “Uh, thank you, Dani. Sounds fun, but I have to pass. I just want to go home to my-, to Gillian and Eaden.”

“Oh, okay. I hope I… didn’t cause you too much trouble and that’s why you can’t come? Because Gillian thinks we-”

“Oh no,” he was quick to reply. “No. Don’t worry, she had a good laugh over it,” he nodded reassuringly, knowing she was genuinely worried. “But I’m old, and I can't wait for to hit the pillow. And if I’m lucky, there might even be a massage in store for me,” he winked.

“Oh, you wouldn’t want to miss that!”

They laughed and stopped, both turning to face each other.

David shook his head. “No, I really don’t.”

“So… I guess I see you tomorrow?”

“You will. I will not disappoint you, I promise!” he grinned, referring to the dance sequence they would shoot tomorrow.

“I’m sure you won’t. Good night, David.”

“Night, Daniela,” he raised his hand to wave at her and turned, heading to his trailer on the other end of the parking lot.

A change of clothing and a quick beer and he would be out of here, David thought, walking up the stairs to his trailer and opening the door while pulling his phone out of his back pocket.

He didn’t look up when he closed the door and started to text his driver when suddenly, two arms came up around his waist and pulled him backward.

David jolted and gasped, almost dropping his cell, his heart beating fast in his chest until he looked down at himself and found two small, familiar hands making their way up his torso. That’s when he finally took a deep breath, and her wonderful scent filled his nose.

“Jesus!” he exhaled, reaching up to interlace their fingers right over his heart. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

“Hmm?” she hummed against his back.

“You scared me.”

“A little girl like me can scare a big guy like you?”

He didn’t answer, but brought her hand up to his lips before turning around to look at her.

“Hey,” he said, the surprise evident in his face. Now that he could see her, and her radiant appearance, it was a rather good surprise. Her outfit was a dark, dangerous contrast to the blond hair spilling over her shoulders in soft waves. She wasn’t wearing any makeup except for dark mascara. “Wow, you look-” he let his eyes fell over her perfect collarbones to the soft swell of her breasts and licked his lips. “Wow.”

She pressed herself against him, her nose brushing along his neck up to his ear followed by her hot, moist breath causing goosebumps to erupt everywhere.

“I thought you had your heart set on a quiet night at home.”

“Yeah,” she murmured, starting to nibble at his earlobe. “We can do that later.”

He closed his eyes at the sensation of her wet little tongue teasing the sensitive patch of skin behind his ear, and his groin tightened.

She was on fire tonight, and he was the last one to ask more questions than necessary at this point. She was here, hands tucking impatiently at his fly and a pair of soft, full lips had just landed on his mouth. What else did he need to know?

“You’re hard,” she said matter-of-factly, but needed to squeeze him through his jeans to get his attention.

“Huh?” David stammered, fidgeting with her dress, trying to pull it over her thighs. Why was this thing so fucking long?

“You are hard, Mr. Duchovny. Are you hard for another woman?”

“What?” he cried out, his eyes big and dark. “No!”

“Hmm,” she gave him another squeeze, and he buried his head into her neck, almost as if to hide. “Are you sure that all these hot young girls dancing around you didn’t cause this? Were they touching you? I bet they were.” With his fly now open, she reached inside, finding him hot and pulsating beneath his trunks.

“Did they turn you on?” she asked, her voice incredibly sultry. When he didn’t react again, she grabbed him by the balls. “I know they’d turn me on.”

He growled into her neck, his knees weakening by the second. God, what was she doing? Trying to kill him?

“It did turn me on,” he whispered when he finally found a way inside her dress. Having her soft skin underneath his fingers made him feel much more confident to play along.

“Hmm, naughty. So, so naughty.” He felt like crying when she pulled her hand out of his pants, and he squeezed the flesh of her hips to keep her close. She peered up at him; accusingly, defiantly, playfully - he couldn’t really decide, but it made his cock surge with desire.

A goofy smile began to spread across her face. Uh-oh, David’s eyes widened.

Slowly, oh so slowly, she squatted down in front of him, taking his pants with her and letting them fall to his feet.

“I think,” she tucked her fingers into the elastic waistband of his boxers, “I need to remind you,” she pulled, and his erection sprang free, “of a thing… or two.”

David swallowed, feeling excitement ripple through him. “What do I need to be reminded of?”

She puckered her lips, tilted her head to the side and ran her fingertips over the exposed skin of her neck.

“Fuck,” he growled beyond himself. Gillian’s idea of punishment was a wicked one, but it was always working.

One of her hands landed on his upper thigh, bracing herself on it while she wrapped the other around his thick shaft, her thumb swiping over his sensitive glans. She tucked at him once, twice, and then let go, raising her hand and sticking her digit into her mouth.

And then she hummed. She hummed in pleasure and closed her eyes.

Jesus.

Yes, he remembered. He remembered very well how much she liked his taste.

“Yeah,” she nodded as if she was able to read his mind.

She released her thumb with a plop, sucked her cheeks in and ejected a gush of saliva onto her fingers before putting them back around his penis.

“Oh,” he reached behind himself for something to hold onto, anything to steady himself with. He didn’t find anything, so he tangled his fingers into her hair.

She raised her eyebrow at him. “Mr. Duchovny, are you swaying? Not because of me, right?” she asked innocently.

“Hunn,” he grunted, wondering when exactly her mouth had come so close to his erection. Did he pull her towards it? No, he didn’t, right?

Oh well, she was grinning now. He actually did pull her closer to his cock.

“Good boy,” she praised and slid her lips over the head of his penis, feeling him tighten his grip on her hair. She looked up expectantly, but he didn’t make a move, even started to tremble from the effort of holding still.

She let her tongue swirl around the underside of his head a couple of times, lubricating it before taking him in deeper and pressing him up against the roof of her mouth.

“Fuck, Gillian,” David finally found his voice again. He gently rocked his hips against her, knowing that she had everything under control thanks to that brilliant little tongue of hers. God, how lucky was he that the woman he loved enjoyed this so much?

She cupped the hand with which she’d steadied herself around the base and squeezed lightly, creating pressure to direct more blood flow to the head.

The sensation increased immediately, and he moaned out loud.

“Fuck, Gillian.” Didn’t he just say that a couple of moments ago? “Babe,” he tried again, cradling her cheek with his other hand. “I wanna…”

“Hmm?” she hummed before slowly releasing him. “You want what?”

“Touch you. I want to touch you.”

“Is that so?” she teased, licking her way along his erection and down to his balls and without warning, sucked one of them into her mouth.

“Fuuhuuck, babe, come here. Please, come here,” he begged and pulled at her jacket, needing to kiss her so, so badly.

After giving his glans a last, lingering kiss, she slowly stood up and smiled at him. God, she was beautiful.

“Oh, so compliant all of a sudden,” he said and pulled her against him with one arm around her waist while the other pushed her jacket off her shoulders. “Is this dress new?”

She shrugged her shoulders, and her jacket fell to the floor. “Maybe.”

He pushed her back and let his eyes wander over her. It was a really, really tight dress, reminding him of one she’d worn for a photoshoot a couple of years ago. Yeah, he was good at remembering these things.

She suddenly grabbed his wrist and pulled him down, capturing his lips with hers. She tasted of coffee and of himself. So incredibly good.

She clutched for his ass; flesh hard, skin soft. She’d never met a man with such soft skin in her entire life. How was this even possible, she wondered.

He groaned into her mouth and reached around her, finding a zipper in the middle of her back.

It would’ve required just a minimum of common sense to not be surprised that she wasn’t wearing any underwear underneath this tight little thing, but apparently, he just didn’t have it. Not at this point anyway.

“Oh fuck,” David uttered, not able to stop saying it over and over again. “You’re breathtaking, you know that, right?”

Truth was, she didn’t feel all that breathtaking the majority of the time. She knew that she was good-looking, but she’d always wondered what it was about her that was driving this man completely crazy. She could act as cool as she wanted, but the fact that he wanted her, and just her, would always bring her down to earth, and flood her with so much gratitude and joy she was barely able to breathe.

He had her in his arms before she knew it, carrying her over to the couch they’d slept countless of times on in the last couple of weeks.

And suddenly, she was lying underneath him. His head had disappeared between her legs, and she was only able to feel – his breath on her inner thighs, his mouth placing gentle kisses on her outer lips, and then, finally, his tongue diving into her slit.

“David,” she sighed, bucking her hips into his face.

She couldn’t think clearly anymore by the time one of his fingers entered her, the sensation too good, too overwhelming. This was not what she had planned, but much, much better. Sometimes, it was good to lose control and to trust someone else to take the lead.

He was moving his face from side to side, up and down. His fingers were kneading the curves of her ass, his tongue tracing her outer lips and his lips sucking on her clit.

Her legs started to quiver around his head and she was whimpering for her release. He slowly made his way up, kissing her stomach and gently biting her nipples, just how he knew she liked it, before lifting her legs onto the mattress.

He climbed over her and smiled when he came to a rest between her legs.

Her cheeks were flushed, mouth slightly open. “So beautiful,” he whispered, and this really was his most favorite sight.

“Oh god,” she mumbled as he pushed into her, sinking deep into her warmth.

David held her close for a couple of moments, enjoying to be surrounded by her tight walls before starting to rock against her.

Gillian was incredibly relaxed now, responding to every thrust he gave her with a soft moan. She wrapped her legs around his waist, dug her nails into his back and started to kiss him again.

Nothing about this was rushed anymore. It was two people savoring the sensation of being connected, making love in every conceivable way.

They came quietly with their fingers tightly interlaced beside her head, and she was still shaking even after he’d slid out of her and gathered her close to his chest.

She was still exhausted, but her body was finally calming down.

“I’m so deep into loving you as anyone could be,” he whispered, and she raised her head slightly off his shoulder, eyes sparkling with amusement. He chuckled and squeezed her affectionately. “I remember reading that in a poem when I was fourteen, thinking that if I’d ever find a girl so special, then…” he went silent, biting his lower lip.

“Then?” she prompted, her eyebrow raised high.

He shook his head. “I-, I never got that far. I guess my final conclusion was that I would either never find someone like that or never know if I actually did. Or that it was just a phrase every other overly romantic fourteen-year-old boy would dig. Nothing with actual substance.”

“Hmm,” she nodded thoughtfully. “What do you think now?”

“I think that I have never said it to anyone else. And it feels very, very good right now.”

“I love you,” she said and rested her head back on his shoulder. “And I want to tell you something, too.”

“Hmm?”

“We just got the green light for Streetcar in New York next year,” Gillian whispered, and now it was his turn to raise his head, watching her hand tracing tiny circles on his chest. She licked her lips before she continued to speak. “And, after that,” she inhaled deeply, “I really want to move in with you.”

#moving forward #au #my writing #fanfic #rpf #thexfiles rpf #gillovny #gillovny rpf #txf rpf

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