#but i think it’s supposed to be sunny and warm the rest of the week (hopefully!!)

[kentopedia]

good morning <33 i hope everyone has a wonderful saturday !!

#i had to open today so ive been awake for a while now #and it’s another gloomy day sobsob #but i think it’s supposed to be sunny and warm the rest of the week (hopefully!!)

[bookyeom]

pairing: wonwoo x reader word count: 2.3k warnings: a couple of swears, kissing

Author’s Note: this fic is part of the Thirteen Valentines event, but can be read as a standalone! also, i would suggest listening to the song listed below to get a feel for the vibe of the fic, but it’s not necessary.

idk by jeffrey lenh, joanna

i think that i’ve been falling ever since that day out in the park and i don’t know if this is love, but maybe this could be the start

“I guess this isn’t so bad.”

You open one eye, looking up at Wonwoo from where you’re laying in the grass. His back is resting against a tree, and you watch as the breeze catches a few strands of his hair. It makes you smile, how calm and content he looks.

”I won’t say I told you so, but…”

Wonwoo rolls his eyes, but the corner of his mouth is turned up in a smile. Your eyes don’t leave him as he pushes his glasses up with a finger, his eyes taking in the surrounding park. You like seeing him like this. You’ve managed to drag him out of his dorm room on the first warm, sunny day of the year, and you’re glad he came. You’re always glad when he’s with you, but seeing him bask in the first golden glow of spring is something else.

“You just didn’t want to do this alone, and I was your last resort.”

You tsk, closing your eyes again, letting the warmth of the sun wash over your face. “That’s not true. You’re not my last resort, you’re my charity case. Helping the old man get out of his house and all that.” 

Wonwoo gasps dramatically, and you can’t help the giggle that leaves you at the sound. The two of you fall back into contented silence, the only sounds around you coming from the wind in the trees and some children playing across the field. 

“Seriously,” he speaks up again a few minutes later. “Thanks for forcing me to get off of my computer and outside for a bit. It’s a nice reminder that since winter is finally over, I can take a break from writing essays and gaming inside. So, thanks.”

You’re beaming up at him, even as he avoids your eyes after his little speech, but you know he knows you’re looking. “Glad you’re here,” is all you say. When he sends a smile your way, you know you’ve said the right thing.

You’re so warm — inside and out — that you can’t help but doze off. It’s a little while later when you stir, your eyes fluttering open as you come to. You startle when you realize that you must have nuzzled into the warmth of Wonwoo’s thigh while you slept, and you wince. Then your next thought has you realizing something even worse: his hand is gently resting on your head, and his thumb is brushing soothing circles into your scalp. 

Your breath catches. It feels so intimate, and you know that you absolutely cannot succumb to how you’re feeling, because it’s Wonwoo, and Wonwoo definitely, absolutely, 100% does not like you back. 

You make a show of stretching your toes, and as you predicted, Wonwoo’s movements stop. He drops his hand as you roll onto your back, and you try desperately to hide the blush on your cheeks. “Sorry I fell asleep,” you say, and Wonwoo shrugs, lifting a hand to run through his hair. 

“It’s all good.”

And that’s that.

You watch as Wonwoo games from your spot on his bed, his fingers clicking so fast it makes your head spin. You’re supposed to go out for something to eat soon, but he’d begged you to let him finish one more game. You’d pouted, but you don’t really mind waiting. 

You flop down on his bed, arms falling dramatically out to your sides. It’s been a long few weeks as you and your friends prep for your final papers and exams. The only time you’ve been able to see anyone is when you eat together, and Wonwoo is no exception. It’s been a week or so since you saw him last, and you wish the sight of him would stop making you feel the way it does. That doesn’t seem likely anytime soon, considering that when he’d opened the door tonight, his greeting smile alone had rendered you breathless. Lately, you’re more excited to see Wonwoo than a kid in a candy store, and you’re not sure what you're supposed to do about it.

Because Wonwoo doesn’t like you like that.

“Alright, GamerGirl17. I’m out. Good game.”

Your ears perk up at the username. GamerGirl17. You hear about her from Wonwoo all the time. Apparently, he’s made friends with one of the top players in his favourite game. You can’t believe you’re jealous of an online friend, but you happen to know through Wonwoo that she only lives a couple of hours away. Maybe they were dating already and Wonwoo just hadn’t told anyone? 

Wonwoo regales you with the mission the two of them had just completed as you walk to the restaurant, explaining why it had been so important to finish. You’re not a gamer yourself, but Wonwoo always listens to you talk about your niche hobbies, so you’re always willing to listen to him. 

Except today, apparently, because for some reason you’re more irritated than usual about the topic of Miss Gamer Girl. 

“Have you asked her out?” 

You interrupt Wonwoo mid-speech. You don’t look at him as you ask, but you can tell he’s surprised by the way he stumbles a bit, catching himself before he trips into a garden of freshly blooming flowers. 

“Huh? Who?”

You glance at him as you near the burger place. “GamerGirl17.”

Wonwoo’s footsteps slow, and you raise your eyebrows at him. He doesn’t say anything else for a minute as you enter the restaurant. It isn’t until you’ve sat down and ordered drinks that he answers you, and you clench your fists in an attempt to stay calm.

“I’m not going to ask her out,” Wonwoo says, and you meet his gaze. He looks embarrassed to say it.

“Why? You like her, no?”

Wonwoo’s mouth opens and closes a bit. He looks down and away from you, suddenly finding something on his empty plate far more interesting. “Um,” he tries again, “I’m not really interested in… in dating anyone right now, I guess?” 

Your heart sinks as you try to decide if that’s better or worse for you. You think worse.

Ouch.

”Oh,” you reply with a slow nod. You clear your throat. “That’s cool, then. I just wasn’t sure, that’s all.”

Your food arrives soon after, and you try to push past the awkward conversation by asking for pictures of Wonwoo’s parents’ new puppy. It works to distract him, but you don’t forget his comment. 

I’m not interested in anyone right now.

“I’m sorry for the last minute notice,” you offer as you wait by Wonwoo’s door. “I didn’t know I left it here.”

He hums in acknowledgement as he grabs your cardigan from the back of his chair. “It’s all good.” 

You try to ignore the once over he gives you as he hands you the sweater. You’re dressed up, and you feel a bit embarrassed under his gaze, though you’re not sure why. “Thanks.”

“Where…” Wonwoo trails off, and you watch as he leans against the doorframe. He’s gathering his thoughts, and you hate that he’s got you feeling nervous for no reason, even now when you’re about to go on your first date in months. You know you look nice dressed up in your cute flower pattern outfit for spring, but you feel so shy when he looks at you. “Where are you going?” 

“Um,” you clear your throat, “Kwan set me up on a date with a friend of his.”

Wonwoo’s eyes widen, and he straightens. You wish you could disappear into the floor. “Oh.”

”Yeah.” Your cheeks are on fire. You need to leave, now. You pretend to glance at your phone as you say, “I should probably get going.” You hold up the cardigan. “Thanks for the missing piece of my outfit.” 

As you turn to leave, your eyes squeeze shut briefly. It hurts to know he doesn’t want you in the same way, but you think you’ve just officially confirmed it. You inhale a shaky breath, willing the tears to remain at bay as you descend the stairs to the lobby. 

You’ve almost reached the front door when you hear footsteps rapidly approaching behind you, and you turn in surprise. Your heart jumps into your throat when you realize it’s Wonwoo, barefoot and out of breath.

“Wonwoo, what—“

“Don’t go.”

You pause. “What?”

“Don’t go,” he repeats, and you’re confused. He can’t mean what you think he means, not after all this time. Your lip starts to tremble. 

He seems to notice, a hand lifting in your direction as he takes a step closer, and your breath catches. He doesn’t touch you, though, just looks at you for a moment, mouth opening and closing. Then he quickly glances around the room. The only other people around are the Resident Assistant at his desk and a couple of other students walking in and out of the building. After a second, Wonwoo gently takes you by the elbow and around the corner so you’re tucked away, and he’s suddenly so close that you can’t breathe. 

“When I said I didn’t want to date anyone right now, I meant anyone else. Other people.” His words are jumbled and rushed, and your eyebrows knit together.

Your back slumps to rest against the wall behind you. He’s not making sense, but you have a feeling in your stomach, and you can’t believe what you think is happening here. You can’t. “Wonwoo,” you say quietly, voice trembling, “You need to be super clear with me right now, because I can’t…”

You trail off, and Wonwoo steps even closer. The proximity causes you to straighten, every single part of you on edge. You still don’t know if it’s good or bad.

His eyes search yours. Then he speaks, voice so soft and sure that you think it surprises even him. “I meant that I don’t want to date anyone other than you.”

Your mouth falls open. You search his face, desperately trying to comprehend what he’s just said. You can tell he’s nervous, and your immediate instinct would usually be to comfort him, but right now, you can’t think. You can’t breathe. When you don’t say anything, he takes a step back. 

“I’m sorry. You can go on your date, I just… I needed you to know—“

“Wonwoo.” It comes out strangled, but you had to say something. Anything to stop him from leaving. He stops, and all you can do is shake your head in disbelief. He gives you a moment, his gaze falling to the floor, but you can’t look away from him. “If you mean that,” you say slowly, “then I’m not going anywhere.”

Wonwoo blinks back at you. It’s almost comical, how wide his eyes have gotten behind his glasses. The way you can practically see him buffering. 

“You’re not?” He finally says, and you can hear the relief in his voice. It makes your heart ache a little, because how can he not know how you feel? You shake your head. 

“Unless you have other plans.” Your voice is shy, uncertain, but he’s quick to quell your fears.

“No,” he says, firm. “I’m all yours.” 

The second the door to his room closes, you’re in his arms. You’re feeling so unbelievably shy at all these new revelations, and you can tell he is, too. He stumbles a bit when you wrap your arms around his waist, face pressed to his chest, but he’s quick to respond. His arms pull you in tight as he laughs, and you can feel it against your cheek. 

You don’t remember the last time you felt this nervous. 

“Wonwoo?”

He hums, and you gather enough courage to pull back and look up at him. When your eyes meet, you have to resist the urge to hide your face from him again. He looks so fond. So happy.

You don’t know what you were going to say as your gaze falls to his mouth. You watch as he swallows, his fingers gently squeezing where they rest on your waist in an attempt to help you refocus, but it’s a lost cause. 

“You’d think I’ve never kissed anyone before with how nervous I am right now.”

The words are out before you can stop them, and you’re absolutely mortified. Your hands immediately lift to cover your face. A few seconds of silence pass, and then you realize that Wonwoo is laughing. 

“Oh, is that what we’re about to do? Kiss?” 

You freeze. Is he… teasing you?

“What happened to shy Wonwoo from before? Bring him back,” you whine, hands falling from your face to send him a glare. 

“He knows you like him back now, so he’s a bit more confident.” He’s grinning, and you pout. He quirks an eyebrow, one hand lifting to your jaw as he adds, “He knows now that he makes you nervous.”

You would be absolutely scandalized by his words if it weren’t for what happens next. Because suddenly he’s kissing you, and all bets are off. 

It’s not much, just a soft press of his mouth to yours, but it’s enough. 

“For the record,” Wonwoo says as he pulls away, and you vaguely register the flush of his cheeks under the dim lamplight, “you make me nervous as hell, too.”

“For the record,” you smile, “I don’t want to go on a date with anyone that’s not you, either.”

A/N: thank you so much to everyone for all the love on pov! Here’s the second of our Thirteen Valentines. I can only see Nana Tour Glasses!Wonwoo, all the time.

Please please please reblog if you can to spread the word, and check out the Thirteen Valentines masterlist! If you want to be added to the taglist, send me a message :)

Taglist: @waldau @wqnwoos @tae-bebe @gyuminusone @savventeen @eoieopda @minisugakoobies @wheeboo @lvlystars @darkypooo @christinewithluv

#Wonwoo fluff #wonwoo angst #wonwoo imagine #Wonwoo x reader #wonwoo x you #seventeen x reader #seventeen x you #seventeen imagine #seventeen fluff #seventeen angst #thirteenvalentines #My writing #Jwwfic

[skatesnstuff]

three years | m. tkachuk

summary: it’s early july 2022 in sunny florida. ophelia hughes is finishing up work before heading down to michigan to spend the summer with her family and friends. but news of a trade deal with the calgary flames puts her world in a blender.

a.n. the first instalment of the hughessister x chucky!! this is gonna have absolutely no background at first but it’ll make since as you read. please be kind, and like and reblog if you like it <3

the florida sun was something ophelia would never get used to.

it slid inside her office at amerant bank arena, making it shine with sunlight. her skin shone with it like a golden goddess, warming it and reminding her of early morning sunrise walks with her youngest brother, luke. her hand moves to correct another photo as her mind wanders to her plans for the next two months: boat rides, tan lines, tiny bikinis, stolen kisses, watermelon running down the corners of mouths, her mother's home cooking.

a knock at her office door brings her out of her daydream. she turns her head to see who's there.

stan, their director of marketing, stands at the door with a small smile on his face.

"hey, phe. i just wanted to talk to you quick before you left for the next couple of months."

her smile falters a little and he's quick to put a reassuring hand to her shoulder.

"it's nothing bad, ophelia, i promise. it's about a trade. i need you to let the social media girls know we need a goodbye post for huby and weegs. they got traded this morning, it was just announced. would you send some photos to them?"

she nods. "yeah of course. do you need anything from me regarding the new guy?"

he shakes his head. "no, cerie can take care of it while you're away. he won't be here until later this week anyways and i want you to have some time with your family. have fun this summer, ophelia."

she smiles, wishing him the same as he leaves. she realizes she never even thought to ask who the new guy was.

cerie comes barreling through the door just as ophelia thinks she can go back to her actual job. “did you fucking hear? we traded jonny and weegs? for that guy? are we stupid?”

cerie was the other full time photographer for the panthers, and ophelia’s best friend in the whole world. they’d joined the team six months apart, after stan had realized the workload was too much for one person at a time. and cerie had just moved to florida from france and barely ever went home to her estranged family, so she was the perfect choice for when they needed a cover in the summer.

“hold on i’m confused. stan said the trade was good, you say it’s bad. who’d we get?” cerie opens her mouth to probably scream the name, but is cut of by a sharp three knocks on the door.

“come in!”

she’s expecting it to be sam or carter, those two were always on her ass about taking better photos. she didn’t have the heart to tell them it was because they were both extremely nonphotogenic. but it’s not either of those people.

“hi, sorry to interrupt, i was told to come see the senior photographer before she left.”

the voice knocks the air out of ophelia as she registers who it is, eyes widening. he realizes a split second later when he finally gets a good look at her.

“phe?”

she sets her jaw, staying seated and gazing up at the boy who had turned into a man since they last spoke three years ago. three years since that awful night in michigan, the fight, his departure from what she thought was the rest of her life. and now matthew tkachuk was standing in her office in sunny florida, a place she thought was a fresh start away from her parents and her brothers (mostly).

“hi, matthew.”

“you’re the senior photographer? how is it even remotely possible that i didn’t know that?”

she scoffs. “well, you were never really good at paying attention, especially to me. why did you need to see me?”

he looks stunned at her tone. she’s all business, he realizes. “i’m supposed to let you know i’m going back home until august and then i need my headshots done. i’ll be back on the 8th.”

“i won’t be here. cerie will do your headshots, and then i’ll proof them and upload them when i’m back on the 20th. anything else?”

he shakes his head, but he doesn't leave. "i'm going back to the lake house. first time in three years."

she finally looks over from her computer again. "good. your mom misses you."

he nods, a small smile on his face as he walks out the door and shuts it behind him. ophelia turns to her best friend, lets out a snort at the look on her face.

"stop looking at me like that, cerie."

"you know matthew tkachuk? what is wrong with you that you never thought to mention that before?"

ophelia shrugs, going back to the last photo she has to edit before she heads to the airport. "we kind of grew up together. we haven't spoken in over three years, though. had kind of a falling out just after i graduated from university."

cerie sits down beside her. "oh my god, phe. are you okay? and he's coming down to the lake house? how is that gonna go?"

phe clicks out of her computer, running her hands over her face with a groan. "it's gonna go like it always goes. his mom will yell at him for not being around a lot in the last three summers, his dad will make me tell him everything that the panthers are up to these days, and brady and taryn will simultaneously smack their brother and squeeze the living life out of me. matty being there won't be any different from the last time he was there three years ago."

"matty, huh?"

oh boy. "shut up."

"i'm just saying! the way you talk about him makes it seem like you guys were a little more than childhood best friends."

ophelia groans again and flips her off. "fuck off, cerie. i don't like to talk about it. what happened between us was embarassing and i would really rather not repeat it."

cerie's hands go up in surrender. "alright, alright. but you will tell me later, fleur. i know you will. now go to the airport, see your family, have some fun!! tell your brothers and your parents i said bonjour."

the two best friends hug tightly. "oh, i'm gonna miss you, cer. but i'm not telling you if quinn is single."

"ophelia-"

"no! no dating my brothers. they don't need your kind of crazy."

"bitch!" "asshole."

the laughter of both women could be heard from where matthew was still standing outside the office, waiting for ophelia to be done.

"matthew? why are you still out here?"

he shrugs, pushing off the wall he was leaning against. "i wanted to wait and see if you needed a ride to the airport."

her head cocks to the side. he had been less than caring when they were kids. three years had definitely changed something in him. "that would be nice actually. my bags are just in the closet over there."

he smiles and nods, carrying the bags when she grabs them. she could get used to this.

"holy shit, is this your car?"

he sold his truck, apparently, and replaced it with a fucking ferrari. of course he did.

"i was told when you move to florida you buy a fancy car."

"i don't know. i bought a jeep."

his laugh is contagious as they climb into his car, and when ophelia looks at him from his passenger seat she almost forgets everything he said the night they last spoke.

this was going to be an interesting summer.

a.n. this is a very special moment; the first (of hopefully many) fics of the hughessisterxmatthewtkachuk au!!! i am really proud of this one, it's one of the longest i've written thus far and i hope everyone loves it as much as i do. like and reblog as always, and stay safe in our dangerous world, lovlies <3, lily :)

taglist: @hockey-racing-fubol

#hockey #hockey imagines #nhl imagines #matthew tkachuk #hughes sister #jack hughes #quinn hughes #luke hughes #florida panthers

[thisiswhereikeepdcthings]

Weekend Getaway

Duke: No school tomorrow. Want to do anything?

Damian: We should go somewhere warm and sunny.

Duke: I was thinking more along the lines of getting pizza or going to the movies but honestly that sounds way better.

Damian: Mm-hmm. We should invite Drake.

Duke:

Duke: Are you sure you’re feeling okay?

Damian, scowling: I’m fine.

Duke: Okay, if you’re sure…

The next day

Duke: This was the best idea.

Damian: I know.

Tim: I still don’t see why you insisted I come.

Duke: It’s the beach, man. We’re in the Caribbean! Why WOULDN’T you want to be here?

Tim: I don’t know, it’s kind of bright…

Damian: So my hypothesis was at least partially correct.

Tim:

Duke: Damian, did you bring Tim as per of a science experiment?

Damian: Tt. I was merely testing his reactions to the sun. The results were rather disappointing, unfortunately. He didn’t even hiss when first exposed to its light.

Duke: And you had to travel a thousand miles to do that?

Tim: Also, I’m not a cat, Damian, what the hell?

Damian: There is not enough sunlight in Gotham to produce proper results. And also, why on earth would I think you were a cat, Drake? You’d make a terrible cat.

Jason: ‘Sup, kiddos. Time for another round of sunscreen. Especially you, Timbo.

Tim, grumbling: Just because the rest of you can be outside for more than ten minutes without turning into a lobster…

Damian: I still don’t see why you had to come with us.

Duke: Because we needed adult supervision and Tim doesn’t count? No offense, Tim.

Tim: None taken. I really shouldn’t.

Everyone: *lost in their memories of why Tim does not count as adult supervision in any way despite being over the legal age of majority*

Jason: You should all be very thankful I’m here.

Damian, scowling: Richard would have been better.

Jason: Ah, but would Dickface let you smuggle swords into a foreign country and help bust a drug ring tomorrow?

Damian:

Damian: Fine, so maybe you were an acceptable choice.

Fifteen minutes later

Tim: This is enough rest and relaxation, right?

Damian: I have enough evidence I suppose.

Duke: Where’d you say that drug ring bust was going to happen again?

Jason: Some docks a few miles east of here. But you listen to me, alright? I mean it.

Damian: *rolls his eyes*

Duke: *laughs*

Tim: Come on, we do this sort of thing every other night.

Jason: You listen to me or when we get back I’m telling Dick you all told me you really want to go to Disney World for an entire week and meet all the characters.

Tim & Damian: *slightly horrified looks*

Duke, squinting: Did you just use Disney World as a threat?

#damian wayne #duke thomas #tim drake #jason todd #batkids #batfam #what do you mean dc doesn’t stand for disregard canon #all the batkids are little chos gremlins #and you can’t tell me otherwise

[bluehoodiewoozi]

Dreamers

Lee Seokmin (DK) x fem!reader

Genre: mostly fluff, with a hint of anxiety

Word Count: 10.9k

Wanings: food mentions. adult language. a few parts may come off as suggestive, but not really. y/n is an environmentalist but not vegan.

[Series: Serenity Street 17] Sleepwalking is a nasty issue. You find yourself in the correct building but wrong apartment, sharing a room with a ridiculously cute boy who seems to find it amusing.

Note: This one goes out to all of my ambitious girlies! Keep working towards your dreams!

The moment you stepped onto the evening bus you regretted the decision. 

With a bright smile, Sunny greeted you, rushing to move her bags into her lap so you could take the seat next to her, all while never once taking her eyes off you. Her brows rose in a questioning manner. You cursed under your breath as your neighbour’s usual warm smile morphed into a look of disbelief when you sank into the seat next to her.

With a sigh, you raised a hand to silence her. “I know.”

But she didn’t take the hint. “When was the last time you slept? Did you sleep at all last night?”

“Why do you keep asking questions you already know the answer to?” you whined and hugged your bag close to your chest. “I’m sure you heard me showering at 3 am.”

“The bags under your eyes aren’t supposed to make it look like you have a black eye,” she told you as if she hadn’t heard you at all, still eyeing you in worry. “How much did you sleep? You look worse than Jeonghan when he thought I was mad at him.”

“Does it matter?” You huffed. “At least I’m getting some rest.” 

“I think it only counts as rest if you actually get 8 hours of sleep every once in a while,” she countered with a snicker, “which, by the looks of it,” she gave you a once-over, followed by a disappointed a sigh, “you haven’t had in years.”

“I sleep just fine. I’m healthy, I am productive,” you defended and tightened your hold on your bag. “Sleep is for the weak anyway.”

Sunny rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I wonder how you’re friends with me but not Jihoon. Your mentality is almost identical.”

“Listen, somebody has to do the work. And unlike some, I’d actually like my work to amount to something bigger than an average paycheck that barely covers my bills. I have ambitions. I want to make the world a better place.”

“Honey, at this rate you’re not gonna live long enough to see your ambitions come to life,” she grumbled under her breath and linked your arms. “It’s okay to rest every once in a while. Take a week off from work and actually just do something fun for a change.”

You grimaced. “I’d rather not. Messes with my groove.”

Sunny had no words left to say. She stared at you with a wide mouth for a moment before sputtering, “How– How are we friends?”

“Fate brought us together so you could nag me at all possible hours,” you joked, looking out the window now to avoid missing your stop. “But seriously, I don’t need to rest. I love my job and my colleagues and I’m making a change.”

“You should at least go to sleep early tonight.”

“Can’t. I have a big report due next week and I don’t want to miss my deadlines.”

Her gaze hardened immediately as she cursed, “Why, you little–”

“Hey!”

“I’m just worried about you,” she mumbled through a pout just as your bus arrived at your shared destination. With a begrudging sigh, she unlinked your arms and gave you an encouraging pat on the shoulder as the two of you stood up and walked over to the door “Well, I guess it’s your life. But I swear–” she pointed at your face, eyes squinted in a glare; she interrupted herself mid-sentence, “no, I vow that if you collapse under the stress, I’ll personally go and hand in a letter of resignation in your name.”

You scoffed at her empty promises, smiled, and stepped off the bus. You had no doubt you would be just fine and she was overreacting over nothing. She couldn’t wrap her mind around your work ethic and goals – she was built of an entirely different wood.

Then again, you couldn’t deny you often felt a little jealous of her. The nagging feeling hit once again when you looked up to find Jeonghan standing at the gate of your building, his smile widening the closer Sunny and you got to him. You envied that she had found – through trials and tribulations, you’d admit – a perfect man to brighten her days while you had no time to even contemplate romance.

“How was your day, my beautiful lady?” Jeonghan greeted your neighbour with a sweet kiss on her forehead before taking her bag and leading her inside with a hand on her back. He didn’t forget to offer you a welcoming smile and a friendly “good evening” as well, both of which you returned.

“Are you going to the 5th floor tonight?” you asked them as the three of you trudged up the stairs and they made no effort to walk to her apartment. 

Sunny nodded. “It’s movie night and he has the bigger TV.”

Jeonghan let out a loud ‘ha!’ and grinned at her victoriously. “So you admit it. My TV’s better than yours!”

“That’s–” She sighed deeply. “That is not the point right now–”

“How is it not?”

Unable to continue watching their lovers’ quarrel, you hummed and waved them goodbye before promptly unlocking your apartment, walking in, and quickly locking it again as if their bickering or cheesy nicknames could otherwise follow after you. 

You had far more important things to do, after all. 

With a tired sigh, you warmed up some of last night’s leftovers and opened your laptop. The familiar Times New Roman font on your screen prompted a soft groan, but still you squared your shoulders and got to work. 

If you were quick, you’d get this done way before the deadline. Maybe you could even go to work in the morning with a nearly finished report! You smiled at the thought. 

But life doesn’t always go as expected. 

You thought you were old enough to know this fact already. After all, when had life ever followed your expectations? It seemed to enjoy throwing curve balls right at your head.

You woke up with a splitting headache at 7 am, an hour before your usual alarm. It was strange – you concluded so as you stared at the time on your phone through a squint. With a soft huff, you let the phone drop back onto the mattress and your head onto the pillows.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” you then heard a voice.

Your eyes snapped open. There was someone in your room. 

The voice sounded apologetic as it continued in a whisper, “It’s okay. I didn’t mean to make any noise. Sorry. Let me just get my shirt and–”

You sat up abruptly to stare at the intruder – a handsome familiar-looking man shuffled around the walk-in closet. Worst of all – he was shirtless. You dreaded to think of what had happened the night before.

“Who– Who are you?” you stuttered out, instinctively lifting the blanket higher against your torso despite the fact that you were fully clothed. “Why are you in my apart–” 

Then it hit you. The worst of the worst realities. 

“Holy shit, this isn’t my apartment!” you screamed and jumped out of bed to apologise profusely. “I’m so so sorry! I had no idea! I don’t how–”

“Hey, hey!” The man – now wearing a crispy white button-up shirt – walked out of the closet hurriedly, a worried smile on his face as he rushed to comfort you with a gentle hand on your back, leading you to sit back on the bed. “It’s okay.” He let out a laugh. “I was going to let you sleep for a while more. It’s okay.”

You had no clue how he could be so calm about this. What the hell happened last night?!

You stuttered. You sputtered. You gasped for air like a fish out of the water. You were on the verge of a panic attack at 7 am in the morning and he was smiling, all while patting and rubbing your back like it was the most natural thing. 

“Why am I here?” you eventually managed to breathe out. You hated to admit that his calm and friendly nature was helping you adjust to the situation.

He raised a brow, his soothing movements stopping. “I was hoping you could answer that.” 

When you made no move to do so and only offered him a puzzled look, he shrugged. “I woke up to someone trying to unlock my door at 2 am. Almost cried, actually, but then I heard a knock and Mingyu telling me to open the door, so I did and you…” He gestured widely to his room. “Well, you came in and went straight to bed as if it was your own home. I didn’t know what to do but Mingyu and I figured you needed to rest.”

You stared at him with a dropped jaw. “You didn’t think to call the police?”

“Well,” he grimaced, “I was going to but you really looked like you needed to sleep.” He gave you a worried look, inspecting your face. “You still do, actually. Do you sleep at all, like, outside of my bed?”

“I sleep plenty,” you scoffed and got out of the bed, wiping your face with your sleeves as if to rid it of any evidence that might suggest otherwise. With an awkward look, you bowed and began heading out. “Well, thank you for… your hospitality. I’ll get going. I’m sorry for bothering you. This won’t happen again.”

Before he could say another word, you slammed the door shut behind you and began heading… where were you heading?

You looked around the hallway. It was still your building. You could recognise these hallways even in your sleep. A quick glance informed you that you had just stepped out of apartment 1D – the apartment directly below yours.

You groaned as the realisation sank in that you could never visit the first floor without feeling awkward again. With a sigh, you headed up the stairs to your own apartment.

“Isn’t that Seokmin’s apartment?” Sunny pointed out when you told her of your horrible adventure on the bus home from work later that day. She frowned a little as she tried to recall exactly who lived there. 

“Whoever it was, at least it wasn’t Jihoon.” You shuttered to even think about it.

Sunny grimaced. “Yeah, I’d be bailing you both out of jail right about now.” She then shrugged. “Yeah, I think that’s Seokmin’s apartment. He really just let you stay the night there?”

“Apparently?” You wanted to laugh at the insanity of the situation. “I have no recollection of what happened or how I ended up there. The last thing I remember is working on my report in my kitchen and then waking up in a shirtless man’s apartment.”

“Shirt–” She almost broke her neck at the speed she turned her head to look at you with wide eyes. “He was shirtless when you woke up?!”

“He was getting dressed for work–”

“Well, is he hot?!”

You had never wanted to throw someone out of a moving vehicle so much before. “Is this what you’re focusing on right now? I’m going through a crisis here!”

“Yeah but–”

“You literally have a boyfriend!”

“Yeah, but–” She paused mid-excuse and nodded her head in acknowledgement. “Right. You have a point there.”

“How did I possibly end up in his apartment at night without remembering it?” you contemplated, leaning your head back against the seat. “I can’t think of a single explanation.”

“It is weird,” Sunny hummed in agreement as the bus rolled to your stop. The two of you got off. 

“Where’s Jeonghan?” you wondered in surprise upon not seeing him all the way up to the second floor.

Sunny shrugged, still deep in thought about your predicament. “I don’t know. Probably causing trouble with Junhui again. Possibly getting on Joshua’s or Hyesoo’s nerves. Maybe he stole someone’s mail or took the hinges off someone’s door. Not my problem.”

You could only stare at her in absolute wonder. “He’s your boyfriend.”

“He’s his own person.” She then clapped her hands together in revelation, stopping in her steps in the middle of the hallway. “Didn’t you say you used to sleep-walk as a kid? I swear you mentioned it over coffee once.”

You nodded. “Yeah, but it hasn’t happened in a literal decade.”

“Who’s to say it didn’t happen again last night?” she suggested with a shrug. “By the way, do you wanna come over for coffee and cake? Jeonghan bought one on sale because the expiration date is today, but it’s sort of giant.”

After contemplating for a moment (more of a debate really, won by the grumbling of your stomach), you agreed and followed her into her apartment. 

As the two of you walked into the kitchen, she continued, “All I’m saying is that there’s a lot going on in your life right now and maybe it all worked together – the stress, the lack of sleep, you get the gist – and now you’re sleepwalking again.”

“I sincerely doubt it.”

“You should see a doctor about that,” Jeonghan suggested. You jumped in your spot before finding him sitting at the dining table, fully focused on assembling a lego set. He continued without a care in the world, “Sleepwalking can be a serious issue.”

Your eyes narrowed. “Why are you here?”

He finally glanced up to offer you an amused look and a chuckle. “I’m her boyfriend. Where else would I be?”

“I invited her over for coffee and cake,” Sunny informed him with a kiss on his cheek. “Play nice.”

“Yes, princess,” he spoke in reply before turning back to you. “But I would really go to the doctor if I was you. If it’s bad enough that you wake up in someone else’s apartment, it’s bad enough to warrant a doctor’s visit.”

You felt yourself pale, your blood running both ice cold and lava hot. “How– Why do you know that?”

“It’s the talk of the town,” he joked before waving his joke off. “Just kidding. I met Seokmin on my way to the store earlier and he told me. He seemed worried about you.”

“So it is Seokmin!” Sunny cheered victoriously. “I knew it! I told you!”

Jeonghan raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Good job.”

“Thanks.”

You sat down at the table and slumped in the chair. “But if I’m sleepwalking, why did I go to his apartment?”

“Isn’t it right below yours?” Jeonghan pointed out like it was obvious. “Asleep you probably thought you were going to your own apartment. You just mixed up the floors.”

“So,” you sighed and rubbed the bridge of your nose before meeting his eyes and maintaining eye contact, “what you’re suggesting is that I fell asleep–”

“Yes.”

“–in my apartment–”

“Mhm.”

“–then left my apartment for some reason–”

“That much seems obvious.”

“–and then went to Seokmin’s apartment–”

“For some reason, yes.”

“–one level below my own?”

Eyes widening, he hummed at the slight error in the logic. “You do have a point. Why would you leave your own apartment to go to your apartment?”

“My head hurts just listening to this,” Sunny informed the two of you while serving the cake. As a slice fell over on a plate she quickly assigned to Jeonghan, she suddenly suggested, “What if you thought you were going on a walk and then returned home?”

Jeonghan leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest as he began recounting, “So, what you think happened is that she fell asleep–”

“I’m going to kick the both of you out if you start again,” his girlfriend declared all of a sudden, pointing a knife in his direction. “I’m serious.”

“It is a reasonable guess though,” you decided as Sunny placed a plate of cake in front of you. “I do love going on walks when I’m stressed.”

“Then–”

A knock on the door interrupted the conversation. You watched in mild amusement as Sunny and Jeonghan silently argued over who should open the door and if they should open the door at all. Eventually, to your surprise, Jeonghan relented and got up with a slight groan. The moment he was out of the kitchen, Sunny stole his seat across from you.

“I think the worst part is that I don’t know how to face him again, like ever,” you started the conversation again while taking a bite of the cake. “It was so awkward.”

“Speaking of awkward,” Jeonghan announced and led the newest guest into the apartment. The now familiar feeling of both ice and lava in your veins made a new appearance as you recognised the visitor. Your spoon dropped back on the table.

Seokmin offered you a friendly smile and a wave. “Ah, so that’s where you are. I tried your door but no one answered so I wondered if I had the wrong place.”

“You–” That was the only syllable you managed to voice. Your brain was scattered, filled with pictures of the awkward morning as well as a single fluttering butterfly carrying an obnoxious sign that said ‘he cares’. You gulped. 

Thankfully, Sunny stepped in. She smiled brightly and ushered Seokmin to take a seat while she found an extra plate. 

“I wasn’t going to come and bother anyone–” he tried to reject the offer of cake, but failed to. He was too friendly for his own good – just like the rumours around the building often said. He sat in the seat Sunny had preoccupied just seconds ago, right across from you, and smiled at her. “Well, if you insist.”

“What can I do?” Jeonghan sighed and theatrically looked away as he started his monologue. “Everyone loves my girlfriend so much. How can I possibly keep her–”

“Stop being melodramatic and come eat, idiot,” Sunny laughed and took the seat next to you. “So, Seokmin, what brings you to my friend over here?”

Seokmin opened his mouth to reply before turning to you and softly asking, “Is it okay to talk about it here?”

Sunny chuckled. “About her waking up in your apartment? Go ahead. I think everyone in the building knows already.”

“Oh.” He offered you an awkward-looking smile. “Well, sorry about that. I only mentioned it to Mingyu and Jeonghan but I guess– Nevermind. I just wanted to tell you to not worry about it.” His smile brightened, genuine and full of warmth all of a sudden. “We all have rough days – and rough nights – and I’m just glad you got some rest.”

“I have one question,” Jeonghan raised his arm before asking, “where did you sleep?”

“Me?” Seokmin shrugged. “The sofa. There was a woman in my bed.”

You somehow felt both worse and better than before. At least you knew he didn’t hold a grudge – after all, he seeked you out just to tell you it had been fine – but at the same time: you made this poor man sleep on the sofa instead of his objectively comfortable bed.

“I’m so sorry–”

“I said it’s fine,” he laughed and reached out to pat your hand. “I really don’t mind. You looked like you were sleeping very well. But–” he tilted his head in thought, a slight frown appearing, “–is it possible you were sleepwalking? You didn’t react at all last night, to anything. You just… brushed past us like we weren’t even there. I don’t know if you even had your eyes open.”

Sunny all but slammed her spoon on the table to give you a haughty look. “Yep. Told you. You were sleepwalking.”

You frowned. “I guess it’s possible.”

“Should I…” Seokmin scrunched up his nose in thought. “Should I maybe keep a look out in case this happens again?”

Immediately you shook your head. “No. No need. It was a one-time thing. A fluke. It was nothing. Won’t happen again.” In your attempts to not look at him, you happened to eye the clock. Your jaw dropped. “Oh. I should go home. I have–”

“–a report due in a week and deadlines to meet,” Sunny finished for you with a laugh. “I know, I know. Go.”

Jeonghan spoke up as well, “Take the plate and another slice of cake before you go. I want to know you eat at least a little between your work.”

You did as you were told and made your escape without another word, not even a goodbye to Seokmin. 

You had no time to feel guilty or consider that your heart fluttered a little at the thought of him coming to find you. Once again, you buried your feelings into lines of Times New Roman in your report.

“Oh, you come here too?” you heard his voice just two days later at the grocery store. 

It was a little surprising to find him there: the store was a good mile further from the one closest to your building. Like a startled owl, you stared and blinked at him in the cereal aisle. 

As you opened your mouth to respond, he chuckled and looked away at the cereals. “Don’t worry. You don’t have to talk to me. I just needed to get some Fruit Loops and figured I might as well say hi.” He placed the cereal in question into his basket and offered you one more friendly smile and a playful wave. “So, hi!”

“Hi,” you managed to drag out as you lifted your hand in a wave. 

With a chuckle, he turned and headed away to the next aisle. You thought you were free from him for the day. 

But alas: you found him again when you went to get eggs. He seemed to be contemplating between two brands. You tried your best to go unnoticed as you searched for your favourite local free range brand. To you dismay, he stood right in front of the eggs you seeked. 

“Excuse me,” you started and tapped his shoulder when he didn’t seem to notice.

He smiled upon recognising you. “Yeah?”

“Could you move? I want those eggs.”

“The expensive ones?” He raised an eyebrow and handed you a carton. “They’re almost triple the price of the store brand.”

“But they’re free range and locally sourced. You should try them,” you explained with the slightest bit of enthusiasm before placing eggs into your cart and walking away in the direction you thought him least likely to follow. 

You truly thought you were free of him when you went to the checkout, but once again, as if tasked by god himself to be wherever you went, Seokmin was in front of you in queue, meticulously placing his items on the counter. As he turned to put away his basket, his eyes found yours and a bright smile appeared on his face. “Oh, it’s you again!”

“It’s me again,” you replied with an awkward laugh. 

“Are you leaving too?” he wondered while fishing his bag for his wallet. When you nodded, his eyes lit up. “Do you need a ride home?”

Your eyes widened. “A ride?” 

Why was he offering you a ride home? Why was he so friendly with you at all? You had broken into his apartment – in the eyes of the legal system anyway – and he was smiling at you like you were a beloved friend. 

“Of course. We should stick together, no? We’re neighbours, after all– Hold on,” he interrupted himself to respond to the cashier, “Yes, by card please.Thank you.”

“You might have to wait a moment then,” you finally relented when he turned to you once again, eyes resembling a puppy. His smile widened at your words and he nodded. 

The ride home was short and awkward. You greatly feared he would try to retaliate for the emotional damage you might’ve caused by sleeping in his apartment. To your relief, he did not such thing and only continued cheerfully chattering.

“–but I feel like a dog would be too much work, you know? I love dogs but I don’t have that kind of time.” He offered you a glance. “Do you have any pets?”

You scrunched up your face in thought as the car rolled to a stop in the parking lot of the building. “I have a cactus.”

“... Does it have a name?”

Eager to not disappoint, you blurted out the first name that came to mind: “Bertha.” You shut your eyes in shame.

But as the two of you got out of his small red car, he laughed. “Bertha? Sounds lovely. Is she high-maintenance?”

“Very.”

“Yeah?”

You decided you liked his laughter and the bright smile that came with. “Easier than a dog though.”

He laughed louder at that and handed you your grocery bags. “I bet. Maybe I should get a cactus too.”

“I highly recommend,” you chuckled, finding his laughter contagious. “It’s very fulfilling to watch it do absolutely nothing all-year-round.”

When the two of you got into the hallway, he paused in front of the staircase. As you were about to ask him about it, he asked, “Do you need help with your bags?”

“No, I’m–”

“They look heavy.” He frowned before holding up a single finger, jogging over to his door, dropping his singular bag in front of it, and running back to you. Before you could formally protest, he grabbed the bags from your hands and began the journey up the stairs. When you froze in your spot, he turned to ask, “Well, aren’t you coming? Or were you going to sleep at mine again?”

Your face burned at the teasing comment. You decided following after him was the lesser evil. 

“There we go,” he cheered when the two of you reached your door. He rubbed his hands against his thighs a few times, awkwardly like a schoolboy, before smiling and waving goodbye. “I guess this is goodbye for the day. It was nice talking to you.”

You didn’t manage to even thank him before he was already halfway down the stairs. Maybe you made him as nervous as you made him. As you went to sleep that night, you replayed the interaction over and over again in your head, failing to hide a smile at the memory.

The valley of the mattress had a hold over you. You had never been so comfortable waking up – well, with the exception of maybe once or twice. 

The pillows were the perfect temperature, the blanket hugged you just right, the big teddy bear you hugged to your chest smelled fresh out of the washing machine– 

“Since when do I have a teddy bear?” you grumbled in confusion and pried your eyes open. You felt all blood rush away from your face as you looked at the bear – light brown with a baby blue bow, its eyes shining up at you. 

You had never even seen this bear before.

Cursing under your breath, you glanced around the room. You were back in your very own personal hell full of flowing beige curtains, white unfamiliar sheets, and teddy bears: the hell known as Seokmin’s apartment.

The realisation brought tears of frustration to your eyes, but you were too stubborn to let them loose. It was barely 8 am but you were already on the verge of crying – what a joke.

Wiping your eyes, you all but slammed the bear down on the bed (you’ll never admit you did feel a little bad about it seconds later and gave it a little pat on the head) and stood up. You stumbled out of the bedroom and towards the front door. 

As you reached for the doorknob – the final obstacle on your journey out of hell –, you heard his voice, sweet as honey like always, “Oh, you’re not going to stay for breakfast?”

You froze.

“I made extra waffles and all,” he added, sounding a little dejected. You didn’t have the heart to tell him no, so you sighed softly and turned around to give him a tight-lipped not-quite-genuine smile. His own grin brightened at the sight. “Is that a yes? You’ll stay?”

“Only for the waffles,” you lied and took a seat at his table. 

He laughed and placed a plate of fresh food in front of you before taking the seat across from you. “Not because you don’t want me to feel bad?”

“No,” you grabbed a fork and began filling it with food, “I just don’t like food waste.”

“Oh, right! Minghao said you work for an environmental company. That sounds cool.”

“Yeah?” You swallowed your food. “What about you? What do you do for work?”

He cleared his throat as though the question had caught him by surprise and he was too shy to say. After a moment of silence, he bashfully admitted, “I’m a music teacher at primary school.”

You blinked in surprise. “A music teacher?”

“Well, I wanted to be a singer– a musical actor, actually,” he explained, his voice fluctuating in volume and his ears bright red, “but I’m a little too shy to audition. So I just stuck with teaching others to sing.”

“That’s so cool though,” you told him with a smile. “Are you good at singing?”

His ears seemed to turn an even deeper red. “My friends think so but I don’t know. I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”

“Then why not audition? You only live once.”

He seemed thoughtful all of a sudden, watching your increasingly awkward self. You were just about ready to apologise for your possibly intrusive question when he softly asked, “Why not rest and live a little? You only live once, right?” 

The question felt awfully pointed and you didn’t fail to let him know with a glare. 

“I’m serious,” he declared, his lips pouting a little as if he was actually upset at your lack of self-care. “Whenever I see you, you’re always rushing somewhere. The only person you seem to be friends with is Sunny, and maybe Jeonghan by association.”

You opened your mouth to defend yourself. “I’m also friends with Minghao–”

“He barely even leaves his apartment. He doesn’t count.”

“He counts!”

“Do I count?”

“Of course you–” Your eyes widened as did his smile. 

“We’re friends now!” he declared while pointing an accusatory finger at you, his voice raising in excitement. You began to protest but he was having none of it. “No take-backs! We’re friends – you just said so!”

“I didn’t actually–”

“Nope. No. We’re friends.” He narrowed his eyes at you, his smile never fading. “Or do you just sleep in random guys’ beds?”

You wanted to protest, you really did, but there’s only so much you can say to defend yourself against such accusations. Besides, his bright smile at your defeated nod could’ve won awards.

Accidentally waking in his apartment didn’t end. No. In fact, it somehow got worse.

Once every week quickly turned into once every few days. You were tempted to start keeping track of how often you woke up in your own bed but one could assume the numbers wouldn’t be too impressive. 

You grew accustomed to the smell of his detergent and the smell of breakfast in the mornings. Was this what it might’ve been like to be in a relationship? 

“How come you’ve never dated anyone?” he wondered once over breakfast.

You shrugged. “I don’t have the time.”

“Too busy saving the world?” he teased like he often did. Over time you stopped finding it annoying (perhaps because he sounded almost genuinely proud of you every time he said it). 

“I assume you don’t get a lot of dates either,” you bit right back between bites of pancakes.

He seemed to be taken aback by your observation. “What makes you think that?”

“You sleep with a teddy bear, Seokmin,” you deadpanned. 

He pouted. “Fluffy is a premium sleep companion.”

You laughed. “Is he?”

“You steal him every other night!” he accused with a chuckle. “I’m sure you know how great he is by now.”

“He’s truly a– What did you say? A premium sleep companion?”

“That’s what the label said when I got him.”

“Maybe I should invest in a bear too,” you wondered thoughtfully between bites. 

Seokmin raised an eyebrow. “Then why don’t you?”

“No ti–”

“If you make the ‘no time’ excuse again, I will scream,” he said with in utmost seriousness. You promptly shut up: Seokmin’s lung capacity was well-known by everyone in the building.

After a moment of silence, he cleared his throat. “You know, if it’s physical contact that you need to sleep– Nevermind. How are the pancakes?”

Whether it was to save your or his dignity, you chose to ignore his first comment and answered only the last question, “Their colour is nicer than usual. I like the golden colour.”

“I guess the free range eggs really do make a difference,” Seokmin mused with a chuckle. When you offered him a surprised look, he hummed in confusion. “What?”

“You bought free range eggs? Didn’t you say they were too expensive last time?”

He shrugged. “I figured I might as well try to make some more ethical choices while shopping. Besides, you recommended them–”

Your eyes welled up a little. “You bought more expensive eggs because I recommended them?”

“And because I care for animals,” he added in a little too fast. 

You laughed and nodded. “For the animals, right. Me too.”

“Do you ever rest from your work?” he wondered after a moment. “What do you do outside of it?”

“I… don’t know. I read. I like to clean.”

“But what about going to festivals? Swimming? Cycling? Dancing?” He grew more and more desperate as you rejected every hobby he offered. “No wonder you’re so tired all of the time! You’re a workaholic.”

You snorted. “Sunny did say I’m similar to Jihoon.”

“I didn’t think it was this bad.”

“I think he’s worse though.”

“Oh, definitely, but he doesn’t go to sleep in his neighbours’ beds,” Seokmin pointed out with a look of worry. As he watched you for an exactly uncomfortable amount of time, his eyes eventually lit up again. “I have an idea. What are you doing tomorrow evening?”

“Working–”

“I swear if I hear that word one more time, I will scream.”

You, once again, promptly shut up. 

“Great,” he beamed and clapped his hands together, “I’ll text you to details later.”

“You’re not even going to tell me what we’re doing?”

You sighed in disappointment as he smiled brightly and shook his head ‘no’. 

A knock on your door notified you of his arrival. Despite being sure it wasn’t meant to be a date and knowing that Seokmin had seen you in far worse condition, you still took a deep breath and gave yourself a quick once-over at the mirror.

When you opened the door, he smiled at you brightly. “I see you’ve dressed up too.”

“I would hardly call this dressed up,” you told him rather sheepishly, suddenly even more aware of you appearance. “You look very dapper as well.”

“Yep, and do you want to know why?” 

“Why?”

His smile widened so much you worried for his cheeks. “Because you and I are going to the theatre.”

“The theatre?” You paled at the mention and looked down at your outfit. “I feel like I’m underdressed then.”

“You look fine,” he laughed and grabbed your hand. “Let’s go or we’ll be late. And trust me,” he widened his eyes for dramatic effect, “you don’t want to be late.”

You gave in begrudgingly and locked the door as fast as you could while he practically bounced at your side in excitement. 

“What are we going to watch then?” you finally remembered to ask when you entered the theatre less than 15 minutes later. “I swear, if you dragged me here to watch an opera–”

“It’s a musical, actually,” he admitted bashfully. “I love musicals and I don’t know much about other theatre performances so I thought– But if you don’t like musicals, that’s–”

“I don’t mind musicals,” you told him with a little laugh and pat on his shoulder. “But I have to admit, it has been ages since my last time at the theatre, and I haven’t seen a musical in a few years at least.”

“That’s fine. I’ll guide you through it.” And as if the last shy bone had left his body, he grabbed your hand and led you to your seats, all the while widely smiling at you and giving your hand periodical squeezes of encouragement. 

His hand never left yours for the duration of the musical, not even for intermission, not even when he ordered cake from the theatre café to hold you over until after the show. His hand remained warm in yours, fingers squeezing a little tighter every once in a while, his thumb running over the back of your hand. 

It was so warm, so comforting. Just his presence alone was enough to make you dizzy with the feeling of safety and happiness. His touch? You were floating on cloud 9 with zero regard for what was going on below – or on the stage, for that matter.

Frankly, you could barely remember to watch the musical because you were so busy marvelling at the feel of his hand in yours. 

“That was so good,” he excitedly told you as the two of you returned to your apartment. “The music was phenomenal.”

“The actors were very good.” And that was the only contribution you could make to the conversation because you definitely hadn’t paid any attention to the plot and your knowledge of music was simply not there.

But thankfully, that seemed to be far more than enough. His eyes gleamed as he sat onto your sofa and gestured widely while speaking, “Right? The leading woman was just– Incredible, fantastic. Her range! I’m a little jealous, actually.”

You took the seat next to him. To your surprise, his hand found yours once again, wasting no time in interlocking your fingers. And just like that, paying attention to anything else became difficult. 

Were you really developing a crush on him? Just like that? You refused. You were too busy to be pining after a man. 

But when slid closer to your side and looked at you like you were the most wonderful person to ever exist, you suddenly didn’t care about the lack of time. Screw it. You’d make time if it meant you got to see his star-filled eyes again. 

“... Sorry, what?” you coughed out when he paused and looked at you expectantly.

He laughed. “You’re so cute. I asked if you wanted to go see another musical with me someday.”

“I’d love to,” you blurted out without thinking. 

Yeah. Screw deadlines. 

“Okay, perfect!” His smile brightened up the entire room as he rested his head on your shoulder. “Because I heard they’re doing Excalibur next season and I desperately need a friend to go watch it with me. I saw the premise and heard a preview of one of the songs and they’re holding auditions next month and I am already obsessed–”

Your brain was barely functioning at all, and yet you could recall one single memory from the depths of it. A dream he had shared. “Then why don’t you audition?”

He sat up abruptly, looking at you as if you were insane. “I couldn’t possibly–”

“Why not?” you asked. “I heard you singing the other day. You’re really good. I think you could get any part pretty easily.”

His ears turned more red with every word you said. “You flatter me…”

“I’m serious, Seokmin!”

“I’m not that good. And I have zero acting experience, aside from a few courses I did in college. Why would they ever pick me?”

“Why wouldn’t they?” you countered and he scoffed.

“I can think of a few–”

“You never know if you don’t try,” you told him and raised your hand to brush a stray hair off his forehead. “I’m rooting for you.”

As your words faded into the night and your eyes met, you wondered if he could feel the sparks flying and bursting all around you as well. Did he also feel that overwhelming adoration for you? 

He sighed after a while, a bashful smile on his face. “You must be tired. It’s been a long night. Go to sleep.”

“I really should,” you yawned as if on cue. You shared a laugh at the timing.

He squeezed your hand one last time. “Well, good night then. I expect I’ll find you at my apartment in the morning–”

“Or you could stay here and we don’t have to worry about that,” you blurted without thinking. Your face flashed hot right after. 

Had there been any alcohol in that cake he bought for you? Why were you feeling so bold all of a sudden? 

“I–” He seemed speechless.

“I don’t know why I said that,” you rushed out and avoided his eyes. “I think I’m just really tired and work has been stressful and maybe my brain is just broke–”

He placed his hand behind your neck and led your head to rest against his chest as he rubbed comforting circles on your back. You could hear his body rumble with laughter as he held you. “I’d love to stay over. Besides,” he pushed you away just enough to look you in the eyes again, “I think it’s only fair that I get to sleep over this once, because you sleep over at my place a lot.”

You frowned and pouted. “It’s not like I mean to–”

“A lot,” he repeated with wide eyes and a teasing smile before pressing a soft kiss to your forehead. “But it’s okay. I don’t mind.”

When you recounted the half-embarrassing and yet half-lovestruck happenings of the previous night to Sunny on the way back from work, she stared at you in bafflement.

“You actually asked him to sleep over?” she gasped, hand over her heart as if she was a peasant woman of the 16th century hearing the most scandalous gossip. “You little vixen!”

“Nothing happened,” you insistently told her as the two of you stepped off the bus.

She huffed. “That’s honestly so boring. I mean, have you seen that man? What I wouldn’t give to–”

“I am once again reminding you that you already have a boyfriend.”

“You don’t know what we’re into in the bedroom,” she countered with a smirk.

You only now realised how much Jeonghan was rubbing off on her. She was becoming a second him, slowly but surely. Couple of the year.

“I’m taking away your friend privileges, Sunny,” you told her at that and rushed ahead to avoid hearing any more weirdly Jeonghan-like jokes from her. 

She laughed at that before running after you. “Okay, okay, no more dirty jokes.”

“Thank god,” you sighed towards the sky.

“So, did any sleepwalking occur?” she then asked before humming in thought. “Well, I imagine if it had, I would’ve heard about it by now. It would’ve been quite a sight to see Seokmin running after an asleep you towards his apartment at 2 am.”

“I didn’t sleepwalk.” 

And frankly, if you had, Seokmin must have done a very good job of getting you back to your own bed because you woke up exactly how and where you fell asleep – wrapped in his arms, head resting in the crook of his neck. 

Sunny suddenly stopped in spot. Her eyes wide, her lips parted. She pointed an accusatory finger at you, “Wait, does that mean you two are dating now?”

You weren’t sure you had the answer. And you wouldn’t have time to find the answer for a while.

“Good morning!” you heard Seokmin’s voice before you even opened your eyes.

Unlike the previous few times, disappointment filled you as realisation hit. You groaned and turned over to bury your face in his numerous pillows, hoping you could suffocate yourself out of a mildly infuriating nightmare.

Seokmin clicked his tongue. “Not quite the greeting I was expecting, especially considering I was greeted with a hug the last time we shared a bed.”

“Shut it.”

“Oh, you’re mean today.”

“Did I fall asleep mid-work again?” you sighed and slowly sat up to glare at nothing in particular. Seokmin went to great lengths to avoid whatever direction to directed your deadly look to. “God, I bet I didn’t even make it to the second graph– I’m not gonna have time to go to the office for work today.”

He stared at you curiously. “So, work from home? I mean, if you have the possibility.”

“Yeah, but then I’ll get distracted and then I still won’t end up doing anything,” you whined before falling back into the pillows. You wanted to cry just at the thought of that stupid report waiting on your idle laptop. 

“Why are you so stressed about this report anyway? I don’t think you were ever this upset over any other reports.”

“If this project report goes through, and we pull off this project – which I still have to plan, oh my god, I am so far behind–”

Seokmin laughed at your frantic movements and moved over to place his hands on your shoulders and keep you still. “Hey, hey, don’t get distracted. If the project goes through…?”

You took a deep breath. “If the project goes well, I will get a promotion. Less hours, better pay.” You sighed. “Then maybe I’ll be able to get a dog like I’ve always wanted.”

“That sounds wonderful! We should celebrate with breakfast,” he suggested with a wiggle of his eyebrows. 

But as tempting as it sounded, you simply didn’t have any time to chat. You had work to do. And so, you stood up, fixed your hair, gave Seokmin an affectionate yet half-hearted pat on the back and headed for the door. 

You couldn’t wait to spend your day in complete lonely misery. At work you at least had friends to talk between sections. All you had in your apartment was Bertha and instant coffee.

And it was as if Seokmin knew it just from the way you spoke to him that morning. 

When the clock struck twelve, you heard a timid knock on your door. Confused at the noise and a little disoriented from the five pages of words you had written, you stood up and went to the door. 

Your heart grew three sizes when you saw him standing there, looking so awfully huggable in his large white hoodie and grey sweatpants, glasses on his nose accompanied by a kind smile. You were so surprised to find him there that you failed to consider why he came. 

He had to nudge you with the plastic bag he was holding for you to even notice it.

“Sorry,” you stammered and stepped aside to let him in, “I’m just a little-”

“Stress? Overworked? Confused because you’ve been staring at a 15-inch screen for the past three hours?” he suggested and brought the bag to the kitchen. “That’s okay. Don’t even mind me.” He smiled as he nodded towards your laptop. “Go on. Work waits. The sooner you get to it, the sooner it’ll be done.”

Disoriented as you were, you didn’t dare argue and slowly walked back to your previous seat at the coffee table, all the while watching him cautiously. 

As your fingers landed on the keyboard, he began lifting things out of the bag. You watched in awe as he stacked snacks and vegetables onto the counter. 

Feeling your eyes on him, he lifted his head to glare at you. “Work.”

“Work,” you repeated on instinct and turned back to your laptop. He laughed a little at your robotic tone. 

Some 20 minutes later, you felt a presence next to you. When you turned to face it, Seokmin was holding an fruit slice up at your lips. 

“Eat,” he told you softly. You did as told.

“What are you doing?” you asked between confused laughter and chewing. Your eyes landed on the bowl of fruits he had placed in front of you. 

He shrugged. “Taking care of you. You seemed so upset this morning… I thought it would be nice to spend my free day helping you.”

Your eyes widened. “It’s your free day? And you’re here? You should be resting!”

“Watching you is all the rest I need,” he winked playfully before lifting another fruit to your lips. “Now, eat up. This is lunch. I’ll make something better for dinner.”

“You don’t have to–” 

He took this chance to shove a piece of apple into your mouth, effectively interrupting your speech. “I will, and I don’t care what you say.”

He glanced around the apartment as you began to eat the fruits on your own. “When was the last time you opened a window?”

You watched curiously as he stood up (with a groan because his bones simply weren’t as nimble as they used to be) and headed over to the windows, opening a few to air out the room. As he did so, he told you, “They say that good airflow and fresh air help the thought process. We air out the classrooms between every lesson so the next students won’t get too tired.”

“I don’t think I’ve opened any windows in here since I first moved in,” you confessed before turning back to your laptop. Before you could your train of thought again, a soft fabric was placed on your shoulders. You looked up to find him smiling at you brightly. “So you won’t get cold.”

“What about you then?”

He shrugged and winked. “I’ll just consider this my daily walk in the park.” He then looked around the apartment again, as if looking for something to do. You couldn’t help but find it endearing. 

“Maybe… you could… make me a cup of tea?” you suggested.

He lit up at the idea. “Coming right up!”

Before heading to the kitchen, he leaned down to press a kiss to your forehead. It seemed almost like a reflex – like he didn’t even need to think about doing it. 

Relishing in the leftover warmth of his lips and the feel of his hoodie on your skin, your work took a backseat for a while. Instead of thinking about your project of a lifetime, your brain was drowning in one singular question. You glanced towards the kitchen to watch him, a smile appearing on your face as you did. 

“Seokmin?” you called out softly after a moment. 

He hummed in response immediately, eyes lifting from the cup he was preparing so he could offer you an encouraging smile. 

You took a deep breath. “What are we?”

He paused. “What do you mean?”

“You and I. What are we to each other?” you wondered, unable to look away from him. There was something you badly wanted to hear him say and yet feared at the same time. “What are you to me?”

The corners of his lips twitched. “I… I’ll be whatever you’d like me to be.”

“Whatever? A friend?”

“If that’s what you wish,” he breathed out, a little shakier than before.

“What about a lover?”

He smiled. “If you so wish.”

“Then… what do you want me to be?” you asked him quietly, a part of you praying your words would go missing in the incoming wind before they reached him. 

“I just…” He bit his lip in contemplation, ears turning red, and avoided your eyes.

“What do you want me to be to you, Seokmin?” you repeated your question, a little bolder this time, hope sparking in your heart.

He looked up again, into your eyes. “Mine.” You let out a breath – of relief or fear, you weren’t sure – but he didn’t hesitate when he repeated, “I want you to be mine.”

You felt guilty for the words you’d utter next. “But we don’t have the time for that…”

“That’s okay,” he assured you with a kind smile. “We’ll take it slow.”

“Slow? How slow do we take it?”

“As slow as you need. I’m not leaving.”

“I signed up for the auditions,” he told you over breakfast a few days later. “Jihoon’s helping me prepare.”

You were still neck-deep in your project, struggling to meet the deadlines and coordinate your team. This seemed to lead the asleep you to Seokmin’s apartment more often than not. It was almost like you woke up in his bed every morning now. 

But even in your despair, you couldn’t help but be excited for Seokmin.

Your eyes lit up and a squeal came out as you grabbed his hand over the table. “Really? You did?!”

He used his free hand to rub the back of his neck bashfully. “Well, you said I should give it a try, right? Who knows,” he shrugged, trying his best to seem nonchalant or even fake a little bit of confidence, “maybe they’ll give me a part.”

“I’m sure they will,” you insisted, squeezing his hand. “Your voice is amazing and you’re so handsome – the ladies are going to swoon when they see you on the stage.”

He laughed. “Will you be one of those ladies?”

“I’ll be in the front row,” you solemnly promised. “At every show. You’ll get sick of seeing me.”

“I could never,” he assured you.

Seokmin’s audition would take place two weeks later. You made sure the mark the day with a big red circle on your calendar – on all three of them, in fact. And now it was time.

Between your seemingly endless stream of project complications and Seokmin’s daytime job and audition preparations, you barely saw him. If it weren’t for your persistent sleepwalking problem, you wouldn’t have seen him at all. And so, the curse had became a blessing. 

“You’ll do great,” you assured him minutes after waking up in his bed. You made sure to give him the warmest hug before letting him leave the room. “I believe in you. And so does Jihoon, apparently.”

Seokmin pouted. “Did he say that or are you lying to make me feel better?”

“We talked yesterday,” you told him, appalled that he’d even accuse you of such atrocities. “He said he has complete faith that you’ll do well.”

“I don’t believe you but–”

“Do you want to fight me? Already?” You raised a brow and he shook his head immediately. “Exactly. Just accept the compliment. And don’t forget to call me when you finish, okay?”

“Of course,” he promised.

He kept that promise. Just as he stepped out of the theatre, his shaky hands picked up the phone and chose your number. 

You answered the call with prep in your voice. It had been a good day so far and you were expecting to hear his no-doubt joyous retellings of the audition.

What you weren’t expecting was: “Can you come get me? I think I might cry.”

“Why, why?” Despite your words, you didn’t hesitate to slam your laptop closed and grab your jacket. “Are you okay? Were they mean?”

“They weren’t mean,” he mumbled on the other side of the line, “but I don’t think I did well.”

“I’m sure you did wonderful,” you spoke while rushing down the street. Thankfully, the theatre was barely a five-minute walk from your office – half that at your current pace. “You’re just putting yourself down over nothing.”

Seokmin whined. “You’re seriously overestimating me.”

“Don’t be silly.”

“No, I’m serious. You overestimate me.”

As you crossed the street, you noticed a familiar figure dragging his feet along the pavement, head low and shoulders slumped. “Now why would I do that?”

“Because you like me a little more than you should,” he suggested while kicking a pebble. You could already hear his voice even without the phone. “I’m sure the directors think I’m a joke or something. God, I am so–”

“Don’t you dare say another bad word about yourself,” you scolded him with a gentle slap against the back of his head. 

He stared at you in bewilderment – both from the fact that you might as well have appeared from thin air and the fact that you just did that. 

But you were unrelenting in your affection for him. “Lee Seokmin, listen to me: you did absolutely great. You did your best. And even if you don’t get a part this time, they’ll value the fact that you now have experience with auditions. Take it in stride.”

Tears gathered in his eyes. Before long, he pulled you into his embrace, holding you impossibly tight. “You’re just saying that… Thank you.”

“That’s what I’m here for, silly,” you laughed and hugged him back just as tightly. “I think we should celebrate this occasion.”

“Even if I screwed up and don’t get the part?”

You scoffed. “Absolutely! A little cake can make everything better, no?”

He sighed. “I don’t think I can eat right now. I might throw up from the nerves.”

“Drink then?”

He contemplated and then straightened up. “I could go for some bubble tea…”

“There we go!” you cheered and gently pinched his cheeks, prompting a small giggle. “My treat because you did so well today and I’m so proud of you.”

This time it was you who grabbed his hand without any hesitation, more than happy to reassuringly squeeze it as you walked and talked. 

“When will you get the answer?” you wondered.

He sucked in a breath. “In about a week, they said. Or maybe never–”

“Seokmin,” you scolded.

“In a week,” he corrected himself with some enthusiasm. “I’ll get answers in a week. And then I might actually cry.”

“And I’ll be there when you cry tears of joy, darling.”

“Tears of joy?” He raised a brow and smiled in disbelief. “You seriously put too much faith in me.”

You nudged his side. “As if you haven’t been equally supportive about my promotion.”

“Oh, right,” Seokmin gasped, “won’t your promotion interview be in a week too?”

You would’ve preferred he didn’t remind you. Then again, you guessed it was only fair. 

“Will you come over to hold me when I cry too?”

“Tears of joy?” he teased and leaned over to kiss your temple. “I’ll be just a call away.”

The week somehow passed at both the pace of a snail and the pace of Junhui on a sugar rush. 

After finding you in his bed every single morning, Seokmin resorted to just sleeping over at your place, tightly cuddling you to keep you in place. He now had a whole drawer dedicated to his things in your bedroom. 

The day started okay. You were awoken not by a loud alarm like you had expected, but by Seokmin gently singing you awake. 

For a moment, you thought you had died and gone straight to heaven – maybe working so hard to save the environment had paid off after all, you thought. But no, it was just your reality. 

What a beautiful reality. You couldn’t help but smile as you cuddled into his chest.

“If you keep clinging onto me like that, I won’t be able to make my famous waffles for a lucky breakfast,” he whispered but made no attempt to push you away. 

The delicious breakfast was followed by an encouraging hug on the way out of the building, him to the school and you to the office. You wore a smile the entire time.

Up until you made it to your desk. Then the reality began sinking in. 

This was the day that could make or break your career. The day you had worked so hard for that you neglected your private life for so many years.

As the clock on the wall slowly ticked forward, your hands began to shake. Your throat was dry. Your head was fuzzy, full of nothing but anxiety. If someone had asked you about anything, you would’ve only been able to stare at them with a mouth wide open.

20 minutes until your scheduled interview. You were starting to feel sick. 

When another colleague came to give you a supportive pat on the back, you excused yourself and grabbed your phone to rush outside to the balcony. You sat on a chair and willed yourself to take deep breaths as you tapped on his number.

You wanted to slap yourself when you realised that you hadn’t even bothered to check if he was on break yet.

But he answered on the first ring. “Hey, what’s up? Did you have the interview alread–”

“Seokmin, I can’t do this,” you whimpered into the microphone. “I can’t do this. They’re gonna realise I’m an idiot and they’ll fire me and–”

“Woah, woah, what happened to your positive can-do attitude?” he wondered. “You’ll be fine.”

“No–”

“(Y/n),” he said your voice so firmly that your breath got caught in your throat. “(Y/n), you will be fine. You’ve worked there for so many years, you’ve achieved so many things. If they wanted to fire you, they would’ve done that by now.”

You took a shaky breath. “What if it’s an elaborate prank?”

“Why would– Baby, listen to me. You’ve worked hard. You put everything you had into that project – I was there, I saw it. You and your ideas are invaluable to your company. They’re going to ask you a few questions as a formality and they’re going to give that promotion and then you and I are going to go to a celebratory dinner and it’ll all be over.”

“And I can get a dog?” you whispered, a small smile tugging at your lips.

“You can get two dogs if you want, baby,” he laughed. “You deserve it. Don’t underestimate yourself. I believe in you and I’m sure your co-workers do as well.”

“How do you always know the right words to say?”

He laughed once again. “Baby, I’m a teacher. I’m literally trained to comfort people. I’m just glad I’m able to comfort you as well.”

“Thank you.”

“No need,” he responded, “just go and ace that interview. Okay?”

“And then you’ll come and wipe my happy tears?”

“You already know the answer to that question. But I expect the same treatment when I get my audition results.”

“Will do.”

“Go and get them, tiger.”

You weren’t sure what it was, but something about the conversation seemed to have lifted the weight off your shoulders. When you walked back to the office, the upcoming interview no longer felt as taunting. 

As the clock hit 2 pm, you squared your shoulders, took a deep breath and headed to your manager’s office.

When the day ended, you found Seokmin standing in front of the office building, a blinding smile on his face. 

“Well?” he asked expectantly, though the look in his eyes said that he had every faith that you would only give him good news. You were glad to prove him right. 

Your coy smile was replaced with joyous laughter as you ran to hug him and called out, “I got the job!”

“You got it? You got it!” he cheered with you, jumping up and down with you in his arms, not far from spinning you around in the air. “I knew you would! What did I tell you? Silly you,” he let you out of his hold to place his hands on your cheeks and pull your face closer to his own, “you thought you wouldn’t get the promotion. Look at you now. I’m so proud of you.”

You breathed out in relief. The smile seemed to never stop tugging on your cheeks. “I’m so relieved I could cry.”

“Then who will dry my happy tears?” he teased with a bright smile.

You tilted your head in confusion. “Wait–”

“I got the part,” he whispered, his smile only growing wider, eyes sparkling. “I’m going to become a musical actor, officially.”

“Oh my god!” you practically squealed and now it was your turn to hug him and jump. He was glad to join you, laughing in glee. “I knew you could do it! I knew it!”

As joy got the best of you – and who could blame you: this was the happiest day of your life so far –, you grabbed his face and pulled him closer to you to press your lips against his own. He melted into the gesture, arms wrapping around you tighter as if to will the moment to last forever. 

When you pulled back, just enough so that your noses touched, he laughed in disbelief. “I thought we were supposed to take it slow?”

“Screw taking it slow,” you whispered and kissed him again. “Might as well make it a triple celebration.”

“I like the sound of that.”

BONUS !

While practically leaning out of their open window to watch you and Seokmin kiss under the streetlights on your way home, Jeonghan and Sunny argued.

“I told you they would get together,” Sunny declared, her eyebrows raised as if to dare her boyfriend to prove her wrong. 

Jeonghan scoffed. “Please. They’re just kissing. It could be casual.”

“Just say you don’t want to owe me 20 bucks.”

“I don’t owe you 20 bucks! We have no confirmation!”

“Jeonghan, listen here–”

“No, no, you listen–”

“Both of you listen here!” Chan bellowed from the window above them. “If you don’t stop arguing right now, I will report you both to Jihoon’s parents! Some of us are trying to sleep!” Silence followed. “And pay her the 20 bucks, Jeonghan. They’re clearly together.”

Jeonghan grumbled and glared upwards before fishing a 20 out of his pocket and handing it to his smiling girlfriend.

#seventeenweeklyarticle #seventeen scenarios #seventeen x reader #seokmin x reader #seokmin scenarios #seventeen fic #dk scenarios #.avy writes #series: serenity street 17 💙

[tkachuksoralfixation]

mcdrai "summer" for a fic prompt?

Another year, another early end to the season. At this point, Leon has to convince himself consistently that next season will be better, they'll earn their spot and they'll march through the playoffs and get their chance to shine. Every time, though, he's thoroughly disappointed. No matter how hard they try.

He and Connor drag their feet between the end of the regular season and the subtle weather change from late spring into summer. There's plenty of time to rest and wallow in self pity, sure, but sticking around in Edmonton feels, well, depressing. Going home so soon is out of the question, especially with the shame Leon still feels burning in his chest.

So, Leon comes up with a plan for them. A little getaway to get their minds off their terrible end-of-the-season performance. He doesn't even ask Connor before he books the tickets.

"Hey," he says when Connor picks up his call, "pack a few bags. We're going on vacation."

"Uh, okay. Hello to you too, Leo," Connor huffs, "am I even allowed to ask where we're going? Or is it supposed to be this vague and unsettling?"

Leon rolls his eyes. "You'll survive. Just pack in preparation to be warm, and to possibly get wet."

There's a laugh on the other side of the line. "Jeez, take me out to dinner first, would you?" Connor quips, shuffling around what Leon assumes to be his dresser drawers. "But yeah, okay, I guess getting away would be nice."

There's an unspoken agreement at the foot of his sentence. Anywhere but here. Anywhere that doesn't remind us of home. And really, that was Leon's whole intention for the trip. They needed a week or two of privacy, to relax and let themselves recharge before they got right back to it. If it were up to Connor, they'd go to Alaska or some stupid snowy place that looked just like home, and they'd do sprints and hikes and ice fishing and all the things that Leon really doesn't want to think about right now.

Because despite everything, Connor always thinks about the next step. When he fails, he's already thinking about what he'll do to make up for it before he's beating himself up for the failure. He's always one step ahead. Leon is just.. not like that. He wallows for a bit and then he moves on. Maybe that's the difference between them. Maybe that's why they work so well together.

Regardless, two days later, Leon drags Connor with him to a beautiful villa in Italy. It's quiet, peaceful, and there's a massive pool to accompany it. It's warm and sunny and they're nowhere near the ocean, so in Leon's eyes, it's perfect.

They spend their first two weeks of summer between touring and spending some intimate time all over the villa. Leon can confidently say he feels a little guilty for defiling the pool, but he's not guilty for indulging Connor.

It's the perfect thing to get them back on their A game. When they fly back, Connor is beaming, glowing with the tan he received from baking in the warm Italian sun.

He's also twice as harsh on Leon during their workouts. So much for recharging.

#tkachuksoralcreations #hrpf #mcdrai #2997 #this was actually very fun ty

[klaprisun]

One Sunny Day

(Stardew Valley) (Haley x Female Farmer)

Chapter 12

The rest of the week was me tending to my farm and working on getting my house looking presentable. For three days, I had woken up to Robin working on the renovations I requested. I finally have a kitchen and bedroom now. My bed's been pushed over to the other room, and I threw my groceries into the fridge, in the cupboards, and on my counter.

A few of my crops were harvestable as well. I got to sell some of those and purchase furniture. There is now a couch and wallpaper to make it feel more cozy and inviting. It's actually pretty spacious now with the renovations complete.

The townsfolk have also really warmed up to me as well. They've sent me plenty of things in the mail to help my career, and also recipes since I now have a kitchen.

I have even tried visiting the mines up in the mountains. It's not fun there. There were so many creepy crawlies that attacked me down there. I didn't think I'd make it out alive. I figured out what the Hat Mouse was talking about as well with the museum. I found things in the rocks I've broken open with my pickaxe that are supposed to go in the museum. I haven't found everything yet, but I found quite a bit.

I haven't seen Haley around town for a bit either. Our paths just haven't crossed like they have been lately. I guess I wouldn't find her going to the mines though. That's probably the last place I'd see her.

When I was up near the mines, I took a little adventure to the train station area and noticed there was some sort of building by it that I hadn't noticed before. That's where I was heading to today since I need a break from all the work I've been doing. There are a lot of places I haven't explored yet and that building is one of them.

The sign above the door of the building says 'Bath' in bold letters with a bunch of writing beneath it. I didn't bother reading, I just walked in. My curiosity got the best of me.

The room I entered felt like a scene from a horror movie. It's dimly lit with two doors directly across from me. Besides a picture of a bathtub between the two doors, there were no other decorations.

I walked up to the two doors to get a closer look. One has a 'W' sign plastered on it while the other has an 'M' one. I tug on the door with the 'W' not expecting it to open, but it does. The force of my tug flings it wide open, nearly knocking me over in the process.

Inside, there is a long row of stalls on the right side, with a small locker area on the left. I toss my bag into one of them and keep walking down a hallway. I pass by a large vanity and shower room, and reach a small change room. There seems to be a set of clothes neatly folded up on one of the stools. Unfortunately, I was unprepared to go swimming and didn't bring a bathing suit. I stripped off my clothes so I could just go in my bra and panties. At the other end of the change room was another door which I assume led to the bath/spa. I push open the door and walk in.

The bath area was unexpectedly, insanely large. Gentle music plays over speakers scattered around the room and steam from the heat of the bath floods the air, giving it a relaxing vibe. There are a few chairs facing the bath area at the front of the room for lounging if taking a dip isn't what you are in the mood for. The side deck of the bath leads all the way around the water area, so I start pacing around, examining the water before getting in. I came to a narrowed area of the bath and walked around the corner that leads to another large water lounging area. It's not as big as the first area though, but still pretty big.

A mess of blonde hair tied up in a claw clip sticks out of the water, along with a pair of bare shoulders with frilly straps wrapping over them. There appears to be a bottle of wine behind her on the bath deck. She hasn't noticed me walking in yet.

"Hey Haley," I call out, making my voice echo against the walls of the bath. Haley screams and flails around to look at me.

"What are you doing here?! You scared me!" she slurs. She is definitely drunk.

"I saw this place when I came in on the train and decided to finally check it out." I responded. I still haven't gotten in the bath yet. Haley doesn't seem to mind because she is aggressively checking me out. The farm work has really toned my body some and I have slight abs now.

"You have such a good looking body..." Haley completely disregarded what I had just said. She is now leaning her head down on her hands on the ledge of the deck, staring up at me with admiration. She holds her hand up to me for me to take. Obediently, I bend over to take her hand and walk down the steps next to her that lead into the water. She doesn't let go of my hand and drags me over to her bottle of wine. "Want some?"

Handing the bottle over without me even answering, I take it out of her hands and open it. There was only about a drop left. I look over to her and raise my eyebrow.

"Oops. It was full when I got here..." she giggles.

I put the bottle back on the ledge and prop my elbows up behind me on the same ledge. I watch Haley dance over to me and put her arms around my neck.

"You know... Alex and I would come here to... you know..." she puts her hands up in front of my face and motions a finger into a hole made by her other fingers, "... you're lucky you didn't catch us doing that."

I made a disgusted face. I hope they clean the water of this place. "I'm sure glad I didn't walk in on that. That is not a sight I'd want to see," I awkwardly say.

"What? You don't want to see all this?" she boldly undoes her bikini and slips her top off. I quickly avert my gaze to the wall.

"Haley, put your top back on. You are drunk," I demand politely, "you will be extremely embarrassed tomorrow by the decisions you are making right now."

"I doubt it," she takes my face in her hands and turns my head so I am looking into her eyes. Her cheeks are rosy from the heat of the bath as well as from the alcohol flowing through her. I try really hard to keep my eyes on hers and not look down. "You need to relaaaaxx, that's what this place is for. It's not like you haven't seen boobs before."

"Yeah but-" I begin. Haley puts her finger to my lips before I can finish my sentence.

"Relax. Turn around," she spins me around before I could protest or question her. She takes my shoulders into her hands and starts massaging. Instantly feeling relaxed, I hunch over and lean on the bath deck.

Her soft hands move all over my back and neck. She has traced every prominent muscle on my back, as well as played connect the dots with my freckles. Not only do I have severe goosebumps all over, I have nearly fallen asleep once or twice.

"You really do have such a nice body," she says again as she traces my shoulder blade.

"Are you jealous?" I mumble while giving her a sleepy flex of my bicep. The flex always makes her giggle and blush. Without even seeing her, I can picture her reaction.

"In a way..." her hands travel down my arms causing more goosebumps to arise.

"Just work on a farm. You'll get this body no problem," I sit up and smack my bicep a couple times. "Might take some time since you are so dainty and perfect, but you'd get there."

"So if I work on a farm...I'd get your body?" She questions me with a hint of sing song in her voice.

"I mean yeah that's what I just said," I tease, "you'll be all muscly and ripped in no time. Not sure why you'd want to be-"

"That's not what I meant."

That causes me to whip around with a face of shock. Haley is giving me a little smirk and looking at my lips. Since I am facing her now, she traces along my collarbone.

"I- um-" I'm at a loss for words. Her hand has traveled to just above my chest. When sober Haley finds out what happened, she'd freak. "Listen, I'm not rejecting you, but you are drunk. You won't remember anything you are saying to me and you'll regret everything you even said." I respond softly, taking her by the shoulders and backing her up.

I think Haley has realized what she has said. Her face drops and she kind of stares off into the distance with tears welling up in her eyes. "I- I- didn't... mean that. I'm sorry." She grabs her bikini top, throws it back on, grabs the wine bottle and leaves.

I sink down so the water is just over my shoulders, and put my head in my hands. I remain that way for the rest of the day.

#sdv #sdv fanfic #stardew valley #stardew #stardew fanfic #stardew valley haley #stardew valley haley fanfic #haley fanfic #sdv haley fanfic #sdv haley #stardew haley #haley stardew #haley x female farmer #haley x farmer #lgbtq #wlw yearning #wlw #sapphic #sapphic yearning #lesbian #pelican town #fanfic #stardew valley fanfic #stardew farmer #farmer #sdv farmer #stardew valley farmer #haley sdv #haley stardew valley #haley

[edengarden]

Personal space? Never heard of her.

Synopsis:  When Caesar’s bored, he’ll make it known to you. Not that you ever invited him to do so.

Pairing: Caesar Clown x gn!reader

Warnings:  profanity, Caesar has no concept of personal space

Word count: 1454

Notes: quick and simple, I just felt like I needed to FINALLY write some Caesar x reader interaction and this was the easiest way to do so. 

As a pirate, if anyone would’ve ever told your past self that one day, you’d “work” in a lab, you probably would have laughed in their face and told them to fuck off. You never had the qualifications for it anyway; poor education, lengthy criminal record, probably not even smart enough for it, zero patience, and the list goes on. However, seeing how Caesar functions, you’ve been violently proven that no, against all odds, someone who doesn’t have what it takes to be a sciencey person can still be a sciencey person. Or a “mad scientist”, as he likes to call himself. It really goes to show that, well… you’ve heard of more qualified scientists before. 

However, Doflamingo wasn’t going to spit on the opportunity in front of him. Which is how you and Monet ended up spending most of your time on Punk Hazard, in the freezing fucking cold, while the rest of your crew was enjoying nice, warm, sunny days in Dressrosa. Though you can’t complain; at least the two of you figured out a schedule in which you’d rotate every three weeks so one has to put up with Caesar while the other can get some time off in Dressrosa. It was a pretty good system and you’re glad that Monet thought of it and got it approved, but it also meant that you now had to deal with Caesar on your own. It meant that there was one less person to put up with him. 

It meant that he’d concentrate his eccentricity on you. For three weeks. 

You’ve seen better days. 

And in moments like those, where he apparently felt the great need to come bother you, you wonder how Monet deals with it when you’re not around. Does she simply ignore him? You’ve tried that. It leads to disastrous bitchfits (you like to call them Caesar’s World Famous Bitchfits. Not that you’ve ever told him. A WFB would ensue). Does she entertain him? You’ve also tried that. It’s incredibly hard to keep up with him. 

So, at this point in time, you feel truly lost as to how you’re supposed to get through this. The only thing you haven’t tried (and that you can think of) was to simply… put up with it until it blows over. But it wasn’t exactly the most pleasant solution you’ve ever thought of. 

“What are you up to now?” You barely had the chance to even process that the telltale sound of hissing gas started bouncing off the room’s walls before Caesar was practically looming over your shoulder as you peered at the notes Monet had left you during those three weeks you were away. Considering that most of them were Caesar-related and that it wasn’t exactly praise, you were quick to shut the notebook closed before the man in question could read what was being said about him. Caesar let out a small cackle at your frantic actions. “Are you hiding something from me?” He asked and, seeing as you couldn’t take a look at his face at the moment, you had no idea if he was being serious or if he was joking. 

You would rather be safe than sorry, so you decide to turn your head to look over your shoulder to take a peek at his mood before answering, only to be absolutely jumpscared by the close proximity between the two of you. The way you reacted could probably be compared to how a cat reacts in the face of a cucumber. “Good god!” You exclaim before leaning back to put some distance between you and Caesar’s face, which had been literally looming over your shoulder up until now. How did you not feel his proximity? Was it because of the whole gas-gas fruit situation? Probably. That’s a dangerous fucking ability to have. Why was he that close anyway? 

You silently fumed as he cackled at your reaction. Leave it up to him to feel entertained by your discomfort, if you could call it that. It felt more like a heart attack to you. “Don’t you have shit to do?” You asked rather rudely as he quieted down. At the mention, his face morphed into a more annoyed expression. 

“I have time to kill.” He replied. Ah. That was his version of ‘I have to wait for something that catalysts can’t help with and I don’t want to’. You’re a bit familiar by now. Knowing how he gets in situations like these, you were careful to keep a tight grip on the notebook you were keen on hiding from him. Lest he finds a way to snatch it simply to get a rise out of you. 

“Yeah, well, I don’t.” You snapped back, promptly ignoring him when he leaned his entire upper half on the table, reenacting a deflating balloon in some way. 

“Come on, humor me a little! It’s not like there’s anyone else here that you can interact with.” He pushed. You were tempted to tell him that actually, he’s got plenty of subordinates who would be more than happy to entertain him in whatever way he wanted to be entertained, but you were fully aware that Caesar didn’t consider them anywhere good enough to talk to. Which then makes you wonder why you’d be any different. As far as you’re concerned, you’re just a pirate. Yes, you can read and write, but that’s about as far as it goes. The hell would he want with you? 

“Actually, I do pretty well in solitude.” You quipped with a shrug of your shoulders. Caesar, the ever extroverted bastard he was, wailed quite dramatically and let his head fall on his arms that he had crossed on the table. You’re a bit disappointed that he didn’t accidentally smack his forehead on the table instead. 

“Don’t you at least know how to have a conversation? C’mon, I’m curious. Tell me what’s going on in that noggin of yours.” He raised a gloved hand and attempted to poke at your temple but you leaned back to avoid him. Was he this annoying with Monet? Because she never seems to bring it up in the notes. 

Caesar made another dramatic expression at your aversion to his touch, pouting like a child that had just been scolded. “Even if it’s just the most mundane of thoughts, I promise I won’t laugh. Too much.” He said, eyes scanning your face for just the slightest of cracks in your resolve. “Anything goes! Talk about the damn weather if you want, talk about Monet. Fuck, you could talk about how poor you were as a child and it would be better than nothing!” 

“Bold of you to assume I was poor as a child.” You replied with a raised eyebrow, only to mentally curse at yourself when Caesar smirked in return. Oh, that was a fucking bait. Goddamn it. 

“Are you saying you weren’t?” If he weren’t made of gas, and if you were certain that your hand wouldn’t phase right through him, you might’ve hit him. A part of you wants to question him and why he was being so nosy in the first place, or at least snap some snarky retort back at him, but you know that it would count as ‘conversation’ to him and you’d play right into his hands. He’d win. You know damn well that the smartest option is to simply ignore him and do something else until he goes away. 

“Why does it need to be about me? Can’t you just go on a rant like usual and I can pretend to listen?” But you’re not smart or wise enough to use the smartest option. You half expected him to take you up on that suggestion and go off on some monologue about his research, or how he missed Smiley, or how he was such a genius for synthesizing SAD. Anything to gloat about how he’d “won”, about how you keeled over and decided to entertain him. However, what wasn’t on your bingo card was him rising from his sprawled out spot on the table and staying incredibly quiet for a few moments. It was such an alarming occurrence that you actually turned towards him and asked what was going on. “You good?” As soon as you looked at him, he averted his eyes to avoid direct eye contact. Even you knew something wasn’t good.

“Peachy! Yes, never been better!” Caesar hastily replied with an exaggerated, closed-eye smile, clasping his hands together conclusively. He was standing oddly straight, for someone who was usually the victim of a terrible, gas-gas induced posture. “W-well! Would you look at that! I think the crystallization should be happening any moment now!” He exclaimed, already turning on his heels to scamper out of the room. You were too intrigued by his odd behavior to say anything at the moment. From the look on his face, whatever it was that you said that caused this, it was a sore spot. “Wonderful conversation! Truly captivating! Don’t come looking for me! Bye now!” And he was out the sliding door before you could even take your first breath of Caesar-free air.

#one piece #one piece fanfiction #one piece x reader #caesar clown #caesar clown x reader #caesar clown one piece

[storyshark2005]

VI. A Week in Mustique i loove this one <3

Thank you for the ask!! I love this one too -- have some Sonny and Uncle Liam bonding!! This next chapter will be Liam POV (I've not finished the chapter, it's going slow, and I've been a bit diverted with Carraville, but hoping to finish this chapter and keep it going) ***

Liam spots the lad he’s looking for, holding tight to a palm tree, stretching his skinny little leg behind his back like he’s Usain Bolt warming up for the Olympics. He doesn’t have the Gallagher look about him at all; not the eyebrows, or his father’s nose, or the sour little mouth that Donovan had inherited. Liam supposes he must look like his mother. But then the kid reaches up to rub at his eye, and his whole face sort of scrunches up disagreeably, and it’s a kick in the chest how like a little Noely G. he is, just for a flash of a second. Liam cups his hands around his mouth and shouts at the top of his lungs: “BUMBACLART!” 

Sonny fairly jumps out of his skin, eyes going all cartoon-y and round. 

“What the fuck, Uncle Liam?!” 

Liam laughs and gives him a thorough scruffle round about the ears. “Alright little potato?! Where’s your brother, ain’t he coming with?” 

Sunny pats his hair back into place. “Nah, he’s still sleeping. Lazy cunt. Anais said she wanted to come, but I think her sunburn’s still really sore, so I didn’t try to wake her up.”

“Ah, poor girl. She taking care of herself?” 

“Yeah. Molly’s been helping put the aloe on and everything. And Gene won’t stop bringing her bottles of coconut water. He’s being really weird about it, it’s like-- she’s not fucking dying!”  

“Ah, always been a softie, our Gene. Good he’s lookin’ after her.”

“Yeah, but it’s her own fucking fault, innit? Like, how stupid can you be?! We were on a boat, in the sun, for like-- five hours! How do you just forget to put sunscreen on?!” 

Sonny gives a disapproving shake of the head, hands propped up on his hips. 

Liam laughs, and gives his nephew a slap on the back. “Someday you’ll see, Little G. After a drink or two you stop being so smart.” 

“I think even after about a hundred beers, I’d remember-- you’re in the middle of the fucking Carribbean! I mean we’re basically right on the fucking equator!” 

They take off on a slow jog, and Sonny promises not to leave Liam in the dust. There’s a nice firmer bit of sand nearer the water where their feet don’t sink in so much, so they stick to running along the beach, watching the sun slowly peek up over the ocean. Sonny’s got a little Nike digital watch, so Liam tells him to say summat when they’ve gone a half-hour; and there they stop for a rest and kick sand and throw rocks into the surf, watching the morning sun turn the dark water orange and pink and blue. Sonny keeps up his bright little chatter pretty much the whole hour, like a little wind-up toy that Liam prompts with a question every so often; about school, his guitar playing, football, girls-- Sonny’s got a couple of prospects but ‘nothing serious’, according to him. (Geezer, Liam thinks. He’ll be a right little lady killer, will Sonny G.)

When they finally get back to the villa, Liam can hear a bit of clatter from the kitchen, but the house is still dark and quiet. Sonny gives him a high-five and begs off for a shower and a couple more hours of sleep. 

“Oh, I almost forgot,” he turns back around and says in a sheepish voice: “Happy Birthday, Uncle Liam.” 

They hug, and Liam has to work hard not to cry. It makes him think about all the birthday parties he’s missed out on, and all the ones he’s going to get to go to from now on. And it’s all very happy and achy inside his chest. 

Sonny tromps back to his bunk. Liam watches him go, the sweaty parts of his hair sticking up from where Liam had hugged him too tight and ruffled his hair. He looks like a baby deer still, right at the age before they start to turn into men, when they still laugh at stupid jokes, and they’re not too cool for kid stuff and cartoons. So maybe Liam’s still got a bit of time left to be Sonny’s funny cool uncle. 

Anyway. It feels like the start to the best birthday ever.

***

#world that's been and gone #fic excerpt #gallaghercest #gcest

[fuckmeyer]

hoo boyo so i'm the small writing human o/ *waves*

thank you for your response and i just took the time to read through your Jacob black's life matters and how smeyer killed him and i found it super interesting. (also it literally excites me seeing the quotes with the page numbers🤤). -----anyway back on track now. so i've always hd a liking for twilight since i watched the movies when they released (i would have been like 10..?) because i generally like the genre it falls in to. back in feb i watched all the movies again with my mum and she owns all the books so i started to read Twilight and pretty much loved it (i'm easily pleased). it took me like three weeks to get through it which is pretty average for me (attention span..) but then when i picked up New Moon i could barely put it down. i read it in 4 days which is the fastest ive ever read a book by a looong shot. i kind of fell off with reading eclipse... it took me almost 2 whole months to get through which just shows.

i think in hindsight one of the reasons i actually love New Moon (book) more than the rest is that there isnt really a 'set in stone villain' (twilight has james, eclipse has the newborns//victoria, then BD has the volturi. i suppose edward is the only thing that could class as a villan that book but thats not my point i think i enjoyed it more because of the time we get to spend with bella and jacobs characters . . . (quick side note that i watched the movies after finishing the books and new moon has no justice i feel like it washes over the effect jacob had on bringing bella "back to life" so much. so upsetting)

anyhoodles. i think i enjoy Twilight to set up B&E, then New Moon to set up B&J, then as you say in the crit Eclipse just kind of forces you to choose. and it makes sense. after just watching the movies i cant see a way in hell anyone would be team jacob---but having read the books its a whole different story. but then again... smeyer.... yeah.

sorry this has been such a long ask and doesnt really have a question involved, feel free to not post a response as i understand it's long:')

as a last note while i think of it i think that Eclipse for me fell off in that i didnt particularly care about what it was doing. i liked reading about bella and edward in twilight and then bella and jacob in new moon and i just didnt really care for most of eclipse. but maybe thats because i fell in love with bella and jacob from new moon and then had the character sabotaged.. heavy sigh. i think it says a lot that ive had a fan art of bella and jacob walking along the beach as my phone wallpaper since i read new moon so that says it all really.

i apologise once again for the length of this. ---if you wanna see the fan art wallpaper ill find it and reblog it so its at the top of my page.

p(p?)s. i'm glad it's sunny there! it's rained here the last couple days :c

hello tiny writing human! glad to have you back :)

glad you liked the analysis! & the books. New Moon is my favorite too, & i definitely agree with you that part of the appeal is the internal struggle Bella faces. we do get Victoria in the background & the werewolves, but really the whole book is about Bella learning to cope with 1) being a human in a supernatural world 2) her grief of being alone [i.e. without Edward] in this new world. watching her pick up the pieces of her life & build something new & beautiful & imperfect with Jacob was cathartic & relatable - v much a triumph in a series so rooted in the fantastical.

& it's hard to watch Eclipse become this struggle between two boys. because really, it's not about Edward or Jacob. Bella's choice is about whether she wants to give up everything for this cold, "perfect," monstrous, immortal life; or, whether she wants to stick around & build something warm & human & imperfect & finite with Jacob.

by twisting Jacob's character from the symbols of sunshine & values of humanity he represents into a bad-boy supernatural love interest competing with Edward for Bella's affection, it erases some of the characterization that we have come to expect & love in Jacob. because when Meyer positions him as a love interest, he's not embodying the traits as a friend; he's embodying the traits of what Meyer thinks is formidable love interest and rival to Edward: confident, cocky, aggressive, persistent... Jacob becomes nothing more than a 2000s-era (& before) trope of how men in our society "should" act towards women. so, everything we came to knew about Jacob was morphed into this friend/lover hybrid that just didn't work for who he was. he is Jacob...but he is not our Jacob.

(& the movies did him even worse because the "slice of life" B/J scenes we get were mostly cut.)

anyway, thanks for coming back & letting me rant about one of my favorite characters & my fave book :)

#i'm keeping an eye peeled for the fanart :) #too bad about the rain but hopefully you get some sunshine soon! #cheers~ #asks #edward cullen #jacob black

[quanticowrites]

What a dance can do (Christopher Lasalle x Reader)

•• Hi everybody! I'm on vacation right now in sunny Las Vegas, but here's a little something I worked on last week at work! I hope you enjoy it!••

“How’s about a dance?” You sighed and looked up at Chris. He was holding his hand out to you with a smile going from ear to ear. You’d been sitting at the table for most of the night, aside from getting up and heading to the buffet line. Charity Balls weren’t your thing, but everyone else from the team was going and you didn’t want to disappoint them by not showing up entirely.

“That’s sweet of you to ask, Christopher, but I’m fine right where I’m at.” He didn’t move.

“I’ve been watching you sit here all night. Come on, just one dance?” You quirked a brow up at him.

“Will you leave me alone after?”

“Cross my heart.” He used one hand to do what he said, but his other hand was mysteriously hidden behind his back. You wondered if he was crossing his fingers. You tripped over your own feet as Chris dragged you out onto the dance floor.

“Alright everybody, we’ve been keeping it pretty hot in here,” The DJ started, “So let’s do a little cool down here before we crank the party back up.” Chris brought your hand up to his shoulder and moved your other to his thigh before resting his other hand on your lower back. A slow song played. You didn’t recognize it or the singer.

“Where did you learn how to waltz?”

“If my Daddy made sure to do one thing when I was younger it was to teach me proper manners, and a few dances.” He chuckled. “Never really liked it much, though.” You nodded. Chris didn’t seem the type to like such fancy things. He never wanted to inherit his dad’s company, anyway. His dad may have been sick but that gave him no right to throw the company of Christopher when he passed. He knew damn well Christopher wanted nothing to do with it. He didn’t think Christopher did much here at NCIS, but he couldn't have been more wrong.

“So why are you doing it now?”

“You looked a bit lonely sitting there by yourself.” You smiled.

“I suppose I was, I don’t really care for these types of things.” He laughed.

“Me neither, but it’s for a good cause.” The song ended and you both stopped. It was a tender moment as you both stared into each other's eyes before you ultimately pulled your gaze away.

“Looks like the song’s done.” You blushed as Chris continued to look at you, not saying a word. “Chris?”

“Do you wanna get out of here?” He asked.

“Y-yeah.” You cursed at how your voice sounded. You sounded like a high schooler that just got caught by the teacher doing something you weren't supposed to. “Anywhere is better than here.”

“Do you want to come with me back to my place? We’re not far.”

“I came with Tammy, I should probably let her know.” Chris finally let go of your hand and took his hand off your back. You almost moaned. They’d felt so warm against your skin.

“You go ahead and do that, I’ll go get the truck running.” You nodded and watched him until he stepped out the main doors. Not going off to find Tammy until he was out of sight.

You found Tammy getting a drink at the bar and told her you were leaving with Chris, she couldn’t have given you a more shit eating grin if she tried.

“Have fun!” You gave her the finger with a smile and roll of your eyes before heading to Christopher’s truck. He’d started the car, but was standing outside of it leaning against the driver's side door. He perked up at the sight of you and rushed around the front to open the door for you and helped you up and inside.

“Hope it’s not too messy, just took it fishing with Cade last weekend and haven’t had a chance to clean her up.”

“Her?” You quipped as he pulled out of the parking lot. “How do you know your truck’s a girl?” He patted the steering wheel.

“You can just tell, (y/n). You can just tell.” It was a sort of awkward silence the rest of the way to Christopher’s house. The way your heart was beating in your chest you were almost positive Chris could hear it. In all the years you’d been with the team and had known Chris, you’d never actually been to his house. You’d only picked him up to head to a crime scene a few times, and he’d always been at a family-owned diner in the Quarter. You don’t know what you were expecting, maybe a little two bedroom, but Chris surprised you when he pulled up in front of his place on the water. “A beauty ain’t it?” He smirked before getting out of the truck and hurrying over to open your door for you. He led you inside and you couldn’t help the look of awe on your face. This place was even prettier on the inside!

“This place must have cost you some serious money.” He shrugged.

“Just thin green pieces of paper.” You opened his fridge and motioned for you to look inside. “Do you want anything to drink?” You leaned against his kitchen island and mused over the array of alcohol he had on the refrigerator's bottom shelf.

“Well, you’ve got just about everything.” You gave him a look. “There’s more alcohol than food in this fridge.” He put up his hands defensively.

“I plan on going grocery shopping this weekend.” You continued your look and he laughed. “I swear!” You hummed before finally making a selection.

“How about that can of peach Jack Daniels?” He grabbed two cans and motioned for you to follow him to the back porch. It was connected by the sliding glass door and led to an incredible view of the Mississippi river. It was probably an ever better view in the daylight. Right now though, it was looking pretty great too. The moon was full and casting its light on the waves and allowing you to see the current making its way upriver. In the distance a foghorn blew. No doubt in the next twenty minutes or so you and Chris would see a ship heading upriver. You cracked open your can and took a big gulp. God, you loved these things.

“So…” Chris started. “Is this better than that party?” You nodded with a sigh, your shoulders relaxing as you leaned back in one of Chris’s adirondack chairs.

“I can’t think of anywhere else I’d want to be right now.” You smiled over at him. “Thanks for inviting me.”

“What kind of country gentleman would I be if I didn’t offer my hospitality?”

“That was a big word, Chris, does your brain hurt?” He laughed before leaning back in the chair beside you.

“Come on now, that was just a low blow. You can think of better insults than that.” You both watched the boat that had blared its horn earlier go past. It really was a peaceful night. During the quiet you got lost in your thoughts, thinking of all the times in the office where Chris had had his back turned to you and you’d eyed him up and down. Wanting to be cradled by those gentle hands and whisked off into the sunset. Good thing it was dark, otherwise you’d be worried about Christopher looking over and seeing how red you face must have been becoming. All those times he called you Sugarbelle made your knees weak. He’d been joshing you but it only helped your imagination run wild. You’d dreamt a couple of times about Christopher and cuddling up next to him, whispering sweet words into your ear…

“(Y/n)? You good?” You jumped slightly as Chris brought you back to reality. “You seem kinda off.”

“No! No, uh, I’m fine, really ahaha.” The way you were fumbling with your words you were pretty sure Chris thought you were anything but fine.

“(Y/n), if somethings wrong, you don’t have to hide it from me.”

“It’s not that somethings wrong, but-” Should you tell him how you feel? “I do kinda want to tell you something.” What if he laughed? Thought you were stupid? Didn’t like you that way back?

“Tell me what?” His voice was so innocent. He was probably wondering what he did to upset you. He didn’t do anything, but he also did everything at the same time.

“I like you.” You stated, flat out. “I like you like I’ve never liked anyone else. When I look at you my body melts. I feel nauseous from butterflies in my stomach.” You looked up at his face. The light from the moon highlighting his cheek bones and allowing you to see the white’s of his eyes. He could have been a painting.

“Oh, thank god.” He said with a relieved sigh. “I thought you were going to say you needed a ride to the hospital or somethin’.” He leaned over and planted a kiss on your cheek. “I like you too, (Y/n), I just didn’t think you felt that way too.”

“Don’t be coy with me right now Chris, I’m liable to cry.”

“Darlin’.” His tone got serious and you found Chris slamming his lips onto yours. You didn’t hesitate to kiss back. He didn’t need to say anything more. He really did like you.

Tag list:

@stanathanxoox , @nikkiwierden , @malindacath , @havlindzk , @countrygal17a , @memyselfandmaddox , @octobersmog , @mizzezm , @emmitheacefangirl , @a-sad-excuse-of-everything , @marennnx (tumblr doesn't want me to tag you for some reason)

#ncis new orleans x reader #christopher lasalle #christopher lasalle x reader #chris lasalle x reader

[ocean-blue-whump]

All the Light is Gone

Sunny + Star Masterlist

Thank you so much to @painful-pooch for helping me realize how I wanted to take this story. 

Sunny and Star Crew: @ashintheairlikesnow @whumpinggrounds @whumptakesthecake @justplainwhump @whumpfessional @winedark-whump - let me know if you want to be added/removed!

CW: pet whump, BBU, lady whump, male whump, DEATH, drunk and angry whumper, bonded whumpees, Romantic whumpees, just a whole lot of fear and conditioning, brief mention of self-harming behavior due to stress, mild sexism 

***

“No, you stupid bitch, that’s not what I—“ Hunter sighs in frustration, slamming his fist into the doorframe. “Fuck! Don’t you dare hang up on me, I will fire your ass so fast and make sure your little bonuses aren’t enough to get you through the week!”

All of Comet’s senses are going into overdrive at how angry Hunter is, and he keeps one hand on Star’s back, a snarl stuck in his throat. Owner. Angry. Danger. He knows how it works. Mr. Bianchi has something bad happen at work, and he gets mad, and the bonded pair of pretty, breakable Romantics become his outlet. Speaking of…Sunny is kneeling next to Mr. Bianchi, visibly shaking with each time their owner raises his voice. 

He shouldn’t be that close, not when Mr. Bianchi is so angry. The Romantics are gorgeous things, and Comet doesn’t understand why they’re starved, especially Star. His heart warms as he looks down at her, despite how tense she is. He loves her, but the bond between her and Sunny…

He loves her and he protects both of them when Mr. Bianchi’s guests get too handsy. That’s all he can do. 

Another shout from Mr. Bianchi has all three pets violently flinching. “Are you really that dumb? Do you understand how fucking basic this is? A goddamn baby could do it. My fucking pets could do it! Even the brainless mutt of a Guard Dog.”

It’s not supposed to hurt. But it does, and Comet tries to keep the red off his face, knowing it’ll only enrage the man. 

“Maybe you should sell yourself to WRU. I think you’d be better as a Romantic than my employee.” Hunter rolls his eyes. “Don’t trust a woman to do anything that requires the smallest bit of thinking.”

A particularly vicious kick to the doorframe has Sunny whimpering, his blue eyes full of fear, and Comet can tell that Sunny is doing his best not to pull away. 

He doesn’t envy that about the Romantics, all the training so they stay in place when a hand wraps around their necks and squeezes. 

Comet gets to pull away. Sunny stays still like a good boy, and Star gets beat into the ground for daring to move. He can feel it now, how she wants to run to the boy and save him. He keeps his hand on her back. Don’t move, or he’ll make me hurt you and that hurts me too.

“Oh, don’t tell me that I’m sexist, sweetheart, I got two Romantics and they’re different genders…I mean, yeah, I treat the girl worse cause she’s a fucking bitch! Just like you, sweetheart. Awh, you want to file a complaint against me? Did you forget who you work for? Yeah, you should be fucking scared!” Hunter punches the wall again and recoils in pain. “Fuck! Listen, you dumb bitch…”

Star’s head snaps up and her back straightens, taking a position of attention, and Ray’s heart drops when Mr. Bianchi notices. 

His smile is amused at first, but out of nowhere, his face twists with rage and he grabs an empty beer bottle, lobbing it at her head. 

There’s no time to prevent it from happening, and all Comet can do is watch. Star yelps as the bottle smashes into the side of her head, glass scattering everywhere. A few shards embed themselves into her face and the rest fall to the floor. 

Comet feels a surge in his chest, the need to protect her from Mr. Bianchi, but he’s powerless. If he does anything that he wasn’t ordered to, it’ll only get worse. 

Star picks the largest shard out of her face and throws it to the floor, a few drops of blood falling with it. Comet keeps his hand on her. Don’t move. Please, Star, don’t move.

You’re still pretty even with glass in your face and that makes me nervous.

“The dog thought I was talking to her. I’m not done with you, though. You fix your mistake now! I don’t fucking care if you don’t sleep for weeks.”

There’s a brief pause before Hunter gets quiet—a dangerous sort of quiet that sends a chill down Comet’s spine. “Say that again.”

It’s the eye of the storm and Comet knows tonight is only going to get worse.

“You fucked up that badly that we lost a fucking buyer?” Hunter’s hand fists in Sunny’s hair, drawing a whine from the boy. 

Both Star and Comet are tense, and he’s ready to grab her and make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid. 

Hunter gives Sunny a condescending shake while he growls into his phone. “Listen. I’m done with you and your smartass mouth. I’ll give you ten minutes. Pack your shit and start running. Ten minutes before I send someone after you to make sure you don’t fuck anything else up. Got that, bitch?” There’s true venom in his voice as he hisses out, “I’m angry? You’re goddamn right I’m angry! You just cost me thirty thousand dollars!”

His grip tightens on Sunny’s hair and he lifts the boy up, slamming him full force into the wall. 

There’s a crunch. There’s a sickening crunch and then silence. Sunny falls to the ground, his body twisted like a puppet. His eyes flutter open only to flutter closed just as quickly. 

Comet doesn’t realize what the ear piercing scream is until he feels Star jolt, wanting to race forward. 

He holds her back. He holds her back and he knows, something deep inside him knows the boy didn’t make it, isn’t breathing anymore. 

Star feels it. She’s curled up and screaming, pushing against Comet with all her might but not going anywhere.

Mr. Bianchi is quiet too, but he keeps the phone to his ear as he bends down and presses two fingers to the inside of his neck. His cold, angry eyes lock onto Comet after a minute of poking and prodding with no response from Sunny. 

The boy doesn’t move, his neck bent at a cruel and unnatural angle. All the light has been sucked out of the room and Star is still screaming, clawing at the floor and Comet can feel her grief and anger. Her pain is so great that it clogs up the air and leaves an acidic taste on his tongue. 

Mr. Bianchi breathes out, his fingers still pressed against Sunny’s neck. “Comet, get her out of here.”

He can’t move, his eyes are locked onto Sunny’s…body. 

“Comet, now!” Mr. Bianchi roars. “Get that stupid dog out of here and make her stop screaming!”

The yelling snaps Comet back to reality, lets the white walls come crashing down and remind him that he needs to follow orders. But more importantly, as he picks up a screaming, shaking Star, he feels a pang deep in his chest. He can’t lose both of them, and Mr. Bianchi seems drunk and angry enough to lash out at Star and kill her too. 

He can’t lose both the people he lives for. He was trained to keep both of them in line and with both of them gone, what would he do? 

With both of them gone, what would happen to the warmth that blooms inside him when he sees them smile? 

Mr. Bianchi is still talking on the phone, still talking about his work, and Comet feels himself get mad. He’s a good dog, he knows he is, but he wants to lunge and rip out Mr. Bianchi’s throat, watch the red drip across the hardwood floor. 

Sunny is dead, so he doesn’t. Instead, he does what he can and holds Star close, carrying her up the stairs and being careful not to jar the glass still stuck in her face. 

Mr. Bianchi is still talking like he didn’t just kill Sunny, like in a split second he didn’t just rip a bonded pair apart. 

Like Star’s heart didn’t rip out of her chest the second Sunny was killed. 

She’s an incoherent mess by the time they’re back in the pet room, and it’s scaring Comet. Star isn’t the one who acts like this, she’s not the one who falls apart. He gently sets her on the floor before heading to the bathroom to grab the med kit, her sobs echoing around him. 

He sits on the floor and gently brings her head into his lap while he works at removing the glass with tweezers. 

“He’s g-g-gone…” Star stammers out, her chest heaving. “Sir killed him…he killed Sunny…killed me too…Comet, it hurts, this can’t be happening…”

All that only confirms Comet’s suspicions. She feels his pain like it’s her own, and with him gone, she’s falling apart. He runs his hand through her hair, and the other finishes pulling glass from her face. 

Star shudders, gasping for air. “I’m dying, I can’t…I can’t do this, I need him back!”

Comet doesn’t know what to do. He can’t make it better but he doesn’t like watching her suffer. He pulls her into his lap, pressing her back against his chest. “Do you want to sleep?” he murmurs, arms wrapped around her waist. 

She can’t stop crying, a seemingly endless stream of tears falling down her scarred face. “M-make it stop…I see him dying…why would Sir do that? I n-needed Sunny to survive and now he’s gone! I l-loved him…he was the good one, he was always the good one and this is my fault.”

He’s not supposed to talk much, but he hasn’t cared about that rule for a while. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” he whispers into her hair. 

Star scratches at her arms, her whole body shaking like Mr. Bianchi had come at her with the taser. “You gotta bring him back, Comet. You need to.”

A sob gets stuck in Comet’s throat and he can’t push it down before the sound escapes. “I can’t, Star, please stop hurting yourself.” He was made for violence and at the end of the day, when all the light is gone, it’s the only thing that makes sense. He puts Star in a chokehold, feeling tears spill down his cheeks. “G-goodnight, Star.”

And then, once she’s limp in his arms and he can finally let go, he whispers, “I loved both of you and I can’t lose you too.”

The last time Comet cried was in the Facility, being beaten with a baton for misbehaving. He’s a good Guard Dog now, and good Guard Dogs don’t cry, but he’s not a good Guard Dog. He failed to protect the bondeds. 

Maybe Mr. Bianchi bought him not to protect them, but at some point, that changed. He curls himself over Star’s body, sobbing pathetically. He lives to protect them and he failed. 

He loved them both, but their Sunshine is gone. 

Sunny has gone and taken all the light with him. 

#bbu #box boy universe #bonded whumpees #lady whump #male whump #character death #alcohol tw #pet whump #star #sunny #comet #hunter bianchi #blue's words

[hermitdrabbles56]

Oh, if you’re looking for Sicktember specific stuff, how abt Wind has The Sick and Twi makes him the Yeti Soup, which is somewhat similar to Grandmas Soup bc Taste Like Home And Love :)

If just General prompts, what abt Wind being freaked abt Horses because they don’t have those in the great sea :)

I hope you get Brain to write what you would like to :))))

I was waiting to reply to this until I had both written, but my brain is refusing. so I will add to if I ever manage to write the sick fic.

in the meantime? HORSE

Outset Island, what an interesting place to have landed on this new and bizarre journey of theirs. Everywhere smells of salt and fish, the odd trees occasionally dropping massive round nuts. Brightly colored flowers he'd never imagined could exist. And a truly massive, endless, lake. Or as he's been corrected several times already, an ocean. (He's still going to call it a lake just to irritate the veteran) 

As horrifying as the prospect of being surrounded by endless water on a very small mass of land is, it's a very peaceful feeling place. Warm and sunny despite the uncomfortable sand that keeps finding its way into his boots. 

And another pleasant perk? Absolutely nothing to do. So for the first time in weeks, the wayward ranch hand decides to take some time to tend to and absolutely pamper his horse. He's not all that great with explaining their weird journey anyways, so he's more than willing to leave the difficult explanations to the local hero to everyone else. 

"There there, it's okay." Twilight coos as he brushes along Epona's neck as he scratches her cheek a bit, knowing full well she's been on edge since they got here. "You don't have to go anywhere near the water if you don't want to, I know it's scary seeing so much of it." 

Epona gives a little snort and shakes her head before raising it out of his touch. 

"Oh what, you want me to believe you're not a little shaken with all those wary glances?" 

She gives an indignant little huff and raises her head higher as she looks away from him. 

"Well pardon me m'lady, how dare I assume that the great Epona would be scared of a little water." Twilight smirks. "I assume you're not afraid of the portals either?" 

She shuffles her front hooves in place and gives him a pointed look accompanied by snort that borders on mocking. 

"Oh I'm the scared one am I? And you're just pretending for my sake, is that right little miss hardened warrior?" He questions as he rests his hands on his hips. 

With a confident bray she nods her head insistently. Drawing an almost insulted scoff out of her rider. 

"You're unbelievable, I've been pulled through more portals than apples you can count and you say I'm the scared one?" He frowns. 

She gives an argumentative winny and stomps her hoof a bit. 

"Suppose you've just been acting like a baby to get sugar cubes then huh? I guess you won't be needing any more of those?" 

If looks could kill, this horse would be a mass murderer. Stomping her foot again with an insulted snort. 

"No no, little miss hard as nails. I certainly wouldn't want anyone to think I'm coddling the great Epona." 

Twilight steps back with a smirk just as she rears up with a loud winny. Coming down with a hard stomp where he'd been just a moment ago. He knows very well she'd never hurt him no matter how much they argue. But the startled gasp he hears from off behind him, is a reasonable reaction from anyone who's never seen the two of them bicker before. 

Ears flicking a bit he turns to look in the direction of the small voice. Spotting a flash of pale blue as it disappears behind one of the odd looking spiky, fern like bush trees that's a little squaty and a little round. Epona giving a worried little knicker as she pads close to him again. 

"It's alright you two, you can come out, she won't hurt you." 

Very slowly the two figures peer around the odd looking tree. Twilight recognizes the tan skined blondes with bright sea green and blue eyes. He'd be lying if he said he didn't think this world's Link and his little sister were adorable. 

"Sorry if she spooked you, she's a sweetheart I promise." Twilight says with a soft smile as Epona's large head comes to rest on his shoulder. 

"You're..the one they call Rancher right..?" Link questions warily. 

"That I am." He says with a nod and a smile. 

"Why do they call you that?" 

"Because it's what I am, I'm a rancher, also known as a farmer." 

"What's a farmer..?" 

Twilight can't help but chuckle about that. "It's someone who tends to a large amount of land that either grows massive crops, or cares for large herds of animals. For me specifically, I'm a goat herder. But I do other things too." 

"....is that a goat?" Aryll questions as she points to Epona. 

"Nope, this is Epona, she's a horse." He grins. 

"What's a horse?" The little girl asks as she tilts her head a bit. "Also What's a goat if a horse isn't a goat." 

"Well, a goat is a farm animal that produces milk, and in my village they also produce wool that can be used to make clothes. Meanwhile horses are work animals! Epona here carries me on her back, and makes it a lot easier to travel long distances on land. She can also pull carts and wagons if bribed enough." He explains happily as he pats her cheek. 

"...are they all so…big?" Link asks warily. 

"No, not necessarily. Depends on their breed." Twilight explains as he nuzzles into Epona a moment. "She's on the bigger end, she's a full bred war horse in the draft family. Draft horses are some of the biggest and strongest. Though I hear that the war horses of the Gerudo are even more formidable." 

Epona had held her head up pridefully until that last part. Looking at Twilight and giving an insulted snort. 

Twilight just rolls his eyes. "My apologies princess for implying that you aren't the most fearsome and intimidating steed around." 

She gives him an unamused glare. 

"I…can't tell if you're, actually talking to her, or you're fucking crazy.." Link says with a bit of concern. 

Twilight blinks a moment before a snort escapes him and he breaks into a hearty bout of laughter. Epona giving a long suffering sigh of sorts and shaking her head. 

"Crazy it is." Link decides which just makes Twilight laugh harder. Aryll beginning to giggle with him. 

"I- assure you I'm not as insane as I look." Twilight manages as he calms down a bit. "I've known Epona for most of my life, we're apart of each other so you could say we have our own language." 

He'd always felt this way since he was a kid, so at least he has a less insane way to explain that yes, he can talk to his horse. He can talk to any animal that he meets. Infact since arriving he's learned that the seagulls of Outset have rather insulting opinions of everyone but Link and his family. And that the pigs are easily amused by the kids' shenanigans, but he'll keep that to himself. 

"...well..crazy or not. I have more questions." Aryll states. 

"Ask away." He says with an amused smile. 

"Is she soft?" 

"Yes, especially after a good bath." 

"Could she crush a coconut with her stompers?" 

"I uh, I don't know what a coconut? Is? But as long as it's not a rock yes, she can crush things very easily with her hooves." 

"Like skulls?" Link ponders. 

"..I mean..technically." Twilight admits awkwardly as the memory of her getting fed up with a few bokoblins comes to mind. 

"How do you not know what a coconut is?" Aryll frowns. 

"I don't have coconuts where I'm from." 

"How is that possible! Everywhere has coconuts!" 

"Well..we also don't have an ocean in my kingdom. So that's probably why we don't have them." 

"NO OCEAN?!" Both of the kids ask with confusion and a slight bit of horror. 

He shakes his head a bit with an amused smile. "No ocean. Just a very big lake." 

"So can you not swim?" Aryll asks 

"I can swim! There's lots of water, just not this much water." 

"Can she swim?" She asks as she points to Epona. 

Twilight and Epona both shake their heads. "No, she's not a fan of deep water. She'll travel streams and creeks. But if it gets too deep it's a no go." 

"What does she like then?" Link asks. 

"Jumping, obstacle courses, herding and just…running wild through an open field." 

Epona happily dances in place at the thought. 

"What does she eat? Is she like the pigs?" Link asks. 

Twilight gives a soft chuckle. "She can eat meat, but mainly she's vegetarian. Grass, hay, certain fruits and vegetables, and some grains." 

"Sounds boring." Link frowns. 

"Ehh, to us, yes. But to her it's the best thing in the world." 

"....can..can I pet her..?" Aryll asks carefully. 

Twilight looks at her and gives a kind smile. "She would absolutely love that." 

Aryll gives a grin and moves to run forward but Link snatches her up. "Woah woah what! No, absolutely not." 

"But why!!" Aryll wines as she wiggles in his strong hold as he lifts her up off the ground. 

"She seems…plenty nice, but she almost crushed him earlier! She's literally called a war horse and her feet are bigger than your head and that's saying something!" Link defends with a worried tone. 

"Hey your heads bigger than mine! Put me down he said she'd want to be pet!" Aryll grumbles as she starts kicking wildly. 

"No! Absolutely not.." 

"If it helps.." Twilight says calmly, catching the attention of the siblings before it turns into a full squabble. "She may be big, but she's grown up around children and babies. She gives the kids in my village rides all the time. And she's like a mother hen when she's around babies. I know our bickering looked upsetting, but I knew very well how she was going to react to me poking at her. And she would never ever rear up like that around you two had she'd known you were there." 

"Doesn't change the fact that.." 

Link trails off as he watches Epona back away from Twilight. Prancing around in a little circle before lying down in the grass without prompting. Her tail flicking lightly as she gets comfortable. Looking over at the kids with those big brown eyes and nickering softly. 

Very slowly Link sets his little sister down. Swallowing thickly and watching Epona like a hawk. Meanwhile Aryll is all too happy to scamper over to the mare as soon as she's steady on her feet. Stopping just in front of her with a big grin as Twilight crouches down beside her. 

"Just hold your hand out alright? She won't hurt you I promise." 

Aryll does as she's told and her smile gets all the brighter as Epona nuzzles her big head into the girl's tiny hands. Little fingers starting to gently pet and scratch at her short coat, before the kid just giggles and full on hugs her muzzle while petting her cheek. Epona giving a happy little rumble in response. 

The rumbles only continuing when she feels Link's tentative hands gently and hesitantly starting to pet along her neck. Then comb through her coarse mane and gently undo any tangles he finds. 

"Okay…I..I guess you're not all that bad.." Link says quietly. 

Twilight just gives a pleased smile. The moment feeling all too much like home. 

#it's all fluff #just fluff #linked universe #lu twilight #lu wind #lu aryll #lu epona #fics #hermit responds! #hermit writes

[bandedbulbussnarfblat]

Quartet-chapter 8

here or read it below. this chapter is perfectly safe to read at work.

Daniel calls Alice on Monday to say they need to talk and she invites him over for dinner the next night.  The girls will be out on the town with her younger sister who flew in to visit for the week so they can speak privately.  His old home isn’t particularly far from his current one.  This is because when Armand said he was buying them a house, he had asked Daniel if he had any requests.  His only request had been to be near his daughters, in case of an emergency.

Alice is wearing leggings and an oversized tee-shirt when she opens the door.  Her brown hair is up in a messy bun, and she’s carrying a huge glass of red wine.  She’s wearing her square, black-framed glasses instead of her usual contacts.  “It’s been a day,” she says.  “Your daughter is smoking.”

Daniel frowns and follows her inside the house and into the kitchen.  It’s small, but sunny and warm, the walls an inviting yellow.  The round table had barely been big enough to fit the four of them.  Daniel supposes they have more room now.  

“Which one?” Daniel asks.  Erin is older and less rebellious, but she’d taken the divorce harder than Chloe.  

Alice slides a plate of hamburger and macaroni over to him.  Alice never cooked anything fancy, not with Chloe, who is a picky eater.  Armand never cooked, he merely hired top of the line chefs and had them prepare all sorts of rare and exotic food.  But sometimes a person just wanted Hamburger Helper.  

“Erin,” Alice says and slides into her normal spot across from him.  “Guess where she got them?”

Daniel does have an emergency pack of cigarettes hidden in his office.  Or he did.

“She found my emergency smokes.”

Alice eyes him and takes a huge swallow of wine.  “I thought you quit smoking.”

He has.  Except for emergencies.  What classifies as an emergency depends on how bad he needs a cigarette.  

“I’ll talk to her, okay?”

Alice takes another swallow of wine, and her body goes tense, like she’s bracing for something.  “Why did you want to talk, Daniel?”

“I’m not using again,” Daniel says, and Alice’s entire body slumps forward and relaxes.

“Oh, thank god,” she says and takes a gulp of wine.  

Daniel doesn’t think she’s going to like what he has to say next any better than if he had.  “I’m trying to work things out with Armand.”

Alice drains the rest of the wine.  “Well, that makes sense.  I’d like to believe I wouldn’t be cheated on unless you were absolutely stupid over the other person.”

She sighs and levels her gaze.  “But honestly, I do want you to be happy.  I mean, I wanted you to suffer appropriately for cheating, but I’m over it.  And if this guy is who makes you happy, then go for it.”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming.”

Alice grimaces a little.  “But it’s going to be an uphill battle with the girls.  They won’t care he’s a man–we raised them better than that–but they will consider him a homewrecker.  They’ll hate him once they know he was the reason for the divorce.”

“Maybe I just don’t tell them?”  Daniel says, but he knows it’s pointless.  Erin is whip smart and quick to put things together.  She’ll ask if Armand is the one.  She’d ask about whoever Daniel started dating.  

“Good luck with that.”

/

Bianca had called him after she delivered the papers to Nicki, naturally.  But today he’s in her office in the Upper East side, only a few minutes from home.  The wall of windows lets in an enormous amount of light.  Bianca went around and closed the blinds, then sank down gracefully into her seat behind her large desk.  

Armand is sitting across from her in a very stylish and compact cream colored armchair.  A matching one is a few feet away, both facing Bianca’s desk.  Her shoes are tossed on the cushion, white with white lace flowers and in the center on each flower a pearl, and a strap of real pearls that wrapped around each ankle.  They matched the pearls in her braided bun.  Golden ringlets frame her face, perfectly placed.  

A deep groan cracks her perfect image.  “Nicki’s been using Lestat’s lawyer.  She’s heinous; do you know how hard it is to stay polite with that level of passive-aggression?”

He runs a theater, so he has some idea.  Drama is what actors were good at.  “If you can make it through dinner with Father, you can manage anything.”

Bianca sighs and kicks her feet up onto the desk.  Her toenails are painted a bright pink.  “Speaking of Uncle Marius,” she says, as if she didn’t have the most torturous and terrible crush on him when she was in college, “he’s been pestering me about you.  He says you aren’t returning his calls.”

“He’s been calling more often.  It’s exhausting.”  He means Marius is exhausting, but Bianca knows that.

“Well, call him back.  He’s starting to suggest we set up a regular family dinner,” Bianca says then swings her legs off the desk and leans forward on her elbows conspiringly.  “I think it has something to do with Pandora.  You know how they are.  She withdraws, he lavishes her with attention and smothers her; she leaves for a while, she comes back.”

Bianca knows the family dynamics well; she’s practically Armand’s adopted sister.  She had met Armand and Marius when Armand was only fifteen.  She was nineteen and stunningly beautiful, one of Marius’ pupils.  Armand had developed quite the crush on her.  She developed quite the crush on Marius.  Marius was frustrated that Bianca would not focus on her painting, and still silently furious that Armand had never begun to paint again.  Not after he’d been kidnapped.  

Bianca had always been kind to him, and so gracious about his obvious affection for her.  Never condescending and always warm and friendly in a way that couldn’t be misinterpreted as flirtatious.  Eventually, she grew close enough to them both that she shared her family were criminals, and made her commit crimes.  Marius had offered to take care of it for her, and had taken Armand with him.  He had essentially bought Bianca from her family, giving them an insane amount of money to leave her life and leave her in his care.  

Marius had gotten her an apartment, a car, and paid for her schooling.  Said something about her being a diamond in the rough.  Armand has always been pretty sure it had more to do with the fact that his father really, really, wanted to fuck a teenager.  A teenager who was one of his students.  Armand believes they must have fucked at some point, just to get it out of their systems, but Bianca is demure on the topic.

And she enjoys messing with him too much to ever let him know one way or the other.

He and Bianca had fucked, after he turned eighteen.  It was a now-and-then thing during his college years, when both of them were too focused on school for anything serious.  Every few months they would hook up, and they’d see each other at Marius’ during the holidays, because of course, she was invited.  That had just been convenient at first, he didn’t even have to leave home for a booty call.  After a while, it seemed too intimate, too much like a real relationship.

And maybe it could have been.  Armand doesn’t know if he could have ever loved Bianca like he loves Louis, but he knows he loved her as much as a teenage boy could.  Nearly as much as he loved Lestat.  He’d always been so careful to keep them away from each other.  He had been terribly afraid they would meet and instantly love each other and forget him.  

But Marius had discovered them, and he had been disappointed.  He hadn’t said so, but it was obvious.  Later, Bianca would tell him with red-rimmed eyes that Marius had pulled her aside and told her something shocking.  He’d been waiting until she was ‘old enough’ to declare his love for her and he thought she knew, and thought she was waiting as well.  Bianca had told him off for expecting her to wait around some arbitrary amount of time, and had stormed out.  

At least, that’s what she told Armand when she found him outside.  He’d been hiding in his old treehouse.  She had swiped at her bleary eyes, and explained it to him.  Armand had thought she was gone an awful long time, for just talking.  He’d been sure they had fucked after that fight.

Probably just the once, as some sick form of closure.  Marius would be too self-righteous to ever try an honest relationship with her, and besides, Armand had already had her; she was spoiled.

She climbed into the hammack beside him and laid her head on his chest.  Her voice had been so small when she spoke.  “I don’t think I can do this anymore.  This thing between us.”

Armand hadn’t said anything, just stroked a hand through her hair.  He felt her crying onto his shirt.  “I feel like we’re on the precipice of something, and if we keep going we’re going to tip over.  I’m going to tip over, to a place I can’t come back from.”

Armand had been surprised; while Bianca freely admitted she loved him, he never thought it held romantic connotations.  She freely told Riccardo that she loved him.  She said it to several of those girls from the gaggle that followed her around.  

“I thought you were in love with Fa-Marius.”

Bianca smiled sadly.  “I am;”  she looked up into Armand’s face and met his eyes.  “But I’m in love with you too.  I don’t know how or when it happened.  But I am, and I want you both and it’s not fair, but I do.”

And Armand hadn’t been angry.  The idea of Bianca being in love with someone else wasn’t appalling; it was that it was Marius that was the problem.  

“If I choose one of you, the other will resent me.  And I will be the reason for strife between you.  I can’t do that.”

“You can,” Armand had said, and kissed her, because it was the perfect time too.  She tasted salty from her tears and she had trembled against him before she pulled away.  

“I can’t, I can’t,” she said.  “You can’t do anything to make me fall more in love with you.  Anymore and I’ll never be able to come back from it.”

The selfish part of Armand had wanted that, but the rational part of him told him that while he did love Bianca, he wasn’t really in love with her.  At least, not the way he had been as a boy.  It was a love so pure, and so blinding in its intensity that whatever Bianca was, she could never be what he dreamed her to be.  So they had let each other go, and distanced themselves from each other for a bit.  Then one day they just fell back together again, as friendly as they ever were, but with not an ounce of flirtation there.  Armand had found he didn’t mind.

All three of them had come back from it.  They are…family. 

“I’m not here for family gossip, as fascinating as Father’s suffering may be.”  Armand doesn’t think he actually means it.  He wants Marius to be happy.  To be happy away from him.  

“Right, Nicki,” Bianca says, “We finally reached an agreement.  Do you care about the details?”  

She and Lestat’s lawyer, working on behalf of Nicki, had spent most of yesterday and today arguing an agreement for Armand to pay for Nicki’s physical therapy.  Nicki really didn’t want to do the drug tests, and had plenty of unkind things to say about him, Armand imagined.

“Not particularly.”

“The juicy bit that I didn’t want to get into on the phone is why Nicki thinks you’re doing it,” Bianca says with a grin.

“Guilt?” Armand guesses.

Bianca laughs, a tinkling sound.  “He knows you too well for that.  No, he thinks you’re trying to impress Lestat.  He believes you’re in love with him.”

In love with Lestat.  Well, Nicki would think that, wouldn’t he?  Historically, he would be correct.  But Armand is hardly a teenage boy anymore.    “That just means he’s still hung up on him.”

“Oh, it is unhealthy,” Bianca says.  “But I’m sure whatever you’re actually scheming will work perfectly.  Marius wouldn’t have picked us if we weren’t brilliant.”

“It will work.  It involves Lestat being a slut.”

“He’s blond.  Blonds have the right to be slutty,” Bianca says.  Then she points a finger at Armand.  “I will see you at family dinner.”

“I’m not-”

“Forty-eight hours.  I have not slept in forty-eight hours working on this Nicki business for you.  You owe me.”

“I’ll add it to your billable hours.”

Bianca’s eye twitches.  “Armand, you will come and save me.  Marius is talking about introducing me to some ‘nice young man.’”

That is solely one of those things that is not his problem; but he cares about Bianca.  “Fine, but only because you’re playing damsel-in-distress.”

Bianca clutches hands over her chest and pretends to swoon.  “Armand, my hero.”

Armand is going to hate every minute of this.  At least he’ll have Louis to bring along and make things bearable.

#iwtv fic

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 5: I PLACE AN UNDERWATER PHONE CALL

Nico read the new chapter title telling himself he was happy to be reading now. These books weren't that long, maybe he'd even get out of reading the rest of this one getting his out of the way now.

"Wouldn't monsters still be summoned to you under there?" Alex asked.

"I didn't think waterproof phones had gotten that advanced," Magnus said.

"I want to know who he's calling," Jason frowned, "was your mom supposed to be waiting for you, or did you all assume you'd find another ride to camp?"

"I wish I could make one now to 911," Percy sighed, "you guys are insane constantly questioning these."

I'd never seen Camp Half-Blood in winter before, and the snow surprised me.

Nico tried to hide a grimace behind the book how ominous that should have been. He brought cold and the dead everywhere with him from the beginning.

"I keep telling Chiron we need some kind of winter break holiday special!" Will nearly shouted Nico's ear off as he waved at Percy. "To many campers miss how awesome this place is to experience with snow whenever we want, and we need some new traditions to shake up some of ours! I already promised Nico fireworks in December."

Nico was now blushing just a bit and muttering nobody else would want to sit around for that, but over ruled instantly as Percy nodded along seriously. "Even just for two weeks, that sounds awesome!"

See, the camp has the ultimate magic climate control. Nothing gets inside the borders unless the director, Mr. D, wants it to. I thought it would be warm and sunny, but instead the snow had been allowed to fall lightly. Frost covered the chariot track and the strawberry fields. The cabins were decorated with tiny flickering lights, like Christmas lights, except they seemed to be balls of real fire. More lights glowed in the woods, and weirdest of all, a fire flickered in the attic window of the Big House, where the Oracle dwelt, imprisoned in an old mummified body. I wondered if the spirit of Delphi was roasting marshmallows up there or something.

"Better than the sacrificial alter fire I was imagining," Magnus made an 'uck' face.

"We only sacrifice kids during the eclipse thank you," Will gave a dramatic sniff.

"Whoa," Nico said as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Why is there lava pouring down it?"

"Little extra challenge.

"Extra challenge," Magnus repeated, "because the normal kind you can fall off of and die from isn't fun enough."

"You said it, not me," Alex smirked.

"Saved our butts in the past, the lava-less climb made Polyphemus's cliff seem tame," Percy shrugged it came in handy.

Come on. I'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoe, have you met—"

"I know Chiron," Zoe said stiffly.

"Does she hate him too?" Jason asked. "They're both immortal, but not gods, you'd think she'd get along with the horse guy for having something in common."

"She's still unhappy about being sent away from Artemis," Thalia sadly interpreted. It was the first time she'd spoken up after finally getting her breath back, and she still sounded so exhausted and weary, now for a different reason. "She's going to be unhappy with everyone for a while." A sentiment she'd never have understood before joining herself, and she winced with guilt how harshly she'd treated Zoe just like Percy back during these times.

"Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me."

"I'll show you the way," Grover offered.

"We know the way."

"Oh, really, it's no trouble. It's easy to get lost here, if you don't"—he tripped over a canoe and came up still talking—"like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!"

"Why do I have a feeling that advice didn't help him escape Polyphemus?" Alex asked.

"I sort of want to hear that sage satyr advice," Jason admitted. "I didn't think they could give advice."

"I'll be sure to ask him when we get back," Percy rolled his eyes.

Zoe rolled her eyes, but I guess she figured there was no getting rid of Grover. The Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows and headed off toward the cabins. As Bianca di Angelo was leaving, she leaned over and whispered something in her brothers ear. She looked at him for an answer, but Nico just scowled and turned away.

"She asked if the place looked like fun," Nico answered before Alex or anyone could ask. "Like I was at my first day of preschool," he finished, his voice colder than any frost.

"I mean, wasn't the answer yes?" Percy gave him a smile and as always tried to laugh that off.

He just turned his face away from him back to the book. He was trying so hard to let go of his bitter thoughts about his sister he didn't even realize for the first time he hadn't admired Percy's talent for doing that, it was just a casual response from him by now.

"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters.

"He clearly takes Artemis's dire warnings to heart," Rachel chuckled.

"What's she going to do, ground him?" Thalia sighed.

He winked at me. "Watch out for those prophecies, Percy. I'll see you soon."

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, he hopped back in the bus.

"Cryptic, unhelpful, leaves an impression," Jason sighed. "These gods are almost getting predictable."

"Gods, don't tell him that," Will's eyes went wide in fright what his dad might do to be called anything other than predictable.

"I thought you meant bus drivers in general for a second, so who are we to judge?" Alex shrugged.

"Later, Thalia," he called. "And, uh, be good!"

He gave her a wicked smile, as if he knew something she didn't.

"Like how to be good?" Magnus asked without hope.

"There's a lost cause before it started," Thalia scoffed, "least of all from Apollo."

Then he closed the doors and revved the engine. I turned aside as the sun chariot took off in a blast of heat. When I looked back, the lake was steaming. A red Maserati soared over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight.

Nico was still looking grumpy.

"I'm beginning to think that's his perpetual state of being," Rachel said cheerfully.

"He's had his moments in here," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Leave him be," Will almost sounded like he was snapping at them. "Nobody's telling you to take all of this with a smile."

Nico was biting his lip, not quite hiding a smile Jason noticed as Nico watched Will, so he didn't really think he was that bothered at all when he tacked in, "still, since we're marking milestones, first time Nico was mentioned like that."

"We are not marking those!" Thalia reminded in exasperation. "You keep doing it despite our continued protests!"

Rachel now had her hand pressed to her mouth to poorly stifle how Thalia sounded like an exhausted babysitter with to many charges as Nico kept going.

I wondered what his sister had told him.

"Who's Chiron?" he asked. "I don't have his figurine."

"I'm sure he's heartbroken," Alex sighed, though immediately perked up and said, "maybe I could make one."

"You can't, ah, just make up your own," but Nico wasn't going to be the one to tell Alex no when she was clearly going to try.

"Our activities director," I said. "He's... well, you'll see.

"That's all you gave him?" Magnus protested. "A little sympathy for the guy you could warn is part horse."

"I thought you wanted to hear Nico having more of a reaction to you than something?" Percy asked innocently. "Maybe I'm trying to surprise the kid."

"By giving him a heart attack?" Magnus demanded.

"Be honest, do you want Nico to ask how many hit points a centaur has?" Thalia was clearly on Percy's side.

Nico was shaking his head in long accepted exasperation that's all he'd clearly ever be to them, a kid. It really wasn't bothering him as much as it used to though, maybe Bianca had meant for him to let go and even enjoy his age a bit more rather than focusing on revenge.

"If those Hunter girls don't like him," Nico grumbled, "that's good enough for me. Let's go."

The second thing that surprised me about camp was how empty it was. I mean, I knew most half-bloods only trained during the summer. Just the year-rounders would be here—the ones who didn't have homes to go to, or would get attacked by monsters too much if they left.

But there didn't even seem to be many of them, either.

I spotted Charles Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin stoking the forge outside the camp armory.

Percy smiled with a somber look for Tyson. He remembered back during their school year he'd loved wintertime and splashed through every puddle on the way to school, always stopping to make incredible snowmen during recess. Even when Matt Sloan had broken them apart he'd just smile and rebuild a better one.

He hoped he was okay down under the ocean, that he and Annabeth could send him a Christmas card.

The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, from the Hermes cabin, were picking the lock on the camp store.

"Argus was having a mysterious emergency on the bus," Will said innocently. "Connor told me he was positive he heard some poor soul trapped in the engine."

"I'm so sure there was someone trapped in the store they had to get out right away, it couldn't wait," Percy nodded while the others chuckled that no matter the time of year, at least business as usual seemed to be going on there.

A few kids from the Ares cabin were having a snowball fight with the wood nymphs at the edge of the forest. That was about it. Even my old rival from the Ares cabin, Clarisse, didn't seem to be around.

"I'm sure she's somewhere around there," Thalia muttered, wishing she'd asked more at the time why she'd always been locked up by herself.

The Big House was decorated with strings of red and yellow fireballs that warmed the porch but didn't seem to catch anything on fire. Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelled like hot chocolate. Mr. D, the camp director, and Chiron were playing a quiet game of cards in the parlor.

Chiron's brown beard was shaggier for the winter. His curly hair had grown a little longer. He wasn't posing as a teacher this year, so I guess he could afford to be casual. He wore a fuzzy sweater with a hoofprint design on it, and he had a blanket on his lap that almost hid his wheelchair completely.

"It's almost full on deja vu to the first time I did meet him," Percy smiled at Magnus now. Except Annabeth wasn't down at her cabin to tell him drooled this time, he couldn't help a forlorn sigh.

He smiled when he saw us. "Percy! Thalia! Ah, and this must be—"

"Nico di Angelo," I said. "He and his sister are half-bloods."

"As opposed to finding a couple of what?" Alex asked.

"You never know, I might have to rescue a baby satyr one day," Percy shrugged.

Chiron breathed a sigh of relief. "You succeeded, then."

Percy and Thalia made an eerily similar face, they could never call that mission a success, and Nico still winced against his own intentions. He'd brought them nothing but chaos from the beginning.

"Hey," Will said quietly beside him. He couldn't be disrespectful to the hurt in the pair of them, but he still told Nico sternly, "one success doesn't mean someone else's failure. We will always want more kids around camp however they get there."

Nico studied him for a moment, wrestling with himself if he believed that. Will probably saw him as just a kid too, an obligation of someone to take care of down here. They all weren't that much older than him, hell, technically he was older than them!

It wouldn't matter when he came back from Tartarus with proof, they couldn't just see him as some pipsqueak then.

"Well..."

His smile melted. "What's wrong? And where is Annabeth?"

"Oh, dear," Mr. D said in a bored voice, "Not another one lost."

There was a tense, crackling noise filling the room. Jason and Rachel were glancing uneasily at their nearest seatmates with trepidation nobody needed translating. If Dionysus started pretending like Annabeth's loss was no big deal, no way were they going to survive both of these two having a fit over it down here.

I'd been trying not to pay attention to Mr. D, but he was kind of hard to ignore in his neon orange leopard-skin warm-up suit and his purple running shoes. (Like Mr. D had ever run a day in his immortal life.) A golden laurel wreath was tilted sideways on his curly black hair, which must've meant he'd won the last hand of cards.

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked. "Who else is lost?"

Just then, Grover trotted into the room, grinning like crazy. He had a black eye and red lines on his face that looked like a slap mark.

"I'm guessing his offer to show them to the showers didn't go over well," Alex wrinkled her nose Grover was that bad at taking a hint.

"Must be strange for him chasing someone who can't turn into a tree to get away," Jason said blankly, but an idiotic fawn acting like a pest was the most normal thing he'd yet heard of this camp, so it phased him the least.

"The Hunters are all moved in!"

Chiron frowned. "The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about." He glanced at Nico. "Grover, perhaps you should take our young friend to the den and show him our orientation film."

"Poor Grover getting more sidelined in this one than the last one where he was literally kidnapped out of the way," Magnus smiled faintly.

"G-Man's always had his own agenda," Percy said without concern. He'd catch his best friend up on any important details he'd miss.

"But... Oh, right. Yes, sir."

"Orientation film?" Nico asked. "Is it G or PG? 'Cause Bianca is kinda strict—"

"It's PG-13," Grover said.

"Cool!" Nico happily followed him out of the room.

"Speaking of being sidelined," Nico huffed as he flipped the page. It was no wonder really, he'd been duped out of the room as easily as any toddler.

"Oh come on, the graphics aren't that bad," Will insisted. "I'd skip on a dire conversation about the end of the world again just to watch that part about Odysseus sailing around and slaying a few monsters."

"You only say that because your dad directed it," Nico smirked.

"You didn't deny it though," Will smirked back.

"Now," Chiron said to Thalia and me, "perhaps you two should sit down and tell us the whole story."

When we were done, Chiron turned to Mr. D. "We should launch a search for Annabeth immediately."

"The proper response when a camper goes missing," Will sounded as petulant as he ever could, maybe even a tad bitter himself. As many campers that had gone missing over the past two years alone, Chiron had cautioned patients and keeping an eye on each other more.

Because they knew the truth, they were defecting to Luke's side. There was no saving them.

Annabeth goes missing and Chiron wants to launch an immediate rescue to go find Luke and bring her back. Because she'd want to come back.

He knew the difference when he spelled it out, but it didn't make the hurt any less so many other kids had been passed over. He'd had a new little brother for about three weeks when he went missing one night, and Chiron had mournfully announced the same old speech at breakfast. What if Luke had taken him against his will? Indoctrinated him into hating the gods? He might have wanted to come back!

Will didn't say any of that though, didn't let the others see it. He couldn't hate Chiron for making the hard choices any more than he hated his dad for not casting divine intervention to rescue all his kids. It just hurt.

Nico looked at him in surprise though for the unfamiliar tone, and for the first time wondered if anybody had actually looked for him when he fell into the Labyrinth.

"I'll go," Thalia and I said at the same time.

Mr. D sniffed. "Certainly not!"

Thalia took a deep breath to reign in her temper, but Percy was already glowering at the book in Nico's hands, his green eyes churning the water around him without him even seeming to notice.

Thalia and I both started complaining, but Mr. D held up his hand. He had that purplish angry fire in his eyes that usually meant something bad and godly was going to happen if we didn't shut up.

"Why does it always have to be bad and godly?" Magnus sighed. "For once I want to see something good and godly happen with all that massive power."

"I wouldn't hold your breath," Alex was leaning forward curiously in her seat what he was going to do, her hair swinging over her shoulder. Magnus caught a hint of skin on the back of her neck that seemed oddly miscolored, and quickly averted his eyes lest he get caught peaking.

"From what you have told me," Mr. D said, "we have broken even on this escapade.

The water was getting increasingly hot in here, and Nico vaguely wondered what they were doing to the ecosystem as he read faster.

We have, ah, regrettably lost Annie Bell—"

"Annabeth," I snapped.

Percy had restrained himself from doing that in here by forcing his eyes to the ceiling and copying Thalia, taking a deep breath. He knew it wasn't Nico, he didn't want to kill anyone in here, he was being calm because she was okay...

Jason was still looking wearily from him to the center of the room like he expected Oceanus to pop back up any second and save them. It's not like they could do anything else if Percy exploded.

She'd gone to camp since she was seven, and still Mr. D pretended not to know her name.

"Yes, yes," he said. "And you procured a small annoying boy to replace her.

Nico had to pause there and clench his teeth together hard enough to crack a tooth to stifle a self-deprecating laugh. As if he could replace Annabeth in any sense, yet somehow one of his favorite gods was indulging his forbidden wish. There was always a reason he liked the wine dude, all the fun good ideas.

So I see no point risking further half-bloods on a ridiculous rescue. The possibility is very great that this Annie girl is dead."

...She's alive, she's alive, she's alive...

It shouldn't be possible for them to hear howling wind down here or sense the danger in the very air they should be fleeing for their lives, but they all could.

"Percy-" Thalia began, but he didn't want to hear from her right now, a proven fact when she felt an icy splash of water to her face as he snapped, "I know, I'm listening!"

Thalia spat the water out and only commented, "I was just going to say if you didn't say something to him I would have."

Nico was pretty sure Percy hadn't been a pile of ashes when he burst in, so he tried to keep going before that happened to all of them. Thalia was scrunching up her tongue in disgust without trying again anyways.

I wanted to strangle Mr. D. It wasn't fair Zeus had sent him here to dry out as camp director for a hundred years. It was meant to be a punishment for Mr. D's bad behavior on Olympus, but it ended up being a punishment for all of us.

"Annabeth may be alive," Chiron said, but I could tell he was having trouble sounding upbeat. He'd practically raised Annabeth all those years she was a year-round camper, before she'd given living with her dad and stepmom a second try. "She's very bright. If... if our enemies have her, she will try to play for time. She may even pretend to cooperate."

"That's right," Thalia said. "Luke would want her alive."

"In which case" said Mr. D, "I'm afraid she will have to be smart enough to escape on her own."

I got up from the table.

"Percy." Chiron's tone was full of warning. In the back of my mind, I knew Mr. D was not somebody to mess with. Even if you were an impulsive ADHD kid like me, he wouldn't give you any slack. But I was so angry I didn't care.

"Whoever says that's not a fatal flaw has clearly never met you," Jason muttered as Percy's feet kept shifting his weight around, he had his hand clamped tight in his pocket but still hadn't drawn his pen. He really was trying to keep in mind not to kill all of them and have another meltdown.

"You're glad to lose another camper," I said. "You'd like it if we all disappeared!"

Mr. D stifled a yawn. "You have a point?"

"Yeah," I growled. "Just because you were sent here as a punishment doesn't mean you have to be a lazy jerk! This is your civilization, too. Maybe you could try helping out a little!"

For a second, there was no sound except the crackle of the fire. The light reflected in Mr. D's eyes, giving him a sinister look. He opened his mouth to say something—probably a curse that would blast me to smithereens—when Nico burst into the room, followed by Grover.

"Jason, mark this one for your diary," Will gave him an air poke. "Nico just saved Percy's life!"

"It's not a diary," he huffed before muttering there was nothing wrong with taking notes.

"Yeah, thanks Nico," Percy sighed, rubbing hard at his temple where a hurricane-sized headache had lodged. "Annabeth probably would have resurrected me herself just to smite me for getting killed before she got saved."

"Anytime," Nico said with an odd feeling of lightness. He'd never thought Percy would actually thank him for anything before.

"SO COOL!" Nico yelled, holding his hands out to Chiron. "You're... you're a centaur!"

Chiron managed a nervous smile. "Yes, Mr. di Angelo, if you please. Though, I prefer to stay in human form in this wheelchair for, ah, first encounters."

"And, whoa!" He looked at Mr. D. "You're the wine dude? No way!"

Mr. D turned his eyes away from me and gave Nico a look of loathing. "The wine dude?"

"Dionysus, right? Oh, wow! I've got your figurine."

"My figurine."

"In my game, Mythomagic. And a holofoil card, too! And even though you've only got like five hundred attack points and everybody thinks you're the lamest god card, I totally think your powers are sweet!"

"I second that vote," Rachel raised her hand.

"The Mr. D is actually cool part, or the Nico saved Percy's bacon part?" Jason asked, even mock clicking a pen.

"Both," she grinned.

"Duly noted," he laughed.

Percy, however, exchanged an exasperated look with Magnus. "He's now got us both beat out on first reaction to seeing a god, three times, in one day!"

"Nico's actually got you beat out on less gods who want to kill him too," Alex added.

"Can we not!" Nico planted his face in the pages in protest.

"Now you know my pain," Percy victoriously reminded.

Nico spared a look around and grinned back. It was nice, to just look at Percy and not feel his own oceans' worth of tangled, rushing emotions. Percy swept his black hair aside and watched him expectantly to move on, and surprisingly the first thing that came to mind wasn't to feel longing, then shame for wanting to brush at it himself, but instead to feel a little happy the guy clearly didn't blame all this on him like some of the other campers inherently seemed to do when any bad thing happened.

He still didn't find it as endearing as usual Percy just laughed it off too. Odd.

"Ah." Mr. D seemed truly perplexed, which probably saved my life. "Well, that's... gratifying."

"Percy," Chiron said quickly, "you and Thalia go down to the cabins. Inform the campers we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening."

Percy winced though and sat back in his seat with frustration. He'd never played a game of capture the flag without her, and he wasn't looking forward to it now.

"Capture the flag?" I asked. "But we don't have enough—"

"It is a tradition," Chiron said. "A friendly match, whenever the Hunters visit."

"Friendly? That's the word he used?" Alex drawled.

"Yeah," Thalia muttered. "I bet it's real friendly."

"Touché Alex," Thalia grinned.

Chiron jerked his head toward Mr. D, who was still frowning as Nico talked about how many defense points all the gods had in his game. "Run along now," Chiron told us.

"Oh, right," Thalia said. "Come on, Percy."

"And I would have gotten the popcorn," Alex sighed.

"Nah, I'd get bored without him constantly causing distress," Thalia shrugged.

She hauled me out of the Big House before Dionysus could remember that he wanted to kill me.

Percy was still working his jaw and didn't seem upset at the trade off if he could have finished telling that pompous sot off.

"You've already got Ares on your bad side," Thalia reminded me as we trudged toward the cabins. "You need another immortal enemy?"

"It's not an important number until I hit three, right?" Percy said innocently to Jason. "Hades actually doesn't hate me for giving back his helmet, I'm just keeping it real."

"Mock me all you like, you'll thank me for remembering the details you keep forgetting about your own story," Jason grinned.

"What would his curse even do to you?" Alex snorted. "Make all of your cokes flat?"

Percy got a horror-struck look on his face though, and Thalia sighed that's what it had taken for him to rethink mouthing off to a god!

She was right. My first summer as a camper, I'd gotten in a fight with Ares, and now he and all his children wanted to kill me. I didn't need to make Dionysus mad, too.

"Sorry," I said. "I couldn't help it. It's just so unfair."

She stopped by the armory and looked out across the valley, toward the top of HalfBlood Hill. Her pine tree was still there, the Golden Fleece glittering in its lowest branch. The tree's magic still protected the borders of camp, but it no longer used Thalia's spirit for power.

Magnus smiled he at least got one of his many questions answered about that. Her spirit wasn't attached anymore, but the tree still seemed to be blessed by Zeus at the very least to be so powerful.

It wasn't exactly a happy reminder to Thalia though, as she sat still as a pine in her seat. Her father could have easily made that thing vanish when she'd come out of it. Instead, it stood sentinel in place as a constant reminder to her.

"Percy, everything is unfair," Thalia muttered. "Sometimes I wish..."

She didn't finish, but her tone was so sad I felt sorry for her. With her ragged black hair and her black punk clothes, an old wool overcoat wrapped around her, she looked like some kind of huge raven, completely out of place in the white landscape.

She'd felt out of place there. It was why she'd gone to private school with Annabeth, who didn't need her anymore, while being so socially out of the loop and behind in all the remedial classes with monsters showing up every other weekend to challenge her. She could barely stomach sleeping in her own cabin and rather dragged her sleeping bag up to the roof above Zeus's statue most nights. Chiron had tried to respect her wish, teaching her how to manipulate the mist as soon as possible, always letting her come over at a moment's notice for extra practice, but she'd felt no more at home in the real world than at Camp. She'd never felt at peace until she joined the hunt, or was traveling with Luke and Annabeth, or those first years where it was just her and her little brother.

Maybe she had an older sibling complex, but at least it had all worked out for her in the end.

"We'll get Annabeth back," I promised. "I just don't know how yet."

"First I found out that Luke is lost," she said. "Now Annabeth—"

"Don't think like that."

"You're right." She straightened up. "We'll find a way."

The two exchanged a solemn look. Percy was still angry and frustrated with his situation and the world at large for constantly putting Thalia in his face down here, mocking him for everything he wasn't; but she was his friend. He'd felt it the moment he met her and wanted to get back to that more than dwell on this argument.

Thalia felt the exact same sense of replacement when she looked at him. To her it had seemed like Percy had slipped so easily into the role of Luke and her for Annabeth, her little sister didn't need either of them anymore when she'd come out of that tree and Annabeth had spoken of nothing but him.

They'd both failed to save her though, and blaming each other wasn't getting her back.

Over at the basketball court, a few of the Hunters were shooting hoops. One of them was arguing with a guy from the Ares cabin. The Ares kid had his hand on his sword and the Hunter girl looked like she was going to exchange her basketball for a bow and arrow any second.

"What could they have even found to argue about on such sacred ground in so short a time?" Alex asked with interest.

"Basketball to the death, yeah, sounds on par with this place," Magnus shrugged without surprise.

"I'll break that up," Thalia said. "You circulate around the cabins. Tell everybody about capture the flag tomorrow."

"All right. You should be team captain."

"No, no," she said. "You've been at camp longer. You do it."

"We can, uh... co-captain or something."

She looked about as comfortable with that as I felt, but she nodded.

"Look at you two working together," Jason approved, "those Hunters won't stand a chance. Um, no offense Thalia," he went a little cross-eyed as he eyed her silver jacket.

Thalia laughed without humor the game had been a disaster and her current status wasn't the concern about it when she said, "wait to place your bets on that one."

As she headed for the court, I said, "Hey, Thalia."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about what happened at Westover. I should've waited for you guys."

'"S okay, Percy. I probably would've done the same thing." She shifted from foot to foot, like she was trying to decide whether or not to say more.

Thalia swallowed a lump in her throat and looked quickly away from Jason. She wished she had kept her mouth shut now instead of opening up a bit to Percy, making temporary peace with him then felt like a slap in the face looking at the kid brother she'd lost in here.

Jason felt an inexplicable surge of guilt when she clearly looked away from them. He didn't know if it was regret for sharing that with Percy, or something to do with him, his clear otherness. She seemed to like Alex plenty and treated Magnus fondly, so fingers crossed it was the Percy thing.

"You know, you asked about my mom and I kinda snapped at you. It's just... I went back to find her after seven years, and I found out she died in Los Angeles. She, um... she was a heavy drinker, and apparently she was out driving late one night about two years ago, and..." Thalia blinked hard.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well. It's... it's not like we were ever close. I ran away when I was ten. Best two years of my life were when I was running around with Luke and Annabeth. But still—"

"That's why you had trouble with the sun van."

She gave me a wary look. "What do you mean?"

"The way you stiffened up. You must've been thinking about your mom, not wanting to get behind the wheel."

I was sorry I'd said anything. Thalia's expression was dangerously close to Zeus's, the one time I'd seen him get angry—like any minute, her eyes would shoot a million volts.

"Yeah," she muttered. "Yeah, that must've been it."

She trudged off toward the court, where the Ares camper and the Hunter were trying to kill each other with a sword and a basketball.

"You can tell me to skip stuff like that," Nico offered as he looked around at her with his own sorrow. "I, I'm not looking forward to some things, well, I'm sorry too Thalia."

She shrugged, but gave a concerningly wet sniff as she spoke to the wall above him. "It's whatever, I'm not ashamed to share that." Which was true enough, Percy had guessed wrong.

"He's right though Thals, I need to learn to keep my mouth shut," Percy sat forward in his seat with clear apology he'd upset her.

She forced herself to look back and shrug again, but she fooled no one.

The cabins were the weirdest collection of buildings you've ever seen. Zeus and Hera's big white-columned buildings, Cabins One and Two, stood in the middle, with five gods' cabins on the left and five goddesses' cabins on the right, so they all made a U around the central green and the barbecue hearth.

As Percy even slightly relaxed at the true feeling of being home again seemed to settle on him when this was described, Jason still twitched uneasily. From the very beginning, this setup was still weird.

I made the rounds, telling everybody about capture the flag.

Will smiled for the slipped moment nobody would know but him and Percy, that the book and clearly the guy hadn't thought about long enough to care. He'd been the one to answer the door, he and Kayla had been the only year-round campers at the time. In the background had been Grover, escorting Nico to the Hermes cabin Percy had already passed. Nico hadn't looked over his shoulder to even realize that was the first time he'd seen him, but Will had already been thinking about going over after dinner as an excuse to check on the new kid and maybe say high to Connor. He was always so mopey whenever Katie wasn't around the rest of the year.

I woke up some Ares kid from his midday nap and he yelled at me to go away. When I asked him where Clarisse was he said, "Went on a quest for Chiron. Top secret!"

"What's this now?" Jason sat up straight once more.

"Which word did you not get?" Percy asked politely. "The quest, or the secret?" His sarcasm didn't hold up very well, he was just as curious what all this was about.

"Is she okay?"

"Haven't heard from her in a month. She's missing in action. Like your butt's gonna be if you don't get outta here!"

"Such caring for their siblings, really brings the comradery of this place into focus," Nico muttered, the speech about how he couldn't even have a bed because they were all claimed from Travis, while Connor had been eyeing his bag with a familiar look of what could be stolen from him his first impression of the campers.

"The only thing we like to use the Ares cabin for is a bad example," Will shrugged.

I decided to let him go back to sleep.

Percy and Jason groaned in unison and flopped back into their seat, sending the couch back a few inches.

"You sure you don't want to switch books?" Percy insisted, knowing he'd decapitate anyone else who suggested it. "This is the worst one yet!" Most annoyingly of all because he had a sixth sense of what the answer was. Clarisse came back from this mission, but he wasn't going to like the answer.

"What makes you think I'd have any better luck than you?" Jason reminded as he tapped his temple.

Finally I got to Cabin Three, the cabin of Poseidon. It was a low gray building hewn from sea stone, with shells and coral fossils imprinted in the rock. Inside, it was just as empty as always, except for my bunk. A Minotaur horn hung on the wall next to my pillow.

"Because that'll chase the monsters under your bed away," Alex smirked.

"It's not even a good commemorable piece from the first monster you killed," Magnus said with a confused frown. "The fury didn't leave behind a trophy, did she? Why'd you keep that thing instead of throwing it in the attack?" He didn't exactly want a daily reminder of when he'd lost his mom, he carried it around in his head enough.

"A reminder to write her all summer," Percy said quietly. He fell asleep every night looking at that thing knowing what he had to lose. If he could mount that manticores head up next he would.

I took Annabeth's baseball cap out of my backpack and set it on my nightstand. I'd give it to her when I found her. And I would find her.

Percy made such a deep, frustrated noise of longing it must have disrupted the sonar of every underwater creature in the ocean. He didn't blame Rachel or Magnus for being here instead of her, but he still felt more lost during this one than any coordinates pinning his location could ever describe.

I took off my wristwatch and activated the shield. It creaked noisily as it spiraled out.

Dr. Thorn's spikes had dented the brass in a dozen places. One gash kept the shield from opening all the way, so it looked like a pizza with two slices missing. The beautiful metal pictures that my brother had crafted were all banged up. In the picture of me and Annabeth fighting the Hydra, it looked like a meteor had made a crater in my head.

"Hopefully not foreshadowing," Percy muttered.

I hung the shield on its hook, next to the Minotaur horn, but it was painful to look at now.

"Tyson will just be relieved it did its purpose and saved your life," Thalia promised. "He's out there practicing how to make even better stuff."

"Right," Percy agreed with that, but it didn't negate how he'd miss that one.

Maybe Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin could fix it for me. He was the best armorsmith in the camp. I'd ask him at dinner.

I was staring at the shield when I noticed a strange sound—water gurgling—and I realized there was something new in the room. At the back of the cabin was a big basin of gray sea rock, with a spout like the head of a fish carved in stone. Out of its mouth burst a stream of water, a saltwater spring that trickled into the pool. The water must've been hot, because it sent mist into the cold winter air like a sauna. It made the room feel warm and summery, fresh with the smell of the sea.

"That sounds like a thing of beauty," Alex's eyes glimmered with want to see such a piece in person.

"I've spent an embarrassing amount of hours in there sketching it," Rachel laughed for the amount of times Percy and Annabeth had chased her out of there. "The design is so elegant!"

"Cool," Magnus was blinking like he had a bright light in his eyes, "but what? That's insanely creepy somebody just came into your cabin and set that up."

"It's not just my cabin," Percy reminded with a genuine smile once more. "It's in honor of my family."

I stepped up to the pool. There was no note attached or anything, but I knew it could only be a gift from Poseidon.

I looked into the water and said, "Thanks, Dad."

Percy chuckled, just a small little one, but the first semblance of a happy noise he'd made sense Annabeth's vanishing. "Maybe he heard my tirades last summer about those two words and upped his game."

"That's one hell of a gift Percy, you're lucky," Will said sincerely, but Nico noticed how the smile didn't quite reach his eyes and instantly knew why. His dad had certainly never given his cabin such a custom gift, and he'd think Hades would shower the place after finally getting one after all this time. Had Apollo ever added any kind of personal touch?

The surface rippled. At the bottom of the pool, coins shimmered—a dozen or so golden drachma. I realized what the fountain was for. It was a reminder to keep in touch with my family.

I opened the nearest window, and the wintry sunlight made a rainbow in the mist. Then I fished a coin out of the hot water.

"Iris, O Goddess of the Rainbow," I said, "accept my offering."

I tossed a coin into the mist and it disappeared. Then I realized I didn't know who to contact first.

My mom? That would've been the "good son" thing to do, but she wouldn't be worried about me yet. She was used to me disappearing for days or weeks at a time.

"I disagree with that track," Magnus almost sounded like he was scolding him. "Your mom was probably worried the moment she dropped you off, you still could have called her to tell her about Annabeth and the two new kids, she would have wanted to hear."

Percy looked quickly away though to hide the lump in his throat as Magnus had said the very reason he was reluctant to talk to her. His mom thought the world of Annabeth, and he'd just got done telling Chiron how he'd lost her. He couldn't bare to say it all again yet.

My father? It had been way too long, almost two years, since I'd actually talked to him.

"I really wouldn't call it much of a conversation either," Magnus agreed with a mystified expression. No god had exactly expressed thanks for Percy saving the world, and he still couldn't get over Poseidon saying he regretted Percy's birth even if he'd shown in the time since he did care about him.

But could you even send an Iris-message to a god? I'd never tried. Would it make them mad, like a sales call or something?

"I don't see why not?" Jason still seemed particularly intrigued over these things as he analyzed that silly question. "Since it's a goddess herself doing it, but you've yet had one so I'm wondering if there's just this mist hovering before you, you have to accept it or something, and I don't know if it comes with caller ID."

"Also, the chapter title is a lie because whoever gets this phone call, you are not underwater," Alex added.

"Your minds must be some strangely coded places," Percy told them both, and he was the ADHD one.

"I'm with Percy, since you all missed the obvious," Rachel gave them a pointed look. "Percy did send an Iris message to Dionysius!" It was a story every kid loved to tell about Tantalus's great departure.

They sat staring at her for a moment before Percy muttered, "oops. Yeah, I try to actively forget about him."

"Uhhu," she rolled her eyes at all of them.

I hesitated. Then I made up my mind.

"Show me Tyson," I requested. "At the forges of the Cyclopes."

Percy grinned as everyone in here smiled for his choice. Alex even raised her hand and said, "I take it back! You need to be making more underwater phone calls!"

He couldn't wait until he could actually see his little brother again and introduce him to even more friends.

The mist shimmered, and the image of my half brother appeared. He was surrounded in fire, which would've been a problem if he weren't a Cyclops. He was bent over an anvil, hammering a red-hot sword blade. Sparks flew and flames swirled around his body. There was a marble-framed window behind him, and it looked out onto dark blue water—the bottom of the ocean.

"I don't know why, but a window underwater is really hurting my brain right now," Magnus rubbed the heel of his hand into his forehead to prove his point.

"Yes, that's the weird part, not the literal fire underwater," Alex said in almost sympathy.

"I'm trying to learn to roll with some of the punches," he sighed since, again, nobody else had blinked at that part. Maybe because they were underwater too, which still boggled his mind if he thought about it to long.

"Tyson!" I yelled.

He didn't hear me at first because of the hammering and the roar of the flames.

"TYSON!"

He turned, and his one enormous eye widened. His face broke into a crooked yellow grin. "Percy!"

He dropped the sword blade and ran at me, trying to give me a hug. The vision blurred and I instinctively lurched back.

"Keeping those battle reflexes alive in all situations," Jason chuckled.

"Tyson, it's an Iris-message. I'm not really here."

"Oh." He came back into view, looking embarrassed. "Oh, I knew that. Yes."

"How are you?" I asked. "How's the job?"

His eye lit up. "Love the job! Look!" He picked up the hot sword blade with his bare hands. "I made this!"

"That's really cool."

"I wrote my name on it. Right there."

"Awesome. Listen, do you talk to Dad much?"

"You could have just called your dad if you wanted to know about him!" Alex protested. "I want to know what else he's been making! You didn't even ask if he was having fun!"

Percy had no words of defense for himself, other than the contrite, "I know, I was going to ask if he had a clue where Thorn could have vanished with Annabeth. It was a long shot, since they just vanished into thin air, but," he spread his hands miserably he couldn't be asking Tyson that, and his dad had been his last hope for help with this.

Tyson's smile faded. "Not much. Daddy is busy. He is worried about the war."

"What do you mean?"

Tyson sighed. He stuck the sword blade out the window, where it made a cloud of boiling bubbles. When Tyson brought it back in, the metal was cool. "Old sea spirits making trouble. Aigaios. Oceanus. Those guys."

The eight of them exchanged uneasy glances.

It should have been comforting, Oceanus himself had admitted to causing these problems and their being here was apparently part of his redemption.

It was just, nobody thought he was doing a very stellar job.

Percy kept telling himself he was being paranoid, the Ocean Titan hadn't abducted him to push him into Kronos's side, or if he was he was blundering it like the people who were apparently supposed to be here in the first place.

Still, the nagging question had yet left since it occurred to him. Where were Annabeth and Grover? Was the war still going on and this was a really weird prisoner-of-war scenario?

His father had given him a reassurance though, only one brief moment of warmth, but he was positive it had been Poseidon assuring him. Nobody in the know had contradicted a single line of this story to manipulate him to any side, they were just his thoughts. If nobody else, he had faith Annabeth would be with him again soon enough to straighten all this out, he just had to get back to her by any means necessary.

I sort of knew what he was talking about. He meant the immortals who ruled the oceans back in the days of the Titans. Before the Olympians took over. The fact that they were back now, with the Titan Lord Kronos and his allies gaining strength, was not good.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked.

Tyson shook his head sadly. "We are arming the mermaids.

"I'm assuming he doesn't mean Ariel?" Magnus asked, and he considered it progress his voice hadn't cracked at this new revelation existing too.

"I am really salty we haven't seen a mermaid down here," Alex huffed.

They need a thousand more swords by tomorrow." He looked at his sword blade and sighed. "Old spirits are protecting the bad boat."

"The Princess Andromeda?" I said. "Luke's boat?"

"Yes. They make it hard to find. Protect it from Daddy's storms. Otherwise he would smash it."

"I am extremely worried what old spirits could block Neptune?" Jason frowned.

"I think we're living in the answer," Percy reminded.

"Smashing it would be good."

Tyson perked up, as if he'd just had another thought. "Annabeth! Is she there?"

Percy would swear his heart withered into nothing at such an innocent question that had no good answer. If all had just gone according to plan she would have been right there beside him catching up with Tyson too...in his cabin...

The strange expression of dread on his face fluctuating between a faint blush would have been fascinating to watch on a better day, but Nico found he didn't have the urge to gawk at him. It wasn't even for fear of getting caught, he was just striving in that moment to treat Percy like he was treated. As a casual friend.

"Oh, well..." My heart felt like a bowling ball. Tyson thought Annabeth was just about the coolest thing since peanut butter (and he seriously loved peanut butter). I didn't have the heart to tell him she was missing. He'd start crying so bad he'd probably put out his fires.

"Underwater," Magnus repeated, but he was so worried about her too he might drown in his own bubble of protection if he didn't get some kind of answer about her soon.

"Well, no... she's not here right now."

"Tell her hello!" He beamed. "Hello to Annabeth!"

"Okay." I fought back a lump in my throat. "I'll do that."

"Along with nonstop hugging, giving her back her hat, and maybe a headlock for going off that cliff," Will chuckled. "She's got a lot of catching up to do."

"When she comes back," Percy nearly growled at the end there would be no other alternatives.

"And, Percy, don't worry about the bad boat. It is going away."

"What do you mean?"

"Panama Canal! Very far away."

I frowned. Why would Luke take his demon-infested cruise ship all the way down there? The last time we'd seen him, he'd been cruising along the East Coast, recruiting halfbloods and training his monstrous army.

"International monsters and kids. Gods, how is that more chaotic and terrifying than five seconds ago?" Rachel muttered. She'd visited meetings with her dad that sounded less chaotic.

"All right," I said, not feeling reassured. "That's... good. I guess."

In the forges, a deep voice bellowed something I couldn't make out. Tyson flinched.

"Got to get back to work! Boss will get mad. Good luck, Brother!"

"Okay, tell Dad—"

But before I could finish, the vision shimmered and faded. I was alone again in my cabin, feeling even lonelier than before.

Percy sighed and glanced around at his friends in here. He didn't really feel alone, but despite he felt a kinship with every one of them now for sharing this with them, none of them felt like the family he would have wanted in that cabin with him right then.

I was pretty miserable at dinner that night.

I mean, the food was excellent as usual. You can't go wrong with barbecue, pizza, and never-empty soda goblets. The torches and braziers kept the outdoor pavilion warm, but we all had to sit with our cabin mates, which meant I was alone at the Poseidon table. Thalia sat alone at the Zeus table, but we couldn't sit together. Camp rules.

Nico let out a cold, blistering sigh. He hated that rule, he hated most of the rules at camp that felt they were designed to leave him alone feeling like a singled-out freak. Every time he looked around now-a-days, Percy had still been smiling and laughing with kids nearby like this was no concern at all.

"We should really change that rule, we've been breaking so many lately," Will said non to quietly with a commiserating look at Percy and Thalia, but his blue eyes glanced at Nico only out of the corner of his eye. They'd been building cabins and adding all sorts of accommodations to fill in for all the extra kids they'd been getting lately, why not allow a few more to go with the past?

"Good luck getting Chiron to agree with that," but Percy sounded just as hopeful he could sit at a table with Annabeth someday.

At least the Hephaestus, Ares, and Hermes cabins had a few people each. Nico sat with the Stoll brothers, since new campers always got stuck in the Hermes cabin if their Olympian parent was unknown. The Stoll brothers seemed to be trying to convince Nico that poker was a much better game than Mythomagic. I hoped Nico didn't have any money to lose.

"Negative," Nico assured with a mock smile. There had been a trust set up for him and Bianca, but it's not like money had ever been his concern between being passed around from foster family to caretaker on their way from Vegas to Westover Hall, learning to pickpocket and only relying on each other in those weeks.

Will's heart skipped a beat though as he remembered watching that fondly from a table away, and the memory was oddly flipped. He could still see Connor slipping a card up his sleeve and thinking how he wouldn't warn Nico so as not to spoil Connor's fun.

Now he definitely knew he'd step in and warn those two not to pull such a stunt on Nico right now, he'd been through enough.

Connor would probably have laughed, maybe even called him fickle. He'd never been subtle about his crush, but as he glanced at Nico now, he wondered what was a crush but deciding you wanted to get to know someone and liked what you learned?

The only table that really seemed to be having a good time was the Artemis table. The Hunters drank and ate and laughed like one big happy family. Zoe sat at the head like she was the mama. She didn't laugh as much as the others, but she did smile from time to time. Her silver lieutenant's band glittered in the dark braids of her hair. I thought she looked a lot nicer when she smiled. Bianca di Angelo seemed to be having a great time. She was trying to learn how to arm wrestle from the big girl who'd picked a fight with the Ares kid on the basketball court. The bigger girl was beating her every time, but Bianca didn't seem to mind.

Nico struggled hard to swallow for a moment, but it was no good, he'd choked over that entire paragraph with a bitter resentment once more. She hadn't once looked over to check on him. She'd always wanted to be brave enough to to make friends, and she'd finally gotten her wish.

He wanted to be happy for her, he really tried to push and search for that. She'd deserved this freedom from him, he'd spent that lone conversation with Travis and Connor chatting about card tricks, even over completely different games than she'd ever wanted to hear. He hoped laughing along with her new family had been her last thought.

When we'd finished eating, Chiron made the customary toast to the gods and formally welcomed the Hunters of Artemis. The clapping was pretty halfhearted. Then he announced the "good will" capture-the-flag game for tomorrow night, which got a lot better reception.

Afterward, we all trailed back to our cabins for an early, winter lights out. I was exhausted, which meant I fell asleep easily.

Being emotionally drained could do that to a person, Percy knew, as he was constantly living that experience. He was half tempted to ask to take a nap from this book, and they were only five chapters in.

That was the good part. The bad part was, I had a nightmare, and even by my standards it was a whopper.

"You dream about hamburgers too?" Alex asked almost innocently enough.

Magnus tried to laugh along for her like usual, but even he couldn't muster it. He didn't know which would be worse, to hear about Annabeth, or something else going wrong.

Annabeth was on a dark hillside, shrouded in fog.

There was Magnus's answer anyways. He winced and leaned forward in his seat for whatever this hurt was, he had to know she was okay. Percy got to see her in dreams, all he had was a few sparse memories of their childhood days always imagining her in these horrible places.

It almost seemed like the Underworld, because I immediately felt claustrophobic and I couldn't see the sky above—just a close, heavy darkness, as if I were in a cave.

Annabeth struggled up the hill. Old broken Greek columns of black marble were scattered around, as though something had blasted a huge building to ruins.

Jason twitched, a faintly familiar frown on his face. Not quite as pronounced as back on Circe's island, but one all the same Thalia noticed. She really didn't like the way he might know about this place too.

"Thorn!" Annabeth cried. "Where are you? Why did you bring me here?" She scrambled over a section of broken wall and came to the crest of the hill.

She gasped.

There was Luke. And he was in pain.

He was crumpled on the rocky ground, trying to rise. The blackness seemed to be thicker around him, fog swirling hungrily. His clothes were in tatters and his face was scratched and drenched with sweat, "Annabeth!" he called. "Help me! Please!"

"It's a trap," Alex spat at once.

"Maybe not," Magnus pleaded with the universe she wasn't going to be hurt by him again. "Maybe Luke did something to piss off Kronos, and this is his punishment. Thorn was meant to bring random half-bloods there," he reminded as he gestured at Nico, "maybe this is a warning?"

Alex didn't seem very convinced, and Percy was watching between the two with deep longing. If it was a ruse, Annabeth would see it coming before him, right?

She ran forward.

I tried to cry out: He's a traitor! Don't trust him!

But my voice didn't work in the dream.

All the terror, none of the protection, Magnus shivered. That's often how Hearth had told him he felt when they were confronted by cops on the street. To not have a voice in any situation was its own nightmare.

Annabeth had tears in her eyes. She reached down like she wanted to touch Luke's face, but at the last second she hesitated.

"What happened?" she asked.

"They left me here," Luke groaned. "Please. It's killing me."

I couldn't see what was wrong with him. He seemed to be struggling against some invisible curse, as though the fog were squeezing him to death.

Jason was starting to perspire, little tendrils of adrenaline trying to race along him with nowhere to go but whisper in his mind. He knew this place.

"Why should I trust you?" Annabeth asked. Her voice was filled with hurt.

"You shouldn't," Luke said. "I've been terrible to you. But if you don't help me, I'll die."

Will winced. He still remembered the tears in Annabeth's eyes when she'd sat in the infirmary and tried to explain to him why she'd done it. He'd promised he would have helped him too, and she'd cried herself into a much needed sleep. It hadn't been a lie.

Let him die, I wanted to scream. Luke had tried to kill us in cold blood too many times.

He didn't deserve anything from Annabeth.

"Except maybe a swift kick off a cliff," Thalia hissed. He'd promised Annabeth they'd protect her, be her new family. This was his promise!

Rachel gave her a concerned look, she'd said that with a little too much confidence. She really hoped Thalia didn't try to resurrect Luke just to act on it.

Then the darkness above Luke began to crumble, like a cavern roof in an earthquake.

Huge chunks of black rock began falling. Annabeth rushed in just as a crack appeared, and the whole ceiling dropped. She held it somehow—tons of rock. She kept it from collapsing on her and Luke just with her own strength. It was impossible. She shouldn't have been able to do that.

"You guys continue to do things that shouldn't be possible," Magnus reminded with a proud, if forlorn smile.

Luke rolled free, gasping. "Thanks," he managed.

Then his heart shattered, all eight of them winced.

Alex and Percy had been right, they'd known it was a trick from the start. And she'd fallen for it.

Magnus had never thought to call his cousin faint of heart, but he wished he could shake her right now and ask how many times Luke had to betray her before she'd stop caring about him? He was almost scared breathless if she would forgive her dad if she met him now, and he didn't even know how badly Fredrick had hurt her. He watched Thalia with wide, desperate gray eyes nobody needed to imagine had been in Annabeth's yearning face.

"She's alive, she's alive," Percy was chanting it like a mantra now, palms splayed flat on his knees to stop himself clenching up and destroying anything that would stop them getting to that. She was alive, and being tortured because of Luke!

Thalia kept up a brave face, just like always. It was true, but they had a long path to get there, and Percy wouldn't want to hear from her for quite some time as things progressed.

"Help me hold it," Annabeth groaned.

Luke caught his breath. His face was covered in grime and sweat. He rose unsteadily.

"I knew I could count on you." He began to walk away as the trembling blackness threatened to crush Annabeth.

"HELP ME!" she pleaded,

"Oh, don't worry," Luke said. "Your help is on the way. It's all part of the plan. In the meantime, try not to die."

Nico studied those last, awful, spiteful words he'd said to her before casually strolling away with a kind of loathing he rarely indulged. What if that had been Bianca as intended? How had Luke just walked away knowing she well could die and leave her like that? Annabeth had never been his favorite person, but he couldn't imagine a more soulless person than this guy right now. And he'd always thought he was the freak of nature.

The ceiling of darkness began to crumble again, pushing Annabeth against the ground.

I sat bolt upright in bed, clawing at the sheets. There was no sound in my cabin except the gurgle of the saltwater spring. The clock on my nightstand read just after midnight.

Only a dream, but I was sure of two things: Annabeth was in terrible danger. And Luke was responsible.

The earth was rumbling and shaking beneath them, cracks and splinters threatening to topple the titan of the ocean's kingdom down around them all as they traveled up the walls to the domed ceiling while Percy yelled in frustration and slashed his sword at nothing. He was going to kill him!

#PJO #Percy Jackson #Thalia Grace #jason grace #nico di angelo #will solace #solangelo #percabeth #alex fierro #magnus chase #fierrochase #rachel elizabeth dare #reading the books #fanfiction #Titan's Curse

[whenihaveyouromione]

When I Have You - Chapter 80

Read on Fanfiction.net or ao3 if you'd prefer!

Inviting anyone who sees this to join my book club Discord server! Lots of book fun with lots of other book lovers!

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Chapter 80

It was the first true sunny day of the year, and Ron had opened all the blinds and curtains, declaring it was time to start letting the sun in to warm the place up. 

Winter had been rather long and very cold, stretching all the way through to mid-April. Just last week, Ron had spotted a few flakes of snow landing on the window pane when he’d been preparing dinner and a sense of dread had washed over him. No more snow, no more cold, he thought. 

But now… it was bright, there were few clouds, and he didn’t think he’d need his coat to step into the garden anymore. The weather channel on the TV had told him not to expect anymore cold weather, and Ron always listened to them. They weren’t always exactly right, but he found whatever system the Muggle TV people used was better than the poor attempts wizards had used to predict the weather over the centuries. There just wasn’t a spell that could do it. 

The first warm day happened to be a Saturday. He’d woken up around six, most unusually, and after kissing a sleeping Hermione gently on her cheek, he’d slid out of bed and come into the conservatory once he’d brewed himself a cup of coffee. 

He wasn’t used to being alone like this, Hermione generally being up long before him, but she’d been unusually tired the past few days and had been struggling to get herself out of bed. Even the simple task of cooking dinner had exhausted her last night, and she’d spent the evening lying with her head in Ron’s lap, dozing, before he’d insisted she go to bed. 

She wasn’t getting sick, she assured him, because she never got sick. And, on the rare occasion she actually was sick, she’d go straight to the Apothecary and get one potion or another so it didn’t interfere with her day. 

“I suppose it’s just been a busy week,” she’d yawned, trudging from the living room and upstairs. 

Ron wasn’t complaining. She was finally allowing herself to rest when she sensed she was being overworked. Hermione had learned to look after herself more and more, so he wasn’t going to deter her. 

He sipped at his coffee, staring out through the glass windows and down onto the makeshift Quidditch pitch. The middle post was lopsided, and he made a note to fix it later, not that it’d make any difference if he did it today or in a year. But he always liked to imagine that one day it would get used. 

By eight o’clock, Hermione pulled herself from bed. Her movements were slow and she yawned, even after sleeping for a good ten hours. 

“Still not feeling well?” Ron asked as she sat in the chair beside him.

“Just tired,” Hermione said. “I feel fine otherwise.” 

Ron waved his wand and a moment later the coffee pot and an empty cup came into the room, setting down on the small, round table between them. “Sounds like you need coffee,” he said, pouring a cup for her. 

Hermione accepted it, warming her hands on the mug, her eyes taking in the view from the conservatory windows. 

“It really does look good,” she said, smiling. 

“What? The pitch?” Ron asked. 

She nodded. “If I knew the first thing about playing Quidditch, I think I’d like it. It looks enticing.” 

“I could teach you, you know,” Ron said, a small dot of hope forming in his chest. “I’ve always said I can teach you.”

Hermione laughed, shaking her head. “Flying and I just… don’t go well together. I’d probably land on the neighbours’ roof.”

Ron grinned. “We’d set up charms to prevent that. You’ll be fine. You’ll be with me.”

Hermione’s smile remained, and she turned her head to look at him. Dark circles had set under her eyes, and even her usually wild hair wasn’t as bushy as usual — especially after waking up. “I think I might stick to attending games when we can. That’s enough Quidditch for me.”

“You’ve come to like Quidditch, I see,” Ron said, unsure on whether or not he should comment about her appearance. Maybe he should send her back to bed, let her rest for the day…

“It’s always fascinated me,” Hermione replied. “I like watching it. I just… well, I’m not Ginny, am I?”

“Is anyone?” Ron asked with a snort. He drained his second cup of coffee that morning. “So, what do you want to do today?”

Hermione was silent, contemplative. She continued to watch the unmoving pitch outside, her fingers tapping thoughtfully on her steaming cup of coffee. “Alright,” she said. 

“Alright, what?” Ron asked, eyebrows raised. 

“You can teach me. Teach me how to fly. It’s probably about time I learnt.”

Ron stared at her, incredulous. “Are you serious?”

She nodded, her smile widening. “Before I change my mind.”

“You want to learn how to fly. Like… properly?”

Hermione nodded. “The weather’s good, I’m in the mood for it, and… you’re laughing.”

“I’m not laughing at you,” Ron assured her. “I’m just… laughing. This is great. I’ve been asking you for years and you’ve always resisted, but now you suddenly want to learn. This is great!”

“So, are you going to teach me, then?” Hermione asked, beaming.

“Of course!” Ron said. “Get dressed, and I’ll teach you. This is great,” he said again.

…

Hermione seemed to regret her decision the moment Ron placed a broom in front of her. It wasn’t like she had never been on one before, but now that he thought about it, he couldn’t remember a time since maybe first year that she’d ever been on one by herself. It was just something that she didn’t enjoy. 

She eyed the old broom as if it had personally offended her, and then looked up at Ron, her mouth opening. 

“It’s alright,” he said. “I’m not going to let you up on your own straight away. We’ll have to build up to that.” He grinned at her sceptical expression. “Having regrets?”

“No!” Hermione said quickly. “No, it’s fine.”

Ron chuckled. “You’re a terrible liar. Listen, it’s alright. You’ve just got to… you’ve just really got to believe you can do it. Flying comes naturally to so many witches and wizards. Think of Ginny. She was flying just about every day as a profession.”

“Ginny also learnt how to fly before she could walk,” Hermione said.

“Alright, fair. Come on.” Ron grabbed her hand and pulled her closer. “Here, let’s just practice holding it first.” He passed Hermione the broom. He watched her peer around nervously, as if she had an audience.

“This feels so ridiculous.”

“I’m a good teacher,” Ron assured her, not sure if that was completely true. “I taught you how to play chess, didn’t I? You can play decently now.”

Hermione looked at him for a moment, and apparently having no counter argument, mounted the broom.

Ron grinned. “It’s not even off the ground and you’re gripping it like you’re going to fall off.” He moved her hands further down and rearranged their hold. "First rule is to not think you're going to fall off."

"That's a bit hard," Hermione said quietly.

Ron smirked. "I never thought you'd be this scared."

"I'm not… I'm not scared. I just don't know how to do it. Are the enchantments up around the yard? The neighbours…"

"Stop making excuses, Hermione. Of course they're up. They're always up, and I update them once every three months to make sure. Our neighbours have absolutely no idea what we're doing."

Out of reasons not to do it, Hermione nodded, and Ron picked up another broom lying on the ground. He mounted it and smiled at her. 

"Trust me?" he asked.

Hermione nodded silently again. 

"We'll just go about a foot off the ground today, alright? Nothing big. You've done this before."

"Not for a long time, though." 

"Well, really, neither have I —" Ron admitted. "Just lift your feet up — have the determination to leave the ground, and… hover."

"Hover," Hermione repeated.

"Ready?" Ron asked. 

"Yes."

"One, two… three."

He saw Hermione close her eyes, but she did as he asked, because that was who she was. It wasn't in her nature to not do something just because it frightened her, though this seemed to be the one thing that might stall her. He found it ironic that she didn't seem to have any qualms about going in that Muggle metal contraption she called an airplane, but a broom was a big deal.

Ron reached out to steady her broom as it floated a foot into the air.

She breathed heavily, opening her eyes. 

"You have good control already," Ron told her cheerfully. "You didn't even go any higher than I said."

Hermione looked around, hovering slightly above Ron. Her grip of the broom had returned to the one of hanging on for dear life, but Ron let it slide for the moment. 

"See, not so bad, is it?" he said, grinning. "Wanna go higher?"

"No!" Hermione said quickly, and she tried to land back on the ground, though her attempt to do so resulted in her being jolted to the side. Ron held onto the broom, steadying her.

"Next lesson," he said, finding that he was enjoying teaching her. He liked the time they were spending together, the closeness between them. It just reinforced within him how strong and how amazing their relationship still was. She trusted him with something that clearly terrified her — she felt safe with him, comfortable. 

His chest swelled with love for her. 

"How do I get back down without crashing?" Hermione asked. 

"Tilt the broom down slightly," Ron instructed. 

"Won't I nose dive?" Hermione questioned.

"Just do it," Ron said.

Hermione looked at him for a moment, her eyes questioning. But then her expression softened and she once again did as he asked. She was a bit wobbly, but she ended up landing well for her first time.

"Not so hard, is it?" Ron said, beaming at her. "The higher up you are, the more you have to tilt." 

"That was…" Hermione seemed unable to find the right words.

Ron chuckled. "You're a natural," he said.

"Oh, I'm not!" Hermione protested. "Harry was a natural. I think, no matter how well you teach me, I'll always prefer to keep my two feet on the ground."

"Flying is a good way to get around, you know."

"I'll stick to Apparition."

Ron looked at her for a moment, a smile playing on his lips. Her hair had returned to its wild, bushy self and colour had returned to her cheeks. 

Without thinking much, Ron took the broom from her hand, tossed his own aside and grabbed her around the waist.

He kissed her, unable to help himself. Why did every little thing she do — no matter how insignificant — just make him feel something he didn't know he was capable of feeling? Why, after so many years, was he finding something new to love about her, or falling even more in love than what he already was? 

How was it even possible? 

But it was possible, because it was what happened to him every single day. Every day that he woke up — another day of spending his life as her husband — his feelings just grew. They changed and they grew stronger and it seemed that his heart just grew and adapted along with him. 

The flying lesson appeared to be finished as Hermione flung her arms around his neck, sinking into his kiss as if they weren't standing in the middle of their garden. 

Ron didn't even know how long they were like that for, but his mind was now on things that the charms did not prevent the neighbours from seeing.

He broke away and was about to suggest they head inside, but Hermione pulled completely away in that moment, her eyes flicking to something behind Ron.

"Harry," she said, going slightly pink. "Hi."

Ron whipped his head around to see Harry standing by the open door of the conservatory, grinning like an idiot. 

"Don't let me stop you," he said. "Should I come back another time?"

"No… Ron was just… just teaching me to fly.” Hermione’s voice trailed off and she flushed again.

"Funny," Harry said, "that's not how I remember learning."

"Do you have a reason for being here?" Ron asked irritably. "Or are you just going to make a habit of walking into our house unannounced?" 

Harry suddenly looked rather guilty. He shifted where he stood. "Listen, I can go. Sorry for not letting you know I was coming. I know Saturdays are for the two of you." He turned to leave, and Hermione looked up at Ron with a determined look. 

He sighed. "Wait… what's up, mate?"

Harry turned back. Now that he was looking properly, Ron realised that there must have been a reason Harry had come over. It wasn’t like him to just come by unannounced — especially on a Saturday. As he stood by the conservatory door, he shifted from one foot to the other as if he was nervous. 

“Nothing,” Harry said, unconvincingly. “I just thought I’d come to see my two best friends — see how you were going, you know…”

Ron and Hermione stared at him, but said nothing. 

Harry wiped his brow and once he realised that neither of them had believed a word of that, his shoulders slumped, his face taking on an expression of defeat.

“Would you like a cup of tea?” Hermione asked. Before Harry could answer, she moved towards Harry, heading back for the house.

Ron followed, shooting Harry a questioning look as he passed. With his wand, he closed and locked the conservatory doors and joined Hermione in the kitchen, who was just boiling a pot of water with her own wand. 

“Er… everything okay?” Ron asked Harry tentatively. 

“Yes,” Harry said. “I mean… it should be, but… is it normal to feel… concerned?”

“Concerned about what?” Hermione asked, pouring water into three separate teacups. 

“What’s to come.”

“You mean the fact that you’re having a baby in less than a month?” Ron guessed.

Harry nodded. 

“I think it’s pretty normal,” Ron said, smiling. “I mean, your whole life is about to be turned upside down for the next seventeen years at least. It’s not going to be a walk in the park, is it?”

Hermione passed around the tea, though Ron didn’t even feel like it. He was still watching Harry. 

“What bothers you about it the most?” Hermione asked. 

Harry shook his head. “All of it. I mean, I’ve got no idea what I’m doing. I didn’t exactly grow up with strong father figures in my life, did I?”

“You did alright considering,” Ron reasoned. 

“What if I’m terrible at it?” Harry blurted out suddenly. 

Ron could only sympathise with his best friend — sharing an understanding that he’d never voiced himself. Over the time that he and Hermione had been trying to have a baby, thoughts such as what Harry was voicing had entered his mind on more than one occasion. They terrified him at times, and he wasn’t weeks away from having a living, breathing human in his care. He could only imagine Harry’s sudden terror at becoming a father.

“You won’t be, Harry,” Hermione said. “You’ll be far from terrible.”

Harry shook his head again. “I was excited to begin with. I was thrilled, actually. I thought it was great. But these past few weeks, I just keep getting these thoughts in my head. Ginny seems so calm, so on top of it —”

“She’s probably freaking out on the inside,” Ron said. 

“She’ll be great. She’s so confident. But me… what do I do?”

“Love your kid?” Ron said with a shrug. “That’s a good start. I’m sure the rest will come to you.”

“It’s not something you’re supposed to have all the answers to,” Hermione added. “Not from the beginning.” She considered her words for a moment. “You probably won’t know every answer… ever.”

“So there’s not some huge book you’ve found, Hermione? That has every question asked by every parent throughout all of time?” Harry groaned.

She smiled. “I don’t think so.”

“I just can’t help but continuously think of everything that could go wrong. I’ve had Teddy, yeah, but… well, Teddy’s older now. And I always had Andromeda to go to if I didn’t know. I also never had him longer than a few nights at once. This is completely different. More…”

“Terrifying?” Ron guessed.

Harry nodded. “And then I just worry about… well… I worry about what would happen to our baby if something were to ever happen to me and Ginny… you know…” He looked between them, shifted, “like what happened to me.” The last part was said softly, as if Harry was ashamed to say it out loud. Ron suspected that he’d not voiced these concerns to Ginny, which really, she should have been the first person he told. 

The idea that his son would grow up without parents was probably more terrifying for Harry than facing a group of Death Eaters or Black Robes alone. His childhood had been horrendous — filled with neglect and abuse — and if anything were to ever happen to him or Ginny, then it would be a natural concern of Harry’s about the fate of his child. 

“That won’t happen, Harry,” Hermione said gently, seeming to understand like Ron had. 

Harry looked at her. “You don’t know that,” he whispered. 

“Yeah we do,” Ron said. “You made us godparents, didn’t you?”

Harry said nothing.

“Nothing’s going to happen to you or Ginny, mate, but if it ever did, you have us.”

“You always have us, Harry,” Hermione added. 

“Your son — our nephew and godson — would never find himself in a place where he didn’t feel loved. Surely you know that.”

Again, Harry didn’t speak. Despite it being incredibly obvious, it seemed to be news to Harry. Like he hadn’t actually expected them to take the role they’d been assigned seriously. 

“He’d live with us,” Ron continued, spreading his arms around the kitchen. “Here. In this place. I hope it never comes to it, but he’d live with us until he wanted to leave. He’d go to school, he’d have everything he could want and ask for.”

“He’d be loved no matter what,” Hermione said. “He will be loved. By you and Ginny, by us —”

“By the ever-growing Weasley clan.”

“You have nothing to worry about, Harry."

"You know that, right?"

Harry looked between them, his fear about what might happen to his child seeming to dissipate ever so slightly. A small smile crossed his lips. "Thanks," he said.

Ron and Hermione both nodded. Then Hermione said, "I think it's pretty normal to feel a little nervous as it gets closer. You start worrying about every little thing, I could imagine."

"A little," Harry said, now a little sheepishly. 

"And probably worse for you," Hermione added, "considering everything that's happened. You'll be great, Harry. You really will. You're so good with Teddy and he loves you. And so will your son."

Ron patted Harry's arm comfortingly. 

"I'm sorry to bother you," Harry said. "I just… I couldn't shake the feeling of something going horribly wrong."

"You know you're welcome over here whenever you want," Ron said. 

Harry smiled. "Well… I suppose I should get back. I did tell Ginny I was coming over just to return this to you." He pulled a quill from his pocket and gave it to Hermione. Ron had given it to him once when Harry had been over and needed to scribble a note down. It was insignificant — one of many Hermione owned and would never miss. 

"I forgot you even had it," Ron said. “You can keep it if you want…”

“I’m good,” Harry replied. “Got plenty myself, thanks.”

“Harry,” Hermione said, rolling the quill between her fingers. “You’re going to be fine. Really… you will. Nothing will happen. He won’t have the life you did. He will…”

“He will know a much better one,” Ron assured him. “We’ll all make sure of it.”

“Thanks,” Harry said. “I think… I think I needed to hear that.” He looked between them, smiling for a moment, before his smile faltered. “Listen… I’m sorry…”

“Stop apologising, Harry,” Hermione said. “You know you can come whenever you want. We don’t mind.” She hugged him. “Now go back home and try to stop worrying. In less than a month, you’ll have your son and he’ll be perfect. You’ll love him so much.” She hugged him again and after thanking them one more time, Harry finally left. 

Once they heard the woosh of the fireplace, Ron leaned his arms against the kitchen bench and looked at Hermione. “You’ve got to feel for him,” he said. “It must be some kind of torture to have all that going through your head so close to the birth of your first kid.”

“I understand it, though,” Hermione said. “I mean… I think if I had grown up like Harry, I’d be worried about history repeating itself, too.”

“Yeah… I mean, it’s hard not to think about it, even for me. I don’t want our future kids getting into the trouble we did. Couldn’t imagine not wanting them to not even grow up like I did on top of all that.”

Hermione smiled vaguely, then frowned briefly, before smiling again and leaning across the bench to kiss Ron. “Thanks for this morning. I enjoyed it.”

Ron laughed. “No you didn’t. But, it was fun. Especially the end. Can we continue that? I liked that part.”

Hermione kissed him again, but then pulled away — a signal that no, they could not continue.

“I’m just feeling a little tired,” she said. “I might just go and lie down… I’m sorry, Ron.”

“It’s alright,” Ron replied, standing back up straight. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I think so. Just work getting the better of me. What’s new?” She left the kitchen and Ron listened as she ascended the stairs. 

Yes, what was new? At least now she actually allowed herself to rest. A few years ago any amount of pestering wouldn’t have convinced her, let alone her doing it on her own accord. 

He smiled to himself. Maybe he was a better teacher than he realised.

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