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readyplayerhobi · 5 years

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Silver Bells and Cockle Shells

; Widower Single Dad!Hoseok x Reader

; Genre: Angst, fluff, smut

; Word Count: 22.2k

; Warnings: Mentions of death, grief, depression, insinuated blowjob and car sex, penetrative sex, masturbation, fingering

; Synopsis: Jung Hoseok has three beautiful daughters whom he loves more than anything in the world; Soo-ah, Ji-eun and Ji-soo. For five years now, it’s been only them and him against the world. But what happens when he wants to bring someone new into their lives?

; A/N: Hello, this is something I just randomly got in my head. Was meant to be a drabble...ha, evidently not. I half edited this but full honesty, I got bored and just wanted it out! If you like it, pleeeease reblog it! Leave me lovely comments and feedback, send asks and like it! I hope you enjoy this and that...it’s not boring or anything ;-;

; Sequel - Sleigh Bells Ring

“Soo-ah!” Hoseok cursed, frowning deeply as he bent over and picked up the toothbrush she’d carelessly dropped to the floor after she’d brushed her teeth for bed. “Pick up your stuff after yourself!”

Sometimes he felt like he spent half his day chasing around after his daughters to put his house back together. Honestly, going to work could be classed as a relief at this stage in his life. Pausing for a moment, he stared at himself in the finger printed mirror before letting out a deep sigh and rolling his eyes.

He was too young to be thinking like that. At only 33, he was pretty sure that he should only just be experiencing the stress he’d endured for the past ten years. His friends certainly were only just beginning to understand what he’d gone through.

Already, Jimin had started whining about how tired he was with his newborn son which was making Namjoon start to blanch whenever they met up and the conversation started. His own wife was due in three months and Hoseok was looking forward to being as smug as humanly possible whenever the younger man complained himself.

They’d all had to endure years of Namjoon saying it can’t be that bad and encouraging them all to simply remain calm and all that bullshit he spouted in his daily role as a psychiatrist. It had made Hoseok want to hiss fire at him when the man had no concept of trying to cope with two colicky babies alongside a five-year-old who tantrumed over the wrong breakfast cereal.

The man had it coming, Hoseok swore. A small, sinister part of him was hoping that Namjoon’s baby would be the antichrist but then he pushed that thought away. In actuality, he hoped that Namjoon and his wife would have the most pleasant experience as parents.

No matter what, he was positive it would be better than his own experience.

Putting the toothbrush back into its place, he crouched down to grab the cleaner and sprayed the mirror in an even coating, placing the bottle back before grabbing a cloth and wiping the mirror clean. It was stupid, but the pristine surface soothed a part of him that screamed out at the sheer tornado of chaos his children caused.

His love for his daughters was infinite and he would happily give up his own life to protect them and ensure their unending happiness; but sometimes he also just wanted to scream in frustration. Sighing heavily, he rests his hands on the counter and looks down into the sink, brows furrowing together once more as he notes the stains of toothpaste spit that has dried on the porcelain and a deep groan runs through him.

A full clean of the house will have to be done this weekend. He’ll have time to do it as his parents are taking the girls to the aquarium and then a movie for the day after a sleepover. And then, after a whole day of cleaning, they would come back to a nice house with everything in its place and it would all go back to looking exactly how it had in the morning within hours.

Rubbing his hand over his face, he licks at his lips and looks back in the mirror. Said hand soon moves to run through his hair, pushing the sleek, black strands out of his face and he notes idly that he needs to get it cut. The sides are getting too long and he scowls slightly, pushing at the hair that should be shaved close to the sides of his head.

Maybe he could take the girls to get their hair done and then ask if the hairdresser would quickly do his as well. They’d be entertained with each other for a while, surely? Or maybe he could run out on Saturday while they’re gone and get it sorted. He did need to go shopping to buy groceries for dinner and it would make sense to do it at the same time. Hoseok had become very adept at finding time to fit multiple things together.

His stomach flipped nervously as he thought about dinner.

If everything went right with the conversation he was about to have with his girls, then Saturday evening would be the first time he would introduce you to them. For five years now, Hoseok had raised his beloved daughters as a single father.

It hadn’t been out of choice.

His eldest daughter, Soo-ah had turned ten-years-old in March this year. She’d been born when he was 23, a surprise pregnancy with his college sweetheart. They’d married a year later and Hoseok had enjoyed four wonderful and happy years with Soo-ah and the woman he’d considered the love of his life, Yoo-jin.

A second pregnancy occurred when they had both been 27; this time it was planned and very much wanted. On October 29th, two beautiful twin girls had been born and Hoseok’s heart had swollen even more with love and affection. Ji-eun and Ji-soo were perfection in human form to him.

October 29th had also been the last day his wife had been alive.

Complications from the strain of birthing both girls had taken his wife from him, and he’d suddenly been alone in the world with three daughters relying on him. Grief had taken a backseat as he’d thrown himself into the three innocent lives that needed him so desperately and it had been the hardest thing he’d ever done.

Crippling depression had hit him hard with the loss of Yoo-jin and sometimes the very sight of his kids had caused him to burst into tears as he’d thought about how she wouldn’t get to see their daughters grow and experience life. It had been even harder with two newborn girls who had demanded every moment of his time and attention, leading to him having to take time off work as a software engineer at first and then work from home once his leave ran out.

What had been even worse though, was that not only was he trying to cope with his own grief but that he also had to cope with Soo-ah’s. She’d been only five-years-old. Her mommy and daddy had gone to the hospital one day and had promised to bring back her baby siblings.

Only daddy and two sisters had come home. She hadn’t understood why mommy wasn’t coming back and for two whole months, Soo-ah started and ended every day asking when mommy was coming home. Everytime, his eyes had watered and his throat tightened as he’d had to tell her that mommy wasn’t going to come home, that she’d gone to the sky to watch after them all.

They say kids understand more than you expect, but it had still taken a long time for her to grasp the concept that her mommy was gone. He hadn’t been able to say that she had died, and he’d broken down the night that she’d turned six. Hoseok had tried to make it a happy and fun time for her, but it had only been five months since Yoo-jin had passed and Soo-ah hadn’t been coping too well.

She’d been happy at the start of her party, accepting her presents from all her friends and her many uncles and aunts who doted on her immensely. Her grandparents had already visited earlier in the day and Hoseok knew that everyone was spoiling her to try and make up for the one thing missing from her day.

Later on, she’d begun to act out and had a tantrum that resulted in the party ending earlier than expected. Hoseok had known that she might exhibit behaviour like this; she was just a child and it was a big emotion for her to compute. The happiness and excitement of everything, combined with seeing the other kids with their mom’s had simply been too much.

When he’d put her to bed that night, giving her lots of extra kisses and cuddles, she’d been quiet and sullen. It had broken his heart and yet again, he hadn’t known what to do. There wasn’t a manual for this.

But what had destroyed him had been what she asked him, her voice tiny and more than a little fragile as she curled up in his arms beneath her Mickey Mouse bedding.

“Mommy’s dead. That’s why she’s not coming home. Right?” How he had got the strength to carry on that conversation with her without falling apart right then and there, he’d never known. But he had. And then he had checked on the twins before falling into his own bed, his pillow soaked with his own tears as pain had eaten at him.

Five years had passed since, and with time it had gotten a little better. His heart no longer aches when he thinks of Yoo-jin and he could talk about her openly with a smile. He made sure to keep her photos in the house for his daughters, reminding them of their mom and letting them know that she loved them. Each of their rooms, the single for Soo-ah and the room that Ji-eun and Ji-soo shared as they refused to sleep apart, was decorated with pictures of Yoo-jin and Hoseok.

It made him sad to know that he had no photos of Yoo-jin and the twins for them, but they’d never asked about her either. They had never grown up with a mom, so they never thought anything of it. Soo-ah had though, and while she had slowly turned back into the happy and loving girl he’d known, he knew that she would never forget her mom.

Nor would he want her to.

But for five years, he’d only limited himself to one-night-stand’s in which both he and the recipient were abundantly clear that there wasn’t going to be anything further. He hadn’t wanted to engage in romance, hadn’t wanted his feelings to get involved. All he had wanted was the relief of an orgasm and the intimacy of another person for a few hours.

His parents had encouraged him to go on a few blind dates in the last two years, and he had done so reluctantly. Even Yoo-jin’s parents had told him that they wanted him to be happy, even if that meant finding someone new to love.

It was hard though. He’d felt disloyal with the first few dates, even if they’d just ended up in casual sex before never seeing each other again. Most of them hadn’t been interested in anything further with a man who had three young daughters. He hadn’t been interested in them once they gave him that opinion.

So he hadn’t bothered mentioning it after, because he simply hadn’t wanted to engage in anything that would involve feelings.

Until you.

He’d met you a year ago, when Jungkook’s wife had brought you to one of his summer barbecue get togethers. It had been before anyone else in their friend group besides from Hoseok and Seokjin had had kids, so it had been deemed a kid free event to allow the parents to kick back and relax.

Yoo-jin’s parents had taken the kids for the day and Hoseok had got to simply be himself for a few hours without having the stress of constantly checking on what his kids were doing. He’d discovered that three children meant three times the amount of potential damage and carnage that could be caused, and minus another parent figure resulted in just overall disaster material.

Hoseok still shuddered in horror whenever he thought of the supermarket experience from two years ago. Even now, he refused to go back there from sheer embarrassment.

But you had simply been there as a friend, and at first he hadn’t even paid attention to you in any way other than simple respect. You’d been sweet and friendly, if a bit shy as it had been obvious that everyone knew each other except for you. Chae-young, Jungkook’s wife, was a colleague of yours and you’d become close through a mutual love of equestrian activities.

At the time, that was as much as he’d known about you alongside your name, age and that you were the manager of a sales team in an office. There hadn’t been any need for him to know more, but by the end of the night he’d been quietly endeared by you.

He hadn’t laughed as much in years, his smile bright and wide on his face while he talked intently with you. For three whole hours, you’d both been in a little bubble of shared mutual interests from tennis to dancing to pop culture. Neither had noticed the subtle glances everyone was giving each other as they watched their friend, who had spent so many years with his light dim and subdued, come to life before their eyes.

Before he’d even realised what he was doing, you had both swapped numbers and he’d enjoyed a few weeks of casual interaction via text. He’d enjoyed the conversation with someone new and had been determined to not let his busy life get in the way.

Even better, you’d already known about his kids and hadn’t been bothered in the slightest. In fact, you’d even been inquisitive and he’d happily discussed them, pride behind every word. The texts had soon turned into phone conversations which soon turned into video chats.

Soon enough, he’d been meeting you for lunch in the city at a cafe that was between both your workplaces. Hoseok hadn’t realised how close Chae-young worked to him until then, and he’d enjoyed his lunches more than he ever had with the easy conversation that flowed between you both.

It was ironic really. He’d spent so long not looking for anything that he didn’t even realise when something wonderful fell right into his lap. And you were wonderful, beyond wonderful.

For the first time in over a decade, Hoseok had gone to bed early to simply lay there, curled up under the covers, while he texted you like a teenage boy with his first crush. And that’s what he’d felt like, even if he hadn’t quite realised it. Every text had made his stomach flip and every call made him breathless with nerves.

He found himself going to the bathroom before lunch, checking over his hair and looks before meeting up with you. Things he saw in the store that reminded him of you found their way into his basket before ending up in your hands, all to see that pretty smile that made him feel so funny.

It had been so long since he’d dated properly, so long since he’d liked anyone in more than just a lust filled euphoria, that he just hadn’t realised what was happening. And it had taken his mom, of all people, to point it out to him.

He’d been at theirs one afternoon, the girls playing in the living room with the toys their grandparents had accumulated over the years while he sat at the island in the kitchen. His mom had been watching him for five whole minutes instead of preparing the meal for that night, observing the way her son smiled and laughed to himself, eyes locked on his screen.

It had made tears come to her eyes when she had realised that she hadn’t seen him like this since Yoo-jin had been alive. She had queried him who he was talking to, causing him to casually say your name without a second thought. And then she had asked him how long he had been dating you, which had thrown him for a loop.

“I’m not dating her. We’re just friends.” He hadn’t even realised he’d said those fateful words out loud, hadn’t realised the meaning of what he’d just said. In his mind, that was exactly what you were. Friends.

Which was why his mom had given me an exasperated smile and a shake of her head. “Hoseok, sweetheart. If you’re not dating her, then you should be. I haven’t seen you this happy in...a long time. Especially not with another woman.”

Hoseok had frozen then, staring down at his phone with a frown as his mother’s words had finally penetrated the shield that he had held so tightly around his heart for half a decade now. The last text you had sent him had been something stupid, but he’d gripped his phone tight as he’d realised she was right. You made him happy, you made him want to try.

And that made him feel guilty.

She’d spent the rest of the afternoon convincing him that it was okay to move on, to truly move on and find happiness with someone else. That night, he’d refrained from texting you as he’d tried to compute his newfound emotions and find a place for them to sit alongside everything else in him.

For so long, he’d thought that Yoo-jin would have been the only woman for him. The woman that he would grow old with, be buried next to and so forth. And then she had died at only 28, and he’d been without her once more. He’d spent years convinced that he should stay loyal to her, after all, they hadn’t broken up.

But as he’d laid there that night, he’d worked through the guilt that wracked him as he’d realised that he didn’t want to be alone anymore. He didn’t want to wake up alone, in a cold bed and come home to only his children. Hoseok loved his kids, he truly did, but he wanted someone that he could talk to, laugh with, argue with if necessary, be intimate with.

He wanted someone to love again, and he wanted to be loved in turn.

Everyone had always said that he had a big heart, always ready to bestow it on whoever had his affections that day. A smile that could light up the sun and so forth. And for five years, he’d only poured love into his daughters because they were all he had.

As he’d gone to sleep that night, he had contented himself with the knowledge that he was no longer happy with his lonely situation. But he planned to do something about it, because he had also realised that he liked you, and he wanted to pour that love into you too if you would let him.

The very next lunch he had with you, he had asked you on a date. His confidence had faltered halfway through as panic had suddenly set in, worry that you wouldn’t want to date a 33-year-old father of three. But you had smiled brightly, face lighting up with such happiness and excitement that he’d been unable to not smile back, before eagerly accepting.

That had been six months ago, and he had fallen in love with you slowly every day since.

Despite this though, he had yet to introduce you to the girls. There were many reasons for this and he’d been pleased that you had accepted them all without complaint. The most important reason was because Hoseok hadn’t wanted to introduce anyone to them if it wasn’t going to end up serious.

It would just hurt them if you broke up and they never saw you again, and he wasn’t ready to impart that kind of emotional turmoil on his little girls. Secondly, he hadn’t wanted to pressure you into doing anything with his kids when you didn’t have to. You weren’t their mom, nor were you looking to be and he didn’t want to force that role on you.

He’d wanted you to feel comfortable enough to finally meet them, and he’d wanted to feel comfortable enough in his relationship for you to meet them. But also, he’d just wanted to enjoy you to himself without the interference of children.

Hoseok loved his kids, he would never give them up and his whole life revolved around them really. Yet his relationship with you was the first thing in five years that he’d had solely to himself, untouched by their presence. He felt selfish thinking that way, but he’d just wanted to enjoy you a little longer without the pressure of parental expectations.

After six months though, he’d finally decided that it was time. It had been a huge decision, and he’d agonised over it a few weeks before finally talking it through with you. He’d had to be sure that you even wanted to meet them, because as worried as he was for how his daughters would react to you, he couldn’t even imagine what it must be like for you.

You’d started dating him in the knowledge he had three kids, but knowing and actually seeing and being a part of those small lives was entirely different. Most women probably didn’t start dating someone with a ready made family, and he’d stressed a little over that.

Dating him seriously meant you would be directly involved with his daughters. He didn’t want you to think that he wanted a second mom for them, because he didn’t and he doubted his daughters wanted that either, but it would be hard for you to avoid some parental activities.

And that wasn’t even thinking about whether or not you actually wanted children in the future. There was a chance that you might think he might not want more kids because he already had three, but you had none. Overall, it had taken a lot of thinking before he’d finally proposed the idea of introducing you.

He wanted to be able to bring you home, cuddle up with you on the couch after a long day without having to worry about the girls finding out. Eventually move onto you staying the night, hopefully one day in the future even moving in together. He had kids, yes, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t have a relationship like everyone else.

Hoseok wanted to give you as normal a relationship as he could, despite the three extra people he came with as standard.

You’d been sweet about the whole thing though, consoling him and letting him know that you were supportive of whatever decision he made. There weren’t enough words in the English language for him to convey how much he appreciated how easy-going you were about it all and he’d just fallen even harder for you.

It was a little odd really, how quickly he’d realised he loved you. Admittedly, he’d spent months without even realising he liked you, but he’d told you those three special words within three months. He’d taken half a year to tell Yoo-jin, and he wasn’t sure what that meant. If it meant anything.

But all of this was completely moot if his girls decided they didn’t want to meet you. They were allowed that decision, and Hoseok was fully prepared to love you separately for a while until they got used to the idea. He didn’t want to, but he wouldn’t force someone onto them if they didn’t want it. Nor was he willing to break up with you solely for that reason.

He loves his daughters, but he refuses to let them rule his life entirely. Just as he works hard they’re happy, he knows that he’s entitled to happiness himself.

Pushing away from the counter, he takes a deep breath before heading into the twin’s room. The bathroom was the one all the girl’s shared while he had his own thanks to the en-suite. Something he was positive that he was going to be very thankful for when they all hit teenage years.

The twin’s room was pure chaos, as expected. He’d long since given up trying to keep this room tidy. Instead, he would simply go through once a day and make it look less like a bomb had gone off in it.

There was plenty of room in the house for them to have a room each, there were actually two spare bedrooms in this ridiculously large house he’d bought with Yoo-jin years ago. It had been cheap purely because it had needed to have a lot of stuff fixed in it, but over the years he’d worked with both friends and family to turn it into the family home it was today.

But splitting the twins up had proven to be an unthinkable act. He’d tried it once when they were four and they’d screamed and cried for hours before going quiet. Thinking they were asleep, he’d gone to check on them only to discover that Ji-eun had gotten out of her bed and was curled up in Ji-soo’s bed.

The very next day, he’d moved her stuff back into the room and they’d been content ever since. Twins were funny, he mused to himself as he watched them both lying beneath Ji-eun’s Iron Man bedding, his iPad in Ji-soo’s hands as they both watched a movie.

He had refused to let them have an iPad, even a joint-owned one as he didn’t want to end up being that dad whose kids spent all their time on a screen. Even now, they were limited to only two hours of screen time a day. Soo-ah was the same, only she was allowed to use the computer to do her homework when necessary as well.

It caused them to whine a lot but he instead encouraged them to play, read books or even use the board games he’d bought. Thankfully, they were pretty happy with it despite the minor whining but he knew that his policy was going to have to change soon. Particularly for Soo-ah.

“Hey you two, how are my little pumpkins?” He said with a bright smile as he crouched down next to the bed. Two sets of identical eyes flicked over to him, their warm chocolate depths filled with sleepiness and fondness swelled in him.

“Hi daddy,” Ji-soo whispered, the tiny mole on her cheek being the only way to distinguish her from her younger sister. Her black hair shone with health in the warm light of the Avengers lamp on the bedside table and Hoseok reached out, stroking the flyaway strands down. Ji-eun was too busy watching the iPad and he smiled, resting his head on the bed next to them both and watching quietly.

There was only a few more minutes until it was over, and he took the tablet from them before switching it off and placing it next to him on the floor. The door creaked open and all three looked over, taking in Soo-ah’s frown as she looked at her sisters and dad.

He’d asked her to come into the twins room once she’d gotten into her pyjamas and he grinned at her mismatching clothes. A Mickey Mouse t-shirt was combined with Batman bottoms but he chose not to say anything as she flipped her long, black hair behind her shoulder in a movement that reminded him so strongly of Yoo-jin.

The twins were growing to look like him, but Soo-ah was all Yoo-jin. It was a soft ache sometimes to look at her, but it just made him love her all the more.

Gesturing to her with an open arm, she tucked herself into his side where he knelt and he kissed the crown of her head with a loud ‘mwah’, enjoying the way she wiggled and whined in protest. She was reaching the age where affection from him was met with embarrassment but he didn’t care.

“Are you all excited to go to grandma and grandpa’s tomorrow?” All three of them nod, excitement lighting up their eyes and he has to bite his inner cheek to stop the grin that wants to paint itself onto his face. His parents spoil them, they truly do. He has no doubt when he picks them up on Saturday that they’ll have eaten their weight in sugary goods and will likely have another toy each.

“Good, they’re looking forward to having you too. I want you all on your best behaviour, yeah?” Each little girl gives another nod and he goes soft with pride for them all. They were truly the most important things in his life and he squeezed Soo-ah a little tighter in response.

“So...err,” He paused, brow creasing as he realised that he didn’t know how to go about this. “On Saturday, we’re going to have dinner with someone. She’s...she’s someone very special to daddy.”

“Is she your girlfriend?” Ji-soo asks innocently, her eyes filling with curiosity and he smiles in response, running his fingers through her hair once more before nodding.

“Yes...she is. I...she’s been daddy’s friend for a while now, and daddy really likes her. So...I want to make sure that you all are okay with that? I don’t want to bring her if you’re not going to be happy.” This is possibly one of the most awkward he’s things he’s done in a while but he preserves, hoping that his daughters will understand and accept.

“Do you love her?” Ji-eun asks and Hoseok freezes, his eyes widening. He feels it’s far too soon to confirm that for them when he’s only just telling them so he shakes his head instead, leaning over to kiss her forehead.

“I like her a lot. She makes me very happy and I want you all to get to meet her. She’s excited to meet you if you want to. But it’s only if you want to.” There’s silence for a few moments more before the twins nod enthusiastically with smiles that resemble his own so much.

“Okay daddy.” They both respond at the same time, causing him to chuckle as that odd twin telepathy happens again. It weirded him out sometimes but it mostly just made him glad that they had each other.

Soo-ah hasn’t responded and he looks down at her, noting the way her eyes are downcast and her body is tight. His heart sinks slightly, knowing that she was going to be the one that he had the most trouble with.

She was the one who remembered her mom, who vaguely remembered scenes of her mommy and daddy hugging and kissing, whispering they loved each other. It was always going to be the hardest with her, and he wondered how long it would take for her to accept it. If she ever did.

But then she surprises him with a slight shrug, her fingers tracing unseen shapes into his jean covered thigh, her lips pursed out in a tiny pout. “Okay dad.”

Her tone isn’t nearly as enthusiastic as the twins and he frowns slightly, kissing the twins goodnight and turning the lamp off before he gently encourages Soo-ah out of the room. She doesn’t speak on the way to her own bedroom, the interior of this room a soft purple that’s decorated with numerous horse posters.

Without a word, she climbs into her bed and curls up with her back to him underneath the covers. His heart clenched tightly as he sits down next to her, the mattress dipping and causing her to roll slightly towards him. Neither says anything for a moment as he simply runs his fingers through her hair gently, enjoying the way it feels and thinking about how big his little girl was getting.

“Soo-ah? Are you really okay with it? It’s okay if you’re not,” He whispered, looking away from her to the bookcase opposite him that’s filled to the brim with books. “She’s nice, I think you’ll like her. She goes horse-riding and knows so much about them.”

“What about mommy?” And there it is, the very thing he was looking forward to least. His breath leaves him in a deep and heavy sigh while his head drops down momentarily as he tries to put his thoughts together into cohesive speech. This is all very new and alien to her and he’d always known it was going to be a tougher sell to her than the twins. They’d only ever had daddy, she’d had both.

“Mommy is still here with us Soo-soo, she’s not being forgotten. I still love her so much and I know that she still loves you. Y/N isn’t going to replace mommy, I swear.” Soo-ah stays curled up, her body tight and he grits his teeth, hating that he had to go through this with her.

“What if you fall in love with Y/N and forget about mommy? I don’t want another mommy. What if she’s mean? What if she hates us and tells you that she doesn’t want us?” Wow, this is way more questions than he’d anticipated from merely asking if they’d be okay with meeting you but he got the suspicion that these were things Soo-ah had worried over for the last few years.

Which meant he had to go very carefully, otherwise things could go very wrong.

“You’re not going to get another mommy, I don’t want that for you. You had one mommy, and you always will. Y/N doesn’t want make you unhappy, she’s not expecting you to love her or treat her like a mom. She also doesn’t hate you and she would never tell me make me choose. She’s known about you all the whole time I’ve known her and she’s excited to meet you all. I’ve told her so much about my smart girls. And she’s not mean. She’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I wouldn’t bring someone into your life that I didn’t trust and like. I swear Soo-soo.”

She’s quiet for a moment longer before shrugging again, her body relaxing as she lets out a deep sigh. “Okay,” His shoulders relax as he senses the acknowledgement in that one word. “I love you daddy.”

Biting his lip, he knows that she’s still not entirely okay with it and he also knows that he’s going to have to be very careful on Saturday. He loves Soo-ah, but he knows that she can be temperamental around things like this, with valid reason, obviously. But he also knows that she doesn’t really know what to think, hence her calling him ‘daddy’, something that she hadn’t done for 3 years now.

“I love you too Soo-soo.” Bending over, he kisses her head goodnight before leaving her room too, resting his back against her door as he lets his head fall back and a deep sigh leaves him. He hopes you know how much he truly loves you with how willing he is to let you into his life, because for him and his little family, this is the biggest earthquake to strike since the death of Yoo-jin.

Only this time, he hopes that that result afterwards would be happy instead of painful.

Hoseok lets out a happy groan of delight as he bites into the greasy pizza, the tangy cheese contrasting wonderfully to the meaty pepperoni and rich tomato base. It tastes far too good and a voice in the back of his mind tuts at the wilful carbs he’s adding into his body. He’s not as young as he once was and keeping off the weight was beginning to be a little harder nowadays, but he pushed that thought firmly away.

You liked his body, even if he wasn’t as toned as he had been ten years ago. But whatever, you weren’t dating 23-year-old Hoseok and 33-year-old Hoseok didn’t give a damn when the pizza tasted this fucking good.

A light chuckle sounded from his right and he glanced over, finding you watching him with amusement dancing in your eyes while a bemused smile played on your lips as you chewed on your own slice of pizza. Once you’d realised that you’d caught his attention, you swallow your piece before leaning over to wipe at the grease on his lips with undeniable affection and his stomach felt a little bit fuzzy.

He was being honest when he said that you made him happy, because you really did. In fact, he was pretty sure that this was the happiest he had been in five years and sometimes he got a little sappy and emotional about it. So long had been spent purposefully isolating himself for his daughters that he hadn’t really understood what he was missing out on again.

But, he conceded to himself, he was glad of that as well. Because he wouldn’t have started a relationship with you if he’d started dating earlier. So he was content with his earlier decisions, content with you.

Having kids and losing a wife had really turned him way more emotional than he’d used to be, but he reasoned that it was okay. He’d just learned what it was like to lose something he loved dearly, and he had spent years regretting not loving Yoo-jin more fiercely. Which was why he was determined to make sure that you knew exactly how much he loved you, for however long you both lasted.

He would not make the same mistake twice.

“Enjoying that?” You ask him, expression mischievous as you take the pizza crust he hands you and start to eat it with a joyful hum. Hoseok simply watches for a moment before nodding with a grin.

“Do you know...how nice it is to get to eat junk food?” A snort leaves you as you roll your eyes, shifting until your back is against the cushion on the couch and you pull your legs up. You’re only wearing some bed shorts and an oversized logo shirt with the Star Wars logo on it, both faded from overwashing but still comfortable.

“Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? You’re the one who chooses the meals in your house. If you want junk food, then just eat junk food.” The way you say it is completely casual but Hoseok gasps in mock outrage, a hand resting on his chest.

“How rude! You’re supposed to be complimenting me on how wonderful of a father I am because I make sure my daughters are eating the healthiest food! Did you know, we haven’t had chocolate in our house for over a year now? Only health snacks allowed.” A droll stare is all he gets in response and he squirms slightly, trying his hardest not to let his lower lip pout out.

You were two years younger than him and also childless, yet sometimes he felt like you were the older one and also the parent.

“Blatantly false. I distinctly remember you eating a Kit Kat the other week in bed when we facetimed. I thought lying was bad Hobi?” You’ve got him there and he finally lets his lips purse before he chuckles in defeat, nodding his head.

“Okay fine, we have one day of junk food a week. But they’re not allowed anything unhealthy unless they’ve done something really good, like got a really good grade or done some chores around the house. Me on the other hand...well, let’s say I might have a secret stash hidden somewhere in the house that little girl’s can’t reach.” His hand waves airily as he speaks and you burst into laughter, reaching out with one foot to push at his thigh.

Without even thinking about it, he lowers his hand to rest on your leg and runs his fingers along your skin affectionately. There’s no pizza left anymore and instead he focuses on sliding his hands along your calf, digging into the muscles there and massaging gently until you let out a soft sigh.

Silence falls between you both, the comfortable kind where neither of you feels the need to speak. The television is playing some Netflix Original series while the lingering scent of pizza still fills the air.

He’d come over to yours for the night, enjoying the fact that he was actually able to spend the whole night with you. His parents had asked to have the girls last week tonight and he’d agreed happily, knowing that it meant he could spend more time than usual with you. Staying over was only possible when the girl’s were not home, and that was pretty rare.

Your apartment was pretty small, the size dictated by what you could afford in combination with the car you had and the salary you earnt. But he liked it all the same. It was filled with a combination of pop culture in the form of figurines and plushies everywhere alongside beautiful paintings that hung on the walls or elegant photographs of landscapes.

Candles dotted the area, a few lit to fight the pizza scent with vanilla and he smiled as he felt himself relax both physically and mentally. There was no hint of children here, no toys thrown around or crayons half hidden underneath furniture. He obviously loved his kids but sometimes it was nice to just...have somewhere that didn’t look like Toys R Us had thrown up in it.

In actuality, he found dating as an adult slightly odd. The last time he’d properly dated had been with Yoo-jin, and that had been over ten years ago. He’d been a student when they’d got together, only 21 and he’d had a young adult’s mindset to go with it too. At the time, all he cared about was his grades, partying, getting drunk and getting laid.

Not necessarily in that order.

Okay, definitely not in that order.

A job, taxes, bills, childcare, children and so forth hadn’t even entered his head really. Dating back then had simply meant meeting up with Yoo-jin after class and going back to the apartment he’d shared with Yoongi and Namjoon, fooling around for a few hours before crashing in bed. Maybe going to a party or actually doing his homework.

The most stress he’d had was exam period, or maybe that time he forgot to hand in his term paper and he’d been handed his ass by Professor Lee in History of Medieval Europe. That hadn’t been fun.

Dating had been almost...relaxing with how carefree it had been. How unburdened with the stress and realities of life.

Dating now was far different. Now he had to fit in his dates with you in his lunch breaks or the rare evening he could get someone to watch the girls. Talking was relegated to when they were in bed and a lot of the conversations often ended up being about world events or problems with a job or co-worker. It felt mundane and if he thought about it, boring, but he oddly didn’t mind.

Being with Yoo-jin in the early stages had been exciting and fun, dates being extravagant and wild. Being you was different. In Yoo-jin, he’d sought excitement but with you he sought comfort and quiet. A way to simply be Jung Hoseok, the man, again instead of being Jung Hoseok the father or colleague.

He felt a little sad that he didn’t get to experience the wildness with you, but then again, he felt far too tired for that anyway. It was only 8pm and he was already contemplating asking if you wanted to go to bed. Not even for sex, but just because he was tired.

Though he wouldn’t say no to sex.

That was definitely something that he’d discovered was perhaps even better than with Yoo-jin, which he’d felt a little guilty about at first. Sure, he perhaps couldn’t go as often as he had when he was 21 but it was just...better.

Both of you were far more experienced and knew exactly what you liked and didn’t like in the bedroom, and you were both mature enough to be honest and open about it. He’d been mortified to find out that he hadn’t actually given Yoo-jin an orgasm for six whole months because she’d been too shy to tell him whereas you’d told him exactly what to do for the very first time you’d slept together.

He’d been a little shocked actually, but it had resulted in perhaps the best sex he’d had in a long time. Particularly for two people who had never had sex with each other. And yet it had; he’d never felt such an intense and emotional connection with someone before and it had even frightened him a little bit, made him feel disloyal because he couldn’t ever remember Yoo-jin like that.

It had taken a quiet discussion with Namjoon over his guilt to realise that the sex was probably better because you were the first person he’d slept with that he’d been friends with beforehand, who he’d fallen for long before. Yoo-jin had been a one night stand that had turned into something more, but he’d known you for months.

Sex with you was some of the best he’d ever had, and it blew his mind even more because you hadn’t even had a huge amount of it in the past six months. The lack of time he had for meeting up with you meant that there just wasn’t time for it and so he’d had to fit it in where he could.

For the first time in well over ten years, he’d actually had freaking car sex. And it was not as pleasurable as he remembered. His cheeks flushed as he recalled that incident vividly. It was perhaps not his best moment sexually, but you’d both handled it so well.

it hadn’t even ended in an orgasm because you’d got cramp from bending over and he’d hit his head against you when he’d jerked forward in worry. It had ended up with you back in the passenger seat and giving him a blowjob while he’d felt guilty as hell over not being able to properly reciprocate.

But even that had proven how compatible you were with each other as only minutes later, with his cum still dripping down your face from where you’d overestimated your deep throating abilities and practically coughed it all back up, the two of you had been giggling like teenagers at the failed sex.

A snort leaves him as he remembers it and he shakes his head in response to the look of query you give him, tugging at your leg until you give in and move over to him. He smiles in victory as you curl into his side, your warmth pleasant against him while he wraps his arm around you comfortably, pressing his lips to your head and simply taking the smell of you in.

You smelt like the perfume he’d bought you for your birthday last month, a fruity candy scent because that’s what you loved above all else and he loved it. It made him want to eat you, and he felt a stirring in his groin as he considered doing just that.

“Are you sure they’re okay about tomorrow?” Your voice is soft and quiet but he can hear the insecurity behind it. He understands why. The two of you had made sure to have an in depth conversation about what would come about from you being introduced to his daughters.

You’d known that it would mean sometimes you would come to his place which would mean interacting with them on a personal level. Dates would sometimes end up being family events and they would come in tow. Quite simply, the longer you continue to date and the more the two of you settle into your relationship, the more integrated you would become into his own family.

He could hardly date you seriously and never include you with his own family. Particularly if he ever hoped to move you in one day. No, you would need to know what you were getting yourself into and needed to be accepting of that.

Just as he didn’t want to force something on his daughters, he didn’t want to force a family on you.

As much as he said to Soo-ah that you wouldn’t be replacing her mom, it would be impossible for you to not take on some mother aspects for them. Firstly, it just wouldn’t be fair to be in a long term relationship with him and never expect to do anything with his kids considering how young they were.

Secondly, you were a kind and nurturing person anyway. He had no doubt that whenever you eventually moved in, because he was pretty positive that would be happening in the future, you would want to actively try with the girls. How receptive they would be, he didn’t know.

But if you wanted to try with them then he certainly wasn’t going to stop you. If they didn’t want to reciprocate then they wouldn’t have to and he’d make sure that you knew that too.

“Well...I mean they’re only kids, so I can only really take them at what they say. The twins probably don’t understand properly but I don’t expect them to. They never got to be with Yoo-jin so, this is all new to them. For them, the only thing they’ll probably get upset is that daddy will have someone else that he’s going to pay attention to. Soo-ah though?” His tone turns a little unsure without him even meaning to and you wiggle against uncomfortably.

“She’s the one who’s going to be harder to get through to, isn’t she?” Hoseok hugs you tighter to him as the despondency in your voice and he wishes that he could take it away, but you’re right. Soo-ah is the mystery in the whole situation and she could make everything perfect or it could all fall apart.

“Yeah. She’s...she’s worried that I’m forgetting her mom or that you’ll try and replace her or something. A valid concern for her to have, but I think it’s going to take a while for her to come round to it. To everything really. To you being in our lives, to me loving someone else. It’s going to be hard on her and I wish I could make it better for her but...I can’t. I’ll just have to work with her and show her that being with you isn’t going to mean that Yoo-jin didn’t exist.”

You push up from him at that, a hand resting on his thigh and he looks deep into your eyes for a moment. He sees love for him there but also concern for his daughters combined with uncertainty for yourself and he can’t stop himself as he leans forward, pressing a soft kiss to your lips.

“I don’t want to take the place of their mom. Especially not for Soo-ah, I can’t even imagine what she went through and...that’s not what I want. I’ll try ready hard with them, I will. I swear. And I won’t get too offended or upset if they get angry at me. I know it’s a hard situation for them to get used to. It’s just been you four for a while now and I’m the interloper.” His heart warms at your words and he hugs you tighter to him, kissing your forehead hard before resting his nose against you.

“That’s why I love you. You know that? Because you care and you don’t push. I appreciate that so much. They’ll come around to it, even if they’re not happy at first. I don’t expect them to be happy, but I can’t be forced to be alone for the rest of my life just because they don’t like it. I...I feel a bit guilty saying this but...I deserve to be happy too.” A soft brush of your lips against his neck lets him know that you agree and his racing heart settles a little.

He’s nervous for tomorrow, yes, but he knows that he’s right. It’s been years of loneliness and now he’s finally ready to accept someone else. And he knows that his daughters would come to like you just as much as he does. Hoseok doesn’t expect them to love you, and he never would, but he hopes that they’ll at least come to like you.

“Anyway, let’s not focus on that right now. We’ve got that bridge to cross tomorrow. Tonight is just me and you, the last night of it being just us,” His brows wiggle suggestively and you roll your eyes in response, lips quirked up in amusement. “How about we take this to the bedroom?”

An unladylike snort leaves you as you push up from him, grabbing the pizza box and heading over to the kitchen to throw it away as he turns off the television.

“Really? You want sex already?” The exasperation in your voice causes to throw a look of outrage at the kitchen door but you’re not there to experience it so he just grins instead, grabbing both your phones and heading over to your bedroom.

“I just meant going to sleep you horndog! God, I thought men were supposed to be the ones who always thought about sex?” He calls out, biting his lip in amusement as he plugs your phone into the charger by your bed and places it on the bedside table.

The screen lights up momentarily and he grins as the lockscreen image pops up; it’s of him kissing your cheek in a park. It had been one sunny lunch and the cherry blossoms had been out in force, providing the perfect backdrop for a perfect picture.

He jumped in surprise, letting out a yelp and dropping his own phone onto the table with a clatter as two hands grip his ass firmly before they slide round to his stomach, wrapping him in a tight hug while you giggle and press kisses to his back.

“How can I not think about sex when my boyfriend is this hot?” The pink painting his cheeks is slightly embarrassing but he can’t stop the primal flush of pride at your compliment and he wants to roll his eyes at himself.

Turning around, he looks down at your pretty face and bends down to press his nose against yours in a butterfly soft kiss before catching your lips with his for a proper kiss. His arms move to wrap around you in turn, holding you tightly to him and for a few minutes, he just focuses all his efforts into exploring your mouth in a slow yet sensual kiss.

By the time he’s finished, you’re slightly breathless and he admires the dazed look in your eyes, lips swollen and the stirring in his groin he’d felt earlier becomes even more insistent. Perhaps too insistent given the way you look down at his crotch with a raised brow before glancing back up, biting your lip.

“You might want to go to bed but I want you, so how about it daddy?” He pauses, looking at you with a carefully blank face.

“As long as you never call me that ever again then sure. I think I can forego sleep for a little while longer,’ he grins broadly before stepping back. “So undress for me princess. Let me see how hot my girlfriend is.”

“Yes sir.”

“Oh...now that...I like.”

Waking up the next morning was surprisingly nice and he simply laid there for a few minutes in the quiet, taking in the way your scent saturated everything and how warm the bed felt. When he finally did open his eyes, he was met with the sight of a clock that read 8am.

Surprise flooded him for a second before he stretched out, groaning softly before smiling and simply laying there. He hadn’t woken up as late as 8am in years and it felt freaking glorious. Half of him wanted to roll over and simply go back to sleep, but he knew that his body wouldn’t let him now that he’d opened his eyes.

You on the other hand, were curled up in a ball next to him beneath the covers, your back facing him. A few ideas ran through his mind, wondering whether he should just get up and go shower or if he should spend some more time with you.

Time with you won out, as he knew it would have. He wasn’t going to turn down a morning with you without kids, no way in hell. And so without another thought, he rolled onto his side and curled up behind you, humming contentedly as the warmth of your body seeped into his own.

“Princess...priiincess,” He cooed into your ear, grinning as you shuffled slightly in his arms and let out a quiet croak in response. “Are you awake?”

There was no doubt about it, he was being a little shit right now and doing the exact thing that he whined at his own kids for doing on the weekend. But he didn’t care, because he found your response far too cute.

“No.” The pout you must have your on your face is abundantly evident and he laughs, pressing a kiss to the back of your neck. He wouldn’t kiss you, because he’d discovered that you really hated kissing with morning breath. Not that he was a fan either, but sometimes he just...wanted to kiss you really bad.

Though sometimes he had regretted it, but he just pushed those thoughts out of his mind. No, he wouldn’t kiss you today. At least...not until you’d both gotten up and brushed those pearly whites until the kiss would be minty fresh from both ends.

Instead, he just squeezed your body tighter to him and let out a quiet sigh of satisfaction. It was easy to forget how nice it was to just lay and cuddle with someone he loved; the warmth of you, the smell of you, the touch of you. It all merged together until he felt himself start to drift off once more, eyes closed and breath levelling out until you suddenly turned in his arms and he jerked awake once more.

An amused laugh left you as you looked up at him, eyes bleary with sleep while pillow lines creased your sleep swollen cheeks and his eyes narrowed playfully. “I thought you were sleeping.” He mumbled, burying his face into the slope of your neck while his hand moved to lay flat on your stomach, fingers stroking absentmindedly.

“Hard to sleep when I’ve got your hard on pressed against me.” Hoseok grunted at that, his fingers darting up to pinch at the nipple that made itself present through the thin material. A yelp left you before you laughed again, taking his hand and trapping it between your chin and shoulder.

“Don’t get too flattered. If I had a dollar for every time I woke up with an erection then I’d probably be just as poor because I’d have spent it all by now. But you get the point.” Your lower lip vanishes beneath your teeth as you hum, brow furrowing slightly.

“Are you saying that you don’t find my sleep face and morning breath attractive?” A snort leaves him as he presses his nose against your cheek, kissing the softness there slowly.

“I find you more than attractive missy, and you know that. I believe this is the first time we haven’t fucked after waking up together.” Pouting, you turn your head until you’re looking directly at him and he ducks his face slightly so that he’s not breathing directly on you. He did that once.

Once.

“Don’t give me that face. The only reason I’m not balls deep in you right now is firstly, because I need to go shower and then head home to clean up and secondly...I don’t have another condom.” Your face contorts on itself before sighing, your hand moving to brush over his boxer briefs and he lets out a hiss of breath as he feels you move against his cock.

“I could suck you off.” It’s almost innocent and he glares at you, lips pursing before he pulls away, rolling to the side and departing the bed before you can entice him any further.

“That’s not...I mean...minx.” You just grin at him before getting up yourself, letting him see the way your shirt has twisted on you in your sleep, clinging tightly to your curves. His hands clench automatically as he huffs out a breath, staring at the sight of your boy shorts that cup your ass so beautifully.

He was trying to be good here and you were ruining all his intentions.

“So...you don’t want a blowjob in the shower then?” There’s not even a chance for him to respond as you tug off your shirt, revealing the delectable sight of your breasts as they’re revealed to the morning air. Without even looking at him, you head towards the bathroom door.

Indecision fills him as he stares at the door, the straining erection in his underwear telling him to go but the logical part of his mind reminding him that he is, in fact, an adult man and not a horny teenager. But then your panties come flying through the door, landing in a heap and he lets out a deep groan before striding over.

He may be an adult, but he’s an adult who damn well likes your mouth on his cock and he is not turning that down. Not today, when later on will be stressful. Right now, it’s time to just enjoy you while he has you entirely to himself.

Inside the bathroom, he finds you merely brushing your teeth at the counter but your eyes move to land firmly on his and he desperately wishes he didn’t find it so weirdly attractive to watch the way your arm moves. But then he realises it’s what you want as your free hand slowly trails down your body, reaching the hair at the apex of your thighs.

Swallowing thickly, he lets out a slow breath before reaching around you for the toothbrush you’d given him to use here and carefully begins to brush his own teeth, trying his hardest not to look. This was not supposed to be a sexy activity, and yet here he was, eyes glued to your hand while his own hand tried to brush his teeth.

A quiet moan slips from your mouth, eyes fluttering shut and your arm shudders slightly, pausing in your movements as the fingers between your thighs work at yourself and he hisses, brushing far quicker in his haste to be done. He doesn’t want you to get all the fun, no way in hell.

Leaning over, he spits out into the sink and is suddenly reminded of all the times you’ve chosen to spit instead of swallow when you’d blown him and he has to repress the urge to giggle. Instead, he washes his mouth and realises you’re doing the same next to him, head so close to his own that he has an almost preternatural awareness of you.

Glancing up into the mirror, his breath escapes in a rush as he sees you bending over the counter, one elbow resting while your other hand moves in slow circles between your legs, now spread wider. Oh, this is just not fair, he thinks to himself before his eyes narrow.

“I thought I was getting a blowjob?” He asks, moving upright and looking down at you with an imperious brow raised.

You watch him with innocent eyes in the mirror, your own brows raising to complete the facade while you bite at your lower lip. “Did I say that? I thought you didn’t want anything.” The last syllable ends on a soft moan and his hands finds your hips without him even meaning to as your eyelids flutter shut, mouth opening in a perfect circle as soft moan leaves you.

It’s like a lightning bolt to his groin, cock aching at the sound and he realises he can hear wetness as your fingertips slide between your folds. His own fingers itch with the need to take over, to feel that slickness and rub till you’re breaking apart against him.

“Well...it’d take a strong man to turn this down princess,” Moving behind you, he presses his front to your back firmly and mouths a hot kiss to your shoulder, tongue working slowly before he looks back up into the mirror and smirks at how you watch him with those needy eyes. “I’m not that strong.”

Without another word, his arm comes around to your front and he pushes your hand out of the way, his own delving into the gap and his fingers finally rub against your clit. You’re already slippery with your own desire, worked up from your own touch while you’d been safe in the knowledge that he was carefully watching.

Your head falls back against his shoulder, even at this awkward angle with you bent over the counter but he just focuses on kissing and sucking at the sensitive skin of your shoulder and neck. He makes sure not to leave any marks on your neck but he’s more than giving with his attention, his free hand moving around to massage your breasts firmly, playing with your nipple till you push back against him.

“Condom…” The word is panted out from you, your hips gyrating against the firm touch of his fingers on your engorged nerves and he doesn’t even notice it at first. Not until you’re shifting position, trying to reach over to the drawer by your side. He pauses in his movements, fingers half inside you at this point and watches as you tug open a drawer and pull out a foil wrapper.

Looking back in the mirror at you, his brows raised in a combination of surprise, amusement and mild rebuke. “Wow...you really are a little minx, huh? Keeping condoms in the bathroom and not telling me. I’d say naughty girl but right now, I approve.”

A low laugh leaves you as you tear the foil with your teeth, pulling the condom out and handing it back to him. He kicks off his underwear quickly before giving himself a few firm strokes, breath coming a little quicker from the friction but he’s more than excited to be inside you already. It’s not even been 12 hours since the last time he’d fucked you.

Once on, he reaches between your legs once more and plunged two fingers inside of you, checking that you’re more than wet enough for him without needing to get any lubrication. Sometimes you needed it, sometimes you didn’t. Today appeared to be a didn’t, and he wondered if you had some kink of mirror sex kink because you were already near enough dripping for him.

Grinning, he lined up his cock and rubbed the tip against you, rocking his hips forwards and back in slow motions to let your juices coat his cock. The sensation has you gasping softly, causing your own hips to push back as you try and shift enough to find the right angle to get him to slip inside.

He lets you take control for a moment, watching intently as your pussy finds his tip, the engorged head slipping into your sopping entrance. Holding your ass with his hands, he slows your movements down and slowly penetrates you until he’s balls deep inside, breath leaving him in a slow and controlled exhale as you squeeze tightly around him.

His eyes roll slightly at the sensation and he can’t help but grip your ass harder, tutting slightly. As said, you’d already had sex in the last twelve hours and it had been two rounds worth. He’d been proud of himself for producing two performances like that in such quick succession but he had no doubt that you were feeling at least a little bit sore right now so he tried to go slow for you.

Turns out you didn’t want slow and a soft, keening whine leaves your mouth as you try to push back against him harder. Glancing into the mirror, he has to bite his lower lip to stay quiet as he watches the pleasure filled expression face back at him, your eyes screwed tightly shut while your mouth falls open.

The thrusts he makes into you might be slow, but they’re also deep and each movement has you jerking forwards slightly. It causes your breasts to rock with each slap of his hips against your ass and he watches, entirely mesmerised by the movement and wanting to see how you react when he’s fucking you harder.

“Hobi.” You mewl, the sound strained and yet oddly high pitched as one hand moves back to grasp at his hip, trying to pull him into moving faster in combination with your squirming ass and he brings down the flat of his hand on your rounded cheeks chidingly. The sound is loud in the quiet of the room but your inner muscles immediately grip in tighter, the sensation causing him to choke for a moment and his brows rise in amusement.

Well, someone liked being spanked. He was definitely going to remember that for future events.

Any hope he had of being gentle with you to avoid soreness is gone though and it’s clear to him that you’re wanting it harder and faster than he’s going. So he decides to give you it, his hips moving forward faster until the bathroom is filled with the lewd sounds of skin against skin, slick wetness, breathy pants and lust filled groans and moans.

“Come on princess,” He grunts deeply, kissing your shoulder before his arms slide around your waist. One pushes against the counter, giving him extra balance as he thrusts while the other dips back between your legs, the slippery mess there making your soft warmth even more delightful.

The combined touch of his fingers and cock increases your moans, though they’re more like vocal hitches of breath that whine with stroke inside you. Your own hand moves to press down on his own, rubbing furious, tight circles into your clit while he continues to slam into you. The wetness has to be leaking down your thighs now, coating your inner legs and the thought turns him on almost as much as the completely fucked out visage he gets to watch in the mirror.

Breath coming quickly, he pants into your ear before moving his lips down to kiss at your neck frantically as the pleasure in his groin tightens furiously, the need to move faster and harder so strong as he feels the impending release of his orgasm. He desperately wants you to come first, but sometimes that just doesn’t happen and he can’t help it as your pussy flutters around him once more, tightening viciously and he succumbs to the waves of pleasure that flood through his body.

A long and drawn out moan leaves his mouth, high and filled with pure satisfaction and carnal pleasure as he moves inside you slowly, pulling every bit of pleasure he can out from your warm depths before it feels too much for him. Hissing lightly at the overstimulation, he refuses to move as his fingers move back to your clit, rubbing at you in quick, fast movements that have you shivering in his arms as needy moans leave you.

Tiny movements of your hips as they gyrate and the clenching of your pussy has him whining quietly but he doesn’t move, determined to get you off as well. Sometimes it didn’t happen and you’d push his hand away, but this time you keep him firmly against him until your body seizes tightly around him, muscles stiffening before convulsions take over.

His cock slips from you in the midst of your orgasm but you don’t notice, not when his fingers keep moving and prolonging the pleasure until your hips shift away from his hand, the subtle movement telling him to let go. Heavy panting is all that remains in the room and he strips the condom quickly, throwing it away before wrapping his arms around you and hugging you to him tightly once more.

“Fuck...I was not intending that. I was trying to be good.” He mumbles against your shoulder, not noticing the way you give him a tired smile of affection in the mirror as your hand comes up to run through his messy hair.

“I didn’t want you to be good. I wanted you to fuck me good and hard, and you did. So thank you.” You murmur, turning around and pressing a kiss to his lips firmly. Neither of you move for a few moments, simply enjoying the post-coital bliss of an orgasm induced intimacy before Hoseok finally pulls away with a contented noise.

“Okay princess, now that we’ve got even more dirty...let’s finally take that shower.”

Hoseok finally manages to leave your house an hour and a half later, meaning that he’s running behind on his own internal schedule and he feels the slight anxiety that he always does when he’s not being on time. With three kids, he’s had to learn to strictly regiment his time if he ever wants to get anything accomplished.

Whether they obey or not is a different story entirely.

After getting out of the shower and pulling on some clothes, he’d then been forced to sit down on your couch while you cooked him a quick breakfast. The very idea of having food cooked for him by someone who wasn’t his mom was bizarre after so many years, but he’d enjoyed eating the over cooked toast and bacon more than he’d like to admit.

He’d originally intended to run out to the grocery store and grab the food for dinner before heading back home and cleaning everything up. Only you’d looked far too anxious about tonight when he’d been on his way out, shooting multiple questions at him that gave away your nerves and he’d felt sympathy swell.

It was easy for him to focus on his girls and worry about their reaction, but he had to try and remember that this meeting involved you as well. And you were at a severe disadvantage in that you are the odd one out, the one intruding into his family unit.

So he’d found himself asking if you wanted to help him before he’d even realised. Part of him felt bad about it as it meant that the girl would be coming home to someone they don’t know, but he figured that they already knew they were meeting you anyway. It would at least allow you to calm yourself down and get a little more comfortable in his home before you finally meet his daughters.

Which was why he was currently walking down the aisle of the grocery store, hand tightly entwined with yours as he pondered what to make for dinner. He was actually glad that you were here for that and he posed the question to you, causing you to hum lightly as you lean into him.

“What do the girls like?” The question throws him a little and he frowns, looking at the rows of microwaveable rice before glancing back at you.

“Well...what do you want to eat though? You’re the reason we’re having a special dinner.” He can hear the soft sigh you give, your head resting against his shoulder and his chest warms at the small gesture of affection. It might not seem much to others but to someone as romantically starved as him, it was unbelievably fulfilling.

Pulling away from him, you move back until you’re gently tugging at him to move and he follows you quietly. “No, we’re going to cook what your daughters love to eat because this is going to be an awkward time for them and their favourite home cooked meal will be one less thing they have to worry about. So what do they like to eat?”

His heart flips at the concern and warmth in your voice, causing him to smile as he glances down, tugging you closer and kissing your forehead quickly. “We’ll make lasagne, they all like that and it’ll give us plenty of food. You like that right? And I know you like garlic bread.”

You grin impishly at that, nodding enthusiastically and he chuckles. “I’ll go get the stuff for the bread, you get the stuff for the lasagne yeah? Should I…” A pause causes him to look at you with a raised brow, watching the indecision flutter across your face before carrying on. “Should I get them anything? Like...a present or...chocolate or something?”

“No, don’t get them anything. I mean maybe you should but...I don’t personally like the idea. I don’t want them to feel like you’re trying to buy their affection and love. Just...be yourself.” There’s a brief hesitation before you nod almost shyly, arm moving to cover your stomach in a protective gesture before you head off in search of the ingredients.

Time seems to move faster after that and before he realises it, it’s already time for him to go collect the girls from his parents. The house had been fully tidied and cleaned, though he’d wondered why on earth he was doing that when you were literally cleaning it with him but something he’d discovered today was that apparently you had a strange kink for cleaning.

Not even sexual, you just liked to clean. He’d laughed when he’d discovered that, your excitement at the Dyson vacuum cleaner he’d produced spurring on the new revelation and he’d proclaimed that he had a house that would bring you eternal joy.

Three children meant there was no such thing as a clean house, just organised chaos. And sometimes not even organised, just plain chaos.

But true to your word, you hadn’t uttered a single complaint and had instead sung loudly to the music he’d played on the speakers that were connected to his phone. He’d had a whole moment of affectionate bemusement as he’d watched you wiggle around the living room, singing while you even dusted for him.

There had been a few moments of quietness from you when you’d noted the pictures of Yoo-jin on the mantle of the fireplace. He kept a few dotted around the house for the girls and he’d worried for a moment that you’d feel jealous or annoyed.

Instead, you’d simply picked up the silver framed wedding photograph, taking note of the younger Hoseok in a suit and the pretty girl in a beautiful wedding dress next to him, both smiling so brightly with a small Soo-ah in his arms. It was his favourite picture of Yoo-jin and he still felt a bubble of love for her when he looked at it.

Which is why he hoped you wouldn’t be mean. And you hadn’t been, instead looking at him with a small smile and carefully placing the frame onto the floor before moving the others as well. “She was beautiful.”

And then you’d knelt down on the floor and carefully polished the frames until they were spotless, giving them a level of care and attention that had him having to leave the room so that you couldn’t see the tears in his eyes.

Once he’d recovered himself, he’d gone back in and sorted out storing the many toys away while telling you stories behind some of the pictures and preening ever so slightly over how you cooed over the photos of his daughters. Damn right they were cute.

Now though, he was shrugging on a jacket and picking up his car keys to go get them and bring them home. It’s only when he looks back round that he sees the way your shoulders are curled inwards, making yourself small while your hands cross over your chest.

Moving back over, he hugs you tightly to him before kissing your forehead as your chin rests on his chest, nerves evident in every part of you. “Hey, come on. It’ll be okay. Remember, if they don’t respond well tonight then it’s just the first time. Don’t take it to heart.”

“I know. It’s just...I don’t really know what to do, you know? Never met my boyfriend’s kids before.” A quiet laugh leaves him before he dips down, pressing his lips to your own in a quick kiss.

“I love you,” He turns around and heads to the door, knowing that you’re probably going to end up cleaning something else. Part of him wonders if he should have you leave and come back in half an hour but that seems stupid. So he shakes his head and opens the door, looking back at you and smiling. “Please, try and relax a little.”

“Okay. Love you.”

Pulling into the driveway, Hoseok takes a deep breath to fortify his nerves before glancing into the mirror to check on the twins in the backseat. His parents had, as expected, spoilt all three and the twin’s were coming home with Funko figures each to put on their shelves while Soo-ah had a ridiculously thick book of horse breeds.

One day, he worried that he might be expected to buy her a horse. He didn’t like horses, and he certainly didn’t want to own one. You were currently convincing him to let her have horse riding lessons and he was considering it as her Christmas present, but he still worried immensely that she would get hurt.

Still, she was slowly proving that it wasn’t a phase and he knew that he was going to have to relent sooner rather than later. He didn’t want to be the dad who stifled her passions and dreams, even if it could potentially cause interest.

“Okay everyone, we’re back. Now...as I said before, Y/N is already here. She helped me to make dinner and clean the house for you guys! So it’s all clean. Ideally, I’d like you to keep it clean but I know you rascals,” He eyes the twins at that and they both give him identical toothy grins. “Are probably going to mess it all up.”

“Grandma was excited.” Ji-eun blurts out, her expression mischievous as if she was fully aware that she was tattling on his own mother. He can’t help the smile that spreads as he imagines his mom gushing to them. She’d spent years now trying to get him to finally move on, so needless to say, she’d been beyond ecstatic when he’d told her last week that he was going to introduce the girls to you.

“Grandma needs to learn to keep her nose out,” He mused quietly before laughing. “Anyway, I’m just going to ask one last time...please be good for me? Be on your best behaviour and be polite. You don’t have to like her, but I did not raise rude girls, right?”

The stern look he gives the twins causes them to give him carefully blank faces as they nod slowly. He eyes them for a moment longer, knowing that trouble was never far with them, before turning to Soo-ah. She sits next to him in the passenger seat quietly, arms wrapped around the book and her hair in low pigtails.

“Soo-ah?” She tenses slightly when he says her name before looking at him, her brown eyes filled with so many emotions he didn’t understand. But despite all that, she nods slowly while her lips purse out.

Before he can say anything else, the twins are rushing out of the car and bolting over towards the door. He swore under his breath before getting out of the car himself, watching with resignation as they rush inside.

Looking back at Soo-ah, he sees her quietly getting out and closing the door in a much more gentler fashion than her excitable sisters. Hoseok can’t help but walk over to her, crouching down and looking up at her as he takes one of her hands gently between his own. The fact he has to look up at her now while crouching makes him sad, yet he’s so proud of her too.

“Soo-soo...if you don’t want to do this then you can tell me. You don’t have to meet her. I can ask her to go home, or I can take you back to your grandparents if you want. I’m not going to force you to do something that you don’t want to do, okay?” The only sounds for a few moments are the chirping of the birds in the trees that line the street and a car engine in the distance.

“It’s okay dad. She can stay. I’ll meet her.” His brow creases and he reaches up to run his hand down her hair slowly.

“Are you sure?” One more time, just to make doubly sure because he knows his daughter well. And he knows that she’s not entirely happy, but what can he do when she’s verbally telling him it’s okay? He’s giving plenty of chances for her to back out and he wouldn’t be mad at her. Sad, yes, but not angry.

“Yes daddy.” And with that, she heads into the house as well. He’s left to stand there, face grimaced as he wonders if he should just call it all off. But then he suddenly realises that you’re on your own in there, with his daughters.

“Shit.” He curses and runs inside, faltering in the doorway that leads into the living room. The twins are sat on the couch while Soo-ah is in the arm chair, all three quiet and looking at you like you’re something fascinating. They’re pretty relaxed whereas you’re stiff as a board in the doorway to the kitchen, a brittle smile on your face that turns into one of relief when you see him.

“Hey err...we’re back? Obviously. Erm, okay well. Girls, this is Y/N, my...girlfriend,” He doesn’t really know if he’s meant to be introducing you as that or just his friend, but they’d already figured it out the other night anyway. “Y/N, this is my eldest daughter, Soo-ah. And this is Ji-soo with her hair down and Ji-eun with her hair in a ponytail.”

“Hello Y/N.” The twins said at the same time, their voices light and whimsical and he almost hisses at how creepy they sound. They’re doing it purposefully, he can see the shine in their eyes because they know people find it weird when they do that. Soo-ah simply gives a polite hello of her own, dipping her head ever so slightly in welcome.

“Hi...erm,” He can tell that you’re struggling to say something and he so desperately wants to go over and place a reassuring arm around you. But he can’t, because he feels he should be with the girls instead. “It’s nice to meet you all. Your dad has told me so much about you.”

The sudden ringing of an alarm in the kitchen interrupts whatever else you were about to say and Hoseok jerks, eyes glancing behind you to the room. “Okay, girls...clean up and then come to the table. Be quick, we’re having lasagne.”

That gets a bright smile from all three as they jump up and rush towards the bathroom situated downstairs, eager to wash their hands before going into the dining room. You’d set the table earlier for him once he’d shown you where everything was and even now, you were helping him by bringing some of the food into the room.

His daughters were smiling in delight as he served the lasagne out to them, his own stomach rumbling at the smell and he realised belatedly that neither you nor him had eaten since breakfast. The plate you place down with garlic bread is soon emptied, with Hoseok making sure to grab two pieces and place one on your own plate.

It’s odd, having five people at the table instead of three, he thinks to himself as he sits down after handing you the plate with your own lasagne. All of them are used to it being just the four of them, with Soo-ah normally sitting next to Hoseok while the twins sit opposite. But today, Hoseok is sat at the end of the table with Soo-ah next to him on the right while you’re next to him on the left.

It unnerves him a little, taking this weird head of the table position but he doesn’t mention it as he takes a mouthful of lasagne. A quiet hum of appreciation comes from you and he glances over, chewing and smiling at the way your eyes close in delight.

“Daddy! Ji-soo has more than me!” Ji-eun complains before shrieking as her sister pinches her arm. Already, Hoseok has visions of a full fight blowing up between the two because if they’re not being sweet with each other then they’re having astonishing fights and Ji-eun is already turning around to retaliate.

“Hey! What did I say earlier? Best behaviour. Do not fight.” Hoseok hisses at them, eyes narrowing as he gestures a finger at them. Both girls slump down in their chairs, sauce covered lips pursing as they glare at each other.

And then, as always with their contradictory nature, Ji-soo carefully cuts a piece of lasagne and places it on her sister’s plate without a word. Ji-eun smiles happily and eats it, doing a little butt wiggle dance in her seat in victory and Hoseok has to fight the urge to laugh at them.

Glancing at you, he notes your widened eyes at his sudden rebuke and his cheeks heat up. “Sorry. You get used to it. They’re either working together to cause trouble or they’re fighting with each other.”

You nod slowly at his explanation before a wry smile spreads, eyes flicking back over to the girls who are now sat being good as gold. “It’s okay. I had a friend in high school who was a twin. They had the worst fights but you did not want to come between them. It must be nice to have someone who will always be there for you.”

“You know someone with a twin too?!” Ji-soo exclaims loudly, her pretty eyes going wide with astonishment and Hoseok doesn’t even bother to stop his laugh this time. They’d never met any other twins before and they knew from people’s reactions that they were pretty special.

“I did! I’m not friends with them anymore but she had a twin brother, not a sister like you two. They had a special language that they would talk in and only they understood it.” At that, Ji-eun is the one to squeal in excitement as she claps her hands.

“We do! Daddy hates it when we do.” He grumbles good naturedly at that, pointing at them with his fork before taking another bite of lasagne with a grin.

“Yeah, it was very strange listening to them. But that’s special though, it means that only you two will ever be able to understand it so it’s something that only you share.” They nod slowly, smiling brightly at your encouragement and his heart warms at how they seem to be pretty accepting of you so far.

His eyes flicker to Soo-ah who’s eating methodically, keeping quiet. She’s always been a quiet girl, but he feels like the silence is more oppressive this time and he chews slowly, wondering how to get her involved too.

You’re talking to the twins now about your favourite Marvel movie, because he’d told you all about their love of the superhero genre and it was a pretty easy way to win favour with them. It seemed to be working too, as Ji-soo was sidling up to you as close as she could get in her chair, her eyes stern with concentration as she discusses in her five-year-old language why she thinks that Black Panther is the best movie.

Which is then countered by Ji-eun’s outraged shout as she disagrees vehemently, proclaiming that the best film is obviously Captain Marvel because she’s a girl and she’s cool and powerful. It leaves him to smile as he rolls his eyes, you throwing your own hat into the ring with the suggestion that your own favourite film is the first Avengers.

He contemplates if he should have warned you about the fact that they’ll never stop talking now that you’ve shown an interest in their favourite subject ever. At least he’d never really mentioned their second passion lately which was Pokemon.

Admittedly, he was on board with both of these passions but he’d spent so long now discussing them with two overly eager daughters that the very subjects inspired more of a sigh than excitement. Though he would still be taking them to see every film that came out.

“Soo-ah, did you know that Y/N goes horse riding? She even used to do show jumping in high school.” He gestures towards you with an overly bright smile, hoping that discussing his eldest’s favourite passion would encourage her to engage with you in the same way.

All he gets is a sullen look and a shrug before she puts another forkful in her mouth. Despair fills him momentarily but he’s surprised when you take the initiative and take up the conversation he’d suggested. He hadn’t even realised you were listening to him.

“I did! I used to go to competitions on the weekends with my horse, Artemis. She was a really good jumper but I wasn’t very good with her unfortunately. We never really won anything but it was just for fun. Now I just ride whenever I get time. Artemis is pretty old now so we just go trail riding.” Hoseok smiles as your eyes light up as you discuss your horse.

He knew that you were expecting to lose her any time now and it would probably hugely devastate you. After all, you’d had her since you were only 14 and she was still here, 17 years later.

“Cool.” Is the only response he gets from his daughter and he has to bite his tongue in frustration. He’d known that she was going to be the hard one to crack, but he didn’t think she was going to be this cold about it all.

“I think you’d like Artemis, Soo-soo. She’s a...Dutch Warmblood?” He looks at you in question, relieved when you nod in confirmation before he’s smiling back at his daughter. “You told me about those, right? They’re supposed to be really good at that kind of stuff? Maybe, if you want, Y/N will let you ride her.”

“Of course, she’s really sweet and she’d be good for someone who’s never ridden. She’s old now but as long as you’re not mean with her then she’d be happy to take you round a ring. I think that you’d find her very pretty. She used to be dapple grey but is now just pretty much white.” You say with a smile, turning your head as Ji-soo asks if she can ride too.

“I don’t care.” Soo-ah says suddenly, her voice firm and raised and Hoseok looks at her sharply. Her cheeks are flushed while her brows dip inwards, annoyance and anger written all over her face. “I don’t care about your stupid horse or your stupid riding. I don’t care!”

The silence at the table is awkward after that and Hoseok feels numb, unsure what he’s supposed to do to resolve this situation. So he carefully places his cutlery down on his cleared plate and coughs quietly, giving Soo-ah a smile.

“Soo-ah, sweetheart. It’s okay-” He’s cut off immediately though, as if a switch has been flipped in her.

“Stop saying that! It’s not going to be okay! Because she’s going to come here and ruin everything! You’re going to forget about mom and we have to accept her! I won’t! I don’t care about you! I hate you!” She spat viciously at you but despite her anger, there’s tears brimming in her eyes and Hoseok has never felt more helpless. “I don’t want to talk to you! My dad might love you but I won’t! I never will! I love my mom!”

And with that, she slams her chair out of the way and storms out of the room. The thundering of her feet on the stairs as she runs to her room is soon followed by the resounding slam of her bedroom door and Hoseok feels stunned.

Blinking for a few moments, he watches as the twins faces crease slightly and he can see the tears in their own eyes as uncertainty and fear fills them. They glance between him, you and the doorway and he knows they don’t know what to do.

Are they supposed to be angry with you too, like their sister? He doesn’t want that, and so he clears his tight throat and smiles at them both, a little stiff but they still relax a little.

“It’s okay. Soo-ah’s...not happy about me bringing Y/N here. And she’s allowed to feel that, I’m not mad at her,” Okay, so he was a little bit as she’d just been incredibly rude and mean but it was already fading because most importantly, he understood her. “If you aren’t happy either, then you can tell me. It’s okay.”

Ji-soo looks at him, her beautiful brown eyes shining with unshed tears that she wipes away with a firm hand before shaking her head. “I’m okay daddy. Is Soo-ah okay?”

“She...will be. I’m sure. She’s just...it’s hard for her.” He smiles slightly, moving into Soo-ah’s chair to brush a few strands of hair out of Ji-eun’s face as she watches him quietly. Without even saying anything, she shuffles closer and leans against his side.

“Because she had mommy right?” The question is quiet and his throat feels so tight that it’s hard to swallow. They may only be five, but his twins are so smart and caring.

“Yeah, because she had mommy. So she remembers her, and she’s just worried. But we’re not gonna forget about mommy. She will always be important, okay?” He presses his lips to Ji-eun’s head, kissing her hair before looking at Ji-soo and giving her a reassuring smile.

They’re both quiet for a moment before nodding, and his heart swells with emotion as Jisoo turns to you and takes your hand in her own small ones. “It’s okay. We like you.”

He doesn’t get to see your reaction as he’s looking back at the doorway, wondering if he should go to her and check that she’s doing okay or just let her cool down. On the one hand, he doesn’t want her to feel suffocated when she’s obviously upset but at the same time, he doesn’t want her to feel like he’s abandoning her.

“Go.” You whisper and he looks back sharply, catching your eye as you gesture your head to the door. “It’s okay. Go.”

He stands up and goes to make a move before hesitating, uncertainty in him. You give him another nod and he lets out a deep sigh as his shoulders fall.

“I’ll be right back,” Hoseok smiles awkwardly, mouth stiff as he avoids your eyes. “Be good girls okay? I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He bends down and kisses the twin’s heads, taking in their expression to make sure they’re okay and feeling a bit of relief as their faces are cautiously neutral.

“It’s okay Hoseok, go check on her. I’ll be okay. I’m sure that we can find something fun to do, right?” You give him a tight smile, nerves evident as you look back at the twins with tentative hope. They’d reacted pretty well to Soo-ah’s outburst but he was worried that they might be mean while he was gone. But you give him a ‘go’ look and he knows that you can look after yourself.

So he heads out, feeling a little bad that he’s leaving the table but he has to at least check on Soo-ah. He isn’t sure if he’s supposed to be ignoring her or not but that feels wrong in his gut. She’s already worried about things he doesn’t even know yet, he’d rather not add to that by not coming to see her. At least she knows that her dad is always there for her, even when she doesn’t want him.

Her door is firmly closed and he stands outside it for a moment, hands clenching and unclenching as he’s unsure what to do now. This isn’t a conversation he really knows how to have, but he takes it as a positive really. It at least means that her life since Yoo-jin’s death hasn’t been too tumultuous.

Taking a deep breath, he raps his knuckles against the door quietly and leans forward, his ear almost pressed to the door. “Soo-ah? It’s dad...are you okay?”

Silence answers him and his stomach sinks. He desperately wants to go in and comfort her, make her smile or just talk to her about her concerns but he’s been very clear over the years about their personal space. A closed door means that he can’t enter without their permission.

It might seem a little extreme given young they all are, but as the only male in the house he felt it was necessary to set those boundaries. When their door was closed, he wouldn’t go in unless invited. They’d grown to be pretty respectful of that for him as well and he was immensely relieved at the high levels of trust they all had with each other all ready.

They needed to know that they had a space that was private and safe, only for them. Which is why he lets out yet another deep sigh, his forehead resting against the white painted wood. It’s at moments like this that he wishes Yoo-jin were still here, so that she can help.

A flash of guilt runs through him then, both for wishing that she was alive when it meant he wouldn’t be with you but also because he is here with his daughters and Yoo-jin isn’t. Swallowing, he pushes that thought away before trying again.

“Soo-soo...I’m not...I’m not mad at you. I know you, and I know that you’re not mean or cruel. You’re just...I know this is confusing for you, and it’s hard. I’m not angry, and neither is Y/N. We understand, but I wish you’d talk to me. Please, let me know what’s upsetting you exactly.” Hoseok really isn’t sure what he’s meant to be saying to her but he’s speaking the truth; he isn’t mad with her.

He was at first, when the biting words spilled out of her. Firstly because he was simply shocked that his daughter could be that rude and mean but then secondly because he’d seen the hurt that had flashed over your face at her blunt rejection. But that had gone quickly when he’d seen the film of tears that had glazed over his little girl’s eyes and he’d known that she only lashing out because she was confused and scared.

“Soo-soo…” His voice trailed off, uncertainty over what to do when he heard noises from inside and his heart jumped a little.

“Go away dad,” Soo-ah’s voice was strained and he could practically hear the tears, causing his face to grimace as his paternal instincts screamed at him to go to his hurting daughter. “Leave me alone.”

“Soo-ah...sweetheart…”

“Go away!” The words are shrill and he closes his eyes, feeling his whole body drain of energy as he recognises a losing battle. Well, no one can say he didn’t at least try. And at least he’s come to her, even if she doesn’t want him there. It’s not even one of those scenarios where she’s telling him to go away but he can tell she actually wants him there.

This is one of those times when she evidently wants to be left alone. So he will, for now at least.

“Okay Soo-ah, I’ll go. But I’m downstairs if you need me. Just come, or call, and I’ll come up okay? I’m not mad, you can talk to me,” He rests his hand on the door, trying to push through his love and affection to her. “I love you.”

With that, he lets his shoulders slump in defeat, waiting a few moments longer to see if she would come out before walking back down the hall. As much as he’d love to sit and wait her out, he has two other daughters that he needs to be worrying about. Two twin five-year-old’s, actually, who he’s left alone with you.

The realisation causes him to pause, eyes widening as he realises the carnage he could have potentially left you with. They’re handfuls with him, and he at least has the authority to ground them or tell them off. He can’t even imagine how easily they’re running you around.

Rushing down the stairs, he moves into the dining room only to pause in confusion, noting the suspiciously clean table. Heading through to the kitchen, he hears the dishwasher running and is even more confused.

The girl’s don’t know how to use the dishwasher, which must mean that you’d put them in there for him. Guilt rises immediately as he realises that you’ve cleaned up dinner for him, giving him one less thing to do. He appreciates it, but at the same time, he can’t help but think his mom would be scolding him right now.

You’re a guest in his house. Therefore, you should not be cleaning up after yourself. He should be doing that for you.

A sudden peal of bright, girlish laughter from the living room distracts him and he headed through the doorway in pursuit of it. The scene he comes across makes him pause in surprise, head tilting for a moment before a smile spreads and he rests his shoulder against the frame.

None of them have seen him yet, but the twins had you down on the floor with them as they showed you their expansive toy collection. Currently, they had the whole set of Avengers dolls along with others he’d bought for them from the Marvel collection. They were most definitely superhero girls, and currently they were fighting over who got to play as Captain Marvel.

Despite the fact they had three versions of her, but he’d discovered over the years that if one of them wanted something then the other wanted it twice as much. You were sat between them both, a bemused smile on your face as you held a Shuri and Black Panther doll in each hand, looking them over intently.

“Hey, hey! Come on now, let’s not fight, yeah? How about...neither of you be Captain Marvel because you’re both fighting? Why not be someone else? Shuri’s really cool,” You wiggle the doll with a grin, brows raising as you raise her arms up and pretend to fire lasers like in the film. “And then we’ve also got Nebula!”

“Nebula’s bad!” Ji-soo pouted, flopping down onto her butt and crossing her arms. Ji-eun pushed her immediately, laughing loudly as her sister fell over.

“Nebula’s cool! I wanna be her.” She grabbed the doll from you quickly and grinned up at you, pushing the sheet of black hair out of her eyes and behind her ear. He really did need to get their hair cut. It was a mess of tangles as usual right now, causing him to sigh as he knew how much of a struggle it was to get them to sit still and have their hair brushed.

“Nuh-uh, Shuri’s the best. She’s smart. I’m smarter than you.” Hoseok has to bite his lower lip to keep the chuckle inside that so desperately wants to escape as he watches your face fall slightly as they begin to fight once more. Welcome to his world, he thinks to himself, fully amused.

“Hey now, what have I told you both about fighting?” He says sternly, heading into the room and standing over them both with raised brows. There’s absolutely no need to look at you, because he’s fully aware that he’s using his dad voice right.

And he was equally aware of your thoughts about his ‘dad’ voice, given all the times he’d been on the phone with you and suddenly had to to tell them off, or when he’d given them their goodnight call when they were with their grandparents. It had made him embarrassed at first, to realise his voice changed that much but you’d just been thoroughly amused.

Ji-soo immediately smiles at him, rushing up to her feet and running over to him with Shuri clasped tightly in her hand. He laughed loudly and came back over with her, small hand clasped tightly in his own as she directed him to sit on the floor next to you. Looking over at you with a small smile, he leans over and whispers to you.

“Thank you for cleaning up, but you really didn’t have to.”

“Hoseok, I was alone with twin five-year-old’s that I don’t know. When I’m anxious, I clean. Besides, it wasn’t any trouble and they wanted to help.” His brows rose at that and he looked back at the twin’s, taking in the sloping noses that resembled his own so strongly.

“Wow...so it’s just daddy that you won’t help, huh?” Pressing a hand to his chest, he pouts dramatically in a wounded tone that has Ji-eun giggling as she launches herself at him and settles in his lap. She’s getting too big to be doing this, but he won’t complain. One day, she won’t do it all.

“Daddy said we have to be good.” His heart warmed at that and an immense flush of pride swelled deep within, pressing a kiss to her head in pure paternal love. Glancing back at you, his cheeks flushed slightly at the look of adoration you give him and he just knows that you’re internally screaming at his interaction.

“So. If you’re Nebula, and Ji-soo is Shuri...then what can Y/N and I be? What about...if I’m Captain Marvel?” Ji-eun gasps loudly, shaking her head furiously and he splutters out a mouthful of hair as her ponytail smacks him firmly in the face.

“No daddy! You can’t. You have to be Iron Man!” He lets out another gasp, not actually bothered because Iron Man was cool but he’d actually wanted to be Captain Marvel. The film was great, sue him.

“Why? Because I’m a boy!” Yet he doesn’t push away the Iron Man doll, he calls them dolls purely because figurine is probably too hard for them to say to right now. The red and gold figurine is well used, scratches and dents marring the plastic surface from the intense playing they’d given him over the years.

Which included seeing if he could fly by throwing him out of the window onto the drive. That would have just gotten an eye roll from him normally, except they’d thrown him with some force and he’d landed firmly on Hoseok’s car. Who would have known that such a small toy would cause such a scratch on the windscreen?

“No daddy, because Y/N can be Pepper.” Ji-soo hands you a doll, smaller than the others and from the Iron Man 3 film but just as good. You take it from her with a gracious smile but he can see the confusion in your eyes as to why you have to be Pepper Potts and not one of the other superheroes.

He doesn’t even think to question the fact that his kids that are doing that odd thing where they both seem to know exactly what the other is thinking.

“Why Pepper? Why can’t she be Captain Marvel if I can’t?” Playfully, he pushes at the doll in Ji-eun’s hands and she giggles sweetly, looking up at him with those warm brown eyes that he loves so dearly.

“Because Iron Man loves Pepper, and you love Y/N.” Well...there’s not much room for argument there really. His cheeks once more flush red as he steadfastly avoids your eyes, oddly embarrassed at his daughters for outing him so thoroughly to you. You knew he loved you obviously, but the easy acceptance with which they react makes him feel a little odd.

He doesn’t really know why, but he pushes it away and takes a deep breath. “Okay sweetpea. Now then...what bad guy are we fighting?”

Soo-ah doesn’t come down for the rest of the night, nor does she let Hoseok into her room whenever he comes to check on her. It fills him with worry and he knows that he spends most of the night looking at the ceiling in anxiety.

He knows that, because he’s had more than a few comforting touches or smiles from you throughout the evening. An hour of playing with the twins had soon turned into them sitting with both Hoseok and you on the couch while episodes of Pokemon played on the flat screen television.

They seemed to have got along with you pretty well, and while they certainly weren’t being overly accommodating, they had been open enough that he got the impression that everything was going to be pretty okay with them. You had enough common interests with them to keep them entertained and he had the added benefit of them both being influenced by each other.

So if one really liked you, then the other would come around soon.

Ji-soo in particular seemed to be the one that he suspected would latch onto you with a few more visits. She was already more than enamoured in the stories you’d told her of the places that you’d been over the years and he wondered if you knew that you were probably going to end up with two little shadows soon enough.

After a few episodes of Pokemon, he’d put on Detective Pikachu at Ji-eun’s request because you hadn’t seen it before and they found that to be a complete travesty. It had been around 8pm then and he was being generous in letting them stay up later than he normally would in honour of your visit.

The first hour of the film had involved you having to spend more time listening to the running commentary from the twin’s as they explained important plot points, or what they was important, and point out every little thing. He was pretty sure that you hadn’t actually been able to properly watch any of it, and he made a mental note to watch it again with you at a later date.

And then everything had gone silent. He’d been so invested in his own thoughts and worry about Soo-ah that he hadn’t even noticed until the credits were rolling and no one had complained about it.

Turning his head, he couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face as he took in the sight next to him. Something he probably hadn’t expected to happen for months, but evidently all three were more tired than he’d anticipated.

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he quietly unlocked it and turned on the camera before taking a picture. Staring at his screen, he grinned and set it to his home screen and placed his phone on the arm of the couch.

Ji-eun was curled up next to her sister, her head resting on Ji-soo’s shoulder until their hair blended together perfectly. Ji-soo on the other hand, was curled up into your side, your arm resting around them both while your head had fallen back against the couch, all three sleeping quietly and he felt a ridiculous amount of warmth and love for you all.

Carefully, he stood up and lifted Ji-eun up as slowly as he could so as not to wake her. She made a soft little noise of complaint in his arms but didn’t stir, not until he was shifting her bed covers until he could get her beneath them. Ideally, he’d like to get her into her pyjamas and have her brush her teeth, but he knew that if he tried to wake her then he’d just have grumpiness followed by an inability to sleep for another few hours.

So this time, he’d let them sleep in their clothes.

He repeated the same actions with Ji-soo before giving them both a kiss on the head and whispering good night to them, turning off the lamp in their room and closing the door behind him while their night light glowed warmly. Heading back downstairs, he was left with the sight of you fast asleep on the couch.

Hoseok realised that he really, really liked the sight of you in his home like this. It was an odd feeling and he shook his head, moving into the kitchen and looking in the fridge. The dish of lasagne had been left on the side, some foil covering it as it had cooled and he looked inside casually.

There was one slice left, and without a word he put it into a small tupperware tub before heading back into the living room. Crouching down next to you, he placed his hand on your knee and pushed gently while calling out your name to wake you.

A quiet groan left you as you blinked blearily, eyes glazed until they focused on him. They were blank for a moment before filling with warmth as he smiled up at you. Glancing to the side, you frowned slightly at the missing girls and he laughed slightly, standing up and taking your hand to pull you up.

You wobbled slightly, leaning your weight against him as you got your balance but he took care of that by wrapping his arms around your shoulders and hugging you to him tightly. Neither said anything for a few minutes, just simply enjoying the feeling of being in each others arms and he wished that you didn’t have to go.

“Tonight was...good. I love the twins already, they’re...characters,” You chuckle against his chest and he can’t help but laugh in return as he nods. “But sweet. I really like them. And who knew you were this good at cooking hmm? Really got myself a man who can do it all huh?”

His cheeks burn bright red then as he makes a few protesting noises but you shush him loudly, leaning your chin on his chest to look up at him with an adoring expression. “I love you. Your family...is wonderful. I can feel the love between you all, it’s...really nice. Even with Soo-ah. I was a bit awkward but I can understand why she feels like that. I hope that she can come round to me.”

“I’m sure she will. One day. I’m not going to push her though. I feel bad about it because I knew she wasn’t okay with it, but she kept telling me she was. Maybe I moved too fast with it all.” You shake your head in response, tightening your arms around him and pressing a kiss to his chest.

“She’s a big girl, and if she tells you that she’s okay with something then you have to take her at face value sometimes. We all do things that we don’t really want to do. I get the feeling that she was trying for you and at least the ice is broken now. If she refuses to have anything to do with me then...that’s within her rights I guess. At least I’ve met her. Don’t beat yourself up about it, please.” He lets out a bone deep sigh before nodding slowly.

“Okay. Thank you. For today...everything. I...despite the thing with Soo-ah, I’m really happy. Like...really, I’m so glad that the twins seem to like you a lot.” Pulling away from him, you grin as you head out into the hallway and grab your jacket and bag.

“I’m glad that you’re happy. You deserve some happiness too Hoseok, remember that.” Nodding, he catches sight of one of the photographs of Yoo-jin on the wall and swallows thickly. You were right, he did deserve to be happy as well. Yoo-jin wouldn’t want him to wallow forever.

“Oh, you can take the last of the lasagne. This is not going to get eaten unless it’s by me having midnight munchies, and I do not need the extra weight.” Patting his stomach, he held out the container which you took with a bemused expression.

“You make out like you’re overweight Hoseok. You’re not. You’re cuddly sized.” The teasing in your voice causes him to roll his eyes but he just accepts you hug once more, the muffled thanks from you taken in gratitude as he takes a deep inhale of you.

“Be safe. Drive carefully. Text me when you get home.” You exaggeratedly agree to all of his demands before he lets you go, standing in the open door as you turn to him and pull him down into a goodbye kiss. It maybe goes on a little too long, but he doesn’t care.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. Text me.” He says sternly, wagging a finger in your direction as you head over to your car in the darkness.

“Yes dad!”

“Don’t start that again!” But his protest is pointless as you just laugh and get into your car, reversing out of his drive and pulling away. He watches until he can’t see your tail lights anymore before heading back in and locking the door behind him.

His usual nightly routine is followed after that, but after he brushed his teeth and had done his business in the bathroom, he heads back over to Soo-ah’s door and knocks lightly. There’s no answer, and he wonders if she’s gone to sleep.

It makes his heart hurt to think that he can’t resolve this tonight with her, but he decides that he’s going to try and heal the rift between them tomorrow. He has to. He can’t go on with his little girl being mad at him.

After a few more minutes of silence, he sighed heavily and turns off the light before heading into his own bedroom. He spends half an hour beneath the covers of his bed, scrolling through social media and the news on his phone. You haven’t texted him yet, and worry fills him when suddenly, a light knock reverberates around the room.

Sitting up suddenly, he frowns and calls out for whoever it is to come in. The door opens slowly and he’s met with Soo-ah, dressed in her pyjamas and her hair still in the pigtails from earlier. She looks shy and hesitant, her gaze on the floor as one hand crosses over the stomach, holding the doorknob firmly.

“Can I come in daddy?” Immediately he’s nodding, opening his arms to her and she quietly closes the door behind her before rushing over, climbing onto the bed and burying herself in his arms. Even in the dim light of his bedside lamp, he’d recognised the swollen red eyes of someone who has spent a long time crying and he coos to her softly as she wraps her arms around him tightly.

Laying back on the bed, he pulls her with him and kisses her head. “Soo-soo, what’s wrong? I’m not mad at you.”

“Really? I was mean though.” Her voice is more childlike than he’s ever heard it and his heart tugs for her.

“Yeah, I’m not mad. I mean...I wish you hadn’t been mean, but I know that it’s a tough situation for you. Y/N wasn’t mad either. I just...I wish that you would have told me that you didn’t want to and I would have told her to go home. You’re important to me Soo-ah, your comfort is important.” He whispers to her.

“I was okay with it, I swear. I was worried, because I don’t want her to take mom’s place. But I know you like her. And you’ve always been alone,” She pauses, burying her face in his chest while her small arms squeeze him tighter. “I tried, but...I just...I was angry. She’s pretty and smart and funny, and you look at her all funny and it made me angry because she’s not mom.”

Hoseok blinks a few times, trying to stop himself from crying as she blurts out all of her inner feelings. He can’t even imagine how hard this has all been for her, but he lets her continue.

“I want mom, I want mom because she’s pretty and smart and funny too but mom is dead so I can’t have her. But if you’re single then she’s still here. Y/N means that she’s not here anymore, because Y/N will be here and you’ll take down her pictures and then she’ll be our mom but she’s not our mom!” Her words are fast and staccato, not really making too much sense but he doesn’t say anything about it. She’s only ten, and she’s just worried and upset about everything.

“And the twins were being so nice and they didn’t seem to care! I just wanted to scream at them! What about mom! Why does no one remember mom?!” A hiccup soon turns into a sob then and he hugs her tighter to him, letting her cry out her frazzled emotions.

“No one is going to forget mom, okay? I’m not going to forget her and she’s not going to disappear from this house. She will always be here, because you and your sisters are here. There were always be pictures of her in the house for you and I will always talk to you about her, whenever you want. I miss your mom so much, and I still love her. My relationship with Y/N doesn’t mean that she’s going to be forgotten, because she isn't. She is important to all of us and Y/N knows that. She doesn’t want to take your mom’s place, because that place is your mom’s, like I said before.” Pressing a kiss to her head again, he swallows and contemplates how to continue.

“I won’t ever expect you to call Y/N mom, and neither will she. I know you Soo-ah, and I know this is hard for you. Harder than for the twins, because you got five with your mom. But don’t be mad at them. They don’t know any different than it just being us four. They never got to have mom with them, so to them this is all new. I just...I love you all, and I don’t want to hurt any of you.” The final sentence is whispered and he feels more than a little despair.

Silence falls between them for a while before Soo-ah speaks once more.

“Tell me about mommy. Was she nice?” He’s nodding before he even realises it, flicking through his memories of the 7 years he had with Yoo-jin before finding a story for her. And so for the next hour, he proceeds to regale his daughter with all the stories of her mom that she’d never heard before. Stories he’d forgotten over time, but now remembered so vividly.

Glancing at the photograph on the other bedside table of her, his heart hurts as he remembers his beautiful wife. Kissing Soo-ah’s forehead, he smiles down at her.

“You look just like your mom. I know that she’d be so proud of you, you’re such a good girl. I know that she loves you a lot, just like I do. Don’t ever doubt that, okay? No matter what happens, I love you and your mom loves you too.” Soo-ah’s eyes fill with tears once more and she sniffles.

“I’m sorry daddy. I’m sorry I was mean to Y/N. I don’t hate her.” He laughs softly, pulling her back into a bear hug and squeezing her until she giggles, the sound making his heart soar.

“I know you don’t. I know you Soo-soo, and you’ve got too big of a heart to ever hate anyone. She knows that too.” Soo-ah quietens after that and he hums lightly, some song he heard a long time ago but can’t remember the name of. It seems to be working as Soo-ah’s eyes droop closed and she fights desperately to stay awake.

“Tell her I’m sorry. I’ll be nice next time. I swear,” She mutters, voice thick with sleep and he grins and acknowledges it. “Will she still let me ride her horse?”

He desperately wants to laugh at that and part of him wonders how much of this is because she wants to ride a horse. But he’s not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, pun fully intended. He would give Artemis a big, juicy carrot whenever he saw her.

“She’d be happy to. If you want to, then I’ll let her teach you how to ride as well.” A tiny noise of happiness leaves his daughters mouth but she doesn’t say anything further, eyes closing finally before she’s fallen fast asleep.

He doesn’t expect this to be the last time she’ll have an issue with him dating you, in fact he fully expects more issues as she comes to terms with her feelings regarding the whole thing. But at least she came to him and told him what was upsetting her. And more than that, she had apologised for her behaviour. He wanted to apologise to her as well for putting her into the situation, but instead he was just going to have to make sure that he paid more attention next time.

For ten minutes, he simply enjoys the happiness he feels from the reconciliation with his daughter and the exultation he feels at the fact he’s not having to go to sleep with her angry at him. Finally though, he gets up and carefully takes her to her own bed, musing to himself how he ended up doing this with every daughter tonight when he hasn’t had to put Soo-ah to bed like this in years now.

When he gets back to his own, he sees the message icon on his phone blinking and eagerly jumps back into bed, turning the screen on to see that you had finally texted him.

[9:31pm] Y/N: I’m home :)

[9:31pm] Y/N: I stopped at the store and they had a 2 for 1 on your shampoo.

[9:32pm] Y/N: You can keep one here and take the other home :)

[9:32pm] Y/N: Also bought a candy bar. I’m eating it now. Mmmm

He grins at your texts and shakes his head before his fingers are flying across the screen, typing out his own response.

[9:35pm] Hoseok: Mean, you know I can’t eat candy

[9:36pm] Y/N: We established that was a lie yesterday Mr Jung

[9:36pm] Hoseok: :(

[9:36pm] Y/N: I’d share my candy with you :)

[9:37pm] Hoseok: Ha. Thanks. For the shampoo too <3

[9:37pm] Hoseok: I just put Soo-ah to bed. She came to me. Told me why she was mad. She says sorry

[9:38pm] Y/N: She doesn’t need to apologise! She’s allowed to be mad. Is she okay?

[9:38pm] Hoseok: Yeah, it was exactly what I thought. Worried about her mom. I just have to make sure she knows I won’t forget her

[9:39pm] Y/N: You won’t. I don’t want to take her place. Even though I kind of am but you get what I mean

[9:40pm] Hoseok: I do. And I love you for it

[9:40pm] Y/N: I love you too

[9:41pm] Hoseok: She also wants to know if you’ll still let her ride Artemis

[9:42pm] Y/N: Lol, of course!

[9:42pm] Hoseok: Kinda said you’d teach her how to ride too

[9:43pm] Y/N: Haha, again, of course. I’d be happy to for you :) and the twins if they want

[9:43pm] Hoseok: Thank you. I’m gonna sleep now. I love you <3

[9:43pm] Y/N: I love you too <3

He grins at the final message before placing his phone on the bedside table and looking at the picture of Yoo-jin and him on his own table. Smiling softly, he reaches out and brings it closer to him, rubbing his thumb over her face beneath the glass.

“I hope you’re okay with this baby. I’m sorry you can’t be here, I wish you were. I hope you’re not mad at me for being with Y/N. I think you’d approve though, I really love her a lot already and she makes me so happy. I miss you, but I hope you’re okay with me moving on. I won’t forget you though, like I told Soo-ah.” Placing the frame back on the table, he turns off the lamp and curls up beneath the covers with a sigh before drifting off to sleep, his dreams filled with his daughters, you and Yoo-jin as a happy family together.

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finding--cat · 7 years

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Part I is now complete. To read Part I in its entirety, click here.

To view the story page, click here.

Thank you for your beautiful and heartfelt messages so far. I’ll see you next Friday at 6pm EST to begin Part II.

Part I: The List 1.5

While Kalene designs a stunning floral arrangement for a client involving sunflowers, lavender, and baby’s breath, Ari replaces the soil in a few potted jade plants that have to be moved to a shadier area of the shop. Along the way, she occasionally kicks a little Nerf ball to Mekhi, who chases it with shrieks of joy. It’s a quiet Saturday, a summer rainstorm drawing only four customers to the shop before noon, and Ari and Kalene work in companionable silence.

It’s nearly one in the afternoon before Rosen makes a grand entrance, hair curled and frizzy from the humid weather, frantic because she’s had a new vision for the wedding. She needs to change all the original floral plans.

“You said you wanted lilies,” Ari says from the doorway of the office, where Rosen sits inside and pleads with Kalene.

“Calla lilies,” Rosen agrees, “but now I’m thinking they’re too frosty and I want more colour. And besides, they’re poisonous. Did you know that? Jacks’ parents are afraid one might be dropped in the snow and one of the cows will pick it up.”

So Kalene and Rosen go back to the drawing board, with Rosen desperately leafing through Kalene’s binders in search of the perfect flower that, this time, won’t pose serious losses of Hawley family assets. Ari, for her own sanity, leads Mekhi out of the office and into the shop, where she hitches him on her hip and has him help tip the watering can to give the plants a bath.

Rosen spends the better part of an hour with Kalene, and when they emerge from the office, she looks more frazzled than she did when she arrived.

“I’ll come back on Tuesday, then,” she promises Kalene. “I’ll think about it.”

Kalene waves her off. Before Rosen takes her leave, she stops by Ari at cash.

“Everything all right?” asks Ari.

Rosen shrugs. “Not really. I feel like I have to start over.”

“I’m sure that’s not true. I’m off at six; we’ll sit down tonight and make a list of what we need to reorganize. That’s probably all it is – a reshuffling.”

“I feel overwhelmed.”

“It’s just flowers, Rosen,” Ari says as patiently as she can. “You’ve still got your dress, the venue, and a good start on the music. That’s progress.”

Rosen looks up like a deer caught in headlights. “That reminds me,” she begins, wincing in apology, “Jacks and I gave it some thought, and… we think we’re gonna stick with recordings for the ceremony.”

“Hmm?”

Rosen pauses, allowing this to sink in before she repeats, “We’re not gonna pursue live music.”

Niall. They’re not pursuing Niall.

Slowly, Ari says, “You haven’t even heard Niall’s music yet.”

“It’s not about Niall,” says Rosen quickly, which means that yes, it is. “We just don’t want to leave anything up to chance. A no-show or a broken guitar string in the cold weather, you know? It’s my wedding. It needs to be perfect.”

Ari has nothing to say, because why bother? If Rosen’s made up her mind – or if Jackson’s made it up for her – there’s nothing Ari can do or say to change it. She’s known her sister twenty-three years, and Rosen’s stubbornness has never once changed.

So she nods in compliance, smacking her lips shut to avoid saying something that will have Rosen narrowing her eyes. Ari doesn’t necessarily care for Rosen’s approval, but she does care for her own peace.

When Rosen is long gone and the shop is once more comfortable and calm, Ari collects receipts and watches with a smile as Kalene sets Mekhi in a high chair and feeds him a microwaved lunch of peas, carrots, and bits of chicken.

Kalene notices her from the corner of her eye. “What’s on your mind?” she asks.

“I don’t know.” Ari sighs. “Just the growing suspicion that everyone and their brother in this town is hiding something.”

Kalene’s deep chuckle makes Ari laugh, too. “If it’s taken this long for the suspicion to grow, you must be living with master secret-keepers.” She pauses to wipe Mekhi’s vegetable-covered mouth with a cloth. “This town has a complicated history, you might say. The state’s known for its neighbourly ways, but to our own, we’re not always so neighbourly. Maybe that has to do with identity – you know, we all look different and have our own quirks, but we’re from the same place. Some people don’t understand that. Some people won’t understand that.”

Ari sets the receipts aside and leans over the counter as Kalene talks. She folds her arms on the table and asks, “Do you find that here, Kalene?”

“Always have. That’s why I opened this shop. Plants are friends, you know – I told you that from the beginning. When you feel alone in this world, surrounding yourself with new life and growth is the best thing a person can do.”

“Why would you have no one?” Ari voices her thoughts aloud before she can stop herself. “Who would ostracize you? You’re one of the nicest, most caring people I’ve ever met, and you do so much for the people in this town.”

Kalene flashes her a smile. “Thank you, Ariana. But when someone decides they want nothing to do with you, sometimes it has nothing to do with who you are and everything to do with what you look like or your history.” She shrugs, popping the last few peas into Mekhi’s mouth with a spoon. “I’m a black woman whose husband left me and my children in poverty and dishonour and fled the state.”

Ari’s nose crinkles in confusion. “But that’s just something that happened to you – it’s doesn’t define who you are.”

“Of course not. But some people draw conclusions from the Sparknotes instead of reading the whole book.”

It doesn’t make sense. Tillson City has been friendly towards Ari and welcomed her with open arms. Why would divisions exist amongst a tight-knit community? What could they stand to gain with exclusions and distrust of one another? There are only so many people in this town. Any cracks in the social fabric would be felt by everyone.

They’re certainly felt by Niall and Kalene, who Ari now understands are economically disadvantaged due to who they are. Rosen won’t hire Niall because Jackson claims without basis that he’s not heterosexual. Even if it’s true, Rosen knows better than that – all four years at NYU, she participated in the Pride Parade as an LGBTQ ally. But prejudice runs deep in Tillson City, and if Rosen wants to fit in, she can’t do so with someone who was once accused of being ‘a queer’, no matter if it was just an accusation from stupid high school jocks who needed a cheap laugh.

High school feels like a lifetime ago to Ari. To Jackson and his friends, they might as well have graduated last week.

Before Ari goes home for the evening, Kalene hands her a sealed envelope.

“What’s this?”

Bundling Mekhi in a summer raincoat, Kalene answers, “It’s your paycheck.”

“My paycheck?” Ari makes a move to return it. “I was volunteering.”

“Well, you do good, honest work,” says Kalene, “and it should go rewarded.”

“I don’t need this…” Ari begins, holding her tongue instead of finishing with as much as you do.

“Need it or not, you earned it,” Kalene insists. She lifts Mekhi into her arms and hands Ari an umbrella from behind the cash desk. “Now go on and take care in this weather. And check next week’s schedule – I have you in four days, I think.”

“Thank you,” says Ari, whose chest expands in a way it hasn’t in months. Years, even. Is this pride? Pride for holding a job at a little flower shop six hundred miles from home? No, not really – it’s pride for making something happen by herself, with no outside intervention from her parents or Rosen. It’s pride for working for Kalene, who is an admirable woman Ari secretly thinks of as her friend. Pride is a feeling, and Ari holds on tight to feelings whenever she can find them.

She smiles the whole way home in the rain.

Ari’s long gone by the time Jackson’s gang shows up for Sunday afternoon football. Niall arrives in his pickup and Ari hops in with a leftover egg salad sandwich as a token for the ride. In the shed, Niall rolls two thin joints and tucks one between Mickey’s parched lips before lighting it. Mickey passes it to Ari and requests the other one, and he and Ari create smoke patterns in the air while Niall leans over the rickety table and munches away on the sandwich.

It’s casual, modest, comfortable. It feels like something they could do every day, this strange trio in this decaying wooden hovel. They don’t talk about Mickey’s cancer or Ari’s vacant personality, they don’t try to make sense of the world or fill the holes in each other’s lives. The only sounds are gentle exhalations, ash crumbling from the tip of the blunt, the crinkling of the cling wrap used for Niall’s lunch. Deep in the caverns of Ari’s loud mind, not a single word is uttered. It’s quiet there, too.

Ari watches from the door as Niall tucks Mickey into bed for a nap, smoothing the covers and placing the straw from a glass of water to his lips. He draws the blinds and places a hand on Ari’s shoulder to guide her from the room. She stands behind Niall as he talks quietly with Linda, who’s just returned home from Bridge, and focuses only on the squishing in her mouth as she moves her tongue around. Her bones are melting like wax, tissue dripping away and sinking into her skin.

“… don’t know what you and him get up to when I’m not here, but I don’t like it,” Linda says in a hushed voice, clacking her tongue and frowning at her grandson.

Niall snorts but doesn’t elaborate. “Does he feel better when he wakes up?”

Linda hesitates, about to reply before she narrows her eyes and delivers a frosty glare. “I don’t like it,” she repeats, wagging her index finger.

His shoulders slump. “I’m only trying to help. This is the best way I can.”

With a scoff, Linda bites back, “Good lord, boy, if you had half the sense God gave a goose, you’d see the biggest help is just having you around. Means more to your Gramps than you know.” Niall flinches as her palm approaches his face, but she only means to pat his cheek. The third pat is less gentle and more like a soft slap to knock sense into him. “Now out with you. Go on and live your life.”

She shoos him away until he backs into Ari, and together, they’re ushered into the hall despite Niall’s protests. Ari walks straight into a side table and cringes at the pain that shoots through her hip.

The noise garners Linda’s attention, who peeks over Niall’s shoulder. Her brows form a straight line as she hisses at Niall, “And take this poor girl with you; she doesn’t want to spend her Sunday holed in with decrepit old fuddy-duddies like us.”

Despite the pain in her side, Ari laughs out loud. Linda’s glare is redirected to her, and she quickly clamps her lips shut and loses her smile before offering, “Actually, I like being here.”

Linda softens, giving Niall some space so he can put on his shoes and Ari can properly rub her hip. “See this? This is a sweet girl. Spending time with the elderly without word of complaint. Take notes, Niall.”

“When do I complain?” he asks, standing up straight and patting himself down. He finds his keys in his left pocket and bends to kiss her on the cheek. “Call you tomorrow. Love you.”

Fonder now, Linda tugs his chin and purses her lips. “Love ya, pickle. Go on, now.”

Bright-eyed, Niall looks expectantly to Ari, who holds onto the wall to slip on her shoes because everything seems to be moving very slowly and she doesn’t want to lose her balance. “Ready to go?” he asks.

She nods. (She thinks she nods).

Niall grins. “Then let’s rock and fuckin’ roll.”

Linda barely has time to scold him for his language before Niall’s leading Ari out the door and toward the pickup.

“Feel all right?” he asks over his shoulder.

It takes concerted effort, but she nods again.

“You have somewhere to be? Want me to take you home?”

Even though he zigs to the driver’s side of the vehicle in expectance of a verbal response, Ari can only shake her head. When she manages to climb in next to him (with a small amount of help from Niall), he seems to know her answer is a negative. Once she’s buckled in, Niall turns on the ignition and the truck lurches from its spot halfway in the ditch. They take a right at the end of the road, then a left, then another left, until they’re out of Forest Hill and into a new neighbourhood altogether.

Niall drives slowly, his window open and his forearm resting on the ledge. Ari stares unabashedly as the wind rustles the tips of his hair. He’s nice to look at, actually, wind or no wind. Nice to look at and nice to talk to and nice to sit with in silence.

Niall can’t be driving faster than forty, but the world passes by in a blur. Farmlands become nothing but green and yellow smudges. The forest a sea of pine needles and leaves that look like clouds. If she had more time, she’d lie on her back underneath an elm and assign titles to the shapes of all its leaves. This one, a dog. That one, an apple. This one, an overflowing box of stationary one carries out of the office the day of termination.

Ari doesn’t ask where they’re going because she doesn’t really care. He could drive them to Timbuktu and she’d sit happily for the whole ride. In fact, Timbuktu might be a nice place to go for good.

The roads twist and wind through the country. She abandons all hope of memorizing the route, even though intersections and forks in the road are scarce. But she wants to learn – she wants to know where they are and where they’re headed because she might want to journey here again.

Try everything once, they say. Well, she might try this twice or a thousand times and take the long way each time just to extend the journey. She knows not to squander new enjoyments when she discovers them.

Sometime in the next ten minutes to an hour, they pull up to a two-storey, double-doored house. The beige paint on the siding is flecking off the wooden trim, and the empty garbage bin and recycling are tipped over on the side of the path leading to the doors. The porch is littered with activity: a well-charred grill, a rusted bicycle with a deflated front tire, two lawn chairs with cracks in the plastic seating, a small American flag weakly waving in the wind.

The pickup comes to a stop in the empty drive. Ari sits still, hands in her lap, eyes travelling slowly over the new location before her.

It’s not long before she feels Niall’s gaze and hears his soft chuckle. “All right, Ari?”

“Mm hmm.”

“You sure?”

Her thoughts run a mile a minute – or maybe they’re trudging through her head too slowly to form complete thoughts – so she spares him a glance and asks a question instead of answering.

“You live here?”

“I live here,” he affirms.

“In The Glades.”

Grinning, Niall replies, “Yep. That’s where we are.”

“It’s so far!”

He laughs. “From what?”

“From Sherman’s. From your grandparents.”

“It’s not that far.”

“It took ages to get here.”

She’s aware that Niall’s amused by her mental calculations of time but doesn’t much care. To his credit, Niall maintains an even voice as he remarks, “It took ‘bout seven minutes.”

She blinks. “You’re sure?”

“Yep. Sun’s still in the same westerly quadrant as when we left. See?” He points to the sky, and Ari follows his finger, squinting into the sun.

Maybe she’s a little bit high.

Niall breaks into another smile. Admittedly, she’s growing used to his smiles – even though each one is different in its own right, each carries a certain familiarity and warmth. A certain piece of his soul. Niall bares it all, and every smile is an invitation, an offering, saying, ‘Hello, this moment of my happiness belongs to you.’

What a strange thing, to hold even a morsel of someone else’s happiness. Ari’s fingers are so slippery she can barely hold onto her own.

“Coming, or what?” Niall asks. Ari blinks again – he stands on the ground below holding open the passenger door, extending his hand to help her down.

She likes the idea of being an ‘or what?’ person, but she comes anyway.

The front doors open into a wide living room connected to an open kitchen. The house may be old-fashioned on the outside, but the inside must have been gutted and renovated ten years ago. The furniture doesn’t carry the 80’s aesthetic of Linda and Mickey’s house, and the appliances are more modern stainless steel, glistening in the afternoon sun that streams through the windowpane stretching over the sink.

Despite its remodeled interior, Niall’s house is an unparalleled disaster. Ari’s eyes widen the moment she takes her feet off the welcome mat: at least fifteen pairs of shoes of varying sizes and styles are piled in heaps around the entrance. The closet overflows with jackets and boxes. The living room couch is barely discernable beneath clothing, toys, and electronic gadgets. Three greasy pizza boxes sit on the kitchen countertop. Empty cans and juice boxes are everywhere: the coffee table, the top of the television, the floor. A box of crayons was dropped probably weeks before, because its contents lay strewn about the hardwood floor and individual crayons seem to be accumulating their own balls of dust.

It looks like no one has tidied. Not just today – ever.

“Kinda messy,” Niall says, chipper and unperturbed, “sorry ‘bout that.”

“No, it’s…” Ari trails, her eyes catching on a kitchen knife that’s for some reason lying in the open next to a doll near the couch.

She never finishes her thought, so Niall finishes for her. “What can I say? It’s a reflection of what goes on inside my mind.”

It’s what her mind looked like in its worst state, when it was hard to walk across the room to put away laundry and taking out the garbage was considered a full day’s work, at least on the mental spectrum. Leading up to the accident, it’s what her bedroom looked like, too: personal belongings mixed with refuse chucked everywhere, on every surface and every inch of the floor, because nothing mattered.

Reminiscing is tiring, epecially reminiscing of those days. She wishes she could call them the dark days, but they’re not – they’re more like the lost days. The days where she felt nothing, lived nothing, was nothing.

With a weight on her chest like an anchor pulling her under, Ari’s magnetically drawn to the bedroom leading off the kitchen. Niall follows several paces behind, seemingly content to watch her take a self-guided tour of his home.

The room is bland and uninteresting. If Ari were to describe it to someone else, all she could say is that it has all the standard characteristics one would expect of a bedroom: a double bed (without a headboard), a nightstand, a closet, a dresser overflowing with a pile of the past week’s clothes. There are no photos on the eggshell-white walls, no knicknacks on the three rows of bookshelves. The room is lived in, but there’s no life in it.

“This is your room,” Ari says in a breath. There’s conviction in her voice even though it’s clear by the sheer volume of items in the living room and kitchen that Niall does not live alone.

When she glances over her shoulder, Niall’s nodding slowly. “How did you guess?”

“This isn’t really your home.”

It’s a bold statement to make, even bolder as she moves toward the bed to sit down. She’s not being presumptuous or suggestive, at least not inwardly – it’s the fleece of the comforter that attracts her; especially the way it softens in the sunlight streaming through the broad window centered above the bed. Though the room has little personality, the bed looks like a warm place. A relaxing place. And she’s so tired. Her feet are leaden weights, her mind drowsy and fogged. She could lay down to rest her head and not budge for a hundred years.

“It is,” Niall says, though there’s not much feeling behind his words. “Lived here four years now, ever since I left New York.” He crosses the room in socked feet, pausing at the edge of the bed as Ari swings her legs up and places her hands behind her head on a pillow.

She grins up at him. “Four years and you never found time to decorate?”

He shrugs, hiding a smile. “Never been much of a decorator.”

“Never put up any pictures?” She crosses one ankle over the other.

“Have pictures on my phone. Can look at ‘em any time I want.”

“No books you like on the shelves or any personal items?”

“Don’t have much – don’t need much, to be honest.”

Ari believes him, but still she narrows her eyes in suspicion. “Or maybe you thought you’d be out of here by now, so why bother adding personal touches?”

Niall’s smile is patient, but he won’t relent, even as he lowers himself to a seated position on the bed beside her. “I’m here for a friend. I knew moving in that I’d be here a while.”

“Okay.” Ari lets it lie, sensing his reluctance to elaborate. She shuts her eyes and inhales deeply, air filling her lungs as the sun warms her face.

“You all right?”

“You keep asking me that.”

“Because I need to know. You’re a bit out of it, I just can’t tell how much.”

“I’m so into it,” Ari says with a short giggle. “I feel really in right now. Like everything is wrapped around me, and I’m the center of it all.”

He snorts with quiet laughter as he lies next to her, the mattress dipping as he positions himself on his back. Their shoulders touch, their elbows knock, but otherwise, it’s cold and clinical. They’re warmed only by the brightness of the day.

“You don’t smoke with Mickey,” Ari notes, sinking further into the pillow. Her arms fold over her belly as if to contain the heat.

“Sometimes I do. Never too much, though. Indica makes me sleepy.”

“I like that feeling. It’s like instant calm.”

“Agreed. But when I gotta get him outta the shed and back into bed, I need to have my wits about me.”

“Did you ever think you’d be rolling joints for your grandfather?”

Niall laughs softly once again. His chin lolls to his shoulder as his eyes land on Ari. “You mean the guy who tanned my hide when he found an eighth of the stuff in my bookbag in tenth grade? Nah. Didn’t imagine he’d come to me later in life begging for it.”

“You’re a good grandson.” She nudges him with her elbow and then rolls to face him, head propped on her fist.

No trace of a smile is detected on Niall’s face. His cheeks inflate with air and deflate slowly, gaze never leaving Ari’s. “They’ve been good to me – Mickey and my Gram. Gave up a lot so I could have a life. I’d do anything for ‘em.”

“That’s nice,” Ari says, and she genuinely means it. Her fingertips gravitate to the downy material of Niall’s t-shirt, taking a small section and tracing it in circles with her thumb. “I’m not close with my family. My parents and Rosen, yeah, but not my grandparents.”

“Well…” he trails, tongue darting over his lower lip, “it wasn’t all sunshine and roses.”

His eyes stray to where her fingers are caught on his sleeve, her thumb grazing his bicep as she rubs the material of his shirt. Ari concentrates on it, too, enjoying the way it feels. Even if it’s a physical sensation, it’s nice to be aware of it.

After several moments of silence, his eyes drift to hers. “You’re blissed out.”

“’M all right,” she replies. “Just feel… warm.”

“Warm is good.”

She nods. Warm is good. And it’s not just the bed and her skin that’s warm, but her insides, too. She’s thawing out.

“What’re you looking at?” asks Niall after a while. Though his eyes roam her face, Ari’s stare is fixated above his forehead, where brown roots extend to bronze. It shouldn’t be so interesting, but it is.

“Your hair.”

“What about it?”

With her cheek still propped on her fist, Ari runs her other hand over his hair. It’s smooth and tousled, and her fingers glide through easily. Niall watches her lips move as she remarks, “It’s like its own sun.”

“How’s that?”

The divider in the window casts two equal beams of light on the bed. Niall’s hair falls within the beam, as do tiny particles that float through the air, disappearing once they leave the light.

“All these dust motes are orbiting around it,” she explains, pushing his hair back to watch the motes swirl. “Your hair is this big glowing star with gravitational pull.”

Niall’s been holding it in, but when he finally allows himself to laugh, it’s loud and echoing. Pulled from the trance of his sunlike hair, Ari glances down and erupts in laughter behind him. It’s funny. It’s really funny and it shouldn’t be, but she can’t stop laughing. Even if she could, she wouldn’t – she likes that ache behind her ribs, the uncontrollable quake in her shoulders.

Niall can’t possibly find it as amusing as she does, but he laughs with her until he spots something on her cheekbone – a stray eyelash or a dab of mascara – and then he takes his lip between his teeth as he brings his thumb to her cheek to swipe it away.

“God, you’re cute,” he breathes. Ari catches a laugh in her throat and her chuckles fade at the feel of his eyes studying her, almost as warm and glowing as the sun. He swallows, aware of the silence that’s befallen them. “I know I’m not supposed to say that,” he says hastily. “Not that you said I shouldn’t, I just know it sounds suggestive and I don’t wanna put you in a position where you feel like you have to turn me down, because I know. I get it.” He pauses, judging her fading smile before picking up quickly, “And I don’t wanna offend you, either, or make you feel like you owe me something in exchange; that’s not—”

“Niall.”

Her voice is quiet and nowhere near overpowering, but he hears her. He stops. He holds her gaze, unflinching. And then he cracks a half-smile, one corner of his lips tugging into a dimple.

“But fuck, your smile is killin’ me.”

It’s a moment of sincerity, she thinks. She’s not as perceptive anymore, less shrewd at identifying what’s real and what’s not, but Niall wasn’t carrying around any pent-up confessions until just now, when it crossed his mind and he had to say it. He doesn’t seem the sort to keep anything inside him, negative or positive. His heart’s not a cage, it’s an open field. And Ari could run there if she wanted to.

Maybe she wants to.

Her fist drops from where it props up her head. She leans forward until she’s between Niall and the sun, but goes no further, giving him room to edge to the side and glow again. Instead, Niall inches forward, craning his neck just until their lips brush. They both startle, each pulling back as if they didn’t expect to touch. Ari’s the first to duck down again, Niall the first to tilt his head to avoid their noses colliding. When their lips catch, neither pulls away.

For a moment, nothing happens. Ari worries they may be frozen in time. But then her bottom lip tucks between his, his lips begins to move against hers, and he breathes slowly, steadily on her cheek. Affirmation is the feel of his hand tucking in her hair, fingertips so gentle but so exact.

Ari exhales into his mouth, unfurling her fist on his chest as her extremities relax. It’s like breathing, like sleeping, to hear his response in his fingers and to see him more clearly with eyes closed. Niall moves languidly but with quiet deliberation. Ari shivers when his fingers trail the back of her neck, the softest touch setting her nerves on fire.

Whatever Jackson claims about Niall isn’t true. He hasn’t known Niall on any real level – it’s still-festering high school hatred, clan rivalry, that spurred him to say it. He’s her future brother-in-law, but Ari won’t believe a word he says about this man or anyone in this town. His rose-coloured glasses distort reality in nobody’s favour but his. Instead, she’ll read every chapter of Niall’s book if he’ll let her, disregarding the Sparknotes entirely.

Even with Niall’s lips massaging hers, Ari taps on his cheek with her thumb and whispers, “Is this okay?”

“Yeah,” he breathes, before an act that shocks her. He reaches for her hand on his cheek, grappling to thread their fingers. Then he brings their connected hands to his lips and presses a firm kiss to her knuckles.

His eyes open slowly to find Ari staring down at him. He holds onto a breath as though he’s gone too far, done something wrong, and Ari’s so overwhelmed by his startlingly intimate act and residual guilt that she tightens her grip on his hand and crushes her lips to his. Her tongue begs for permission and is openly welcomed, crashing into Niall’s and then moving together like a wave. Her knee slips between his thighs, his arm curls around the small of her back.

Dust motes drift above them, filtered by the light of day, undisturbed and unfeeling of the heat below them. But Ari is not one of the dust motes floating aimlessly – she feels it all, every dig from the pad of his fingers and every swipe of his tongue and his soft hair and hard chest and beating, smiling heart. And it’s thrilling and terrifying and overwhelming but it doesn’t matter because it’s something, something that stirs in her ribcage and gets stuck in her throat before sliding down to her belly. Something she can feel, something that’s real even though it can’t be seen.

“I need help!”

A small but persistent voice slices through thin air. Ari swears the dust motes freeze as she separates from Niall in a rush, quickly rolling to the side as they both lift their heads. A young girl in pigtails stands in the doorway holding a plastic box in both hands. Unaffected by the scene before her, she delivers Niall a pressing stare and awaits his response.

The toys all over the living room. The carseat and stuffed rabbit in the back of the pickup. Ari never paid it much mind, deciding it wasn’t her business, but here it is – he’s got a kid. A daughter. Four, maybe five years old.

Propping his upper body on his elbow, Niall expels a breath and runs his thumb over his lower lip as he catches his breath. He nods at the child in the doorway before glancing at Ari, solemn and sincere.

He gulps. “Ari… this is Olive.”

#tls #my writing #1dff #niall horan fan fiction

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robininthelabyrinth · 7 years

Text

Fic: Interconnect (ao3 link) - Chapter 2 Fandom: Flash, DC Legends of Tomorrow Pairing: Mick Rory/Leonard Snart

Summary: Fate has decided that Leonard Snart and Mick Rory are soulmates.

Yeah, okay, they’re good with that.

(for @coldwaveweek2017)

A/N: Instead of doing different fics for coldwave week, I decided to do one with multiple chapters, each based on the various days.

Chapter 2: Soulmates

—————————————————————————————–

Not everyone went to the witches, but a lot of them did.

Oh, sure, it was technically it was illegal. The government had declared all witchcraft a fraud on consumers - they were very careful with their words, since no one wanted to be accused of being a neo-Salemist witch-hunter, but at the same time they despised the institution that by its nature resisted any regularized control. Not to mention the regular breach of certain sanitary restrictions that came along with some variants of it, and it's very hard to outlaw black-kind witchcraft and keep white-kind when even practitioners had trouble telling the difference.

But that didn't stop people from coming.

Witches didn't hand out spells and curses and potions at random, certainly not to civilians who might out them, but one thing they did do was fortunes. Fortunes for the desperate, fortunes for the rich, fortunes for the lovelorn, but most of all fortunes for children, begged for by their parents.

Sometimes, if you were lucky, that fortune came with a spell. Good luck, graceful agility, a turn with numbers, something like that.

If you were unlucky, it came with a curse.

By all accounts, the witches never meant it maliciously, not that it helped the cursed; it was just what the fortune said.

Shoshana Snart, née Mizrahi, was pregnant with her first-born. Her husband was a policeman, with a policeman's disdain for witchcraft - nonsense for the gullible, he called it - but Shoshana's eldest sister had gotten a fortune that she'd lead the way to the promised land, and true enough it was her beauty that had attracted her American military husband, and his wealth and generosity that had helped her family come to America in her trail.

Sometimes Shoshana wished they were back in Africa, or even in Europe where the war had scattered them, but that didn't make the fortune any less true.

Shoshana had saved up her money carefully over the last few months; she wanted a proper fortune, told over her belly, but with Lewis taking her earnings it was difficult and she was pretty far along before she’d managed it, only a week or so from her due date.

But she'd picked a day when she knew he was going to be gone all night - longer, if he got drunk, and he usually got drunk - and here she was, at a shady little shop that pretended to sell books but never really did.

There was another woman there, also pregnant; she had dark hair and fair eyes and a worried smile, and there was a toddler sitting next to her and kicking his feet distractedly.

Shoshana meant to keep silent, she really did, but it was never one of her strong points, as Lewis was always pointing out. Still, she could be subtle. "He's very quiet," she says.

"You're wondering why I brought him," the other woman says wryly, hitting the question Shoshana had had directly on the nose.

Shoshana shrugs and smiles a little, ducking her head instinctively.

"I need a fortune for him, too," the other woman says. "I know it's late for it, but the first one I got's already passed."

"What, so soon?"

"Good thing we got it, too," the other woman confides. "The fortune-teller I went to for him in Keystone - not nearly as good a reputation as the one here - he said that he'd be trapped in the flame. And he was!"

"No!" Shoshana gasps, looking at the boy, but he was fine.

"An electric fire," the other woman says. "My eldest boy playing around with outlets; it was an accident. If it weren't for all the alarms I'd installed, well..."

Shoshana nods. "I'm sorry," she says. "I know it's none of my business."

"Nonsense," the other woman says briskly. "Good curiosity's a woman's birthright. I'm Tess, by and by. Tess Rory."

"Shoshana Snart."

"Good name," Tess says. "My Mickey here -" she nods at the boy "- well, he's been too quiet ever since the fire. Doesn’t talk as much as he ought to at his age, doesn’t like people, keeps to himself and rocks back and forth a lot – normally I’d think it a blessing, me having two before him already and another on the way, but what with the fortune and all, I wasn’t sure. So I figured, why not try for another fortune?"

"Is that wise?"

"Oh, hardly," Tess says. "But I was coming anyway, for the new one, and he can't be left alone or he gets in trouble, so you know. Might as well. As long as I can afford the rate, that is." She laughs.

Shoshana likes her right away.

Then it's her turn to be called in.

Shoshana swallows.

"Your first, eh?" Tess asks. "Don't fret. It's a lot of handwaving and burning things, but it don't hurt. And the children - well, the way I understand it, most of the time the witches are just predicting what's already bound to happen."

"And the rest of the time, they cast spells to make sure it does," Shoshana says dryly.

"Well, yes..."

Shoshana's name is called again. She waves goodbye to Tess - such a friendly woman, it's a pity she lived all the way in Keystone, not to mention how Lewis was so against Shoshana having friends - and goes inside.

The witch is a woman, unlike the one Tess had spoken of in Keystone; she's dressed quite ordinarily, in a smart summer dress and a light sweater; she has plain brown hair and eyes, and is inclined towards fatness. By and large, Lewis wouldn't bat an eyelash seeing this woman in the grocery store, which is a great relief to Shoshana.

"Sit, sit," the woman says, flapping her hands at a chair.

Shoshana sits gratefully.

"So, a fortune is what you're after? For the babe?"

Shoshana nods.

"Excellent," the witch says, and busies herself with her work. The first stage involves selecting herbs and strange ingredients from an array hidden behind a bookcase, glancing at Shoshana and muttering as she goes.

"How do you know which are the right ones?" Shoshana asks. "Is it a recipe?"

"Oh, dearie me, no," the witch says. "Each child has their own set-up - astrological signs, herbs, animal parts, personality signifier - and half the job's figuring out what to go into the mix. The better fitting the ingredients, the more potent the fortune." She holds out a sprig of what smells like mint in front of Shoshana's belly, then instantly pulls it away. "Oh, no, definitely not that -" She replaces it with a sprig of basil. Nothing different happens that Shoshana notices, but the witch smiles and throws it into the pot.

And so it goes, ingredient after ingredient, and questions to Shoshana all the while - strange questions, like her husband's shoe size and her favorite kind of tea (she didn't like any, though she was partial to hot chocolate) - until at last the witch declares herself done.

"Oh, yes," the witch says, lighting the ingredients with a match that she also tosses in there. She puts her hands into the smoke that started to rise above the pot and draws it towards her, inhaling it. Shoshana is reminded of the lighting of the candles for Shabbat. "A strong fortune for your boy, miss."

Shoshana puts a hand to her belly. "He's a boy?"

The first ultrasound had been inconclusive, and Lewis hadn't wanted to pay for more visits.

"Most of the time," the witch says. "As much as any of us are one thing or the other, anyway." She frowns down at her pot. "A very strong fortune, I see."

"What does that mean?" Shoshana asks. "Is that bad?"

"Bad? No. Not necessarily. Though it's not necessarily good, either. Just - strong. Your baby's going to come upon this earth like a hurricane. He'll leave his mark."

There are worse things than that, Shoshana reflects. The custom of her people was to view 'may you live in interesting times' as a curse, of course, but she'd always personally felt that to be utterly erased from this earth, subsumed by history without a trace, wasn't noticeably better.

Then again, that could just be her years with Lewis speaking. He'd certainly subsumed almost all of her into him - his wife, his name, his rules. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if he couldn't manage to do it to their baby.

"Oh," the witch says. Her eyes have gone glassy and blank. "Oh, my child. Forgive me."

Before Shoshana can react, the witch pulls her hands out of the smoke and place them on Shoshana's belly, down low where the child sits. "I curse thee," the witch says. "Your other half is found."

And then she pulls back, leaving Shoshana confused and afraid.

"What was that?" she asks, clutching at her stomach. A curse? She didn't want a curse, not for her baby! Wasn't Lewis curse enough?! "What did you do?"

The witch's eyes clear. "I'm sorry," she says, and she seems genuinely upset. "The fortunes come like that, sometimes, and there's no stopping them."

"But what does it mean?"

"Well, what did I say?" the witch asks. At Shoshana's incredulous expression, the witch shrugs. "I can tell fortunes, dearie; but curses come from somewhere beyond me - speaking through me, but not from me, if you understand. I can usually interpret them, though. Was it long?"

"Ah, no," Shoshana says. "You just said - 'I curse thee. Your other half is found.'"

The witch blinks. "Oh," she says. "Oh, dear."

Shoshana considers whether punching the witch would make her respond faster. Her face is apparently clear enough that the witch edges her chair back.

"That's a rare one," the witch says. "The curse of soulmates."

The - what?

"I beg your pardon?"

"Soulmates," the witch says. "You must have heard of the concept - the one person in all the world meant for you, and all that twaddle?"

"Well, yes," Shoshana says, more confused than ever.

"For most people, it's just a nice word," the witch says. "A pretty romantic concept, most effectively portrayed in novels and whatnot. There's a lot of people in the world, you know, and finding just the right one is almost impossible. Unless, of course, you happen to get your fortune told and your soulmate's in the immediate vicinity, in which case you get cursed."

"My baby has a soulmate?" Shoshana repeats.

"That's right," the witch says. "And he or she or they are somewhere nearby right now, too."

"I - it - but how is that a curse?" Shoshana exclaims. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"For some people it is," the witch says. "Assuming they like each other, anyway."

"But - if they're soulmates -"

"That just means they're the right fit," the witch says. "Doesn't say a thing about whether they like that fit. Some of history's greatest enemies have been soulmates. You can't take free will away from a person, not by anything but a curse, and that's what this is - a curse. Your baby won't have a choice about finding someone for himself, because he's already been given that someone."

"Oh," Shoshana says. It still didn't sound so bad to her. Soulmates - never ending up with a man that hit you, or ignored you, or left you feeling used... "But..."

"The curse doesn't make your baby love whoever it is," the witch explains. "Doesn't even make him like him. It just binds them together, that's all. The right fit. There's a way to break it, of course; there's always a way to break a curse."

"True love's kiss?"

"If your baby finds love with another, then yes," the witch says. "That's something of a cure-all, really. And don't start with that 'true' business; as long as it's unconditional for the time being, it'll work. I once saw a curse broken by a pair of very good friends..."

"But there's a more specific version for this curse?"

"Oh, yes."

Shoshana waited for a few seconds, but the witch didn’t seem to be inclined to elaborate. “What is it?”

“Oh, dearie me, I don’t know that,” the witch says, very unhelpfully. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you even if I did; it’s all very person-specific. If your baby decide they want to cut if off – really cut it off – then they can go seek out a witch themselves, and with any luck that witch will be able to divide a fortune for them and tell them what they need to do. It can be anything, really, depending on how fortune favors the relationship.”

“I see,” Shoshana, who did not see, says. “So – how do I know who his soulmate is?”

The witch makes a face.

“You have no idea,” Shoshana interprets.

“They’re in the area?” the witch offers. “They’ll be as bound by the curse as your boy is, so I’d imagine they’d notice. If someone comes in here with a sudden case of soulmate, I’ll be sure to let you know if you leave your number.”

Now it’s Shoshana’s turn to make a face. She really couldn’t afford to be giving out her home number and receiving calls where Lewis might notice – but on the other hand, this was her baby’s soulmate. Her little baby. A son. That’s good. Lewis might love him the way he never seems to love Shoshana anymore.

She scribbles down her number on a small piece of paper and hands it to the witch.

“Good luck,” the witch says.

Shoshana smiles at her, a bit tightly – on one hand, a curse; on the other, soulmates – and heads out.

“Call the next one in, will you?” the witch calls after her.

Shoshana nods and goes out. “Your turn,” she says to Tess.

“Not go well?” Tess asks as she struggles to her feet, noticing the tightness on Shoshana’s face.

“Not sure,” Shoshana admits.

At that moment, the little boy who’d been sitting quietly next to Tess, rocking back and forth and humming – he couldn’t be more than two, really, though he was big for his age – suddenly jumps out of his chair and scuttles over to Shoshana, holding his arms up in the universal child gesture for ‘pick me up’.

“Mickey!” Tess exclaims, surprised. “Oh – I’m sorry, he doesn’t tend to like people, but he seems to have taken quite the shine to you.”

“Up,” Mickey says stubbornly.

Tess reaches for him.

“No!” he exclaims, pulling away from his mother and closer to Shoshana. He tugs at Shoshana’s skirt. “Up!”

“Oh, it’s fine,” Shoshana assures Tess, crouching down carefully – not easy with how far along she is. “I’m sorry, Mickey, but I can’t –” she starts, ready to explain that her belly is too big to lift him easily, but Mickey loses interest almost immediately in going up and goes instead to put his hands on Shoshana’s belly.

“Baby,” he says.

“Yes, it’s a baby,” Shoshana says encouragingly. “Just like your mom.”

“No, baby,” Mickey insists. “My baby.”

Shoshana is startled into a laugh. “Well, isn’t that nice,” she says.

“I’m so sorry,” Tess says. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Shoshana says to Tess, then, turning back to Mickey, she says gently, “No, Mickey; this is my baby. That over there –” she nods at Tess’s belly “– is your baby brother or sister.”

“My baby!” Mickey insists, putting his cheek to Shoshana’s belly. “Mine.”

Tess and Shoshana share a smile.

“C’mon, Mickey,” Tess says. “Let’s go.”

“No!”

It takes some convincing, but eventually Tess manages to get Mickey to go with her into the witch’s room.

Shoshana levers herself up and goes home.

Lewis, who shouldn’t have been there until tomorrow, came back early, and he’s steaming mad about her going out without permission. They have a screaming fight about it, only for it to be interrupted, right in the middle, by Shoshana crumpling in on herself, hands grasping her stomach.

“What?” Lewis says savagely. “You think you can get out of this by playing up the baby thing? Well, let me tell you –”

“Shut up, you stupid man,” Shoshana cries out. “My water’s breaking.”

Lewis’ face abruptly loses all trace of anger – and, for that matter, of color. “What, now?!”

“Yes, now!”

“But you’re not due for another week –”

“Lewis!”

“Right,” he says, looking spooked. “Uh – we should – ”

“Car,” Shoshana says through gritted teeth. “Hospital. Now.”

Lewis even grabs the spare siren he uses when he’s in undercover duty to get them through traffic quicker.

Neither of them notice the phone ringing insistently.

The witch on the other end eventually hangs up. “I’m sorry,” she says. “No luck. Not even a voicemail.”

“And she didn’t leave an address?” Tess Rory asks the witch anxiously, clutching her toddler’s hand tightly in hers. “Is she from Central? Do we know?”

“I have no idea,” the witch says apologetically. “I’m sorry – if I’d realized – I would have told her to wait – ”

“Soulmates,” Tess says, looking at her little Mickey, her quiet, troubled boy. “Soulmates. I can’t believe it. They're soulmates, and they just passed right by each other.”

Mickey himself was quiet and calm, his eyes distant and lost in his own mind as it always is nowadays, after that horrible electric fire that had made him scream so badly. He’s smiling, though, which pleases Tess, and she turns to the witch discuss the logistics of a fortune for her unborn babe as well.

“My baby,” Mickey whispers happily to himself, unnoticed by the adults in the room. “Mine.”

#dccoldwave #coldwaveweek2017 #mick rory #leonard snart #my fic

20 notes · View notes

ayylobo · 7 years

Note

1-102

1. Think of the last person who said I love you, do you think they meant it?- my mom? Yes lol. Romantically? Can't remember the last person to tell me they love me..2. Would you date an 18-year-old at the age you are now?- maybe, it depends3. When’s the last time you were aggravated and happy at the same time?- watching the last Warriors v Cavs game 😂4. Would you ever smile at a stranger?- yes when I'm in a good mood and don't give af :)5. Is there someone mad because you’re dating/talking to the person you are?- nope nobody talks to me lol6. Have you heard a song that reminds you of someone today?- yes 7. What exactly are you wearing right now?- a Mickey Mouse onesie LOL8. How often do you listen to music?- pretty often, not as much as I used to9. Do you wear jeans or sweats more?- pretty even given its winter; sweats at home jeans when I got out10. Do you think your life will change dramatically before 2013?- LOL yeah it did11. Are you a social or an antisocial person?- Little bit of both, probably more antisocial12. Have you ever kissed someone whose name begins with the letter ‘A’?- lol yes13. What about ‘R’?- no14. Can you drive a stick shift?- You drive me crazy15. Do you care if people talk badly about you?- yes actually, I don't wanna be on bad terms with anybody if I can help it16. Are you going out of town soon?- To Florida in a couple months of that counts17. When was the last time you cried?- Tonight lol jk 18. Have you ever told someone you loved them?- yes unfortunately19. If you could change your eye color, would you?- hell yeah wtf my eyes are hella boring20. Is there a boy who you would do absolutely everything for?- Yeah, my nephew21. Name something you dislike about the day you’re having.- having mixed feelings about some things22. Is it cute when guys kiss you on your forehead?- Ooh yes pls 😘😂 lol jk23. Are you dating the last person you talked to?- nope24. What are you sitting on right now?- my ass25. Does anyone regularly (other than family) tell you they love you?- nobody loves me haha26. Have you ever wanted someone you couldn’t have?- yes, damn near all the time27. Who was the last person you talked to before you went to bed last night?- Nicole :)28. Do you get a lot of colds?- yes 29. Where is the shirt you are wearing from?- H&M30. Does anyone hate you?- I think my ex does? 😂😂31. Do you have any empty alcohol bottles hidden somewhere in your room?- no lol 32. Do you like watching scary movies?- nah I'm a pussy with scary movies 😅33. Do you want your tongue pierced?- pierced skewered and bbqd34. If you had to delete one year of your life completely, which would it be?- Probably sounds mainstream but 2016 for sure!!!35. Did you have a dream last night?- I don't think so36. When was the last time you told someone you loved them?- As a friend? Maybe last week. 37. Do you think you’ll be married in 5 years?- can the love of my life quit playing games and show up first? Lol38. Do you think someone has feelings for you?- Maybe, I'm not entirely sure though..39. Do you think someone is thinking about you right now?- also a maybe, I hope she might be whoever she is 😌40. Did you have a good day yesterday?- yes, I finished a bucket of ice cream lol41. Think back 2 months ago; were you in a relationship?- no42. In the next 48 hours, will you hang out with a girl?- yes, if I'm not busy 43. Has anyone told you they don’t want to ever lose you?- yes AND IT WAS A FUCKING LIE44. What’s the best part about school?- ummm meeting new people I guess??? 45. Do you have any pictures on your Facebook?- yes but don't look at those please46. Do you ever pass notes to your friends in school?- nah we just snapchat each other sleeping in class hahaha47. Do you replay things that have happened in your head?- yeah sometimes48. Were you single over the last summer?- Yeah 49. Is your life anything like it was two years ago?- lol no50. What are you supposed to be doing right now?- taking my ass to sleep51. Do you hate the last guy you had a conversation with?- no, but I do feel bad I couldn't speak Tagalog with him52. Are you nice to everyone?- for the most part yes53. Have you ever liked someone you didn’t expect to?- yes54. Do you think you can last in a relationship for 6 months and not cheat?- wtf of course55. Are you good at hiding your feelings?- To a certain extent. I can't hide when I'm angry though 56. Do you think you like someone?- lol yes57. Have you kissed someone whose name starts with a ‘J’?- Yes58. Do you prefer to be friends with girls or boys?- Girls, boys are fucking idiots 59. Has anyone of your friends ever seen you cry?- yes60. Do you hate anyone?- not anymore61. How’s your heart?- I think it's healed pretty well over the past year 😌62. Is there something that happened in your past that you hate talking about?- nah I'm pretty open about things; embarrassing, sad, funny, they all make good stories63. Have you ever cried over a guy?- does my dad whooping my ass count? Lol64. Who is probably talking a load of crap about you right now?- Nicole lol jk65. Are your toenails painted pink?- nope66. Will your next kiss be a mistake?- No67. Girls love it when boyfriends cry; correct?- No68. Have your pants ever fallen down in public?- yes lol fuck my uncles69. Who was the last person you were on the phone with?- my pops70. How do you look right now?- comfortable haha71. Do you have someone you can be your complete self around?- nope, still waiting for that person72. Can you commit to one person?- easy73. Do you have someone of the opposite sex you can tell everything to?- ehh sorta kinda74. Have you ever felt replaced?- felt? More like happen all the damn time 75. Did you wake up cranky?- yeah if my sister wakes me up76. Are you a jealous person?- unfortunately yes, but I'm working on it77. Are relationships ever worth it?- they are if two people have a mutual agreement to work at it and communicate78. Anyone you’re giving up on?- yes79. Currently wanting to see anyone?- It would be nice to meet Nicole if she didn't live so far lol80. Name something you have to do tomorrow?- take a poop81. Last person you cried in front of?- I dunno maybe Tianna??82. Is there someone you will never forget?- yeah83. Do you think the person you have feelings for is protective of you?- hmmmm 84. If the person you wish to be with were with you, what would you be doing right now?- cuddling/spooning85. Are you over your past?- I'd say so86. Have you ever liked one of your best friends of the opposite sex?- Yes, either that or they turn into my best friends 87. Is there anyone you can tell EVERYTHING to?- didn't we already answer this??88. If your first true love knocked on your door with apology and presents, would you accept?- Yes, apology accepted, presents accepted, now go back home to your baby daddy *shuts door* LOOOL89. So, the last person you kissed just happens to arrive at your door at 3AM; do you let them in?- yeah, I'd assume she would need to talk about something and that's it90. Have you ever liked someone who your friends hated?- lol yes 91. Will you be in a relationship in 2 months?- probably nor92. Is there anyone you know with the name Michael?- like 1593. Have you ever kissed a Matthew?- I think so LOL94. Were you in a relationship in January? How was it going?- nope I was in shambles haha95. Were you happy with the person you liked in March?- I had a thing for a chick but never said anythinf96. Don’t tell me lies, is the last person you texted attractive?- yes97. Who do you have texts from?- umm friends and family??98. If the person you like says they like someone else, what would you say?- Fuck you. Lol jk I'd probably just play it off and let them tell me about their crush since I still care99. Have you ever kissed someone older than you?- No, didn't realize that until now100. Who’s in your profile picture with you?- nobody nobody but you101. Ever kissed under fireworks?- nope102. Has anybody ever given you butterflies?- yeah but it's been awhile

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gores-of-grimoire12 · 7 years

Text

Chapter 21: In My Time of Dying

Victoria still waited patiently for Caroline in the Warlock Common Room. She had finished her tea and James left to check out the teacher’s lounge for blood bags. She sat, staring into the hot fireplace, with her knees against her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. She wasn’t the skinniest person ever, but she was certainly not overweight. Over the last few months, she had gained some much needed weight and was now about 130 pounds. She was, however, still quite short. She grew a bit when she gained some weight, and was 5'4.“ Victoria sighed. Looking around, she noticed that the room was the exact same as the Blood Dorm’s Common Room, except the curtains were rainbow coloured, the flames in the fireplace were blue, and the roses were pink. The furniture was all mismatched. The room was brighter, and in a way, unique. She had read “The Mortal Instruments” series, so being in the room reminded her of Magnus Bane and his strange style. -are warlocks really immortal?- she wondered. She shrugged then stood up, straightening her clothes. -Maybe there’ll be something in the dorms..- and with that thought, she walked casually up the stairs and into the girl’s dorm tower…… The voice of the man wasn’t familiar to Caroline. She arched on eyebrow and crossed her arms, “To whom am I speaking?” She said in a sarcastic tone. The figure came closer and grabbed one of the bars on the door. His hand sizzled, but he didn’t react at all, just stood there dark and mysterious. “Names. Names don’t matter anymore. Its the blood and bones and meat that are of any value,” His voice was rough, like sandpaper, and he sounded hungry as he spoke, “humans, oh humans are so delicious. Vampires, however, are even more so,” he opened the door, and stepped inside. Caroline backed up slightly as he came closer to her. “If you touch me, you’ll regret it.” She said. He came even closer, she continued to back up. “Threats mean nothing to me, my treat.” He responded. She was up against the wall in the corner of the room. The stone wall was cold against her icy skin. He was a few inches away from her. She cringed and turned away, but he grabbed her by her cheeks and forced her to look at him. She gave a low growl in response and tried to break free of his tight grip, but she couldn’t move from it. He pulled her face towards him. In response, she bared her fangs and tried to bite him, but it was no use. With his other hand, he pushed her against the wall. She was still wearing the dress from the night before. Noticing this, he grabbed pulled her dress up and started touching her. This was enough. She started thrashing, screaming for him to stop, but he smiled and licked her face. “Enough, Lucifer. You’ve had you’re fun.” Andrew’s voice came from the outside of the cage. Lucifer let her go, slightly brushing a figure along her cheek. “Until next time, my treat.” He said in his rough voice. Then he walked out…… Victoria picked room 12. It was, afterall, her favorite number. The door was unlocked and old. The wood was painted blue years ago and the paint was chipping, as was the wood. She carefully knocked, discovering no one was home. The door creaked on its hinges as she opened it and the light was turned off. When it was open, she stepped inside and flicked the light switch to on. It belonged to a typical 11 year old. The curtains were pastel blue, the comforter on the bed was black and silky, her dressers were a tan wood, the floor was black and white checkered with pink, fuzzy rugs, there was a white desk with an Apple brand computer, she had a cheetah print lamp, and her dark brown bookshelf was overflowing with Young Adult books and spell books. She also had pictures all over the walls of herself and what seemed to be her family and friends, along with a French flag on one of the white walls. -Well then- she thought, looking around. She went over to the window and looked outside. The room was on the first floor of the tower, but because of the stairs, it was about two stories up from the ground. Victoria sighed, closing the curtain and turned around. -Maybe there’s just nothing here..- she thought. when she was about to leave, she suddenly felt a draft and heard the whistle of wind. Stopping dead in her tracks, she slowly turned around towards the window. It was open, the blue curtains flowing around it like a waterfall. She hadn’t heard it at all. Slowly, she inched herself towards the window and looked out. No signs that there had been anyone. -ooookay…- she thought. When she looked down, she saw a key on the window sill. More specifically, a skeleton key. She arched her eyebrow and hesitantly picked it up. It was heavy in her hand and about room temperature. She slipped it into her back pocket and closed the window. She turned back towards the door and was about to walk out, but first she looked around in a confused manner, then shrugged when she couldn’t think of any way to explain it except magic. ….. The small waterfall fell heavy and hard onto the surround rocks. It was, afterall, England. The rains were always coming down onto the earth and filling the waterfall up like a hose fills a bucket. A pale boy with white hair slowly opened his deep, dark red eyes in the damp cave behind the waterfall. His body was sore and cold against the rocky ground. He winced as he pushed himself up slowly but surely. -Victoria.- was his first thought, -Victoria-. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cave, he looked around. The attack last night was a blur of screams, blood, students, and combat. He remembered running into Molly, but at the same time, she wasn’t Molly. Then after that, he looked for Victoria, but had been attacked by Adrian Stormfly. More specifically, the wolf Adrian Stormfly. He lifted up his shirt to look at his abdomen. A deep bite mark was on his side. The bite mark of a lycan, the most lethal of all to vampires. It looked severely infected, and black veins protruded from the wound. He never cried, not since he had become what he was, but this time was different. This time he knew he was going to die when he had something- someone to live for. He closed his eyes and let out a dry sob. -Where is she?- he thought. The pulled out his phone from his back pocket, but it was smashed to pieces. No way to call her. He let out a groan, then threw the phone hard. When it hit the wall, it smashed into a thousand pieces. He was hungry. Really hungry. -No sense in staying here, feeling sorry for myself.- He thought. Then, he grabbed onto anything he could along the walls and pulled himself up, while wincing. There was no sun out, but it still seemed bright outside. -Won’t be long now. The symptoms will come..- He thought. The immense sweating, the fever, the blisters, the hunger, the hallucinations, the dizziness, and lastly, the death. ….. Caroline sat in the corner with her knees against her chest and her arms hugging herself. Andrew was still there. Apparently, he had to guard the cell to make sure the mysterious and perverted Lucifer didn’t return. She did not want to talk to him. He betrayed her, and he led her to believe that he liked her. After everything she had been through for the last few years, this was not something she could easily forgive and forget. They took her phone when they captured her. No way to reach Victoria, Molly, or even James. She sighed, then crossed her arms on top of her knees and put her head into the dark cavity. She closed her eyes. -No sleep. Just distractions.- she thought. She thought about her life and chose a memory to think of. “Caroline? Caroline, sweety, you gotta get up.” My mom’s voice called to me. “It’s still dark outside.” I groaned through the sheets covering my face and the dry drool that stuck my hair to my mouth. Then suddenly it was cold and bright. She pulled the blankets off me and turned on my light. “Not dark inside, though. Come on, you’ll be late. Remember what today is?” She asked gingerly. “Sometime in June.” I responded. “Be more specific.” She said. “Sometime in June in 1989?” I asked, sitting up and pulling my hair out of my mouth. If tasted gross and familiar. She laughed at my answer. “Caroline, 1) it’s July now, and 2) today we’re going to Disney Land.” She said. We lived in London, England, but that summer we were visiting my relatives in California, America. They said that they’d take us to Disney Land. I instantly perked up. Going to Disney Land was literally the dream of every ten year old girl. Especially when people said she looked like a princess. I became frantic around the room, brushing my hair, picking out a shirt, some jeans, and tennis shoes. “Why didn’t you just say so!” I told my mom excitedly. She laughed softly. “I made you some warm tea and some uh, oatmeal? I think they call that here. But anyway, it’s downstairs and still warm.” She told me, leaving the room. I giggled and ran the brush through my hair as I bounced happily up and down on the balls of my feet. My blond curls fell around my neck with a shine. I took a tissue and wiped the dry spit off of my cheeks and got dressed. My jeans were light blue, my shirt was a Mickey Mouse T shirt, my tennis shoes were black and white. I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth rapidly, then ran downstairs. Once there, I saw everyone else around the table. My cousins were all still in their pajamas, my mom was packing lunches for the road, my aunt was feeding the baby and my uncle was drinking a cup of coffee. He looked dead inside, which was kind of funny now that I thought about it. I looked around, smiling at everyone. “G'day, everyone. How’s ‘bout some breakfast?” I asked them in my young, and strong accent. My male cousins snickered slightly and mimicked it. At the time, I found offense, but now I wish I could just give them a hug. I stuck my tongue out at them with a smile. Once I took my place at the table, I went about eating my breakfast. I remember the warmth of family being so close together, even if they would murder you to get to their pot of coffee. I remember the smell of apples and cinnamon on my breakfast, and the lighting of the room that just seemed perfect and light and beautiful for everyone. I embraced the memory. I embraced it so hard, my chest started to hurt. I missed my mommy. I missed everyone. Sometimes I even wish I never became what I am. I wish my skin wasn’t cold. So cold, in fact, that it scared my mom. It made her flinch. I shook my head and focused again on the good memory. The warmth, the smell, the love. ….. Victoria left the dorms with the key in her back pocket. She couldn’t help but feel as if it had a heavy weight on her. Like her pocket carried as exercise weight rather than an extremely light key. She tried to shake the feeling, but every step she took seemed to make the key heavier and heavier. -What the hell?- She thought. She took the key out of her pocket and held it in her hand. It felt normal. She arched her eyebrow and tried to think. The key was a skeleton key, it could supposedly open any door. Maybe she could try that. Conveniently, she was locked in the Warlock Dorms. She shrugged and inserted the key into the keyhole of the door and turned it. -Holy crap, this actually works..- When she opened the door, she was looking inside the Grimoire Manor. She instantly closed the door, shook her head, rubbed her eyes, and tried again. When she opened the door again, she encountered the same thing. She couldn’t believe it. With the door still open, she took the key from the keyhole and walked into her Manor. Into her home. -No need to pay for those plane tickets, I guess.- She thought. Once inside the Manor, she closed the door behind her and opened it again. This time, she saw the cloudy Oregon she grew up in and not the Warlock Dorms. She pulled out her phone with a smirk and texted James. ME: You’ll never guess where I am.. Then she waited as her message sent. Two minutes later, she got a response. JAMES: Tell me. I don’t like guessing. ME: I’m home. I’ll explain later….. She shut off her phone before she could receive his answer and bolted upstairs. But, she did it at a normal human pace, to take in her surroundings. Home. She was at last home. When she reached her bedroom, she knew exactly where to go. A loose floorboard about two feet from her bed. At first, the board put up a fight, and didn’t want to give, but as she pulled harder, it eventually popped off like a cork. She smiled at the sight of her possessions that she had placed there long before. She pulled out the rose first and held it close to her chest. Then, she set it gently on her nightstand, so she could come back to it yet again after she would have to leave. Looking back at the hiding place, the small, lonely box was covered in dust, and a bit of spider web. Picking it up and opening it, she saw the clean, beautiful necklace. The last thing her father gave to her. She pulled it out of the box and put it on. It suited her perfectly. Inside the box, was a folded piece of paper. A message? She unfolded the paper multiple times to reveal a fine handwritten note. She recognized the handwriting as her father’s. The note read: “Dear, my darling Victoria, I apologize for not being able to be there myself when you open this gift, but I rest happily knowing it is at last in your hands. You see, Ducky, this is no ordinary necklace; it is magical. And also beautifully fit for one such as yourself. This necklace allows you to walk freely in the sunlight, as the mundane humans do. It protects you with an invisible shield, so that you may not experience pain during daylight. Use it well. And remember, Ducky, I love you more than anything in this world.” Then it ended with her father’s signature. -Is it true?- She thought. She opened her curtain to the sunny day and felt the rays hit her through the window. She flinched, expecting pain, but it felt as if she were human. She was completely awestruck. She sent up a silent prayer of thanks, then decided to cherish the short time she had there. ….. Sebastian came to a stream and decided to follow it. He was completely covered in sweat, and felt light headed. His skin felt cold, except his head, which was burning up severely. It took all he had to prevent himself from falling down on his journey. He decided to pass the time thinking about life. … I was turned at a very young age. I remember everything about that day. The date was June 16th, 1995. I was ten years old. My birthday was supposed to be exactly two weeks from then. It seemed like any other normal day. We were in Arizona, about to head home to London from our vacation. Plans changed, however. The flight had been canceled, and rescheduled for tomorrow. My family and I were in Phoenix, and decided to drive south to Tucson to visit the University of Arizona and see A Mountain. It was very cool to us. And very hot. The weather was definitely not something we were used to, but the sky was amazing. In London, there is much smog and high buildings. In this town, there were high buildings, but not many. And mountains were everywhere, the air was very clear. I almost didn’t want to leave, but we had to. When our flight landed in London the next morning, we met up with my aunt. She said she had a surprise for me, because it was my birthday. My mother and I were excited and curious. When we arrived at her house, there was a birthday cake and a stack of gifts ready for me, and I was extremely delighted by the sight. When it came time to cut the cake, the doorbell rang. My aunt excused herself and left the room. My mother decided at that moment to start tickling me. “Birthday jumpies!” She’d call it. I was laughing so hard, until we heard my aunt scream and saw blood splatter on the floor. My mother covered my mouth to keep me from screaming then pushed me under the table until I was completely hidden. Everything became silent. I was shaking And couldn’t really see anything. But I heard footsteps come into the room and my mother gasp. “You can’t..but- it’s impossible..” she said. Her voice was shaky. I hugged myself and felt tears running quickly and quietly down my cheeks. Then suddenly my mother screamed and whoever else was in the room was on top of her. I saw my mother, her neck ripped open, lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Blood. It was everywhere. The smell nearly made me sick myself. I thought I was safe until my father unexpectedly came in. “Mary!” He cried my mother’s name. The intruder growled then did the same thing to him. Only this time, slower. My father screamed and screamed until I couldn’t take it any longer. I revealed myself and screamed for the intruder to stop. The intruder was a girl. She was covered in so much blood. Her teeth were bared and sharper than daggers. Her eyes were completely black with red pupils. When she saw me, she smiled an evil smile, then snapped my father’s neck. “Tricky, tricky, indeed.” She muttered, “I think, I think I shall keep this one alive. Yes. A birthday present he’ll never forget. Yes, yes,” she said over and over . Then she bared her fangs and pounced on me. She held both my arms down with one hand, then bent my head to the side with the other. I tried to scream, but I just couldn’t. Then she slowly bent her head down and pierced my neck with her fangs, waited a moment, then pulled them out. It felt like getting pinched twice at the same time on my neck. When she was off of me, she smiled. I felt like I had been drugged. My head hurt and my vision blurred. I felt my heart beat slow and hard. My blood felt like it was on fire. I couldn’t get up, I was completely helpless. She looked me dead in the eyes and said, “Happy Birthday, Sebastian. Hope you like my gift. Oh, and I’m Athena, your new best friend.” Then she was gone. … Sebastian stopped. The stream ended and became a waterfall. The pool below looked similar to a lagoon and dark green trees surrounded the area. It was very pretty. He looked down deeper and saw a few mermaids swimming around. One with a red tail, one with a blue, the other with a purple, and the final with a green. Their hair colours matched their tails. The one with the purple tail was African American. The others were extremely pail. The were all beautiful, but they were all extremely skinny. Suddenly Sebastian felt extreme pain to the back of his head. He turned around and saw a cloaked figure with a hidden face (although he could tell the figure was a female). Darkness swarmed in around his vision and his body went limp. ….. Caroline felt a hand touch her shoulder and she jumped awake. When her eyes adjusted, she same that it had been Andrew. She gave him a dirty look. “Sorry to wake you, but you’re coming with me.” He said. She flipped him off then put her head back down in the position in which she slept. He sighed then grabbed her. She instantly started kicking and scratching and thrashing with every ounce of strength possible, but she was weak compared to him. She just gave up and stopped trying. If she was going to escape, she needed a plan, and a damn good one. She looked around. There were many cells embedded into the rocks of the large, dark cave. It reminded her of the Elvish cells in the Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. With every step he took, a loud echo of it sounded around them. As they passed another cell, she looked into it intently, and saw a young girl lying on the ground. She had red hair. Caroline’s eyes widened and she called out to her. “Molly! Molly!” Her voice echoed loudly off the walls. The figure got up and she extended her arm through the bars. Whatever was on the bars seemed to burn her skin, but she cared not. For the single touch of a friend was worth the pain. Caroline fought this time. She extended her arm towards her friend. Andrew did everything he could to prevent that, but then he suddenly stopped fighting and let her go. She grabbed Molly’s hand, and Molly hers. They stayed like that for a moment then Andrew gently touched Caroline’s arm. She looked at him and nodded. She gave Molly’s hand a reassuring squeeze and smile, then left with Andrew. She grabbed his arm and closed her eyes. Concentrating, she telepathically communicated. - Why did you do that? I thought that you hated me. - she said. He responded. - I’ve never hated you. If anything, I really liked you. But I’m doing this for the greater good of everyone. - she never tried to answer after that. .. When they were passed all the cells, they came to an iron door. He unlocked it, then opened it. It revealed a large room, much like a ball room. No, wait..it was a ballroom. He closed the door, but it was no longer iron, then he led them towards the centre of the room. At the top of a grand staircase stood Adrian. In the middle of the room was a large casket. Next to Adrian was a man and a woman. They were hunters. Caroline hissed at them all. The male hunter seemed amused and whispered to the female. “What do you say, Fredericka, would you like the honours?” Then he chuckled. So did she. “Enough, you two. There’s no point in whispering when we can all hear you.” Adrian snapped at them. Caroline couldn’t take it anymore. “What the hell do you want with me?” She asked in a tone that suggested she was irritated. Adrian crossed his arms. He was intimidating. “Hullo, Caroline. Glad to see you as well,” Adrian said. He pulled out a phone - her phone - from his pocket and threw it at her. She caught it with her right hand, “You’re going to give Ms. Grimoire a call saying you’re all right.” He said. She gave him a dirty look and punched it Victoria’s number. She didn’t pick up. “Her phone’s most likely turned off.” She said. Adrian made a pouty face. “Such a shame. Oh well, time for Plan B.” He looked at the male hunter and nodded. The male hunter gave one nod and walked toward the casket. He stopped dead in his tracks as if remembering something. “Sir, we need a one hundred percent human. I am not.” He said to Adrian. “Ah, yes. That is true indeed.” Adrian replied. He snapped his fingers and Fredericka ran with immense speed and came back holding a frightened girl. “You see, Caroline, Ms. Grimoire’s family tree is complicated. Her sister is in that there casket, ” he pointed to it, “ and she happens to be the Lady of the Wood. And well, I need her blood. Normally,” he walked down the stairs towards her and Andrew, “only a Grimoire can open it with a special key. But thanks to your witchy friend, Erica, that was altered a bit.” He had Erica, too. “How so?” She asked. He smiled. “Now, one hundred percent humans can open it as well. Just as long as they have the Grimoire key, which happens to be in my possession.” He added. “But why? Why kidnap one of each? Why do you need Victoria’s sister?” She asked. “Ms. Wright, you’re intelligent. What creature is really all creatures?” He asked. She thought about it, then suddenly she realized. “Why? There’s no point! You need a special kind of vampire to help.” She said. “Yes, yes, everyone thought these ‘special vampires’ were extinct. But you, Caroline Wright, are exactly what I need!” He was excited. “What?” She couldn’t quite wrap her mind around what he was saying. He was just nodding now, with a stupid look on his face. She just wanted to slap him. “Caroline, you are a Strigoi." He said with a smile. ..... Victoria walked around the Manor, and came upon a guest bedroom. She shrugged and opened the door, stepping inside. The room looked a lot like hers, except the bed didn't have the same comforter, the window was in a different place, as well as the closet, and it was just extremely plain. She walked over to the closet, hoping to find some of her parents clothes. Upon opening it, something abruptly grabbed her from behind and threw her on the bed. Talia. Victoria recoiled and tried to distance herself as much as possible from her aunt, but she seemed to be using magic to pull her closer. Talia laughed a creepy and evil laugh. "Nighty Night, Princess." Then, with the wave of her hand, she threw Victoria's head into the window. She took the skeleton key from Victoria's pocket and used it on the door closest to them. When she opened it, it revealed the ballroom with a single casket in the middle of the room and six people.

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