#fixed his pose a bit there!!! (lowered shoulders; sat him in the middle of the chair; most importantly now his hands look more natural) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cobaincreates · 3 years

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body count

warnings: language, jealous rafe ;) & uh smut 18+

count: 3k+

hiiiii!! not my gif! bye!!!!

songs (that you’re not prepared for :)) (also crank them at full volume otherwise you won’t get the full effect) — keep lying & metal man by donna missal

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body count never mattered to you. in fact, whoever created the notion that body counts were important or a need-to-know fact could shove it. you always felt that it was degrading and a useless piece of information. what did anyone gain from acquiring that knowledge? sure, it was smart to keep track for hygiene reasons, but not for social reasons, or for future relationships.

so when rafe posed the question, you couldn’t help but scrunch your face up in discomfort. he was curious and you understood that, especially at this stage. you had only been dating for a couple months and it had been great so far with a handful of late night dates and mid-afternoon rendezvous’ in between classes. you rarely became nervous around him anymore, but you couldn’t push away that uneasy feeling at the current topic.

“can i guess?” he asked, looking at you under his baseball cap.

tonight, rafe had taken you out for ice cream only a couple miles from campus. he had picked you up in his car, even clearing the front seat off that usually held a stack of papers ranging from returned tests to scribbled notes. he brought you to a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant and ordered a brownie sundae right off the bat. he knew what you liked.

“are you going to be rude about it?” you countered as you scooped up a generous amount of brownie and vanilla ice cream.

“are you implying that there’s a lot?” he eyed you, stopping mid-scoop.

you chewed what was in your mouth, the ice cream cold against your teeth. you hid your mouth behind your hand so you could answer him. “don’t be so shocked. i’ve had my fair share of hookups.”

rafe couldn’t help the broad smile as he ate. “but you’re so innocent-looking.”

“oh, please.” you groaned.

there was a pause as rafe continued to smile to himself. you took another bite, knowing that the conversation was far from over. if rafe wanted to know something, he would eventually get the answer.

he stared at you from across the table while you spent several moments looking around the diner. you weren’t trying to prolong the answer you were going to give him, in fact you knew you didn’t have to prolong it because it wasn’t a big deal. you supposed you were just stubborn since you didn’t like the topic anyway.

“what?” you asked rafe when you found his eyes still on you.

“how many hookups have you had?” he asked, some sort of amusement in his eyes.

“does it really matter?”

“is it more than one hand?”

“now i don’t want to tell you.” you laughed lightly as you leaned over the table, dipping your spoon back into the dish.

“i’m just curious.” he shrugged.

biting the inside of your lip, you looked at him under your lashes. you weren’t sure why you were giving in, but you set your spoon down and held your hands up. you showed him with your fingers how many people you had been with intimately, including relationships. rafe’s smile seemed to falter just a bit.

“not so innocent anymore, huh?”

you could see the tiny sliver of disappointment as he tried to pull the smile back on. without commenting, he picked up his spoon.

“who’s the best you ever had?”

you knew he was just being curious, or nosy, but you could also tell that he was asking because he was jealous. you saw it in the way his gaze changed, how he couldn’t fully look at you anymore. his shoulders seemed tense.

you already had an answer in your head, but you didn’t dare say it out loud. you knew for a fact that he wouldn’t like it. you took a sip of your drink as if you were thinking about it. looking around the restaurant again, you focused on the waiter at the register and the smell of fried food filling the room.

“just some guy.” you shrugged, your shirt falling off your shoulder. the cool air meeting your skin calmed the thoughts brewing in your mind so you didn’t bother fixing it.

“do i know him?”

you bit down on your straw and locked eyes with him. this could go two ways, you told yourself. either you could tell him the truth or you could lie and hope it would end the conversation. but you had gotten off to such a good start with him and there was no need to ruin it now. if he wasn’t staring at you as closely, you would’ve buried your head into your hands.

you weren’t even close to answering him when a body appeared beside your table. “hey guys!”

your stomach dropped. now you had to will yourself not to bury your face into your hands. both you and rafe looked away from one another to the soft-smiling face of his best friend, topper. what a coincidence. rafe looked back to you without your notice, hoping you wouldn’t forget about your conversation.

“hey, top.” you said in a deep breath, praying your voice didn’t shake. honestly, you couldn’t tell with the blood pumping in your ears. “you getting food?”

“yeah, just needed a break from studying for finley’s exam. you ready for that?” topper lowered his head, looking down at you.

rafe watched the two of you for a moment, letting go of his spoon and sitting back in his chair unbeknownst to you. you were too uncomfortable to look in his direction, which he surely took note of.

“maybe?” you shrugged a shoulder and leaned your cheek in your palm propped on the table. yes, you had most definitely been trying to separate yourself from rafe’s eyes. “i did some studying earlier, but i definitely need to do more. i can’t get past the moral error theory, i think i’ve re-read it about seven times.”

rafe’s eyebrows furrowed, wanting so badly to interject in the conversation with his own anecdotes. he let his jaw slack slightly, leaning back onto the table as he shifted in his seat.

“i don’t blame you. finley seems like a madman with a whole exam covering five completely different things.” topper said.

you laughed, mostly out of awkwardness. you glanced at rafe then and felt your laughter quickly dwindle. he had set his elbows on the table, his clasped hands propped against his mouth. you looked away when the dark eyes under his hat latched to yours. your stomach dropped and if you weren’t careful it felt like it was going to fall apart completely. topper continued your conversation for another minute, but you had no idea what he was saying. you didn’t register it as you could only think about rafe and question everything. did you say something wrong? were you too friendly with topper? did he know?

“i’ll see you guys later.” topper backed away to the cash register then, leaving the two of you alone. you averted your eyes to your spoon sitting in the dish in the middle of the table. you suddenly had the urge to eat the rest of it.

“there’s a little brownie left. you want it?” you pushed the small piece closer to rafe in the dish. your voice felt quiet, but you knew he heard you.

“no, i’m good.” he said and sat back, dropping his hands to his lap. you peered at him under your lashes again as you popped the brownie into your mouth. the sugar didn’t make you feel any more at ease as you chewed.

rafe dug out his wallet and placed his card on the edge of the table for whenever the waiter came over. you sipped the rest of your drink, not knowing what to say. you wanted to pick up where you left off in your conversation, but you weren’t sure how to go about it. so instead you bit the inside of your lip as rafe took his phone out and tapped his fingers along the screen.

“all done? can i get you two anything else?” the waiter asked as they took the dish and spoons off the table. both you and rafe looked up at them at the same time. you shook your head while rafe said no, he held his card out to them then dropped his gaze back down to his lap. you looked at the hat on his head, wanting so badly to reach over and take it off.

rafe was kind of his usual self as you left the restaurant. he held the door open for you and walked along your side to the car, but he was completely quiet and he didn’t touch you. he was all for physical touch, either an arm around your waist or his hand holding yours. you itched for it as you parted ways around the car and got in.

you stole glances at him as he drove. his hat seemed lower over his face as if he were hiding. was he relaxed or defeated as he rested against the seat? at the next green light, he went straight instead of turning left. you figured he just wanted you to come over to his apartment instead of ending the night earlier than usual. you also speculated that he wanted to continue the conversation before topper showed up. god, why did topper have to pick up food? why did he have to be hungry like any other human?

it was a longer silence as you followed rafe into the building, sniffing that familiar sanitary scent of the lobby. could he hear the buzzing in your head reverberating off the metal walls of the elevator? you tried to think of what you were going to say, of how you should explain in the best way. but then you thought that rafe didn’t need an explanation, you were free to sleep with whoever you wanted before him.

“do you want to watch a movie?” you tried adding a happy tone to your question, setting your bag down and shuffling your jacket off your arms. rafe turned to you from the front door, looking taller than he really was.

you watched him as he came over to you, towering over your shorter frame. his hands came up to your face, pulling you closer to him for a kiss. you melted completely in his hands, touching his sides to make sure you were still on solid earth. you had shared plenty of kisses, but you still felt that rush when his lips were on yours.

“topper?” he questioned, pulling away from you.

your bliss quickly broke, eyebrows furrowing and your dopamine levels dropping. you swallowed noticeably as your hands left his waist and his disappeared from your face. “what about him?” you nearly whispered and immediately regretted it. you didn’t like playing dumb and you could tell by the way rafe’s jaw clenched that he didn’t like it either. what had you gotten yourself into?

“take your clothes off.”

you blinked rapidly, your stomach leaping. did you hear him correctly? “what?” you closed your eyes for a moment, trying to comprehend where this was going and how his words were jumping all over the place.

“you heard me.”

you couldn’t take your jaw from the floor as you stared up at rafe in astonishment. you had never seen this stern side of him and it was making your head all jumbled in thoughts. your lungs felt short of breath now.

rafe stepped closer to bring his chest flush against yours. his head lowered, his eyes piercing intensively. you wanted so deeply to look away. his lips were right in front of you and they looked very tempting but you were trying desperately to understand what he was trying to do. he didn’t give you much thought as his lips came over yours again, this time much firmer and more incessant. you made a noise against him and rafe soaked it in, letting it disappear into his mouth as he opened your lips further. you moved your hands up to his face, trying to get your mind moving to the pace of his lips. it seemed impossible as he knelt down and grabbed ahold of your thighs to lift you up.

you felt rafe start to move, his legs carrying the both of you somewhere further in the room. you didn’t know where exactly until his hands disappeared from you and you dropped down onto the couch with a slight bounce. you gasped and looked up at rafe in front of you as he tore off his hat and jacket, sending them both flying somewhere behind him. next went his shirt before he bent down toward you, his tongue quick to enter your mouth.

you tried your best to match his pace, your eyebrows furrowing in concentration. it wasn’t until his hands went up your shirt that you pulled away from him with a deep breath.

“wait, wait, wait,” you said as rafe’s lips went to your neck momentarily. “slow down, rafe.”

this wasn’t how you expected or imagined your first time with rafe. he pulled away without a word and propped himself on the back of the couch, bent directly over you. you swallowed and reached up to touch his shoulders, the kitchen light sending a warm glow over them.

“talk to me.”

“i don’t want to talk.” he said as he fisted the back of the couch. you noticed his arms flexing above you.

“what are you trying to do?” you begged, searching for anything.

rafe let out a noise before he pressed a few kisses along the underside of your jaw, making you tilt your head up and close your eyes. you brushed your face against his as his breath hit your ear. “i’m going to show you the best you’ve ever had.”

you couldn’t help the moan from slipping out. it clearly egged rafe on as he kissed you again.

“take your clothes off.” he said once more as he pulled away. you wanted to kick him for leaving you again, especially with how quickly your anticipation was increasing. instead, you sat up, moving closer to the edge of the couch, and pulled your shirt over your head. rafe watched you as you both reached for your bottoms. the adrenaline started to kick in as you noticed the way he was looking at you and your movements.

you bit your lips together as rafe grabbed ahold of your pants and tugged them the rest of the way off. he glanced at your underwear next and you leaned against the back of the couch to push them off, lifting your hips. he leaned down for another searing kiss, your breaths mingling together. you breathed him in next, opening your mouth wider and moving your fingers into his hair. you gripped it softly as you felt his hand appear on your thigh, slowly traveling up and maneuvering over the new territory. the only thing you two had ever done was innocent petting over clothes, but you managed to shiver just as much at his touch.

rafe didn’t make a trail of kisses down your front or spend time caressing your skin like the many times you imagined he would. he didn’t go down on you or hold your legs tightly around his head as he tasted you, like you hoped he would. as he remembered why he was doing this in the first place, his kisses became impatient and sloppy.

“turn around.” he commanded when he pulled away just centimeters from your face. you were just about to pull his hips closer to yours, your own impatience pooling between your legs.

a wave of nerves ran through you and you swallowed as you did as he said. once you were turned around, your arms propped on the back of the couch and your eyes trailing over the bare wall a few feet away, your breath hitched. rafe’s lips pressed to the back of your thigh.

you let out a sudden yelp as rafe touched you for the first time. his hand pressed into you, his fingers gliding your wetness around. your belly clenched. your head seemed to sense his movements, leaning toward him as he came to your ear again.

“are you this wet for me?” he whispered huskily.

“yes.” you said and leaned your head against his, your eyes slipping closed. you focused on his fingers, the thickness of them, the assured way they moved.

“were you this wet for him?” he asked next as his fingers teased your entrance.

“no, rafe.” you mewled and moved your hips back in search of some friction.

“don’t lie to me.” he said. his head disappeared as he pressed a kiss to your shoulder blade, his teeth making an appearance for a subtle bite. your head lulled forward onto the cushion as your hips pushed against his hand.

your body pressed into the cushion as rafe’s fingers were replaced with him. you moaned lowly as he pushed into you, your eyes rolling in pleasure. you could feel yourself pulsing around him and his size and you wanted to stay just like this for a while.

rafe had no intentions of keeping still. he planted his hands at your hips, adjusted his knee beside yours, pulled back out and hit you harder this time, rocking you deep into the cushions. you barely had time to adjust to him, wincing slightly as he moved.

you lifted your head up just as he thrust forward. reaching a hand back to him, you gripped his wrist. “god, rafe, be nice.” you groaned as he thrust again.

“you fucked my best friend.” he accused through a clenched jaw and a harder thrust.

“twice.” you gasped, your head dropping back to the couch.

rafe groaned and managed to pull out nearly all the way and hit you even harder going back in. you moaned, feeling him pause for a second before doing it again. each time he pushed, you lost your breath, only having two seconds tops to get it back. you could feel his jealousy in his movements and his total frustration at learning that you’d slept with topper. it had been months before even knowing rafe. it was fun while it lasted and you now had that experience to thank since it brought you to where you are now— in rafe’s apartment, fucking him for the first time. you didn’t regret sleeping with topper at all.

now you pushed yourself up on your hands, arching your hips back to give rafe a new angle. you brushed your hair over your neck, turning to get a glimpse of him. he was relentlessly thrusting into you and showing no signs of stopping any time soon. you could feel yourself getting somewhat close to your release and you wanted nothing more than for rafe to bring it to you.

you let out a high-pitched moan, one you never heard before, as rafe took it upon himself to smack your backside. he eased the sting as he rubbed his palm over it.

“did he make you feel like this?” he panted, so clearly close to his end too.

“stop talking about him.” you chided.

rafe only laid down another smack, this time gripping your backside harshly afterwards. you fisted the cushions and squeezed your eyes shut as it brought your climax closer.

“don’t stop,” you begged. “please, don’t stop.”

you felt the sting as rafe removed his hand and brought it to your clit. your mouth dropped open, a slew of curses and moans pouring out as he drew circles in time with his thrusts. his touching you, moving inside of you, and the periodic smacking of your skin was enough to throw you overboard. you grabbed onto the couch, holding on tightly as you came over rafe and said his name in bliss.

his hips stuttered at the feel of you coming, your walls pulsing around him. he panted as he took it in then went right back to his fast pace, chasing his own high. your hand stretched back, searching for him, and wrapped around his wrist tightly. he gripped your hip then, your touch encouraging him. it was another moment before he was pulling out of you and coming onto your back.

he breathed in deeply through his nose, staring down at the mess on your skin, your sides moving as you breathed. he brushed his hair off of his forehead, now slick with sweat.

rafe wiped the mess clean with his shirt then pressed a kiss to your shoulder. he collapsed beside you and rested his tired muscles. you sat down and blinked around at the room, trying to remember little details about tonight and how you had gotten there in the first place.

rafe’s head rolled to look at you, his eyes now tired. “how was it?”

you grinned at the question and couldn’t help poking fun at him. “you’re so jealous.” you jabbed at his chest. a second later you pressed your hand onto his sticky skin. rafe didn’t deny your statement, instead continuing to stare at you in a daze. “there’s room for improvement,” you teased and pecked his shoulder before getting up. rafe didn’t miss the slight limp you had as you went behind the couch.

“where are you going?” he asked with a smirk.

“i have to pee.” you called to him.

“i’m not done with you yet,” he called back, making you laugh and close the bathroom door behind you.

#rafe cameron #outer banks #third times a charm #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron imagine #rafe cameron oneshot #rafe cameron smut #college!rafe cameron #rafe cameron x fem!reader

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blankdblank · 3 years

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Brother Dearest Pt 72

On the other end of the line in the middle of the night in London the receiver to the ringing phone was lifted and raised to the ear of the exhausted aid in charge of answering said phone to take messages to hand over to the King in the Palace that came in on his nightly shift. After the usual introduction statement he asked, “How might I be of service?”

Eddie on the line from his early rise from bed at the drop of the ferocity of the storm enabling the first chance to call out stated, “Hi, this is Eddie Pear. I wanted to call you guys for my Sister Bunny.”

The aid’s lips parted and he readied the pen on the table in his hand to hover over the pad he brought closer, “Yes, was there something the Baroness was requiring aid with?”

“Not aid no, we were told by King George to let him know about the babies, well after two days of labor Bunny gave birth to three girls just before midnight. All healthy and seven and a half pounds. The Doc said to keep her in bed for a couple weeks to recover or she would have called herself.”

As he wrote the details he asked, “Is the Baroness recovering from a particularly debilitating injury from the birth?”

“No, just some bruising mostly and she didn’t get much sleep at all. We know the King is a busy man and it’s early over there but we just wanted to start letting people know now that the phone’s working again from the storm as it’s losing power.”

“Thank you, Mr Pear, The King will be informed when he awakens. And please know that even until the King knows that from all of our staff her in the Palace the Baron, Baroness and their daughters in our thoughts and prayers.”

“Thank you, same to you all.” Goodbyes were traded and Eddie hung up to smile and make the call back home to Brooklyn. Sharing the news that by nightfall would explode through the town. And even farther with his next call into the Bugle to give them the scoop for the morning paper to follow with a picture promised when his sister would be up and in the mood to pose for one.

You didn’t know pain like this, even from after that explosion you endured back in the war. Not just any pain but a lingering rigidity deep down to your very bones that in James’ ease out of bed to tend to the fire and fetch some food to answer the growl from your belly that had woken him while you wavered between sleep and the conscious world. Warmly his lips had pressed to your forehead and before he could leave the bed Victor had eased across the room and on the bed behind you and he asked in a low concerned rumble, “Would you be up for a backrub?” Unable to roll or move your head gave a slight nod and he smirked in a reach for the covers he eased back to gently lay his hand on top of your back. “I’ll start on your back, let me know if I press too hard.”

Nice and smooth his hand began to move to try and ease the evident stiffness in your body. At ease in the lack of the iron leeching as your other bruises during the pregnancy lacked that effect on them. “You are phenomenal, Pipsqueak.”

“I didn’t do much,” you whispered back.

“Those babies beg to differ. Two days, just pain,” at that he leaned over your side at the scrunch of your face and burrow of your face into the pillow with a teary sniffle. “Pipsqueak,” he said in the plant of his second hand on your back. “You did so very much more than you give yourself credit. All we did was hold your girls you created when they gave the sign they were ready.”

“I didn’t even push,” you squeaked out in a try to wipe your cheek on your pillow to calm yourself. “And it was over, and I passed out.”

“I would have passed out too. All of us would have. Three babies after all that pain so sudden. I’ve had teeth yanked and I wanted to pass out after, the girls were safe inside you for so long and then suddenly they’re out and crying.”

“They cried?” you asked in a concerning squeak and he leaned over your side at the turn of your head to glance back at him to nod with a proud smile.

“They did. Nice and loud. Right away no pinch or anything.”

“It was like I was in a tunnel. How it always is, before I drop. Just, felt pressure, then the tunnel and bloody towels and I was out.” You paused and said, “I hoped I wouldn’t pass out.”

“Eddie mentioned that. James should have a breakfast ready for you here in a bit and Herc should be in to check on you not long after. Girls are still asleep. Nice and steady didn’t make a peep for us to sleep last night.”

“We’ll need to take a picture soon.”

“No pictures until you feel up to it. And you’ll have to fight me on that.”

“I should-,”

“Stay exactly where you are. Your body is bruised and you need your rest. We will bring the girls in later to try and feed them again, just a bit of milk and they were right off to bed.”

“Kitty,”

“If I beat someone into the ground for two days they would need time to rest. You carried them for 48 weeks, fed and protected them, let us carry and change them for two. We did the same for Dawn and for Norma, now don’t you force me to have you tied down.”

A gentle claim of your hand came with firm presses and squeezes across the stiff hand and arm attached up to the shoulder his hands circled to give a mild squeeze and rotate your shoulder. And in a guided slow lean onto your back as your legs still locked in bent position rested against his side.

Over the top of your foot he pressed and all over his fingers and palms worked to try and ease strain in the bruised sole of your foot. The ankle came next with rotations when it was loose. Lower leg, then the knee were followed by a steady work up your thigh he warned of inch higher to your hip. “Just going to press my palm and not squeeze,” he hummed to the feel of a wish to pull your leg back if you could from the pain the kneed of his fingers that triggered searing pain up and down your legs and into your hips to ricochet through your back.

“Better?” he asked and you nodded urging him up a bit more in timid slides the closer he got to what he imagined to be the most painful spots near to your hips and groin. On the side of your hip his hand settled and to hushed guidance while you grimaced and bit back whimpers through the difficult stretch and rotations. “Very good.”

“I can’t even straighten my leg,” you panted out in a cracked voice trying not to cry at how little control you had over your body. The next leg came next when he saw that it was as good as he was due to get out of your stiff joints.

“You are doing magnificent. Have you back to limber again in no time. Maybe a bath later will help.”

And by the time he managed to stretch your second leg James came into the room with the wheeled cart coated in a hefty spread of food that even in his lingering exhaustion he took as a sort of celebration that in some small way you showed hints of being mobile to some extent after such a battle. “Tons of food to get you back to peachy.”

“Up you get, Pipsqueak,” Victor hummed in a hug around your torso gliding you a few inches up against the pillows.

James smiled as he finished settling the ridiculous amount of food on pop up trays around you and hummed, “Our girls are still sleeping soundly under your parents’ watch.”

“Herc said they’re healthy?”

“Oh yes, he’s going to head to Alberta to turn in the birth documents. Ran into Eddie on his own check he shared he called the Palace for us. Should be on the radio when the King releases the news. Hours after Brooklyn will know of course, he called the Bugle.”

“They’re going to want a picture.”

Victor tapped you on the nose, “No pictures.”

James said, “Pictures can wait.”

Like they said Herc did come in when you had finished off the entire spread that surprisingly did little to relieve the exhaustion and near empty feeling that only heightened your nerves on the recovery to come. Worries of what you could do to help with mothering your girls he caught onto and in his full body check gave a good prognosis for this first morning post birth. And he gave you the once over of the latest scans and blood panel he had taken and at your anxious glance at your chest to an odd feeling he said, “We could try the breast pump for you now if you wanted to? I’m not fairly certain what it feels to be ready to feed however your circulation has increased to your mammary glands.”

“Is that what that feeling is?” you murmured. And from a second bag he brought out a small pump he showed you how to turn it on and ease the cups into place. The brothers paid special attention in the process of bottles he attached to the tubes that with a flick of a switch showed the path of the milk that filled four bottles that he helped Victor to add nipples to. As if on cue your parents arrived with the freshly stirred trio who were fed by your parents and James to the final check of a brain scan to check hormones and synapses for the status on their recovery. The rest of the adults of your family had joined the chance to catch you conscious after being warned sleep would take up a large chunk of your days to come. Before you could help it however your eyes drooped to Edie’s try to fix your braid and she sat humming to you for her turn to sit with you for a break until you fell asleep again for another nap.

Two days you seemed to slip in and out of sleep to find yourself in another man’s arms from your family to issue words of comfort while each pass off of the girls who had been fed by bottles you filled and random bouts when you would try breast feeding again naturally for smaller snacks in between larger milking collections. Every time you handed them over the lack of ability to get up or sit up on your own brought on tears again in the small breaks when you were alone to mull over the failure at mothering you were growing to be.

Another shared statement that the girls were adjusting to a clear schedule had you waking to dried tears across your nose and cheeks that your husband was using a damp cloth to wipe away. “Brought you some visitors.” When he eased back to set the cloth down a grin eased across your lips and he helped you scoot to the trio of babies like upside down turtles who had their arms and legs tucked up showing the gloves and socks that matched their dresses in their assigned shades.

“Hey,” your voice was followed by three coos and on the pile of pillows James stacked for you from his arms in a loving scoop for the move your side rested. And you got a good view of the trio who reached up to grab at your face. “You know me, don’t you?” Again they cooed and let out happy squeaks between your gentle pecks on their cheeks, noses and covered hands. “Breaking out the mittens early?”

“They have silver nails,” that turned your head to catch his gaze, “Just for a week according to Herc. Vic was impressed Belinda gave him a slice on the nose when he woke her. They have been taking to the mittens though.”

You nodded and leaned in to press your nose to Nova’s foot, “I know this foot, you’re the one who liked to kick my bladder.” Making James smile and Eddie in his creep into the room lift the camera he’d brought to snap a picture of this moment.

“And you, you like to push on my ribs,” you said to Belinda.

Eddie chuckled and said, “Nice to see you aren’t holding grudges.”

You smirked and asked, “Why would I? They didn’t do it maliciously, and they know they’re grounded for years already.”

“Vic refilled the film and is printing the one before this.” Eddie said as he sat down on the bed.

“Won’t you need it for, Teddy’s birthday party?” and you sighed realizing it as you said it, “I’m gonna miss his party.”

Eddie chuckled and said, “No you won’t. Sarah’s gonna stay in here with you and the babies and then Teddy is going to bring you your slice and get his birthday hug.” Eddie leaned in to kiss your forehead and said, “He knows you are tired. Even stole a peek at the girls yesterday and he knows when the drizzle clears you’ll be able to go out and play when you feel better.” You nodded and he said, “You aren’t missing his party, he just gets a special moment with you all on his own. All the more special for him. And when you aren’t so tired you can have coloring sessions in bed and maybe a story time or two between naps.”

James, “Herc says you are healing well, and you are taking as much time as you need.” The wriggling girls demanded your attention again as Norma and Dawn came in for their own visits. Erik and Edie were next with Victor to follow while the photos hung to dry in the dark room.

Everyone being there had you grin and hand over the camera to Herc at his offer to see you seated back up against the pillows to hold two of your girls, halfway against James’ chest while he held the other. One photo with just you was taken with care to hide the obviously vanished belly under the girls and thick covers. Followed by another with everyone settled on the bed around you including Marigold, Leanora and Teddy who were nestled around you both with smiles all their own in this moment captured before the planned party for Teddy would take all but your mother away.

Again the girls were laid beside you to let you lounge on your side as the four of you let out an adorable ripple of yawns proving to the others that even outside of your belly the link still held strong as Herc warned to allow mothers to get ample rest after birth as well as newborns. “Now you get some more rest, and I will wake you when Teddy comes back with some cake for you.” Sarah said lifting the covers she nestled around your settling body to the close of your eyes. Smiling widely to savor these moments with her daughter and granddaughters even while they slept.

Soon to be joined by your father until the pre-scheduled time for cake, when the little boy would accept help up and smile as his dad handed you and him slices of cake that he would eat and giggle through sharing on his new family present and art supplies.

“You can play soon?” he asked with an almost pout, “Mommy said you’re sleepy.”

That had you grin at him and say, “I will try my hardest to get out of bed to play as soon as I can. I’m just a bit sore still. Herc said to stay in bed for a couple weeks.”

“Herc is a Doctor,” he said and you nodded making your mother smile at the both of you along with Eddie who had been stealing more pictures of you all together by means of Venom being stretched out as far as he could reach.

“Yes he is.”

“Then you stay, till he says so.” He said with an authoritative furrow of his brows.

“I will. The sooner I get better the sooner I can play with you again. And now the girls are out of my belly I can run again, and swim, and so many other things,” you said with a smile widening his into a small fit of excited giggles on more playtimes to come. Warm and quick he leaned in for a hug and peck on your cheek before he hurried to be let down to find his uncle Victor who promised to build castles with him. “Have fun,” you said to Eddie in his chuckling path to join the others while leaving your camera behind.

Back down you laid on your back in a scoot lower and turned your head to look at the girls still asleep who flexed their feet to your gentle finger taps to the soles of them.

Again you nursed the little you could get the girls to suckle naturally and she left to dispose of the used diapers you helped her to change. “Enjoy your cake, Darling?” James asked in his trip across the floor to the bed smiling wider with every step closer to you and the girls.

“Hey handsome, I did. You enjoy yours?”

He nodded and said, “Got the call from the lawyer and he’s driving out next week to update our wills.”

“It is a bit ridiculous.” You teased.

And he responded in a playful chuckle, “But necessary. In case we need to fake our death or something.”

You sighed and in his place seated in front of you he smirked at the guiding tug on his shirt to turn and lay back. When your hands eased around your oldest girl to scoop her up he grinned and undid his shirt and shrugged out of his suspenders to avoid laying her on buttons that could hurt her. From her back to her belly she was rolled over and laid carefully on top of his chest where her curled hands in the mittens tucked under her chin. “Aww, all those wrinkles. So serious in her sleep.” Making your mother in her return giggle with you as he rested his hand on her bottom to keep her from rolling in his breaths.

With hold of the camera you floated over you angled yourself to take the picture that soon had you trading out that girl for the second and then third who were then eased back to their prior napping spots with sweet kisses from both of their parents. “Even picking them up I feel tired, and I just took a nap.”

James hummed, “You need more than cake,”

“Exactly,” your father said in his entrance to your room with another cart of food. Let’s get you up and eating, and I have some bottles for our girls and you can try to pump some more milk after.”

“I take it this is part of the schedule now?” you asked with a hint of a smirk.

“You will get used to it.” He replied.

“Let’s just hope that I get accustomed to it and on my feet by the time the tutors arrive.”

“Oh you will,” James hummed, “You have all of us here for you. Called into town too, no sign of any package for you yet for your class work.”

Firm and steady up your thigh Victor’s palm worked in timed presses and he hummed through your try at a quiet sniffle, “Feels softer than yesterday. Up another inch, just let me know when you want me to stop.” He kept saying this in these daily massages as he worked down from your ribs or up closer to your groin. Always making certain that even at your weakest point he was toeing the line of respectful contact while ensuring that while he did all he could to work out this stiffness from your bruised body you were in control. A simple grip of your leg was next and with it came the worst part for you, stretches and rotations of the stiff hip joints and thighs he had just worked out. Followed again in a grip on both hips to work up and over the silver toned belly next.

“People aren’t going to believe I had triplets looking all muscular like this. I haven’t been this small since the war.”

“We’ll plump you up again, and at the worst we could say we got you back on the military regimen to get back to shape. With how we look it wouldn’t be unbelievable. ‘You could bounce a coin of that brother of yours’, direct quote we’ve heard back in Brooklyn.” That had you let out a weak chuckle. “Plus, six babies around the place hard not to stay in shape.”

“I’ve never felt like this before. Even when I was little, almost empty.”

“You’ll come back to yourself. You have a peachy patch around your belly button now. A good sign.”

“Is it the one spot that is a good sign or the fact it’s my belly button?” You asked in a tone trying to sound playful as you bit back a wince in a painful rotation of your hip.

That had him chuckle and from the doorway Herc gave a gentle knock on the door and crossed to the bed to do his daily check up on you and said with a smile, “The belly button is always a good sign. Your blood levels are evening out. The milking schedule and hearty meals are doing you good. As are these daily routines. On my way to scan the girls again, all healthy as horses and adjusting well. They are due for a feeding which produces the best results, get a full view of the digestive system in action.”

“That’s good.” You said and watched while he explained the rest of the results to the exam to you then made his way out to check on the girls as promised.

Again you wiped your cheek on your shoulder and Victor sighed and stretched out beside you to ease you into his arms with a kiss on your brow. “As much time as you need. Every parent has their times they feel they could do more when they physically couldn’t. You need time to recover. We are all so proud of you. Out of all the years ahead of the girls two weeks isn’t very long at all.”

“But it’s the first two weeks.” You murmured back and he brought you closer to his chest.

“They sleep mostly when we have them. You get to watch them wriggle around, open and show off those silvery lilac eyes of theirs. And since you wanted the picture done I printed spare pictures of you, Jimmy and the girls for the papers. It’s already been on the radio and we’ve gotten calls from just about everyone. Even Peggy, quite a quick call she was on the way to some sleuthing gig she wasn’t invited to.” And playfully he added, “Did mention something about a picture with Daniel after.” You let out another weak giggle and he said, “Even in letters your work has been skillful.”

“I didn’t do much of anything. He was halfway gone when she walked in our home after Venom snatched him. I bet the birds were lovely today.”

Again he chuckled, “Still raining. Not very many birds. They’ll come back in swarms when the rains stop, luring all the worms up.”

“So you just rest up and when you get back on your feet we’ll have a huge lusciously green bird filled garden for you to chase Teddy around in.”

Asleep again once your daily five hours of collected conscious time had been met his eyes shut as he nestled you more into his chest. Norma had been prepping more and memorizing her new script from Howard and so when it was time for his Petal’s naps he would come and rest with her here. Always he worried about his beloved baby sister who seemed so impossibly unmatched now brought to a point where it took the whole family to even get you to eat or move or even to be bathed and changed with only promises of a Doctor from another planet who gave them hope you were in fact improving. Even Venom had taken to his own turn to pace through the night as your parents did in silence to not disturb you or James.

James in his entrance said to the clear sound of your slumbering breaths, “When Herc said the first birth would be a hard one I have to admit I didn’t expect this.”

Victor said to another stroke of his crossed arms over your back, “No, but our Pipsqueak is pulling through. Looking forward to the birds when the rains stop.”

James walked around the bed to sit in his view and be able to stroke your legs, “I keep wanting to cry when I see the girls. They’re so big, I just don’t understand how it could take two days. I have never seen a labor that long or hard.”

Victor said, “Our girl’ll bounce back. Be bounding about in no time.” Lowly he added more in a sort of plea, “She has to.”

They couldn’t do this alone, not if you were gone, even if you could come back like your parents in some span of years. They couldn’t wait, not a single minute, even with Dawn and Norma here they couldn’t wait and raise your girls without you. Not after you had lost everyone and everything you had planned for yourself, even your name. You just wanted to be free from being a weapon, free from being seen by the world knowing just how they would use you.

But now the King knew and had made plans of his own, something Truman now had followed suit by naming you as still active duty. They could die, and die, and die and always come back but no one could protect your babies like you could and if they lost you there was no oath in the world strong enough to keep them able of fighting off the world who would want the powers your babies might inherit. It is so different now from their first families they chose, the world wasn’t so ignorant as it was then. Even a new identity would be hard if needed, the world knew their faces and names. Just one more chance to fight in a war they believed in and now there was no escape. Not for any of you.

Elliot settled beside you after another bout of pumping and a nap interrupted bout of coloring with Teddy smiled as you managed to prop yourself up against your pile of pillows smiled as he unwrapped the box that arrived this morning, “You have received your first lessons.” His smile spread as he across the pop up table top he settled over your lap the Twins brought in got to taking turns as your Professor in each lesson and watched you fill out the assignment sheets and write the small required essays to finish out the full box as best you could each day for the rest of the week.

Screams, wails, shrieks in the near blinding void a sea of glowing half physical half something else beings who were seen in temporal pulses of misty primary colored orbs similar to pinecones, seeds and acorns who then flinched to other forms of aquatic beings in silver or white mists depending on their moods. Now in the grey nesting doll shaped forms to show their fear they cowered away from the dark figures of the First Mortals who had come after them. Cries for help appeared to go unanswered as the glowing plant life in the endless chasm of a void they dwelled in began to tuck inwards to protect themselves as the intruders neared their keep.

And all at once as the whites of the first invader’s eyes fell upon the cowering creatures of Time a galaxy colored mist exploded from nowhere between the two. Inside of which were spotted a pair of silver eyes of a creature who gave a clear warning enforced by a funnel of energy that shot up from around it then in a mushroom cloud cast the invaders out back to their original lands that collapsed to ruin as punishment. The cloud dispersed and behind their savior Time crept closer reverting to their peaceful colorful forms and to the turn of her head they named her in the fade of her essence away to where else she was needed.

“Mother.” The name echoed from countless mouths over the ages and in a sudden snap of your eyes open from the odd memory of a dream and in bed you found yourself alone. Well not entirely alone. Above James’ empty pillow hovered a peacefully floating bright yellow acorn that had you sit up before you could realize it and in an echo of a giggle was gone. Up a bit more you sat and turned your head to find dozens more seed or fish shaped glowing creatures who vanished in the same glad responses to your eye contact with hundreds more who flickered in and out to do the same.

Down from the far wall when their parade of gleeful congratulations your eyes sank to your hands coated in a silvery blue glittering mist that in a brush of the covers lower you watched it sink into your skin now free from silver patches or the weight that had been holding you in your bed. And with a spreading grin on top of your mattress you stood to walk across it on the way to your closet to get dressed.

‘And as we have reported the Palace has released an official portrait of the three newborns and their parents the Baron and Baroness Howlett. The photograph has been distributed to be published in print, along with which we can now with clearance share the names of the stunning triplets, The Honorable Aurora Nyx Pear Howlett, The Honorable Belinda Rhea Pear Howlett, and The Honorable Nova Carina Pear Howlett. All said to be the mirror image of their mother Baroness Bunny, with silvery lilac eyes and their grandmother Sarah’s blonde hair. No doubt well deserving to be named after celestial bodies to grow into great beauties with unseen strength like their parents.

Very much unlike other triplets with watch of a specialist to see to her health after a daunting two days of labor following an unheard of full nine month term inside the womb. Through what our Brothers and Sisters upon Canadian soil have dubbed the electromagnetic storm of the decade. Coincidentally we have learned was much like the one the Baroness was born in that brought havoc to New York for the few weeks surrounding her birth, the girls who were born at a stunning seven and a half pounds are all confirmed to be in good health as is their rightfully resting mother. And after such an ordeal even with word from King George himself of updates given by family members I know I am not alone in saying until Baroness Bunny does appear publicly again fully recovered she will be in our thoughts and prayers.’

The radio message played again as it had hours prior as news had been sent of public filing of the birth records of the babies had been alerted to the press. Brooklyn to their own copy shared the image elatedly while only a few papers stuck it out choosing to not jump to granting congratulations just yet even with Truman and the King sending off the news. Fully sharing the odd repeated phenomenon of these storms and what the reason behind them could have been and what poor luck it proved you held with it happening not once to you but twice. And ignoring the shift of the station’s focus to talks of possible first play dates when the Princess was next to give birth and after what her friend had pulled through she was sure to have an easy birth herself to give the King his first grandchild James gathered the breakfast he made to bring in to you.

“Jaqi?” The bed when he came in the room was empty and his head turned to the open bathroom door as he pushed the cart in more.

“Hey handsome,” he heard from the doorway of the closet and turned his head to spot you in the doorway dressed in white high waisted shorts and a flowing sleeveless floral blouse that had his grin widen to the sight of you dropping your ponytail down your back. “I had another weird dream,” you said crossing the room to your husband who elatedly wrapped you in his arms, holding you in your toe top stance for the kiss you lured him into. “I can hug you again now,” you said against his lips making him chuckle and lean in to claim another kiss as your arms eased up around the back of his neck.

“Let’s feed you,” he said in a lift of you in his arms that made you giggle in his walk to carry you to the sitting area where he settled you and arranged the food on the table between you.

Hugs from your parents came in the following trip to the nursery where they made certain to let you know things were being kept in the places where you had first put them. And everyone else in the group breakfast lit up seeing you on your feet, especially Teddy. Who when you stepped around the baby carriage holding your napping freshly fed girls raced over to be lifted in your arms for a tight hug you used to carry him to his seat that he giggled to at your kisses you peppered across his cheeks. Eddie was right there when you set Teddy in his chair to wrap you up in a tight hug. Starting the ripple around the table that you sat down at in your usual seats beside James, who kept easing the carriage back and forth between glances their way and strokes of his thumb across the hand of yours he kept hold of. With a smile he held to the spare piece of toast you snacked on that Victor buttered and offered to you.

“Go play,” your dad said. And with a spreading smile as he took hold of the baby carriage after you’d put away the fresh milk you’d just pumped.

And like a bunch of kids while Eddie and Dawn were off with Marigold James, you, Victor and Erik were off to explore the garden and surrounding land with Teddy in tow for an exciting chance to play with his aunt. Hours until Teddy had to go to take a nap you played then came in to help change and feed the girls again with a snack for you to follow before you were off again for an eager race through the woods.

Lunch came next with a pump of two bottles when you stopped to feed Nova naturally at her own impatience while James and your mother fed the other two to the sound of your father reading the first of a slew of letters that had arrived by official postage. All from several world leaders including another letter from the current Pope to add to your collection. Congratulations for the long awaited blessings you had safely delivered all somehow someday hoped to meet.

Pt 73

All –

@sherala007, @mariannetora, @jesgisborne, @knitastically, @catthefearless, @theincaprincess, ggbbhehe4455, @lilith15000, @alishlieb,

Not nsfw(smut) - @otakumultimuse-hiddlewhore

X Marvel-Cast - @himoverflowers, @theincaprincess, @changlingkhat

Brother Dearest - @thorinanddwalinsdwarrowdam, @swoopswishsward

#James Howlett x OC #Victor Creed x Norma Jeane #Eddie Brock x OC #Teddy Brock #Erik and Edie Lehnsherr #Post Partum #Visit From Time

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whispersafterdusk · 3 years

Text

Lost in Time - ch 20

"Better have a good reason for dragging me out here, fellow."

The nights on this side of the river were unbearably hot, and the wind blew sand into every nook and cranny of person and building alike; Windsor could have sworn he learned in grade school that deserts were chilly at night but Eufala seemed to be different in that regard -- maybe it was the proximity to both the river and ocean, since the humidity alone was enough to make you want to die during the day.

That heat and humidity had already soured his mood by the time he'd returned to his motel room, and finding the little note jammed under his pillow hadn't done much to alleviate it; now here he was out in the middle of the desert, filling his boots with sweat, staring down the muscle-head that had left the note.

Franklin was an intimidating figure whose image was slightly undercut by the moonlight glistening on the healthy amount of sweat on top of his bald head; it was taking every ounce of self control Windsor had to not comment or laugh about it, or stare as a single bead finally ran down off the man's dome and traced a line to the lobe of his ear, then disappeared down his neck to soak into the collar of his shirt. ((Continued below cut))

"You're not one of them, are you? Duvos soldier, I mean."

Windsor met the man's gaze and shook his head. "Nope - just a humble bounty hunter and mercenary for hire. What's it to you?"

Franklin folded his massive arms with a grunt and a nod. "Figured as much. Listen. Xan's on the hook for some murders. He was given - "given" command of this last job," he repeated, flapping his fingers as he said it, "-and then, poof, dead commander. Xan's rise through the ranks has always been on the backs of the dead -- loads of blood in his wake but never anything that tied him directly to anything, but this one they can't let slide on a maybe."

The man went silent then and Windsor could tell by the look on his face that he was expecting a reaction; he kept his expression blank and let the silence drag on until the meat head was clearly getting frustrated. "Right. And?"

"...and so I'm here to screw things up for him. If he's discredited on something this important then no one is going to care if he disappears. The higher ups are willing to sacrifice another chance at an AI just to get him gone."

Windsor rolled his eyes. "I see where this is going and no thank you. This is your bed - shit in it all you like but I'm not joining you."

Franklin's eyes narrowed. "If Xan takes a fall so do you since you're a part of this damn group."

"I'm not an empire native and also don't give a flying rat's ass about the man or his politics -- if anyone wants to make a stink about it I've got the papers to prove I'm just a hired hand, and if they STILL don't like that I've got ways to get out of their hands. If you want to convince one of the others that they need to save their backsides then by all means do so; I won't stand in your way or narc you out. But leave me out of this."

Franklin growled. "You saw 'em -- they aren't going to break ranks."

Windsor shrugged. "Yeah, and? What would've you done if they HAD?"

"Kidnapped the woman, dragged her back to Duvos - I've got my orders to screw this up but nothing says I can't benefit in the process. So long as the job isn't done as ordered and Xan's embarrassed. He stakes his reputation on his plans always going AS planned down to the letter, so-"

"Oh please, THAT'S your back up plan? Original plan or not that would only make Xan look good! You're as dumb as you look, as dumb as I suspected, and my answer is STILL 'no goddamn thank you.' Mind your business and I'll mind mine."

The other simply narrowed his eyes and glared; Windsor gave it another few breaths then turned to leave. He kept his ears trained for any approaching steps (as he half-expected the man to attack him with his back turned) but he made it back to the motel without issue, and after emptying the sand and sweat out of his boots he unclipped his dagger harness and rolled into bed.

Whatever trouble there was in paradise wasn't any of his concern; he'd been hired to help steal an AI and that was that.

Pity about Xan though...man really did have a reputation for getting things done. Whatever methods he used aside Duvos would surely take a hit in the espionage and acquisitions department if they took Xan out of the chain of command. Was rather interesting to hear that they were actually willing to do something about him...Duvos had some cutthroat politics and supposedly a lot of things were overlooked or praised as being ambitious but whoever that commander had been that he offed must have had parents REALLY far up the chain who had the pull to go after him.

At least Franklin's half-assed recruiting attempt had given him a fair head's up that once they'd paid for his services then Windsor should get the hell out of town and lay low. Maybe he'd leave the meat head enough for a single drink as a parting gift -- assuming the man's own tactics didn't leave him dead at the end of all this.

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

"It's not important right now."

Remington mentally sighed; they'd been trying to get the date of Eli's birthday out of her for five days now and she'd stubbornly insisted each time that they had more pressing matters to attend to. And yes, while technically she was correct, he didn't see any harm in them knowing when to wish her a simple "happy birthday" with the rest of it coming later. It wasn't exactly an argument but whatever you wanted to call it was interrupted by a familiar wobble from his bad knee; he immediately froze -- an impressive feat considering he was partly bent over in a stretching pose, and by shifting his good leg he was able to avoid toppling over onto his head (this time).

Eli grabbed him by the shoulders and helped him straighten up, and when he turned around she was frowning down at his legs. "Stubborn injury, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Been like that for awhile now. I've learned to live with it."

"If we just knew what was wrong I bet Stewart could fix it."

"Really? Even without all the fancy technology?"

She nodded. "Really. I've been trying to get up to speed with Xu about what survived the years and what's been developed since everything fell apart. Kind of makes me wonder if we really NEEDED all that tech back then. Made things easier but at its most basic a lot of surgeries are done in essentially the same way regardless of whether it was a man or machine holding the blade... We had an old saying about reinventing the wheel and while innovation was always pushing for new heights there were a lot of things you could say we had down to an art and couldn't really change. Can't remember the last time I'd read about a new medical advancement...and I was married to a researcher."

With Eli helping he lowered himself into the grass and rubbed gingerly at his knee; every couple of days, on top of any strength training they found the time for, Eli had him working with stretches and light exercises specifically meant to try and help that joint. So far he'd not noticed any changes aside from being constantly sore but at this point he was willing to try just about anything as he didn't relish the idea of living the rest of his life with a leg that was always threatening to suddenly buckle if he moved wrong.

"Still, a lot of things made life easier. Bare minimum," she went on, "I'd love to have at least one functional imaging machine. See everything inside without having to open you up."

"How'd those work?"

"Couldn't begin to tell you, beyond trying to explain how X-rays, radioactive tracers, and magnetic imaging works which, aside from basic facts about them, is well out of my scope of knowledge. Now, if I had Darren, or Peter or Ashley here, any of them could talk themselves blue in the face explaining how any given medical instrument worked. Stewart could explain it too if you're interested."

Peter and Ashley...if memory served those were two of the squad mates they had buried in the graveyard (they'd been keeping a close eye on those graves still) and he certainly knew who Darren was. "I won't bother Stewart with that - he'll have his hands full when the next round of scholars shows up."

With a groan she let her head drop back, staring up into the sky. "Don't remind me. The first group was nosy enough."

"These ones are coming from Vega 5 and ought to be more interested in the technical side of things rather than...well."

She flashed him a smile. "Rather than wanting to study me and how folks in the Old World lived?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. I didn't think they were bothering you too much...were they?"

"Not...really? It kind of depends on how you want to quantify it - they didn't ask to meet with me a lot, but when they did they had notebooks full of questions that Stewart's social and technical programming couldn't answer and it'd take me an entire day to get through them."

He frowned. "You could have said something if they were imposing on you too much."

"I could have. But I didn't see a point in it," she sighed. "It was something that needed to be done."

He sat up and looked at her; compared to Arlo or the Flying Pigs he didn't really get a lot of one-on-one time with her outside of these recent stretching sessions but still even he could tell something was a bit...off with her tone. Like she was tired, or sad (and he didn't really need to consider why). "You've got all the time in the world to answer questions."

"Maybe. It just seemed easier to get them out of my hair and get back to-"

"-work?" Remington jutted in. "Doesn't seem like you focus on much else. Is everything all right?"

She blew out a breath that trailed into a buzzing raspberry. "Not you too."

"Me too?"

"You, and Arlo, Asher and Xu - asking if I'm all right or need anything all the time or if someone is bugging me."

"...well, friends do that, don't they?"

"They do, but not every problem or bad mood can be solved by having a friend around."

He bent his good leg so he could rest his arms on his knee, and his chin on his arms, as he gazed up at her thoughtfully. "We just -- it's not meaning to suggest anything beyond just wanting you to know the door's open, you know? I can ask everyone to tone it down but we're just - we care. That's all."

She closed her eyes and, after a moment, slumped her shoulders. "I know, and I get it, and I'm thankful for having friends around ready and willing to support and help. But it's... It's like picking at a scab. Each time I get asked, it's picking - and if you keep picking it never closes or heals, and the scar is a million times worse. And with what they did to Darren's grave I feel like someone took a diamond sander to the scab and ground down to the bone. Just when I thought I was doing better. I talk to Xu, and it helps, but each well-meaning question from everyone else is pulling scabs right now."

"All right. I'll quietly let the others know that you'll come to US if you need something and we should stop asking. But, I do know we do really want to know you, and be your friends, and be there. That's why we wanted to know about your birthday -- heck, if there's any holidays you want to celebrate I know we'll figure that out too."

She rubbed her hands across her face and held them there; when she spoke her voice was muffled but Remington didn't think she sounded too upset. "Birthdays were celebrated only on multiples of 5. I was born on the 15th of the first Spring. I would need to check with Stewart to make sure I've got the years right but I last remember passing my 37th birthday."

Remington nodded slowly, and smiled at her; in his mind, very briefly, he thought 'I'm older than she is' followed immediately by the realization that no, he was not, and no one in the world was older than she was. "All right - I'm sorry if it seemed like I was badgering you on anything but I'm also glad you told me. Do you want me to keep quiet about it?"

"Please. At least until I hit 40."

"It's a deal. How would you celebrate your birthday back then?"

"Gifts, an elaborate dinner. Costume parties were popular. I always ended up with costume parties because New Year's Dawn had just happened, which was a city-wide costume party so you'd always have something on hand you could wear. You'd go door to door singing songs, playing games, giving gifts, dancing in the streets. You'd stay awake as long as you could but it was expected that you'd stay awake from dawn of the last day of the year to dawn of the second day of the new year."

"That sounds an awful lot like celebrating a holiday, and not your own birthday."

She finally dropped her hands away from her face and shrugged at him. "That's what happened if your birthday fell on or close to a national holiday."

Remington went to stand and tested his weight on his bad leg; there were no wobbles, no twinges, no sudden shooting pains. "Sounds like you've had 37 years of getting the short end of the stick, then."

"You learn to live with it. Ready to keep going?"

He didn't protest the sudden change in subject; with a bit more attention and care to how he was moving his body he managed to get through the rest of the exercises without any further trouble, and though he was pretty sore when they were done he didn't mind it too much -- his next patrol would be on horseback so the joint could rest while he rode.

"We'll get there, slowly but surely," Eli said as she walked him to the gate. "Just take it easy for the rest of the day."

"I plan to," he replied with a chuckle. "I was actually just thinking about that." As he latched the gate behind him he could spy Selene heading home - she was just coming out through Portia's gates. "-not to rush off or anything but I better get going. I know Selene is just wanting to pounce over party things."

"Oh I know. She's babbled about your birthday party these last few days. All the more reason for YOU to keep your trap shut."

Remington laughed. "I swear on my honor your secret is safe with me. See you later, Eli."

He hurried off and was able to dodge around Selene with a hurried 'sorry, late for my patrol' and then he was huffing and puffing up the hill toward the Corps building to collect Arrow.

When he got there though he found his saddle was missing. That was odd.

Spacer was there however and that saddle was where it was supposed to be; Remington hurriedly scribbled a note of explanation for Arlo and left it pinned to Spacer's stable stall then saddled him and headed down the road, and wondered how the heck he'd managed to misplace a saddle. Maybe someone had moved it since they were cleaning out the back wall in preparation of replacing a few shelves that were starting to dry rot and his was the only saddle that sat near those particular shelves. Most of what had been sitting on those shelves was currently in a jumbled pile in the corner across from there...maybe he ought to clean a bit of that up when he got back from patrol.

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

He didn't mind that Remington had borrowed Spacer -- the horse liked the man well enough so Arlo knew there wouldn't be any trouble from the animal (unlike Teddy who typically wouldn't let anyone but Sam ride him).

What he DID mind though was by the time he'd found the note the missing saddle was back in its place, and after checking it over he found that a lot of the stitching had been carefully frayed with a knife so that it was highly likely that if Remington had been IN the saddle, moving quickly, and had made any sudden movements or sudden stops, the straps would have given way and dumped him off the horse. Teddy's saddle had likewise been tampered with but not as badly as Arrow's, and Arlo was both relieved he'd discovered that before Sam went out on a ride as well as extremely anxious for Remington's safe return because he had no reason to believe that Spacer's saddle hadn't also been sabotaged.

It was really beginning to feel like whoever was causing their current problems was trying to spread them as thin as possible, as Arlo's first thought upon discovering the sabotaged saddles was "great, now we have to watch the stables."

But...no. That was doing exactly what their spy and or vandal would want.

He still believed that the Stupid Plan idea of Eli's had merit - in fact, this was probably a result of that, assuming their spy was also their vandal - but it was time for a change in strategy.

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

"Looks like we'll be up and running within two weeks then."

It had been awhile since they'd ALL been together out at the facility; they were clustered inside the tent, looking over a collection of blueprints and measurements for the security door and signal transmitters. Eli had been shifted off her patrols and onto helping Selene get the rest of the transmitter parts made, along with the towers they'd be mounted on. With Eli's assistance they wouldn't need to bring in another builder for the assembly (though Higgins was producing the metal struts needed for the towers) and that left Merlin and Petra in charge of assembling the power sources (a mix of hydro, wind, and power stones).

Between work on that, and Mint overseeing the project to get the door installed...two weeks. They would need to manage for two weeks, and then they could bring their full attention down on catching their spy. It was nice to know that the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel wasn't something that was going to run them over.

"Do we have anything new to discuss?" Mali asked, pausing to look around at each of them in turn.

Beside him Arlo cleared his throat and Asher turned to look at him as he leaned forward to brace his hands on the little table.

"Yes, actually. Someone sabotaged all of our saddles yesterday. I think it's time we get a bit more aggressive - try to draw this person out into the open."

"I agree, because whoever this is uh-" Sam stopped abruptly, glancing briefly at Eli, before sighing. "-we had some graffiti to clean up early this morning."

"About me, I'm guessing," Eli said.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Nothing too nasty but basically urging you to leave town, claiming you don't belong here, that sort of thing."

"What was the graffiti made with? Do we have any record of anyone buying paint of that color?" Remington asked.

This time she shook her head. "It was done with charcoal - really easy to clean up, thankfully, but it doesn't point to where it came from or who had it. And of course no one saw anyone doing it AND it was all at different heights so we can't really narrow anything down."

Arlo huffed. "Of course. Regardless -- I worry that letting this stretch on any further will only result in someone getting seriously hurt. It's clear our initial plan has definitely made this person more bold - just not bold enough to come close to us like they did at the tent. I think this may be the best we're going to get so we need to come up with our plan to catch them."

Remington nodded, running a hand through his hair briefly; it was hot and stuffy in this tent with all of them inside it and Asher felt his scalp prickle in the heat just watching how Remington's hair clumped together in damp strands. "We've set a trap once before for that rogue knight - we can always do it again."

"Well, maybe," Sam said, drawing out the last word. "The thing is, THAT time we definitely knew what the knight was after. There's a lot more down in the facility besides Stewart and if we set a trap it needs to be baited with whatever it is they're hoping to steal."

"It also needs to look natural - we got away with the last trap since it was in a ruins that were already falling apart. This facility is much more preserved and it's going to be harder to set something up without it looking off," Mali added.

In the brief pause that followed that exchange Asher sat up a bit straighter. "Well, it's common knowledge that we're expanding the clinic in town soon. We could use that as our staging area instead since it's going to be pretty obvious that we're moving Stewart's station there."

Arlo grimaced. "Yes, but that would be dangerous and tricky. Setting this trap would be dependent on no one else being at risk of injury -- we know this person is armed, after all, and we can't control when someone might try to trip the trap. I don't want to put Dr. Xu or Harrison, or anyone else who might be at the clinic, in danger."

Eli lightly elbowed Asher in the ribs. "AND I don't want Stewart's tech in danger of being damaged either -- if it breaks that's it because while I MIGHT know how to fix it it won't be as simple as heading down to the shop to pick up the right parts."

"Yeah...you're right about that part," Asher muttered. "So it would have to be replicas, and we'd be guessing at what the spy would go for. Do you think they'd actually know what to grab if we baited them with the server stuff or basic computer pieces?"

Eli raised an eyebrow. "Assuming they're not expecting that again? I could make something that looks genuine, important, and expensive."

Remington let out a thoughtful noise, leaning toward Eli. "How complicated would it be to do that? I don't even know what...whatever we're talking about looks like."

"Not...TOO complicated, I don't think? I -- hang on, wait. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves I need to know what's common knowledge about tech these days. Exactly how complicated and fancy I'd need to make the replicas would kind of depend on what people know or think these things look like."

They all fell silent; Asher glanced about and could see lots of thoughtful faces - he was hopeful that that meant someone had an answer, because he definitely didn't. Technology wasn't something he studied or thought about much and he'd consider himself the last person anyone ought to be asking about Old World stuff.

Finally, Mali tipped her head back to look up toward the tent's ceiling. "There's some common knowledge about Old World components but it's mostly regarding the things we commonly find. Everyone knows what chipsets are, circuit boards, monitors and displays, and odds and ends that get lumped together just as 'old parts.' We also have access to old engines of varying types that we've successfully re-created ourselves so we no longer need to rely on digging them up. In this case... I'm not sure I have the answer. But I know who would."

There was a brief pause then Arlo nodded. "Ah, right. The scholars from Vega 5 will be here soon."

Mali nodded. "Vega 5 is full of people who have studied Living AIs, and they and Atara both have large libraries full of blueprints and books on Old World tech along with everything their museums have catalogued on display. They'd be the ones to ask about what they would consider common knowledge."

"But would they know what's common knowledge in Duvos though?" Eli asked.

Mali shrugged. "It's possible. I'm not privy to everything that's been discovered through the Alliance's information networks -- the Flying Pigs are an adventuring guild who sometimes get tapped to help provide law enforcement. I know more than most but ultimately we're not a military group so we're only told what we need to know for the tasks we're given." Eli scratched at her cheek; Asher noted that, due to the heat and sweat, the simple gesture left a pair of angry red marks across her skin "Right... Maybe I should go talk to Gale when we're done here -- er, assuming you aren't putting me back on patrol duty?" she added after a moment, looking to Arlo.

"No, go talk to Gale - this is important. Afterward get back to those signal transmitters," came Arlo's answer.

"Understood."

"You sure you don't need an extra pair of hands with those things?" Asher asked then, looking between Arlo and Eli. "At the very least I can tote and carry."

Arlo considered that for a moment, then glanced to Eli. "Your thoughts?"

She huffed out a breath. "Carrying, sure. But it'd just slow us down if we have to explain how to assemble. We DO need someone to start bundling the tower pieces and that's also something you could do without much instruction needed - get the finished bits from Higgins, ensure we've got everything, sort it out into sets for assembly. Basic stuff."

"All right -- go ahead and help them with the heavy lifting and getting the tower parts ready to transport. Eli, once you've talked to Gale come find me in the Corps building -- Mali, if you'd like to join me for that feel free." Mali and Eli both nodded, and Arlo blew out a breath. "I think that covers everything-"

"Hey- HEY!"

They all jumped to their feet at the shout from beyond the tent; Asher was still getting to know a lot of the townsfolk but he thought that sounded a lot like--

As he was closest to the tent flap Asher stuck his head out to see Albert sprinting toward them; when the man saw him he started waving his hands and his sprint was slowing. Asher in turn hurried out of the tent and began running toward him, faintly aware of the sound of several pairs of feet following along behind him, and about halfway to the man Albert came to a stop entirely and doubled over with his hands on his knees, panting harshly.

"What's wrong? What's happened?"

"Portia...ruins...cave in..." Albert was gasping as Asher came skidding to a stop beside him. "One under...church..."

"Oh hell," Asher muttered. He spun around as Eli, Arlo, Mali, and Remington reached them. "Cave in at the ruins under the church."

"Was anyone hurt?" Arlo asked immediately. Albert could only nod as he struggled to catch his breath and Arlo broke into a run again while calling orders over his shoulder. "Asher - take Albert to the tent to catch his breath. Remington and Eli with me."

The others went running off and Asher put a hand on Albert's shoulder. "Sit down here in the grass, mind the marshy spots - we'll take a minute here and then we'll walk to the tent, all right?"

"I'll ask Sam to stay out here with Adam," Mali interrupted. "After that I will join Arlo and the others in town - stay with Albert until he's recovered then escort him back to town."

"Got it," Asher replied. Mali immediately ran back the way she'd come and Asher turned his attention back to Albert. "Deep breaths, man, it'll be all right. Do you know what happened?"

Albert took several more breaths; he seemed to be breathing a bit easier. After an especially deep breath he lifted his head to look up at Asher. "Not...a clue. Heard a...loud noise. Couple folks...out of the ruins, shouting...about a cave in. Gale already there...told me to come get you all. I was closest."

Damn it... They should have had this meeting at the Corps building, not all the way out here; even as he thought that he knew that was very unfair as all their patrol routes for this morning had had them all out this way and it was quickest and easiest to gather here, but... Well, honestly it could have been worse timing. At least out here they'd all been in one place but had this happened at any other time of day or any other day in general they would've been spread across the countryside with only two of them in town.

"Think you can make it to the tent? We'll get some water in you, can sit a bit, then we'll head back to Portia."

Albert nodded and straightened and the two of them began to (slowly) walk toward the Pigs's tent. Mali was already heading back toward them and they exchanged nods as she passed and kept on going.

"What kind of loud noise did you hear?"

"Just a loud boom and a rumbling."

Asher frowned - a loud boom? "Like...a KABOOM-kind of boom? Like something exploded?"

"I couldn't tell you. It was more - more of a sound that sort of hit you in the chest, more than in the ears, and one you could feel through your feet. Our building is closest to those ruins so it's no wonder that we heard something."

"We? You and Gust I'm guessing?"

Albert nodded. "I went to the ruins, and Gust went for Gale. And then Gale told me to run out here."

"How many came out of those ruins?"

"Um - I saw three folks. Covered in dust, one of them was bloodied. They were all shaken up and just shouting 'cave in cave in' over and over."

Asher went quiet, chewing on his lower lip. He wanted to simply believe that the ruins had partially collapsed but something nagged at him over it; the Civil Corps and the Flying Pigs both conducted regular inspections of all ruins across the Alliance of Free Cities to make sure they remained safe for public use. There's NO WAY they would've missed a structural weakness that was so dangerous as to cause a cave in...someone on the inside had to have caused this. A careless digger, or...

The saddles might have just been the first attempt to send a message.

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

Four injured, one dead. All in all, considering there had been eight people inside the ruins at the time of the collapse, it could have been much worse.

Still. It was slightly guilt-inducing to feel relieved that ONLY one person had been killed -- no one was sure where she'd come from but they'd matched her description to the list of Happy Apartment hotel-based rentals so they had a name but no way to contact any next of kin, nor did they know if this Kara person had any sort of surname at all either. It would make for a somewhat plain headstone but at least they had the first name.

Sam, along with Mali and Higgins, had worked quickly to get a makeshift door in place and the rest of the entryway to the ruins boarded up; tomorrow Dana would be traveling to Portia to help Mali investigate what had caused the collapse. Sam had wanted to go in with them as well but she'd gotten a resounding "no" from Arlo, Mali, and Gale - all at the same time, no less. She supposed that made sense as she wasn't a miner or builder or anyone who would know anything about structural integrity (or whatever Mali had called it), and the fewer people at risk inside for a follow up collapse, the better.

As she walked up the hill toward the Corps building it was hard to miss the silence in this half of town; Ack hadn't been at his usual spot in the plaza, there weren't any tourists or townsfolk walking about. Even the Round Table had seemed a bit quiet when she'd passed by moments ago.

Portia had certainly had a streak of bad luck lately... The pessimistic side of her wondered how the spy would find a way to take advantage of the chaos.

As she crested the hill she spotted a man leaning against the railing of the stairs that led down to the central plaza; he had his back to her but she recognized the coat he had on (even in this heat).

"Bob? I thought you would've moved on by now," she called out.

The man jumped and spun around, stumbling a bit as he boot caught on an upraised stone. "Huh! Huh? Well. Yeah, maybe. Thought I should. Been tired lately."

Sam nodded and walked over, crossing her arms and eying the man. He was a harmless drifter and she didn't suspect anything of him but he was also somewhat regular - he arrived in the spring, left at the start of the summer season, and then came back mid-autumn. "Something wrong?"

"Not really. Just got a feeling. Road might not be safe."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I remember someone telling me there was a thief around. I don't carry valuables. But that's not all someone could take."

"Bob... Do you think someone's trying to harm you in some way?" she asked.

The man fidgeted a bit. "Not me. I think? But I've seen some ghosts. Footprints out of thin air. I don't want to share a road with it."

Sam stared at him. "...where did you see these footprints? Can you show me?"

Bob shook his head. "Not now - been too long. Saw them on the beach while I was stargazing. Walking west. Too close to where I'd pass going back south."

"How long ago was this?"

The man shrugged, then scratched at his head. "Not sure. I don't do so well with time anymore."

"But it was recent, at least?"

He nodded; Sam mulled that over -- it sounded like Bob had spotted their spy out in the wild. "How about we walk together to where you saw the footprints and you tell me whatever you can remember about when you saw them and what you were doing?"

He nodded again and walked with her back down the hill. As they passed under the gates she wondered if she shouldn't call for back up but... Well. She could think of a lot of reasons to do so, and the reasons not to didn't seem as convincing so as they continued down the road she gestured for them to detour toward Selene's house. Eli ought to be in the factory helping assemble, and Asher ought to be here too. Surely one of them could shift over to walk out to...wherever, with her and Bob.

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

That she hadn't known Kara made it easier to look genuine when it came to keeping her expression appropriately sad-looking as they buried the woman; it was a small ceremony with a smattering of Portians present, along with the full force of the Civil Corps -- being as she didn't see them she assumed that the Flying Pigs members were out at the facility, as usual. They seemed to never, ever leave the place unguarded and, as she'd discovered the other evening while doing some recon, there was a gigantic build project of some kind being carried out at the facility's entrance now -- if she had to guess it looked like some sort of covering, or door.

That likely meant they were really doubling down on the security out there, and while what she was after was being moved out of the facility she was beginning to get worried -- if they sealed that place up tight that would free the Pigs up to directly watch the construction of the clinic addition and the installation of the All Source AI.

And that would make Lily's job even harder while now also being down a team member.

After the funeral it was announced that the ruins would be closed for the time being to conduct an investigation into the cause of the collapse; that at least didn't effect any of them remaining but it ALSO carried the high risk of bringing in more outside people -- more Pigs, more nosy law-types, the possibilities were starting to pile up.

Days ago she'd been bitching about how long it was taking them to start construction; she'd seen buildings put up in a matter of days in Duvos -- how hard could one addition to an already existing building be?

Now... As much as she didn't want to disappoint Xan, they might indeed have to change their plans to have any chance of this heist succeeding.

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

They always put out the paper on the first of every month. Always. Without fail -- even if it meant that she and Erwa stayed up all night fixing issues with their printing press machine or working to get wording on an article juuuuust right.

The first of the month was still six days away but Gale had asked for a special edition to be produced. It was the hardest thing Mei had ever had to write: all this...all this alarming detail on a vandal, a thief attempting to break into the medical facility in the marsh, and now the devastating discovery that the cave in two days ago had been purposely caused by tiny explosive charges. It was such awful news that sometimes Mei found her hand shaking as she scribbled notes and drew arrows or crossed out paragraphs as she tried to get things into order both chronologically and also in a manner that flowed well for reading.

There were still a few hours to go before they needed to start printing and there was just one thing Mei wanted to get done before then but then again... It wasn't a nice subject and she didn't want to offend anyone - especially not the person she'd like to interview regarding all this.

But. She wouldn't know if she'd be offending unless she asked.

Selene's workshop was a familiar sight - Mei had been out here a lot over the years, both before and after large city projects were announced and completed with the builder's help - so she knew better than to knock on the house's door and instead marched up to to the factory door and really gave it a good pounding. After a few minutes the door opened and an oil-smudged Selene was framed in the doorway, and once it registered who was there Mei was offered a big, bright smile.

"Hey! What're you doing out here?"

"Hello Selene! I was wondering if Eli was still here?"

Selene nodded and stepped aside, gesturing with one hand toward a makeshift workbench set up perpendicular to her usual one; lined up shoulder to shoulder was Eli, Petra, and Merlin, all hurriedly working to assemble bits and doodads that Mei guessed was all meant to fit into a much bigger contraption of some kind.

It was unusually quiet in here today as well; only a handful of the machines were running -- that must mean whatever Selene was working on either didn't need a lot of pieces or maybe it was almost complete. She stepped inside and out of the way so Selene could close the door and then noted that the latest member of the Civil Corps, Asher, was sorting large metal struts and rods into organized piles against the far wall, moving about in short bursts and then checking off things on a clipboard he had hanging off his belt.

"I'm not interrupting something I shouldn't, am I?"

"Not really - we can spare a pair of hands for a bit." Selene led Mei over toward Eli and the Research Center gals. "Mei's wanting to talk to you, Eli."

The woman looked up at them (though Mei noticed her hands didn't stop what they were doing - it was kind of impressive to see her keep working without her looking at the pieces) and silently lifted an eyebrow.

"Oh - um, yes. I was wondering if you could spare some time to give a few statements for the article we're writing for the paper?" Mei asked into the pause.

"Uh..." Eli drew the word out, returning her attention to what her hands were doing. It seemed immediately clear that whatever her answer was going to be it would have to wait until she'd finished off this piece of...whatever it was; Mei waited patiently, and watched with a bit of curiosity, until Eli had slotted all the pieces together and tightened down all the screws. "-all right, sure. Let's step outside for some air."

Mei led the way outside and then followed as Eli took an abrupt turn to the western side of the factory -- there was a cluster of stools out here and they both settled on one, and Mei hurried to pull out her little notebook.

"All right - of course, if you find any of my questions upsetting it's perfectly fine not to answer. I don't mind at all!"

Eli nodded. "Ask away."

"How would you say the situation is currently going?"

"Which one are you referring to?"

"Let's start with the vandal. It couldn't have been easy to see the gravestone damaged like that."

For several breaths Eli didn't answer. Mei sat patiently with her pen poised over the blank sheet of notebook paper with her free hand pinning the loose edge down; this side of the factory was currently in the shade and the breeze was a bit strong as the wind rushed along the flat brick. It was a nice place to sit but if she wasn't careful her notes would get scattered across the yard since not all the pages were still bound to the wire spiral.

"It wasn't, no. It's clear whoever did it wanted their message heard, and intended it to hurt. It did, I won't lie, but also, it really shows just how much of a coward this person is since they didn't confront me directly. Same with all the other instances of graffiti lately -- they're not brave enough to say anything to my face. In that context, it's a bit comical."

It took about the same amount of time for Mei to write that down as it had for Eli to say it. "-and do you have any guesses as to who this person is?" Eli shook her head but didn't elaborate; Mei added a little mark after the quote to remind herself of the answer. "How about things out at the medical facility? Has there been any further attempts to break in?"

"No, and soon there won't be any chances of a break in either. We're installing a security door and will work toward preserving the facility as it is."

Mei had heard about the door - she wondered what it would look like when it was done. "And do you have any opinion on the expansion at the clinic, since it's rumored that you'll be incorporating an All Source AI into the building?"

Eli blinked at her. "Incorp- uh, maybe that definition has changed in three hundred years but we're not incorporating him into anything. He'll be installed and be there to teach and treat, but he won't be in charge of or able to run the clinic by himself. For one, there's no other computers or AIs for him to oversee, and secondly the building will be just a building without any tech for him to monitor either."

"Do you have any worries about how having an All Source AI teaching humans would be seen in the greater world?"

With a loud sigh Eli leaned back against the brick wall. "I do, sort of. I worry that zealots in your Church won't be able to look past him being a part of the Old World and try to destroy him, in which case all the knowledge he holds would be lost along with him. Hand in hand with that I also worry about what he'd be teaching and to whom."

Mei looked up from her notes in surprise. "You think he'd teach something bad? Or bad people?"

"Not exactly "bad" in either case, its more I worry people will try to somehow hoard the knowledge -- even hypothetical enemies deserve the right to live disease and injury free. I wouldn't really say there's right and wrong people to teach, but I do think there will be people out there who think they're the only ones who have a right to the knowledge, or who think some knowledge is fine but some of it should be scrubbed from history. We even had a bit of a problem with myths and misinformation regarding certain diseases in my time and that was with an entire world's worth of knowledge available to anyone at any time."

Mei slowly nodded at that; it reminded her of an article she'd written a few years ago about the push-back of remedies coming from a doctor in Vega 5. "So, even if people don't want to keep the knowledge to themselves there's also a question of whether some would accept it, at all."

"Exactly. I imagine there's going to be a lot of entrenched doctors scattered across the world who think their way is best and will be unwilling to change. It'll be a bit messy in the upcoming years but I hope the overall health and life expectancy of the world goes up as the knowledge spreads -- and hopefully it'll be fairly uniform across the world, not just in small clusters due to hoarding or refusal to adapt."

With her hand cramping from how quickly she was trying to write Mei managed to get all that down in her notes; she'd gotten a little carried away as she'd only wanted a few lines to quote but this could potentially be an article all on its own. She was just about to shut the book when a thought occurred to her. "Oh! Right - there's been a lot of questions about the metal towers that were put up recently. Are you able to explain what those are for?"

"You guys use telegraphs for long distance communication, right?"

Mei nodded. "For messages that can't wait for couriers."

"Right. So, those towers are the first of many that will hold...how to put it in simple terms... Think of a telegraph that doesn't need wires, is more reliable and secure, and also can just send words instead of having to tap a little button and have someone translate at the other end. We're trying it out here in Portia and maybe in the future, assuming it works and can be reliably maintained, we could extend it across the continent."

"What, really?" Mei asked, eyes widening. "That's huge!"

Eli was giving her an amused look and Mei realized her jaw was hanging open; she scrawled an almost unreadable note about the towers underneath the rest of it. "Ah, um - uh, so, when will THAT project be completed?"

"It'll take some time. Getting everything installed is the easy part. Getting it all to work correctly will be hard."

"So...no...expected...completion date yet?" Mei asked as she wrote, glancing up from the writing to Eli, then underlining the 'no' as Eli shook her head. "That's very exciting... Will it be something anyone could use? Will it cost a lot?"

Eli paused, then offered a half shrug. "Well, I guess that first answer is yes and no. In terms of complexity anyone will be able to use it because it's not difficult at all to learn, but initially there's going to be a problem with getting parts to both maintain and expand it so there won't be a lot of the system in place for widespread use to start. I don't have any idea on cost just yet - we're using a combination of wind, water, and power stones to start off with. I'm relatively certain I know how much energy this will draw but won't know exact numbers until its been up and running for awhile."

"And...you're ok with this technology spreading?"

Eli snorted loudly. "I am," she replied, placing heavy emphasis on 'I.' "No idea about the rest of the world."

Mei hummed to herself as she put down a few more notes. "This could be an article by itself... All right. That was everything I had in mind for this piece. Unless you'd like to add anything?"

"Not in particular."

"Well, thank you!" Mei said, smiling and shoving a hand toward her. Eli shook it with a bit of a smile and then stood. "I'll get this over to the paper and you'll be seeing it in print soon!"

Eli didn't reply beyond nodding, then led the way around the building where she went back inside while Mei headed toward the gate; she felt a bit lightheaded -- like she was floating across the grass. The prospect of a better, more secure communications system that was instantaneous made her giddy; imagine how much faster information could travel. Imagine how quickly a message back home could reach family...how much easier it would be to stay in touch with the Atara Post about her progress with the Portia Times.

There were dozens of ways she could instantly imagine her life getting easier if this communication thing worked, and that was just for HER - she couldn't even clearly conceive all the ways the entire Alliance could make use of such a thing.

As she walked through the doors into the news building she managed to pull her thoughts away from the communications scoop and set herself back on track regarding the special edition Gale had asked them to put out; it didn't appear Erwa was here but that was ok - Mei could work on a rough draft and get his opinion later when he came back.

Eli hadn't been the only one she'd interviewed today so the first order of business was to quickly reread her notes and decide where to insert Eli's bit into the order she'd tentatively decided on earlier; this article needed to be a direct and firm read, with a logical flow to the information, but it couldn't have a tone to it that would cause undue alarm. People had a right to know that the cave in was actually a murder, but how to word it so that it wouldn't cause a panic in town...

And also, the more she thought about it, the less sense it made to include anything referencing the communications project. Prior to talking to Eli she'd assumed the towers were related to the security project out at the facility but now it seemed they were unrelated to each other, and...well, if they had a vandal snooping around it wouldn't do to draw attention to something this valuable.

...yeah. It made more sense to relegate the communications towers to its own separate article, AFTER the vandal (or murderer? Or both?) had been taken care of. At the very least that cut out a good amount of information she would've had to figure out how to fit onto the front page with everything else.

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

Windsor had "claimed" a small area of the Peach Plaza for his impromptu performances; a decent number of people expected him to be there in the mornings and later at night, showing off his juggling and throwing skills (a few had even donated some small straw targets for him to use so he'd changed up his routine a bit). It may have just been a cover job but it was bringing in decent money; it was a nice little perk to the whole thing but if they didn't get moving on this theft job soon he wouldn't be able to keep playing off the "too poor to go back home" angle of his cover story.

The atmosphere in Portia seemed a bit...strange this morning. There weren't nearly as many people moving about in the central plaza as usual, and as he went plodding up the hill passed the shops he was a bit alarmed to see a small crowd of people that WEREN'T his usual audience huddled roughly in his spot near the fountain. As he drew closer he could see all of them clutching papers in hand, and there was a dull roar of chatter among them. In their midst was a squat, hairy man in an orange vest and hat, and a blonde woman wearing a blue and white pointy hat; they appeared to be handing out whatever the paper was, and when he finally got close enough to the gathering he saw it was a thin newspaper with "SPECIAL EDITION" printed in big, bold letters across its top with "Portia Times" printed in slightly smaller text beneath it.

Through a gap in the crowd the hat-wearing blonde noticed him, and carefully wound her way through the group toward him with one of the papers in hand, pushed out toward him.

"Good morning, sir - would you like to read this special release of the Portia Times? This copy is free, paid for by Portia's government."

"Uh...sure. What seems to be the ruckus?" he replied, taking the paper and skimming the-

...oh. Oh boy. Well, that wasn't good.

#Lost in Time #lit #Lost in Time - ch 20 #Arlo #Mali #Remington #Sam #Flying Pigs #Albert #Mei #My Time at Portia

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myfeetkeepdancing · 4 years

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What if I requested a Tom fic where they’re at SDCC doing a panel and he introduces everybody to his lovely boyfriend in the middle of it 🥰 (also hi I love your stuff and you’re a delight skdhhsj) - jaws

"Babe, you're glowing." Tom looks at you with a caring expression. "C'mere." Encircling his strong arms around your shuddering figure, pulling you into his comforting embrace. Tom was the only one able to give such incredible hugs. So passionate and caring. It felt safe and so incredibly comforting. Something you could use right now. That feeling of the world collapsing under your feet right here was daunting. Your knees trembling, hands clammy, and throat dry.

"Two minutes to go." The woman interrupted. She was just doing her job. Deep down, you knew that. But if a look could kill...

You felt your heart racing like crazy. So many things were going through your mind. "Look at me, babe." Tom's calm, soothing voice brings you back to reality. Holding you by your shoulders. "This is going to be the best day of our lives. Trust me."

"A-Aren't you nervous?" The words fall stuttering from your lips.

"No, not all." His hands move down your figure, pulling you in by your hips. Your gaze captivated by his cheeky smile. "I… have been looking forward to his moment since forever." His loving eyes drawing you in. "Because I want the world to see-" Bringing your lips close to his. "-how much I love you." Kissing you soft and tender. "I don't wanna hide our love behind walls and curtains made of out of lies." He smiles. "No, I wanna be able to love you like anybody else can. Show it with pride."

"T-Tom…" You're only able to mutter, feeling the tears well in your eyes. The pads of his fingers softly caress your cheeks.

"Please don't cry." He mutters, trying to suppress his quivering lips. "You know I cry easily."

His eyes turning red as well. "I love you so much."

Sharing a deep and passionate kiss. Before you hear his name being shouted over and over again. His lips part from yours, as you look into his loving eyes. "I love you, Tom."

He quickly rubs his eyes clean as the makeup artist corrects the last bits here and there.

"I love you." Hugging you again.

"It's gonna be fine, mate." Harrison's voice was barely hearable over the crowd, cheering. "You're meant for each other." He pats your shoulder. Hiding backstage behind the curtains, you peak at Tom walking onto the stage, waving and smiling. You feel the sweat gushing like a waterfall from your armpits.

Although Tom and you had discussed it time and time again. Coming to the conclusion that this was the moment to announce your relationship to the world. On the one hand, an extremely proud moment. From day one, you wanted to shout it from the rooftops. Carve it into every tree, write it on every scrap of paper. Tom Holland was your boyfriend. But on the other, also a horrifying moment. Not everyone is as accepting as you'd hope. In all the years, coming out isn't as normal as we'd hoped. It's still being frowned upon. And the worst of all, being treated differently.

But Tom didn't mind. Tom was always treated differently since being famous. Not in the wrong way. But he had warned upfront; nothing can prepare you for fame. It changes so much. Yet, Tom didn't. You admired him for that. You'd hope that you'd stay the same too. But Tom reassured you. He believed in you. He trusted you. He wanted the world to know. He wanted the world to see. And the moment was right around the corner. As the adrenaline pumped with vast quantities through your veins. Minutes go by — grueling minutes. As if you could hear every second tick on the clock.

You don't pay attention to the questions. Nor the stories that were shared. Only the sound of your heart pounding between your ears. Gaze fixed on Tom. He seemed so relaxed. Until a moment of silence in the panel appeared. It happened naturally. And Tom took that moment with both hands. "Alright, everyone!" Jumping up from his seat. "I have an announcement to make." Gesturing the others to silence with a hand gesture. But the crowd began cheering and clapping, taking a while to calm down.

"First of all, I want to thank everyone close to me that knew of this secret. And has kept it that way for a long time. Because, it has been difficult." Tom pauses for a moment, biting his lower lip as he peeks back at you. The crowd grows unusually rowdy.

"This is about a person. A very special person. Which I have been together for almost two years now." And the crowd wasn't going to calm down any moment. Letting the moment sink in. "Sixteen days short, to be precise." He grins. "I can say that, we faced difficult times. It wasn't easy for both of us. I'm not easy. Believe me. I'm away quite a lot. Spend countless hours on set, traveled to many countries. But this person has always been there for me. Every step of the way. Day and night. Picked me up whenever I felt down. Helped me shape into the person that I am to this day. I owe this person everything." You see his smile stretching even further and further.

"I do... And I truly hope, that each and every one of you, here and at home. That you will find someone that loves you as this person loves me." Followed by a ooh's and aw's from the crowd. "Because I want the world to meet (Y/N)."

That was the signal. Your legs started moving without thinking about it. All eyes turn your way. But you only see Tom. Blinding flashes of cameras. The noise of the crowd was unheard of. And the crowd goes absolutely wild as you walk further onto the stage.

"He-…!" He yells into the microphone, trying to speak over the loud crowd. Opening his arms up to you. "-is the love of my life. My everything. My true one. My boyfriend!"

The response is overwhelming. You fall into Tom's arms. Struggling not to let your tears of joy run freely. You wave and smile. Before the crowd demands a kiss. And before you can react. Tom turns to you, holds you by both cheeks, and plants his soft lips onto you. Thinking the crowd couldn't get any louder, was absurd. It's deafening. The cheers and smiles of people. You can barely see the people in the front row. But the only faces you see are in tears of joy. You don't understand why. But they keep blowing kisses your way. It's all new and overwhelming. Together with Tom, you pose a few times. Before getting the microphone handed to you by Tom. "You wanna say something?"

You nod and smile. Tom stays close to you. Like always. His arms reach around you. A lot of cheering and aahs followed. You scrape your throat, feeling the nerves race again. "I-… I wanna thank everyone for this heartwarming welcome. It's all a little overwhelming, but I'm relieved to be received like this. It means a lot to me. And ehm-..."

"We love you!" Someone from the crowd interrupts your moment of stuttering. And you can't help but smile at this sudden reaction as the crowd cheers you on. Tom kissing you on the cheek.

"Told you." He whispers in your ear, turning you back to the chairs.

"Finally!" You hear the cast members shout in harmony as you turn around. "Finally, we're able to share the stories about the two of you." Anthony gasps in relief.

Then you notice every seat had been taken. You gaze for a moment, where to sit. Did they forget? You feel the eyes of thousands of people burn into your back. Connecting with Tom's eyes, you notice that playful spark and smirk on his face.

"No, no." He says, extending his arm around your waist, before pulling you in. "You're sitting on my lap, darling." Followed by a burst of laughter all around. "I wanna make sure no one runs off with you."

"Never let go, Holland. Because you'll never find one like this again." RDJ smiles. "I tell you guys, you wouldn't believe half the things I've seen with those. Best couple!"

"It's true." Chris piles on. "Tom is a good guy, in every way. But he-..." Pointing towards you. "Is the sweetest, kindest, and loveable person I've met."

"Oh, you should have seen these two on set." Sebastian jokes. "(Y/N) even got us pizzas when we're shooting late."

"And provided Tom with juice boxes, of course." Anthony grins.

"Dont forget the coffees he brought, Anthony."

"Oh! That's another thing! He remembers each and every ones preferred coffee. It's damn impressive."

"The way we found out. It's so funny. (Y/N) came backstage. It's during a break, everyone having a coffee and such. Except for Tom, he gets handed a fresh brew of tea. And to thank (Y/N), he just turns in, and takes him right on the lips. At the time, we thought (Y/N) was part of the crew. We just didn't know!

"I still remember that look on (Y/N)'s face. His eyes shot wide open, looking at everyone, face coloring red, and Tom not aware of anything. And we just sat there in silence, dumbstruck."

"And then Tom's reaction, when Robert started clapping at the end."

"Oh yeah, Tom completely freaking out, begging us to keep it a secret."

"Come on, guys…" Tom protests, scratching the back of his neck. "I eh…" He giggles and murmurs.

"Finally, we're able to share those pictures." Chris pulls out his phone. "Check this one out." Holding his screen to the camera. All attention goes the big screen behind you, as the picture gets in focus. A huge picture of you and Tom fills the screen. You and Tom cuddled up together, somewhere backstage. Followed by one of Tom looking at you with big heart eyes, while you do something. Most of the pictures you can't even remember where or when they were taken. And so followed a slideshow of pictures centered on you and Tom. The first ones were awkward to watch, but a sense of joy and sympathy hang about. Sitting on Tom's lap. Your arm around his neck. Sharing stories and telling jokes. You barely noticed the crowd was there. You knew each one of the actors on stage. And had something in common or shared a story with. It felt like a family.

"Conclusion, rainbows and unicorns are born when these two make love. Adorable!" Robert teases.

"And yes, Holland, I've seen those fogged windows of your trailer."

You and Tom's face shoot bright red. "This is so embarrassing." Tom giggles, burying his face in your lap.

"And it wasn't particularly cold outside." He jokes. "No, seriously. In all weirdness and awkwardness. They're the best. They deserve the world. And much more! I love 'em!"

"Just to be clear, if anyone got a problem with these two…" Robert exclaims. "You better tell me right know, cause-..."

"...-Tell us you mean." Benedict adds before letting Robert continue speaking. And all the rest of the crew nod in agreement.

Tom scraping his voice. "Ehm…" His cheeks still bright red, biting his lower lip as he looks at you. Thinking about what he wants to say, suppressing half a smile. "Small announcement. After this, I'll be taking a break."

"Not from filming." You chime in.

"Not at all. But I'll be taking a longer break than usual. I've always wanted to travel the world. There is so much to explore. So much to see. So much to experience. It's fun to do with friends. But now, I'm finally able to this will the love of my life. Together with this beauty here." Kissing you on the cheek. "I can't wait." He smiles. "Thanks everyone! Thank you for everything! It means the world to me. I… mean us."

And so began a trip during months. Stretching far and wide across the globe. Going on road trips and attending parties. Drinking and dining in the best restaurants. Discovering beautiful little hole in the walls. Breakfast in bed. Enjoying a relaxing moment on a quiet beach. A long walk through the mountains. Traveling by boat. A night out in a bristling city, or a drink in a local pub in a quiet little town. Diving at coral reefs. Sleeping in a tent. Or a remote log cabin in the dense forests of Mother Nature.

Together you've seen it all.

Experienced it together.

Together.

#tom holland x reader #tom holland x male!reader #tom holland x male reader #tom holland imagine #tom holland #tom holland x you #tom holland x y/n #male!reader #male reader

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petrichoravellichor · 4 years

Note

Can I please have a (platonic) Balthazar and Castiel in the prompt “-some dude with a megaphone is spewing homophopic crap outside the cafeteria and we’re both protesting him because the college is adamnant about his freedom of speech rights, make out with me to piss him off?”

Can I Get an Amen

Relationship: Balthazar & Cas (platonic)

Other Characters: Sam Winchester, Naomi (unnamed, but it’s her)

Rating: T

Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Balthazar POV, Bi-/Pansexual Balthazar, Slightly Hippie!Cas (like, a mixture of Endverse!Cas + Crazy!Cas), Bees, Homophobic Language (which gets shut the fuck down), Very Exaggerated Make-Out Session Between Friends (to piss off a homophobe, so it’s for a good cause)

(Ao3)

*****

When Sam’s alarm went off at seven a.m., Balthazar’s first thought upon jarring awake was that he was going to throw the bloody phone out the window. (He didn’t, because doing so would have required him to get up, but it was a near thing.) Balthazar had no idea what sort of cosmic fuck-up he’d committed in a previous life to get landed with a roommate for whom going for an early morning run beat out having a lie-in, but as he grumbled under his breath while Sam rose and dressed, he felt fairly certain that fate was having a laugh at his expense.

Sam, the bastard, found this all very amusing.

“You know,” Sam said mildly as he sat on the edge of his bed and did up his shoelaces, seemingly impervious to the death-glare Balthazar was giving him, “it wouldn’t kill you to get up a few hours before your first class. You don’t even have to exercise: you could just, like, read or get some extra studying in or something.”

Balthazar snorted. “I could, yes, but why on earth would I,” he said, stretching luxuriously beneath his sheets, “when I could just as easily stay in bed and dream of having a ménage à-whatever-French-for-twelve is?”

“Okay, one, it’s douze, and two, ew. Also, don’t even pretend like you could keep up with that many women.”

“Mm, bold of you to assume they were all women.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Anyway,” he said, standing, “I’m gonna go. Have fun dreaming about naked people.”

He left, and Balthazar promptly buried his head under his pillow, determined to fall back asleep. He gave up after half an hour of angry tossing and turning, rising in a huff and stomping over to his dresser. If he was doomed to be awake this early, then he might as well go down to the quad and fetch himself something caffeinated to drink.

Ten minutes later, he was trudging down the steps outside the dorm building and mulling over various forms of revenge—his current favorite consisted of tossing out one of Sam’s beloved running shoes, then watching with glee as Sam searched for it in vain—when he heard a voice from the lawn to his left:

“You’re up early.”

Balthazar turned and spotted his friend Cas, who was currently dressed in a loose-fitting shirt and sweats; he was barefoot, balancing on one leg with the other tucked up under him, palms pressed together, and was peering at Balthazar with a mixture of surprise and amusement. “I didn’t know you even existed before noon.”

Balthazar sighed. “Yes, well, annoying roommates with early alarms are annoying.”

“Ah.” Cas shifted into a different pose, placing both feet flat on the grass and raising his arms above his head. “And here I thought I’d finally convinced you to try yoga with me.”

“Cassie, the day I willingly twist myself into a pretzel while both clothed and sober is the day I forgive you for making me sit through three hours of that god-awful Titanic movie.”

“You’re just mad because you hate Celine Dion.”

“It’s not her I hate, it’s that bloody song! And furthermore,” Balthazar added, pointedly ignoring Cas’s snicker, “our dear Rose’s heart wouldn’t have had to go on if she’d just done a better job of making room for Jack on that piece of fucking debris.”

“It was a door.”

“It was a travesty, is what it was, and I’ll thank you to quit bringing it up. Now then,” he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the quad, “I’m going for a latte. Care to join me? Or have you still got to do your downward doggy-style or what have you?”

Cas rolled his eyes and reached for his sandals. “It’s downward dog, and no, I’m done.”

“Brilliant, you’re buying.”

They headed toward the quad, Cas talking animatedly about some new Save the Bees project he and a few others in the Environmental Club were hoping to kick off soon. Balthazar, who was busy trying to decide if he wanted a muffin or a scone with his latte, was only half listening, a decision he regretted when he heard Cas say, with a hint of smugness, “I knew I could count on you,” and, after a quick mental replay, realized that he’d just agreed to attend an all-day event that coming weekend. Fuck. He opened his mouth to give an excuse when a commotion ahead caught his attention.

A small crowd had gathered at the edge of the quad; as Balthazar and Cas neared, Balthazar saw that at its center was a middle-aged brunette woman dressed in formal clothing who was speaking into a megaphone:

“…TIME HAS COME TO RENOUNCE YOUR SINFUL LIFESTYLE AND REMEMBER THAT ONLY THROUGH GOD’S GRACE CAN YOU ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT MAN SHALL NOT LIE WITH MEN AS HE DOES WITH WOMEN, THAT IT IS AN AB—”

“—SOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL WAY TO SPEND A FRIDAY NIGHT!” interjected Balthazar, causing the woman to pause and several heads to turn in their direction.

The woman lowered her megaphone. She looked from Balthazar to Cas and back again. “I am here to spread the Lord’s teachings to you and others like you, those who have been led astray by immoral temptations of the flesh. You should thank me.”

Balthazar let out a bitter laugh. “Thank you? What on earth for?”

The woman frowned. “I told you, I’m here to spread the Lord’s teachings—”

Balthazar cut her off. “You did, twice. Good for you.” He crossed his arms. “But, you see, we’re a litter-free campus, so it’d be lovely if you took your rubbish elsewhere.”

Several of the surrounding students cheered. The woman glanced around, seemingly unsure. “I have a permit. I’m allowed to be here.”

“We’re students,” said Cas. “We pay money to be here.” Even more people cheered. “And incidentally, the line you’re referring to, Leviticus 18:22, condemns pedophilia, not homosexuality.”

Balthazar turned to Cas. “What, really?”

“Yes. The original wording translates to ‘man shall not lie with young boys’.” Cas regarded the woman coolly. “Also, since you claim to concern yourself with the word of God, I’d check the tag on that suit. Leviticus 19:19 prohibits wearing garments that mix linen and wool.”

The woman pressed her lips together in a thin line. “I will not be lectured on my faith by a young man who has clearly lost his way.”

“I’m not lecturing you,” responded Cas. “I’m simply telling you what the Bible says.”

“You mock me.”

“You do that to yourself.”

The woman scowled, eyes boring into Cas. “There are places that can help you, programs that can teach you to make more Godly choices.”

“You’re referring to so-called conversion therapy,” said Cas, and though he was still speaking calmly, there was an edge to his voice that Balthazar rarely heard, “a practice that has been discredited by every leading expert on human sexuality for over two decades.”

“Despite what you think, it can be effective if you’re willing, if you want to be fixed—”

“We’re not broken,” said Cas. “Your beliefs are.”

“Now wait just a minute—”

“Oh, piss off!” snapped Balthazar. Cas might have had the patience to deal with this sort of thing uncaffeinated, but he most certainly did not. “Aren’t there more important things you could spend your energy bitching about? Take bees, for example: they’re dropping dead at an alarming rate, which could have frankly catastrophic effects on our food supply, but no, you’re right, let’s get all dressed up and tell gay people they’re going to hell because they have the audacity to be themselves, that’s clearly the bigger priority.”

Cas gave him a surprised smile. “You were listening about the bees.”

“Of course I was listening, I’m a wonderful friend like that. Speaking of,” said Balthazar, turning to Cas with a raised eyebrow, “fancy a friendly snog to piss off this hag?”

Cas thought a moment, then shrugged. “Why not?”

“That’s the spirit,” said Balthazar bracingly, grabbing a fistful of Cas’s shirt and pulling him in for a kiss.

There was no real heat to it—at the end of the day, Balthazar knew Cas was about as romantically interested in him as he was in Cas; that is to say, not at all—but in for a penny, in for a pound. Balthazar closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Cas’s shoulders, letting out an exaggerated moan; he could feel Cas practically shaking with suppressed laughter and gave him a very subtle pinch. Cas let out a muffled snort before gasping, “Oh, Balthazar!” in mock passion and pressing their lips more firmly together; he even groaned a bit, which at which point it was Balthazar’s turn to bite back a chuckle.

Thankfully, their tactic worked: the students around them erupted into applause, and scarcely five seconds had passed before the woman let out an affronted huff and stormed off. Once the sound of her heels had sufficiently faded, Balthazar cracked an eye open and, with the visual confirmation that she was gone, gave Cas a tap on the shoulder, stepping back with a grin. “Well, that went swimmingly, wouldn’t you say?”

Cas looked off in the direction the woman had gone. “It did seem to have the desired effect, although,” he added, lips twitching in a poorly concealed smirk as he reached into his pocket and produced a tube of organic lip balm, “you probably need this more than I do.”

Balthazar rolled his eyes. “Oh, we’re giving post-snogging critiques, are we? Here, then.” He took the lip balm and, in exchange, held out a small tin of mints. “You absolutely need this more than I do.”

Cas snorted, accepting the mints and making a show of popping one into his mouth; Balthazar, for his part, applied a liberal amount of lip balm. “Right, then,” he said, smacking his lips together and pocketing the tube, “coffee?”

#balthazar #cas & balthazar #balthazar & cas #supernatural #spn #fanfiction #my writing #can i get an amen #cw: homophobic language #cw: homophobia

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honeymoonjin · 5 years

Text

radio silence - jimin x reader

A/N: thank you all so much for 1k followers! It means the world to me that you’re reading and enjoying my stories, and I hope you’ll continue to support me in the future xx Jimin decides to indulge his exhibition kink while at the biggest music awards show on the planet. Warnings for sexually explicit content: ass play, toys, overstimulation, sub!Jimin, dom!Reader, exhibitionism/voyeurism. 2.4k.

“Happy Anniversary?”

You frown at the uncertain lilt in your boyfriend’s voice. “Jimin, I don’t really want to wear these in public.”

He brushes his hair back only for it to fall in his face again. “The vibrating panties aren’t for you, baby, they’re for me.”

Oh. Adventurous was always a word you’d use to describe your and Jimin’s sex life, but it seemed over time he was becoming more open with just how kinky he was. Not that it put you off; on the contrary, ever since he told you last April that he was a switch rather than the dom he had previously behaved like, your sex life was better than ever. Every time he revealed something new to you, it drew you both closer and led to some exciting times.

“Okay, baby. I’ll take you to a restaurant or something and we can see how good your poker face is, hm?”

He shakes his head. “I was thinking something… a little bigger.”

You inspect the panties; scant amount of lace just sturdy enough to house a vibrating patch near the front and a small plug in the back. “I’m sure we could switch out the butt plug for a larger one if you want, baby.”

“Not that.” Jimin drops his shoulders and tilts his head in his classic begging pose. “You know the Grammys are coming up.”

“Jimin.” You stare at him with an open mouth, but he just smiles wider. “We can’t do that. What if you get caught? It’s too risky.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly why I like it. Look, let this be my anniversary present, sweetheart. This is all I ask for. I know you love seeing me holding back when we’re in public. Remember the v-live?”

You swallow hard. Jimin readily admitted to you that he got the idea from a fanfiction he had read of himself, a habit you found equally amusing and disturbing. Suck him off while he was live to all the ARMY around the world. He had held up well, your good boy, but in the end had to pretend to stub his toe and disappear off camera when he came.

“It’s the exact same thing,” he insists, “come on, sweetheart.”

“It’s not,” you protest, though you can feel yourself giving in, “this is national television, and your full body will be on display. There’s no stepping out of frame in real life, Jimin. What, are you going to walk down the red carpet with a cum stain on the front of your pants?”

It’s meant to be an argument against this, but with the way Jimin’s eyes darken, you know you weren’t effective. “If you do this for me, I’ll do anything you want when we get home?”

You bite your lip. “Anything?”

Jimin leans forward, taking the panties out of your hands so he can interlock your fingers. “Take care of me tomorrow night, and I’ll take care of you afterwards, I promise.”

You sigh, but you’re too weak to say no. “Give me the instruction manual, I want to do my research, so I know exactly how to ruin you. I’ll make you regret ever asking me for this.”

He licks his lips sinfully. “I look forward to it.”

Perhaps the most embarrassing moment of Jimin’s life to date (and there had been many) was having the stylist who helped him tailor his suit catch a slip of baby pink lace poking out from his waistband, but now that you and him were seated, side-by-side at the show, he knew it was worth it.

There were hundreds of world-famous celebrities here tonight, plus cameramen circling like vultures to relay the event to millions of viewers at home. The show had begun airing a little over ten minutes ago, and you were yet to do anything.

To his disappointment, you hadn’t even given him a little taste when he was doing red carpet interviews. But the plug pressed deliciously against him as he sat down, and the anticipation was heightening his senses like never before.

Occasionally, you would reach innocently into your purse as you chatted across him to Taehyung, and Jimin would stiffen, waiting for the vibrations to kick in, but then you’d remove your hand to be holding lip balm or a tissue, and he’d go lax against his chair. No one had picked up on it yet, but you could certainly tell it was sending him wild. A brush against his crotch as you reached over to fix Tae’s suit cuffs told you he was rock hard.

You had done your research as promised; had spent an afternoon with the instruction manual and the goods themselves, seeing how powerful each setting was, and you had also memorized the category that would come before Artist of the Year, the one BTS had been nominated for. Perhaps it was time to give him a little taste.

You glanced over. He was currently half-twisted in his seat, bending back to pitch in to Yoongi and Hoseok’s conversation about the most recent performance. Every now and again, his eyes flickered back casually to make sure you hadn’t bent down to stick your hand in your bag.

Little did Jimin know, the tiny remote was in your pocket this whole time. You smirked, pretending to listen in, and deftly reached down into your pocket, waiting for him to start speaking.

“…seemed kinda rushed, I guess?” Hoseok shrugged. “Of course, the tempo to the song is offbeat, so it makes sense that he would fall a little out of time.”

Jimin nodded. “Actually, I picked up on that too. The bit just after the chor-uh!”

You kept your cool as he whirled around to you with wide eyes, glancing down at your hand where it rested in your pants pocket. “Chor-uh? I hope your speech has better pronunciation than that.”

Yoongi smirks and Hoseok laughs out loud, but Jimin’s still staring at you with wide, honeyed eyes. Minute movements direct your gaze briefly to his crotch, where he’s shuffling slightly against his seat for more friction. You had discovered the other day, to your delight, that the butt plug also vibrated, and no doubt he was trying to find a position where it would rest against his prostate. He laughs off-pitch. “Well, I doubt we’re going to win anyway.”

“We’ll win,” Yoongi says confidently, leaning back in his seat. “So, now might be a good time to rehea- Jimin, are you okay? We have time, don’t worry.”

Jimin’s stiff in his chair, face blank. While Yoongi spoke, you had decided to test out the pulse function at a higher vibration. Clearly, it felt good. You nudged him lightly with your foot, twisting the dial to lower the speed enough for him to talk. “Uh, y-yeah, I’m good. I think it just kicked in, ha. We’re at the Grammys, nominated for the biggest award in music. Wild.”

Taehyung pokes him playfully in the thigh and Jimin jerks at the contact. “Relax, hyung. We deserve this, you know? We’ve worked hard, and ARMY are right here with us.”

The reminder that the world was watching caused Jimin to bite his lip and flutter his eyelashes in lust, glancing around the stage. “Shh, the announcement is starting,” he mutters shakily, although the presenters are still sharing awkward banter up on stage.

The three men around him shrug in confusion, but acquiesce, and fall silent. You take the silence as a good indicator to turn the panties off. As much as you love teasing Jimin when he’s like this, you know he wouldn’t really want his members hearing a buzzing sound emanating from his pants.

He arches his back a little and pouts when the vibrations cease, giving you an imploring gaze. “Sweetheart, can you let me out of the row? I need to use the bathroom.”

You stare at him hard as you stand and lean in to whisper harshly in his ear as he passes. “You better not jerk off in there or I’m putting it on high and throwing away the remote.”

He shudders instinctively, shaking his head. “I’ll be noona’s good boy.”

You sit back down, patting him lightly on the ass as he leaves.

“Man, he’s been odd today,” Hoseok muses, “more hyper than Jin this morning, and now he’s all moody. What’s gotten into him?”

You cough behind your hand to hide your grin. What’s gotten into him, indeed. “He’s probably just stressed about the award. It’s a big deal for you guys.”

Hoseok hums in agreement. “You can say that again. I couldn’t sleep a wink last night.”

Slowly, the others return to their conversations, Jimin comes back and sits down again, staying silent for the most part as he waits for you to play with him again, but you rest your hand in your pocket and leave the panties off.

After just under an hour of heightened expectation, Jimin notices the way you perk up as Album of the Year is called out. You know that after this, their category is up, so it’s time for a little more fun.

You lean over to him, hand still in pocket and fondling the on switch. With your other hand over your mouth to cover your lips, aware of a cameraman less than five meters away, you whisper in Jimin’s ear. “Are you ready to be a good boy for me again?”

He keeps his eyes lidded, staring into the middle distance, but nods wordlessly.

You reach down and link your free hand with his. Just enough PDA to keep the camera on you as you turn the panties back on, still on the pulse function, high enough that you can feel the tremors radiate down his thigh where your hands rest. “Feels good?” you ask softly.

He nods again, his body completely stiff. Jimin’s eyes fly open when they’re announced as a nominee, and his strained face is blasted on the big screen along with his other members. He waves with his free hand, clutching tightly onto you with his other.

You smirk at the plan you’d devised, racketing the vibrations up another notch as the envelope is opened. You were going to get Jimin right up to that edge, hold him there, then, just as he walked up to collect the award, take everything away.

Make him give a thank you speech to ARMY with a straining erection, cock weeping from a denied orgasm. Then, after keeping him hard with periodic playtime, you’d wait until he was in the van with you and the other members and make him cum in front of them.

As much as he probably wanted you to make him cum right here, you were just too worried about the risks, so you’d switch it off and take the safer route.

“BTS!”

As expected, their name is called out, and Jimin forgets about the panties and jumps up to celebrate. You beam, genuinely happy for him and all that he had achieved. When he walks up towards the stage with the rest of them, you turn the dial up to high, and change pulse setting to more frequent pulses. You watch with a grin as his back goes ramrod straight, and he falls a little behind, bringing up the rear as he stumbles arm-in-arm with Taehyung.

The seven of them bundle up around the microphone, Yoongi with the award in hand and Namjoon beginning the speeches with an overwhelmed smile on his face. Jimin glances down and sends a you a pleading look, and you know the way his knees wobble just slightly that he’s close. Showtime.

You wave over to him with a sly grin, and reach down and switch off the remote. Your smile drops.

Instead of looking frustrated at his denial of release, his eyes are wide and he’s biting his lip hard. You frown, hastily pulling the remote out of your pocket to check. You’ve definitely switched it off, so why is he still acting like that.

As he crumples his face and shuffles behind Taehyung, hiding his crotch from the cameras, you swear internally. You remember reading somewhere on the manual about the distance of the signal. The remote had to be in range of the panties for the Bluetooth function to work. The panties were probably still going full bore, as the command to switch off couldn’t reach them.

You stare at the stage with wide eyes, watching the way Jimin is grabbing handfuls of Taehyung’s jacket and burying his face into his shoulder. Namjoon wraps up his speech and steps aside just as Tae is sending Jimin a concerned stare. You know they didn’t have much time, and so only Namjoon and Jimin were going to say something, but it seemed like Jimin was right in the middle of an orgasm on national television.

His shoulders shake, and the audience began to coo noisily, assuming he was crying. When he finally lifts his head up and shuffles shakily to the mic, he has a red face and tears in his eyes. No doubt the vibrations were too much right after cumming.

He coughs weakly, smiling with watery eyes. “ARMY, I love you!” What was meant to be a yell broke off halfway through, and the viewers ‘aww’-ed again. He quickly left the stage, not caring about other members following behind, and you noticed that the moment he was three rows in front of you, the tension in his face and body melted away and his head tipped back. He reached you, panting and waiting in the aisle to let the others file in past you before he did.

When he collapses onto his seat, exhausted, you turn to him to apologize and explain, but he leans in and nibbles at your earlobe playfully, the same endearing action he always did after getting his way. “Thank you, noona,” he sighs blissfully, “that was fucking amazing.”

You bite your lip and search his face when he leans back, but you can tell he’s being honest. “I’m glad,” you reply with a soft smile, “I’m looking forward to you repaying the favor tonight.

Jimin just chuckles and tips his head back to rest on your shoulder. “Me too.”

#bts smut #jimin smut #bts fic #sub jimin #jimin x reader #btssmutclub

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superpuppies · 4 years

Text

Hobbit High

Chapter 6: Ori’s Stash

Fandom- The Hobbit

Characters- Ori X Dwalin, Bilbo X Thorin, Fili, Kili, Dori, Nori, Gandalf, Thlandral, Legolas

Rating- PG15

Word count-2,408

Archive Link- https://archiveofourown.org/works/10027448/chapters/57583495#workskin

Summary- While Ori sleeps Dwlin helps himself to a few of the fantasizes Bilbo had dreamed up for Ori.

Hey all, here’s the newest from my mind, please keep in mind that I do have dyslexia and I really do try to fix all spelling mistakes but some will always slip through. If you spot some please let me know and I will do my best to correct it. Thank you.

Once Ori was nicely tucked, well half tripped half dropped on to his bed and curled into his blankets. Dwalin took a moment to look around the room this marked the first time he would spend an extended amount of time in Ori’s room. Nori had almost always seemed to find a reason to pester his baby brother when he knew Dwalin was on his way over, though Dwalin himself had always hovered in the door way. Dwalin heaved a sigh and actually looked at the room he now stood in. The walls were painted a soft earthen brown, lined in waist high deep oak bookshelves except next to the window where a small oak computer desk sat and on the opposite wall where the bed laid it’s claim. Only a few posters where scattered above the bookshelves, of some of Ori’s favorite comics and novels that had been turned into films. There was one that surprised him though, nestled in the corner next to the closet was a poster of Sailor Mercury and Sailor Saturn posed back to back ready to defend their calmly reading counter parts. The poster made Dwalin smirk; it was oddly girlish yet not quite as it was also the only one that had any female presence or a human one for that matter.

Glancing at the bookshelves a three-inch binder labeled algebra glared back at Dwalin from midway between the bed and the closet. He crossed the room and carefully pulled the binder from the shelf. Opening the binder with a mixture of feeling both dirty and ridiculous, he was a bit surprised to find that it was actually full of stories instead of math, just like Nori had said. He was not however surprised that there was a small table of contents with only dates and page counts, the fact that each story had its own matching labeled divider certainly helped.

Dwalin turned on the bedside lamp and flicked off the overhead before settling with his back against the bed the binder on his lap. He picked a divider at random and opened to the story of 3-27, no title was on the actual story itself, which made Dwalin sigh. Truthfully how was he supposed to have any clue what this was about without a title? Dwalin wondered, then supposed that titling them and bringing them to school was probably too much of a risk. With another sigh he let the lack of title go and started reading only to stop and double check that there wasn’t something that came before, because the story just seemed to jump right in.

Ori bit his lip to keep the groans from pouring out of him but it did very little to stop them. Dwalin tightened his hold on the slender red heads hips as he pistonned into him harder. Dwalin let out a guttural sound and pressed Ori’s face harder against the cold slick desk top.

Dwalin stopped reading; it was weird and confusing reading about himself like that. Yes, he understood what was happening but he just didn’t understand why and it didn’t look like he would be getting an answer any time soon. He flipped to another story deciding that 3-27 was not the place for him to start. He skipped over two and stopped on 4-10.

Five twenty in the evening the Ri house is as quiet as the rest of the street as Dwalin, a local football star makes his way up to the door and rings the bell. The door is opened moments later by the middle Ri boy, Nori, who greets his friend with a mischievous grin. “Good you made it.”

“I live two streets over, why wouldn’t I make it?” Dwalin grumbles as he walks into the house.

“Right, right. I just meant as fast as you did is all.” Nori smiles shutting the door. “Now come on I want you to see this.” Nori starts up the stairs with Dwalin just behind.

“This better not be anything stupid. I had to make ridicules promises to get out of the house.”

“No, no you’re gonna like it. Trust me.” Nori said smiling standing at the far end of the hall his hand on the doorknob of his older brother’s room.

“Why are you going into Dori’s room?”

“Because that is where it is.” Nori smirked then opened the door and shoved Dwalin through it before walking in himself and closing the door. Dwalin caught his balance and turned on Nori but quickly turned back as his mind said it had seen something very unexpected.

Dori sat on the end of the bed an oddly dark smile set into his usually kind features, as the fingers of his right hand brushed softly over the top of a very naked, tided down, blindfolded and whimpering Ori’s foot. Dwalin’s mouth went dry at the sight of it which made speaking more difficult than it should have been.

“What the-“

“Hmm, I was pretty sure you wouldn’t make it.” Dori chuckled. Dwalin tried to start again but words failed him and so he fell silent as Nori wrapped himself around Dwalin’s shoulders.

“The last couple of times we were playing Dori and I found out a little secret.” Nori rested his head on Dwalin’s shoulder and whispered in his ear. “Would you like to know it?”

Dwalin twitched away from Nori, uncomfortable with his friend’s moist hot breath brushing against his skin. “What the hell is going on?” Dwalin finally managed to get the words to form shaking Nori off of himself. Dori’s chuckle caught him off guard and tore his eyes back to the eldest Ri.

“We’re playing.” Nori stated as if it were obvious.

“Playing what?” Concern tainted Dwalin’s voice.

Dori sighed as he stood. “Do you want to know the secret or not?” Dori stated, hovering at the end of his bed waiting. While Ori murmured and searched for the now lost contact as much as his bindings would allow. Dwalin gave himself a moment to think and then with a slight lowering of his head asked.

“What’s it about?”

Dori smirked confidently. “Well no, I didn’t say anything about giving you clues. It’s either you want to know or you don’t. There is no half knowing in this.”

Dwalin exhaled heavily, running his hands over his face. Yes, he did want to know in fact at this moment he wanted to know a lot of things, but no, he was also pretty sure he didn’t want to know. He could make guesses at a few things here, ones he was sure would be quite accurate. It would be nice to just turn around, return home and act like this hadn’t happened, like his friend didn’t have his brother bound naked to a bed like it was a normal thing. But he knew he couldn’t just go back to how it was before, he wouldn’t be able to forget, just let it go. It would bother him, yeah he could guess and hypothesis but he wouldn’t know and that would eat away at him. “Yes.” He finally said quietly with his eyes locked on the carpet.

Nori laughed out right as he started for the bed.

“Wow, I really thought you were going to back right out of the room.” Dori said with a smile that almost resembled his usual one. Dwalin looked up as the two older brothers settled on opposite sides of the bed. “No backing out now though, Dwalin.”

Nori ran his hand slowly up Ori’s left leg, over his thigh then slowed to play on the hip bone. Ori bowed into the touch biting his bottom lip to stifle his wanton moan. Dori smirked as his fingers began to play across Ori’s stomach. Ori quickly lost the fight to stay silent and gasp sharply before falling into a panting groan as sensation attacked him from both sides.

Dori leaned in close to Ori’s head and hooked a wire around his pinky, giving the wire a gentle tug and earphone dislodged from Ori’s ear and tumbled down the pillow. With a low and darkly smooth voice Dori stage whispered. “You’ve been a very good boy, Ori, waiting so patiently. Now you just need to do one more thing.” Ori let out a shuttering whimper that sent anticipatory shivers down Dwalin’s spine and played in the back of his mind. Dori smirked watching Dwalin’s reaction as he continued. “Tell us who you want, who, you really want.”

Ori’s lip quivered slightly but slowly and very softly he began to speak. “I, I want… Dori.”

“Liar!” Dori growled slapping Ori hard across the face as Nori removed his hands from Ori’s thigh. Disappointment clouded Nori’s face as he stood beside the bed looking down on his younger brother though Ori couldn’t see it. Ori remained silent and Dori smiled proudly at that as he leaned back over his youngest brother. “Let us try this again, Ori. Who do you want?” Ori’s cheeks tinted pink and he turned from his brother, had he been able to see he would have realized he was looking right at Dwalin. “Ori.” Dori demanded.

“Dwalin.” Ori blurted out, looking as ashamed as he could without actually curling in on himself. Dwalin simply gawked; he couldn’t wrap his head around what he had heard. Both Nori and Dori smirked. Nori watched his friend with interest as Dori spoke again. “I think that can be arranged.” With gentle fingers he pulled the blindfold from Ori’s eyes. Ori was still facing Dwalin and as Dwalin realized what Dori had planned he stepped forward with a panicked.

“Wait.” Ori’s eyes snapped open at Dwalin’s voice an odd tension of horror and want played over his body.

“Would you rather him blind?” Dori asked raising an eyebrow. Dwalin didn’t answer as his eyes ran unabated over Ori’s skin. “Dwalin.” Dori snapped pulling Dwalin’s attention back to the question and his eyes away from Ori.

“No.” Dwalin sounded a bit unsure of his answer.

Nori moved right up against Dwalin’s side and ran his hands down Dwalin’s arm. “So you do want him then?” He smiled slyly.

“Stop pawing at me!” Dwalin snapped pulling his arm away from Nori’s grasp.

“Come here, Dwalin.” Dori called him closer to the bed, Dwalin hesitated.

The bedroom door cracked opened and Nori peaked his head in. He smiled at the back of Dwalin’s head as he quietly entered the room; he knelt down on the edge of the bed and leaned over Ori then Dwalin’s shoulder. “What you reading?”

Dwalin jumped at the sound of Nori’s voice next to his ear. “Holy crap, man! Don’t do that.” He hissed turning to Nori. Nori simply shrugged reaching past him and thumbing back a few pages.

“Oh, you don’t want to read that one it’s weird. Nori said standing, crossing back over to the book shelf and grabbing an unmarked binder. “These, however, are some of my personal favorites.” Nori said walking back over and settling next to Dwalin, as if it were perfectly normal to have favorite stories about one’s brother and best friend in sexual situations. “This one has you and Thorin getting drunk then sneak up here to have your wicked way with Ori and Bilbo.” Nori chuckled flipping through the pages in search of that particular story.

“Aren’t there any stories where I’m not taking some sort of advantage of him?” Dwalin groaned.

“Not in this house.” Nori shrugged still flipping pages. “He just doesn’t see you for the giant teddy bear you are.”

“The wha? I am not.”

“You are. I’ve seen how you’ve turned down any girl that’s come to you with an offer. I’m still not quite sure how you manage to keep them liking you, I mean Thorin’s got that rumor that he’s got a girlfriend from that stupid archery going for him but you, you got nothing .”

“Well, thanks for that.” Dwalin set a pouting glare at Nori. “So he really thinks I’d use him?” Dwalin continued sadly looking up at Ori’s sleeping face.

“Seems that way.” Nori shrugged. “I guess he figures it’s the only way he would get any attention from you. You know like if you used him for some sort of stress relief” Nori let his sentence fade as he turned to look at his friend. He was sure he hadn’t seen Dwalin looking so defeated since they had lost the homecoming game by two points back in freshman year. Nori cleared his throat bringing Dwalin’s attention back to him. “So you’ll just have to show him that he’s wrong.”

Dwalin half smirked as he looked at the story Nori had stopped at. “So, I’m drunk in this one?”

“Yep.” Nori smiled. “Apparently Dori’s not so good at locking up his scotch.”

“Scotch? I would have thought him more of a brandy man.”

“Schnapps actually but in this particular tale Scotch.”

“Schnapps? Really?”

“Yep, Butterscotch and apple are his preferred.”

“Your brothers are something else.” Dwalin said shaking his head.

“Yeah, well, you know.” Nori handed Dwalin the binder. “So, you gonna read it? I should really get back or Bilbo’s virtue might not make the night.” Nori stood but waited for Dwalin’s answer.

“I don’t know, I’ll think about it.”

“Alright but he’ll never know so you may as well use it while you can.” Nori shrugged and closed the door behind him.

Dwalin thumbed the upper corner of the page for a moment trying to decide whether or not to start this story. With a soft huff he placed the binder on the plush sand colored carpet and climbed up onto the bed behind Ori. Dwalin spooned himself as close to Ori as he could without actually touching the boy. He watched Ori’s chest rise and fall but all he could think of was the dark bruises still forming beneath the thin layer of t-shirt. Dwalin was sure he was just as responsible for them as Fili and Kili were. With another huff Dwalin leaned over Ori and turned off the light. Settling back on the bed Dwalin allowed himself a moment of creepy stalker behavior and sniffed Ori’s hair. It smelled of the apple blossom shampoo he had seen in the tub and of Ori himself, the earthy clean of paper, ink and charcoal. Dwalin drifted off to sleep a small smile on his face.

#the hobbit #ori #dwalin #dwori #dori #Nori #Thorin #thorin x bilbo #Fili #Kili #Bilbo Baggens #dwalin x ori #Fanfiction #AU highschool

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urlocalkpoptrash · 5 years

Text

Scenery| Kim Taehyung.

Taehyung x Reader.

Genre: Fluff (90%)/ Angst (10%)

Warnings: Talk of being ill, and death.

Concept: Living your life through photos and memories.

A/N: Honestly, his song gives me so many feels. I hope you guys enjoy! 😭

- - - - - - - - -

The room was quiet for once, the boys had left not too long ago, and the nurses were visiting other patients. Taehyung yawned as you walked into the room, his eyes lighting up when he saw you standing by his bed. Today was a good day for him, it was all in his eyes. Lately, they had been dull and heavily lidded. He tried his hardest to stay positive, but some days were harder than others, luckily he was having an easy day.

“Well hello there, handsome,” you said, setting the large photo album on the side table.

He watched with wonder, a small smile tugging on his lips. He adored that book like it was the holy bible, and to him, it was.

“I see you brought me a gift,” his voice was soft, barely above a whisper.

“I did,” you grinned, sitting on the edge of his bed, “I know last week was a hard week, and I thought I’d try and cheer you up.”

He placed his hand on your thigh, his fingers curling around the fabric of your sweatpants. You felt your heart break a little, such a small gesture, full of such love.

“Shall I get started?” You asked, clearing your throat, trying not to let your emotions get the best of you.

“Yes, please.” He used what little strength he had to push himself higher on the bed.

You quickly reached back, and adjusted his pillow. He sighed, but smiled gratefully when you looked down at him. No matter how sick he got, he never asked for help, that wasn’t the tae everyone knew, and that wasn’t the tae he wanted to be.

You settled back into your position, grabbing the album. You had tagged a few pages, with some of your favorite pictures and favorite memories. You fingers danced over a few of the polaroids, scenes from your life flashing before you. You picked your most cherished photo.

“This was one of our first dates,” you set the photo on his stomach, letting him pick it up.

“It was an art museum, and you kept stopping to look at every single painting,” he grinned, looking at the picture fondly.

You had never been into art, but taehyung was, and you wanted to know everything about him. He told you that if he never pursued music, he would have pursued art. He was so knowledgeable and mesmerized by the paintings.

“What about this one?” You stopped before a rather abstract piece, completely lost as to what any of it could mean.

“Ah,” he stood beside you, one arm tucked warmly around your waist, “This is one of my favorite artists, he has a way of capturing the rawest form of emotions.”

You tilted your head to one side, squinting to see if you could try and make something out of the lines, and the vibrant colors masked by black and white.

“This one in particular is about having to hide your emotions for the better of someone else. He was madly in love with a girl, but her family looked down on him and his art. He knew that if he expressed how he truly felt, she would leave everything behind and follow him. He couldn’t let her do that, he knew she would regret it one day. He’d rather leave when the love was the strongest, than wait till he became the enemy,” he glanced over at you, and you were in awe of the painting, finally understanding.

“What would you have done?” You asked, still not breaking your gaze from the painting.

“I would have given up my art to be with the woman I love,” he mumbled, far too focused on the live art work that was standing beside him.

“If she loved you, she wouldn’t let you do that,” you finally turned your full attention to him.

“Some times the greatest masterpieces aren’t the ones you put on a canvas,” he whispered, just as you moved on to the next painting, knowing full well you didn’t hear him, and he was okay with that.

He laughed, and shook his head as you set down another one, “We had taken over thirty photos this day, and all of them, except this one, I was paying attention. Of course, the one you loved was the one where I’m not even looking at you.”

You beamed, and nodded. He had always told you that he hated that picture, but you would never think for a second about giving it up, or changing it.

It was your first time traveling together, and you had been exploring the city all day. You were eating the foods, talking to the locals, and most importantly your were able to taste all the wines. Tae never drank, but he would gladly sit with you, and converse while you divulged in your love of wine.

The night was coming to an end, and you two were going to be meeting the rest of his friends that night for dinner, but tae insisted on taking pictures. Almost all of them had been of you, because every time you asked to take one of him, he’d just smile and shake his head, a shy smile adoring his cheeks.

“Okay, fine. I’ll take a few,” he rolled his eyes, as if he was annoyed, but his amused chuckle told another story.

He had posed a few times, taking sweet photos, a few where he was trying to make you laugh, and two with his signature ‘v’ pose.

“Hold on, I need to fix this,” He fidgeted with something in his hand, sitting down, legs crossed at the ankles.

You watched him, his tongue slightly protruding from his lips, the wind was strong enough just to shake a few strands of his hair out of place. He hummed to himself while he worked, nose scrunching every few seconds. Your heart swelled, he looked the most like himself in that moment. You couldn’t stop yourself from snapping one last picture.

He had finished whatever it was he was doing, draping an arm around your shoulder, “Did you get any good ones, baby?” He asked, pressing a tender kiss into your temple.

“I did, and it’s probably my favorite picture I’ve ever taken,” you admitted, wrapping one arm around his back, walking beside him.

“I can’t wait to see it,” he stopped in the middle of the street, pulling you fully into his arms.

You looked up at him, resting your chin on his chest. He gently nudged your nose with his, before pressing a heavenly kiss on to your lips.

You grinned brightly when you flipped the page to find the next photo. You ran your fingers over the edges before placing in tae lap. He looked down, his brittle fingers taking ahold of the picture delicately.

“Was this the night -,” he cut off his own sentence to look at you, and he was pleased to see the fondness of your face.

“Yeah... It was the night you confessed you were actually in love with me,” your eyes held him in your gaze.

“You know, the hammock could could hold more than one person if you sat normally,” Jin mumbled from over his broad shoulder.

“It could, but I don’t want to share it with any of you,” he said with a boxy, tight lipped smile.

“Not even your girlfriend?” You said with a pout, your eyes peaking up over your phone, having just captured a photo of him.

“Nope. You’re a space hog,” he gestured over to you, where you were sprawled across the floor, legs spread slightly, your purse laying flat beside you.

“I’ll remember that when you want cuddles tonight,” you retorted, crossing your arms with a pout.

Childish. You were being childish, but in that moment you didn’t care.

“Oh baby,” he cooed, pushing himself up from the hanging fabric, striding over to you, only to kneel between your legs.

“Did I hurt your feeling?” He placed his hands in your face, squishing your cheeks so your lips were pushed out.

“Yes,” you mumbled, the muscles in your cheeks ached as you instinctively tried to smile.

“You’re so cute when you’re pouty,” he laughed an airy, playful chuckle, “I just love you.”

Three words to shut the whole room up, Jin and Jungkook both stopped bickering to turn on their heels to face the both of you.

Namjoon coughed loudly, choking on one of the snacks he had indulged on. Hoseok almost ran into the practice room mirror, but the wooden beam that spread across the mirror jabbed into his hip.

“What?” He asked, actually very confused.

“You-you, you said you loved her,” Jungkook squeaked from the corner of the room.

“I do,” he said matter of fact, looking down to hear the only response that actually mattered.

“I love you too, Taehyungie,” you whispered, capturing his lips with yours, the whole room groaning and turning away, but the smile on Taehyungs lips hurt his cheeks.

“I could look at these pictures all day,” you felt his fingers reach over to grab your hand.

“Me too, tae.” You glanced over, his eyes starting to hang a little lower, you could see the sleep trying to fight his bright eyes, “Do you want to get some sleep?” You brought his hand up, brushing your lips over his knuckles.

“Just a few more,” his voice getting more hoarse.

“Sure, baby,” who were you to deny him of this.

You flipped a few full pages, the right side of the book was getting heavier, as you started to near the end of the book.

“Stop,” he pointed just as you were about to turn another round of pictures, “Those, the ones of you,” you peaked through your lashes, seeing his weak, but very viable boxy grin.

You set the book in his lap, and he scanned over the page for a long moment, reliving the memories in his mind.

“Just a bit further,” he called back at you, chuckling as you groaned.

“How are you carrying all that camera equipment, and you’re not even breaking a sweat?” You looked up to see he had extended his hand for you.

After he had pulled you to his side, he nudged you forward. You were faced with the calm waters of a river running between the hill you climbed and the woods on the other side. He watched as you walked forward, admiring the way you silhouette moved into the sunlight.

“How did you find this place?”

“I was always on the look out for the most beautiful sights.”

You still felt the need to catch your breath, feeling a little dizzy. You sat on the batch of rocks crowding around the edge, “Did you find it?”

He looked at you through his camera lens, snapping a photo. He brought to screen to his face,”I did, and I will never find anything else like it,” he let his camera move away so he was only left with the view and you.

He laughed when you removed the next picture, and when you saw exactly what that was, you couldn’t help but laugh as well.

“I can’t believe you kept this,” he shook his head, the smile never leaving his face.

“Why wouldn’t I?!” You took the photo from him, examining it yourself.

39 flights of stairs you both climbed, and if it wasn’t for the incredible view from your favorite spot, you wouldn’t have dared to make this journey.

With a burst of energy Taehyung shoved the door to the roof his apartment open, the moon and star illuminating the concrete and back up generators. You followed after him, giggle, the wind wiping your hair across your face.

You both stood close to the railing, the world below you was still busy, but the apartments above had turned their lights off and closed their curtains, closing down for the night. You felt the excitement bubbling up in your stomach and you couldn’t help it.

“I passed!” You yelled loudly, your echo responding back to you.

Taehyung laughed, and yelled just as loud, “My girlfriend is officially college educated!”

Exams were over and you passed in the top of tour class, graduation was close you could taste it.

“You hear that world?! I’m college educated,” you opened your arms, welcoming the presence of happiness in your life.

“We get it! You’re in debt!” A man yelled from the building across from you, shaking his hand out of the window.

Both you and Tae almost fell to your knees in laughter, tears falling down your face from just how hard you were cracking up.

“Hey tae,” you mumbled softly, laying down beside him as you set the book on the side of you.

“Hmm?” He lifted his brows, but his eyes didn’t open.

“Why did you always have me in the pictures of your scenic shots?” His fingers ran through the strands of your hair.

“I wanted a picture of the scenery,” he turned his head, his nose replacing his hands, hiding his face in your hair, “And there is nothing as beautiful as you.”

And that was the last thing he ever said to you. The sleep that was fighting him so bad finally swallows him whole. It was as if he was waiting for a moment like that, for a moment where he could relive his life with you. He wanted to go holding the only thing that meant the world to him. He wanted to go never wondering if you were his. So he did, he passed with the boys at his side, and with you in his arms. The last things he remembers seeing was your face, the best scenery of all.

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lazuliblade · 5 years

Text

2019 Worlds - EX Gala rough report

I am, so tired. I slept about 3 hours last night. Apparently at the small medal ceremony Yuzu said he slept 3 hours last night. We’re comrades in sleep.

Ahhh, “Haru yo, Koi” was amazing. The Exhibition Gala was such a nice note to end on. I’m sad Yuzu didn’t get a chance to do an encore since he didn’t win -- we could have had it all. Haru yo Koi costume in the sakura-themed Kiss&Cry. Origin skated with the Haru yo Koi costume -- can you imagine? Dark overlord god of the universe, but in pale white-pink? That Ina Bauer with the arm choreo, done in the beautiful ruffly costume. The final spin into the dramatic triumph pose. It would have been glorious. But ah well.

Again, a proper report will follow later when I’m not as dead. Likely Tuesday since tomorrow I won’t be able to use my laptop. For now, some rough highlights:

Yuzu’s costume is so sparkly

When the skaters were gathering in the entrance to come out for the introductions, I saw sparkles from across the rink. I was in the corner on the same long side as the entrance but all the way on the other end, so I didn’t have a clear view like yesterday when I could see them enter/exit without obstruction. Immediately I thought “I bet that’s Yuzu” and I pulled up my binoculars. Yes, it was Yuzuru. Bless him for having beautiful costumes.

The costume was actually a really pale pink and looked almost white from a distance. I realized that it literally is the color of not just any pink sakura you see printed on containers/marketing ads/everything, but it’s the color of THE sakura you’d see in person. The nearly white flowers that don’t actually look pink until you get close. The sakura people people refer to when they mention flower viewing. The sakura trees that line the roads in many neighborhoods, the trees that the meteorological agency bases the cherry blossom forecast on. So he was dressed up in the color of the live flower.

Yuzu’s low hydroblade covers SO much ice, and he held it forever. He did two revolutions. It was in my corner, so I was able to see him sink deep into that position, and get lower still. It covered maybe a fourth of the rink? And the diameter was huge - covering a good chunk of the width of the rink. He had a moment where his head came up abruptly (he was facing away from me at that moment - but apparently it’s because he leaned far enough down to kiss the ice and then jerked back up), and then sunk lower yet again into the second revolution. The lady next to me was just in awe saying “wow, it looks like he’s gonna fall, doesn’t it?” There was like a centimeter between his body and the ice -- it almost looked like he was laying on it, but he was going so fast.

His Ina Bauer was luxurious. That’s it. That’s the one word that came to mind when he so smoothly slid into position and then smiled and tilted his torso back. Then leisurely did the arm motions like he was unconcerned about running out of speed or ice.

It covered a lot of distance as well. This started on the long side heading into my corner again, and wrapped around the entire short side of the rink and back to the middle of the opposite long side.

Also, holy heck he’s so fast. He was in the corner directly diagonal from me waaay on the other side of the rink, and he took just TWO crossovers and suddenly he was at full speed halfway across the rink doing those steps before the 3Lo - which was also landed in front of me.

The delayed Axel was so airy and high

His spins are crazily centered. The Sit Spin is a stationary point of twinkling stars in a vortex. It’s mesmerizing to watch because he doesn’t move from the position AT ALL.

Then he unfurls upward with the piano note runs, and everyone in the audience stood up before he hit his last spin upright position.

He changed the first spin early in the program where he reaches down to touch the ice with his fingertips and leaves those finger tracks - he didn’t reach down this time. I guess he didn’t want to slow down the speed of the spin? Who knows.

His smile when he threw the snow in the air. The atmosphere was of anticipation for this moment, and we all started clapping and shouting when he did it.

I have a lot of stuff from other skaters too, but this is getting super long already without it even being a properly polished post, so I’ll put it all under a cut and mention just the highlights that come to mind.

Nathan’s program was a great one to end on

He uses his arms well when he doesn’t have to focus so much energy into jumps - his choreo is always interesting and refreshing.

The upbeat song really got the crowd going. It was like sunshine after we had Sui/Han, Alina, and Papadakis/Cizeron.

His encore to the Nemesis choreo sequence was sharp, and I’m glad I got to see that skated with the energy he had way back in the 2017 GP Rostelecom.

Sui/Han were magnificent. They looked like one person in two bodies out there - which is exactly what Pairs is about. Everything was seamless. I’d seen this EX on video before, but seeing how smoothly they transferred the fan, how fluidly the cloth moved. I was really struck too by how beautifully intimate that last lift was where it looked like Wenjing was entrusting herself to his care, and he was cradling her close. It was so powerful especially with how they missed the first half of the season because of injuries and weren’t in great shape heading to Worlds.

The Italian skaters in general know how to do EXs

the audience around me were confused about him coming down the stairs from the stands, and the sudden stripping - yes, they’re losing their robes. It’s a “boxing” EX and you’re in for a good time.

Matteo Rizzo was a lot of fun, and I’m sad the crowd didn’t understand the song lyrics/were too hesitant/polite/whatever to be able to shout out “Ghost Busters” when the singer literally asks for listeners to shout the name. People loved the entire opening sequence with the beeping machine, and the middle part when the ghost scares him and he loses his backpack.

Michal Brezina and his island retreat skate. It was such a chill way to start off this entire gala.

Keiji’s JoJo program was amazing and the crowd loved it. He’s so in character and the lighting people really went all out with the effects. Yuzu fixed his hair/was fiddling with it afterward when they were in the finale getting ready for the group bow.

Shoma has such nice edges, and his 3A covers a lot of distance. The crowd was really supportive and I feel they just wanted him to skate freely.

Intro&Finale

Yuzu was so bubbly, smiley, giggly, it was effusive. He looked like he enjoyed it all more than anyone else. His smile was like sunshine.

When the Ice Dance teams were together doing their opening intro spins/lifts, the Men were by the boards on the far side from where I sat, so I could clearly see them stretching. Which is odd, because you’d think they should be warmed up to skate already, and the Ladies and Pairs weren’t doing anything like that. Yuzu was stretching his shoulders, reaching back as if trying to get his zipper, so I thought for a moment that he was fixing something, but the other guys were also stretching their arms and legs, so I figured he was stretching his shoulder blades. Yuzu looked like he was testing/envisioning something. The Ladies did their spins, and then the Men go out and do...a spiral side-by-side in a straight line heading towards the short side. They did the basic arabesque pose, and then Yuzu goes and does a catchfoot spiral - so I guess we did get a Biellmann after all. Kind of.

The Men getting in the center to put their hands together and do the whole “go team!” thing, Shoma was off somewhere in his head or forgot or something and then ran to catch up and throw his hand in. The audience laughed because that’s so Shoma.

The finale, we were wondering where Yuzu was, because all the skaters had gathered at the entrance ready to step out onto the ice, and then once on the ice he still wasn’t there. That’s when Nathan goes and brings him over like he’s the guest of honor - I don’t know if the choreographer planned it from the start, or if someone mentioned during practice that it would be nice to do that, but it was a beautiful sentiment.

When all the skaters lined up joining hands for the final bow, I couldn’t help notice how tall Yuzu looked next to Gabby Daleman. She skates so big I didn’t realize she was only 155cm (just the tiniest bit over 5ft).

and when the skaters skated up to the boards in a line holding hands, Yuzu did an arabesque spiral - like he did during the early FaOI shows in the summer.

He was being all cute when all the skaters were doing the two laps around the rink. Lots of peace signs up to his eyes and jumping/bouncing around/skating backwards

He tried to offer the mascot to join the group picture, but it seems the mascot couldn’t see what Yuzu was pointing to/intending, so Yuzu did exaggerated motions, and then when the mascot still didn’t get it, he did a full-body head tilt and there was lots of “are you not going to join then? Oh wait-yes? No, then? (hesitating halfway between turning for the group and the mascot)...wait, that IS a yes?” He helped hold the mascot and skated backwards with little wiggles tugging it along.

When the gold medalists were taking their customary picture, Yuzu was at the exit of the rink and did his final “arigatou gozaimashita” so the audience all screamed back acknowledgements and thanks.

Alina went back after all the pictures were over and did a revenge 3Lz that she fell on in her encore.

They tried to tug Nathan into doing a jump too, but he refused. (Nope, not going to repeat that mistake again when he broke his hip doing a 4T in a gala. Smart move.)

It all passed by so quickly. Look out for a polished retelling later.

#laz talks #worlds2019 #haru yo koi #yuzuru hanyu #this was supposed to be a short post #i'm off to bed now

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t0ngue-tech · 4 years

Text

Binding Force

“Yuanfen is the fate, chance or binding force that brings this person and other people or objects together.”

↠angst, soulmateAU, based on this AU i found on pinterest (obvi i made some changes huhu)↞

word count: 12.6 k OH MY GOD

↠oneshot↞

A/N: hi everyone! ive been working on this for a while and i finally brought myself to finish it! enjoy ^-^

“And then let’s end the last hour in your dorm! How does that sound?”

“Perfect babe. Just perfect.”

In a few hours, Park Jimin was going to celebrate his 21st birthday and not only could he finally purchase alcohol legally and go to bars, he was going to be entering the long-awaited Yuanfen.

Yuanfen was a special moment in time for someone who was turning 21 because it meant the entire universe was going to freeze for 24 hours except for the birthday celebrant and their soulmate. The entire world was their oyster and excited was an understatement for Jimin and his girlfriend, Momo.

Jimin and Momo had been dating since Jimin’s sophomore year of high school while Momo was a freshman. They were close with each other’s families, they got accepted into the same university, and after dating for so long, they believed that they were meant to be. A lot of their friends believed it as well and no one could ever imagine them dating other people.

But, of course, they didn’t want to celebrate Jimin’s 21st birthday without their friends.

The university had a bar-like-lounge off-campus two blocks away from the main building that students frequented to and they all chipped in to rent one of the sections off to celebrate Jimin’s birthday there. Thankfully, his birthday landed on a friday and no one of their friends had a class on Saturday which meant they could drink till their hearts’ content.

“Something tells me Jungkook did something headass like make decorations of all the derp selfies I ever took.” Jimin held the door open for Momo and placed a hand on her lower back.

“I think you’re over exaggerating.” Momo grabbed onto Jimin’s hand and guided him through a section of tables, chairs, and clusters of people.

In a few more feet, Jimin could see photos of his head scrunched down until his chin reached his chest taped onto the wall and he stopped in his tracks. “Babe.” He sighed in defeat.

“What? I think you look handsome.” Momo gave him a peck on his cheek and pulled him by the hem of his shirt, leading him to the back room where all of the decorations were.

Once they stepped out of the walkway, streamers and confetti popped from either side of him and their friends, who were wearing homemade masks of Jimin’s derp selfies, all shouted at the same time, “Happy birthday, Jimin!”

↠↞

“Jungkook, you think you’re funny, huh?” Jimin ripped off the mask of his friend and put him into a headlock.

“Ow—ow! Hey! We all decided on this—even Momo!” Jungkook tapped out, constantly swatting at the sleeve of Jimin’s leather jacket.

“But whose big idea was it?”

“It was me and Jungkook’s.” You emerged from the side and attempted to help Jungkook who was still struggling to escape Jimin’s clutches. “Happy birthday!”

Jimin laughed and tossed Jungkook aside to wrap his arms around you. Jungkook, on the other hand, argued about how he let you off the hook instead of gathering you into a headlock. But you two weren’t listening.

“Where’s Taeyong?” Jimin asked.

“He’s buying another bottle of liquor just in case.” You emphasized the word ‘just’ as you fixed up his leather jacket. “I see you’re still enjoying my birthday present from last year.”

“Yes and thank you again. It goes well with a lot of my shirt.” Jimin show cased the white v-neck he wore underneath his leather jacket, striking poses as if there were paparazzi in the room.

“Y/n!” Momo jumped onto you, smothering you in a tight hug. “I fucking missed you! I haven’t seen you since midterms started.”

Momo was a dear friend of yours. You’ve known her since middle school and actually, you were the one who introduced her to your photography partner in yearbook back in freshman year. She profusely thanked you for introducing her to Jimin as the years went on and they were in a relationship. As a thank you, she introduced you to Lee Taeyong, a friend of hers from the dance team. This led to you and Taeyong dating since your sophomore year of high school.

The four of you were almost always together because Taeyong and Jimin became close friends through you and Momo. Your friendship only deepen because you all applied to the same university. There was complete trust between the four of you which meant that Momo didn’t mind if you hung out with Jimin and vise versa.

“After midterms, you and I need to go out and get a fucking drink together.” You gently spun her around, being cautious of her heels. “I hope you don’t mind if I steal her away from you for a bit, Jimin. She was mine first.”

Jimin smiled and gave you the ‘okay’. You walked towards a table, arm in arm with Momo, that carried all of the alcohol. It was going to be an amazing night, you could feel it in your bones.

Almost two hours had passed and within those two hours, Taeyong showed up with two more bottles of alcohol, Jungkook was already drunk and kissed Jimin on the cheek, twice, and Jimin was already five shots and multiple mixed drinks in.

Jimin was now sipping some water trying to sober up to be in the right mindset just in time for Yuanfen. He glanced around the room, satisfied that all of his friends were enjoying themselves.

Jungkook was trying to steal all of the snacks away from Seokjin, Taemin was pouring up another round of shots for Seulgi, Yoongi, and Namjoon, and You were sitting on Taeyong’s lap while Momo sat on yours. He was celebrating with a colorful group of friends that he wouldn’t for anything else in this world.

He found himself daydreaming about the full 24 hours he was going to have with Momo. The entire world around them was going to be put on pause and he was looking forward to wreak havoc on campus and certain parts of the entire dormitory with his soulmate.

“Baby.” Momo joined Jimin on the sofa and cuddled into his side, wrapping her arms around his torso. “Only five more minutes.”

Jimin kissed her forehead and squeezed her shoulder. “Why don’t we leave early, hm?”

She tilted her head to place light kisses all over his neck. “I think you need to calm your hormones for five more minutes.”

He snickered at the feeling of Momo’s lips tickling his skin. “How can I calm down when you’re dressed so beautifully?”

It already seemed like the world stopped around them because no matter where they were, Jimin only had eyes for Momo. He didn’t mind the people around them. The only thing that mattered to him whenever he was spending time with his girlfriend was his girlfriend and his girlfriend only.

“You two only have a couple of minutes left, keep it PG, please?!” Seulgi faked her gag and shielded her eyes.

“Cut us some slack!” Momo yelled back with a smile over the loud music.

Jimin looked at his phone and watched as 11:58 PM turned into 11:59 PM. There were still a lot of people who were enjoying their drinks in the lounge and all of his friends were constantly checking their phones and watches, shooting quick glances at him and Momo with suggestive smiles on their faces.

The last minute felt like an eternity and Jimin placed a hand on Momo’s knee. On an impulse, he cupped her cheek and gazed into her eyes.

“I love you.” Jimin said breathlessly.

“I love you, Jimin.” Momo raised her chin, capturing his lips in between hers.

Once their lips touched and eyes fluttered closed, there was the sound of a wind chime ringing throughout Jimin’s head. Something inside of him rattled inside of his chest and that feeling only meant one thing: it was Yuanfen.

Jimin was almost too excited to open his eyes, but he knew he had to stop kissing Momo at some point. He extracted himself away from her face and slowly, he opened his eyes until snapping them wide open.

At first he thought this was apart of the entire process of entering Yuanfen; the birthday celebrant would enter first and after maybe after a few minutes, their soulmate would enter too. But two minutes passed and Momo had her lips protruding out and eyes were still closed.

“M-Momo?” Panic shot right through Jimin’s body and he instinctively reached out to grab her hand, but even after doing so, Momo remained still.

This wasn’t happening.

Momo and Jimin ultimately believed with their whole heart that they were soulmates. They were supposed to be leaving the lounge right about now to raid the school’s cafeteria of their cookie dough ice cream sandwiches.

There had to be some sort of mistake.

“Tae-Taeyong?!”

Jimin didn’t realize that the music of the lounge was also put on pause until another voice bled out into the atmosphere; it wasn’t Momo’s.

Like his entire world was moving in slow motion, Jimin turned his direction to where the voice came from and found you roughly holding Taeyong’s face in your hands. He was stuck in a mid-laugh type of expression with you still balancing on his thigh.

“Taeyong, what—?”

“Y/n.” He called out and at the speed of light, you darted your attention towards and he noticed a panicked look in your eye.

↠↞

What in the actual fuck was happening?

You were sitting on the lap of Taeyong, your boyfriend, whom you loved with all of your heart. He was just telling you a hilarious story that happened in his economic class and next thing you knew, there was a delicate ringing sound inside your head. Every movement and sound was put on pause, everything but you.

You waited for Taeyong to finish his story and it finally clicked that he was frozen. Why was he frozen? Why were you able to move your limbs to clutch his face? It took you awhile, but you found your voice and called out Taeyong’s name. He still wasn’t answering. There had to be something incredibly wrong because the silence was deafening until the urgent sound sound of your name was being dispatched from across the room. To your shock, you were staring into the desperate eyes of Park Jimin.

“What time is it?” Jimin asked quietly.

“Um—“ You reached into your back pocket for your phone and with a barely audible tone you said, “12:06 AM.”

“B-But Momo is—“ He frantically looked back and forth from you to Momo. “Is this really Yuanfen?”

You climbed off of Taeyong’s lap and took another look around the room. You even walked out into the bar area where the other booths and tables were. All of the patrons were stuck in time; some were even tilting their head back to down a shot.

“Everyone is fucking frozen, Jimin.” You walked back into the room and Jimin was pacing back and forth trying to get one of their friends’ attention.

“This doesn’t make sense.” Jimin sighed, roughly running a hand through his hair. “Yuanfen is for soulmates. Momo and I—We—“

You could tell Jimin was trying to find the right words to say without offending you. “I know, Jimin. I love Taeyong so much. He’s my boyfriend and he’s—“ You walked over to Taeyong who still didn’t budge. “We can’t really be… you know… right?”

How could you say it? It was one word, two syllables and saying it would only make you feel guilty.

Your chest was starting to feel tight and tears welled up in your eyes. There was a point in your relationship where you also gave the idea of being soulmates with Taeyong some deep thought. You two had a late night conversation about what you wanted to do when Taeyong turns 21. He wore a bright facial expression as you two talked and it was clear that he also believed that you were his soulmate. But now that whole idea was crumbling at your feet and the pieces were too small to pick up and put back together.

Park Jimin was not your soulmate. He couldn’t be.

“This is fucking crazy. There has to be a loophole in this.” Jimin sat back down and whipped his phone out.

You carefully sat down next to him to peer down at his phone. He was googling something about Yuanfen and if it was possible to get soulmates mixed up.

It was always easy to sit beside Jimin. There was never a time where you felt uncomfortable around him except now. You kept enough space in between the two of you and looking at him started to hurt.

“Nothing.” Jimin tossed his phone to the side and buried his face in his hands. “There has been no cases about people having the wrong soulmate, Apparently the people who thought they had a different soulmate ended up marrying the one who they were with on Yuanfen—”

“Stop, Jimin. Please.” You stood up and rubbed your temples.

Hearing the word marriage made you squirm. Marrying Jimin? No offense, but you wouldn’t. He was like a brother-in-law because you treated Momo like a sister.

Oh, god. Momo.

Momo was a sister to you and if she found out that you were Jimin’s soulmate and not her…

“What are we supposed to do, Jimin?” You walked over to Momo and gently tugged at a strand of her hair.

Jimin blew out a breath and stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “Let’s go outside for now. We need some air.”

He walked out first and you were hesitant in following him, not wanting to leave Taeyong, but he was right. Being in that room was suffocating you and you need to get away from it.

↠↞

The outside was no different than the lounge; students who were walking were stuck in one spot and cars were stopped. The only thing that wasn’t frozen was the cold air and brushed against Jimin’s face. He looked around and took a deep breath. Was it wrong to wish that he was dreaming?

You were a great girl; excellent grades, passionate about the things you loved, and selfless. He was always inspired to continue his dream to become a doctor because even if being a lawyer was going to take years of education, you were determined to become one. Despite all of these things, Jimin was in love with Momo. He has been for years and it didn’t make sense to drop every single day he spent loving her just because the beholders of true love turned the hands of fate onto you.

“Why the fuck is it so cold? It was nothing like this this morning.” You emerged from the lounge, tugging at your sweater sleeves to cover your hands.

“Well, the sun is hiding.” Jimin watched his breath dissipate into thin air.

You chuckled and stood inches away from Jimin. “So… what did you two have planned besides the obvious.”

Jimin laughed because he knew what you meant by ‘the obvious’. “Uh, escaping onto the rooftops and lots of eating. Starting off with the cookie dough ice cream sandwiches from the cafeteria.”

“It’s freezing and you two were gonna eat ice cream?”

It did sound absurd but there was a reason. “Yeah, it’s uh-it’s her favorite flavor so…”

You nodded and kicked a stray rock onto the asphalt road.

“Do you want to go to the cafeteria? Hopefully there’s a stock on the orange creamsicles you like.” The offer Jimin made sort of came out on an impulse. He didn’t want to spend his birthday doing nothing and if you two avoided the whole being-each-other’s-soulmate a while longer, maybe doing things with you wouldn’t be so bad.

“Uh-yeah. Yeah, sure.” Jimin was a bit afraid you were going to reject the idea, but was relieved at your willingness to go.

↠↞

“At least it’s warm in here.” You wrapped up the fourth popsicle stick inside the napkin that contained the rest of the trash you two had.

The cafeteria was pretty much barren. There were only a few students who were having breakfast for dinner at different tables across the room. You were sitting across from each other on top of one of the empty tables. Thankfully there were still a lot of ice cream choices left inside of the freezer and you took advantage of the situation by taking handfuls of the orange creamsicles.

“You’re not hungry?” You questioned.

“Kind of. I thought the alcohol and all of those snacks you guys bought would’ve kept me full for a while.” Jimin leaned back on his hands and looked over to whatever the students were eating; cereal, french toast, and some were eating whatever what served during dinner.

“I could cook you something.” You tried to peer behind some of the counters to get a view of the kitchen. “Considering this ordeal, I can whip up something in the kitchen.”

“What is this? My birthday gift?” Jimin laughed it off because he knew you were way too busy to go out into the city to get him a birthday gift.

“It could be. If that’s what you really want.” You hopped off the table and trailed towards the kitchen.

Jimin let you walk off a couple of feet before silently following behind you. You’ve cooked for him a few times-mainly instant ramen or fried rice. Other times, you would bake cookies for Momo whenever you had time to go home during the weekends and she’d share with Jimin.

“I’ll take the food, but not as a gift.” He looked around the kitchen as you opened up cupboards, trying to find something decent to cook.

“How about pasta? Judging by some of the prepped ingredients, it seems like this was going to be tomorrow’s dinner.” You pulled out bowls of minced garlic and parsley. “Looks like shrimp linguine.”

Jimin gave you a thumbs up and propped himself on an empty counter space. There were student chefs still inside of the kitchen but they were mainly cleaning up pots and pans and taking back leftovers. The world was still silent besides the sounds of you opening the refrigerator and placing glass bowls on the counter, so he turned on some jazz music on a quiet volume to make the space feel cozier. You smiled at the familiar tune and turned on the stove to heat up water for pasta.

“I hope you don’t mind a simple white sauce. Alfredo would be best but I don’t know how to make that shit.” You confessed.

“You can make white sauce?” Jimin asked with a raised eyebrow.

You tossed a pinch of salt in his direction and smirked. “Watch me.”

↠↞

The early-early breakfast was honestly… lovely.

It’s been a while since you had a one on one meal with Jimin and you two shared a hefty conversation about how school was going for the both of you. The pasta you made turned out to be exquisite and he expressed how impressed he was about how well you were able to cook. You joked about making him garlic butter steak next time because it was your father’s favorite dish that you made for him, but you weren’t prepared for how quick Jimin agreed to try it.

Jimin complained about how much he wanted to perfect his cooking skills so he could stop spending a lot of money on pizza and burgers as a late night snack. Although you weren’t perfect yourself, you offered for him to shadow you if he ever also decided to visit his family on weekends. At some point, during dinner, some of the topics you two had touched up sounded a lot more friendlier than usual.

Casually inviting him over to your house to teach him how to cook the dishes you took pride in was already a red flag in treading rough waters. You’ve hung out with Jimin a lot especially with Momo, but the only time you two ever independently spent time together was in college; studying, sharing a snack during a one hour break in between classes.

Jimin washed the dishes you two used as well as whatever pots and pans you used to cook everything; you didn’t take a lot of the ingredients so it would go unnoticed.

“Do you think the time of day changes during Lover’s Day?” You joined Jimin outside, still pulling your sleeves own past your fingers.

“I’m pretty sure. Why?” Jimin watched you shield yourself from the cold. “Ah. Here.” He stripped himself of the leather jacket and handed it to you.

“No, Jimin. I’m fine, I swear.”

“At least wear it for now, we can head to my dorm to get you another jacket since it’s closer than yours.”

You stared at his jacket and gave it some thought.

Maybe up to his dorm won’t be too bad.

Well—

Okay, maybe it was bad.

Jimin’s roommate wasn’t in the dorm because he left early to go home for the weekend. You unzipped your combat boots and hopped on top of Jimin’s bed.

His dorm was neater than you remember. Even during the chaotic week of midterms, his desk was more put together than yours and your roommate put together. Despite random t-shirts and sweaters that were hanging over his bed frame, Jimin’s side of the room seemed so Jimin.

“Take your pick.” Jimin held his hand out to the portion of jackets and sweaters of his closet space.

“Hmm…” You stared at the section a little until a familiar navy blue and yellow cuffed varsity jacket caught your attention. “Oh my god, that’s our high school’s varsity!” With a beaming smile, you jumped off his bed and walked over to caress the fabric in between your fingers.

“Yeah, four years at that hellhole and I still can’t bring myself to toss it out.” Jimin retrieved the jacket from its hanger and handed it over for you to wear.

You chuckled and proceeded to remove his leather jacket to wear the other one. “Four years and I still question myself why I never bought one.”

Jimin’s mouth gaped. “What?! You’re serious? Whose jacket were you wearing during high school?”

“Uh, Tae...yong…” His name fell from your lips like stones. What a perfect time for you to mention his name.

“Oh.” Jimin said flatly. “Yeah, of course.”

This wasn’t good.

You needed to say something, anything, because you didn’t want to have a conversation about love and soulmates at that moment.

“I—uh, I had to repurchase a varsity three times.” Thankfully, Jimin quickly continued the conversation towards a different route.

“You spent a total of 75 dollars for the same jacket on three separate occasions?!” You asked in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Jimin chuckled and walked towards his bed with you following behind him. “During spring fest during my freshman and sophomore year, I spilled paint when I was helping out with the banners. And the third time was during a food fight the seniors were having when I was a junior and I got nailed with all sorts of food.”

Jimin continued his story with more details. Within the conversation, you made yourself comfortable, lying down on his bed while he sat cross legged at near your feet. While talking, you noticed that he played with the stray thread of your socks that stuck out by your ankles.

“I like your socks.” He commented.

“Thanks.” You stared at your yellow Winnie the Pooh socks. “There’s a store near the bistro that sells super cute stationery, hair accessories, and even socks.” You stuck one foot in the air and wiggled your toes inside the cloth.

Jimin took hold of your ankle and rested it on his knee and examined the chibi characters of Pooh and his friends. You held your breath and continually told yourself to fucking cool it. This wasn’t out of the ordinary. The only thing missing was Momo’s ankle resting on his other knee and Taeyong’s lap for your head to be resting on.

How were you supposed to adjust to this? What were the two of you going to tell Taeyong and Momo? You could already imagine the pained expression of your best friend and the absolute devastation of your boyfriend.

This was all a dream. You kept telling yourself this. It was a dream.

↠↞

Five minutes passed and Jimin could feel a slight numbing pain in his right shoulder. He wriggled around and slowly opened his eyes, unaware of his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was slumping over a couple of inches away from your body while you dozed off. He could hear the faint sound of you breathing and it finally occurred to him exactly where he was.

Jimin had a clear view of a navy blue fabric and his arm. He realized that the navy blue fabric came from the jacket he let you borrow and that his arm slung over it.

In basic terms, he was cuddling you at your stomach area.

In a state of panic, Jimin gasped and reeled his arm back which prompted him to roll onto his back. But, he forgot that he was near the edge of his bed and rolling onto his back resulted in him landing flat onto the floor. The loud impact of his body and the floor caused you to flinch awake.

“Oh my god.” You rasped and sat up. “Oh my god!”

Jimin clawed at his sheet to get himself back on his feet and you scrambled up to assist him. “What happened?!”

“Well, I was just lying there and uh, I had that free falling dream. Right when I hit the ground in my dream, bam! My actual body exploded and I actually ended up on the ground here.” Jimin stammered and rubbed the back of his head.

You gave him a questionable stare before reaching out to check for any bumps on his head. “Jimin, you have a bump. Do you have any frozen items in your mini fridge?”

“No, sorry.” He winced touching the bump on the upper right part of his forehead. “But, the main fridge on this floor should have something.”

“Say no more. Let’s hurry to stop the swelling.” Instead of grabbing his leather jacket for Jimin to wear, you snatched a stray maroon sweater that hung off his bed.

Jimin lazily slid his shoes back on and was hastily tugged out of his room with your hand wrapped around his own.

“What time is it?” Jimin held a frozen hot pocket against the bump and blew on his cup of tea.

In the main gathering room of his floor of the dormitory, there was a living room with a large tv where most of the students gathered to play video games or watch netflix and a decent sized kitchen.

Students would normally label any food or drinks that belonged to them and sometimes there would be snacks that were labeled “for all” which was obviously for anybody who wanted it. There were boxes of instant coffee, hot chocolate, and teas that were meant for everybody and you brewed a cup of tea for each of you.

“It’s about,” you took a moment to check your phone. “9 am.”

Jimin choked on his tea. 9 am?! He swore only five minutes passed from when he woke up.

“Shit. I guess I didn’t realize how tired I was.” Jimin said, calming down from his fit of coughs.

“You and me both. It still feels like my feet are about to fall off from standing up majority of the night.” You strolled over to the couch where Jimin sat with your cup of tea in hand. Jimin noticed you were wearing a pair of his slides instead of your combat boots; probably from when you were rushing to leave his room.

“I bet.” Jimin chuckled. “How long did it take you guys to set up everything at the lounge?”

Jimin listened intently as you told stories about how there were many close calls where you and Jungkook almost ripped each other’s heads off. This was mainly because of the miscommunication on who had kept the derp pictures of Jimin and who held onto the money for alcohol and snacks.

Another hour had passed and Jimin spent laughing almost to the brink of tears with you. Everything felt natural, almost too natural. For a split second, Jimin forgot what Yuanfen was all about.

“Are you sure the bump is gone?”

Before he knew it, you two cleaned up and abandoned Jimin’s dorm to take a walk around campus.

The students from last night were still in the same position. The only things that changed were the weather and the time of day. You were a bit ignorant about Yuanfen, so Jimin took the time to explain some basics about the hidden holiday.

Yuanfen was a whole different world only to be seen through the eyes of the soulmates, so once the day is over, everything goes back to normal.

Once everything goes back to normal, the day restarts and the memories of other bystanders remain what they were prior to being frozen in time.

As for the soulmates, Jimin chose to omit that information.

“Yes, I’m sure! Let me just check again just to make sure.” You stepped in front of Jimin and gently felt around his forehead and then traced your fingers through his hair to feel around for any bumps you may have missed.

He wasn’t sure when he started, but Jimin found himself staring into your eyes. How was this even possible? How were you his soulmate and not Momo, his high school sweetheart? But maybe, even just for a couple of hours, he could possibly see what it’s like if you were his—

“You’re good to go, Jimin.” You poked the center of his head, capturing his attention.

“Oh, yeah, great. Thanks.” He smiled shyly.

↠↞

There was nothing like a crisp fall morning; cool breeze, crunchy burnt orange leaves, and warm drinks. Your walk around the campus turned into a complete turn around towards your dormitory to get a cup of coffee—you both were obviously in an area with coffee however, the idea of walking all the way back to Jimin’s dorm felt like a hassle.

“Sorry about the mess. Dahyun and I have been way too busy to clean.” You rushed from your door to tidy up as much as you could.

“Hey, it’s no problem. It’s fine. You saw my place.” Jimin lightly placed his hands on your shoulders to gently pulled you back.

You patted the back of his hands and walked over to a side table that carried a microwave, a keurig, and a rack for k-pods.

“There’s vanilla creamer in the mini fridge underneath my bed and feel free to grab a snack.” You handed Jimin his cup of medium roast. “We also have some ramen bowls underneath Dahyun’s bed. She won’t mind, trust me.”

The last meal you two shared was the pasta you made last night and now it was the next morning and you two were going to have another meal with another form of noodles.

Normal. Things were still feeling normal, nothing awkward. You were having an innocent breakfast with your best friend’s boyfriend when in fact, he’s actually your soulmate. Yeah. Perfectly normal.

You glanced up and soaked in the image of Jimin harmlessly mixing around his ramen.

Was Jimin cute? Of course. Was he smart? Yes. Funny? Also yes. Was he perfect boyfriend material? Yes—but maybe, maybe not for you.

How could you possibly get used to this? You couldn’t shake the thought of Momo being incredibly heart broken. And of course, how in the world were you going to tell Taeyong?! You loved him. What were things going to be like if you told him about this?

“So…” you started off softly. “What are we going to do?”

“About our plans for today?” Jimin asked innocently.

You laughed and sucked in a quiet breath. “Yeah. Yeah, what should we do?”

Jimin took a sip of his coffee and looked up to your ceiling in search of an answer.

“Oh!” He clapped his hands, scaring you a little. “Let’s go to the frat house and raid their kitchen!”

“Ooh, let’s do it! You know, I heard that they have a whole ass stash of ramen bowls and coffee.” You mentioned.

Jimin widened his eyes as he lifted his chopsticks into his mouth. “I wonder what else they got?”

As Jimin spewed out a few snack items that he was hoping the frat house would have, you felt yourself zoning out.

Jimin really is cute.

It was such a horrible thing for you to think of at this moment, but you always knew how cute he was but was he always this cute?

God, this was stupid. You were only having these thoughts because of stupid Yuanfen. This hidden holiday was messing up the wires in your head making you see Jimin in a whole new different light. This was probably a sign to try and see where things could go with him. It was a scary thought, but you did wonder.

“Y/n?”

“Huh? What?” You blinked out of your daze.

“What else do you think they have stashed there?”

Quick. Think fast. Pretend you were paying attention.

“Uh—uh, c-condoms?”

Great. Out of all things, y/n.

Jimin stared blankly at you with his mouth slightly open.

“Y-Yeah. Condoms. Those are, uh, those could possibly exist there.”

The air around you began to feel stale. Seriously, out of all the things you could’ve said—you just had to say condoms!

“So,” you coughed. “I also heard from Wonho that Hani and Suho have the Scholar’s Edition to the Pre-Med and Pre-Law class textbooks!”

Jimin’s eyes lit up and nearly choked on his coffee. “Those things almost cost as much as two classes!”

You gave him a big smile thinking about how it would be you two to get excited over textbooks.

“Exactly! So, while we’re at the frat house…”

“Y/n, isn’t that stealing?”

You paused for a brief second. “N-no. We’re just borrowing them. We’ll photocopy the pages and then we’ll just return them tonight.”

Jimin nodded his head in agreement and took the empty ramen bowls. “Sounds perfect.”

Noon came around in the blink of an eye and you two were trotting down campus towards the frat house. You’ve been to the house a few times, only to attend parties with Taeyong.

The frat house was honestly incredible. A large kitchen, arcade games, and a basketball court right out back. A lot of money was spent to make the house what it was and it was quite obvious.

There was a party last night and there were still people hanging around the stairs and on the main floor, not to mention people sitting on other people’s laps. You both weaved around the sea of students in search of Suho and Hani’s room. Jimin reminded you to slowly open the doors just in case you were to walk in a freeze frame of two people having sex; if only he told you that prior to entering the house.

“God, I just saw someone’s bare ass.” You closed one of the doors behind you and slid your back down the door.

“That bad?” Jimin asked.

“Not only did I see ass, I saw legs thrown over shoulders.” You shuddered and covered your face with your hands.

Jimin chucked and pulled you back up onto your feet. “Come on, shaky. You’ll survive.” He squished your cheeks together before giving you a little nudge to keep moving forward.

After carefully snooping around for fifteen minutes, the textbooks were found and now it was time to raid the kitchen. You were surprised at how neat the kitchen was considering how much people lived in the house. On top of the cabinets, packages of ramen bowls and other microwavable food were stacked neatly. You climbed on top of the counter to grab a decent amount to refill both you and Jimin’s dorm rooms. Honestly, you were kind of scared because you were pretty much stealing. You’ll be fine right?

“Oh hell yes, they have honey butter chips!”

You looked down and spotted Jimin rummaging through a cupboard. He pulled out four bags and smiled brightly.

“Did you get the goods?” Jimin grabbed a random reusable bag to stuff the snacks inside.

Still standing on the counter, you gently tossed the ramen and other foods towards Jimin who needed one more reusable bag. Jimin stood by the counter and stuck his hand out to help you get down.

Why were you so nervous?

Y/n, relax. He’s just trying to fucking help you.

You reached out to hold onto his hand. You crouched down to carefully place your feet one by one on the floor, but even with being careful, you still managed to misplace your foot.

“Whoa, I got you.” Jimin grabbed your waist and pulled you flush to his body.

Your face was way too close to his own and you made the terrible decision to lock eyes with Jimin. His eyes twinkled in the natural sunlight beaming through the window. A foreign look was glazed over his eyes and your breath was caught in your throat.

“I—Thanks, Jimin.” You pushed yourself away from him. He still had a hold on your hand and as you walked towards the bags of snacks, his fingers slipped gently out of your grasp.

What the fuck is happening?!

There was a hundred percent chance that you were blushing, so you examined the packaged goods to calm yourself for a few seconds.

“Shall we go to the library to photocopy the book?” Jimin spoke.

“Yeah, let’s.” You turned and found Jimin’s back facing you. He seemed to be interested in the colorful refrigerator magnets. “Jimin?”

↠↞

What am I doing? Why did I do that? Fuck.

Jimin stared at an empty spot on the white refrigerator door and covered the lower half of his face with his hand.

This has to be cheating right? Momo’s my girlfriend but in the end, y/n is my—

“Jimin?”

“Sorry, yeah. Let’s go.” Jimin squeezed his eyes shut for a second and turned back to you to hold the bags.

After the ordeal, there was an awkward tension between the two of you and this was the last thing Jimin needed. It was only the afternoon and he still had the rest of the day to spend with you. If he was a horrible person, he would’ve suggested to spend time individually but he was a good person. He didn’t have the heart to leave you on your own.

The library was pretty much empty of students, only the still bodies of the staff were present. The copy machine was located on the fourth floor and it was a ghost town. Not one single person was on the floor. How much more awkward could it get?

“I think I’m going to the first six chapters because this medical book has about,” Jimin stared at the table of contents. “Eleven chapters.”

“Ugh. This stupid book has twenty chapters. Do I really want to become a lawyer? The chapters are way too long.” You sunk down onto the floor.

Jimin chuckled and booted up the machine. “Tell me about it. This pre-med book is pretty small but it costs so much.”

The awkward tension was slowly melting as the two of you complained and told horror stories about each of your majors. Jimin ranted on about how he almost changed his major, but the idea of taking more classes to fulfill another major’s prerequisites.

“I know! I almost changed mine too!” Jimin listened to you and the sound of you angrily flipping through the pages of the pre-law book. “But I thought about how angry my mom was going to be so I chickened ou-ow! Jesus!”

Jimin whipped his head around and you were examining your index finger. He retreated to your side and once again, held your hand in his own.

“Paper cut?” He chuckled.

“Y-Yeah.” You muttered. “Books are evil—I’m going to sue this book.”

Jimin laughed loudly and carefully pulled you up from the floor. “Alright, you sue the book and let Dr. Park fix up your finger.”

It wasn’t his intention, really it wasn’t, but Jimin walked down the stairs with you with your hand still in his. But what made his heart beat a bit faster was the fact you didn’t let go, you held on tighter.

“Let’s see. There has to be a first aid kit here somewhere—excuse me.” Jimin jokingly spoke to the still body of a library staff member sitting behind the main desk. He quickly found the transparent box labeled first aid.

“Alright, they don’t have any hydrogen peroxide, so I’m going to have to use an alcohol swab.” Jimin rummaged through the box and pulled out an alcohol swab, a tissue, and a bandaid.

“O-Or we can just leave it as is. It’s just a papercut, it’ll heal in a jiffy!” Your tone of voice was a bit squeaky and you took a step back.

“Aw, is y/n afraid of the alcohol swab?” Jimin cooed. “Your paper cut started bleeding so we have to kill the germs. Just relax. You’ll be fine in Dr.Park’s care.”

Jimin guided you to an empty rolling chair and knelt down beside you. With the utmost care, Jimin cradled your finger and dabbed the paper cut with the swab. Instantly, your hand tensed up but you stayed silent so he looked up to find your eyes screwed shut and bottom lip tucked between your teeth. He wanted to smile at the adorable sight of you being afraid but he switched his focus back on your cut, forcing his blush to dissipate.

Get your shit together, Jimin.

“Alright, Ms. Y/n. We’re all done here however, you don’t have insurance with me so the total price of this is another cup of coffee.” Jimin folded down the yellow polka dotted bandage around your finger and you scoffed at his witty remark.

“Alright, that seems fair. We can head back to my dorm after we finish up here.”

Before heading to your dorm, you made sure to take a detour to the frat house to return the books in its rightful spot; Being able to copy pages from the book for free was one of the things Jimin was thankful for.

By the time four o’clock rolled around, Jimin had four ramen bowls and two cups of coffee sitting in his stomach. He slouched in his seat trying to not regret eating so much. You were rummaging around your mini fridge looking for something sweet to balance out the spicy-savory taste.

Instead of pulling out some sort of dessert, you offered Jimin a shot or two of whiskey that you found hiding in the small freezer section of your fridge. Jimin was probably going to at least regret this, but he agreed.

After grabbing two bottles of coke from the vending machine in the hallway, one or two shots turned into killing half of the bottle. Jimin poured another round of shots into the coffee mugs and flickered his gaze to you.

Your cheeks were visibly red and your face was glowing. Your eyes were halfway closed and mumbled something incoherent.

“Maybe we should stop here, y/n.” Jimin laughed.

“No, no, no, no. I’m fine. I’m sober, I swear.” You slurred.

“I beg to differ. You should lie down.” Jimin left his seat feeling a bit dizzy, but still did his best to take care of you first.

“One more shot, just one more.” You reached to grab your mug but Jimin intercepted.

“No, y/n, come on. Just sleep for a few hours.”

You reached for the hand that took your mug away and brought it up to your cheek. “Just one more. Please, Jimin? One more and I’ll go to bed.”

Maybe it was the alcohol, but Jimin started to feel warm. “F-Fine. Just one and then straight to bed.”

You happily rubbed your cheek against his hand and tanked the shot followed by the chaser. Even in your drunken state, you obliged to Jimin’s condition and wobbled over to your bed. You took the open ended side of your bed and laid flat on your stomach.

“Y/n, don’t sleep on your stomach.” Jimin shook you, but you let out a soft whine instead.

Jimin swallowed hard, trying to get a clear grasp of his vision since he was also drunk, but definitely not like you. He carefully rolled you over onto your back and then placed one arm beneath your neck and the other underneath your knees to scoot your back towards the end of the bed. Just in case you needed to throw up, he grabbed your trash can and placed it near your head side.

“Good gracious.” Jimin breathed. He took one of the chairs and stationed it near you so he could keep an eye on you for a while. He closed his eyes for a few seconds in search of relaxation but he heard you talking. “Hm?”

“Yuan…” you sighed.

Jimin scooted his chair closer to hear you better.

“Yuanfen…” you finally said while opening your eyes. “That’s chinese. Chinese for binding...force?”

“Yeah. Something like that…” Jimin chuckled and brushed a few hairs out of your eyes.

You laughed and stared blankly into Jimin’s eyes. “Ohhhhhhh, that’s why it’s the perfect name for this holiday-thingy. A force to bind soulmates.” You whispered. “Hey, Jimnim…”

Jimin snorted at the butchered version of his name. “Yes, y/n.”

“We’re soulmates.” A soft chuckle pushed past your lips. “Soul. Mates. Me. You.”

The mention of being soulmates almost sobered Jimin up in an instant. You were drunk out of your mind, blabbering about anything so he tried to not take anything seriously.

But you know what they say about drunken words…

“Mhm. Soulmates.” Jimin sadly repeated.

“I’m sorry, Jimnim. I know I’m not your type to be a soulmate.” You brought your hand up to cradle Jimin’s face, tracing his cheek. “But I’ll do my best okay? I have to make Jiminim happy.”

It almost felt like he couldn’t breathe. He had to keep telling himself that you were drunk. You were a drunk girl who had no idea what she was saying.

But honestly, your words cut him deep. Of course Jimin was disappointed about Momo, his girlfriend, not being his soulmate. He had thought about this day a million times over and he never would have imagined you in Momo’s place.

Jimin touched your hand that held his face and breathed in deeply. Your eyes were already seconds away from closing and Jimin smiled.

“I’ll do my best too.”

↠↞

You didn’t dare open your eyes. You were pretty much awake at this point, but even with your eyes closed, you felt the entire world spinning.

“Ugh, fuck me.” You finally gave in and cracked an eye open. It took you a few seconds to find the willpower to open your last eye and when you did, a wave of regret washed over you. “I drank last night, now this afternoon… I don’t ever want to drink again.”

Okay, that’s a lie.

After registering your surroundings, you cautiously tilted your head and found the fluff of Jimin’s black hair. He was sitting in a chair, hunched over at your side with his face stuffed in his arms and your hand was lost somewhere between his limbs.

The memories of you and Jimin sharing the whiskey you found came through in blurry pieces. You remembered venting to Jimin about how you wished you had ice cream in your fridge and then face planting onto your pillow; that’s all you could remember at the moment.

“Jimin… Jimin.” You rasped.

“Mmm, five more minutes.” Jimin grunted and shifted around in his seat without lifting his head.

“Jimin, get up, please. I have to use the bathroom.”

You waited and watched and Jimin’s shoulders rise and fall. He then sat up to rub his eyes and your hand was finally free.

“Can you walk?” Jimin questioned, already maneuvering around to help you sit up.

“Ugh.” Your stomach was not happy. “Yeah. Slowly though. The stupid bathroom is down the hall.”

Jimin helped you swing your legs down and you noticed him wince, probably also feeling sick from drinking.

“I got it, Jimin.”

“It’s alright. I have to make sure you make it safe.” Jimin brought you to your feet and supported your weight by throwing your arm over his shoulders. He put his arm around your waist, just like how he did at the frat house, and guided you to take small steps out of your room.

Your stomach was fluttering.

It’s the alcohol. It’s the fucking alcohol.

The whole time to the bathroom, using the bathroom, and then walking back, you were piecing together the puzzle pieces of the hazy interactions you made while wasted. The whiny conversation about how you wanted to drink one more shot became clear and you sort of remembered your failed attempts at saying Jimin’s name.

“I wonder where can we get some soup that’s not ramen soup base.” Jimin said.

You gave it some thought and then you remembered seeing instant miso soup packets at the frat house. As soon as you mentioned it, Jimin grabbed his varsity jacket to put on for you and then led you out of your dorm.

Walking outside seemed to be a bit difficult for you because you were still feeling dizzy after drinking a little more than what you originally planned. Jimin, on the other hand, looked a lot less miserable than what he did when you woke up from your nap. He did have a higher alcohol tolerance than you, but you still found it unfair that you were suffering alone.

“I hate drinking.” You complained.

Jimin snickered. “How are you feeling?”

“Like death.” You sighed. “I’m walking straight, right? It doesn’t feel like I’m even using my own legs to walk.”

Again, Jimin laughed and your stomach started to turn.

“You’re walking fine, but just for added security—”

The sudden touch of Jimin’s hand on your arm made you jump. He made you snake your arm around his to walk arm in arm to the frat house.

The alcohol in your stomach was really fucking with you and you desperately wanted to let go, but you enjoyed the warmth.

“The sunset is really pretty.” Jimin whispered and you couldn’t help but look at the profile of his face.

You could tell he was smiling by the way his cheek bone poked upward and all you could imagine was the way his eyes almost disappeared every time he smiled.

It was the warmth. You were enjoying the warmth.

The miso soup tasted like everything you’ve been missing in your life. The warmth of the soup sat happily inside of you instantly taking away the queasy feeling in your stomach.

Jimin finished his meal quickly and watched you eat with a small smile plastered on his face. He offered to make you more but you declined.

You were now watching his back as he washed the dishes. His body frame was completely different than Taeyong’s.

Taeyong was taller than Jimin, but you were still much shorter than the latter. Jimin went to gym whenever he had free time, giving him a little more muscle mass than your boyfriend. You didn’t mean to compare, but your mind continued to wander. You thought about Jimin’s hands and how they gently cradled yours; they were soft yet sturdy, making you feel weirdly comfortable when you held his hands.

Your thoughts broke once Jimin turned on his heel. The queasy feeling in your stomach returned when he looked at you.

“Feeling better?” Jimin strode towards you and your heart began to beat faster.

“Y-Yeah. I’m fine.”

What’s happening to me?

“So, what else is there to do?” He asked.

You gave it some thought.

“Have you been to the roof of the library?”

↠↞

Jimin stared in amazement looking over the campus. The purple-orange sky had begun to darken a bit with flecks of stars appearing on the canvas. He soaked up the evening air and looked off into the distance, realizing that the day was almost finished.

“Have a seat.” You lugged two wooden crates near the edge.

“This spot is unbelievable.” Jimin breathed. “Why didn’t you mention this place before?”

“I don’t know, I actually I don’t come here often. A friend of mine dragged me up here so she could paint the sunset.” You explained and Jimin nodded.

The world was so peaceful and quiet making Jimin’s thoughts roar even louder. If he didn’t talk about this situation with you, it would only get worse once time starts again.

He turned to you and felt his chest tighten at the sight of your hair messily falling in front of your face when the wind blew. With a thundering heart, he lifted his hands to carefully push your hair out of the way, making you look at him.

“I-I think we need to talk about us.” He finally said.

You let out a sigh and chewed on your bottom lip. “Y-You’re right.”

The thought of Taeyong and Momo being completely heartbroken over the news ripped Jimin’s heart into two. “What are we supposed to do…? Momo and I had a future planned and now…” He dropped his head into his hands knowing that everything that he and Momo dreamed of was now nothing but a hopeless wish.

“Jimin... “ You placed a hand on his shoulder. “If I could change things, I fucking would in a heart beat. I’m sorry that in the end… it’s me.”

He felt like a fucking jerk. Yes, he loved Momo. Yes, he had all these plans to marry her. But he didn’t need to smother it in your face to make it sound like you were a horrible candidate because after all, he was your soulmate too.

“No, don’t apologize. It’s no one’s fault.” Jimin explained. “You know y/n, truth be told, I really enjoyed today.”

He was now smiling thinking back to how simple the day was: eating, sleeping, gallivanting around the frat house, drinking again, sleeping some more, and now the day was ending with a breathtaking view. Studying with you in between classes was great, but it was nothing like this. It all seemed so different. Maybe because it was Yuanfen and the effects of the holiday was gnawing at his emotions or maybe it was because he held your hand for the first time, giving him new waves of emotions he never thought he’d feel before. Even if he was feeling guilty deep down, he was being honest. Jimin truly enjoyed the day with you.

“I don’t--I don’t know, maybe we don’t have to tell them?” You suggested. “We could just let everything happen on its own.”

Jimin tented his eyebrows a bit. “Could you really go back to normal after all of this?” His words came out as a whisper. “I don’t know if I could.”

“But we have to, don’t we? I don’t even know where to begin telling Taeyong about all of this.” Now it was your turn to bury your face in your hands. “My friendship with Momo is probably going to be ruined after this. I don’t know how to look in the eyes of my best friend and tell her that her boyfriend is my soulmate.”

The sudden urge to hug you bubbled inside of Jimin. He fought it, pushed it down inside of him, but it clawed its way back up. He stood up and took your hand, just like how he had done throughout the entire day, and enveloped you into his arms. His arms settled around your waist and he pressed his nose in the crook of your neck. It seemed like you hesitated at first, clutching the sleeves of his jacket, but your snaked your arms around his neck to return the hug.

“I know that everything is just so messed up right now and we’re just forced to deal with this reality. I know that I may not be your type of a soul mate…” Jimin sadly remembered how you drunkenly spoke to him before knocking out. “But I’ll do my best, okay? I have to make you happy.”

You abruptly reeled yourself back, hands resting on his shoulders, and gasped. “Did I--Did I say that to you? That sounds familiar that’s why.”

Jimin nodded his head. “You said it when you were drunk, but listen, I also would change things if I could. But I need you to know that whatever happens, I’m going to learn how to lo--” Jimin swallowed hard. “I’m going to learn how to love you. As a man, I’m going to do my best for you. You’re my soulmate, y/n. It may not be what we want, but we can’t escape this. I promise to make you happy.”

↠↞

The feeling that flowed inside of you was a mixture of shock, confusion, and happiness? You weren’t sure where that last emotion came from. Hearing everything that spewed out of Jimin’s house was painful but so beautiful to hear.

“What—” you whispered. “What brought this on?”

Jimin readjusted his hold on you, but still kept his hands on your waist. “I—I don’t know. I think it came from spending the day with you. It was different. We don’t usually spend time like this together.”

It was true, not to mention, holding hands with Jimin while hanging out together was far from normal. You had to admit, you also enjoyed spending time with him. He cared for you the entire time and always agreed with your plans even though it was his birthday. There were times where your heart was about to burst out of your chest and deep down you knew why, but how could you admit it?

“I also enjoyed today. Thank you for taking care of me, Jimin.” You looked into his eyes and noticed how they sparkled even without direct light.

“Anytime.” The smile Jimin gave you was so gentle. He could probably feel your hands shake on his shoulders from being nervous.

Was it selfish to want to savour this moment for a little longer?

After Yuanfen ends, how could things return back to normal? You needed to figure out a way to tell Taeyong. Would he still want to be with you and just fall out of love? The thought of that crushed you. You loved Taeyong so much, but he wasn’t your soulmate.

Jimin was.

Just like Jimin, you were going to learn how to love him. You were going to study his love language, learn what side of the bed he prefers to sleep on, and get to know his family. Somewhere deep inside of you scratched at your heart, begging you to realize that doing all of this was more of a want than an obligation.

You wanted to know more about Jimin on an intimate level. You wanted to plan a future with him. But the only hurdle in the way was the pain of having to tell Taeyong what happened.

“Y/n.”

You were so deep in thought, you didn’t realize you were still clinging onto Jimin who was also still holding you.

“Shit, sorry. I—”

“I know what I want as a birthday gift.” Jimin’s cheeks were flushed pink and his eyes shook as he stared into yours. He cleared his throat. “As a gift… can I kiss you?”

Were your ears deceiving you? Did Jimin just ask to kiss you? Sure you and Jimin were tossed into some fantasy world, but in this moment, were you dreaming?

“Wha-what?”

“I know. It’s a stupid request, but I was just thinking about how it would be to you know, kiss you.” The grip he had on your waist began to loosen, probably from wavering confidence. “If you don’t want to then—”

“N-No.” You held onto his shoulders a little tighter. “It’s alright. You can kiss me.”

Jimin raised his eyebrows. He was probably expecting you to refuse and you were honestly considering it, but you also thought about it at some point.

What would it be like to kiss Park Jimin?

A broken sputter of words spewed past his lips. “U-Uh—um, okay. Okay.” His hands left your waist to rest against the small of your back, pulling you closer to him.

The action subconsciously made you raise your hands to gently cup his cheeks. Your heart was pounding and your breathing was audibly jagged.

Jimin lowered his head, leaving a couple of inches of space between his lips and yours. You stared at the thickness of his lips and the desire to kiss him grew.

Just before he moved in closer, you met his eyes once more.

“Happy birthday, Jimin.”

Initially, the kiss was quick—a peck on the lips that lasted about a second of two. But Jimin didn’t stop there. He tilted his head to capture your lips again to give you a gentle kiss, shyly moving against yours. You didn’t fight it—you didn’t even hesitate to replicate his movements and laced your hands into his hair.

Jimin’s lips were soft and he continuously kept pulling you closer to him, but you didn’t mind it. You were immediately intoxicated and addicted to the taste of his lips.

This was a crime. You were both in relationships and here you were, kissing the boyfriend of your best friend. You had to stop...but…

I don’t want to.

↠↞

Instead of spending more time on the rooftop, Jimin suggested to retreat into the library to escape the freezing air. The library was a lot warmer than outside, but Jimin craved more warmth.

There were couches in the study area in the library, so without saying another word, he laid on the couch and pulled you in to have you flush against his chest. Was it his heartbeat that increased? Or was it yours?

Jimin took the liberty to set an alarm on his phone for 11:30 just in case you two fell asleep, which you both did. You probably drifted to sleep first because he caressed your back and you didn’t flinch one bit.

Bliss. Content. Peace. Guilt.

For once he thought, did today have to end?

The sky was now stained black with specks of stars fluttering around. The air was colder with a light breeze and the street lights were on, lighting the path of the sidewalk to the lounge.

Jimin stared at the tips of his shoes as he walked whilst have his fingers laced in between yours. He still hadn’t figured out what exactly he was going to tell Momo. This whole situation was going to ruin four relationships: his and Momo’s relationship, you and Taeyong’s, his friendship with Taeyong, and your longtime friendship with Momo. It’s not like he was going to instantly make you his girlfriend after the whole matter was settled, it would be too soon; you probably thought the same.

“Jimin, we’re here.” You spoke, not even hiding the sadness in your voice.

“I don’t…” Jimin whispered. “I can’t go in.”

Your hand was trembling in his and he thought it was because you were cold, but he noticed you wiping your eyes with your free hand.

“Hey…” He breathed, turning you to face him.

“I-I’m sorry.” You sniffled.

Jimin’s heart ached. He shared the same pain; he had to tell Momo about this, but he didn’t know how.

He ran a hand through your hair to take a good look at your face; your eyes were glossy and the tip of your nose was tinged pink. It was too soon to think you looked absolutely adorable, but he couldn’t help it.

“It’s okay.” Jimin mumbled. He cradled your face and leaned forward to kiss the tip of your nose then placed a kiss on your lips. It was a subconscious action that shocked Jimin as much as it did you. It was his turn to apologize and even with the sad look in your eyes, you smiled and repeated his words “it’s okay.”

Jimin gestured you to walk in first and he followed shortly. Everything in the lounge remained the same, obviously. The main area of the lounge was flooded with college students and as he walked further towards the back, his party decorations came into view and the first person he saw was Momo.

She was sitting perfectly still, eyes closed with her lips poked out just as he left her. He sat beside her and stroked her cheek. Tears welled up in his eyes and just before a tear could spill out, the sound of a choked back sob filled the air.

Jimin turned to find you sitting on Taeyong’s lap; he was stuck in mid-laugh, looking as happy as ever. Your face was buried in the crook of his neck with your arms were wrapped around him.

It hurt watching you—everything hurt. In a couple of minutes, Yuanfen was going to end and reality was going to begin. He turned to Momo and his heart sank to his stomach. He never imagined being in this position. Would it still be possible to work through this? Could he and Momo still be a couple?

In one minute, Jimin was going to have an answer.

There was a soft wind-chime-like sound that played in his head, just like the one he heard when Yuanfen started. His chest rattled and slowly, the music of the room grew louder and laughter began to spread into the air. In his peripherals, people started to move around but all Jimin could do was stare into his lap.

“Babe?”

For the first time, Momo’s voice broke his heart. The tears that previously faded sprung back into his eyes and Momo panicked.

“Babe, what’s wrong? What happened?” She gently touched his cheek and it felt so different. Sparks would fly at the slightest touch of her fingers, but now…

“H-Hey, Jimin.” Momo’s voice began to fade in his head. He settled his attention towards the other side of the room where you were.

It looked like you were still crying because Taeyong held onto your hands with a look of concern written all over his face. You turned your head and gave Jimin an unsettling look and tugged on Taeyong’s hand to lead him outside.

I guess we’re telling them afterall.

“Jimin.” Momo spoke. “Are you alright? You’re scaring me.”

What the hell was he supposed to say? He couldn’t just come right out and say “I’m sorry, but we’re not soulmates.” It seemed too cruel.

“And what happened? I swear it was Yuanfen, but I don’t remember a single thing.” There was concern in Momo’s voice and he couldn’t blame her. Afterall… she isn’t my…

“Momo.” Jimin said sternly. “Let’s go outside, we have to talk.”

This was it.

Somehow, the weather hadn’t changed but it was so much colder now.

As Jimin stepped out onto the sidewalk with Momo, he easily spotted you in the short distance even with your back turned to him. Jimin switched his attention to Taeyong who looked uneasy and heartbroken. He looked at Jimin with furrowed brows and sadness in his eyes before walking away. Your shoulders were slumped forward and instead of walking in the same direction as Taeyong, you went the opposite, walking past Momo and Jimin on the way,

“Y-Yn? What happ--” Momo tried to reach out for your hand, but Jimin grabbed her hand instead.

“Leave her.” He muttered.

“B-But, she looked like she was crying! Jimin, I have to go to her!”

Jimin squeezed Momo’s hand. He couldn’t look at her. The words couldn’t come out. Everything was crumbling at his feet.

“Jimin. Seriously. What is going on? You’re fucking scaring me.” Momo lashed out.

“We aren’t…” Jimin’s words were soft, almost inaudible.

“What?”

Jimin swallowed hard and looked Momo dead in the eyes. “You’re not my soulmate, Momo.”

A pained force laugh was pushed past between her lips as she took a step back. “Wha-What are you talking about, Jimin? What the fuck do you mean?!”

Silence. All he could offer her was silence.

“There has to be a mistake.” She was frantic. “M-Maybe there’s something about losing your memory after Yuanfen or soulmates getting mixed up or s-something.”

Jimin parted his lips to say something, anything, but nothing came out.

There were tears threatening to spill from Momo’s eyes as she approached him with caution. She clutched his face, her fingers so cold against his skin.

There was no warmth anymore.

“We’re high school sweethearts, Jimin. How can I not be your soulmate…?” Her voice shook as well as her hands.

“Momo, I’m sorry.” Jimin choked out. “I wish there was a mistake—I looked for loopholes, stories of people having the wrong soulmate, but…”

Slowly, Momo separated herself from Jimin’s body.

“Then who… who is your soulmate if it’s not me?” She managed to ask through her tears.

This is what Jimin dreaded—admitting that you were his soulmate to Momo.

“It’s…” Jimin breathed. “My soulmate is… y/n.”

The sound of your name made Momo lift her hand up to her mouth and all Jimin could do was endure the horror that settled in her eyes. He couldn’t reach out to hug her. He didn’t feel worthy of that.

“Y/n…?” She whimpered. “My best friend is my boyfriend’s soulmate? Is that why she was—” A loud sob interrupted her sentence.

He didn’t want this. He didn’t want to hurt her and he was damn sure you didn’t want any of this either.

Yuanfen was supposed to be magical. It was supposed to be a celebration of eternal love.

But it was all shit.

There was nothing magical about hurting Momo, seeing her cry knowing that he had no control over any of this.

Jimin had wondered if there was any way he and Mono could work through any of this and just by the look on her face, he knew the answer.

“Momo, I—”

“You spent Yuanfen with her and what? Did you two do anything?!” She spat.

He was at a loss for words. “We didn’t want this, okay?! She was in a happy and loving relationship with Taeyong and us too. This isn’t easy and I swear to you, Momo, I wish I could change this in a heartbeat but I can’t. I can’t do anything about this. I love you. How am I supposed to do this?”

Momo was wavering. She took a few more steps back and shook her head.

“How, you ask… well, Jimin,” She began. “Let me make it easier for you.”

Just like that, with tear filled eyes, Momo spun on her heel and walked away with Jimin’s heart broken on the pavement.

It was cold, so cold. He couldn’t feel his hands, his face—tears? Jimin touched his cheeks with his nimble fingers and felt the damp streaks on his face.

The hard part was over, right? Having to face Momo and tell her the truth, that was the hard part and now it was done. But he was still suffocating.

Jimin lost her. He lost his girlfriend. Sure he may have found his soulmate, but what good is it if his soulmate wasn’t his girlfriend? He spent years loving Momo and just like that, it was all done. There was nothing left.

“Jimin.”

He looked up from his feet to find you standing before him, hair disheveled and cheeks still stained with tears. You staggered forward but he was still close enough to catch you.

“I expected this.” You said quietly. “It was all expected, but why…”

Immediately, Jimin snaked his arms around your waist to embrace you. He felt and understood your pain.

“I know. I’m sorry.” He breathed near your ear.

“Yeah.” You sniffled and hugged him tighter. “I’m sorry, too.”

Jimin sighed and rubbed your lower back. He didn’t know what he wanted. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave you be for now or take your hand to his dorm to talk about things. It was all too much to take in.

Jimin had just spent an entire day with you, took a nap with you in the same bed, he even kissed you for God’s sake. Losing Momo now was for the best. It would’ve been too painful to force himself out of love and push her away in the future. It was like ripping off a bandaid, quick and—well, painful.

“What are we supposed to do now?” You questioned.

What were we supposed to do?

Everything was still fresh. He was sure that Taeyong and Momo both had a lot of questions to ask, but maybe now wasn’t a good time. He really didn’t know what to do.

Out of instinct, he reached to cup your face and placed a light kiss in between your eyebrows. Your eyes fluttered closed and it wasn’t the best time to be thinking about it, but Jimin had the sudden urge to kiss you properly on the lips.

Again, Jimin acted on instinct.

He traced your cheek with his finger and curled it to lift your chin to make eye contact with you. Your eyes were red with a dust of sadness. You weren’t pulling away and you were still hugging him. He had a feeling you knew what was going to happen next, so he didn’t hesitate.

Using his thumb, Jimin gently pulled beneath your bottom lip to part them about a centimeter’s distance. He watched you close your eyes once more and kissed you sweetly.

Jimin tasted the saltiness from your tears, your pain, your heart break. Mixed in with the cocktail of emotions was the slightest taste of happiness.

He slowly broke the kiss, already missing the intimate contact and once again, tugged you at your nape to bring your face to his chest. He stroked your hair and sighed.

“I don’t know what to do.” Jimin said. “I guess let’s just...go?” He reeled himself back and took your hand, leading you down the path.

Heartbroken as he was for his soulmate not being Momo, he was still happy it was someone he knew and that someone was you. The beholders of fate and love had decided that you were his soulmate.

Yuanfen was a binding force that linked two persons together in any relationship and in this case, it was a romantic one and that force bound you to him.

He had wished that maybe it was you who he had dated in high school. He wished that you were the one he introduced to his parents and brother. He wished he knew what your body liked and what made your toes curl in bliss. He thought it would’ve made this entire thing easier.

But that was the thing, love wasn’t easy. Love was an adventure filled with ups and downs, heartache and celebration. It wasn’t a one time thing, it was something to experience at many different times in one’s life.

Jimin was now this adventure with you and he was going to learn how to love you. He was going to experience every side of you and love each one completely. At least now he knew this was going to be a forever thing and it was all thanks to the thing that pained him in the first place.

Yuanfen.

♡ rae jagi

#bangtan boys #bts #jimin #bts scenarios #jimin scenarios #jimin angst #jimin soulmate au #bts angst #bts soulmate au #this was so fucking long im cryin #mochi #binding force #rae writes

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singaporeluststoriescollection · 5 years

Text

The Wedding Banquet Benefactor (Part 1)

"good girl...." he stroked the bride's hair and lifted her face....

it was awkward. the people present found it unusual too....

the Chinese tea ceremony was over, it was time for the family photo. the bride and groom got up and proceeded to move behind his parents....

"no no, come here...." he pulled on the bride's hand and guided her to sit beside him....

the groom was shocked but reacted graciously, moving behind his wife to be as the rest of the family filled up the spots in the picture.

The bride squirmed a little as the photographer gave suggestions to the family to adjust.... the groom put a reassuring hand on her shoulder to calm her down, to get her to be gracious and not react......

the bride felt a hand on her waist, firm grip on her waist.... his hand.... the one beside her in the middle......

a few shots were taken.... the bride tried her best not to react to the hand that was on her waist.... no wait...... it was moving downwards.... really low now......

"wait...." he said in a commanding voice.... his confidence was a sure thing. no one in the room seemed to dare to question him or make a comment.... the bride was aware as well, having being reminded sternly by her husband to be.

he got up...... "the groom should sit beside the bride!" he moved and swapped positions with the groom.... he was right behind the bride.... the bride felt a hand on her shoulder.... feeling the smooth fabric of her golden cheongsam.... she didn't move.... kept her smile on as well as she could......

then....

she felt it......

it was thick....

it was hard!

he pressed his erection on her back!

she so badly wanted to move!!!

but she didn't dare as the hand held firmly and tightly on her shoulder, hurting her a little....

"Take a few more...." he commanded the photographer...... the bride felt his press harder on her back....

don't the rest see what's going on??? the bride wondered....

photographer: ok I think that's it?

everyone relaxed.... the bride felt the firm grip loosen.... but lingered a little....

she could now finally relax!

then, there was a commotion outside...... it was a fancy car, not one that we usually see on the streets of Singapore! it was a stretch limousine.... the bride and groom hurried over to the luxurious vehicle, they were ready to set off to their hotel! the family members did not seem to marvel too much either, after all, they were used to a life of luxury...

the driver helped to load up the suit cases on to the trunk of the stretch limo as they got in.... the bride was impressed! there was an L shaped seat in the limo as well! she was shocked as it was never in her imagination, or she would think of such luxury in the first place...

"how much is this? why you waste money?" she asked the groom, excited and slightly concerned.... after all, her hubby to be is definitely not poor, and his family is definitely not just rich either....

"I didn't know as well.... I guess he arranged for it...." he replied nervously....

"are we waiting for anyone else?" she asked.

"erm.... yes.... " the groom answered, some indecision and also worry in his voice....

Who can it be?

“hello…” he announced as he got in a few minutes later.

the bride was puzzled… she was not familiar with this arrangement. why was he riding the car with us to the hotel for? the banquet is not till evening....

“ah.... like this arrangement? nice right?” he asked in a firm voice, as though he was expecting a response.... true enough, the groom started pouring out his gratitude…

the bride and groom were sitting on the L shape seats.... the vehicle started to move slowly as the privacy screen lowered to separate them from the driver, giving them total privacy. He moved deeper into the limo and sat beside the groom, much to the relief of the bride. However, his eyes were fixed on the exposed part of her legs in that tight golden cheongsam.

“pour us some” he indicated to the groom.... he immediately got up and poured some complimentary liquor for them.... the bride got a bit worried as she saw the groom pouring quite a bit of liquor in to each glass. she’s not an avid drinker but she could recognize that it was not a cheap bottle of single malt.... when she turned to face him, she realized that his eyes were glued on her cheongsam!

little did she know that her erected nipples were quite obvious as the cheongsam was tight and hugging her C cups, to the extent making them looked squashed and more spread out, looking smaller than they actually are… feeling uncomfortable, the bride folded her arms, hiding her breasts in whatever way she could…

he couldn’t help but smile, knowing that the bride was aware of his lust for her....

“here.... this is for you two....” he took out a big red packet and handed it to the bride before the groom sat down with the drinks.... she thanked him before hesitating to accept it....

“take it.... you are going to be family soon.... no need to be so shy about it…” he said.... grabbing her hand and slotting it into her soft hands.... gripping them hard… “first of many to come.... get used to it!” he said with a scheming and perverted smile...

she felt the red packet in her hand. it felt thick… she felt nervous and excited too…. the groom handed him a drink, he relaxed moved to the shorter side of the L-shaped seats and crossed his legs.... the bride quickly handed over the red packet to her husband to be....

“open it and take a look la… and come on, get yourself a drink too…” he said to her…

the groom opened it… his eyes widened and he couldn’t hold back his smile.... he showed it to her and then put it quickly into his pocket… the bride was equally shocked as well.... she was still trying to figure out what denominations those purple notes were? was its hundreds? or thousands???

“cheers....” he initiated, but not making much effort to get up from his lazy pose on the seat.... the bride and groom both reached forward to meet his glass, while they poured out, they’re thanks to him....

“nah. stop standing on ceremony.... just promise that you two will become good members of our family.” he said in a rather cocky manner...the next 5 minutes were rather awkward for the bride as the conversation was just between him and the groom, him telling the groom about their business and related things... he was trying not to look at the bride even though she pretended to be interested in what he was saying.... she was thankful he wasn’t insisting that they finish the liquor.... however, her hand was getting tired from holding the glass.... she decided not to put it away so it won’t ‘draw his attention to that.

“aiyo, why you never take care of your bride?”

groom: huh?

“help her unzip a bit la. the cheongsam is so tight.... must be more thoughtful la boy.... predict her needs!” he wasn’t really guiding him though.

groom: oh. right!

the wife was reluctant, but the groom shot her a look.... she tried not to look at him, as he was smiling and taking another small sip from the glass. he unzipped her about 8 cm down, loosening the top part of her cheongsam.... she felt some relief too, it not being as tight anymore....

“so, what do you parents work as?”

bride: oh.... my mother doesn’t work.... but she recently remarried.... my father is a driver....

“remarried? so complicated ah....”

she didn’t know why, but she felt an immediate embarrassment.... maybe it’s the pressure of marrying into a family like that. without realising, she took another sip of liquor and swallowed it....

the car came to a stop.... “sir, we are here....” moments later, the driver opened the car door.

“you go check in.” he instructed the groom, who complied immediately.... the bride tried to follow after him but…

“leave it to the gentleman la. stay. I want to talk to you…”

worriedly, the bride sat down on the spot where he was tapping at… right beside him.... he handed her drink back to her, after she had placed it on the stand.

“here. take this.” he said....

the bride was very shocked.... she didn’t expect another red packet from him…

“no no.... I can’t....” she turned him down politely…

“trust me.... you better take this.... I know him well; he’s not going to share the previous one with you....” he stuffed it into her hand....

“but still.... I can’t… it’s too much!” the bride continued to turn him down....

“haha. how do you know how much there is inside?” he asked....

the bride was dumbfounded. the liquor affecting her quick wit slightly… she was at a loss for words....

“accept it graciously.... you are going to family. show me you can be gracious and classy....” he commanded firmly....

“thank you so much…….” the bride wasn’t sure what to call him… “I don’t know how to repay your kindness....”

he didn’t respond to that…. “cheers.” in his subtle way, he got the bride to drink again, there was still half the liquor left in her glass. “there’s something I need to talk to you about. it’s serious.”

“oh ok. what is it about?” the bride sounded worried and curious....

“I have no confidence in this boy to take good care of you, to be honest. you see. he didn’t even remember to help you zip your cheongsam back on before he got off....” he said with a stern look....

“oh.... yup you are right… don’t worry, I’m used to it....” she answered casually....

“I’m not worried about you. somewhere along the line in your marriage, he is bound to make mistakes, over and over again…”

“I don’t think so, he’s a good…” she tried to defend her guy....

“do not interrupt me!” he raised his voice! looking at her with fierce eyes, and also a hint of lust....

“I’m sorry....”

“I know him a lot better than you do. my dear girl....” he put his hand on her shoulder, grip it tightly like he did during the photo taking earlier on… “as I was saying, he is bound to make mistakes.... maybe even become disloyal to you. so now do you know what I’m worried about?”

“erm… I will be loyal to him. I promise.” the bride’s voice sounded unconvincing and timid…

“my dear girl…” he stroked her fringe and pushed it behind her ear, then, “I really don’t care if you are disloyal to him.... all I want to know is that you are loyal to this family!”

“what do you mean?” she was really lost at that moment, wondering what kind of conversation that was!

“since this is Singapore, we can’t make you sign a pre-nuptial agreement.... when things get bad with him, when you divorce him, you will receive a significant amount as compensation. so, before I let you enter our family. I want you to proof that you will be loyal to this family!” He said it with so much content, so much belief.

“I’m sorry.... I think you have the wrong idea. I am not marrying him for the money....” the bride tried…

“I didn’t say you were. I said when it gets bad, which it will, will you still be loyal to my family?” he asserted himself, this time round looking impatient....

“yes. of course, .... I think so.... but I’m still not exactly sure what you mean by that....” the bride…

(Original thread: http://tiny.cc/ovxxbz) (To be continued…)

#slsc2

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crimsondoodledump · 5 years

Photo

It had been more than a year now since the Crusade ended and Crowley had last stood on the battlefield, but strangely enough, he still couldn’t quite find peace.

Around him, 10 boys fought in pairs with dull bladed training swords. The place was the training grounds for training knight apprentices that Crowley himself made by clearing the yard of his own house. For a while now, teaching swordplay here was what put food on Crowley’s table. It was a second practice of the day, and he ended up dozing off in the middle of it. "That was rude of me." After getting up from his chair, he clapped his hands, bringing the training session to an end, the boys bowed and thanked him. However, one of them called him out on falling asleep during their training and gave Crowley some trouble. After Crowley dealt with the young trouble maker, the boy's attitude changed to genuine respect for Crowley. Dismissing them once again the pupils started to leave and Crowley returned his chair. The boys stopped and noticed a young woman walking to Crowley who had just sat down. Crowley's gaze was turn to the ground in thought when the bottom of a brown dress came into his view. "...?" Crowley looked up to the young woman, she wore such a gentle expression. She placed her arms behind her and leaned over to bring her face closer to Crowley's. "It has been a while, Crowley. How have you been?" Crowley stared at her for a moment, then it clicked. "..!" "Ceci-!" Before he could finish the name she quickly placed her hand over Crowley's mouth. "!?" "Shh! You can't called me that anymore." She whispered "Cecil Emard is dead, remember?" She removes her hand. "Ah. I thought you really did die..." His voice became low and quieter. "No. I managed to survive, somehow. Luckily, none of my vitals were hit..." Her voice also become soft. "I see. Thank goodness, I thought I had lost you too..." Crowley covered his face with a hand and her face became dejected, ('Thank goodness?') she thought, Crowley did not say 'Thank God', ...although, she knew why. "I am happy. That you are safe, Crow." She gave Crowley a warm smile when he looked back to her. The boys who were still watching turned their attention elsewhere. "H-Hey, that person’s uniform! He must be a Templar Knight, no?" "What would a Templar Knight be doing at a training school of an out in the sticks town like this?" "Hey, better shut up, guys. That person is Gilbert Chartres-sama, and the rumor has it that he’s a candidate to be the next Master of the Order," someone said. Crowley only inclined his head, and the woman once known as Cecil turned to look at the Templar Knight. Gilbert Chartres. That name brought back memories. Crowley’s eyes focused on the young man that appeared on the practice grounds. If he remembered right, the man was 24 now, a year younger than himself. Did God still dwell in his heart even after he had gone through that war? Crowley wondered all of a sudden. Having finished weaving his way through the crowding students, Gilbert was going straight for where Crowley sat. Compared to a year ago, he had gained a more dignified air about him, it appeared. The young woman who still stood in front of Crowley moved to the side and lowered her head a bit as Gilbert came to Crowley. ("Will he recognized me?") She thought. Gilbert stopped in front of the sitting Crowley and addressed him, "It has been a long time, Crowley-sama." Looking up at Gilbert, out loud he said, "Drop the '-sama', Gilbert. These days, you’re a much greater man than I am." But Gilbert paid his request no mind and continued, "Crowley-sama. Why do you not attend church anymore?" It looked like he didn’t intend to let up on the formalities anytime soon. A shadow of worry clouded Gilbert’s expression as he asked, "Ever since that war, you stopped coming to church. Naturally, I know the feeling, too, and I understand it. So many of our comrades fell in that war. It pains our hearts so, and some even lost the most precious thing there is - their faith." Standing silent, the woman's eyes narrowed. "…" Yeah, and I’m one of them, Crowley thought to himself. He had started to lose faith, he knew. "But you are not like that, sir, I am sure. You saved so many of our comrades. Including me, of course. If not for you, I…" But Crowley interrupted him, "It wasn’t me who saved you. It was God, Gilbert, because He saw how unshakeable your faith was." A bitter smile threatened to twist his lips at how ridiculous it was that these words came out of the mouth of someone like him - someone who had started to lose his faith in God. However, to that Gilbert answered, still gazing at him fixedly, "Even if so, it only means that you, another survivor of that war, are also a person chosen by Our Lord." "I just got lucky." "Crowley-sama." "If you have no other business with me, I’ll excuse myself." Crowley got up from his broken chair. It rattled again as he did. It's left back leg needed to be reinforced, or the chair would continue to rock, and he would be risking to nod off at an inappropriate time again. He would fix it later, he decided. With his back to Gilbert, he was about to walk off when Gilbert remarked, "The Knights Templar are looking for a knight worthy to become the next Master." Now, this seemed to be the business he had with Crowley. Crowley turned back around, "I heard my pupils say earlier that you’re a Master candidate. Congratulations." Gilbert gazed at Crowley, "I would like to recommend you for the position. Our comrades all agree with me. If only you attended the assembly…" But Crowley only shrugged his shoulders. "I’m not worthy." "Your achievements in that wretched war shine so bright that it is not an exaggeration to call them uniquely outstanding. Bearing the noble intention to sacrifice yourself for the sake of your comrades in your heart, you saved a great many of them. Risking your life, you slew legions of enemies. I cannot think of anyone who could be worthier than—” But Crowley laughed at that, "Sacrificing myself, eh. If I’m that great a man as you say, then why didn’t I make good on my self-sacrificing intention and die there? Why am I still living without a care in the world?" "Because Our Lord had chosen you!" "Hahaha!" Crowley burst out laughing. Crowley reiterated, "…In any case, I’m not worthy." She stood there listening to them talk and she understood every word they said...proof of her journey with them. Sometimes she thought that all that happened in the war was a dream. That she never posed as a man and became a Squire and that she fought in the Holy War in the name of God...That she never watched her comrades being murdered in front of her. But, the scar on her face and her sword skills, as well as her used to seeing the guts and blood of corpses. She watched Crowley though most of his conversation with Gilbert, he had pain in his eyes with some of Gilbert's words. Somehow, she understood a little of how Crowley of feeling, or at least, an idea of how he felt."Crowley-sama." Gilbert called out to him again, and Crowley raised his head to say, "I need to go." "Crowley-sama. I shall be coming here every day until you say yes." "That’s a royal bother." "I will pull you back to the center stage, sir, the same way you saved me back in that war." Ignoring him, Crowley walked away. Gilbert sighed and turned his attention to the young lady who remained silent the whole time. "My apologies." He said. "No worries." She replied with a smile. When she lifted her face a bit to speak to him, Gilbert looked surprised. As he went to say something, he stopped himself. "...Good day to you...miss." He lowered his head and left. "..." ("Shit...He recognized me, didn't he?... Gilbert...") She turned and followed Crowley, who went into his house. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Crowley’s house, remade into the training school, was always clean, because once a week, a maidservant came and took care of chores and cleaning. To begin with, it wasn’t in Crowley’s nature to leave messes after himself. As to the things to do, he took strolls, read and did some necessary sword training as to not grow rusty. His meals were provided by his neighbors. Soon after he had started living here, he caught 3 burglars that tried to break into the house 3 doors down from his own, and ever since that incident, his neighbors, understanding the tribulations of a man living all alone, took turns preparing meals for him. That is, he was served domestic meals in exchange for this kind of protection. Seated at the dining table, Crowley mulled over what happened today. Over what Gilbert said. Over his intention to recommend Crowley as a candidate for the post of the Master. "What are you going to do? You don't want it, do you?" She stated, leaning against the empty doorway to what would be the kitchen where Crowley sat. Her expression was...sad, ...for him. “…” "...Sorry. I didn't mean to leave you there like that. With Gilbert, I mean." "I'm sure he must have recognized me but, I am not worried that he will say something about it. After all. I don't look that different aside from my clothing, the scar doesn't help either. " She walked over and joined Crowley at the table, sitting in the other empty chair across from him. "You said I can't call you Cecil, anymore. And come to think of it, I never thought about it not being your real name." "Hmm?" "So what is your real name?" "...It is, no...I am Cecelia Basset, a pleasure to properly meet you, Sir Crowley." She lightly bows her head. "Cecelia? Cecel. Cecil. Ah, so that is how you got your name. Haha, did you come up with it on the spot? You simply used the first part of your name. How unoriginal, hahaha." Crowley couldn't help but laugh at her. "Hmph! A matter of fact I did! When one of the knights ask my name, I already looked like a boy, but when I went to say my name I had stopped myself from saying it midway. So it simply became, Cecil. The last name Emard, was taken from my father's old friend, who was like an uncle to me." "I see." "..." Crowley started at the cold stew and bread left for him on the simple dining table. It was lunchtime, yet, strangely enough, he had no appetite. Perhaps because he dozed off earlier when he really shouldn’t have had. But if he didn’t finish all of the food, the neighboring matron who prepared it would surely get angry with him. "Are you not going to eat? You have been staring at the bowl, but have yet to take a single bite." Cecelia tilted her head ever so slightly with a worried look. "I heard that your neighbors make your meals, they will be sad if you don't eat them. Unless they are bad at cooking..." "Yeah, I should eat then." He just took the bread in hand, when an energetic boyish voice shouted his name in the yard, "Crowley-sama!" Crowley and Cecelia shifted their eyes to the source of the voice. "I’m coming in, Crowley-sama!" "You are popular today," Cecelia remarks, resting her cheek on her fist. With that, the source made it through the door, not waiting for his permission. It was a cheerful boy of about 15. His stature was small and completely unfit for a knight, but he wore a long light brown robe with a red cross on his chest. He was Jose, a squire. "Crowley-sama! Thank you for supervising today’s morning practice sessions!" In reply to that, Crowley informed him, "Sorry, Jose, not sharing my lunch with you." "I never expected you to, sir, that’s why I have already eaten mine become coming here!" "And I distinctly remember telling you not to come here anymore.” "Well, I cannot do that, sir. My orders state that I am to follow and serve you, Crowley-sama!" Jose noticed Cecelia sitting across from Crowley, "Oh, hello there! Are you Crowley-sama's maidservant?" Cecelia smiled to hide her annoyance, ("The first thing he thinks is that I am a damn maid? This boy...") "Yes. I just came to clean up any dishes or dust for Sir Crowley. I am Cecelia." She smiles cheerfully, an obvious lie, but Jose is too oblivious to doubt her words. "It is an honor to help Crowley-sama! I thank you for looking after him!" Crowley let out an annoyed sigh and Cecelia almost laughed, this boy is too pure. "Nothing good will come out of being by the side of someone like me." Crowley stated. But for some reason, at that, Jose gave him a proud look. "I am absolutely sure that that is not so! Serving Crowley Eusford-sama, the hero of the Crusades, is a great honor that my humble self does not deserve!" he said with an impossibly bright and sunny smile. Losing this round, Crowley smiled with a strained smile. “The hero, huh.” He had already heard that earlier today and was frankly fed up with the hero talk for one day. Meanwhile, Jose continued joyfully, "Today, too, I was asking the other surviving knights about your heroic deeds in the war that they had witnessed! Can I please tell you what they told me?" "Of course not, do you even need to ask?" "Please allow me!" "No. Besides, why should I even listen to the stories about myself from you?" "Because I thought you might have forgotten!" "Are you even serious?" Cecelia Look to Crowley, it was easy for her to tell he was getting tired of all this talk of the war, she did not wish to hear about those times, either. Jose looked deadly serious. He always gave his utmost effort everything he did. Believing in God from the bottom of his heart, he found hope in the Knights Templar and revered his master, Crowley, endlessly. Jose said, "In that case, please allow me to tell you the tale of your heroic deeds at dinner." "Good grief, go home in the evening at least." "Speaking of, sir, do you have any plans for the afternoon? Is there something I can help you with?" "Nothing I would need your help with." "Then, Crowley-sama, what exactly are you going to do in the afternoon today?" "Hm~ I was just going to go out and check if anything is disturbing public peace.” Because it wouldn’t do to keep getting food for doing nothing. "So Jose, call it a day and go home already." But Jose wasn’t about to, firing off with excitement plastered all over his face, "I see! Nothing less from you, Crowley-sama! They say protecting public peace is the most important job of a knight! Please allow me to accompany you!" So he was going to tag along, huh. Crowley sighed, "Haa" "I will be right back, Crowley-sama!" Jose quickly left with excitement. "Do you want to leave without him? Cecelia joked, "If I did that he may never leave my side again...Today has been quite eventful, I just wanted a peaceful day." Crowley sighed once again. "I'm sorry. It seems I pick the wrong day to come and see you again." she gave a small smile, "Ah, no. Not you. I am really happy to see you, Cecil-lia...If it wasn't for Gilbert and Jose, today would have been the best in a long time, because of you." His words were so gentle and genuine, tears welled up in Cecelia's eyes with a small blush on her cheeks. "The day is not over yet, Crow." They share a moment looking into each other's eyes. "Now, eat your food. Before your little squire comes back and interrupts you again." she giggles. "Yes, Ma'am."

_______________________ I still really enjoy making these fake screenshots with the stories! Ever trying to keep canon characters "in character" as much as possible! For those who read and enjoy these little oc insert stories, I thank you with all my heart for reading them! Even for those who read them and dislike them. Cecil Emard/Cecelia Basset©Mine OnS & Crowley Eusford©Takaya Kagami

#ons oc #*Cecil Emard #*Cecelia Basset #*crowley #*my ocs #*my art #*echo

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lune-hime · 6 years

Text

Tatted Up (Chocobros + Luna x f!Reader)

No Ragrets about my new tattoo

(I want to get a tattoo soooo bad)

~~~~

Noctis

“Y/N, you have something on your arm.” Prompto called as you walked towards your lawn chair.

“What?!” You squeaked and shook your left arm frantically checking for, six forbid, a spider and almost spilling your freshly brewed cup of ebony in the process.

“No, your other arm!” Prompto exclaimed, hopping up from his own chair. Wiping a hand on your upper arm to disperse whatever was on your skin, no matter how many times the boy brushed it the little brown smudge peeking from under your shirt sleeve just wouldn’t come off.

“That is some serious dirt, it’s really stuck on there.” He had now resorted to picking at the speck, causing a fit of giggles of erupt from your chest.

“Oh my god Prom you scared me.” You laughed, the shock of a potential insect chilling on your body quickly washing away. Your laughter only further confused the boy as he leaned in closer to your arm to see it better.

“What’s so funny?” He asked perplexed, blue eyes fixed intensely on the spot. You set your ebony down in the chair’s cupholder unable to hold in more giggles.

“One sec.” You said, holding up a finger and slipping away into the woods. A moment later you reappeared with Noctis in tow.

“Uh, hey Noct?” Prompto blinked.

Scarily in sync, both you and the prince suddenly rolled up the sleeves of your tee shirts revealing matching behemoth tattoos. Prompto’s jaw dropped and continued to drop as the two of you proceeded to squad pose in the middle of the campsite.

“Ugh, not again.” Gladiolus rubbed his temple, groaning. “They were doing this all day at the Citadel yesterday after they got them.”

“Wha- hey don’t encourage them!” He yelled as Prompto instantly went into photographer mode, snapping pictures from various angles.

An audible sigh could be heard from the grill, where Ignis stood pinching the bridge of his nose as he flipped the last hamburger.

Prompto

“You didn’t.” Your best friend gasped at the image on your wrist. The sleeveless cocktail dress left nothing to the imagination and any partygoer within a ten-foot radius would be able to catch a glimpse of the masterpiece on your skin. At this royal gala there was no uniform or jacket to cover the, one could say unique, image that was now a part of your body.

“Wait it looks less regrettable when we’re together.” You explained in defense, setting your champagne glass down after one final sip and pulling your friend by the arm. The two of you weaved through the sea of Insomnia’s elite until you reached the terrace. The iridescent fish in the large aquarium installment paled in comparison to what now adorned your wrist. They seemed to stare you down as you approached the now neatly combed mop of blonde hair that stood in front of the aquatic structure.

Not bothering to pull him away from his conversation with Gladiolus, you rolled the sleeve of his suit up just enough to expose the pale freckled skin of his wrist. Placing your arm next to his, your friend gasped. The images of two brightly colored chocobos stood squawking at each other from your arm to Prompto’s. Your chocobo sported the traditional yellow feathers, the same color as Prompto’s hair, while the one on his arm had a hue akin to your own locks.

The two of you gave your friend a cheesy smile, causing them to deadpan.

“You two really are perfect for each other.”

Ignis

Ignis’ foot would not stop tapping. The thudding of his dress shoe against his office floor echoed off the walls of the spacious room. He had been in this jittery state ever since you had left a few hours ago to get your tattoo. Not just any tattoo, however, but your first tattoo. He absolutely would have gone with you, but paperwork forbid him from leaving his office at the Citadel. Although there was nothing he could do about it, and you were very understanding, he still felt bad. This was your first tattoo after all and as your boyfriend naturally he wanted to be there for all the big milestones in your life. He was a bit worried for you at first, as you got anxious anytime a needle was anywhere near you. Yet when you had reassured him that you would be fine and that a close friend of yours would be going with you, he relaxed a little. That is, until you disclosed which close friend was tagging along for moral support.

“Don’t worry about me Iggy, Nyxie is coming with!”

When you had told him this Ignis didn’t realize it, but he was squeezing the pen in his hand with a little too much force. He had always felt a little envious of your relationship with the member of the Kingsglaive; as the two of you had been friends since you were younger. He felt stupid for feeling this way and he knew your relationship with him was completely platonic, but your closeness to the confident and charming man brought out Ignis’ insecurities. It wouldn’t have bothered him so much if it was another friend, but as Ignis sifted through the mountains of paperwork he could feel the green-eyed monster slowly possessing his body. And Ignis didn’t get jealous; it was a tedious emotion that wasn’t worth wasting time on. He also didn’t usually have the particular urge to punch anyone, but at the moment Nyx Ulric had a very punchable face.

So, when you burst into his office later that afternoon he expected Nyxie to be with you too but was pleasantly surprised when you were alone.

“Iggy I’m back!” You bounced in through one of the large double doors, plastic wrap around the reddened skin of your lower arm. Seeing the happiness on your face instantly brightened his mood and the intrusive thoughts that had previously preoccupied his brain began to fade away. Swiveling in his office chair, he found you beaming at him from the other side of his desk. Your smile was contagious, and soon a grin began to spread across his face as well at the sight of you.

“Hello love, how did it go?” Ignis’ eyes fell to the plastic wrap; a movement not undetected by you as you quickly placed your arms behind your back before he could catch a glimpse of it.

“It went really well! Painful as hell, but it turned out exactly how I wanted it.” You replied, excitedly shifting on your feet.

“I’m sure it wasn’t anything you couldn’t handle, you once sat three hours with a killer wasp stinger in your leg.” Ignis praised, resting his elbows on his desk as he leaned in closer to you. You both grimaced at the memory, but you quickly waved it away.

“Nyx called me lame for flinching a couple times, but other than that it didn’t hurt that bad. I made sure to squeeze his hand extra hard when it did sting though to get him back.” You huffed. Ignis bit his bottom lip as the unwanted feelings of jealousy washed over him once more. That hand you had been suffocating should have been his.

“So, am I going to get to see it?” He blurted out, sounding a bit sourer than he intended. Your eyes widened slightly and a playful smirk danced across your features as you realized his current mood. Adjusting your posture so you stood up straight, you whisked your arms out from behind your back and held them out in front of you.

“Tada! Isn’t it cute?” You squealed happily. Ignis tilted his head to the side as he viewed the tattoo. Sitting on your forearm was a simple, small cup of ebony with delicate lines of steam emerging from the top of the mug. Before he got the chance to comment on it you cleared your throat and spoke, voice soft.

“It combines my two loves; coffee and you.” You cooed, smiling lovingly down at your arm. Who knew something so small could make Ignis’ heart swell so much. Whatever grudges and doubts Ignis had felt earlier had been disproven by the little design. The way you regarded the image with such affection gave him butterflies.

Before you knew it, you were engulfed by a pair of strong arms and assaulted with kisses all over your face. Giggling, you wiggled in his tight hold to look up at him.

“So I’m guessing you like it?” You smiled, craning your neck to meet his gaze.

“Like it? I find it absolutely stunning. I love it, and I love you.”

Sighing contently, you snuggled closer into his broad chest. For a while you two stayed like that, relishing in the warm of each other’s embraces. After a few moments you spoke up, voice muffled by the hug.

“You know, I didn’t take you for the jealous type Iggy.”

“I don’t get jealous, darling.”

Gladiolus

“Wow sis it looks so cool!” Iris gawked at your new tattoo. You leaned into your chair at the café as she traced her fingers lightly over the patterns, offering a giggle from you whenever she hit the ticklish spot on your shoulder. Since you had last seen the younger girl you had gotten a floral tattoo on the back of your left shoulder and she could not stop fussing over it, calling you “so much more badass than Gladdy now”.

The two of you had had a girl’s day out shopping in the city; which included getting matching moogle plushies and much more clothing than what was practical. You were thankful to spend some one on one time with the little Amicitia, not only because you loved Iris but because you needed some more estrogen in your life after spending nearly every day with four college aged boys.

The two of you were currently unwinding from your busy day at a café that had a beautiful view of the Disc of Cauthess while you waited for the boys to get back from a hunt nearby. You hummed happily, resting your head and arms on the back of the iron chair, enjoying the view while Iris continued to trace the lines of your tattoo.

“You guys look like you had a fun day.” A husky voice called behind you. The rest of your squad had noisily made their way up the stairs, getting dirty looks from the other patrons as their post-hunt adrenaline disturbed the previously peaceful chatter that surrounded the rooftop. Gladiolus made his way over to the two of you; ruffling his sister’s hair before briefly cupping your cheek, rubbing it a few times as you leaned into his touch.

Gladio gestured to the plethora of bags, pursing his lips when his gazed reached the giant moogle struggling to fit into the paper bag. He looked to you and Iris with a raised eyebrow.

“This is Barnaby. He’s our son.” You said with a straight face, patting the stuffed creature on the head.

“Hopefully our future kids don’t look as ugly as him.” Gladiolus huffed. You returned his bemused grin with sticking out your tongue.

“Hey, Gladdy have you seen your girlfriend’s beautiful tattoo?” Iris piped up, still preoccupied with the design.

“Of course, I have. I’ve seen her other one too.” He replied nonchalantly.

Iris furrowed her eyebrows and wiggled in the chair, scanning every inch of visible skin on your body.

“I don’t see another one.”

“Exactly.”

You choked on your sip of iced coffee and Iris visibly gagged.

“I think I need to go rinse my ears out with bleach.”

Lunafreya

“Sister is that a tattoo?” Ravus questioned, as he entered the parlor room. The two had just finished with a busy day filled with politics and official oracle business. It wasn’t often he had the chance to see his sibling; always caught between military excursions and confidential dealings. It was these rare times that he got to spend with her, although he would never admit it, that he valued most.

Lunafreya jumped at the sudden inquiry, causing Pryna to jolt awake from her spot next to the oracle on the large sofa.

“O-oh yeah, I got it about a week ago.” She replied, laughing nervously. The question had caught her off guard and she already felt the heat beginning to rise to her face.

Ravus cocked an eyebrow at her peculiar behavior. What kind of tattoo could make her so flustered?

As he drew nearer to where she rested he could see the image just below her collarbone more clearly. It was a detailed little drawing of a crescent moon with several stars surrounding it. Ravus noted its artistic quality; it was quite tasteful and not overly flashy.

“It’s one of Y/N’s drawings.” Luna explained, a soft smile rising on her features at the thought of you. She rose from her spot on the couch, with a whine of protest from the sleepy pup beside her, and made her way over to where her brother stood in front of the entrance to the balcony. The floor to ceiling windows blanketed the room in the warm mid-afternoon light. The natural lighting made the image stand out against Lunafreya’s pale skin and got caught in her hair, turning it an ethereal silver. Taking inher appearance he thought the little image complimented her well.

“It makes it seem likes she’s less far away whenever she goes back to Insomnia.” She explained, turning her head to the side to look out upon the lively landscape of Tenebrae.

“Does it hold any special meaning?” Ravus asked, causing her gaze to slowly tear from the window to meet his own. He noted the redness of her cheeks as she spoke.

“Well, she always calls me her moon and I call her my stars.” Luna’s blush grew tenfold as she told him your nicknames for each other. She then smiled, placing her hand over the design and rubbing loving circles over it.

“Heh, it sounds so silly saying it to you.” She said awkwardly, flustered as if you were still her middle school crush.

The smallest of smiles graced Ravus’ face and he placed a hand on her shoulder just above the tattoo, rubbing his thumb along the exposed skin.

“I think It suits you.” He praised. The grin that adorned his sister’s delicate features widened at his remark and she beamed up at him.

There was no doubt Ravus had mixed feelings about Insomnia, its royal family, and its guard. But he was positive that the one good thing that came out of that city was you; for you made the only reason he had left to smile, smile too.

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sp4c3-0ddity · 5 years

Note

Oh!! If youre still doing the au thing, neighbors plance au? Everything is still canon compliant but pidge and lance have known each other since they were in diapers (imagine The Angst when pidge disappears after Kerberos and reappears at the garrison and lance has to lie to hunk about “pidge gunderson”)

possibly not quite what you wanted and a bit more than five headcanons (a fic of nearly 3000 words…) but i hope you like it!! sorry it’s a bit of a mess

(also i made up some stuff about the Garrison and the timeline may be a little off)

“Whothe heck is Pidge Gunderson?”

Predictably Hunk shrugs, as baffled asLance is…thoughlikely not as disappointed. He hopedhis comm specialist would be any of the last five girls he had a crush on, andyet—

“Righthere.”

The familiar voice squeezes his chest andmakes it difficult to breathe for a second, but when he recovers - no way, it can’t be her- he spins on his heel to face his and Hunk’s new teammate.

But the round face and petite frame areunmistakable despite the uneven haircut and glasses. Lance doesn’tknow who Pidge Gunderson is, but it’s not the girlstanding before him.

Katie Holt.

***

Lance lay on his side glaring at theGarrison recruitment poster tacked to his wall, well-aware that he was sulkingbut unwilling to do anything about it. He deservedto sulk after Commander Iverson released their class ranking andclassification. Dreams shattered, hopes dashed, his future as a hero andprodigious heartthrob flushed down the toilet and piped all the way to thebottom of the Marianas Trench for the moray eels to make snacks of…

Score: 82.15Ranking: #11Pilot Class: Cargo

The kicker was that his score was a fraction of a point lower than thelowest ranked fighter pilot.

“Thinkof it this way!” Veronica had saidin that peppy voice she took on when he sulked.“You’re top of the cargoclass!”

“Bigwhoop,” Lance had grumbled. “Cargo pilots don’t go on explorationmissions like to Kerberos…”

No, missions like that would be reserved for Keith and James and all the rest at thetop of his year, while he’d be stuck at the bottom of a barreldelivering instant meals to colonies on the moon.

A sharp knock sounded from the door.

“Whatdo you want?” Lance called without turning around. “I’m doing homework!”

The door’s hinges creaked. “That’s a lie.”

He bolted upright, his heart, heavy withdisappointment, lightening when Katie peeked around the door. “Katie!What’re you doing here?” Lance wondered.

She walked in, shutting the door behind her(which his mother wouldn’t be too happy about for some reason…itwas just Katie, their neighborand his friend since forever) and perching on his desk chair. “Iheard from Veronica that you didn’t make fighter class,” she said, scuffing herbare feet against the carpet. “I’m sorry; I know how much you wanted it.”

Lance sat up and waved a hand. “It’snot a big deal,” he said without meeting her eyes. “I mean, at least I made something, right? And if someone in fighter classwashes out I’llbe the first one in line to replace them!”

Katie raised an eyebrow at him, theslightest smirk perking up her lips. “You know that almost never happens, right?”

He slumped, heart weighed down all overagain, and admitted, “Right, well, a guy can hope! Oryou can make it, shoot through the ranks, and change the rules so that the top eleven make fighter class?”He winked at her, oddly pleased when a hint of pink colored her cheeks.

But she rolled his eyes and retorted, “Itdoesn’t really work that way, Lance, and by then it’ll be too late for you.”

“Iknow, I know.” Lance leaned back against his headboard, hands behind his headand ankles folded in front of him. “You couldjust keep some other sorry rank eleven pilot cadet from suffering this samegrave injustice.”

Katie snorted. “You’reso dramatic, Lance.” The bed sank underneath him as she sat beside him andpulled her feet up. “I can tell you’re upset though.”

“Who?Me? Upset that I didn’t get the thing I wanted most in the whole dang universe?Obviously not!”

Katie shot him a flat, unimpressed frown. “Atleast you still get to fly,” she pointed out. “You did reasonably well inflight school, so it’s not like you’ll lack for missions later, even if they’renot glamourous.”

“Easyfor you to say,” Lance mumbled. He covered his face with his arm. “Your dad andbrother are on the mission of a century.”

“Neitherof them is a pilot,” Katie pointed out.

“I’mnot a multi-talented genius like you,” he said, peeking at her from under hisarm. “You can easily get in as a comm specialist or an engineer withoutfinishing school. You can probably get in as a pilot too if you did flightschool first!”

Katie shifted in place, looking suddenlyuncomfortable judging by how she glanced away, and Lance decided to drop thetopic.

“Whatabout you? Going to join me at the Garrison soon?” He grinned, quirking ateasing eyebrow. “Sure, you have to get through at least two years of highschool first, but that’s exciting too, right?”

Katie stuck her tongue out and said, “Please,if I have to suffer more than two years of incompetent teachers and meanclassmates I’ll steal a rocket from the Garrison and launch myself to Kerberoswithout a helmet.”

Lance laughed, but when Katie didn’tjoin in his eyes widened. “That bad?”

She shrugged but rested her chin on herknees, staring at the same spot on his wall that preoccupied him before shearrived. “It’snot a big deal,” she said. “I know there’s an end to it, so I can live with itfor now.”

“Don’tworry,” Lance said. He sat up and slid forward, feet touching the floor, torest a hand on her shoulder. “The Garrison’s better.”

“Easyfor you to say,” Katie said. “You make friends easily and aren’t super smart—”

“Iresent that!” he squawked, hand springing to his chest in offense.

“—soyou fit in.” She smiled apologetically and added, “Sorry, I meant that as anobservation, not an insult.”

“Iknow.” A grin pushed at his lips, and he flicked a strand of her long hair thatfell into her face, unsecured by her ponytail. “But lots of people are supersmart at the Garrison, so you’ll fit right in!”

Probably better than me, he thought with a twinge in his gut.Everyone at the Garrison was just so spectacular…

“Speakingof super smart people,” Lance said, “you heard anything from your dad andbrother lately?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and added, “I know youtalk to them behind the Garrison’s back…”

Katie’s eyes widened in surprise. She grabbedthe front of his shirt, shocking himinto yelping and his heart - did her face have to be so close? - into racing, and said, “No one’s supposed to know about that!”

Lance raised his hands and stuttered, “Sorry!You’re just not careful around me!”

Katie frowned but let him go. “Don’ttell anyone,” she said.

“Hey,your secret is safe with me,” Lance promised. He straightened his shirt andsighed in relief. “So…is that a yes?”

Katie beamed, the expression radiant andwarming him. “Actually,they’re only a few days away from Kerberos…”

***

“Pidge”avoids Lance just like Katie did after the mission failure, but unlike thattime, when her red-eyed mother answered the door with an apology or the pebbleshe lobbed at her bedroom window went unacknowledged, the truth of it stares himin the face.

So he chooses to confront her.

When she opens the door to her dorm, hesticks his foot in the gap before she can slam it back in his face.

“Ow,”he hisses, the shock of it shooting through his foot and forcing a wince fromhim.

“Whatdo you want?” Katie - Pidge? Isn’t that the nickname her brother gave her? -demands. “I’m busy.”

He refuses to budge, despite his stomachdoing somersaults and his heart pounding an uneven rhythm against his ribs. “Ineed to talk to you.”

“Ihave nothing to say to you outside of class,” she retorts tartly.

His chest tightens, but he scowls andinsists, “You’veavoided me for the last few months, Pidge,so I think I at least deserve an explanation.”

Her eyes widen - no longer hidden behindthose big lenses - while a flicker of shame crosses her face before she sighsand opens the door. “Fine,” she says, waving him in. “Let’s make this quick; I havework to do.”

“Work?”Lance snorts, accepting her reluctant invitation. “It’s the second day of thesemester!”

“Ihave more important stuff to do than classwork, Lance,” she grumbles.

Before he can ask what she means, she slamsthe door shut with enough force to rattle the window.

Clothes and books and manuals litter herfloor, a sharp contrast from her relatively tidy childhood bedroom, but despitethe fact that she seems to have made herself quite at home, nothing gives awayanything…personal. No stuffed animals propped against apillow on the bed, no photos of her family pinned to the wall or sitting inframes on her cluttered desk, no stickers or posters or comic books lining thelittle free space on the shelves….

The sight of it makes his chest ache withsomething like regret.

She - really, what should Lance call her? - stands in the middle of the almost hiddenfloor with her arms crossed and her glower fixed at some point past him. “Sowhat do you want?”

“Totalk,” he says, the adrenaline that sustained him up to this point fading as hurt took over. “Why did you ghostme, Katie?”

“Don’tcall me that here,” she snaps, a hint of fear crossing her face so quickly hemight’ve imagined it.

So that answers one question…

“Allright, Pidge,” Lance says through gritted teeth, “whyhaven’t I seen you in months?”

“I’vebeen busy.”

“Busygetting into the Garrison under a fake name?” He mirrors her pose, adding aneyebrow raised in skepticism. “You’d get accepted here as yourself with youreyes closed.”

“I’mnot here for academicreasons,”Pidge says. “I’m here for—look, it doesn’t matter toyou! I’ll be out of your hair soon enough anyway.”

And as much as it pained Lance when sheignored him every time he tried - and failed- to visit her after her father and brother were declared dead, as much as it hurt for her to attempt to blow him offnow, he really didn’tlike the sound of that.

A frown pulls at his lips. “Whatdo you mean?” he wonders.

“I’m…tryingto switch to a different team,” she admits. And she even has the audacity tolook abashed, her eyebrows drawn together and herfingers wringing the hem of her uniform jacket.

But her admission doesn’thurt like it should, not when his chest burns with anger and he snaps, “I don’tknow what you’re up to - and I sure hope you’ll tell me! - but I would never expose you when you’reobviously in disguise.” He rolls his eyes, scowling at the floor, and mutters, “Icovered for you with Hunk already. He sensedsomething odd when I ‘met’ you.”

Of course he had, when the sight of Pidgeand her big brown eyes made his breath catch and his tongue stick to the roofof his mouth and left him speechless.

Really, all his primary school teachersthat bemoaned how talkative he was inclass should’veemployed Pidge disguised as a boy if they wanted him to keep quiet.

“Hedid?” Pidge’s jaw drops. “A-and it’s not that I think you’ll report me,” shecontinues after clearing her throat. “It’s that…I can’t risk being exposed fromsomething so trivial as I’m too friendlytowards someone I just met. Your sister would catch on in a—”

“I’msorry,” Lance interrupts, rolling his eyes, “but that’s the dumbest thing I’veever heard. And look, I knowyou’renot used to making friends”—he doesn’t miss her grimace at the reminder—”but lots of people are really friendly with peoplethey just met, so don’t give me that excuse.”

“I—”Pidge sighs, gaze drifting down to the floor between them. “I just…I don’tknow.”

Lance, suddenly exhausted with all thisincluding the months of her avoiding him, drops onto her bed. “Whyare you going to all this trouble anyway? Your dad works - I mean, worked - here, so can’tyou just…waltz in if you wanted?”

Pidge shakes her head and confesses, “Igot banned from the premises.”

His head snaps up in shock. “Wait,what?”

She sits heavily beside him. “IfI tell you…”

“You’llhave to kill me?” Lance suggests when she trails off, staring into space.

She smiles fleetingly, but he counts it avictory anyway. “No,but you can’t tell anyone else.”

He draws an X over his chest and says, “Crossmy heart. As long as I don’t have to die for this secret…”

“Youcan’t even tell Hunk,” Pidge insists with a glare.

He raises his hands. “I’malready way ahead of you in that…but it’ll get harder,” he says, rubbing theback of his neck sheepishly.

Her eyes flit from his face to the floorand back again. “Itwasn’t pilot error,” she almost whispers.

He leans closer, unsure he heard her right.“What?”

A familiar ferocity enters her eyes,sending a shiver up his spine, as she says, “The pilot didn’t crash and my father andbrother aren’t dead. Something tookthem.”

Lance gapes at her. “Areyou…really? How do you know?”

“ClassifiedGarrison footage I wasn’t supposed to find,” she tells him shortly. “They’relying about what happened.”

“W-whatcould’ve taken them?” he wonders while dread ties his stomach into knots. Buthe forces a laugh and feebly jokes, “N-not aliens, right?” When Pidge doesn’treply, his jaw drops. “Pidge, what did you see?”

“Isaw enough to know there’s more to what the Garrison said publicly,” shepronounces, “but I’m here to find out as much as I can.”

“Anddo what?” Lance asks. “Expose the Garrison’s lie?”

“Maybe,”she says, frowning. “It…depends on what I find.”

“But,Pidge—”

And before he can wonder what she plans todo next, she cuts in, “I’msorry, Lance.”

At this rate, he’llhave a premature heart attack thanks to all the shocksshe’sdealt him.

“What?”

“Ishouldn’t have shut you out like that.” She pulls her feet onto the bed andhugs her knees. “I just didn’t know what to do after the mission failure, so Ithrew myself into investigating that rather than wasting time on other things.”

“Aw,thanks, Pidge,” he says, rolling his eyes despite the disappointment weighinghis heart down anew. “I’m glad that’s what I am to you.”

Her cheeks darken, and she waves her handfrantically to backtrack, “N-no, I didn’t mean it like that!”

“Oh,really?” He raises a skeptical eyebrow. “You mean I wasn’t trying to waste your time?”

“Th-that’snot it at all, Lance,” she says. She rests her forehead against her knees so hecan’t see her face. “It’s just…it was too tempting to use your connection and I didn’twant you to get caught up in this mess after you applied for the spot thatopened up in fighter class so I kept it to myself.”

Lance frowns, convinced that, for all thetruth in the statement, she hides something else, but he can’thelp quipping, “How thoughtful of you, Pidge.”

But then—

“Wait,how did you know about the spot that opened up?” he wonders, instantlysuspicious. “That happened a while after you started avoiding me.”

Pidge’s shoulders stiffen. “I don’t remember,”she says. “I might’ve come across it while I was hacking into the Garrison’ssystems and assumed you’d try for it.”

Lance doesn’t call her out on her obvious lie, notwhen relief fills him that her silenceis finally at an end and…well, maybe they can’t resume theirfriendship as it was before the mission failure, but they won’t have to startfrom scratch.

“Howcan I help?”

Pidge’s head whips around, her eyes bulging inbefuddlement. “What?”

He shrugs, feigning nonchalance despite hisheart pounding and the voice in his head that reminds him he’salready on thin ice in the Garrison’s eyes, and waves a hand. “You know, withyour…investigation.”

“Um…”She blinks once, twice, three times before saying, “Pretend like we didn’t knoweach other before.”

His heart plummets anew at that. “Why?”

“Ialready explained,” she says. She jumps to her feet and faces him, arms thrownout and eyes fixed on the ceiling. “It’s bad enough yourecognized me, so what if someone else does too?”

“But—”he tries to protest, but Pidge plows right through him.

“There’s…nothingyou can help with, Lance,” she says with a heavy exhale.

“ButI’m your friend!” He stands, flailing his arms and gesturing around her messyroom. “I can at least watch your back while you do your sneaky spy stuff!”

“I…maybe,”she concedes grudgingly, “but right now the best lead I’ve got requires I be asinconspicuous as possible.”

“D-doesthis mean you’re still switching teams?” His breath sticks in his throatpainfully at the thought that they can repair their friendship only for it tofracture moments later.

He grew up with Pidge; she’sas dear to him as…well, not a sister, exactly, but the last few months withouther - undoubtedly while she hurtand stewed over her father’s and brother’s not-deaths alone exceptfor her mother - left him almost listless with how much he missed her.

Pidge’s brown eyes bore into his as she says, “No,I guess that’s not necessary.” A slight smile finds its way onto her face,reassuring and warmingLance as much as her words. “Knowing one of my teammates is reason enoughto stay.”

#plance #pidgance #lidge #flirtyrobot #aksj;fkj;fsdf i tried i dunno how i did #i wonder if i've lost my touch BUT oh well #how come i post two fics in one day??#WELL this is the only one i wrote today SO #voltron #reem writes fic #Anonymous #also don't want to post anything day of/right before season eight #because i know people will be preoccupied with that #qna

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