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angelanimedesaray · 3 years

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Wings in the Dark Chapter 4: Limelight

AN: Ah...next chapter. I keep finding myself thinking about/writing Wings in the Dark even though I’ve got so many other stories to keep up with, some of which are only one piece away from being done or oneshots XD

Also I apologize I keep forgetting to put Fem!Vampire!Reader, I keep getting lazy there...tagging error.

Characters: Levi, Fem!Vampire!Reader, Erwin, Oluo, Petra, Gunther, Eld, Various BG Characters

Pairing: (Eventual) Levi x Fem!Vampire!Reader

Warnings: Language, Blood, Peril, Mentions of Death

Word Count: 6101

<----Previous Chapter Masterlist Next Chapter---->

*Reader’s POV*

Beneath you, Zephyr shifted from foot to foot, the crowding of Scouts in the street just before the gate looking disorganized, but each squad in specific places meant to make the transition once outside the walls much easier. You knew where you were in the formation, right with the vanguard--not quite at the front though, since you were still a rookie. Instead, you were in a message position.

Just a few horses in front of you, you could see Captain Levi and his squad, their gazes fixed forward like most of the Scouts. Your hand fluttered briefly to your neck as you gazed up at the giant wall that was casting its shade upon most of the gathered Scouts, your heartbeat quickening as the reality of what was happening settled over you.

Decades without open air and sunlight before you managed to find the key that would allow you to walk on the surface in the sun once more. Never before venturing outside the walls. Now here you were, about to ride out beyond its boundaries into open, fresh air and sunlight where there was no edge where a wall or some other boundary of mankind kept you in.

As if sensing your restlessness, Zephyr pawed at the ground, antsy and ready to move forward. The horse standing behind you at the end of a lead had been jumpy since being handed off to you, but its nerves were only getting worse between the aura you and Zephyr were radiating. Your grip tightened on the reins, gaze fixated on that gate that you were begging to just raise already and let you shoot out into the world.

This was what you were here for. You’d finally made it. Now was the time to throw yourself all in for the cause. Messenger or not, you were going to do everything you could to help.

The brick gate up ahead finally finished rumbling, and a pure white horse holding Commander Erwin Smith reared up.

“Forward!”

Your heart leapt into your throat, and it took everything inside you to wait until the people in front of you started to move forward before your heels pressed lightly into Zephyr’s hindquarters, urging the speckled grey mare forward. Your breaths came rapidly as the brick gate approached, head tilting up on instinct as you went through the tunnel, momentarily plunged into darkness with light piercing through the end before Zephyr burst through, one set of many thundering hooves as you broke past the wall.

Green grass rolled out before you with towering trees dotting along the horizon, stretching as far as you could see, further. The wind whipped at your hair, sun beating down on you harmlessly as you soaked in the unbridled rays, lips parted as you took a deep breath of truly free air.

This was a feeling you would never forget. It was as if the wings upon your cape would emerge and spread wide, carrying you up into the blue sky far above and off to a land where there were no stifling walls real, social, or in your mind, no secrets and constant hiding of who you were.

Feeling eyes on you at your reaction to crossing beyond the walls for the first time, you closed your eyes briefly, the self-imposed darkness grounding you back to reality as you reminded yourself what the goal was here, what you were supposed to be doing. You had a purpose out here, and the others couldn’t afford your distraction.

Your head lowered from its tilted back position, and your eyes opened with focus burning in your gaze, fixed forward as you leaned slightly over Zephyr’s neck. Within a few minutes of running straight forward, the formation began to take shape, Scouts spreading out to the left and right while most of the cargo stayed in the middle. You were one of the ones who went out to the right, falling into place at a relay point with your skittish extra horse trailing just behind Zephyr. Off to your left, you could see Levi Squad, within eyesight but still quite a distance away and placed closer to command than you.

While everyone here had to depend upon smoke signals and their own limited sight to tell them if a Titan was approaching, you were at a unique advantage when it came to the task of spotting Titans. You could hear them long before you could see them, but your sight was much better than the other’s here, as well. You would be able to tell if there was a Titan approaching long before anyone else, which could drastically help the mortality rates of the Scouts if you could use your abilities.

Of course, the matter was complicated by the fact that you would have to wait until there was visual confirmation of a Titan if you didn’t want to look like you were firing flares into the sky for the hell of it, which you were certain would piss many people off very quickly. So, you were restrained to detecting where the Titans were, and keeping track of them until they got close enough.

If it was a big enough threat, though, you would take the risk. You would still have to wait if you wanted people to believe you, but you weren’t going to wait as long if it was something like a horde of Titans or a clustering of abnormals.

That part you had decided ahead of time. The rest you would play by ear and see what happened, or simply play the role you had been assigned for this expedition.

*Levi’s POV*

While Levi and his squad had their duties that went with their position in the long range formation, Levi had his secondary objective to observe L/N from a distance, keeping an eye on her at least partially at all times while his squad handled much of the spotting and message relaying, Levi only giving curt orders when necessary. They certainly wondered what was causing his distraction, but no one questioned it, especially from the serious look on his face.

He’d been watching L/N from the moment they rushed out of the gate beyond the walls, her reaction reminding him strongly of himself, Isabel, and Furlan when they’d first gone beyond the walls.

Before he could have someone snap her out of it so she was paying attention, she’d brought herself back around, snapping back to full focus on the task at hand impressively fast despite how swept away she’d been moments before.

With the more central position Levi’s squad held, they were better positioned to be sent whichever direction they might be needed if shit hit the fan, and the more protected position than the vanguard and the relay lines allowed Levi to put more of his focus on L/N without causing unnecessary risk. No doubt that was part of the reason Erwin had arranged them the way they were for this expedition.

At first, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. She kept her head on a swivel, fired the signal flares at the appropriate time to pass along the message to shift the direction of the formation. However, Levi eventually began to catch the anomaly he might have overlooked if she’d been a little further away, or he’d been a little more distracted by what was going on in his position.

Her head stopped swiveling, her gaze fixing in certain directions for long stretches of time before she would fire off her flares. At the most, her head might twitch in one direction or another, but nothing more. The big give away, however, was the fact that he occasionally caught sight of her loading a flare into her flare gun long before the signals went off. As if she knew it was coming.

Either she had insane intuition, or she was able to see something they couldn’t.

It was a good thing he'd noticed her focus and how she seemed to be picking up on approaching Titans before the vanguard, because it greatly effected how he reacted when she fired a shot before even the vanguard. She went perfectly still, head turned forward right towards an outcropping of trees in the distance. She stayed gazing in that direction for several long moments before she suddenly reached into her pack, loaded her flare gun, and fired a black smoke signal into the air.

Everyone reacted with surprise from the display, Levi included, considering no Titan could be seen, and she was not relaying a signal from the vanguard. Immediately, the others began to grumble and complain at rookie audacity, what she thought she was doing, the usual complaints. Levi, however, was staring hard at her back, noting how she was still staring in the same direction, thinking of how she'd been aware of every flare coming so far…

"Gunther, relay that signal."

The complaints about L/N stopped, the others looking at Levi in surprise. "Sir…" Petra ventured to say in a cautious tone, clearly not wanting to question him but doubtful of the black flare's accuracy. Still, Levi could hear Gunther preparing to fire the shot behind him, even as Petra continued. "That signal is coming from nowhere, the rest of the vanguard haven't even fired anything."

"Because she's spotted something they haven't," Levi said bluntly, as behind him Gunther relayed the signal, which went down the rest of the line to Command. Erwin’s green shot fired into the air shortly after what must have been a confusingly sudden short burst of signals.

Levi kept his gaze on L/N the entire time, except the direction change, looking for the payoff or justification for her sudden signal. At first, he didn't think he would see it.

In the distance, within that outcropping of trees that had held her attention before and was now further away from them thanks to the direction shift she’d prompted, Levi saw something clear the treetops. It was hard to catch at this distance, but the scattering of birds from those trees helped confirm what he was seeing. Within a few moments, two fleshy figures of Titans burst through the treeline, one running sporadically forward and the other leaping around, both headed in the direction of the formation.

There was more distance between the formation and the abnormals, thanks to their shift, which gave them more time to respond, but they were still going to collide with the ranks. He could see L/N coiling atop her horse, ready to leap into action if they broke past the vanguard and reached her position, eyes no doubt fixed on the incoming threats.

“Captain, should we go assist?” Petra asked from behind him.

“If they break through the vanguard ranks, yes,” Levi said, gaze sweeping over the other positions in the formation that held less skilled rookies. He didn’t want to risk abnormal Titans colliding with the newbies, so he’d make sure they were stopped there, if the vanguard couldn’t handle them. Instinctively, Levi tensed as the abnormals reached the front lines...and then burst right past towards L/N’s position.

Abnormal, indeed.

Oluo swore as they saw both abnormals barreling towards L/N, who was already kneeling on the saddle of her horse and waited a few seconds for the abnormals to draw a little closer. Levi and his squad were already heading towards them before L/N leapt off her horse, one of her cables firing into the rushing Titan since it was at least keeping stably on the ground, swinging around and away from the front of the attacking Titans, firing the other higher up to try and get a quick shot in at the Titan’s nape.

The second Titan shot over the first in a leap towards L/N, forcing L/N to change direction and release her cable from the first Titan. With a nimbleness that surprised Levi, she pushed off of the arm of the second Titan as it went by to add momentum in the direction she wanted to go, cables releasing again so she could swing between the legs of the first Titan and still avoid it’s reaching arms.

With her cables detached again, she rolled to a stop and got back onto her feet, taking a second to register her position before one of her cables sank into that first Titan's shoulder and she shot towards it again.

At that point Levi and the others were close enough to do something and had a good grasp on the situation. At Levi's orders, Eld, Oluo, and Gunther broke off to deal with the jumping one while Levi and Petra rushed to intercept the one L/N was handling. Levi had a pretty good idea of what she was trying to do, but expecting it to go terribly wrong, he was trying to reach her before she lost a limb. Or her head.

The Titan snapped at her as she came within biting distance, but she let loose a burst of gas at the last second to sail over its shoulder, twisting in midair as the men handling the other Titan let out an alarmed shout.

Both cables sank into the shoulder blades of the first Titan and brought her in close with her feet landed just below its nape, and she sliced neatly through, killing it in one stroke. As she turned with the strike, the second Titan came into her view, ignoring Eld, Gunther, and Oluo entirely as it launched for her, still anchored onto the falling Titan.

The cables disengaged so she could fall back and drop out of range of its maw, feet barely missing the teeth as she dropped vertically and headfirst towards the ground.

Eld went in for a quick kill while it was fixated on L/N.

"No!"

"Wait!"

"Eld!"

At angles they could see where the Titan's attention was trained, L/N, Levi, and Perra, respectively, all shouted out for him not to go for the obvious kill. Its eyes had shifted in the direction the cable came from, towards Eld, and it swung out an arm that caught the wire. Eld was sent careening to the ground, the jumping Titan punching toward him with jaw agape again as the now-injured man got up to right himself, cables still sliding back into place and unable to deploy yet.

Two blurs in opposite directions cut through the air at the front and back of the Titan. Levi was at the back, slicing cleanly through the nape to kill it before it could kill Eld. At the front and coming from the opposite direction, was L/N, slicing through arms and bottom jaw in a wide arc to render it unable to eat Eld.

As they passed each other in the air, they momentarily locked eyes, and instead of fear or anger which commonly filled the eyes of the recruits, Levi saw...exhilaration.

Considering one of his men almost got killed, she better be taking this fucking seriously.

As they both landed on the ground at opposite ends of the Titan body, Levi turned to see her already sheathing her blades and approaching Eld to make sure he was okay and help him to his feet. Gunther and Oluo were close behind, pulling beside them as Eld was brought to his feet and Levi stalked towards them from behind.

"Are you both alright?" Gunther asked.

"That was a hell of a risky move you pulled there, rookie--your leg got cut open when you decided to jump right through its mouth!" Oluo chastised.

Levi’s gaze dropped to her leg, the large tear diagonally across her leg now clear, with bloodstains along the frayed edges of the fabric. But the skin of her calf was unblemished save for a slightly angry red mark running parallel to the rip.

"Hm?" She asked in confusion, turning back to glance down at the offended leg before she twisted so the others could see. "It was risky, and close, but it didn't draw blood. Just a graze," she remarked, eyes lifting to see Levi approaching.

He was caught between angry and indifferent, with a bit of reluctantly impressed. He couldn't exactly chastise her for endangering the others with that out in the open now, could he? She'd been handling them alone off circumstance before they intervened, and when one of his men was in danger of dying, she'd apparently risked a leg to intervene.

It was still reckless, even if in the moment she'd deemed it necessary. She was a rookie out here, she didn't know the full extent of her capabilities against the Titans yet.

Levi’s gaze slid momentarily to the two rapidly dissipating Titan bodies.

Or perhaps she did…

"Petra, help Eld. Everyone, get a move on, before we're left behind," he said instead, turning back to his horse as L/N let out a sharp whistle to call her horse. The dappled grey appeared with the spare horse in tow and still tied to the saddlehorn via the lead so it wouldn't run off.

Once he was certain everyone was mobile and Eld was being taken care of, Levi led the way for his group to rejoin the formation, L/N racing off to retake her position.

Levi’s gaze wandered back towards the pillars of steam that billowed into the air from the dead Titans.

Why had they both been so set on /her/ that they blew past everyone else?

*Reader’s POV*

"All right, we need people for the night watch, so if--"

"I'll do it," you said before he could even finish, standing up from your spot around the fire as you spoke.

All he had to say was night watch. It was another one of the things you felt that you were the most suited for, considering you were a creature of the night. You would do far better in darkness than anyone else around you.

After volunteering to be one of the people on night watch, you were sent up into the nearby trees to give you a better vantage point, able to gracefully find your way up onto a tree branch without issue. Once where you were supposed to be, you took a seat, resting your head against the trunk as your gaze wandered across your surroundings, allowing your hearing to focus so it was listening for things in the distance or abnormal sounds within the vicinity of the camp. As such, the cacophony of people speaking to one another before heading to bed faded away into a faint buzz in the back of your mind, allowing you to focus on your watch.

This also gave you a moment to reflect on your first day out in the field, and the unexpected consequence of your presence that you had discovered. So intent on contributing to the Scouts and using your abilities to assist them, you'd forgotten some basic predatory instincts.

Out here, the Titans were at the top of the food chain. Within the walls, it was vampires. The Titans were mainly active in the day but quiet at night, and vampires normally thrived in the dark and could not go out in the sun--you were an exception, thanks to something you had taken from a vampire far older and more experienced than you. There was a clear division between the two preventing them from coming into contact with each other, mostly the night and day difference and the literal wall dividing their environments. But you had just entered their habitat, and you were well aware that a vampire could still be killed by a Titan if they got careless, or if the Titan got one lucky bite in. As such, you didn't consider vampires at the top of the food chain when placed in the same space as Titans, but adjacent to them.

The Titans had focused on you, likely because you were an invasive, competitive predator in their lands. You were a threat to them and their food supply, and they could not safely feed if there was a vampire in the area.

As such, if the opportunity presented itself, they were going to target you first.

Lovely.

This was new, dangerous information, and you were still deciding how to react to it. Maybe not every Titan would completely ignore a meal in front of them if there was a vampire nearby, but today two abnormals had barged right through the vanguard to get to you. It wasn't something you could ignore.

For a while, your watch went undisturbed, allowing you to quietly stew in your thoughts high up in the trees, before a sound broke through your filtered hearing, and your attention snapped into full focus.

Down below, hidden by the tall grass, darkness, and trees, you could make out the spread out shapes of a wolf pack stalking closer to camp, towards where some of the horses were hitched for the night.

Bold wolves. Or perhaps they were desperate, or had yet to learn to be afraid of mankind. Either way, you couldn't let the wolves get to the horses, the lifeline out here for the Scouts.

Quietly, since the way you wanted to handle this couldn't be seen by the other Scouts, you dropped down from the trees, crouching low to the ground and blending into darkness as you moved to intercept the wolves while they were still shrouded in darkness and the environment. When you put yourself firmly in their path, the tension in the air shifted.

For the wolves, while they were in a pack, you were a more dangerous predator, one that they would normally avoid. As such, the pack's attention shifted, and you let out a low snarl, red eyes flashing in the night and fangs barred as the wolves cautiously stalked closer to you. They loosely encircled you, and you quickly tried to assess each one, looking for the alpha, the one who acted first that the rest followed. The wolves got dangerously close before you managed to pick it out, and you spun around to face the alpha head on, making yourself look big and keeping that snarl.

It hesitated, stared at you for a few moments, and then the grey wolf leapt forward to attack. Anticipating the motion, you plucked it out of the air, arms wrapping around its furry upper body and slamming it into the ground, causing it to yelp and yip as you held it down, pinned, its throat exposed.

You held it there for several moments, making sure the rest of the pack could see the alpha had been bested before you let the wolf up, the large creature immediately taking the opportunity to run and letting out a high-pitched howl for the rest of the pack to follow as it raced away.

Composing yourself once again, you turned back to the camp, heading in the direction of the horses to make sure they were alright, several Scouts intercepting you just before you reached camp.

"We heard wolves."

"What were you doing out there?"

"I chased them off. They were thinking about going after the horses," you assured them calmly. "All it took was a well aimed rock and the sounds of quite a few humans from behind to chase them off," you said, explaining the yips and their sudden absence with ease.

"Right. Back to your posts, or back to bed, whichever it is for you. Go on," one of the senior officers commanded to get everyone to disperse again. You didn't say anything more, feeling no need to as you instead used the ODM gear to return to your perch in the trees.

*Levi's POV*

While Levi was checking his gear to make sure it was still in peak shape for the rest of the expedition, his squad had their fireside discussion about the day's events, the topics free ranging since Levi seemed to not be paying any attention to them and was a fair distance away.

Mainly, they were talking about the display with the two abnormals.

"Did you see how they charged right through the line towards that rookie?"

"They were abnormals. You have to stop questioning abnormals so much or you'll drive yourself mad."

"I'm more interested in that rookie. Did you see how she handled those Titans?"

"No shitting herself or anything--perfectly calm, like she wasn't even bothered."

"It was almost like she was dancing around it for a few moments there--you could even call it graceful."

"And did you see how in sync she was with Captain Levi when they took it down? Even if it was brief?"

"It was still a risky move--she went right through its mouth!"

"That either takes a hefty set of balls, annoying levels of confidence, or sheer insanity."

"I still swear I saw her leg get cut open on those teeth."

"Clearly not. She showed us her leg, it came close and she was damn lucky or pulled it off that well. It was just the rip, the red mark, and some Titan blood."

"Still...she has to be that rookie all those rumors are about, right?"

"The ones about Captain Levi possibly letting a rookie join the squad? Those are bullshit and you know it."

"I'm not so sure anymore, after seeing her in action. It's not impossible. They might wait until she's a little less green, but…"

"Captain Levi did seem a little distracted today. And our position was right where he could see her at all times."

"So it is possible...it would be weird...and I still think they should wait until she's not so green...but I wouldn't complain."

"It'd be nice to have another girl on the squad…"

Levi stood up at that point, the group's conversation halting as Levi moved, then resuming when they realized he was walking away from the fire, not towards it.

Don't get attached, you idiots. If she's as dangerous as I think she is, she won't be around for long.

Moving further away from where his squad was chatting amongst themselves, Levi headed towards the trees where Erwin was taking at least one night shift, using his ODM gear to bring himself up to the tree branch beside the towering blond.

"I heard those abnormals caused a bit of a stir," Erwin said as Levi settled onto the branch beside him, hardly able to see one another with only faint firelight a ways behind them and moonlight mostly blocked from the trees around them.

"They barreled straight out of a treeline and through the vanguard. Didn't give them a second thought and went right for L/N."

Erwin looked at Levi with the way he phrased that last line, like there was more to it. "They were abnormals."

"Yeah...but even abnormals don't usually fixate on just one person. Not to mention two abnormals at once."

Erwin turned slightly towards Levi. "They didn't pay attention to anyone other than L/N?"

Levi shook his head. "Not until Eld went in for a killshot on the last one. They seemed...drawn to her."

"Interesting…" Erwin murmured, both of their attention drawn by the sound of wolves yipping and then howling, the sound getting further away. There was a slight commotion at the edge of the camp, with L/N appearing from the darkness in the direction the howling had been and saying a few words before everyone settled back down. She must have chased them off, then.

"There's more," Levi added, eyes following her figure as she disappeared up into the trees with ODM, apparently one of the few taking a night shift. "This entire time, she's been picking up on Titans before anyone else sees them, even the vanguard. She knew those abnormals were coming long before we had visual confirmation."

"That would explain the odd, lone black flare before the others started being fired," Erwin murmured, his gaze fixated in the same direction as Levi. "Keep watching her. We won't be out here too much longer, since we'll reach our destination tomorrow. You can give me the rest of your observations in an official report when we get back."

"Right…" Levi muttered, turning away and heading back to the ground to admonish his squad about still being up and get them to get some rest before they talked the whole night away with their conspiracy theories.

*Reader’s POV*

When you returned from the expedition, you were surprisingly exhausted. The Scouts had returned a few hours ago, and as soon as you were free of your duties, you headed up to the barracks so you could crawl into your bed and pass out.

While the first day had gone relatively well besides the obvious for all the horror stories about the Scouts and their expeditions, the second day had not gone so smoothly. Even worse, when the Titans collided with the left vanguard, you couldn't do anything about it but watch Levi Squad break away as they were dispatched to go help. You were, after all, just a messenger for the right side of the formation for this expedition.

Because of the attack on the left, the Scouts had accumulated a body count and ended up with quite a few injured. It wasn't bad enough to cause the mission to fail, thankfully, as the Scouts still managed to reach the destination and set up supplies for future expeditions, but after a couple more incidents on the way back, a few more injured and dead were accumulated, and the Scouts were looking rough upon the return to the walls.

On the bright side, if it could be considered a bright side, you were already sitting on two solo Titan kills at the end of the expedition despite being a messenger, you made it through your first expedition, and you knew more about how you would fare against Titans and your usefulness to the cause.

Right now, that was all food for thought at a later point, as you quickly fell asleep once your head hit the pillow and you were finally given the chance to relax.

Unfortunately, it didn't feel like it lasted for very long. You were woken up by one of your fellow new recruits attempting to get you out of bed, though a quick glance towards the windows told you it was now night--you’d been able to sleep the whole day away. Yet you still felt groggy and tired.

"Hey, L/N. L/N! Get up, already. Captain Levi wants to see you. So get to it--last I saw him he was in the library."

*Levi's POV*

"Extraordinary reflexes, stronger than she looks, quick on her feet, calm under pressure, skilled and resourceful with the ODM gear, capable, patient, able to pick up on approaching Titans long before anyone else…" Erwin's fingers tapped lightly on top of Levi's official report of his observations about L/N, the papers sitting in front of him on his desk. "All this time and all I can see so far are more reasons to make sure she's advantageously placed in the Scouts and used to her full potential."

Levi turned to give Erwin a disbelieving look before it fell into a scowl that was becoming quite common at these meetings between the two to discuss Y/N L/N.

"You can't tell me you're not curious about the how, that nothing about her raises questions?" Levi scoffed. Erwin leaned forwards, fingers laced together in front of his face.

"Oh, it does. It seems trying to find out more about L/N only raises more questions instead of providing answers, and I'm determined to start finding answers. But I'm not talking about wanting to know how. This started because you said you had a bad feeling about her, that her motives might be malicious. So far, all you've given me is more material to believe her intentions are at least aligned with our own if not good, and more reasons to make sure she stays part of the Scouts, not anything to prove she's of ill intent."

Levi looked away, teeth grit. He'd almost fallen into the same trap. Until…

"The night before the expedition, we ran into each other in the mess hall. She'd just come back from the Underground, which I know because she still had that smell on her...as well as the smell of blood." Levi turned to look at Erwin, gaze sharp. "I doubt she was down there healing sick kids considering, as far as we know, the extent of her medical knowledge is the first aid she learned as part of her training."

Erwin frowned, his eyes probing as he studied Levi’s expression. "That would have been nice to know, sooner."

"It hadn't come up, yet. And it's not exactly something I can put in an official report."

"It's still not enough to go on, Levi."

"You don't think I know that? It's driving me mad catching these little pieces that suggest something's off about her, and then failing to get anything else. It doesn't help that she knows I'm watching her."

Erwin sighed, leaning back in his seat with a thoughtful look, gazing down at the report on the desk.

"Go ahead and recruit her for your squad."

Surely he heard him wrong.

"I'm sorry?" Levi asked in surprise.

"Not as a fill member, not yet, anyway. She's still too green to justify moving her to the special ops team even with how well she did on her first expedition. Have her start as an aid for you and your squad, that way she's still in a learning and assisting position until she's more seasoned."

"And your reasoning for this is…? What if she wants this? Not knowing her motivations--"

"Gives us all the more reason to make this move. As part of your squad, even as an aid, she'll be directly under your command. You'll be able to keep a much closer eye on her, find out more about her--I'm sure your squad members will be able to find out things about her naturally on their own time. Keeping her close is the best play right now."

Levi sighed in frustration. Sure, he'd considered picking her for his squad already, but his suspicions had killed that desire, at least for now. Plus, usually he got to choose if and when he added someone to his squad. He wasn't too keen on being ordered to add her, even if Erwin had a good reason for doing it.

However, it wasn't like he was going to tell Erwin no. He'd just have to deal with it.

Shaking his head and biting back the complaints he knew didn't mean a damn, Levi changed the subject. Even though he didn't confirm that he would do as Erwin asked, they both knew he would.

"What about you? Did your contacts manage to find anything?"

A frown returned to Erwin’s face. "Like I said, more questions with very few answers." He took a moment to open one of his desk drawers, pulling out a report and laying it next to Levi’s expedition report. "I couldn't find a trace of her anywhere inside Wall Rose besides the last few years after she suddenly surfaced. Even in the town she has listed as where she was born, the closest I came was a girl who shared a first name with her that died tragically over forty years ago. Maybe it's where she got the name, considering it was a big deal in the town's history, but beyond that, nothing. Before she appeared on the surface a few years back, she didn’t exist."

Erwkn held out the report for Levi to take. "Her absence does, however, lend itself to your Underground theory. Especially if you say she was in the Underground the night before the expedition. I suggest you pursue that lead--you know the Underground better than anyone else here."

Levi hated the thought of going back down there, even if it was to find some answers. However, he finally felt like he had something solid to pursue, and he wasn't going to let it slip through his fingers. He was cornering her, and he was going to pull back the façade and find out what was really happening with her no matter how hard she tried to keep it concealed.

She couldn't hide whatever it was forever. Especially with Erwin and Levi bearing down on her as hard as they were.

Enough questions. It was time they started getting answers.

Next Chapter--->

Levi Tags: @clary-quinn @humanitys-hottestsoldier @whalerus @sunny-flo @thirstyforsometea

Wings in the Dark Tags: @regalillegal @animeluver23 @theshylittleelfgirl @queenthorin1 @dilucs-thighs @sociallyanxiousmouse

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exosmutfactory · 3 years

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Six Phases 006 Pt 1

Who knew it nearly took 6 months to win your heart, and 6 phases for Baekhyun to lose his mind.

A/N: Hello!~ Long time no see. Are you ready for what comes next? 🤭😇

This chapter update is 20.5k so far... and it’s only the 1st “section” of Chapter 6 so you can imagine how this is gonna go (<.<) oops

[ contains: romance, fluff, angst, & smut (in part 2) ]

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⏰🌹Six Phases Tag List: 🌹⏰

@to-all-the-stories-i-love @insta1010

(I was unable to tag one of you guys, sorry love💗)

If you’d like to be added next time, please check out this blog post. Thank you ^^ 🌹

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A/N: I will be making the story layout more pretty ^^ Hope you like it! Let’s go!~

Track 01

It's funny how the most important people in your life can enter your world at any given moment. So suddenly—so unexpectedly that you can't imagine your new acquaintance becoming one of your best friends, a flirty friend of friends looking out for you, or even winning a playboy millionaire's heart.

Sometimes these people come out of the blue, and you may not see it then, but they will become pillars to help you hold yourself up; practical family members that you can go to in times of uncertainty—and you will thank your lucky stars every night for not being dumb enough to push these pillars of strength away. Especially if one of them holds the key to your heart…

As dumb as he can be with some things.

And there's just something about observing a silver-haired man walking through a world of white. Snowflakes clinging to the top of his head and his brown winter coat as he struggles with a large box in his hands.

• • •

The adorable pout on his lips makes a giggle escape mine. I watch him from afar with a fond smile, cupping my hands around my mouth. "Baekhyun!"

My loud call seems to startle him. I burst into laughter as he stumbles over his feet again. "Here, here." Chuckling, I quickly run across the parking lot to assist him. Thankfully without slipping on a patch of black ice along the way. "Let me help you."

"Please do." His warm brown eyes meet mine under the dim street lights, a pout still on his lips. "You sure we'll be alone tonight? This box is quite heavy."

I shoot him a small, secretive smile, neatly tucking my hands under the box along with his, my mitten-covered fingertips brushing against his leather gloves. "Yes babe, it's just you and me~"

Baekhyun hums, unconvinced, as we walk the box to his car, carefully setting it on the floor in the backseat. I catch a whiff of his heart-fluttering, cinnamon-scented cologne before he walks around to the driver's side. "Ready to tell me what's in it?" He raises a brow, resting his folded arms on the top of the snow-covered Audi, a smile playing at his lips.

"I'll think about it~" I chirp, slipping into the passenger seat as he climbs in with a chuckle, hovering my palms over the vent when he starts the car and cranks up the heat. "It's a surprise though."

He hums, carefully backing out of the empty parking lot.

"Oh!" Turning to him with my best puppy eyes, I softly ask, "Can we stop by the convenience store?"

"If you tighten your seatbelt," He advises, taking a quick glance at me and a moment to adjust his own before turning onto the road.

I lean back in the comfortable leather seat, humming along to a familiar song on the radio as he taps his fingers to the beat on the steering wheel. A smile forming on my lips while admiring his side profile against the snowy backdrop of the fogged-up driver's window.

He glances over with a smile of his own, "What?"

I can't help but giggle. "Nothing." Cheekily resting my chin on my palm and balancing my elbow on the handle of the door, I muse, "Just admiring my handsome boyfriend."

Even with only the glow from the radio and the occasional streetlight, I can spot the telling red color on his cheeks. "Shh, you're distracting me." He insists in a flustered murmur, steering the wheel.

Chuckling softly, I turn to face the window, sneaking a peek at him every now and then.

• • •

After I flashed the cashier my ID and purchased what I desired at the store, I held the bottle in my lap for the rest of the ride home, carrying it up as Baekhyun assured me he could manage walking the box on his own to the elevator. Of course, I held open the door for him to make both our lives—and my subconscious—easier, and I unlocked the one to our shared apartment.

He had asked me to move in with him the night of our one year anniversary. The question came so out of the blue, I nearly sprayed champagne all over his nervous features across our chandelier-lit table at an upscale Italian restaurant. I mean… I love surprises—and him as well—but damn man, not even a subtle warning!? And why the hell does he want to live with me anyway?

"I want to wake up every morning to your sleeping face curled up by my side," He murmurs, cheeks rosy. From his confession or the champagne, no one knows. My face doesn't feel like it's doing any better either. "Your hair products cluttering our dresser and your toothbrush next to-"

—Okay, okay. Baekhyun is a hopeless romantic who I'm forever trying my best not to melt into a lovestruck puddle on the floor because of his heart quaking words. And what he wants is what he gets. Most of my clothes are stored in our closet, my purple toothbrush next to his golden one, and my 'emergency' duffle bag is stuffed in the farthest corner of the large space.

Now that I'm officially considered, "Baekhyun's woman," Among his group of friends, I have plenty of options for places to crash for a few nights if the need arises. I'm still getting used to his face being the first thing I see in the morning and sometimes I need a little breather, especially when I sense an argument on the rise. It's all fun and games until we're both running low on sleep and high on adrenaline. A girl's always got to have a plan B.

Even Jongdae offered me his guest bedroom for shelter—and sleepovers!—since Jenny moved in with him after graduating earlier in the year. Must be nice, I got a few classes to finish up while diligently editing the current novel that Park's Publishing is working towards welcoming to the public. It's a lengthy fantasy read full of cheesy romance and battling monsters I can't even think to name—typical shit, a few twists and turns along the way, you get the gist.

Baekhyun carefully sets the box down in the living room while I remove my white coat and snow-covered shoes, quickly skipping into the kitchen with the bottle in hand. "Still trying to figure it out?" I call over my shoulder, moving to get ice from the freezer.

"They're definitely canned," He murmurs, padding into the room on sock-clad feet; his arms wrapping around my waist and chin resting on my shoulder as I work on the countertop. "Did you order exotic food again?"

I shake the bottle in my hand, "What goes good with vodka?" Looking over my shoulder, I find his eyes shifting back and forth between the drink in my hand, and the two iced filled glasses on the counter. His brown eyes light up in realization. "Cheerwine?" He chuckles at my excited nod, "You were serious, weren't you?"

"I miss my homeland soda, okay!" I huff, grinning at his endearing laugh before batting my eyes up at him, "Mind opening the box, babe?~" My eyes flutter closed as he presses a lingering kiss to my forehead.

"Of course," He murmurs, soft lips curled in a smile.

As he goes to unpack the drinks, I put my focus back on the ones in front of me, carefully pouring roughly an ounce of vodka in each glass. There is no desire to party too hard tonight when both of us have work in the morning.

"Are you ready, babe?" I tilt my head towards him, holding a glass in each hand. At the confirmation of him indeed prying open the box, I bring the drinks into the living room, neatly setting them down next to the two red cans on the coffee table. "Ready to relax?" I utter playfully to his lean body stretched comfortably across the entirety of our black & white striped couch. His black button-down shirt and matching snug jeans straining deliciously over his thick thighs and firm chest.

Baekhyun nods with a soft hum, and I won't even deny the way my heartbeat skips when he sits up, welcoming me into his open arms with sparkly brown orbs. "Come here."

Accepting the invitation—what am I gonna do? Say no? No way in hell—I carefully nestle myself in his lap, snuggling into his firm chest as my cheeks warm. They burn even more as my eyes catch his fond-filled ones. "Uh-uh." I gulp, squeaking, "Drinks?" Carefully pulling the tab on the first can he hands me before leaning forward to pour an even amount of soda in each glass. Relishing in the familiarity that washes over me in wake of the soft fizz.

Baekhyun hums, a soft smile playing at his lips. He hands me a glass and collects the other for himself. The feeling of his racing heart on my back has me hiding a smile of my own in the fabric of my pastel green turtleneck. I watch his reaction as he takes a tentative sip; his jaw moving while he seems to savor the taste before taking another, briefly meeting my eye.

I blink expectantly, "Well?"

Baekhyun chuckles, planting a heart-fluttering kiss on my nose. "It has a nice cherry flavor. I like it."

I hum, arching a brow, not quite satisfied. "Better than Cola?"

He laughs, nodding as I sip on my own. "Yes, baby," He murmurs, soft lips brushing over my forehead while pulling me closer, "definitely better."

With a nod, I let the conversation lull into a calm silence, nothing but the tinkering of shifting ice and the reassuring beat of Baekhyun's heart interrupting the blissful atmosphere. Nights like these are my favorite: staying in and curling up to each other for warmth. Away from the loud bustle of our daily lives.

Thankfully with my hard work ethic, (read numerous sleepless nights,) the higher-ups have allowed me to work from home as long as I come in for important meetings and I am present three days a week. I rarely miss more than a day every few weeks though; I have no issues working in my designated office there. However, having the option to pack up my laptop and go spend lunch with Baekhyun in his company a few blocks over is always a treat. And the cutest expression of surprise that forms on his features... I'm never taking it for granted.

I stir a little at a soft pressure on the top of my head, blinking a few times before looking up at an equally sleepy Baekhyun. Giggles soon escape us both. "Cheerwine is a sleeping drink, hmm?" He smiles, eyes twinkling.

"It's really relaxing okay," I smile as more laughter rumbles in his chest, melting further into him as his hand rubs soothingly over my back. "I had a lot through high school."

"Helped to prepare for finals?" He inquires, gently combing warm slender fingers through my hair, melted ice swirling around the bottom of his glass.

I nod, briefly closing my eyes with a hum. "That and facing idiots every day. I almost didn't want to go to college, man."

A gentle smile lights up his face, "But you did." The sparkle in his eyes as he gazes down at me warms me up from the inside out. "And then you met me."

"—The persistent idiot from a frat party."

"Yah!" He complains as I erupt into another giggle fit, squealing when he starts leaving ticklish kisses all over my neck.

"Hey, I'm drinking here!"

Baekhyun chuckles, stopping his playful attacks; his small smile pressed to my neck.

"What?" I mutter breathlessly, savoring the remainder of my drink while regaining my breath. Trying not to waver despite the heat rising in my cheeks under the warmth of his stare. His comforting grip on my waist isn't easily ignored either.

"Nothing," He murmurs, looking me over for a moment. Adoration shining clear in his bright orbs as he tucks a lock of hair behind my ear, uttering softly, "Want to take a bath with me?"

"H—Huh?" I squeak, wide-eyed, hiding behind my hand. My face damn near bursting into flames. "Why?"

Baekhyun laughs softly, briefly squeezing my waist. "I don't know, I just…" He falters, fingers fidgeting, an all-telling red hue filling his cute cheeks. "Just thought it'd be nice."

"Nice, huh?" I mumble over the rim of my glass, licking a few stray drops before they can fall while arching a brow; my lips curling at the tint of red crawling up his ears.

"Y-Yeah, I mean," He stutters, focused on my cherry lips.

"I think you just want to see me naked," I tease, leaning forward to set my glass on the wooden table behind his blushing form sitting against the armrest of the couch.

"No-" Baekhyun's breath hitches, tilting his head back at my cold lips softly exploring the warm skin of his gorgeous neck. "M-Maybe…"

"Mmhm." Gently nibbling where his neck meets his jaw and putting his half-full glass away as well, I murmur, "That can be arranged."

Baekhyun sits there for a long moment, blinking owlishly at me before he straightens up. He swoops his arms under my knees and behind my back, standing up without a word, his biceps flexing at the motion. Soft eager lips press to my squealing ones as he walks down the hall to our bedroom.

I wrap my arms around his neck with a shy smile, smirking inwardly at the rapid beat of his heart under my palm resting against his neck.

"Give me a sec," He mumbles, entering the master bathroom. He sets me down on the spacious counter and opens a nearby drawer. "Can you open the cabinet for me?"

"You're gonna light a candle?" I blink, eyes widening at the box of matches in his hand.

"Not a candle," He braces his free hand on the countertop, capturing my lips in an unhurried kiss that makes me gasp. "Many candles."

"How romantic," I chuckle, breathy as he pulls away.

"Everything for you," His lips curl into that adorable, boyish smile; his hand patiently waiting. I retrieve the container of cream-colored candles from beyond the mirrored door behind me, carefully closing it before turning back to him, watching as he lights the match. The flickering flame reflects beautifully in his brown eyes while he holds it to the first candle, the scent of vanilla filling the room. A knowing smile forms on his lips at my unwavering stare.

I clear my throat, gripping the edge of the counter, "I'll go start the water-"

Baekhyun wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me back to him with a shake of his head. "No, I'll do it."

"But-"

"Baby," He has that pleading look in his eyes, lowering the lit match held between his fingertips. "Let me pamper you."

"You're gonna make me spoiled," I grumble, eyes fluttering shut at the soft brush of his lips over my cheek.

"You're my girl," He murmurs, chuckling, softly squeezing my waist. "Of course I'm going to spoil you."

My chest nearly bursts under the weight of my surging affection. "Well then..." I begin, calm despite my racing heart, sliding my hands down to unbutton his shirt and tug at the belt on his jeans. I pull up his tucked-in t-shirt, aimlessly searching for his lips. "Do it properly."

My eyes flicker open just in time to catch his adam's apple bobbing, his little nod causes my lips to curl up. He hands me the lit match before shrugging off his shirt; his black t-shirt not too far behind. I lick my lips, trailing my gaze over his honey-toned torso. Smiling before pressing my mouth back to his soft pillows, mindful of the flame between my fingers while wrapping my legs around his waist, pulling him closer. "My favorite view."

Baekhyun's bashful smile presses more firmly to mine, strong arms holding me flush to his body. I don't know if the sudden heat in the room is coming from my thick clothes or the proximity of his firm chest.

Just as I start to feel overwhelmed by the warmth, he detaches our lips with a loud smooch, carefully taking the match from my hand. The passionate fire in his orbs burning brighter than the flame between his fingers is enough to make me scorching hot under the collar.

Baekhyun has that knowing little smirk forming on his face again, lighting a few more candles before blowing out the match. "I'll start the water."

I can only giggle, completely enamored with him. The twinkling sparkle in his eyes in response to my laugh makes my heartbeat skip even more. I duck my head to hide from his amused expression and adoring gaze.

He just chuckles, planting a fleeting kiss on my forehead before stepping towards the grand tub on the other side of the room. Grand because the damn thing has three white steps leading up to it and it's at least as big as our king-sized bed in the other room.

The soothing sound of running water fills the air, mixing with the sweet aroma of vanilla and the view of Baekhyun leaning over the tub. His back muscles flexing alluringly, black belt tugging perfectly on his hips.

I look away, covering my red face with a muffled giggle, tugging at the collar of my shirt. Just what has this man done to me?

"What?" He glances over his shoulder, an amused smile playing at his lips.

"Nothing." Hiding my smile is nearly impossible until it falls off my face entirely in wake of him running a wet hand through his silver hair. The soft strands pushed off his gorgeous forehead with those dancing brown eyes of his watching me. I'm not blushing, I swear it's the humidity in the room.

He steps back over to me with antagonizing slow strides, his hands resting comfortably on my waist. "May I?" He murmurs, sliding them down to take hold of the hem of my turtleneck. The warmth of them somehow manages to seep through the thick fabric of my shirt.

I can only gulp, nodding meekly as he smiles, pulling the soft material over my head. The way his eyes drift over my tank top makes my cheeks warm—even more so when he rids me of it without hesitation.

"I should consider underwear," He mutters distractedly, one hand swiping under the edge of my bra while the other slides warmly up my back.

"You wanna compete with them too?" I arch a brow, leaning into his touch.

"No," He shakes his head, wrapping his arm around my waist, lifting those brown eyes back up to meet mine. "I want to see you with my name."

I can't help but snort despite my racing heart, giving him a disbelieving look. "You'd make a whole clothing line just for me to wear?" My amused grin falters at his serious nod. "I wouldn't be the only one wearing them, Baekhyun."

He hums, leisurely peppering kisses to the exposed skin of my chest. Goosebumps rise under his gentle caress as he pulls off my bra, quietly muttering, "You're the only one that matters."

There's no hiding my quickening heartbeat with his lips pressed so firmly to my skin; his brief smile not helping the state of my flushing cheeks at all. Just as I part my lips, my breath hitches—words forgotten with his hands trying to slip under the waistband of my thick leggings. I tsk, lightly smacking them away. "Yours first, mister."

"Mmm." He smiles, his palms sliding down my thighs. He's got that look in his eyes again that tells of unspoken mischief. "I kinda like the sound of that-"

"Never in a million years, Byun."

He chuckles, warm breath fanning over my cheek. "Remember last time? When you just-"

"Baekhyun!" My hand clapping over his mouth does nothing to muffle his contagious laughter. I can only shake my head, reaching to unzip and pop the button of his jeans. He gets quiet as I push them down to his calves. "Don't give me that look," I mutter, running my hands over his back, already well aware of the barely concealed problem he has.

"Why?" He murmurs, seeming to be content with painting me in gentle pink hues with his soft lips.

"You're staring."

Baekhyun chuckles, lifting his head, meeting my eyes with his twinkling ones. "I love admiring art."

"Oh, so I'm an object now?" I arch a brow, leaning back on my palms braced against the countertop.

"No." He shakes his head, brown eyes still focused on mine, long strands of silver hair cascading down his forehead. "You're the source," He pauses, smiling almost shyly, "Of my love and affection."

I'm ignoring the urge to coo at his reddening ears, merely planting a kiss on his cheek before wiggling out of my pants and carefully sliding off the counter. I collect our scattered clothes from the floor, tossing them into the wash basket a few feet away, curiously venturing over to the tub. Funny how we haven't used it since I moved in with him months ago. Then again, dating a CEO or not, I still think it is a waste of water just to fill up half of this thing, let alone what kind of water bills come with turning on the internal jacuzzi mode that will set the water into motion. But tonight is a special occasion.

No need for fancy anything—well, excluding the expensive bathtub—just being by his side is one of the most rewarding feelings in the world.

The steam rising from the still water makes my face feel dewy and refreshed. Coaxing me to dip into its heated depths. I gather my hair up into a bun, reaching for my hair-tie only to find out that it isn't on either of my wrists.

"Ah—do you need one?" Baekhyun mumbles, pausing mid-stride, pink lips pouting as he ruffles his silver hair.

Smiling adoringly, I make my way back to him with a shake of my head, grabbing his wrist. "No, it's fine."

"But-"

"It's alright, Baekhyun." Noticing the uncertainty playing on his features, I giggle. "It's not going to melt off, you know?"

He still has a furrow between his brows.

Fighting my smile, I shrug after a few moments, scrunching my nose, "My hair just gets a bit puffy—but." Holding my hand up at the sight of his dancing orbs, I narrow my eyes, muttering, "If my head ends up underwater, we are going to have a problem."

"Alright," He nods, lips curled up in a sheepish smile. "I can work with that."

I smile softly, taking a deep breath as he steps closer; heart palpitating when his familiar scent hits my nose, mixing with the aroma of vanilla permeating the air. His wet hair flops over his forehead in the most endearing of ways, outlining the cute droop of his eyes and his brown irises lit with the flickering candle flames. I doubt I will ever find a more comforting place than the shelter of his strong arms, fully content with melting into the security of his honey-toned skin.

"The water's getting cold," I blurt, muffled in the safety of his shoulder.

Baekhyun laughs, briefly dipping his hand into the water. We strip off the rest of our clothes and slip into its pleasantly warm depths.

'Wow,' I mouth, settling against the far side of the tub, relaxing under the water comfortably lapping at my shoulders.

"Nice, hmm?"

"Nice!?" My eyes drift to him as he moves closer. "Dude, I could spend an entire lifetime here if I wouldn't shrivel up like a prune."

I catch a glimpse of his sugar-sweet smile before he moves to sit behind me, pulling me close until my back is resting on his chest. Relaxing completely against him, all tension seems to leave my body, only a sense of warmth and security fills my being.

This kind of closeness—this intimacy—is something I'm definitely up for getting used to. The steady beating of his heart, the soft puffs of his every breath... It makes me inwardly scold myself for not doing this with him sooner. But when I stop to think about it…

I shoot down the thought quickly, fighting the urge to squeeze my eyes shut. The past is in the past. It shouldn't define the present, nor should I think about it. No matter how painful it is, I rather focus on Baekhyun's fingers gently playing with the ends of my hair instead of getting lost in the reminders of why my chest aches from time to time. The unanswered questions and concerns that easily plague my mind if I'm not careful enough.

I'm brought back to the calming waters of the tub by the feeling of Baekhyun's hand sliding down my stomach. "What are you doing?" I grumble, peeking an eye open.

"Appreciating," He murmurs with a small smile, wet strands of his hair tickling my ear as he plants a kiss on my shoulder. "I want to wash your hair. May I?"

Both my eyes flutter open with a quiet hum, a lazy smile forming on my lips. "Only if I can too," I propose, peeking over my shoulder at him. The view of his slender neck bared while his head rests against the back of the tub with water lapping at his chest is damn near intoxicating. Like what the hell, I swear this man grows finer by the day—or maybe I'm just a sucker for him... At this point, it's probably a mixer of both. Possibilities are endless when it comes to being in love—especially the cringe-worthy ones.

Baekhyun hums, brown eyes shimmering brightly as I turn around to face him, resting my palms on his lean abdomen for stability. "I'd love that," He murmurs, arms wrapping around my waist.

I shoot him another sweet smile, reaching to grab his shampoo bottle left on the edge of the tub. An all-too-familiar citrus scent wafts into the air when I open it. Squeezing a bit in my palm, I rub my hands together. "Close your eyes—just in case," I mumble sheepishly. I'm not about to risk him getting soap in his eyes tonight. Between his luck and my clumsiness, we must take all precautions.

Baekhyun chuckles, his eyes fluttering shut as I carefully run my hands through his hair, shifting into a comfortable position on his lap. He rubs soothing circles on my back, making me smile shyly, treating his soft strands with care.

"Your roots are showing," I note, gently ruffling his silver locks.

"I know." He tsks, cracking an eye open. "I'll get it done in a few days. When inventory calms down."

Humming, I swipe away shampoo drifting down his forehead, looking into his eyes sternly. "Enough of that. Less talking, more washing."

Soft laughter rumbles in his chest. "Yes ma'am," He mumbles, brown orbs shining in amusement, shutting his eyes again.

I massage the shampoo into his scalp, thoroughly covering the hair at the nape of his neck, pausing at the soft peck he presses to my lips. My cheeks burst into flames, "Lay back for me?"

"Oh?" He peeks, soapy suds sliding down his jaw. "This isn't what I was expecting, but I'm not complaining," He murmurs, smirking.

"Baekhyun!"

He's full-on laughing, causing the water to ripple around us. I shake my head, smiling a little, shielding his forehead and scooping up water to rinse his hair.

"Almost done," I mumble distractedly, my gaze drifting over his handsome features in the meantime. There's nothing like seeing a peaceful expression form on his face, or being the one to help him relax after a tiring day. Witnessing the way his stern eyes soften into the purest brown pools of love makes me feel like a criminal. "There."

"Thank you, baby." He hums, eyelashes brushing his cute cheeks before his sparkly brown orbs focus on me. He leans up for a sweet kiss that washes my every worry away, his warm breath causing goosebumps to form on my skin. "Your turn."

I don't even try hiding my smile, relaxing at the rare feeling of his hands carding through my hair. Something about the gentle way he does it makes me giggle, giddiness bubbling in my chest.

"What's so funny, hmm?" He murmurs, biting my ear.

"Baek!" I squeal, nearly opening my eyes as he chuckles, pressing a ticklish smooch to my neck.

Stealing a peek at him, I could melt at the adorable concentrated look on his face. Moments like these remind me how much I love this man. His every habit and cute mannerisms. Even on days when we've had enough of each other, where we teeter close to the edge of a breakup, I rather try a thousand times with him than start over with someone else. Stubborn personality and all, no pride of mine outweighs my never-ending love for him.

Nothing compares to how much I would do for him. Rain, sleet, or snow, I'll be there—and knowing he'd do the same, that he feels the same—is the greatest feeling imaginable.

"Baekhyun?"

"Hmm?" He lifts his head from the edge of the tub, holding me close to his beating heart, gently tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. The warmth of his gaze and the familiarity of his palm cupping my cheek send my adoration to new heights.

Taking my time to gaze over his features, I map every soft slope, every stunning curve, every unique freckle of his skin to memory. The little imperfections that make him even more perfect to me, reminders of why I haven't given up completely on humanity. I could spend forever with you. "I love you."

His beaming smile is the most heart-fluttering gesture in the world. "I love you too."

The sizzling of meat and the mouth-watering aroma of seasoned beef fills the air, popping to the tempo of my anxious heart. I blow away annoying strands of hair dangling in my eyes, painstakingly swirling the steadily cooking, thinly sliced marinated strips around the pan. Monitoring the rice cooker on the other side of the stove while being mindful of the glass plates neatly set out on the counter. I'm grateful that this recipe is as simple as the online articles have stated, who knows what kind of disastrous mess the kitchen would be in by now if it were any more difficult on this Friday night. 8 straight hours of back and forth with a picky, opinionated novelist has left me ravenous, I can't imagine what Baekhyun must be feeling.

The familiar sound of the security code being typed in is audible over the quiet atmosphere, bringing a smile to my lips as the front door opens.

"Honey," That honey-filled voice chimes, beautiful even with the tiredness in his soothing timbre. "I'm home-"

I carefully slide the food out of the pan, giving his plate the bigger portion, glancing over my shoulder at him while trying a piece of meat. He's just standing there in the middle of the room with parted lips, his white dress shirt straining against his chest and black blazer hanging off his biceps.

"Welcome home, Baekhyunee," I murmur, an amused smile tugging at my lips.

He hangs up his coat and blazer with an acknowledging hum, neatly placing his dress shoes on the shoe rack before slipping into his black house slippers, entering the kitchen with quick resounding footsteps.

My eyes flicker over to the beeping rice cooker as I finish emptying the meat from the pan, barely taking two steps before he's wrapping his arms around my waist. "You're home early."

"That I am," He muses, pressing a kiss to my hairline, strong arms tightening around me. "What's all this?"

"...Do you not recognize Bulgogi?" I frown, giving him the side-eye while scooping rice out of the cooker, smiling at the result. It's not overdone or undercooked. Perfect. "—Wait, is it that unrecognizable? Did I fuck-" I gasp, disoriented from being spun around so quickly.

Baekhyun chuckles, brown eyes twinkling in awe as he smiles down at me. "You didn't, baby." His thumb brushes over my lips, dexterous fingers curling stubborn strands of hair behind my ear. "I'm just surprised is all. What's the occasion?"

"Well..." I mumble, spooning a piece of meat on top of some rice. "I'm tired of getting takeout all the time. We may be busy, but I'll be damned if we buy food that we can cook in mere minutes like what's the point? When we can just-" My eyes flutter close, heart rate exhilarating at the feeling of his soft pillows pressed to mine.

"Let's cook more often," He proposes with a smile, leaning down to take a bite of the spoonful of food held in my frozen hand. Not even two seconds go by before his eyes widen.

"What?" My eyes enlarge the longer he's quiet; he's chewing so nonchalantly I have the urge to run away in a burst of panic.

"It's amazing," He mumbles after a few minutes, eyes sparkling so brightly while gazing at me, planting a kiss on my nose. "I love it."

"You…" I blink a few times, lightly smacking his arm. "You jerk!"

Baekhyun just laughs, pulling me further into his warm embrace. Brown eyes forming cute crescent moons.

"I thought you didn't like it," I mumble, slumping in defeat, unmistakable warmth rising on my cheeks.

"Why wouldn't I?" He murmurs, planting a kiss on top of my head. The tiredness from a long day of work only amplifying the sexy rasp of his voice. "Even if you burnt it to a crisp, I'd compliment you."

I scoff with a racing heart, stepping out of his hold, "That's not very honest."

"Mmhm, but-" He chuckles softly, taking me by the hand and spinning me back around, love shining in those deep brown orbs of his. He's breathtaking under the dim overhead light of the stove that will need to be replaced soon. The faint glow and coupling shadows cast over his features in a captivating way, making him appear older and reformed yet reflecting the youthful emotions in his eyes all the same. His silver hair is blinding under the reflective light; surprisingly the least bit ruffled in its state over his forehead. How someone can look so stunning after working all day will always astonish me, but that's just him.

"I'm honestly in love with you," Baekhyun utters in a heart-quaking hush as if sharing a secret, setting my cheeks aflame. "—And your cooking. Holy shit, what did you put in this?"

I shoot him a small, secretive smile, resting my hand on his bicep, "It's a secret~"

"A secret, huh?" Baekhyun muses, arching a brow, fighting a smile. He briefly glances down at my mouth at that moment, licking his lips before leaning in.

"Ah-" I take a step back just as his soft pillows brush against mine, bracing my hand on his firm chest when he steps closer. "Don't you dare."

"What?" He mumbles, meeting my eyes, pink lips jutted out in the tiniest pout.

Shifting my gaze away from the unfairly adorable sight, I mutter, "I spent all afternoon marinating that meat. You better not let it get cold."

"I'm hungry for something else at the moment," He murmurs lowly, biting his lip. Just those words alone from his sinful mouth make my insides quiver. I clear my throat, trying my best to keep a flush from reappearing on my face as he runs a hand through his silver hair, giving me those darkening brown eyes.

Spotting a magazine out of the corner of my eye, I grab it just as he's leaning in again, promptly smacking his arm. "Dessert comes after dinner—if," I breathe, bottom lip brushing against his, "you're lucky."

"May luck be on my side then..." He hums thoughtfully, swiping his thumb over his lips; slender fingers softly squeezing my waist. His dark brown orbs lift back up to mine, eyeing me intensely for a long minute. My cheeks redden at the implications.

Baekhyun finally shifts his attention back to the steaming plates. "I'll handle these. Go sit down."

"I-"

He turns those dark brown eyes onto me again, the mischievous promises swirling within them enough to weaken my knees. I spin around on my heel without another word, hurrying to the dining table. He brings both the plates over, setting them down on the winter-themed table mats placed in front of our designated seats. We prefer sitting next to each other when having meals together at home—some nights spent with my right hand being held securely in his left one.

Baekhyun slides into his chair just as I pick up a pair of chopsticks, the faint scent of his cologne tickles my nose. Would it be silly to say that the room seems to warm up whenever he is around? He's like a little source of comfort and warmth, relaxing me in any situation. It doesn't matter where I am; if he is there, I'll know I'm safe, that everything's going to be alright.

"Say ah," Baekhyun's melodic voice rings, sending butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

I pause mid-bite, glancing over at him. He continues to hold up a piece of meat despite my incredulous stare, "Really?"

He just smiles sweetly, patiently waiting, his bright brown eyes sparkling when I take the offered food with a playfully annoyed sigh.

"I missed you today," He murmurs warmly, pointedly staring down at his plate. My heart nearly jumps out my chest at the sweetness. I bite my lips to fight back a smile, holding back a giggle. It's always heartwarming to know that even after all this time, I'm not the only one bursting at the seams with my love for him. He's so fucking adorable.

"I missed you too," I mutter, kissing his rosy cheek before shifting my attention back to my food. "Eat up, you've had a long day."

"Oh baby, you have no idea." He groans. The familiar sound of metal cutlery clinking against glass dishes fills the room.

"Wanna share?" I inquire, resting my chin on my palm, carefully picking up a few pieces of beef and rice. I gaze intently at him with an encouraging smile.

"I've had three meetings since the afternoon," He grumbles, a tired smile briefly tugging at his lips. "Someone kept messing up the orders and a truckload of the material conveniently ended up shipped to the wrong facility."

"Conveniently?" My gaze flickers to his glass of water on the table, dangerously close to the edge. I move it closer to the center of the table mat, eyes widening slightly at the clench of his jaw. His eyes are full of that stern businessman gleam he only gets when he's restraining the urge to go off on a subordinate.

"Mmm." His body is rigid despite his calm tone, voice deeper than usual, "I swear that they are out to get on my nerves." He speaks slowly as if containing his anger. "We've been at this for years, why haven't they got their shit together yet?"

"Did you get the shipment?" My voice is soft as I tentatively rest my head on his shoulder, stroking his arm.

Baekhyun hums, relaxing a little, resting his head on top of mine. "It's frustrating." He sighs.

"Good thing you're the boss then," I chirp, peeking at him, cheekily adding, "You can yell at them and you won't get fired."

Thankfully, my words make him laugh, breaking the tension in his broad shoulders. The joyous sound rumbles his chest and echoes off of the walls.

"Shh!" I whisper, softly covering his mouth, making a show of looking around. "Yah, don't wake the neighbors. They might think I'm watching questionable comedy again."

Baekhyun only laughs harder, pressing a kiss to my palm before taking my hand into his own, his brown orbs lit up in amusement. "That movie was a wild ride."

"Literally," I agree, raising my brows to broaden his smile. "How much longer do you have to work these long hours?" My tone comes out whiner than intended, but I just hide my face in his neck, basking in his comforting scent.

"A few more days," He mumbles, kissing my head, gently tangling his fingers in my hair. "Why? Do you miss me?" He teases, curling a strand around his finger.

My heart downright quivers. "Nah, I'm just curious—of course, I miss you!" I retort, scoffing, shooting him a look. "12-hour shifts are too much. You're gonna start getting gray hair for real."

"Just until Thursday, baby." He murmurs, chuckling at my doubtful expression, tucking hair behind my ear, and cupping my cheek in his warm palm. "Two more days and then I'm all yours."

"Are you sure about that?" Muttering under my breath, I get lost in the mocha brown of his eyes, my own fluttering shut at the light kiss he presses to my lips.

"Mmm as sure as I am about loving you," He smiles, caressing my cheek with his thumb, gazing adoringly into my eyes.

If I was standing, I'm positive I would have stumbled over my feet by now. I swear this man and his affection will make me melt into a damn puddle one day—possibly today at this rate.

The loud buzz of a phone goes off in the room. Heavy vibrations come from the left pocket of Baekhyun's black slacks, warmly pressed against my thigh. He pulls it out without breaking eye contact, but the sight of a child out of the corner of my eye draws my attention. My heart quickly sinks at the realization that…

This kid looks just like the man next to me.

"Hello?" Baekhyun hums, closing his eyes, a peaceful expression forming on his features until they snap back open. "What did you say?" He breathes, straightening up, face going pale the longer the person's muffled speech filters through the phone.

My eyes shift back and forth between him and the blank screen of his phone, the image of that child still circling around my mind. Who is he? Why is there a picture of a child that resembles him so much on his phone?

Baekhyun and I never really talked about his family, despite him meeting mine. I just assumed that it was a touchy topic or something, so I never—

"I can't—I can't," He grits out, abruptly leaning away from me, knuckles white from his tight grip on the device. He roughly runs a hand through his hair, growing more agitated by the second. "My schedule is packed for the next two weeks. I won't be able to..." He goes quiet, listening as his brown eyes drift over to mine. The nearly blank look in them makes my heart race, and not in a good way.

"I understand," He mutters, ending the call.

The silence that stretches out in the space between us while he re-pockets his phone is unbearable. Even more so with the way he seems to avoid my eye, crossing his arms over his heaving chest; a faraway look within his dimmed brown orbs.

It takes a few deep breaths for me to dare to say anything, reaching out towards him only to lower my hand back to my lap, curling it into a fist. "...Baekhyun?"

"Hmm?" His head snaps up, blinking a few times before meeting my gaze. The unfamiliar daze in his tired eyes is worrisome, "Yeah, baby?"

"That…" I bite the inside of my cheek, not sure how to go about the question I'm dying to ask. Baekhyun rarely gets like this—he gets angry, yes, but to reach this extent of...rage? I only recall witnessing it last fall when I had my phone off all night, and that one time I almost sliced off my thumb while trying to peel potatoes. Multiple chirps of his phone has my eyes darting back down to his pocket.

Baekhyun follows my line of sight, realization dawning on his features. "Ah..." He nods, adam's apple bobbing in his throat, smiling a little before reaching out for me. "Sorry about that, my love."

"Who was that?" I try my best not to seem stiff when he pulls me into his arms, but by the way his smile falls off his face, he already knows.

"My brother," He mumbles, pressing kisses to my forehead, gathering me closer despite the protesting squeak of our chairs.

"And the kid?" I look at him dead in the eye, leaning back regardless of the frown forming on his face.

"Hmm?" He tilts his head for a moment, brown eyes soon widening. "Oh! That." His sheepish smile is borderline guilty as he ruffles his hair, uttering quietly, "That's my nephew. Isn't he adorable?"

Nodding slowly, I hum, turning to poke aimlessly at my cold food. "Looks just like you."

Baekhyun's arm tenses up under my hand. He pulls the phone back out of his pocket. "You mean his father. See?" After a few swipes of his finger, he holds it up; the device displays an image of the little kid and an older-looking version of Baekhyun. "Baekbeom and I got confused a lot growing up."

Uh-huh... My heart squeezes uncomfortably in my chest as I twirl a chopstick around my plate. "Why do you never talk about them?" I whisper, taking a peek at him.

"Why don't you ever ask?" He shrugs, lips twitching—an almost annoyed tone in his voice.

"O-Oh well..." The painful throb in my chest is immediate. I grit my teeth, lowering my head and pushing away from the table. "I'll go wash the dishes-"

"No—wait." Baekhyun grabs my wrist, gently pulling me to him. "Come here." He whispers, wide eyes flickering all over my person.

"The chair's gonna break," I mutter, avoiding his eye, reluctantly sitting on the edge of his lap.

"Shh—baby." His voice has taken on that soft comforting timbre he reserves for dreary nights and hushed calls between meetings. His strong arms wrap around my waist, pulling me further into his warmth. "Look at me, please?" He tucks a finger under my chin, coaxing me to face him.

Shaking my head, I keep my eyes down on my hands, fully content with examining the state of my chipped nail polish instead.

Baekhyun sighs after a while. "I'm sorry," He mumbles, hugging me to his chest, nuzzling his nose into my hair. "I had a long day and shouldn't be taking it out on you."

"And I cooked for you." I huff quietly, crossing my arms. "Next time I'm making food for myself. You can stick to your precious takeout."

"No," He whines, hiding further in my hair. "I want your food. Your cooking is the best."

"You only had one meal." I roll my eyes.

"And I want them all." He pulls back, cupping my cheek in his hand, staring deep into my eyes. "I want all of you."

There's no holding back the smile that automatically forms on my face, but his words do nothing to ease the lump in my throat or the burn of his actions. No amount of butterflies in my stomach can hide the fact that... there are parts of Baekhyun's life that he refuses to share with me. But there's no point in getting upset over something I've known for over a year, is it?

Baekhyun peeks over at me mid-bite. "What?"

"Nothing," I murmur, breaking out of my daze, mustering up a smile. Gently wiping away a grain of rice from the corner of his lips. "You're just so cute, I bet you were adorable as a kid."

"Mmhm." He nods nonchalantly, though his reddening cheeks are a dead giveaway. "Our kids will be lucky."

I splutter, damn near dropping the glass in my hand. "Baek!" My light slap on his chest does nothing to disturb his laughter. "Stop playing, I'm still upset."

His chuckles evaporate in an instant. "I'm not." The serious tone of his voice mirrors the determination in his eyes. "I mean it."

My eyes widen, "Oh..."

"Do you ever think about it?" Baekhyun's voice barely reaches a whisper, he meets my eyes with a bashful expression before looking away. "Having kids, I mean."

"Yeah."

"Yeah?" He breathes, wide brown eyes focused on me. The utterly surprised look on his face is refreshing to say the least.

I nod, choosing my words carefully, "I wouldn't mind 2, 3, 4 mini me's."

"Four!?" The chair creaks as he leans back in astonishment. If his eyes were wide before, they are the size of saucers now. "Are you mad, woman?"

"No! I just-" It's hard to formulate words with his fingers mercilessly tickling my sides. "Stop." I groan, laughing, batting his hands away. "Can't I dream about having a bunch of cute kids?" I shrug, looking away. "I dream big, so what?"

"Nothing." He smiles, bright orbs dancing, softly squeezing my waist. "Keep dreaming, baby."

"Mmhm." Relaxing against him, I wrap my arm around his neck, giving him a look. "What about you?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't 'hmm' me." His widening smile is contagious, I just want to kiss it off of him. "How many kids you want?" I murmur, picking lint off of his dress shirt, peeking under my eyelashes at him. He stays quiet as I gently curl his hair around my finger, "Go on. Spill."

"Doesn't matter," He mumbles, pressing a kiss to my palm, picking up his chopsticks again.

"Really?" I arch a brow, not the least bit convinced. "Are you sure? I bet you want two."

"Nope." The word comes out muffled around the cheek-full of food in his mouth. Even his audible chewing is adorable and attractive.

I scoff in disbelief, smiling a little with a tilt of my head, resting it on his shoulder. "How many do you want then?"

"Doesn't matter the number or gender," He shakes his head, neatly setting his chopsticks down on his empty plate. "I just want them." He peeks at me, "With you."

My brows raise in surprise. "Thinking ahead, are we?"

He shrugs, a smile quirking at his lips. "I like being prepared."

"You know life is unpredictable, right?" I mutter, narrowing my eyes at his cheeky expression.

Baekhyun smiles sweetly, pulling the collar of my oversized shirt off my shoulder, brushing his lips over my skin. "Then I hope life predicts me with you."

It takes everything in me to hold in a gasp, tangling my fingers further in his silver locks. "What are you up to now?"

"Making it up to you." He leaves a trail of soft smooches up to my collarbone, nibbling at the sensitive skin, gently digging his fingers further into the swell of my waist.

"Making it up..." I mumble, melting into him, resting my hand over his heart. "How exactly?"

"Well." He pulls back with a tiny grin, biting his lip, pure mischief swirling within his sparkling eyes. "There are many ways my mouth can apologize..."

•⇔♦ •⇔♦ •⇔♦ •⇔♦ •⇔♦ •⇔♦ •

A/N: What is Baekhyun up to now? I swear he grows more complex by the day. Do I write the fic or does the fic write itself? (>.<) let’s not talk about the filth that leaves his mouth (<.<) *coughs* 😳🔥🌹 onto part 2 we go~

#baekhyun smut #bbh-net #baekhyun fluff #baekhyun romance #baekhyun angst #Six Phases

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schrijverr · 3 years

Text

Solidarity

This is about enby he/they Jon, who wants to wear a skirt to work, because they’re comfy. He confides in Tim, who agrees to help them. He does so by dyeing his hair purple.

It is completely based on the art of @fox-guardian, their Tim and all other TMA designs live in my mind rent free, so go check them out! The designs I used will also be linked in text for a better mental image

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: none really, but tell me if I missed something or if you want me to tag anything!

A/N: this is my first time writing someone with multiple pronouns, if I can improve feel free to tell me, no obligations of course :D

~~~~~~~~

Jon was nervous, he was almost always nervous, but they had an impeccable mask. However, today he was even more nervous and it was showing through the cracks. They had finally put a non-binary flag sticker on his laptop.

They weren’t about to tell everyone at the office about it, the he/him pronouns for work suited them just fine for now and he didn’t want to go through the effort of explaining he/they pronouns to everyone, the flag was just for them.

Georgie had given him the sticker when they had come out to her. They lost contact soon after, but Jon had always appreciated the gesture. Until now he had been too afraid to stick it on something, because what if that object didn’t last and they wasted the sticker on that?

But now he had a brand new laptop and in a wave of courage they had put the sticker on it.

A decision he was now regretting, since they were walking into work and anyone could see it. Of course, the people who knew what the flag meant, would most likely be chill with it, but anyone would recognize it as a pride flag, even if they might not know which one.

He had tried to convince themself it didn’t matter, he was proud of who they were, had been for a long while.

But it was still scary.

They sighed and pushed open the door, quickly making his way to their desk where he tried to make the flag less noticeable by reorganizing their desk.

Luck was not on his side, however, because Tim made his way over to them. He greeted him and Tim smiled back: “Hi there, Jon. What are you reorganizing for? Trying to get that archivist job, ey?”

Jon couldn't help it, they froze. His hands stilled as they tried to come up with an excuse, but nothing came out. He just stared at Tim and waved their hands around helplessly. His actions made Tim frown and he asked: “Hey, is everything alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything's fine, Tim.” Jon answered, before, with a stroke of genius (not), they pushed a stack of paper in front of the flag.

The paper stack wasn’t near high enough to cover it and all it did was call attention to what Jon had been trying to hide. He cringed and looked at Tim to try and gauge his reaction to the sticker.

Tim glanced over and spotted the sticker, a look of understanding coming over his face. He could see the light fear in Jons eyes, so he went for a disarming smile as he said: “That’s cool. I, myself, am the B of the beautiful alphabet soup. Want me to change pronouns for you?”

Jon practically sagged with relief, their heart beginning to slow down again and he said: “No, I just use he/him in a professional setting, but, uhm, you know, thank you.”

“No problem.” Tim smiled, “Always good to know you’re not alone, right? Solidarity and all that.”

“Yeah.” Jon shyly returned the smile.

Later that day Tim ‘accidentally’ left his mug in front of the flag when he was talking to Jon and the next day a three striped flag could be found on Tims laptop. It wasn’t much, but it was support and that was comforting.

In the privacy of their own home Jon put on a skirt, he liked dressing like, what Georgie called, an elderly librarian, but it was comfortable and they wished he was comfortable enough to wear it to work.

They shook the thought off, no use in dwelling on the possibilities, after all, but it remained there in the back of his mind.

The next time they thought about it seriously, was when he actually got promoted. It came to them again when he realized that the Archives were mostly hidden away in the basement and didn’t get a lot of traffic. Wearing a skirt there was much less high risk, besides they would be working with Tim and Sasha, they both knew, and he had thought they’d seen a trans flag as the background for that annoying other guy, Martin, he thought his name was.

Still, they would have to walk through the building for a bit first, past the front desk in the main entrance hall and while Rosie was a sweet lady, she a nosy one too.

Jon shoved the thought away, but this time it fought harder when he tried to let go of it. They thought of it when his pants felt tight around their legs, when his tie wrapped around their throat and whenever Sasha walked past in a dress.

A few weeks into the organization of the Archives, Jon had made up his mind. They were gonna wear a skirt, but first he needed to be sure they would have at least one ally on his side.

They casually held back Tim at the end of the day. He looked surprised and asked: “Hey, what’s up boss?”

“Uhm, can I- can I ask you something?” Jon began.

He didn’t know if it was the body language or the hesitation that put Tim on high alert, but he straightened up a bit and answered: “Of course, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong, per say.” they said, “I just have this idea, but before I do it, I want to ensure that I have someone taller to hide behind in case it goes wrong.”

“That is not helping, Jon. Is it those statements? Sasha says they’re all weird, they’re not getting to you too, are they?” Tim replied.

“Oh no, not at all. You know I don’t belief that nonsense.” Jon quickly assured him, then he hunched a bit over and mumbled: “I was just just thinking of wearing a skirt to work, since they’re comfortable, but, you know?”

They looked up and hoped Tim would understand. He saw how Tims concerned expression morphed into understanding, then his eyes glittered, before he got excited. He grinned: “I got the perfect idea, I will 100% cover you, boss. Just wait and I’ll text you when you can do it, alright? I got a plan.”

“Wha-? What’s the plan? Tim? Tim!” Tim was already gone.

Jon spend the next few days nervously. They had asked Tim a few times, but he had been waved away with a ‘don’t worry’ or a ‘you’ll see.’

Then on Tuesday morning, they got a text from Tim, simply reading: It’s time, meet me near the gates at 8:45.

Not wanting to stand outside in the outfit on his own for a while, Jon made sure to be there precisely on time and not a second later.

He had chosen a comfort outfit, since they suspected he was going to need it today. It was a long dark grey skirt, which they had paired with green socks, dress shoes with a small heel, an old green cardigan and his Mechanisms shirt.

They hadn’t even stood there for five seconds when a familiar voice called out: “Here, Jon!”

Looking over he saw Tim, but now with lilac hair that matched a sweater and a dress shirt he wore as much as possible. Right now it was a sweater day, he grinned when he saw Jons shocked face and ran up to them.

“A distraction, at your service, boss.” Tim did a lazy salute, before he started to lead Jon inside.

Jon was speechless for a moment, then they said: “You didn’t have to do all that for me, isn’t that a dress code violation?”

“Old Elias won’t care, besides if they yell at me for it, it’s only less attention on you.” Tim waved his worries away, “And I did have to do it. To be honest, I’ve always wanted to dye my hair, but never found a reason to try a violate dress code, but this was just a perfect excuse.”

“Thank you, Tim, really. It means a lot.” Jon told him sincerely.

“No worries, solidarity, am I right.” Tim told them.

They walked in to the Institute together and the first thing Jon heard was Rosie calling out: “Tim, your hair! I love it, dear.”

Internally Jon smiled: Solidarity.

#RR writing #jonathan sims #jon sims #tim stoker #tim stoker and Jon Sims #Tma #the magnus archives #the magnus pod #the magnus archive season 1

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pl-panda · 4 years

Text

To Marry a Vigilante: Part 4

MASTERLIST || First || Previous || Next

To Marry a Vigilante: Part 4

-----

The next day, Marinette woke up in her bed, still dressed. By the time her father brought her into her room, she was already asleep. The emotions finally caught up with her somewhere along the way. Remembering the end of the evening, her eyes immediately latched onto her finger, but the ring was not there. A mere second before a panic attack, she looked at the bedside table, where both the box and the ring rested. She let out a breath. She didn’t lose it.

“Morning cupcake,” a voice startled her. “Are you okay?” Her father was looking through the repealed doors.

“Yeah… Did yesterday really happen?”

“We are still at Wayne Manor and I seem to remember to have put the ring on the night table.”

“I can’t believe he actually proposed!” Marinette jumped off the bed and started to pace around with a dreamy look on her face. “I mean I know we are married, but it was still so romantic! And in front of so many people! Oh, Papa! I’m so happy!” She fell back onto her bed.

“I’m glad you’re happy, cupcake. Remember that your Maman and I will always be here for you.” His smile took a sadder shade. “I know you’re almost a grown-up with a job and all, but to us you will always be the same little girl that I used to fit in the palm of my hand.”

“Don’t worry Papa. I won’t forget you and Maman.”

“Good. Now let’s go open the presents! Race you!” He ran out of her room and toward the big tree in the hall. Mari giggled at her father’s antics before following him; the ring shining on her finger.

In the back, Tikki floated with a big smile on her face. Her chosen finally had a chance for some happiness. If only that ruddy alley cat did not run away with the miraculous. She could still feel Nooroo and Duusu active. She could wait one more day before telling Marinette though. The girl deserved a peaceful Christmas.

---------

By the time Marinette arrived by the tree, most of the people were already gathered. Dick was seated in a large armchair next to a pile of gifts. He was dressed in a full Santa Claus outfit, complete with a fake beard. The only reason she recognized him was because of his voice.

“Now that everyone’s here, who wants…” He started, but someone interrupted.

“Before that, I need to apologize.” Johnathan Kent turned toward Marinette. “Yesterday, after you left, I made some unsavory accusations about you, for which I want to deeply apologize.” Just for a second, his eyes jumped toward Sabine. The girl noted that her mother was glaring at the older man. “I’m a simple man and this… secret world you all live in is strange for me. Please, accept my sincere apology.”

“Oh… No problem Mr. Kent. To be honest I’m still getting used to it all myself.” She smiled at him. Marinette was not that oblivious not to guess what kind of accusations the older man had made.

“With that out of the way, I think we can get started. Maybe let’s begin with the youngest?” Dick said, trying to imitate how the real Santa Claus would sound. Marinette would admit that he was close.

“Me! Me!” Mar’i started floating in the air until Jon pulled her gently to the ground. He really got into the ‘older brother’ role.

“Yes, you, sweetheart.”

Mar’i received several gifts from the pile. Marinette was surprised to see one from her family. Inside were several baked goods from their bakery. She didn’t remember her parents packing any, but maybe they made them here.

“Me next!” Jon was giddy. His pile of gifts was slightly smaller, but there was a box of sweets there too.

After that, it was Marinette’s turn. She received probably even more than Mar’i. There were also gifts from her Nona, grandfather, uncle Wang, one without a name tag that she was pretty sure came from aunt Sandra, a giant box from Chloe, and a small one that she had no idea who sent her. It was wrapped with a paper with black cats that would look better somewhere around Halloween, but she was too distracted to question it. Damian was busy arguing with Jon about whether he would get the Kryptonite knuckle dusters or not.

She started with the largest box that Chloé sent her. Inside, there was a giant chest filled to the brim with detective novels and a letter that she chose to read when she was alone. Next was the gift from her uncle, which turned out to be an intricately decorated stone bowl for mixing ingredients.

Her grandfather got her a beautiful rolling pin made half from cherry wood and half from solidified resin. The resin was in dark green color that reminded her of Damian’s eyes. But Roland had no idea about that, did he…?

Many gifts were some nice fabrics, a gift card to Gabriel, which she was tempted to burn as soon as she got it, but out of politeness just put it back into the box for now. Finally, the gift from aunt Sandra contained a set of beautiful daggers, a Katana, and a hairpin that had a space to pour poison inside.

Her parents gave her a new rope dart, this time with a sharp end that she could use in combat. The line it was attached to was made from titanium-carbon alloy that would be able to withstand point-pressure of at least two tonnes. The weapon itself was practical instead of good-looking. The blade was thick, looking a bit like a diamond. The edges were sharp and the tip very pointy. The grip of the weapon was wrapped in a red cord for a more comfortable grip. Mari thanked them both before pocketing the weapon into her bag for now. She would probably fashion a better place for it.

Finally, only one box remained. The mysterious cats. Mari was about to open it when Jon noted it and leaped at her. The bow came undone the moment he covered the small box with his body. Everyone waited, watching carefully what was going on.

Nothing happened.

“Tt. Kent? Mind explaining to us why you decided to smash my Angel’s gift?” Damian glared at him.

“Um… I might have accidentally scanned it. You don’t want to see what’s inside. I definitely don’t want to see what’s inside ever again,” he shuddered.

“Show me,” Sabine demanded. She picked up the squashed box and opened the top before closing it. A small lighter made its way into her hand and before anyone knew better, it was aflame. Seeing people staring at her, she smiled. “Nothing to worry about. It was a terrible prank.” She wrapped the now-charred remains and some vaguely straight shape into the torn paper.

“What was this Maman?”

“A very distasteful prank.”

Marinette looked at the shape in her mother’s hand and her blood suddenly ran cold. It was shaped like a knife. The knife.

“No… He knows?! He can’t know!” She panicked, but Damian quickly pulled her closer to him, immediately soothing her some.

“No, Sweetie. That bastard thought he would appease you by offering a painting of a stabbed Ladybug.” Sabine’s expression was heralding God’s wrath.

Jason growled. “He is sick.”

Next to him, Tim muttered so that only Stephanie could hear him. “You gave B. a crowbar on your first Christmas back…” Superman heard it too, judging from his reaction.

“So what now?”

“Well, I think it’s safe to say we won’t be coming back beyond ‘appearing’ at the airport when your class is scheduled to leave. I still can’t believe how incompetent your teacher must be to force you to travel with them.”

“I know it might sound stupid, but I think you will be safest in Gotham City.” Lois offered.

Mari nodded sharply before cuddling into Damian. “Don’t worry, Angel. I will protect you.” He reassured her while hugging her close to his heart.

“I can protect myself.” She huffed but didn’t reject his hug.

“That I don’t doubt.”

“There is a good chance he won’t be able to reach you in Gotham anyway. He is just one kid, which will make crossing the border much harder for him.” Stephanie pointed.

“He has his daddy’s money. That will probably be enough.”

“Let’s hope not. I will send the warning to the border control that he might be trying to enter the country, but that’s the best I can do.”

“Meanwhile I will go check if my guns are working…” Jason tried to leave, only for Tim to grab the back of his jacket and pull him back into place.

“There is no point worrying for now. Let’s just enjoy Christmas.” Sabine nodded for everyone to return to gifts. When no one was looking at her, she pulled Jon to the side and placed the knife paper on the stone floor. They didn’t speak, not to start another drama, but the boy understood. A short heat-vision later the knife was no more than a piece of smoking paper and molten steel.

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

A blonde boy walked toward the terminal. He was dressed in a light gray long-sleeved dress shirt underneath a dark gray vest. He also sported a black necktie, dark gray dress pants, and black dress shoes. His hair was combed back, adding to the impeccable look. The green eyes swept over the guards as they observed him closely. He presented the passport.

He noted that it took them longer than it should. His eyes fell on the wanted poster next to the guards.

“I’m not my idiotic cousin if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Ah… Um…” The guard that was speaking to him was clearly confused.

“Really? Ugh! That idiot decided to play supervillain and suddenly I have to suffer for it! I am not Adrien Agreste.” He ruffled through his bag, not caring that several guards almost drew their weapons. He finally pulled out a magazine with him and Adrien standing side by side, modeling for Gabriel. When side by side, the difference in their styles was even more pronounced.

“Apologies, mister. You must understand thought…” The man started to back-track.

“Yeah yeah. Spare the prostrating.” He dismissed the guard and walked past the checkpoint. Once he was out of the hearing range, he grinned. “It’s not you that I want to see on the floor…” He whispered omniously.

-----------

Marinette and Sabine arrived through a portal five minutes from the airport, with ten minutes to spare before class was scheduled to meet. The two did not carry any luggage so they would get past the customs much faster. An upside to having all your things brought through a magical portal the day before.

The airport was buzzing with activity. Marinette and her mother quickly got past the checkpoint and met with Chloé, who awaited them eagerly.

“Dupain-Cheng! How was Christmas with the Waynes?” She asked in a hushed voice, so the class didn’t hear her.

“Well…” Mari grinned before showing the blonde her ring.

“What? Now that’s what I call a good Christmas gift.”

“How did you like the belt?” Marinette asked. In response, Chloé showed her that she was already wearing it. It was white with some golden glitter around the elegant buckle. There was a barely visible MDC logo etched on the buckle. The designer worked on it for some time before repurposing it as a Christmas gift. She had to cut on the glitter decorations, but in the end, the more minimalistic design appealed to Chloé.

Sabine watched the two girls talk. A year ago, the woman wouldn’t believe her eyes if Marinette and Chloé acted this friendly. Now though, they were cute.

“Did you get my gift?” The blonde asked impatiently.

“Um… Yes. The books are great.”

“What was under the books!” The girl whispered, hoping to avoid Sabine’s watchful eye and ear.

“What?” Marinette looked surprised and Chloé had to resist the urge to facepalm.

“Honestly Dupain-Cheng! You’re ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!”

And then the mood was broken when the rest of the class found them.

“Good morning Marinette.” Madame Bustier greeted the girl. “Sabine.”

The older woman did not return the greeting. “It’s Madame Cheng. We are here in the role of chaperones.” She almost seethes. “Let’s keep at least the illusion of professionalism.”

“Um… right. Moving on kids!” The slightly embarrassed teacher declared.

“She is just as bad as Maribrat,” Alya muttered to Lila when she thought Sabine couldn’t hear her. The glare she received in response made it clear she made a mistake in her judgment.

After they got to the plane, people started to whisper when Chloé and Marinette didn’t join them in the economy class where they had their tickets. Instead, the two left for the first class.

“Why aren’t they joining us!?”

“Because Chloé’s father paid for hers and I can afford mine.” Marinette normally would be against such blatant flaunting of wealth, but she couldn’t stop herself from rubbing it a bit into them that she earned the luxury.

“She probably…” Kim suddenly lost his ability to speak when he was met eye-to-eye with Sabine Cheng.

“Think carefully about what you want to say next.”

He could almost see the flames of hell burning brightly behind her. “Um… she probably earned it?”

“Good boy.”

“While I agree that Marinette earned it,” Caline started speaking and Sabine, Chloé, and the girl in question all had to resist the urge to groan, sensing there was more to that sentence. “I think it would be preferable if the girls joined the class for the duration of the flight. It would serve to strengthen the bonds between kids.”

“And how exactly do you plan on fitting them when all the places in this place are bought out. Not to mention the price difference. Or maybe you thought money was not a problem?” Sabine asked, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

Before Caline could answer, Lila decided to open her mouth. “Maybe Madame Bustier and you, madame could switch places with them. We know how hard our teacher worked and a bit of relaxation and comfort would do her good. You too could probably relax a bit from all the hard work in that Bakery.”

Immediately after that, everyone started to agree and try to convince the chaperones to leave them alone. Sabine was about to protest when Caline spoke up. “Well, I think it would be acceptable, provided the girls agree.” She sent both a glare.

Sabine’s blood boiled. She wasn’t sure if any normal girl would actually have the strength to stand up to a teacher in that position. Only the fact that Marinette looked completely unbothered stopped her from reacting.

“Of course they won’t agree! They are too selfish!” Alya shouted.

Some of the people on the plane started to stare at the group, with many gazes falling on Marinette and Chloé.

The blonde scoffed, but her best friend grinned. “Sure.” She pulled her ticket and handed her to the teacher. “But we’re blocking the flight, so let’s move.”

Chloé handed hers to Sabine, smiling politely at the woman. “Marinette suspected this would end like that.” She whispered before taking a seat next to Dupain-Cheng. Both girls pulled out old-fashioned dictaphones and started recording what was going on with the class. Then Chloé gave Mari one of her detective novels and they started reading.

Sabine shook her head. Her little girl had a plan and she would trust her. And after seeing Lila in action, she now had some idea how that liar worked. The way she manipulated people’s opinion reminded her in some ways of the assassin training she underwent.

-----

The plane was already half-way to Gotham. Sabine did her best to ignore Caliné’s rambling about Marinette, switching between praising her and making her into the heart of all the problems with the class. If she didn’t know better, Sabine would think that the teacher had some sort of mental disorder. Beyond simple stupidity that is.

Out of the blue, Caliné stopped rambling and Sabine saw her asleep, snoring lightly.

“A strong sedative. It should give us at least an hour of peace.” A calm voice spoke from behind her.

“Sandra.” Sabine greeted her sister politely, but without the usual cheerfulness. “Clever of you to choose here of all places to meet me. Don’t think that it will let you escape my wrath. You left that girl on the mercy of a monster.”

“Cassandra was… I did regret what I did, but I couldn’t risk trying to reclaim her. Not until I was sure she could defend herself.” Sandra said, allowing emotions to enter her voice. Sabine could tell she was genuinely saddened by the situation.

“You could’ve brought her to me. I would raise her along Marinette without a second thought. And you know that nobody would dare to come after me.” The older turned in her seat to glare at her sister. Two men at her side were both also sleeping, each with a small wound on their neck. They had complete privacy.

“I… I’m sorry. By the time I managed to find her again, I… I was ashamed. I admit that it pained me to see what Cain did to her. But I couldn’t…”

“We will talk about it when I can scream at you properly.” Sabine cut her off. “For now I want to know what is so important you decided to show up personally, risking my wrath.”

“The boy has allies.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know, but they are influential enough to shield him from many of my contacts.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you tried. As opposed to with your daughter.”

“I deserve it…” Sandra lowered her head.

“Yes, you do.” Sabine huffed.

“If I find the kid…”

“He sent Mari the knife he stabbed Ladybug with. I have no idea how he got his sticky hands on it…”

“You still have the bag, right?”

“Already waiting for me in Gotham.”

“I will try digging some more, but I’m getting blocked at each turn.”

“Meanwhile I will keep both our girls safe.”

“I got the picture of Talia by the way.” Lady Shiva allowed a smile to ghost her face. “I carry it framed and put it by my bed. She got a few copies too.”

“Good. That might remind her not to trifle with us.” The sisters shared a laugh, but Sabine was still angry and it showed. She would give her sister a piece of her mind when the time came.

-----------

A figure stood cloaked in shadows. The small screen showed a series of images.

“Poison Ivy; Bane; Penguin; Riddler; Mr. Freeze; Two-Face; Scarecrow; Clayface; Falcone; Harley Quinn; Killer Croc; Joker…”

“The previous Hawkmoth was a fool.” Another figure spoke from the shadows. Their voice was neither feminine nor masculine. “He stuck to a moral high ground, giving powers to untrained kids. Then again, he was fighting kids.”

A small, butterfly-like creature floated in the air. “But that is precisely what the Butterfly Miraculous is supposed to do! Its powers will work best with the common people.”

“Interesting.” The main figure grinned. “So my father wasn’t such a fool after all.” He laughed when another image appeared on the screen. “And I see that my trap is already working.”

Duusuu had to hide from fear. This was not the kind boy they knew. What could’ve happened to Chat Noir, the great kind Chat Noir that made him into… this.

-------

Masterlist // Next

#batman #arranged marriage AU #maribat #maridami #marinette dupain cheng #maribat au #Damian Wayne #Damian al Ghul #damienette #lady shiva #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #miraculous lb #ladybug

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alovesongshewrote · 3 years

Text

They’re So Pretty, It Hurts | Zoe

Plot: Several minutes of the reader being a disaster

Word Count: 1,870

Warnings: Pining. So much pining.

A/N: it’s woman loving hours, lads.

Tags: @yagirlcheesely @moppetwithamanbun @tales-of-hisirdoux @blixeon

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Sometimes, you go to a bookstore, and you see a pretty girl. You make eye contact, and it’s only for a second, but it still takes your breath away. Her eyes are just so blue, the colour of the sky when the sun is finished rising. You could get lost in them, you wanted to get lost in them, but instead, you look away almost instantly because being perceived is Not Fun. Still, your cheeks are warm, and you’re desperate to steal another glance at her.

This is one of those times. Except you worked at the bookstore, but that didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Bottom line, you’d made eye contact with a cute girl and instantly fallen in love with her. It be like that sometimes, but we manage and move forward. You managed and moved forward by hiding behind one of the shelves. You were not the best at managing and moving forward. You may have actually gone backwards, I’m not sure. Either way, your heart was racing, practically beating out of your chest. It felt you couldn't breathe, like oxygen was made of cute girls, which sounds nice but is, in practice, really impractical and very suffocating.

“Uh, (Y/N)? You good, mate?”

“Hhjkjadfhkaljdfhakhfd-”

“Oh, fuzzbuckets.”

Your lovely, lovely coworker, Hisirdoux Casperan, had noticed you hiding behind the shelf, which wasn’t difficult at all, really. You didn’t care though, you were mostly hiding from the cute girl. Literally, anyone and everyone else who entered the bookstore could see you, but that didn’t matter. As long as she didn’t see, everything would be fine. Douxie, however, thought you may have had a stroke.

“(Y/N)?” he gave your arm a little poke, “(Y/N)? (Y/N) darling, are you-”

“Alkjdhfalksdhfajlksdfhakjf, yeah, sorry, I just-” you didn’t finish your sentence. You just kind of floated away into the void, attention stolen again by the cute girl. Her hair was pink, her clothes very punk-rock. Yeah, yeah, you were a goner. God, she was pretty. Oh. Oh, fuck, she was coming this way.

You jerked your head to face the books you were hiding behind (something about true crime? It looked cool, but now was not the time,) while Douxie faced the cute girl head-on. You would never know where he found the confidence, but you respected it.

“Zoe! This is (Y/N), she’s the new one I was telling you about.”

Zoe. Zoe. You liked it. It was pretty, like her. Oh, god, she was talking to you.

“(Y/N), huh? Cute name, it suits you.”

If you could think coherently, you would have been wondering if that meant she found you cute, but you couldn’t think coherently. At the moment, your thoughts were mostly “AKJKDSFHKJHG,” and “KSHFJAHFKJHAKDFHKALDFHLAJSDFHKLJADSHFKLHASKDJFHKALS,” and you still couldn’t breathe! It was very valid of you, to be honest.

“Uhh, thanks. You too.”

Good, good, that was what a normal person would say. This was a normal, average conversation. You definitely didn’t have a huge crush on her or anything, nooooo-

“So, uh… true crime?”

You blinked a few times in confusion before realizing that she was referring to the shelf you were leaning on. Oh, yeah, true crime. Oh, god, she was looking at you, they were both looking at you, QUICK THINK OF SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT TRUE CRIME.

“Uh, yeah, I like… crime.”

Oh, wow that was dumb. I mean, it wasn’t the worst thing you could have said, but you would always remember that one of the first things you said to Zoe was “I like crime.”

She raised an eyebrow, “You… like crime?”

Too late to back out now, “...Yes. I’m… I’m good at crime. I enjoy arson.”

It was stupid. Really stupid, like, you didn’t even know where that came from. But it made her laugh. And you knew at that moment that you would do anything to make her laugh again. Her smile was a blessing that brought light into your world, and you wanted to see it every day if she was okay with that.

“Ah, I like you, you’re cute. Anyway, I have to get back to work, but I’ll see you later. And you!”

You were trying to recover from the first six words of that sentence, but now she was pointing at you! And looking! Eye contact! Ah!

“Stick around Arcadia, ok? I wanna see you again.”

“I-I um-” you were straight-up dying now, ok, “Well, you know where to find me!”

Her smile was the most important thing in the world and you would die to protect it.

“Aight, I’m out! Bye guys!”

“See you, Zo.”

“B-bye!”

As soon as she was gone, you collapsed against the bookshelf and buried your face in your hands. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, WELL, that could have gone better, but it didn’t go worse, and for that you were thankful.

Douxie stared at you for a second. He’d seen friends in this state before, as often as the night prior, actually. Zoe had had the same reaction when she first saw you that you had to seeing her now, and he’d promised to introduce you. She’d been so calm earlier because she’d been practicing what to say in the mirror for, like, a day. You, on the other hand, had not prepared for this. It was finals week and you had not studied. Shit, you hadn’t even known about finals week. Your friend had just devised this gay little plot and it left you a flustered mess with no study materials. There were no cue cards in this world, only pretty-girl-panic and fits of uncontrollable blushing.

He knelt down to get on your level, “You okay?”

“Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

“Understandable. You wanna chill in the back for a minute?”

“Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

It wasn’t a verbal confirmation, but you nodded, and he took that as a yes. He helped you to your feet and led you to the back, which was technically his house, but whatever, semantics.

“Here, I’ll just let you chill for a bit. I’ll be back soon, please don’t die.”

“I won’t!”

He smiled at that and walked back into the shop to continue dealing with the public. F in the chat for Douxie. In the meantime, you just curled yourself into a ball on his couch and made a low humming noise. Man, were you bad at… everything or what?

“Mrowr?” You looked up to see a familiar mass of black fur, his head tilted in curiosity.

“Ah, hey Arch.”

“Mrp.”

“You know you don’t have to do the whole cat thing with me? I know you can talk.”

“Well, it’s nice to pretend sometimes. Besides, we don’t know when that door’ll open again or for who. It’s best to stay inconspicuous.”

You let a small laugh escape you as you started to calm down, your lungs finally getting the oxygen they’d so desperately missed, “I mean, that’s fair.”

“Mrpt?” which, in cat, meant, “So, what’s up?”

“Well, it’s this girl. Zoe. Pink hair, blue eyes, the most gorgeous human being I’ve ever seen. I just… she’s really cute and I made an absolute fool out of myself in front of her.”

“Mrooooooooooooooooooooow,” meaning, “(Y/N), dear, I know this Zoe. She’s friends with Douxie. The bar for general foolery is pretty high.”

“You really think so?”

“Mrow!” “(Y/N), I know so. If you like her so much, you should talk to her more! You’re a nice person, I’m sure she’d like you!”

“Thanks, Arch.”

“Prrbt,” “You’re welcome.”

“Well, I should probably get out there. Go be a functioning member of society. Thanks again, bud,” you gave the cat-dragon a little scratch behind the ears, smiling again at how he stretched up to meet your hand, “See ya around, cat man.”

“See you, (Y/N).”

You gave the familiar one last grin before you slipped out the door, glad that you could breathe, finally. And then that was ripped away from you by a cute pink-haired lady in the middle of the bookstore.

“Oh! Zoe! Hi!”

“Hey, (Y/N)! I just realized I uh, sort of forgot what I came here for.”

“That’s understandable! It happens to me all the time!”

“Heh, yeah,” she stopped talking and just stared at you for a second. You did the same before remembering that she said words, and that meant something.

“O-oh, yeah. What is it that you were looking for?”

“Oh, just,” she pulled a post-it note out of her pocket and handed it to you. Her finger brushed over yours and you could almost feel a spark there, “Just this.”

“C-cool! Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, I’ll be right back!” you gave her a quick nod before running upstairs to grab the book. While you were distracted, Zoe had her own little meltdown, but she composed herself as soon as she noticed you coming down the stairs.

“Aight, so here you go,” you handed her the book, fingers brushing hers, electricity running through them. Literally, there was electricity. You waved it off though. It was a magical world, and this wasn’t the weirdest thing to happen today (nope, that little award went to “I enjoy arson.”)

“That’ll beeeee, nothing. Take it.”

“Wait, that’s-that, why?

“I mean, it’s not something I’m allowed to do but, eh, you’re cute. And I told you I enjoy crime, didn’t I?”

“I’m-”

“Don’t worry, I’ll pay for it,” you said, immediately losing any cool persona you may have had. Zoe didn’t mind. She thought you were cute no matter what you did. That in itself was made evident by the blush on her cheeks.

“O-oh.”

You smiled a little. You did that, you were the cause of it. You could only hope that she was also okay with this.

“Well,” you bit your lip. The longer she stayed quiet the more you doubted your flirting skills, “I’ll be seeing you!”

“Wait!”

Your head shot up, eyes immediately focused on her, ready to hear whatever she had to say. Man, you were a simp.

“I uh… I was wondering if I could get your number? With this?”

You were pretty sure you died for a second, but when you recovered, you stuttered out a, “Yeah,” and quickly wrote your name and number on the post-it note she’d handed you.

The smile she gave you when you passed her the note was quite possibly the best thing you’d ever seen in your life.

“Well, I’ll call you! Or text you, or whatever…”

You couldn’t help but laugh at how nervous she was, because that was a solid mood, “I look forward to it!”

And with that, she was gone, but she couldn’t stop thinking about your laugh, and how she’d do anything to see your smile again.

Inside, you were thinking the same, or you were until Douxie re-appeared from wherever he'd been hiding.

"Congratulations!"

You jumped an entire foot in the air, something you didn't really think was possible until right then, "Jesus Christ, Casperan! Don't sneak up on me like that, God. That's the seventh time today, we need to get you a cowbell or something, my Go-"

"So, did it go well?"

Your satisfaction painted itself on your face, "Yeah," you hummed, looking out the window, "It went well."

#zoe toa x reader #zoe tales of arcadia x reader #toa zoe x reader #tales of arcadia x reader #zoe toa imagine #tales of arcadia zoe imagine #toa zoe imagine #fluff #zoe toa #toa zoe #pining #soft

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lynnes-recs · 3 years

Link

by @becassine

Chapters: 10/17 Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Sam Wilson (Marvel), Tony Stark, Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Pepper Potts, Rebecca Barnes Proctor, Clint Barton, Sharon Carter (Marvel), Brock Rumlow, Maria Hill, George Barnes (Marvel), Winifred Barnes Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Shrunkyclunks, Slow Burn, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Captain America Steve Rogers, Engineer Bucky Barnes, Mutual Pining, Fluff, Angst, Humor, Happy Ending, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha Steve Rogers, Omega Bucky Barnes, Getting Together, First Kiss, Bucky Barnes Feels, Sibling Banter, Rebecca Barnes Is a Good Bro, sugar Daddy vibes, Human Disaster Bucky Barnes, Suit Fittings Turn Sexy, Bucky's Internal Monologuing, Idiots in Love, Past Sharon Carter/Steve Rogers, Past Bucky Barnes/Brock Rumlow, Hugs, Protective Steve Rogers, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Family Shenanigans, Kissing, Sleepovers, Cliffhangers, Injury, Hurt/Comfort, Scenting, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED, Christmas Presents, Christmas Fluff, Accidental Stimulation, Wet Dream, Accidental Orgasm Summary:

Bucky is having a bad day. He's late for his first day working for SI, he's pretty sure Tony Stark is going to fire him, and he's having a terrible hair day.

Things start to change once he meets Steve Rogers in an elevator.

AKA the Fake Dating A/B/O that nobody asked for.

(Chapter 1 only, to avoid spoilers)

Okay so I FINALLY locked myself in a room without the distraction of my laptop so I could read this story for the first time in full (I started three different times and got so mad at myself for getting distracted that I put it down because I wanted to devote my entire attention to it) ANYWAYS. Holy shite am I hooked!

- 'Like the receptionist said, there has to be somebody around to help him, right?' -my face: *mmmhmmmmm i'm sure bucky with find /somebody/...... who could it be??*

- “Are you okay?” OMGGGG the fact that Steve smelled him and that’s his first reaction? Precious sweetheart (and also protective alpha steve vibes always hit me in the pants)

- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH JACKET GIVING I audibly gasped and got up to walk in a circle with a dorky smile on my face

- “will he be blasé about seeing the Black Widow next?” lmao you KNOW that he is. i laughed out loud.

- I love the cracked phone scene. Idk, just the way you wrote it made me hear the crack in my head, and then I love Tony's INSTANTANEOUS "J, replace that?" lol

- “Will the ceiling talk to me? I didn’t know if it was something I was supposed to know.” LMFAO this is so adorable! I love this Bucky

- Oh daMN STEVE ROGERS WITH THE *GAME* “I figured you’re too cold to give it to me tonight so I should probably get your number” BOOM

- “Tony wouldn’t mess with our safety” This made me ‘awwwww’

I had this bookmarked before I even read it because I knew I would be looking for updates. So excited! Congrats on the FANTASTIC start!

lynne’s unsolicited shared comments

#unsolicited ao3 comment sharing #stucky #a/b/o

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theymakemegayer · 4 years

Text

Reputation: Chapter 8

Read chapter 1-7 HERE

a/n: prepare some tissues and hold your heart this was a rollercoaster of emotions!

Warning: Cursing/Profanities

(edit, sorry forgot to tag)

Taglist: @crazzyplays @riptideyun @baexpoppy @save-me-the-last-dance @somewillwin @dopeyouth

a short playlist: (kept on playing this while writing this chap)

This Love - Taylor Swift

Heather - Conan Gray

Falling - Harry Styles

Lose - NIKI

*=*=*=*=*=*=*

I woke up feeling like something was stuck on my chest making me numb inside. A huge cloud hang above me and my body refused to move out of the bed. My tears had dried off, while the pain was already engraved in my bones. Zoey barged in my room. I had no energy to master even a smile, I just waved at her. Her eyes were sad. I refused to look at it. Sadness only reminded me of the reality, and reality was I got too close to her despite Zoey's warnings. I felt my bed dipped as Zoey lay beside me. Her soft eyes drifted on my face. I didn't spoke nor did she. I found calmness in this silence.

I felt Zoey moving an arm and wrapped on my waist, "I'm here for you, Bea." She whispered softly, breath tickling on my shoulder.

I felt my eyes sting, like a dam broke, tears started to linger in my eyes.

I crinkled my nose and clenched my jaws. I refused to cry. I refuse to embrace the pain I stupidly received for trusting her.

Bea. Bea.

I heard her voice in my head. I can still feel her touch. Just one damn night, yet she managed to carved hers into me.

"Just let it out B," Zoey murmured.

I seek for warmth. I seek for something - anything to fill the hole she dug in my chest. Zoey offered a shelter in her arms as the rain came pouring. My hand crumpled Zoey's shirt as I let these tears out once again. Maybe letting it out would finally ease the pain. Soothing hands rubbed my back, as the storm continued.

As I calmed down, I withdrew from Zoey and looked into her eyes. She had a soft smile. It was somehow contagious making me smile even a little.

"Thanks," I murmured.

"Anytime," She patted my tear stained cheeks, "Wanna go out today?

Desperate for distractions, I nodded.

Later on, we were enjoying some ice cream for desserts in some ice cream parlor we stumbled in the mall. I left my phone at home, so I won't be tempted to look at the comments and to check if she-- never mind that useless thought.

Zoey was a good help for distraction. Even though I still wasn't sure if my soul was still intact in me. Zoey made me feel good about myself today. Why can't I just have a crush on some normal people instead of--

"I had to ask Bea," Zoey interrupted my thoughts, a small smile on her lips, "How was last night?"

I was in the middle of having another scoop of ice cream. Her question made me stop mid air. I put down my spoon stifling a sigh. I wasn't ready for this question.

"Oh, you know," I shrugged my shoulders, "I helped out humiliating Chloe by feeding Bradley some sugary words. We partied a bit after then I get home."

Zoey looked at me carefully, "Nothing more happened?"

I gave her a small smile. It seemed like it was the only smile I can do today. "Nothing," I paused scooping another ice cream, letting the sweetness of it mix with the bitterness of my next words, "I should have look for more dirt about her." My eyes drifted ahead of me, mind starting to get lost with a hundred of thoughts.

I felt Zoey's warm hand on my arm. I looked at her, just as her eyes softened, "It's alright. We'll look for another way, but for now let's focus on our date."

I smiled, "That's better."

*=*=*

Weekend came and the need to go to classes came too. I tried to act like everything was normal, but it wasn't. The laughter and stares I got wherever I go was like a dagger making my wounds bleed again. I had felt embarrassed before, but being humiliated almost wherever I go? It made me wish I wasn't Bea Hughes. And any site of a blonde hair made me fled immediately. I wasn't ready to see her anytime soon. I don't think I can handle it.

I was walking towards my dorm room. I just finished my classes. I slowed down with my pace when I spot something in front of the door of my dorm room.

Is that a plant? My interest was piqued immediately. A smile immediately tugged on my lips. With all of the things I had been going through this past few days, I can almost feel some of the weight in my chest lifted up. Growing up in a farm, it was like love at first sight when I started helping my father in the farm. I felt a lot more at peace and myself whenever I was surrounded by plants.

I power walked towards it, still wearing a smile. As I stood in front of it, I realized it was an Apple tree planted on a pot. A white card caught my attention too. It was tied on one of the stem. I plucked out the card and read the short note written.

Didn't see you around campus today. Bummer. This little gift is for you, Bea. -P

I scoffed, while my smile faded. How dare she give me gifts after what she did to me? I realized, of course she would do something like this. She would rub it on my face and grin at me, finding joy in knowing I perfectly fell on her trap.

I crouched as I carry the potted plant inside; despite how I don't want to be reminded of her. A plant was still something close to my heart, so I would take care of this. Besides, this would definitely die if I gave it back to her.

A week passed. My mind had been filled with self-loathing these past few days. My ‘what ifs’ were also piling up. If I hadn't trusted her... you see another what if. That's why I decided to go for a walk in a nearby park with Beppy - hoping it would lessen the burden I had been carrying.

I sat on the grass, my back leaning on the tree behind me. It was a calm afternoon. The distant noises coming from the few people on the park were the only noises I can hear.

I unleashed Beppy letting her run around me for a while. I sighed letting the fresh air fill me up. I held out the squeaky ball toy in front of Beppy. His tail started wagging.

I giggled, "You want this?"

His tail wagged furiously mouth ajar. I chuckled, "Fetch Beppy."

I played with Beppy for a while. I let myself get lost with the bubble of happiness Beppy and I made. His gleaming eyes whenever he gave back the squeaky ball toy lifted a piece of burden from me.

Moments later after I threw again the ball while Beppy was running back towards me he stopped somewhere not far from me. The ball in his mouth fell as he walked towards the tree or rather to someone. I raised my eyebrow. Who was that?

"Wha--" Clueless I called for his attention, "Beppy!"

Instead of looking at me he sat in front of the stranger - which I can't clearly see since the tree was hiding them from my view. I stood up and dusted my sweatpants. I strolled towards them.

As I was nearing their place I heard a familiar voice, "Beppy where's your mom?"

I halted in my step with my breath hitching. That voice. My eyes grew wide. I clenched my jaw as I feel my heart dropping to my stomach. Good Lord I am not ready for this.

My thoughts swarmed me. My limbs lost its strength to take the next step towards them. Like a joke - a really bad joke, Beppy spotted me and barked as if calling for me.

I exhaled loudly, with my legs shaking I took my next step towards them.

As I round the tree I finally spotted her. She was caressing Beppy's head affectionately, a soft smile on her lips. I felt my shoulder and jaw tensed as she looked up and met my eyes.

"Farmsville." She said nonchalantly, but her eyes mirrored a different story. It was soft - almost yearning? I clenched my jaw as we stared at each other for a while.

"I was waiting when you will show up," She spoke once again breaking the silence.

"Are you finished catching up with Beppy? Can I take her now?" I asked in a monotone voice.

She scoffed, "After you avoided me for a whole week, you're just gonna waltz out like that?"

I crossed my arms protectively in front of me, "We have nothing to talk about. I don't want to waste my time with you again."

"Oh so now I am a waste of your time? And did you just say again?!" She exclaimed in a high pitched tone, a frown deeply etched on her face as her eyes narrowed at me.

"Yes." I spoke. My mask was completely intact not letting her saw any emotion on my face.

"I don't get you Bea." She sighed suddenly looking... tired? Or was it sadness?

I scoffed, burying those thoughts, "You really had the nerve to act clueless right now?" I exclaimed exasperated, "Listen to me closely Poppy," I gulped. Saying her name felt like I was burying the knife she planted in my chest deeper, "You won Poppy. You - fucking - won." I said through gritted teeth. "Is this your way of mocking me? Then go on. Laugh at me. I fell in your fucking trap." I hate how my eyes stings as I spitted out my words.

"I cared for you. I believed in you. I fucking trusted you." I exclaimed quite loudly, a few passerby glancing at us. "And then what did you do?" My eyes started to blur with tears and I started to hate myself more at this moment. I hate looking weak in front of her. "You stabbed me in the back." I inhaled deeply, "Zoey warned me from you, but what did I do? I ignored her. I should have listened instead." Tears were slowly falling now. I wiped it harshly. She just blinked at me, mouth gaping.

I laughed dryly, "Don't worry Poppy. In the first place, I didn't even want that stupid crown. Just stay away from me. I'll be out of your way and your life."

I didn't wait for any reply or reaction from her. I walked towards Beppy and scooped him up. His eyes looked sad. I smiled at him despite the few tears that were still falling.

I kissed his head and murmured, "I'll feel better soon Beppy, hopefully."

*=*=*

It was a weekend. I just walked out from a clothing shop. After that encounter with her, I started to focus more on myself - just doing more of 'me time', and a continuous amount of mental and emotional self-check. I just rounded up a corner when I spotted Veronica. She was probably having another one of her live streams. Our eyes met. In an instant she frowned.

I tried to ignore her. I continued walking not sparing her another glance. I was just tired of interacting to anyone that was related to her.

"Bea! Wait up!" Veronica suddenly called out.

Sighing I halted with my steps. So much for avoiding any of them. I prepared my mind and emotions internally before I turned around and face Veronica.

I plastered a smile as she walked up to me.

"Can we talk?" She said once she was in front of me.

"We're already talking aren't we?" I bit my tongue. My retort at her had so much bite than I intended.

She raised an eyebrow. The usual composed Veronica seemed different today, maybe a little pissed off. Probably with the way I talked back at her... oops.

"It's about Poppy." She said.

I clenched my jaws, "Of course this is about her. Didn't I tell her to stay away from me already?

She raised an eyebrow at me, "Okay, clearly I don't know about that specially with how close you both got--"

I laughed dryly, cutting her off, "You mean her ploy that worked out cause now I'm Belvoir's number 1 clown?"

"Look I don't know what's Poppy's plan or what's going on with her head, but she seemed weird and different after you two partnered up with that project. At first it was only small and little details I noticed, but--"

I cut her off again, "Hold on. You're telling me you're actually very observant? I mean no offense, but with the time you spent on your phone I'm surprised."

She laughed, "Poppy is still my friend, and I care for that bitch."

"Good for her. I'm already done being mushy with her, so whatever this is you're trying to convince me with? I don't want to hear it."

Veronica sighed like her patience was starting to wear thin, "Alright. Just answer this one question then I'll leave you."

"Fine," I grumbled.

"What changed Bea? You sound like you really hate her now." Her eyes turned soft, all of a sudden.

It irked me. It was already one thing with Poppy backstabbing me and now this?! "Did Poppy send you to mock me on how stupid I was to actually trust her?" I glared at her my anger raging in me.

She waved her hands frantically in front of her, "No," She shook her head. A sad smile painted on her lips, "So I guess that was your answer huh."

I clenched my jaws. Stupid Bea. "Nothing changed. I'm just treating her the way I should have from the very start. That's my real answer."

She was still smiling at me, "To be honest I don't know why I wanted to talk to you about Poppy. Something was really off about her now-a-days, and I felt like you were the reason."

"Whether I am the reason or not, I don't care. She should deal with it. She brought this upon herself." I said through gritted teeth.

Veronica looked at me, her eyes sad. I hate it. These past few days, I hate seeing or being reminded of sadness cause deep down my heart was hurting and feeling sad for what she did.

"I better leave Bea. Thanks for the talk."

I just nodded. She patted my shoulders and smiled at me before turning around and leaving. I sighed. The relaxation I was aiming for this afternoon all gone in a blink of an eye. And now I was left with the bitter pill called reality, that I was having a hard time swallowing. I was still hurting, and the most painful part? I actually missed her.

Later that night, I was left alone in the dorm. Zoey had some things to do and would be home late; being cooped up in the dorm alone made me feel like I was drowning with thoughts about her. I felt overwhelmed, that's why I decided to go out to and have dinner to this diner I found near the train station a few days ago. It made me felt nostalgic about my hometown - when everything was okay.

I tend to miss so many things these past few days. It was like I'm continuously being pulled by my thoughts to different things or places, as well as people, like her.

I walked out from the diner. My hair and clothes probably smelled like greasy food for staying a bit too long inside, but my stomach felt full and my mood got better, after that encounter I had with Veronica this afternoon. Speaking of her, my thoughts wandered again towards Poppy. I had been having a hard time from even mentioning her name, for fuck's sake.

I don't want to fret much about her anymore, but somehow and someway the way Veronica tried to talk to me about her- worry started to crept in me.

Sometimes I felt like my encounter with her was a joke some mighty divine entity played on me. Just like now, as I was walking along the train station I spot a person sitting on one of the benches. Their beautiful, frilly pink dress would catch anyone's attention, but what really caught my attention was who she was and that she was crying.

Poppy...

I stopped dead in my tracks. My heart was pounding in my rib cage, and like bees I hear my thoughts buzzing in my mind - loud and persuasive. As if all the battles in my mind ceased, and a certain answer finally marched in victory, I numbly took my first step towards her.

I stood just right in front of her. Her hands were covering her face while her quiet sobs and her shoulders trembling broke her pretence. She wasn't alright and it broke my heart.

"Poppy...?" I whispered her name. Cold wind breezed past us dishevelling her hair. I shiver at the coldness and so does she. Slowly she lifted her head. The little cracks in me broke more as I stare at her swollen red eyes.

A deep frown was etched on her face, "What?" Irritation and annoyance was evident on her voice.

I gulped thickly, my mouth felt dried all of a sudden, "What are you doing here?" I spoke, my voice crisped - almost unrecognizable even for me.

"None of your business Hughes," She gritted her teeth and stood up. Her eyes were the same level at me as she stared at me. Like a soft whisper through the quiet night, softness flashed in her eyes quickly. I almost wasn't sure if it was for real, but the way my heart was pounding, shut down all the noises in my head.

She averted her eyes and I realized she was about to leave. My chest ached once again. My hands reached for her even before I realized what I was doing, holding her wrist gently. "Don't go," I whispered. I noticed how her jaw and shoulders tensed.

I felt the cracks in me; they were bruised and wounded, by this same person I was asking to stay. I was still hurting, but so does she. And Poppy... she almost never cries.

Just one last time. One last time that I was going to care for her. One last time I would listen to my heart.

She turned around and when I met her eyes - her brown teary eyes - my mind finally made up. I would be here for her, one last time.

Like walls crumbling down, I watched as she crossed the distance between us and hugged me. Her perfume wafted my senses and her warmth filled up the cracks in me. I didn't realize that there were tears streaming down on my face already. I missed her.

I sniffed quietly. Sadly, I still need to be on my guard no matter how much I was yearning for this.

Heavy rain started to pour as she started to cry. Her sobbed were muffled by the rain. Yet I still heard her loud and clear. A sudden urge to shelter her from her own storm on her mind arose to me. I tightened my hug and caressed her head.

The rain hadn't stopped yet, but her tears started to calm down. She withdrew from me and wiped her tears. Before I can even think what I was doing I reached out and wiped her tears with the sleeves of my jacket.

She suddenly grimaced, "Eww. Where have you been? Why does your jacket smells like that?"

I rolled my eyes, "And yet you weren't complaining moments ago. As if you forget you were hugging me a while ago."

I thought she would retort back just like always, but instead she just pouted. My heart pounded wildly at the cute gesture.

I sighed trying to mask how she left me flustered. I sat on the bench and patted the space beside me, "Wanna talk about it?"

She sighed and relented, sitting beside me, leaving minimal space between us. I gulped at her close proximity. A cold breeze past again, she shivered and started rubbing her arms. I took off my jacket and draped it on her.

She halted and looked at me with wide eyes, before a soft smile painted her lips, "Thanks Bea." She mumbled softly.

I tried so hard not to get affected, by that simple gesture, but my heart was already melting. I cleared my throat, changing the topic, "So... what happened to you?"

She avoided eye contact, "Today, my parents finally introduced me as the heiress of my father's business." She looked at up at the cloudy dark sky. The rain was relentless and so does the cold breeze passing by once in a while.

"That's a good news right?"

"It was," I saw a faint smile from her before it dropped, "Until my father started to be his usual self." She chuckled dryly. "I thought I can ignore his words just like I always do, but today was an important day for me. And I failed to impress him, again."

There was a pause I waited for her to continue. She inhaled deeply and sighed loudly, "You didn't improve Poppy. You're still a disappointment. That's what he said to me."

When she looked at me again another batch of tears were streaming down her face. She had a broken smile, "That was bullshit. His business clients and partners were happy to meet me. I should have known he won't be impressed no matter what I did."

I gulped thickly. I choked with my own emotions raging inside of me. I had never seen her, this broken.

I smiled softly at her and lay my hand on hers, "I don't believe a single word he said. You always do your best. He's blind if he can't see that."

"He probably is," She smiled softly albeit a little. "I should be really used by now with how he treats me, but I still get disappointed every damn time."

"You know what?" I squeezed her hand in mine, "Screw your dad! Let's do something fun instead." I grinned.

She raised an eyebrow. An excited gleam in her eyes and a grin on her lips, "What's on your mind?"

I looked around us. I think it was twelve midnight already or way passed that, and the rain was still pouring. The train station and its surroundings were pretty much deserted.

I stood up pulling Poppy with me. I grinned, "Care to dance with me?"

She huffed out a laugh, "You've gone nuts!"

"Probably, but look around us. It's raining and there's no one else around. It's the perfect opportunity to enjoy the rain Poppy!" I exclaimed as the warmth and happiness that I had been missing for the past week came crushing on my insides.

She laughed - a genuine and soft one. "I am probably going nuts too." She shook her head. Her eyes gleamed and a wide smile was on her lips, "Let's dance Bea!"

She pulled me out of the shelter of the waiting area of the train station. My jacket falling from her shoulders as we run on the middle of the deserted street. The rain was pouring and it felt cold on my skin, but with Poppy in front of me, laughing and smiling - guiding me into a music free dance, I feel warm.

She gasped as the rain hit her skin, "It's so cold!" She exclaimed, but the smile on her lips never faltered.

She pulled me close wrapping her arms around my neck as our foreheads touched. I wrapped my arms around her waist as we swayed. I guess we didn't need music at all when the rain felt like it was serenading us.

She giggled as our nose touched. Our wide grins turned into soft smiles. Her breath tickled my lips as she sighed.

"Bea..." She murmured.

It was like an enchantment, all I can hear was my heart screaming for her name. I closed the distance between us and kissed her. My breath hitched. As if she was the oasis on my dessert. It gave me life. It filled up the cracks inside of me. Her lips moved - claiming me softly. Her hands caressed my nape raising goose bumps in their wake.

I gasped for air as I withdrew first, "Poppy..." I murmured.

She pecked my lips, "Thank you Bea," And smiled brightly as her eyes gleamed.

I grinned, "Glad to see that smile returns."

"This was nice, but I think we both need to leave before we catch a cold."

We hailed a cab going back to Belvoire. My jacket was on Poppy's lap. We threw secretive glances towards each other once in a while. The smile on my lips never faltered and a comfortable silence wrapped us along with the murmurs of the radio inside the cab. It felt normal and I felt happy once again.

As we get out from the cab, the first thing I saw was the Zeta house and just like that reality crashed my bubble of happiness. The smile on my lips dropped. The weight on my chest intensified. As the cab leave, I turned to Poppy she was looking at me with a soft smile.

I pressed my lips into a thin line. She noticed my expression and the smile on her face dropped, "Oh..." She sighed before laughing dryly, "Of course." She bit her lip like she was stopping herself for spitting out more words. "I better go inside." Her voice was nonchalant as if her mask was back again.

"Yeah," I said curtly.

She clenched her jaw, "Fine." She turned around abruptly and speed walk inside the Zeta House.

Everything in me tensed - my hands, my jaws and my chest. I wanted to say more, but I bit my tongue. Tonight was the last time. I kept chanting those words on my mind as I watched her walking away from me.

#poppy min sinclair #poppy x mc #queen b poppy #poppy min-sinclair #fanon poppy #playchoices #fanfics #fanfic #fan fiction #fan fictions

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soheila-1996 · 4 years

Text

Wake up, Rookie- Part five (final chapter)

Paring: Ethan x F!MC

Word count: 3,492

Warnings: major character death 😭

A/N: I’m posting an alternative ending tomorrow!

Catch up here

Tags: @dulceghernandez @rookie-ramsey @choicesandanimeruleme @aylamwrites @ethansmommyissues @schnitzelbutterfingers @therookie @lilyvalentine @sitihania @cordoniaqueensworld @eramsey28 @lucy-268 @swimmingauthordreamerbonk @utterlyinevitable

Any feedback is always super appreciated! :) All characters belong to Pixelberry

(Ethan’s POV)

We’re now nearly two weeks into this nightmare and nothing has changed. I’m back at work, somewhat. I can hardly concentrate when I’m away from her and not sleeping isn’t helping either. All I’ve been doing is going to my office and looking over some notes and doing paperwork- it’s a distraction. The problem is it doesn’t actually distract me. My thoughts, my heart is on a completely different floor and It’s all I can think about. There’s no distracting myself from this. Even when I’m sometimes able to get some sleep, seeing her in that bed, in that state always plagues my dreams. Every day is like another painful blow when nothing happens. When she makes no progress and therefore gives no indication that she’s recovering from this.

I drop the pen in my hand back down onto the desk. I can’t sit here and pretend that everything is okay when it really isn’t. This place once felt like my home in a way. My work, this place meant the world to me and now I can’t stand the sight of it. I hate being here but when I go home, not that I’ve been back to the house much, I’m surrounded by even more things that remind me of Casey. Remind me of that night. I’ve made a fair few mistakes in my time but letting her walk out will always be the thing I regret the most. This whole, heartbreaking ordeal is making me slowly lose my sanity. I like solving problems, I like fixing things and I just can’t fix this. There is nothing I can do to fix this.

I stand up from my desk after placing all the papers into a neat pile then leave my office. There’s no point being in here since I’m seemingly incapable of thinking about anything else. Naveen has said I could take as much time as I need off of work. I thought that helping someone else would distract me but It doesn’t. It just reminds me of the one person I want to help more than anything but I can’t. I lock my office door as I leave and make my way to the nearest elevator.

When I reach Casey’s room Abigail is just walking out. We quickly exchange pleasantries and she tells me she’s heading outside to get some fresh air and to meet Anthony. Her dad hasn’t really been here all the much, I understand though, It’s hard seeing someone you love like this.

Just as I sit down, someone knocks on the door and Harper peeks her head in. The look on her face makes me immediately start to panic. I can read that woman like a book and sometimes is wrong.

“We need to talk.”

***

I’m surprised to see Abigail and Anthony already sitting around the table in the board room Harper has just brought me to. “Take a seat,” Harper says, gesturing to the vacated seats that stood around the large oval table.

Somethings wrong. Something feels off, I conclude as I sit beside Abigail. Harper sits opposite us all. This is bad- I can feel it. I’ve had that same look on my face when I’ve told people that their loved ones aren’t going to recover.

Harper reverts her gaze from us and looks down at, what I presume are Casey’s notes, in front of her. “There’s no easy way to tell you this,” She begins. “As you know Casey suffered a severe head injury-”

“Can you just say whatever it is?” I interrupt, “Just- just stop beating around the bush, Harper. Just say it.”

“Casey’s brain dead,” She blurts out with no preamble. That’s what I wanted and asked for after all. How am I supposed to react to this? I don’t know. I- She can’t be. No…

I turn to look at Abigail and Anthony- they don’t seem that surprised which confuses me to say the least. “W-When-?” I stutter and turn back to harper, “When did you-? Why-?”

“Abigail asked me my opinion on whether Casey would recover or not. I gave my opinion, we ran tests-”

“When?�� I interrupt.

“Last week,” she explained.

“How long have you known this, Harper? When did you start looking into this, start running tests? What tests have you run? And why the fuck did nobody tell me?!”

“Ethan-” Harper starts but is promptly cut off by Abigail. She turns to me and takes my hand.

“We- I wanted to make sure of everything before we told you, Ethan. It was my decision so blame me and not Harper”

I just can’t deal with this right now. I- I just can’t. I can feel myself starting to panic. I pull my hand out of Abigail’s grip and get up to my feet, tipping the chair over in the process.

“Ethan, come back!” Harper calls after me as I storm out of the board room and back towards Casey’s room. This isn’t real.

So much for the ‘don’t give up on her just yet’ speech Harper gave me the other day.

No, this-this can’t be happening. I refuse to believe this is really happening. This is just some sick joke, right? A nightmare. This isn’t real.

“Ethan stop.” Harper manages to catch up to me and grabs my arm to pull me back. “Just stop.”

I stop trying to get away from her and turn to face her. I can feel the tiny tear droplets falling down my cheeks. “Ethan…”

“Please, please tell me you’ve made a mistake. Please, Harper,” I beg her but the look on her face is telling me that no mistake was made and I lose it. I open the floodgates and I don’t think that I’m ever going to be able to close them again. Not without her.

“I’m sorry, Ethan.”

I stifled and wipe my eyes. “When are you going to do it?” I ask, referring to turning off life support. I know that’s what is coming next. I can’t do this. I can’t. We’re supposed to spend the rest of our lives together. I want to marry her, I want to have kids with her one day….I want to spend the rest of my days with her by my side, loving her and making more memories together. I want...no I need her. I need Casey.

Harper places a hand on my shoulder, “That’s down to you and her parents. No one is going to rush you to do this, okay?” I nod in response. “Would you like me to tell her friends?”

“No, I should do it,” I insisted, “It should come from me.”

*** It’s now a couple of hours later and I have in no way shape or form, accepted this. I will never ever be able to come to terms with this. This is...this isn’t fair for anyone. Casey isn’t even thirty yet. She’s only two months off her birthday. She is incredibly young and she’s essentially lost her life because of a stupid argument, a stupid accident. If that guy wasn’t in custody...I’m not sure what I would do. I want to kill him.

Harper showed me the tests results for everything. Both of her pupils are unreactive to light, she’s unresponsive to any sort of stimuli, cold water has been inserted in each ear, which would normally provoke a reaction, but nothing happened, they turned the ventilator off and she couldn’t breathe on her own. A whole plethora of tests have been preformed and the reaction, or rather the lack of a reaction, all points to being... brain dead.

What really fucking bothers me is A: nobody told me, B: Everyone let me think that there was a possibility that everything was going to be fine. They all allowed me to sit beside my brain dead girlfriend and make plans for the future. C: Keeping her alive- as much as I don’t want to say that in all technicality she’s dead. Is it not cruel to keep someone alive for the sake of it? She’s not going to recover from this. She’s not going to be able to be a mom one day like she’s always wanted. She’s never going to get to do all things she’s always wanted to do. Keeping her alive is cruel when there’s no possibility of her recovering.

Anthony, Abigail, and I talked things over. I still don’t understand why they thought not telling me was the right thing to do but we all agreed that keeping her here for the sake of it is cruel and she doesn’t deserve that. She doesn’t deserve any of this actually but life just isn’t fair, is it? Bad things happen to good people. We all made the decision to turn off life support today.

I’m standing in my office with all of Casey’s best friends- people she saw as family. I can see the unease on everyone’s faces. They’re all scared and that’s painfully obvious. How do I tell them that Casey isn’t going to get through this?

“What’s going on?” Bryce asks, not wanting to beat around the bush. This is harder than I thought it was going to be.

I straighten my posture and clear my throat. I don’t want to break down in front of them. I can’t. “I’m not really sure how to tell you all this,” I start. I’ve started and now I’m not sure how to continue. I don’t know what to say.

“Ethan?” Jackie questions.

“Casey-” This was something I never thought I’d have to do. I’ve had conversations like this with people so many times in my career but I never thought the person that I would be talking about never recovering would be the love of my life. “Casey isn’t going to recover,” I state matter of factly. I know that I must look cold and desensitised to them but this is the only way to do this and not completely break down.

“What?” Elijah asks. I know they’re all probably hoping the same thing I was earlier. That they’ve heard it wrong. Jackie and Bryce stand in complete shock and Sienna looks as if she’s on the verge of tears, actually, they all do.

I go through everything with them. All the test results and everything and answer any questions any of them have. As I suspected, they all ask to go and see her….to say goodbye to her.

***

(Bryce’s POV)

I’m sitting beside Casey’s bed, her hand in mine. I’ve seen her multiple times since she was admitted but this is the first time seeing her and knowing that she’s never, ever going to wake up. That I’m never going to get my friend back.

“Who am I going to mess around with now? Eh?” My eyes begin to tear up. God, she’s my best friend. I think overall the hilarious pranks we’ve pulled together over the years and all the other amazing, funny times we’ve spent together.

Casey is one of the kindest people that I’ve ever met. She is one of the best people that I’ve ever met. She’s not only insanely smart, but she’s also intuitive, kind, compassionate, she doesn’t judge people on their past but on rather who they are now. She even managed to overlook the fact that my entire family is literal criminals. It’s a skill many people don’t have. I don’t think any amount of words assorted into combination can describe how much I’m going to miss her. Casey Valentine is my best friend and she made the world a better place.

I give her hand a small squeeze as I get to my feet. I want to spend all day with her but there are other people who need to come and say goodbye. I lean over a place a kiss on her forehead. “Bye Case.”

***

(Ethan’s POV)

I stand just outside Casey’s room. Her friends have all had a little time with her and have all been able to say goodbye. I’m able to see Anthony and Abigail inside as they completely break down. I’m sure that they feel 100x worse than I do right now. That’s they’re a child. Abigail will never be able to help her pick out a dress for her wedding day, Antony will never be able to walk his daughter down the aisle and give her away. They are going to miss out on everything. A parent should never lose a child. It’s sadly meant to be the other way around.

It’s a little while later when the heartbroken parents vacate their daughter’s room and allow me to go and say my goodbyes. I’m looking at her but I’m not seeing her...I don’t know how to explain this feeling. She’s in all technicality dead, she’s brain dead, it’s just her body laying on that bed. She’s not there anymore, she’s just a shell, and that kills me. I wish there was something that I could do. I wish I could fix this, find some sort of loophole or something but I can’t.

I take a seat and pick up her lifeless hand to hold in mine. I’ve been wishing that she’d squeeze my hand back for nearly two weeks but that’s never going to happen now. I’m never going to get to see her open those beautiful eyes again. Casey was my future and now I don’t know what the future holds or what I’m going to do. I don’t know how or if I’m ever going to be able to move on from this.

“I don’t really know how I’m supposed to say everything that I want to say to you. Casey I-” My voice cracks. I don’t know why talking to her is making me feel better, logically. I know that she can’t hear me but talking to her and holding her hand does help me. It helps me and arguably I’m the reason we’re where we are now. “There are so many things that I want to say, Case. There are so many things that I wanted to do with you but I guess Life had other plans. I’m sorry. I was supposed to protect you and I’m sorry that I couldn’t. I’m sorry for everything.” Why is this happening? This isn’t fair. “I love you and I don’t think- I know that I’m never going to love anyone half as much as I love you. Goodbye, Rookie.”

***

It’s time…

Casey’s room is full. I’m sitting on one side of her, her hand still in mine both her parents on her opposite side, both of them clinging on to their daughter’s free hand. Bryce, sienna, and Jackie as standing around the outskirts of the room, and Elijah is sitting just beside me in his chair. Harper and Naveen are stood beside the ventilator. Just outside, June, Baz, Ines, and Zaid are stood.

“Are you ready?” Harper asks us all. I look up and give Harper a nod. She gives me a sad, small smile before switching the ventilator off. It beeps as she does so and a loud puff of air fills the room as she disconnects it from the intubation tube down Casey’s throat.

I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to look at Harper the same way again. Not after this.

The heart monitor begins to incessantly beep. I can’t help but to still hope that some miracle happens and she takes a breath but any hope of that happening is dashed away when she flatlines. The room is filled with a loud, piercing sound that I’m sure is going to haunt my dreams forever. Some try to hold in their sobs but ultimately fail. Naveen switches the monitor off and the sound is replaced with everyone’s cries. Everyone’s but mine.

This is a feeling I’ve never felt before. I feel..empty, lost. Casey Valentine is- was the little glimmer at the end of the long, dark, suffocating tunnel. When I started to lose myself, Casey would be there to guide me out safely when it felt like the walls are caving in on me. She was everything, my everything and now I have nothing.

Today Edenbrook lost not only an amazing doctor but one of the kindest human beings on this fucked up planet.

***

It’s the funeral today. The day that I been dreading since Casey...Since Casey died a little over a week ago.

This is the first time I’ve come back to our house. Everywhere, everything reminds me of her and it’s just too painful. It hurts too much. Since Casey...Since she died I’ve been staying with Naveen. He had offered to come and pick up my suit I’m wearing to go to the funeral today but I declined. I’m going to need to come back at some point. It’s my home even though it feels more like hell now, much like Edenbrook.

Nothing is ever going to be the same ever again. Not without her. Not without Casey.

I push the front door open and step inside. The memory of coming to view this house for the first time flashes in my mind. The first time we walked into our new home to start a new chapter together. Tears start to sting my eyes as I head to the staircase. I pass by the living room and once again, flashes of the meaningless but also amazing moments in between goes rushing by. I peel my gaze away from that room and to the front door. I remember that night, I remember hearing the door slam when Casey stormed out and her engine coming to life as she sped off.

I shake my head, trying to rid the memory from my mind. It still feels like it’s my fault. I let her walk out. I make my way up the staircase and into our bedroom. I honestly don’t think I’m going to be able to live here again, not without being bombarded with memories of her.

I’m cautious of taking too long since Naveen is sitting outside in his car waiting for me but...coming here is hard but nice, helpful in away. This was our home. This was where we spent time together, creating new memories together. This was where we were supposed to raise our children one day. This was where I was supposed to carry my new bride in to. The next chapter of our life together was being written here. I quickly retrieve the suit from my closet and head out of the house.

***

The service was nice. Everyone was there, her family, all her friends, even some old patients of hers turned to up to pay their respects to the doctor who saved their lives. All in all, it was the send-off that Casey Valentine deserved but a goodbye that happened way too soon than It should have.

I thought that saying goodbye, having a funeral, would give me some sort of closure but it hasn’t. I don’t see this ever getting easier. I made the executive decision to come and stay at the house tonight. I need to be on my own and I need to get used to being here again.

I’m sitting on the couch, a beer bottle in one hand, and a photo album Casey had put together a long time ago in the other. Drinking isn’t going to fix this I know that logically but It’s pretty tempting right now.

From where I am I can hear someone put a key in the lock and open the front door. There’s only one other person who has a key to this house. I don’t turn to look up as they enter..

“Hello, Ethan.” That’s not who’s supposed to me here. I turn around to see Harper instead of Naveen who I assumed was here. I’m confused as to why she’s here. We haven’t really spoken since Casey’s death. It too hard. Look at her reminds me of the worst time in my life.

“It’s never going to go away, is it?” I ask as I look back down at the picture of Casey I’ve been staring at for some time now.

“Ethan, it’s only been a week. You just need to-”

“Don’t say I need to give it time,” I interrupt. “No amount of time will fix this. No amount of time will bring her back, now will it?!” I snap at her.

Harper doesn’t say anything as she sits herself down beside me. A Little bit of time goes by as I think over everything and all the emotions I’ve held back today and when she died comes bubbling to the surface. My head ends up leaning against Harper’s shoulder as she slings and arm around me. I finally feel able to cry.

“It’s okay, Ethan. I’m here. For as long as you need me to be I’ll be here.”

65 notes · View notes

uncreativetitletrack · 4 years

Text

Good and Bad

Pairing: Jeongin X Reader

Word Count: 14.1k

Genre: Fluff, Angst

Summary: Jeongin has been acting strange lately. No matter how much you try asking, he won’t tell you anything. But whatever has been bothering him, it’s worse than you thought.

“I don’t care if you just finished working out, you still need to eat.” You stir a small pot on the stove.

In the kitchen, you’re making egg drop soup for Chan and Minho. You three happened to be leaving at the same time from the JYP building, so you decided to tag along with them. You were planning to leave after making it to their dorm, but once you heard that they’ve been skipping dinner, you weren’t going to let this pass. You barged into their kitchen and started cooking with whatever they had in the fridge.

Chan is sitting on a chair that he took from the living room while Minho is looking for water in the fridge. Felix heard you coming through the door, so he instantly got up and started following you around like a puppy. He’s leaning over the counter, putting his elbow on it and resting his head on his hands.

“You don’t need to cook so much though…” Chan points out.

“It’s to make up for how very little you guys eat in general. Don’t worry, egg drop soup is filled with protein and isn’t high in calories, same goes for kimchi and brown rice. I won’t leave until you two eat.”

“It’s fine if you stay.” Felix flutters his eyelashes.

“Same goes for the rest of the members. As the manager, I expect that everyone eats healthily. If not, then I’ll keep coming here to make sure that you guys aren’t starving yourselves on purpose. Once I can trust you guys, then I’ll leave everyone alone.”

Felix groans.

“Why did you make that sound, Felix?” You turn to them while turning off the stove.

“I want starve myself so you can come here every night like this…but I don’t want to disappoint you either.” He lays his cheek on the cold counter.

“Felix…don’t be shocked, but you know that we see each other practically every day, right?” You say sarcastically with an eyebrow raised.

“But it’s more special having you in our dorms.” His smile beams.

“Alright...no more,” Minho grabs Felix and drags him away from you. “Don’t cross a line when I haven’t gotten there yet.”

“What? Who said that you’re the first, Hyung??”

“Me. If I can’t make a move, then no one else can.”

Felix starts kicking. “That’s not fair, Hyung!! Why does Chan-hyung get to stay with her?!”

You watch as Minho drags poor Felix to his room. Even after hours of exercise, his muscles aren’t sore enough to carry him, so that’s nice to know.

Chan sighs, massaging his face. “Sorry, (Y/N). I think work is getting to Felix, so he’s a little loopy.”

“Aw…if I could, I would accompany him on his schedule.”

“It’s okay, being independent is a learning experience for him.”

Speaking of the members, you know that Jisung and Changbin are still at the company in their studio, and Hyunjin is at the dance studio while Seungmin is MC-ing for some variety shoes. There’s still one more person left.

“Oh yea, where’s Jeongin?”

You pour the soup into a bowl, placing it at the dining table. Chan gets up and helps set the plate of kimchi and the rice cooker on the table. Just in case, you place more than three plates in case the other boys would like some as well.

After asking the question, Chan averts his eyes. “Jeongin…is on the balcony, talking on the phone.”

“Oh? With who? His friends?”

“No.”

“Family?”

“Well…”

“Wait, don’t tell me…” you drop the chopsticks on the table. “Is he talking to a possible girlfriend?”

“What? No—”

“What do we do?? Jeongin is the first to get a girlfriend even though he’s the youngest. Is there something going on that I didn’t catch on to?? He’s barely an adult and he’s already done more than what the older members have done…”

Chan clears his throat. “Before you continue jumping to conclusions, it’s not that either. And I can guarantee I’ve done way more than Jeongin. Anyway, I don’t know who he’s talking to either, but he doesn’t seem…happy, and it’s been like that for a few days now.”

The excitement fades away from your eyes and has been replaced with worry. He knew that that was going to be your reaction, especially with how overprotective you are with the members, so he immediately thinks of ways to soothe your concerns.

“B-but this is just from what I’ve seen. For all I know, he’s probably fine.”

How have you not noticed anything for a few days? Have you been focusing too much on others that you neglected Jeongin? Despite Chan’s efforts to calm you down, you can’t help but worry.

“I’m gonna ask if he wants to have dinner.”

“Don’t…!” He begins, but pulls back. “You…you can.”

He knows you too well that you’ll probably talk to Jeongin, pretending like you don’t know what’s going on when you make it very plain and clear. You’re a terrible liar, so it’s inevitable that he’ll assume that you’re worried for him. But even if Chan were to go against your idea, it’ll just make you want to do it even more.

----------

Jeongin’s back is to the glass sliding door as he’s sitting on a plastic stool and talking on the phone. You can’t hear a single thing he’s saying, but judging by his body language alone, it doesn’t seem like it’s going all too well. His back is slouched over, and his arms are hugging himself. Overall, he’s just stiff. Not a single trace of his usual bubbly self is present.

You knock on the glass, getting his attention. He mutes his phone and looks up, and as he does that, you got a brief glance at the name of the caller ID, ‘Unknown’.

“Manager, I didn’t know you were here.”

“Yea, I was here for a while,” you point to the kitchen. “You wanna eat? I made some dinner.”

“No, it’s okay. Thank you though.”

And just like that, it’s like he didn’t want to talk any further, which makes sense since he’s still on the phone with his mother. You choose to leave him alone, closing the door behind you but not letting your eyes off of him.

Chan puts his hand on your shoulder to distract you from him. “It’s okay to leave him be. He’s not a kid anymore, so you don’t have to hover over him all the time.”

“I know but…”

It’s difficult for you to do so. You’ve been with him ever since he was in middle school, and although your age gap isn’t entirely different, you feel like his guardian. Perhaps it’s your motherly instincts, you aren’t entirely sure, but what you do know is that whatever is going on with Jeongin is enough to make him not even smile when you greeted him.

==========

It’s one in the morning, and the boys have been practicing since the morning. They decide to call it a day and finish training for the day. You’re standing by the door as you watch them wrap up practice.

“Good job everyone. We did great,” Chan claps his hands. “We can do even better tomorrow.”

The boys cheer that practice is over. They head to their bags and take out water bottles as well as their phones.

“I’m gonna order chicken from that place we went to the other day. Who wants some?” Minho looks up from his phone.

They raise their hands.

“I can order. Just tell me what you guys want.” You offer.

“Shh, you always do it. It’s my turn.”

“But—”

“It’s okay. I changed my name so they won’t know who I am this time.”

The last time Minho ordered, he actually used his stage name so the deliverer went on social media and leaked pictures of the JYP building. Since then, it’s usually you or another staff member who orders, but you decide to let it pass since Minho did change his name to some English name to avoid any subtle hints that it’s him.

The rest of the boys are doing their own thing, usually playing around with each other or continuing their training from earlier. Just like the previous night, Jeongin is sitting by himself in the corner, on his phone. His thumbs are rapidly typing away like he’s texting somebody.

Unable to leave him alone, you sit next to him. He quickly hides his phone screen from you, and it disheartens you a bit, but you play it off as if you didn’t notice that. “What are you doing sitting alone? What do you want to eat? Minho’s ordering.”

“It’s okay, I don’t want anything. We’re going on a show in the afternoon and I don’t want my face to look puffy,” he gets up and puts his backpack on. “I have homework, so I’m gonna go back to the dorms to finish it.”

“Oh…are you sure? You can do it here while we wait for the food.”

He shakes his head. “I’m good. I don’t want any distractions, especially since it’s almost testing period.”

You don’t want to push him further, but you don’t want to leave him alone either. You call out to him a second time, and you can clearly hear a sigh.

You extend your hand out to stop him. “It’s late, let me go with you—”

“No!” He slaps your hand away.

The room falls silent, and everyone’s eyes are on you two. You and Jeongin stare at each other for a few seconds, both caught off-guard by his sudden aggression. He didn’t even realize what he’s done until after it happened, and now immense guilt overwhelms him.

He’s hesitating, pinching his index finger. “M-Manager…I’m sorry. I…really have to go.”

He runs out the room, leaving everyone speechless with his actions. The boys finally break out of their trance, and Felix is the first to check on you.

“Manager, are you okay?!” He takes your hand. “Does it hurt??”

“That was really uncalled for. I’m gonna have a talk with him.” Chan is about to chase after him when you stop him.

“Wait, don’t.”

“What? Why?? Did you not see what he did??”

“I know, but…blowing up on him isn’t going to solve it.”

“So pretending like it never is better?”

You shake your head. “No…yes…no! I don’t know. I don’t think he meant it.”

You don’t know what’s going on with Jeongin, and it seems like the other members don’t know either. It isn’t like you’re the only person who’s worried either since the other boys seemed just as worried. You think to yourself, wondering what it is you can do.

“It isn’t like him to just do that. He’s so innocent that he would apologize a thousand times if he laid a hand on you.” Hyunjin puts his hands on his waist.

“Yea…maybe he didn’t want me to touch him. Maybe…I smell?” You sniff your sleeve.

“No! Never!” Felix exclaims. “You always smell fine! Even when you don’t put on perfume, your natural scent is the best!”

You weren’t expecting Felix to give you a full-on compliment, but you’re appreciative of it regardless. If it isn’t because you smell, then is it because Jeongin is annoyed of you? You were being a bit too nosy about who’s he talking to, so he probably had enough of you and did what he did. Or…he doesn’t want you to know that he might have a girlfriend.

==========

As Jeongin runs out of the building, he finds a place to hide a few blocks away. Once he finds a street with nobody there, he crouches into a fetal position, pulling his hair out as he fights the urge to scream. He’s absolutely upset at himself for slapping your hand away. It was really hard as well, enough to create an echo. He regrets hitting you, but it was the shock face you made when he did it—that hurts the most. It was like he betrayed you, and now he doesn’t know if you’ll ever forgive him.

As much as he wants to tell you and the older members, he can’t. What he got himself into is bigger than he could ever imagine, even to the extent that he can’t tell them. If he does, then it’ll land not only you and the boys, but the company and his family. He has to figure out how to solve this problem on his own.

“Hey, what took you so long?” A mysterious voice comes from behind the shadows.

Jeongin stands up, holding his other arm with his hand timidly. “Sorry…it was hard to get out of practice.”

The figure walks out from the darkness, revealing himself to be a middle-aged man. He’s wearing a black sweater with the hoodie over his head to keep his identity hidden. “I don’t care the reason. As long as you’re not wasting my time. Did you bring what I asked?”

“Yes, I did,” He takes out a folder and gives it to him.

He opens it, flipping through a few pages to see what’s inside. He nods with content. “Okay, these seem legit.”

“I gave you what you wanted, so you’re not going to hurt anybody anymore, right?”

“Yes, yes. Geez, how many times do I have to tell you? As long as you give me what I want, then I’ll do my part of the deal.”

But Jeongin plays with his fingernails, still seemingly anxious. The man can see how uneasy he is, so he wraps his arm around him.

“Why do you look so sad? Come on, you did great, boy.”

Despite the assurance, Jeongin knows that what he’s doing is completely wrong, but he’s so deep into this situation that he’s afraid that his career as a musician will end. He won’t be able to look at you or the members in the eyes. So he rather struggle on his own then have any of you involved.

==========

You didn’t get the chance to talk to him the next morning. He woke up earlier than the rest of the boys, going on his morning jog before going to school. The other boys have gone to do their individual schedules, some of them are recording for shows while others are either doing photoshoots for magazines or producing songs.

You’re in the office sitting at your desk, sighing for the fiftieth time. Your coworker who sits across from you tosses a piece of paper at you, startling you.

“What was that for?!”

“For sighing. What’s up? You’ve been like this lately.”

With a lack of response, she has a feeling she knows why you’re like this. “It’s about Jeongin again, isn’t it?”

You jolt. “H-how did you know??”

“You mentioned it before so I had a hunch that whatever that has been going on is still ongoing. He’s still behaving differently?”

You nod. “It’s just so unusual of him to do that. I mean, it’s like…it’s normal for someone his age to be on his phone all the time, but to be on his phone this often? I don’t know…he doesn’t even let me see who he’s talking to either!”

“Why are you so obsessed with that? He’s at the age where it’s healthy to have a girlfriend and maybe he’s just a little embarrassed to tell you.”

You press your hands against your cheeks dramatically. “Chan told me that I’m overreacting, but what guy goes on his phone that often and even pushes others away?? What if he’s dating a girl who doesn’t give him time to breathe?! I should check on him!”

You stand up from your seat, but your coworker hurriedly pulls you down. “Stop it! This is probably why he never told you! And what if he doesn’t have a girlfriend? It doesn’t matter; it’s his life and you shouldn’t be intruding into it so much.”

“Yea but…he has to worry about what the media is going to think, and his fans…”

“Who cares about what the media says? It’ll just be the top news for a week or so, then everybody is going to forget about it. And yea, obviously the fans who truly care about him will support him and his girlfriend.”

“Yea…I know…but…”

“Why do you make it sound like him having a girlfriend is bad?”

But after asking that question, that’s when it hits her. In all honesty, your coworker is surprised that it took her this long to figure out that you like him. A wide smile forms on her face, showing her teeth. Once you knew that she figured it out, you reach over your desk and slap her on the shoulder.

“Ow! What was that for?!”

“S-sorry…! But don’t tell anyone! I want absolutely no one to know about this!!”

“Geez…” she rubs his shoulder. “You’re acting like a school girl. There’s nothing wrong with liking someone. Why don’t you want anybody to know?”

“Because I’m gonna hear it endlessly from the boys! They’re either going to make fun of me for having a crush. And then Chan is going to pull me to the side and talk about how he thinks that I should keep my feelings on the down-low until promotions are over!”

“What? No he won’t. I don’t spend as much time with them as you do, but if anything, he’s probably gonna be jealous. Same with Lee Know, Felix, Changbin…and the list goes on.”

“Jealous? Why would they be jealous?”

“Because…” she sighs. “Never mind. I’ll let you figure out that on your own. Anyway, is that why you’ve been thinking about him? Because you might’ve lost your chance to ask him out?”

“You don’t have to put it that way! Besides, I don’t ever plan on confessing to him. This is a professional setting and we have to keep it that way. He has thousands of fans and I don’t want to be that one girl who ruins it.”

“You’re not ruining anything. But even if he has a girlfriend, whatever is going on with Jeongin definitely isn’t normal. Well, based on what you said.”

“Something has to be bothering him, but I don’t know what,” You think about it for a few seconds before an idea springs up in your head. “Do you think it’s okay that I pick him up from school instead?”

“I don’t think his school minds, but didn’t you say that the other managers usually picks him up? You don’t even have a driver’s license.”

“We can walk home together. That way, we’ll be alone and give time for us to talk.”

“Okay…just be careful not to get in trouble.”

“Don’t worry about it. I got this under control.”

==========

You’re at Jeongin’s school, standing by the gate. School has just ended and the barrage of students in the iconic yellow school uniforms rush out of their classrooms. Many well-known idols currently attend or have attended this school, so because of that this school has gained some notoriety among the public eye. Some students that you see are familiar, but without their flashy outfits and makeup, they practically look like every other student here.

By the gates, there are managers just like you who are waiting for a specific student, whether they’re an idol, model, or actor. Moments like these you enjoy the most because this is one of the rare occasions where the idol can be just like every other high school student without the public eye’s judgement to dictate them. Without a doubt, it’s not normal for a student to have their manager pick them up from school, but there’s something special about not having people glorify teenagers.

You texted Jeongin to let him know that you’ll be waiting for him after school. He never responded, but he did read your message. It’s rare for you to pick him up since you’re usually with the older members with their schedules—not even when Seungmin and Hyunjin were in school. This is a new experience for you to be waiting for him, so it’s a little exciting.

As you’re waiting, you finally get a text message from him, asking where you’re at. You let him know that you’re waiting at the west wing gate. After no more than fifteen minutes, you see the top of Jeongin’s head, rushing to you, blending into the crowd of yellow blazers. You wave to him, but he doesn’t wave back. He looks rather serious, maybe even a little upset that you’re here.

He passes through the crowd, rushing right toward you. “What are you doing here?”

“I came here to see you.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to talk to you.”

Jeongin looks around as if he’s searching for someone, then he lowers his head like he’s hiding. “Where is the other manager?”

“I told him that I’ll pick you up today. Is it okay if we walk to the company together?”

He seems conflicted, like he doesn’t know if he should be angry. You’ve never seen him look this serious before, and it is hurting your feelings a little bit. Seeing the way your expressions are changing and remembering what happened last night, he tries to lighten the mood.

“Okay.”

A smile lights up on your face, and he blushes a little bit seeing how happy you’ve become.

==========

In the city, you two are walking together to the main building. Even though it was your plan to talk to him, you can’t bring yourself to say anything. Jeongin knows why you want to walk with him, but you’re quiet, so he’s anticipating the question.

“So…has anything been going on lately?”

“No, not really.”

“Really?”

He nods. “Everything’s been the same.”

“Obviously, I can tell that things haven’t been the same. You wanna tell me what’s been going on with you lately?” You get right to the point.

He hesitates, knowing that you were going to ask this eventually. “Are you talking about last night?”

“Of course.”

He remains quiet, so when you look at his face, he looks sad. He’s making it clear that he feels guilty for hitting your hand last night.

“I just want to make things clear that I’m not upset that you. If there’s something that’s bothering you, then it’s okay to tell me. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

He knows he can trust you, but the deal he made with that strange man requires that he doesn’t let anyone aware of it. If he does, then it’s putting you and everybody else in a vulnerable state. But with that desperate expression on your face, he can’t bring himself to keep it a secret from you. He wants to alleviate some weight on his shoulders, but at the same time, he’s terrified that the man is listening in on their conversation.

“Manager, I…”

The ding coming from his phone interrupts the mood. He takes his phone out to see that he’s received a text message on his Kakao. It’s not from any of his friends nor is it from the members. It’s from an unfamiliar ID.

Curious, you peer over to see that it’s somebody that you don’t know either. That’s when your fear that it might be the mysterious ‘girlfriend’ that he’s been talking to has texted him.

“Who is that? A classmate?”

He scrunches his eyebrows. “I don’t know this person.”

The message says: I.nnie, I love you with all my heart and soul <3 Plz reply so I know it’s you!!

You and Jeongin knew instantly that this is a message from a fan. He deletes the message and blocks the person. It’s going to make the fan feel like she’s been betrayed by her ‘one and only’, but the reality of it is that she is crossing over private territory and should know not to step over that boundary.

But that isn’t the only fan who messages. After that, he receives a large number of messages from unknown users. They’re all presumably his fans, spamming him with confessions or questions asking if it’s really him. Because there are so many of them, it’s too many for him to delete manually.

“What’s going on??” Jeongin silences his phone after getting annoyed of hearing his ringtone go off hundreds of times.

“How did they get access to your Kakao ID?”

They made sure that their info wouldn’t get leaked out to the public, so it isn’t possible that they just so happened to have stumbled upon his ID. He’s never revealed his Kakao account on any shows either, so it’s nearly impossible for them to have figured it out. Then again, nothing is ever secure, so you presume that it might be the works of a hacker.

“Didn’t we upgrade your phone’s security? How is this happening?”

As you were are talking, you receive a message from the other members, notifying that their information has been leaked as well. They’re asking you what they should do, but you don’t know either. You tell them to calm down and that you’ll figure out what’s going on.

“What’s going on? This came out of nowhere.”

You glance at Jeongin’s face, and there’s a look of horror like he just committed a horrible crime. His skin has turned pale and his eyes are wide, unable to grasp what is happening. You shake his arms to get him out of this trance, and it works.

“Jeongin? Are you okay?”

He gazes into your worried eyes, slightly nodding his head. “Y-yea…”

“We’re gonna have a meeting with the boys and figure out what’s going on.”

==========

You and the boys are sitting together in the practice room in a circle, no words spoken as crickets play in the background. You glance around to see their solemn expressions, and you wonder what you can do to make the mood feel less heavy.

“I was able to get in contact with the person in charge of the company’s tech department and he said that we can’t do anything other than delete the current account and create a new one. Based on their investigation, there were no signs of hacking, so it’s most likely that somebody shared our information online.”

“Are you serious? Someone actually gave our information away?” Changbin groans. “Do they not have any shame?”

Jeongin, sitting in a fetal position, pulls his knees closer to him.

“Even if somebody from our company did do it, it was bound to happen.” Seungmin adds.

“Yea, but who has the audacity to do shit like that?”

“Changbin, please watch your language…” You request.

“Who cares if I curse or not? What that person did to us is shameful, and to expose us like we’re not human is wrong. I have every right to get angry.”

“I know…but getting angry isn’t going to solve anything.” You say, but in a more serious tone.

“Changbin, Manager, let’s not have disagreements,” Chan raises his hand. “What happened has already been done, so we should be thankful that none of us were harmed. We can’t fixed the past, but we can use it to make sure that in the future this won’t happen again.”

You and Changbin look at each other. “Yes.”

“But I want to know how our information was given away in the first place. Did anyone approach you guys and asked for your contact info?”

They all say no, including you. Or…at least except for one person..

“Jeongin?” Chan calls out.

He raises his head to see all eyes on him.

“Are you alright? Did anyone approach you asking for your contacts?”

He looks around, feeling a little hesitant. “No…”

You already knew from the way he answered there’s more to it than what he’s giving out. You don’t want to say it out loud because you know that it’s going to make things more complicated if you were to point him out.

Later on, most of the members have left the practice room. You’ve kept an eye on Jeongin while they’re getting ready to leave to see if his behavior is different. Like the past few days, he isn’t smiling and has been rather stiff during the entire meeting. Since you don’t want to put pressure on him, you decide to keep quiet and plan to talk to him alone. With the last member leaving the room, it’s only you and Chan left.

“How have you been handling this entire situation? I hope you’re doing alright.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m more concerned about the younger members, especially Jeongin.”

“Did you notice it too? How uncomfortable he was.”

He nods. “Maybe it has to do with how secretive he’s been the past few days.”

“A few nights ago when I went to your dorms and spoke to Jeongin, he was talking to someone on the phone, but the caller ID was called ‘Unknown’. I didn’t think too much about it then, but with the situation now, I think it has some correlations.”

You should’ve known back then how suspicious it was that he was talking to somebody who doesn’t even have a caller ID nor did their phone number show up. You must’ve been so exhausted from working all day that you probably didn’t think about it that much.

“Should we…” Chan trails off. “Ah, never mind.”

“What?”

“It’s just…do you think we should tell somebody? What Jeongin did is wrong, and I know he wouldn’t do something like this without a reason, but—”

“No!”

You’re aware that it’s not a good idea to keep Jeongin’s suspected involvement a secret, but seeing how he’s been behaving, you don’t want to add on to his problems.

“I-it’s just suspicion, right? We don’t know if Jeongin has any connections to it, so it’s better not to go straight to the higher-ups. Let’s wait it out a bit, and if he continues being suspicious then we can let them know.”

However, judging by his expression, Chan doesn’t seem to agree with this decision. “Okay, but don’t go easy on him, okay? I don’t want to believe that he’s involved, but if he really is, then we can’t baby him out of this situation. He’s a grown man and should learn from his mistakes, especially from the ones that have huge negative consequences.”

You nod. “You can trust me! Even if Jeongin is a part of it, I’m certain that he was blackmailed to do it. We both know how kind-heartened he is to the core, so there’s definitely no reason that he would do it without a good reason.”

“Yea, you’re right,” he sighs, then smiles. “I shouldn’t be so negative. Probably with everything that’s been going on, it’s been kind of taking a toll on me that I’m doubting my own teammates.”

You elbow him. “Yea, it’s very unlike you, but we’ll get out of this mess for sure! If other idols are able to solve this problem, then we definitely can.”

Catching onto your optimistic contagion, he can’t help but smile as well. “You’re right. He would never do anything behind our backs without a reason.”

While you do hope that’s the case, you pray that Jeongin isn’t in any danger. It would be foolish of you to have been worried that he has a girlfriend when there are more serious subjects to be worried about, so you want to make things better by not being distracted with meaningless worries and tackle the problem head-on. And it starts with Jeongin.

==========

You know that you vowed to solve the problem, but you have been unsuccessful with talking to Jeongin these past few days. Your workload has increased by an exponential amount, having to go to meetings, make phone calls, and sign papers. When you do have the time to check on them, he leaves the room around the same time.

Thankfully, the boys’ leaked contact information has died down, and no one has been messaging them since they made new accounts. The tech department have yet to figure out how it was released in the first place, though they still believe in their theory that someone had to have given it to some outside source.

You sigh heavily, having returned from a long and arduous meeting. You finally came back to the main building, and seeing that you have some spare time, you decide to stop by and see the boys while they’re practicing. At the main entrance, you scan your ID card and enter once the automatic doors open.

But you freeze when you meet eyes with an unfamiliar stranger. He’s dressed with a white, tucked-in shirt and cargo pants and also wearing glasses that completes it all. He seems shocked to see you.

He doesn’t look like anybody you know, so it must be somebody from outside the company. The reception lady who’s usually there isn’t, so you assume that he must be waiting for her. Since you’re here, you thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask if he needs help.

“Hello, did somebody already come to help you?”

“I need help. I’m a journalist here to interview Twice and was wondering if you can guide me to their practice room.”

You raise an eyebrow, already finding this suspicious. “I don’t remember ever hearing about an agreement to hold an interview inside the building. Which publication do you work for?”

“I work for Seoul’s Newsletter, and I’ve been told to do this for my current article,” he takes out an ID card, and it covers his claim of being a journalist. “I’m here to do an interview with Twice.”

“My apologies, I don’t supervise them so I don’t know their schedule.”

“Then which musicians do you mainly work with?”

“Stray Kids.”

“Oh, then if it’s fine, can I interview them in the meantime? I have the permission to do by my supervisor to do so.”

This is too strange. You may not be a journalist, but his task seems too flexible. There’s no way his boss would let him pass with interviewing Stray Kids if there’s a chance that he doesn’t run into the actual band he has to interview. Besides, if he’s scheduled to interview Twice, then they would have a set time to meet, and if they were late, they would notify him. Not only that, but if he were to use Stray kids as a secondary interviewees, then you would’ve been made aware of it as well.

“I don’t remember ever accepting a meeting with Seoul’s Newsletter.”

“What?”

“I’m their manager.”

His facial expressions become stiff, and his hands fall to his sides when he realize that he made a mistake. He thought that you were just another staff member who just so happen to hover around them, not someone who’s always around them.

“I thought their managers were men.”

“I handle most of the behind-the-scene jobs like scheduling and attending meetings as well as taking care of their wellbeing. My co-managers help with the public activities.”

Because you’re a young female, it’s most likely going to cause scandals for one of the boys, so that’s why you’re not with them in public majority of the time. But as you think to yourself, you begin to wonder about something.

“I’m just wondering…but how did you get access to enter?”

Just like you, you need to have an employee card to scan then the doors will unlock. If he’s here to supposedly interview them, then he would’ve had somebody here to help him. Since there’s nobody here with him, it could only mean one thing. You look down at his hand and got a glimpse of the ID card. For a second, you could’ve sworn that you saw Jeongin’s face on it.

He looks around at the ceiling, though you’re not sure what he’s looking for. But then it hits you that he’s looking for security cameras. That’s when he moves closer to you only for you to move back. Your guard is heightened with your hand scouring through your purse for pepper spray.

He puts his hands in his pockets, not hesitating to move forward. “I have a knife in my pocket, and I’ll take it out if you don’t do as I say.”

He slyly shows the blade as it illuminates against the sunlight, blinding your eyes. It’s not a fake knife, so fear crawls up your spine. Situations like these only happen on shows, never in a million years did you ever think it’ll happen to you. So when something as dramatic as this unfolds in front of you, you feel the concern that if you don’t do as he says, then you could lose your life.

“Take me to their studio, then I’ll spare your life.”

You don’t know want to reveal their private sphere in fear that there will be another repeat of the Kakao incident, but glaring at the blade is making you think otherwise. You hate to admit it, but you’re more afraid of getting hurt than anything else.

“O-okay.”

Just agreeing with it makes you repulsed at yourself. You look down in shame, clenching your fists as you guide him to the place of his choice.

==========

You and the man are walking in the halls, and he’s standing closely behind you. You can’t see if he’s holding the knife to your back, but you don’t want to do anything to confirm that he does. Unfortunately, there’s not that many people in the halls, so you can’t call out for help. But even if you do cry for help, you don’t want to get them involved.

“I’m surprised no one has passed by. Even with security cameras everywhere, there’s nobody doing a single thing,” He snickers. “I heard that CCTV cameras are there just to scare people from doing anything, but in reality, some actually only record five minutes at random times.”

You’re just as surprised that, so far, there’s been no one. It must be one of those days where everybody is in their office or doing outside activities.

“I really do hope that Twice is here…All I wanted to do was talk to them…” he bites his nails. “Is that too much to ask? People get to talk to them all the time, but I’m considered the creep? It’s not fair.”

You try looking behind from the corner of your eye, but you can’t. Judging by his shaky voice, he’s also just as nervous as you are, probably afraid that he’ll be caught.

“You employees should be lucky to see then every day, but all you guys ever do is take it for granted. You said you work as Stray Kids’ manager, correct?”

“Y-yes.”

“You have to work for a bunch of ungrateful children. I’ve seen how the leader interacts with Twice, and it irritates me. He acts like he’s special just because he’s the center of attention. I fucking hate it.”

With each passing second with him, he slowly reveals more and more that he isn’t a journalist. The Seoul Newsletter Card must’ve been a fake. His obsession with Twice is beginning to unnerve you, but his hatred toward Stray Kids irritates you more. It’s blatantly obvious that since they’re from a famous company, they’re bound to get backlash for being ‘too rich and popular’ despite being a rookie group. However, the public doesn’t know the amount of effort and passion they put into their work, so to hear him belittle them is more infuriating than you possibly losing your life.

“You don’t know that. Maybe if you took the time to get to know them then—”

“SHUT UP! You don’t understand shit! I go through so much and yet these boys get to go around hogging them. I work my ass off just to go to their fan meet only to be banned from them, and when I finally got someone to help me, my plan still fails!”

“Wait…somebody?”

“Yea. How the fuck else am I supposed to get access to the building?”

That’s when the connection is linked—what the tech department said about the boys’ contact information being manually leaked is true. It was an inside job done, and he’s the mastermind. But who would be helping an insane man like him?

Just as you two are about to turn the corner of the hall, you two run into somebody. It’s Jeongin, and in a millisecond, you three freeze. At first, he had no idea what was going on, but when he made eye contact with the made, his skin color becomes pale.

“You little bastard!”

Suddenly, the man lunges at Jeongin, grabbing him by the shirt and pushing down. He gets on top of him, now holding him by the collar of his shirt, repeatedly slamming him against the floor.

You rush toward him, attempting to pull him off of Jeongin. However, no matter how much strength you’re using, it’s no use in getting the man off.

“Help! Somebody help!” You cry out.

You look around desperately, but there’s nobody.

“Manager, run!” Jeongin shouts.

You can’t move your legs. You know it’s better to run and search for help, but you can’t bring yourself to leave him there. You’re aware that you should help him, but you don’t know what to do. With that knife in his hand, you’re afraid that if you jump into the mess, then you’ll end up getting Jeongin injured.

The man notices that you took one step back, so now his attention is on you. That brief eye contact is enough to scare you, so you break out of your frozen trance and make an attempt to run. However, he is able to grab you by your hair, pulling you back until you fall to the ground. Undoubtedly, he’s pulled out some hair strands right from the scalp.

“Don’t think you can get away!”

Because of the pain, you don’t pull your head. You struggle to get his hands off of your hair by scratching his fingers to no avail. You make eye contact with Jeongin, praying that he runs to safety. He’s in the same spot as you—unable to pick his feet up and only stare in horror.

“This kid thought that he can outsmart me, but he’s nothing more than a coward,” the man laughs. “Look, he can’t even save you. Because he thought he’s better than me, I’m going to show what I’ll do if you try to mess around with me.”

“Hey! What’s going on?!”

Suddenly, another man’s voice comes from down the hall and it turns out to be one of the employees. He spots what’s happening, sprinting toward the scene. However, he isn’t able to catch up as the man is able to escape through the elevator, closing just in time before he reaches him in time.

The employee turns his direction to you—sitting on the ground on your knees. “Hey, are you okay? Who was he?”

You’re so shaken that you can’t speak. Jeongin stands still, holding his hands together as he stares speechlessly. The employee takes out his phone and dials a number.

“It’s okay, I’m gonna call for help.”

==========

While you’re sitting in the main lobby with a policewoman, the police are questioning Jeongin in a separate room. The news about the break-in spread like wildfire and it eventually reaches the members. They’re quick to their feet when they heard that you and Jeongin were in danger and made it their priority to check and see that you two are fine.

Chan is the first to enter the lobby with a panicked look in his eyes. He approaches you, putting his hands on your shoulders. You two stare at each other for a few seconds before he pulls you in for a tight hug.

“I’m glad you’re okay. He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

You shake your head. “It was nothing serious.”

“I heard that he’s not from this company? What the hell happened?”

“That’s something that we’re still figuring out,” the policewoman steps in between you and Chan. “Mind if I ask who you are and what relations you have with (Y/N)?”

“It’s okay. He’s my friend. Uhm…mind if I have some privacy with him? There’s something I’d like to talk to him about.”

She nods then walks to the halls.

Once she’s out of sight, Chan pulls you in closer. “Do you have any clue what’s going on?? And please don’t lie to me that he didn’t do anything to you. I swear, if he actually laid his hand on you, I’m gonna beat the shit out of him—”

“Chan, please don’t.” That’s exactly what you don’t want to happen. “I really am alright. But…it’s not what I wanted to talk about. Jeongin told me everything.”

“Told you what? What did he tell you?”

“But before I explain, promise me that you won’t get angry at him.”

“Why would I get angry at him? (Y/N), you’re scaring me.”

You avert your eyes, afraid to tell him but knowing that it’s better to tell him rather than keeping it a secret. “That man who broke into the building is the one who released the group’s contact information.”

“What?! How did he have access??”

You bite your bottom lip, anxiety increasing as you fear for his next reaction. “…It was Jeongin.”

Chan’s jaw drops.

He takes a few seconds to take in what you said, turning around and putting his hand on his waist. He massages his jaw, feeling a mixture of emotions. Just as you thought, he isn’t sure about how to take this in. He wants to get angry, but he also wants to drop to the floor and cry for the betrayal from his own member.

“He didn’t do it because he wanted to. He was blackmailed.”

You’ve never seen so much relief comfort him, so much that he was about to cry.

“He contacted Jeongin online and claimed that he’s a hacker. He threatened that if he doesn’t give him personal information about Twice, then he was going to leak your information to the public.”

“Personal info? Personal what?”

“Like…‘private’ pictures and videos of them.”

“Oh my god. This disgusting perv…Please tell me Jeongin didn’t do it.”

You shake your head. “He couldn’t bring himself to do it. He ended up giving him photos that he found online and photoshopped it a little bit to make it appear like it’s the girls, but he must’ve figured it out since your info was released.”

Chan looks around, processing everything you told him. You can’t imagine what Jeongin was going through—being stuck in a dilemma where he either cross the line with his noonas’ boundaries or run the risk of letting the public know of his hyungs’ info.

“You’re…not mad at Jeongin, are you?”

With your puppy eyes, there’s no way he can. “Thinking about it, he did the right thing. If he took those nasty videos and pictures, then it’s not only their privacy that was taken away, but also their dignity. At least for us, we were able to solve it within a few days. Don’t worry, I can never get angry at him.”

He wraps his arm around your neck, pulling you in. He gives you a knuckle sandwich to lighten the mood. However, it doesn’t ease the worry in your chest. Even though you’re more than okay, you’re more concerned about Jeongin and how he’s handling the responsibility. He’s pure-hearted, so he must be beating himself up right now.

“I really hope he doesn’t get in trouble for this. He’ll be okay, right?”

“I…” Chan looks down, unsure of what to say.

Of course, it’s better to reassure you that he’ll be fine, but the crime he committed is still inexcusable. While he knows that the members will forgive him after learning of the dilemma that he was in, he isn’t sure if the police will.

Jeongin and the policeman exit the private room. You want to reach out to him, but you pull your hand back. He doesn’t look at you nor Chan like he’s pretending he doesn’t know you two, and it hurts a little.

“Excuse me, where are you two going?” You ask.

“To the police station. I feel it’s more private to talk there than here.”

You keep staring at him, but he’s still not looking. “You’re not gonna do anything to him, are you?”

“As far as we know, nothing. We need more time to investigate before jumping to conclusions.”

They walk off, but before they do, you thought about calling out to him. You want to let him know that he didn’t do anything bad, but it’s too late since the policeman has already taken him out. You drop your weight down on the couch again, sighing.

“I really, really hope they don’t make him feel bad about what he did. Why can’t they just tell us already that Jeongin won’t get in trouble?”

Chan takes a seat next to you, patting your back. “Let them do their job. As long as they do the investigation properly, then I’m certain they’ll know that he’s innocent.”

Naturally, it’s normal for you to worry about the person you like. Despite the comfort, you can’t help but think about the worse as you bury your face in your hands. “When that intruder was holding him down, I was so scared that I couldn’t think. He told me to run, but I froze. I didn’t know if I wanted to run or help him. If only I thought quicker then it wouldn’t have come to this.”

“Hey, now’s not the time to be putting the blame on yourself. You two did the best you could in this situation, and it could’ve been a lot worse. Don’t be so pessimistic and keep your chin up.” He smiles.

You exhale, forcing a grin. “Yea…you’re right.”

You look out the window, praying that everything will turn out smoothly. Hopefully, the police won’t put the blame on Jeongin and that they would catch the intruder.

==========

Thankfully, the police let Jeongin go. They understood the situation that he was in and released him shortly after the interrogation. Although what he did was technically illegal, it was for the sake of protecting the girl group from falling into the hands of unwanted circumstance.

You had to tell the members in secret about what happened and begged for them not to look down on Jeongin for his mistakes. Many of them were dumbfounded, unsure of how they should take in the information just like when you and Chan first heard about it. However, they all came to an agreement to abide by your request and treat him the same as usual.

Unfortunately, despite the efforts to forget about the past, Jeongin’s high-spirts is no longer present. That charm he had during every group rehearsals doesn’t appear anymore, and when the members try to play around with him, he would brush them off and ask for space. He doesn’t talk to anyone, specifically you.

As if you thought before his avoidance was bad, this is worse. The moment you enter the room, he would stay the furthest away. When you try talking to him, he would turn the other direction and walk away. It’s been like this for days now, and it’s beginning to wither your hopes of ever talking to him like you two used to.

You’re in the office area of the building, staying overtime to write a proposal to give Stray Kids’ a spot on an American show. It was very difficult having with the language barrier and having to wait for messages to be translated and sent. But you manage to finish it, so as a sign of victory, you lean back in your chair, stretching your arms as you groan.

“Just finished?” Your co-worker asks as she stands up from the opposite end of your cubicle.

“Yea, it took forever! But it’s finished and that’s all that matters.”

“That’s great! I just finished my work too and I’m exhausted. Also, I heard that there’s a delay with the train that you usually take. It’s going to be dangerous since the station is gonna be empty and you’re a woman. There’s a lot of creeps hanging around at night, so be careful.”

You gulp. “Actually…I plan on staying another night here.”

“Again?!”

“I can always sleep in one of the lounges and use the spare blankets and pillows. The couches are actually pretty comfortable once you get used to it.”

“Yea…but it’s not good for your back. Well…it’s still safer than going back home alone. Just make sure that no one’s peeping at you while you’re asleep.”

It’s not that you think that nighttime is dangerous, but ever since that time when you got attacked by that man, you’ve been a little afraid to be alone. Just the thought of walking by yourself in the city scares you, like he’s watching your every step. Even staying the building is still enough to keep your guard up, so you haven’t been able to sleep properly either.

“Don’t worry. You should hurry. Your boyfriend is probably waiting for you at the parking lot. You shouldn’t make him wait.”

“Thanks! I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Your coworker walks out of the office, taking her phone out to let her boyfriend know that she just left. As she turns the corner, she is startled when she nearly bumps into someone. When she recognizes the person to be Jeongin, she sighs in relief.

“Oh my god, you startled me!”

“I’m sorry!” He bows.

“You’re Jeongin from that group, Stray Kids, right? Are you waiting for (Y/N)?”

He looks through the window, twiddling with his fingers. Even though he doesn’t answer, she has a feeling that she’s right.

“She just finished work, but that crazy woman is planning on sleeping here again.”

“Sleeping here?? Why?”

She shrugs her shoulders. “She won’t give a reason, but it’s probably because it’s late. I mean, if I didn’t have my boyfriend pick me up every time I have to overwork then I would probably do the same.”

He looks over at the window again, watching you yawn. “I didn’t know she’s been doing that…”

“You didn’t? But aren’t you with her every day?”

“Well…” he adverts his eyes.

Judging by his tone, something tells her that he and you haven’t been speaking much since the incident.

“Uhm…I was just wondering if she’s alright. She’s been doing fine, right?”

“Why don’t you ask her? She’s right there.”

“I-it’s okay. I have to head back to the dorms later. I just wanted to see if she was still there.”

“No, really! You should talk to her. I’m sure you’ll brighten her mood if you drop by and say hello.” Your coworker grabs him by the arm.

“N-no, it’s fine. I’m sure she doesn’t need any more distractions.”

She lowers her eyebrows, unamused by his answer. That’s when an idea sparks in her mind. She pulls him in to whisper something in his ears.

“You should really take some time to talk to her, even if you don’t want to. She’s been dying to talk to you.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Well…I’m not in the position to say this…but I have a feeling that she’ll never tell you, so I’m just gonna say it. She really likes you.”

He jerks his head back. “What?!”

She nods. “She’s probably gonna be mad if she finds out that I told you, but keep it a secret. But anyway, whatever’s going on with you and her, you two should move on from it. You two seem to have a really healthy relationship. It’s sad to see you guys are distant, especially hearing her talk about you every single day.”

His cheeks turn red. Not once has he ever noticed that this is how you feel about him. He just assumed that you weren’t interested since the other members are more attractive than him.

“Did she tell you?” He asks.

“Let me tell you more, but I don’t want her to be listening in to our conversation so…” she signals Jeongin to come closer with her hand.

He leans over and she continues whispering in his ear.

As they’re chatting, it catches your attention. You raise your head up with a smile perking up when you see Jeongin. However, it quickly goes away when you notice that your coworker is holding his arm and whispering in his ear. There’s an aching pain in your heart which you can only describe as envy. Jeongin has been ignoring you for weeks on end, so it’s unfair to find that he allows your coworker to touch and talk to him like that, even when she has a boyfriend already.

“(Y/N)!” Your coworker calls from the door. “Jeongin is here. I’m gonna head out now. See you tomorrow!”

She walks off, pressing the elevator button and entering, leaving you and Jeongin alone. You stand up from your desk, grabbing your purse and folders.

“H-hey. How are you doing?” It’s been so long since you last spoke to him that you forgot how you normally talk to him.

“I’m doing fine. Your coworker said that you’re spending the night here?”

“Huh? Oh yea.”

You wish she didn’t tell him. It makes you feel slightly ashamed that you’re sleeping in such a public place even though you already have a place to stay. It isn’t that you have a lot of work that you have to stay here either, but it’s just that you’re afraid to go by yourself.

“You’ve been staying here?”

“Oh…yea…it’s a little late, s-so I thought it would be safer to just stay here.”

“I can walk home with you.”

“Wh-what?!”

“Are…are you okay with that?”

You’ve never thought that he would be the one to make the first move. He rarely is the one to approach you and suggest to tag along with you. There must’ve been something that your coworker said to make him ask you.

“You shouldn’t! It’s too dangerous for you to go alone! Just because you’re not a girl doesn’t mean that you can’t fall victim to sudden attacks too.”

“It’s not about that. Sleeping on those couches is not comfortable and you’ll get back pains from sleeping on those rocks. I can walk you to the train station.”

“But…”

He begins to sulk, puckering his bottom lips up and his eyes gleaming. You can never say no to him, so you have no other choice but to let him. Besides, this is also a great chance to talk to him. Hopefully, the awkward mood between you two will finally dissipate.

“Okay…”

==========

You two are at the train station, sitting on a bench together next to a soda machine. Just as you thought, it’s completely empty here—just you and Jeongin. Since you two haven’t spoken in a while, you don’t know what to talk about, so the silence makes the awkwardness louder.

“I-is there anything you want to drink?” He asks.

“It’s fine. Are you thirsty?” You stand up from your seat. “You don’t have to use your money or anything, so I can—”

“No, let me do it. What drink do you want?”

“I said it’s fine. I’ll buy for you.”

You get up from the bench, but Jeongin raises his hand in front of you to stop you from moving further. “What drink do you want?”

Adamant that he’s the one paying, you knew you lost the argument. You sit back down, thinking about what to drink. “Canned coffee is fine.”

He takes out his wallet from his jean pocket, picking out the right amount of coins. After inserting them inside the slot, he slouches his back slightly, picking two drinks—one Cola and one coffee.

“Here.”

“Thank you!” you set the can down and rummage through your purse.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m repaying you. How much was it?”

“You don’t have to pay me back.”

“What!? But vending machine prices have been increasing lately and you could’ve used that money for something else. This is the least I can do.”

He shakes his head as if he’s ashamed. “You can stop playing like a good person, Manager.”

The bluntness was like a direct shot in the heart. Judging by his tone, he sounded like he’s tired of you having to do everything for him, even the littlest of things. Although your intentions comes from a good place, you’re still able to annoy him, and it makes you feel guilty.

“O-oh…I’m sorry.”

Your apology made him realize what he said. “No…I should be the one sorry.”

He takes a seat once you have nothing else to say. Once again, the awkward atmosphere returns, and it’s so apparent that you two can’t bring yourselves to look at each other. The only sounds that are filling the space in between are the sips that you two take from your drinks.

“So…how have you been?” You ask.

“Good.”

“The hyungs aren’t messing with you?”

“No. They’ve been treating me well.”

“That’s good.”

A few more seconds of no talking.

“How’s work?”

“It’s going fine! It’s really time consuming, so I don’t get to visit you guys as much as I used to. I’m almost done, so I’ll be able to visit you guys soon,” but after making that suggestion, you retract from it. “B-but if I’m bothering you guys, then I won’t stay for too long.”

“I never said that you should leave. You’re our manager, so you can stay for as long as you like.”

“But…what if it’s disrupting your practice?”

Jeongin doesn’t reply immediately. Rather, he creases his eyebrows as if he doesn’t understanding where this is coming from. “You’ve never cared if it bothered you before. Why is it so different now?”

“B-because…”

“Is it because of what happened?”

You nearly stop breathing. He was being vague, but you know exactly what he means.

You shake your head profusely. “No! Never!”

“Then how come you’ve been sleeping at the company?”

“Well…like I said, I have a lot of work and—”

“Don’t lie to me…it’s my fault, isn’t it?”

“Wh-what?”

“You hate me, don’t you? It’s my fault that you’re scared of going home by yourself and why you don’t want to see us anymore.”

“No, don’t think like that!”

“Don’t sugar coat it for me! You know how much I don’t like being babied. Why can’t you just yell at me for once for the burden I put on you and the hyungs?! I really, really hate being let go of things that I deserve punishment for.”

You don’t know where this is coming from. From what you can guess, he can’t keep the guilt contained any longer and needs to let it off.

“When you and the hyungs supported me despite doxing personal information, you all still sided with me, but it felt forced. It wasn’t because you guys believed that what I still was justifiable, but because I’m the youngest and built this unconditional care for me. I-I’m thankful for it…but…it feels like I’m not growing because of that!”

His words are jumping from one place to another. It’s as if he’s spouting the first things that come to mind. You’re aware of the weight that he has to carry because of the mistake he made, but you didn’t expect it to be this heavy.

This is how he’s been feeling this entire time and you didn’t know. You were too afraid to ask, scared that he was going to ignore you. Due to that cowardice, it drifted you and him apart to the point that you don’t what’s going through his mind. You failed at being a manager—tending to the members’ needs and wants by putting yourself before them. Even though you’re afraid about what happened that day, you can’t forget that Jeongin went through more.

You place your hand over his, catching him off-guard. “We didn’t side with you because we love you unconditionally. We did because we knew that deep down, you weren’t the intruder’s accomplice.”

“B-but…I was the one who put us in danger.”

“Yea, but I know that you didn’t do it without consent. You were blackmailed and had to be put into a situation that you never planned to be involved in ever in your life. And…about me not visiting you guys as much as I did prior, I’m sorry about that. I thought you didn’t want me to be in the same room, so I left in hopes that it made you feel better.”

“…It didn’t.”

Your eyes widen when he puts his other hand over yours. But what was more surprising was how he was no longer fighting back his tears.

“I miss those days when you came to see us, those times when we played around. Seeing you always brightened my day, even if that day was terrible. Just a glimpse of you was enough to make me forget about all the bad things.”

Your heart races, never expecting for this situation to turn intimate.

“But when you started seeing us less, I thought it was because you hated me. I kept avoiding you for weeks, and then I put you in a vulnerable spot where I pathetically watched as you were being tormented by that stupid guy! I hate myself because everything’s my fault.”

He continues to cry, lowering his head for being too ashamed to make eye contact. Tears fall from his cheeks, each drip representing the pressure that he desired to escape from.

Unable to bear seeing him tear himself apart, you wrap your arms around him and pull him in for a hug. He stops sobbing, processing what’s going on.

“I’m sorry, Jeongin. I didn’t know what you were going through, but don’t let it get to you.”

You hug him tighter, then he puts his head on your shoulder.

“You’re not getting it off easily because we all know that what you did was for the better. If you did what he said, then you would’ve risked Twice’s privacy, but you were willing to risk your integrity and your relationship with your hyungs so that they’re safe.”

He buries his face in your shoulder, his tears soaking into your shirt. “I thought he was a nice person, but when I found out that he wasn’t, I was so scared. I wanted to tell you guys everything, but I was afraid that it was going to get you guys in trouble. I didn’t know what to do.”

“It’s okay. It’s over with. There’s no need to keep moping,” you pull back, showing your smile. “It’s in the past. All you can do left is acknowledged it happen, not let it happen again, and keep moving forward.”

He sniffles, wiping the tears from his eyes with his palms. His sparkling eyes look back at you with such innocence that you can’t believe someone is heartless enough to take advantage of him. You reach into your purse and take out some tissue. Without thinking, you wipe his tears yourself, which caught him by surprise. He jerks back a little, but he continues to give you permission to touch his face.

It’s been a long time since you had such a personal conversation with him that it’s making you a little nervous. You can’t even look at him any longer than a few seconds before having to turn around. But amidst your timid behavior, you feel something warm around your hand. It’s Jeongin’s hand, wrapping his long fingers around your knuckles.

This move alone is enough to cause a rush of explosive emotions. You always did well hiding how you felt about him, but it may be because of your lack of interaction with him that it’s been more difficult than usual. You’re too ashamed to look at him in the eyes, afraid that he’ll catch your red face.

“Sometimes I wish you would go harder on me like how you are with the older members. Why won’t you?”

“Be-because…”

“Don’t tell me that it’s because I’m the youngest.” His innocent, puppy eyes then turn serious.

Your heart skips a beat like fireworks are going off.

“You see me as a child, so is that why you aren’t going hard on me?”

“N-n…”

“I’m a man too, you know? I don’t like being called the baby, especially by you,” He inches closer to your face. “That’s why I work out a lot, so that you don’t see me as a baby anymore. I don’t sing those ridiculous children songs anymore because I want you to see me in a different light. That’s why you should let me grow up.”

“I-I am…”

“And your age isn’t all that far from me either, and yet, you treat me like a child.”

He’s moving in so close that you have to push him away. “H-hey…we’re in public, Jeongin.”

“We’re alone. It’s fine,” he holds onto your hand. “Tell me honestly, what do you think of me?”

Your heart is pounding so loud that Jeongin must be able to hear it. You look away, too embarrassed to look at him. You keep thinking about what others might think if they found out about your feelings for him.

“No! I don’t wanna say!” You press on his chest and push him off.

Because of your resilience, it irritates him slightly. “I know it’s my fault for pushing you to the side a lot, but you don’t have to be so dismissive with me when I’m asking you a question.”

“No! You don’t understand!!”

“Understand what?!”

“That…that…”

Your face turns redder. You’re so ashamed to look that you can’t even bring yourself to look at him. Exhausted from your refusal to speak, he presses both his hands against your cheeks and forces you to look at his face.

“If you won’t tell me, then can I assume what I think it is?”

Your heart skips a beat, hoping that he doesn’t hit the target accurately. “Wh-what are you thinking?”

He smiles slyly, and that’s when you realization that your assumption is correct. He closes his eyes as he leans closer to you. Even though you’re afraid, you can’t move your body. You know that what he’s doing isn’t right, especially since his reputation is on the line.

You thought about what your coworker said about worrying too much about his own sake. Although his public image is important, his personal life matters just as much, if not, more. He’s been going through so much, so the least you could do is answer him. You hold onto his sleeve, closing your eyes as well. You don’t want to turn down the person you like for a long time.

However, the mood switches when you and Jeongin hear the sound of a camera shutter go off. A white flash blinds you and him, and the color in your eyes fade when you discover the same intruder is standing a few feet away from you two, holding a camera in his hands.

“Hey!”

The man runs off, and Jeongin chases after him.

“Jeongin, wait!”

You chase after him, leaving your can of coffee on the bench.

==========

No matter how fast you run, you can never catch up to Jeongin and the man. At some point, you lost sight of them, so you slow down to catch your breath. You knew that he wasn’t caught by the police, but you would’ve never expected him to find them again.

You never noticed that man there because you were too focused on Jeongin, and because of that, his reputation is at risk. You pull your hair, repeatedly calling yourself an idiot for letting your emotions override your logic. You knew it was better to watch for his reputation than to let your selfish desires take over.

You know you should let somebody know about this, but you don’t know who. You thought about contacting the other managers, but they’re in a different city with some of the other members. You try thinking about the members who are close by, and the only person you can think of is Chan. You dial his number, praying that he picks up the call.

“Hello?”

“Chan? Chan!”

“It’s really late. Did you need something?”

“The…the intruder…Jeongin is chasing after the intruder!”

“Wait, what? What are you talking about?”

“The guy…who broke into the building…He saw me and Jeongin, and he’s chasing after the guy right now.”

“Whoa, hold on…What?! Where are you guys?!”

“We’re at the north train station. Well…we were, but they ran off somewhere and I can’t find them. What should we do?? Should I call the police?”

“If you can’t find them, then that means you’re alone! Go back to the building and I’ll call the police. It’s too dangerous for you to be walking around late at night.”

“But…” you look at the direction that Jeongin and the man ran toward.

“Hurry back!” Chan hangs up, most likely so that he can call the police.

You stare at your call history after he hung up. He did warn you to go back to the building, but a part of you wants to search for Jeongin. You know it’s safer for you to return, but you can’t leave Jeongin in the hands of danger, especially with that man. You apologize to Chan in your head, continuing to follow the trail that Jeongin and man went.

==========

Despite following the road they took, you can’t seem to find them. You try calling Jeongin’s phone, but he won’t pick up. Each time the phone goes to voicemail, it worries you even more that he might’ve gotten hurt.

“Where could you have gone?” You mumble to yourself.

You run up a staircase that leads to a bridge above a freeway. You pray that going to the peak of the bridge will give you a good view of your surroundings. As you press your stomach on the rails with your hand resting on the fence above the rails, the dark night makes it nearly impossible to inspect the area. You turn around, exhaling with exhaustion. You’re unable to think of anywhere else that Jeongin and that man could’ve gone to.

You check your phone to find a spam of text messages from Chan. He must be upset that you didn’t do as you were told. You debate on whether or not you should return and hear his wrath or if you should continue your search for Jeongin. One half of you thinks that this search is pointless and should be handed to the police. However, the other half believes that you should continue in hopes that the longer you search, the chances you’ll find him.

But realistically speaking, it’s better if you go back. You worried Chan and the other boys enough. “Sorry, Jeongin.”

Before putting your phone back in your pocket, you check the time to see that it’s past midnight. You pick up your feet and drag them across the ground.

However, you’re at a halt when a familiar man stands a few feet away from you. You recognized him immediately—you can never get that deadpan look on his face out of your head. You’re frozen, figuring out how to comprehend that the man is standing in front of you, and without Jeongin.

“It looks like you’re alone.” He speaks.

You voice is caught in your throat, unable to say anything snarky. You can’t tell if he’s armed, but with or without it, you’re still scared. You know what he’s capable of, yet you don’t know what he’s thinking about right now.

“Wh-where’s Jeongin?”

He rotates his head to crack them as he groans. “Why do you care about that kid?! You should be worried about yourself. Fuck if I know where he went.”

You take a step back and he takes a step forward. He finds amusement in your fear, so he smirks. “Because of you and that damn kid, I almost went to jail. Do you guys not know how pissed off I am??”

“What are you talking about?! You’re the one who doxed their information and blackmailed Jeongin to give you photos of Twice!”

“What?!” He grinds his teeth. “Are you saying that it’s my fault?? That spoiled brat can’t do shit! He gets to see them every day, and I’m the one who deserves being punished?!”

At this rate, there’s no point in reasoning with him. No matter what you say, he’ll find an excuse to avoid responsibility.

“I’m so fucking mad right now. I took that photo of you and him so I can use that against him too. He tried chasing me down the streets and thankfully I was able to avoid him. But because of him, I dropped my damn camera! Since I found you, I might as well let some steam off.”

Oh no. Without thinking, you turn around and run down the stairs. He chases after you, sprinting at full speed. Even though there are dozens of cars in the freeway, but none of them are coming out to help. You can hear his footsteps, but you’re too afraid to look behind and see how close he is.

As you jog down the stairs, your hair is grabbed by the man. He pulls you back, causing you to fall backward and hit your back against the cement stairs. With the railings covering what he’s doing to you, the cars can’t see anything.

“Let’s finish off where it last left.” He snickers.

Your eyes become teary, believing that his face might be the last thing you’ll see before you die. It may sound a bit overly dramatic, but not knowing what’s going to happen, the worst outcome is the only thing you can think of. All you want to do now is apologize to the members for not being a competent manager.

“Get your hands off of her!” A familiar voice come from the distance.

You glance at the top of the bridge to find a dark figure. The moonlight behind the person’s head blackens his features, making it difficult to see the face. However, you can tell who this person is.

Jeongin runs down the steps and lunges at the man. The two roll down the staircase until they meet at the bottom. With Jeongin on top, he puts his knees on the man’s arms so he can’t hurt him. Now that you can see him under a better light, it’s clear that Jeongin is filled with rage. If you thought the man was upset, it’s nothing compared to his.

In one full swing, he punches the man across the face, so far that his head turned in the same direction as his fist. Jeongin punches again, but with his other hand. He repeats this back and forth—one hand then the other. You watch in horror as you’ve never seen him this angry before. He’s gotten irritated and shouted, but never gone to the extent of physically hurting somebody else. He always blamed himself whenever there was trouble.

You don’t want to see him like this. You snap out of it and run toward him. You pull him back, getting a quick glimpse of his torn, bloody knuckles from all the excessive beating. It scares you a bit, but you shake that thought out of your head and focus on pulling him away.

You’re able to pull him away. Around the same time, one driver gets out of his car and detains the man before he can escape. He struggles to escape the driver’s grasp as he shouts very curse word in the dictionary.

“Why did you pull me away?!”

His question catches you off-guard. “Wh-what?”

“Why didn’t you let me continue?! He deserves to get beaten!”

“B-because! I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“Don’t you remember everything’s he done to us?! He goes out of his way to make sure that our lives are miserable. And you’re letting him get away with it?”

“No! That’s not it!”

As the debate continues, a crowd begins to form. Rather than this being a serious situation, the people around you and him becomes a spectacle as they whip out their phones to record it. But it doesn’t matter how many people are around you. You’re only paying attention to Jeongin.

“I get it…you’re frustrated. You’re upset about everything he’s done to you, but I don’t want you to sink to his level,” You hold onto his arm. “You’re better than this scum. You worked hard for years to be where you’re at. Don’t waste it away because of a jerk who doesn’t know what you’ve been through.”

His anger subsides and relaxes his shoulders. It turns out that the anger is just a disguise for the tears that he’s been hiding. He covers his eyes with the palm of his hands as he sobs.

“I’m so angry with myself. I couldn’t save you when you were being attacked by him back at the company, so when I saw how he was hurting you again, I couldn’t control myself. I didn’t want to stand in fear anymore.”

As he continues crying, you wrap your arms around him now knowing that you two won’t go through any trouble anymore. You have a feeling that this will be the last time the man will harass both you and Jeongin. It’s almost like the clouds have finally allowed the sun to shine on the two of you.

----------

“So…” You begin.

You and Jeongin are walking across the hall of the company building. There are Band-Aids all over his knuckles, and you have one over your left cheek. It’s been a few days since the incident, and you and Jeongin have finally returned to normal.

You’re hiding your hands behind your back, a little embarrassed to ask him a certain question. But your curiosity was getting the better of you that you need to know. “That one night…what were you talking about with my co-worker?”

His cheeks turn red, turning away from you as he sucks in his lips. His reaction makes you even more nervous.

“You were very comfortable with her…n-not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’m just wondering.”

“Why are you wondering?”

His questioning makes you even more worried. “W-when did you guys started talking?”

“That was our first time. She knows who I am, but I didn’t know her.”

“Did she tell you something?” You press on, but you try not to pry too much.

He bites his bottom lip. “It’s a secret.”

“What?! But I thought we agreed on no more secrets.”

“Yea, but…if I tell you then you’ll get angry.”

“No I won’t!”

“Then why do you want to know?” He chuckles.

Your face turns red. “B-because…”

“I’ll tell you but you have to tell me why you want to know.”

“No!”

You and Jeongin continue the conversation while walking down the hall. In the midst of you talking, he zones out, thinking about the past few weeks. Every single day felt unbearable because he couldn’t bear to look at you knowing the deeds he’s done. He never thought the day you would talk to him casually again would happen. It makes him smile knowing that you two finally made it to the other side.

“Why are you smiling? Did my coworker say something about me?”

He averts his eyes, hesitating to speak. “No.”

“I knew it! What did she say about me?!

“Nothing.”

“You’re lying. I wanna know what you guys talked about.”

“Are you jealous?”

“Jealous?!” Your entire face turns red. “Never.”

He wraps his arm around you, pulling you closer to him. You fall onto his chest, and this makes your face turn redder. You can’t believe that this is the same person you first met long ago when he was just seventeen. He was so shy that he barely said a word during the first introduction.

“What we talked about isn’t important.” He rests his head on top of yours.

If he could, then he would kiss you. But since you guys are in public, he doesn’t want to risk anybody catching him kissing you again. Perhaps one day, he’ll be more confident and tell you his real feelings as well. He’s not there yet, since he wants to wait until he’s sure that you no longer see him as a child. For now, holding you close to him is the best he can do. Never will he ever let what happened before happen again between you and him.

[End]

A/N: Thank you everyone for reading this until the end! I hope everyone is safe and sound :) Even though lots of us are going through hard times, I’m sure we can get through this. This fanfic took me a long time because I was stuck on a long brain fart :( Anyway, I want you all to have a wonderful day!

#stray kids scenarios #stray kids imagines #in scenarios #jeongin imagines #in #in x reader #yang jeongin #fluff #stray kids fluff #skz #kpop fluff #kpop #stray kids

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cyn-00 · 4 years

Text

Moreid one shot, 17 - "my hands"

Season 9, episode 3 "Final shot" (this is the one where the team has to catch a sniper: initially they thought the unsub was motivated by racism, and when they discover that the gun was the same used a few months before by "The General" - in prison, ex leader of a white supremacists group - to kill a black councilman - Adrian Clay - AND that in one of the shootings the assistant d.a. prosecuting him for that crime was killed; they decide to interview him. Re-interpretation of the scene where Morgan and JJ hold hands to make uncomfortable "The General" - racist son of a b*tch - during the interrogation... only there's Reid instead of JJ ;)

I believe @amplifreid and @smileythirteen asked me to tag them ❤️

Also, in my imaginary world, Morgan and Reid are a well established couple by season 9, but to illustrate this scene properly I think it was way better to assume they weren't a couple yet. Also with the same intent, the interview to "The General" (Adam Dawson) happens in an interrogation room with the one-way mirror glass and everything. Bear with the divergence from the actual scene - some of Dawson, Morgan and JJ's (=Reid) lines do remain pretty much the same, though

Read it on AO3

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

"Look at the change in his posture when Morgan got in..." Blake sighed, staring attentively at the interrogation room on the other side of the one-way glass. "Cocky. This guy's not gonna give us anything useful."

Rossi gave her an agreeing look, silently mimicking her head-shake while his hands slid in the pockets of his jeans.

"We'll have to work with that. Playing the black agent card is our best and only shot." Hotch replied.

"It's also very much obvious..." Blake added half-heartedly.

"He'll be too blinded by hate to even notice." Reid reassured her with a shrug, finally saying something after being glued to the glass for a few minutes with his arms folded on his chest, concentrated on the interrogation.

"Mr Dawson," Morgan greeted the convict with a fake polite tone, closing the door behind his back.

He sat in front of him and crossed his hands atop the metallic table. "Do you happen to have wondered why you're here?" he asked, squinting his eyes.

"I have a few guesses, yes." Dawson answered confidently.

Morgan tilted his head, while his brows shot up. He'd already picked up on what type of attitude the guy was planning to pull off on him for the whole duration of the interview.

"Would you mind naming a couple of those for me?"

Dawson sighed, nodding his head. "I guess we're talking about my past involvement with the Southern Aryans."

"Past?"

"Past. Look, I even got my tattoos removed." he confirmed, not hesitating to show him the laser scar on the inside of his arm with a self-complacent grin, even if constricted in his movements by the cuffs chained to the table top.

Morgan couldn't bring himself to feign praising at the thought the guy once marked his skin with symbols and slogans to proudly remind himself and others that not only he was a racist son of a bitch, but more than that he also acted upon those retrograde and disgusting ideologies of his. So he just nodded, not even bothering to actually look at Dawson's arm.

Hotch's phone rang in his pocket, distracting him from the dynamic slowly - very slowly - unfolding in the other room.

"What is it Garcia?"

"My baby is in there with Dawson right?? Not that you aren't my baby too, sir- I MEAN you guys ALL are my babies regardless of our age gap-"

"Garcia." Aaron reprimanded her.

"Yes! I'm- I'm sorry, back to business: I managed to dig deep and dirty into every single detail about the murder of Adrian Clay, and in general every little, petty criminal activity this group of disgusting bigots have committed." she paused, gulping so noisily they could all hear it through the phone.

"They- they have engaged in a series of, quote unquote, 'harassments of any sort', in those areas of the city principally frequented by the lgbtq+ community through these past couple years. And- and Clay himself was rumored to be homosexual, but there's no reliable source for that." she explained in a rush, like she wanted to get it out of her brain as quickly as her breath allowed her to.

"...don't know about you, but I'm not all that surprised the shitheads are also homophobic. Those things don't sound like anything a group of neo-nazis wouldn't do, am I right?" Rossi snorted. "They'll target anything 'impure'." he air-quoted the word.

"Yes, that's what I had imagined too, I just- I just hoped I didn't have to get to the point of reading proof of it with my poor, pretty eyes! Like these guys weren't evil on earth already..."

"Garcia, is there a reason why you're telling us this?" Hotch furrowed his brows. They were running out of time, and Morgan was running out of questions aiming at making Dawson say what they wanted him to say.

"Actually sir, I hoped you'd ask because YES, there is a reason, and I know that this is not part of my job but I was thinking that maybe...you guys could use his homophobia at your advantage?" she kept it vague and stopped for a second to catch a reaction. Anything at all. But the others stayed silent to digest that idea.

"like, one of you boys could go in there and act a lil? Believe me I would sacrifice myself for that role, but you know-"

"Actually, that's not a bad idea at all. As Blake said earlier, Dawson was probably expecting us to use a black agent anyway, but this could actually set him off because it's a part of the group's criminal activity that's been hidden from the media and the general public. We're not supposed to even know about this." Reid spoke his mind out loud, receiving in response complete silence and three - well, four, if you count Garcia - pairs of eyes staring at him.

He stared back at them with his lips parted. "W-what? I'm right, right ?"

"You are." Blake simply said, raising a brow.

With a little delay compared to the others' - which NEVER happened - Spencer's mind started to process what that whole staring contest was supposed to mean.

"No- guys, I'm- I'm too young he won't- he'll never fall for it! If you take in account that I look way younger than I am, the age gap between me and Morgan is too wide, he's not a fool I can't-" he was starting to stutter and flush and almost hyperventilate to the point Hotch had to interrupt him.

"Reid. You know it has to be you." he gave him an apologetic look.

Reid wasn't trying to dodge the situation because he had a problem with fake flirting - he did not have a single problem with doing that. On the contrary: fake flirting for an interrogation or the like was the only way for Spencer to manage to pull off a flirty attitude with someone, covering it up with the fact that he was simply good at acting, since in actuality flirting wasn't exactly his first natural skill - it was Derek's. Problem was: he had to flirt with Derek Morgan, not someone.

On the other hand, Spencer also perfectly knew why it was their best shot to send him in instead of Hotch. Still, it was worth the try to dissuade him.

"You could do it, right?" he asked apprehensively, the tone of his voice lower and less certain than before.

Hotch knew he didn't need to explain it to him, so he didn't bother, keeping his gaze steady. Blake took on that duty for him, though:

"Spencer, you are exactly Dawson and his followers' stereotype of ideal human being. You're young, educated, intelligent, attractive, and more importantly: white." she paused, seeing that Reid had embarrassedly dropped his eyes when she mentioned him being attractive. Guess Morgan wasn't the only one labeling him as 'pretty boy' then.

"The only thing that parts you from being total perfection in his eyes, is your sexual orientation." she concluded.

"The minute we send you in, he'll think you're there to save him from an uncomfortable interview with a black agent. But when you'll start making avancés on Morgan, the guy will freak out." Rossi added, straight up.

Making avancés on Morgan. Dear God - Spencer knew he could do that with a minimum effort, and certainly without Derek making a big deal out of it; however the issue was: he would never get away with the physical reaction the avancés on Derek 's part would certainly trigger in his body, would he?

"THAT's what I meant!" Penelope's squealing voice filled the room all of a sudden, reminding them that she was still on speaker phone.

"Alright, thanks Garcia, that was a good catch." Hotch's firm facial expression never wavered an inch, even when he complimented her.

"Duty, sir."

"We can't call Morgan out, though. It has to be unexpected." he added, now only talking to his teammates in the room.

Without waiting for the others' agreeing - there was no need for that: he was right - Hotch pressed the button that allowed him to talk into Morgan's earpiece.

"Morgan. Guy's not only racist, but also homophobic. We're sending Reid in."

Morgan swallowed, trying not to make Dawson notice that he received an unspoken command he wasn't quite sure whether he'd be ready to obey, nor handle - emotionally AND physically.

When the door opened a second after, though, and he glanced over his shoulder at his tall, lean colleague standing behind him, waiting for permission to come in, Derek figured it shouldn't be all that hard to flirt with that.

"Pretty boy! Have a seat, we're having fun here." he gave Spencer his brightest grin, hand gesturing at him to come closer.

The younger agent smiled awkwardly and closed the door, making his way to the chair only 5 inches beside Derek's - who, by the way, was overly aware that their knees would inevitably touch if he didn't pay attention to keeping his legs glued together.

As Spencer got comfortable in his seat, keeping eye contact with him and subtly brushing his tongue in between his pink lips, Derek wondered if that was gonna come naturally to Spencer as it surely was to him. From the look on his face and his body language, Derek was leaning toward yes as an answer to that question.

"Mr Dawson is sick and tired of me." Derek scoffed, leaning back in his chair to stretch an arm on the backrest of Spencer's. "Guessing you came here with a few questions of your own?" he asked him.

"I did." Spencer replied, squinting at Dawson with an inquisitive look. "Mr Dawson, by any chance you've kept in contact with the other members of the Southern Aryans' group?"

"Agent-"

"Doctor." Derek pointed out dryly. "Doctor Spencer Reid." the way he pronounced his name caused Spencer to shift in his seat. Morgan wasn't quite sure why.

"Doctor, then." Dawson snorted, eyebrows raised in surprise as to why the older agent cared that much about specifying the other's title. "As I was saying: I'm in prison. My opportunities to socialize are...somewhat limited." he replied sarcastically. Which was how he'd been doing it at every single question Derek had asked.

The fact that he was managing to keep that cocky attitude was a sign that he wasn't uncomfortable enough. Everyone had imagined he would've got all jittery the second the nickname "pretty boy" would've come out of Morgan's mouth. Apparently so, Derek had to step up his game.

"Spencer, baby," Derek called him so he'd lean back in his chair as well, drawing his face farther away from "The General" and from under the blinding neon light beam illuminating the area of the table.

Reid leaned back as Morgan had implicitly asked him to, crossing his arms on his chest. Spencer, baby. The instinctive part of his brain didn't hesitate a second to recognize the combination of pet name + uncommon use of his first name, associated with Derek's deep voice. Probably because he'd imagined his colleague calling him that a thousand times, along with other names - some less appropriate than others - he couldn't keep his mind from drifting to when he heard that voice of his. The other part of his grey matter though, the logical, predominant one, the one used to Morgan only calling him by his last name or "pretty boy" and "kid" at most; sent a tingling sensation from the canal of his ear where the words reached him, all the way down to his arms and hands.

Spencer kept his gaze on the convict sitting across from them, as he realized Derek had inched dangerously closer to his ear. Dawson shifted nervously in his seat, jerking his eyes away from the two of them.

"You think we should kiss at some point? " the man asked mockingly at last, whispering and with a hand half-covering the motions of his mouth: he was acting like he didn't want Dawson to be able to hear, or read his labial - which, on the contrary, was exactly his plan.

Spencer froze. He tried to keep his look on Dawson unchanged. What he could NOT control, though, was the sensation of heat spreading up his neck, 3 inches from Derek's mouth. Dawson, too, was very noticeably trying to contain his sickened reaction, which turned out to be a mere close-eyed sigh and an irritated clench of jaw.

Reid pulled off the most natural chuckle he could, before answering out loud.

"I don't think it'll be necessary." it was true: Derek had asked only as a joke, and Spencer understood that. But he kinda wished in that moment it were appropriate for him to reply "yes, please, tongue me down during an interrogation."

Derek leaned forward again, finally removing his eyes from that spot of Spencer's jawline below his ear that moved as he spoke.

"Anyway. That's not what we heard." he said, pointing at him and Reid with his finger. "Rumor has it that you're in charge. In fact, you're still known as 'The General'."

"Some folks would like to, uh, imbue me with a great deal of power. But it's a mantle I choose not to accept." The General answered, his voice less arrogant than before and maybe even ever-so-slightly hoarse.

"So you COULD call the shots, you just... choose not to...?" Reid asked, unconvinced and a bit concerned about what kind of annoyingly fake-innocent answer the guy would give this time.

"That's what I said. How can I lead when I no longer believe, 'pretty boy' ?" Dawson replied, back at it with his smug tone, air-quoting the nickname.

Spencer had the abrupt - albeit fictitious - feeling that someone was knotting his guts with their bare hands, when he heard the man pronouncing those two words. Sacred, two words, only reserved to Morgan.

"Doctor Spencer Reid, is my name. Thought you were smart enough to understand it the first time." he said ice cold, leaning forward, knuckles white from crossing his hands too tightly over the table top.

"You're not allowed to call him that." Morgan stated, his black eyes piercing through the man in front of them.

"With all due respect, that's what you called him earlier, agent Morgan."

"With all due respect, Spencer is MY boyfriend, not yours." Derek bit back.

The lack of hesitation in pronouncing the words 'Spencer is my boyfriend' and how good they sounded coming out of Morgan's lips, along with the way he untangled Reid's hands to take one of them in his, warmly and comfortingly intertwining their fingers to loosen the tension in his phalanges - all of it, made Spencer's heart speed up, and his lungs hitch as he breathed, and his mouth water, realizing now more than ever how much he actually wished all of that could be real.

"Although I bet you wish he was your boyfriend, don't you?" Morgan added, teasing Dawson even more. The man snorted, but his body language was telling them that he was struggling to keep an unbothered attitude.

"Is that why you killed Adrian Clay? Because he was black and probably had a boyfriend, just like agent Morgan here?" Spencer asked.

Derek looked at him with his brows raised, pleased at how well he was keeping up with his game. Though, that sensation managed to ease only partially the slight but sudden feeling of discomfort that hit in his chest, at the news that the councilman that was killed was black AND gay, just like...him? Was he bisexual? The things flashing in Morgan's mind in reaction to the proximity with Reid's body, and that feeling of having his hand melting in his - the feeling that holding Spencer's hand was right - were making Derek doubt even more his already unclear understanding of his own sexual orientation. Doctor Spencer Reid was making him doubt once again his sexual orientation.

Clenching his hands in tight fists, Dawson made an effort to visibly swallow the expectedly offensive comments he bore on the matter - Derek found himself mentally thanking him for that - and shifted his eyes toward the wall at his left, too disgusted by him and Spencer to keep looking at them any longer.

As soon as he did that, Morgan felt Reid's hand slipping out of his, much to his silent disapproval.

"Alright Derek we- we're wasting our time here." Spencer mumbled, turning his back on Derek with his eyes low and placing a palm on the table top, about to stand up from the chair.

Derek had the impression that Spencer's reaction was somewhat genuine, that he really was starting to get triggered by The General's attitude - righteously. But, as selfish as he knew it sounded, he didn't want Reid to leave his side. His hand. Him.

Before he could effectively get up, Morgan wrapped his hand around that spot on Reid's arm, the crook where his forearm met his bicep, a couple inches below his shirt rolled up sleeve; that spot where his exposed skin was sensitive enough that those curling fingers sprung tickling chills everywhere, intense to the point of Spencer freezing in place and turning his head to give Derek worried puppy eyes and sweet, slightly pouty lips that Goddammit can I just KISS them off his face?

"C'mon baby, I just have a few more questions" Derek settled to say, softly, trying to recover from that fucking look of his.

"No seriously, can- can we just g-"

"Hey, hey, hold tight. We haven't even got to the point yet. It'll only take a second and then we don't have to see this son of a bitch's face anymore alright? Promise." Morgan reassured him; pitch black irises staring straight into hazel brown ones.

Spencer sighed and nodded, as Derek loosened the grip. He leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms, annoyed but ready to listen to more of the man's crap.

Dawson snorted. "You must have quite the nerve to come in here and insult me, tell me I'm a racist and a homophobic-"

"Nobody said either of those things, Mr Dawson." Derek tilted his head. "We asked, and you didn't answer. Not verbally anyway. Seems to me that now you are the one saying those words, uh?"

"What do you know about today's events?" Reid cut it short, not even willing to wait for Dawson's reaction at Morgan's insinuation.

"Today's events?"

"You must have heard about the shootings." Derek specified, carelessly leaning on the backrest, and decided it was the moment to do what he had planned on doing since Spencer entered the room.

Reid had his eyes fixated on Dawson, to catch every single twitch of his facial muscles, or minute movement of his body.

Suddenly he felt a hot, broad hand wrapping around his inner thigh. He sincerely hoped the only physical reaction to that were his toes curling up inside his shoes, or at worst how his breath got stuck in his throat for a second, and nothing visible on the outside - because on the inside, he could feel his whole abdomen heat up at a concerning rate.

When the man's hand started stroking back and forth, each time his palm went upwards it seemed to Spencer that it was getting closer and closer to that part of his body he wished so bad Derek wasn't aiming for - at least not in that context. Spencer tightened the grip of his hands bracing his arms, thanking God that shirts were made of cotton and not paper that would start flaking off under the squeezing pressure of sweaty fingers.

He couldn't allow himself to take his eyes off Dawson, especially now that he'd seen Morgan's hand on Reid's thigh and had immediately stiffened up; his temples glimmering with sweat under the neon light.

Dawson gulped nervously and looked away from the whole rubbing of skin on fabric, bringing his gaze back to Morgan's smirking face. "Enlighten me."

"The assistant d.a. prosecuting you for the murder of Adrian Clay was killed." Reid condensed the explanation, realizing that if he wanted to look natural he had to say something. He admittedly did a pretty good job at keeping his voice steady, considering Morgan's hand seemed having no intention to find rest any time soon.

A confused scowl crinkled the convict's face.

"Did you order that hit?" Derek asked. To be fair, both him and Spencer were almost 100% sure by then that the guy had no idea what they were talking about.

"I had nothing to do with it." Dawson asserted without hesitation, his voice deep and unfazed.

By that point, Spencer had relaxed into the other's touch, and he didn't know whether it was supposed to be a good sign or not. He didn't know whether the fact that he melted like jelly under Morgan's hands, even being usually uncomfortable with touching in general, was a good sign because it meant that he felt safe within their friendship and trustful of him; or it was a bad sign because it meant that his body was designed to be touched like that by his colleague and him only. He didn't know whether it was good that if he thought of anyone else - his former crush JJ, for instance - touching him in a way that wasn't finalized to be emotionally comforting, he would picture it as uneasy regardless, be it 30 seconds or 30 minutes long; whereas he was almost certain that that very same kind of touch applied upon his body by Morgan's hands would be in equal parts electrifying and soothing each time, all the time.

He wasn't supposed to try and understand any of it, though. Nobody was asking that of him - Derek wasn't asking and would never ask that of him. There was no need for Spencer to spend hours analyzing how that kind of approach would affect him. Because it was an unrealistic scenario that didn't belong in his future, anyway.

A growing wave of self-consciousness and realism woke Reid up from that thought. All of a sudden he realized he couldn't bear staying there any longer than a couple minutes at best. Hence, he speeded things up.

"You had nothing to do with it?" Spencer's calm voice echoed in the room that had been silent for a while. Dawson didn't repeat himself.

Derek was ready to throw in the towel - he was frustrated that the case wouldn't come to a solution as easy and logical as a white supremacist targeting the assistant d.a. prosecuting him, but on the other hand he couldn't say he hadn't enjoyed spending time touching Spencer without the commitment of having to admit he would've wanted to do it regardless of the interview.

With the corner of his eye he saw Spencer finally untangling his arms and stretching one of them toward him. He didn't have the time to take a mental guess on what he was planning to do, that he felt his feather-like fingers slightly brushing against his nape.

Derek's palm stopped moving on the other's thigh, immobilized, the moment Spencer's cotton-hand spread to cup the back of his neck; a lukewarm and soft sensation growing on the very surface of his skin as well as deep inside his chest - nothing short of a cheesy metaphor, if you will, of how Spencer's touch had the power of rocking up both his emotions AND his body.

When Spencer's thumb started tracing slow circles on the side of his neck, Derek found himself imperceptibly tilting his head back to sink into his touch; trying not to put pressure or, way worse, squeeze the other man's thigh, who might've taken it as a cue that Morgan was enjoying what he was doing. He most certainly was, by the way.

"And that would be, because you're not racist or homophobic anymore?" Spencer ultimately asked.

God, he was smarter than he gave himself credit for when it came to pushing all the bad guys' buttons. And they couldn't even get mad, with that face that he had. At least, Derek knew he could never - best case scenario, he would limit to sprinkling said face with kisse- ahem, what?

"I'm done talking to you." Dawson claimed, having pulled himself together enough to bring back almost entirely that confident attitude he had when Morgan first got in.

"Oh, we are too." Morgan said arching his brows. He stood up on his feet, regretting detaching from Reid's contact immediately after.

"Mr Dawson, I can't tell you how impressed i am with you!" he added dry-wittingly.

Derek leaned forward over the table and grabbed the man's hands in his own, cuffed to the cold, metallic surface. He kept his eyes no more than 7 inches from his, making sure he couldn't escape them.

"So I'd like to shake your hand, and congratulate you for making such a positive change in your life." he said, his voice low and thorough, resonating in The General's ears.

Dawson lost his cool and instinctively tried to snatch his hands away from Morgan's grip, soon realizing it wasn't his grip he couldn't escape, rather the one obliged by the chained handcuffs.

"I'd be really careful." Morgan advised, a stabbing glare in his eyes.

"Because somebody might think you still believe."

Clearly, Derek had long lost any interest in keeping the boyfriend-play going: he looked furious and quite nauseous - and it was his God-given right to feel as such. Nonetheless, that was nothing but the millionth proof that Spencer had no reason to fantasize about their relationship becoming something more, someday.

Morgan stormed out of the room. Reid followed a few seconds after, which he'd spent shooting Dawson one last glance - not nearly as threatening and blood-freezing as his colleague's, but still.

When they got on the other side of the glass, Reid felt all eyes on them - especially on him, for some reason. It was like someone slapped him back into reality.

"Sorry guys, I- I kinda snapped." Morgan finally spoke up, a hand on his hip and the other rubbing his face.

"Don't. It was very much understandable." Blake reassured him, waving a hand and shaking her head.

"Well, what can I say?" Rossi changed the topic. "Great job in there." he added with a hint of smirk, arching a brow and shifting his gaze from Spencer to Derek and viceversa several times.

"Pretty boy here did all the work." Derek's tone was lighter now, as he pointed at pretty boy.

Spencer bit the inside of his cheek, unable to even say a due "thank you" - it would've come off as pathetic in that moment, to say the least.

"It- it was kinda useless, though...he had no idea what we were talking about." he said instead, sighing disappointedly and crossing his arms on his chest.

"He didn't even explicitly confess anything about his past crimes that we brought up. We literally only managed to confirm that he's a racist, homophobic piece of shit." Derek scoffed.

"We didn't need to put up a show for that though, did we?" he concluded, as his previous frustration arose again; seconds before splitting his way through his standing teammates to get out of the room.

They followed him with their eyes, and once the door was closed - slammed, almost - behind him, they got back to looking at Reid, who was frowning deeply.

After a long silence, Rossi nodded his head toward the door, like he was giving him permission to go and talk to Morgan.

Reid sighed and followed Morgan's previous steps, trying to hide how his words and tone from earlier had someway offended him. Judging by his demeanor and his glances in the interrogation room, Spencer could've sworn Derek seemed to have almost enjoyed it - he didn't care that it was probably more of a mocking kind of enjoyment, rather than a genuine 'I enjoyed touching you'. It was still something. And, at the end of the day, Derek Morgan had rubbed a hand on his thigh 2 inches from his groin, for Christ's sake, how dare he keep complaining?

He was startled awake from his paranoia by Hotch's hand, placed on his shoulder the second Spencer had grabbed the door handle.

"I hope I didn't push you too much. I'm sorry if I did."

Spencer shook his head. "Not me. I don't know about Morgan, though."

"Hey" a soft voice awakened Morgan from his thoughts.

He stopped pacing up and down the hallway and raised his eyes from the floor. He truly wasn't expecting Reid to follow him.

"H- hey, kid."

"Everything alright?"

No. Nothing was alright. From how wrong and dirty Dawson's behavior made him feel, to how right he found himself unwillingly thinking the contact with Spencer's body was: NOTHING was alright.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." he answered anyway.

Spencer nodded, unconvinced. And this time it wasn't because of his capability to read his colleague and best friend like an open book, rather simply because Derek didn't know how to hide his discomfort anymore.

Reid made a few steps forward, supposedly to make the conversation more intimate - though nobody was really around, so that left the other a bit confused. Plus, boy was definitely too close now, if it was Derek's to say.

"Look, I- I'm sorry it had to be me, I tried to convince Hotch to do it at my place but- but he said that I was more suited to be-" Spencer almost hiccuped. "...for the role, because I'm younger and-"

"Hey, hey, it's alright, it's not you." Derek interrupted him, placing a hand on his shoulder, seeing that he was starting to get flustered and even guilty on some measure. He also noticed how he avoided the word 'boyfriend'. He wasn't sure what to think of that, though.

"It's him. How he looked at us- at ME. I just- I don't know, I just can't believe some people out there really think it's not normal to be gay or black or both, that's all." Derek paused. "as if one could help it, right?" he snorted.

Spencer raised his eyes from the floor. "Yeah. I get that." he murmured.

Derek chuckled a little as a thought popped into his head, taking his hand off of Spencer's shoulder and shoving it back in his pocket.

"Honestly I don't know if I could've done it with Hotch. He's my superior, it would've been...weird, lemme tell you."

Reid giggled and...blushed a little? At least that's what it seemed. Morgan didn't take it well, though: he thought he'd made him uncomfortable.

"I mean," he swallowed sheepishly. "I mean, I hope I didn't...mess you up. I know you're not comfortable with touching."

Mess him up. That was cute. Derek Morgan had "messed him up" the second he had introduced himself to Spencer on his first day at the BAU. The guy had never known Spencer as not messed up.

"W- what?? No, no absolutely not, it was part of the thing. We- you had to...touch me. Wouldn't have worked otherwise." Spencer replied, furrowing his brows and shaking his head vigorously.

Silence.

"I have to ask you this..." Morgan said, regaining his usual teasing attitude. Reid wasn't sure if he was supposed to be relieved, because it meant the man had relaxed a little; or if he should start worrying about what that attitude would imply. Probably the second.

"Ask what?" Spencer hoped his heart couldn't be heard as loudly from outside as it was inside his ears.

"Was it all...acting?" Derek paused, and Spencer faked a confused expression, because before answering he had to be sure he meant what he thought he meant.

"...cause it looked very natural, if you ask me." Yeah, he did mean what Spencer thought he meant.

Morgan looked around quickly and came even closer. He non-chalantly took Reid's tie in his hands and straightened it - earning a gasp from him - biting his bottom lip like he was really concentrated on the task - which he wasn't. He didn't give a shit if his tie was ok, he was clearly doing it to make Reid's blood pulse out of his veins.

"Was it? Natural?" he repeated, almost murmuring at that point.

Spencer didn't know what to answer: he had stopped the train of thought that would've eventually led to a proper answer to that question when he was in the interrogation room, and he had suddenly realized that Derek would never ask such a thing of him. And there he was: asking it to him.

"I guess, kinda...? I- I'm not sure-" he finally replied, his chin tilted down to follow with his eyes what the man's hands were carefully doing with his tie, taking advantage in the fact that Derek couldn't look at his face in order to do that.

He couldn't stop his mind from drifting to that imaginary place where Morgan's hands would most definitely not stick to adjusting his tie; that place where he was allowed to wonder that if the man was so good at adjusting ties, then what else could those nimble fingers do.

As if that weren't enough already, Derek ran his tongue in between his lips, before speaking up.

"Me neither."

Suddenly, he raised his eyes to look at something that was happening behind Reid's shoulder. He coughed and nodded in that direction, forcing himself to take his hands off Spencer.

Reid turned around and saw it: Hotch, Blake and Rossi were walking their way toward them; luckily chatting instead of looking at Morgan "adjusting his tie" or whatever.

"And did you mind? My hands, I mean." Derek whispered in his ear from behind him, making him wince at how those words flowed smoothly in a hot, steamy wave over his neck.

Spencer didn't turn around, nor look at him with the corner of his eye - which he could've easily done. He concentrated on staring forward at their teammates approaching closer, rather than on the inviting heat radiating from the man only a few inches behind him.

"...n- not- not really..." he muttered, not sure what kind of nerve pushed him to give Morgan even the slightest hint that he could've enjoyed it, instead of denying adamantly.

Another breathy, humid whisper tickled his ear.

"Me neither."

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