#just to wreck everything. Unless I knew for absolute certain it would make things better not just the chance of it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

atlafan · 3 years

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Wrecked - One Shot

a/n: this is slightly inspired by the wilds because I watched that recently, but it’s in no way as messed up or sad. psychologist/therapist!Harry is detective Nikki Reese’s ex’s best friend. They end up on the same cruise, and the two end up going overboard due to a freak hurricane. What happens while they’re stranded? Well, you’ll have to read to find out! Feedback and reblogs are super helpful! I really want to know what you all think of this one!!! (not proofread) You can support me here if you’re able!

Warnings: a lot of angst, a little fluff, and some smut. TW: trauma/dealing with trauma (Nikki is an SVU detective, so some things of that nature are brought up, but not in graphic detail)

Words: 14K

Pairing: Harry x OC

It was supposed to be a cruise, a ten-day cruise around the Caribbean to help clear her head. Well, it was originally an engagement present to herself and her ex, but since they were now broken up, it was to help clear her head. Nikki never would have thought she would end up in this situation, and especially not with someone she hated just as much as her ex…his best friend. As she lays under the stars for yet another night, she can’t help but think back to how she got herself into this mess in the first place.

She was packed and ready to go, excited even. Nikki had never gone on a cruise before, and she was looking forward to meeting some new people. She was never one to be nervous to go to things alone, she knew how to take care of herself and keep herself safe. She had grown up as the mom friend, so her purse was always stalked with essentials. She had one of those ones that was like a little backpack.

Nikki got to the docks a little later than she was hoping, but there was nothing she could do about getting stuck in traffic. She gets out of her cab in her white sundress, large sunhat, and sunglasses, and rolls her suitcase up the pathway to the boat. There was a bit of a line, but she didn’t mind. For the next ten days, she had all the time in the world.

There was a large area for her to check in at, and get her room key. She was surprised she wouldn’t be able to do it over her phone, but she knew that once they set sail the WIFI may not be as strong in certain places. She brought a spare lanyard to stick it on and everything.

“Hello, Miss.” The woman at the table smiles.

“Hello, I’m Nicole Reese.” Nikki smile.

The woman nods and looks her up in the system. She takes out two room keys and hands them to Nikki, along with a couple of pamphlets that were full of activity options, and where the boat would be stopping.

“Here you are, Miss Reese. We hope you enjoy your stay with us. It’s going to be an excellent cruise. Your other party has already checked in.”

“My who?” Nikki’s heart stops.

“There’s two of you signed up for this suite. A nice gentleman checked in about twenty minutes ago.” She taps a few times on the keyboard. “A Mr. Harry Styles.” The woman smiles. “Has there been a mix up?”

“Nope.” Nikki swallows. “Everything’s fine.”

Nikki quickly makes her way to her room. The ship was pretty easy to navigate. She was enraged. Had Kyle sent Harry in his place? Why the fuck was Harry even there? Did he suddenly acquire time off from work? She scans her key card, and enters the suite.

“Jesus, fuck!” Harry shouts. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?! What are you doing here?!”

“Kyle sold me his ticket…he…he didn’t think you’d still go.” His face falls. “Why did you?”

“Because I paid for my own fucking ticket, and I wasn’t going to let him ruin my trip! I planned the god damn thing, I should get to enjoy it. You need to leave before the ship does.”

“Sorry, I paid to be here too, I’m staying.”

“Don’t be a prick, Harry.”

“M’not trying to be. I got the time off last minute, I need a vacation just like anyone else.”

“And you came here alone?”

“Yeah.” He shrugs. “Thought it would be nice to meet some new people…apparently you thought the same. Unless…oh no, did Alex come with you?” He groans.

“No, she’s not with me.” Nikki rolls her eyes. She knew it was useless to argue with Harry. “That couch should be a pullout, you can sleep on it.”

“But I’ve already started to unpack in the bedroom…you know I have a bad back, Nikki, come on.” He follows her into the bedroom. “It’s a king sixed bed, we can just share. I’ll even make a pillow divider if that makes you more comfortable.”

“I am not sharing a bed with my ex fiance’s best friend!” She looks around. “It’s bad enough we have to share a fucking bathroom.”

“Look, if I thought this boat would have any extra room, I’d go ask for one, but the woman at the desk said it was a fully booked cruise.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I know this isn’t an ideal situation…but think of this way, it’s nice to know at least one person here, right?”

“Wrong.” She shakes her head. “I came here so I could have some time to just not be reminded of Kyle for one fucking second! Now with you here…I’m gonna be reminded of him every single fucking day.” She blinks away a few tears. “You probably think I’m being stupid since it’s been three whole months since we ended things, but-“

“I don’t think it’s stupid…you two were together for three years, that’s a long time to be with someone.”

Nikki nods, and then sighs heavily.

“I think they’re going to make the safety announcements soon. Uh, let’s back out to the main deck, yeah? We can figure all of the sleeping arrangements out later.”

“Fine.”

The two silently head up to the main deck and listen to all of the announcements on how to stay safe, and other things they might need to know. There were a lot of passengers all around them. Nikki was hoping to have some type o rebound while on this trip. How the fuck was she supposed to bring someone back to her room with Harry there? Maybe he was thinking the same thing. His cruise could have easily just been ruined like hers.

“Have you told him I’m here?” She asks him as they move towards the railing to watch the boat take off.

“No.” Harry says. “My phone’s on airplane mode, I’m trying to unplug while I’m here. It’s really none of his business, Nikki.”

“That, or you just don’t want him asking questions.” She scoffs.

“Either way, I haven’t told him, and I’m not going to, okay? You can relax.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because the suite I thought I was going to have to myself has been infiltrated by a six foot, curly headed, no good moron!”

“Hey! I’m not the one who cheated on you, okay?! Don’t take it out on me. Maybe you should have been a better partner to him and he wouldn’t have felt the need to stray.”

“Fuck you, Harry.” Nikki huffs, and walks away from him.

He knew he shouldn’t have said that, but she shouldn’t have called him a moron. That was the problem with Nikki, she thought she was smarter than everyone else, but you don’t get to become an SVU detective by being stupid. It wasn’t her fault that her work was a 24-hour job. She was lucky she even had the time off for this. All activities on the boat were all inclusive, and she wasn’t going to waste it. When she gets back to the room, she starts to unpack so she can freshen up. Harry comes in shortly after. She was just getting out of the bathroom.

“Nikki, look, I-“

“The pillow divider should be fine…I’d feel bad if you hurt your back.”

“Are you serious?”

“We’re both adults, think we can share a bed without it getting weird. You were right before…it’s good to know at least one other person.”

“Nikki, I’m sorry about what I said before.”

“Don’t be. You were absolutely right. I drove him to it.”

She knew how to play the game and keep the peace with someone. It would be easier to play nice with Harry so she could enjoy her trip than it would be to fight with him the entire time. And he was right about one thing, he wasn’t the one she was truly mad at. A little resentful maybe, but she wasn’t mad at Harry.

“Do you…wanna head down to the bar?” He asks her.

“Yeah.” She smiles. “That sounds good.”

Nikki doesn’t stay with Harry for long. She finds herself talking to a cute guy that was seated next to her. Harry didn’t mind because he was talking to some other folks as well. Nikki has dinner with the cute guy, and eventually goes back to his room with him. She has her fun and goes back to her own room. Harry was there, just getting out of the shower, his towel hanging low on her hips.

“Hi.” Nikki says, blushing. “Are you done in there?”

“Yeah, it’s all yours.”

“I…I talk in my sleep sometimes…and sometimes I…punch.”

“Punch?”

“Yeah, I have, like, bad dreams because of work.”

“Oh…well, thanks for the warning. I’m sorry that happens to you.”

“I’ve learned to live with it.” She grabs something to wear to bed before going into the bathroom. She takes a shower, and then comes out. She smirks when she sees the pillows in the middle of the bed. “Thanks.”

“It’s the least I could do since I ruined your vacation.”

“You didn’t know I was coming.” She gets into the bed and turns the light off. “Just like how I didn’t know you were coming. I had a bad reaction before.” She sighs as she gets comfortable. “Nice bed.”

“Yeah, better than a hotel. Well…goodnight, Nik.”

“Night, Har.”

Harry was rustled awake around four in the morning. He looks over his shoulder and sees Nikki thrashing around. He sits up immediately and moves the pillows out of the way. She was drenched in sweat, so he rips the blankets back. She was gritting her teeth and kicking her legs.

“Nikki!” Harry grabs her shoulders to try to wake her up. “Nicole!” He straddles her hips to try to still her body. She was really strong. Her eyes burst open and she gasps for breath.

“What are you doing?!”

“You were having a bad dream!” He strokes her cheek, and moves her matted hair away from her face. Her breathing calms eventually and he gets off of her. “Do you want me to get you some water?”

“Please.” She sits up. Harry jumps out of bed and goes to fill up a glass. He comes back quickly and hands it to her, sitting on her side of the bed. She takes slow sips. “Thanks.”

“That looked pretty scary…do you remember what your dream was about?”

“Um, yeah, but I don’t want to scare you. I can’t really talk about cases.”

“If you need someone to talk to, I don’t-“

“It’s fine, Harry.” She snaps.

“Is…is this why you and Kyle never moved in together? Because you get these night terrors?”

“That…among other things. I don’t want to talk about him right now. I’m sorry I woke you.”

“Don’t be.” He puts his hand on her leg, giving her a squeeze. “Why don’t I put the TV on, hm? We can just relax for a bit, and-“

“Harry, fuck, I don’t need you to be my shrink!”

“I’m not trying to be! Jesus, you cops all think seeing a therapist makes you weak, but it’s actually the strongest fucking thing you can do.” He huffs. “I’m turning the TV on so I can get back to sleep. I need the white noise.”

He grabs the remote off the dresser and turns the TV on. He flips around the stations until he finds MTV.

“MTV?” Nikki asks.

“They show music videos early in the morning. It’s what the whole fucking station was created for in the first place.” He puts the volume on low, and gets back into bed. Neither of them bother putting the pillow barriers back.

“You don’t understand the stigma. If we see psychologists…they think we can’t do our jobs properly.”

“So you just suffer in silence? Must be fucking terrifying to have nightmares so often.”

“It’s my problem, not yours.”

“But it doesn’t have to be a problem, there are a lot of things you can do to-“

“Harry, please just drop it.” She turns away from him, sinking back into the mattress, and pulling the blankets back onto herself. “I’m sorry I woke you.”

“Whatever.”

They barely speak for the next couple of days, which sucks because the first couple of days are just spent on the boat until they reach the Caribbean islands. Their first stop would be in Florida, and Nikki couldn’t wait to get off the boat and explore where they were getting off at.

“Hey, uh…do you think we could grab breakfast together this morning?” Harry asks her just as she was packing her bag for the day.

“Sure.” She sighs.

He nods, gets his own backpack together, and they head to the breakfast buffet. They both had started to make other friends, but Harry thought it might be nice to explore the Florida coast with her. Luckily, Nikki hadn’t had any more night terrors since that first night. Her head was really starting to feel clearer. They’re quiet at the table they choose to sit at. Harry sighs heavily as he sips his orange juice. He notices Nikki stuffing a few apples into her bag.

“What are you doing?” He asks her.

“We’re going to be out all day today, I wanted to make sure I had snacks.”

“You need three apples?”

“For someone else…if they need one.” She mutters. “I just like being prepared, I can’t help it.”

“Well, I suppose if I get hungry later, I’ll be thankful.”

“Oh, are we wandering around together today?” She raises her eyebrows, and takes a bite of her bagel.

“I was hoping so. I don’t like that we’ve barely spoken these last couple of days. We’re friends, Nikki, why can’t we act like it?”

“I stopped being friends with you the day I found out Kyle was fucking cheating on me.” She stands up and storms off. Harry groans, but follows her. It had gotten increasingly windy out, normal stormy morning in Florida. Although, it had started to drizzle. “Stop following me, Harry!”

“No!” He grabs her wrist. They were outside on one of the lower decks. Not many people were outside due to the weather. “I didn’t know, okay?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I didn’t know Kyle was cheating on you!”

“How could you not have known, you’re his fucking roommate! And apparently, it was going on for over six months!”

“He never brought her home! Any girl that he brought over was you, and any time he was gone for the night I just assumed he was with you…if I had known…” He steps closer to her. “I would have confronted him, and told him to cut it out. I would never condone something like that.”

“But you’re still friends with him! You just sat in your room while we were fighting!”

“I’ve been friends with him since uni! I was confused, I thought it’d be better to be on his side and keep the peace. I yelled at him afterwards. I told him he was an asshole for proposing to you while having someone else on the side. And I don’t live with him anymore, alright? I moved out a month ago, got my own place. We’re still friends, yeah, but I…I couldn’t look at him every day knowing what he did to you.” He puts his hand on her shoulder. “I always liked you, Nikki. From the second he started bringing you around, I thought he hit the jack pot, and he fucked it up.”

“He told me I drove him to it. That I wasn’t around enough, that I wasn’t giving him what he needed, but he didn’t feel like he could break it off because we already invested so much time. The fact that it was with his co-worker, someone I never even really trusted.” Nikki scoffs. “I’m glad we weren’t living together, sort of made things easier.” She looks down. “I can’t help that my job keeps me busy, and that I’m not always up to fucking my boyfriend after dealing with a sexual assault case.” She looks back up at him.

“I get it.” He sighs, and grips the railing. “Somedays I come home after a rough session with a patient…like, you know when it’s so bad that when you drive home in silence and go the speed limit?” She nods at him. “It sucks sometimes…being someone that makes other people’s lives easier.”

“Right, because telling a worried mother that her child was found dead and buried in the woods totally makes things easier.” She rolls her eyes.

“That mother gets closure at least. She knows where her kid was and what happened. It helps with the grieving process.” He looks at her again. “You know I work with a lot of victims and survivors, right? I’m not out prescribing anti-depressants to a bunch of rich fucks.”

“I guess I forgot about that.” She furrows her brows at him. “You really didn’t know he was cheating on me?”

“Nikki, I swear, I had no idea.”

Just as she was about to say something else, the wind had picked up. Everything happened really fast from there. Sirens had started to go off, a hurricane was whipping up the coast. It wasn’t supposed to, it was supposed to travel out east, but it didn’t. Harry and Nikki had grabbed onto one another, but it wasn’t enough to stay grounded. They both got flipped over the side of the boat. Nikki had just grabbed at one of the life boats that was attached to the side in time. She pulled the tag, it inflated, and they landed in the water. They were dragged under at first, trying desperately to hang onto the raft. Nikki wasn’t sure how much longer she could hang on for, though. Everything around her started to fade. All she could see was her hand grasping around the rope of the raft before everything black.

Nikki’s eyes fluttered open when she felt water splashing on her face. She sits up slowly when she realizes she was drifting along the shoreline. She stands up and tries to figure out her surroundings. She remembered the storm, but she could have been blown all the way to Cuba. She looks to her left and sees the orange raft. Her backpack was next to it, thank god. She stands up slowly and goes over to the raft to flip it over. She steps back when she sees Harry laying there.

“Fuck.” She breathes and kneels down next to him. She almost forgot he was swept away with her. She checks his pulse first, he’s alive. She starts performing CPR, just the chest compressions. Before long he’s coughing up water. “Oh, thank god.”

“What…what happened?” He sits up slowly.

“We got…blown off the boat, I think. There was a big storm that wasn’t properly forecasted. I wonder if anyone else got thrown off like we did.” She looks around, but doesn’t see anyone else. “I have no idea where we are.” She opens her backpack. Everything was wet, but still useful. “My phone’s fully charges and working.”

“How?”

“I have one of those waterproof cases.” She squints at it, raising it up. “No signal.” She digs through her bag and finds a small baggie.

“What’s that?”

“Personal hot spot.” She turns it on and connects her phone. “The signal’s weak, but it’s there.” She stands up and starts walking around. “Map app won’t work.” She groans. “Fuck, I just wanna know where we are!”

“Try calling the ship director, I bet they’re taking attendance for safety measures.”

“Do you happen to know what that number is?”

“No.”

“Well, neither do I. Let me call my partner. The WIFI calling should work.” She taps the number and puts the phone on speaker.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation?”

“Dan! Thank god you answered.”

“Woah, Reese, what’s wrong?”

“There was a freak storm down in Florida…I got thrown off the boat. I just woke up ashore somewhere, but I have no idea where…could be an island off the coast, or we could be in another part of Florida.”

“Can you try sending me your location?”

“The map app won’t work…”

“But you might be able to send your location over iMessage. Are you alone?”

“No…a man named Harry Styles got thrown over with me. He’s a friend of Kyle’s.”

“Gross.”

“There are worse people to be stranded with.” She smirks at Harry.

“Are either of you hurt?”

“I’m a little achy, but nothing’s sprained or broken. Harry, are you alright?”

“Yeah, m’fine.” He says as he stands up.

“Alright, I’ve got your location…shit.”

“Dan.” She sighs. “Where the fuck are we?”

“Cuba.”

“How the fuck did we end up in Cuba?!” She shouts. “The ferry here would be an overnight trip for fuck sake.”

“Don’t know. I’m looking into it now and it looks like a pretty powerful hurricane swept you guys away. It’s like it chewed you up and spit you out. You’re lucky to be alive. I have the name of the cruise ship, since you left me the contact info, I’ll alert them right away. I’m sure they’re taking stock of who might be missing. I’ll have to get special clearance to get you out of there. It could take a few days. Do you have any supplies?”

“Yeah, I’ve got my mini water purifier, and a couple of bottles, some fruit and granola bars…basic essentials.”

“Okay, stay where you are, try to make a shelter in case more rain comes. Don’t use your phone at all unless I call you. I don’t want your battery running out. I’ll get you out of there, Nik.”

“Thank you, Dan. You’re amazing.”

“I’m sorry your vacation got ruined. I’m sure Captain will give you an extended leave.”

“I’m not worried about that right now. It’ll be dark in a few hours and we need to get to building a shelter like you said. Keep me updated.”

“Will do, stay safe.”

Nikki hangs up the phone and looks around.

“What are you looking for?”

“Drift wood. We can use some and the raft to make a little shelter to huddle under. We also need to make a fire to stay warm. If we’re going to be out here for a few days, we need to think smart.”

“What if there are wild animals running around, or-“

“Harry.” She puts her hands on his shoulders. “I know this is really scary, but you can’t freak out, okay? Did you ever read Hatchet growing up?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Okay, so, that little boy got stranded in a fucking forest in Canada…in winter! We’re at least on a warm beach. We can still wash up, and I have a mini water purifier. We’ll be okay. I just need you to not freak out. I’ll need your help.”

“Okay, but after we’re rescued you better let me freak out as much as I want.”

“Deal.” She sighs and goes to her backpack. “Here, put on some sunscreen.” She hands him the sprayable can.

“What are you, the fucking grandmother from Halloween Town? Is that a bottomless bag?” He chuckles as he sprays himself with the lotion.

“No, but I’m a detective that helps people that go missing, so I’ve learned some things along the way. I never leave my house without a stocked bag.”

The two work together to move the raft back so it wasn’t near the water. They’re able to find some wood sturdy enough to prop it up for a small shelter. Next, they work on making a fire. Luckily, Nikki’s lighter was still working. Harry was able to keep things going as she checked their supplies.

“We’ll have to ration a bit. Apples are high in carbs, so they should keep us full enough. I’ve got two bottles of water in here. Once we finish them we can use the purifier. I even have two travel toothbrushes and toothpaste in here.” She smiles. “I have deodorant too, but no soap, sorry. We’ll just have to use the salt water to keep us clean.” She furrows her brows as she keeps looking at everything. “I have granola bars as well. Ugh, thank god I had my period last week. I’d be pissed if I had to deal with that too.” She takes out a couple of tampons. “Besides, these’ll be great fire starters.”

“I guess things could be a lot worse.” He sighs and sits next to her once the fire is good to go. “We’ll probably have to take turns watching it, huh?”

“Most likely.” She starts laughing.

“What could possibly be funny?” He asks.

“Nothing, just…wouldn’t it be hilarious if we were just in some rich family’s backyard?” She looks behind them. “I know we’re not, but it would be funny.”

“Yeah.” He smirks. “Well, now that most of the excitement is over, I’m gonna go take a leak.”

“Hey, if you shit, make sure you dig a hole first and cover it. We don’t need to attract animals.”

“Not that I have to do that right now, but you don’t have toilet paper in there do you?”

“I have a packet of tissues, but they need to dry out a bit. Got pads too, those could work…but I may hog them since I have more areas to wipe than you do.”

“Fair enough. Suppose I could use some leaves if need be. I’ll be right back.” He disappears into a discrete area so he can wee, and then comes back to find her rubbing lotion onto her bare arms and legs.

“I’m really glad I wore shorts today and not a dress.” He sits down next to her. “Don’t worry about your luggage back on the ship, either, Dan will make sure everything will get back to us.” She takes out a gun from her bag.

“Holy shit.” He flinches.

“Relax, it’s a flare gun. I’m saving it to use for when they come for us. No use in using it now. I don’t really feel like getting thrown into a Cuban prison.”

“Yeah, that’s not exactly on my bucket list.” Harry chuckles. “What did you do to the water bottles?”

“Oh, I used a marker to mark off how much we should drink at a time to conserve it.”

“God, if there was ever someone to get stranded with, I’m glad it’s you. You’ve thought of everything.”

“I’ve just been trained well.” She shrugs. “Wish I had some blankets or something. It’s gonna be shit sleeping on the sand.”

“We could lay our clothes out and sleep on those.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea. We’d create more body heat if we’re almost naked.”

“Oh, so we’re cuddling?” He smirks.

“Not cuddling, surviving.” She corrects him. “We could drag out some of the larger leaves too. Make a pellet of sorts.” She stands up. “Come on, let’s go search for some.”

“Okay.” He watches as she grabs a lipstick out of her bag. “Freshening up?”

“It’s to mark the trees so we don’t get lost.” She deadpans, and he follows her into the unknown territory.

“Four days?!” Nikki shouts into her phone.

“I’m sorry, that was the quickest I could get clearance for a plane to Cuba.”

“But it’s a rescue mission, Dan!”

“Yeah, into a non U.S. territory, Nikki. I spoke with the cruise ship director, you were the only two unaccounted for. Your things are safe. I flew down to Florida today and gathered both of your things. I made sure to get you both a full refund on your tickets. I also contacted the people on your emergency contact lists so they’re informed. It’s going to be okay, you just need to survive on that beach. Can you do that?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Try to get some sleep. I’ll call you in the morning if I get any new information.”

Nikki sighs heavily and lays back under the raft. Her and Harry had made a decent enough pellet with leaves so they could keep their clothes on.

“Four days we’re going to be stuck out here.” She shakes her head. “This is all my fault.”

“What are you talking about?” Harry lays back next to her.

“If I hadn’t stormed off from breakfast, we never would’ve been swept off the ship!”

“Hey,” he turns on his side to look at her better, “don’t do that. Neither of us had any idea a hurricane was coming. At least we know someone’s coming for us. So we’ll feel a little hungry and maybe we’ll get bored. Let’s just pretend we’re on a really remote vacation.” He smiles at her.

“I have to pee.” She stands up and finds a spot to do her business before joining him back on the ground. “Let’s try to get some sleep.” She rolls away from him.

“Didn’t you say we needed to keep each other warm?”

“Yeah…I…prefer to be the little spoon.” She smutters. Harry wraps his arm around her, and gets his leg between hers. “Hold on.” She sits up and takes her bra off under shirt, then she takes her shorts off. “Need something to put under my head…and I can’t sleep with this thing on.”

“Good idea.” Harry peels his shirt off and puts it under his own head. They get back into position. She feels warmer with his bare chest against her back. “Goodnight, Nik.”

“Goodnight, Harry.”

The next morning, Harry wakes up alone. He sits up and gets his shirt back on. He squints towards the water and sees Nikki in her bra and underwear. She was about calf deep rinsing herself. She brushes her teeth and walks back towards their little campsite.

“Morning.” She says as she throws some wood on the fire. “Water’s warm. I was just cleaning off yesterday’s sunscreen.” She grabs the can and sprays her body, rubbing it in on certain spots. “What?” She noticed he was staring at her.

“N-nothing, uh, where’s that other toothbrush?”

“Here.” She tosses it to him, along with the toothpaste.

“Thanks.” He clears his throat and gets up. When he comes back, he sees that she’s put her other clothes back on. “So…how should we handle not dying today?”

“Think we need to treat it as a beach day, but in the shade. I don’t want us getting dehydrated.”

“I can’t sit around for four days, I’ll go bananas.” He sighs. “Can’t we go for a walk?”

“Sure, but we shouldn’t go too far.” She looks at her watch. “This’ll tell me when we hit a mile, how does that sound?”

“Works for me.” He shrugs. The two go for a walk. Nikki puts her phone and hotspot in her back pocket. “What’s your percentage at?”

“Eighty. I put it on airplane mode last night to conserve it. I know it won’t last a full four days, but I’m hoping Dan can get here sooner than that. Special clearance for a fucking rescue mission.” She scoffs. “This is ridiculous! Who’d you put as your emergency contact?”

“I’d rather not say.”

“Harry.”

“It’s Kyle, alright?”

“Wow, so you can barely look at the guy, but you put him down for an emergency contact.”

“I’m British, my family lives in the U.K., he’s the only person close enough to me here that I could put down. Who was yours?”

“Alex.”

“She’s so annoying, I don’t know how you stand to be friends with her.”

“I happen to love her, so it seems like a you problem.”

“She’s never been nice to me.”

“It’s because she likes you and you don’t like her back, and she’s not great with dealing with it.”

“She likes me?!”

“Yeah, she thinks you’re cute.” Nikki shrugs. “Think you were still seeing Tina when I first introduced her to you, and then you broke up and didn’t make a move, she was sort of hurt, but to be fair she didn’t make a move either.”

“She’s pretty, but she’s not my type…sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. Can’t help you like, you know? I still can’t believe I was stupid enough to fall for a lawyer, especially with the business that I’m in.”

“You know, he used to talk about you all the time. He loved how were this strong, independent woman who was just…badass. He saw you as fearless, and he really liked that. We’re both needy guys…I think the busier you got, he just didn’t know what to do with himself. I personally would have tried to talk to you about it and not my colleague, but that’s just me.”

“He’s a brilliant lawyer, but he sure is a fucking moron. Has he…mentioned me at all since we broke up?”

“I know he felt like shit at first, but…th-the woman, Katie, moved in with him when I moved out…I’m sorry.”

“Well, they’ve been together nine months, perfectly acceptable amount of time to be together before moving in. I bet she never has nightmares.” She looks down at her watch. “We should turn around.” They do, and get back to walking towards their things.

“I know you were blindsided, but…I think things happen for a reason. You two weren’t supposed to get married. I…and this is just my inner psychologist speaking, but when I’d observe you two, you just never really seemed all that compatible. Especially as time went on. Your witty banter turned into hushed arguments. I think when two people get too comfortable, they’re too scared to break it off and start all over.”

“I wanted to marry him. He was the love of my life, Harry. And he…he ripped me to shreds. In my profession, it’s pretty male dominated, or there’s a ton of lesbians, which is fine, but…sometimes I don’t always feel like a woman first. Kyle…Kyle always made me feel like a woman first, and a detective second. It made me feel special.”

“Nik…he…he learned how to treat you like that because of me. He was constantly asking me for advice on how to deal with you.”

“How to deal with me?” They get back to their camp. “Didn’t realize I needed to be dealt with.” She huffs.

“See, that’s your problem right there. You’re extremely hot headed! Are you, like, the bad cop at work? Do you get into the suspect’s face, and scream at them?”

“No, I keep my cool at work. No one gives you information when you yell at them.”

“You’re constantly jumping to conclusions, Nikki. You look down on people when they can’t figure things out right away. He wanted to be with you, but he didn’t know how. So I helped him.”

“Right, are you done pointing out my flaws now?” She rolls her eyes.

“I’m not trying to do that. I just think-“

“That’s your problem. You never stop thinking. You never do. You’re a fucking wallflower, Harry. You come off cool with your tattoos and your nail polish and your rings, but underneath it all you’re a shy little boy who never speaks up when he should.”

“And you like to push people away so much that every word you spit stings.”

“I think we should not talk until it’s time to eat later.” She says, looking away from him.

“That’s your best idea yet.” He says, and storms off. She watches him peel his cloths off, stripping to his boxers, and dive into the water.

They share an apple in the midafternoon. She was able to cut it up with her swiss-army knife. They didn’t say anything to each other. Nikki and Harry used to have a decent enough friendship. He would often watch a movie with her and Kyle, or he’d come out to the bar to hang out with their other friends. They got know each other well for the most part. She hated feeling such disdain towards him, but right now he was the only punching bag in sight, and she was abusing him for it. Around three in the afternoon, she comes over to sit with him.

“You should put more sunscreen on your face.” She hands him the can. “I just reapplied.”

“Thanks.” He spritzes it into his hands and works it into his skin. “Look, about before…I’m sorry we keep getting into these heated debates. I truly think you deserve better than Kyle, and it kills me to see you still so hurt and hung up.”

“I’m just…grieving the loss of the last three years still. I’m sorry for flipping out so much.”

“You get a pass while we’re stuck here. It’s not easy to keep your cool while you’re stranded.” He nudges her and she chuckles. “Can we just call a truce for the time being?”

“Yeah, definitely.” She smiles at him. “What do you say we go with that beach vacation idea of yours, and build some sand castles?”

“Oh, that sounds like fun.”

The two get to work on building sand castles, and laughing when they knocked them over afterwards. It was good to exert a little energy so that they could sleep that night. Just like the night before, Harry cuddled Nikki with his bare chest pressed to her covered back. They didn’t get any updates from Dan that day other than an iMessage that things were still a go for a rescue plane to come in a couple of days.

Harry woke up in the middle of the night feeling cold. When he reached for Nikki, she’s not there. He sits up in a panic. He hasn’t really panicked yet since he woke up the other day because she told him to stay calm. Without her, he wasn’t sure how to stay calm in such a stressful situation. Yes, they knew people were coming for them, but it was still their job to survive on this unknown beach. His breathing slows when he sees her laying closer to the fire, staring up at the stars. He gets up, without grabbing his shirt to put back on, and goes to lay next to her.

“Nearly gave me a heart attack.” He says, turning his head in her direction.

“Sorry, I woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s alright…just got a little cold is all.” She hums her response without looking at him. “Are you looking at the constellations?”

“Not necessarily.” She sighs. “The only time I’ve ever seen the sky this dark, like, without light pollution, was when I was twenty-one. I got to go to Israel for a birthright trip with my older sister. We camped out in the desert. We all stood in this big circle and preyed and reflected on where we were. I had never seen so many stars.” She turns to look at him now. “I was so overwhelmed that I cried. It was so beautiful.” She looks back up at the night sky. “What you said earlier, about things happening for a reason…I think you’re right. Maybe it wasn’t a cruise that I needed to clear my head…maybe it was getting stranded out here with zero distractions. That’s all the cruise was, a big distraction, but now…being out here…my head’s never been more clear.” She takes a deep breath. “I think I’m done mourning that relationship. The good was good, but the bad was bad…we weren’t right for each other, and I think I’m starting to really see that now. I…I’ll never forgive him for hurting me the way he did, but I want him to be happy, and if that other woman makes him happy and can give him the things that I couldn’t, then, well, good for him.”

“That’s a very adult way of looking at things.” Harry smirks. “It’s amazing what a little unplugging can do for people? A lot of the time I tell my patients to think of a calm, happy place when I have them close their eyes. Nine times out of ten guess what they say their happy place is?”

“Where?”

“The beach. And not at a resort or anything fancy, they just see soft sand, warm water, and a place for them to just sit and breathe for a while. It’s good you were able to come to those conclusions on your own, Nikki.”

“You helped me get there.” She looks at him with a smile. “Guess I respond better to tough love than anything else.”

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many stars either, it’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, it is.” She sighs. Her lips start to quiver, and she sits up.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Harry sits up as well and gently rubs her back as she starts to cry. “You know, other than the fact that we’re stuck on an underdeveloped area of Cuba.”

Nikki chokes out a laugh, and turns to look at him.

“It’s just…I’m so lonely, Harry.” She sniffles as more tears pour from her eyes. “I love my job, and I know I have this tough exterior, but…it’s so fucking hard to meet people in my line of work. I feel like I just latched on to Kyle…and when we ended things I was like what the fuck am I gonna do now, you know?”

“You’ve got Alex…and your partner, Dan…”

“As close as I am with him, I’d never date my partner. Things get too complicated that way. Alex is my best friend, she’s not someone I can be in a relationship with. And I can’t…talk to her about everything. With Kyle, like, he understood where I was coming from sometimes with my cases.”

“You know you can always talk to me. I was sort of…sad that we lost touch when you and Kyle broke up.”

“I hated you by association.”

“Clearly.” He keeps his arm securely around her shoulders. “You and I aren’t so different, Nik. And…sometimes I need someone to talk to too. I listen and help with such heavy shit all day, it’s hard to shake it off and pretend like everything’s normal. I’d like for us to be friends again.”

“I’d like that too.” She wipes her tears and gives him a soft smile. “I’ve missed hanging out with you, you were always so much fun when we’d go grab drinks.”

“Wish we had some booze here. It would certainly take the edge off.”

“Wait!” She stands up. “I think I have a few nips in my bag! I didn’t say anything before because I didn’t want us to get dehydrated while we were out in the sun. Hold on.” Nikki quickly goes over to her bag and pulls out two nips, and then goes back over to Harry. “Grapefruit vodka, it’s really good.”

“Anything sounds good right now, honestly.”

They clink the little plastic bottles, open them, and down them. Normally something of this size wouldn’t have an effect on either of them, it was just a double shot. However, with little food over the last couple of days, the alcohol went straight to their heads.

“I don’t know why people hate on grapefruit so much. It’s sweet and it’s got a kick.” Harry says.

“It’s the vodka.” Nikki says. “Vodka makes everything better.”

“Scientifically speaking, it doesn’t. It’s a depressant, and a poison, so technically-“ In an instant Nikki was straddling Harry and putting a hand over his mouth.

“Hey, shrinky-dink, shut up, yeah?” He nods his head yes. “Good.” She gets off of him and sighs as she lays back into the sand.

“Did you ever own shrinky dinks?” He asks, hugging his knees to his chest.

“What?”

“You know, those little plastic things you’d bake in the toaster, and then they’d harden into these little keychain things.”

“Oh my god! I remember the commercials for those! I always it, but my parents never bought stuff off infomercials.”

“We saw it in the store one day. I whined until my mum threw the box in the cart. Even though she was mad at me for behaving poorly, we had a blast making them together.” A few tears come to his eyes. “The first thing I’m gonna do when we get back is call her. She’s probably worried sick.” He wipes under his eyes.

“You know what I’m gonna do?”

“What?”

“Get a Big Mac from McDonald’s.” She looks up at him and they both start laughing. “Yup, gonna stuff my fucking face. Might sue the cruise company too, just to see if I can make a cool million and never have to work another day in my life.”

“Now that’s a brilliant idea. Might have to join in on that. Might just offer us a settlement so we don’t have to go through the whole court process.”

“That would be too easy. They’d say something like, ‘the hurricane was just as much of a surprise to us. We put on sirens’.” She scoffs.

“I think the sirens are the last thing I remember hearing before you woke me up. Can’t believe I only have a few scrapes and bruises.”

“I know, we’re lucky the ropes from the raft didn’t get stuck around our necks.” She sits up.

“Extremely lucky…in all sorts of ways.” He puts his hand overs and gives it a squeeze. “Come on, we should try to get back to sleep. We need to look for more wood tomorrow for the fire.”

“Yeah, alright.” She sighs and they both stand up. They head back over to the shelter and lay down. “Do you think…would it be alright if I just rest my head on your chest?”

“Sure, makes no difference to me.”

She gets comfortable, resting her head on his bare pec, her arm string across his stomach, and a leg over one of his. He puts his arm around her, keeping her close. They don’t say anything else to each other, they both just drift off, succumbing to sleep.

“God, I feel disgusting.” Nikki groans the next morning. “I wish I had a razor in here.” She mutters as she rummages through her bag.

“You’re telling me, I usually like a clean shave because my facial hair grows in all patchy.”

“Actually, a little scruff suits you.” She says without looking at him. “I wouldn’t want you with a full beard, but just a little something looks nice.”

“Nikki.” Harry chuckles. “You don’t want me at all.” Her head whips in his direction and he blushes.

“What is that supposed to mean?” She raises an eyebrow at him.

“N-nothing.” He clears his throat. “Uh, why do you think you need a razor anyways?”

“Because my pit hair is starting to grow out, and when it grows out I sweat more, and if I sweat more I’ll stink more.” She says in a quick breath. “Also, my leg hair is starting to get prickly, and I have sensitive skin so it itches like crazy.”

“You could try rubbing your legs with some of the mud and salt water…that might help.”

“Nah, it’s okay.” She sighs. “Think I’m just gonna go for a swim and clean up that way. You know how I said I was going to get a Big Mac?” Harry nods yes. “That’s now the second thing I’m going to do.”

“What’s the first?”

“Shower, in fact, washing my hair is the first on the list.” She takes out of the elastic and shakes it out. “it’s all greasy, but the salt water’s been good for it, I think.” She peels off her shirt and wiggles out of her shorts before walking down to the water.

Harry hadn’t been able to relieve himself in almost a week, and it was really starting to get to him. It especially wasn’t easy because he was around someone like Nikki. Harry always thought she was beautiful, and he thought Kyle was the luckiest bastard for scooping her up. When he saw her come into the suite that morning, he hid how overjoyed he felt. He hated fighting with her, but he was grateful for any interaction he was having with her. He missed her. In all honesty, his plan was to reach out to her another month or so from now, reconnect, tell her how he felt about her…how he really felt about her. It took him nearly a year to figure out why he liked being her friend so much, and why he was so happy for Kyle. It was because he liked Nikki…as more than a friend. But he wasn’t the type of guy to make a move on his best friend’s girl. He wanted to throttle Kyle. Harry truly had no idea he was treating on Nikki. He would have knocked him off his ass and gotten him to either stop, or just break up with Nikki before anyone had to get hurt.

He decides to get up and join her for a swim. He takes his shorts off and goes down to the water in his boxers. He dives in to submerge his body, it was incredibly refreshing. He stands up so he’s only about calf deep. They both agreed not to go too far in because there could be sharks or other predators.

“Think I’m about done with this underwear.” She says to him. “Might go commando for the rest of the time we’re here.”

“You could walk around naked for all I care.” He smirks, and she splashes him. “Oi, I was kidding!”

“Mhm, sure.” She rolls here eyes. “I’m gonna go dry off, and then we can look for more wood.”

“Okay.” He nods and watches her walk out of the water.

They’re able to find more wood later on to keep the fire going. They split a granola bar, and they both sigh once it’s gone. The sun was setting, and Nikki couldn’t help but take a picture of how beautiful it was. Just when she was going to put it down, Dan calls her.

“Hey, Dan.”

“Hey! Great news, I’ll be on the rescue plane first thing in the morning. How are you two holding up?”

“We’re…okay. Mostly just hungry. Bring lots of food.”

“I’ll try. The medic may not want to overwhelm your stomachs. We’re gonna bring you both right to the hospital to get checked out. Your bills are going to be paid by the cruise ship company. If I were you I’d threaten to sue to get some money out of them. They’ve been able to keep this story under wraps and I’m sure they’d like to keep it that way.”

“Okay. I have a flare gun, what time should I set it off so you can find us?”

“Try for around 7AM, we should be close by then.”

“Sounds good, thank you.” She hangs up and looks at Harry. “They’re coming for us bright and early.” She nearly squeals.

“That’s incredible news.” He sighs with relief. “Think we could eat some more food?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s like, you know how the night before it snows you don’t do your homework, but you don’t end up getting a snow day so you’re fucked?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’d rather not eat the food just in case something happens.”

“Fair enough.” He shrugs. “Think I’m just bored anyways.” She sits down next to him.

“Me too. We’ve already played twenty questions, never have I ever…I think if we play another game I’ll go bananas.”

“We could have ourselves a wank.”

“Very funny.”

“M’serious, Nik.” He looks at her. “I think I’ll go bananas if I don’t come soon.”

“Harry, it’s only been a few days…”

“Yeah, but I haven’t done anything in over a week because I thought it would be disrespectful while we were sharing a room on the boat.”

“Alright, so go behind a tree and jerk it.” She shrugs.

“Yeah, I could do that…or…”

“Harry Styles.” She gasps, a smile growing on her face. “Are you seriously suggesting that I stick my hand down your sandy pants, and give you a hand job?”

“I’d be getting you off at the same time so-“

“Are you kidding?! I’m all stubbly down there, and I probably smell disgusting, and-“

Just as she had done to him the night before, he was pinning her down and putt his hand over her mouth.

“Nikki, if you really don’t want to, I’ll drop it and go behind a bush and handle things myself, but I have no problem with a little bit of hair, and I’m just offering to finger you, my face doesn’t need to go anywhere near you if you don’t want it to.” He lifts his hand away from her mouth, but continues to hover over her.

“It’s just…we’re friends.”

“Friends help each other out, don’t they?” She nods her head yes. “Do you want to? Don’t let me pressure you.”

“I…I want to, I mean…getting off doesn’t sound terrible. And it could be a good time killer.”

“Right.” He smirks and moves to lay on the ground next to her. She rolls onto her side and so does he. “Can I…touch your chest?”

“Yeah, I’ll take my bra off, but I’m leaving my shirt on. I just…I feel gross, you know?”

“Whatever makes you more comfortable.” Once she’s situated, she unbuttons her shorts. “I went commando today…put my underwear in the fire.”

Harry nods and undoes his shorts. He was a little nervous.

“Can I kiss you?”

“No.”

“We’ve been brushing our teeth, what’s the big deal?”

“Kissing would make it more intimate, Harry. I don’t want this to be some big, emotional thing.”

He furrows his brows, but chooses not to speak. Instead, he reaches his hand inside her shorts and starts to rub at her folds. Her breath hitches, but she reaches him. Her hand slides inside his boxers and she starts to pump his hardening cock.

“You’re already hard.” She breathes. Their faces were only an inch or so apart.

“M’turned on.” He grunts as her thumb swipes over his tip. He feels her getting wet, and he drags it up to her clit. She bites her bottom lip and twists her hand around his cock. He slides his middle finger inside of her and her mouth falls open. “Fuck, you’re tight.”

“Haven’t done this in a while.” Her hips buck in his direction. “Feels nice. Use two.”

“Are you, ngh, sure?”

“Yes.”

He slides a second finger inside of her and uses his thumb on her clit, applying just enough pressure as he presses circles into it. A moan leaves her lips, and for the first time he was hearing because of something he was doing, and not through the walls of his old apartment. It just makes him work harder, curling his fingers up inside her.

“Fuck, that’s so good.” She mewls. “Don’t stop.”

He presses his forehead to hers and pinches his eyes closed. He was getting closer. His cock was slick with precoma, and she was pumping him perfectly.

“Shit, Nikki.” He moans, and it makes her own closed eyes pop open. She had never really heard a guy genuinely moan before, and she thought it was hot, really, really hot. His fingers were petting against her g-spot in just the right way. He opens his eyes and sees her already looking at him. “Is everything alright?”

“Y-yeah, just…say my name like that again.” Her hips were grinding against his hand. “I’m so fucking close.”

“Me too.” He pants. “Fuck, Nikki.” He moans again. He bites his bottom lip to ground himself.

“Oh my god, Harry!” She cries out as she comes around his fingers, and she feels warmth against her hand. He had also come to his release. He slowly takes his hand away, and she does the same. “Shit.” She breathes and sits up. “I, uh, I need to go pee, excuse me.”

He watches her grab some tissues, and she goes to her designated bathroom area. Harry lays back under the raft and tries to catch his breath. He could clean himself up later.

The next morning went by painfully slow. They were up at sunrise in anticipation of the plane coming for them. Nikki’s phone and hotspot had finally died. They made sure to put the fire out safely, and once 7AM hit Nikki shot the flare gun. About ten minutes after that a small plane flew over them, and a rope ladder was thrown out.

“It’s here, we’re saved!” Nikki exclaims, throwing her arms around Harry. He holds her tight for a moment. “I’ll climb up first, okay?”

Harry nods and watches as she starts moving up the ladder, her backpack slung on her back. He climbs up after her, and they’re both pulled inside. Nikki falls into Dan’s arms.

“Thought I was gonna have to go through getting a new partner.” He mutters into her hair. “I’m so happy you’re okay.”

“Me too.”

“How you holding up, Harry?” Dan asks him as the medic checks Harry over.

“I’m alright, I’m feeling really tired, though.”

“So am I.” Nikki says.

“Rest up, we’re headed to a good hospital in Florida.” Dan says, keeping Nikki close to him.

The next time Harry wakes up, he’s in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV. Kyle was sitting by his side. Harry groans as he looks over at him.

“Hey, you’re awake!” Kyle says. “I flew down here as soon as they called me, man. They said you were severely dehydrated, and you had way too much sun, even with all the sunscreen you guys were using. They want to keep you overnight for a psychological evaluation.”

“Makes sense.” Harry sighs. “We’re bound to have some shared trauma, nightmares, remembering certain parts of being thrown off a fucking cruise ship, you know, normal stuff.”

“I haven’t been able to see her yet. I guess Dan’s been in with her, trying to get more info on what happened.”

“Is she awake?”

“I think so…I’ve walked by her room a few times. Did, uh, did anything happen between you two out there?”

“Right, because being stranded is super romantic.” Harry rolls his eyes.

“M’serious, man, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know how you feel about her. The way you’d look at her sometimes…I could see it.”

“Nothing happened.” Harry swallows. “We were out there as friends, and we came back as friends.” Harry sits up a bit. “Is your girlfriend here?”

“No, she’s back at home. She was, uh, very understanding of me wanting to come down here and make sure you both we alright.” Harry nods at that. “If…if something did happen, like, if the next person she ends up being with is you…well, I’d be alright with that.”

“Oh, well, thank god for that. I was really worried about how you’d feel about her moving on.” The sarcasm wasn’t lost on Kyle. “You really fucked her up, you know that? She’s not going to be happy to see you.”

“I know what I did was wrong, but I still care about her wellbeing. I’m gonna go check if I can see her now.” He squeezes Harry’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Kyle stands up and goes down the hall to Nikki’s room. Dan was no longer sitting in there, so he figured it was now or never. He knocks on the door, and she sits up when she sees him.

“Kyle?”

“Hey.” He comes in cautiously. “When Dan called me…I got down to Florida as soon as I could.”

“Yeah? Where’s Claudia?”

“Back home…how are you feeling?”

“I’m okay.” Nikki sighs. “I’m not roughed up or anything, I guess we were really dehydrated, though. Must have been from all the sun because I had my water purifier…must not work as well with really salty water.”

“I was really worried about you, Nik.” Kyle starts sniffling as tears come to his eyes. “I would have never forgiven myself if you died and the last words you said to me were that you hated me.” He takes her hand in his. “I miss you so much. I hope…I hope we can find a way to be friends.”

“You can’t be serious.” She scoffs and takes her hand away. “You come here, make things about you, and then ask me to be your friend? You cheated on me for six months, Kyle, six months! And you still had the nerve to propose to me! You broke me in so many ways, and I’ve finally been able to put myself back together. Getting stuck out there was almost a blessing. It gave me a lot of the clarity that I needed.”

“I didn’t think you’d still go on the cruise…if I had, I never would have sold Harry the ticket. You must’ve been so mad when you saw him.”

“I was…but he was the perfect person to get stuck out there with.” She shrugs.

“Did anything happen between you two?” He chews on his bottom lip. “I saw him before you, and he said nothing happened, but…he’s a terrible liar. He said you went in as friends, and come out the same way, or something.”

“Well, he’s not wrong about that.” Nikki smirks. “You really wanna know what happened between us?” Kyle nods yes. “Too bad.”

“What?”

“You don’t have the right to know. I meant it when I said I hated you, Kyle. I do, I hate you. It was very nice of you to come down here and make sure we were both okay. I actually appreciate it, but I’ll never forgive you for what you did. Cheating…it’s just not something I can forgive.”

“Okay.” He nods. “Well…I…I really am glad you’re alright. Did they tell you when you’d be able to go home?”

“In a couple of days. They’re keeping us overnight, and then they’re sending in a shrink to evaluate us. Standard procedure.”

“If you need anything at all when you get home…any help suing the cruise ship company, please don’t hesitate to ask. I could help you pro bono.”

“My god, how selfless.” She rolls her eyes. “Go home to Claudia, Kyle.”

“Bye, Nikki.” He lingers for a moment, and then leaves. A few tears roll down her cheeks, but not because of him. She just…missed Harry and wanted to see how he was.

Nikki and Harry weren’t given much time together during their evaluations. They were each spoken to separately, and when they were brought into the same room, they had to speak to the psychologist directly. Nikki desperately wanted to reach out and hold his hand, but she wasn’t really given the chance. Harry was able to catch her in her room before they left the hospital. They were to go directly to the airport to head home.

“Hey.” He says to her.

“Hi.” She says as she zips up her bag. “I think I’m sitting with Dan on the plane.” She swallows.

“Right.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Um, listen, when we get home…don’t be afraid to talk to me. Like, if you have a nightmare or something, don’t be afraid to call. I won’t care what time it is.”

“That’s nice of you, thanks, but I’ll be alright. It’s no different than seeing some bad shit at a crime scene.”

“No, it’s not.” He sighs. “You might-“

“Harry, please.” She shakes her head as she grabs her bags. “I’m a big girl, I think I can handle what happened. It’s not like it was traumatic.” She scoffs.

“Yes it was, are you kidding me? A hurricane-“

“I was there, I know what happened.” She shakes her. “I appreciate you being so nice, but it happened, and it’s over now. Back to reality.”

What she said carried a lot of weight. She was coming down from her cloud, and she realized her and Harry needed to part ways here. Every time she looked at him, she saw Kyle, and she just couldn’t deal with that right now. Harry knew what she meant too. He was extremely disappointed. Even though he was the one that suggested they do what they did that night, he was feeling a lot of emotions about it, almost regret because he knew he’d never get another chance to feel her like that again.

“Captain, I swear I’m fine. I just want to get back to work.”

“I know you do, Reese, but you’ve been through a lot, and-“

“Sir, not to be disrespectful, but I disagree.”

“Nikki.” He sighs. “Take another week off, alright? Work will be waiting here until you get back. I’m happy to see you, but I’ll be happier once I know you’re home. It’s an order, Reese.”

She sighs, but does as he says. She couldn’t really argue with the captain of her precinct. She tells Dan she’ll be out for another week, and then heads home. She hadn’t spoken to Harry, but to be fair he hadn’t made an attempt to reach out to her. He wanted to give her some space, and let her come to him if she wanted to. By the third night she woke herself up screaming and in a cold sweat, she knew she had a problem. She kept having flashes of being dragged under water and not being able to breathe. She finally worked up the nerve to call him…at 3AM.

“Nikki?”

She could tell she had woken him up, but it felt so good to hear his voice.

“Hi.”

“Are you alright, love?”

“No.” She swallows. “No, I keep having nightmares.”

“So do I.” He sighs. “Do you want me to swing by?”

“No, that’s okay…I kinda just wanted to hear your voice. I’m sorry if that’s weird.”

“It’s not…it’s nice to hear yours too.”

“I’m sorry I haven’t reached out until now. I feel like I’ve been trying to pretend nothing happened.”

“A lot of people try to cope that way, but repressing shit isn’t healthy, Nik.”

“So I’ve come to realize. It’s crazy, like, I work with all of these victims, and I’ve never really understood how they couldn’t remember certain things, but I get it now.”

“Trauma’s funny like that.” He says softly. “Have you been back to work?”

“I tried, but my captain told me to take another week off. What about you?”

“I’m doing the same. I’m too distracted to properly help my patients. They’ve been very understanding.”

“That’s good.” She chews her bottom lip. “So, you’ll be home tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe I could come by in the afternoon? It would be nice to talk…maybe we’ve been having the same nightmares. I keep waking up screaming and sweaty.”

“Are you dreaming about being dragged under the water?”

“Yeah…”

“So have I.” He sighs. “Come over around two tomorrow, yeah? I’ll text you my new address.”

“Okay, that sounds good, thanks, Harry.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Well…I’ll let you get back to sleep now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow, Nik.”

Nikki knocked on Harry’s door promptly at 2PM. She was just in a simple quarter zip and jeans, along with her hair up in a messy bun. Harry opens the door wearing a tee shirt and joggers.

“Hi.” He says.

“Hi.” She says.

He steps aside to let her in. They look at each other for a moment, it looks like they’re both about to speak, but they both close their mouths. There was so much to be said, but neither were sure how to articulate it. Her eyes well up with tears, and she rushes towards him, throwing her arms around his neck, crashing her lips to his. He wastes no time wrapping his arms around her, and returning the kiss. Even though her mouth was preoccupied, kissing him made her feel like she could breathe for the first time in days.

“I missed you.” She says, pressing her head into his chest.

“I missed you too.” He rests his chin on the top of her head.

“I’m sorry if that was weird, I just-“

He cups her cheeks so she’ll look up at him. He gives her a soft smile.

“Nikki, I’ve wanted to kiss you for a long time.”

“Really?”

“Yeah…I was pretty jealous of Kyle for a while. I’ve always thought you were wonderful. Feel like we have a lot in common.”

“We do.” She agrees.

“We don’t have to rush into anything…I’d rather us work on ways to not have nightmares and such, but…if you’d be willing to give it a try, I’d love to take you out sometime.”

“You wouldn’t feel weird…about Kyle?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “I…I don’t think he’s really someone I want around anymore. I’d rather have you around.” He kisses her tenderly, sucking on her bottom lip for just a moment. “I really fucking like you.”

“I can see that.” She swallows. “I think…I think we could have a lot of fun together.” A smirk grows on her lips. “Just don’t become my therapist, or I’ll beat the shit out of you.”

“Is that a threat or a promise.” He smirks, nuzzling his nose to hers. “Wouldn’t mind seeing how you use your handcuffs.”

“Remember when I called you a moron?” She chuckles. “I meant it.” She shoves him.

“I was kidding, relax.”

“Mhm, sure.” She rolls her eyes.

“Do you want some tea? We could sit and chat. I’ve been trying to record the dreams I’ve been having in a journal. I have my patients do it, so I figured I’d take my own advice.” He leads her into his kitchen and has her sit. “I keep having the same one: drowning.”

“I have that one, and then I have one where…where I wasn’t able to hold onto you.” She frowns as he gets his kettle going. “You know…I had less night terrors sleeping on that beach with you than I have in a long time.”

“Can I ask…would Kyle hold you at night?” Harry sets a mug in front of her before he sits down.

“Um, usually when I’d first fall asleep he’d spoon me for a bit, but he’s not a cuddly sleeper, and he’d eventually roll over. We didn’t spend a lot of nights together because I’d usually wake him up by accident. What does any of that matter?”

“I held you all night while we were on the beach.” He puckers his lips in thought. “Do you have a weighted blanket?”

“No.”

“Do me a favor, get one. You may need the extra weight at night to keep you calm. They work wonders, I have one myself, and a body pillow. I’m a cuddly sleeper.”

“I’ll, um, I’ll look into that.” She takes a careful sip of her tea. “How can I get them stop? The nightmares.”

“Well, talking about it usually helps, and doing things like getting a weighted blanket can help. I think you’ve repressed a lot, Nikki…you need to talk about the things you see and feel.”

“It’s not that simple, Harry.” She sighs. “If anyone at work found out I was seeing a therapist-“

“If it’s that big of a deal…then don’t tell them.”

“Things have a way of getting out.”

“Then…just say you’re seeing me.”

“That’s not fair, though.”

“Nikki.” Harry sighs and places his hand on top of hers. “I’m not offering to be your therapist, I’m just offering to be someone that you can come to if you need to talk about something. M’a really good listener.” He smiles.

“I know you are…thank you. I just don’t want to come to you, and dump on you when people pay you to do that all day. Why should I burden you with my problems?”

“Oh, darling.” He raises her hand to his lips and kisses it. “Nothing about you is a burden. Tons of people feel that way, and that’s why they don’t want to talk to anyone, but once you get talking it just gets easier and easier. I always liked when you’d tell work stories…you could just tell me about the not so great stuff when it’s feeling really heavy.”

“So, if I come to you and say I just spent the day searching for a kid, and we found their dead body in the trunk of a car, you’d be okay with that?”

“Probably wouldn’t wanna chat about it over dinner, but sure.” He shrugs. “Nikki, I told you, I see people who have been through shit, victims and survivors, that stuff doesn’t scare me.”

“I may not open up right away.”

“That’s alright, we don’t always have to talk about the heavy stuff.” He smiles.

“What if I don’t wanna talk at all?” She mutters.

“Well, I don’t know if you remember what happened between us that one night on the beach, but I’m pretty good at not talking too.” He smirks.

“You know, if I had known you had liked me for a while, I wouldn’t have been such a jerk about kissing and stuff that night.”

“I was too blissed out with your hand wrapped around my prick to really care.”

Nikki licks her lips and swallows, looking at his lips briefly.

“You know what would be great?”

“What?”

“A tour of your apartment.”

“How rude of me to not offer when you first came in.” He stands up and extends his hand. She takes it, and lets him lead her around. He shows her the art on the walls, and the various books in his home office.

“Do you ever see patients here?” She asks as she sits down in one of his comfy chairs.

“God, no.” He shakes his head, leaning his bum on his desk. “Sometimes patients can grow certain attachments to their therapists, it’s better for them to not know where I live.”

“Right, because you’re the hot Dr. Styles.” She smirks. “Same thing happens to me sometimes. I’m usually the one they send in undercover to seduce some sick fuck.”

“That’s because you’re incredibly skilled and talented at what you do, Detective Reese.” Nikki stands up and wraps her arms around his neck. “You’re also insanely gorgeous, but that’s besides the point.” He kisses her nose. “Would you like to stay for dinner and watch a movie?”

“Yeah, I would.”

Five months later…

“Dan…what is this?” Nikki points to the plant Dan plopped down on her desk.

“It’s a bonsai tree, they’re super easy to take care of. Consider it your first house warming gift.” He beams at her.

“Aw, you old softie, thank you.” She gives him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Allie can’t wait for our next game night, by the way. She was thinking we could have you two over to play Clue once you’re all moved in.”

“Yeah! That sounds great. Oh! I wrote down that recipe for that dessert I made for her.” She grabs an envelope from her desk. “That cookies and cream pudding pie.”

“God, thanks.” Dan takes the envelope. “She’s been dying to make it, but she wants to make it the way you did so she can start selling it at the bakery and call it ‘The Nikki’.” He chuckles.

“She’s too sweet, honestly. If you don’t put a ring on it, I will.”

Things had been going really well for Nikki. Thanks to Harry, she had gotten better about opening up about things. It was so slow going at first, but eventually she got to talking, and it helped her be a better detective. Being Harry’s girlfriend was amazing. It didn’t take much for her to fall head over heels in love with him. And there was no denying that he was gaga over her. That’s why after just five months of dating, they were moving into their very own town home together. It didn’t feel fast to either of them because they had known each other for years, and they slept at each other’s places all the time as it was. It just made sense to move in together. They were in love, and were a great pair. Alex had even gotten used to it, and Harry set her up with one of his friends, Ben. Their friends helped them move, and Nikki put her new bonsai tree in her kitchen bay window. Everyone left after having some pizza and beer.

“Can you believe this is all ours?” He says into her ear as he wraps his arms around her from behind.

“No.” She giggles as he nibbles on her earlobe. “But I’m really happy.”

“Me too.” He hums. He sponges kisses to her neck and sinks his teeth into her skin.

“Harry.” She whines. “We need to unpack.”

“Don’t wanna.” He mumbles into her skin.

“Can we at least do the kitchen and the upstairs bathroom? You know, the, um, essentials.” She swallows. Harry was often very affectionate with her, and she liked it. She really, really liked it.

“Fine.” He turns her around. “But when we’re done with the kitchen and the upstairs bathroom, we’re doing the bedroom.”

“Seems fair to me.” She pecks his lips.

The two work in tandem to put their essentials away. It was actually fun to organize the cabinets together. Next, they go upstairs to work on their bathroom. Actually, Harry handles the bathroom while Nikki gets some fresh sheets on their new king sized bed.

“Bathroom’s all set.” Harry says.

“I just got the foam topper and the fitted sheet on the bed, I just have to – ah!”

Harry had grabbed her and thrown her onto the bed. She squeals as he launches himself onto it, almost crushing her in the process.

“Making the bed fully would be a waste of energy.” He says into her ear as he pins her wrists down. He sucks on her supple bottom lip, and lets it go, causing her to whimper. “Don’t you think?” She nods her head yes. “Just wanna fuck my new live-in girlfriend, can I?”

“Please.” She breathes. “Need you to take care of me.” She pouts at him.

“Aw, my angel-baby-detective needs some lovin’?” He pouts back at her.

“Uh-huh.”

He grins at her and has them both sit up. He peels off her tee shirt, and lifts off her sports bra. He gropes her breasts before kissing on them. He sucks bruise after bruise into her plushy skin. He pulls her into his lap so she can grind on him while he paid attention to her breasts. She liked it when Harry left marks on her like this. She liked being his. He lays her down onto her back. He kisses down her torso, nipping where he pleases. He loved kissing on her pudgier areas because he wanted to show how much he loved every inch of her. She did the same with his love handles. He drags her yoga pants and underwear off, and tosses them to the floor.

“Look at you, so wet already.” He says as he pulls her thighs apart.

“You were already making me feel so good, Har.”

He hums his response as he laps his tongue around her center. He moans once he gets a proper taste of her. He licks his way up to her clit and sucks on it while he works two fingers inside of her. She grabs at his hair and tugs on it while her body starts to tingle.

“Fuck, just like that.” She mewls while raising her hips to meet his mouth more. She comes to her release, and she tugs him up to her. She licks into his mouth and sucks on his tongue. “Get naked, now.” She nearly growls.

Harry grins and gets his clothes off. He sits up against the headboard and waits for Nikki to swing her leg over his lap. She lines him up with her center, rubbing his tip along her clit before sinking down onto him. They both moan out, and he grabs at her hips to help her find a rhythm. She puts her hands on his shoulders and starts bouncing up and down on his cock.

“God, I love you so much.” He grunts.

“I love you too.” She kisses him and runs her hands through his hair. “Don’t know I ever survived without having your big dick inside me, fuck.”

“Yeah? M’making you feel good, baby?”

“So fucking good.” She pants. “Best I’ve ever fucking had.”

She comes again, and with the way she clenches around him he nearly loses it inside of her. He lifts her off just in time and comes on her stomach. He kisses her over and over, and they both giggle. Once they’re both cleaned up, Harry helps Nikki get the bed made, and they both climb in. She rests her head on his stomach while he reads his book.

“Harry?” She looks up at him. “Could you out your book down for a second? I have something to tell you.”

“Sure, sweetie.” He dog-ears the page he’s on and sets his book down. “What’s up? Oh, is this about me buying the Hamilton Beach food processor instead of the Cuisine Art one like you wanted?”

“No.” She chuckles.

“Are you sure? Because you cried when I brought it home. I swear, the Hamilton Beach one had better reviews, that’s the only reason why I got it.”

“I cried because I was hormonal.” She chews her bottom lip. “Harry, I’m pregnant.”

“But I came on your stomach.” He blinks, and then looks down at her.

“Yeah, tonight you did.” She sits up so she can look at him better. She kisses his shoulder and then smiles at him. “My period was late, so I took a test just for the hell of it…I’m six weeks.” She grabs her phone off the side table. “I even took a selfie with it to show you.”

“Oh my god, you’re not kidding.” He looks at the picture and then at her. “How long have you known for?”

“Only a week. I wanted to wait until the move was over to tell you. How, um, how do you feel about this? We haven’t really talked about kids or anything.”

“I know.” He hands her back her phone and throws his arm around her. “I mean, I fully intended on proposing and all that, just not for another few months. I wanted to see how living together went.” He smiles down at her. “And I was hoping you’d want kids at some point…think you’d make a great mum. I’ve seen you with kids, you’re amazing.” He kisses her temple and starts laughing. “I can’t believe I’m gonna be a father.” He shakes his head. “Thanks, Nikki!”

“You’re such a dork.” She chuckles. “You’re really not mad, or upset?”

“How could I be? I’m living with the girl I never thought I’d even get the chance to kiss, and now she’s pregnant with my baby. I’m ecstatic.” He pecks her lips. “How are you feeling about all of it?”

“I’m…actually pretty excited. I mean…I went off birth control months ago for this very reason. I didn’t think it would happen quite this fast, but this is a pretty happy accident.”

“I wonder what we were doing six weeks ago.”

“What does it matter?”

“I’d just like to know how our little fetus got conceived.”

“I, um, think it was the night, you, uh, let me lick the whip cream off you on your desk.” She swallows.

“Oh, yeah! Blew my load right up into you, didn’t I?” He smirks. “We should do that again, it was a great sensory exercise.”

“Harry!” She smacks his chest.

“You’re really okay with all this, Nik? It’s your body.” He caresses her cheek and she leans into his warm palm.

“I’m more than okay with it. Just don’t rush an engagement or anything like that, okay? I wanna marry you at some point too…but…not just because I’m pregnant.”

“So…if like four months from now I had a long weekend for us planned to go apple picking up north, and while we were settling down in the evening getting cozy in front of a fire place…you wouldn’t want me to propose?”

“You know, I hear being pregnant can make you forget all kinds of things, so I can’t wait to be surprised four months from now when you suggest going away for a long weekend to go apple picking.” She beams at him. “I think I’d really like that.”

#wrecked #harry styles #harry styes imagine #harry styles fic #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fluff #harry styles smut #harry styles angst #harry styles x oc #thereapist!harry #psychologist!harry

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collecting-stories · 3 years

Text

Heaven, We’re Already Here - t. 05 - JJ Maybank

Summary: Things are progressing between y/n and JJ.

A/N: We’re halfway to the end...can you even believe it?

You Are Ok Masterlist | Outer Banks Masterlist

✞ My soul isn’t yours to save anymore ✞

The bet had become a thing of contention between JJ and John B since the night of the kegger. It was fairly obvious that JJ wanted out and the only reason he was still hanging on was because he had convinced himself that he desperately needed the cash.

But the more he spent time with you the harder it was becoming to justify to himself that cash was worth the level of humiliation he would be subjecting you to if you knew that this was all just one massive joke on you. From the moment he saw you in the church JJ knew that this was no game or bet, no matter what he tried to tell himself when you weren’t around. And after spending the day in Chapel Hill with you he was more convinced than ever that he needed to end things before they got out of hand.

“Here.” JJ practically slammed the money on the table, pushing it across to Sarah.

“What’s this?”

“I forfeit.” He replied. “Take your 200 back.” 

“I thought you needed the money,” John B said, tone mocking the way JJ had grumbled about needing cash three weeks ago. 

“Yeah and now I don’t.” He snapped.

Kiara looked away, grabbing the empty glasses off the table and taking them back to the counter. The only nice thing about him doing this in the Wreck was that she could walk away from the table when it got uncomfortable. Kiara hadn’t been shy in telling JJ that he should call off the bet, “if you really need 200, I’ll front you.” But she was less inclined to put herself in the middle of the altercation with him, John B, and Sarah. 

She knew that he regretted making the bet in the first place and she had felt guilty hanging out with you, knowing that it was all just a joke behind your back that JJ and his friends could laugh at. But he was making good on his promise to cut off the head of the beast, giving Sarah her money back and ending the bet before anyone really got hurt. It could fade into obscurity, just be something no one even remembered anymore. 

“You were almost to the finish line,” John B teased, feeling shockingly okay with a bet he’d first made when he was drunk and barely coherent enough to walk. “I mean, unless you don’t think she’ll let you get that far-”

“Shut up.” JJ snapped. “I said I was done, so I’m done.”

“Why?” Sarah pried.

“I thought it would be funny but it’s not. She’s a real person, I’m not gonna fuck with her just so you guys can laugh.” JJ replied. He’d been feeling guilty about the bet since that first day he saw you in the church. The way you looked at him, a mirrored image of his own restlessness, depression, and emptiness. He didn’t deserve you on a good day, when he was completely devoted to you with no ulterior motive at the back of his head.

He couldn’t do this to you, make you the butt of the joke to every pogue who heard about the bet and was enough of an asshole to find it funny. On his second time around the thought, he knew he really couldn’t do that to anyone. But John B thought it was funny and he and Sarah had used JJ’s lack of funds and general ‘go-with-the-flow’ attitude as a means to an end. 

“You’d do it if she was some kook.” Sarah commented, counting the 20’s he’d handed over. 

“Well she’s not.” JJ snapped, “look, I’m giving you the fucking money back, bet’s off.”

“Dude-“

“He said it was over John B, just quit being a dick.” Kiara piped up. She hadn’t been there when the bet was made but she had heard about it after the fact and been pissed. She was only relieved now that JJ seemed ready to put the bet to rest.  

“She might like you now but it won’t last.” Sarah said when JJ started to walk away, “I mean, you guys have nothing in common JJ, do you really think she fits in at keggers or sitting around getting high all day?”

JJ stood there, jaw tense, clenching his fists so hard that his nails dug into his palms, face turning red. The anger was just insecurity because, yeah, he agreed with Sarah. He knew he didn’t have a lot to offer you but hearing her say it knocked him down a peg and had him seeing red. 

“Just go,” Kiara urged, grabbing JJ’s arm and pushing at him, trying to get him to turn around and leave, “go.” She would yell at them for him, a much better defender of his character than he was. 

The door slammed behind him, the spring on the old wooden screen creaking in protest when JJ threw it shut as he left, already brushing tears out of his eyes as he walked, cutting through the woods back to the cut. It was stupid to get so upset about something Sarah said but he couldn’t help it. He’d been worked up as it was over calling off the bet and Sarah had only made him feel worse. 

Despite that, or maybe because of it, JJ took the path through the woods that led to the church. Taking a walk to cool down worked for everyone in the world but him, the further through the woods he walked the angrier he got. At himself, at Sarah and John B, at everything that made him take that stupid bet in the first place. The only thing keeping his anger in check was the thought of you. Sitting in the church practicing the piano or hanging laundry outside. Anywhere he could stay just out of sight of your parents, relishing in your attention.

JJ came up on the church, not thinking to look inside before he entered. All he was thinking about was seeing you, forgetting entirely that you were not the only one who lived on the property. He stopped at the end of the aisle, still a little worked up, and caught off guard by the sight of your dad at the altar, rehearsing his sermon for Sunday. He tried to back up but failed, his clumsiness catching your dad’s attention.

“Can I help you?” He called out when JJ bumped into one of the pews, the sound of his boot colliding with the wood reverberating in the nave. 

“Sorry,” JJ spoke up, “sorry I-“

“You came to church a few Sundays ago?” Your dad said, recognizing JJ’s face when he stepped off the altar and walked down the aisle. The blond, he realized, was the boy he’d noticed watching you. Though his wife told him he was being crazy, he was certain that he’d seen the boy in the yard once after that. 

“Ah, yeah...” JJ nodded, sniffling a little to clear the congestion from crying, “wrong turn on the way to the smoke shop I guess.” He was sure his face was still red, eyes still bloodshot, and the last thing he wanted to do was get cornered into some weird testimonial moment with your dad. He just wanted to see you, to remind himself that what Sarah said was bullshit, that you liked him, that this was more than a bet.

“Is there something I can help you with now?” Everyone always said how welcoming and charismatic your dad was. The church wouldn’t have half the congregation it did now if it wasn’t for your dad’s ability to reel people in with smiles and an easy-going personality. 

That ease was not present as he stood there sizing up JJ. The kid gave him a bad feeling and he was absolutely certain he’d seen flashes of him around the yard before. The teenage population on the island was not a group your father was a fan of and JJ seemed the perfect embodiment of all the things wrong with that group. He looked unkempt, a little worse for the wear, and he smelled like pot. 

Before JJ could say anymore, the doors to the church opened and you walked in, eyes wide at finding your boyfriend there, “uh, mom said to call you for lunch?” You said. 

For his part, the second the door opened, JJ’s attention had snapped that way, and there you were. Exactly who he had been looking for and he felt like he could breath, like things would be alright because you were right there and he shouldn’t be so conspicuous but he couldn’t take his eyes off you. Like a magnet.

“Of course,” he seemed to recover his bad mood relatively quick though he glared at the back of JJ’s head when he realized the boy was staring at you. “Go ahead back to the house and tell your mom I’ll be in.” 

You kept your eyes on your dad, not daring to look at JJ, “should I ask her to set an extra space?” Your dad had always been a fan of inviting church members in for dinner or lunch when they stopped by with something, you weren’t sure if it was compensation for a dwindling household or if he just liked to seem approachable but you used it against him now. If you had looked at him, you’d have noticed the slow smirk on JJ’s face as he stood there. 

If your dad said no it reflected badly on him. He always guilted you about not being helpful enough or considerate enough. “If...” he trailed off, clearing his throat to get JJ’s attention as he waited for a name. 

“JJ...JJ Maybank.” 

The frown increased in size; he’d heard the last name before. He’d hired a Maybank to do work on the roofing a few years back and remembered the man being nothing but a mean drunk. “If JJ wants to stay, we would love to have him.”

“I’ve got no where to be,” JJ replied, grinning at your dad. 

Lunch had already been finished when you went to call your dad, needing only to be plated, something you were thankful for because the awkward and uncomfortable silence that settled between JJ and your dad was unbearable. There was no way you could’ve survived waiting through lunch prep with the two of them.

You weren’t even entirely sure what JJ was doing there. He hadn’t mentioned seeing you, he was supposed to be spending the day with his friends, as he’d already told you the night before when he snuck over because “couldn’t stay away”. He’d invited you on the boat but both your parents were home all day so there was little chance that you could go anywhere without drawing attention to yourself. Weekends were easier, your brothers and sisters who had stayed close came over with their kids and if you left no one missed you. But during the week it was just the three of you, an odd adjustment after so many years with so many kids.

You sat at the table across from JJ, doing your absolute best not to look at him, knowing he was staring at you just to piss off your dad, who had already mentioned your upcoming engagement twice. Your mom let your dad lead the conversation like she always did and didn’t object to his over excessive mention of Timothy.

“Do you go to the high school then?” She was doing her best to be polite, not completely certain your dad’s paranoia was based on fact. (“Just because you say you saw him in the yard doesn’t mean you saw him in the yard.”)

“Ah, yeah...” JJ nodded, “sometimes.” He took another bite of the sandwich, “hey, this is really good, you’re a really good cook.”

While The Wreck technically counted as homemade because it was Kiara’s dad who made it, JJ hadn’t eaten a real, home cooked meal, in a long time. His mom, when she had been around in his childhood, was not making lunches or any meals for him that she couldn’t microwave.

“Oh, Ace made it.” Your mom said, beaming at you, “she’s a natural in the kitchen.” 

“You’ve been-“ JJ stopped himself short of saying you’d been holding out on him, coughing and then continuing on, “it’s good.”

“Thank you,” you chanced a glance up and then quickly back down at your plate. 

Lunch was excruciating and when it was finally over, JJ leaving and your dad watching him walk back into the woods, you told your parents you weren’t feeling well and went to lay down. You were flushed all over from lunch, sitting there across from JJ with your parents in the room. It was like knowing a secret you knew you weren’t supposed to. 

Tapping sounded on your window and you opened it, JJ standing there outside, “you’re gonna get me trouble,” you whispered. “My dad is convinced he’s seen you around our yard.”

“That’s cause he has.” JJ replied, kissing you once he was inside the room. 

“I know that.” You whispered, “what are you doing?”

“I’m reading your love letter from Timmy,” he shrugged, sitting down at your desk and pulling the letter out of the envelope. 

“It’s not a love letter,” you huffed. When you got close enough to try and take the letter away JJ spun in the chair, grabbing you around the waist and pulling you into his lap. 

“Let’s see, oh, coming to visit?” JJ said, poking your sides as he read the letter, leaving kisses along your shoulder. “So you get to go on a date?”

“Well, chaperoned.” You replied. “My dad wants to go somewhere ‘outer banks’ style, whatever he thinks that is, to show off to Timothy and his parents.” 

“Go to the Wreck.” JJ said. 

“I’m not going to Kie’s, I’m not gonna embarrass myself.” 

“Trust me,” JJ insisted, kissing you, “go to the Wreck.” 

You ran your fingers through his hair, brushing it back out of his face and kissing him. Your hands moved down so you could hold his face, leaning your forehead against his.

“Are you okay?” JJ asked, his hands sliding up under your shirt, his warm skin against yours.

“I don’t want to do this.” You admitted, “I don’t wanna have dinner with Timmy.”

“Hey,” JJ pulled his face away, tilting so he could look you in the eye, “That shit doesn’t mean anything.”

“It does in the long run,” you replied. When you had gotten Timothy’s letter that morning you’d been more than upset, knowing he was coming to North Carolina felt like the last nail in the coffin before your dad was sending you off to Tennessee.

“Do you like him?” He asked, matter of fact.

“No, no.” You shook your head. There was no way you had any feelings toward Timothy other than mild annoyance. He wasn’t bad but he wasn’t for you. And maybe he would’ve been if this was all there was but you had JJ and there was an entire other space out there. “I wish we could just…stay like this.”

“Me too.” JJ replied.

You pulled away from him suddenly, remembering the way he’d looked when you had walked into the church and found him there with your father. “I forgot, you were upset earlier-”

“It’s fine, it was just a dumb fight with John B.” He insisted, “I’m over it.”

“Are you sure? You can tell me anything.” You promised. You had been secret keeper and confidant for your siblings plenty of times over the years and while their conflicts had never really been worthy the secrecy, you had still been good at the task.

“I’m fine, I promise,” he repeated, “I was just upset and I wanted to see you.”

“Well you’re seeing me now,” you teased, holding his face again so you could kiss him, “though I think you should consider leaving before anyone comes to check on me.”

The Wreck was totally not where you wanted to be going on a chaperoned first date with a guy who looked almost more sheltered than you felt on a regular basis. He had khakis and a polo tucked in, spikey blond hair and you were trying so hard not to be mean in your head. This was the guy your parents thought would make a great addition to their family. This was your future husband?

Any concerns or reservations you had about Timothy went out the window as you walked into the Wreck ahead of him and realized that JJ and Pope were sitting at the counter. JJ turned in his stool as you came in, propping his chin on his hand and smiling at you. 

“Hey,” Kiara had donned jeans and a t-shirt for the occasion, “six?” 

“Actually, these two will have their own table.” Your mom piped up and you looked at Kiara, attempting to convey the absolute horror of the early evening dinner.

“Of course,” she said, grabbing menus. You could hear your father behind you, mentioning JJ’s presence in the restaurant. Whether Kiara heard it or JJ had just requested that this be the most difficult first date to get through, the table she sat you at was facing the counter. Your parents sat two tables over with Timothy’s parents while you sat down in perfect view of JJ and Pope.

“So, what’s good here?” Timothy asked, his voice an octave higher than he looked like it would be.

You scanned the menu as if you ate there all the time and then looked at Kiara, hoping she could offer more of an answer then you could.

“The grits are good, we do them with sausage and shrimp.” Kiara replied.

“That’s fine.” You handed off your menu, not bothering to consider another option. Even though Kiara knew that this was all something you had to do, you felt a sense of guilt, sitting there with Timothy while JJ was sitting at the counter.

It was palpable, you felt like you could taste it in your mouth as you spoke, felt the guilt dripping off you. Timothy wasn’t the worst, probably, and, probably, in someone else’s life he would make them happy but you weren’t sure there was any reality that would allow you to walk away from what you had with JJ and resign yourself to this life. To your mom’s life, or your sisters’ lives.

“I’ve been looking into getting my pilot’s license, I’ll be done seminary soon-” Timothy started to say after Kiara walked off.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were interested in becoming a pilot.” You replied, glancing over his shoulder at JJ who was turned around in his stool, his back against the counter, watching you. If your dad wasn’t facing the opposite direction you were certain he’d be having a fit right now.

“...the plane license would take another year at least but it’s something I can easily pursue after the marriage and it would allow us the opportunity to be missionaries-”

“Missionaries?” You paled, focusing your attention back on Timothy and away from JJ.

“Timmy’s older brother is ministering in Zambia and they’ve always talked about Timmy joining him,” his mom cut in.

“Missionaries in Zambia...all the time?” You asked. Your father had already launched into a separate conversation about the importance of ministry work and you felt close to absolute collapse. When Kiara came back to the table to make sure the food was okay you practically clung to her, “bathroom?”

“Through the kitchen,” Kiara lied, noting the look of distress. “Our regular bathroom is being fixed.”

“Thanks.” You bolted. Through the restaurant and the kitchen, right out the back door and you might’ve run all the way home but somehow JJ was right there, grabbing you as you collided with him. “I can’t do this...I can’t, I can’t....I can’t be a missionary! I can’t live in Zambia and have like thirteen kids and name them all something stupid and have poufy fucking hair!”

“Whoa, hey, babe,” JJ urged, pulling you into a hug, rubbing your back soothingly, “it’s gonna be okay.”

“What if it’s not?” You could keep pretending like you didn’t have to think about it but the truth was, you couldn’t run from your parents’ expectations and plans forever. “I can’t do this.”

“You don’t have to do anything,” JJ promised, kissing the side of your head as he stood there holding you, “I love you. And I don’t give a shit about Timmy, or your parents, or whatever...we’ll figure this out.”

“This was a bad idea, having lunch here.”

“Hey, I don’t think so. I got to hear you curse for the first time.” He joked. “We’ll be okay, just head back inside alright?”

“Okay,” you pulled away, fixing your hair and taking a deep breath, trying to right yourself. It was just dinner. It wasn’t Zambia yet. It wasn’t even the wedding. Just dinner and JJ was right there. “Oh, JJ?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you too.” You said before hurrying back inside, leaving him standing behind the Wreck with a sad smile on his face.

“Scarlett does it every year with some of the kooks, like a raffle.” Sarah explained, recounting Scarlett’s ’Touron Game’ for JJ and John B, “500 to whoever gets the most tourons...they have like a scoring system. Kind of awful, I guess, but...I mean it’s not like they don’t know it’s just sex.”

“500?” JJ asked, “I could use that.”

“What are you gonna do, pimp yourself out?” John B joked.

“I’ll give you 200,” Sarah replied immediately, cutting her boyfriend off. She was looking across the parking lot of the convenience store.

“What’s the catch?” JJ asked, following Sarah’s line of sight to the old minivan, a girl their age standing with her mom at the trunk.

“That’s the weird pastor’s daughter, right?” Sarah asked, already knowing the answer, “get her to sleep with you. I’ll even give you the 200 dollars up front.”

“Yeah okay. It’s a deal.”

Taglist: @heavenlymama @vindictive-hearts @alexa-playafricabytoto @dontjinx-it @randomficsandshit @niamhobrien @strangerthanfanfiction713 @tovvaa @freckled-and-daydreaming @harleylynn @bibliophilewednesday @dpaccione @bolaurel @poguestyleskye @beautyandthebleh @under-a-canyon-moon @stevie-buck @bijleegiregi @vitaminekabc @minigranger @teamnick @just-smile-darling @obxsummer @damonsalvawhore27 @isqbella @tomzfrog @fangirlvoice @phantompogues @98starkeys @ilovejjmaybank @lemur46 @khiaraaa-in-spacee @babygal-babygal @niya-savage @divvrx @princess-of-the-fandoms @thecaptainsgingersnap @jenjie @yourprincess-maybe @outrbanks @mendesmaybank @thehomeiknow @minnie-bby @katiaw2 @2kayla64

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fandom-puff · 4 years

Text

Arthur Shelby Fluff Alphabet

as requested by @beautifulfigment !

Arthur is my absolute fave, and I’ve had a few requests to do the smut alphabet for him too :)))

Warnings: some mention of arthur’s issues (PTSD, alcholism) mentions of suicide attempt

A = Attractive (What do they find attractive about the other?)

Arthur adores your laugh, the way your whole face lights up and your eyes twinkle. He especially loves it when you’re trying to hold back laughter, rocking silently with the giggles at the most inappropriate moments (normally when Tommy’s doing one of his lectures)

B = Baby (Do they want a family? Why/Why not?)

He wants children. Aside from Finn, he’s the last of his siblings to have kids, even though he’s the oldest. there’s always the worry in the back of his mind, however, that he would be a terrible father, just like his own. You tell him, firmly, that that is utter bullshit, and he’d make a brilliant dad.

C = Cuddle (How do they cuddle?)

He is a GANGLY man, all long limbs. So long as he’s close to you, he doesn't really mind how you cuddle. His favourite way to cuddle is with his face buried in your chest and his arms wrapped around your waist.

D = Dates (What are dates with them like?)

He very rarely takes you to posh nightclubs or restaurants. They’re loud and busy, and he hates feeling like everyone is staring. Instead, he’ll take you on drives through the country, spread out a picnic blanket in a field and have a proper little picnic (thank God for Aunt Pol).

E = Everything (You are my ____ (e.g. my life, my world…))

You are his little angel.

F = Feelings (When did they know they were in love?)

He knew he was head over heels in love with you when you kicked some bloke in the balls in the Garrison. He was behind the bar, pouring drinks, noticing the man bothering you. Until then, he had all of these feelings for you that he couldn’t put into words. But when the man tried to grab your waist, his anger flared and he was about to shout and jump over the counter when your foot made contact. You walked away as the man fell to the floor, brushing your hair out of your face, and ordered yourself a drink. Arthur simply stood staring, mouth slightly agape. Tommy grinned. “Oi, Arthur. Get the lady her drink and invite her to the pictures,”

G = Gentle (Are they gentle? If so, how?)

He is so gentle. He knows how much damage he can cause with his bare hands, so he makes every touch as light at possible. You have to tell him off eventually, saying that you’re not made of porcelain and would very much like him to hold your waist in public, as well as other public displays of affection. He also speaks much quieter with you as opposed to his normally booming voice- it often seems as though you two are in your own personal bubble as you talk

H = Hands (How do they like to hold hands?)

Arthur ALWAYS grabs your hand when you walk by him, unashamed to hold it in front of everyone. You’re his girl and he loves you, so of course, he’s gonna hold your bloody hand (fuck off John, go see to your own woman). When he starts getting angry, you tend to slip your small hand into his, and it mellows him out fairly quickly. You both have a system of squeezing one another’s hands for encouragement, reassurance or a code for ‘shall we go home?’

I = Impression (What was their first impression?)

That you didn’t belong in Small Heath. It was too industrial, too dangerous, too dirty for you. You seemed to innocent for the drunks and the whorehouses and the dodgy bookies like him.

J = Jealousy (Do they get jealous?)

Yes. If he’s sober, he’s more likely to close up and become distant as his brain goes into overdrive; what if you leave him? what if he’s simply not good enough for him?

When he’s drunk, he’s more likely to speak up, though he doesn’t throw fists straight away, unless you’re clearly uncomfortable. More often than not, the situation defuses to him holding you proudly to his side saying (rather loudly) “That’s my girl! My YN!”

K = Kiss (How do they kiss? Who initiated the first kiss?)

You initiated the first kiss. he was walking you home after your second date as an official couple, and it was clear he was apprehensive about something. He eventually admitted his true feelings, how he had loved you for a long time, yet he was nervous and didn’t want to wreck it.

You cupped his cheeks in both your hands, forcing him to look at you. “You can’t wreck it, Arthur,” you had murmured. “Because I feel the same way about you,” the first kiss had been sweet, no tongue, and you stroked his cheek gently.

In general, his kisses are tender, even the chastest ones filled with passion and longing. Often, he’ll be in a rush and press hurried kisses to your cheek or forehead while you’re in the middle of getting ready.

L = Love (Who says ‘I love you’ first?)

Arthur. He’s hungover and you get him water and aspirin, before settling next to him. He grabs your waist and snuggles close, kissing you (but missing your mouth slightly) and mumbling “I bloody love you,”

M = Memory (What’s their favourite memory together?)

When he asked you to marry him. It was by no means a perfect proposal, and it took him ages to pluck up the courage but seeing realisation and happiness spreading across your face as he got on one knee was worth every second of apprehension

N = Nickel (Do they spoil? Do they buy the person they love everything?)

Arthur loves to spoil you... the only problem is he’s useless at picking stuff out, always worrying whether or not you’d like it. He often ends up getting Ada and Polly to help him pick something out, though he always makes sure he goes with them.

“What about that frock? She likes them pretty patterns,”

“Arthur, that’s a maternity gown,”

O = Orange (What colour reminds them of their other half?)

sky blue. It was the colour of the dress you wore on one of your first proper dates. He was speechless when he saw you, unable to believe how lucky he is

P = Pet names (What pet names do they use?)

Love, darling, my angel

Q = Quaint (What is their favourite non-modern thing?)

He loves when you send him letters when he’s off for work- you never send telegrams, or use the typewriter for the notes. He keeps them in his breast pocket, and when he’s stressed, he holds the paper close to his heart, inhaling the wafts of your perfume to calm down

R = Rainy Day (What do they like to do on a rainy day?)

Stay in bed with you, slipping in and out of sleep, All spft caresses and gentle kisses, huddled up under the blankets

S = Sad (How do they cheer themselves/others up?)

Whiskey and snow used to be his go to. But with you, he has other ways.

T = Talking (What do they like to talk about?)

Anything and everything with you. He’ll ask questions, genuinely curious about all sorts, cooking, your family etc... one evening you ended up showing him how to crimp the pastry at the edge of your steak pie because he asked how you got it so pretty.

He talks about work, often glossing over the worst of it. Even with the glossing over, he feels much better, like he has someone who understands how the war and the business effect him, especially as his closest brother never seems to listen

U = Unencumbered (What helps them relax?)

Laying in your arms, holding your hand... generally just being close to you makes him feel calm

V = Vaunt (What do they like to show off? What are they proud of?)

You. You’re his girl, and he wants everyone to know it. If you tell someone to piss off, he’ll grin like mad, leaning to his brothers and saying ‘that’s my girl’.

He’s also proud of how far he’s come with you, how much more mellow he is as well

W = Wedding (When, how, where do they propose?)

He proposes a while after you start dating, once he is certain you’re the one. He proposes on your birthday (read this!!) and you have a quiet wedding, just close friends and family, in a quaint little church. Tommy let’s you use Arrow House for the reception, and Arthur stays sober the whole night

X = Xylophone (What’s their song?)

‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ is every Shelby’s song.

But his song with you is Moonlight Serenade by glen miller (I know the dates don’t quite match up). He remembers being the last two in the garrison, slow dancing with you, your head on his chest as he swayed with you

Y = Yes (Do they ever think of getting married/proposing?)

Once he is sure you’re the one, he knows he wants to marry you, and he wants to do it properly. Nothing arranged like John and esme, not because you’re pregnant like Tommy and Grace and Lizzie. He wants it to be because you love eachother deeply, wholly, truly.

Z = Zebra (If they wanted a pet, what would they get?)

Arthur wants a great big dozy dog who’ll just trot behind you and nearly knock him over when he comes through the door. He’d give it a human name too, like Dave. This makes you giggle like mad.

Tag list: @the-makingsofgreatness @peakyswritings @haphazardhufflepuff @diksy1112 @zodiyack @theunderlier @soleil-dor @hiddensapphic @fckingpeakyblinders @snugleo @alittlebirds @satanxklaus @glamsaturn @thegirlwithoutaname87 @queenofmankind

#arthur shelby fluff #arthur shelby x reader #arthur shelby x you #peaky blinders #fluff #arthur shelby headcanon #request

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albatris · 4 years

Text

ok ok alriiiight ok so the plot of ATDAO

this post is not, like........... well, it’s not gonna be a blurb or a summary or a nice neat synopsis, this is not Professional Writeblr Business, this is, this is, uhhhh

this is like drunk house party logan rambles

works best if you imagine ur just like “hey man how’s it going” super casual and I grasp you firmly by the shoulders and look you dead in the eye and just ramble all of this without taking a single breath

could I have explained in a nice neat concise "elevator pitch" sort of way? probably. mind ur business. that’s not how we do things here at albatris.org

anyway the purpose of this post is “hey people seem to know a lot about the characters and the worldbuilding and the premise but have no clue what happens in the actual story” so I’m not going to be talking about said characters and worldbuilding and premise in depth

in terms of rambles, that stuff’s been covered! this post assumes you know what Ports are, n what the nature of the ATDAO apocalypse is, vaguely what the MCs are like as people......... though I can fetch this info for you if you like

but yeah if you are coming into this post with zero prior ATDAO knowledge........... deeply deeply from the bottom of my heart: sorry

also if this is your first time experiencing One Of These Rambles

also @safe-in-the-steep-cliffs and @siarven I am tagging you because you said you would like to be tagged and also hi and also I hope y’all knew what you were in for

anyway without further ado

(visual representation of my approach to this rant, not of how complicated my plot actually is)

(my plot is not that complicated)

ALRIGHT

there are two viewpoint characters! and two plotlines which converge near the end of the story, but honestly there’s a very real possibility I will decide these are two separate books meant as companion stories to each other because I love making things difficult for myself yeehaw

ATDAO’s co-protags are Tris and Noa, best buds four years and counting. their friendship is one of the single most important aspects of the story, n the ongoing love and trust they have for each other despite the way unfolding events force their relationship to change is integral to the themes and making the heart of the story what it is. I will now proceed to not mention this friendship for the entire remainder of this post. they’re bros. that’s all u need to know. listen. listen. I have a lot to cover

so yeah, ur first key player is Tris Greer, whose parents are dicks but whose siblings are chill. most notably of said siblings there is Jacob, older brother by thirteen years, whom Tris believes is just about the coolest person on the entire planet. this plotline kicks off when Jacob gets caught in the midst of a freak car accident that kills a dude and wrecks a street corner and also somehow causes Jacob to just kind of................. blip out of existence entirely and without a trace?

n Tris is understandably horrified and distressed by Very Much All Of This, but hey, at least there are responsible adults who can look into this obviously Port-related weird disappearance and figure this mess out, right?

INCORRECT

the relevant interdimensional authorities are brought in to suss out the situation and these authorities are kind of like “hmmmm idk about this” but are all set to take Tris at least somewhat seriously until they learn the following:

that Jacob had already been reported missing to police in his home state three days earlier

that Jacob was in the midst of several ongoing personal crises and at least one nervous breakdown

that Jacob was allegedly tangled up in some real weird shit that would more than account for a disappearance under suspicious circumstances

that Tris is schizophrenic, prone to hallucinations, confusion, memory issues and quote unquote “letting his imagination and anxiety get the better of him”, and precisely zero people can actually corroborate his story that Jacob was even there are the time of the accident to begin with

and after some back-and-forth and Looking Into The Evidence pretty much everyone in any position of authority comes to the conclusion that this is just Ordinary Regular People Crimes and whatever happened to Jacob had nothing to do with weird apocalyptic energies, and that Tris is (at best) stressed out and delusional or (at worst) lying through his teeth because he knows more than he’s letting on

so Tris is forced to hop pretty quick from “I’m sure someone will handle this” to “no one believes me but I’m sure if I can find some concrete proof they’ll listen and someone will handle it” to Well Fuck I Guess That Someone Is Me

cue bizarre reality-hopping fantasy quest, which is ten times easier said than done when most of the time Tris is terrified enough just, like, going to the supermarket

he enlists the help of his new classmate Shara, amateur paranormal investigator and professional weird-bullshit enthusiast, who agrees to help him puzzle out what the fuck happened to Jacob in exchange for his assistance in mapping out Adelaide’s interdimensional “fault lines” as part of her ongoing quest to track down the source of the apocalypse

she’s got big fuckin dreams, ok, go hard or go home

slso worth noting at this point that there HAS been an uptick in Ports and their related reality-bending strangeness in Adelaide recently which is why this is of particular interest to her currently. gotta find out What Makes The Weirdness Tick, gotta find out Why The Sudden Extra Weirdness

..........and also Kai is there

Kai has no nice neat reason to get involved with the plot, Kai just likes drama and being all up in people’s personal business. Tris brings them on board for one single afternoon like “hey I will pay you some money to come to my house and fix my fucked up phone so I can listen to an interdimensional voicemail” but forgot the apparently key addendum “and then leave”

their first three chapters of knowing each other is basically Tris being like “stop inviting yourself into my house we are not friends” and Kai being like “that’s a rude thing to say to your friend. also your sister gave me the netflix password and I used your kitchen to bake pastries feel free to help yourself”

but yeah so Tris’s story mostly focuses on his quest to figure out where Jacob got yeeted to and how to get him safely home (y’all probably know a bit about The Unreality already maybe?), whilst also dealing with rising family tensions, whatever shifty stuff Jacob was involved with prior to his disappearance, and his own creeping doubts about his perceptions of reality

n I’m also saying flat out it’s not a plot that’s going the “oh the whole thing was just a delusion all along” route because ew

his psychosis is a fairly involved part of his character but the explorations around it are more to do with, like......... the difficulties he has in trusting himself and whether he has the luxury of letting himself get swept into some Big Weird Implausible Adventure when this has extremely different implications for him than it would someone else. n eventually to how his success and survival is not ~in spite of~ but specifically because of the different way he understands and interprets the world and the skills he’s developed

THAT TANGENT WAS A PERSONAL RANT IT WAS NOT RELEVANT I just have words to say on the subject of how psychosis is treated in fiction and didn’t want people jumping to the “none of it is real” conclusion anyway ok moving on

ur SECOND key player is Noa Yun, who has rather a lot on her plate right now. she’s broke as fuck and her mum is sick and her car is making Noises and she’s not getting enough hours at her job at Not-IKEA and everyone is on her back about her failing studies as if that’s a thing she has the energy to care about. feeling rather backed into a corner by life’s bullshit and her financial situation, she blatantly lies her way into a field job at the Department of Interdimensional Instabilities, because A) surely it can’t be THAT bad, and B) what does she have to lose?

so more or less what she’s doing is the equivalent of emergency services for Port-related weirdness, it’s going out and dealing with highly unstable otherworldly energies head on, navigating Weird Phenomena and bendy patches in reality......... it is, among other things, a job that’s relatively easy to get into because no one wants to touch it with a ten foot pole unless they absolutely have to

n the DII is a whole other post, this shit has lots of different functions and levels and branches and corruption and secrets and a tendency to view workers who have to go out and deal with the brunt of the apocalypse head-on as vaguely expendable and I’ve talked about it a bit before and in more Serious Words

things kinda kick off for her when in true Noa fashion she hurls herself into a dangerous situation to help out a coworker, n enters a pretty standard issue “overlap” where the barriers between universes are a little fucky, but hey, she seems to come out of it with nary a scratch, so it’s reasonable to assume everything is fine, right?

INCORRECT AGAIN

she basically gets some whacked-out otherworldly energies latched onto her that are now following her through her everyday life, and it turns out she’s starting to bend the reality around her the way certain types of Ports do, which is! obviously not ideal! she’s not exactly a Port herself, because she’s pretty sure that’s impossible, but it’s clear capital s Something happened to her in that overlap, and she doubts it’s good news. and to make matters even more disconcerting, she’s now being dogged at every step by strange visions of a child who speaks in an unfamiliar language and who seems Real Fuckin Pissed at her

so her thing is basically “I acquired fucked up reality-bending powers against my will and they might be lowkey killing me ‘cause Ports are notoriously unstable like that and also I’m haunted for some godforsaken reason” which all somehow ended up being, like, the least interesting part of her plotline for me lmao

oh and Noa also enlists the help of Shara, Because Ghosts

anyway yeah so her search to find out what’s happening to her re: Weird Children, being a Port-adjacent something-or-other, and whether there’s a way to stop her own unravelling leads her to (rogue computer programmer? mad scientist? general shifty bastard?) Laurence Marrick Thiele, who claims to have suffered a similar affliction in the past and now does some real interesting research on the subject. n this guy. well. he’s got some fuckin stuff going on

he definitely knows more about the nature of Ports than he should. also is he actually researching what he says he’s researching? also what’s with all the weird tech? also did he just straight up murder that guy Avery? all will be revealed later, maybe, if I feel like it

but yeah at about the same time as Noa goes “actually fuck this you’re shady as hell I’m out” she stumbles into, like, The Actual Reality of what Marrick is up to re: manipulating Ports and interdimensional doorways for his own gain, and the various ways this spells bad news not only for her but potentially for the entire city and anyone unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire, and she shifts gear to “actually you know what I’m gonna kick your ass”

there are various reasons for this, but first and foremosterly you have to understand that Noa’s got a fuckload of pent-up rage and she will bring it in full force the moment you say some stupid shit like “some people are expendable” or “it’s inevitable for the greater good”

(there’s also a fun ongoing subplot with her work at the DII where she and her team are investigating a string of strange illnesses with bizarre symptoms that appear to be spreading via obscure radio stations so that’s. happening. I guess?)

but yeah the main story here mostly follows Noa’s attempts to undermine Marrick, bastard supreme, and find a way to fuck him up before he goes, like, Full Cartoon Supervillain, n also like........... her attempts to keep up her work at the DII despite her rising paranoia that the teammates she’s growing to care about will notice her increasingly unstable state and the fact that she’s all tangled up with the very forces they’re meant to be thwarting. n along the way discovering the reality of what happened to her in The Aforementioned Overlap Incident and about her visions and such

so that’s all that. did that make sense

n she’s got a whole arc going on about trust and learning to lean on others, like, she comes into this story as a very standoffish person with lots of paranoia, she’s spent much of her life feeling like she can only rely on herself, n she’s. well. yeah, like I said, she’s got a lot of anger at the world and at the various systems that have failed her and her loved ones, n the story puts her in a position to become even more isolated

and her plotline isn’t so much “you have no reason to be angry or afraid” or her learning to Not Be, It’s more, like........... yeah you have every fucking right to be furious and of course you’re afraid! but there are people around you who love you and who will jump at the chance to defend you and who will help you carry the weight of your anger and grief and none of this needs to be yours to bear alone which is extremely cheesy

which applies to both her Weird Supernatural Goings-On as well as her regular ordinary life goings-on

I feel like Alice and Jet deserve a mention for Noa’s plotline but also this went on and on too long already so. well. Alice and Jet exist! yep. they work with Noa at the DII. I have things to say about them. I will not be saying them today

and uhhhhhh

in general, for Tris, his plotline, you wanna think, like, fantasy/adventure vibes which veer pretty sharply into horror, and for Noa you wanna think...... kinda, sci-fi mystery conspiracy vibes with a dash of some superhero bullshit maybe except not really

and that

pretty much is it I think

also the fact that Kai just invites themself into the plot for funsies and then is dragged kicking and screaming into caring about themself and making positive changes in their life means there was no convenient place in this post to be like

"oh there's also a whole major subplot about a time loop"

but there's also a whole major subplot about a time loop

goodnight! thanks for coming to....................... whatever this was! have a nice saturday everyone

#alcohol mention #just in the first little intro bit #being concise is not my strong suit! this should be apparent perhaps #tl;dr #tris's brother jacob gets lost down the back of an interdimensional sofa and tris has gotta go get him back even though #he's terrified enough just leaving the house let alone leaving this entire reality on a stupid convoluted mystery quest #and noa has a run in with some interdimensional bullshit and acquires Powers and A Ghost neither of which she wants #and then accidentally uncovers the schemes of literal cartoon supervillain marrick and is like #''oh sick i was looking for a reason to go absolutely fuckin ballistic and fuck someone's shit up''#And Both Of Them Make Nice Friends And Learn To Love Themselves :)#atdao #i constantly walk the very fine line between not wanting to be Too Vague about noa's plotline vs not wanting to be Too Spoilery about it #like............... the stuff about the kid and about marrick's endgame i'm never quite sure how much to delve into hahahaha #but yeah anyway #imo i only went on ONE mildly unrelated tangent which should have been cut but i decided to indulge it instead #which is the couple paragraphs about noa's character arc #character arcs not important for this post!!!!!! but also. dfkhgkdfjshg. try and stop me #(i mean i did pretty ok staying on track for the most part i think)#(still a rambly post though)

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invisibleinorange · 3 years

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Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Bridgerton Rating: T Warnings: Presumed Character Death Relationships: Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington, Eloise Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington(besties), Bridgerton Family Dynamics, Simon Hastings/Daphne Bridgerton Characters: Colin Bridgerton, Penelope Featherington, Eloise Bridgerton, Anthony Featherington, Benedict Bridgerton, Daphne Featherington, Simon Hastings, Portia Featherington Additional Tags: Bridgerton, Polin Summary: Unexpected bad news arrives for the Bridgerton Family (and friends) regarding Colin's travels. This will be a series that is set after "The Duke and I" or season one of the show. It is a companion piece to "Goodbyes". (#I’mHereToKillYouAllWithFeels)

While Anthony was absorbed in ensuring the women in their family were saw after, he’d asked Benedict to see to it that Penelope Featherington was returned safely home.

Penelope could scarcely speak much less utter how absolutely wrecked she was about the loss of their brother when she was left at her door step. If they had allowed her, she probably wouldn’t have left. She was far better off useless there than alone with her own thoughts.

Her mother was waiting like the viper she was. Penelope wasn’t certain she had the strength to fight her off either.

“Since when do you get escorted home by Bridgertons?” her mother asked. There was something implied there like it would have been perfectly acceptable had it been one of her sisters. “You could at least attempt to look happy about it.”

“Their brother just died,” Penelope found herself snapping.

“Not Anthony! He would have been perfect for your sister,” Portia dared to say, which only served to magnify the hurt and anger building up in Penelope. Penelope was used to bottling things up, taking everything on the chin but tonight wasn’t the night.

“No,” she argued, biting her lip enough to where it was close to drawing blood. She didn’t want to be insolent but this was hardly a time to care about the next social season or making matches in the time between.

“Oh thank Heavens,” Portia said clearly not picking up on the fact that Penelope was actually quite distressed.

“It was Colin,” she said, voice shaking with force at the words. She was one mere seconds from collapsing in on herself.

“Oh the one you have that silly little crush on. The fool who almost married Miss Thompson,” Portia said as if the first part was public information. Penelope was in such shock that her mother had even noticed such a thing that mouth hung open slightly. She wasn’t prepared for the hurtful words that would come next. “You need not worry, Penelope darling. He would have never married you anyways. Those books really have rotted your mind.”

It was an absolute slap in the face. Her veins filled with ice and the slight from her own family. She was painfully aware that she wasn’t as pretty as the other eligible women of the Ton. It was one thing to know and another to have it spelled out in front of her quite so ineloquently. The fact that her mother could see her heart breaking and not even try to offer some sympathy was unacceptable. She was almost grateful for the fact she’d never marry or have children, just so she didn’t have to worry about being as unfeeling as her own mother.

“You need not worry,” she uttered, storming away.

There was one thing that Benedict and Anthony agreed upon: the letter could never see the light of day. They couldn’t bring themselves to destroy it though so it was hide it away in a desk with other important paperwork.

The only real question that kept them up in the night was what they were to do about the problem reading it presented.

Colin was young and perhaps not as direct with his wishes as he might have been had he been a few years older but they could read between the lines. The very wishes Colin expressed toward Penelope would never come to pass unless they saw it fit to carry them out.

They could not agree upon who would be the one to take it upon themselves to ensure she was protected, loved. Neither fully desired to marry and certainly not a Featherington. Neither particularly saw the things that their brother did in the girl but there was no denying she had a good heart. As often as she had been at their home through the years, she might as well have been their sister.

When Daphne and Simon forced their way into the drawing room, the brothers were still arguing amongst themselves over who must do it when the proper mourning period was over.

“What exactly are you not going to allow him to do?” she couldn’t help but ask as she approached, her pregnant belly scarcely hidden by her dress. She looked well even if it was clear that she hadn’t slept in order to hasten the journey home. From the look on the Duke’s face, he hadn’t been on board but had been forced.

“Nothing,” the two brothers said almost in unison, greeting their sister with hugs.

“I don’t buy that.”

“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” Anthony said, protective act in full force as he gazed over her before looking at the Duke as if to accuse him of not having a better grip on his own wife.

“Don’t look at me. You know Daphne is of her own mind,” he said with a shrug.

“I only obey when the order makes sense and I’m pregnant not an invalid. I insisted we come as soon as we received word.”

She seemed to have it together far better than anyone else in the family which was almost remarkable, considering she and Colin were close in age and had always been the best of friends.

Perhaps it was all an act though because the Duke had threatened to lock her up should even the slightest hint of distress appear after a lengthy meltdown demanding he order up the carriages ended in his compliance.

“We’re grateful to have you closer to home,” Anthony finally said. “I’m not sure that mother will be able to properly handle planning his rites. I contacted Francesca and she should be home soon as well. ”

There was not body to properly put on display but a coffin would be order and filled to brim with flowers. It would sit in the drawing room where they might welcome mourners. Someone must be with it day and night though and that was a job fit for a woman.

With their mother crushed and Daphne’s delicate condition, it was likely Eloise and Francesca would be left with most of the watch. She knew there would be no stopping Daphne from taking up the watch some of the time though or helping to ensure Colin had a fitting wake. Then there was the small matter of tokens for funeral goers. All would have be completed.

There would be an actual funeral but it wouldn’t be acceptable for any of the women to attend. That would fall on Anthony, Benedict and Gregory. They would get through it though somehow.

“I’ll make a list,” Daphne uttered, throwing herself head first into the work of it. This was how she was going to survive this moment. She moved toward the desk, going into find unused parchment. Without sleep Anthony wasn’t thinking properly enough to know that was where they’d hidden the ghastly letter.

It was only once she was in there and Benedict elbowed him hard that he saw fit to remember and he knew it was too late.

“What’s this?” she asked as she spotted the handwriting under the blank paper pulling it up. Her brown eyes narrowed as she began to read it. She gazed up from the words, feeling she’d violated her deceased brother’s privacy for having even read them. She wanted to ask if the others had seen it but one look told her that she had two brothers who knew full well about this.

The last time she’d spoken one on one with her brother, he’d been so besotted by Marina Thompson that she wasn’t sure that he would ever get over her betrayal. Clearly, she had not known her brother as well as she thought that she had. The words on the paper broke her heart. Her brother had died not fully knowing just how deserving of love he was.

“What did they do?” the Duke couldn’t help but ask, reaching to grab the paper from his wife and glancing it over. He could pick up on the distress on his wife’s face and he was fully prepared to give Anthony a black eye over it. This was already an unacceptable situation but if they’d done anything to add to the situation, he was going to be furious. At the moment, he wasn’t quite connecting the dots though.

“How could you?” their sister berated. It was clear the distress they’d hoped to avoid had arrived. “I sincerely hope that I am wrong about the fact you have hidden this letter from its intended recipient.”

“It would crush her,” Benedict argued.

“It’s not your place,” Daphne argued right back.

“It is our place. Her well-being is our problem now and we won’t have this on our conscious. What good would it do her?” Anthony argued right on back, knowing full-well Daphne would win this argument. She always did.

“She deserves to know,” she told them, fury clearly written on her face.

The Duke was pretty clear from looking at her that he wouldn’t have to be the one throwing the punches. Daphne would be the one doing it, if he didn’t stop her. He moved a little closer just in case he had needed to hold her back.

“Tell who, what?” a voice asked from the door.

All eyes turned to the tired, somber face of Eloise who had heard the arguing and decided to see what exactly was going on.

Anthony and Benedict gave pleading looks to Daphne to not tell their younger sister. They might be able to bury this letter with her knowing but not Eloise.

Daphne clearly didn’t heed the warning. She narrowed their eyes at them before grabbing the letter back from her husband, crossing the room and extending it to her younger sister.

“I’ll leave the massacre of our idiotic brothers to you,” Daphne uttered before moving out of the room just as quickly as she’d arrived. The Duke offered a sympathetic look to Anthony and Benedict before following after his wife.

#bridgerton #⚜ writings — polin #polin #colin bridgerton #penelope featherington

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theatresweetheart · 4 years

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Blink and You’ll Miss It

Summary: Roman has been crushing hard on his best friend but not wanting to break up the group or risk Virgil hating him, he suffers in silence. Up until Logan has had enough of it.

Warnings: Swearing, anxious thoughts/feelings, kissing. (I think that’s it, but let me know!)

Pairings: Romantic Prinxiety, Romantic Logicality.

Word Count: 3264 words

A/n: This was just a fun little write that I did quite a while ago. I just wanted to get it posted! Hope y’all enjoy!

Taglist: @isle-of-gold (if you ever want to be on my taglist, feel free to shoot me a message or an ask!)

~—~—~—~—~—~

It was the little things.

It was the little things that someone would overlook without a second thought when one glanced at another person.

Anyone else wouldn’t care how Virgil’s eyelashes fluttered when he rested his eyes for a moment because he didn’t sleep well that night. They wouldn’t care about the way he tapped his fingers on his thigh when he was relaxed or nodding along to the beat of the music blaring in his over-sized headphones. Or how he would bite his lower lip when he was concentrating or thinking about something abstract. Or the twitch of the corner of his lips when someone said something vaguely amusing, or the way he would cover his mouth if he laughed a little too loudly.

It was the little things that someone wouldn’t notice unless they were absolutely enamored with another person.

And it was noticing these little things that got Roman caught.

He tried not to make it obvious that he was staring and for the most part, he wasn’t.

But there were some times where he just couldn’t help himself.

“You’re staring again, Roman.”

The monotonous—yet slightly amused—voice snapped said daydreamer out of his thoughts and back to the current task at hand. A textbook spread over the dark table of the study room and his notebook, a pencil thoughtlessly in his hand. When he shook himself, his eyes drifted away from the sight in front of him down to the small doodles he had sketched mindlessly while in his daze.

He then felt his cheeks flush slightly.

“I’m not staring,” he mumbled. When Logan snorted quietly off to the side, Roman raised his eyes to the bespectacled student. Upon seeing the teasing grin on the other’s features, his brows pinched forwards in frustration, though the heat of embarrassment was there as well. “I’m serious, I’m not staring.”

“Certainly not,” Logan mused, returning his own attention to the textbooks in front of him, beginning to write more notes to his already excessive list. “Staring would consist of not looking away from a certain subject for more than five minutes—which you did not do, mind you.”

At that, Roman felt more pink painting his cheeks.

He sunk a bit lower into the chair he was sitting in and let his eyes rove the rest of the study room. Virgil and Patton were seated on the couch together, talking about something or other.

God, Roman wished he didn’t have his last final coming up in a few days. He wished that he could be the one talking about nonsense with the short brunette dressed in that over-sized hoodie, telling him dumb jokes that made him break into a stupidly cute smile. To be able to see the way his stupidly handsome eyes lit up and crinkled when his stupidly sweet laugh sounded unabashed and loud.

Even now, dressed in his usual black and purple hoodie, the headphones draped over his shoulders, Virgil looked just as stupidly handsome as ever.

He just looked so at peace. It was one of the few times where he wasn’t stressed about anything and/or everything and he didn’t look overly exhausted.

When Virgil had been going through his own finals…holy shit.

He had looked like an honest to God train-wreck. Roman was convinced that Virgil hadn’t slept a wink. He had survived on caffeine and the anxiety of failing his classes if he even rested his eyes a wink.

Roman couldn’t count on one hand how many times he brought Virgil a coffee. And those were just in the daylight hours, who knew what had happened past midnight and on.

But now. Now he looked relaxed and comfortable.

Roman didn’t catch what Patton had said, but it didn’t take long before Virgil’s laugh was the only thing he could hear and suddenly his heart skipped a couple beats.

“This is why it would have been better not to have invited them,” Logan said from beside him as an afterthought, scribbling something else down, “that way you wouldn’t be so distracted and, in turn, wouldn’t be distracting me with your nonsensical romantics.”

“It’s not my fault you’re immune to feelings,” Roman grumbled, “at least pretend that your boyfriend is in the same room as you.”

“Patton knows I care, Roman,” Logan pushed his glasses up with the eraser on the end of his pencil. “I do not have to stare at him every second of every hour for him to know that. You on the other hand seem to be hopeless.”

Oh what did Logan know? He was the one that pretended he didn’t feel anything and then proceeded to attempt to avoid Patton for an entire week upon realizing he cared about him in a way that meant ‘more than a friend.’

Then again, there was the word attempted to avoid him.

So, he wasn’t one to talk.

“Can you keep your voice down, please?” He said instead. “I don’t want them to hear you.”

“I think what you mean to say is, you don’t want Virgil hearing your lovesick yammering.”

“It is not ‘lovesick yammering,’ thank you,” Roman let the pencil finally fall from his fingers, as he had finished twiddling with it and instead rubbed his hands down his face. “I just—I don’t know, how did you and Pat figure out you liked each other?”

“I attempted to avoid him in the hope that the feelings I had acquired for his presence would go away,” Logan hummed, looking up to the other student currently hiding his face in his arms. “Patton has just always been open about how he felt about being around me and he initiated the relationship. You know that.”

“Yes I know that,” Roman’s voice was mumbled as he hid his face further in the crooks of his arms, bunching a few papers on the desk which then prompted Logan to push his textbooks and his own notebooks away to keep from his own pages getting crumpled. “Yeah, but how did you tell each other?”

Logan rolled his eyes. “You know the answer to that too.”

“I know I do, but come on,” he turned his head enough to see the brown-eyed man looking back at him.

“You are the creative one, wouldn’t you want to do something elaborate to admit your feelings to him?”

Roman huffed.

Of course he wanted to do something elaborate and cute and romantic and make a big gesture, but doing something like that would most likely make Virgil uncomfortable and feel as if he was forced to say yes instead of wanting to say yes genuinely and Roman didn’t want him to be miserable.

What kind of relationship would that be?

“…no.”

“Oh? So you do know that doing something over the top would overwhelm him.”

“Ugh.”

Then, there it was again. That sweet sound of a snort and then laughter coming from just in front of him.

Roman raised his head just enough to catch the sight of Virgil using a hand to cover his mouth, but his shoulders were shaking with amusement and his eyes were squeezed shut, crinkled with mirth. When the golden brown eyes had reopened, they were slightly wet showing just how hard he had been laughing and the tears of laughter shimmered on his eyelashes in the fading sunlight of the evening.

He felt his heart stammer again.

Roman was stupidly enamored with how pretty Virgil was.

“I hate him,” he groaned.

“No you don’t,” Logan chuckled. A sound that they heard more often than ever before, but it was still nothing to take lightly.

He rolled his head to face Logan, but still resting them on his arms. His textbook and notes laying forgotten. “No I don’t.”

It was hard. Having fallen so hard for someone and not being able to say anything. It was hard enough for him being in the same room as Virgil without ending up staring at him. Logan made it seem so easy. But he was also right; as much as Roman said he hated the other boy, he really didn’t. Such a strong negative word didn’t communicate the right feelings.

He could say he loathed Virgil and it would be difficult for anyone to believe him.

The things that a normal person wouldn’t notice were the only details that Roman could focus on and it was driving him insane.

“I have had enough of this,” Logan’s voice snapped Roman from his trance for a third time, the sounds of textbooks slamming shut was his final warning, “you are absolutely pathetic.” Before the other student even had the wits to say something, Logan was speaking up. “Patton, would you care to join me for a walk around campus?”

At the request, both Patton and Virgil turned to face the two sitting at the table. A huge grin alighted Patton’s face and he nodded eagerly, happy to get out of the study room for some fresh air.

Within the next few seconds, Logan had packed his things up and back into his backpack that was pulled over his shoulder comfortably and his fingers interlaced with his boyfriend’s.

Roman knew exactly what Logan was doing and he was going to strangle his roommate for doing it, he swore to God.

It also didn’t take long before Patton was leading Logan outside, happily chatting at him a mile a minute. But Roman didn’t miss the smug look Logan shot back in his direction, clearly saying without vocalizing it; ‘do something you hopeless romantic moron.’

The door to the study room closed, leaving the two other students in the silence of each other. It took only a second before Virgil snorted, shaking his head. “They’re disgusting,” he mused, a teasing grin on his stupidly handsome features. “It’s all that cute romance and stuff. Like, a walk around campus? Please. How cliche can you get?”

“Ha, yeah,” Roman laughed halfheartedly, partly hating the fact that he had thought of that before. “Gross.”

Their campus was actually something to behold in the fading hours of the day, especially by the large pond just as one entered the property. There were benches that lined it and long nature walks that would be incredibly romantic. He flexed his hands underneath the table self-consciously.

Though, Roman pretended not to notice the tiny shift in Virgil’s face. The concerned look that he was getting in response to his curt agreement. He pretended that his heart didn’t leap at the fact that Virgil was concerned for him. They were friends, friends got concerned about each other, it was just because he was being a good guy. Not because he saw him in that sort of way.

“Hey, something the matter?” He shifted to sit a bit more comfortably on the couch, his arms folded over the back of it so he could see Roman clearly. “You seemed fine a couple minutes ago.”

Roman shook his head, offering a tight smile in return. “I’m peachy keen, don’t worry about me.”

“Worrying is the one thing I do best, Roman,” Virgil snorted, though that bothered look never left his face. Instead, it almost solidified. When he didn’t get a sound in response, he frowned a bit more. “Whatever it is, you know you can tell me, right?”

Not this. I can’t tell you this. I can tell you anything but this.

“Seriously, Virge, it’s fine.”

Roman’s attention flickered back down to his notebook, seeing the doodles in the corners and the slightly crumpled pages. His textbook still laid open and the question he had been working on before he had gotten…distracted was still circled and unfinished. Taking his eyes off of Virgil for those few seconds was really his downfall because not a minute later, a hand planted directly onto the textbook Roman was staring blankly at and pulling it away from him.

Virgil closed it without a second thought and it snapped the other’s attention up to him.

“There is something seriously wrong,” he stated bluntly—one of Virgil’s best traits really, how he didn’t beat around the bush. “You’re not being a drama queen or extra or nearly as annoying as usual. What’s wrong?”

Roman could already hear Logan chastising for not saying anything, but as he looked at his friend—as he really looked at Virgil, Roman didn’t see malice. He didn’t see anything that said he was going to use this information against him if he were honest. He saw a genuine look of concern, a soft light flickering behind soft brown eyes as he tried to get any sort of honest answer.

Roman didn’t want to lie to his friend, but was now really the time to confess that he had been secretly in love with his best friend for months? A study room where he was struggling to concentrate? Where it felt as though the windows hadn’t been cracked in a week and where students came to cry over their homework?

Roman bit his lower lip, letting his eyes drift away from Virgil’s and scouring the room as if looking for a way out- an excuse to distract the both of them from this conversation.

Roman startled when there was suddenly warmth encompassing his hand and his eyes were drawn down to them, seeing Virgil’s holding his own.

Immediately he could feel the warmth creeping up his neck and seeping into his cheeks, the pounding in his chest telling him just how much this little action meant to him without the other boy evening knowing it.

“You can tell me anything,” he said, “you know that. Did you kill someone? I’ll help you hide the body, if that’s the case. I’ve watched so many crime documentaries that I can make it look like an accident.”

“I’m sure you could,” Roman laughed, thankful for the little break in the tense atmosphere. “But no, no. Nothing— nothing nearly as entertaining as that.”

Virgil softened a little, tightening his hold for a moment. “Then what could possibly be so bad that you can’t tell me?”

Roman was risking absolutely everything if he came right out about it. He was risking Virgil’s friendship, he was risking breaking the four of them apart because if Virgil didn’t like him back it would ruin everything. He would much rather suffer in silence and keep the four of them together as a squad, then break it up because he was some hopeless romantic loser.

“Promise me you won’t hate me when I‌ tell you,” Roman started off, finally interlacing his fingers back with Virgil’s.

Said boy’s eyes widened in slight surprise at the request. It seemed as if that wasn’t what he had been expecting to hear. “Roman why would I—”

“Just promise me, Virgil. Please.”

Hearing the pleading tone, Virgil sighed and nodded his head. “Alright, I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die and all that dramatic shit.”

The attempt at humour went unnoticed and Roman sobered up rather quickly. “Look, this is going to sound so lame. But I, uh, I‌… I‌ like you and I‌ have for a long time and it’s just been…difficult being around you all the time and not telling you because you, God, you’re so pretty it’s actually not fair and your laugh is incredible—it’s like bells ringing and the sound of pure Heaven—and you just have these eyes that seem to shimmer whenever you start talking about something you love even if I don’t understand it. And Jesus, the way you can just get so passionate about stuff but only to the point where you’re doing something good to do good, not to be recognized for it and I just— I‌ don’t want to ruin this friendship because I’m some hopeless romantic loser that shoots too high for the stars and—”

While Virgil had been effectively shocked into silence, the way Roman had just kept rambling it was obvious that this was some verbal vomit, yes, but it was also a bunch of anxiety as well. Which Virgil knew how to identify all too well.

“Princey take a breath,” he cut the other off, keeping him from droning on too long. He could see the pink growing redder in his friend’s face and now he was avoiding looking at him. As if he had been caught with his hand stuck directly into the cookie jar and was waiting for immediate rejection and retaliation. “…do you like me in like a friend way or in a– a gay way?”

Roman laughed incredulously, almost unsure if Virgil was teasing to be cruel or if he was genuinely unsure. When he looked up to meet his eyes, Roman could see that Virgil was genuinely unsure. “Yeah,”‌ he chuckled nervously, “in a gay way.”

“Thank God,” Virgil laughed, his nose scrunching as he looked down at the boy sitting in the chair, from his seated spot on the table.

“I’m sorry,” Roman leaned back, bringing Virgil’s entire face back into focus but didn’t let go of his hand. “What?”

“Thank God,” Virgil repeated, leaning down on his knees a bit more. “Heaven knows I‌ wouldn’t have been able to confess to you.”

“What?”

“I’m trying to say I‌ like you too.” Virgil grabbed Roman’s other hand and held them both in his own, meeting his eyes and holding them. “In a gay way, you oblivious idiot. Hell, I’m surprised Patton managed to keep it a secret for so long. I‌ love him, everyone knows that, but he’s got loose lips and any longer and the entire school probably would have known.”

Roman swallowed, trying to digest what he had just been told. How the boy of his dreams with the pretty brown eyes and blindingly bright smile was actually looking back at him, telling him that he felt the same way.

“You mean it?” His voice came out softer, unsure and quiet.

“’Course I‌ do,”‌ Virgil told him, reassurance in his tone. “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t. I can be an ass, yeah, but not when it comes to shit like this.” He squeezed Roman’s hands and ducked into the other’s sight line once more. “So? What do you say?‌ I’m no good at all this relationship stuff, but I’m willing to give it a shot if you are.”

“Well of course!”‌

Roman didn’t mean for it to come out as loudly or as excited as it did, but he felt an explosion of warmth in his chest and suddenly, everything was okay. His last final was a distant thought as he shot forward and met Virgil in an energized and surprisingly confident kiss. The other’s lips were just as soft as he had thought they had been and he could feel the other leaning into it as well after getting over his initial surprise.

And the kiss was soft and warm and Roman could feel those fireworks in his chest—the kind that one read about in fairy tales, the kind of fireworks he had always dreamed of having.

Almost as soon as Roman had realized what had happened, he jolted back as if he had been burned. “Shit, I shouldn’t have.. sorry, Virgil I‌ should have–”

“Oh shut up and kiss me again.”

Well, Roman was never one to disappoint.

Especially not when the front of his shirt was being grabbed and he was being pulled right back in.

Yes, Roman was still going to strangle Logan, knowing that he did all of this on purpose, but right now such a thing could wait.

He had more important matters on his hands.

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opalmaplehibiscus · 4 years

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Roses are Red, Violets are blue – Riddle Discovered Romance Exists and that He’s in Love Too~

**Note: Anon, I’m so sorry for taking so long to write this ㅠoㅠ I really like Riddle as he’s in my top 5 list of characters like, so I hope I did him justice OTL

HC of Riddle x Reader

· When Riddle first meets you at the welcome ceremony, already from the first glance, he was 100.31415% sure that he didn’t like you

· You were a trouble maker, chaos-maker, a person who likes to wreck-havoc. In other words, something Riddle absolutely despised – a rule breaker

· He was expecting, ok-hoping for you to not be accepted as an NRC student by the headmaster. Not only were you a rule breaker, you couldn’t even use magic. It wouldn’t make sense for you to be accepted

· When he sees you sitting at lunch with Ace, it proved to him 2 things. 1. You just further proved to him that you were someone he doesn’t want to get close with and 2. The headmaster is as brainless as ever

· He doesn’t expect to see you come with Ace to deliver a marron tart on the day of the Unbirthday Party

· Despite how he had reacted, he felt touch that you had come to deliver a tart for him. Yet, rules are law

· It took everything in him to not flinch when he hears a passing comment from Cater how you and the other 3 trouble makers even had to pick fresh chestnuts to make it. To think someone who wasn’t even in his own dorm decided to help out to make a tart for him…

· But the feeling of guilt disappears when you, someone magicless, calls him stupid for following the rules! The nerve you had for saying that he was stupid for following the rules that the Queen of Hearts made!

· He usually didn’t discipline anyone outside the dorm of Heartslabyul unless it was something he witnessed and in regards to the general NRC school rule. He made an exception though when you refused to say “Yes, Dorm Leader”

· You were in Heartslabyul and as the saying goes, “In Rome, do what the Romans do”. Through his anger, he’s still able to rational think how unreasonable he was being to apply his magic on someone magicless

· For the rest of the day, the memory replays in his head of how he, for the first time in his whole life, hesitated casting magic on someone. It didn’t help that the feeling of his hand shaking didn’t disappear

· When you appear the next day for the duel, he suddenly felt self-conscious. He didn’t know why, but every time he was in front of you, he suddenly had the urge to look proper to you

· He wanted to show you how much pride he takes in being the perfect honor student as well as nearly coming close to having the perfect image of the Queen of Hearts, herself

· …Yes. Riddle, at the time, was wanting to look cool in front of you

· The shame and deep embarrassment he faces when Ace punched him and calls him a baby in front of you of all people…The person he wanted to impress and gain acknowledgement from. And it didn’t help that everyone else didn’t think that was enough before an egg hits him on the head

· After he OBs, he wakes up lying in your lap though he doesn’t notice as he continues to feel that the world was spinning

· What he does notice was you hugging him as he cries from guilt, stress, and everything he held inside while patting his head. He refuses to admit that it comforted him, though it causes him to cry harder as he never once was given affection before

· During the time he was recovering, when Trey and Cater tells him how you were the one that proposed to save him as soon as he OBed, his eyes turned soft from again, being touched, guilty, and confusion

· He didn’t understand why you had chosen to help him. He knew that his first impression on you was not impressive at all. Yet you saved him

· On Ace’s birthday, he has fun painting the roses with everyone while getting some sort of redemption on trying to look good in front of you

· But, when he gave everyone his failed tarts, he wanted to dig a hole and get in it. He’s finally able to make himself look good and it’s none other than himself that ruins it in no less than an hour. Someone, please, help him

· Seeing you continue to eat the failed tart, he tries to stop you. But jokes on him, when you tell him how the tart was something he made for everyone, which made it still delicious, he blushes

· He only turns redder when he catches a certain Heartslabyul group talking behind his back

· Ace: Oh my gosh, I think our Ryocho has a crush on the Prefect Deuce: What? No wa-actually, it really does seem like it, huh Grim: That’s unacceptable! I don’t want Y/N to date a guy like that! That would mean I won’t get as many tuna cans compared to now! Cater: Uuuuhhhhh, you guys should quiet down or else-

· Riddle makes sure to punish them by lecturing them for 3 hours about respecting their seniors

· He nearly uses his Unique Magic again when Ace points out how his height makes him look like a middle schooler

· A few days later, when he sees you checking up on Trey because of his injury, Riddle felt touched from it

· It made him happy and help the guilt inside him lessen seeing that there were many people that cared for his friend. Especially, from you

· When he hears you were investigating about the incidents that were happening, he starts wanting to help you. Other than the reason of trying to find the person who used their magic on him and caused Trey to get injured, he didn’t want to lose the opportunity to get closer to you

· It seemed like fate was against him though when he gets embarrassed by Floyd as he gets called by that cursed nickname and then had to run away from the eel twins

· However, the fact that he was able to spend his day with you made him happy nonetheless

· He doesn’t realize this but he starts to become more conscious about you – taking note of how you wear your uniform, hold your bag, etc

· Listen, he’s more conscious because he acknowledges you as a fellow dorm leader that’s all! It’s totally not because he actually likes you!

· Yeah, that’s why he fixes your tie and gives you the advice about keeping appearance! Because as fellow dorm leaders, they were the ones to set the image of being proper honor students in NRC! That’s. All!

· He starts questioning if everything he did in the past is coming to bite him back now when he tries to catch Ruggie but ends up getting his pen stolen.

· Was it too much to ask of him to look cool in front of you once? Once?

· Cater: Riddle… I know you’re trying to look cool in front of Y/N but.. Riddle: But what? Cater: …Nothing

· Cater didn’t want to face Riddle’s wrath like how Ace and Deuce did. He’s a wise man

· He feels this again but this time with veins popping on his head when he finally gets Jack to agree to his plan and make it work only to lead to Leona to OB

· He never has ever felt the urge to just crouch down while covering his face with his hands until now

· When he sees Leona attacking everyone, all thoughts disappear as his worry for everyone’s safety, especially yours becomes his priority

· He wanted to tell you to run away, go somewhere safe. But he doesn’t because he knows you’ll end up staying to save everyone

· And this cycle repeats. When he finds out how you made a deal with Azul and the latest being you getting kidnapped at Scarabia, he wants to yell at you

· He worries, he panics over your wellbeing. But what’s worse was that he can’t even tell you because he knows he isn’t any position to say so

· The frustration that builds up in him leads him to take it out on anyone who annoys him, especially on those who gives him the biggest headache cough Ace and Deuce cough

· It doesn’t help that he doesn’t understands why he worries about you

· You always break the rules, get in trouble, and try to save others nonstop. You put yourself in danger for the sake of other’s when no one is willing to do that for you

· Ever since you extended your hand towards him, all he’s been wanting was to show you the better side of him – to get you to become closer to him

· BUT! EVERY! SINGLE! TIME! He tries getting closer to you, he was blocked

· Fairy Gala – misses the opportunity to see you in your gorgeous outfit - He ends up getting a picture of you in it (it totally wasn’t a bribe from Idia, who was trying to get out of a dorm leader meeting. He was just following the school rules of confiscating all pictures that weren’t allowed to be taken in the school. That’s all)

· Bean’s Day – Didn’t know the two of you were on the same team - He screamed into his pillow that night when he found about it. You literally were on the same team as him so he had a full, bloody chance to hang out with you. Alone. Just the two of you. Curse Jack and Azul for catching him. He’ll get back at them. He swears on the Queen of Hearts name he will.

· Things worsen for him as he starts having the urge to hold your hand or want to get to know you. Do you like tarts just like he does? Were your hands soft just like how they look? Do you like to tie your tie in a bow like him or do the traditional Windsor?

· Did he ever mentioned that he wanted to go “Off with Your Head” on Crowley and Floyd? No? Oh well, he does. And he will. Especially after what happened during that “weird ghost princess’s” marriage

· He would like to say that he’s not short. He’s smart, considerate, knows what to do and not to do – height shouldn’t matter it’s the quality that does

· He’s not self-cautious about his height. Nor is he worried about how well he fits into the “ideal” prince aka ideal marriage partner

· He just wants to show that he’s capable of being a romantic partner! Because as dorm leader, he has an image to uphold especially since he’s closest to the Queen of Hearts!

· In the end though, all of that turns out to be excuses. He realizes how much he enjoys your presence - how much he likes talking to you, hanging around you, getting to enjoy things without feeling judged or afraid of breaking rules

· He feels like himself, his trues self, when he’s around you

· And after listening to what Ace said to Eliza (yes, he remembers her name), he realizes that he sees you as someone like that

· Realizing that he actually fell for you, his heart speeds up and his face reddens when you come up to him to congratulate him on the success

· He knows that he doesn’t tell you now, he won’t ever have the chance to tell you. Especially since apparently, people like to block him from evening getting an inch closer to you

· After looking down and seeing the bouquet in his hands still in good condition, he sends Cater off before he starts taking you towards Sam’s shop

· He ignores your questions, before he stops right in front of the shop

· His heart speeds up and nervousness washes over him. But he steels his resolve after thinking about how he’ll never have another chance

· Getting on a knee, he places a right hand on his heart while offering the bouquet with his left

· He confesses how ever since you helped him when he OBed, he started to have feelings for you. He never thought about it at first, but overtime the feelings started to grow despite him not realizing it. And today, he realized he fell for you

· He talks about how he’s never experienced what it’s like to confess and love someone. Yet he promises you on his own name as well as the Queen of Heart’s name that he will devote his entire being to you – never lying nor betraying your heart

· He says the he understands if you can’t accept being his, however, if only you acknowledge his feelings for him – at least be aware, he’s satisfied

· Or would’ve if it weren’t for the fact that half way through, he’s suddenly pulled up towards you

· His eyes widen as he feels your lips on his, actually k-k-kissing him

· Once the two of you broke away, he looks at you in a daze, not understanding what had happened until he hears you saying that he didn’t have the right to make decisions for you and that you liked him back

· He blushes to the point his face rivals the color of his hair before he drags you into another kiss out of happiness and absolute love

· He’s about to say he loves you before he hears something behind the bushes

· Deuce: OH MY GREAT SEVENS – RIDDLE RYOCHO ACTUALLY Ace: SHHHHHH YOU’RE GOING TO GET US IN TROUBLE! Although, I have to say, I didn’t think Ryocho had it in him to actually confess Grim: NOOOO MY CANS OF TUNE Cater: whistles Wow~ Riddle and Y/N is a thing then~

· He makes a mental note to give them punishment as he gets kissed again by you, happily returning it

#twst #twisted wonderland #riddle rosehearts #riddle x reader #hc #headcanon

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heauxplesslydevoted · 4 years

Text

Fresh Start - Ch. 1

Pairing: Ethan x MC

Catch Up Here

A/N: These past two weeks have been absolutely draining, both mentally and emotionally, but I think my motivation to write is finally coming back, so yay! Let me know if you want to be tagged on untagged. Or if they’re not working for some annoying reason

Tags: @fanmantrashcan @ao719 @x-kyne-x @colourmeshy @writinghereandthere @paulfwesley @ramseyandrys @a-i-n-a-a-s-h @perriewinklenerdie @aworldoffandoms @thatcatlady0716 @drakewalker04 @canknot @hatescapsicum @lapisreviewsstuff @senseofduties @badchoicesposts @ethandaddyramsey @the-soot-sprite @chasingrobbie @zodiacsign1 @choices-lurker @miyakokurono @trappedinfandoms @my-heart-beats-for-ya @adrian-motherfucking-raines @riverrune @edith-eggs1 @thatysn @bellcat2010 @theeccentricbibliophile @cecilecontrera @junehiratas @choices-love-affair @openheart12 @kaavyaethanramsey @caseyvalentineramsey @desmaranj @mal-volaris @whatchique @nazario-sayeed @aestheticartwriting @mvalentine @nooruleman @queencarb @lucy-268 @caroldxnvxrs @doilooklikeiknow @agent-breakdance @rookieoh @mrsdrakewalkerblog

~v~

“Is that the last of your boxes?”

“That’s all of them. The rest are in a storage unit.”

Naomi looks around the spacious guest room in Naveen’s house. There’s a gorgeous view of the lake right outside her window. “Thank you again for letting me stay here. I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I find a place.”

She really did it. She packed up her belongings and accepted the job at Edenbrook, leaving behind the only life she’s ever known. It was exhilarating, and terrifying, and nerve-wrecking, and exciting all at the same time. But being in Boston, helping with that patient in Edenbrook stirred something within her, a fire she hasn’t felt in months. She knew if she didn’t at least give Edenbrook a chance, the regret would eat her alive.

Naveen smiles and dismisses her claims with a flick of the wrist. “You can stay as long as you need to, dear. I’ve been in this house by myself for so long, I think I’ll enjoy your company.”

“At the very least, I’ll steal one of my mom’s recipes and cook dinner for you some time this week.”

“Her famous spaghetti and meatballs?”

“That can definitely be arranged.”

“Oh good. I’m a shoddy cook, so it’s nice to have something that’s actually good every once in a while.” Naveen sighs heavily. “You’ve had a long day today, and your first day of work is tomorrow. I’ll let you get some rest before the big day.”

“Can I get a hint as to what I should expect?” Naomi asks. Butterflies bloom in her stomach at the question. In a few short hours, she’ll be embarking on an entirely new journey.

“Mostly onboarding mumbo jumbo with HR. Getting your keys, giving you clearance to certain parts of the hospital, meeting as many doctors as possible, and then meeting up with Ethan and the rest of the diagnostics team.” He doesn’t miss the way she rolls her eyes at the mention of Ethan’s name. “You two seemed very tense when you met him a few weeks ago, and he wasn’t all that thrilled about you joining the diagnostics team. What happened?”

“A patient collapsed in the waiting room and we both rushed over to help. When that was all done, Dr. Ramsey scolded me and said my technique was amateur and I could’ve killed the patient. Naturally, I didn’t respond too well.”

Naveen has known Naomi since she was born, and she can have a fiery temper if the situation calls for it. He raises an eyebrow at her in amusement. “What did you say?”

“Honestly, I didn’t even say anything that was too bad,” she replies with a shrug. “Basically, I said he was on a power trip and I didn’t need him overseeing and judging my work if he wasn’t going to help. You came back before we could really kick things up.”

“Well thank God for my good timing.”

“He was a jerk,” Naomi continues. “How is he your protege? How are you friends with him? You’re so sweet and he’s so...not.”

“Ethan can be a handful,” Naveen concedes. “He’s just guarded, and he takes his work very seriously. He takes everything too seriously. But once you get to know him, you’ll see that he’s incredibly loyal, intelligent, and he strives to put his patients above everything else. I think the two of you will get along just fine.”

Naomi scoffs. Naveen has more unbridled optimism than she knows what to do with. “Yeah, okay.”

“You’ll balance each other out. You’re strong-willed, you’ll challenge him. Ethan needs that, he’s gotten comfortable being the boss. And no one else in the team will do it.”

“Who else is on the team?” Naomi asks. Her curiosity has gotten the better of her now.

“There’s Dr. June Hirata. She’s a brilliant doctor, perceptive as heck, but she lacks your...assertiveness. June would never challenge Ethan head on even if she’s quietly seething on the inside regarding a decision he’s made. And there’s Dr. Baz Mirani, who is basically a teddy bear in human form. He goes with the flow for the most part, and he hates conflict.”

“So you’re putting me on the team to be his babysitter?”

“No. I’m putting you on the team because you’re a damn good doctor. The fact that you can go toe to toe with Ethan is just an added bonus.”

“You never told me, how exactly did Ethan react to you putting me on his precious team. And you just said he wasn’t thrilled”

“It was my team first,” Naveen clarifies. “But he took the news...less than okay.”

“Naveen, we really need to talk,” Ethan says, chasing his boss through the Edenbrook corridor.

“Why don’t we talk later?”

“How about we talk now.”

Naveen slows down and allows Ethan to catch up. He already knows what this conversation is going to be about. “Ethan, if this is about Naomi–”

“You handed over the reins to the diagnostics team. You don’t have the right to hire new members without consulting me first.”

“I may not be the director of the team anymore, but I’m still the Chief, which makes me your boss. The boss of this entire hospital actually. And being the boss means I can do whatever I want.”

The two men make it to Naveen’s office and Ethan sits down dramatically. “I don’t know anything about this woman, what type of doctor she is, how she’s going to fit in with the rest of the team.”

“Dr. Valentine’s father and I go way back. She graduated top of her class at Johns Hopkins, your alma mater, she’s 28 years old and a first year attending in internal medicine, she skipped a grade in elementary school, and she’s obviously gotten under your skin.”

“She hasn’t–” the argument stops in his throat as he realizes it’s a blatant lie. This Dr. Valentine woman is argumentative and stubborn, and clearly has no respect for authority. And she had the audacity to question him.

Naveen raises an eyebrow at Ethan, daring him to continue.

Ethan’s jaw tightens as he stares at his former mentor. “Look, you don’t get to play favorites on my team just because you and her dad are friends.”

“You didn’t seem to mind favoritism when you were the one benefitting from it for the past decade,” Naveen shoots back and Ethan’s cheeks and neck turn scarlet red. “Besides, I put her on the team because she’s good. And you’re going to have to get used to it, because unless she totally screws up, she’s here to stay. Any other questions?”

He’s fighting a losing battle, Ethan soon realizes. Naveen is hellbent on putting this woman on the team, no ifs, ands, or buts about it,

Ethan crosses his arms across his chest. “I’m not going to go easy on her on your behalf. She’s going to have to put in the same amount of effort as me and the rest of the team.”

Naveen chortles. “Trust me, I don’t expect you to dole out any favors. But give the young lady a fair shake. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Regardless of how Ethan feels, he’s going to have to buck up,” Naveen says with a shrug. “You’re here, and you’re here to stay.”

“You have a lot of faith in me, Naveen. And we’ve never even worked together.”

“No, but I know you. I know you’re a force to be reckoned with and I know it’ll work out beautifully for the team. And Edenbrook as a whole.”

Naomi smiles at him, her skin growing warm at the praise. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome. Now get some rest, you have a very busy day ahead of you.”

“Goodnight, boss.”

~v~

“Okay, where the heck is the directory?” Naomi mumbles, mostly to herself as she walks down the large Edenbrook halls. “Where the heck am I?”

She’s only been at the hospital for 3 hours and she’s already lost. Fantastic. After spending most of her morning in the legal and HR department, signing paperwork, taking her ID picture, and going through a few videos, Naomi was sent off on her own to find the office for the diagnostics team. The problem with that is she has no idea where she’s going.

This is so embarrassing, she thinks. How do you get lost on your first day of work?

“Excuse me? Are you lost?”

The soft voice instantly grabs Naomi’s attention. She spins on her heel and sees a petite woman about her age, staring at her.

Naomi nods. “I’m very lost. I think I’ve been wandering for the past 5 minutes.”

The other woman laughs softly. “Everyone gets lost their first few days here.”

“Is it that obvious I’m new?”

“Yes, you stick out like a sore thumb. But don’t worry, I’ll point you in the right direction. Where are you headed?”

“Dr. Ramsey’s office,” Naomi answers.

“Alright, that’s 3 floors up. Come on.” The woman starts walking and Naomi follows closely beside her. “I’m Sienna Trihn, attending with family medicine.”

“Naomi Valentine, internal medicine.” Naomi smiles. “Nice to meet you.”

“So you’re the one who got the coveted spot on Dr. Ramsey’s diagnostics team, huh?”

“You know about me already?”

“The hospital may look big, but I assure you it’s not,” Sienna says. They step onto the elevator and she punches the number 7. “News travels fast around here.”

“Yes, I’m going to be on his team. And I have no idea what I’m walking into.”

“He’s a hard-ass for sure,” Sienna says. “I can’t tell you the amount of interns he’s made cry or quit because they can’t handle him or his brand of teaching.”

“Well, I’m not an intern nor do I scare easily.”

Sienna smiles. “I like you already, Naomi.”

“I like you too.”

The elevator dings and the doors pull apart. Sienna leads Naomi straight to the diagnostics team’s office, stopping right at the door. “Well this is your stop.”

“Thank you so much, Sienna. I’d still be floundering around downstairs if not for you.”

“It’s no problem. And good luck in there!”

“Thanks.”

Naomi opens the door and steps into the office. Everything is so sleek and modern from the deeply frosted glass, the huge touch screen taking up most of the far right wall, next to a whiteboard. There’s a circular table in the corner, a large desk and bookshelf towards the back, with a couch perpendicular to it.

Wow. Naveen wasn’t kidding when he said the hospital invests a lot of money into this team. This office alone is spectacular.

Her entrance garners the attention of the others in the room and suddenly, 3 pairs of eyes are on her. “Hi.”

“Dr. Valentine,” Ethan greets from his spot behind the desk. “Thank you for joining us.”

“Of course.”

“Guys, meet the newest member of the team, Dr. Naomi Valentine. Dr. Valentine, this is Dr. June Hirata and Dr. Baz Mirani.”

The other woman – June as Ethan just introduced – calmly observes Naomi, scanning her head to toe. Naomi resists the urge to look away, not used to being appraised like an item up for auction, but June then smiles slightly and extends a hand for her to shake. “It’s lovely to meet you, Naomi.”

“Thank you.” Naomi grabs her hand, giving it a firm shake. “You as well.” She turns to Baz, and has to do a double take. “I’m sorry, didn’t we meet earlier today?”

Baz chuckles to himself. “I’m a twin. You met my brother, Zaid.” Skipping a handshake, Baz pulls her in for a warm hug, which she reciprocates after a few stunned moments.

“That makes sense. You’re much friendlier than he is.”

“He’s secretly a huge softie,” Baz insists. “Don’t let the gruff exterior fool you.”

“Now that introductions have been made, let’s get down to business,” Ethan says. “Dr. Valentine, since it is your first day how about you just sit back and observe how things are done?”

First, he wanted to throw her into the deep end to test her mettle, and now he wants her to play wallflower? Naomi doesn’t really understand what his angle is.

June and Baz sit down and Naomi follows them. Within seconds, the large board on the wall is illuminated with a picture of a smiling pre-teen. “This is Taylor Hopkins, a 12 year old girl from Boston. For the past month, she’s been to the Mass Kenmore ER 4 times for unexplained seizures.”

“No history of epilepsy?” June asks.

Ethan shakes his head. “No. The doctors there also suspected a minor stroke because she had bouts of slurred speech and body numbness, or vertigo because she gets dizzy, but multiple neurologists say that isn’t the case.”

“Any injuries recently?”

“None. Not even so much as a simple scratch or paper cut.”

Ethan writes Taylor’s symptoms down on the board, while June and Baz ask questions and toss around ideas. Naomi doesn’t say anything, she just quietly listens and observes.

After a few minutes of not saying anything, Naomi clears her throat, garnering Ethan’s attention. “Can I see her patient file?”

“Sure.”

The file is in June’s hands, but she slides it over. Naomi flips through it, looking at the young girl’s medical history, scans, and lab results.

“She wears glasses?”

“Yes. Both of her parents are near-sighted and wear glasses, and within the past year, Taylor’s vision has begun to deteriorate. She’s been declared as legally blind by her optometrist.”

“Interesting.”

Ethan can practically see the wheels turning in her head, like she’s slowly putting together a puzzle. “Any theories, Dr. Valentine?”

“My gut wants to say multiple sclerosis,” Naomi replies.

“In a 12 year old?” Baz asks.

“I know it sounds crazy because it’s pretty rare in children, but the symptoms line up. And maybe her eye problems aren’t caused by near-sightednes. It wouldn’t hurt to run more tests because it might be inflammation in the optic nerve.”

The room goes silent as they all ponder Naomi’s potential diagnosis. She bites the inside of her cheek, waiting on bated breath for someone, anyone to speak up.

“Look, I just wanted to feel included and throw something out there–”

Ethan cuts her off with a raised hand. “The only rule I have for this team is to speak up if you have an idea because there are no wrong answers. You gave us an idea, own it.”

“Noted, Doctor.”

“I want you to order an OCT scan and an MRI, and also test her spinal fluid. And then I want you to meet with the patient and familiarize yourself with her and her parents, because this case is now yours. Congratulations.”

~v~

Naomi spends the rest of the afternoon running on autopilot. Naveen made it seem like this was going to be a cake walk, an orientation of sorts. When she woke up earlier, she wasn’t expecting to be working a case for the diagnostics team on her first day of work, and potentially solving it.

She wanders into the cafeteria and sits down at the first empty table she finds. This is the first quiet moment she’s had all day, and it’s not even a real break, she’s just waiting for Taylor’s test results to come back.

“You look like Hell.”

Naomi looks up and sees Sienna standing behind her, along with a few others. She nods. “I feel like Hell.”

“Naomi, meet a few of my best friends, Aurora, Bryce, and Jackie. Guys, meet Naomi.”

Naomi offers them all a smile and polite wave. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Can we sit with you?”

“Sure.” Naomi moves down a bit, so Sienna can sit next to her, while Jackie, Bryce, and Aurora move to the other side of the table.

“So how’s your first day at Edenbrook?” Sienna asks.

“How is it working with Dr. Ramsey?”

“Overwhelming, to both questions,” Naomi answers. “But it’s fine, I thrive in chaos and pressure.”

“Any interesting cases?”

“Do you guys think pediatric MS is interesting?”

“Absolutely!” The one Sienna called Jackie exclaims. “Less than 5% of MS patients get a diagnosis as children.”

“Poor thing just got done with a battery of tests, and she’s finally resting. Hopefully the results come back with something concrete, and I can give the family some answers.”

“Is it severe?” Sienna asks, her eyes softening.

Naomi shrugs. “She seems to be managing things fine for now. Her seizures are under control, and we’ve given her corticosteroids for the swelling behind her eyes. She’s much tougher than I was at 12 years old, I can tell you that much.”

Bryce leans in closer to Naomi, and he flashes her a good-natured smile, showing off his perfectly white teeth. “So Naomi, are you new just to Edenbrook, or new to Boston in general?”

“New to Boston. I’m a DC girl, born and raised.”

“Interesting. So in theory, you could be the president’s doctor. What made you want to move?”

Would it be too much to tell these near strangers that there’s nothing left for her in DC other than a cheating ex husband? Absolutely.

So she smiles coyly. “Oh, I can’t reveal all of my secrets, at least not sober. I need to keep some mystery about me, you know?”

“All I’m hearing is that I need to take you out for drinks. Is after work a good time for you?”

Naomi chuckles and checks the name etched into his white coat. “You’re smooth, Dr. Lahela.”

“Ooh, I like the way you say my name.”

“Bryce, she’s been my friend for less than 12 hours,” Sienna scolds with an eye roll. “Do not scare her off with your flirting.”

“It’s fine,” Naomi assures her. “He’s pretty harmless.”

“Harmless?” Bryce grabs his chest and feigns pain. “That’s like, an instant friend zone.”

“Trust me, I’m not a tree you’d want to bark up.”

“I think I’ll be the judge of that.” Naomi laughs and rolls her eyes at him.

They sit around talking for a few more minutes, familiarizing themselves with each other, and grilling Naomi as she’s the new girl. Naomi’s only known this group of people for 15 minutes, but she can tell they’re an insanely tight knit group of friends who all love each other. Now she’s curious about the rest of their friends.

Her pager goes off, interrupting the conversation. She checks it with a sigh. “Lab results are in. I gotta go, but I’ll see you guys around.”

“Wait!” Bryce catches her wrist, holding onto it lightly. “Flirting aside, you really should get drinks with us tonight. We’re regulars at Donahue’s, right across the street.”

Naomi ponders it for a second before nodding. “Sure. I’ll see you guys when I’m off.”

She rushes to the lab to get her patient’s results, and then pages Ethan. He meets her in the lab with June, who’s thankfully a neurologist.

“So, Dr. Valentine, what’s the diagnosis?” Ethan asks, as Naomi hands him Taylor’s test results.

Naomi clears her throat and stands up a bit straighter. She’s normally a confident woman, but Ethan Ramsey intimidates her, even though she hates to admit it. She doesn’t want to show any weakness. “My gut instinct was correct, we have a case of pediatric multiple sclerosis.”

“Okay. What’s the next step.”

“There’s no cure for MS, we can only manage the symptoms. She’s taking medication for the seizures, but we can also get her started on physical therapy for the muscle weakness and to maintain her strength.”

Ethan nods. “Okay. Go ahead and deliver the news to Taylor and her parents.” He hands all of the paperwork back to Naomi and turns on his heel, walking away. He makes it a few steps away before turning around again. “Oh, and good work.”

~v~

She’s at the hospital for 5 more hours, but the rest of Naomi’s shift flies by with relative ease. With her first and only patient taken care of, she spends the rest of her time meeting various nurses and doctors, and trying not to get lost.

And now she’s at Donahue’s, sandwiched between Bryce and another one of their friends, Kyra, throwing back shots of vodka.

“Let’s propose a toast!” Sienna exclaims, raising her small glass in the air. “To the newest member of our gang, Naomi!”

“Cheers!”

Naomi stands dramatically, curtsying at the attention. “To Sienna, for taking me under her wing with absolutely no hesitation. And to me, surviving my first day of Edenbrook and the diagnostics team!”

With excited cheers, they all clink glasses and down their drinks. The alcohol burns her throat but Naomi doesn’t care. It’s been a long day, and she’d drink just about anything at this point.

She makes a quick note of the empty glasses at their table. “Next round is on me. Are we sticking with vodka?”

“Tequila, this time.”

“Deal.”

Bryce slides out of his seat so Naomi can squeeze out of the booth. On surprisingly steady feet, she makes her way to the bar and flags down the bartender. “8 shots of tequila, please. And a pitcher of water.”

“Coming right up.”

While she’s waiting, Naomi hoists herself onto a barstool. She looks around, the bar is packed wall to wall. Some people are playing darts, some are dancing on the makeshift dance floor, and all of the tables are at full capacity. Her eyes settle on Ethan, who’s sitting at the end of the bar, quietly nursing a drink by himself.

She slides out of her seat and walks over to him. He’s so absorbed in his own thoughts, he doesn’t even notice her walk over to him.

“I never thought I’d see Dr. Ethan Ramsey hanging out in a bar with the rest of us plebes,” she teases.

Naomi’s presence gets his attention. He turns his head and looks at her, really looking at her for the first time today, eyes sweeping her from head to toe. She’s no longer under the ugly fluorescent lights and out of the light blue scrubs, trading those in for a green top and extremely short shorts. Her hair, that’s been in a bun all day is down, her dark brown curls framing her face and falling to her shoulders.

He clears his throat and looks down once he realizes that he’s been staring at her for far too long. “I’ve been coming to this bar since you were probably a freshman in college.”

“Gosh, just how old are you, grandpa?”

“Old enough, how about that?”

Naomi shrugs and steals a seat next to Ethan. “I won’t tell anyone if you’re 40. Your secret is safe with me.”

“How’s your patient?” Ethan asks, completely switching gears.

“She’s good. A long day of being poked and prodded wears a girl out, and she was sleeping when I left the hospital.”

“Again, good job solving the case today. Especially since it’s only your first day here.”

“Are you complimenting me?” Naomi teases again with a gasp. “Am I no longer an amateur? Has my mettle been thoroughly tested?”

Ethan inwardly groans at his words being thrown back at him. “We started off on a bad note.”

“We did. I get that you’re Ethan Ramsey, and you’re at the top of the food chain, but it gives you absolutely no right to speak to me that way. I put in the same amount of blood, sweat, and tears into my medical training–maybe even more so, because I’m not a privileged white guy–so don’t ever forget that I deserve basic human decency again.”

“I deserved that tongue lashing.”

“You did, and maybe more.”

Ethan turns his body to face Naomi, their knees almost touching. “I’m sorry. You did save that patient’s life, and I shouldn’t have been so harsh. And you were great today. Who knows how long Taylor would’ve suffered before she received a diagnosis had you not been there. You’re a good doctor.”

Warmth blooms in Naomi’s chest at the praise. Who knew underneath his extremely cold exterior, Ethan Ramsey is actually a decent guy?

“Thank you. It just feels good to help and to give a patient clarity.”

“Can we please put our awkward meeting behind us?” Ethan asks. “For the sake of our careers and this team, we shouldn’t have any dark clouds looming ahead.”

Naomi extends her hand, offering Ethan a shake. His large hand completely envelops hers as they shake. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

“Good.”

“Good. Glad we got all of that out the way.” Naomi points to the tumbler in his hand. “What’s your poison?”

“Scotch, neat.” Naomi pulls a face at that answer. “What? Are you not a fan?”

“I don’t like dark liquor. And scotch is for stuffy old guys who wear suits all day and fuck their secretaries, and the villains on soap operas.”

Ethan’s eyebrows shoot up at the younger woman’s explanation. “That is ridiculously specific. And narrow-minded. Scotch isn’t for everyone though, it takes a sophisticated and refined palate to enjoy.” He raises his glass. “This is a 21 year old, single malt. $200 a bottle.”

Naomi shrugs in indifference. “If you say so.”

“God you’re so young and naive. What do you like? Peach schnapps?”

“Of course not, I’m not a 17 year old anymore. I’m a Stoli girl all the way, but Belvedere will suffice in a pinch.” Ethan nods as if he approves of her choices. “Do those get the Dr. Ramsey stamp of approval?”

“I’ve never tried Stoli before.”

“I’ll have to buy you a bottle then.”

“You think you bribe your way into my good graces?”

“I think I’m already in them.” Ethan doesn’t respond, he only hums, neither in agreement nor denial.

A comfortable silence lulls between the two of them, the hustle and bustle of the bar quickly fading away.

Before Ethan can move, Naomi reaches out and grabs his glass. Lifting it to her mouth with a sly smirk, she takes a languid sip, trying to gauge the mouthfeel of the drink.

He watches her, slightly transfixed as she helps herself to his drink, the way her jaw clenches, the way she doesn’t flinch in the slightest at the taste. Naomi slams the glass down on the bar, and the noise rattles around in his head, but it doesn’t fully register. A drop of the dark alcohol catches on the corner of her mouth, but she swipes at it with the pad of her thumb, which she then sucks dry.

Ethan inhales sharply. Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

“Oh, that’s good,” Naomi says. “It’s surprisingly sweet!”

“Y-yeah,” Ethan stammers. “There’s notes of, uh...toffee and vanilla.”

“You should’ve led with that,” Naomi continues, oblivious to the fact that she’s nearly rendered Ethan speechless. “Next time I come here, I’m ordering whatever this is.”

The bartender comes back with Naomi’s tray of drinks. She gets out of her seat and slaps some cash down onto the care. Carefully, she grabs the tray tightly with both hands.

She glanced at Ethan once more, smiling at him. “Enjoy your night, Dr. Ramsey. See you tomorrow.” And she’s off in a flash, heading back to her newfound friends, leaving Ethan alone again. He watches her retreating form like a hawk until she’s securely at her table.

Ethan sighs heavily. He can’t quite put his finger on it, but he can feel it deep in the pit of his stomach: Naomi Valentine is about to turn his world upside down.

#playchoices #choices #open heart #open heart 2 #dr. ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey #ethan x mc #pixelberry

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babyybitchhhwrites · 4 years

Text

Karma x Reader 18+

Title: Feel the Sickness

Rating: Explicit/R-18+

Words: 1541

Warnings: bondage, anal hook, slight yandere vibes

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25011826

♥♥♥♥

The thing Karma likes about you, really likes about you, is that you're adaptable. Flexible. Some days he’s sure he could approach you with the wildest, most degrading sex act he can conceive and you’d probably agree to it with very little coercion needed on his part. You’re just so damn willing to please no matter the cost to your own ego and that gets his cock straining at attention quicker than anything else he’s yet encountered. It’s undeniably titillating to know he has you wrapped around his finger, perfectly pliant and ductile under his palms like freshly wrought clay. Primed and ready to be molded however he so chooses.

There’s a certain order to these things though and Karma respects that. He knows jumping from zero to one-hundred would only succeed in overwhelming and frightening you, and he simply can’t have that. You’re much too precious a commodity for him to risk chasing you away with his overzealous advances, the thrumming desire that sears his veins every time he can feel your body bowing under him crying out with the urge to truly test your limits. But he’d rather avoid having to drag you back by force, if he can help it, so instead he’s adopted a slow and steady approach he never would’ve seen himself implementing for anyone else up until now. You’re not just any other woman though.

You’re his.

It works, just like he’d known it would, and he’s not at all surprised when you shyly agree to let him try out the shiny new hook he bought special for today. He can see the hesitance etched across your face like creeping shadow, anxiety and nerves and high strung fear bleeding so seamlessly into shy arousal that it makes his stirring cock twitch. The tension curling knots in Karma’s gut only increases to the point of near discomfort when you naively ask where it goes. You’re so delightfully stupid sometimes he could just kiss you.

“In your ass, of course.” He tells you in that placid tone of innocence he’s long since mastered, though it does absolutely nothing to distract from the sharp gleam in his eyes. Predator and prey. There’s no other way to describe this dynamic, the give and take ratio much too unfairly balanced in his favor.

He wouldn’t have had it any other way though and your face pales in response. Of course it does. You’re much too innocent to know what these stainless steel hooks are used for or what their purpose might be when they look like they came straight out of a torture chamber. That’s not an entirely inaccurate description, if he were being honest, but it's not honesty you want. It’s the warmth of his hand on your cheek accompanied by the gentle reassurance that he’ll make it good for you and this, too, works like a charm.

Karma takes his time prepping your tight little sphincter with his fingers, using so much lube to get you ready that it feels like he’s working your pussy loose. You’re nothing if not a receptive victim though and the vulnerable, undulating groans that slip from your mouth have him leaking precum all across the inside of his underwear in a matter of minutes. But with your wrists bound together and secured to the foot of the bed, you have no hope of escaping his persistent attention. Helpless and entirely at his mercy, of which he has very little.

Even knowing that you’d still agreed to this, given him your consent, and now your pitifully clenching asshole was paying the price. He could have played with you like that for days, perfectly content just to watch you squirm as your greedy ass sucked in three of his fingers straight down to the knuckle and he toyed with the notion of working his whole fist inside you. That simply wouldn’t do though. It was still much too soon.

He finally pulls from your body a small eternity later with a sticky wet squelch that seems to reverberate off the walls. You shudder at the sound, no doubt embarrassed by the unseemly noises of your own body, but it’s nothing compared to how you absolutely shake when he slides the hook into you. One torturous fraction at a time, Karma makes sure the bulbous tip breaches the puffy ring of your asshole in daunting slow motion until it finally pops past the muscle in the most literal sense. He can see the exact moment it enters you reflected in the way every muscle and tendon down your back jolts, lurching as if you’d been struck.

That’s not a bad idea, actually, but he decides to shelf it for the time being.

“How does that feel, darling? Even better than my fingers?”

Your only response is a frazzled, gasping whimper that makes his balls tighten. God, he’s going to wreck you. Put the pieces back together and then wreck you again, just because he can, and the further he pushes the curved hook into your anus the more he can see your body tensing up.

The sloppy mess of lube coating your insides does its job though and no matter how hard your contracting passage bears down on the unrelenting steel, trying to stop it from reaching any further into your guts, there’s hardly any resistance at all. It makes him wonder if he really could fit his whole fist inside you, the thought alone making his breath come harder. Faster.

Within moments the simple torture device slides right home, fitting snuggly between your ass cheeks, and Karma can hardly believe how how good you look like this. Kneeling at the foot of his bed with your bound hands stretched taut in front of you. The beading perspiration on your flushed skin almost seems to glisten in the light and you start at his touch when he reaches out to caress your trembling thigh, making him sigh out a quiet groan of malicious pleasure. He’d never thought such perfection could exist in this screwed up world and yet here you are. A beautiful, willing sacrifice to his sadistic perversions.

He gives you time to adjust to the sensation of being penetrated by unforgiving metal while he ties a neat little knot into the hook’s o-ring with a length of twine he prepared beforehand. It seems like it's taking everything you have to maintain your composure but that thin facade breaks down when he grabs a tight fistful of your hair and yanks your head straight back.

Breathlessly keening, you bend underneath his hands like an obligingly obedient pawn but he can see the helpless fear clawing at your hot face as clear as day. It’s such an attractive look on you, and he offers quiet praise meant for your ears only as he secures thin rope around the hair gathered in his fist. A messy, unyieldingly tight ponytail that keeps your head up and your back arched, forcing you to jutt your ass in the air like a bitch in heat. Effectively immobilized, unless you want the hook to forcibly stretch your sphincter out some more.

So simple and devious. He’d never expected such a benign implement to be so effective and yet Karma simply couldn’t argue the results. You looked exquisite and as ripe for the taking as any forbidden fruit. His very own kryptonite in the flesh, sweat slick and panting like you couldn’t quite get your breathing under control. He hadn’t even really begun yet though. There was still so much he wanted to do to you, so many different things he wanted to try out, and you already looked this fucked out?

It was sickeningly adorable.

Softly humming to catch your attention, Karma reaches into his pocket and pulls out the little bullet vibrator he’d neglected to mention earlier. He makes sure you can clearly see it with nothing more than a sidelong glance and he laughs when true panic flashes across your expression at the sight of it. Just like a little lamb to the slaughter. So oblivious and trusting.

There was absolutely nothing you could do to squirm away from him now that you were already fastened into place though and both of you knew that. You, perhaps more than him, if the faltering moan that erupts from your mouth is any indication.

“These hooks accomplish a few different things,” He tells you as casually as if he were discussing the weather. Cloudy with a ninety percent chance of rain. Zero percent chance that someone would come calling at the door and ruin his fun. “But posture training is one of the most important. I can’t wait to see how long you can last like this!”

The red vibrator buzzes to life in his hand with a simple twist and you shudder. Wince when the involuntary action makes the rounded end of the hook dig into your upper wall, barely stretching it further open but it's enough to notice. You quickly adjust your pose, tracking Karma with wide, blown out eyes as he shifts behind you and out of sight.

He’s true to his word and you, oh, you are the self flagellating martyr laid bare at his altar.

#assassination classroom #karma akabane #karma x reader #self insert bullshit #My writing

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sonofsallyjackson · 4 years

Text

Heroes of Olympus should have been in first-person.

@jo-march-is-a-lesbian wrote a really wonderful post about how “Percy Jackson and the Olympians is better than Heroes of Olympus…because it understood simplicity and character development.” It highlights some reasons I also found HoO less rewarding namely that it was an overcomplicated story with limited character growth, lacked a common thesis, and was super jarring when it switched perspectives.

And with that my little brain went: I can fix this. Which frankly is ridiculous. I can’t come up with a compelling thesis like “The idea that we should place our hope in our loved ones, our friends and our family, and if we do that, we won’t be tempted to give up hope again.” But I can imagine a simple change that would have solved some of the issues and also played to Rick’s strengths as a writer: Each book should have been written in first person and narrated by a different character.

With so many people on the quest, I often felt like I was watching a bunch of one-dimensional characters fight for their right to be the main character. I didn’t know who to focus on but I was also dissatisfied. There were all these new wonderful characters in front of me who I wanted to love, but I didn’t feel like I actually knew them. I mean I don’t feel like I know the Stoll Brothers either, but I’m not concerned about that fact because they are side characters. When everyone is painted as the main character, I have certain expectations for growth, personality, and voice. The story would have been better served if the characters took turns narrating the action, allowing us to settle into their perspective, see their growth, and better understand their personality.

Plus Rick kills first-person. While I’m not particularly a fan of Trials of Apollo, it’s not because I don’t know the characters. Apollo is so very different than Percy. Their voices, even though they can both be jokesters at times, reflect their different life-experiences, thought processes and provide massive insight into their characters. If the Seven (and Nico and Reyna) got the same treatment, I would be absolutely giddy.

I recognize that rewriting the HoO series in first-person is something a talented fanfiction writer with a lot of time on their hands could actually do. But I am not talented like that and I certainly don’t have the discipline to actually write that much fic, especially if I was trying to keep the events vaguely the same just with different narration and pacing. So instead I’ve included who I think should have narrated each book below the cut. I’d love to hear any opinions people have regarding this idea, especially who they would have wanted to see to narrate each book.

In addition to picking the narrator, I’ve highlighted what should be the “quest” so to speak of each story. Personally, MoA, HoH and BoO are kind of a blur to me despite reading them all recently. It’s hard to distinguish what happens in each book because it’s all one massive quest with a whole bunch of mini-quests. While the different narrators would obviously make the books more distinctive, splitting the series into seven books would also help simplify each book’s individual goal. Eight books would have allowed for better integration of the plot to find the physician’s cure, but with the prophecy of seven, it seemed like seven books was the best option, if I was going to be doing something as blasphemous as splitting books.

As a note, I ran out of steam as I went so not all opinions are fully fleshed out.

Book 1: The Lost Hero The Quest: Rescue Hera/Juno Narrator: Jason

Why this would be cool:

He is literally Juno’s chosen sent on a quest to rescue her. It’s poetic enough to give him the book.

Jason’s journey is just as much about rediscovering himself as it is about saving Juno. Of the new characters, I feel like I understand Jason the least. Mainly because I felt like I was missing the entire first half of his story. Jason, like Percy and Annabeth, is a hero of the Titan War. I know some of his accomplishments, but I don’t have any bearing on what his life was like or how he felt about it. He doesn’t seem like the type to relish Praetor-ship since he doesn’t have the same intense need to get back to his camp as Percy. Was he just hoisted on his comrades’ shields after killing the Titan without any real choice in the matter? Give me Jason’s memories coming back slowly over the course of the quest (with potentially a fractured memory of a mistake he made in the Roman’s final Titan battle that makes him doubt their ability to both rescue Piper’s dad and save Hero but he makes the decision to anyway because he can’t just hurt his friend like that. Let me understand how Jason is the person he is today. Give me glances of the Roman Camp with emphasis on the heavy expectations that have always followed him as the son of Jupiter and foreshadow why he eventually chooses to design all the shrines for the minor gods so he can have his own place in the world as a figure between the two camps.

Let’s dive into those feelings of anger/guilt/resentment when people at camp are disappointed with him for not being Percy or in Chiron’s case are nervous about what his presence means.

I want to dig deeper regarding Jason’s feelings about reconnecting with Thalia. He knows that if the gods hadn’t been determined to keep the two camps completely separate, he could have grown up with his sister.

What does telling the narrative like this sacrifice:

We miss some of the internal turmoil regarding the fact that Piper’s Dad has been captured and she must betray her friends.

We also don’t feel the tensions of Piper’s relationship with Aphrodite. I don’t see Piper bringing up the conversation with her mom saying that her mist memories were so strong because she automatically sensed the potential of a romantic relationship with Jason.

We don’t have any of Leo’s conflicted feelings regarding rescuing Hera or his fear of being made an outcast for his fire abilities. Jason has to go with Leo to discover Bunker 9 and Festus.

Leo doesn’t actively save the day with the Cyclops.

We don’t know how Piper feels about her charm-speak or see her defeat Madea (as the boys are in their weird trance thing).

Knowledge about Gaea’s involvement in wrecking Leo’s life will come later.

Book 2: The Son of Neptune The Quest: Free Thantos Narrator: Hazel

Why this would be cool:

The stakes are so incredibly high. Hazel is literally risking her second chance at life by agreeing to go on this chance. She’s going to the place she died to fight the monster she created. She also has to deal with the trauma of knowing she may have bought the world time with her first sacrifice but it now means nothing if she can’t succeed again.

We get to see Camp Jupiter from the view of someone who loves it but doesn’t really fit in. Hazel joined Camp Jupiter just after the final battle. She enters a community that has learned to fight as a well-oiled machine but that has lost people. Dakota or the others may remark to her about how things were before or the people who are missing. Hazel sees a community that she’s not quite a part of both because she didn’t fight in the war and because she’s in the fifth cohort with a feared godly parent.

It would explore her relationship with Nico more (because I love their dynamic and I want more). She knows she can’t replace his real sister, but she feels comfortable and happy at the opportunity to have a brother, especially one who is out of time like she is.

What does telling the narrative like this sacrifice:

Frankly, the largest pushback would be from the fans who expected this to be Percy’s book since we just watched Jason rediscover who he is.

Percy’s phone call to his mom doesn’t have the same intensity.

Frank’s relationship with Mars and how desperate he was to be claimed but now he doesn’t think he can live up to his father’s expectations.

Frank and his grandmother. We aren’t in Frank’s head as he changes shape till later.

Book 3: Mark of Athena The Quest: Close the Divide Between The Two Camps by finding Athena’s statue and Rescue Nico Narrator(s): Annabeth and Leo

Why Annabeth:

So I can have all the emotions at the reunion with Percy.

Annabeth’s relationship with her Mom has never been great, but imagine beginning the book with Annabeth being given the Mark of Athena. They haven’t left for New Rome yet and her nerves are already all over the place. Then Athena/Minerva comes, gives her an impossible quest, and breaks her hat. Annabeth wants to prove to her mother that she’s worthy because despite everything she still values her mother’s opinions. Also her fatal flaw of hubris makes her believe she will succeed where everyone else failed.

Much of the book already follows her in third person limited so we just get things with a little extra emotion.

Why Leo:

Leo has to grapple with the fact he started this war by being the one to fire the cannon even if he didn’t have any control. He is motivated to fix it

If we’re going to include the Sammy plot, we need to do it now. Leo doesn’t like being the odd one out on the ship but he certainly doesn’t like the feeling of being notable because of his grandfather.

We still need to get into those feelings of abandonment and anger at Gaea for killing his mom.

Nemesis

Leo comes into his own with the discovery of the Archimedes sphere and the decision to value people over objects.

What does telling the narrative like this sacrifice:

The aquarium shenanigans

The fight between Jason and Percy in Kansas needs to happen differently so that the others are present and try to stop it.

Neither of them went ashore to meet Hercules.

I think we might need to move up the Calypso meeting to this book, but that also kills some of the suspense since Frank will have the fireproof coating prior to his adventures in Venice when he gains faith in his abilities. It also might mean Leo opens the fortune cookie from Nemesis unless for some odd reason he doesn’t have it. There’s a lot more narrative weight for it coming later, but in order to get in as many book events as we can in, it might need to come earlier.

Book 4: House of Hades Pt. 1

The Quest: Survive Tartarus Narrator(s): Annabeth and Percy

The first time I read House of Hades, I read it out of order (reading all the Percy and Annabeth chapters until they were on the elevator out of Tartarus before going back and reading the others), because I couldn’t handle the back and forth. I felt like the tension would build, I’d be invested in this plot and then we’d switch to the other plot. Plus I was very concerned for my children. So I feel fully justified in saying that there is more than enough material to give the two of them their own book.

I just feel like all the feelings would be magnified.

Percy’s commentary slowly losing its humor because he can’t anymore.

Annabeth’s guilt at having pulled him in being extra loud.

Downsides beyond adding an entire book: Just imagine all the outrage at two cliffhangers in a row, because you know the book would end with them in the elevator remembering Bob’s words about the stars.

Book 5: House of Hades Pt. 2

The Quest: ��Close the Doors of Death Narrator(s): Frank and Hazel

Frank and Hazel experience the most growth on the quest to close the doors so this book is all theirs. Hazel learns to control the mist. Frank experiments with his transformations. I want nothing but them growing into themselves and their abilities.

The good thing about turning the two warring storylines from House of Hades into separate books is that we lose very little plot.

Book 6: House of Hades Pt. 3/Blood of Olympus Pt 1 (Personally I would call this one Ambassador of Pluto)

The Quest: Unite the Gods’ Personalities. Narrator: Nico

To clarify what I mean by HoH 3, I just mean anything done with the intention of trying to cross paths with Reyna, including the adventure with Cupid, in addition to the existing Nico&Reyna plotline in BoO.

Nico dealing with all the emotions and his most recent near-death experience.

He kept the secret of the camps so the world wouldn’t end in chaos, but now that the world is in chaos he will be the one to fix it.

In the short time he’s on the Argo 2, Nico realizes that even though this wasn’t his quest; this is his family and he needs to protect them.

The reader has a pretty good idea Nico is gay, even if the word isn’t explicitly said from the descriptions (his guilty Percy thoughts - he let down the man he loves even if he won’t admit it.) This means that Cupid’s forceful outing is potentially less surprising so the reader can be properly outraged at Cupid.

Downside: Reyna definitely has adventures when Nico is passed out, especially the whole waking up with the Hunters, but I think it’s excusable for a whole book from Nico’s perspective.

Also, the battle between the camps and gifting of the statue needs to happen in this book, but we shouldn’t find out if the gods have regained control of their forms yet. We alleviate some tensions because Camp Half-blood is likely to be overrun with Octavian’s monsters instead of the Roman armies and Gaea could awaken any second, but there’s an odd moment of calm and an uneasy truce. (Octavian is potentially taken under custody to be held for trial only to escape in the next book.)

Book 7: Blood of Olympus Pt 2 (and the aftermath)

The Quest: Like The Last Olympian, the final book’s focus is entirely on defeating the series’ big bad, in this case, Gaea. Leo’s quest for the Physician’s cure parallels Percy’s River Styx visit.

Narrator(s): Leo and Piper

Leo has his death hanging over his head. He has decided that he will be the one to die not any of his friends. He got the cloth from Calypso so the “fire” portion of the prophecy applies to him and not Frank. (Yes I know you can’t control prophecies, but do you think that’s going to stop Leo.)

It’s the ultimate revenge for killing his mom. We can have memories of both the happy times with Esperanza and the fear he felt for thinking he caused the fire.

Piper’s perspective is necessary as we need to be with her during the fight with the giants.

This series began with Piper, Leo, and Jason. It ends that way too with the three of them killing Gaea and the two of them narrating.

Downsides:

The Percabeth I love you-the feud is over scene remains in Piper’s perspective.

Since we’re not following Reyna’s delivery of the statue concurrently we don’t know when to anticipate the healed gods appearing in the battle with the giants.

The book can still get away with not showing us Percy’s reunion with Sally or forcing Leo to tell the others he’s alive so they’re all grieving.

#pjo meta #pjo fandom #pjo/hoo #hoo #riordanverse #heroes of olympus #my meta #percy jackon and the olympians #the seven #jason grace #hazel levesque #leo valdez #piper mclean #percy jackson #annabeth chase #frank zhang #the fandom once again improving hoo

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pengychan · 5 years

Text

[Good Omens] Winging It - Ecclesiastes 10:1

Summary: Shockingly, attempting to destroy an angel without consulting God first comes with consequences. There is more than one way to fall, and a thousand more ways to inconvenience an angel and a demon who just wanted to be left in peace. Characters: Gabriel, Crowley, Aziraphale, Beelzebub, Michael. Rating: T

Prologue and all chapters are tagged as ‘winging it’ on my blog.

A/N: don’t you hate it when you’re trying to have a lunch date and archangels keep crashing it.

***

“Run this by me again. Some angel wrecks the Great Plan, you do your duty to ensure he is adequately punished, and somehow you’re the only one who gets screwed over it?”

“... In extremely crude terms, yes.”

“And your closest cooperators carried it out.”

Gabriel folded his arms, giving Beelzebub what he hoped was a sufficiently icy look to hide the fact the memory still make him feel… ill, he supposed, was that what feeling ill was like? It was awful. Being human was awful. He couldn’t wait for it to be over. “They did,” he said, his voice clipped and cold, hoping they’d let the matter drop.

Beelzebub raised both eyebrows, seemingly unimpressed with Gabriel’s attempt at expressing cold disdain. “Did they pull them out, or did they cut?”

“What?”

“Or both?” the Prince of Hell leaned forward, all inquisitiveness and morbid curiosity. Had Gabriel bothered to be around Earth much during the Inquisition, he would have recognized it as the look on a torturer’s face while surveying another torturer’s handiwork, trying to figure out who did it better. “Just curious. Did it leave a mark?”

“That’s-- in no way relevant!” Gabriel protested, and this time his voice did shake. He hated that, and he shut his mouth so abruptly his teeth clicked together.

“Show me.”

“No!” Gabriel snapped, rearing back, acutely aware of the fact Beelzebub could force the clothes off his back to look if they wished, and he would be powerless to stop it. Actually, while the fact he might end up in Heaven again if his vessel was destroyed kept them from killing him, there was plenty that the Lord of the Flies could do to him. Plenty of horrible things, all manners of torments they could unleash and oh God, why had he acted without thinking, why had he thrown himself at the mercy of a being who had none, and who would not tolerate defiance?

Not much of a change from Heaven, it seems.

The thought was absurd as it was horrifying, and Gabriel could scarcely believe it had come from his own mind. Before him, Beelzebub’s eyes darkened, their features twisted… and then nothing happened. They stared a moment, clearly angered, then they let out a long breath and their features smoothed again in a blankness that was… almost as terrifying.

“You may want to learn better,” they droned. “No answer but yes zzzir will be accepted once you take your place in Hell.”

A wise man would have known that was the right moment to keep quiet; just nod, and let the matter drop. But Gabriel - formerly an archangel, a man for less than twenty-four hours - was in no way, shape or form wise. “I am never joining you in Hell,” he protested.

“That remains to be seen,” Beelzebub said, sounding almost bored, and paused to rub their chin, looking intently at him. “Either way, what happened to you confirms my theory,” they finally declared, causing Gabriel to look back at them, blinking. Had they… truly worked out something about the Ineffable Plan? About the reason why he’d been cast out?

“What theory?” he asked, leaning forward. Beelzebub met his gaze, deadpan.

“God is an absolute lunatic.”

“Wha-- God is not-- don’t say that!” Gabriel protested, rearing back as though smacked, and looked around like he feared God themselves would show up in that room to smite them both. Of course, no such thing happened. God had never truly showed Their face to anyone in eons; Gabriel and the others only ever speak to God through Metatron… and last Metatron had spoken to them, it was to spell out his sentence for trying to destroy an angel without God’s permission.

A crime born of pride.

Beelzebub snorted. “What, are you outraged on behalf of the one who cast you out? Or are you scared?”

“Both!” Gabriel snapped. “Don’t you ever-- call God a-- and look who’s talking!”

A shrug. “Unlike a certain someone up above, I make no mystery of being a lunatic.”

“Ah,” Gabriel paused, thinking it over. Of all things the Prince of Hell could be accused of, he supposed false advertising could be crossed out. “... Fair,” he conceded.

At the door, the barrier of Hellfire still crackled, but Gabriel could no longer hear Sandalphon calling out. Worry gnawed at the back of his mind - what if he’d been hurt? What if he’d been destroyed? - but Beelzebub had said that Hellfire wouldn’t harm him unless he was stupid enough to stick his hand in it to open the door. Sandaphon was probably not that stupid, Gabriel thought rather patronizingly, which was sort of rich coming for someone who had temporarily forgotten about his own mortality to run in front of a speeding car only hours earlier.

Either way, he had little choice but to take Beelzebub’s word. And little time, too, because sooner or later some human would notice the flames engulfing the door and try to do something about it. Amusing as it might be to imagine a human trying to extinguish Hellfire with one of those funny red cylinders they liked to use, Gabriel suspected it would cause a stir.

"So, you admit I'm right. I see you're starting to learn."

"Wha-- no! God is absolutely not a lunatic! You are, if you think-- I won't ever join your side. I may not know what the Ineffable Plan has in store for me--”

“Oh, still clinging to the belief you have a somewhat relevant role in it? Or any role at all?” Beeluzebub sneered. Gabriel clenched his fists so tightly his nails sank in his palms.

“Everyone is part of the Plan,” he spat, regretting evenr telling them as much as he had. Why had he actually done that, answered their demand to know what had happened? The Prince of Hell had no right to give him orders, even when they sounded more like requests. He was about to add something scathing, or at least he would have once he did come up with something scathing to say, but he had no time to try.

Suddenly, something rumbled. Beelzebub blinked. Gabriel groaned and doubled over, empty stomach clenching painfully.

“What was that?”

“N- nothing,” Gabriel gritted out, just as his stomach decided to give its best imitation of a jet engine. This time, the Prince of Hell clearly worked out where the noise had come from.

“What is your body doing?”

Gabriel opened his mouth to deny his current vessel was doing anything against his will, but he realized quickly enough it would be useless; his stomach thundered like… well, not like Metatron’s voice, but close enough. “Hunger,” he gritted out. “Aziraphale said it’s hunger.”

“Then you need to nourish your vessel,” Beelzebub said, matter-of-factly. “Or you’ll die.”

“I know. Aziraphale tried, but I can’t make myself--” Gabriel trailed off when Beelzebub waved a hand, extinguishing the Hellfire at the door.

“Come with me,” they ordered. “I might just know what could do the trick.”

***

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

“I don’t think the food is too bad.”

“It’s not the food, it’s nice - not that you would know since you keep swallowing everything without chewing. It’s Gabriel.”

“Ah,” Crowley muttered, taking a sip from his drink and leaning back against the chair, one leg stretched under the table and the other crossed over it. “I also have a bad feeling about him.”

“You do?”

“I have a lot of feelings about him and all of them are bad.”

Oh, of course. Aziraphale raised an eyebrow. Crowley rolled his eyes. Not that Aziraphale could see that behind the dark glasses, but he knew his demon well enough to guess that rolling was precisely what his eyeballs were doing.

“He’ll be fine. He only needs to stop being stubborn and eat something. And if he doesn’t, then he dies and it’s the circle of life. By the way, like the new direction cinema is taking? Soulless remakes of beloved classics. I think it’s one of my finest ideas yet.”

“I don’t believe it was your work for one single moment.”

Crowley made a face. “Fine, so the humans and their fancy corporations got there first. And I am fairly sure corporations are something Heaven came up with. But it was among my plans.”

“Didn’t you cry watching the original?”

“What-- I did not!”

“Warlock says you did.”

“Warlock lies. He lies a lot. I taught him well,” Crowley shot back, tilting up his chin as though to challenge Crowley to say otherwise. Aziraphale chose not to remark having seen some smeared mascara on that particular day - angels’ memory is, of course, nothing short of miraculous - and just nodded, letting the matter drop.

“Regardless,” Aziraphale said with a sigh, setting down the chopsticks on his now empty and thoroughly cleaned plate, “I am concerned. This is unprecedented.”

“And also entirely not our problem,” Crowley pointed out. His leg bounced slightly. “It’s his problem. We got him someplace to stay and basic instructions. You know, I think this is the right moment to discuss that idea we were floating around.”

“Crowley, if this is about your plan to set free every snake in the London Zoo Reptile House, it is entirely yours and I will not--” Aziraphale began, only to trail off when Crowley waved a hand.

“No, not that one, angel. I can do that on my own, thank you.”

“You better not, there are children visiting and last we went speak with them, the reptiles were plenty happy--”

“I’m talking about the plan to get away from London for a bit. Possibly without giving our new address to the forces of Heaven or Hell or whatnot. Somewhere in the South Downs, maybe?”

Our address.

Crowley spoke those words like it was the most natural thing in the world, like there weren’t just about a million implications to an angel and a demon - however native they might have gone after millennia on Earth - to share the same address. And by extension, the same home. You don’t share an address without also sharing home, too. Unless of course your aim is tax evasion or something equally dishonest Aziraphale would never be caught doing.

Not that he would be caught even if he did it, of course, but that was no reason to be dishonest.

You go too fast for me, Crowley, he’d said a few decades earlier. This time, however, he said nothing. It was still fast enough to make him dizzy, but he found he was not scared. He found part of him - probably all of him except for a tiny voice in the back of his head and maybe his left knee - looked forward to it.

The South Downs sounded lovely. Maybe they could find a nice cottage.

“We could give the address to someone here on Earth,” Crowley was going on. “The Them, maybe. I like the Them. And they like me, I hope - you really want a bunch of kids who got rid of the Horsemen of Apocalypse not to dislike you, am I right.”

Aziraphale smiled. He still remembered the way something in his stomach dropped when he’d seen what had been his flaming sword in the hands of War; the crushing doubt - had he done the right thing, surrendering it to humanity? - had returned… only to be vanquished when a little girl had grasped its hilt and turned it against War herself.

I believe in peace, bitch.

Well, stabbing someone with a sword might not be most people’s idea of upholding peace, but as the Romans said - if you want peace, prepare for war. It had proven him, to his utter relief, that he had done the right thing… and so had Crowley, when he had given humanity the gift of knowledge, the ability to tell the difference between good and evil. Because if you don’t know how to choose, you never really have a choice, do you? That was what he’d struggled so much with. What Gabriel was going to struggle with the most, probably, and it concerned him--

“... Bigger on the inside, you know?”

“What?” Aziraphale blinked, just then realizing he hadn’t been listening for the past minute.

“The place in the South Downs, I mean. We could make it bigger on the inside. For your books.”

“Oh. Oh, right. I would take them with me. That might be bothersome--”

“You only need a suitcase.”

“It’s a lot of books.”

“Bigger on the inside. Is it me, or you forget you can do miracles most of the time?”

Aziraphale shifted. “Well, not frivolous ones. Last time, I got a rather strong-worded note by Gabriel and-- ah.” He blinked, and nodded to concede the point. Gabriel would not send him any more strong-worded notes. Gabriel had been fired and thrown out without a letter of warning, without even getting to put his possessions in a cardboard box. “... Well, someone will take over his duties.”

“And you really think they’ll bother telling the angel even Hellfire cannot hurt that his miracles are frivolous? After what happened to good old Gabe for trying to mess with you?” Crowley grinned, leaning back to balance the chair he was on its back legs, but Aziraphale didn’t smile. It made him uncomfortable, to think about it - even if he’d tried to destroy him, he had never wished for Gabriel to be punished on his behalf.

… Or maybe he had, just a little. But not so harshly, never.

“Well, you know, maybe Michael will--”

“Ugh, that wanker. If she does, you can tell her--”

“Good afternoon to you as well.”

“Gah!”

As Crowley tumbled back on the ground - oh, he really should have told him not to do that with his chair, it was an accident waiting to happen - Aziraphale looked up to see Michael standing by their table, hands folded tightly, a polite and entirely impersonal smile on her face.

“Aziraphale,” she said, voice neutral. “Mind if I join you?”

With the mind’s eye, Aziraphale saw her again - carrying the holy water Crowley was meant to die screaming in, looking ever so self-assured. Suddenly, Crowley’s grudge towards Gabriel didn’t seem so petty anymore.

“... Very much, really,” he informed her. “But I suspect that’s not going to stop you.”

“No,” Michael agreed, taking a seat. “Not at all. Now, I suspect you have as little wish to endure my presence as I wish to endure yours, so I’ll make this quick,” she added as Crowley pulled himself and the chair back up, rubbing his head with a groan. “I have reliable information that you have met Gabriel.”

Not too long ago, that statement would have been met with some stammering and an attempt at sounding as innocent as possible. Now, to Crowley’s immense pride, Aziraphale didn’t even bother with that. “Oh?” he said politely, tilting his head on one side. “Have you not come to sample this restaurant?” He smiled innocently at her unimpressed look. “It is quite rude, you know, turning up at a restaurant and sitting at a table without ordering a thing. May I recommend a dish or two?”

“You may not,” Michael said coldly. She folded her hands on the table, looking all the world like a CEO at a meeting. Except that she wasn’t the CEO - that would be God, and last someone else had tried to replace Them things had turned kind of messy. Michael was more of a branch manager, Crowley assumed. “I have to know what transpired when he came to you.”

Well, that put Crowley before a choice: telling her to have her show up at Gabriel’s doorstep and give him a heart attack, or not saying a thing only to annoy her. Considering that he’d had plenty of chances to have some fun at Gabriel’s expenses, he went for the latter option.

“Well, good luck finding out.”

Michael’s gaze darkened. “Tell me what happened after his arrival on Earth.”

“Or else what? You’re going to miracle me another rubber duck?”

“Towel!” Aziraphale exclaimed, delivering a swift and actually rather painful kick to Crowley’s shin. “I believe you told me it was a towel you had her miracle for you.”

Oh, Crowley thought. Oh, right. “Ah, yes. Absolutely. That was the towel. I mean, I would have liked a rubber duck, but a towel was also fine,” he muttered, glancing at Michael through the dark glasses. She looked annoyed, but not confused or suspicious, thank Satan.

… Well, no, Satan definitely had nothing at all to do with it. Maybe he should give in and thank God, if anything because they’d made Michael and… about everyone else just dense enough not to see through their rouse. But maybe it would be best not to try their luck by bringing it up again and risk saying something that would make it obvious even to the dumbest of archangels.

“... Anyway. Duck or towel, you should know better than to try threatening us. The guys downstairs sure learned the lesson. Didn't you?”

Michael gave him a look that told him, in no uncertain terms, that she would be very happy to personally dunk him in holy water if she believed it would destroy him; Crowley had to give her a point for being much, much better than Gabriel at giving the evil eye. Then again, she was known for personally throwing Lucifer out of Heaven, while Gabriel was mostly known for telling a teen virgin that she was pregnant and nearly giving her a heart attack.

Two wankers, but the one sitting across him could actually be very dangerous and maaaaybe he shouldn’t push her too far, or she might just try her luck with him.

“I have not come to threaten you,” Michael gritted out. “I have come to talk.”

“Oh, I see. Taking over Gabe’s duties as a messenger already? You were quick to replace him. Very efficient,” Crowley blurted out, his ‘do not piss off this one’ strategy already flying out of the window. He watched with keen interest the expression on Michael’s expression turning to fury and then something else - was that guilt crowley had glimpsed? - before her features smoothed in a neutral look. “That is none of your concern. I demand--”

Crowley made a buzzing noise, the kind you get for a wrong answer on a television quiz. Michael gave him an annoyed look, then spoke again. “... I am here to ask what has happened since you met Gabriel.”

Aziraphale nodded politely, but made a point to have more of his drink and wiping his lips before replying. “He arrived at my doorstep. I took him in, and healed him. He panicked and ran in front of a car. I healed him again. We gave him some, er, instructions about life on Earth, and took him to a hotel. To give him some space.”

“To get him out of our hair,” Crowley added.

“That too,” Aziraphale conceded.

Michael ignored that last statement. “I see. When Sandalphon found him in the hotel where you left him--”

“Oh, so he found him. And what was he there to do? Tear off another couple of limbs?”

That clearly hit a nerve, because Michael slammed a hand on the table hard enough to make a couple at the far end of the room wince and turn. She was livid, anger barely in check. “Harming him was never our choice,” she hissed, almost better than Crowley would have. “We were concerned as to how he was faring.”

“How lovely,” Crowley said drily. “Why turn to us if you already know where he is?”

“Because he’s no longer there. Sandalphon called back to tell us Gabriel had... turned to Beelzebub.”

Crowley blinked. He looked at Aziraphale. Aziraphale looked at Crowley. Crowley raised both eyebrows. Aziraphale opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again like a fish out of water. Or like a guy who has just been told that the Archangel Gabriel ran off with Beelzebub.

“... I am sorry,” Aziraphale said slowly, brain clearly struggling to get any meaning out of the words he had just heard. “Gabe has just done what with who now?”

A rueful smile. “So much for getting answers. I assume this means it comes as a surprise to you as well.”

“One hell of a surprise, pun intended,” Crowley muttered, and scratched the back of his head. “Wait - what would good old Bub want with him?”

“Claim him on behalf of Hell,” Michael said bitterly. “As far as they are concerned, it makes no matter that he didn’t truly Fall. He was cast out, and they consider him their property now.”

“But they can’t, can they?” Aziraphale spoke up, frowning, “They cannot claim a mortal soul until, well… death.”

“But then they only have to kill him.”

“Unless he surrenders it willingly.”

“I can’t see that happening.”

“... Right. Me neither.”

“What would even happen to his soul if he dies in this mortal form?” Michael asked. Aziraphale shrugged.

“The usual, we suppose. Either Heaven or Hell, and not a clue of which it is until it actually happens. We don’t know, Gabriel doesn’t know - and neither does Beelzebub, I’ll bet. Which, if they do want him in their ranks, is probably the reason why he’s still alive.”

Michael frowned. “I see,” she muttered. Probably not an answer she liked, but still better than the worst case scenario, Crowley supposed. Not that he’d seen much difference between Heaven and Hell when he’d last been upstairs posing as Aziraphale; over the eons since the War things sure had changed there, and for the worst. All that whiteness and huge spaces would drive anyone crazy. Maybe he would also be spoiling for war, if he was stuck up there. Crowley had no idea how or why would anyone actually wish to go back there, but Gabriel desperately wanted to.

“Maybe Bub is planning to tempt him into something that will doom him to downstairs,” Crowley suggested. “Now that’s something I’d like to see. They haven’t done any work on the field since… huh. Come to think of it, I am not entirely sure they have ever done any work on the field. Being royalty and all.”

“Still, Beelzebub must have gained some kind of control over Gabriel,” Michael muttered. “When Sandalphon got there… he wasn’t very coherent in his call, but he said that Gabriel had turned his back to him to hide behind Beelzebub. That makes no sense, it’s not like him at all. Why would he-- what is it?” she asked, blinking at Crowley, who had raised an arm like a school kid about to ask a question.

“Question,” he said. “Was Sandalphon there when you yanked out Gabe's wings?”

The way she stiffened was enough of an answer on its own, but she did reply. “He was.”

“And he just… waltzed in on him? Expecting to be welcomed with open arms?”

Michael stared. Frowned. Stared some more. With some imagination - and a flaming Bentley hurtling through a ring of fire on the M25 was testament to the fact he did not lack it - Crowley could see the gears turning in her head. Finally, her frown deepening, she opened her mouth and spoke.

“... Do you think he took offense?”

“If he did-- take offense--” Crowley stammered, then snorted. “For what, getting a pair of wings yanked out of their sockets?” He gestured wildly, almost hitting a waiter who was only trying to pass by while balancing several dishes, a pile of glasses, and his own fragile mental health. “While he screamed and begged for you to stop? Naaaah. Who’d be that petty?”

Michael seemed unsure as to what to reply; not too surprising, really. Angels were the kind who showed themselves to humans in blinding looking like wheels within wheels, with a thousand eyes and multiple animal heads, yelling at them with voice like thunder to ‘FEAR NOT’. It had taken them an embarrassingly long time to realize there were better ways to go about it, after a few heart attacks the Bible did not mention. In the end, Michael turned to Aziraphale.

He shrugged. “That is sarcasm,” he informed her. “He did take offense.”

“And he’s probably terrified of the lot of you,” Crowley muttered. “I mean, hiding behind Beelzebub? You’ve got to be desperate. Aaaand pretty foolish, really. They’re not known as someone to give help to those who need it.”

Not anymore, anyway. It had been a very, very long time since the Fall. What they had been before then was a distant memory, for all of them. Unaware of this thoughts, Michael seemed to take offense herself.

“He has no reason to fear us. God did not order us to… to harm him further.”

“Is that supposed to reassure him?”

Another confused look. “It ought to.”

Ah, archangels. So out of touch. So amazingly clever and so incredibly stupid. Crowley opened his mouth to say as much, but Aziraphale got there first.

“Was he told that? That he meant no harm?”

“Of course! Sandaphon told him to--”

“Fear not?” Crowley guessed.

“Of course! And that he would not be harmed - he wouldn’t listen!”

Aziraphale nodded. “It sounds like trauma.”

“Trauma?”

“It’s… a human thing. He fears you.”

“Because he is human now,” Crowley pointed out, and leaned forward on the table, chin resting on the palm of his hand. “Which raises the question, why are you pursuing him? He’s not one of yours anymore. You cast him out. Not your problem, no?”

Ah, there is was, the anger - looming behind her eyes like thunderclouds. Not too long ago, she might have tried to smite him and would have probably won; but, after the little show he and Aziraphale put up with each other’s faces, she clearly hesitated to start a fight. Not with Aziraphale there to back him up, at least.

“It is none of your concern,” she gritted out, and stood. “As you won’t cooperate, consider this meeting closed.”

“What, are we supposed to believe the lot of you won’t be watching us like hawks, hoping we can get you to him? What makes you think we can? Beelzebub got him. Good luck getting hi-”

“We can get in touch with him, I believe.”

A groan. “Come on, angel,” Cowley protested. Aziraphale gave him an apologetic look, then turned back to Michael. Who, on the other hand, looking sceptical.

“You can?”

“Well, we have been nice enough to help him out, despite our… differences,” Aziraphale replied, ignoring Crowley’s low groan at the word ‘nice’. Also, ‘difference’ was an interesting way to spell out ‘the fact he tried to destroy me’. “And we might still have the means to contact him..”

“Then do it.”

“Later.”

“What-- why?”

Aziraphale leaned back on the chair, folding his hands. “First of all, because we were having a lovely time and intend to keep doing so. Secondly, if he knew we have been in touch, and is so keen to avoid you, he might no longer turn to us for help. So it is best for you to leave before we contact him. We’ll figure out what’s going on and I’ll get back to you”

“How do I know you will?”

Aziraphale smiled. “Well, I said I’d try to stop the Apocalypse, and in the end I did.” No need to let her know that they had done… next to nothing, really, other than running around a lot like headless chickens and eventually just giving a pep talk to Adam. “I do keep my promises.”

“Also, you have no choice,” Crowley informed her. "If you don't leave, we won't do a thing."

She clearly wasn’t happy, but in the end, there wasn’t much she could argue; for once, they held all the cards. As she stiffly left the restaurant - “I’ll be waiting for your call” - Crowley groaned.

“We had a chance to get them both out of our hair,” he muttered, leaning back

“Crowley.”

“We don’t even know what the Heaven is happening with Beelzebub. Maybe Gabe has already been dragged to Hell somehow. Probably doesn’t have the phone anymore.”

“Well, it’s worth a try,” was the response. As Aziraphale fished the phone out of his pocket to call Gabriel’s number, Crowley made a face and turned to the entrance. Michael was gone.

“And here I’d hoped the show we put on had scared the lot of them enough to leave us alone.”

“Oh, it did work, that’s the thing.”

“Huh?”

“That’s why I said yes,” Aziraphale said, looking from the phone. “She never wore her heart on her sleeve, but I can tell she is afraid of both of us. And yet she took the risk to turn to us anyway.”

Ah. Crowley suspected he was starting to see his point. “To find that arse.”

A nod, and he scrolled down to Gabriel’s number. “Yes. To find that arse.”

***

“I am not an expert in human etiquette, but I believe you’re supposed to close your mouth when you chew.”

“Mghf?”

“You’re making a fool out of yourself,” Beelzebub snorted, propping their chin on their hand and raising an eyebrow as Gabriel bit down on what was probably the fourth Lardburger in a row. Before him there was still a mountain of greasy, cheap junk food that would have given Aziraphale something remarkably similar to a stroke if only he knew Gabriel had rejected the finest sushi in London to stuff his face with… that.

“Not bad, is it? Hell came up with it last century - caused a wonderful increase in heart disease. It is addictive, by the way. Maybe I should have mentioned it before… before I… are you listening at all?”

Clearly not: entirely ignoring Beelzebub’s attempt at gloating over a small victory, Gabriel threw aside the empty wrapped of the Lardburger and proceeded to empty the bag of fries directly into his mouth. A few children - annoying, loud human children - a couple of times over looked at him, giggling. The Lord of the Flies rolled their eyes.

“I have seen famine victims acting with more dignity,” they informed Gabriel, getting no reaction at all: he just kept stuffing his face with the utter abandon Dagon would show before a brand new victim to torment. In the end they just leaned back and watched, mildly amused against their own will. They suspected that fool was going to regret losing control like that but oh, why try to warn him while he was so clearly not inclined to listen? Let him go on and find out the fun way just how frail his vessel was.

“You should drink something with that,” they finally said, deadpan, pushing the can of soda towards Gabriel and holding back a smirk. They were vaguely aware of a human saying that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and they could only come to the conclusion that maybe so did the way to a former archangel’s soul.

Before the week if out, he’ll be ours, Beelzebub thought, perhaps just a little too optimistic considering that stuffing one’s face with greasy fast food was not precisely a sin, let alone one worth damnation - regardless what an angel called Aziraphale might have to say about that. They just sat back, and waited for Gabriel’s gluttony to be sated.

Meanwhile, in Gabriel’s empty hotel room, a cell phone kept ringing uselessly.

***

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***

"Dead flies make a perfumer's oil stink, so a little foolishness is weightier than wisdom and honor." Ecclesiastes 10:1

#good omens #ineffable husbands #ineffable bureaucracy #archangel gabriel #beelzebub #crowley #aziraphale #winging it

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soundofseventeen · 5 years

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Just Out of Reach (Lee Jihoon)

After major writer’s block, I have returned with the next installment of SS. I’m also juggling many projects so you shall see what I have next! Also our account turned one year yesterday so thanks to everyone who’s been with us!! i own nothing!!! -Bee

Word count: 6086

Masterlist

He may have been neither been prim nor proper, but no one could say that Jihoon wasn’t punctual. All he needed was a time and place, and it was a guarantee he’d show up almost an hour beforehand. (Though, he could easily blame the anxiety wired part of his brain for that.) While handy, it often became an inconvenience when something was either cancelled or postponed. In light of recent events, however, he’d been showing on the dot or a even a minute or two late. (He knew the timer meant a life changing event; why else would he have it?) The calculator in his peripheral vision blinked a couple times in hopes of getting is attention then turned off. It’s not like he noticed it anyways. His neglected math assignment, along with other stray sheets of paper, had fallen to the floor when someone (Chan) opened the door and a gust of wind blew in. He sighed, falling to his knees and picked them up slowly, unsure where his mind had gone. The younger boy had already beat him to picking everything up, but by the time he registered it, Wonwoo had also shown up at his usual spot at the table and took out his own assignments wordlessly.

“Long day?” He asked the older boy, thanking Seungcheol for their coffees.

He huffed, ranting about how his physics professor had misplaced his midterms for the third time this month, calling out their bullshit and scalding his tongue from the caffeine. “Alright, maybe I deserved that,” he relented. “How was your weekend?”

“Not any more exciting than yours.” He didn’t mention how his plan ended up with him missing a bus by a few seconds all because he had tripped over his laces and how he now wore slip ons. The timer on his wrist slowly ticked down for whatever was meant to happen. Though math was never his strong suit and since discovering how to convert the number of days into hours and minutes, he learned very quickly, and becoming something of a math genius. “And how is that whole tattoo removal thing going for you?”

Wonwoo rolled his eyes at the question, clearly not wanting that attention on him. “When I find someone who’s willing to remove this thing, I’ll let you know.” With that, he took another sip, ending the discussion. Instead, he waved at the boss from the flower shop next door and Seungkwan who walked next to her, pinkies linked and giggling at whatever they were talking about.

“You know, one day you might actually find your soulmates if you stepped foot anywhere else but here,” Jeonghan’s many greats grandmother scolded them. “They’re not coming in here anytime soon.”

Jihoon opted to humor her, a wry smile appearing on his face. “And where do you think we should go Auntie?”

“Explore my dear boy! Nothing good ever comes from staying in one place. Where is that- Jeonghan let’s move! That boy I swear.”

With your gloved hand, you waved excitedly at Soonyoung who was more focused on riding out the wave but once he caught sight of you, lost his concentration (and balance), thus falling off his surfboard and let the ocean swallow him whole and spitting him out onshore a few seconds later.

“Y/N!” He greeted happily, forgetting he was soaked to the bone and grabbing you for a bear hug. “What brings you here for a visit?”

“Uh, you texted me and asked if I was free?” You began wringing your shirt.

“ Yah! That was two hours ago! How do you know I didn’t have to go to Teipei or Osaka after you ignored me?”

You smiled at him. “You are Kwon Soonyoung, rescuer of all sea animals. You wouldn’t dare leave your reserve unless it’s absolutely necessary. Now, you know I’ve missed you and all, but you owe me a dry set of clothes and some water.”

About half an hour later, you were having lunch at a conspicuous fast food restaurant, indulging on some fries while he filled you in on his latest adventures ranging from an investment that’ll increase shark population by 15% to actually swimming with the sharks in Australia. The way he spoke so animatedly and so passionately about the wildlife often made you wonder if you were making a difference in what you did. You may have both been heirs, but the foundation he was working on was his pride and joy, something he built on his own whereas Universe Factory was technically passed down to you, sans the name.

His cold hand touching your gloved wrist brought you back to the moment, but you couldn’t bring yourself to pull away. “What?”

“Have you figured this thing out yet?”

“Not yet. I know it was at seven seconds like not too long ago.” You removed the glove and let him see the newest numbers. Soonyoung was one of the few people you trusted, not because he was one of your only friends (but that was a factor, why would you lie?) but also because curious as he was, he didn’t try to throw you on a plane to see the best scientists in the country and explain this. “What are you thinking?”

He shook his head. “I’m just-how does this work? Does it like malfunction when you get it wet or what? Or is it timing you for something?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I’ve showered a million times and it doesn’t do anything.” You sighed. “I’m sure it’s a timer though. Why else would it count down.”

“I don’t wanna freak you out but what if it’s telling you how long you have until you-”

“What? Die?” It was your turn to shake your head. “I’ve thought about it, but it doesn’t seem likely. Remember the train tracks?”

“Which you swore we would never speak of again and look what you’re doing now.” He rubbed his arm. “I just got chills, look.” (You’d been taking pictures on the tracks when the whistle starting blowing and when you started racing to get off, one of your feet got stuck between the rails and while you weren’t sure how it happened, Soonyoung managed to pull you just before it passed. The funny thing was that that incident didn’t alter the countdown.) “Maybe it’s only a matter of time until you lose your sanity,” he joked.

“I wouldn’t doubt it.” You ate in silence for a few minutes before your curiosity got the best of you. “Have you heard anything for Jun?” (One of the perks in being considered part of the elite was being in on things, but your own informant had nothing to give you on your royal friend.

“Personally, no, but one of my sources say he’s okay at the moment. Currently somewhere in Tokyo. You worried?”

“It’d be nice to hear from him directly.”

“Y/N, he’s fleeing an arranged marriage from someone who doesn’t wanna better the country. That’s better than him suffering. Now, no more depressing thoughts. Tell me more about your art museum. I know you have more ideas for the place. And if not, let me tell you about this really neat retreat we’re having soon.”

Saturday afternoon, he found Wonwoo, Hansol and his “soulmate” waiting for him at Adequate Eternity. They’d planned a small get together before heading to Universe Factory but they had time to kill so they went inside. One thought that didn’t escape his mind was whether it’d be more bearable to endure the heat the couple in front of them radiated if they weren’t touching or to deal with them constantly touching. He wasn’t bitter or anything; he just didn’t need the reminder that maybe, just maybe soulmates could be real. Or that the single life sucked. A lot. He needed a job or something that distracted him from that. But if someone could call him back, that’d be great. He snuck a peek at Wonwoo who was glaring at his arm and almost laughed. He had forgiven his best friend, despite the words that had nearly wrecked their friendship. It was, like many things, out of Wonwoo’s control. Now, whoever spoiled it for him, is another story.

“Hi guys!” Seungkwan called out to them and walked over, holding his own soulmate’s hand, and reminding Jihoon that being single was nothing short of torture. Granted, he wasn’t the lovey dovey type, but it was still nice to have someone next to him. Someone that wasn’t Wonwoo. “Busy day?”

Vernon shook his head. “Just heading out in a bit to the museum. This one-” glancing affectionately at his soulmate, “-said something about half price so why not. You guys?”

“Just taking a stroll. Hey, you guys wanna see something neat? Should we show them?” He proceeded to let go of his soulmate’s hand and walked away. “You see my ring, right?” He shook his hand a couple of times. “Now you don’t. And look who has it.” They spent a few minutes showing the table that the ring could never be lost and though there wasn’t a logical explanation for what Jihoon saw, he had to admit he was impressed, if not slightly disgusted at how cute it was.

After reluctantly saying goodbye to the happy couple, they made their way to Universe Factory. Hansol had momentarily left to buy the tickets, making them uncomfortable with the heat they radiated (said something about not wanting to make his soulmate’s roommate feel weird about it.) and it was only until after they entered the building that they held hands again and the temperature stablized.

Jihoon had only been here a handful of times prior to the reopening but he had to admit that he liked the renovations so far. He hadn’t personally met the boss, but he could tell art was definitely a passion. He knew that if he wanted to escape Wonwoo in the near (or distant!) future, this would be his getaway. However, he felt the place to be much too quiet. He could hear the whispers between the hipsters and the critiques tearing apart certain pieces and even he knew this place was more of a solstice to the lost souls, not some cocktail party and bidding on the highest pieces of some upcoming Pablo Picasso or any of the artist’s himself. He needed something to drown out the negativity. Something like, “A piano.”

“What?” Wonwoo turned his head curiously at the boy.”

“Nothing.” He shook his head. He hadn’t meant to say it out loud. But a piano would sound nice. Plug it in to some speakers somewhere and it could fill the place with music. He stared at his timer for the first time that day. The day was rapidly approaching when this something would happen, but he wasn’t sure how much longer he could wait.

You thanked the taxi with a flick of your gloved hand, staring at the art museum in front of you and the newest blueprints at your side. If everything went according to schedule, you’d be able to finish the Van Gogh inspired room by the end of the week and start your next task...though that was something you’d rather not deal with.

Ever since your parents had deemed you responsible (and old) enough to pass on their art museum to you, the transition of a spoiled child to an actual heir tending to a business became a sort of wake up call to you. You weren’t crazy about it at first, since you liked doing things that didn’t involve rules, regulations, a time frame, or commitments.You had rather been boarding a plane at any given moment and visiting a new place for days, even weeks on end than scheduling a meeting about signing over rights and who no longer had a say in anything first thing in the morning. It wasn’t your dream, not at first. Who’d want to spend money to see pictures? And at those ridiculous prices? It was no wonder you put the pieces together so quickly as to why you your allowances were cut off and you needed start making your own money: filing for bankruptcy was on the horizon.

After the legal rights to pass on the museum to you were approved, they left and you hadn’t really seen much of them, which left you to fend for yourself. You had to sell a few of your designer bags, outfits, shoes and unused cosmetics, but eventually, The Wonder Emporium reopened under Universe Factory and from there, you continued to build a legacy under your name. You lowered prices to a fairer level, thus bringing in more customers than you had ever hoped and even expanding the place. Once you had set your eyes on the works of The8, you fell in love with the arts overall. Renovations began and soon you found yourself flying all over Asia trying to not only to find his works to add to your growing collection but you collected others from those who had potential under the condition that they had the belief of all humans having rights regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and so on. Those you employed and contacted were no exception. In the short time you had taken charge, you dropped businesses, employees and anyone who so much as looked at anyone wrong. (You drew the line at discrimination, especially when it had come to a boy you knew as Hansol from word of mouth of one of your employees.) Everything seemed to be running smoothly, but now you had a meeting to attend to and

“Mingyu! Thank you for waiting! I’m so sorry I’m late! I just got carried away, and you know how it is.”

“No worries Y/N. It won’t be the last time either, I can assure you that.” He laughed. “What are we working on next?”

“Okay, I know we just reopened the place, but one of my new employees suggested we add a kinda like rec room for artists to show their works in progress, but also for anyone who wants to start doing it.” You unrolled one of the blueprints. “How much further back do you think we can go back until the city threatens to shut me down?” You joked. Looking down on the floor you noticed a silver band just near the table. You picked it up and stuffed it in your pocket, reminding yourself to ask the staff if they had lost something recently. (You knew it wasn’t Mingyu’s. His was on his pinkie finger, glimmering brightly against the fluorescents.)

Mingyu studied it carefully and quietly, taking out his calculator and ticking his fingers. He pulled out his pencil, writing out measurements, only to erase them when he did the math wrong. “Do you want the good news or the bad news?” He finally spoke without looking up. He changed a few of the numbers on your thing and circling the final number.

You made a face. “Surprise me.”

“Okay, we probably won’t be able to make it any wider without violating any laws, but we could make it a few stories higher, turn that unused attic into the room or even turn that into your office.” He removed his glasses. “Now the bad news is that this’ll go over the budget you’ve given me, so you might have to talk to your bank and your accountant to negotiate some things.”

“I-uh fired my accountant,” you admitted sheepishly.

Elbow on the table, he placed his thumb and middle finger on his temples and managed to let out a little laugh, despite his obvious frustration. “Y/N, this is the third one. What’d this one do now? Step on a puppy’s tail and kicked it to the side?”

“No, uhh, I went to go take them some receipts that I had forgotten here and well he made one of the secretaries cry for not getting some time cards in on time. So now, yikes. I’m sorry Mingyu.”

“I’m sorry Y/N, but I can’t do anything until you can make sure you can do this without falling into debt. You might have money now but at the rate you’re spending, it’s gonna be long gone before you start making profit.”

You stared at your timer, hoping for an answer or even just a clue. It counted down seven days.

“No, no. That’s fine,” Jihoon spoke to the other person on the other end of the line as he walked inside Babylon. “Thank you anyways. Uh-huh. Thanks, you too. ‘Bye.” He hung up. “Asshole.”

“You rang?” Joshua joked, popping between one of the aisles. He happily arranged a section of teddy bears, plopping a few to the side in case he decided to cave and buy them. “Everything okay Ji?”

“I’m quickly running out of money and I don’t have a job,” he made a face. “Go figure. Everywhere I apply, it’s the same thing: I’m either not qualified or I don’t have the work experience. I’m about to quit life and head back home. Maybe I can make use of myself there.” Though, he escaped Busan for that same reason. He left Joshua in his spot in hopes of finding a second hand guitar since his took a tumble off the fridge and smashed into little bits. (It took him maybe 15 minutes to remove all the splinters except for one that kept heckling his pinkie finger and irritating him more because his ring usually helped with something like that but he figured he misplaced it again.) He needed a job and fast. Maybe he could ask Auntie Jihye for potion or a spell or something to give him quick cash, not that he’d believe it but because it gave him some kinda hope.

“You’ll be fine,” Joshua reassured him appearing to fix up the teapots. “Everyone deals with this. Maybe look in the area to see where they’re hiring. I know you’re not exactly stoked to work around so many people but sometimes you have to sacrifice that for a few won.”

“Or I can end up throwing staplers at people who don’t know how to mind their own business...and possibly a restraining order from that.” He was ready to drop the subject and noticing the lack of eye bags on his friend’s face, he’d rather choose a more familiar concept. “So, um, how are you and your…‘soulmate’?” (It baffled him to think how not too long ago they were nothing but comforting faces and now they practically bared their souls to each other...well when he and Wonwoo were apart. Vernon’s soulmate managed to get him a job working at a restaurant.)

Joshua shrugged. “We’re good, I guess? She’s interested in someone right now so she tells me about it in our dreams.”

“So you haven’t seen her?”

“Not physically, but the nightmares stopped…unless one of us says the wrong thing and it pisses the other off.” He shuddered at a distant memory, subconsciously feeling for his ear.

“So are you like the only ones that aren’t dating?”

“No. Just because we’re soulmates or whatever doesn’t mean anything. It’s like saying since you and I became friends, you’re now obligated to spend all your time with me. We tried hanging out after work hours but we stopped.” A loud clattering interrupted the boys making them both jump and who else but the great Auntie Jihye stepped into view a moment later, and Joshua nodded in understanding. “Now to see what my lovestruck coworker broke.” He smiled fondly. “Last time, I managed to convince our boss that a company shipped us some vases that were already broken.” He bowed politely at Jihye and excused himself.

“Dear boy, why the long face? You look even more sour than usual.” She tickled his cheek tenderly and rather than flinching away, Jihoon let her. “I can see it in your eyes something’s bothering you.”

“I’m just tired Auntie. I’m thinking about going home.”

“I know this old lady bores with all her nonsense talk, but would you like to hear a piece of advice? Or rather, what I can see in your future if you stay?” She grabbed Jihoon’s hand without warning, and pushed up the long sleeve that concealed his torture instrument. “This is the key to the life you’ve been dreaming about. All you have to do is be patient, my dear. If you go, your regret will eat you alive.” She dug around her purse and pulled out a flier. “What you need is to get out. See the coast, smell the sea, and hear the marine wildlife. Then you can decide what you wanna do.”

“You know, when I said I owed you one, this isn’t what I had in mind.” You stared at the ship hesitantly, already feeling the seasickness hit you.

“Oh come on, we’re whale watching, not taking the blood samples for the stingrays. After all, who hooked you up with the accountant that met the delicate Y/N’s standards?” Soonyoung glanced pointedly at you. “And has forgiven you for being late...again? Besides, you missed your best friend, aka me.”

“Soonyoung, you are my only friend,” you sighed when he did a silent yes and a small fist pump. “How much longer until we get into this death trap?”

“As soon as everyone gets here. And before you ask what you’re supposed to do until then, I suggest you get yourself into more comfortable clothes. Ask someone to take you to my office.I had the clothes you brought last time washed and dry cleaned. And knowing you, I got you some thicker gloves. I don’t think you’ll need my assistance until we actually see some whales.” He shooed you along so he could finish whatever it was and with a sigh you left him to his devices.

He had just finished loading food and beverages when you came back looking like you had just seen a ghost, he jumped back. “Give me a warning next time. Shit, I could’ve died right here and then my blood would’ve been on your hands. What’s wrong now? I promise we don’t harm the animals in the lab. We just need to see if they’ve been consuming plastic or any other dangerous materials-”

You held your arm out, peeling away the glove. “It’s today,” you managed to get out. “This morning it said I had more time, but when I was getting dressed, the time changed significantly.” This had happened before but this was the first time you were actually freaking out because it never changed that drastically. A couple of minutes or hours yes, but almost four days was new to you. “Soonyoung, what do I do?”

“You can either walk away now and worry about it the whole time until you get home or you can momentarily forget this and have some fun with me, your best friend that you don’t see enough.” He batted his eyelashes. “Of course you could move in with me full time and I would still think that. But that’s not the point here. I’m just saying don’t let this thing dictate your life and question your every move.Just enjoy your day here You didn’t have to open today; you left Mingyu to work on your thing. Just relax. Now...the guests, tourists, customers, whatever you wanna call them are coming.” He started boarding the ship, his hand extended towards you. “And what are you gonna do?”

You inhaled deeply, letting the oxygen try to settle your nerves and brain in one hit and after a moment, took his hand and let him help you up. “Let’s do this thing.”

“That’s my best friend,” he mock sobbed before sobering up quickly. “If you want, you can stay in one of the back seats. A lot of passengers who get nauseous quickly say it isn’t as bad. I will be in the front giving the tour, obviously but I got you a cow bell that you can shake if you need my attention. Any questions?”

“Can I go sit down? I’m not used to so much rocking?” Of course, he laughed at you the whole time he was escorting you, and once you sat down, you rested your elbow on the railing, your fingertips touching your forehead and you breathed deeply. You loved the ocean, mind you, but you preferred swimming in it over being on top of it. How Soonyoung did this daily, you didn’t know but you commended him nonetheless. Not much later, you began hearing various voices in different languages as they took their spots and your idiot friend greeting everyone brightly. The boat had yet to stop rocking and the wind filled your nostrils with the brine and all you could do was try to not bolt. And even if you tried, you would’ve been trapped with whoever you sat next to you, making leaving impossible. The ringing in your ears didn’t help either, but you managed to look up at all the passengers that gathered up for the watch as Soonyoung began the introductions and so on.

“You okay?” The boy next to you asked.

You nodded. “I’m just not used to being on boats.”

“Me too. I get sick really fast so I push you away, I warned you. Also, I’m sorry if I talk a lot. I do that when I’m nervous.”

“It’s okay. If you have questions, you can ask me. I’m not as gifted as Soonyoung-” you pointed to the eager boy emphasizing whatever point he was making with his hands, “-with his knowledge, but there are some things that stuck with me.” The beeping in your head didn’t stop but you managed to ignore it, albeit you had to cover one of your ears and shake your head.

“You know Soonyoung?” He poked his own ear. “That’s cool.”

“At this point, I don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse.” You tugged on your gloves. “He dragged me here so I could get away from the work life and enjoy the mammals doing their own thing. He’d probably have me scooping out jellyfish if I had said no to coming.”

“No kidding? One of my aunts gave me a flier to come here because I was stressed out.” He shook his arm to lower his sweater and covered his hand completely. “I’m thinking of maybe going home after I finish this semester. I find a job but I thought one last outing would be fun.”

“Where do you live?”

“In Seoul. I don’t know if you’ve been there, but it’s beautiful. There’s a remote part of it where there aren’t as many people but it’s like a whole other world. There’s like something that pulls you to come in and not leave. Kinda like magic.” He stayed quiet, thinking if he should say more. “My favorite place is a coffee shop called Adequate Eternity. The old lady who owns the place is weird but she’s welcoming.”

“Mmm, I think I went there once, but I had forgotten my card at the bank and by the time I went back, I had just finished a shit ton of meetings. The life of a business person is never ending. An employee of mine swears that the coffee gives her magic powers.”

“I second that. I’m Jihoon, by the way.”

“Y/N,” you smiled at the strange boy, trying to remember where that name rang a bell.

“What do you do Y/N? You sound busy and if you’re friends with someone like Soonyoung, it’s probably just as important.”

“I mean I don’t save the planet, but I own an art museum in Seoul. Universe Factory. I bring paintings and portraits to those who can’t leave.”

“No way! I was there last week! It looks better than before. I mean, it looked nice the old way too but now it looks more complex, the way art should be. I saw Kim Mingyu and his crew inside. Are you adding more to it.”

It shouldn’t have surprised you that he knew Mingyu but it did and you brushed it off. “I wanna add an extra story to it so anyone who wants to try out their hand at drawing or whatever it is they do, will be more than welcome to.”

“So you’re saving people then. That’s really neat.”

Pretty soon you and Jihoon were engaged in a full blown discussion involving the arts, future plans you had for the place and what you hoped could become something of a legacy. Despite the beeping you couldn’t pinpoint (since it seemed to be coming from everywhere), you enjoyed yourself, forgetting the fact you were easily seasick and that Soonyoung was ready to come to your rescue if you needed it. But you’d even forgotten you were whale watching until the mist sprayed you and even then you continued your conversations. It only ended once the tour was over and you exchanged numbers over the possibility of him coming to work for you over the suggestion of having live music and him modestly admitting he played a few instruments and the promise of you getting in touch with the person who had an impressive display of The8’s nature stuff. Minimum wage was the best you could do for now but he jumped onboard because it was better than no job and left with nothing but a wave. It was only when he left you remembered the airhead heir who was finishing up putting everything away and him smiling evilly at you that you punched his shoulder.

“Look at you making friends.”

“Employees,” you corrected. “He gave me a good idea and what better way to give someone credit than hiring them?” The sea gulls’ piercing caws reminded you of something. “Hey, did you find out where that beeping was coming from? It was hard to concentrate on anything else and it gave me a headache. I don’t know if you can still hear it. Watch, listen.”

“I didn’t hear anything,” he said after a moment of silence. “It was probably just part of your nerves. But I’ll check with my crew to see if there was anything wrong in the lower decks if you’re hearing it from out here.”

Changing back into your regular clothes, you tried remembering where and why that particular sound irritated you. It brought back the flashbacks of you trying to read quietly and someone’s watch going off as you were getting absorbed in the storyline. It was even more annoying when several others went off at similar intervals as if they were timing the beeping. Timing, countdown, timer...you removed your gloves, gasping audibly when you saw perfect zeros on your wrist. But how-you’ve been on boats and ships several times and it never happened. What could you have possibly done out of the ordinary that triggered it? The only thing that happened was meeting Jihoon, and come to think of it, the beeping started when he sat next to you.

Slowly, you tried putting the pieces together as you dove out of the dressing room, skidding to find Soonyoung... no not him, because what if maybe, you were supposed to meet Jihoon all this time? After all, what were the odds of being in the same part of the city so many times and how likely was the possibility of just missing each other? You thought back to every time the timer was in its last few seconds only to change just as something else popped up. What if he’s the mythical- “Soulmate!” It made sense after all. You’d read a few books arguing they hadn’t completely vanished. The8’s newest painting is rumored to be based on a pair of soulmates he heard about. But you? Having a chose one? Could that even happen? And that damn beeping was getting loud again. You just wanted to shut it off, but how? How?!

“Y/N, watch out!” A hand locked onto your wrist, pulling you back just as a car sped by. In an instant, three pups on the street pranced happily around your feet and that of your savior yipping and licking at your shoes until their owner called them individually as past, present and future. They barked excitedly once more before they walked away, disappearing right before your eyes. “Are you okay?” Jihoon asked. “I was over there, getting some coffee and I saw you. You looked dazed, and I called you.”

You looked at him, really looked at him. He didn’t even look remotely bothered or amazed that the scariest moment of both your lives happened so casually. Did he even know? Not responding, you pulled up the sleeve that wasn’t rolled down.

“Hey! What are you d-” He cut himself off when you showed him exactly what was going on in your head. And the ringing? Finally stopped.

“My, my! I did not expect this to happen today!” An older woman clapped giddily, breaking whatever trance had happened between you and Jihoon. “Jeonghan! It finally happened! I told you!”

“Are you guys ready?” You asked the crowd excitedly. Well, crowd wasn’t exactly the right word. It was a small gathering of the people you and Jihoon knew...mostly Jihoon. You had only invited Soonyoung and Mingyu (who was currently sporting a sprained wrist, which he swore up and down he didn’t do) for the unveiling. Jihoon, introverted as he was, took it upon himself to ask everyone he knew to come along. You’d met Wonwoo, his best friend; and with Wonwoo came his friend Hansol who had a soulmate that couldn’t be separated unless everyone wanted to be burned alive. With Hansol’s soulmate came your employee (small world!) He also invited his friend Joshua who apparently also had a soulmate, but they didn’t spend time together, so he brought his friend who also worked alongside him at a thrift store. You also met Seokmin, the boy had taken your call when placing an order for the reopening. He came along with Seungkwan who had also had a soulmate literally bound together by a red string. (And you ended up making a deal with her too that would benefit the museum and her growing collection.) And lastly, he brought along Chan, Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Auntie Jihye, the kind lady who explained that Jihoon was in fact your soulmate. You never imagined something like this but it made sense.

With everyone’s eager nods, you proudly opened the velvet curtain, displaying the room dedicated to the one that made you fall in love with art: The8. Since he had the biggest room, you had taken it upon yourself to put a piano there and it was where Jihoon was pouring his heart out as he hit the keys. The idea of finding his soulmate still made him kinda skeptical but it didn’t weird him out like before. It’d take just a bit more faith for him to actually make him believe. And he got along famously with Soonyoung which helped his case. You had finally returned the missing ring to him, something he didn’t even know he lost until you presented it to him, further proving to him that maybe some things science has no explanation for.

“I’ll be right back,” your best friend excused himself, putting his phone away. You nodded at him, entertaining your guests, feeling just a bit more complete than when you had ever felt. You finally made some new friends, found out you weren’t so strange after all (though that timer reset, and gave you an estimated timeframe of your next milestone with Jihoon). “I hope you don’t mind,” Soonyoung said when he came back, “but I invited someone else.”

“Might as well bring him in,” you shrugged heading to Jihoon who looked just as happy as you felt in that moment. You scratched his head absently, letting his music seep into your soul.

“Great! Hey Hao, you can come in now!”

Jihoon’s fluid movements came to an offkey halt as his guest none other than the great The8 entered the room shyly but with a powerful undertone that demanded attention and pulled you next to him so you could compose yourself. Jihoon was quickly learning just how unpredictable your best friend was and all he could do was throw his arm around you and laugh at your shocked expression.

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mandak201 · 5 years

Text

Tragedy Strikes

-an idea i had and ran with. might continue-

Joaquin is dead, now the gang has to clean the mess as well as try to make amends with his sister.

————————————

The sound of a motorcycle engine shook Fangs from his anxious thoughts. Quick on his feet, he stumbled towards Jones, who was shaking his hair from the helmet, cutting the engine and sitting back. "What’s the urgency Fangs?" He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair.

"We received a message Jug." A look of bewilderment struck him at the wild appearance of the boy in front of him. Knowing recently how things have gone downhill in the town, signs were common. It caused people to leave town or watch their backs, everybody was on edge with this whole new wave of problems. "What’s the message?" Jughead took in the appearance of the boy in front of him, Fangs seeming like a wreck and lost, a look he wasn’t used to seeing from the usually composed and assured personality he wore so well.

Fangs began to walk towards the Quarry as he ran a hand through his hair, bitting his lip as the sudden feeling of nervousness washed over him. Jug wasn’t really sure why he was at the Quarry or if the message would even be here, just going on intuition. Jug knew for sure it was something bad, telling by the body language and vibe from Fangs and it took a lot to shake the boy who’s been shot before, going through a lot more than anyone they knew could say they have.

Finally they came to ‘the throne’, the recliner that sat center of everything. A large piece of blue tarp was covering the chair. Fangs stepped to the side and watched Jughead, contemplating on what his newly elected leader would do or if he would even get the sign. He didn’t know what was under the tarp himself, just scrambled to call Jughead after receiving a strange call with a specific instruction. Only your leader can find the message in the middle of the heart, it said. He had absolutely no clue about what it meant but knowing the Quarry was the "heart" of Serpents territory, he knew for sure it’d be there.

Jug paused for a second, bracing himself before he reached for the top of the tarp and pulled it back. This sick sence of shock hit the two, somber realization in what sat before them. A quiet mumble passed Jugheads lips as in a silent way to show respect at the loss.

"Joaquin."

There sat Joaquin, cold body and eyes still open, lips blue as in a sick attempt to mock them. On his forehead could be seen the branding, given to him in juvie by something way bigger than they could understand, a mystery not yet solved. They stood there for a second, tears making their way into Fangs eyes. There his best friend lied dead with his recent encounter with him not such a positive one. If he would’ve known, he would have done something different but it was too late. The betrayal felt from both parties still sat.

Frustration took over as Jughead threw the tarp over him again. It was another person lost to this sick game that was currently taking over the once quiet town of Riverdale. He took a step away from the chair, glancing at Fangs as he was attempting to gain composure.

"Who do you think did it?" Fangs couldn’t breath, wiping his face with his sleeve. It was a moment of reality, the actuality of the situation sinking in, as he let out a shaky breath earning a sympathetic look from Jug. "I don’t really know. It could’ve been anyone." "What’s the mark mean? Does that have something to do with who it could be?" Fangs was unsure of himself: unsure of his mind, unsure of where he was, unsure of wether or not he was really standing there at this moment in time, as if the soil he stood on was fake and this was all a dream. Some sick nightmare. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t that simple, after all nothing was simple anymore.

"It means sacrifice." Jughead said quickly, his hand touching his face in contemplation. Then he remembered that he had seen that mark somewhere before. Turning to face Fangs, his eyes grew, beginning to panic as reality was catching up, no longer able to grieve over this moment in fear or having to grieve something else. "I have to find Archie. Call his sister. She’ll wanna know and it’ll be important that she hears it from you."

With that, Jones turned around, leaving Fangs there by himself with his thoughts and feelings. The dust of the road flew past his face as he glanced back to the chair. Pulling his phone out of his pocket he began to make his way towards his friends place, not wanting to be alone during this phone call or the moment she would pick up.

————

Something was wrong. He felt it, wether it was the shift in the air or a gut feeling, his intuition told him to be alert. The girl who was walking next to him must’ve realized the sudden shift as well, stopping in her tracks and glancing up at his face.

The air had shifted through the whole town. Sweet Pea glances towards Josie as she placed her free hand on his face, the other one linked with his. "What’s wrong? You seem lost." He met her eyes, almost trying to ground himself of the strange feeling that took over. He wanted to run, go to figure out whatever had him on edge, but he couldn’t place a face to the feeling. Nothing corresponded in his head meaning he wasn’t forgetting something and that scared him even more of what the random feeling could’ve meant. He released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding in, trying to stop the tugging on his heart that made him feel like he was needed elsewhere.

"No nothing’s the matter, just got distracted by something." She didn’t believe it but knew better than to push. They had recently gotten back into whatever their relationship was and she had learned from the last time not to push anything onto him or else he’ll just end up running. She dropped her hand back to her side and kept eye contact. He realized the disappearance of her hand on his cheek as it dragged him from his thoughts. "Let’s go back to my place. I need a distraction. I’m sure I can find something we could do."

He wrapped his arm around her waist, catching the girl by surprise and eliciting a giggle from her as they continued to walk. It felt like he had 6 cups of caffeine, some itch that was in his fingertips didn’t sit right with him as he grew reckless, like he needed to do something or be somewhere but ultimately being lost. He wasn’t needed anywhere and had nothing to do so what’s with the anxiousness? He shrugged it off as best as he could, not paying attention to small thought that bothered him in the back of his thoughts.

After all it can’t be that important if he can’t pinpoint what it is.

————

In the other town not so far away, the wind shifted and she noticed it right away. People around her continued their day as if nothing happened but she grew aware. The dynamic of the scene in Greendale was shifted and she didn’t quite know why. She lived on the border of Riverdale and Greendale, convenient if her brother wanted to visit her or if she needed to go back to the town that didn’t want her there for whatever reason.

She locked the door behind her, leaning against the wood to steady herself. Something happened but she wasn’t sure what. She shook it off, walking further into the house. She threw her keys into the key bowl and took off her shoes, soft socks padding their way down on marble floor in her kitchen.

The vibration of a phone led her to close her fridge, glancing at the screen. The name that popped up took her back for a second, shocked at the name of who it was. The name "Fangs Forgaty" flashed across the screen, a picture of them together displayed in the background. She paused as the anxiety set in, hands gripping the counter as she stared at the phone hoping it would just automatically stop. She was confused, why would someone who said they wouldn’t want to see me again if I left be calling me now?

The ringing stopped, the phone dimming again and growing silent. She sighed, a bullet dodged for only a quick second only to be seen again by the continued ringing. She took a breath and slid her finger across the screen, praying it was her brother who was infamous for misplacing his items such as his phone.

"Hello?" She sounded weak, unsure of what to expect. "(Y/n) it’s you." Her breathing hitched, the voice she missed echoed through the room, the phone on speaker. "Yea it’s me. What’s the matter?" A sigh passed through the phone, the boy unsure of what to say threw her off. A million thoughts raced through her head as a quiet second passed. "There’s no other way to say this so I’m just gonna spit it out. It’s your brother. He’s dead babe." He was shaking, she could hear it in his tone.

Out of all the thoughts she didn’t see this coming. Her breathing collapsed as if a truck had just hit her all at once, unable to stand on her feet anymore. The one person who mattered was gone. Her only purpose of living in Greendale, her only purpose of living.

"No, that’s untrue. I saw him 2 days ago." Hot tears streamed down her face, her grip on the counter tightening to prevent her from collapsing, her knuckles turning white. "I’m so sorry. You have to come." She hated this. There was one thing she was certain about, the fact of her return to Riverdale was nonexistent and never to occur unless there was a reason. This was not the reason she expected to be in a million years. "I’ll be there." "I’m at the Quarry. I’ll be waiting for you."

She hung up, panic setting in. She made her way through the house again. Slipping on her hoodie again and grabbing her keys, she threw on her running shoes, hair already up. She found herself in the front of her house again, locking the door for who knew how long.

Stumbling down the pathway that connects the sidewalk to her house, she felt uneasy. There was nothing to say or do, the heavy beat of her heart the only distraction. Instinct took over, her pace increasing as her stumbling turned into walking into running. She was greatfull for the running she did with her brother as well as letting him convince her to be on the track team with him back in the day as she took off down the sidewalk.

The wind blew past her face, tears and her ponytail flying past her face as she ran, sneakers hitting the pavement hard as she focused on her breathing and just running. Passing the sign that welcomed people to Riverdale passed her peripheral vision as she kept going, her location near. She knew where she was and where to go as if she never left and these months of exile were nothing but a dream but the reality was set. Joaquin was dead, her brother gone.

She kept going, stopping at the beginning of the Southside half to catch her breath before picking up again. No second thoughts just running, she thought as she continued, knowing that if she would’ve stopped she wouldn’t turned around.

There was a violent taste in her mouth, either from the fact that she was actually there or from the brink of collapse. Either way she hated it and wanted nothing more than to turn around a frown her sorrows in the comfort of her house. The Quarry grew closer in sight as she kept going. Fangs was distracted from his thoughts as he shut his phone in acceptance, giving up on calling his friend for the 3rd time. He gave in to the fact that he wasn’t gonna pick up, Sweet Pea nowhere to be seen or heard of during his time of need.

The sound of soles hitting the curb made him stand, watching the girl cautiously. He took in her appearance, ears tinted red from the running, the girl more mature than what she left as. He couldn’t imagine the thoughts that were most likely running through her head knowing that her twin was gone and that she was back in a town she no longer called home. She stopped in front of him, placing her hands on her knees and catching her breath. She placed her mind back on the right track she wanted it to be, deciding that her soft side wouldn’t be making any appearances today due to circumstances. She was unwelcome here and she knew that well.

"Where is he Fangs?" He looked into her eyes, being able to still read his ex best friend even after all this time. He saw past her tough facade and saw the soft underbelly they all had for each other. After all her brother was a Serpent and nothing mattered to her more in this world than him. He pointed to the chair behind him and kept his eyes on hers, reading for anything for her. She squinted at him in disbelief, as if he was playing with her in a serious situation. But she knew he wasn’t kidding the minute she walked up to what he was pointing at.

She grabbed the tarp and aggressively yanked it off the chair. Dropping it to the floor, her hand flew up to cover her mouth. Eyes widened in disbelief, she took a step back as all the air left her body. It felt as if her whole soul had escaped and all that was left was the hollow shell of what she used to be. Her innocence and childhood swept away all in one moment as she took in the only love she had left dead.

She didn’t even know she was about to fall til she felt arms wrap around her frame, a sob racking through her body and escaping. She clawed at Fangs’ arm that held her up as in to steady herself. Her sight grew blurry and colors turned red as the world had ultimately ended in her point of view.

He held her tightly, afraid to let her go in fear of her falling and him going with her as he was hurting too. She turned in his grip and fell into him, crying into his shirt and gripping tightly to the leather jacket that shielded him from the breeze that swept through town. He began to allow tears from his eyes as well, placing his chin on top of her head and holding her closer. This fragile being in his arms continued to shake as he felt her tears dampen his shirt.

She suddenly pushed back, agitated and wild. Her eyes screamed chaos and knowing them, the twins were known for composing themselves unless provoked. He would definitely say she was provoked right now as a fire lit in her eyes. He had to glance around to make sure nothing was burning or melting, knowing with her the capability of burning a whole town down not impossible. "Where’s FP?"

His eyes widened slightly. "He’s at the Wrym. (Y/n) you probably shouldn’t go there..." He stopped talking, his words not mattering anymore as she had already took off in the direction of the bar. The ground was practically set ablaze as he felt the anger and aggressive vibe that screamed from her actions, a warpath she claimed as she asserted herself and wiped the tears off her face. He followed her not knowing what to do with himself anymore either, the need to take care of her and protect her taking over again and forgetting everything that happened between them, the betrayal long forgotten as he jogged to keep up.

—————

The phone that sat on his bedside stand began to vibrate again. He wasn’t sure why Fangs had such inappropriate timing or why he was calling him multiple times but he wouldn’t know til he’d see him in person later. It can’t be that important considering he hadn’t left a message of any kind, not a single text or voicemail left.

He let out a groan as he reached over and just ultimately shut the phone off, too distracted in the moment to do much else. Josie pulled away from his neck, currently straddling his lap and on top of him in an intimate moment. She ran her fingers through her hair, pushing it behind her. "Pea if it’s important you can take it." He threw the phone towards his couch, giving the girl above him a reassuring grin. "Nah it’s not important. I’ll just ask him later." He pulled her back down to share a kiss which grew heated in seconds.

She continued to assault his neck like she was a few moments ago. He let out another suppressed moan as his grip on her waist tightened. He was getting the distraction he needed, drowning the strange feeling that left him questioning what the problem was. He was granted with the momentarily relief as the girl continued her way down, doing what she wanted with him which didn’t bother him. He felt drunk without having a single drink, almost like a possession or an out of body experience.

He knew he didn’t love the girl he was currently with, seen only as a replacement, something to filll the void that was left behind. After people had walked in and out of his life he needed stability and when he thought he got it, she left him too. So the girl he was with was just a past time, still hurt and emotionally unstable from a recent problem. He knew he didn’t love her, but he let her in anyways, because he ultimately loved something that wasn’t there anymore.

————

She could feel the fatigue in her legs from all the activity but she pushed it to the side, storming down the side walk towards her destination. Her feet ached and she was tired, but nothing hurt worse than betrayal. She pushed on til she saw the neon sign come into view which only seemed to spark her aggression even more.

She could hear Fangs a bit behind her, struggling to keep up with her but she had no time to slow down. She had an agenda to clear and a man to face, the man that promised her something that was broken now. Fangs was unsure why she was storming towards the bar full of people who where shocked by her disappearance but nonetheless he continued to follow her.

The sign of the Wrym grew bright, close enough to hear the music playing on the inside. Hit by a wave of familiarity, she realized she remembered this place like she had never left. The last moment she had in the bar and overall the town played in her mind, the last place she was in as she said goodbye to everything she knew without actually getting to say it. It was just FP and her brother who knew of her leaving, Joaquin supportive of his own plan to help he get out of the chaos, not wanting his sister to get tangled in the mess that was Riverdale.

The atmosphere of the bar was the same as she remembered from happier times, this vibrant place that held a happy carefree vibe even with all the snakes in it. She pushed the door to the bar open, almost flying off the hinges as it slammed on the wall behind it.

People turned to look at the commotion, some recognizing others carrying on. Everyone continued on with what they were doing, not seeing anything important or worth paying attention to. Fangs was a second behind her, pushing the door open and scanning for the familiar face. She was currently jogging up the stairs to the office where she assumed FP was, attempting to open the door with no result. It was locked meaning he wasn’t there.

She glanced at the pool tables not seeing him there but seeing Fangs and his confused expression. Then she saw him, standing by the booth with other older Serpents. She ran down the stairs and shook Fangs grip off her arm in his attempt to hold her back. She walked up to him and grabbed the front of his shirt and shoving him back.

"You lied to me! His bloods on your hands now you hear me FP?! How could you?!" She violently shook, on the brink of collapsing and sobbing. The tears she tried to hold back now falling freely as the man stared at the breaking girl in front of him. Truth is he hadn’t known that Joaquin was dead so he did the one thing he knew could possibly calm her.

He grabbed hold of the girl and pushed her towards himself, catching her arms in his grip and pulling her into a tight embrace. She attempted to resist but caved in, just wanting to be held as her hate grew dim. All movement paused in the bar as word was confirmed, Joaquin was dead and now his sister was left alone. It was a law after all, if a Serpent was to die their families would be taken care of, (Y/n) being his only family left.

FP was now crying too but not as bad as she was, quiet tears falling down his face. He knew the boy very well, knowing that the only two things he loved was the gang and his sister, eventually in the end only having his sister. It hurt FP to think that it was possibly his fault that Joaquin was gone, their last meeting over getting his sister out of town and into safety and to make him go undercover in a very dangerous gang leading to him also having to run away. He held the remaining DeSantos in his arms, whispering quiet apologies as she eventually settled, deciding to just cry into his shirt.

FP was the closest thing to a father the twins had. He looked out for the innocent children til they turned into assertive young adults which even then he cared for them. Her sobbing began to dim as his grip on the unstable girl tightens.

————

He was making his way towards the bar, dumb satisfied smirk on his face. He was hoping to run into Fangs wanting ask why he was attempting to contact him. Josie had to leave, receiving the typical call from her mom to go back home. The ex mayor still concerned wether or not her daughter made it home before curfew.

In a way he was jealous. He never had a parent to call him in concern to see if he was still alive, the only occasional call from his little sister who he was one year away from being able to get full custody rights for. Josie had a privileged life, complete contrast to his in which he had to work for the things he had. This caused his resentment towards all Northsiders, Josie being no exception.

So when he had begun to fool around with her, the shock on his friends faces were hard to contain. It was surprising how fast he had decided to move on to another companion after the close relationship he had developed with a girl just a few weeks ago. They were endgame or supposedly til she left, causing him to hate her and need someone to put his frustration into.

He almost felt bad for the girl, knowing that he was only using her. Eventually he stopped feeling bad when she soon started to call him first, initiating sometimes, making it easier for him when she began to use him too. He wouldn’t admit that he was still in love with his last, the past too raw but he also had his ego, swearing to never want to see her again.

So imagine his surprise when he walked into the bar, smirk fading as he took in the scene. The silence was almost strangling, that strange feeling of needing to run had returned as he contemplated on wether or not to fulfill this urge. There he saw Fangs, trying to keep composure, a very unusual sight. He then followed his eyes to whatever he was looking at, finding a saddened FP, another unusual sight.

Then his breathing had stopped. It wasn’t every day he ran into his ex, hell he had never had it happen so he wasn’t sure what to do. He took in her appearance, still the same as the last time he saw her before she left town. She had seemed to have been crying, cheeks a soft tint and eyes red, overall seeming tired. He stood at the entrance unable to move as if his feet were cemented to the floor.

He hadn’t even noticed that Fangs was already approaching him til he felt him shove him outside the bar. "What the hell man?! Where the fuck have you been?!" Sweet Pea stumbled back from the force of the impact, almost losing his footing and tripping as he grew confused. "What’s your problem?" His best friend was fuming, face serious and red. "My problem is that when I need you, you’re no where to be seen. Let me fill you in since you’ve been to busy probably fucking around telling by your appearance. One of my best friends is dead and his sister is an emotional wreck. And you were no where to be seen."

Sweet Pea was shocked. All this information was a little too hard to handle all at once. He had betrayed his best friend for not being there and ultimately fucked up by choosing someone he didn’t even care for. Joaquin was dead and now his sister who not to mention is also his ex was back. He needed to sit or drown, either way he didn’t know what to say or do.

"Fangs, man I’m so sorry I.." He was pushed back again, this time surprisingly ready for the impact as he caught his arm in his grip, Fangs easily shaking him off. "No. I don’t wanna hear it. You’re too late. It doesn’t matter. I can’t deal with you right now I can’t even look at you." Fangs stared at his shoes, not wanting to see the dumbfounded expression on his face.

Their moment was interrupted by the sound of shoes on the dirt making their way towards them. Both looked up to see the fragile girl who knew what had just happened, looking at the boys with wide eyes before shaking herself out of her trance. She spoke quietly but quickly, not wanting to be there longer than necessary. "Fangs can we go? I can’t be here anymore."

He nodded his head and made his way to the girl instantly, earning a scoff from Sweet Pea as she grabbed onto his hoodie sleeve. "How typical. You’re running away like usual." Fangs turned ready to lunge if it wasn’t for the small wimper that managed to escape her lips. "You shut up. You don’t know anything." He sarcastically laughed as she moved in front of Fangs acting as a border between the fuming boy begind her. "No but I do know you left me and you must be really good at it seeing you’re leaving again as soon as you come back."

She walked right up to him, the angel face he loved had tears and an angry expression. His heart screamed ‘kiss her kiss her’ but his head didn’t agree, wanting to resolve this conflict within himself. She just stared at him seemingly in conflict as well. "Just so you know you weren’t the only one who didn’t know about my disappearance. Don’t play the victim when my brother, whom might I add is dead now, was just trying to protect me. I don’t need to stand here and justify myself or him but if you don’t know the truth you should keep your mouth shut."

He was taken back by the foreign tone she portrayed, used to her usually bubbly personality this side was new. She turned to walk away but not before he grabbed her wrist. She yanked herself from his grip, glaring towards him with hate that made him want to just die right there. She stormed away not daring to look back.

Fangs glanced towards him one more time with a look of sadness before turning and following her as well. He wasn’t sure what to do with himself. He stood there and looked at the ground, too confused to focus on one thing. Too many thoughts and questions ran for him to get a grip as he ultimately turned back and headed home as well.

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