#im just gonna have to set an alarm for every 6 hours and take the advil | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

quokkacore · 3 years

Text

with great power I [lee jeno]

summary: there are two things jeno loves most about his life. one being spiderman, the other being you, his best friend. there’s just one issue: after your father’s death, you decide you hate both spiderman and yourself.

pairing: lee jeno x reader

genre: superhero au, high school au, coming of age, best friends to strangers(ish) to lovers, fluff, ANGST, minor crack

warnings (for this chapter): language, violence, gun violence, the mafia, parental death, police presence, sexual references, bullying (ily san im sorry), the dreamies being dicks to each other, police corruption, towards the end jeno experiences something similar to sensory overload, americanized names, pop culture references, VERY jeno centric

song rec: we go up - nct dream // any song - zico // 21 questions - waterparks // talk (remix feat. megan thee stallion & yo gotti) - khalid // sunrise - ateez // i really like you - carly rae jepsen // dare - gorillaz // stray kids - the tortoise and the hare

word count: 10.5k

a/n: this is so late...... i blame attack on titan. but hey!! better late than never :] a huge thanks to @doderyscoffee for beta reading <3

main masterlist // story masterlist

chapter one: jeno and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week

Jeno despised Tuesdays. He was pretty sure that Tuesdays despised Jeno as well because all of his worst days just so happen to be Tuesdays. He was 96% sure that, if there was a god, his day off was on Tuesdays, or that the planets aligned in such a manner on Tuesdays that it caused universal despair and misery. If he was to take Donghyuck's word for it, his chakra attracted negative energy the most on Tuesdays.

When Jeno was 5, his goldfish Pippin had died on a Tuesday. When he had his ass handed to him on the playground by San Choi in the third grade, it was a Tuesday. And in the seventh grade, he'd failed his Spanish test, missed his bus and walked home in the rain only to find out that his Aunt Sunny was at work, he'd left his keys in his locker and that had to wait an hour before she got home to unlock it for him, all on a Tuesday.

And wouldn't you know it, here he was, late for the first day of senior year, which was, of all days, a godforsaken Tuesday.

In his eternal wisdom, he'd stayed up gaming with Renjun until two in the morning, and because of it, slept through his three alarms, one set at six-thirty, the other at 6:45, the last one at 7:00.

He'd woken up at 7:17, to the sound of his elderly neighbor's pet chihuahua barking at a pigeon, checked the time, immediately panicked, sped into the shower, gotten dressed in a haste, grabbed a few granola bars from the pantry, and ran out the door while trying to jam his backpack closed, and managed to catch the train at 7:40, which took about twenty minutes to get to his stop, plus a ten-minute walk to school, and class started at 8:10. Not to mention he’d have to stop by the office and pick up his schedule. At best, he’d be five minutes late to his first class. But tardies were tardies, regardless, and the last thing he needed was to lose his perfect attendance streak.

He fished out his phone while standing on the train, waiting for his stop, scrolling through Instagram, and liking random pictures. A ping! from his phone caught his attention, then two, then a third. He smiled softly when your name popped up on his screen.

[7:48 AM]

y/n: pssst

y/n: shithead

y/n: where r u ????

[7:49 AM]

y/n: i can sEE u online on ig u know

jeno: …… i'm on the train

jeno: woke up late

y/n: YOURE GONNA BE LATR

y/n: LATE*

y/n: ON THE FIRST DAY OF SENIOR YEAR

[7:50]

jeno: probably, yeah

jeno: it's the school district's fault, why would they make the first day of school on a fkn TUESDAY

y/n: ohhh yeahh its terrible tuesday

y/n: [sent an attachment!]

[7:51 AM]

jeno: SHUT UP

jeno: you're not funny >:(

jeno: how dare you laugh at my misfortune

y/n: au contraire im hilarious

jeno: meanie :(

jeno: im gonna be late i hate it here

jeno: it'll end up on my permanent record and i'm not gonna get into college and then i'm gonna die,,,

[7:52 AM]

y/n: sometimes ur worse than hyuck i swear

y/n: FIRST OF ALL permanent records dont even exist !!!!!! its propaganda duh

y/n: also ur literally never late

y/n: im sure o n e tardy wont do anything chill

y/n: dont be stupid youll be fine

Don’t be stupid. Too little, too late, he thought, already having got off the train at a previous stop. Now, he was looking for an unoccupied street or alleyway, which, for once, was easy, taking a deep breath before he did the exact opposite of what you’d told him not to do. Don’t be stupid.

The buildings are low, he thought to himself, it’ll be easier to see me.

Don’t be stupid.

Too late!

Thwip!

Jeno didn’t hesitate to use the web fluid to pull himself up onto the wall, climbing in a haste, before running and jumping onto the next building. He quickly built up a quick pace, using the web fluid occasionally to swing onto a building slightly out of jumping range.

Signs in English, Chinese, Korean, and Spanish flew past him as he seemingly flew over the Queens traffic, leaving Flushing behind and crossing quickly into College Point quicker than he would if he took the train. He glanced to his left and caught a view of the bay, and far across it, the LaGuardia airport watchtower.

Jeno had lived in New York City his entire life. He knew Queens like the back of his hand, knew every dingy alleyway, every sketchy street, which restaurants to avoid if you didn’t want to get food poisoning, which convenience store aunties were the nicest and didn’t pinch his cheeks too hard. It was his home, and most likely would be for the rest of his life.

But seeing it like this, flying past him below as he glided with ease from building to building would never cease to be a sight to him. It was like watching from the perspective of an outsider, seeing people in their cars, walking along the street gave him a brand new perspective. A Jeno’s eye view, he called it, since he was pretty sure he was the only one in New York City.

Another noise from his phone brought him back to reality. He shook his head, stopping briefly to catch his breath and fish out his phone briefly.

[7:57 AM]

y/n: let me know when u get here !!!

No time to respond, he put away the phone and continued his trek to school. He had less than ten minutes to get there. But he knew he was already at least five minutes away, much quicker than he would be if he had decided to stick to the train. He smiled a bit to himself, feeling ever so slightly smug.

The hustle and bustle of the city definitely proved challenging to find a place to land without many eyes, but he figured it out eventually, landing behind a dumpster in an alleyway behind a restaurant that he knew was about three or four blocks from the school. He figured it would be a lot better to take it on foot from here. The notebooks he was carrying in his backpack bounced up and down with every step he took.

After what seemed like forever, the gates to the school appeared in his view, and Jeno felt a joy in his heaving chest, something he would have never thought would happen upon seeing the absolute hellhole that was Samuel Morse High School.

[8:06 AM]

jeno: just did >:D

Picking up his schedule was both quick and insanely long. He couldn’t stop himself from tapping his left foot while the secretary found his schedule and handed it to him. “Kibum, please hurry,” He muttered, and Kibum raised an eyebrow at him, but his gaze was teasing. “That’s Mr. Kim to you, in school at least.”

He handed Jeno his schedule a few seconds later. “Tell your Aunt to come pick up her casserole dish, by the way. She left it at my house after my last viewing party.”

“The Bachelor?”

“Please. We’re too classy for that. Drag Race.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Jeno,” Kibum said, staring up at him from his desk, his gaze now much more serious, “Get to class. Happy first day of senior year.”

“Thanks, Mr. Kim.”

He managed to make it to chemistry class at 8:09 with seconds to spare. His eyes quickly scanned the room upon entering, hoping his friends were in the class with him. He caught a few familiar faces, most of which, like San Choi's, he wished to avoid. No one paid him any mind. Everyone was still speaking to the people next to them, no doubt exchanging stories of summer vacation.

A hand shot up towards the back, waving at him. A smile stretched across his face as he registered your face, feet not hesitating to carry him towards the empty seat next to you. His heart skipped a beat at seeing your smile, and he tried his best to ignore it.

“Hey,” You greeted, “That was fast. I thought you said you were gonna be late.”

Jeno shrugged, eyes landing on the dark shade of the lab table. “The train was a lot faster than I expected, apparently.”

You wrinkled your nose. “Why do you smell so bad?”

“I, uh… ran a little.”

You grimaced, and Jeno tried to casually sniff at his slightly sweaty clothes. It’s not that bad. “I still don’t understand why you won’t let me drive you to school. You’re literally next door.”

“I don’t know,” He answered, rolling his eyes, “Maybe it’s because when it comes to that truck, you are absolutely insane. You won’t even let me drink water in that thing.”

The truck in question, a faded red 1998 Chevrolet S-10, had been your gift to yourself for your 17th birthday. You’d spent two summers saving up to buy yourself a truck, and that was what you were able to get for what you had. To say it was a huge piece of junk on wheels was an understatement.

The thing smelled like mothballs no matter how many air fresheners you bought it, the engine sounded like an old man having a coughing fit, and there was a very suspicious stain in the backseat that wouldn’t go away no matter how many times you scrubbed it. But for some reason, you treated it like it was your own baby. The amount of times you’d yelled at Jaemin for trying to put his feet on the dashboard was too high to count.

You mirrored his movement, eyes rolling as you sighed. “At least let me drive you home after school today. Maybe you can stay and we can finally watch Blade Runner.”

You’d been trying to get him to watch the film for almost a month now, begging and pleading because you insisted that he’d love it. He offered an awkward stare, before opening his backpack and pulling out a notebook. “Can’t,” He mumbled, “I’m headed into Manhattan. I have my internship afterwards.”

“Oh, yeah,” You said nonchalantly, eyebrows shooting up as you remembered, “Park Industries.”

He was about to reply when Mrs. Baker, the chemistry teacher, finally entered. She’d been working at SMHS for 30 years and had never, apparently, been nice, if his Aunt Sunny’s stories were anything to go by. However, she had apparently always spoken as if she smoked two packs a day. She was rambling about the importance of making the most of senior year academically, adult responsibilities, college, and whatnot. You and Jeno exchanged glances often throughout the monologue, hoping it would end soon.

“Enough of that,” She said after what seemed like an eternity, “Everyone quiet down, I’m going to call roll.”

Names were quickly called, and Jeno was ready to pull out a pencil and start working with you until Mrs Baker demanded a switch in seats, beginning to call on random names in an effort to deter everyone from speaking.

"Please not with Choi, please not with Choi," Jeno muttered under his breath, glancing warily at San, who was staring ahead, looking bored.

San had had it out for Jeno ever since day one, in first grade. For some reason, everything Jeno did seemed to annoy the other boy. He wasn't funny enough, or too nerdy, or too quiet. Jeno was always too much or too little for him.

You touched his forearm, and he looked towards you.

“You’ll be fine,” You said softly, trying not to alert the teacher, “You’re not gonna get paired up with him, and you can take it to the office if you need to.” “Yeah, because I’m sure Coach Peralta would be thrilled if someone tried to get his precious midfielder in trouble.”

“Choi, San,” Mrs Baker’s voice rang throughout the room, and Jeno braced himself for the worst, eyebrows furrowing with worry.

“You’ll be sitting with… L/N, Y/N.”

Jeno’s shoulders slumped, but your face remained impassive. You picked up your stuff, and pouted silently at Jeno in apology, before making your way to the front.

“Lee, Jeno,” Mrs Baker called a few minutes later, “You’ll be sitting with Jang, Yeeun.”

He breathed out a sigh of relief. Yeeun is nice, Jeno thought to himself, I could sit with Yeeun. She wasn’t part of his main friend group, but he had tutored her in math during sophomore year in exchange for her helping him with Spanish, and they’d been pretty friendly ever since.

“Hey,” Yeeun greeted as Jeno sat down, and Jeno smiled at her.

“Remember, these will be your assigned lab partners for the rest of the semester. No changes, no exceptions.” Mrs. Baker sat down at her desk, before beginning to talk about something Jeno didn’t really pay attention to.

You exchanged glances with Jeno, and he gave you a look of sympathy as you gestured at San with your eyes. San was talking to you about something—probably bragging about some soccer achievement—but you weren’t paying him much attention. Jeno swallowed something growing in his throat as he looked at how your hair looked today.

It was nothing relatively new, the same hairstyle you used on most days. But still, there was a bit of a shine to it. He wondered vaguely if you had changed your shampoo, the other day you’d been complaining about how itchy your normal shampoo made your scalp—

“You still haven’t told her about how you feel?” Yeeun asked quietly, and Jeno’s head snapped back to look at her, eyes wide.

“W-what? Me. Like Y/N…” He laughed nervously, trying to keep his voice down. He scratched the back of his head, avoiding Yeeun’s accusatory stare. “You’re hilarious, Yeeun. Tell another one.”

Yeeun shook her head. “You’d better hurry before someone else snatches her up, Jen. She’s not gonna wait around for you forever.”

“I don’t like her, Yeeun.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“Hey! Jeno Lee!”

“Hey! Jaemin Na! What do you want!” Jeno answered as he sat down, mimicking Jaemin’s tone next to him.

“Well, for starters, a million dollars, and second, a date with Yiren Wang, but I doubt you can help me with either of those, so...”

Jeno glanced at the rest of the table. Along with Jaemin, Mark, Renjun, Donghyuck, and you were watching the interaction between the pair. “Where are the munchkins?” Jeno asked, noticing Chenle and Jisung’s absence. No one could really call them munchkins anymore. That nickname dated back to middle school, before the two underclassmen had gone through growth spurts.

“Eh, they should be here soon,” Renjun said, chewing on a french fry, “How’s your day been?”

“Pretty good so far, I guess. I got AP Calc with Mr. Washington later, though. That man wants me dead.”

You rolled your eyes. “He doesn’t want you dead. I’m telling you, you and Hyuck have been spending way too much time together. You’re being more dramatic than usual and Hyuck’s being more… weird than usual.”

“And just what is so weird about being enthusiastic about senior year, Y/N?” Donghyuck asked, shaking his head, “It’s our last year in this hellhole, I’m excited that we’re finally getting out of here. And besides—”

“Please don’t bring up the fact that you’re abandoning us next year.” Chenle seemingly appeared out of nowhere, sitting next to Renjun, Jisung following quickly behind him.

“Hi, Sungie,” You said with a smile, and Jisung smiled back. “Hi, Y/N.”

“What were you saying, Hyuck?” Jaemin looked at Donghyuck, who had taken the quick interaction as an opportunity to take a bite of his sandwich. His wide eyes darted to the slim boy, cheeks stuffed with chicken.

“Oh,” He replied after swallowing, “This is gonna be my year. I’m getting male lead for the winter musical and no one is gonna stop me.”

“Do you even know what musical you guys are doing yet?” Mark asked, “What if it’s like… Shrek?”

Jisung made a face. “There’s a Shrek musical?”

Mark nodded, and Renjun laughed.

“I don’t know about male lead, if it’s Shrek. You should try out for Donkey,” The Chinese boy joked, “With those front teeth, you’re a shoo-in.”

The entire table was silent for a moment, before snorts and chortles started pouring out from everyone except Donghyuck.

“Fuck you, Huang.”

Renjun flashed the friendliest smile he could muster. “Not if you paid me a million dollars.”

The subject remained on extracurriculars, everyone in your group except for Chenle and Jisung now wary of college applications. Donghyuck had been in theater ever since middle school, Renjun was in the robotics club and the debate team with Jaemin, who was also in the student council. Mark was on the math team with Jeno, and you had founded the film club.

"You're not gonna believe who asked to sign up for film," You huffed, looking kind of confused. The rest of the table looked at you expectantly, and you pursed your lips, almost as if you were trying not to laugh.

"San Choi."

Renjun scoffed. Jaemin raised his eyebrows before letting out a single, humorless laugh. Jeno made a face, poking his plastic fork at you.

"What is San Choi doing asking to sign up for film?"

"Fuck if I know. He said he needed one more extracurricular if he wanted to get into some college in Florida and he liked going to the movies, so he wanted to try out film."

Mark rolled his eyes. "I swear there's nothing in that guy's head but hot gas. It blows my mind."

"He's a dick," Chenle grumbled, "I'm still not over how he and Wooyoung taped Jisung to the flagpole last year."

Jisung scowled. "I thought we agreed to never bring that up again."

“Do you think they’ll finally calm the fuck down this year?” Jaemin wondered, looking wistful.

You took a sip of your coke and shook your head. “Doubt it. They’re not the hateful eight for a reason.”

The mood at the table turned tense, until Jaemin frowned at his french fries, before sighing and clapping his hands together dramatically. “I would like to hear,” He mused, “About the nuance that theatre gives the cinematic masterpiece that is Shrek when converted into musical form.”

Donghyuck beamed. “Oh, it’s amazing. You see…”

If it was difficult to get Donghyuck to stop talking in general, it was impossible when it was about theater.

The conversation continued on until the bell rang, and the eight of you had to go your separate ways. Jaemin and Jeno had the same class, so they both walked together down a relatively calm hallway. Jaemin looked both ways, before finally lowering his voice.

“So, you’re going to see Mr. Park today?”

Jeno nodded, looking down at his shoes. “He said he wanted to give me an assignment. Says there’s something big going on.”

Jaemin’s eyes lit up with curiosity. “Did he say what kind of something?”

Jeno shook his head, pouting slightly. “I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

Once school was out, Jeno was getting ready to get onto the subway once again, this time heading towards Midtown. It was only day one and, as Jeno had predicted, Mr. Washington probably was out to get him, because he’d swamped the class with homework.

As he left the school, he spotted you in the parking lot, leaning against your car door, texting someone. He glanced at his phone. He still had plenty of time, he figured. He walked over to you, and when you looked up, you smiled.

“Hey!” Your voice had that signature tone of enthusiasm to it, and Jeno smiled back immediately.

“Hello,” He sing-songed. “So, I was thinking… are you free on Friday night?”

You looked somewhere above his head, furrowing your eyebrows before you perked up again and nodded. “Yep! Why?”

“I’m free after nine. Maybe then I could come over to your house? So I can finally get you to stop harassing me about Blade Runner.”

You grinned, pumping your fists enthusiastically. “Hell yes,” You answered, “Do you want me to get like, some frozen pizzas or something?”

“Pizza sounds good,” He said. “Who are you even waiting for?”

You made a face that made it seem as if you’d just gotten a whiff of rotten milk. “Well—”

Your response was interrupted when the school doors slammed open, and eight figures poured out, carrying themselves with confidence Jeno both envied and despised. He frowned, trying not to react at their loud whooping and laughing. The Hateful Eight.

“Oh.” Jeno averted his gaze, meeting your eyes again.

“Yeah. If you don’t hear from me later it’s because I jumped out of my truck because I don’t wanna work with—”

“Well, hello, gorgeous!” San’s voice filled the parking lot, and Jeno took a deep breath. Your mouth stretched into a tight-lipped smile at the unwanted ‘compliment’.

“Hey, San.” Your friendly passive aggressive tone almost made Jeno smile. “I’ve been waiting here for like, fifteen minutes. You could have just given me your number and asked me to send you pictures of my notes, you know.”

He shrugged, turning his body so that his back was turned to Jeno. “Sorry, babe. Coach wanted to talk to us about the upcoming season. When he gets going, it’s hard to get him to stop. And besides, where’s the fun in just asking for pictures when I could come here, talk to you, and take the pictures myself?”

You didn’t respond, but rather pulled out your backpack and began digging through it. When you pulled out your notebook, you handed it to San, who flashed a wink at you. You barely held back a gag.

“Thanks, Y/N. I’ll just be a minute.”

He walked over to the hood of your truck, and just as you were about to continue your conversation, two figures slung their arms around both of Jeno’s shoulders, causing him to flinch.

Out of the fifteen soccer players on the team, San and his best friends—seven of them, to be precise—were the worst. The others were pretty nice. But right now, seeing two of those seven surround your best friend made you uneasy.

Wooyoung was loud. He was also a temperamental brat. His dad owned three used car dealerships over in Brooklyn, so naturally, he thought he owned the entire world. He wasn’t someone who would get too physical in fights, like San, or Jongho, or Yeosang. But when he was angry, he could easily get you to jump into the stratosphere by yelling at you once. Over the years, he’d made several teaching assistants and substitute teachers cry, only getting let off with a slap on the wrist every time.

Yunho was terrifying for completely different reasons. He was friendly, but a little too friendly to the people he wanted to control. He could read people like books and could easily manipulate whoever he wanted. But he wasn’t afraid of getting physical either, especially not when he was built like a goddamn Power Rangers Megazord.

All in all, they definitely weren't anyone you wanted near you, near your friends. Especially considering how much they had it out for your friends.

"Hey, buddy," Yunho said, looking down at Jeno with a wide smile. "How was summer vacation?"

Jeno gnawed on the side of his cheek as he considered his answer. "Um, it was okay." He looked at you to catch your eyes darting between San, Yunho and Wooyoung, like you were analyzing the situation. "I kinda stayed in and played video games most of the t—"

"Cool, cool," Yunho answered, carding his free hand through his bleach blond hair. "What about you, Woo?"

"Oh, dude, it was so cool," He bragged, "I went to Brazil for like, a month. I went clubbing with Instagram models and shit, it was wild."

You stared at him as he patted Jeno on the back rather aggressively. "Where did you go? Have you ever even left New York?"

You knew the answer. Only a few times when the debate team went to compete in different states. Jeno spoke up again. "Well, yeah a few t—"

"Doubt it," Yunho scoffed. He craned his head back. "San, you done yet?"

"Almost!" San answered. Yunho turned to face you, and for some reason his smile seemed genuinely kind. “What about you, Y/N?”

You never understood why it was that the soccer team hated your entire friend group, but seemed to tolerate you. It made no sense.

So you shrugged. “Not a lot, I guess. Did my summer reading. Hung out with my friends.” You flashed a reassuring smile at Jeno. “Right, Jen?”

Immediately, he relaxed a little bit. “Yeah.”

San appeared from behind Yunho, Jeno and Wooyoung. “Thanks, Y/N. I owe you one.”

You waved your hand, wanting them to get rid of them quickly. “Don’t mention it. But next time, just text me for my notes. I have to get to work, so…”

“Oh! My bad,” He answered with fake remorse, before unlocking his phone and handing it over to you. “Here. For next time.”

You stifled a deep sigh, punching in the numbers hesitantly. “Just for homework, got it?”

San took his phone back, holding a hand over his heart and raised his head. “On a gentleman's honor,” He declared, and you bit back a laugh. Jeno looked like he was going to hurl.

“San!” The team captain—Hongjoong—called from a few feet away, “Are you guys done yet or what?”

“Coming!” San yelled back.

“Alright, we’ll let you go,” Wooyoung said, patting Jeno on the back again, a bit too harsh for comfort. “Bye, Y/N! See you around.”

The three of them stalked off, leaving you and a very frazzled Jeno. “Dicks,” You muttered once they were out of earshot. “You good?”

Jeno shook his head, waving his hand dismissively. “I’ll be fine.”

You tilted your head, frowning. “Jeno—”

“I gotta go,” He said quickly. “I’ll see you later?”

You nodded, offering a lopsided smile. “Yeah. Be careful!”

Jeno offered a deep bow, fluttering his eyelashes. “On a gentleman’s honor,” He sighed, adding a very bad British accent to it. You burst out laughing, eyes squeezing shut.

You didn’t catch the way Jeno’s shoulders relaxed at the sound.

I want you to know now

Baby, it could go down

I don’t wanna talk about it

Baby, let’s just go now

The train ride into Midtown didn’t take too long. He spent it digging through his backpack for his Park Industries lanyard, listening to music and thinking about you.

When you talk right to me

You gon’ have to do me

Every time you think you’re leaving

You running back to me

You’d met Jeno when you were six. Truth be told, he didn’t really remember. For him it was like you weren’t there at one point and by the time you were, you were thicker than thieves. It was a difficult time for him. He had just lost both of his parents, and was moving in with his Aunt Sunny and his Uncle Jinki, who were barely out of college at the time. He’d had to move to a new school and basically restart his entire life. You were the first sense of stability in his life for months.

Your mom lived next to his aunt and uncle. So naturally, you went to the same school and went on the same bus. And somewhere along the way, you two clicked. You’d introduced him to Renjun, Jaemin and Donghyuck. You were there to comfort him whenever he got pushed off the slide by San or Wooyoung.

He was there for you when your stepdad and stepbrother moved in when you were nine and you weren’t sure how to deal with it. He was there when your mom died when you were thirteen. He’d introduced you and your friends to Mark, Chenle and Jisung.

And you were there when his Uncle Jinki got killed when he was fifteen. And because fate had an especially cruel sense of irony, it had happened on a Tuesday. You didn’t know, but at the time, he had just gotten his powers. Your comfort and words unknowingly had a secondary effect: he made the decision to use them for good, and… well. The rest was history.

Can we just talk? Can we just talk?

Talk about where we're goin'

Before we get lost, lend me your thoughts

Can't get what we want without knowin'

Just like when he met you, he didn’t recall an exact moment where he realized he’d fallen in love with you. He knew there was a world where he loved you, but wasn’t in love with you. And he knew that there was a world here he’d fallen in love with you—he was living in that world now. He realized he was living in that world maybe when he was sixteen, and had been stuck in it ever since.

You were it for him. He’d had crushes before. But never something like this, where he was so aware of your presence around him. It wasn’t the way he was hyper aware of someone like San, or like Yunho or Jongho. It wasn’t out of anxiety or fear, where a shift in mood activated his fight or flight. He was aware of you in a way that only people who truly know each other do, where he could pick up on subtle changes in your behavior, but not out of fear. Rather, out of a desire to take care of you and to not have you worry about anything.

I've never felt like this before

I apologize if I'm movin' too far

Can we just talk? Can we just talk?

Figure out where we're goin'...

As the train rolled into the station that was a fifteen minute walk from Park Tower, Jeno put away his headphones and took a deep breath.

The “Jeno Tingle” as his Aunt Sunny called it—Jeno hated the term—had taken him a few years to gain control of. And while he could never truly turn it off, he could at least tune it out enough to be more at ease. The only time he did so was at school or when he was studying, just because he wanted to feel normal, and because being aware of everything going on around him really messed with his concentration.

Jaemin didn’t understand. “If I was able to tell whenever Seonghwa was behind me because he wanted to scare me into doing his chemistry homework, I’d never turn that shit off,” He’d said once. But truthfully, Jeno didn’t really care. Because while yes, he was still slightly scared of the “hateful eight”, he knew damn well that if things got to be too much, he could kick their asses if he wanted to.

It was his friends he worried about. He couldn’t be around them 24/7. You, not so much. He knew you knew how to fight. Even worse, he knew that San had the hots for you so you were off limits to the rest of them, be it bullying or flirting. But for everyone else… Well. He couldn’t hover over them like some guardian angel.

Now that the “Jeno Tingle” was on, it allowed him to sense everyone within a certain range around him. He could zero in on certain sounds with ease, and his reflexes became heightened. Halfway on his walk up Park Avenue, he jumped away from a chihuahua on its leash a second before it started barking at him.

When he entered the first floor lobby of the Park Building, he scoured the crowd of employees and visitors until he landed on one familiar face.

He'd met Doyoung about a year after his dad started dating your mom. Things between your parents were starting to get serious, and Doyoung was four years older than you were. When they moved into your house, Doyoung as your new stepbrother became the de facto chaperone and babysitter. If you wanted to go to the mall with Jeno, he had to take you. Every time you dragged Jeno to the movies, Doyoung had to go also.

To an extent, it wasn't that bad. Doyoung was cool, and he was smart—he was the one who got Jeno interested in computers and chemistry. He graduated high school at 16, and finished his bachelor's degree at 19. He'd also interned at Park Industries, and secured a job there almost immediately after college.

To an extent, he was the whole reason Mr. Park knew who he was, because of one incident. It was relatively soon after he started the whole vigilante thing. Jeno, still figuring out how to maneuver on the webs that shot out of his wrists, had accidentally crashed into your backyard late at night, when only Doyoung was awake. He was standing in the back door while he was waiting for his dog to finish peeing.

Initially, the older boy had freaked out, thinking that it was a burglar or something. When he yelled out that his dad was a cop and was asleep in the house, Jeno panicked, and pulled off his mask, holding up his hands.

“Woah, woahwoahwoah! Doyoung! It’s me, it’s me!”

Doyoung’s eyes had widened to the size of saucers, paying no mind to the dog as it sauntered up to Jeno, before turning onto its back in a request for belly rubs.

"You're the spider guy everyone's been talking about!?"

"Spider man," Jeno had answered, voice cracking as he dusted himself off. He cringed at the sound of his voice. "...and yes."

Of course, his cover was blown, and he'd begged Doyoung not to tell anyone, especially not you. And while Doyoung had promised not to tell you, it didn't stop him from telling his boss.

That had been almost three years ago now. The rest was history, and after that Jeno didn’t have to run around in bright red sweatpants and dollar store swimming goggles. Now, he had a nanotech suit that allowed him to activate protocols of the suit through voice commands using something top-secret Mr. Park called D.R.E.A.M technology. Direct Response Engaged As Machine—yeah, Jeno didn’t get it either.

Doyoung offered Jeno a smile as he escorted Jeno past security, showing them his employee clearance pass. "Hey. How have you been?"

Jeno shrugged, recounting his day in minor detail as he was led into an elevator labeled authorized personnel only.

This elevator only went up to the 35th floor, seeing as everything past that was only cleared for a certain list of people approved by Mr. Park and his security team, and everything past the 90th floor were Mr. Park's private living quarters.

Now, as Doyoung led him to another elevator to head up to the 85th floor, which was always where Jeno got to meet with Mr. Park—which wasn't often, maybe once or twice a year—he wondered where he would be if he hadn’t surprised Doyoung that night. He would probably still be using those ugly red sweatpants as part of his disguise.

"How's Y/N?" Doyoung asked.

"Oh, she seems okay. That guy who hates me keeps coming onto her though. He's a huge douchebag."

Doyoung frowned. "He's not harassing her, is he? Because if he is—"

"He just won't stop flirting, even though she clearly isn't interested," Jeno said bitterly, "He isn't physical or anything. Trust me, it wouldn't end well for him if he was."

Doyoung wasn't quite sure how to respond to the younger boy's dark tone. He looked down, clearing his throat awkwardly.

“So… how’s the apartment?” Jeno asked. Doyoung perked up instantly.

“Oh, now that Taeyong’s moved in and did his interior design thing, it looks great. He’s really done a great job at it.”

“When am I gonna meet this guy? He sounds cool.”

“He’s really cool,” Doyoung hummed, cheeks heating up. “Things are getting really serious.”

Jeno smiled at how flustered Doyoung, who was normally so level headed and calm, became at the mention of his boyfriend.

“You guys sound like a really good couple,” He said. Doyoung chuckled, waving his hand. “Oh, well—”

The elevator dinged, and Doyoung sighed. “I’ll tell you later. C’mon.”

The hallway it opened up to was lined with pictures of the company's history, starting from pictures of black and white of people in vintage clothing, to pictures in sepia tones to finally pictures of the current CEO at locations around the world: Chanyeol Park.

Jeno walked behind Doyoung as he led him down the hallway, before stopping in front of a door, and a friendly looking man in a suit.

Junmyeon was a part of Chanyeol’s Security and Intelligence team, and often sat in on these meetings with Jeno. The chain of contact also included him. If Jeno couldn’t contact Doyoung (which rarely happened), he’d contact Junmyeon. And if he couldn’t contact either of them, or it was an emergency, only then could he contact Chanyeol. So far, that had only happened once.

"Hey, Junmyeon," Doyoung said, "Mr. Park's 4:30 is here."

Junmyeon nodded, before smiling at Jeno and giving him a wave. "Hey, kid."

Jeno offered an awkward grin. "Hi, Mr. Kim."

Junmyeon rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Kid, you're making me feel ancient. I've told you a million times, just call me Junmyeon."

Jeno shuffled awkwardly, before nodding at the older man, watching as he pressed a button on his earpiece. "Hey, Yeol. Jeno's here."

The muffled response was barely heard, but Jeno automatically understood what Mr. Park said. Junmyeon turned to open the door, and let the pair inside. The “office”—if it could even be called that—opened up to more of a lounge, than anything. A wall of glass overlooked the Manhattan skyline, but Jeno knew that from the outside it looked only like a wall, due to camouflage technology developed by Mr. Park himself. As Doyoung and Junmyeon stayed back, closer to the door, Jeno took a few steps toward the man in question.

Chanyeol was standing a few feet in front of the glass window, working on a holographic model of a new piece of tech. His face was turned downward in a concentrated frown. He barely spared the teenager a glance as he said fondly, “Hey, kid.”

Jeno was used to this. Chanyeol wasn’t cold per se, but he wasn’t warm at all. He knew that Chanyeol cared about him, even if he didn’t really show it in a conventional way. Chanyeol was a very… eccentric man, so he had his own way of saying and doing things.

“Hi, Mr. Park. Um… you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yep! Needed some help from the friendly neighborhood Spiderman… A little birdie told me about something going on in Queens.”

“Queens?” Jeno asked, gripping the straps of his backpack. “You mean, other than the usual stuff?”

“Other than the usual stuff,” Chanyeol repeated, nodding. With a wave of his hand, the hologram disappeared, and another one appeared in its place. This time, instead of a 3D model, a few pictures and another, smaller 3D model appeared. Chanyeol turned to face him, frown deepening. He pointed at the model—a long, shiny oval-shaped purple stone. It reminded Jeno of an amethyst, but instead of turning white at the base, it turned to an iridescent jade tone. “You know what this is, right?”

Jeno nodded, remembering seeing the rocks all over the news when he was a kid. “That’s… that’s a Chitauri stone. From the invasion a few years back.”

Chanyeol nodded, standing up straight. “These stones have the potential to power weapons with no need to recharge, or change them out. They’re an infinite, extremely strong power source, Jeno, and in the wrong hands can be very dangerous.”

Jeno took a deep breath, feeling his stomach sink slowly. Chanyeol sighed. “Cleanup of the city after the invasion was long, and difficult, and obviously the government and the company weren’t able to get everything. It caused a black market to pop up. Now, the NYPD has been investigating it for years, but they have their limits… that’s where you come in.”

“M-me, Mr. Park?”

Chanyeol gave him a crooked, reassuring smile. He pointed at one of the pictures, which was of a man who most likely didn’t know he was photographed. He was walking somewhere, face looking angry and stern.

“You don’t know who this is, right?”

Jeno shook his head, and Chanyeol turned his head to nod at Junmyeon. “You’re up, tough guy.”

Junmyeon huffed, before walking up to Jeno. He put his hand on Jeno’s shoulder as if he could tell that he was growing anxious.

“Jeno, that’s Henry Duke. From what we understand on the intel team, he’s one of the cornerstones of the alien tech black market. He’s one of the top dogs. From what we understand, he likes to be present for all major negotiations that his group makes. A source of ours told us that there’s going to be a negotiation on Friday night not too far away from LaGuardia. We want you to go out there and just get a feel of what’s going on.”

“Just watch them, right?” Jeno looked at Junmyeon, who patted his back reassuringly. “Just watch. Don’t engage unless you absolutely have to.”

“You can do that, right?” Chanyeol said quietly, crossing his arms. “Because if not, then it’s totally—”

“Yeah, of course I can! Friday—shit, Friday. At what time are they supposed to be meeting up?”

Junmyeon furrowed his eyebrows, before answering, “Around eight or nine.”

Jeno bit his lip, thinking about the promise he’d made to you. It would just have to wait, he supposed. Chanyeol rarely asked anything this big of him.

“Alright,” Jeno agreed, “I’ll do it.”

Chanyeol grinned, clapping his hands together.

“Perfect.”

They discussed logistics briefly after. Doyoung would be on call with Jeno, his custom made suit allowing them to communicate, letting Doyoung see everything Jeno was seeing via a video feed coming from the ultra thin lenses placed in the white eye sockets of the mask. Doyoung would then report to Junmyeon, who would report to Chanyeol, who would probably report to the FBI. Jeno was only to engage if absolutely necessary.

After that, he set out on patrol. He usually found some discreet place to hide his backpack, and then went all over Queens looking for trouble, quite literally. Around five thirty, he stopped a robbery in Murray Hill. Then, around seven, he stopped a man from stealing a woman’s purse in Elmhurst. Nothing too much.

Around eight, he finally headed home, this time dressed normally, using the train and not web fluid. He walked home, tired, knowing that he’d immediately have to do that cursed AP calc homework. When he got home, he opened his backpack pocket to look for his keys, rummaging between his notebooks and other things.

Shuffling through his stuff, he furrowed his eyebrows as he couldn’t find them. Thinking back, he remembered this morning, when he’d left in a rush… and had very obviously left his keys on his desk.

“Shit,” He muttered to himself. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, remembering that Aunt Sunny had said she’d be working overtime tonight. He could very easily sneak in through his window, but he was pretty sure he’d locked it the night before, and it was too early. People’s lights were still on—anyone could see him if they just looked up, and then he would be screwed.

Huffing and zipping his backpack up, he marched up to your house, before ringing the doorbell. He shifted his weight back and forth, from his heels to the balls of his feet, until the door opened up. A familiar man with a face just like Doyoung's, but older, with graying hair and arms scarred and muscled from years of working on the police force stood in the doorway.

“Jeno?” Your dad offered him a warm smile. “Hey, kiddo, what’s up?”

“Hi, Mr. Kim,” Jeno said, smiling back. He shifted nervously. “I, um… I left my keys in my room this morning, and my aunt’s working late, so… could I… maybe wait here? Y/N’s home, right?”

The man nodded. “Of course, of course. Come in!”

Your dad had always been super friendly, even from the day Jeno had first met him. You'd told Jeno once that he was the only real father figure you'd ever had. Once everything settled after him and your mom got married, you started calling him dad altogether. And since you and Jeno were practically glued at the hip, he got along with your dad almost as well as you did.

“Okay.” Jeno stepped in and set down his backpack at the base of the coat rack next to the door, as he’d done a million times before. Jeno stepped into the living room, and sat down on the couch. He folded his hands in his lap and looked up at your dad.

"I think Y/N's in the shower, but she should be done soon. You can just wait here if you want… have you eaten anything yet?”

“Uh, I had a granola bar on the train, but that’s it.”

“We have some leftover pasta here, if you want—”

“Thanks, Mr. Kim, really! I’m fine.”

Your dad nodded, sitting down on his recliner. “So, have you started your college list, yet? Y/N said you wanted to stay here in New York.”

Jeno nodded, pushing some hair out of his face. “Well, yeah. It would make things a lot easier, I think. I might want to apply to NYU, but I think I’ll just go to community college, or something.”

Your dad shook his head. “You’re a pretty smart kid, Jeno. I think you could get into Columbia if you set out to. Plus, Chanyeol Park doesn’t give out internships to anybody. That’s your secret weapon.”

Jeno smiled. “Well, you’ve got a point.”

Your dad gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. “Come on, trying won’t hurt!” Your dad made a face, and then rubbed his knuckles. “Have you been working out? Those muscles weren’t there the last time I did that.”

Jeno laughed, trying to think of an excuse. “Oh, a little bit? The house needed some fixing up over the summer, and I wanted to help Aunt Sunny, so…”

“Jeno?”

He turned immediately, eyes landing on you at the base of the staircase. You’d changed into an old t-shirt and pajama pants. Your hair was slightly damp. “What are you doing here?” You asked, with a curious smile.

His shoulders slumped, and he grinned sheepishly. “Terrible Tuesday strikes again. I forgot my keys.”

You grimaced. “Brutal, dude. You wanna come up?” Your eyes moved to your dad. “Or am I interrupting guy time?”

“Oh, definitely,” Jeno answered, playing along. He took a cocky tone as he rested his hands on the back of his neck. “Your dad was just telling me about how much the NYPD needs me.”

You stifled a laugh. You dad seemed to be holding back a laugh too. "Hey, you're joking, but if you keep working out like that, and if by some impossible chance, the college thing doesn't work out… We might just be able to catch Spiderman if we finally got some brain cells on the force."

"Ugh, dad," You groaned, unaware of Jeno's gut twisting, "Not again."

"Yeah, Mr. Kim," Jeno said, scratching the back of his head, "He's not that bad."

Your dad shook his head. "Look, I don't hate the guy. In all honesty, crime rates have dropped since he started doing his thing. But he thinks he's above the law, and his methods can be a bit… unorthodox sometimes. He’s been undermining us for years and his tech is state of the art. Makes me wonder about what we should do to modernize the force."

Jeno looked downward, wondering what would happen if your dad knew the truth.

"Well, I guess we may just never find out. Jeno'd make a horrible cop. He couldn't hurt a fly if you paid him a million dollars."

But you came to the rescue as you grabbed his backpack, and soon enough he was up the stairs with you, heading into your bedroom, laughing to yourselves when you heard your dad jokingly call out, "Fifteen inch distance, you two! Door stays open!"

He sat on your desk chair while you lay on your bed, limbs splaying out.

"So you left your keys."

Jeno groaned. "Don't remind me. I was in such a rush to leave, that I… I forgot. I'm so stupid."

You rolled your eyes, rolling over onto your stomach to look at him. "You're not stupid, Jen. You made an honest mistake because you were in a hurry."

Standing up, you walked over to him and leaned against the desk. "Seriously, Jeno. What's gotten into you, lately? You freak out about every little thing. It's starting to worry me."

Jeno shook his head. "I don't know," He admitted. "I think I'm just scared about how after this year, everything changes. Renjun’s headed upstate. Jaemin’s going to Boston. You want to go to LA. I think Hyuck and I are the only ones who want to stay here. I just… I don't want things to change."

Your expression turned sad as he continued. "Everyone is expecting great things from me. You're smart, Jeno. You can get into an Ivy. Or, you have a Park internship, you'll be fine. What if I don't want things to be fine? What if I want them to just stay the same?"

You stayed silent for a few moments, trying to think of what to say. Jeno was relatively level headed for someone your age, but even he had moments of doubt and panic. It made moments like these difficult. You sighed before grabbing him by the hand. Wordlessly, you tugged him over to the bed, sitting him down and leaning your head on his shoulder. He could feel the dampness in your hair seeping slowly into his shirt.

"I guess I understand what you mean," You mumbled, trying to reason with him, "But come on. You wouldn't really want everything to stay the same. You can't tell me you want to keep getting AP calc homework. And I definitely doubt that you'd want to have your ass kicked by San for the rest of your life."

Jeno looked at the floor. "You're right. But you know that's not what I mean—"

"I know," You huffed, "I'm just saying. Change… it's inevitable. The longer you fight it, the harder it is."

Jeno nodded. "This sucks."

"It does," You agreed, taking his hand in yours. "But at least we have each other's backs, y'know?"

Something of a smile appeared on his face. You were so close to him, leaning on him, stroking his knuckles with your thumb. He hoped you couldn't hear his heart pounding in his chest.

"We really do, huh?" His voice turned quiet, with a bit of a sleepy lull to it. He allowed his head to rest on yours. "You're so comfortable. Can I like, use you as a pillow for the rest of my life?"

You giggled. "I'll consider it on two conditions."

"Oh, you'll consider. How generous of you."

"Yes, I'll consider. Now, do you wanna hear my terms or not?"

Jeno raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead," He said, before putting on his best Marlon Brando voice, "Make me an offer I can't refuse."

Snorting, you lifted your head off of his. "Okay. One, you finish your calculus homework here before Sunny gets home."

He pursed his lips. "Okay, I could probably do that. What's the other one?"

"Let me drive you to school for the rest of the year."

Jeno stared at you, and you nodded, eyes wide. "Trust me, Jen. You wouldn't need to wake up so early! And plus, you can't text the guy manning the subway asking him to give you five minutes because you need to find your keys."

Jeno gnawed on the inside of his cheek. You did have a point, and to be honest, he could probably refrain from putting his feet up on your dashboard.

"Deal."

You grinned. "Awesome," You answered, before nodding towards his backpack. "Now get to work, Einstein."

The rest of the week wasn't that bad. Yes, you were absolutely batshit insane about your truck in the morning, but he soon realized he didn't really mind. Not when it allowed you both to spend some twenty extra minutes together in the mornings, and they were spent joking around and listening to your extremely varied playlist.

On the other hand, he was saddled with more and more homework, greater and greater expectations. The looming threat of Friday's mission rolled around, and it made Jeno feel like time was passing much too slowly but also way too quickly. There was so much on his mind. He had chemistry with you on Thursdays in the afternoon, which also meant that San was there. Which also meant that sometimes, his heightened senses would pick up on San dropping a tacky pick up line which made Jeno want to punch him in the jaw.

Finally, finally, Friday afternoon rolled around. As he bid you goodbye and promised to see you later, he tried to ignore the feeling in his stomach. The feeling that something was about to go very, very wrong. He went out on patrol, ready for Doyoung to set up the call and tell him where he needed to go. It didn’t help that there wasn’t a lot for him to do that day. Crime had seemed to slow down altogether.

When the time finally came, and the sun was beginning to set, Doyoung rang in at about 7, telling him the location. An old warehouse near LaGuardia airport, hidden from prying eyes. Jeno made his way to the place, avoiding security cameras Doyoung warned him about, and found a place to hide. There was a hole in the warehouse roof, which allowed him to peer right into the building without being seen. It was about thirty feet from the ground.

“Why is it always old, abandoned warehouses?” Jeno grumbled. He heard Doyoung laugh quietly.

“Beats me,” Doyoung sighed.

And so they waited. Jeno wondered vaguely if you were still working. He wasn’t sure. They made time talking quietly, until a black SUV rolled into the warehouse. “Woah, Doyoung,” He murmured, “Hold up.”

Jeno leaned forward, but quickly realized he probably wouldn’t be able to hear what was being said. “D.R.E.A.M, activate Heightened Intelligence Protocol.”

Activating Heightened Intelligence Protocol.

The protocol allowed Jeno to use the lenses over his eyes to zoom in on specific targets, as well as use a microphone embedded in the suit to pick up audio from far away and feed it directly into his ears.

He watched as three figures got out of the car, a fourth remaining in the driver’s seat. The trio stood in front of the car, and Jeno recognized the man in the middle as the man Junmyeon had been talking about.

“Alright, there’s Henry Duke,” He said, “The one in the middle.”

“Got it,” Doyoung replied, sounding satisfied. “Now all we have to do is wait for the other party.”

“Did Junmyeon’s sources say anything about who it would be?”

“No. They weren’t able to find that out. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Jeno’s eyes never left the man. “Do you think it’s something international?”

Doyoung sighed. “I’m not sure. If it is international, then you need to be even more careful.”

“Got it. I think—Wait, here they come.”

A second vehicle, this one another black SUV, rolled up not too far away from the first car. The lights turned off and the engine sputtered to a stop, and four men stepped out of the vehicle.

Jeno’s stomach dropped, and of its own accord, his mouth let loose a quiet, “What the fuck,” as he registered the person leading them.

“What?” Doyoung asked, before realizing what—who—he was looking at. “...Is that my dad?”

“I think it is,” Jeno whispered, fingertips suddenly numb. Who was he kidding? They both knew who it was.

“So,” One of the men next to your dad said, “You show us yours, we’ll show you ours?”

Henry Duke clapped his hands together with an impish grin. “I suppose. Reagan, get the case.”

One of the two men standing beside him started off toward the trunk of the car. “It caught me off guard when I heard that the force wanted to purchase these. Almost made me wonder if this was your attempt at a sting operation.”

“What made you change your mind?” Your dad asked. Jeno swallowed at how cold he sounded. This wasn’t your dad, and it didn’t seem like Officer Kim either. This was someone Jeno had never met before.

“Honestly, Kim?” Duke raised an eyebrow, shrugging. “It was you. Your cooperativeness and willing to feed us information, as well as your… insurance agreement. And besides, you made a very interesting point when you said that the Avengers Initiative and Park’s alum Spiderman is ruining the way the law operates around here. That type of bitterness… hard to fake.”

Your dad huffed. “We’re fucking tired of it.”

The man leaning against the car your dad had stepped out of scoffed. “If this helps us catch the little asshole, then so be it.”

Jeno frowned. “I’m not little—”

“Jeno, shut up!” Doyoung snapped.

“—Alright, then.” The man holding the briefcase—Reagan—clicked it open, as if it were a prize reveal on The Price is Right. Five guns, all modified to hold glowing Chitauri stones were placed carefully together side by side.

“You know the basics. No radiation. Keep it away from security scanners and x-rays. They will blow up. And second of all, these are at half the price, along with the promise from the chief of police that my business won’t be touched, and will only be distributed to officers in on the operation and have agreed to turn off their body cameras when they decide to use these weapons. Should this not be a sting operation, we’ll be back here to negotiate.”

Jeno leaned forward, watching anxiously.

“Yes, sir,” Your dad answered, nodding. “We have the money here.”

“Hand it over, then.”

That was when Jeno made his mistake. He leaned forward too much, and proceeded to fall right through the hole, bringing down some scraps of the roof with him. As he tumbled through the air, the zoom on his lenses caused him to grow dizzy as he had no idea what he was looking at. He caught himself before he could fall, clumsily commanding D.R.E.A.M to go back to turn off the current protocol. His vision returned to normal, and he swung up onto a rafter holding the warehouse up.

“So, we have company.” Duke didn’t sound as amused as he had before. His face turned into a sneer. “Get him.”

In less than a second, before Jeno could say anything, five guns were pointed directly at him. He managed to swing away before any bullets could hit him.

“Jeno, get out of there now,” Doyoung ordered.

“What about the guns?” Jeno asked, swinging to another rafter. “They know I’m here, I might as well get them before I go—”

“No! Jeno, listen to what I’m telling you. You’ve done more than enough, and you need to let it g—”

Your dad aimed, and a bullet fired right at Jeno’s chest. For a second, he forgot that the chest area of the suit was lined with bulletproof material. While it didn’t shoot into his chest, it ricocheted right off him, and since he was in motion, it somehow caused the bullet to bounce back in the direction in which it came.

The wind was knocked out of Jeno, but it was nothing compared to watching the bullet land in the middle of your father’s chest. On the other line, he heard Doyoung yell, followed by the sound of something falling. And then, as he made his way back towards the hole he’d fallen out of, he couldn’t rip his eyes away from the body as it crumpled to the ground.

The others around him scrambled to get back into their respective cars. Jeno was back on the roof now, trying not to hyperventilate. “I’m sorry,” He gasped, “Do—Doyoung, I-I’m sorry, I didn’t want to—”

“Jeno, you need to get out of there, now,” Doyoung said, voice raspy. “GO!”

So he did, and Doyoung cut off the call once he was out of the vicinity. Jeno didn’t blame him. He swung across buildings, feeling numb as he looked for the apartment complex roof where he’d decided to hide his backpack.

When he finally did, he changed in a hurry, before slumping against the wall and forcing himself to take deep breaths.

Doyoung’s dad—your dad—was dead. And it was all his fault.

He cried on the way down the staircase. He cried on his way to the subway. The entire time, he ignored people’s stares. Suddenly everything was too loud, and if he met someone in the eyes he’d just about break down in the middle of the station.

As he got onto the train, Jeno thought about all of the things your dad had done for you, and for Jeno. All the times he'd taken you both to Coney Island in the summer when you were younger. The year Pokemon Go came out he took the both of you driving around in his car so you and Jeno could catch as many Pokemon as you could.

He’d formally adopted you when you were thirteen. You were his daughter in nearly every sense of the word, regardless of blood. And now he was dead, because of a stupid mistake that Jeno had made.

What would you say if you knew? He didn’t want to know. Checking the time on his phone, he saw he’d gotten a message from you just three minutes ago.

[8:36 PM]

y/n: lemme know when ur outside!! :)

“Fuck,” He murmured, wiping his eyes. He knew he needed to stop crying before he got to your house, and he had about ten minutes before he got to his stop, and then another five minute walk to the neighborhood. He focused on taking deep breaths and taking long swigs from his water bottle in the meantime, trying to tune out the sound of other people talking and the sound of the train on the rails.

The walk was the longest five minute walk he’d ever taken. The flashing lights of convenience stores did nothing to calm him down. As the stores in his peripheral vision began transitioning into suburban homes, he felt his heart speed up again. The constant movement as he walked meant he missed his phone vibrating in his backpack as you rang his number.

After what seemed like an eternity, two familiar houses came into his line of vision, and his shoulders slumped as he spotted you on your porch, looking small and teary, curled up into a little ball. In one hand, you were clutching your phone.

His stomach twisted as he put on a confused tone, even though he knew damn well that you knew. “...Y/N?”

You stood up, running to him and burying yourself into his chest, crumpling into his arms. You would have fell over if Jeno hadn’t held both of you up.

“Jeno,” You sobbed, “You’re n-not go-onna believe it.”

He brought a hand up to caress your hair, holding back tears of his own as he asked a question he already knew the answer to.

“Y/N, what happened?”

taglist: @decembermoonskz @itsapapisongo @lenaluvs @crescentjen

#kwritersworldnet #nct angst #nct x reader #jeno x reader #jeno angst #jeno fluff #nct au #jeno au #kpop scenarios #kpop angst #kpop imagines #nct dream x reader #lee jeno x reader #my writing

207 notes · View notes

oikawaplssteponme · 4 years

Text

The Apartment: part 7

▪️for parts 1-6, click here

pairing: Kuroo Tetsurou x fem! reader

ratings/warnings: swearing, manhandling (?), drinking (reminder that all characters are aged up and are of legal drinking age), ✨SPICY✨ at the end (implied stuff, 16+ probably is best), you might get some second-hand embarrassment...🤭

synopsis: You knew that living with your three best friends, Kuroo, Oikawa, and Bokuto, would be a wild ride. It’s never a dull moment with those three. Let’s just hope you can keep your huge crush on Kuroo a secret when he is only a room away.

a/n: hi friends!! ahh im really excited to post this part (i think it’s my favorite so far) and i hope you all like it too! this fic is going to be coming to an end soon (just a couple more parts 😔) BUT I’ll let you know when the last part will be. as always, my inbox is open for everything and anything you might need and you can still be added to the taglist for this fic💛 okay enough from me, enjoy xx

p.s. [PLEASE LISTEN TO THE SONG ATTACHED EITHER BEFORE READING OR RIGHT BEFORE THE 4th SECTION BREAK, trust me...]

•

Seven: Careless Whisper

You and Kuroo took the train downtown. He wouldn’t tell you where you were going, except that you would like it. You were still unsure whether or not this was a date, or just his attempt to be nice to you. Regardless, you liked having Kuroo all to yourself.

You walked down the lightly lit streets. Surprisingly it was busy, people bustling around from restaurants to clubs. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t enjoy the nightlife.

Kuroo led you to a dark alley, where there was a line of people trying to get inside of a building. Kuroo skipped the line and stood in front of the bouncer.

“Hey back of the line kid,” the guy said. You looked at Kuroo with a concerned expression. Kuroo smiled.

“Kuroo Tetsurou,” he said. The bouncers eyes widened.

“Oh I’m terribly sorry sir. You two enjoy your night.” The bouncer moved from in front of the door to let you two in. You looked at Kuroo, confused.

“Um how did you do that?” You asked. Kuroo laughed.

“Kenma has a lot of connections,” he smirked. You nodded.

Once inside, Kuroo led you downstairs to the scene of blaring music, people dancing, and flashing lights.

“Is this some kind of rave?” You asked.

“You could say that. One of Kenma’s gamer friends owns this club so he lets us come free of charge,” he explained.

“How come you’ve never brought me here before?”

“Well I went with Bokuto, Kenma, and Akaashi once and Bokuto was just a mess so I haven’t been back since. But it’s a good time, trust me.” Kuroo took your hand and led you to the pit.

The flashing lights and crowd of people was enough to give you that extra boost of confidence. You looked good and you felt good, so you knew that this was your chance to get Kuroo to see you as more than a friend. You and Kuroo danced carelessly, as if it was only you two in there. He would take your hand and spin you around, admiring this bolder side of you. You felt every beat of the music bounce off your skin. You felt alive in this moment. Kuroo noticed it too.

After maybe an hour of reckless dancing, you got a little thirsty.

“Let’s grab a drink,” suggested Kuroo. You followed him over to the bartender.

“Two gin and tonics, please,” said Kuroo. The bartender nodded and began to prepare your drinks. Kuroo looked devilishly handsome. The thin layer of sweat on his forehead from all the dancing you two had done and his perfectly messy hair was something you never got tired of looking at.

“Here you go.” The bartender placed the drinks in front of you two.

“You can put that on Kenma Kozume’s tab,” said Kuroo. You giggled.

“Cheers?” You held your drink to Kuroo. He smiled and tapped your glasses together.

“Y/N?” Kuroo looked at you tenderly.

“Yeah?” Is he gonna say it?

“I-uh-”

“HI THERE GORGEOUS!” You felt an arm wrap around you, and it certainly wasn’t Kuroo’s. You looked to see a scruffy guy, obviously drunk.

“Excuse me?” You said, pushing the guy away.

“Woah she’s got an attitude! I like it!” The guy said. Kuroo grabbed your arm, pulling you towards him.

“Hey man, leave her alone,” he ordered. The guy laughed.

“Look kid, I’m sure she’d rather be with a man than a boy right now. So why don’t you hit the road?”

Kuroo became instantly aggravated.

“Kuroo, let’s just go,” you whispered. Kuroo moved to stand in front of you.

“I said leave her alone.” He repeated. You started getting nervous.

“Kuroo please-”

“Come on pretty lady, why don’t you spend some time with me-” The guy grabbed your arm and yanked you towards him.

“Get off of me!” You yelled. Before you knew it, you heard a large CRACK and a CRASH.

Kuroo had punched the guy.

In the face.

And now he was unconscious, on the floor.

You gasped, before being led away by Kuroo.

“Sorry dude but I don’t have time for jackasses,” he said. You and Kuroo ran to the emergency exit, forcing the fire alarm on.

“Shit!”

You and Kuroo ran outside but you didn’t make it too far. You were tripping on your own feet from your heels. Kuroo noticed your hurting feet, and picked you up bridal style, running away from the club.

Everything happened so fast. You were still trying to process what even happened. Kuroo continued to carry you until you got to the train station. You boarded the train and Kuroo set you down in your seat.

“A-are you okay?” He asked.

“I’m okay, are you okay?” You said softly. Kuroo sighed.

“I can’t believe I brought you there, that was so stupid.”

“Hey it wasn’t your fault. That guy was just a drunk mess. And anyway, I still had fun,” you smiled. You took Kuroo’s hand with yours.

“Wait your hand!” You looked to see that his knuckles were bleeding.

“Oh yeah. I must’ve hit that guy harder than I thought,” he laughed.

“When we get home we should put some ice on it, okay?” You said. Kuroo nodded. Kuroo looked a little distraught. You rested your head on his shoulder.

“Thank you,” you whispered. Kuroo blushed.

You took your keys and unlocked the door to your apartment. You headed straight for the freezer, taking a plastic bag and filling it with ice. You went over to Kuroo, who was sitting on the couch.

“Here, give me your hand,” you ordered. Kuroo gave you his beaten up hand and you gently put the ice bag on it. He winced a little at the cold sensation.

“We should probably wrap it with a bandage later too,” you suggested. He nodded. You kept your eyes on Kuroo’s large hand, as it rested on your leg with the ice pack on top. You held the bag in place for him. Kuroo kept his eyes on you, without you even realizing it.

“I didn’t think you had that kind of power in you,” you joked. Kuroo didn’t say anything. He took his free hand and placed it on your cheek. You flinched at his touch and looked at him.

“Kuroo…”

“Y/N…”

You took a deep breath.

“Kuroo I-I’m in love with you. Like deeply in love with you. I’ve never loved anyone but you and I don’t think I ever will. I know this is a long shot and you’ve shut me down before but if I don’t tell you now I don’t think I ever will. You’re my best friend but you’re also so much more to me than that. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same but I can’t hold it in anymore. And that night at the party when Oikawa told everyone that I like you, he was being serious because god damnit Kuroo Tetsurou I like you. Well really, I love you.”

Your heart was beating out of your chest. Your face felt like a million degrees. Kuroo didn’t react. He simply leaned in, placing a kiss on your forehead.

“I know,” he said. Your eyes grew.

“What?”

“I know,” he repeated.

“You know?!”

“Of course I know. I’ve known forever. You’re really bad at hiding your emotions,” he laughed. You were in shock.

“Wait but at the party-”

“I wanted to hear it from you, not Oikawa. I knew you’d tell me when you were ready,” he smiled. Your brain couldn’t process the words coming from his mouth.

“So all this time you’ve just been mentally torturing me?” You huffed. Kuroo laughed.

“Come on Y/N, I know you better than you know yourself. I probably knew you liked me before you did.”

“Oh my god…”

“Well better late than never right?” You looked down and sighed.

“Wait but do you...you know...do you…?” You stuttered out. Kuroo took his index finger and placed it under your chin, tilting your head up to look at him.

“Of course I do. I’d be stupid not to. I love you.”

As soon as the words left Kuroo’s mouth, his lips were pressed against yours. Kuroo shook the ice pack off of his hand and pulled you on top of him. He gripped onto your thighs as you ran your fingers through his messy hair. He tilted his head slightly to kiss you better. Your arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer to you. Without realizing it, you started slowly rocking your hips back and forth against him. He let out a faint groan. Kuroo then quickly tucked his arms under your legs and picked you up, leading you to his room.

Kuroo laid you down on his bed, hovering over you as he continued to kiss you. You began to unbutton his shirt and tossed it aside. Kuroo lifted your dress over your head and threw it onto the floor. He moved to start kissing and sucking on your neck, doing his best to leave marks on your sensitive skin. You let out faint moans every time he would release his lips from you.

“Kuroo...please…” you sighed. He moved to look at you, kissing your lips.

“What is it baby?”

“I want you,” you said. Kuroo’s eyes grew. He bent back down to kiss you before reaching in his back pocket for his phone.

“What are you doing?” You asked, beginning to unbuckle his belt. Kuroo set his phone down on his nightstand.

“A little music never hurt.”

Kuroo helped you pull his pants down. He hovered above you now just in his boxers. He continued to kiss you passionately, your hands gripped firmly onto his biceps.

Suddenly, the song that began to play seemed vaguely familiar. The saxophone played a tune that you’ve heard before.

Is he playing…

“Kuroo?” You broke away from his kiss. He raised a brow.

“Yeah?”

“Do you know what song this is?” Kuroo tilted his head in confusion.

“Uhh…”

“TONIGHT THE MUSIC SEEMS SO LOUD! I WISH THAT WE COULD LOSE THIS CROWD! BABY!”

You put your hand over your mouth to cover your laughs.

“What? What’s so funny?” asked Kuroo, moving from on top of you.

You bursted out laughing. Kuroo’s face flushed red.

“Kuroo, did you make this playlist?”

“No, Oikawa made it for me.”

You began to laugh even harder.

Oikawa you cruel cruel boy.

“Oh Kuroo, this song is a joke…” you cupped your hands on his cheeks, trying to stop laughing. Kuroo pouted.

“That’s the last time I ever let Oikawa give me music suggestions,” he groaned. You giggled, giving him a kiss.

“You’re so cute and clueless sometimes,” you joked. Kuroo smiled, pulling you back onto his lap.

“Can we still…?” he begged. You laughed and kissed his head.

“Yeah...just please, turn this song off.”

•

[taglist OPEN: @vangoghpoets @vangoghmusings @lilnuances @tetsoleil @cloudswritings @foxyyychan @tamaguchi @jessie9008 @bitandbytes @yeehawnana @166cm @bigchaosenergy @tumbledor3 @captain-janeway @answer-the-sirens @simpletype @ysatrap @stinkybitch1919 @starry-magicshop @graykageyama @keomoon @freyafolkvangr @myherotrashbin @anejuuuuoy @amgoldena @aisawa-reo @moonlightaangel @bokutory ]

#willow.🌸#haikyuu!!#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x y/n #hq #kuroo tetsuro x you #kuroo tetsurou #hq kuroo #kuroo x y/n #haikyuu kuroo #kuroo x reader #kuroo x you #kuroo tetsurō #bokuto #oikawa tōru #the apartment.🌸

99 notes · View notes

getsojaded · 4 years

Text

chemistry || calum hood

word count: 3.8k+

warnings: mentions of weed, swear words, mention of injury, food & the slightest bit of sex talk

a/n: hey twt moots ;)) anyways, this is inspired by this post! i hope u all enjoy <3

It was about 11 pm, and I had just finished taking an unnecessarily large amount of notes for chemistry class. With a sore, shaky hand and a vision that was starting to go blurry, I had finally finished ten pages. Who knew that there was so much information about 5 organic compounds?

I yawned in my seat, stretching my arms out and removing my glasses. I was more than thankful that I can call it a night, and walked towards my bathroom to get ready for bed, which took a good 30 minutes. It usually doesn’t take me that long, but fuck, I was exhausted this whole day. After all my skincare was completed, I walked back to my bedroom and hopped into my bed, prepared for a well deserved rest. After slouching for a good three and a half hours, comforter and pillows had never felt so good against my body.

Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard a loud ding! from my phone and I opened my heavy eyes, which immediately annoyed me. I ignored the first one and tried to go back to sleep, but one ding turned into six and I couldn’t take it anymore. I angrily ripped the covers off my body, sitting up right after reaching for my phone on the nightstand beside my bed.

6 New Text Messages from: calum hood

hey wyd rn

can you do me a favour

i need your help

im at this party right now and i’m about to get high as fuck but i forgot about our homework for tomorrow and i was wondering if you could do them for me

you don’t even need to make them look pretty like how you do it just take down the important shit

please

“What the fuck?” I whsipered to myself as I looked at my phone. “Who does this bitch think he is?”

to: calum hood

are you fucking serious right now

from: calum hood

please i’m really sorry LOL i completely forgot about it

i know your smarty pants finished it the second you got home please

i’ll literally buy you starbucks tomorrow morning

As much as I hated to admit it, his last text message kind of convinced me. I was a sucker for coffee, and could really stop spending money on it every morning. But was I really about to lose some more sleep just to do the party boy’s notes? I barely know this kid anyways. How’d this guy even get into college?

to: calum hood

is it gonna be a venti

from: calum hood:

if that’s what you want, sure

I knew I was going to regret this decision, but I threw on my glasses and put my hair up once again, walking towards my desk. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I sighed out, opening my laptop and gathering my supplies together. I unlocked my phone, seeing that the time was 12 am. Am I doing this for coffee or am I doing this because he’s attractive and I couldn’t really say no to him? I groaned and leaned my head on my desk, texting him back.

to: calum hood

i hate you so much

get me a venti iced white mocha no whip and an extra espresso shot

actually no make that two extra espresso shots cause bc of your dumbass im staying up

from: calum hood

i gotchu angel

thank you so much, see you tomorrow :)

“Fuck off with the petname and the smiley face,” I angrily cursed at my phone, picking up my pencil and beginning to write another ten pages of notes.

“I hate this bitch,” I said, throwing my pencil onto my desk and slamming my laptop shut. The time was now 3:45 am and tired was an understatement for me. I crawled into bed, falling asleep almost immediatly, hoping that these 5 hours of sleep will give me enough energy to get through class tomorrow.

“You have got to be fucking joking me,” I mumbled, reaching over for my phone to turn off the alarm. I was definitely not a morning person, and the fact that I didn’t get at least 7 hours of sleep meant that I was not going to be in a good mood today.

I slowly crawled out of bed and began trudging towards my bathroom, seeing I had gotten a text meesage from the man himself. I rolled my eyes seeing his name pop up, opening the conversation between him and I.

from: calum hood

goodmorning!

to: calum hood

fuck off

I set my phone aside, getting ready for bed in the slowest way possible. I honestly could care less about what I looked like today, so I decided on a hoodie and sweatpants. I went back into my room and packed my bag with everything I needed, including Calum’s stupid study notes. I threw it over my shoulder, putting on my shoes and walking out the front door, into my car. Thankfully my college was not too far from my apartment, so it didn’t matter if I was running a couple of minutes late.

Parking my car and walking towards class, more and more annoyance filled my body, hoping that nobody would say a word to me, or even better, look in my direction. As I walked into the classroom, I walked towards the empty seats in the very back, choosing the one closest to the wall. I got settled into my seat, leaning the side of my head against the wall, hoping that I’d get the tiniest bit of extra rest.

“The last text message you sent to me wasn’t very nice.” I heard a voice beside me say. I opened my eyes and looked up, seeing the stupid Calum Hood. He was holding two cups of coffee - one for me, and one for him I’m assuming - and was wearing a maroon hoodie, which he actually looked really good in.

“I don’t think you deserve to have a nice goodmorning text, because you are the reason I’m in a pissy mood today, thank you very much.” I responded, taking my coffee from his hand and placing it on my desk. I reached into my bag and took the study notes I wrote for him, slapping it onto the desk beside me.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered as our professor began to speak up, indicating that class had begun. “What can I do in order for you not to be mad at me?” I turned to look at him. He had the biggest pouty face I had ever seen, which was absolutely adorable. But I’d never tell him that.

“Just shut up.” I sighed, turning back towards the board, opening my notebook and beginning to take notes.

Not even ten minutes later, a green sticky note caught my eye as I was writing. My eyes gazed towards the sticky note, scoffing at what was written on it.

Pls forgive me :(

I turned towards Calum, who was currently well focused on the board in front of us. I lightly chuckled, knowing he was more than pretending to actually pay attention in this class.

I thought I told you to shut up, I wrote underneath his writing and stuck it back onto his desk, and continued from where I left off. I got maybe 5 words in before I saw the neon green appear back onto my desk. I can’t shut up if I’m not talking.

I rolled my eyes before crumbling the paper in my hand, looking at Calum once again. “You’re distracting me. What do you want?” I asked him, the brunette boy turning his head to me once again.

“For you not to be mad at me.” He responded. “What can I do for you to at least smile at me? Besides telling me to shut up.”

I stared at him with the bitchiest face I could put on, then rolled my eyes and began to take down more notes in my book. First, he makes me write ten pages for him and now he’s distracting me in class. Can he leave me alone for at least five minutes?

“And now you’re not gonna talk to me. Fine, be that way.” He grunted. The two of went back to what to we were doing for the remainder of class.

“That’s all for today folks, I hope you have a good rest of your day and don’t forget to read pages thirty to thirty-five and finish questions one to twenty-seven.” Our professor said to all of the class, which resulted in me grabbing my bag and standing up immediately, wanting nothing more than to just get the fuck out of this place.

Please don’t talk to me please don’t talk to me please don’t talk to me-

“Hey wait,” Calum said and grabbed my hand.

Fuck

“Yes?” I asked him, turning my body towards him as he let go of my hand.

“What’re you doing the rest of the day?”

“Nothing, why..?”

I saw that Calum had the cheekiest grin on his face after I gave him my answer. “As an apology for making you write down my notes, thank you very much by the way, along with making you angry this whole morning, how about we go get breakfast on me, and we can do our homework together, except I will do all the work, and you just copy my answers? How does that sound?”

I thought about it. One part of me just wanted to flip him off, go back home and get the sleep I missed out on last night. The other part of me was actually kind of down for that idea. Free food, free homework answers and I get to hang out with pretty boy? I wasn’t really losing anything here, huh?

“I mean, I would say yes, but I took my car here and also I’m dressed terribly right now, the last thing I need is for more people to see me looking like this..” I trailed off, looking down at my current outfit and laughing lightly. “Babe, you don’t even look bad whatsoever right now. However, if you insist, you can go home and change and I can come get you when you’re ready. Is that a plan?” He asked in response. First angel, now babe? What is this guy doing?

“I mean.. I could do that...but-” “Pleeaaasee?” Calum cut me off, pressing his hands together, acting as if he was praying.

“Ugh, fine, I’ll go with you! I’ll go home and get ready, and I’ll text you when I’m done.” I responded as the both of us walked out of the classroom, towards the parking lot.

“Pinky promise you won’t cancel on me last minute?” Calum asked, extending his arm and putting his pinky in front of me as we reached my car. I hadn’t even noticed that he walked me to my car, which honestly made my heart flutter when I realized.

“Are you kidding me?” I laughed lightly, taking my pinky and sticking it out with his, interlocking it. “Pinky promises mean everything, sweetheart. I’ll see you later.” He responded, winking at me then walking away. Getting into my car, I hit my steering wheel, squealing while I repeatedly hit my head against my wheel. “Fuckin’ angel, babe and sweetheart?! What’s next?” I asked myself, driving back to my place to get ready for this little study.. session? Hang out? Date?

I never noticed how nervous I was to hang out with Calum until four different outfits were placed on my bed, with no ability to choose which one looked best. “Fuck, these are all terrible.” I groaned, flopping onto my bed and closing my eyes. I was interrupted by my phone ringing, seeing that Calum was calling.

“I know you pinky promised that you wouldn’t cancel on me, but angel what is taking so long?” He asked, laughing into his question. “I’m so sorry,” I groaned, getting back up and looking at the outfits I planned on my bed. “I’m having a little wardrobe crisis. I have zero idea what to wear.”

“You could’ve showed up in the hoodie and sweatpants and I’d still find you gorgeous,” He responded, making my heart flutter for what felt like the hundreth time today. This man throws small compliments left and right and it’s kind of driving me crazy. “But lemme see what you got planned out. I’ll make it easier for you.” I responded with an okay, quickly snapping a photo of the clothes that were currently on my bed.

“Okay first off, none of these are bad at all. I think you could’ve chose any of these and rocked all of ‘em. Second, little shirt big pants is always the way to go. I say the second one.” He told me, choosing a white long sleeved shirt and the baggiest light wash jeans I had in my closet. It might’ve been basic, but Calum was right - you really can’t go wrong with a little shirt big pants combination.

“Okay, thank you.” I sighed in relief, taking the clothes into my hands and walking into the washroom to change. “You can come now, I’ll text you my address. I’ll probably be done by the time you get here.”

“Now was that so hard?” He asked in response, causing the both of us to laugh. “I’ll see you in a bit. Bye bye!”

“Bye Calum, see you later.” And with that the call ended. I quickly changed into my clothes, put my laptop in my bag - along with everything else I needed - and slipped my shoes on. Once I finished doing so, I heard a loud honk outside, indicating that he was outside.

Walking out of my house I saw Calum exiting his seat, walking over to the other side and opening the door for me. “Wow, what a gentleman.” I laughed as he closed my door and got into the drivers’ side once again. “You look great.” He told me, his eyes focused on my outfit. “All thanks to you.” I said nervously, as he started the car. “Where are we going again?” I asked him.

“You can never go wrong with IHOP,” He said proudly, with a wide grin on his face. “How’d you know I loved going there?” I asked him, gaining a chuckle from him in response. “Not sure if you knew this, but I’m a mindreader.” He joked, causing me to roll my eyes and laugh in response.

Arriving at the place and ordering our food, Calum and I began to have a little conversation. It started off with an are you still mad at me? which resulted into talks about other classes, finals and parties.

“You’re telling me you’ve never been to a party?” He asked in shock, me shaking my head as I took a sip of the water that was given to me. “Are you kidding me? We’ve been in college for what, two years, and you’ve never been to one?!”

“Yeah, in case you didn’t notice, I go to school to learn and not to party. I don’t ask people to take ten pages of notes for me so I could blaze up, unlike somebody I know,” I responded, Calum looking at me in disbelief. “I cannot believe you just called me out like that. I said I was sorry!”

“Yeah yeah, I know. You’re making up for it with free food and free homework answers, so I decided to get over it.” I responded, laughing. “Also, when are we gonna start doing the questions?” I asked as the waiter came with both of our plates of food, thanking them as we began to eat.

“I mean, we could go back to my place and work on it, if that’s alright with you.” Calum said, his mouth full of pancakes. “Is that your way of trying to get in my pants?” I asked jokingly.

“You’re a fiesty one aren’t you?” He asked, with a simple nod from me in response. “Well to answer your question, no that is not my way of doing such a thing, I’d be much more smooth about it.”

“Oh, so you think you’re slick or something?” “Nah babe, I know I’m slick.” There’s the cocky party boy that I was much more familiar with. I rolled my eyes in response.

“I’m gonna ignore what you just said.. Anyways, I am fine with working on it at your place.” I told him, getting a nod in response. Throughout the whole breakfast, we got to know each other quite well. I learned that he played soccer in highschool, but due to a torn ACL he had to quit. But because of that, he got into music and started playing the guitar. I told him that if there’s enough free time when we finished, he should play me something. He happily agreed to it, saying that I will fall in love with him after I hear his singing. I just roll my eyes at his cocky compliments about himself.

I also got to hear his totally wild college parties that he goes to, telling me about this one time one of his friends’ houses got shut down due to the various noise complaints from neighbours down the block. “you should come join me in one”, He offers, with a “fuck no” in response from me.

“C’mon, they’re not that bad. They’re actually really fun, and everybody’s always so nice.”

“I literally can’t tell you the last time I got high, and the last time I got drunk it was not pretty, I’m retired from that shit.” I said, as he paid for our food and began walking back to his car.

“Oh, so you used to be rowdy?” He asked, the two of us laughing in unison. “High school me was a different story, we don’t talk about that.” I responded. “The things I would do to see that side of you. You gotta go to at least one before you get outta this place. They take a lot of stress off your shoulders for the night.” He told me as we walked towards the front door to his place, which made me laugh at the fact that he tried to make parties seem like a really good thing. A simple Maybe, was all I responded with as we got settled into his apartment, which was fairly clean to my surprise.

We were currently sitting across each other at his dining table, the both of us reading over the textbook and him answering the questions after every section. He worked effeciently, which also took me by surprise. I underestimated this guy a lot, didn’t I?

A good two hours later, Calum had finished all the questions for homework and I had finished copying them down, thanking him for doing such a thing.

“It’s no problem. I had no idea that the notes were ten fucking pages long, you deserve a break after that- wait, you wear glasses?” He asked me, analyzing them.

“Yeah, only at home though. I don’t really like how they look on me,” I replied, taking them off and rubbing my eyes. He took them in his hands and put them back on me, smiling. “They look really cute on you, I like them.” He said, causing me to blush. “What’re you so flirty for?” I asked. Keep these compliments up and I might just fall in love with you before you even sing, I thought to myself.

“Well, with somebody as pretty as you, I gotta slip in a flirty remark every chance I get, eh?” He smirked, taking my hand, and taking the both of upstairs. “Don’t take this the wrong way, my guitars in my room.” He reassured me as we walked inside his room. He took the guitar from the side of his room, and sat on the edge of his bed, gesturing me to sit down next to him.

“Ready to fall in love with me?”

“Try me, Hood.”

He chuckled, playing the intro to Sam Smith’s Leave Your Lover. “Holy shit, I love this song,” I whispered, watching his hands strum the guitar.

He began to sing, immediately amazed by his voice. It was so soft and raspy, I literally could listen to it all day. I closed my eyes, leaning my head on his shoulder. He laughed softly when he noticed, continuing on with the song.

He finished playing the outro, which caused me to open my eyes and look up at him. “So, how was that?”

“It was beautiful, your voice is so pretty.” I responded, smiling at him. “You should drop outta this whole college thing and just become famous.”

“Oh man I wish, but I think it’s too late for that.” He told me, now leaning on my shoulder, which made me want to scream and kiss him. “Did you fall in love with me yet?”

I patted his cheek with my hand lightly. “Not yet Cal, not yet. Stil kinda angry about that whole ten pages of notes thing.”

“You’re never gonna let that go, are you?”

“Nah.”

He laughed, then took my hand and intertwined it with his, rubbing circles on it with his thumb. “What if I told you I’d be down to do this again, minus the whole ‘let me do this for you today as an apology’ thing?” He questioned, lifting his head from my shoulder and looking at me.

“What do you mean, ‘this again’?”

“I mean picking you up with a coffee before class, bothering you the whole time, getting breakfast with you afterwards, studying together, and then playing a song for you once we get too lazy to finish our assignments.” He replied with a soft smile that made my heart warm and my cheeks red.

“And what if I told you that I’d be down to do those things aswell?”

“Well then my love, I will pick you up on Wednesday at 8:15 with a venti iced white mocha with only one extra shot of espresso, because I won’t keep you up to write more notes. After class, I’ll take us to any place you wanna go. Denny’s? IHOP? Waffle House? You name it. Then, we can go back to my place, study our asses off and then I can play you as many songs as you’d like. How does that sound?” He offered, the biggest smile appearing on my face.

“That sounds perfect.”

“Now if we’re going to be doing this... does this mean I can finally take you to a damn party?”

“Fuck off, Hood.”

#calum hood #luke hemmings #michael clifford #ashton irwin #5sos #5 seconds of summer #calum hood imagine #luke hemmings imagine #michael clifford imagine #ashton irwin imagine

119 notes · View notes

angrylizardjacket · 4 years

Text

mouth full of white lies {Machine Gun Kelly} 6 // FINALE

6. you know, you’re my whole world

Summary: So you’re actually together! Hooray! But filming is going to wrap, and your brother wants to to talk, and what if this is just a summer fling?! Colson says it’s not, you think it’s time to start trusting what he says over your own anxiety.

A/N: It’s not NSFW, im really not in the headspace to write smut.

the brainstrust: @sataninsatin @silvertonguedserpent @juliarose21 @estxxbritt @machine-gun-casie @harringtonstudios @misscharlottelee @narcvissa @hiworlditishumbleme @angelwarner28 @nevilles-insinuations @rumoured-whispers @mgkobsessed @edwardtriggerhandzz @suckerforbarnes @wastelcve @bakerkells @local-troubled-writer @freddiessmallnipples @oopsiedoopsie23 @mayaslifeinabox @mrs-machinegun-norris @hxbbit @lilytalebi

----

Filming is due to wrap in a few days and you don’t quite know what to do with yourself. You’re flailing a little bit, like you seemed to do at the end of every project. It’s not that you didn’t know how to fill your time, you did; your own career filled your time very nicely when you wanted it to, but this is the most time you’ve spent with your brother in a long while and you weren’t looking forward to saying goodbye.

Back in LA, you’re trying not to cling to the cast, or more specifically, to your brother and your boyfriend, and it’s working on set, but after filming wraps for the whole band scenes, you feel yourself growing quiet as the boys suggest celebratory drinks. Douglas still has a few final shots they wanna film, but it’s the last time they’ll need the whole band together, at least until potential reshoots. It’s Thursday, and in a week and a half there’s gonna be a wrap party, and you’re all still going to be hanging around until then, Colson most of all since he lives here, but it feels so final.

“How’re you holding up, Duck?” Daniel finds you hovering by the bar of the club that you didn’t catch the name of, while your brother was buying drinks down the other end, and Colson was having a smoke, and you were trying to not act as awkward as you felt.

“Good, good,” you assure him, nursing your still-full drink, “it’s just gonna be weird not to see you guys every day.”

“We can call you every day if you’re feeling lonely; it might be two in the morning, I’m not great at timezones,” he tells you with a smile, and you grin back, thankful, at the very least, for the gesture.

“Colson’s house is never empty, I don’t think I’ll ever be lonely,” your voice is fond, and Daniel snorts into his drink, giving a knowing hum, “but I might still take you up on that offer,” you paused, before your grin stretches wide and you bat your eyelashes at him almost comically, “would you sing to me if I asked nicely.”

“If I did, can I tell people it’s because you asked, and not because I miss playing Vince?”

“Absolutely; your secret’s safe with me.” The two of you cheers to that, and it’s starting to hit you just how much you’ll miss this cast. After a beat, you sigh a little forlornly, but aren’t given time to dwell in your melancholy before your brother rejoins you.

The night eases on, and you feel yourself relaxing with the people you love by your side, bar hopping into the early hours of the morning, dancing and drinking, and sloppily making out with Colson in various dark corners. It’s a night that’s blurry at the edges, heart warm and conversation easy, falling into bed laughing when the sun comes up. When you wake the next day, it’s to your brother calling and inviting you out to eat.

“Late brunch,” he calls it.

“I think at this point it’s just lunch.” You yawn around your answer, and you hear Colson laugh into his pillow, which makes you smile. You tell him you’ll be there in an hour, to which Colson groans, surfacing from his own pillow to dramatically sprawl over you.

“How are you even awake, man?” He sighs when you put Douglas on speaker, “we don’t have anything to do today, why not celebrate and sleep in.”

“He’s always been like this,” you sigh, just as Douglas answers almost identically. With a shake of his head, Colson presses his smile against your cheek, followed by a kiss.

“Dude, you’re a robot,” Colson mutters, though it’s fond, and he rolls back over, pulling his pillow out from beneath his head and holding it over his face, yawning into it. Douglas invites him to lunch, but Colson graciously denies; “I love you guys, but as soon as Ducky leaves, I’m passing the fuck out again.”

When you get to the cafe your brother has picked out, he’s doing his utmost best to act casual, but you see through it almost immediately by the way he’s rearranging the sugar packets instead of looking at you.

“What?” You ask him flatly as you pick up the menu; finally he looks to you, all wide-eyed feigned innocence.

“Can’t I just want to get lunch with my dear sister?”

“You can, sure,” you concede with a nod of your head, opening the menu, your eyes on the drinks, “but usually you’re less obvious with your ulterior motives.” Flicking your gaze from the menu, already knowing what you want, you can see him grimace.

“I don’t know how to word it,” he admits after a beat, still fiddling with a packet of sugar, not meeting your gaze; you try to prompt him, but he beats you to the punch; “how long did you intend on pretending to be with Colson?”

Alarm bells are ringing in your head and it takes all your self control not to slap a hand over his mouth. Instead, you shush him loudly, looking around, frantically, terrified someone had heard. When you look back at him, you see a faintly amused smile, and you realised that your reaction had managed to confirm all of his suspicions.

“How long have you known?”

“A while,” and he’s less cagey now, settling back in his chair. The waitress comes up and you both pace an order for a drink, him looking calm and collected, you looking like you’re about to leap across the table and maul him at any given second. After she leaves, after she’s out of earshot, he continues, “since you told me you loved him, and two days later he came up to me and asked if it would be weird if he was in love with you; I just thought ‘why would it be weird? You’re together aren’t you?’, but then it hit me.”

“It’s not - fake -” you whisper the word, “anymore.”

“I can tell,” Douglas says with a gentle fondness. He doesn’t seem mad, just thoughtful.

“What?” You ask again, softer this time, a little sheepish, like you’re just waiting for him to ask why you lied to him. But he doesn’t.

“Are you happy, Duck?” It hits you out of left field, almost winds you, and you see the genuine concern in his eyes.

“Of course,” you tell him, and he wears a familiar smile, “Colson makes me so happy, Doug,” you admit, and his smile widens.

“I’m just glad you two decided to get your shit together,” he mused, “because you know I was not above parent-trapping the pair of you.”

“I think you’d have to get in line behind Casie,” you said with a slight smile, and Douglas laughed brightly, though you considered for a moment, “what a strange pair you’d make, you two trying to get Colson and I to admit our feelings for each other.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already got a plan already figured out; I saw her on set, you’ve gotten yourself a duckling of your own,” Douglas tells you, and you can’t help the embarrassingly pleased little smile.

“You think so? She’s such a cool kid,” you enthuse, trying to play it off, but your brother gives an almost disbelieving smile.

“You’re cool, Duck.” He assures you, and you can’t help feeling pleased at his compliment.

The rest of lunch goes smoothly; Douglas asks you what your plans are after filming wraps, and you tell him that you’re probably going to stay with Colson, that you’ve got a few events lined up in LA in the next few months. He’s heading back to New York, has a film festival coming up, and some press to do for Mary Shelly, which was set to come out in June, and some travelling he wants to do.

“If you see mum and dad, give them my love,” you tell him, and he promises he will. You don’t get home much to see your family anymore; work keeps you much busier than you’d ever imagined.

The last few days on set feel like one long farewell, and it’s sad to see the few that still come in getting a little teary as they wrap.

“I’m gonna get absolutely blitzed, or I’m gonna cry my eyes out,” Josy tells you over lunch on the final day, the two of you discussing the wrap party the following night. Though you chuckle, you can’t help but know exactly how she’s feeling.

Heart in your throat, you can’t help but feel a little fragile as you get ready to go out to the afterparty. Colson, however, doesn’t seem to share this mindset.

“You look hot as fuck,” he announces, watching you apply your makeup in the bathroom mirror, already dressed for the night. Giving a sad little smile, you pause for a beat, and he joins you, rests his chin on your shoulder, “what’s up?”

“This has just been... it’s been so much, it’s weird that it’s coming to an end.”

“There’ll be other projects -” he plants a kiss on your cheek, his arms coming to wrap around you.

“I know.”

“And other movies -”

“I know.”

“And you know this crew isn’t just gonna forget about you, or each other -”

“I’m related to Doug,” you sigh, and Colson snorts, nodding, and he steps back, gives you space to turn and wrap your arms around him, though you’re still pouting, “but what if you realise I’m just... boring or something when we don’t have a film keeping us together.” And you press your face, your nervous worry, against him.

“First of all, you’re not boring. I don’t do boring girls,” he tells you flatly, “and between the two of us, we’ll always be busy anyways, but it doesn’t matter; how many times are we gonna have this conversation?” He asks with a slight frown, and you humph against him, “you expecting me to kick you out? Just cut and run? No fucking way.” And there’s an edge to his voice, something that stirs something deep inside of you. “As far as I’m aware, you’re mine, Ducky,” and a shiver actually runs down your spine.

“All yours?” You hear yourself murmur, leaning back in his arms and letting your gaze flicking to his lips, which quirk into a smirk. “I like hearing you say that.” His grip tightens almost imperceptibly, but you feel it, can see his grin widen.

“How late are we allowed to be do you think?” He asks, giving you a suggestive squeeze. After a beat, you lean into him, kissing him hard, letting the contentment wash across you as he hums appreciately against your lips before you pull back.

“You’re the star, so as late as we want.”

“Hello! Hello and welcome back my ducklings! Since so many of you asked, here is an update on how things have been between myself and my dear boyfriend since you last heard about us, which was quite a while ago. And also a get ready with me! Because it’s the premiere! Of our movie!”

“So I know since The Dirt stopped filming that I stopped sort of having Kells in my videos, and that’s because we’d been so uber public in the beginning of our relationship that when we had time to just us, we wanted it to be... more personal, more private, you know. Which might seem weird, but it’s how we like it.”

“As you all know, so much has been happening with us; we’ve been living together basically since The Dirt finished filming, or as much as we can, since we’re both travelling so much. I’ve been making my way around conventions, as well as being a part of a few more films set to come out in the next few months, meanwhile my talented boyfriend has been writing a whole new fucking album, as well as filming Big Time Adolescence with Pete, but that’s not coming out for a good long while.”

“Yes! Yes I’ve met Pete Davidson, I’m Pete-certified now, you can all calm down. Pete, Casie, and Rook have all approved me, do not stress, and Doug has approved of Kells - has always approved of him actually.”

“We spent Thanksgiving with Casie and her mom which was really nice, and I’ll have photos of us - here -” and a photo of yourself, Colson, and Casie sitting around a dining room table flashed onto the screen, followed by a selfie of Colson with you and Casie asleep together on the sofa behind him.

“Christmas I had with mom, dad, and Doug back in England, while Kells stayed back to be with Casie, but don’t worry, I flew back in time for him to be my New Year’s kiss. Casie actually got me the cutest present; so back when The Dirt was filming, she came and hung out on set, and she got her makeup done by our team; she looked so cool! Anyways so she got a photo with me and Kells, him in full costume, me lookin’ a little bit like a potato next to those two, but it’s such a cute photo. And she got me a phone case with that photo printed on it. I’ve been using it ever since, I love it so much!”

“Kells’ birthday, as I’m sure you’ve all seen, was an absolutely wild rager, which Doug came to, even though it meant he saw me do some things that no older brother should ever see his sister do - get your mind out of the gutter! Nothing like that! I just made some questionable decisions that night is all. But my man had the night of his life, and I couldn’t be prouder of him!”

“We’ve been travelling, and working, and just... it’s so good to have it all come full circle. It’s good to be back with all the cast and crew; I’ve missed them all far more than I thought I would. And Kells has been talking non-stop about seeing them, he’s in the other room planning a pub crawl as we speak.”

“So I suppose I’m just trying to tell you that we’re doing good. Really good, actually, it’s been over a year but it definitely doesn’t feel like it.” You pause, wearing a small, almost hopeful smile. “This is gonna sound really stupid, but I never thought working the Motley Crue movie would lead to all this.”

“I think he might be the love of my life.”

#mgk #mgk imagine #mgk x reader #machine gun kelly #machine gun kelly imagine #machine gun kelly x reader #colson baker #colson baker imagine #colson baker x reader #the dirt #the dirt movie #the dirt cast #the dirt imagine #the dirt cast imagine #the angry lizard writes

168 notes · View notes

demon-winchester · 3 years

Text

Tremors Behind The Veil Chapter 6

-Chapter 6- I entered the subway station... I did my research and apparently the safehouse was quite a bit closer using the subway than just walking. I finally reached the place but the door was nowhere to be found...A blank wall with some latin inscribed to it "Invented ad guy quis nulla" and I ran it through a translate app, it meant "to the guy who invented zero". What could she mean by that...I guess I can't ask her but maybe Lydia can provide me some insight.

I started dialing up the numbers. "Well hello, that was fast" she answered her phone. "Yeah... I ran into a problem and maybe your unlimited brilliance can help me" I replied. "Oh, you're making me blush....Don't be sarcastic just tell me what you need help with" she said and i could imagine her smiling from the tone of her voice. "Alright so, does the sentence "To the guy who invented zero" mean anything to you?" I continued. "Ummmmm I can't say it does" she answered confused. "Nothing at all?" i kept asking. "Well no genius it's literally a random sentence for me" she chuckled. "Alrighty then, well, thanks for nothing" and as i said that a door started appearing and I started laughing. "What happened?" Lydia asked. "This bitch used a pun to keep her entrance shut....To the guy who invented zero, thanks for nothing." i answered basically on the floor laughing about the situation and i was CERTAIN that Lydia was rolling her eyes. "Okay, I will have to let you go now, I have some research I need to do...maybe we'll talk later" I continued. "Alright, ciao" she said and we closed the call. Now then...time to find Touch, Lien HQ and Red Tiger. After a couple of hours of research I came to a conclusion...Finding a shapeshifter would be really time draining, demons sound like a tough foe at this time so vampires it is. I'll sleep for a couple of hours and then time to head to Touch! I set up an alarm for three hours, I put on some music *Wasteland by Neoni starts playing*, I laid down on the couch and i started drifting away. I suddenly woke up in a strange city.

There was nobody around me, it felt desolated, the buildings were almost destroyed and the place was covered with sand...it reminded me of the desert i thought. I looked around and I saw a woman standing behind me. It was Circe, the dream version of her. I approached. "I guess your help is needed again"she smiled. "We need to start meeting under better circumstances" i smirked. "That is quite true Aiden" she answered, "I believe you chose Touch....That was quite the decision, Sylvia will tell you what you need to know and it's time for you to leave i believe" she concluded and the alarm started ringing. I got up, I took a bath and i started getting ready. Black boots,black jeans,dark red shirt,grey jacket,earrings, rings, chain and i was ready to go. Suddenly the phone started ringing and it was Lydia. "Hey, watch up" i said answering the phone. "Sup dude, what is your superhero ass doing" she said snarkily. "Oh shut up" I replied "Just getting ready to go to a club". "Ohhh spicy...I didnt know the job description had partying" she said. "Yeah of course.... You know i hate these places, you dont have to be an ass about it" I said laughing it off. "So tell me, how come you go then?" she asked. "I mean, i am still searching for Circe..plus i need my sword back if I am to have a chance." i answered. "Okay wait for me, im coming with you" she said. "Oh stay where you are love, you aint coming with me, shit could get really bad really fast" i said to her with a watchfull tone. "And that's exactly why i'm coming, you need support from a friend when shit gets down" she pridfully replied. "No offence but if something bad happens the only friend i need is a fucking nuke so sorry not sorry, you're staying where you are" i said. "You know how much i hate you sometimes don't you?" she complained. "Well let me prove you otherwise, let's say i owe you a coffee..how does that sound?" I teased her. "Just that?...No deal, you still suck" she chuckled. "A coffee aaaand i'll have you on comms while i go to the club...i could really use a friend on a sucky place" i said wih a small smile. "It's Saturday night and you think i'll stand by on comms and keep you company?.... You are absolutely right" she replied and i could almost see her smile. "Fantastic just an fyi though, since it's kind of undercover i won't be able to answer you every time...just so you wont get worried"i said. "Alright" she replied. It was time to go. "Let's find Sylvia" i thought to myself while passing by the bouncer and he didn't seem amused. I was walking down the corridor, it was like a small tunnel leading to the entrance. The walls had some kind of fur, people leaning on them, some laughing, some puking, some staring. Purple and pink lamps lit the whole place and they made it feel like a fever dream. "These are going to be a bitch to walk through while drunk" I uttered silently. Following the music i arrived to the main room opening the doors.The room was gigantic. Glass panels were on the roof, cages with dancers inside them and a door on the other side of the room,the boss's room I thought. People were dancing, drinking and having fun... these places were never my kind of thing. I sat on the bar and I ordered a red wine. " A wine on a club....either a meeting or you're just boring" said the barwoman handing me my glass. "Maybe both, maybe neither" i said taking a sip. "So tell me what else do you do except pouring drinks and judging people darling." I continued. "ohhh the barwoman....spicy" Lydia said through the comms. "A man being just a bit of an asshole and not a full fledged one, a rare kind these days but nevertheless don't try hitting on the barwoman, you never know what she'll pour on your drink kid" said the barwoman with a wink. "I dont mix bussiness with pleasure unfortunately" i said. "Are you sure unfortunately is the right word?" the barwoman said interrupting me. "Ouchhh ruthless but i'll let it pass. Tell me though, do you know a woman called Sylvia? I heard she's running this place" i continued. "And who wants to talk to her?" said the barwoman. "Circe" I replied. "You don't really seem like a Circe but you do you, i'll go get her for you" the barwoman said smiling and she started leaving. " So, is hitting on the barwoman part of the undercover mission?" Lydia said. "Well no but if you form a small connection with a person, even someone who doesnt know your name, they are more likely to help you." i answered taking a sip of the wine. "I am so fucking sure you drank a bit of wine after saying that just too feel smart" Lydia said annoyed and I almost chocked from laughing. "Okay shhhhh i think she's coming" i said wiping wine of my face. "Oh you sir are not Circe" said the woman.

"Hello. sorry for using this name but i need to talk to you...somewhere more privately" i said in an apologetic tone. "Haha, no" she groaned. "Im sorry, what?" i asked. "What you just heard. You think you can barge in here and use her name?!" she said. With that she extended her arm, she hit me on my chest and I was now put up against the wall with the drinks. You could hear the shattering of the bottles and the whole place smelled of expensive vodka. I tried to move her hand but she was still keeping me there. She started hitting me again and again. "Why" was all I could mutter through the hits. "Why?!?!?!" she asked angry. "You barge in my club uninvited and you refer to yourself as Circe. You degenerate, you should've known what using this name in here would've caused you! ". She dropped me down and I could hear Lydia talking worried through the comms. "And who is your little friend talking to you." Sylvia continued. She took the Bluetooth out of my ear and she continued hitting me. "You leave her out of this" I screamed and she started laughing while kicking me in the face. "You dare talk to me like that inside my own domain you filth! I am the queen of the vampires and when I talk you bow! Now it's time to find your friend...." she said. I couldn't let this happen. I summoned my armor, I was still wounded wearing it but I had no choice. "Ugh, i never liked reapers... I knew that horrid musk was coming from you, I could smell you before you entered." she groaned. "Ohhh and I just had a bath before coming here... I'm gonna write a strongly worded email to the shampoo company" I said spilling while blood and looking at her with a smile. "We have a witty one today...They tend to taste a bit bitter. So you think you're funny?" she said. "What can I say, a jester fit for a queen" I continued with a stupid grin. And with that she kicked me on the stomach, at this point I could taste my own blood. "You'll show respect when I talk to you!" she yelled and she continued hitting me. "I'll break you tonight and I'll wipe that stupid smile off your face even if I have to sew your mouth shut" she continued with an evil grin. She grabbed me by the neck and she held me up."TURN OFF THE MUSIC" she yelled, silence befell the room and everyone was looking at her "THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS TO ANYONE WHO DISRESPECTS ME!" she screamed and you could see all the people saying "yes miss" with fangs in their mouths. I walked right into a nest. Circe had told me that but I thought normal humans would be among them.How many people are actually Accursed..... Suddenly one of the bouncers opened the doors, wounded and horror itself swam throughout his eyes. A black whip emerged from behind him, wrapping him and dragging him right before our eyes... His screams suddenly stopped.

#fantasy #dark fantasy #darkfantasy #dark fic #dark #supernatural #fanfiction #fanfic #book #fiction #books #writing #writers

6 notes · View notes

vincent-frankenstein · 5 years

Note

different anon, but heck yeah u should definitely infodump about lucid dreaming!! im really interested in it

aaaaa okay !!! uh hold onto ur ears yall im abt to talk em off lmao

so !! if u didnt know, lucid dreaming is basically when you become aware that you’re dreaming while youre in a dream. once you’re aware, you can take control of the dream in literally any way u want — u can do anything, go anywhere, meet anyone, all with the knowledge that nothing can hurt u and nothing can stop u

its a fascinating concept and, the feeling when u actually become lucid for the first time? its better than anything else in the world. its the most invigorating thing u can ever feel, i think. but actually becoming lucid is, ,, , , hm. a time and a half.

putting the rest under a cut bc, hooooo boy this is gonna get long

first things first! you absolutely have to keep a dream journal. forgetting ur dreams is all well and good when ur not trying to accomplish anything in them, but if you become lucid and then wake up with only the vaguest memory of what you actually did? thats painful.

u can either go all out and get a fancy journal and write them down physically each morning, or u can do what i do and just download an app. i personally use the app Dream Catcher, which lets u tag ur dreams for easy organization. just get in the habit of writing down your dreams every morning, and if you really, really cant remember anything, just write down that you didnt dream anything that day. you’ll train your brain to remember your dreams better

secondly! reality checks! are absolutely imperative! the idea behind them is that, if you do something throughout the day that “proves” your reality, eventually you’ll start doing it in your dreams as well. for example, a common thing in my dreams is that i’ll have extra fingers, so i check my hands a lot throughout the day.

it can’t just be a casual thing, too. if all you do is glance at your hands and b like “yo looks normal, we gucci”, then you’ll do the same in your dreams even if you have Weird hands. trust me, Dream-You is an idiot, you gotta be obvious with this stuff. take a few moments, look at your hands, count out your fingers, and really think to yourself “am i dreaming?”

try to get in the habit of doing that at least 15 times a day, and eventually you’ll start doing it in your dreams too.

now, if you just stick with doing those two things — which is what i’m doing right now — your chances of becoming lucid will raise astronomically. even just those two tiny things can train your brain into realizing when the world around you is real and when it isnt. you can also attempt something really easy called a MILD — a mnemonic-induced-lucid-dream — which can help your chances even more without upping the effort

whenever you go to bed, just take a few moments — even just five minutes can help — and just. lay there. and think to urself, again and again “the next scene will be a dream” or “i will become lucid in my dreams tonight” or something similar. get ur brain really focused on lucid dreaming right before you fall asleep and chances are, those Vibes will bleed over into ur dreams and you’ll become lucid

practice those three things consistently, every day, and pretty soon you’ll start becoming lucid. it takes time, though! dont be discouraged if you end up not becoming lucid for the first few weeks, or even months. sometimes your brain just needs a bit of extra training

that’s what ive been doing for the past year or so — bc damn do i Not have the energy to actually put in too much effort — but!!! there are other techniques!!

my personal favorite is the WBTB, or wake-back-to-bed method. with this technique, you set your alarm for roughly 5-6 hours after you go to sleep so you’ll wake up inside of one of your REM cycles, specifically one where your dreams will be the most vivid. dont do anything, just roll over and go right back to sleep.

you can even use a MILD along with this, repeat whatever mantra u usually use as you fall back asleep. you should start to see hypnagogic imagery — blobs of color and vague shapes floating before your eyes. just observe them. at one point, they’ll start forming more familiar shapes, and places, and maybe even people — and there should be a moment, a snap, where you go from observing these images to actually being in the scene. you literally build the dream around yourself, its magical

i have read that WBTB can cause sleep paralysis, but i’ve never personally experienced any problems with it, aside from the fact that im always tired the next day.

another thing that could severely increase your chances of being lucid but also involves Effort — meditation. specifically mindfulness meditation. the act of bringing full awareness to your Existence, honing in on just Your body, Your mind, Your breath, will make you a more aware, mindful person, which in turn makes you more perceptive of dream signs. also, the ability to clear your mind and center yourself with a moment’s notice really comes in handy when the dream becomes destabilized and you have to take control

if ur an adhd lad like me — or neurodivergent in any way, really — the idea of meditation can be,,,, terrifying. honestly, i havent meditated in like six months now, because it really wasnt?? doing anything for me?? mostly because im absolutely incapable of sitting still for that long without Something to stimulate me

so! loophole! guided meditations. having someone else guide you through the process can make it a bit easier to focus. just find one that works for u on youtube. there are even guided meditations made specifically to prime ur brain for lucid dreaming!

so thats how you get lucid. now for when youre lucid

at first, lucid dreaming is going to be extremely hard. dreams fall apart very easily — if you get too overexcited or if a dream-character looks at you the wrong way or if you cant seem to do what you want to do, your lucidity can fade and you’ll either go back to being your normal dream self or you’ll wake up. dreams are volatile and hard to control, and even harder to master

thats where meditation comes in handy. youll have a much easier time controlling your dreams if you can look at the world around you, take a breath, center yourself, and know that you can control it. that being said, you can absolutely learn to take control without ever having meditated a day in your life. its all about your mindset!

you have to go into it with confidence. the key to controlling your dreams is knowing that they’re your dreams. you cant forget that you’re in control. thats why i feel like learning to lucid dream doubles as a lesson in self-confidence — you have to learn to trust yourself, trust that you can handle any scenario thrown at you and come out on top.

if you can achieve this mindset, you can literally do anything. ive had maybe 50 lucid dreams since i started learning about them — which… is honestly a really low amount, but. i havent really had the time/energy to really throw myself into it as much as i want to. but just in those dreams, ive flown, ive shapeshifted, ive met my sides, ive teleported to vast, gorgeous lands and seen some of the most beautiful things ive ever seen. anything is possible in a lucid dream; thats why its so worth it to put in the effort

but when youre first starting out, itll be extremely hard to maintain that mindset. like i said, Dream-you is dumb as shit — you’ll forget youre dreaming, you’ll be unable to control anything, you’ll wake up before you manage to accomplish anything. more often than not, the dream will destabilize, which is Not Fun

if the dream starts to destabilize — basically, if things start going fuzzy or vague, if you suddenly cant see, if you can feel ur body in bed, basically anything that points towards you waking up — there are ways to fix it. literally just spinning around helps for some reason? spin around, fall down, run ur hands along anything u can find and feel the texture, or just demand that the dream stabilize itself. most of the time, thatll work

and if it doesnt, dont be discouraged. theres always another night to dream

so basically: start a dream journal, do reality checks, mmmmaybe meditate if youre up for it, and your dreams will become like. at least 10x more interesting. trust me, try flying: its literally the best feeling in the entire world

its just !!! such a huge, incredible thing, and its so fascinating to learn about too. all the different ways you can train your brain, all the different things you can do, all the studies done on the subject. i suggest reading about Steven LaBerge or keith hearne. hearne led the study that proved lucid dreaming existed in the first place! he got a lucid dreamer to signal to him that he was conscious while asleep using REM (rapid-eye movement), because lucid dreaming happens during the REM state. also, robert waggoner’s book Gateway to the Inner Self is really fascinating too!

hm wow i really went ham here lmao

thanku for giving me a chance to infodump im very happy rn

#me: /spends a full half-hour infodumping abt something most people havent even heard of/#now if only i could remember this much when it comes to schoolwork lmaooooo #ty for the Infodump Permission im !! vibin rn #lowkey highkey this makes me wanna get back into it. . . might do a wbtb tonight...#personal #logan talks #lucid dreaming #Anonymous

20 notes · View notes

chasethesun18 · 4 years

Text

50 questions you’ve never been asked

tagged by @goddess-clarke 🥰

What is the colour of your hairbrush? purple and black

Name a food you never eat? seafood and red meat

Are you typically too warm or too cold? i used to be too cold all the time and then i went through a time where i was too hot and now im back to somewhere in the middle but mostly cold. my fingers turn blue a lot lolol

What were you doing 45 minutes ago? mm so i just watched the premier of blindspot s5 and it is now dead to me and i will be forgetting this episode happened and not continuing the season. so ive spent the last hour trying to erase the ep from my memory and cheer myself up. its not working so now im answering 50 questions. as one does.

What is your favourite candy bar? oh i don't know. it changes. i really like peanut m&ms and york patties

Have you ever been to a professional sports event? professional...maybe? i think i’ve possibly been to a pro baseball. im from the south and we dont do pro we only do college. ive been to..idk hundreds on hundreds of those

What is the last thing you said out loud? told my mom i loved her. cause im cute like that.

What is your favourite ice cream? i like vanilla with a lot of toppings. but also coffee and mint chocolate chip

What was the last thing you had to drink? im drinking cherry vanilla coke zero. yes its 11:42pm. dont judge me.

Do you like your wallet? yeah its cute. its little and red

What was the last thing you ate? salad with chicken (oo she healthy)

Did you buy any new clothes last weekend? yeah no. i haven't bought new clothes in forever. actually got into an argument with my mom about that today

The last sporting event you watched? BEFORE SPORTS WERE CANCELLED YOU MEAN????? baseball.

What is your favourite flavour of popcorn? ....popcorn has flavors? idk salt?

Who is the last person you sent a text message to? my sister. about said blindspot premier. she's writing a book and considering killing off one of the characters and i told her i didn't want someone to get to the end of her book and wish she hadn't read it which is how i feel about blindspot rn

Ever go camping? i do, my major is parks and rec so im a ~big outdoors girl~ but im actually more into the historical preservation side of things and i dont really like camping but i have been dragged into it bc of my major

Do you take vitamins? no but i take a shit ton of medication. y'all didnt need to know that srry.

Do you go to church every Sunday? yes. before that got cancelled too. its fine.

Do you have a tan? i do! super proud of it. its the beginning stages

Do you prefer Chinese food or pizza? pizza i hate chinese food

Do you drink your soda with a straw? yes

What colour socks do you usually wear? white

Do you ever drive above the speed limit? ....ok does anyone follow the exact speed limit? come on. ive never gotten a ticket tho

What terrifies you? a lot of things. small spaces. bugs. heights but only sometimes. losing a loved one. change. im an anxious person ok

Look to your left, what do you see? a wall (these are entertaining answers im serving yall)

What chore do you hate? vacuuming. GOSH I HATE IT. idk why but it pisses me off every time. i think its cause it makes me sweat and like why should i have to SWEAT from vacuuming? its so loud too i can't listen to music while i do it

What do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? g’day mate

What’s your favourite soda? coke zero or dr pepper

Do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive-thru? drive-thru unless the drive-thru is too long and then it defeats the purpose of going for fast food so i go in

Who’s the last person you talked to? my mom

Favourite cut of beef? i dont eat red meat :P

Last song you listened to? holding on and letting go - ross copperman (tvd forever)

Last book you read? my major is reading heavy and my minor (history) is even more reading heavy. i had a history class this semester where i had to read 6 books in their entirety so that's the last thing i read. i havent read for fun since i started college lol. but i do still read fanfic and that counts

Favourite day of the week? friday. its the anticipation of the weekend without the disappointment of the weekend

Can you say the alphabet backwards? lol no

How do you like your coffee? if i make it myself i like it with creamer and splenda. if i get it out i like sugar free vanilla lattes with nonfat milk (yes im a basic bitch I KNOW. i also take a sip and if it tastes wrong i go ‘um excuse me is this the nOn FaT MiLk’ like im literally that bitch)

Favourite pair of shoes? aesthetically ive got some bomb heels but i havent had the occasion to wear those in a long time

The time you normally go to bed? before all this 11-1. now idk time is just a construct

The time you normally get up? ..before all this 8/9 depending on what time my class was. now i force myself to get up around 9/10. i dont naturally wake up. if i dont set an alarm i will sleep until 1pm

What do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? i like both but i havent seen many sunrises bc i dont wake up. so sunset

How many blankets on your bed? twooo

Describe your kitchen plates: the ones at my parents house are just plain white and the ones in my apartment are plain green. wow im plain.

Do you have a favourite alcoholic beverage? so ya girl just turned 21 !!!! and no, im not a big fan. it all tastes like cough syrup. help.

Do you play cards?. my family does sometimes. i think its boring

What colour is your car? dark grey. her name is the black pearl. shes not black tho....

Can you change a tire? no but ive never tried

Your favourite province? ok this question is gonna show my ignorant american side and i dont want it to soooo

Favourite job you’ve ever had? i used to work at this place that did mommy and me music classes. i taught the one that was a drop off class called school skills so it was like k5 for 3-4 yrs old

How did you get your biggest scar? i dont have many scars. i have one above my eye from falling backwards into a rocking chair lol

What did you do today that made someone else happy? i dont know, honestly. i feel like im barely interacting with people. i ran errands with my mom and i think that made her happy...but she was in a bad mood so hard to tell lolol

anyway, this was fun and now im not thinking about that show. crap now im thinking about it. UGH.

tagging: @hpfangirl13 @amazalina @dorisquinn @rebel-belles @vivianelynne20 @modernlifehistorian (i know you're there) @sherlolly-siya @fromiftowhen

#tag game

2 notes · View notes

takerfoxx · 5 years

Text

IM Swiftly Descending Dark, Chapter 6

Even before the spellcard had left Kohta’s fingers, Rumia was already turning to run. When the darkness of the night was swallowed up by a flash of light so bright that it banished the shadows and turned the black sky overhead blue, she had already started to accelerate into a run.

And then a wave of force and heat hit her from behind, nearly knocking her off her feet. Rumia stumbled, somehow managed to keep her balance, and used the momentum to give herself an extra push into a headlong sprint.

The white light cooled, to be replaced with a pulsing red. The forest behind them was on fire. As for the spiders, she could hear them shrieking. Rumia didn’t even have the wherewithal to take satisfaction in that and hope that all four were burning like torches. She just prayed that it would delay them long enough for her and her friends to get away.

Running through the webbed-up part of the woods was nearly impossible, and more than once her legs got snagged or something unseen slipped beneath her. At once point her shin hit a low sheet of webbing that was stretched across like a net. It swiped her legs right out from under her and she found herself pitching forward.

Before taking what undoubtedly would have been a fatal landing, a pair of arms grabbed her and hauled her back up. Gasping, Rumia jerked her head around to see Haruko holding onto to her.

The two girls stared at each other for half a second, and then a shrill howl of rage echoed through the forest.

“Run,” Haruko said. Rumia nodded and did just that.

Soon they had left the webs of the spiders’ domain and were fleeing through the rotting leaves of the forest proper. Rumia didn’t know if any of the other kids were even with her anymore. She could hear some of the others panting as they ran alongside her, but she couldn’t spare the time to see if they had all made it out.

No.

They didn’t.

You’re short one. You’ll always be short one.

Rumia gasped and increased her speed. As horrific as the image of Eiko’s butchered body was, it did make for a great motivator.

And then she heard the voice.

“Where yah goin’, me ‘ickle dumplings?” called a nauseatingly phlegmy voice. It was coming from somewhere behind them. “Yah can’t get away from Minty!”

The spiders were coming.

“Run,” Rumia muttered under her breath. “Run. Run. Run. Run.”

The word fell in time with the rhythm of her soles pounding the ground, and soon she forgot that she was even saying it. All that mattered was movement and speed. All that mattered was escape.

Something whizzed past her. Rumia started for a moment, certain that she had been caught, but it turned out to be Keine. The tiny girl was speeding ahead with Kana’s still unconscious body draped onto her back.

If she had the breath for it, Rumia would have laughed. Oh, of course Keine would be the fastest, despite having been knocked out by spider venom and having to bear the weight of another girl on her own! Sure, that was totally fair!

Keine was pulling further and further ahead, sometimes even leaping fully over especially deep piles of leaves while Rumia was forced to skirt around them. As odd as it sounded, Rumia was starting to wish she had been the one to be knocked out by spider venom, then she would be the one carried out and away.

Rumia skirted around yet another tree, and then another, and another. She tried to keep her focus on Keine’s back (or Kana’s, to be more accurate), but her friend was pulling further and further ahead, and Rumia was torn between rooting for her to run completely out of sight or screaming for her to wait for them. She wanted Keine to escape with Kana, yes, but she also didn’t want to be left behind!

She sidestepped yet another tree only to take a bad step and have her legs slip out from under her. She pitched forward and landed in a mess of rotting leaves.

Gasping, she tried to stand up, but as it turned out the leaves were

The monstrous youkai woman slowly looked from one terrified face to the next, her neck gliding back and forth like a snake. “Awww, did’ja tink yah could geddaway dat easy?” she said. “So sorry tah dassipoint, but yah is gonna be-”

Then something red and glowing zipped past Rumia’s vision to splash against the spider’s gaunt cheek, like a flying ember from a fire.

The spider paused in surprise. She touched her cheek, found no damage, and then turned her attention to the culprit.

Haruko was still sprawled onto her back, but her arm was outstretched and pointed right at the spider’s face, trembling as it was.

“Really?” the spider said, her multifaceted eyes narrowing. “Danmaku again? Fookin’ really?” She then made a small, almost casual gesture.

A spray of sickly green diamonds spewed out of her fingers to hail all over the children. Rumia covered herself with her arms, but they still stung her flesh where they hit.

Rumia had never actually been hit with danmaku before. It was supposed to be nonlethal and incapable of causing serious injury, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. She had always been kind of curious though, but none of the grown-ups had ever agreed hit her with even the smallest bullet.

Now she knew why.

It felt like getting assaulted by a swarm of enraged wasps. It felt like falling into a pit of needles. Dozens of tiny pinpricks of pain erupted all the backs of her hands and where they managed to cut through her clothes. She drew herself up to her full height, which was far, far, far too tall. “Jus’ fer dat, girlie, we gonna save yah fer last. But we ain’t gonna let you ‘ang in peace, oh no. Every time we eats one of yer friends, they’ll have one of yer fingers stuck in deir eyes as a garnish! And when we does gets to yah, we’ll be sure to split yah open nice an’ slow.” She started to advance on Haruko, who was now shaking all over. “Remember what we dids to yer ‘ickle friend? Oh, we’s gonna do so much worse to yah.”

Haruko tried to get up and run, but one of the spider’s arms came down right next to her. She went the other way, only for the other arm to cut her off.

The spider knocked her back to the ground with one casual swipe. She leaned in close, bringing her face in close so that Haruko had to stare her in the eyes. “‘Ell, mebbe I’ll ‘ave Andy ‘ave some fun wit’ yah. Make a proppa lady outta yah before we slice yah open.” Her black lips parted in a hellish grin, revealing her rows and rows of quivering teeth. “Or bedda yet, mebbe right afta we does the splittin’. Give ‘im more ‘oles tah-”

Haruko thrust her hand forward again and shot her right in her hideous eye.

“ARGH!” the spider stumbled back, both her hands clutching her face. “Me eye! Me fookin’ eye!”

“GO!” Keine screamed.

She didn’t need to say it twice. As the spider pitched this way and that, the children scrambled to their feet and ran.

The forest was already dark, and with her vision now blurred by tears, Rumia could barely see anything in front of her. But she kept running and running and running, because to slow even the smallest bit meant death.

She wasn’t nearly fast enough.

Something snared her leg and yanked her back. Screaming, Rumia clawed at the ground and came up with nothing but handfuls of cold, hard clay. She looked down and saw her right leg encased in a formless white mass, which was connected to a long, sticky rope. To either side of her, her friend were finding themselves in the same predicament.

The spider hadn’t chased them. She didn’t need to. She had merely snagged all of them with her webs and was now reeling them in like the hooked fish that they were.

“Niiiiiiiiiiice try,” she sneered, her wounded eye still shut tight. “But if yah tink fer one minute dat I’m gonna-”

Then she stopped in mid-sentence. And she looked around.

Rumia wiped her eyes with the back of her hand to get a better look. The spider had stopped reeling them in and was now frantically looking this way and that at her surroundings. What was more, she seemed quite alarmed.

“Oh, fook dis!” the spider cried as she hurled her weblines away. From there she took off on all fours, skittering like ancestors as fast as she could go, leaving her terrified and befuddled prey behind.

…

Putting out the fires caused by the little Human brat’s spellcard had ended up taking several minutes, and by the time that the Youkai Forest spider clan had managed to snuff the worst of it out, most of their home had been destroyed and their dinner had fled.

“Figgers,” Andy groused between vomiting great globs of webbing onto any burning patches. “Jus’ figgers, now don’ it? Too good tah be true!”

“I tol’ yah,” Muffet snapped at him. She spat a gooey white wad at what little remained of her chair, choking out the rest of the embers. “I tol’ yah all it be a dumb idea! Only lead tah trubble, I said.” She turned her head toward Edna, who had been the primary organizer behind the plan. “But did yah listen? Fookin’ nooooooooooooo!”

“Shut yer gob!” Edna sneered.

“Oi, mates, let’s jus’ do what dah creepy Hummin sez an’ waltz right intah a buncho Hummins in Hummin land an’ take off wit some o’ dey spawn! Idda be eazy, yah said!”

“I said shuttit!”

“Dere’s no way dey find us, yah said! We gets paid an’ we gets eazy food!”

“Shut! Yer! Damn! Web hole!”

“Now likkit dis place!” Edna shouted at her sister. “We gets unly one good meal, an’ den dah whole place, jus’ goes up in flames!”

Andy sighed. When those two started to get into it, they could go on and on for hours.

As they argued, he looked bleakly around at the remains of their home. The trees had taken only minimal damage, but the furniture was mostly gone, as was the intricate network of webbing they had set up around the place. Moving around was going to be a pain until it was replaced, and they were back to square one when it came to their possessions.

Damn it. Damn it all. Back to poverty.

“Well, at leezt I don’ ‘ave a big fat ‘ead like you!” Muffet screeched.

“Dah fook you goin’ on aboot? We’re twins, yah daft twat! Our ‘eads look dah fookin’ same!”

Then Andy heard something. “‘ey,” he called at them. “Quiet!”

“No wunnda evahthin’s dah shits den, if I gotta share me life wit’ you!”

“I said quiet!” Andy roared.

That did the trick. “What is it?”

Andy held up his claws in front of his lips. Then he pointed to the treetops.

Sure enough, it was Minty. She was scrambling toward them and looked quite disgruntled while doing it too. She also didn’t have any of the brats like she was supposed to.

“Well?” Andy demanded. “Dah fook are dey?”

“Likkle bloodbags gon’ run right inta dah bone grove,” Minty hissed. “Ain’t no way I’m gon’ in dere!”

Andy slapped a hand across his face. “An’ you jus’ let ‘em?”

“Hell nah am I gon’ anywhere near dat fookin’ nightmare! Let ‘em find dah black circle for deyselves!”

“Whaddya tink’ll happen tah dem?” Muffet said.

Before Andy could respond, a new voice, one that was cold as the heart of winter and sharp as Dragon’s teeth, spoke from the dark. “Yes, tell me. What do you think happened to them? I’m interested!”

Before Andy could even begin to register that something was wrong, everything got so much worst.

Something came whistling through the air to strike Andy’s temple so hard that his brain was rattled in his skull, and he went down.

Muffet screeched and bounded toward the intruder, or at least that had probably been her intention. In truth, she didn’t get much further than the bounding stage before a flash of red and white appeared at her side to seize her by the arm and the hair. Her momentum was redirected, and she was driven facefirst into the ground. She tried to rise up, but two hands grabbed her by the head and gave it a swift twist. Before she could even scream, each one of her limbs was seized up in turn and wrenched this way and that, their joint yanked from their sockets with audible pops. A second later a boot slammed into her back, breaking her spine with a sickening crunch.

Edna tried to scamper up the side of a tree, but then something that looked like a bright red firefly whizzed through the air and flew right in her mouth. She gasped in surprise, swallowing it instinctively. Edna tried to spit it out, but then she choked, she coughed, and she began to scream. Smoke poured out of her mouth, ears, and eyes, and then red flames erupted from beneath her skin. With a piercing shriek she fell to the ground and started writhing as her whole body burned.

Minty was already in full retreat. Given that she was high in the treetops she had the best chance of it, or so she thought.

Unfortunately, a blazing fireball shot from seemingly nowhere like a comet to his her right in the stomach, knocking her from the branches. Before she even hit the ground the blur of red and white slammed into her. There was a confusing moment where the two bodies pitched back and forth in midair, but then a pair of powerful hands seized Minty’s forehead and chin from behind. A sharp twist, and she found herself no longer able to move.

Those hands remained where they were, holding Minty’s moaning head in place. Then Minty’s whole body jerked, and she began to twitch and convulse. Steam rose up from the palms on her cheeks as the veins beneath her skin started to turn red, brightening the pale skin around them to a horrid pink. Minty whimpered and cried and choked as steaming red tears dripped from her reddening eyes.

Andy tried to right himself. His vision was still swimming and his ears still ringing and his limbs felt unwilling to respond to his frantic insistence that they hurry up and get him the hell out of there. As he struggled to push himself up, he saw something come his way, the red and white blur striding across the ground purposefully in his direction, dragging Minty’s writhing form by the hair.

“No, by all means, go on,” said the cold, hard voice. A hand seized Andy by the throat, and he was lifted right off the ground and had his back slammed into the trunk of a nearby tree. And as he gasped and writhed, he found himself facing a pair of burning red eyes, ones filled with a strange, yet terrifying, mix of cold rage and hot fire. “Tell me what the bone grove is.”

…

Though the spider had wrapped all of their legs up pretty good, they still had the anti-youkai knives that Kohta and Rumia had brought along, and they still worked just as well at cutting the sticky strands away.

Kohta slashed away at the mess encasing his legs until he had gotten enough of it off to separate his legs and stand up. Clumps of dirt were now glued to his lower legs and feet, but at least he could walk. Then he went to work on his friends.

“What happened?” Haruko squeaked. “Why’d she leave?”

“You rather she didn’t?” Rumia said.

“Shut up, Rumia!” Haruko was trying to hold still to let Kohta work, but she was unable to keep her body from trembling. “Did you hear the things she was threatening to do to me? I saw what they did to Eiko! I saw the whole thing!”

At this, Hayate abruptly sat upright. “What?” she said in a small voice. “Is…Is that why we left her behind? Did they…did…”

“They made me watch!” Haruko screamed. “I woke up first, and when they saw that I was awake they laughed at me! They laughed and told me to enjoy the show! They already had her on the table, and they did something to wake her up too. They waited until she was awake, they waited until she could see what they were doing, and then they…they…” The rest of her words were swallowed up by a strangled sob. Haruko buried her face in her hands as she cried.

“Dead?” Hayate said after a beat. “Eiko’s dead?”

“Yeah,” Kohta said. “Sorry.”

Hayate slowly laid back and stared up at the black sky. Soon they could all hear her weeping as well.

Rumia had nothing at all to say. It was not often that she felt the slightest bit sorry for Haruko or her friends, but she couldn’t imagine having to watch something like that happen to Keine or Kohta.

She waited until Kohta had freed them all. Her legs were a little wobbly, but fortunately she was unhurt. All the stickiness on her legs were a problem though. She grabbed up handfuls of dirt and slathered them on. Hopefully that would provide her with some friction.

“Come on,” Kohta said as he sheathed the knives. “I don’t know why she ran off, but we need to get moving.”

“What for?” Haruko said bitterly. “If they don’t get us then something else will. We’re all going to die here.”

“Hey, don’t talk like that!” Keine said. “We made it this far. That’s, like, at least three-fourths of the way back! The worst is over, so we just-”

“Don’t say that!” Haruko cried.

“Huh?”

“Don’t say that the worst is over! That’ll just make things get even more bad!”

She had a point, Rumia had to admit. After all, this was supposedly one of the places where superstitions went to grow larger and more powerful.

In the meantime, she was starting to wonder about exactly where they had ended up. For one, she had noted a distinct lack of leaves on the ground for the first time since they had gone into this godsforsaken forest. It was just plain dirt and tree roots. There weren’t even any fallen twigs or pieces of bark.

Well, whatever. That was one mystery she was content to remain a mystery. Let the forest keep its secrets; she just wanted to get out.

“Speaking of which, why did she run off like that?” Kohta said. “I mean, anything that would scare her has to be a problem, right?”

“Who cares?” Rumia said. “Let’s just go already.”

“He has a point,” Keine said. “I mean, that was pretty weird.”

“Well, I don’t care!” Rumia snapped as she continued stomping forward. “All I know is that we’re still stuck in this stupid forest, with hungry youkai coming to-” She turned around to find a hideously deformed skull leering at her. “-gah!”

Rumia leapt back away from the ugly thing. Fortunately, it didn’t pursue her, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying.

The skull was jet-black and looked like it had been partially melted. Parts of it were just drooping down in big drips of solid bone to dangle off of its twisted lower jaw like stalactites.

The skull was partially embedded in the trunk of an equally black, equally twisted, and equally dead tree. In fact, the rest of the skeleton was. It was like whoever it used to be had been standing too close to the tree when a massive wave of heat and force just melted them together.

“Wh-wh-wha-” was all Rumia could think of to say.

Then Keine cleared her throat. “Er, Rumia?”

Rumia looked at her. It was then that she realized that in her panic, she had leapt fully into Keine’s arms and thrown her arms around her smaller friend’s neck. While Keine didn’t seem to have any trouble holding her up, it was clear that the whole thing was getting pretty awkward.

“Sorry!” Rumia hastily dropped to her feet. She brushed herself off, paused, and straightened Keine’s collar. “I was just, you know, startled.”

Haruko brow twisted up. “Just how strong are you, exactly?” she demanded.

Keine shot her a look. “Stronger than you,” she said. Then she went over to investigate the fusion of bone and wood.

“Don’t touch it!” Kohta snapped, but it was too late. Keine had already reached up to brush her fingers across both the tree’s trunk and the side of the skull. She withdrew her hand and rubbed her fingers together.

“Huh,” she said.

“What is it?” Rumia asked.

“It’s…they’re made of stone.”

Haruko frowned. “So…wait. They’re, like, a statue?”

“I don’t think so,” Keine said. “I think they’re petrified.”

“They what?”

“Uh, you know how when really old bones get buried for a long time, and they fossilize and turn to stone? The same thing happens to wood. It’s called petrification.”

“Wait, that can happen? How do you know that?”

Keine looked at Haruko like she was completely dense. “Don’t you ever pay attention in class?”

“No?”

Shaking her head, Keine returned her attention to the petrified tree. “Well, I don’t know what happened here. Just that something fused this poor guy to this tree, and now they’re both kind of like a rock.”

“Wait a second,” Kohta said. “Look! Here’s another one!”

Next to him was another dead and blackened tree, and imprinted in it was the skeleton of a deer and several birds, ones that were just as malformed as the human bones that had scared Rumia.

Rumia felt her gut turn sour. She slowly looked around them.

All around them were black, gnarled trees, with twisting leafless branches and bark the color of midnight. And in those trunks were fused the bones of the dead, all of them malformed. They were standing in a grove of death.

“Um, guys?” Hayate said. “Where are we?”

Rumia didn’t have the slightest idea. None of the stories she had heard of the Old Pine Wood had ever so much as mentioned a place like this.

“Hey, I think I see something,” Keine said, peering off past the macabre grove.

“Where?” Rumia said.

“There! In the clearing!”

She was right. There was a break in the trees, and past it was an area completely clear of the forest entirely. It wasn’t like the clearings they had already seen though. Those at least had things like grass and fungus and other foliage. This was a large circle that looked like it had been completely scoured of any sign of life, leaving nothing but what looked like fine, black sand.

That didn’t mean it was empty though.

Surrounding the whole clearing was a ring of rocks, ones that were about waist-high to Rumia and had flattened tops. And sitting on the rocks were bones. Each one had three arm-bones laid out across each other in the shape of a six-pointed star, and in each of the star’s center a human jawbone was laid.

“What in the hell?” Kohta said. “Who did this?”

“Well, I don’t know and I don’t care,” Haruko said. “Clearly they don’t want anymore messing with it, and you know what? I’m perfectly fine with that! So, let’s get out of here right…huh.”

“What?” Hayate said.

“I thought…I thought I heard…”

Haruko fell silent.

Rumia.

The voice seemed to drift on the wind, not even a whisper and yet Rumia was sure she had heard her name. It was like the Moon itself was calling to her, and she was hearing the call in the depths of her soul.

“Did you hear that?” Kohta said.

“Yeah, I did,” Keine said. “I think it came from…”

Rumia.

Keine started walking. She went past the morbid markers standing guard over the clearing and right into the expanse of black earth. The others followed her.

Upon looking back, Rumia couldn’t honestly say what made her set foot onto that clearing when all of her good sense had to have been screaming at her to stay away. It was more than simple curiosity. It had been like she was being pulled in, drawn by something small, quiet, but deadly insistent.

Whatever it was, it drew them deeper and deeper into the clearing. As they did, Rumia started to notice…changes. For one, everything felt like it was growing colder, from the bite of the night air to the ground beneath her feet. Even though her shoes and socks she could feel the chill of the earth.

For another, things were growing darker. Though the Moon and stars were still shining overhead, it felt like a cloud had passed in front of them, even though the sky was completely clear. The light was now becoming weak and strained.

And finally, Rumia was starting to hear things.

At first she thought it was just the rustling of the wind in the leaves, but there were no leaves around to be rustled. And the further she got toward the clearing’s center, the louder it got. Voices, dozens of them, all of them speaking in quick and furious whispers. She couldn’t understand anything they were saying, she wasn’t even sure if they were speaking the same language as her.

The gibbering increased the further she went, and again she heard her name drift through the night.

Rumia.

The children reached the center of the black circle and stopped. As they did, so did the voices. The night was silent.

They all looked at each other and frowned. Haruko scratched her head. Hayate sneezed.

“Um,” Keine said. “Why exactly did we come out here?”

No one had an answer for her.

“Okay. Then maybe we should…uh…”

The ground had started to move. As everyone stared, a depression began to form between them. It started off small, just a small dip in the ground.

But it grew.

And it grew.

Soon it was clear that the space beneath them was hollow and the sand was pouring in.

“Run!” Kohta shouted.

Run. Okay, that sounded like a fantastic idea. The only problem was that the clearing was swiftly turning into a sinkhole and doing so faster than they could even turn. Rumia tried to bolt, but by then the depression had reached her ankles.

Of them all, only Keine managed to actually start the process of fleeing before she was caught. The ground turned vertical, all of it flowing toward the growing hole in the center. Rumia tried to climb but slipped. She tried to swim, but that was nothing more than an act of desperation.

Fly, she begged herself. Take to the air! Go up, go up go…

The tilt increased, and she was sliding. The hole rushed up to meet them, and then they were all swallowed up.

…

When Mokou had suddenly bolted off into the dark, Joshua wasn’t sure if he would be able to catch up with her. She was just so much more athletic than he, and with much longer legs. He huffed and puffed along the best he could, finally got impatient, and took flight.

Flying through a forest such as the Old Pine Wood was not recommended, especially at night. Go too fast and you risked breaking your neck on an unseen tree trunk or low-hanging branch. Too high, and your hair would get snagged in the tightly woven canopy. Plus, you never knew what was skittering around in those upper branches. But Joshua didn’t have time to worry about safety. He went as fast as he dared, but had to come to a sudden stop on more than one occasion to keep from running facefirst into a surprise tree.

“This is…this is insane…” he whispered under his breath. “Oh Lord Jesus, please be with us. Right now. That would be-”

Then he heard a piercing, feminine scream of agony.

Joshua froze in midair. He swallowed and shot off, a little faster this time.

Another scream followed, followed by the distinct sound of snapping limbs. There was a third scream, this one accompanied by sharp hissing sound, like a flame consuming a lit fuse.

There were lights up ahead, ones that cast thrashing shadows on the nearby trees. Though Joshua knew not what he could do to save Mokou when he reached her, he kept on anyway, praying that he was not too late, praying that there was still enough left of her to save.

What he actually saw when he got there was quite different from what he had been expecting, but still horrifying.

There were three twitching humanoid lumps on the ground. They seemed to be female and had on dresses, though their necks and limbs were far too long, as were their faces. It took Joshua a moment, but he then recognized three of the four spider youkai that had attacked the Children’s Home.

However, they had been in considerably better shape then.

One was a smoking, blackened wreck, her roasted skin flaking away while rivulets of fire still ran over her in places. She was still alive though, twitching and moaning in agony as any wounded spider would.

Another hadn’t been set on fire, but it looked like her back had been broken, her neck snapped, and all four limbs dislocated at the joints and not set back in place. She lay in a heap, croaking out piteous moans through her mangled throat.

The third’s skin had turned beet red and was cracked all over, with glowing orange light pulsing through the cracks that flared up with every tortured breath. She was lying flat on her back, arms and limbs splayed out around her as she continuously tried and failed to scream.

And standing with her back to the trio with her hand grasping the throat of the fourth spider youkai as she pressed his back against a tree was the Aoki Yume Children’s Home’s cook.

Despite all of Joshua’s fears, Mokou looked completely unharmed, thank God. But Joshua wasn’t sure he liked seeing her like this. The spider youkai in her grasp was frankly terrified, and was garbling nonsense at Mokou. No doubt he would have been screaming had Mokou not cut off his air. Mokou was holding him up with her left hand, and in her right…

It was on fire. Her hand was enveloped by a ball of flame, and yet she wasn’t burning. She clearly didn’t even feel the heat. What was more, he was pretty sure that she was glowing. There seemed to be a thin red aura covering her.

Joshua swallowed. Mokou was a strong woman, one that he knew had a dark past. But this…but this…

“Mokou,” he said, his voice cracking.

Mokou sighed. “Joshua,” she said without turning toward him.

“What are…” Joshua glanced at the mangled wretches on the ground. “What did you do?”

“Well, for the blackened one I set all the fat in her body on fire,” Mokou said, her voice terrifying calm. “That was an old favorite of mine, always got a good scream. The croaking one is pretty self-explanatory, just twisted this and popped that, leaving her kind of broken. The glowing one had all the blood in her veins boiled. And as for this guy…” The hand clutching at the spider youkai’s throat tightened. “He’s going to have all three done to him if he doesn’t tell me where the children are, and not necessarily in that order. I already gave him a small taste.”

It was then that Joshua noticed that the male youkai’s hands and feet were twitching and scorched ruins, no doubt to prevent him from clawing at her. Joshua clutched at his head. “You…you tortured them!”

“I did.”

“You didn’t have to do that!”

Mokou breathed in slowly through her nose and then released it out of her mouth in a long sigh. “Josh, buddy. You’re a sweet guy, and I know you can be tough when you need to be. I like you a lot. So I’m giving you this warning right now: don’t go into that clearing over there. Just take my word for it.”

Joshua paused. He then looked over to the clearing in question, which was a ring of tree surrounding what looked like the remains of a scavenged home. He saw the burnt wrecks of several pieces of furniture, including a table.

“Trust me on this,” Mokou said.

“What happened?” he said hoarsely.

“What do you think happened?” Mokou growled, her tone suddenly shot through with venom. Her fingertips started to glow red where they dug into the youkai’s neck, and his strangled gibberish took on a whole new note of urgency. “Why do you think this scum took our kids?”

Joshua fell silent. Then he turned toward the clearing.

“I’m warning you, what you see you won’t be able to unsee.”

Joshua knew that Mokou meant well; he knew that she was just protecting him. However, she was not the only one who had seen and done things that he wished he could take back. And there was plenty that he already wished he could unsee.

Taking a deep breath of the ash-tinged air, Joshua started walking toward the clearing.

“Your choice,” Mokou said.

Stepping between two trees with blackened trunks, Joshua entered the clearing. Sure enough, it was filled with trash and pieces of furniture, most of it burned.

And in its center was a dinner table of all things.

And on that table…

Joshua took a good, long look. Then he slowly bowed his head and closed his eyes. His hand gripped the crucifix around his neck.

Things hadn’t changed at all when he stepped out from the clearing. The three females were still mewling in pain while Mokou held the fourth member of their party aloft. “Told you,” she said.

Joshua nodded. “Who was that?” he said hoarsely.

“Eiko,” Mokou said. “I could tell because of that birthmark on her hand.”

“I…see,” Joshua said. “And the others?”

“Well, as it so happens, this guys was about to tell me all about that when you showed up,” Mokou said. She tilted her head and gave her captive a small shake. “So, how about it, tough guy? I ease up on your throat, and you can tell me all about this Black Circle. And maybe I won’t slow cook you on a spit. Sound good to you?”

The male youkai stopped groaning long enough to shoot her a sallow glower, his yellow, multi-pupiled eyes conveying pure hate.

Then he spat a white gob right in her face.

Joshua started, but Mokou hadn’t so much as twitched. The gob turned out to be webbing, and it had completely encased her face like a mummy’s mask. However, smoke started rise from her face, and the web’s gooey strands began to crinkle and collapse inward. Then it began to turn black.

And then it began to turn red.

“Now that,” Mokou tsked as the burning web fell away from her face in embers, “was big mistake.”

Then she spun around and hurled the spider at a nearby tree. He struck it hard with a pained gasp and fell to the ground.

Mokou began to advance on him, both of her hands now encased in flame. Realizing her intentions, Joshua ran over and put himself between her and the spider. “Wait!” he cried, sticking up his hands.

“Get out of my way, Josh,” Mokou said, her glowing red eyes fixated on the spider.

“This isn’t right!” Joshua pleaded. “You must know that this isn’t right!”

Then Mokou finally looked at him. “Isn’t…this isn’t…”

Suddenly she extinguished the flames in her hands and seized Joshua by the lapels. She swung him around, holding him up with both hands as easily as if he weighed as little as the children they looked after.

“Right?” she snarled. “You wanna talk to me about what’s right? Those monsters came to our home and took our children! They slaughtered Eiko and probably ate her alive! A thirteen year old girl, and they ate her alive!”

“Yes, but torturing…” Joshua’s voice trailed off. Over Mokou’s shoulder he could see the male spider starting to rise. He was hacking and wheezing in pain, but one of his mangled hands was fumbling toward his jacket pocket.

“They deserve no less,” Mokou said. “This is not the time for mercy, so I would appreciate it if you would go off to the side, say a nice little prayer…”

The spider youkai pulled his hand out of his pocket. Though his fingers were still burnt, they hand managed to clutch around something small and glinting.

“Mokou,” Joshua said.

But Mokou wasn’t listening. “…and stay the fuck of my-”

Joshua seized Mokou with his own hands and tried to yank her out of the way. “Mokou, look out!”

It was too late. The spider youkai hurled the tiny knife. Despite the damage to his hands his aim was supernaturally true. The blade hit Mokou at the back of her head and buried itself in up to the hilt.

Mokou dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Joshua fell as well, his eyes wide and mouth agape. Mokou was lying lifeless, the knife still sticking out of the back of her head, the roots of her pale violet hair turning red.

The spider youkai threw his head back and let out a piercing shriek. Then he charged at Joshua on all fours, his gait clumsy from his burns but still horribly fast.

Joshua scampered back away from him. “Wait!” he said. “Stop!”

The spider opened his mouth wide. Inside was a horror of rows upon rows of quivering teeth surrounding a long and pale tongue. He threw himself at Joshua, blackened fingers extended and black spittle running down his pointed chin.

Though he knew that it wouldn’t save him, Joshua threw his arms in front of his face and closed his eyes, bracing himself for the end.

It didn’t come. Instead, there was just a low thump.

Though he didn’t want to at all, Joshua cracked his eyes open. The spider had fallen to the ground, his outstretched arms falling just a few centimeters short of Joshua’s body, his face contorted in surprise and bewilderment.

And wrapped around one of his ankles was Mokou’s hand.

“Ugh,” the dead woman groaned as she pushed herself up on her elbows. She groped around with her free hand until she found the handle of the knife. A quick yank and it was out, its blade still crimson with her blood and brains.

Shaking her head as if she had merely taken a light slap to the face, Mokou rose up. She blinked a couple of times and shook her head again.

Then she looked down at the shocked creature still in her grasp and her eyes narrowed.

“Now that,” she said, “was also a mistake.”

Then her hand twisted in a peculiar way, and suddenly the spider had two shins where he previously only had one.

“Mokou?” Joshua whispered.

“Joshua,” Mokou said as she began to drag the screaming spider off. “Go back into the clearing. I saw some unburnt bags in there. Empty one out and put what’s left of Eiko inside. Then wait for me.”

Joshua blinked. “What?”

“I know it’s not ideal, but we’re short of options, and I don’t want anything spoiling her further.”

“But-”

“I have work to do, and you’re getting in the way. So get to work.”

“Did…you were dead. How did you-”

Mokou’s face snapped toward him, her eyes a blazing fury. “I said move!”

Joshua’s head jerked back in surprise. He opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it without saying anything.

Then he got up to do as he was told.

…

The fall had been dark, terrifying, but at least mercifully swift. The landing hadn’t been that bad, as there was at least a pile of soft sand to land in.

Unfortunately, the sand also turned out to be ice-cold, and it got everywhere! It was worse than having snow go down one’s back, because that at least would melt away.

“Ah! Cold, cold, cold!”

Rumia tried to flee from the pile only to get her feet tangled up, causing her to fall.

“You okay?” Kohta said as he looked down at her in concern. Of course he had managed to get out of the sand and onto his feet.

“No,” Rumia said crankily. “I am very much not okay. But I’m not dead yet, so that counts for something.”

Kohta extended his hand, and Rumia took it. With a slight grunt he pulled her too her feet.

“What is this stuff?” Rumia complained as she shook the freezing sand from her hair, arms, and outfit. “Why is it so cold?”

“Because it’s evil,” Hayate said in a hollow voice. “Don’t you feel it? It’s evil. This is a place where evil dwells. It’ll eat us up, just like they ate Eiko!”

Normally Rumia might have been tempted to mock her for her fear and superstition, but all things considered she was having a hard time coming up with an argument.

“Speaking of which, what is this place anyway?” Keine wondered.

“I don’t know,” Kohta said. “Maybe it’s some kind of…oh, wait. Hang on.”

Everyone froze. “What?” Haruko whispered. “What is it?”

Kohta reached into the pile of cold sand and pulled something out a box of matches.

The cold had made his fingers clumsy, so it took a few strikes to finally light a match. But at last a tiny flame sputtered to life, and he held up the match to give them a better look.

Rumia quite frankly preferred the darkness.

They were in a huge circular space, one even larger than the orphanage. It was empty save for themselves and the tall pile of black sand in the middle, which was still bathed in the circle of moonlight that came from the hole in the center of the roof.

But the walls were an unending tribute to Death.

It was the same as the stone trees. Skeletons of once-living things were embedded into the walls in twisted positions, many of which would not have been possible when they had meat and skin. Most looked like they had been partially melted as well and splattered right against the wall. Only instead of a few, there were hundreds of them: humans, deer, cows, birds, fish, snakes, squirrels, horses, lizards, bats, and several things that she could only guess at.

If there was one thing they all had in common other than being dead and stuck in a wall, it was that they looked like they had been trying to flee from…something, something in the center of the room, something that had pulverized them all with a single blast of power.

“What the hell,” Haruko said flatly.

“We…we got to get out of here,” Hayate said. “This is a bad place. We shouldn’t be here. We shouldn’t be here. We need to escape.”

“I’m…open to suggestions,” Kohta said.

Rumia opened her mouth to respond, but then low, raspy moan echoed through the chamber, like a mummified corpse awakened from the dead and filling its dusty lungs for the first time in an era. The match in Kohta’s hand slipped from his fingers, and the light went out.

“What was that?” Hayate whispered in the dark.

Then the moan sounded again, and louder this time. Kohta hastily felt around for another match and lit it, and he held it up so that they could see.

They needn’t have worried.

It was Kana, who was finally starting to stir. She had been lying on the ground next to Kohta, but now she was awake and struggling to rise.

“Oh, hey!” Kohta said as he knelt down next to her. “Are you okay?”

“Uhhhh…” Kana groaned. “Feel��airy…”

“So…pretty much the same as always?” Rumia said. Keine shot her a sharp look, which made her feel a little ashamed. “Sorry.”

Kohta helped Kana sit up. She coughed weakly. “Wha…where are we?”

“Underground,” Kohta said. “I think.”

“Ugh.” Kana blinked blearily at her surroundings. “Huh. I…I thought I was flying up. But now I’m down. How’d I get down?”

“You got captured by spider youkai,” Kohta helpfully supplied. “And you got stung with their venom. That’s why you feel so weird.”

“Oh. Isn’t that…nice…” She smiled up at him and giggled. “You got sandy hair.”

Kohta involuntarily touched his spiky hair.

Then Rumia got an idea. “Hey, Kana?”

“Oh, is Rumia here too? That’s also nice. Hi!”

“Uh, hello. Listen, do you remember when you were flying earlier?”

“Uh-huh. It was fun. Until it wasn’t.”

“Right. Do you think you could do it again?”

“Uh…dunno.” Kana’s head slumped forward, digging her chin into her chest. “I’m tired.”

“No, no, stay awake!” Rumia leaned over to slap Kana lightly in the cheeks. “Kana, I need you to try to pay attention. We’re stuck in a hole in the ground-”

“Oh, that sounds fun.”

“No, it’s not! We’re trapped, so we need you to fly out and go find help!”

“Can’t she lift us out?” Haruko asked.

“What, are you crazy?” Rumia snapped at her. “Look at her! It’ll be a miracle if she can get herself out!”

Suddenly the ground started rumbling. Hayate yelped and hid herself behind Haruko, who looked like she wished she had someone to hide behind. Keine threw herself to the ground and covered her head. Rumia and Kohta quickly retreated from the center of the room, dragging the still-loopy Kana with them.

The pile of sand that lay directly beneath the hole had started to rise. It lifted upward like an hourglass in reverse, pouring up into the hole.

“What the hell?” Haruko shouted. “How is it doing that? That’s impossible!”

Despite the frightening situation they had found themselves in, the sheer stupidity of that statement meant that Rumia and Keine both had to stare at her in disbelief.

“What?”

The sand finally all lifted out of the room, plugging up the hole completely and choking out the moonlight. The only light was that of Kohta’s match, which was running low.

A few seconds later, the tiny flame sputtered and died.

For a brief, dark moment, nothing happened.

Then every single dead creature that had fused with the wall opened its eyes.

Everyone screamed as hundreds of brightly glowing red lights appeared in the empty eye sockets all across the walls. Hayate broke off from Haruko and ran toward the center of the room.

“Let me out!” she sobbed. “Let me out! I don’t want to stay here, I don’t want to-”

Then the ground started shaking again.

Something was rising up from beneath, filling the space left behind by the pile of black sand. In the scarlet glow, it was hard to make out, but it appeared to be a multi-sided cylinder about the size of a fully-grown man. It was also completely black, so that any features were nearly impossible to make out.

Hayate screamed and ran back, only to be reminded of the dead things staring at her with red eyes all along the walls. She tried going back the other way, but the cylinder was there, so she just fell to her knees and clutched at her head as she cried. “Please, make it stop, make it stop!”

Under normal circumstances, Rumia might have been tempted to mock her for her cowardice. But in all honestly, if Hayate wasn’t doing that, then Rumia probably would be.

“Oh, it’s a box,” Kana said calmly, as if she were remarking on a particularly interesting cloud. “I wonder what’s inside.”

“A box?” Kohta said. “That thing is…”

His voice trailed off. Even Hayate’s crying had quieted.

Rumia didn’t need to ask why. She heard it too.

Rumia.

The voices were back, the gibbering ones that she couldn’t understand and the one that was clearly calling her name. Only now they weren’t whispering out of the thin air. Now they had a definite source.

It was the box. The box was speaking to her. The box was calling to her.

Rumia started walking toward the box. Without a word the others did so as well. Kohta, Keine, and Haruko all slowly made their way across the room. Hayate stopped sniveling and stood up to follow. Even Kana had managed to totter to her feet and limp her way over.

Rumia.

Each of the six children came to a stop around the box and turned toward one of its many sides. Rumia stared entranced by the smooth, black edge, so flawless and beautiful. It was like it had been carved out of solid night, a perfect piece of darkness.

Rumia.

The gibbering grew louder. Rumia raised up her right hand. Unprompted, the others did the same. As one they all laid their hands against the sides of the box.

Its surface was colder than steel that had been left out all night in the snow. Rumia’s skin instantly froze to it.

Interesting.

Then something sharp bit into her palm. She could feel the hot blood leaking out, warming her palm.

Rumia.

Rumia wrenched her hand away, ripping off an entire layer of skin in the process. It was left on the side of the box, a white handprint set against the black, with a tiny bead of ruby blood hovering in its center.

As Rumia watched in fascination, the bead started to shake. Then it began to grow, sending rivulets of red across the handprint, dying the white skin bright scarlet.

Soon the box had six crimson hands on six of its sides, one for each child.

And then it began to open.

…

To anyone who’s read IM: three guesses at what’s in the box, and the first two don’t count.

Until next time, everyone.

#touhou project #touhou #fanfic #imperfect metamorphosis #fujiwara no mokou #mokou #rumia

6 notes · View notes

sunflowerrichie · 5 years

Text

my boy

chapter 1: eighth grade

“who’s richie?”

“he’s my boyfriend,” she began, her eyes glazed over and a pleased smile on her face. puppy love; something eddie would never get the chance in having with richie.

summary: ever since they met in eighth grade, richie had been disappearing for weeks (even months) at a time, leaving eddie to think they’re on bad terms; though, that’s not really why richie disappears.

warning(s): language.

author: richie (sunflowerrichie)

note: this book is based off real life events, so if the details are too exact, that’s why. i don’t know how many chapters there will be at the moment due to events after the 7th chapter not happening yet, but i will let you guys know when i’m going to post the next chapter.

word count: 2,076

ao3: x

tagging: @addimagination

“who’s richie?” eddie had asked myra, his doe eyes wide and questioning; he briefly thanked whatever god was out there that the girl could not see him, for she’d read right through him. if eddie could go back in time from where he was now, he would’ve never asked that simple question containing only two words, though he already knew this was another one of her unsuccessful boyfriends. there was a comic book in his hand, one he disregarded the second someone new was mentioned.

myra fixed her hair from where she was lying on the couch, responding quickly. “he’s my boyfriend,” she began, her eyes glazed over and a pleased smile on her face. puppy love; something eddie would never get the chance in having with richie. “he’s tall and lanky... got dark, black hair; i’m surprised you haven't seen him around, eddie.”

myra had met eddie in sixth grade, easily becoming friends with the hypochondriac. the smaller boy made a habit of wiping her desk down with cleansing wipes before she sat in it, and in return, she gave eddie platonic love. his mom loved her; for she was just as neat as her sweet eddie-bear and she vowed to make sure he’s taking his medication on time. she was much like sonia, actually; except for being a believer in ‘love at first sight’.

this wasn’t the first time she’s been head over heels for someone, nor would it be the last, but eddie was used to it at this point. each time, he’d make himself presentable for her boyfriend, and each time, they’d never show much interest in the asthmatic boy.

eddie hummed, feigning carelessness and turning back to his book. “is he in eighth grade, too?” he had asked, flipping the page over, though his ears were perked up and his eyes were no longer scanning the words printed nicely on the paper.

“yeah,” myra responded, her voice like she was up in the clouds, high on euphoria. she snapped back quickly, glancing down at the boy on the floor and catching his eyes. “you should talk to him; i think you would start to like him,” more than you think, eddie would learn to realize. before he could decline the offer, though, she was speaking again. “he likes david bowie... and what’s that one song you like?” she paused, her eyebrows scrunching together. “uh... something about the rains in africa?”

eddie perked up quickly, his hot chocolate colored eyes twinkling with the white marshmallows sculpted deep inside them. “africa by toto,” he had said, his cheeks growing hot. eddie kaspbrak loved music, he always had; and now that he would potentially have someone to discuss this love with, he was immediately hooked. he found out three years later, though, that it did not work out the way he had planned. he snapped out of his daze, his smile still apparent. “is he coming over?”

the girl grinned from ear to ear, unbelievably delighted that her best friend was keen on meeting her boyfriend. she looked down at her phone then, the screen lighting up and reflecting on her face in a green kind of glow, the color of her lock screen. “he said he’s on his way,” myra started. “he lives just down the street, so he’ll be here in a few minutes.”

the short boy was struck with a sort of fear then, subconsciously fixing his hair. he nodded, biting his lip and trying not to act suspicious (though this was normal for him; he was always afraid new people would think he’s too messy, too uncaring). myra didn’t seem to notice, though, and kept staring at her phone with a smile, typing away at the keys. at this realization, eddie stood up and coughed awkwardly. “i’m gonna go use the bathroom.” once he got an ‘okay’, he started walking.

when he came out of the bathroom after a few deep, calming breaths and a puff of his aspirator just in case, his clothes were freshly lint-rolled and perfect, his hair was combed and neat, and his teeth were nice and brushed. his fanny pack was around his waist, keeping him grounded and secure. he heard talking from the living room and walked into the doorway, his hands cupped at his front.

richie tozier turned to him, a wide grin on his face and his glasses askew. eddie let his eyes drift around the boy, taking in every detail he could in the three seconds he allowed himself to stare. richie had a grey shirt on, a white and navy blue hawaiian shirt draped over it. the fabric was loose on his skinny frame, and eddie noticed three cigarettes extended out of his pocket, making the small boy’s hands start to shake. his pants were black and tight, complimenting his long legs. and to top it all off, he had black and white slip-on vans over his green and purple socks. he didn’t match; but it suited him in a way eddie felt jealous of.

“like whatcha see?” the tall boy asked, making eddie blush in realization that he noticed the staring. before he could respond, myra spoke again, catching the asthmatic off guard. he had forgot she was in the room.

“richie, this is eddie,” she gestured towards him. “eddie, this is richie,” and back towards richie.

the glasses-clad boy grinned even harder, making eddie wonder if his face would split in half with the force of the grin. the smaller boy looked over to myra quickly, her giving him a smile and her eyes saying ‘this is normal, don’t be alarmed’. he stepped forward and stuck out his lanky arm, waiting for the small boy to shake it. he didn’t; he was afraid richie would think his hands were too rough (he forgot to apply lotion). “richie tozier.”

one week after richie introduced himself to eddie, the asthmatic was at myra’s house again, same as last weekend. “what did you get for number 6?” the girl asked, flipping her paper over and furrowing her eyebrows. she was across from eddie on her bed, both of them lying on their stomachs and going over their math homework.

“two,” eddie responded easily, writing something down on his paper. he then paused for a while, his hand hovering over his paper as he thought. “what do you want to do tomorrow?” he asked, looking up at her with hope in his eyes. hope that richie would come over again. hope that they’d have another chance to all watch a movie together (he had sat on the ground the whole time, though, trying not to pay attention to the sound of their lips smacking together every once in a while and the bounce of richie’s leg on the carpet). he hadn’t got that close to richie yet, for he’d have to take a puff of his aspirator every time he thought about it; but with richie’s loud mouth and his easy-going attitude, it was slightly easier than he thought.

myra hummed, looking up at him briefly before turning the page in the blue textbook. “i was planning to have richie come over at around ten in the morning,” she spoke, seeming to think them over as they floated out of her mouth. “is that okay?” she blushed slightly, looking back up at eddie.

the small boy nodded, pulling his phone out quickly to set an alarm for nine in the morning. he told himself he’d need time to wake up, but he knew deep down that he really only did that because he wants to look good for the taller boy. “that sounds good,” he smiled, glancing at the time quickly. he stood up then, grabbing his fanny pack and snapping it around his waist again. “be right back, i gotta take my medicine.”

the second it turned nine o’clock the next morning, eddie’s phone was ringing and the sound was echoing through myra’s living room. the small boy groaned and rolled over, shutting off his alarm and rubbing at his eyes. when his mind got a chance to catch up and his first thought was richie, though, he was up and rushing to turn the shower on.

when richie opened the door an hour later, he was grinning and his nose was a different color, the cold, november air outside making his skin blush red.

“spaghetti!” he yelled, immediately taking interest in the asthmatic boy, much to his surprise. “i was hoping you’d be here again!”

eddie blushed deeply, water pooling behind his eyes due to embarrassment. “hi, richie,” he spoke softly, the name unfamiliar on his tongue as he scanned the room for myra (he hoped briefly that he’d get a chance for the name to finally become familiar flowing out of his mouth). “uh, myra will be here in a second, she went to-“

the taller boy cut him off quickly, wrapping his lanky arm around his shoulders. “no worries, short stack,” he started, not coming off offensive but more... fond; as if he’d known eddie since they were in sixth grade, too. “for i, the one and only richie tozier, would not mind hanging out with my favorite eds!” he finished off in a loud, almost ear-ringing, voice, grinning down at eddie, his ocean blue eyes gleaming.

before the brown-eyed boy could respond with a ‘don’t call me that’ and a soft shove, myra was walking through the doorway and richie’s arm was unwrapping itself from his shoulders, leaving him with a heart that had plunged down into his lower stomach. “i see you two have made friends with one another.” friends. all they would ever be.

to that, richie nodded, the grin still on his face. does he ever stop fucking grinning? “we have, haven’t we, spaghetti head?” the words seemed as if they came from another planet, for the sound of blood rushing behind his ears was too loud for the small boy to process what richie was saying.

he excused himself to go use the bathroom then, and when he got there, he realized he might as well have been losing his mind. “keep it together, kaspbrak,” he said to his reflection, swallowing down a lump in his throat. “it’s just richie,” the name was still unfamiliar, “just myra’s new, unsuccessful boyfriend, richie.”

when eddie finally got himself to come out of the bathroom and walk into the living room again, he was stopped dead in his tracks. myra’s pinky was looped around the taller boy’s and words were flowing out of his mouth beautifully.

“-i promise, okay? i’ll always be here for you,” and then he was moving his hand up and extending his thumb to kiss. “i never break a pinky promise.” if only eddie would have known those six words would be repeating through his head painfully for three years afterwards. richie looked like a totally different person when he was serious, eddie then realized. he felt anxiety creep up his body with the question ‘i wonder if i’ll ever be in myra’s spot’. he knew he’d probably have an asthma attack due to richie’s eyes alone.

“me and richie broke up,” is what eddie heard five days later coming through his cell phone speaker, the owner’s voice broken and rough. “i-i didn’t-”

“wait, wait, what happened?” the brown-eyed boy asked, more curious than sympathetic.

“he pinky promised me!” she wailed, ignoring his question and making eddie move the phone an inch or two from his ear. “he said he never breaks pinky promises, and he did!”

eddie stopped talking to myra after that. not because of any particular reason, but just simply because of the fact that whenever he looked at her, all he could think about was richie’s arm around him and richie’s pinky promise and richie’s beautiful, blue eyes. the two boys never swapped numbers, so eddie had to spend the rest of eighth grade wondering if richie was ever really his ‘friend’, or if he was only taking interest in the hypochondriac because of myra.

what he didn’t realize until three months later, though, was that richie actually never did break his pinky promise. he was still there for myra if she needed him, but eddie guesses he lost interest in being something more than acquaintances. richie was good with his words and eddie was destined to be wrapped around his finger sooner or later.

#my boy #it 2017 #eddie kaspbrak #richie tozier #finn wolfhard #the losers club #jack dylan grazer #reddie #richie’s work #richie tozier x eddie kaspbrak

42 notes · View notes