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#since his stalker knew where he lived; and they could just attack at any moment. man he wasnt even that close to zachary
malkaviian · 1 year
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now that i've developed maverick a bit more, i have to think about how he was before the whole incident with zachary.
#as i said his brain did a complete change to deal with everything that happened; including killing zachary#after having his dead body in his house for hours he started to connect the dots of the situation he was in for months. he couldnt believe#it truly was zachary; the cheerful; perfect student everyone loved; who stalked him to the point he was terrified for his life#and that made him stop going to college because he was too scared to leave his house. but at the same he was scared to stay in his house#since his stalker knew where he lived; and they could just attack at any moment. man he wasnt even that close to zachary#he doesnt understand what happened for him to get that obsessed over him. but it was over. he killed him after he tried to murder him first#so that was it. but before he started to freak out over the possibility of going to prison for murdering someone#he just... changed. he turned into a totally different person; with his old personality completely dying and... well#replacing it with no actual personality besides someone obsessive who adapts to whatever his current beloved likes the most#and likes to pretend 'innocence' so his beloved would be quick to trust him. he wouldnt hurt a fly :)#and while the whole stalking was happening he turned into an anxious mess who would break down very easily and was generally very fragile#so... before that; i think he was probably trusting of people; maybe a bit too trusting. he was very shy#which made it difficult to make friends; but tried his best to be social and do it anyway. so it turned into trusting people easily#and anything slightly weird was assumed to be his mind playing tricks... which is why probably he didnt notice sooner who his stalker was#i mean; zachary was great at pretending; but he did started to get more 'protective' when the stalking started; when they werent that close#but it must have been because he was worried like the rest of their classmates! and after all he was the definition of a perfect person.#it would make sense for someone as good and caring as him to feel the need to protect a sort-of-friend; right? nothing bad; really.#he would also try his best to help someone if they were in that horrible situation anyway#i imagine he also had a slightly low self-esteem; but not to the worrying point. mostly because of his own shyness#alongside friendships; he didnt really that much luck with love in the past. but tried to stay positive and think he would find someone#and yeah; he was someone who tried to see the bright side of things; in a healthy amount. but that didnt really worked while being stalked#if someone left him gifts on his desk in college; that would be one thing. he may as well thought it was sweet in a 'secret admirer' way#but this person literally started to leave gifts on the door of his fucking house; when he never told anyone on college where he lived#and he was already out of touch with the few friends he had in high school + they were no longer his friends. so yeah#even he couldnt ignore that wasnt good or sweet; it was a real problem regardless of how much he couldve liked the gifts in another context#let alone when the goddamn love letters started. he could receive multiple in a day; he even got 15 in a single day#it couldnt be justified at all; and it made his already growing fear even worse.#so basically: he was a person who tried his best to do better; but someone had to ruin it. thanks; zachary /j#oc talk
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svt-nari · 5 months
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the airport incident / part three
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warnings: language (the word s*** is written once, panic attacks, stalkers, weird creepy man, not proofread! a/n: i’m so so so so so so sorry for not posting this sooner, i was trying to finish it as soon as possible and i’m really sorry if it’s not as good as you guys expected. also,,, this will have a continuation, not sure if a part four, but i’ll post other chapters about this whole situation.
part one | part two | part three
nari remembers the exact first time she heard that name. seventeen’s first comeback had just happened and they were holding a small fansign. they were still a small group, not much recognition but they were happy and living their dreams. the fourteen young adults/teens were ecstatic, people coming to meet them and get their autograph – it was just like how they saw on tv.
as fans passed by, one of them caught her attention because he was a bit older than the other people there – probably in his mid-thirties. what made him stand out the most too was how he skipped every single one of the boys just to meet nari.
he greeted her and she greeted back, laughing at his enthusiasm to see her. he apologized to all of the boys, claiming that she’s someone he likes a lot. everyone laughed at that moment, it was funny. though, they didn’t know that from there on he wouldn’t just be a harmless fan.
the second time they meet she was shopping with a friend – a private going, her personal life. many fans saw her because they were also shopping, taking pictures and asking for her autograph. but, nari knew he wasn’t there before they arrived. no. he arrived there with them. she thought it was just a coincidence when he entered the mall doors at the same time as her, bumping on her shoulder and apologizing, feigning surprise when he saw who she was.
nari knew it wasn’t just a normal fan behavior when he asked for her autograph and gave her a card with his number written on it, claiming that she could call him whenever she felt like it. something about him gave her chills. but she ignored it for her own sake, nodding along and trying to convince herself that it was normal for fans to give idols their number.
two years passed when the third huge issue happened, nari knew it wasn’t all just a coincidence. he was stepping foot in her family’s apartment building, moving to the floor bellow to the one where her family lived. she knew that he was aware of what he was doing, he made sure to wave at her and tell her that he was moving there. claiming that he didn’t know her family lived there.
but she knew it was all a big, fat lie.
she was scared and she told her company, getting a huge “we can’t do anything without proof!” as a response – as if the fact that he moved to her parents’ building wasn’t proof enough. they told her it was just her mind playing tricks on her since it was a public building, that he could have just rented it. but she knew it was far from the truth.
he had been following her, she knew because she took the time to memorize his plate just in case something ever happened to her. nari’s safety was in game, she didn’t want to end up hurt because of this guy. she knew he followed her to her family’s home because of his car plate. that made her even more terrified of him.
she had to beg her parents to move, took the time to find a new place for them just to get them to be safe and away from that maniac. though, she wasn’t expecting his reaction to that.
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a few days after her parents moved to their new place, nari received a letter on her own building - her members’ home, the dorms. it didn’t have any name nor address written, meaning it was delivered by someone and not the post office. the moment she touched it, nari could feel her whole body shiver. as she opened the letter, her heart pounded in her chest with each word she read to herself.
“hi, hwang nari.
it’s me, your hajunie. i miss you so much, don’t you miss me too? well, i hope you do, because i’m planning on seeing you as soon as possible. i know your schedules are full because of all the comeback preparations, it’s hard being talented, right? well, you sure do know since you’re amazing.
i’m sorry i took so long to reach out, but i was organizing how i could do it all without messing up or having someone else mess it all up. i’ve been keeping track of you though. i memorized your schedules and made sure to be there whenever i could - even if i didn’t make myself known. i’m sorry for letting you down.
though, you also did something to make me upset. i mean, how could you move your family away from me? i just want to get closer to you, meet your - our - family. your actions really hurt me, hwang nari. can’t you see that i just want to see you happy and healthy? that i do everything for you? that we are made for each other? well, if you don’t, i’ll remind you :)
tell jaebeom-ssi to be careful. i have never approved nor appreciated your relationship with anyone. have i not made myself clear when i asked you to never see anyone? i wasn’t kidding, nari. you don’t want your career ruined by this little scandal, right?
i hope you can wait for me, just a few more weeks and then i will see you and hold you. wait for me, darling. i’ll show you that we were made for each other.
much love, your hajunie <3”
she could feel her throat closing, her heart pounded and she reread everything over and over. her mind going miles per second. the thoughts never ending, questions unanswered roaming around her mind. how did he know her address when she’s never seen him around the dorms? how did he know she was dating jaebeom when they were never in public together? what did he mean by seeing her and holding her? wait a few weeks? it all made the young woman’s head spin.
nari gripped the stairs railing as hard as she could, her breath shortening as scenarios ran through her head. she could feel herself slowly slipping into a anxiety attack, her mind not being able to process it all as she looked around. she felt watched, as if some type of paranoia - but she knew it wasn’t just her seeing things.
the first rational thought that came to her mind was calling one of the boys, so she quickly took her phone out of her pocket and dialed junhui’s phone. it took him a few seconds to answer but, the moment he did, jun was already out of the door and towards the buildings ground-floor.
the moment he laid eyes on her, he felt his own heart tighten upon seeing his sister’s state. she had her breathing uneven, tears streaming down as she sat with her face on her knees.
“nabi-ah…”, he sighed worriedly. “oh my god, what happened? are you okay?”
jun sat down next to her, bringing the upset girl to a hug. her sobs instantly got louder, her face buried on the taller one’s chest. her hands gripped his shirt, trying to grasp her breath. he didn’t know what to do, so he just sat there and rubbed her back, whispering reassuring words to the upset girl.
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“what?”, she said out loud. the whole venue quieted down, the surprised gasps being the only thing to be heard in the moment. “repeat it.”
“noon-,” mingyu started, being abruptly cut off by the girl.
“no. i said. repeat. it.”, she huffed.
“his name is kim hajun… i saw it on twitter if i’m not mistaken it’s his name.” the taller sighed, his head hanging low.
she knew he wasn’t mistaken. she knows him and now that it got to this point, she’s sure she should’ve told them earlier. if she had just told them about it all, it wouldn’t be like this.
“i know him.”, the boys looked at her with furrowed brows, her manager quickly sighing and bowing his head upon her words. “i know i should have told you about this sooner – a lot sooner – it was just,” she sighed. “i didn’t know how to bring this up.”
“we have had some sasaengs before, i know it’s not an excuse, but i didn’t think it would come to this. the most he did was send a letter to m-“
“wait,” jun exasperated. “so that letter you were crying about all those years back…”
“yeah…” nari sighed. “it was from him.”
she came closer to the boys, having cheol bring a chair so she could sit down amongst the boys.
“he also gave me a letter yesterday…”, she fidgeted with her fingers, focusing on something else than the thirteen boys around her. “i didn’t want to talk about it, but i feel like ot got out of hand and-“
“you feel like it got out of hand!?”, s.coups scoffed. “he touched you and he’s been stalking you. it got out of hand a long time ago!” he exasperated.
“i know, i know!”, she stood up. “but do you think i wanted it to get to this point? he threatened me! he threatened to hurt you all, to hurt my parents!”
everyone’s eyes widened upon hearing her words. she have never said anything about this to anyone, she never even showcased any different emotion. she was so lowkey about it that they never even suspected anything.
“what do you mean by it?”, chan looked at her with a frightened expression. he was clearly worried and distressed by this, which made nari feel even worse about the whole situation.
“the letter jun mentioned, all the way back in 2017…”, nari sat back down. “he had moved to my parents’ building because he discovered where they lived, then i asked them to move once again and he didn’t like it one bit.”, she adjusted her glasses, biting down on her lip as she remembered that in her head. “i was with jaebeom at that time and he somehow knew it, so he sent me a letter threatening to expose us and saying t-that he didn’t l-like-“, her breathing got uneven, her chest tightening as the memories came back.
instantly cheol hugged her, seungkwan getting up to bring her some water and dino going to her side to hold her hand. they knew she was having panic attacks more frequently, so they wanted to make sure it wouldn’t be as bad as the last one.
“it’s okay, we can talk about the other letter some other time. your confirmation was enough for us to take matters, okay?”, jeonghan whispered, petting her head reassuringly.
“yeah, don’t worry about it now. they’ll work with what you told us. when you’re ready you can tell us everything, okay?”, shua smiled at her. “your safety and wellbeing is our number one priority.”
the one thing nari was sure of, is that; if they knew that the company already knew about it and did nothing to change it all, shit would hit the fan. for now, she just wanted to avoid it as much as she could to not make things even worse.
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upon-a-starry-night · 4 months
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Number Neighbor Pt. 16
Natasha Romanoff x Fem! Reader
Natasha Masterlist Series Masterlist
Word Count: 1k
Summary:  When you catch sight of the newest trend going around you know you’re all but bound to at least try it, it was harmless anyway. What could possibly stem from something so little?
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Nat knew from the moment the coffee machine broke that morning that something was off about today. Tony had bots clanging in the kitchen all day and every member of the tower was on the verge of strangling him. She didn’t feel up to going out though so she was forced to stay in her room all day. However, she didn’t expect her evening to go from 10 to 100 in a matter of minutes. And it all started with a text from you at 11 pm.
Not unusual for you but the message lacked your usual humor
Y/n🍦:
Nat.
No attempt at guessing her name, no witty quip to go along with it, no extra letters or emojis. 
Something was going on and she didn’t like the pit forming in her stomach. This was a situation she’d never found herself in. Did she act calm? Did she… call you?
She shook her head, she could be freaking out over nothing, maybe you just had a long day and you were tired. The voice in the back of her head scoffed, Nat knew she was only trying to convince herself that these next few moments weren’t about to happen.
Nat🔪:
Y/n.
What’s going on?
Y/n🍦:
Help i-
I think I’m being followed.
Nat🔪:
Think or your sure
Y/n🍦:
You’re*
Nat rolled her eyes. Of course, you were trying to be funny right now, humor was your biggest coping mechanism. She knew your humor was a defense against coming across as weak and vulnerable- it was an attempt to make the other person less aware of just how scared you were, but she knew. She knew you were probably shaking as you texted her and there was nothing she could do about it.
Y/n🍦:
Fuck.
I’m sure.
Nat’s heart sank. 
She could get your location from your phone but could she arrive in time? You lived in Brooklyn and she was in Manhattan- 12 miles away, at her fastest, she could probably get there in 30 minutes. Not enough time. Stalkers will only follow for so long before attacking. You didn’t know this man's intentions.
For you, this could be a life-or-death situation.
Still- she called Peter, he was on patrol tonight, hopefully, he was in your area. He picked up immediately, his boyish voice ringing awkwardly through her silent room. She didn’t give him the time to speak more.
“Peter there’s a girl in Brooklyn being followed” Her tone was solid, she couldn’t let the vulnerability she felt slip through either. It’s been many years since she’s felt this helpless about someone she cared about. And that was not a wound she was ready to reopen. God you were bringing out every part of her. 
Peter didn’t ask a single question, all Nat could hear was the thwip of his webs and the rush of wind against his phone. 
“I sent you the address, how close are you?” She heard the faint sound of him mumbling before Karen’s robotic voice repeated your phone’s location
“I’m 20 minutes away” It wasn’t fast enough but it was as good as she was going to get.
Nat🔪:
It’s okay Y/n
Have you called the cops?
Y/n🍦:
No, I tried calling Leon
He lives nearby i thought maybe-
fuck I’m so stupid
Nat🔪:
No, y/n, you’re not stupid
You’re scared.
You’re not going to be perfect at handling 
This kind of situation. No one is
Nat🔪:
Do you have any weapons in your bag?
Y/n🍦:
Nat listen-
If I don’t…
Nat🔪:
Don’t.
Y/n🍦:
Please.
Nat🔪:
No, i’m not listening to any requests you have
You’re going to be okay
Is he still there?
Y/n🍦: 
Yeah
I’ve walked around the block a few times
I don’t know where to go
Nat’s fingers itched over the call button, she would be a lot better at reassuring you over the phone. But her voice was raspy and recognizable, would you realize it was her as soon as she said hello? Would that be a bad thing? Could she risk telling you her identity? Could she trust you? After so many years and so many people were you finally going to be the one to break down her carefully constructed walls? She sighed frustratingly, now was not the time. You needed her. 
Y/n🍦:
Fuck 
I think he’s getting closer
Nat🔪:
Y/n go to a house with the light on
And knock on their door.
Or look for a large group of people.
Find a public space.
She was growing more desperate by the minute. God if she ever got her hands on the bastard that’s making you this petrified she was going to do more than just kill him.
“Peter, how far away are you?” 
“Five minutes Miss Romanoff” She could hear his breathlessness, she didn’t imagine it was easy to swing across buildings at that speed.
Nat🔪:
Y/n, keep talking to me okay?
Y/n🍦:
I don’t know why I decided to go out.
I just wanted some ice cream
I’m so stupid
Nat🔪:
No.
You are not stupid
This bastard is. Trust me.
Do you have high heels on?
Or your keys?
Y/n🍦:
No-
I walked to the store
Nat🔪:
Look for anything on the ground
A glass bottle or rocks
Y/n🍦:
Nat
I’m scared
Natasha waited for you to keep texting. Waited desperately for something witty to come across the screen, anything to let her know you were still safe. Peter was close now, close enough to hopefully make it before any irreparable damage is done but- if this guy has a weapon. She sucked in a sharp breath.
Nat🔪:
Y/n?
Y/n answer me.
y/n c’mon
Y/n. please. 
The dam broke. She hit the call button. She couldn’t pretend she didn’t care about you even a little bit. It rang and rang, stone cold silence filled her room between each shrill toll of her phone. Don’t panic. 
She stood and began pacing back and forth, running a shaky hand through her hair.
Each ring was torture- and she knew torture. Come on Y/n. Another blare of useless noise before the line connected. All she heard was a brief 'umph' before the line went dead.
Fuck.
Pt.17
A/n: giving Y/n more trauma 'for the plot' ;P ~ Starry
---Taglist--
@marvelwomen-simp @cd-4848 @wandanatlov3r @rebeltombraider @ctrlamira @fxckmiup @aliherreraaa @natsxwife @la-douler-ne-finite-jamais @romanoffsgal @moistblobfish @natashaswife4125 @elenimoris @how-to-disappearrr @screechcat @toouncreativeforausername @ordelixx @autorasexy @blacklightsposts @vmpnano @jono723
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cookiesupplier · 4 months
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Every Rose Has Its Thorns - Part Nineteen
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pairing: Ricky Olson x ofc x Chris 'Motionless' Cerulli
warnings/tropes: slow burn, soulmates, strangers to enemies to lovers, betrayal, angst, fluff, smut, language, panic attack, stalking, online bullying.
summary: In a world where soulmates inexplicably receive a tattoo that will match that of their soulmate the moment they turn eighteen years old, being famous and covered in very visible tattoos can make finding your true soulmate a questionable fate. For everyone involved.
author’s note: Unbeta'd, readers beware as always lol.
tags:@tearfallpixie @cncohshit @jordynyingling0219 @faceless-mirror @nyxthedestroyerofworlds @wild-child-7747 @witchyweeb34 @black-damask1999 @jilliemiw86 @ilovesamkiszka @lyschko666 @lacktoesandtoddlerants @bngurngheart @collapsedglasshouses @laurpartyprogram
Tag List is Open, please let me know if you would like to be added to it or in general.
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Ricky was staying with Chris, which he hadn’t wanted to. When he came down, having finished editing the video, uploading it to YouTube so that he could publish it when he was ready, only for Chris to let him know the plan. He’d argued that he was fine in his own house. He hadn’t worked hard to buy his own fucking house to get run out of it by some fucking insane psycho stalker!
The whole argument had fallen on deaf ears. Chris had just shaken his head, saying that he wouldn’t be staying with him forever, that this was still his house, just until they figured out how to deal with everything that was happening, until all of this settled down. It would all be settled down. Chris assured him, standing there with him, a hand on his shoulder, the other curving around the back of his neck, just helping him breathe for a second. It would be fine.
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Talia had taken a deep breath herself watching the guys console Ricky, as much as he fought to stay in the house, something about how he looked as he turned to head back upstairs to go pack a bag so he could stay with Chris, she had a feeling there was a weight off his shoulders. He could argue that he was fine here all he wanted, but he wasn’t, and she didn’t blame him. Realising that you had a stalker, it didn’t matter who they were, it was unnerving. In this case Talia thought  it was worse because Ricky did know Grace, and Grace knew Ricky, and now they knew that Grace hadn’t given up, whether, she thought she could get him back, or she was just trying to ruin his life, Talia didn’t know. Then again, someone as insane as to date him for so long and think he’d never find out she was lying to him, it was possible she thought turning the fans against him, would get him to come back to her. So Ricky packed up a bag of his things, along with some of his equipment, and after he published the video to his channel, headed to go home with Chris. Talia, however, went with Vin and Ava like she had been since she’d arrived, waiting to see how it would fair with the video, how the fans would react. By the time the video went live, it had been quite late at night for all of them, so it was no surprise, that she crashed into a fitful sleep long before she saw any reaction to it.
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When Talia woke up, she realised it was mid-morning, and found a text from Ava, telling her that she’d gone into town with Vinny and that they’d be back later that afternoon. So dragging herself to make something to eat, only to hear the door, she sighed, walking from the kitchen, she went to answer it, and saw Rick on the other side of the door, waiting.
“Vin isn’t here, he went out with Ava-”
“Actually, I came to see you.”
She was taken aback. So far, Ricky hadn’t once gone out of his way to want to see her, every time they’d spoken, the party, yesterday, even the diner, had all been circumstances when they’d been put together because of other people, and had to deal with the other person, and now he was here, seeking her out?
“Um, okay, come in, I guess?”
Stepping aside to let him in, while it wasn’t her house, she knew Ricky was more than welcome in Vinny’s house as it was.
“I’m just making something to eat, I only just got up, I, well, I didn’t sleep well last night.”
Talia nervously rubbed her neck slightly, she hadn’t been able to check her phone without being abused in her messages on her social media since yesterday, and honestly, she was scared to check it now, she hadn’t checked her messages since she woke up.
“I haven’t checked my messages since I got up, I know it's going to be crazy, I can’t control how the fans react, all I know was what I said, and I turned the comments off on the video. I told them I would, because of the abuse that came after the live, and how ashamed I am that any of my fans would abuse anyone online, ever. So.”
Walking back towards the kitchen after she closed and locked the door, she doubted that would change everyone, she knew how fandoms got, while there were a lot of good people there could be a lot of bad too. It wasn’t a good thing, even if you could meet great friends, you could meet your worst enemy too.
“What was more important, was, talking to you about yesterday, about how we haven’t really talked, and you were right, I haven’t wanted to. Honestly, because admitting that you’re my soulmate has been, it's been shit through all of this. I have been struggling-”
“I know Ricky, you don’t need to explain that to me-”
“Shit! Will you just stop!”
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Rick cut her off as she went to make herself a coffee, and she started a little, going tense as she set the cup that she’d just pulled out of the cupboard on the counter carefully, not wanting to look back at him now and fuck, he ran his fingers through his hair, feeling bad for snapping at her with how she looked right then. Shit... Why did she have to look like a spooked fucking deer, when yesterday she looked like she was ready to slap him into the middle of next week. Where was that girl, he needed her for the moment. But he supposed, at the same time, he needed reminding, why he was here, after what she said yesterday, he didn’t know her, he didn’t know the pain she’d been put through, by her own fucking family. He had so much support around him, from the band, his friends, and even his family from a whole other state, and she had Ava and two friends who couldn’t even be here with her now.
“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have snapped at you, I just, do you always do that? Make excuses for other people's shitty behaviour? You’ve been doing nothing but that for me since we met, haven’t you?”
He’d known he was acting like an ass, but hearing her yesterday, he hadn’t realised just how much of one he was until then. Shit. When Talia didn’t say anything, just stared at him for a long moment, Ricky glanced down at the coffee cup on the counter and shifted on his feet, moving to pick up the cup. When she went to say something, he lifted his hand,
“Let me, how do you like it?”
He didn’t have Ava here to ask, and hadn’t prepared in advance like she had yesterday, so, he went ahead and asked her directly.
“Half cream, no sugar, please.”
Nodding slightly, they both fell silent as he went to work to make her her coffee, while she knew she hadn’t eaten anything yet and any moment her stomach was going to rebel, it was going to have to be satisfied with the coffee, because the thought of eating anything while about to talk about soulmates with Rick, well, the thought made her feel a bit sick. They’d been going around in circles enough, and she was a bit terrified of where this was going to go, not to mention the messages she had seen yesterday, had brought back the worst memories, she didn’t need to go down that path right now.
Once he was done, Rick handed over her coffee, and let her take a sip before,
“Okay?”
When she nodded slightly, he smiled a little, at least he could do something right, even if it was only coffee.
“Good, okay. So, I know I’m fucked up, and I don’t need you making excuses for me, I don’t deserve them, any of them. I don’t deserve them any more than the people in your past do, because I know I don’t know you that well, but from everything Ava says about you, and she talks about you constantly,”
His voice a little deadpanned at that, trying not to smirk at the way Talia’s face turned a bright fucking red when he said that, she did though, Ava had talked Talia up all through their time on tour, even if Rick had tried to avoid any talk of her like the plague it had been impossible in its entirety. He’d be laying in his bunk, and Ava would be talking to Vinny about home, and Talia this, and Talia that, and it had made him want to scream in fucking frustration into his pillow that he couldn’t escape her.
“Then you are an amazing person. Honestly, you’d think you were her soulmate, Vin should watch out, she might have a thing.”
Hearing her chuckle against the coffee much was better than the dead silence, and the startled look she’d given him when he’d snapped at her before.
“There was that moment in college, so maybe, he should be warned.”
“Oh wow, noted, I’ll give him a heads-up.”
Both of them were laughing that time as she drank some more of her coffee, Ricky reaching for another coffee mug as he started to make himself a coffee.
“So yeah, I want to apologise, I realise, like a complete asshole, that I haven’t, for anything that I’ve done, or said to you, pretty much the entire time I’ve known you. How I’ve treated you has been, inexcusable. Even if you weren’t my soulmate, I should have treated you with more respect, especially as my best friend’s soulmate’s best friend, sister even.”
Both of them, standing in the kitchen, with their coffees leaning back against opposing counters and drinking at their mugs,
“Thank you.”
It was nice to hear it, at least. Talia hadn’t ever even gotten an apology from her family. Not that they would ever consider that they were wrong, that she could be right about having a famous soulmate, that was it, not that she’d always known who he was. Kyle and Jordan had known from the start, it was that Ricky was famous. Who was she, what right did she have, to have a famous soulmate when they didn’t? At least that was how Ava put it, that they were all just jealous, what made her special, was that she had a famous soulmate, and they didn’t, why did she deserve something more? She didn’t, she just had a soulmate, a normal soulmate, Ricky. Ricky, who enjoyed music, had been painfully abused by a horrible woman because of it.
“Fuck, don’t thank me, I was an asshole to you, especially at that party, shit. Making you prove it.”
He knew how he was treating her then, just like Grace had been suggesting she was, just someone out to play him, and he felt like utter fucking trash for it. Now she was thanking him for finally acting like a decent human being and apologising? Well, that made him feel even worse.
“Shit, you can’t be real.”
Just hearing him mention that party, even with what he was saying, how he’d treated her that day, Talia was feeling some sort of way, and Ricky’s eyes went wide when he felt the way she was reacting to it, the way his soulmate tattoo started to grow warm. Only the heat wasn’t instant and, well, stabbing like yesterday, it was like a warm slow burn. The warmth was a tingle that sunk into his skin to spread through him, and shit. That was when he saw it, the way her fingers pressed tighter to her mug, her back arched as she stood a little straighter, her thighs, tensed slightly, pressing together under her long shirt, the shorts she wore barely visible underneath.. Oh, and oh that delicate flush of her cheeks..
“Oh, oh Talia..”
The words were so softly off his lips, that he barely breathed them, he wasn’t even sure she heard him, but that wasn’t the point. She had to be some sort of masochist, he was a fucking asshole to her of epic proportions, and she was still thinking about him like that. Swallowing, not that he could lie himself, that day had played on his mind too. He’d thought about her more than once over the past week, enough that that tingle in his tattoo right now was not an unfamiliar feeling… Right now, seeing the way she was rolling her shoulder on the side of her tattoo, remembering how she reacted to the pain yesterday… it was making him wonder.
Did she feel it every time he did?
Did Talia feel what he felt every time he’d felt a surge of sensation in that tattoo?
Fuck, the most memorable had been when they were together, in that bathroom. He’d felt it, the way he brushed against her tattoo, the way he’d let his lips trail over her tattoo, how in that instant he’d felt her come around his cock as he did. Just thinking about it now, he might as well have been buried deep inside of her again, with the way the surge of feeling in his tattoo flared just at the thought, his eyes closed at the soft gasp that escaped her against the mug of her coffee.
“Shit.”
Ricky set his down on the counter before he dropped it and scalding hot coffee went everywhere. He took a deep breath, eyes opening before he moved towards her, taking the mug from her hands and putting it aside, hot coffee, safely out of reach for the moment, and then his hand was curving around the side of her neck, over her soulmate tattoo, just letting his fingers rest there over her skin nothing more, and feeling her shiver slightly under his touch.
“You can feel something, can’t you?”
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Dividers by @saradika-graphics
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jedi-bird · 3 months
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You know what? Since I'm procrastinating going to sleep and this memory popped into my head, it's story time.
A long time ago, I made a joke that reading fanfic saved my life. Only it really wasn't a joke. I meant it to be, just so no one would worry about me. But in reality, it was very much the truth.
After my mom died, I didn't know how to cope. I wasn't allowed to openly mourn ("think of your grandfather," family would say, scolding me, "he lost his daughter, which is much worse than you losing your mom.") I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone about it, except for my partner (later spouse who is still just as awesome and wonderful as they were then). I wasn't given any time to come to terms with anything. I was a full time caretaker for my grandfather. I just kind of existed in a state of numbness and bad thoughts.
Add to that having to deal with my stepfather again for the first time in years. Between him blaming me for her dying and him trying to convince me to move in with him and be his new wife, I didn't want to be here anymore.
At the time, I had very few friends with similar interests to me. But I had seen a few pics of characters I liked pop up on social media and I decided one night while unable to sleep to go looking online. It was the first time I had actual access to the internet too, so it felt like a sign. I wasn't on tumblr yet, but I did find it and lurked for a while back before you needed an account.
Then I found ao3. I can't describe the feeling that first click brought forth.
At the time, it was summer and our air conditioner was broken. We had no money, so I would sleep with my window partway open. Because of the cost cutting measures my grandpa took when having them installed when I was a kid, they only opened about three inches. Now, unless you walked right up to my window, you wouldn't know it was open; the seam was low enough that the opening wasn't visible. And my room was in the front of the house so I would know immediately if anyone came up; I could hear everything out there and was a light sleeper at the time because of being a caretaker.
My stepfather, who turned into a stalker for a few years, would drive down to our house in the middle of time night. How do I know? He let it slip once while berating me for my mom yet again. But also, I knew what his car sounded like. I lived in fear of it, because next he would walk around the corner where my room was and try to peek in the windows (I had blackout curtains nailed to the frame so that was impossible). And once he realized my window was partly open, he'd sometimes whisper my name. So here I'd be, laying a dark room, trying to ignore him, trying to pretend I was asleep. I knew he couldn't get in. And yes, I should have called the police. But years of abuse and mental and emotional beatdowns made me think I wasn't allowed to.
The third time this happened, while I was quietly having a panic attack, I remembered ao3. And since my phone didn't produce enough light to be seen through the curtain, I would pop in some earplugs and just read until the sun came to. Because once it got close to morning he'd leave so the neighbors wouldn't become suspicious.
I didn't sleep much that year. But I read a ton. Most of those fics I can't find anymore and sometimes I'm sad about that. But they also did their job and kept me going. They sparked an obsession and reminded me just how much I used to love writing. I started pulling out notebooks again and writing in spare moments. I read voraciously anything with my favorite characters in it. I learned what I did and didn't like in fiction. I joined tumblr and ao3 within the same week and never looked back.
Fandom, though I don't interact with much of it, kept me alive. Fanfic saved my life with distractions and entertainment. It still keeps me going, though I don't read as much as I used to (time makes it hard some weeks, since I'm always busy lately). I'm no longer in the same place and my stalker no longer tries to contact me; and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to get to our house. I still love the same characters that got me through that darkness. I still feel a sense of comfort reading fics about them. Life is better. Not perfect and definitely a struggle sometimes, but I'm here and I will keep being here.
And that's all that matters.
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sturchling · 3 years
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Adrien salt where Adrien tries to date a girl he thinks is Ladybug, but she's already dating someone and honestly doesn't like Adrien since he keeps pulling the poor little rich boy act. Adrien doesn't give up and it gets him in trouble.
Adrien was practically vibrating with excitement. Today was the day. Today was the day he would ask his lady out on a date as civilians. He had been working for weeks to determine who her civilian identity was. Adrien was sure that would prove to his lady that his affections were genuine. It had taken several weeks, but he was sure he had figured it out.
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He had spent weeks pouring over security camera footage surrounding akuma attacks, and any students in the city that had unexplained absences or were frequently late. At first he didn’t see anything, and began to feel like it was pointless. Then Adrien noticed the same girl showed up on different security cameras around the city, near where Ladybug had just disappeared to detransform. 
-------------------
At first Adrien thought it had to be a coincidence, this girl didn’t look  like Ladybug. Sure, her hair and eyes were the same color, but her hair was much longer. And she was more tan then Ladybug. But the more times she appeared on camera, the more Adrien was sure. After all, his miraculous makes his eyes completely green, who is to say the miraculous couldn’t shorten his lady’s hair and make her more pale. This had to be her. Adrien was sure. Plagg kept trying to talk him out of it, but Adrien was sure that Plagg was just trying to keep the secret. But it wouldn’t matter soon, once Adrien and his lady were dating, they would deal with whatever consequences came from knowing each other’s identities. He was sure their love could overcome anything.
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After a little more research, he found that the girl from the security cameras attended his school, and even used to be in Mrs. Bustier’s class before she transferred to Mrs. Mendeleiev’s class. Now it all made sense why Ladybug’s kwami had been at his school, Ladybug herself went to his school. That even explained why the kwami had been in Mrs. Mendeleiev’s classroom, because that is Ladybug’s classroom. Everything made perfect sense now. This girl had to be Ladybug, it was the only thing that made sense. 
---------------
The only problem now was during his research, Adrien found out that this girl, who he learned is named Chantelle, is already dating someone. Of course Ladybug had told Adrien that she was already in love with someone else. But Adrien believed that she had said that to try and keep them from knowing each other outside the mask. Once Chantelle knew the lengths he had gone to prove his love, and that he already knew her civilian identity, she would leave her boyfriend and then they could finally be together.
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Sure in his plan, despite Plagg’s best efforts to convince him otherwise, Adrien left for school, excited to profess his love to his lady. He got to school early, hoping to find his lady alone. He got lucky and found her in the library, reading. He walked up behind her, and said, “Good morning my lady.” Chantelle whipped around to face him, looking confused. “What did you say?” Adrien smirked, “I said, good morning my lady.” Chantelle rolled her eyes and turned back to her book. “I am not your lady. I’m not your anything.” Adrien hesitated a moment, before reassuring himself that his lady was just playing hard to get, and wanted to pretend at still have a secret identity. If that is what she wanted, he would play along.
-----------------
Adrien switched gears, putting away his Chat persona for now. He and his lady could discuss their identities another time. All that mattered is that he made her his girlfriend. “I just wanted to tell you that I like you a lot and would love to take you out sometime.” Chantelle stood up, gathering her things since the late bell had just rung. She was just going to reject him as nice as she could and then leave. “Look, your Adrien right? While I am flattered, like I said, I’m taken. And while I’m flattered, I don’t feel the same way. All I ever see or hear you do is mope about how your father doesn’t treat you well. And while I feel bad for you, I don’t like this poor little rich boy act you do. So, sorry, but I don’t like you the same way. I have to go, I’m late for class.” Chantelle leaves the library in a rush, and Adrien is left standing there wondering what had gone wrong.
-----------------
By the end of the day, Adrien was frustrated. He understood her wanting to keep identities a secret, and had even played along. But she still rejected him. Surely she could feel that they were destined to be together. Why didn’t she react to his confession the way she was supposed to? She must have thought that Adrien wasn’t serious. That he was just being Chat and playing around. But Adrien would show her she was wrong. He would prove his love. No matter what it took, she would be his.
-----------------
The next several weeks, Adrien would constantly try to contact Chantelle. He had found out her phone number, and her email. He texted and emailed her constantly. And he still tried to talk to her during school. But Chantelle continued to play hard to get and wouldn’t give him the time of day. She even had the nerve to start running from him when she saw him coming. She had even started having her friends escort her to and from school. Like she was afraid of him. But Adrien knew it was all part of the game, and she was making him prove he loved her. 
----------------
Adrien started to become angry. As much as he enjoyed this little game, he wished his lady would just stop with the nonsense and admit she loved him too. So he decided to prove his love as best he could. He had found out Chantelle’s home address by following her friends when they went to pick her up one morning. Adrien decided to send her a dozen roses. When Chantelle went out that morning and saw the flowers, she initially hoped they were from her boyfriend, trying to cheer her up. But deep down she knew they weren’t. The note on the flowers simply said, I hope these flowers prove how much I love you. I will never give up on you my lady. - Adrien. Chantelle was horrified that Adrien had found out where she lived. She slammed the door shut, and locked it with shaking hands. She started to panic at the realization that Adrien was truly stalking her and wouldn’t stop. Then an eerie calmness washed over her and a soothing voice introduced itself as Hawkmoth.
---------------
Adrien arrived at the akuma fight slightly late, but was happy to see his lady. Surely after his gift this morning, she would be willing to speak with him after the battle. The akuma was a girl scared of a stalker. They quickly deakumatized her and Adrien was shocked to see Chantelle sitting there. Ladybug offered to help her with the stalker and Chantelle instantly burst into tears and explained the whole situation to Ladybug. Marinette was shocked to hear what Adrien had been doing to this girl, it didn’t seem like him at all. But this girl was obviously scared, so she knew something had happened. And when Chantelle mentioned that Adrien kept calling her my lady, Marinette felt the pit in her stomach grow as she realized that Adrien and Chat Noir were one and the same. She turned to face her partner, who was still staring at Chantelle in shock.
---------------
Adrien was standing in shock, just staring at Chantelle. She isn’t Ladybug? She had to be! It was the only thing that made sense. Adrien was so shocked, he didn’t notice Ladybug approach him and remove his ring. The transformation dropped, revealing himself to everyone watching. He turned to Ladybug, “Why did you take my ring!?” Ladybug glared at him, speaking in a cold tone. “After what you did to her, you don’t deserve this ring.” Adrien desperately tried to plead his case. “Please, I thought she was you! I was just trying to prove my love. I didn’t mean to betray you!” Ladybug’s glare somehow became colder. “That isn’t the issue. The issue is you have been stalking this girl for weeks and terrifying her. Someone who does that isn’t worthy of a miraculous.” Ladybug signaled to officer Roger, who had been observing the scene for a while and heard everything, for him to come over. Officer Roger placed Adrien under arrest for stalking and took him down to the station. The whole way to the car, Adrien pleaded with Ladybug to reconsider and to help him, but she just turned away from him. As Adrien sat in the police car, he wondered how things could have gone so wrong. 
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secondhand-trash · 4 years
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Come with the Wind
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Kinktober 2020 — knife play
A/N: this is directly inspired by Sakusa’s merch design from the hyakki yakou (hundred ghouls marching at night????) line Jump released a while back where we get kamaitachi!sks and i just thought he was perfect for this prompt hhhhh
Pairing: kamaitcahi!Sakusa Kiyoomi x f!reader
Description: Sakusa Kiyoomi knocked you off your feet the moment he first entered your life as a strong whirlwind out of nowhere.
Warning: mention of causing wounds on people, non-threatening stalking behaviour (?), non-threatening breaking in behaviour (?), knife play but kinda tender, vaginal penetration, creampie
Word count: 3824
(more of the modern magic au here)
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鎌鼬 (kamaitachi): a youkai in Japanese folklore that looks like a weasel with claws shaped like sickles (for the sake of visual aesthetics kamaitachi sakusa will have it on his tail instead). It is said that this youkai appear in the form of a whirlwind, knocking its victims to the ground before slitting long cuts on their skin. Despite the wounds, the person who got attacked would not feel any pain.
-
Sakusa Kiyoomi knocked you off your feet the moment he first entered your life as a strong whirlwind out of nowhere.
Quite literally, knocking you off balance and making you fall onto the ground on your knees.
He showed up in the form of a strong turbulent, tripping you when you were alone on the quiet streets of your neighbourhood. Sakusa eyed you up and down as you laid on the cement floor, too shocked by the man that appeared out of nowhere to even move. Your eyes widening when you saw the long tail swaying behind him and the sharp hook that was at the very end.
In a world where the inhuman and human lived as one society, the many youkais that had inhabited Japan way before your kind did were starting to blend into the modern city life as well. But there would always be some that could not, or refused to, give up on the way they had lived by far before they were anything but a story passed on from generation to generation.
Except, unlike the generations before, people of the current day now knew for a fact that these monsters lurking in the shadows were very much so real and waiting for a chance to strike when your guard was lowered.
The kamaitachi stared at his victim, finding somewhere to place the wound. The preferable tactic was to do it fast and precise, but Sakusa always had trouble with making a haste decision. Very inconveniently so, he had quite the distaste towards getting blood on himself and would rather pick a position on the delicate human body that would cause less bleeding. 
Blood was messy, and it was hard to wash off of the fleece on his tail once it got on there. He did not like the mess at all.
The purpose of youkais of his kind was not to cause bloodshed. Well, actually, he wasn’t all too sure what the purpose truly was, given that he really wouldn’t gain from any of this. He had simply been told that this was what his kind did, and he carefully followed this task bestowed on him by his origins for more years than any of the measly humans that had been tripped by his wind could count.
So that was what he had been doing ever since he had a memory of his existence, and he intended to finish his task this time around too. But when his eyes met yours, your lips slightly agape as you sat on the ground from the shock, he found that he couldn’t swing the hook of his tail down onto your skin.
His moment of hesitation was enough for you to come back to your senses, climbing up with scrambled steps as you dashed towards the direction of your house without the time to even look back.
Sakusa realised that he was staring at the floor when he snapped out of his trance, letting out a muffled groan as he looked towards the direction you had headed.
What was it? Why didn’t he do it?
Sakusa had never felt so tortured in his many years of life than he did after he let you escaped completely unharmed. He had failed his one job for the first time ever and he wasn’t the happiest about it. This wasn’t right. He couldn’t get you out of his head no matter how hard he tried and it was really, really irritating him. 
It must be that he couldn’t stand having an unfinished job, it must be it.
-
He spent the next few days in the air of the neighbourhood he saw you at, which wasn’t exactly his proudest moment. It was stupid for him to care so much about a random human that got away through luck, but he was determined that he would right his wrong. There were several times when he caught you alone, but he never managed to do it. He spent a lot of time observing you but always missing the prime timing. It could be that he was far too enticed by the book you were reading (which he tried very hard to see the title clearly because he was so far away from you), or he simply got lost in the way you laugh to yourself when you thought no one was watching (he was, in fact, watching), but he always remembered in absolute frustration that he was there for a proper reason when you had left. 
So he kept going back to you again and again, waiting for the chance to make his strike.
Not because he wanted to, absolutely not.
He swore he only found out about where you lived on accident. He wasn’t really intending to be so stalker-ish but one day when he didn’t see you around all day long when he was waiting for you to show up only to spot you pacing down the streets late at night, he thought that it was absolutely foolish for you to be alone at the hour and just had to make sure you got back to your place safely. Humans were very fragile creatures was what he had learned after years of observation, and if you happened to bump into any of the more vicious youkais or worse, vicious humans, then he wouldn’t get to finish his task with you gone.
(He grumbled, as if he wasn’t one of the said dangerous youkais lurking around.)
He had resisted the urge to look into your house. There were youkais that broke into people’s residents but that wasn’t the nature of his kind and he intended to stay in his own lane. But now that he knew where you lived, it was getting harder and harder for him to stay away.
Sakusa was circling the area midair one day when he saw that the door to your tiny balcony was wide open. He felt his eyelids jumped, did no one ever tell you that you should keep all doors and windows locked when you were out? He floated close with a disapproving tsk of his tongue, wanting to help you close it up when he got a brief glimpse of what was behind the window.
He swore to all the gods whose name he could not even remember because they were far too long to utter out that he had never seen a more horrendous sight.
He took a step back, absolutely disgusted. Had humans gotten to this point of their survival now? That they could live in a condition like this? “Unbelievable,” he muttered to himself as he tentatively entered your home, careful not to step on anything that was on the ground.
The trash can at the corner was filled to the top and threatening to spill out. He felt a sharp ache banging in his head when he saw the empty boxes piled up at the side. There were bunches of tissue paper shoved onto the back of your table that had no empty space on it with so many things that were scattered on top. Now that he started paying attention, there were marks on your balcony window clearly left behind because you never bothered to wipe it clean after downpours of rain.
Ridiculous. His brows furrowed together in disapproval, picking up any trash on the ground with the hook of his tail as he inspected the place.
This would not do, he would not allow it.
Right, he clicked his tongue as he looked around, searching for anything that resembled a broom, where should he start?
You were sure you must have tired yourself too much that you were starting to see illusions when you came home that night to see the same kamaitachi who had shoved you to the ground and proceed to let you escape furiously wiping your window with a towel hooked onto his tail while grumbling about how stubborn the stains were. You did not dare to move when he must have heard you come in, slowly and stiffly turning around until you two were staring at each other. Neither of you said a word, and you blinked as you tried to make sense of the situation.
You didn’t know that kamaitachis also break into people’s houses just to help with the cleaning?
“Um,” you gulped, feeling small under his inky eyes even though he was the intruder here, “do you want something to drink?”
This was wrong. Kamaitachis were not supposed to mingle with the mankind. He should have escaped through the little gap on the window he had left for ventilation (your house was far too dusty for his comfort), or throw you off by causing a whirlwind inside your tiny city apartment which was guaranteed to make quite the destruction., or just do what he thought he was there to do all along and slit an open wound on any part of your skin.
Sakusa Kiyoomi had a moment of silence when he realised that he didn’t want to do any of those things.
He did, however, really wanted warm tea.
-
Sakusa Kiyoomi made several discoveries about humans after he met you:
1. under the right amount of pressure, they are able to keep up with a hygienic living environment, you were just too lazy for your own good
2. they make really decent tea (you made him this thing where you pour tea onto rice and umeboshi once and he was completely floored)
3. they invite people to move into their residence as a gesture of affection (you had brought it up after he waited outside your balcony for a good hour before you came home and let him in, claiming that he always around anyways
4. youkai-human romances are a thing now and people wouldn’t get burned alive for it (you laughed very hard when he brought up his concerns on why you didn’t have any issues letting your neighbours see you with him, he didn’t understand why)
Oh, and they were soft, very soft. Sakusa held you just a little closer to his chest as you two sat cross legged on the mattress, his arms wrapped around your waist as he leaned his jaw onto your shoulder while you mindlessly played with his tail.
So soft.
“Careful,” he warned when he saw you tracing your finger along the edge of his reaping hook, “you’re going to cut yourself if you slip.”
You chuckled, watching as he flicked his tail as far away from you as he could. “Shouldn’t you want that to happen?” you mused, twisting around so you could see his face. The two dots above his eyebrow shifted as he narrowed his eyes, his lips pursed into one thin line. You could see the very tip of his tiny white ears peeking out of his wavy black curls, twitching ever so slightly.
He sighed, clicking his tongue at your triumphant expression like you had gotten him good. Light reflected on the silver blade as he lifted it up to your eye level, twisting it slowly so that it glimmered. He always kept the blade clean and sharp even though he hadn’t used it since meeting you. You could see your own reflection on the polished surface and you stared into his inky eyes through it.
For a moment, you were mesmerised, and you could hear your own breaths as your gaze travelled to the very tip of the hook which could draw blood even from the slightest bit of force.
“Omi,” you licked your lips and gripped onto his forearm that was around your stomach, “is it true that I wouldn’t feel it even if you slice down?”
His eyes widened, “I’m not hurting you.”
“I know, but is it?”
Sakusa paused, he hadn’t thought about it in a long time. Gently and with caution, he turned his hook to its dull edge and trail it up to your leg. You stiffen at the feeling of the cold metal on your skin, goosebumps rose on your skin where the hook just grazed past. 
“Apparently,” he said, his voice coming out as a whisper as he took in your reaction. Any hint of fear and he would pull back, but you only seemed to lean back against his chest even more as he brushed the blade along your calf. You were so delicate, he could leave such nasty scars on your skin if he did so little as flick down and you knew it. But the heaving of your chest only got more obvious when the edge of his blade reached higher and higher up on your leg until it was pushing up the hem of your shorts.
He stopped when the curved hook was right at the root of your thigh, and pressed the flat edge down.
He nearly lost control of himself when he heard the faintest resemblance of a moan slipping from your mouth.
“Do you like this?”
Your face burned up at the question and the gravel in his tone. His arms slowly pulled away from your waist, warm palms running along the curve of his waist until they were resting right at the side of your hips. Your breath hitched when you felt his fingers digging down and gripping onto the hem, the fabric of your shorts now bunched up around the silver hook.
“Do you like this?” he asked again, the fleece of his tail brushing against your skin as he crooked the tip. You could see it poking under the fabric, pulling it taunt around the edge, and you felt your own voice betraying you at the thought of how easy it would be for him to just ripped it to pieces.
“Yes.”
A loud tear ripped through the room and sent numbing sparks all the way to your scalp as you held your breath in reflectively, the hook gliding across the flimsy fabric of your room wear and dangerously close to the sensitive skin of your inner thighs. 
You whimpered when he slipped his hand under the baggy t-shirt you were wearing, pushing it up until your bare chest was out on display.
“Bite.”
You parted your mouth and took the hem between your teeth, the heat spreading onto the tip of your ears at your lewd position. He brought the sickle up, his eyes bearing at your form when he slowly ran the dull edge down the valley of your breast and onto your stomach. You wanted to arch against him so badly but held yourself still, your shoulders shaking slightly as you did not dare to move.
“I remember how people used to scream when my blade touches their skin,” his lips ghosted on where your neck met your shoulder, warm breath fanning onto you and making every hair on your back stood up. He sniggered when he heard your breath getting heavier when he brought the blade to your front. The chilling metal barely touched your nipple before it pebbled up and stood almost painfully. “But getting aroused... that is a first.”
“O- omi...” you managed to utter his name through your teeth and he brushed against your nipple with a flick, the feeling of steel still lingering on the sensitive bud.
“Look at you getting all antsy,” he clicked his tongue and the sound sent shivers down your spine. He shifted underneath you, hoisting you higher up on his lap. Something hard poked at your ass as he held you still, his erection pressed firmly against you through the shorts that were struggling to hold together.
You let out a pitiful whine when he hooked one nimble finger under the crotch of your panties while the sickle scrapped down from your shoulder to your arm, an inaudible rumble slipping from the back of his throat when he felt the slick that had seeped into the cotton.
Humans, their bodies react in the most fascinating ways.
You froze when the hook brushed past your inner thigh and under the strip of fabric his fingers were holding onto.
“Scared?” he asked, the elastic choking snugly around your skin in tension as he held the hook still, “just one wrong move and I could hurt the most delicate part of your body.”
You pussy couldn’t help but clench around nothing when he cut the last bit of fabric covering you with a forceful pull, the clear essence that was already pooling up all the more obvious when dripped onto the metal.
“Tsk tsk...” 
You could not even press your thighs together to get the friction you so desperately wanted with his hand giving you a squeeze in warning, bringing the hook up to your face as he turned it under the light. 
“You are getting my sickle all dirty,” he said, referring to the shine on the usually spotless surface that was from your arousal. Sakusa’s fingers danced along your inner thigh before bringing them to your sopping folds, brushing past your slit and felt the wetness gushing out.
He brought the hook to his lips and poked his tongue out, the sound of his tongue against the metal where it had just touched your skin forming a blood curling image in your head even though you could only hear him. He twisted his tail, letting his tongue ran along the blade from the base to the tip.
You whimpered when you felt the coldness of his saliva on the blade right at the side of your neck.
“Up.”
You shakily lifted yourself off his lap, getting onto your knees as you waited with bated breath. The sound of zippers had your heart pounding in your chest all while the sharp blade of the reaping hook was starting to make your skin go numb.
He could slit your throat if he wanted to.
Your jaw was aching from how hard you bite down and it only got worse when you felt his tip prodding at your entrance. He signaled you to sink down with a tap of his finger at the side of your hips. You could not hold yourself back anymore as his girth slowly stretched you out, your shirt falling back down over your abdomen as a breathy moan rolled off your tongue. 
“Mph-” your toes curled when he was balls deep inside of you and he tilted your head back until the curve of your neck leaned right on his shoulder with the tip of his sickle, the metal growing warm under your chin as he held you there.
He groaned at the feeling of your tight walls around his cock, the sudden penetration without any foreplay had your cunt now leaking with wetness just to get used to him. 
He slowly started rocking against you before upping his pace. He throbbed inside of you, the heat of him burning into your lower stomach and spreading all over your body. His fingers dug into the soft flesh of your hips, guiding you to roll against him all the while never removing the blade from your neck. You let out a choked mewl when the tip of it trailed down your neck, poking against the fragile skin ever so slightly when he thrust up.
Sakusa had never felt any hint of emotions in his brain when he held his blade at any of his past victims, he did it because that was simply what his kind does and that was it. But when he saw the lighter streaks left on your skin where the tip of his sickle had pressed down on, your breaths rigid but with desire dripping from each heave of your chest, he felt all sorts of feelings screaming in his head until all he could do was lash them out through each merciless rut of his hips.
The sound of his balls slapping against your ass bounced off the walls as you panted, your hands threw back to circle around his neck the blade was pressed down flat on your neck. It almost felt like you were being choked as the metal grew warm on your skin, your eyes seeing white in the corners as your walls contracted around him and his name slurred off your tongue like a mantra.
A low moan rumbled from his chest at your walls clamping down on him and the vibration seeped through your back, making you whimper. You sucked in a hasty breath when the hook was removed from your throat, his tail stiffening up at the side as he felt his own climax getting close. He buried his face at the crook of your neck, muffling his moans as he held you tight against him.
He came with a shudder, his hands still clutching you tightly before his muscles relaxed and he slumped onto your body. Your lips parted to let out a soft sigh at the feeling of his release inside of you, the sticky substance slowly leaking out of your fluttering folds down onto the base of his cock with him still buried inside of you. 
His tail, the part that was just fur and not blade, rubbed soothingly against your waist as he gently lifted you off his lap. You whimpered at the feeling of his warmth leaving your body, the sudden emptiness making your still sensitive walls clenched and more of his cum trailed down. Turning you around so that you could lay on his chest, you listened to his heartbeats slowly easing down from the rapid beating as it rose and fell underneath your chin.
His tail was swung over your back, locking you in as his palm ran up and down on your back. You brushed at the white fleece with your finger, a light coo slipping past your lips at how soft it was. It was a wonder how just a few inches down and the fur would blend in with the unbending steel of his sickle.
“You know,” you said, still relishing in the feeling of his fur brushing past your finger tip, “sometimes I’m really glad that you tried to attack me that day.”
He huffed, “You mean you’re glad I didn’t actually do it?”
“Well,” you looked up, smiling a little as you stared into his inky eyes, “you would not be here if you didn’t stalk me weeks after that because you let me went away.”
“I did not stalk you.”
“Yes you did!” you laughed when he rolled his eyes. You paused, letting out a short hum before leaning your jaw on his chest again.
“I’m happy you did though.”
He looked down at your murmur, and closed his eyes as he took in your scent with his face buried into your hair.
Sakusa Kiyoomi came into your life as a strange, sudden whirlwind and in a stunning twist of events against his very nature, he stayed.
And he was very happy he did that too.
406 notes · View notes
ping-ping-ying · 4 years
Text
ATEEZ as Yanderes! PT. 1/11
⚠️WARNING⚠️ : toxic relationships, mental, physical, and emotional abuse, mentions of death/murder, descriptive violence, kidnapping,
⚠️Disclaimer⚠️ : these are ALL FICTIONAL, and my OWN personal opinions and perceptions on the boys. Yanderes are NOT to be taken lightly or romanticized, these types of people are REAL and are/can be very dangerous. These kinds of stories are ONLY for entertainment. If you know anyone like this in real life, please get help!
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HONGJOONG ⚖
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Worship Yandere
"I'll do anything for you! I'll even kill for you! Please use me however you want!"
Hongjoong DEFINITELY strikes me as the worship yandere
Stalking would be highly likely
So he can know exactly what you like and don't like
Whether it be clothes, movies, your favorite historical event, it didn't natter
He took EXTREME action into knowing everything about you before he actually confronted you
When he first met you, he didn't just fall in love with your personality, but EVERYTHING about you
You didn't know but he was basically putty in your hands
Not that you would ever know
At first you were weirded out by him, due to him being so quiet, and his wandering eyes always staring at you
If you are upset, he will do ANYTHING to make you feel better
Someone at work/school made you upset?
You heard the news of that persons death the following week
You wanted a new pair of shoes that you couldn't afford?
Expect to have a whole closet filled with new shoes
No matter what you do, HE WILL NEVER hurt you
Like- ever
You could betray him, from the point of no return and he'd still worship you
Hongjoong doesn't care if you don't love him, he will still aim to please you at all times
He doesn't like killing people, he will only kill if they seem like a threat to you or your happiness
Doesn't realize he's being too clingy and possessive
But you say nothing in fear of hurting him
Hongjoong isn't that big of a softie once you get to know him
His cute, shy, and introvert persona would fade gradually over time
It was actually unnoticeable since the shift in character was cleverly planned out
Eventually you caught him in the act of beating up one of your friends because he was jealous that you were spending more time with them than with him
You called off your relationship immediately
He wouldn't fight you on the matter
But that won't stop him from secretly buying you things or taking care of your "problems"
SEONGHWA ⚖
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Sadistic Yandere
"It hurts? That's your fault! Next time learn your lesson and stop looking at other men!"
I know exactly what you're thinking
"WOULDN'T THIS BE SAN?!"
I have thought about it, and to me Seonghwa strikes me as this type of Yandere the most
Seonghwa was also HIGHLY intelligent
He knew EXACTLY how to make you fall for him
It didn't matter how long it took
You were going to be his
Made sure to be your typical Wattpad fan fiction boy, whether you wanted him to be that "bad boy" or "good boy"
In the end he decided to try the good boy persona
When he met you, everything had to be perfect
He rehearsed lines ahead of time, and practiced until he had the courage to face you
It was at a summer carnival event, he helped you win a prize at the strength game
From the moment you looked into his eyes, you were putty in his hands
After almost a year of knowing each other, and a couple months of dating, things were going great
That was, until you decided to hang out with your old friends from high school
You invited Seonghwa to be your date to the gathering, and it was hell for him
The way you completely disobeyed his unspoken rules of talking to other men that wasnt him
The final straw that made him break his character was when it was time to leave and you have your male friend a big hug while giving him that smile that makes Seonghwas heart melt
When you got home he grabbed and dragged you to the bedroom
"Seonghwa what are you-"
SLAPPED YOU DEAD ACROSS YOUR FACE AND DID NOT GIVE TWO FUCKS
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
*SLAP*
"STOP IT WHAT-"
He smacked you a couple more times before he pushed you on the bed and decided you needed a lesson
Would torture you, sexually or plain physically
Don't scream or beg, it only fuels his drive to punish you
Will not stop until HE beileves you learned your lesson
YUNHO ⚖
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Self-Harm Yandere
"Hey... look at me... look at me... look, there's so much blood coming out..."
Through your relationship, Yunho was pretty normal
Until you accidentally forgot to give him his goodnight kiss and hug
It was ONE night, because you were so exhausted from working/school and you passed out on the couch
In his mind, that one mistake told him that you didn't love him anymore
This Yandere has two sub units
One where they start harming themselves in private, and the second one, harming themselves openly
Yunho started off doing it privately
He planned this strategically
When you noticed cuts and bruises on his wrist the next day, you questioned him frantically
To which he nonchalantly explained that he hurt himself at the gym
But you weren't an idoit
You KNEW these particular kinds of injuries were caused by self harming
But you didn't press the issue because you assumed it was a sensitive topic for him, and didn't want to trigger him
Yunho began to lose trust in you
He was scared you would end up leaving him one day
All because of that ONE night
Even though after that one night, the normal goodnight kisses and hugs continued
But to Yunho it wasn't the same
So when you came home one day later in the evening, you and Yunho got into an argument
A very HEATED argument
It ended up with you saying his WORST FEAR
"If you don't stop this right now, we are over !"
That's when he snapped
"You're breaking up with me?!"
"If you don't stop acting like a selfish jackass then yes!"
Honey that's all he needed to hear to send him into a frenzy
He started punching himself in the face, to the point where his mouth started bleeding
"YUNHO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! STOP IT!"
He ignored you and then grabbed a sharp knife from the kitchen and sliced all over his arms, legs, torso, and face
You began to cry, and fear for your life
You backed up and was about to dial 911 when he yelled out,
"YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME! I'LL KILL MYSELF! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I'LL DO IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!"
You acted quickly and raced over to him cautiously trying to get him to stop
"Yunho baby I'm not leaving you!"
"LIAR!"
"Honey I didn't mean what I said! We were arguing and I just said something cruel but please know that I won't leave you ever! I love you."
"YOU PROMISE?!"
"I promise now stop hurting yourself please!"
Yunho did what you asked and then started to break down and cry
You engulfed him in a big hug and whispered sweet nothings into his ear
All the while, Yunho smirked, and smiled wickedly while crying
His plan worked
There was no way you were ever going to leave him now
Or so he thought........
YEOSANG ⚖
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Stalker Yandere
"Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?"
Yeosang is a man who likes to live off the radar
No one really seems him or acknowledges his existence unless he makes himself known
So stalking you everyday was no problem
You were oblivious to the fact he stalked you day and night
But that doesn't mean you didn't have any strange feelings
For the past three years you always had this sense of uneasiness
You didn't know how to explain it exactly
But you felt that you were always on the defense
Ready for something unexpected to happen to you
And not in a good way
Whenever you confessed these feelings, people would laugh and say that you're paranoid
And yes you were paranoid, because your psyche never lies, it's there for a reason
"I'm serious! Maybe I'm being stalked or something."
"Who would want to stalk you? You don't do anything."
A brutal attack, but the statement was true nonetheless
But that never set your psyche at ease
And the most fucked up thing about your whole "paranoia" was that Yeosang was in your life
He was your neighbor
And the two of you were quite acquainted
Granted Yeosang didn't exactly LIVE in that house down the street, but you'd never know
He would take run around the neighborhood for exercise and would stop to talk to you if he saw you
He played the role of the normal neighbor a little TOO well
Stalking Yanderes CAN be violent, but Yeosang wasn't
It would ruin his ability to stalk you in peace
He never hurt your, or the people around you
One day he told you a riddle that had you stumped completely
You loved when he told you riddles because it was like a little traditional thing whenever you two say each other
"Everyone has it, but no one can lose it."
This riddle had you stumped for days, and you didn't want to cheat by looking it up online
So by magic chance two days later, at night when you were laying in bed in the dark trying to sleep, the answer hit you
Instead of getting giddy with excitement that you fianlly figured out his riddles like you usually did, it made you feel, puzzled
The way his voice sounded as he told you the riddle
The smile that was staining his face as he did, had your psyche going crazy
You needed to calm yourself, because it was just a riddle, nothing more, and nothing less
So you drifted off into sleep and mumbled the words,
"A shadow."
SAN ⚖
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Training Yandere
"Say you love me... SAY IT, SAY THAT YOU LOVE ME! SAY IT!"
This is why I didn't label San as the sadistic Yandere
Even though he could have easily slipped into that category
But not with this one chile
Unlike the Sadistic Yandere, San doesn't like causing you pain, it hurts him deeply to see you in pain
A lot of Atinys (myself included) are so used to San being labeled as "the demon" or "possessed" when it comes to his stage presence or when it comes to NSFW AUs
But you need to remember that San is actually a bubbly, clingy little cupcake off stage
So that's why I stuck him with the Training Yandere
But you need to be trained, so he has no choice but to hurt you
He easily kidnapped you after breaking into your home and drugging your food.
You didn't know who San was, never saw him a day in your life
But San was convinced that you'd known each other for years
(I can also sense a tiny bit of the Delusional Yandere in this one, but like I said A TINY bit)
In the basement you were, chained to a chair like an animal
He came skipping down the stairs happily and had a plate of food for you
"Now you can eat if you say the magic words."
"Please?"
San chuckled at your response
In normal situations yes that is the magic word, but San said "words" not "word".
"No that's not it."
"Well then what it is?"
"You know what it is silly."
The confused look on your face made San beileve you were lying, and that you were just being a brat
He hated brats
"Alright I see you're still going with this-"
He brought out his bag filled with torture equipment
And that's when you lost all sense of reality
You kept telling yourself that you were dreaming
It was the only logical explanation for this situation
"Awe don't cry, just say the magic words and you can be free of your restraints."
"....."
"The magic words are "I love you".
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! I DON'T LOVE YOU! I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU!
(Y/N why couldn't you just play along tsk tsk)
"Oh boy, I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this."
The first tool he got out was a hammer, a big, hammer
And he released one of your hands only to hold it down on the table next to him
"You have ten fingers, let's see if you can say the words before we get to ten."
He aimed for your pointer finger and slammed the hammer down on it with all his might
"One."
You screamed bloody murder as you felt the pain shoot through your body
But you still didn't say anything
He slammed the hammer on your middle finger
"Two."
You still didn't say anything, how could you with all the pain you're in
The next finger
"Three."
No response
The next finger
"Four."
No response
San was getting frustrated, but didn't show it
He eventually broke all ten of your fingers, and was amazed at your strength of not giving in
But that's just the more violent he had to be
Next on the list, was your face
He slapped and punched you repeatedly, blood getting everywhere and your vision becoming blurry
But you STILL didn't give in
San had enough
He grabbed a knife from his bag and held it at your feet
This was also the final straw for you
You can live with broken fingers, but not feet
"SAN! I- I LOVE YOU!"
"What?"
"I'm sorry for being a brat, please forgive me! I love you!"
"Oh darling! I knew it!"
Of course you were lying, but he didn't know that
567 notes · View notes
octania · 4 years
Text
Midnight hunter ( Dabi x Reader 18+)
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This is the second chapter of Midnight stalker.
Short description: Prepare yourself for a human hunt where your fiery hunter will not stop until he gets you.
Word count: 4.8 K
Warnings: Smut, yandere, human hunt, violence, death (not Dabis nor readers), mentions of noncon (nothing much, just a mention in a dialog),NSFW. _______________________________________________________
He forced his compass to point in any direction except hers. He went to places that were too much even for his hardened soul. He drank the sweetness of a woman's body without limits, getting drunk under the touch of cheap prostitutes as much as he could. But instead of asking the paid lady of the night for sexual consolation, he greedily tried to recreate the moment he stole from you.
I didn't fucking steal nothing, it’s mine. You are mine.
The last truth of his thoughts was pierced with the spear of condemnation. In those moments when the Pandora's box wanted to send the truth to the surface of his soul, in those moments he was the most dangerous. He turned into a raging beast that could destroy anything in front of them. Unfortunately, several prostitutes were harmed because of his struggles. After hearing the words of truth in his head, the reaction of the body came immediately afterwards. His palms bathed in a blue flame, burning the skin of the unfortunate woman's face, who had been trying to meet his needs until then. A tense kiss, thirstily absorbing the erotic dance of her tongue, squeezing her eyelids like yours, the only thing he had differently was that he ordered the prostitutes to sit on his lap. To put their legs around him as he held them by the waist and pressed them to his chest. He had to take his imagination to the next level, give it the illusion of consent. He wanted to imagine how you kissed him willingly, how you needed his lips desperately, how you needed to feed on his presence how he fed on yours. And after that he was poisoned. He left the room, leaving the painful screams of those he had inadvertently damaged with his flames behind him.
Dabi hated the smell of smoke. Ironically for someone who is almost always surrounded by that scent, but something in him aroused disgust at that smell. Especially the smell of burning skin. It reminded him of the misfortune that had befallen him, aroused in him things that were to blame for the person he was today. He knew the horrors of that scent, how severe and vicious its punishment was. Those who are punished in this way never forget it. He ran his fingers over his chin, rubbing his damaged skin. The wound may have healed, but the scar will remain forever. He didn't need a new scar. Especially not the kind that never heals, it only seemingly retreats, settles into the dark place of the human subconscious and lurks its weakest moment.
 "Tsc ... I should have finished you ..." he threw a glass of whiskey into the wall of the room. The glass shattered into thousands of pieces, while the liquid left a large stain on the white wall. The moment he pressed his lips to yours, his Pandora's box shattered in the same way, leaving feelings in his chest. He thought that by kissing you he would silence his desires and satisfy his obsessions, but he only deepened them. Hell, now he's trying to patch up the damage with others, how pathetic it can be. He clenched his fists as a blue flame wrapped around them. Dabi could not suffer humiliation, he could not let it go unpunished. He made a mistake, but now it is about time to fix it. He got out of bed just as he got up the first night he contracted this plague, pulled his black T-shirt over his taut shoulders, and headed for the exit.
It has been almost two months since the unfortunate event. Your quiet life turned into a nightmare in one night and you had no idea why. After tasting the lips of a dangerous stranger and daring to turn around even though he ordered you not to, you didn’t think the gates of hell would open shortly after. The pair of blue eyes in which the storm was pouring belonged to a very famous villain, a person you had only seen on the news, newspapers or arrest warrants until then. You never thought you would see him in front of your eyes, let alone taste him with your mouth. There was a void in your head, a war drum in your chest. Nothing that happened that night seemed real. You played that scene back in your head again and again so many times, but you still could hardly believe yourself. Impossible, it wasn't him. It was him. It was just him and no one else could sit in his place. Anyone normal would be imbued with panic and fear, running away without thinking after catching a glimmer of freedom after that attack, but not you. You stood frozen under the street lamp, staring into the corner where he had disappeared. You don’t even know how you got home after that, it all seemed like a crazy dream. Until the next morning, when everything became more than real. Two police cars were in front of your house at dawn. In addition to the two detectives, there were four police officers and they were accompanied by two heroes. Before you could speak, one of the two detectives pulled a photo out of his pocket. Your friend. You could feel the tingles of horror travel through your body. Fear permeated you before you even heard what had happened.
Your hands were shaking as you held the second photo the detectives gave you. You sat in your living room in your favorite armchair, which this time could not provide you with comfort. You stared at the image of a burning corpse, whose face, despite the disgusting wounds, showed an expression of pure horror and agony. You were the last person he was with, the last contact, so the cops and heroes rushed to your doorstep, not even knowing you had an encounter with the man who was guilty of murdering this young man. At first, you didn’t want to tell the truth. You lied, you kept quiet about the way you actually met. But the quirk of one of the heroes has distracted you from your lie. His quirk was a living lie detector and he read you like an open book. After the truth came out, there was silence. Initially, no one could explain the event you went through, but it didn’t take them long to come to their professional conclusion. He must have wanted to enjoy his morbid act, to leave someone close to suffer for the victim. A few moments later they explained to you how things would develop further, you would be placed under protection. Two heroes and three policemen will be constantly on duty in front of your home, in case the villain returns to finish what he started. You knew they were secretly hoping so, that this was a trap, and you were a living bait.
The days passed, weeks followed, but no trace of the villain. After the first month had passed, two police officers and one hero remained, now, after two months, only one hero remained. No matter how they eliminated the surplus people, caution still had to be on a high level. Because of that, you could not carelessly go where you wanted, just perform your duties, and even then you would be accompanied by a hero. You hated this situation, you could no longer be a prisoner in your own home, you had to stretch your legs somewhere more than just walking to the store. You walked resolutely from your room to the living room where the hero was on duty. He looked at you lazily, and you already had a pleading expression on your face.
 "I want to take a walk, I can't be locked up anymore." you protested, but still in a polite tone. He didn't scold you or acted rudely. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
"I know, I'm sorry ... but I still think it would be better not to go out on the streets, especially not at this time of night." - He gazed at your furry friend who in these two months has grown almost twice the original size when you found him.
 "We don't even have to go to the streets! Not far from here is a forest, we can go there! Please, I'm really not able to spend my days like this anymore, and the forest road is in one of the safest neighborhoods and you know it yourself! ”- you were persistent, determined, you knew that he was soft and that he would give in with a good enough reason. You could see how your words were valid. You knew he couldn't sit on your living room couch anymore, he'd been doing it for the last two months, and you could only imagine how tiring it was to do it to a person who had dedicated his life to action, to fighting villains.
"I'm not sure ..." you interrupted him before he could finish.
"Please! A short walk and nothing more! Not even the dog can jump just around the yard anymore! ”- the hero looked down at the playful puppy and you knew that was the last thing he needed to break. The little furry creature waved its tail, caressing his leg.
"Okay, but not for long and nowhere far. " he said, getting up from the couch.
Come, step into the night doll.
You made a mistake, you made a big mistake. You dared to tell , you dared to make a victim of yourself and seek protection from them. Why? Why doll? The only victim here is him, all of this is your fault, it's your fault because he's here. You did this, and he let you live for a small fee, just one kiss. Instead of feeling privileged and blessed for being let off the hook so cheaply and enjoying your last moments after you poisoned him, you dared to call on the greatest scum of this world to protect you.
 Do you like the taste doll? Do you like the taste of the rotten flesh? You do… don't you? Because you took a bite of my heart, and that is shit is rotten to the core. Feast  on that rot while you can and I hope you like burnt meat as much as rotten because you will soon be surrounded by it.
 He clenched his jaw as he followed your shadows as you imperceptibly tried to sneak up to the car. You chose the wrong evening for a walk. Was the taste of his lips so repulsive to you? The more he thought about it, the stronger the killer instinct was. Even though he came here with the intent to kill you, he felt betrayed. He retreated back into the shadows and hurried down to the previous street  where he saw a parked motorbike. He was skilled at picking locks, and hot-wiring a vehicle was no different. He also had a good  taste, his eye could not miss the kawasaki ninja ZZR 1400, a beautiful assembly of metal and engine. He ran his hands over the leather seat before sitting on it and held the balance of the heavy black beast with ease. It fused with him in a second, as the engine purred as it started. As expected, your car passed in front of him. He saw your happy face under the nightlights in the passenger seat. You won't be smiling for long.
He was cautious and went unnoticed. He followed you with no problem, even a little bit impressively. When he saw the car lights turn from the marked road  to a muddy path between the tall trunks of the forest, he couldn't help but smile sinisterly. He left the motorbike at the very beginning of the forest, covered between dense bushes. His step was lighter than that of a cat. He didn’t break a single twig, make a single sound that would reveal he was there. The two electric blue eyes gleamed like wild beasts in the moonlight. He saw you, he heard you, he could smell you. He licked his lips to recall your taste. Your lips looked delicious even in the dark. You looked almost unreal under the auspices of the stars and the shining moon, with your spirits lifted by the fact you were surrounded by nature once again. How your hair fluttered in the warm night breeze as thin strands fell across your forehead. He saw the scene in slow motion. For a moment the anger disappeared from his face, he allowed himself to watch you calmly. Calmly until the venom of pain and loneliness flowed through his veins again, the only things he could feel except wrath. That was exactly the reason why you were a thorn in his eye. You aroused pain and a feeling of loneliness. He needed you, he needed your touch, he needed your voice in his ear, your breath on his face, your fingers on his skin. Could you see him as anything but a villain? Would the same kindness shine in your eyes and would you extend your hand with the same measure of tenderness when you were rescuing an abandoned puppy from that dark street? Would you recognize what he really is, and he doesn't even see it in himself anymore ... He had to know.
You happily threw a stick to your puppy playing fetch, running along with him. You excitedly followed the dance of fireflies among the tall grass along the path. You paused for a moment, taking a deep breath with a desire to absorb as much of this forest air and its scent as possible.
"See? I told you it is beautiful and it certainly beats being locked up. ”- you said without opening your eyes. You were sure that the hero was enjoying this night out too. Even as you drove in the car you saw the relief on his face when he realized he could finally escape from your house.
"And that there is no one else here." you added, taking another breath. Instead of the smell of trees, the sour smell filled your nostrils. This smells like ..
"Oh..but there is." - the voice that answered did not belong to the hero who brought you here. That voice ... Blood froze in your veins and your eyes suddenly opened in panic as you turned at lightning speed. A grayish cloud between the suppressed trees and the tall grass. Like fog, the smoke remained in the air like a floating ball. You covered your mouth with your hands as it approached your nostrils. You thought you were going to throw up. This was the smell ... the smell of burning flesh. You could barely contain a scream in your throat when you saw a person stepping out from behind a tree, dragging something behind him.
"You ..." - you stammered when you saw the person who was to blame for your accident. The person you had on your lips just two months ago, the same night after he set your friend on fire.
"Tch, tch ... you can recognize me only because you disobeyed me and gazed at me when I told you not to ... naughty doll." - he said, throwing a burnt corpse in front of you. You screamed when you saw the same horror on its face that you saw in the pictures of your dead friend, but this was now the man who pleased you and took you here at your request. He's dead now. You instinctively took a few steps back as your knees were shaking.
“Was it worth it, huh? Disobeying me? Do you see what happens when someone stands in my way, doll? ”-he asked, rubbing the fingers of his left hand. The blue flame rose from his palm to his forearm, over his muscular shoulder to his neck, until he stroked his cheeks as well. You couldn't take it anymore, you started running. You made your way through the thick bushes and tall grass. The roots of the trees tangled under your feet as you tried to escape. You saw almost nothing in front of you except darkness, and your useless calls for help disappeared into the emptiness of the woods. You pushed the branches in front of you that were coming back and smashing into your body. You could feel the warm feeling that was pouring down your legs ... blood. Warm blood dripping from the scratches. None of that slowed you down. You kept running at the same speed. You thought you managed to lose him, you didn't hear anything behind you, but you didn't dare to stop. You continued deeper into the woods where there seemed to be no end.
 The blue light flashed before your eyes so intensely that it hurt. You covered your eyes with your hand, squinting in front of you. The heat made you back off and you succeeded at the last minute. The blue fire is blocking your path. Your eyes filled with tears when you realized what was happening. He's chasing you. He chases you like a beast, and he's a hunter trying to trap you. You turned and ran in the other direction. The road started going uphill. You could feel pain in your legs from the frantic climb, but it never occurred to you to give up. Even when a new wall of fire was created in front of you, you didn’t give up. You turned again, looking for any path where there was no fire. Your lungs were burning from the rapid breathing and the smell of smoke spreading through the air. The new burst of fire was too fast, it managed to reach your lower leg. You sobbed, quickly putting out the fire on your jeans. Your tears flowed harder from the pain of  burning your skin, but you knew you had to keep going. If you give up now, you will not be able to save yourself. Like the promised land, the sight in front of you almost brought a smile to your face. The crystal surface of the lake glazed under the moonlight. The water ... you forgot the pain in a second, leaning on your feet and running with all your might towards the lake. You jumped into the water without thinking. The cold flooded your body, and a sharp pain crossed your injured leg. It was quite shallow. When you surfaced, you realized that the water barely reached your chest. You looked around. The forest burned, and the blue fire cast its light high toward the dark clouds of night.
 "Smart..but it will not help you." - Dabi went through the raging fire as if it were air, reaching the water's edge. His expression was nauseating. When he watched you run, he felt a rush of adrenaline, pleasure, superiority ... feelings that he knew and gladly let them circulate through his body as he caught his prey. Human hunt, and God help those who are cursed with him as their hunter. That is a lie ... even God can't help you then. He thought it was the end, that he had finally found a solution and his salvation. Until now ... until you looked him in the eye again. The eyes that carried goodness, when he first saw you wake up and you didn't know he was there, they carried innocence ... and now ... he had to make sure what did you hid behind those mirrors of the soul before that same soul leaves your body. He stepped into the water, going all the way in till it reached his groin, getting closer to you. He touched the surface of the water with his fingers, and it obediently received his fire on its surface. It surrounded you, trapped you inside the burning circle.
"W..why .." - you stammered the most obvious question. He thought he was numb to that pointless question by now. It always sounded the same. But your voice ... your voice addressed to him now, directly to him. He paused for a moment, feeling what he had feared so much spring up in his chest. He must not waste time, he must not think too much. He was two steps ahead of you, grabbing you by the jaw.
"Oh, but why not?" -he responded, looking at your lips until then. He crossed over your lip with the tip of his index finger. He tried with all his might to make himself remember the longing, the basic need he had met so many times without difficulty. He tried to escape from the claws of feelings that were now awakening. Turns out your closeness is more fatal than he thought. Something in him pulled him closer, asking him to surrender. He didn't know what that hurricane in him was, and he reacted, as always, angrily. Why..you want to know why..I am the one here that needs to know why ..
“Why not doll? What, I am not good enough to be saved? I thought you liked picking up fucked up things on the street and mending them? So, why do you run from me then? ”- something in him broke. The rejection and fear he had not felt since he was young now took the throne over his feelings. He savagely entered your face, finally catching your eye.He didn't want to see it. He did not want to see the answer to his question, especially not in this vulnerable state. It may not have been visible through its exterior, but it was worse on the inside. In the eyes he had dreamed so much about, the eyes that radiated concern and kindness ... now only pure fear and horror poured out from them.
„Why am I not worth saving ?! Answer me! Because I am a monster!? I killed your so called, friend !? A guy who wanted to fuck you dry just so he can tell his homeboys about it ?! - he roared. What you didn’t know was that before he killed your friend and exposed him to the greatest torment, while he was still following him, he heard a conversation your friend was having over the phone.
"No, the stupid bitch didn't put out yet..yeah, I know..But that ass man. I swear if she doesn't lift that skirt next time, I will take it off myself. ”- those were the words of your so-called friend. With that, he signed his death sentence. Dabi made him pay for the crimes he intended to commit, and you had no idea. Even now you don't quite understand what he's talking about.
„You don't like murderers, only scumbags ?! They are worthy of your attention ?! Ok then, bet you will love this. ”- with one hand he grabbed the wet shirt on your chest, giving the order to his flame which ate the material in one second. Your upper body was now covered only by a bra that was intact, but not for long. Dabis finger slipped under the  thread between your breasts, the thread that connected the front of the bra cups. It tightened enough that it almost broke, making your breasts almost completely visible.
“No, please! Don't! ”- you tried to push him away with your hand, but he grabbed your wrist. He gritted his teeth angrily, looking back at you. Of course he won't do that to you, he may be a villain but he's not a monster, he's not a rapist. He let go of your bra, clenching his fist. You saw that something in him broke, you saw that the person you thought was to blame for your accident was not really the person they described him to be. This is someone who has the thorns of his exterior here for a deeper reason than pure malice.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. The person who trapped you was now alone pressed under the heavy weight of no one else but number two hero, Endeavor. He squeezed his body below the surface of the water, not giving him a chance to get air.
“You filthy scum! You thought killing heroes will go unpunished?! - Endeavor roared as he pushed Dabi deeper under the water. The thing was, Dabis flames made quite a fire, and the woods was now eaten by it, making a giant cloud of smoke. The same smoke that was seen by the locals and they called in the heroes and the police. Unfortunately, the first that spotted you two was no other then the ruthless hero Endeavor, who planned to show no mercy to the villain who killed a hero. He didn't know who the villain he kept underwater was, but he didn't care, he'd be dead in the matter of seconds.Dabi didn't fight back. All the water that was stirred was like that because of how Endeavor was pushing  Dabis body even deeper under the water. A man who had shown unbridled strength only a moment ago, now surrendered to a fatal fate. For a moment, you could make out his expression. An expression of loneliness, an expression of pain ... an expression of relief, as if this is the only thing that can save him from the horror he keeps in himself. This is not a monster.
You raised your hands toward Endeavor, releasing your quirk. It wasn't even a few seconds before the number two hero replaced the expression of anger  with astonishment and then fear. He waved frantically around, throwing his flame into the empty space. There was nothing around him, but you knew what he saw. The reason you loved the dark side so much, is because it has always been a part of you, and your quirk was one of the proofs of that. You could read man’s greatest fears, their worst nightmares, and manifest that horror in front of them. Now your power was bending number two hero like a fragile twig, forcing him to drop Dabi.He surfaced quickly, catching air, filling his lungs. He coughed out the water as he slowly opened his eyes. You. He saw you looking at him.
No ... that's not possible. Your gaze was direct but gentle now. Penetrating and compassionate ... and pointed at him. He turned and saw Endeavor still panicking trying to defend himself against something that wasn't there, and it didn't take him long to realize what had happened and what you were doing. You defended him. You saw something in him that was worth saving.
"Go, now." you said in a firm but sympathetic voice.
"Name." - he said without moving out of the water or interrupting your gaze. He couldn't turn away from the feeling you aroused in him, and he didn't want to.
„N..no..Please, just go, now! I can't hold him much longer and the others are coming! Go now, God dammit! ”- you said more briskly, more commandingly, but Dabi just knelt at the bottom of the lake, touching the water with his chin, showing you that if you don't tell him your name, your defense was in vain, and his destiny will not change, Endeavor will soon get rid of your illusion and finish the job he started, and Dabi will not fight back. The thought of the so-called number two hero taking his life again by pushing him underwater caused you to fear, a fear that was not the same as before. This fear bordered more with anxiety and the need to defend him.
"Tell me your name." he whispered, this time softly, in a deep voice, his eyes half closed. You bit your lip. You knew that after tonight, nothing would be the same anymore and these two clear blue eyes would emerge from the darkness again in search of you, but something about it woke up the part of you that you had been hiding for so long and needed immensely.
"(Y / N). My name is (Y / N). ”- a satisfied smile on Dabis face was the last thing you saw, before the blue fire flashed and blinded all prying eyes. When it disappeared, he was gone, and  heroes were around you, helping you to your feet.
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distantsoftmeow · 3 years
Text
Hello everyone!
I usually don't really post on tumblr — I'm more of a reader/stalker lmao — but I decided to do so today because a great chapter of my life ended :)
I want to talk about the final chapter of AOT, put some of my thoughts down here and eventually discuss the chapter with everyone that is willing to do so ;))
Everything down there is full spoilers so beware!!
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SPOILER ATTACK ON TITAN CHAPTER 139
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Okay I will first talk about the eremin talk (I'll talk about the other stuff later) :
- I really loved the way Isayama planned this conversation; the fact that it progresses from toddler armin and eren to pre-adults really shows that their mutual understanding of each other is extremely consistant and constantly evolving. Let's not forget that, until the very end, armin knew deep down that eren had an ulterior motive, he really trusted his friend till the end. It makes me think that I'm glad that armin lived instead of erwin; i don't think that mikasa could have handled this kind of conversation with eren the way that armin did (once again, the nature of theit relationship being sensibly different) so talking to armin and going through everything with him like that really helped both eren AND the reader to understand more Eren's logic and point of view.
Many of us are actually dissapointed in eren's sudden change of tone or in his "unexpected" actions and sayings. I was too at first, it really did not feel like seeing eren... especially since we hadn't seen the real eren in a long time (since S3 pt2...). But I believe that the eren that we saw was the realest eren we'd seen in a long time...
I think that what happened to eren overall is extremely tragic; he really is the martyr of this story. He got embedded in all of this mess at such a young age and had to take responsibility for something as big as mankind's future at the snall age of 14... He never really thought about making friends, focusing on his own feelings and emotions (towards mikasa for example) or just have the time to sit down with himself and think about who he really is, what he really wants...
He always had to think about concrete and immediate action during most of his life. He was extremely hurt in his ego when he realised that his power (the attack titan) didn't make him "special" and that his dreams were far out of reach.
Eren spent an enormous amount of time in Paths, where he could see all of his life unfold before of him,and thus, managed to kind of sort out his feelings.
I feel like the character that is presented to us in chapter 139 really managed to get a hold of himself and gain understanding of his feelings towards his friends and loved ones.
Offering the world to armin. That's what eren did during this encounter. You can see it in the way that he looks at him... Eren sees freedom in Armin's eyes, more than he could ever possess, but it feels like he is okay with not being the one who experiences the joy of true freedom.
I see that many people are upset with how eren suddenly confessed his love for Mikasa. I really do understand that... But I like to think that over the time that eren spent in paths, he learnt to love her and her sacrifices properly. It leaves me with a really bitter taste, especially since it is very obvious that what stopped eren from showing any kind of affection towards mikasa before was simply the cruelty of their world...
"You must not forget" is something that has been repeated many times in the manga.
It's actually been applied to this chapter; even though eren made everyone forget about his words after his encounter with them, he restitued all of their memories so that they don't forget about the meaning of his fight.
I'm just happy that he got a chance to be understood and loved... his conversation with armin really broke my heart on so many levels... it was almost like they were trying to act like the subject of their conversation wasn't the future of their world and eren's death..
Armin's little attempts at joking, eren breaking down like a regualr teenager... it was a very genuine and intimate moment between two friends who never got to experience the presence of each other without the weigh of the world on their shoulders.
Eren isn't a strong willed hero, he is no saviour and no allegoric figure : he is what everyone made him.
I'm glad that he is resting in peace and happy that he shows regret and emotion in the end.
I still wonder though... what about eren is really free?
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etherrealoblivion · 4 years
Text
Chapter Twelve: We May Have A Problem
Table of Contents
Fic summary: Owning a bookstore in downtown D.C. came with its fair share of downsides. You never thought that being the target of a serial killer would be one of them. Luckily, a nice FBI agent by the name of Spencer Reid is assigned to watch over you. What's the worst that could happen?
Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader
Words: 1,810
MASTERLIST
~
When you woke up, Spencer was standing, fully dressed and talking on the phone.
“No, I didn’t hear anything. . . . Yes, it had been open but this morning it was closed and so was her bedroom door. . . . A new one? . . . What book? . . . Okay, I understand. . . . Yes, sir. . . . You too.”
He hung up, running a hand through his hair and turning towards you. Startled to see you awake, he came near and sat on the couch.
“Hey,” his voice was much gentler than it had just been on the phone. Presumably, he’d been talking to Hotch, his boss.
“You said ‘A new one’. Is there a new victim?”
“I really don’t think—“
“Spencer.” You didn’t have time to argue with him about whether or not you should know what was going on. “I need to know.”
He must’ve known it was no use putting up a fight. He sighed softly before he spoke, setting the tone for the conversation.
“Yes. There’s a new victim, pushing the total up to six. I shouldn’t be telling you this,” he said, more to himself than you.
“I need to know,” you repeated, urging him to go on. “Please.”
Silent for a moment, he said, “Okay, but first get dressed and eat breakfast. Then we’ll sit down and talk.”
Right. You were still missing your pants. And your last shred of dignity.
So you stood, went to your bedroom, and dressed in jeans and a tank top. It would be a decidedly unremarkable outfit if not for the fact you never wore very exposing clothes, such as a tank top. This particular one happened to expose just the right amount of skin. You wondered if Spencer would notice. Not that that was important! Someone had been killed, for christ sakes.
“What time did you get up?”
He’d found a box of cereal and poured two bowls. The living room was much cleaner and you suspected he’d tidied up, ridding the room of evidence of last night.
“Six,” he said with a mouthful of cereal, not sparing you a look. “Y/N, there’s something I need to tell y—“
You had stepped into his line of sight and his jaw had dropped. It was like a moment out of a sitcom.
“What is it?”
Suddenly aware of the way he was gaping at you, he adjusted, looking at you in confusion.
“What’s what?”
You would have laughed at his shock if not for the pressing matter at hand.
“You said there’s something you need to tell me?” and you sat next to him, picking up the bowl of cereal and eating.
“Right. Yes, um. . . .” he hesitated for a moment, putting down his bowl and breathing deeply. When he looked at you, you understood that there was something more to what had happened.
“Just tell me,” you took his hand in yours and he let you. Strange how you were the one in danger but you frequently found yourself comforting him. Not that you were complaining! It actually felt nice to take care of someone else. Made you feel less useless.
“Last night . . .” you drew a quick breath in anticipation of the discussion to come. “Last night, someone snuck into the apartment.”
You released the breath you’d been holding. That wasn’t what you were expecting. You waited for him to go on.
“When I woke up, the window and door to your bedroom were closed even though last night they’d been open. Someone must have entered the apartment. Presumably the stalker. I’ve already called the team and they’re sending a unit over.”
He paused, giving you the opportunity to ask, “Why didn’t he . . . kill me?”
“We’re operating under the assumption that he doesn’t want to kill you. He wants to play out a fantasy with you but since he’s too scared to approach you, he has to substitute you with other women. However, we have to assume that he won’t stop killing until he finds some way to play out his fantasy with you.”
“What’s the fantasy?”
Spencer paused. 
“We aren’t quite sure. Each of the victims was killed in a unique manner based on certain books. A copy of each book was found at the crime scene. We’re still unsure as to why he’s choosing these specific books as there’s not a lot that connects them.”
“How did he kill them?” you didn’t want to know but you had to.
He seemed to understand this so he answered without too much protest.
“The first victim was found with a copy of The Handmaid's Tale. She’d had her eye scratched out and was hanged. The second book was The Picture of Dorian Gray, victim found stabbed next to a self-portrait. The Telltale Heart and The Great Gatsby pretty much speak for themselves. The most recent one was 1984. She, uh . . . had a cage strapped to her head and . . . well, you can picture the rest. Are you okay?”
Your heart was beating rapidly in your chest, breath frozen in your throat, putting a pattern together.
“That’s only five. What book did the new one have? How was she killed?”
“Oh, um. A Clockwork Orange. It looked like he made her jump out of a window. What’s wrong?”
You stood and started to pace slowly, processing all this information. Absentmindedly, biting your nails, you thought hard if it was just a coincidence.
It can’t be. Is it? It must!
“Y/N!” Spencer was in front of you, crouching slightly with his hands on your shoulders. “What’s wrong? Should I not have told you?”
Rather than answer, you pulled him to your room, flicked on the light, and sat on the floor in front of your nightstand. Underneath it was a little cabinet, both doors closed, a little latch locking them.
You looked at Spencer. He looked so worried like it was his fault all this was happening. You wished you could kiss all worries away so that it was just him and you and nothing else. But you couldn’t. There was something far more pressing now.
With a flick of your wrist, you unlocked the cabinet and opened it. There were two little shelves, each holding an assortment of books.
“I keep my oldest classic books in here,” you said, watching his expression change to understanding as he saw the books.
The first six on the top shelf were the exact ones that had been found at each crime scene.
~
Spencer’s team had arrived two hours later, preceded by an entire Crime Scene Investigation unit. Your entire apartment was cordoned off, the only people in and out being the FBI personnel, so you were standing in the hallway, watching people help themselves to your apartment.
“Y/N?” it was the blonde woman. “I’m sorry we haven’t been formally introduced, I’m Jennifer Jareau, I’m the media liaison. We’ve decided to release this case to the press. It might help push the killer out of hiding, attract more attention.”
You nodded, understanding what that meant. They’d have to give all sorts of details that involved you. What the victims looked like: you. Why he was killing them: you. And who he was really after: . . . you.
“We also need to change your cover, move you to a safer spot.”
You looked at her, confused.
“Why?”
“He clearly knows where you live, who is with you, and how to get in. We’re going to relocate you to a secure location. Doctor Reid will take you as soon as your things are packed.”
“Wait, I don’t want to go somewhere else. I wanna stay here. Can’t you just put more cops nearby?”
You were being stubborn, you knew. But your apartment was the only place you felt comfortable anymore, anywhere else and there was the threat of being attacked. Only now, that threat applied here.
“We need to keep as many people working on catching the unsub as possible. The more people worrying about you, the less trying to catch this guy.”
It was blunt but she was right. They needed to be focusing on taking him down, not keeping you safe. They needed the best people on the case. Then why. . . ?
“Then why is Spence the one protecting me? He’s a literal genius, shouldn’t he be heading up the case?”
She looked at you quizzically, like she was trying to figure you out.
“What?” you spat harshly, having had enough of not getting answers.
Coolly, surely from years of experience dealing with impatient people, she replied, “Doctor Reid has expressed a . . . request to keep his assignment with you.”
You took a moment to process that information. He’d asked to stay with me. He’d requested it.
“Why?”
Jennifer was looking at you analytically; like she was deciding the right thing to say.
“I don’t know.” And you knew she was telling the truth. She honestly had no idea why Spencer would choose to stay with you rather than help catch the killer. 
You smiled politely at her, “Thank you, Jennifer.”
“My friends call me J.J.” she smiled back, lightly placing a hand on your arm comfortingly. Her phone rang. “If you’ll excuse me.”
And she left you in the hallway, surrounded by people yet feeling so alone, wondering when Spencer would be back.
~
J.J. had to work late, fixing the stupid paperwork error she’d made earlier. Hotch was the only one still there.
Deciding to check in with him before she left, she knocked on the door to his office, already stepping in.
“Hey, I’m gonna head out. You good?”
“Hmm,” he grunted, not looking up from the case file.
Debating whether or not to prod, she sat in the chair across from him. He glanced at her, realizing he’d been dismissive.
“Sorry,” he said, wiping a hand over his face and sighing. 
J.J. chuckled. “It’s ok. It’s been a rough week.”
“Tell me about it. This guy hasn’t been leaving any indicators of who he is, where he works, and why he’s targeting this girl.” Hotch slapped the file and sat back.
J.J. shuffled in her seat awkwardly.
“Has Reid ever . . .”
But she trailed off, prompting Hotch to look at her seriously.
“Has Reid ever what?”
“Has he ever asked to be assigned as a protector? Rather than be in on the case?”
Hotch looked at her suspiciously, trying to recall previous cases.
“Not that I can remember. Why? Wondering what makes this case different?”
J.J. shook her head. 
“It’s not the case.”
“What do you mean?”
She smiled sheepishly.
“We may have a problem. Earlier, outside her apartment, she was talking about how she didn’t want to move locations. And—”
“—Well, that’s normal. She feels comfortable where she is, wary of pushing her comfort zone.”
“Hotch,” J.J. said seriously, prompting Hotch to look at her again. “She called him ‘Spence’.”
After a moment Hotch sighed, face-palming.
“Shit.”
~
Taglist: @aperrywilliams @mjloveskids666 @dolanfivsosxox @criesinreid @fanficsrmylife @racerparker @sammypotato67 @lukeskisses @reidcrimes @you-had-me-at-hello-dear @l0ve-0f-my-life @thatsonezesty13​ @yourmisosoup @queenofthebees003 @pinkdiamond1016 @matthewreid @perverted-guardian-angel @boiled-onionrings @rainsong01 @the-lovely-emma-swan @andiebeaword @itsmoony
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lovely-necromancy · 3 years
Text
A Cure for Insomnia CH.7
DISCLAIMER: Anything said about the Warrens in this work of fiction is not fact and more of an opinion. Not a skeptic just not a fan of their protocols and practices. I am not accusing the Warrens of anything in this work nor am I stating to know what actually happened in any of their cases. If you want to form your own opinion the podcast And That's Why We Drink has done multiple segments on their case files and given multiple reasoning for certain aspect of the cases.
If you didn't care that's fine I'm just trying not to get a defamation case.
Finding yourself lost to the humdrum of another by gone weekend and in the midst of a dull Monday morning is where most people start praying for some excitement. But when the excitement is debating the possibility of a stalker, you'd gladly take another lack luster week than deal with this bullshit.
And debating the possibility is the wrong thing to say. It's more accurate to say you've been contemplating what the proper steps to take in this situation are. Going to the police, or rather the Sheriff, is out because of how fucking useless they are when there's not a suspect present or Blue's Clue style trails for them to follow like breadcrumbs.
While David's surprising reappearance does stick out, you have no evidence to pin this to him. Then with all your knowledge on true crime and the likely hood of suspects it tends to be the first one who you've encountered in the stories. And that would point to Tim since you met him right before these shenanigans started but you were with him last night at the mini mart and even lost those fifty minutes together. So, there's no possible way Tim broke into your home and placed a book on your coffee table.
Then there's the issue of the book. You noticed it missing instantly because Toby had taken something from its shelf that you then went to put back. But it gets placed on your coffee table after you left, but not after you left the first time to take Toby home. Which was before you'd even notice the book gone. They were watching you, and knew you saw the book missing. You had to figure out how they were watching you. In case it was cameras you had changed in the dark of your closet today. And thankfully you've had practice showering in the dark before.
You really need more proof that you are being stalked and soon. The sooner you get that the sooner you can involve Big Jo. You'd thought on this all of yesterday on what you'd do and who you'd ask for help and the Cowells seem like your best bet in terms of stopping the stalker. Though that's only after you have proof. While Big Jo will help you out in a heartbeat you know it's more of a save his own skin down the line type of help and not out of the kindness of his heart, without proof he'd only humor you for a little bit. Not to mention if the stalker knows you're on to them at this point they could stop making it obvious, they'd get stricter with themselves, leave less evidence of their presence behind. Meaning it'd take longer to to get proof to catch them and even longer for you to feel comfortable.
Which is why you shoved away the idea of couch surfing until this blows over. If they were watching you at your house what would stop them from following you somewhere else. And if that happened and your friends got targeted or hurt you don't know how you'd live with yourself knowing you brought that to them. Or the other alternative of the stalker psychologically fucking with you and making you look crazy to your support system in this town before ultimately taking you down.
An even bigger reason as to why you suspect David. He'd been the first to start talking about Bambi's “wanderlust” before she disappeared. She'd laugh it off when people commented on it, but never really made mention of wanting to leave. He got it into everyone's heads that she wanted to get out of Kepler. To travel yeah, but she loved this town, she said it was home, she'd never leave without saying something.
When you came into town she'd been your first friend in years. You'll be the first to admit that you latched on to her but she quickly got you out making more friends with the residents. And even when you started hanging out with Hollis, Jake, and Kirby off planning events and deep diving for obscure movies for Saturday Night Dead she'd still talk with you everyday while she worked.
You really miss her.
Even if it wasn't David behind this, if this stalker was the person behind whatever happened to Bambi, you'd catch them. Not for peace of mind but so she'd have justice. It's what she deserves.
“uugggggggggh” you're pulling out your hair as you lay face down on the counter.
“I've never read The Book Thief but I didn't think it was supposed to be a frustrating book.” Nate says as he stops his dusting of the shelves.
You'd been “reading” the book your stalker left for you to find. Hoping you'd find a clue somewhere within it's pages to point to a suspect. But you've combed every page and not even the slightest mark had been left.
“Sorry I...I just have a lot of thoughts right now.” You say looking up through your arms that are now draped over your head.
“Want to talk?”
“Not now.”
The concern and uncertainty behind his gray eyes gives away his skepticism.
“Well, I'm here if you need.” a gentle reminder.
“I know and I appreciate it!”
Nate returns to his cleaning, sometimes it's like he was programmed to be productive. Most times actually. And you turn back to your book, having found no clues you decide to actually read through it. After all it is one of your favorites and maybe it will serve as a distraction from this whole mess. Help you calm down some.
An hour into your reading you're so engrossed in the story you hardly notice when the bell rings signaling the entry of a customer. If it wasn't for Nate calling out you'd have missed them completely.
“Hey welcome to Book & Nook.” the sound of his voice bombing through the quiet store front, startling you.
You look up at the right moment to catch sight of a furry black and brown rear going down an isle. Connor! Oh wait don't get too excited he has to be on duty to be here.
Now knowing that Brian has a need for the service dog too, you decide to wait and see who has Connor today. If it's Toby you could have a nice chat but if it's Brian you could be polite. Maybe thank him for helping with your episode the other night. Discretely of course, Nate would worry if he knew you had a panic attack. He'd probably assume it was due to the stress of the previous week and might force you to take some time to yourself. And that's the last thing you'd need if you were being stalked.
You really need to come up with an action plan. Keeping in mind that the stalker may not leave clues or escalate for a while it's probably best if you start getting active around town. Planting your roots deep and saying “hey I'm not going anywhere willingly”, but like subtly, y'know. Maybe start making habits about obsessively getting receipts even for packs of gum so if the last person who sees you is a cashier maybe they'd remember the strange interaction and might be able to help police find your body quicker.
God why does this all have to be so frustrating? And why you? Who stalks the mentally ill person who does nothing put listen to horror podcast and watch paranormal and true crime shows? Do they want to be harmed? Do they want to get caught. Oh for fuck's sake, that's another rabbit hole of possibilities.
You could've ignored the chime of the bell, but you most certainly couldn't ignore the boisterous voice that rang through the store. A welcomed distraction from your current mental struggle.
“What's up bros and non binary hoes?” Jake walks through the store like he owns the place, carrying a picnic basket over to the counter. As much of a Chad move it is Jake's a really nice guy he just has too much natural swagger in everything he does. It's probably the snow boarding showman in him.
“Jakey!” A very much welcomed distraction. Jake can always cheer you up with his “rad” antics and laissez faire attitude.
“What are you doing here?” while some of the stunt crew occasionally comes in for a book or to chat with you during your shift. Jake's never been one of them. You want to make the joke that the guy never learned to read but you've seen him actually read the manual that came with the new heater they got installed at the lodge. More of a practical reader than a for funsies reader.
“Sup YN, came to show you the picnic set ups that got in.” he places the basket on the counter and his hands give a jazzy effect for emphasis. What a dork.
“You missed the reveal at Saturday Night Dead, so I thought I'd stop by and let you see the final product before we finalize everything next week. After all 'Pride Picnic' was your idea, makes since that you should get the final say.”
With all the excitement of the past week you'd forgotten that it was already June. And you all had been planning a picnic for pride instead of a parade this year. So, and to quote yourself here, “Even the quiet queers can celebrate.” You guys had been planning this practically since you met. Seeing as you'd pretty much solidified a spot in Kepler's LGBTQIA+ community and planning committee. Really it was just the usual suspects for Saturday Night Dead; The Hornets, Hollis, Jake, and Kirby. But The Hornets, Hollis, and Jake were the extroverted types so when you mentioned a picnic to include the introverts or even the closeted of the community Kirby jumped at the idea before they could argue. Which they hadn't, everyone had been psyched for a change of event and for something that was more of a big block party than a traffic jam for the small town.
“Well?” you ask with anticipation nearly killing you.
Jake can't help his excited huffed laughter, kind of sounds like the 'boof' of a dog. And in one grand motion he opens the wicker basket revealing the lovely Pride set. It was a typical eight person set including stackable cups, forks, spoons, knives, flatware, and even bowls. One of item of each was assigned a color, going through the rainbow from pink all the way down to violet. It'd been a bit of a battle for Hollis to get the manufacturer to include pink and violet for some reason but they'd managed to persuade them enough. Probably pulled the influencer card and the company's marketing team caved instantly. But it got done, so yay to sell outs. One thing that'd been unanimously agreed on was having the modern flag incorporated. Which when you pulled out the thick durable blanket, was a vision that you couldn't have ever dreamed up. It wasn't a flimsy cover that was so thin that you could see through, but it wasn't the rough texture that most thicker blankets tend to have. And it was ginormous. But then again the basket was supposed to fit eight people per. Meaning the blankets would have to be eight person as well.
“Dude it's perfect.” you really didn't need to say anything, Jake could see your excitement from the stimming sway you were currently doing. But you took no notice of your stim as you stared in aww at the basket before you.
“Are non committee members allowed to see?” Why even ask when you're already craning your neck for a peak.
You and Jake share a look before rolling your eyes and waving Nate on over to inspect the Pride Picnic box.
“Woah you guys did great on this.” Nate says as he undoes the wrap around the cups to give one a tap. When it gives the tap tap that only ceramics make he nods in approval at the quality.
“Hollis was the lesion with the manufacturer so it was in our favor from the start.” Jake responds, not only were these baskets ordered at a heavily discounted rate due to bulk buying but add on the influencer discount and yea it pays to be an extreme sports streamer. So the man was allowed to be proud of his partner.
“Blankets don't leave a lot of room for food though.” you note with a pout.
“Yea we noticed that Saturday too,” you may have been pouting but Jake looks like a whole kicked puppy. “But we have an idea for that...at least for the picnic.” wow human labradors bounce back fast.
“Everyone brainstormed and we thought doing like a potluck style picnic for sides and deserts, then Barclay said he'd take care of main dishes.” That did sound like a good idea but with the turn out you were expecting you weren't sure. Especially with the time frame being two weeks. It's such short notice.
“Jakey, we're talking like block party amount of people, maybe like half the town max here...won't that be too much for him?” He'd already donated so much for you to even be able to order all these baskets since this wasn't a city sanctioned event. Sure everyone in the committee chipped in for a basket each or in some cases splitting one, but the majority of funds came from Barclay even if he said it'd be a donation from the lodge to add catering to his plate it was all too much.
“He'll be fine, he offered. And you haven't seen the lodge in the winter. Barc's used to it.” despite his confidence in the mountain of a cook, you think you'd stop by the lodge this week and offer a hand.
Nate and Jake get side tracked on discussing the details of the picnic while you struggle to fold the huge blanket. Having to step outside of the counter to get better leverage. When two large hands come from either side of the blanket and stretch it more. Jumping back from the blanket like it burned you. Amused hazel eyes meet yours as the blanket lowers until you can make out Brian's grinning face, your pretty sure that's the most genuine look he's had.
“Sorry, looked like you needed some help.” he's still grinning and while it isn't mean spirited, the lack of any sheepishness let's you know he's not really sorry. He'd been trying to at least give you a little scare, the fuck boy.
“Hey...ya thanks.” you say making to grab the bottom of the blanket and lift it up.
The two of you fold the blanket back up in no time with a weird synchronization for two people who never said a word. You just followed his lead and in no time the blanket was placed on the counter by Brian. Nate and Jake lost in conversation on the other side of the store, from what you can hear Nate's telling Jake about the faucet in the backroom that won't stop leaking and Jake offered to help.
“Mind if I have a look?” cocking his head towards the basket.
“Oh go ahead.” You don't see any harm in letting him have a look, if he was a homophobic dick who'd trash the box it wouldn't make sense that he gave you a ride. Or help you fold a pride flag picnic blanket up.
Thinking back on it he knew a proper gender neutral substitute. Even if he wasn't an ally in the sense of actively participating with the queer community he was in the sense of his awareness and knowledge. You've already extended an offer to Tim maybe Brian would appreciate one too.
“We'll be having a Pride Picnic this year in place of a Parade. Anyone for it is welcome to come.”
“Yea I think I heard talk of a potluck, right?”
“mmhmm” just as you go to nod your tic kicks in and your neck snaps left then right, “Barclay, he runs the Amnesty Lodge, he'll be cooking the main dishes. From what I hear we'll have most dietary restrictions covered.” Brian's brow furrows a bit as he tilts his head to look at you, before he straightens it back.
“That's right you haven't been here long.” he says it stoically and more to himself.
A comment like that should send your mind racing with thoughts of you stalker, but Toby could've just as easily mentioned it. Brian seems lost in thought after this and you take the time to look elsewhere, and see Connor who's sitting at Brian's side staring up at him.
Mindlessly you start to push your thumb into your palm with the other fingers on that hand rhythmically. Brian has Connor, and Toby said it was for seizures. Is it rude to ask how he's doing right now? You two have only spoken once, sure he helped get you to work and home but you'd argue that Toby did most of the work in both those cases. Not to mention you'd had breakfast with Toby and got to actually have a conversation and learn about him. You'd maybe said seven sentences to Brian since meeting him. It would definitely be weird to ask if he was ok.
“You ok there su- YN?” you note he did correct himself from calling you 'sugar'.
Shaking yourself out of your thoughts you look up confused at him.
“Uh...yea why?”
“Your hand.”
Looking to see what he's talking about you see you've just been pressing your thumb into your palm fingers dancing along in a rhythm you've long since forgotten the origin of. Cracking you thumb a few times and flexing your fingers you look back to Brian.
“Sorry just thinking, that happens sometimes.” you interrupt the silence before it has a chance to settle, “So...yea...everyone's welcome to the Picnic. Dogs too on or off duty. It's next Sunday just show up to Amnesty Lodge at like ten thirty in the morning and then everyone's hiking on over to the Archway. It's a great clearing and big enough to hold everyone.”
“I'll talk ta the boys 'n see what they think.”
“Ok cool cool, and when I said next Sunday I did mean next Sunday,”
“And not this one, gotcha.” You give him a smile which he returns.
Maybe this fuck boy look a like wasn't so bad...or he was just used to Toby's masked expressions. Still too soon to tell, he might still turn out to be a fuck boy in personality too.
“Do I check out here or...” you've only just noticed the four books on the counter.
“Oh yeah sure thing.”
Once you're behind the counter you have a clear view of the books that Brian's brought over Ghost an American History of Haunted Locations, Bell Dame, Deer from Hunt to Table, and lastly the first book in the Magnus Chase series. Odd collection but you yourself would read three out of four of them so you really can't say much.
“Oh have you read Percy Jackson or the Kane Chronicles?” making small talk isn't your strong suit but if you can find a fellow Riordan fan you'll make the attempt.
“What? Oh, oh nah, these are for Toby. He's working right now but wanted me to pick some new books up for him.” you make a note to try to talk to Toby about the series in the future. If he is a Riordan fan you can't wait for him to get to the Trials of Apollo series. “But 'e's read Percy Jackson, so is this next?”
This man has no idea the can of worms he just unleashed upon himself.
“No. Now has he read just the Percy Jackson series, or has he also read The Heroes of Olympus books?” He stares blankly at you.
“He's read whatever Percy Jackson was in the title of.”
“Ok, c'mon.” swiping Magnus Chase from the counter you make your way to the fiction YA section. Placing the book on the empty spot it came from you glance the shelves before finding The Lost Hero.
“This would be next, there are five in this series,” you pass the book off to Brian so you can point back to the shelf, “Then he'll have the Kane Chronicles, Magnus Chase, and Trials of Apollo series to look forward to. Book counts in each are three, three, and five.”
“So....Heroes of Olympus,” you nod at his pause, “five books in the series, Kane Chronicles three, Magnus Chase three, and Trials of Apollo five. Got it.”
“If you need help grabbing the next title just get me I've got it memorized from how obsessed with the Riordaverse I am.”
“Big reader?” he asks with a smirk.
“Not at all, just a found a good writer. Toby would probably like Neil Gaiman's work too. Maybe Diana Wynne Jones.”
“I've tried to get 'im to read American Gods but he just won't have it.” well this is awkward.
“I was thinking more Good Omens and Coraline.” Yea so this is a silence. Best make haste. To the counter!
Checking Brian out for the proper next book in the series, plus those other three, you forego the attempt at small talk. However, this is Kepler and you live in the radio quiet zone...the dial up internet doesn't make this a fast check out on your electronic register.
You remember two of the other books had been paranormal, might be worth a shot to bring up Saturday Night Dead in an attempt to stall for the register.
“Did Tim let you guys know about Saturday Night Dead over at the Cryptonomica?”
“Yea, somethin' bout cheesy horror movies right?”
“mmhmm, normally they're the good kind of bad but this week kick starts months of horribly awful kind.” the computer has finally loaded.
“Jeez YN do you want people to come to the show or not.” Jake's laughing so he can't be angry that you're insulting the upcoming movie list.
Scanning the books through you don't look up when you state, “I just have the personal opinion that you shouldn't prey upon low income families and sell their nightmares for profit then run.” you do look up after bagging the books to say, “Allegedly. And your total's thrity-five o'seven.”
“What's the movie?” Brian inserts his card into the chip reader.
“Insidious.” you and Jake said it at the same time, but in two totally different tones.
“Not a fan huh?” smirking bastard, he is a fuck boy you decide.
“The movie's fine, the case file and the people who inspired it are not.”
Brian's removed his card and opens his mouth, probably to egg you on even more when Jake throws in his two cents.
“Yeah yeah YN. Hollis told me all about the powerpoint. How 'bout we save this rage for Saturday. It's only a couple weeks.”
“Jake....there are at least 10 Amityville movies.” That shakes his mood.
“...what?”
“There are three Annebelles, Conjuring, and Insidious movies. Don't forget The Nun, La Llorona, The Haunting in Connecticut, and by the time we finish all those, there could be another Nun movie or The Crooked Man will have come out.” it's so matter of fact and you dare any of them to challenge you on this. Sad thing is you aren't even sure if those make up all the case file movies. But you do know it's a majority of them.
“For someone who hates these people, you sure know their movies.” Nate calls from his stool as he resumes dusting. God damn him and his uncle ways.
“Nah I get it, lay all the facts out so it's easier to see the lies and deceptions.” Brian supplies the other two men. Reaching out for his receipt he smiles down at you...a bit more genuine you note. Like the one you saw earlier. You are on a roll with this guy.
Like a Vespa it hits you. The reason Brian seems so familiar and so frustrating. The reason he gets under your skin with just a look. You should have caught on sooner but you'd paid so much attention, or not enough attention, to everything around you both. Looking at his face you hand him the receipt. It isn't real. He isn't really him. He'd been lying. No not lying, acting.
Just as he crosses the threshold you call out, “Your mask is really fucking irritating!”
Through the windows you see him pause as your words catch up with him, and you watch as he turns to make eye contact with you. He smiles again, and it's a nasty thing. A twisted smile mixed with...not ill intent but definitely not a friendly grin. His hazel eyes have a lively gleam in them. And you understand what that smile means.
The game is so on. Fuck boy.
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1dffchallenges · 4 years
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Growing Pains
Written By: @rosegoldsweetpea​
Characters: (Daniella/Harry)
Summary: When a wish on a sixteenth birthday candle goes wrong, Daniella finds herself ten years into the future. Navigating a new boyfriend, her best friend who is no longer her best friend, and her crumbling relationship with her family, Daniella finds out that adulthood is not everything she ever imagined.
A “13 Going on 30″ AU
Warnings: Language
I had boobs.
I should preface this by saying that I’ve technically always had boobs. They existed before this moment. But they had always been tiny. They were what my mother affectionately called “mosquito bites.” As I held my new boobs in my hands, however, I could tell these were not mosquito bites. These were actual boobs that I saw on models in magazines. I wasn’t wearing a bra— which I hadn’t needed to wear anyway because the size of my boobs had always left something to be desired. Lifting my silk sleep shirt away from my boobs, I examined every inch of them. Sure enough, there was a small scar underneath, like someone had cut my boob open with a knife. 
“I got a boob job?” I whispered to myself.
“What did you say, babe?”
Along with suddenly having boobs, apparently there was someone in my house.
I screamed at the top of my lungs, the one thing my father taught me to do whenever there was a stranger around me. The man standing behind me had floppy brunette hair and tattoos covering his arms. Definitely not someone who would ever be allowed in my house, per my father’s rules. In fact, I think my father would have an aneurysm if I ever brought home a boy that had tattoos. This mystery boy’s eyes widened when I screamed in his face. “Babe, are you okay?” He moved like he was going to rush over to me and I took an immediate leap back.
“Who are you? Why are you in my house?” My voice screeched out, reaching an octave I knew was probably unpleasant to his ears. 
His eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?” He moved again, but I was quick to mirror his movements, scooting backwards. I nearly fell on my ass because there was a couch in the way of my step, but I managed to right myself before I did any real damage. “Daniella, are you okay?”
“How do you know my name?” I asked, grabbing the nearest object to use as a weapon. It happened to be a pillow, so it wasn’t very effective, but it made me feel better. I could throw it at him and block his vision while I found the kitchen in this place and got a knife. “Who are you?” I asked again.
“Liam. Your boyfriend of three and a half years.”
“I don’t know a Liam!” I argued, throwing the pillow in his direction. I didn’t stick around to see if he caught it or not before I was tumbling through the house. I wasn’t familiar with the layout of this house, like I had been with the floorplan of my childhood home, which I was fairly certain I had fallen asleep in last night. This was some kind of apartment, decorated with too many neutrals for my taste. There was a giant mirror I passed by, decorated around its edge with swirling cream wood and gold accents. I managed only a glance in its reflection as I moved, but what I saw made me stop in my tracks. 
In the reflection was me, only it wasn’t me. Last I remembered, I did not have a boob job, my hair was short, and my eyebrows had looked horrendous because I had accidentally plucked them too much. This Daniella had long hair that fell to her lower back and her eyebrows looked like they had been recently waxed. And then there was, obviously, the boob job. “What the hell is going on?” I exclaimed, sure that this mirror was some fancy one that only Bill Gates owned. It showed you what you wanted to look like. Or, if it was a real mirror and not a billionaire one, it was obviously broken or something. 
“Daniella, sit down,” Liam said placatingly, his voice soft and soothing. He didn’t touch me, which I appreciated, but he kept his arms out in the likely case that I would fall to my knees as I dragged myself to the tan couch in the middle of the living room of the random apartment. “Do you need water? Did you have a bad dream?”
“I don’t know what’s happening,” I stuttered out, my breathing coming quickly. I hadn’t had a panic attack since I was thirteen, when I had thought my best friend Harry was going to move away. “Where am I?”
“You’re in your apartment.” Liam gently sat on the couch next to me. “I woke up and you were gone. Then I came out here and you’re just standing in the living room. Do you think you had a sleepwalking episode?”
I didn’t sleepwalk. At least, I didn’t think I did. But this Liam guy was insinuating that I did, in fact, sleepwalk often enough for him to be concerned about it. “You’re really my boyfriend?” I asked hesitantly, my breathing still shallow. “You didn’t try to drug me and kidnap me, right?”
“What?” The word left his mouth in such a surprised and offended tone that I knew it wasn’t true. “No.”
“Tell me facts about myself, so I know you aren’t just lying,” I demanded, trying to keep my tears at bay and my breath from coming in and out shallowly.
He didn’t even take a second to think. “Your name is Daniella Araceli Rodriguez. Your birthday is February first. Your mother’s name is Alejandra. You once threw up on a cast member at Disneyland. When you were younger, you wanted to be a veterinarian, but then found out that they were the ones who euthanized animals and you started crying. You broke your arm in the seventh grade because your old best friend Harry dared you to flip over some monkey bars and you fell.” 
Okay, so obviously this boy knew me. Either that, or he was a fantastic stalker. 
“Liam, I think I’m going crazy,” I whispered, assured at least a little that this Liam guy actually knew me. “The last thing I remember is my sixteenth birthday. My friend Harry was there, and some girls from my school. Gianna’s brother was bringing beer...” I trailed off.
“How about I call Gianna? I’m sure she’d be able to help you. I want you to stay on the couch until she gets here, okay? I don’t think it’s a good thing you can’t remember anything.”
“I’m still friends with Gianna?” I asked breathlessly.
Liam’s brows furrowed again. “Babe, Gianna is your best friend. I’m gonna go call her, okay? Maybe she can call into work for the two of you.”
I could do nothing but nod as Liam stood from the couch and made his way over to the kitchen counter. I could see his phone resting there and a little tiny key rack with two sets of keys in it. Obviously, this Liam guy and I were very close. Close enough, I noticed, for us to live together. Upon my survey of the apartment, I realized there were pictures of us plastered everywhere, as well as a pretty cocoa-skinned girl with wild curls. Her face was familiar to me, albeit a little bit older. So Liam hadn’t been lying. I was really still friends with Gianna.
Harry was nowhere in the pictures.
This was weird to me for two reasons. First of all, Harry loved being in photos. Though we had both been pretty nerdy in high school, he was the life of the party. So I found it hard to believe he would have stayed out of the pictures that were now decorating my living room. The second reason I found it weird was because Harry was my best friend in the entire world. 
The circumstances of my friendship with Harry went as follows: we met in kindergarten when a nasty first grader had stolen my lunch in the cafeteria and Harry had stood up to him. The first grader ended up punching him in the nose. I had felt so bad that I had burst into tears and held up the end of my shirt for Harry to use as a tissue to block the blood as we awkwardly stumbled to the nurse’s office. Our mothers had arrived there at the same time, Anne Styles freaking out because her son’s nose was bleeding and my own mother Alejandra freaking out because the bottom of my shirt was bloody.
The next day, I asked my mother to make another sandwich and pack extra oreos. I sat next to Harry at lunch and thanked him for being so nice. And thus, our friendship had begun. 
It only grew stronger when I realized that he lived down my street, just a short walk and even shorter bike ride away. There wasn’t a day that went by where I wasn’t begging my parents to ride down to Harry’s house. Their answer was usually different renditions of “if Anne is okay with it, then we are too” and since Anne Styles was an angel on Earth, she was usually okay with it. 
“Babe,” I heard Liam say from the kitchen. He seemed to be off the phone, if him holding it in his hand was anything to go by. “Gianna called the both of you out of work and is on her way here.”
“Okay,” I mumbled, “are you gonna be here too?”
A guilty look crossed his face. “I...can be if you need me.”
“What do you do?”
He looked concerned again. As he should be. If he was telling the truth and we had been dating for the past three and a half years, shouldn’t I know what he did for work? “I’m a foster care recruiter.”
My mouth fell open. I was sure I looked like a fish. I was apparently dating someone who was incredibly good-looking, seemed nice, and worked as a foster care recruiter? “That sounds like a pretty important job. You should go.”
“You’re pretty important to me, too,” he argued.
“I’ll be fine. Really. I...remember Gianna and I’ll probably be more comfortable with her around anyway.” He still looked hesitant, so I reached out and grabbed his hand in my own. His fingers dwarfed mine. “Go. I’m fine. Hopefully Gianna can help me sort this out.”
He looked like he wanted to kiss me, but thought better of it. Instead, he pressed a hesitant kiss to my knuckles. “Alright. I’ll be back around six, okay? If you need me at all, call me. I’m serious, babe. My boss will understand.”
“I will.” Releasing his hand, I gave him a wobbly smile. I wondered if he could tell I was about to burst into tears. “I promise.”
Liam seemed as if he’d rather be shot in the foot than leave my side when I was so obviously going through something neither of us knew how to deal with, but he nodded and stood from the couch. He grabbed one set of the keys on the little rack and put his phone in the pocket, grabbing a blazer from a fancy and antique looking coat rack near the front door. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Okay,” I whispered pathetically.
And then the door closed behind him.
I spent the next twenty minutes trying to think about the last thing I remembered. We were having a sixteenth birthday party for me in the basement of my childhood home, and I had invited Gianna and a couple of her friends over. Obviously, Harry was there. We were setting up beer pong because Gianna insisted her brother would get us actual beer to play with. Harry had given me a beautiful mini-model of the house he was working on for his theatre tech class. It was pretty much his dream to become a set designer for theatre and cinema. He had produced a small strawberry cupcake from the fridge we had in the basement, which was my absolute favorite flavor in the world. 
What the hell had I wished for when I had blown out the candle? I couldn’t remember.
A knock on the door cleared the fog of my memory, and it was like I couldn’t stand up fast enough. It also felt like my legs were like jelly. By the time I made it to the door, I wouldn’t have been surprised if two minutes had passed even though the walk was only about twenty feet. Yanking it open, I was met with the familiar face of my friend from high school, holding two iced coffees and a little bakery bag. The second she saw me, she smiled.
“Hi, sweetie. You remember me, right? Liam said you were fuzzy on some things.”
I didn’t answer. I just threw myself into her arms.
“Oh thank God,” she cried out, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing me as tightly as she could manage. “I would have burst into tears if you said you didn’t remember me.” We stood there clinging to each other, forgetting that the iced coffee was melting and dripping condensation down my back. “I brought you an orange cranberry scone, your favorite. Hopefully this helps.”
I didn’t remember orange cranberry being my favorite. But this was Gianna, and I trusted her a hell of a lot more than I trusted myself right now.
“What is the last thing you remember?” she asked me when we settled onto my couch, the coffee and scone putting something in my empty stomach and making me feel a little better. “And don’t even worry about Nick being upset. I told him that you were having a family emergency.” I didn’t know exactly who Nick was, but using context clues, I was able to guess he was my boss.
“The last thing I remember is my sixteenth birthday party.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Funny. I would have thought you wouldn’t remember that. We got absolutely plastered.”
I didn’t even remember that. Harry gave me his mini-model house, I blew out the candle on my cupcake, my mother and I got into an argument about something…
“I wished my mom would start treating me like an adult,” I said to myself, the words finally clicking into my head. Harry’s fingers, wrapped around the bottom of the cupcake wrapper, grinning as I closed my eyes and blew out through my mouth. Harry complained because I spit on him, but had gotten his revenge when he smashed the cupcake into my face.
“What?” Gianna asked.
“Nothing. Sorry.” My head was spinning. “What do we do?”
“We’re designers for Nicholas Jennings. We’re currently working on some pieces for his summer showcase.”
“Nicholas Jennings?” I breathed out. Nicholas Jennings had just been starting out his career when I was sixteen, but he had already been predicted to be one of the top designers by the end of the decade. He was known for his avant-garde looks that were still wearable for the workplace. “We work for Nicholas Jennings?”
“Work for him? Sweetie, you’re basically his muse,” Gianna stated excitedly. “His entire winter collection was based on that movie you recommended to him. The Iron Giant?”
Another thing that was familiar. Harry and I would sit on the couch in my basement and watch Iron Giant at least twice a week. He always made fun of me for crying, but I knew it made him tear up too. I could only imagine what Nicholas Jennings had come up with if he were using the film as a concept for an entire clothing collection. However, I doubted Nicholas Jennings had fattened himself up with oversalted and greasy, buttered popcorn when watching the movie like Harry and I had.
“And…” I leaned forward, as if it were a secret, whispering even though it was only the two of us in the apartment. “And I got a boob job?”
“And they look fantastic. I know you’re insecure about the scarring it left, but Liam doesn’t mind and your tits look great.”
My hands went up to cup them again, sure I was still imagining this whole thing. Gianna just laughed. 
“Listen, we are going to take today and research what’s going on, yeah? I was reading something about Kleine Levin Syndrome last week, which could be it, but Liam said you weren’t sleepwalking…”
Gianna’s voice trailed off as a lightbulb went off in my head. Research. Research like contacting the only person who could talk me through what the hell was going on at this moment in time. I ignored Gianna’s surprise when I abruptly stood from the couch and walked to the kitchen counter, where my phone was resting. I had an iPhone when I was sixteen, but this was some fancy one that didn’t have a home button. It took me at least six tries to get it open, but when it finally did, I didn’t hesitate to click the phone button.
Gianna stared at me as the other line rang, the little intervals between obnoxious dial tones spent biting my thumb nail. 
“Hey, it’s Harry. Sorry I can’t get to the phone, but leave a message and I’ll get back to you later.”
“Harry!” I shouted, surprised that he still had the same phone number and excited that this meant I could talk to one person who knew me better than anyone else. “It’s Daniella. I really need to talk to you, so call me back when you can. I have the same number. Er, if you don’t remember the number, it’s 205-1340.” I awkwardly pressed the end call button and tossed my phone back onto the counter.
“Harry Styles? That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Gianna stared at me with sympathetic eyes. “Sweetie, we haven’t talked to Harry since high school.”
I think she was expecting me to gasp or something, but instead I snorted. Yeah, right. Harry and I not talking? There was a higher chance I would spontaneously combust. Maybe we weren’t as close as we used to be when I was sixteen, but even that was highly unlikely. Harry was the one person I told everything to. “Okay,” I said, just to placate her, but I was still chuckling a little bit in disbelief.
She gave me a look. “Okay, but...don’t be surprised if he doesn’t call back, okay?”
“He’ll call,” I promised, more certain about this fact than anything else in my life. The most serious fight Harry and I had ever gotten into was when I had accidentally killed his goldfish. He hadn’t spoken to me for three weeks, and the only reason he finally did was because I went to go apologize and burst into tears. Harry was awful when someone was crying. 
“Which reminds me,” Gianna said after several moments, pulling out her phone, “I need to call Nick and say that we’re not going to make it to the party tonight.”
“Party?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah. We were invited to the launch of Christian Siriano’s new collection. But Nick will completely understand if you aren’t feeling well.”
I was invited to a collection launch party? I felt the smile on the face widen. At least in the midst of waking up ten years older, I had a pretty decent life. “We don’t have to cancel. As long as you stick by my side, it should be okay.”
“I don’t want to overwhelm you.”
“I want to go,” I promised. “Maybe it’ll help me remember something.”
Gianna looked uncertain, but also was biting her lip like she was considering my idea. After a few moments of considering me, she groaned. “Fine. But Liam will want to come to make sure that you’re alright. I’ll call Nick and Rachael.”
“Rachael?”
“Your assistant.”
“Right.” I had an assistant. Sixteen-year-old Daniella was snorting at me right now. “I can call Rachael, if you want to call Nick. What time is the party?”
“Not until eight.” She looked at her watch and sighed. “I’ve got to head out. I’m meeting a potential new employee for lunch. You’ll be okay here by yourself, right?” She looked so worried that I sent her a small grin. 
“I’m doing better. Seeing a familiar face helped. And I know Harry will call back and he’ll help.”
Her face fell. “Right. Harry will call.” She didn’t sound convinced. “Well, if you’re sure you’ll be okay, then I’m off. Call me if you need anything, okay? Or Liam.”
“I will, Gianna. I promise.” I couldn’t stop myself from reaching forward and giving her a giant hug. I honestly didn’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t been here to calm me down. “Thank you.”
“I’m always here for you, sweetie,” she whispered, squeezing me back before releasing. “I’ll see you tonight. I’ll have my driver pick you up at around seven forty-five so you don’t have to worry about getting an Uber or anything.”
Gianna left, shutting the door behind her quietly. I could do nothing but stand in the middle of my apartment, staring at the home I’d somehow managed to create for myself, despite my not remembering it. I tried searching through the pictures on my wall to see if I had any with my mother and father, but before I could I remembered Gianna’s words about calling Rachael and took my phone out.
She answered on the second ring. “Hello Miss Rodriguez. How can I help you?”
It was then I realized I had absolutely nothing to say to her. “What are you doing tonight?” was the only thing that blurted out of my mouth.
“Um...staying here to work on that collection concept you asked me to?”
“Oh. Why aren’t you going to the party?” I questioned. If Rachael worked there as my assistant, then wouldn’t she have gotten an invite? Why would she willingly choose to stay and work when there was a freaking Christian Siriano launch party?
“I wasn’t invited, Miss Rodriguez.”
“Well that’s stupid,” I claimed. “I am officially inviting you.”
“You’re...you’re inviting me to a launch party?” She sounded confused, like I’d never interacted with her before. Which was insane. Had Gianna been wrong when she said Rachael was my assistant? “You’ve never done that before.”
“Sure I have!” I did not, in fact, know if I ever had. Then, I had the best idea ever. “Oh! Can you do me a huge favor please?”
“Yes ma’am. What do you need?”
“Could you find out where Harry Styles lives?” Surely Harry wouldn’t mind if I dropped by. I was getting a little anxious as the minutes ticked by without a reply, as Harry usually had his phone glued to him. Since we were both apparently twenty-six now, it was entirely possible he was at work, but I would still feel comfortable knowing I could see him in person rather than texting over the phone. 
“Of course. I’ll email you his address. Is there anything else you need, Miss Rodriguez?”
“Nope, that’s it, Rachael. Thank you! I’ll see you tonight!”
“Right…see you tonight, Miss Rodriguez.”
When I hung up the phone, I had no clue what to do. Being in a body I didn’t really know, in an apartment I wasn’t familiar with, was terrifying. So I decided to take the time to snoop around my own place, starting in the kitchen. I opened up cupboards and drawers, finding fancy chrome silverware and glass plates that were neatly stacked in the cupboard above my kitchen sink. The entire kitchen was decorated with black paint and dark wood, something I never thought my own kitchen would look like. It was sleek and modern and so far from my colorful blue-cabinet and white tile kitchen at my childhood home that it was almost shocking.
Opening up the fridge, I examined its contents. Inside was nothing but vegetables and almond milk. I was pretty sure I had never once had almond milk and there were purple vegetables in one of the drawers. Did purple vegetables even exist? I closed it, suddenly frightened of what Liam and I seemed to eat on a day-to-day basis. Moving out from my kitchen, I examined the living room with passing interest. The one thing I was really concerned about was my bedroom.
This room was nearly as dark as the kitchen, with canned lights dimmed when I flicked the light switch on. It was attached to a bathroom which had a heavenly looking tub. Deciding to start in the bathroom, I rummaged through some of the drawers, finding an expensive Tom Ford cologne that I assumed belonged to Liam. in my own drawers there was a variety of face creams and serums that I had only ever dreamed about purchasing when I was sixteen. 
Before I could examine my bedroom too closely, my phone chirped. I had honestly forgotten I was holding it, so the sound made me jump before I realized it was probably Rachael with Harry’s information. I tried to hurriedly unlock my phone again, still struggling a little with the technology, but managed to get Rachael’s new email opened.
Harry Styles, 515 W 52nd Street. Avalon Clinton apartment complex.
Grinning, I managed to quickly strip my silk sleepwear off and change into the first outfit I found, not bothering to even zip up my boots all the way as I exited my building.
~
Harry’s apartment complex was an incredible building. My jaw dropped when I saw it, figuring that to live somewhere like this, he must have been doing pretty well at whatever he was doing. 
I found the intercom well enough, pressing the button that had H. Styles written on it in cursive script. It crackled to life underneath my touch, and just like drinking a cool sip of water after being dehydrated for thirty days, hearing the deep baritone of Harry’s voice instantly soothed me. “Hello? Who is it?”
“It’s me!” I screamed, nearly sinking in the relief that this was the Harry that I was looking for. “Daniella!” 
“Shit, the fucking thing’s broken again. I can’t hear you, but ring twice if you’re from Amazon. I’ve been waiting on that package for days.”
I didn’t know what he had bought on Amazon and it was most likely important, but I didn’t care. I hit the button twice and the door immediately opened up. Once I checked to make sure I was headed towards the right floor, I scurried inside and into the lobby.
There was a front desk, and the concierge smiled at me when I walked in, but I was on a mission. I hastily made my way to the elevators, pressing the fifth floor button and willing the doors to close faster than they were. Sure I resembled a drunk cheetah with the rush in which I was moving, I almost crashed into Harry’s door when the elevator finally stopped and let me off on his floor.
“Harry!” I demanded, pounding on the door in a series of succinct knocks that portrayed my urgency.
The door swung open and I immediately took a step back. There, standing on the other side of the door, was my best friend in the entire world. Long gone were the shoulder-length strands of curly brown hair that I had grown up with, instead cut short. He had some glasses perched on his nose and something that looked like paint on his hand. He was wearing comfortable looking jogger pants and a white shirt, no shoes or socks on his feet.
In my pleasure to see him, it took me a couple of moments to realize that he did not look equally as pleased to see me.
“Daniella,” he said stiffly, opening the door a little wider and leaning on the threshold. “I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting this.”
I launched myself at him.
He let out a “oof” when our bodies collided, but I was holding onto Harry and suddenly everything seemed okay in the world. My arms wrapped around his neck in a vice-like grip, holding him to me like he might disappear if I loosened my hold even a little. He robotically moved his arms around my shoulders to hug me back, but his stiff posture turned soothing when he realized that on top of squeezing him with all my might, I was also sobbing. 
I prided myself on not being a weepy person, but this entire morning had warranted a good cry, in my personal opinion.
“C’mon inside,” he said softly, gently prying my hands off him. Once we were both inside his apartment, he shut the door and moved to his kitchen. I wondered if I should follow him. Just when I had mustered up enough nerve to take a step, however, he had returned with a tissue in his fingers. “Want to sit?”
I nodded and let him lead me to the colorful orange couch he had in the middle of his living room. Well...living room was a little bit of an overstatement. He lived in a studio apartment, so everything was an open floor plan, save for the small door I saw that led to a bathroom. His place had much more color than mine did, and I found myself jealous at the styling choices. This place was much more me.
“Feeling better?” Harry asked, sitting on the opposite end of the couch. This in itself was weird, considering sitting on a couch with Harry almost always ended up with us sitting as close as we physically could. This was because we were both blanket-hoggers and being close meant neither one of us was trying to jip the other out of their respective half of the blanket. 
“I don’t know what’s going on, H,” I told him, my voice cracking as the emotions of this morning hit me all at once. “I...I think I’ve got amnesia or something. I don’t remember anything past my sixteenth birthday. And then I’ve got Gianna telling me that you and I don’t talk anymore?” I looked over at him and let out a crazed laugh. “How crazy is that?”
“We don’t talk anymore, Daniella,” he replied. “We stopped being friends shortly after your sixteenth birthday.”
Tears gathered in my eyes again. “No, I refuse to believe that. We’re Harry and Daniella. You’re my best friend in the entire world.”
He looked genuinely sorry to be telling me this, but shook his head. “No, Daniella. Not anymore.”
This time, I let the tears fall. My fingers curled in on themselves, balling into fists as I tried to stop myself from biting them or ripping my hair out. We sat in silence for several moments, my heart racing in anxiety because here was Harry, the person I knew most in the world and who knew me in return, and he was saying that we weren’t friends anymore. The bike rides, the late nights watching movies, the careful and soothing hugs he gave me...they were all gone. This Harry didn’t know me, not like I knew him. And who was to say I even knew him anymore?
“Why?” It was the only question I could seem to let escape.
Harry sighed, rubbing his hands over the thighs of his jeans. “I don’t know, Daniella. We just grew apart.” 
“People like us don’t just grow apart, H.”
“We did.”
“There’s got to be a reason!” I exclaimed, and I could hear that my breathing was labored. My chest felt like it was constricting, like someone had taken hold of my lungs and was crushing them between their hands.
He sensed the anxious change in my breathing and his eyes widened. “Hey, hey, Daniella. Take deep breaths for me, okay?” His body shifted off the couch and suddenly he was on his knees in front of me, holding my arms in his hands. He was tall enough to nearly be at eye-level with me. “C’mon, Dani. Breathe. Can you tell me five things you see?”
I was sure I looked a mess, with tears streaming down my cheeks and on the verge of a mental breakdown. “What?” 
“Tell me five things you see, Dani. Count them for me.”
I still couldn’t breathe properly, so his words sounded muffled like we were underwater. But I managed to get the point of his demand. My eyes shifted from his impossibly green ones to find something to latch onto. “You’ve got yellow and red throw pillows on your bed.”
“Good. Count four more for me.”
It was impossible to ignore the soft cadence of his voice. “You’ve got granite countertops. You’ve got playbills on your bookshelf.” It made me wonder if his dreams of designing sets had really worked out. “You’ve got clay on the counter. And there are sculpting tools next to it.”
“There she is,” he said softly, a hand hesitantly raising to brush my hair back from my face, where it was sticking because of the tears. “Now count five things you can feel.”
“The couch. My nail polish. Your shirt.” I brushed my finger against the shoulder of it. “My hair. The paint on your hands.”
He looked down at them, as if remembering. “I scrubbed, but it wouldn’t come off.”
“Typical,” I choked out, giving him a tight smile. My breathing was beginning to even out and return to normal, but I still felt like someone had placed the weight of the world on my shoulders. “What happened, H? Tell me.” I had to know. I had to know why we suddenly weren’t friends, like we had been for our entire lives.
I heard a sigh escape him, but luckily his fingers didn’t retreat. I think if he pulled away, I might have started up on the attack again. “I don’t know, Daniella. We just grew apart. I guess it was you hanging out with Gianna in high school. You just stopped bothering with me. Or maybe it was the funeral—”
“What funeral?” I interrupted.
“C’mon Dani,” he whispered brokenly, “you know what funeral. Don’t make me say it.”
“I don’t remember anything, Harry. I swear to you. I woke up this morning and my...my boyfriend of three and a half years that I don’t remember at all was trying to get me to calm down because I didn’t know who I was. I look like me and feel like me, but at the same time...I don’t? For Christ’s sake, Harry, I’ve gone and gotten myself a boob job!”
He cleared his throat, his cheeks turning pink. “Obviously I hadn’t noticed, Dani. I’m not looking there.”
“It’s hard to miss them!” I was glad this seemed to get a laugh out of him, but he turned serious once again.
“You really don’t remember anything?”
“Not a thing past the night of my sixteenth birthday. The last thing I remember is you giving me my cupcake and then blowing out the candle and you trying to smash it in my face and then...nothing.”
His thumbs on my shoulders began to rub across the fabric of my jacket. It was cold in his apartment, but it was a comfortable kind of cool. To be honest, I hadn’t felt as comfortable this morning as I was sitting here now, with my best friend looking at me like I was something fragile that was about to shatter. At this moment, I didn’t care if he thought I was weak. If it meant that he would explain what the hell was going on and tell me that we could be friends again, I would cry a thousand more tears.
“Dani,” he whispered in a tiny voice, “I’m so sorry.”
“What funeral?” I asked again.
He flinched, like he was avoiding the question. Then, his arms moved to caress my face, anticipating my reaction to his next words. He cradled my cheeks like I was going to fall apart. “Your dad’s.”
I couldn’t speak. I just stared at him, processing his words. That couldn’t be right. I had just spoken to my father less than twelve hours ago, when he had helped me set up a board game table in our basement as asked if we had a couple minutes for a quick round of Operation. My father was always a sore winner. He had purposely jostled the table so I would hit the metal and lose my turn. 
“No, you’re lying,” I mumbled, but I knew deep down that Harry would never lie to me. He was honest to a fault.
“You...you weren’t at the funeral. You and he were in an argument of some kind and you didn’t show up.”
I shook my head, his hands moving with me as he cupped my cheeks. He anticipated the tears, catching them with his thumb the second they started to fall. “No, H,” I groaned out, the feeling of panic twelve times worse with the new news. “No, no, no.” I was a blubbering mess. He didn’t move from his spot, slotted between my thighs and holding my face tightly in his hands. “No, there’s got to be some mistake. I would have gone. I would have.”
“Maybe you did,” he said in a soothing voice, brushing my tears away. “I left pretty early. Maybe you just showed up late.” But we both knew his words were empty. He didn’t truly mean them. “Let’s get you a glass of water, yeah?”
“No!” I clutched onto his fingers, gripping them tight enough to leave bruises. He didn’t pull away or wince in pain. 
“Alright,” he said soothingly, “I won’t go anywhere.”
He allowed me to sit on his couch, crying my eyes out until there were no more tears that could possibly come. Last night, I went to bed with everyone I ever loved in the world content and safe. Now, I had lost my friendship with Harry, I didn’t remember this insanely nice boyfriend I apparently had, and my father was dead. I hadn’t gone to his funeral because of some stupid argument. What argument could have been enough to keep me from attending his funeral?
“What have I done to ruin everything?” I questioned in a teary voice, shaking my head at myself. What the fuck had I done in my life to deserve this? There had to be a reason.
“Don’t think like that, Dani. It wasn’t your fault.”
But obviously it was. Obviously there was something I had done to piss off the universe so much that they took the most important people away from my life. I stood up quickly, suddenly feeling like Harry’s apartment was suffocating me. He let me go without question, but his eyes were trained on me like he was afraid I was going to have another panic attack. “I have to go,” I stuttered out, my body moving towards the door before the sentence fully left my mouth. 
“I think you should stay here until you feel better,” Harry said, kind enough to worry about me even though apparently we weren’t friends anymore.
“I’m sorry for showing up unexpectedly.” They were the only sentiments I managed to get out before I was out of his apartment, rushing towards the elevator. I didn’t know why I was running away from Harry. All I knew was that it was imperative that I get out of his apartment and away from the life I’d apparently fucked up.
The elevator doors were closing when I heard him call my name. 
I let the tears fall once again.
~
Since I was a little girl, I had dreamed of getting invited to a party as fancy as a Christian Siriano launch party. Now, here I was, waiting for Gianna to pick me up for said party, and I felt like shit.
I had reluctantly gotten ready for the party, pulling out a fancy dress and one of my many pairs of heels that I already wanted to rip off my feet. I was already missing the Vans my mother had gotten me for my birthday that I had been wearing when whatever this weird dream had happened to me. Due to my low mood, I hadn’t felt like doing much to my hair, so it was just up in a high ponytail that would have to do. This weird twenty-six-year-old skin of mine didn’t need foundation, but I made sure to coat my eyelashes in waterproof mascara in case I started sobbing again, which I had in spurts since leaving Harry’s apartment.
My father was dead. The only reason I was even going to this stupid party and not on the soonest train ride back to my mother was because maybe something at this party would shake my memory loose and I would remember something. In reality, I wanted to curl up in a corner and cry some more. Still, when Gianna’s limo pulled up in front of my building, I plastered a smile on my face and opened the door with mock enthusiasm.
“You look amazing, sweetie!” Gianna said excitedly when I opened the door. She was wearing a bright yellow dress that set off the dark color of her skin perfectly, along with gold accessories. “Love that color on you!”
The first dress I had picked was a bright fire-engine red high-necked dress with tulle puffed sleeves. The shoes were a satin material in the same color as the dress. If I had been in a better headspace, I would have screamed because the label on the dress said Versace, but right now it didn’t matter who the hell had made the dress. I plastered on a smile. “Thanks. You look fantastic.”
“Get your ass in the car! Nick is so happy you decided to come tonight. Christian is looking forward to it, too!” She slid over in the seat as I situated myself inside the car. The second the door shut behind me, her driver was taking off to the destination of the launch party. “Liam is coming tonight, too. He texted me and said he wanted to surprise you, but I figured that with everything going on, a surprise is the last thing you needed.”
This was smart of her. If Liam showed up and started being as incredibly kind and sweet as he had been this morning, I might have thrown up. Did he know about my father? Had I talked to him about the mysterious argument that had estranged us? I felt the tears welling in my eyes again at the thought of it, so I choked them back and tried to focus on Gianna, who was talking a mile a minute about who would be at the launch.
“Rachael is coming too. She said that you invited her this morning,” Gianna said, looking at me to confirm. When I nodded, I was surprised to see a frown grace her features. “Sweetie, that’s fine and all, I’ve got no problem with Rachael. But she hasn’t exactly been to one of these before. And she’s a bit meek. They might eat her alive.”
I frowned. “Rachael is nice. I wanted to invite her.” I had no clue if Rachael was actually nice, but I knew she shouldn’t be excluded from the party even if she was meek and hadn’t been to one before. “Besides, she did a big favor for me this morning. She found Harry’s address.”
Gianna’s eyes widened. “No shit. Did you go and see him?”
“Yeah. You were right. We aren’t friends anymore.” The words hurt even saying them out loud. “When he answered the door and saw me...he looked annoyed, like I was something from his past he couldn’t shake off.” I guess that’s what I was, now. And even though he had been so sweet, trying to comfort me and holding me tightly, it didn’t change the fact that he hadn’t wanted to see me when I knocked at his door.
“Oh, sweetie. Things will work out, I’m sure of it.”
I wondered if Gianna calling me “sweetie” was a normal thing. I hated it.
We pulled up to the party, smiling fakely at photographers that were loitering outside as we walked into the building, clearing the security easily. The inside was decorated in bright avant garde styles, bleeding color into every corner of the venue. It was a beautiful setup that I would have been dying to explore if I hadn’t been so muddled emotionally. I was so wrapped up in the decorating that I jumped when arms wrapped around my waist from behind, pulling me close to a hard body.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better, babe,” I heard Liam say in my ear. “You look absolutely beautiful.” I turned in his arms, immediately throwing them around his neck. I didn’t know anything about this man, but he had offered me kindness and hadn’t given up on me this morning, despite how hard I knew it must have been. He looked extremely pleased at my reception towards him, pressing a delicate kiss on the top of my head. “You need a drink?”
“Sure.” 
As soon as he had appeared, he was gone, Gianna headed over to the bar with him. And then I was alone, standing in the middle of the launch party twiddling my thumbs and feeling like I belonged anywhere but there at that moment. I saw someone moving towards me, a timid looking blonde with giant glasses taking up half her face. Still, she looked wonderful in her pale blue dress. 
“Hi, Miss Rodriguez. Thanks for inviting me,” she said softly when she made her way over towards me. Ah, so this was Rachael. She looked every bit as nice as her voice sounded, and I sent her a genuine smile.
“It’s nothing at all, Rachael. You look great.”
Her eyes lit up, and I wondered how terrible I had to usually be to have her look so terrified of me. “Oh, thank you Miss Rodriguez!”
“You can call me Daniella, Rachael. We’re co-workers, aren’t we?”
“Oh.” She looked surprised. “You told me to never call you Daniella.”
As if my night couldn’t get any worse. “Right. I wasn’t feeling myself that day. I apologize. Feel free to call me Daniella.” Suddenly uncomfortable with the revered way she was looking at me, like I was some kind of fashion god giving her access into the world I lived in, I gestured towards the bar. “Want a drink?”
“Sure!” she said quickly, smiling brightly. “Mind if I go with you? I don’t really know anyone here.”
Me neither, I wanted to say, but refrained. “Of course. C’mon.” Following in the direction Liam and Gianna had disappeared to, we made it to the bar with ease. “What do you want?”
“I’ll take a strawberry martini.”
I had no idea what cocktail I wanted. My alcohol experience consisted of sneaking shitty beer into my basement and champagne at my cousin’s wedding. “Make that two,” I told the bartender, smiling softly as he got to work. “Hey, Rachael, can I ask you something?”
“Of course, Miss Ro—Daniella,” she corrected herself. The bartender handed our drinks over and she immediately took a sip. I didn’t bother with mine yet, on a mission.
“Do you know why I wasn’t talking to my father when he died?”
She flinched. “Ah...no. I just remember reminding you about the funeral and...um...you weren’t too happy.”
How selfish was I in this new life that the idea of my father’s funeral made me angry? “Right. If you’ll excuse me, I’m just...going to go powder my nose.”
I left Rachael nodding after me as I walked through the venue. I saw my boss (I still couldn’t believe I worked for Nicholas Jennings) and tried my best to stay out of his sight, lest he greet me and ask me questions I didn’t know the answer to. Walking into different hallways and still not able to find the bathroom, I decided to just lean up against a pillar on the second floor of the building, looking down at the launch with a sense of bittersweetness.
I had seemingly gotten everything I wanted. At what cost?
The second I heard whispers, I ducked behind the pillar, not willing to join in conversation with people. However, I recognized the voices almost immediately as Liam and Gianna.
“I still don’t know what happened to her, Gianna. It worries me.”
“I know. It worries me too. But...we’re still going to tell her, right?”
I peeked out from the pillar and saw them standing at the entrance of the hallway, Liam’s hands wrapped around Gianna’s wrists. The lights were reflecting brilliantly off her dress.
“You want to tell her that we’ve been having an affair for eleven months when just this morning she didn’t recognize either of us?” Liam asked incredulously.
“I know the timing is shit. I know it, Liam. But I can’t hold my feelings in any longer. Besides, you know she was seeing Rachael’s boyfriend for that little three-month period a couple years back.”
“And we discussed that. I forgave her. Sleeping with your assistant’s boyfriend twice isn’t really the same as sleeping with your best friend’s boyfriend of almost four years.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I pushed off the pillar, walking in the opposite direction on my tiptoes so I didn’t draw attention to myself. The hallway swung back around in a circle to the staircase, so I quickly rushed down them when I was in the clear and made my way out of the building, letting the New York air cool my skin.
I hadn’t thought going to this party would make me feel worse, but I had been proven wrong.
Without thinking, I pulled out my phone and called Harry.
He picked up on the second ring. “Dani? Thank god. I was worried when you left earlier. That wasn’t exactly the best news to hear.”
“Do you want to get dinner with me?” I asked bluntly, ignoring his concerns. “I just...I need to get away from reality for a while.”
The other line was silent, and I was terrified he was going to reject me. He would remind me that we weren’t friends, that he hated me and thought I was selfish, and then tell me that he never wanted to see me again. The longer I heard nothing but his breathing, the more certain I was that these events were about to unfold. So I was surprised when I heard him say, “Sure. Meet me at Blue Elephant. It’s the Thai place a couple of blocks down from my apartment.”
For the first time that night, I felt a genuine smile spread across my features.
~
I tried not to laugh when the noodle from Harry’s pad thai dangled from his mouth, but the snort escaped me before I could stop it.
He had gotten to the restaurant much quicker than I had. He wasn’t lying when he had told me it was just down a couple blocks. He had raised a brow at my fancy attire, since he was just in jeans and a black shirt splattered with tiny little paint flecks. His fingernails had clay under them, which would have been gross if I hadn’t known it was because Harry spent nearly all his free time sculpting. The comfort of this sight nearly had me in tears again, but I shrugged it off in favor of ordering what Harry suggested from the menu. I had ended up with what the restaurant called “glass noodles,” which was their low-carb options that had lots of vegetables mixed in. Harry had gone for the classic pad thai, which if the way he was slurping was any indication, he enjoyed.
“How are you doing?” Harry asked hesitantly, like he was unsure how to ask the question.
I shrugged. “I woke up this morning not knowing anything about my life, not being friends with you, finding out my father is dead, and seeing Liam and Gianna discuss how they were going to tell me that they’re having an affair.”
“Shit. That’s terrible, Dani.”
The wry laugh left my lips before I could stop it. “The thing that kills me is that I deserve it. I let a stupid, petty argument that I can’t even remember keep me from the funeral. Apparently I slept with someone in a relationship. It was my assistant’s boyfriend, by the way. And I don’t know what I did to ruin our friendship, but obviously it was my fault.” I twirled some of my pasta around my fork. “I work for Nicholas Jennings as a designer. I just came from a Christian Siriano launch party. I managed to get everything I’ve ever wanted, but it feels terrible.”
“You didn’t ruin our friendship single handedly,” Harry assured. “It was the both of us.”
“I can’t even argue with you, because I don’t remember.”
He sighed, pushing his plate away from him. “It was your party. Everyone had left to go get beer with Gianna’s brother.” I sat up eagerly in my chair, ready to hear his version of events so I could decipher when it all went wrong. “I had just given you the mini-model for my theatre class and then I let you blow out the cupcake and smashed it in your face.”
“And?” I asked impatiently. “And then what? That’s the last thing I remember.”
His hand reached up to rub the back of his neck. “And then I kissed you.”
My mouth had been open, ready to comment on whatever he had said, but no sound came out. I stared at my best friend, who suddenly looked so embarrassed and small, and my heart ached in my chest. “You kissed me?” I whispered, food completely forgotten in front of me.
“I kissed you,” he repeated. “You had strawberry frosting on your face and you just...looked so beautiful. I’ve always thought you were. And there was a moment when you were trying to wipe it off that I thought I might have seen something in your eyes...but I was wrong. I kissed you and you pulled away. You looked so regretful, like you were running through a thousand ways to let me down easy in your head because you were always too kind to me. I tried to tell you to forget it, that it didn’t mean anything, but you were determined to talk about it.”
“Did we?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t let you. I knew the second I pulled away I had made a mistake. But you kept...pushing. And I got angry, said some things I didn’t mean. You got angry back, and said some other things. Then you shoved the mini-model in my hands and told me to leave. The glue was shit, so it crumbled a little. I’m sure it was an accident, but...after the rejection, it felt like it was on purpose.”
“Harry, I would have never—”
“I know,” he interrupted, giving me a hesitant smile. “I know, Dani. It was just me being pathetically in love with you.”
The words made me wish the ground would swallow me whole. “In love with me?” My voice was so quiet, I was surprised he heard it.
“Yeah, Dani. In love with you.”
The Harry from my memories suddenly shifted, as if with his confession I was seeing him in a new life. My quinceañera, when I had asked him to be my escort and he had to help me zip the back of my dress up. The first day of high school, when he had ridden his bike to my house and looked at me like he was seeing someone new. That moment he had just told me about, looking at him with strawberry frosting on his chin because I had managed to swipe some there.
Was there some other emotion hiding in those eyes every time he looked at me?
“I’m sorry,” I said, unable to say anything else.
“You don’t have to be sorry for not loving me, Dani. It wasn’t your responsibility.”
“But I should have fought harder for your forgiveness.” The tears did come then. I felt like that was all I had done today, just sob and sob. “I should have fought for us. I don’t want to be the person that doesn’t fight.”
I stood from my chair, slapping down a twenty dollar bill to cover the price of my meal. He watched me with clouded eyes, part-betrayed that I was leaving him once again and part-understanding that being in that restaurant was going to suffocate me with the weight of what had happened today. As I made my way towards the exit, he let me go.
I wondered if he would have before the night of my sixteenth birthday.
My lip wobbled as I hailed a cab, pulling out my phone to see all of the missed text messages from both Gianna and Liam. There was even one from Rachael, who had seen me leave in a hurry and asked if I was alright. My heart clenched in my chest when I saw her name across the screen. I wondered if she had any clue that I had apparently slept with her boyfriend. Assuming that she would have quit if she had known, I was going to guess she didn’t know. The texts from Liam were all variations of him asking me where I was. 
I couldn’t even be angry with him for cheating on me with Gianna. Who knew what kind of person I was now? What if I had pushed him away, like I had with Harry, like I had with my father? If he found comfort and love in Gianna, who was I to tell him he was wrong? 
My feet were carrying me somewhere I didn’t know, walking in the direction of my apartment that wasn’t home. When the first drop of rain splattered on my nose, I didn’t even feel it. 
I just felt numb.
~
The house before me was very non-threatening. It was a small thing, brick on the outside and a bright red door. When I was younger, the kids at school used to tease me and call it the “Three Little Pig” house, the one left standing at the end of the story that the wolf couldn’t blow down. I hated it when I was little, but I found it comforting now. Even with all that had changed in my life, this seemed to still be the same.
Knocking on the door shouldn’t have been terrifying, but it was suddenly the most scary thing I’d ever done. Before my fist could meet it for a third time, the red door swung open to reveal my mother, looking at me with a softness in her eyes that I was sure I didn’t deserve.
“Harry called me earlier. Said you might be coming here.” Her words were matter-of-fact, like there was no arguing. And there wasn’t. I wasn’t entirely sure how Harry had guessed that I was going to visit my mother, but I supposed he still knew me like the back of my hand. “Said you’ve got amnesia?”
I couldn’t stop the laugh that came from my throat. Amnesia was a weird way of putting it, but it was the only explanation I could give. I was sure “I’m really sixteen and just woke up in twenty-six-year-old Dani’s body” wouldn’t work with my mother. And then I was flinging myself into her arms and sobbing, like I constantly did now. “He said I didn’t come to Dad’s funeral,” I cried out.
“You didn’t,” she replied simply, but she held me in her arms and squeezed my shoulders like she had when I was younger. I hadn’t felt more like myself than in that moment, except maybe talking with Harry. 
“But why? That doesn’t make sense.” I clutched her to me, wanting nothing more than to melt into her skin and disappear forever. 
She sighed, rubbing my shoulders. “Come inside. We’ll talk.”
Minutes later I was sitting at the familiar circular dark wooden table from my childhood. My mother had poured us iced tea, a drink I had forgotten I loved until I took a cautious sip of it. We sat in silence for a few moments, just drinking as she stared at the wall across from me. Just as I was about to open my mouth and ask again what had happened, she began to speak.
“You really don’t remember anything?”
“No,” I promised. “The last thing I remember is Harry shoving a cupcake into my face at my sixteenth birthday party after I made a wish.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “What’d you wish for?”
I smiled grimly. “For you to treat me like an adult.” Awkwardly picking at a loose thread on my sweater, I looked away from my mother. I didn’t want to see the disappointment or hurt on her face when my words registered. “I...I didn’t mean it.”
“Yeah, you did. And you were right. Maybe if I had treated you like an adult, you would have...you would have come to the funeral.” She took a long sip of the tea, steadying herself. “You’ve got to know that we always planned on telling you. But we just never did. And that was on us. And you’d always struggled so much with your identity. Remember when you used to come home from school and cry just because you felt like you didn’t know yourself?”
I remembered those days well. The last one I could remember had been two days before my birthday. Harry seemed to fit in so well with everyone he met, and I just didn’t have that skill. I had come home crying to my mom, asking why Harry could manage to fit in everywhere but I couldn’t. 
“Two Christmases ago you were looking in the attic to help find some tree topper I had bought. You came down from the attic with that piece of paper in your hand and my heart stopped. I knew right then and there that you’d never forgive us.”
“Mom, it can’t be that bad.”
“Believe me, it is.” There were tears in her eyes now as she set her glass down. Her hands shook. “You...found adoption papers and letters from your birth mother. She had written to you every year on your birthday. Your father and I never showed them to you. And obviously...we never told you about the adoption.”
If there was one thing I did not expect for my mother to say, it was that.
“What?” I managed to stutter out, blinking at her in disbelief.
Her tears fell now, streaking the mascara on her bottom lashes and leaving horrible black lines down her face. “We always meant to tell you, you...you have to believe that. And you got so, so angry with us. You said you never wanted to talk to us again. You marched out and went back to New York to stay with Liam. And then your father got sick and I...I just thought we would have so much more time to make things right with you before he died. I called you to tell you about the funeral and you just didn’t care. And the shitty part was that I couldn’t blame you.”
My tears had stopped, simply because I was trying hard to process what she had just told me. My mother, the one who braided my hair when I was younger and kissed my knee when I skinned it, wasn’t my actual mother. And my father, who read me bedtime stories with funny voices and made me pancakes when I was feeling sad, he wasn’t my actual father. I had never felt less like I knew myself.
I laughed.
It was a short, stark sound in the silence between us. My mother had been staring at the ground and she looked up at me in surprise when she heard it. I couldn’t help it. I laughed again. I laughed until there were angry and frustrated tears falling out of my eyes. 
“Do you know what kind of person I am?” I didn’t give her the chance to answer before I started speaking again. “I’ve spoken more to Harry in the past two days than I have in the last ten years. I let him feel like I hated him. I slept with my assistant’s boyfriend and apparently haven’t told her about it. But I did tell my boyfriend, who is currently having sex with my best friend because of something I did, I guess. And now I find out I didn’t go to my father’s funeral because I was being an absolute bitch?”
“You had every right to be upset—”
“No! I didn’t have the right to not go to the funeral!” My lower lip quivered. The reality of the words set in with me then. I had missed my father’s funeral because of something as stupid as me being adopted. That didn’t change the fact that he had gone to all the little father-daughter dances my school held when I was young. That he had taught me how to swim and clapped when I could jump into the pool with no problems. That he had held me when the boy I liked called me ugly. “I didn’t go to the funeral,” I whispered brokenly.
My mother’s arms were around me before I had time to blink. She flung herself across the table and wrapped me in her embrace. I felt her tears on my shoulder, the tears the both of us had apparently needed to cry since two Christmases ago. When the pain got too uncomfortable, I moved out of my chair so I could be closer to her, on my knees on the kitchen floor. She slid out of her own seat, grabbing onto my shoulders and kissing my head.
“I’m sorry,” she kept saying, over and over again. “I’m so sorry.”
“I missed the funeral,” I repeated, my fingers digging painfully into her shoulder blades. If she was in pain, she didn’t show it. She just held me harder as we both kneeled on the kitchen floor.
~
New York was having a good weather day. 
I was sitting outside a little cafe, munching on an ice cream cone. It had been only hours since I’d left my mother’s house. We had talked, cried, drank wine that she had stashed in a cupboard, and cried some more. Even before the freak accident in which I had aged ten years overnight, it was the most I’d really talked to her in a long while. There was a dull ache in my heart because I wanted my father to be there, but my mother had kissed my forehead in the way he used to when I was headed out the door. 
“I love you, Dani,” she had said, with so much conviction that it had nearly brought me to my knees.
“I love you too, Mom,” I had replied. She smiled that big grin of hers, the one I used to tell her could light up the world. 
Now I was waiting for Liam and Gianna to arrive. I had called them both the second I got into a taxi from my mom’s house and was waiting to meet them. The cafe was the first one I had found (though it wasn’t as if they were lacking in New York), so I didn’t know if it was any good or not. If the ice cream was any indicator, it was fantastic.
“Thank god you’re okay,” Liam said from somewhere behind me, and then I was forced out of my sesat and engulfed in a huge bear hug. Liam’s hugs were nice, I decided. Maybe if I had met him when this weird thing hadn’t happened, I would have loved him. “Why didn’t you return any of my calls?”
“I was visiting my mom. Sorry,” I mumbled into his shoulder.
He pulled away immediately. “Your mom? Is everything okay? You haven’t spoken in—”
“Two years,” I interrupted, nodding my head. “Everything’s fine, just needed to talk some stuff out with her.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re okay.” He pulled me back into another hug, rubbing his hand on my back. “Do you want to sit? Have you ordered anything?”
“Not yet. I was waiting for you and Gianna to get here.”
“You don’t have to wait much longer.” Gianna appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and gave me a small hug. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, sweetie. Did you ever figure out what the hell was going on yesterday? Memory all back?”
“Not at all.” And that was still the frustrating part. I gestured to the little bistro table and watched the two of them as they moved towards their seats. I had never really had to examine how two people moved together before, but they moved like they were magnets. Liam hesitantly reached out his hand for me to hold and I saw the quick glimpse of something akin to heartbreak on Gianna’s face.
At least I knew the two really loved each other.
“So, what did you and your mom talk about?” Liam asked, his thumb making circles on the back of my hand. 
“Life. How things didn’t really work out the way I wanted them to.”
Gianna’s brow raised. “What do you mean, sweetie? You work for Nicholas Jennings. That’s like your dream job.”
“Yeah.” And look where that dream had gotten me. “But I mean in my personal life, not really my professional life.”
It was quiet for a few seconds. Liam awkwardly smiled. “We don’t really know what you mean, babe.”
“I know.” I composed my thoughts for a moment before hesitantly reaching out my other hand to stretch it across the table. Gianna was quick to grab it, but I could tell she still looked a little confused. “I’m not a good person. I see that. I don’t know how you two put up with me. But I like to think I deserve better than my boyfriend and best friend lying to me.” The color drained out of Liam’s face and Gianna was gaping like a fish, opening and closing her mouth as if she’d find something to say. “And you deserve better than the way I’ve obviously treated you.”
“Dani,” Liam said brokenly, but I shook my head.
“It’s okay. We’ve all got things we need to work on, I guess.”
And that was the truth. If there was anything I’d learned from the last two days, it was that I had to work to not be the bitch I had so obviously become in the ten years I’d missed. I pat Liam’s hand comfortingly before standing from the little table, allowing Gianna and Liam to digest what I’d just sprung on them as I walked away. 
I was in a city I genuinely loved. The sky was pretty and blue and I felt a little bit of the ice cream cone in my hand dripping on my fingers. Things were okay with my mom and I. I would never get back the memories I’d lost with my father, but I’d use him as an example on how to be better. I wished for nothing more than to go back in time to my sixteen year-old self to tell her what she was missing when she wished on that stupid candle. 
But maybe it wasn’t all bad, I decided, when I stopped at a hot dog stand to ask for some napkins and saw Harry ordering on the other side.
“Dani,” he said, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “Hey. What are you doing?”
“Walking,” I replied, gesturing to his hot dog. “Looks good.”
“I’d ask you if you wanted a bite, but I know you don’t like mustard.”
The fact that he’d remembered something so insignificant made me smile. “Right.”
He finished up his hot dog and took one of the napkins I offered. “What’re you doing today?”
“Nothing much. Why?”
“Mind if I join you on your walk?”
I pretended to think about it for a moment, but it truly was just pretending. My mind was made up the second the question had left his mouth. “Only if you tell me what you’re doing for work. Don’t think I missed all the clay and stuff in your apartment.”
He flushed, the apples of his cheeks turning a cute pink color. I wanted to poke them, like I used to when we were kids, but didn’t know if it would be welcome or not. “You don’t want to hear about my job,” he said, like he had already decided it was going to be a boring topic.
“Harry, I always want to hear about what you’re doing.”
It was a statement he must not have heard from me in ten years, because he gave me a soft and hesitant smile, the kind of smile I imagined he had given me as kids through the lens of someone in love with me. It made my stomach warm to see it.
“Really?” At my enthusiastic nod, his smile widened a little bit and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay. Well, shortly after high school I was just working for the theater department at the community college. It didn’t pay much, but it was a good experience for the resume. I worked there for about three years and then got into sculpting.”
“Which explains the clay,” I joked, reaching for his hand. I lifted it between us and gestured to the clay caked underneath his nails. He laughed, nodding his head at my observation.
His laughter came up short when he realized that we were skin-to-skin, my fingers dancing across his knuckles to get a view of the clay. It turned his skin a light gray color, somewhat matching the color of the shirt he wore. “Yeah,” he said, and his voice sounded a little breathless. “Yeah, that explains the clay.”
I was hesitant to release his fingers, but I did. He didn’t move his hand away, however, just stared at me with those impossibly green eyes of his. I had always been jealous of them when we were younger. “Harry?”
“Yes?”
“If I were to hold your hand, would you hate me?”
His smile was quick and soft, and I realized there was a tiny little speck of mustard on his top lip. “If you had asked me at sixteen, I would have jumped at the opportunity. And maybe faint.”
I laughed. “I’m not asking sixteen year-old Harry, though. I’m asking twenty-six year-old Harry.”
“Right. Semantics. I suppose he’s fine with it too, if it means you’ll go out to dinner with him.”
Our fingers threaded together, still awkwardly hanging in front of us. His hand was warm and callused, and I could feel the texture of the clay. “I would love to go to dinner tonight. You can regale me with stories about how you fell in love with me when we were kids.”
He laughed, and our hands dropped to fit more comfortably between us. “It’s not very hard to fall in love with you, Dani.”
~
I was used to getting ready for a friend hang-out with Harry. For those, I knew what I would wear. It would be some variation of comfy jeans or leggings, a graphic tee of one of my favorite bands, and some Vans. I was familiar with that ensemble.
It was a little different getting ready for a date with Harry.
He had followed me back to my apartment, where I saw some of Liam’s stuff was already gone. It seems he wasted no time in seeking shelter with Gianna. I was honestly happy for him, if he was happier with Gianna. Harry sat on my couch and laughed while I tried on different outfits, seeing which one would fit his surprise restaurant better since he wouldn’t tell me where we were going. In each dress, he twirled his finger to signal he wanted me to turn in the dress before he disagreed and sent me back.
“Could you at least give me a hint on what to wear?”
“Do you have jeans at all?”
I poked my head out of the door to my bedroom, giving him a look. “I would never wear jeans on a date.”
“It’s a date with me. You know I don’t care what you look like.”
That made the butterflies in my stomach set off. Apparently, however, twenty-six year-old Daniella didn’t own a pair of jeans, so I settled on a casual sundress and slipped it on. It was a pretty orange color that looked good with my skin, and had little yellow flowers printed at the bottom. When I walked out into the living room, Harry grinned.
“Perfect,” he said, standing from my couch. “You look beautiful.”
If I were still sixteen and Harry was just a friend, the words wouldn’t have such an effect on me. But the truth of the matter was, my skin was warming, butterflies were flying, and my eyes were looking at Harry in a new light. “Thank you.”
“I have always wanted to say that to you and not have you punch me in the shoulder.”
“I wouldn’t have punched you in the shoulder!”
“Yeah...but you wouldn’t have looked at me like that, either.”
I wondered what expression was on my face to make his eyes go slightly dark and hazy. Letting out a short, breathless laugh, I grabbed his hand and led him out of my apartment. “Lead the way, since I have no idea where we’re going.”
The walk to the restaurant was spent talking about old memories from the past, Harry’s fingers intertwined with mine. There were several points where we had to stop walking so the two of us could laugh, bending over at the waist as we remembered when Gemma had put makeup on Harry or I had fallen into a puddle of mud at one of our family get-togethers. When we got to our destination, I stared at the theatre in front of us with a look of awe on my face.
“C’mon, I told the guys that I needed this place to myself tonight. I’ll give you a grand tour.”
He took the keys out of his pocket and opened the door. The lights were automatic, turning on when they sensed movement. We were in the lobby of the theatre, with programs from all the productions hung on every inch of the walls. Harry laughed when I took in the colors of all of them as he opened the door to the main stage.
“You’re a giant softie,” I breathed out when I saw that there was a picnic set up on the stage. “I’m telling Gemma.”
“She’ll never let me live it down.”
“That’s the point, Harry.” But I squeezed his fingers even tighter in mine. “It’s perfect.”
The theatre itself was beautiful. Unlike the harsh white lights of the lobby, the stage was lit with warm stage lighting that gave the place a pretty yellow glow. I took the stairs up to the main stage and sat down on a pillow Harry had placed there beforehand, unwilling to let our grip break when he moved to sit down on his own pillow. It was only when he started moving towards the picnic basket that I relinquished my hold on his hand. 
“Okay, I’ve got some pasta, a little cucumber salad, and wine. Because we all need wine.” He made a plate for me and then himself before reaching back into the picnic basket. “And for dessert…”
I wanted to laugh at the little cupcake, nearly identical to the one he had given me on my sixteenth birthday. I could tell it was what he was expecting. But I just stared at it, my throat going dry. Eventually, the smile slipped off his face and he set the cupcake on the stage. “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
“I know you didn’t,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I just...you deserve so much better, Harry.”
“Maybe. But who are we to decide that?”
“You deserve someone who hasn’t treated you like shit. Which is what I treated you like. I shouldn’t have let our friendship go just because I was scared that loving you would ruin things for us.”
“Dani,” he said softly, reaching out to take my hand in his. “It’s all in the past.”
“But it’s not. Not for me. For me, it was two days ago. And I know that it sounds crazy and you don’t believe me, but I...I’ve obviously made some choices that have hurt a lot of people and I don’t remember making any of them. I hurt you.”
“Yeah, you did. Look at where we are now, though. Look at where you are.”
“I just don’t want you to wake up and regret this tomorrow because you’re holding onto a sixteen year-old version of me.”
And that was the point of all of this. I couldn’t just forget that this weird time blip had happened, and I couldn’t forget that apparently I had made shitty choices for the past ten years of my life. I wished more than anything that I could go back to the night of my sixteenth birthday and just tell Harry that while I didn’t love him at that exact moment, I would be willing to give us a shot because really, it was Harry. I knew that I could fall in love with him if I just had the time. Maybe I already had been, secretly, and was just scared.
“We’re just...we’re not sixteen anymore, Harry.”
He nodded, his mouth tight-lipped and his eyes sad. I think it was because he knew what I was saying was true. We couldn’t change the past. “I know,” he whispered. “I just...having you back in my life was like this out of reach dream.”
“I don’t want to go the next ten years not talking to you, Harry. But I think you’ll be so much happier with someone else. Someone who doesn’t run away when you tell them you love them.”
The wry smile on his face made my heart break. He gently slid towards the end of the stage and jumped off, his feet hitting the ground with a thudding sound that echoed in my ears. He made it to the back of the theatre before he turned around, tears in his eyes and a small smile on his face. “Maybe in a parallel universe, then. I’ll see you around, Dani.”
The tears were already on my cheeks when the door shut behind him.
I didn’t feel like eating anything after Harry’s departure, but I picked up the cupcake gently, willing it to bring me back to the night of my sixteenth birthday, before I had royally screwed myself over. Setting it down with a sigh, I started to pick up the food items so Harry wouldn’t get in trouble for leaving food on the stage. It was only then that I saw the candle and lighter in the basket.
I cried as I stuck the candle into the cupcake and lit it with the lighter.
“I wish I could go back and do this all over,” I mumbled to myself. Shutting my eyes, I softly blew out the flame of the candle.
I kept them shut as I leaned back and lay on the stage, letting myself fall asleep.
~
“Dani?” I heard, and I opened my eyes slowly. The theatre was gone, the soft yellow light something harsh and white again. I took in my surroundings, noting the Jonas Brothers poster on the wall and the ugly pink color of them. I sat up quickly, looking around the room before I gasped and looked down at my chest.
No boobs. 
“Dani, you awake?” I heard someone say from the other side of the door. Immediately I was up, shooting like a bottle rocket as I flung my door open. Harry stood there, sixteen year-old Harry with his head of floppy curls and the spot of acne on his chin. He was holding something wrapped in a pretty pink box.
“Harry?”
His eyebrows furrowed as he stepped into my room, setting the pink box on my bed as I shut the door behind him. “You okay?” he asked. “You seem off.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” I said, still looking around my room to reassure myself that I was actually here. “I...I think I had a really weird dream.”
“What was it about?”
“It was terrible, H. We weren’t friends anymore.” He sat on my bed and I moved to sit next to him, careful of the pink box that I somehow knew contained a little theatre set he had made me.
“Well, that’ll never happen,” he snorted. “But, let’s focus on something happy. Open up.” He handed me the box. I pulled apart the purple ribbon and opened it up. It was in an Amazon box, but sure enough, it was a beautiful stage designing set. “It’s Wicked, since I know that’s your favorite musical.”
“Harry,” I whispered, “it’s gorgeous.”
“You like it?” When I nodded enthusiastically, he relaxed. “Oh good. I was worried. Also, I got you something else.”
From behind his back he produced a pretty pink strawberry cupcake, complete with a candle. He took a lighter out of his pocket and held it up to me. “Make a wish, Dani.”
When the flame was lit, I closed my eyes. I didn’t bother to make one. There wasn’t anything more that I needed.
I was expecting the smash, and the cool feeling that followed. I was expecting Harry to double over in laughter as pink goop fell from my face. I was even expecting my own laugh as I wiped it from my eyes so it wouldn’t burn them. What I wasn’t expecting was for Harry to suddenly take my face in his hands and kiss me, the minty taste of his breath mingling with the strawberry of the frosting coating my mouth. The kiss was over before it had begun, and Harry stared at me in fear, like I was going to reject him.
Instead, I smiled.
“Harry,” I said softly, reaching out my hand to him. His own hands shook when he placed his fingers in mine. “Do you want to go on a date?”
When his shoulders sagged in relief and he nodded, I knew.
“Oh, and I really need to go talk to my dad.”
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Who’s in Charge Pt2 || Maze Runner X Reader
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Summary: Y/N does her best to make Teresa feel welcome in a glade full of boys, but one particular greenie ruins her plans and makes her question her insanity. 
Word Count: 2.4k
Author’s note: This is somewhat a continuation off of Who’s in charge and If i continue this mini series, I really want to explore the idea of being a girl in a leadership role. Not only that but the somewhat glamorization of how awesome it would be to be the only girl in a glade cause unless they all look like Minho, that would be TERRIFYING. I love attention but goddamn Y/N in any fanfic fandom is an attention WHORE! 
Warning: LOTS OF CUSSING, incel type shit ew, blood and wounds  
Part one || Part two 
A lot has changed in the glade in the past couple of months and as the first in command, it didn’t make your job any easier. After the greenie that disrespected you, the glade got two more people, a boy named Thomas and to your surprise, another girl. Her name was Teresa and although the two of you weren’t close, it was nice to have someone you felt like you could automatically trust.
The greenie you didn’t like very much was named Theodore and while everyone else called him Teddy, you always just called him greenie because he still acted like an immature shank. You haven’t had any interactions with him since but word from the other guys was that he would not stop gawking at Teresa.
“ Has anyone seen Teddy? Fry said he hasn’t been back since lunch,” Newt asked as you continued to write down the medical inventory to help out Jeff.
“ Yeah I saw him go down to the huts about 10 minutes ago. He looked like he was in a hurry,” Jeff said as he pointed over towards the window with his pencil.
This wasn’t the first time Teddy had flaked on his duties but after your altercation with him, Newt was usually the one to reprimand him.
You rolled your eyes as you looked down at your clipboard,” I’ll go find him. I have to stop by Teresa’s room anyway since she’s gonna help me rebuild the fence with John and Gavin.”
Newt leaned against the doorway and picked up a small bandage to wrap his finger with,” How’s she liking the glade so far?”
“ I mean, as much as she can like it. I think she’s after Thomas yeah?” You said, raising your eyebrows at him, as you walked out the door with Newt following close behind,” I swear those lovebirds are hiding something. Something tells me that it isn’t all just love at first sight.”
“ Well you’re never wrong so I’ll keep an eye out,” Newt laughed softly as the two of you parted ways.
You continued to walk across the Glade at a normal pace, not so much enjoying the glade itself but the quietness of today. You knew Minho and Thomas were gonna be back any minute and those two were always responsible for the rambunctious crowd of boys every night so you savored the trip.
Given that Teresa was a bit nervous with all of the boys around, you gave up your hut so that way she would have some privacy. Although Teresa seemed to be really familiar with Thomas, you knew that sleeping outside surrounded by boys wasn’t the safest feeling. You did miss how your hut was tucked a bit away from everyone else and that the big tree near your window gave you cool shade during the harsh sun. But it was just for the time being, whenever that was.
You knocked on the door and heard Teresa’s voice on the other side,” One second! I’m changing!”
You gave a quick response and waited outside her door, tapping your fingers against your clipboard in an unknown beat. Once you stopped tapping, you heard something rustle in the leaves on the other side of the hut that was covered by a small part of the forest. You scrunched your eyebrows together as you walked over, thinking that maybe it was just another rabbit.
When you turned the corner, you saw Teddy watching through the corner of Teresa’s window. You looked through the window to find Teresa already stripping off her top which made Teddy hold his breath.
Without thinking, you stomped over and grabbed the back of Teddy’s shirt before dragging him away from the window. I knew I should’ve listened to Alby to make those stupid ugly curtains. Teddy let out a loud yelp as you dragged him farther away and closer to the center of the glade where some of the boys were building another shelter.
“ You stupid fucking pervert!” You shouted as you practically launched him onto the dirt,” you’re disgusting! After everything, this place has done for you and you think you can spy on women like some kind of ...stalker!”
You were well past mad, you had never felt anything like this before. Your whole body felt like it was building up with pure steam, almost ready to explode like hot dynamite. You were nothing short but disgusted, out of your whole time living in the glade, none of the boys had ever done something so terrible.
“ R-Relax! I wasn’t even doing anything wrong-”
You didn’t know what came over you, maybe it was because you hadn’t slept all day or because you hadn’t gotten mad in so long so you were practically itching to get into a fight.  You felt your legs pump more blood than ever and in an instant, you pounced on him and started slamming your fists into his face without mercy.
You felt like a well-oiled machine, every time you smashed your fist against his body, you felt your other arm recoil and do the same thing over and over again. You couldn’t even pay attention to anything that was happening around you, all you could do was throw punches. With every punch, you still managed to yell through your gritted teeth,” Ungrateful! Little! Pig!”
Even with his limp, Newt was the fastest to make it over to where you were and tried to rip you away from Teddy, yelling at you to stop. Gally, who was nearby building the shelter, practically picked you up off of Teddy but you still struggled against him.
“ Y/N! You need to calm down-”
“ I am tired of people telling me that to calm down! I am calm!” You shouted as you breathed heavy against Gally, who was using all of his strength to hold you back,” he’s a disgusting pig!”
“ What the hell is going on?” you craned your neck to see Thomas and Minho jogging over to where everyone seemed to circle. You laughed out loud, knowing that once Minho found out what Teddy had done, he would be toast.
Gally let you go and dropped you to the floor not so gently,” There’s been a slight problem. Y/N and Teddy-”
“ Slight problem?” You exclaimed as Minho came to your side, helping you up all while looking at your bloody and bruised knuckles,” Teddy was watching Teresa through her window while she was changing. That isn’t a slight problem Gally! How would you like it if he peeked through your window!”
While some boys laughed at your comment, Minho and Thomas’s head snapped towards Teddy, who was still lying on the ground but sat up on his elbows. His nose was bleeding and by the looks of it, you were sure you gave him two black eyes.
“ She’s lying! She just started attacking me out of nowhere cause she’s fucking crazy!” Teddy spat out blood as you tried to lunge at him again but Thomas pulled you back.
“ What did you just say?” Minho said through gritted teeth as he started walking towards Teddy but Newt and Gally both stepped in between Minho,” say that again, I dare you.”
“ Everyone just stop!” Newt snapped as he turned to look up at Minho,” take Y/N somewhere to cool off while Thomas and I will take Teddy to Clint. Don’t do anything stupid.”
Minho nodded all while keeping his eyes locked on Teddy’s bloody face. Minho was stubborn and as much as he wanted to bash Teddy’s head in, he knew when it was right to follow the chain of command. You shook Thomas’s grip off of your shoulders as your eyes caught Teresa’s, her face flushed in embarrassment.
Before you could muster out a word, Teresa took off back towards your hut, pushing past a group of gladers who were crowding around. You took one sweeping glare towards all the loitering glader’s which made them all spread out back to their posts.
“ Let me patch you up back real quick. You look badass but your knuckles look gross,” Minho hesitated as he attempted to ease the tension in the air and his own blood pressure.
You looked between Minho and where you last saw Teresa, wondering where she could be. You couldn’t imagine how terrified she must have been, especially since she probably saw you beat the hell out of Teddy like there was no tomorrow.
“ Just give me a few minutes, I’m going to go find Teresa,” You said as you rubbed your fingers over your battered fists,” I think she just needs someone to talk to after all of that.”
You and Minho said your goodbyes and before you knew it, you found Teresa on the edge of the deadheads picking at the grass laid before her. You awkwardly sat down next to her and from the looks of it, she had just finished crying.
“ I want to say sorry for what you might have seen. The last thing I wanted to do was scare you or to make you think I’m such a violent person,” You apologized as you watched her expression carefully,” but I’m even more sorry that your privacy was invaded on. I promise you, I will do everything in my power to fix this.”
Instead of giving a sad look, Teresa smiled and let out a dry laugh,” No offense, but there isn’t anything you can do to fix this. It’s literally in their DNA to be so stupid.”
You were completely taken aback. Yes, nothing could ever take back what happened to Teresa but she couldn’t be talking about all of the guys in the glade, could she?
“ I don’t think that’s true and neither do you. Teddy is a sexist pervert for sure but plenty of the glader��s are nice guys. One bad seed doesn’t make the whole tree go rotten,” You said thoughtfully, not wanting to undermine Teresa’s experience.
Teresa turned to you and thought for a moment,” So when you first came up in the box, you weren’t terrified of being the only girl?”  
“ Well, I was just terrified because I was alone for the longest time until Newt came up,” You admitted but then you really tried to give your honest opinion,” but yeah, I guess I felt different when more boys would get sent up. It’s not that I was scared at first but I just didn’t know what to expect with all those...hormones.”
You realized that you had never said that out loud before; revealing your feelings for being the only girl in the glade before Teresa and once you actually said it, you felt something wash over you. You weren’t sure if it was sadness or guilt or shame, but you didn’t feel good about your emotions right then and there.
Teresa noticed this too and didn’t say anything else, allowing you to speak more.
You cleared your throat, not even thinking of the right words to say because all you wanted to do was spill everything you had bottled up for years,” The more boys the box sent up, the more stares I would get, even if I was just bending over to pick something up. It felt gross knowing that they were eyeing me up and down like I was just some piece of meat but all of a sudden when it came to me being in a leadership position, they all acted as if I suddenly didn’t matter.”
“I completely understand how you feel. It’s like a cruel joke; they want you around to help engage their sexual fantasies but once you make an executive decision, you’re not fun to be around,” Teresa said, thinking about her past memories of being one of the few female researchers at WCKD,” are they still like that with you now?”
“ I hardly catch any eyes thanks to Minho being as protective as he is but I wonder if he’s just doing that out of the kindness of his heart or because he is trying to get in my pants,” you laughed honestly, knowing that in your heart he was genuinely a sweet guy,” but I don’t know. I can tell sometimes they don’t take me seriously. Remember that last meeting we had and when I gave my proposal, no one really cared but when Newt said it two minutes later, everyone thought he was a genius. I don’t think they mean to do it but it still hurts.”
That was something you were always insecure about; not being taken seriously. You were reminded of that every month when a new glader would show up and they assumed you weren’t the first in command. How was it that you all had no past memories yet in the glade, they already had some form of prejudice against you? You didn’t understand that in a world filled with hardly any societal norms that you were still treated unfairly.
“ But I love everyone here with the exception of a few. At the end of the day, we’re pretty much family. As much as Minho annoys me or how much Newt pesters me, they’re the greatest friends in the world,” You said as you thought back to all of the times they had your back,” but shuck I wish I had a day of peace without the boys tearing down the glade. I just want to get out of this goddamn place already.”
Teresa nodded sympathetically, but knowing that she was one of the reasons you were here trapped, she said nothing.
After a moment of silence, Teresa wanted to clear her head of WCKD’s old thoughts,” What are you going to do about Teddy?”
After this whole discussion, you had completely forgotten why you had come over in the first place.
“ Honestly, I don’t know yet. We’ll keep him in the slammer until we figure something out. Whatever it is though, I know it won’t be enough for how you were violated. I really am sorry that happened to you Teresa, is there anything I can do to make you feel better?” You asked as Teresa smiled and gave your hand a small squeeze.
“ I’m just glad I have someone to talk to.”
You nodded as you sat there, not being able to hold in your smile.
Me too.
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okskz · 4 years
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Cheesecake.
Mia + Stray Kids
a cheeseback date with jisung turns out for the worst.
hope you guys enjoy reading this! please feel free to leave some feedback because it is always appreciated!
[9th Member of Stray Kids]
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“Mia, Mia, Mia.” Jisung laughed as he layed on top of the girl, squishing her down on her bed. “What are you doing?”
“I mean, I was going to take a nap since there isn’t much to do but you’re here now.” She smiled.
“Oh great, so you don’t have anything planned?”
“Mmm, nope.” Mia sighed. “What? You’re going to make plans with me?”
Jisung gave Mia a little smirk as he got off of her, bringing her up into a sitting position. “Yes, lets go eat some cheesecake.”
Because of tension still being high between Chan and Mia, Jisung thought this would be the perfect opportunity to take Mia out and relieve some stress and to obviously get some fresh air.
Mia bit the inside of her lip. “I don’t know...” She sighed, thinking back of the time her attacker was coming after her from being out. And Jisung could sense that was what was worrying her.
“You won’t be alone. I’ll be there with you.”
Convinced, Mia slowly nodded her head. “Okay. I’ll go with you then.”
A huge grin plastered on Jisung’s face as he got up with Mia following him to the door of their dorm. Chan was quick to notice the two, seeing them put their shoes on.
“Where are you two going?”
“Gonna go out for a bit. I invited Mia to get some cheesecake with me.” Jisung smiled.
From hearing this, Changbin looked up, making eye contact with Mia. All he did was give her a sly smile, Mia doing the same with a thumbs up.
“Um. Are you sure you want to go out? I mean, with this whole situation going on. I don’t think you should be going out in public.” Chan scratched the back of his head, making eye contact with Mia and almost getting intimidated by her stare.
“I’m going to be with Jisung.” She scoffed.
“Maybe I should go as well. Having two-“
Mia interrupted Chan before he could go any further. “You don’t need to go. Plus it’s not like you care, don’t want to be a burden you, you know.”
Chan closed his mouth, feeling hurt over Mia’s words. Jisung stood there awkwardly as he looked at both members, feeling a little relieved when Mia started walking out the door before Chan could say anything else.
“Lets go, Ji.”
Before Jisung could walk out, Chan grabbed ahold of his wrist. “Please be careful.” Jisung only nodded, walking out the door to catch up with Mia.
“You know, I used to actually not like cheesecake when I was younger.” Mia chuckled once taking a small bite.
“I am offended!” Jisung exclaimed, laughing. “What happened?”
Mia shrugged. “I don’t know, my grandma on my dad’s side would bake some all the time and so I decided to just try it. Turns out, I do like it.” She giggled.
“Mmm.” Jisung took another bite, nodding his head.
Mia began rubbing the back of her neck as she started to look around the whole place. They were in a small corner in the very back of the building, but that didn’t stop her from looking at the front to check outside.
Jisung could sense her sort of discomfort, placing his fork down. “Hey, he’s not here okay? And you don’t have to worry because you’re not alone.”
Mia let out a soft sigh as she bit her lip. “I want to go back to the old days where I didn’t have to worry about going out. I just want them to catch him already.”
“And they will.”
“Well it needs to be soon.”
They sat in silence, continuing to eat their dessert. Both Mia and Jisung’s mind we’re clouded with many thoughts and emotions. Jisung couldn’t help but look at Mia, he constantly worried for her from the moment this whole stalker situation started, and now a new conflict was beginning with her and Chan.
“You know he didn’t mean it, right?”
Mia stared at Jisung as she thought about who he was implying to. “He still said it though.”
“And he’s truly sorry for it. All he talks about when we’re in the studio is you, he hates the fact that you guys aren’t talking and he hates himself for making you feel the way you do.” Jisung sighed. “And yeah, I’ll agree, the way he attacked you so easily wasn’t right of him but nothing is going to change the fact you are apart of this group and he definitely does not want you to leave, even if you think he does.”
Mia stayed silent. She continued to listen to Jisung as he spoke some more.
“And the last thing I want is for you to feel like you’re not wanted because honestly Mia, I don’t know how our lives would be if you weren’t in this group anymore. So please, don’t let this give you another reason on why you think about leaving.”
Mia felt a tug on her heart as she listened more to Jisung. She knew deep down in her heart, she would never want to leave them. They are her missing puzzle pieces.
And as for Chan, she was of course still mad at him but she still cared for him no matter what.
“I could never leave you guys.” She softly spoke. “We’ve been through so much together, whether it was good or bad. And I want to continue making more memories with you guys.”
“I’ll try to talk to Chan, just give me some time.”
Jisung couldn’t help but smile a little. “I also want to say that I know you tend to hide your feelings but just know, your feelings matter.”
Mia held back some tears, feeling her eyes get glossing. “Thank you.” She whispered.
Jisung nodded, smiling. “Ready to go back home?” He questioned once seeing both of their plates empty.
“Yeah. Lets go home.”
***
“This light is always taking forever.” Mia groaned.
“Patience, Mia.”
“I just want to be home and see some netflix.” Mia pouted, laughing.
Jisung laughed as he looked forward, they only had about ten seconds left before they could cross the street.
As both of them were waiting and talking to each other, they were too busy to notice what was going to happen next.
And as the light signaled for them to walk the street, Mia felt some sort of liquid splashed on her back. “What the hell?”
Jisung and Mia halted their movements as Jisung examined Mia’s back. All of it plus her hair were drained. Jisung knew right away that it was coffee.
“Someone just threw coffee at you.”
Mia clapped her tongue. “Who would do such a thing.”
The both began looking around but caught signs of no one, even bystanders were asking Mia if she was okay and tried to look around for the person.
That was until Mia looked to her left and noticed a young girl running and when she was about to turn the corner, the same girl looked back, locking eyes with Mia and giving her a small smirk.
Mia knew exactly who this person was.
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The One Where You Meet The Doctor (11th Doctor x Reader)
Summary: A man with a bowtie shows up in your house. You definitely don’t know him, but he clearly knows you. Oh, and there’s an assassin from the future trying to kill you. Y’know, a normal thursday afternoon.
Warnings: Language
Notes: hahaha this took so long to write. it’s nearly 5am as I’m finishing this. also it’s very difficult coming up with a unique plot that feels like it could actually happen in the tv show. anyways this is part 1 of a series! right now i’m for sure doing at least one other part, but i may add one or two more that’ll happen in between this part and the one i have planned. future parts will all have different doctors! 
Word Count: 3.1k
Masterlist
A weird wheezing noise awoke you from your mid-day nap. Well, you weren’t necessarily asleep. Your long-term boyfriend, Maxwell, had dumped you last night. You had been trying to sleep, but instead you were just softly crying and reminiscing over everything you and Max had been through. Even though the noise had distracted you from your memories, it didn’t bother you enough to get out of your bed. That is, until you heard a loud crash coming from outside your bedroom. You immediately jumped out of your bed, wiping the tears from your eyes. If there was an intruder, you needed to look intimidating, not depressing. You unplugged your desktop lamp and held it over your shoulder like a baseball bat, ready to attack whoever was in your home. Quietly, you opened your bedroom door, then tiptoed out into the hallway. 
“Doctor, I can’t believe you broke her vase!” You heard a woman with an accent say. Scottish? Irish? You couldn’t tell, but clearly not from around here.
“Well in my defence, It’s not usually there when I visit!” A man responded, clearly annoyed at his friend. 
“Great. Two people breaking into my house.” You thought. He had said the vase wasn’t usually there when he visits...had these people been in your house before? Were they stalkers or something? Why would they have not seen the vase? You’ve had it since you moved in…
You stopped before you rounded the corner to your living room, trying to build up courage. Now that you’re here, you realize you probably should’ve called the police before approaching these people, but, well, you’ve always been an “act now, think later” kind of person. So, instead of going back for your phone before they noticed you, you jumped around the corner and alerted the pair of your presence.
“Who the fuck are you and why are you in my house?” You inspected the pair of intruders; first the woman, a young redhead, then the man, who wore a dorky suit and bowtie. Behind them was a phone box, but instead of the normal red, it was blue and made of wood. You had no idea how they had even gotten it into your small living room. There’s no way just the two of them could’ve carried it in.
“Y/N! Finally! Sorry about the vase. It’s Amy’s fault. Anyways, we just met Vincent Van Gogh - he’s a great man, maybe a little too into Amy - and Amy suggested checking if you wanted to visit Esto with us - they have telepathic plants - Wait, no, what did you say? Do you not know me?” The man spoke so quickly, you momentarily forgot that he was breaking into your house.
“...Am I supposed to know you?” You lowered your impromptu-weapon, holding it to your side instead. You weren’t sure why, but for some reason you knew that these people wouldn’t hurt you. The woman, who you assumed was Amy, widened her eyes, and turned to watch the man’s reaction. He was playing with his hands nervously, studying you. He seemed so sad..but only for a moment. He was obviously trying to hide his emotions.
“Doctor?” Amy said, clearly concerned. The man - Doctor? That’s a weird name - glanced at her, then replaced his stunned face with a smile. 
“Well, always knew this would happen one day! Y/N, you are in for the adventure of your life!” He reached over and grabbed your hand, and he attempted to pull you towards the phone box.
“You still haven’t told me who you are, or why you’ve broken into my house! How do you know me?” You ripped your hand from this “Doctor,” glaring at him.
“I know your name because we’ve met before; We’re time travelers. Always meeting people in the wrong order, trust me, it gets quite confusing. And I didn’t break into your house, I always park here! You told me to! Or rather, you will tell me too…” He muttered the last part, rubbing the back of his neck. “Probably shouldn’t have told you that...spoilers and all.”
Your mind was racing now. Time travelers? You didn’t want to believe it, every logical part of you knew you shouldn’t; but still, the same part of you that felt like these people wouldn’t hurt you told you to trust him. Your gut was telling you that this guy is for real. 
“Prove it.” You said, causing the man to smile. 
“Just step into the box.” Both he and Amy stepped out of your way, so you had a clear path to the small box. You looked at them, obviously confused, but they only sent wide smiles your way.
Slowly, you walk toward the box, placing the lamp on your coffee table as you pass it. You reached the box, and pushed the door open, walking into what should have been a small room, no wider than a few feet. Instead, you found a giant ship. Behind you, you heard the man say to Amy, “I love this part.” But you weren’t focused on that. You ventured a little deeper into the room, making sure it was real, before you ran out. You inspected the walls, made sure there wasn’t a trick, a secret trap door, something to explain it. You pinched yourself - twice - checking that you’re actually awake.
“That’s not possible..it’s..” You trailed off. 
“Bigger on the inside? Pretty cool, isn’t it?” Amy said, causing you to turn your attention back to her and the man.
“Who are you people? Really?”
“I’m The Doctor, that’s Amelia Pond. Like I said, we’re time travelers, and what you’re looking at is my TARDIS; our time machine.” The Doctor said, stepping forward and adjusting his bowtie cockily.
“The Doctor?” 
“Go on, say it, everyone does.” He looked towards Amy with a smirk on his face, clearly missing your confused expression. 
“That’s a stupid name.” The Doctor’s head snapped back to you, insulted. Amy began laughing immediately, causing the Doctor to glare at her as well.
“That’s not what you’re meant to say! You’re supposed to say ‘Doctor? ‘Doctor Who?’ then I say, ‘Just The Doctor’ and you look stupid and confused! That’s my favorite bit!” The Doctor complained, walking past you and into his box - or, the TARDIS.
“I didn’t realize there was a script! You told me to say what I was thinking, so I did! Not my fault I’m not as predictable as the other people you meet!” You sassed him, walking into the machine after him. Behind you, Amy was still laughing. 
“Lovely to know that you’ve been mean to me since day one - I don’t know why I keep you around, honestly, you’re always making me look bad.” He mumbled, flicking switches and pressing buttons on the console after Amy closed the doors behind you guys.
“What’re you doing?” You asked, following him as he moved around, watching his movements.
“You told me to prove it, didn’t you? We’re going to travel in time.” He paused, and looked at your excited expression. “I’m thinking 16th century, that’s a fun one… France? Germany?” The TARDIS began moving violently, causing you to grasp onto the railing. The same wheezing you had heard earlier filled the room, and a few moments later, everything stopped. “Go on, take a look. Your proof is just outside.” Excitedly, you ran towards the doors, taking a deep breath before opening them to see...your street. You were outside your house.
“Uh, Doc, as exciting as my street is, this isn’t exactly 16th century France or Germany.” You turned back towards the Doctor, folding your arms across the chest. Sure, you had teleported from your living room, which is very cool, but he promised you time travel.
“What? No, that’s not right - Why’d you bring us here, old girl?” He said, rubbing the walls of the TARDIS as he looked out the doors. He took a step out, grabbing a rock from the ground, and licked it. Gross. “In my defense, we did time travel. It’s June 19th, 2020.”
“No, it’s June 20th.”
“It was 3 minutes ago. But now, it’s June 19th. Welcome to the past!” He exclaimed, gesturing his arms widely.
“How do you kno-” You cut yourself off noticing...yourself. Or rather, your past self. You were jogging on the sidewalk across the street, too immersed in whatever music was playing through your headphones to see the phone booth that wasn’t supposed to be there. “That’s me!”
The Doctor turned towards your past self, looking concerned. Amy poked her head over his shoulder, staring as you jogged off. “Yes, yes it is. Best not interact with her-” Suddenly, something emerged from the alley that your past-self had just jogged by. Some kind of robot walked out, turning its head to watch you. As if that wasn’t weird enough, its form suddenly changed from a creepy metal robot to looking like a regular human woman. “That’s not good..” The Doctor mumbled.
“What? What’s wrong? What is that thing?” Amy asked, as the Doctor walked back into the TARDIS. He messed with one of the screens for a moment, before a live feed of the robot walking after you showed up on the screen.
“Ok, what I’m going to say next might sound a little scary, Y/N, but I’m going to keep you safe, I swear it.”
“What? Why do I need to be kept safe? What is that thing?” You said, repeating Amy’s original question with more urgency.
“It’s a hit-man. Or, hit-robot. From the future. Someone in the future wants you dead, and that robot used every bit of knowledge about you in its database and has calculated that this day, June 19th, is the day you’re most vulnerable. It’s going to try and kill you in the next 24 hours.” The Doctor immediately began messing with the controls of the TARDIS again, causing the wheezing and shaking to return for a moment.
“What? That doesn’t make any sense! I’m still alive aren’t I? You said you know me in the future, how could I die on June 19th?” You ask, running back over to where the Doctor was, still messing around with the controls of the TARDIS.
“Time doesn’t work like that. It can be changed, rewritten. Sure, you’re alive now, but that robot can change that. Your future can cease to exist.” The Doctor said, not looking you in the eyes.
“Well why’d we leave? The robot thing is trying to kill her past self, shouldn’t we be there, protecting her?” Amy asked, now standing next to you protectively. Clearly, you two would be close in the future.
“We’re going to go back! We just needed some time to prepare. Y/N, I need you to tell me everything that you did yesterday.”
~~~
After explaining everything you had done yesterday, the three of you had an extensive planning session, the Doctor had come up with a plan; First, he was going to drop Amy off at your house, the exact moment they had left earlier. Her job was to follow you around all day, making sure the robot didn’t make a move. He’d even made a small device for her; which he claimed would “Go ‘ding’ when there’s a robot hit-man around” since the robot had shape-shifting capabilities. You and the Doctor would skip to what he thought was the moment the robot would most likely go after you; right after Max dumped you. Both he and Amy had given you sympathetic looks when you told them, but the Doctor assured you that you’d get over him rather quickly. You remembered leaving the coffee shop that he decided to break the news to you in tears around 7:30. He’d given you a ride there, so you were left to walk home. You hadn’t been paying too much attention to your surroundings, and it was a decent 20 minute walk back to your place, which meant plenty of time for the robot to get to you. He had calibrated his sonic screwdriver to reprogram the hit-robot once they found it, and had even let you and Amy each borrow one of his old screwdrivers just in case she ran into the robot. 
“Now listen you two, this is very important. This robot is programmed for one thing right now, and it’s to kill Y/N. It’s also programmed to kill anyone that tries to get in the way of its mission. If you see it, you need to sonic it before it realizes what you’re trying to do. Understand?” Both you and Amy nodded, excitedly each taking a sonic for yourselves. Even though the Doctor had very explicitly stated that he wasn’t letting you keep them forever, and that letting you borrow them was only because it’s a life-or-death situation, it was an exciting tool to have access to. Amy had filled you in on all the things a sonic could do, and you felt like you had a magic wand in your hands. 
After The Doctor dropped Amy off outside your house at the beginning of the day, he went back to the TARDIS console to take you guys to the end of the day. “So, just to be clear-” You started, wanting to go over the plan one more time. After all, it’s your life you guys are trying to save. “Amy is watching to make sure the robot doesn’t make a move before we get there, and when it does make a move, she’ll make sure past-me gets away safely…” The Doctor nodded, so you continued, “I’ll distract the robot, because it won’t be expecting two of us in one place…” 
“Right, seeing both of you should confuse it’s hard drive long enough for me to deprogram it with my sonic.” He finished, flipping the sonic in his hands and putting it into his inside pocket.
“And if something goes wrong?”
“Erm, I’ll figure it out as I go. I’m pretty good at that.”
You and The Doctor waited a moment, making sure there was no call to receive from Amy, before he guided the ship to the time Max was meant to break up with you. Right as you landed, however, the TARDIS phone began ringing. The Doctor ran to it, and quickly picked it up, holding it so you could listen.
“The robot is here at the coffee shop! I think it’s the waiter!” Amy’s voice urgently said through the phone. You and the Doctor ran outside the TARDIS, just as your past-self walked out of the coffee shop, tears running down your face. Behind you, the robot, disguised at the waiter, followed, with Amy a healthy few paces behind.
Amy immediately noticed you and the Doctor running towards her. “Amy, go after past Y/N, get her as far away from here as possible. Y/N, we need to-” The Doctor was cut off by yelling. Just a few yards ahead of you, you watched as the robot-waitress turned into a robot-Max. It began yelling after your past-self, begging for you to take him back, which caused you to turn back around and run towards him. You instinctually ran towards him as well, hoping the Doctor was right in the fact that it's hard drive wouldn’t be able to handle the idea of two of you in one place. The Doctor and Amy ran after you.
Before your past-self reached the robot-Max, your day-younger counterpart glanced over its shoulder, and saw you running towards the robot. “What the fuck?”
The robot-Max looked over its own shoulder as well, and sure enough, it began to malfunction. Instead of just standing confused, however, it’s weapons systems began shooting randomly all over the place. Amy grabbed your past-self, who was still crying from the breakup and now freaking out over everything else going on, and pulled her to hide behind a car. You and the Doctor both pointed the sonics at the robot, attempting to avoid the laser beams flying all over the place. You pressed the button on the sonic, just as the Doctor had shown you, and willed it to deprogram the robot. After a moment, the lasers stopped, and the robot-Max turned back into the robot you had seen earlier.
The Doctor walked up to it, soniced it once more, before the robot disappeared in a flash. “Where’d it go?” You asked, causing him to turn back to you.
“Sent it back to whoever hired it. With a rather harsh message from myself.” He said, before pulling you into a hug. “Told you I’d keep you safe.” He mumbled into your ear. Even though you didn’t really know the Doctor yet, you happily hugged him back.
“Um, What the fuck just happened?” You and the Doctor released each other from the hug, and turned your attention to your past-self, who was marching over with Amy trailing behind.
“Y/N, how much of this do you remember?” The Doctor asked you.
“Um, none. I just remember walking home, eating some ice cream, and going to bed.”
The Doctor met your past-self halfway, and ignored her angry questions as he put his fingers to your head. Your past-self almost immediately passed out, landing in the Doctor’s arms. He carried her back to the TARDIS, which took all four of you back to your house. He carefully placed your past-self on your couch - that’s where you had woken up this morning - before taking you back to your own time.
“Here we are! Not even 5 minutes after we left!” The Doctor said. He walked out of the TARDIS with you into your living room, Amy opting to stay in the TARDIS. 
“When will I see you next?” You asked, looking at the Doctor. 
“No idea. Soon, I’m sure. But it might be a younger version of me, so make sure you don’t tell him any specific details about this.” He said. A weird look flashed on his face for a second, as if he realized something, “Oh, and don’t be surprised if I look a little...different.”
“What do you mean?”
“...Spoilers. You’ll figure it out soon enough.” The Doctor opened the doors of the TARDIS with a snap of his fingers, but hesitated before stepping in. He leaned closer to you, and gave you a soft peck on your cheek before moving into the TARDIS. “I’ll see you soon. Promise.” With one last look, the Doctor closed the doors of the TARDIS, and it began to wheeze before once again disappearing. You stared at the now empty spot, before you turned to walk back to your room. Before you made it there, however, the wheezing noise returned. 
“Why is he back already?” You thought, quickly walking back to your living room. Surely enough, the TARDIS had reappeared. The doors opened to reveal...a stranger. This guy was wearing a brown suit, a pair of converse, and had truly great hair.
“Y/N! You up for an adventure today?” He asked, a wide smile on his face.
“...Doctor?”
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