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andilovetowrite · 3 years

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Punch To The Heart (Part 2)

Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: After repeatedly blowing you off on plans, events and trips, you have finally had enough. But Peter soon regrets it as he sees the harsh reality of almost losing his best friend.

Based on a request, you can find here!

Warnings: Shooting and violence. But nothing too graphic. This is probably my most angsty fic yet, with sprinkles of fluff here and there :)

Word count: 2.4k

Here is my Masterlist in case you want to find more of my work :)

Punch to the Heart (Teaser)

Punch to the Heart (Part 1)

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“Crap crap crap”, Peter muttered, running his hands through his hair. He looked at Aunt May, hoping she would say that she was joking; it was some sick prank. But she just looked down, coming to smooth her hand on his back.

“Sorry, Pete. Her parents just called me to tell you that she is in the hospital. She isn’t doing so good. She was losing a lot of blood before passing out on the street. Police arrived 5 minutes later.”

Peter sighed, feeling his throat close up as he shook his head. “No, no, no, they said they will go after my girl” Peter looked back at May as he quickly suited up. “My girl,” He said quietly before snapping his web up, jumping out of his window and towards the hospital, sirens blaring in the background…

2 WEEKS AGO

Peter walked into the school, arm slung around MJ, pressing a kiss to her head before he let her go, watching her walk to her class. He kept walking, a glazed look in his eye, that he didn’t even see you, tumbling onto you.

“Oh, I’m so sorry”, he rambled before he saw who he was talking to.

“Hey Peter”, you said coldly, looking at him with a pinch in your heart.

“Oh, hey Y/N!” he said, a slightly pained look on his face.

You let out a sharp intake of breath you didn’t know you had been holding since he walked in. “I’m surprised you even know my name after you bailed on me last night. Again.”

Peter sighed uncharacteristically. “Look, I already said I’m sorry. Like a billion times!”

You scoffed, trying to hide how much it hurt. “Nope. Not even once. I left you 15 voicemails, Peter! I thought you were dead or you had gotten hurt! Couldn’t you just send me one text? After you probably texted MJ a billion times”, you said, imitating his voice. You tried to stop the shaking in your voice.

It had only been less than a week since you and Peter had talked about him not speaking to you anymore, and now it had been happening more and more. You knew he had Spiderman duties 5/7 days in a week, so you planned your night together on a Saturday night.

The same Saturday night, Tony had asked him to come because there was a challenging mission urgently. But you had looked at the news all night to see how the fight was going. Not once did they mention anything about a fight.

“How was the fight, Pete?”

“What fight?” he asked, confused. And that gave you the answer you were looking for.

“The one you told me as an excuse… You know, I’m sure MJ didn’t even get one text. Because you were by her side the entire time.”

Peter looked at you, wide-eyed. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to say something to you.

“Tell me I’m wrong, Parker. That you blew me off for the hundredth time to hang out with your new girlfriend?!”

Peter didn’t say anything for a couple of minutes, just staring at the ground, even as the bell rang. But then he squared up, jaw clenching. “Why the hell can’t I just spend time with MJ” Without you breathing down my neck?”

“Because you hang out with everyone, Peter! MJ, Ned, Betty… heck, even Flash! But not once do you hang out with me!”

“Maybe because you are just so fucking frustrating! Always wanting attention like a kid!” he spat out, then he looked away, muttering something under his breath.

“What did you say?” you asked, voice breaking, as the silence of the hall felt suffocating.

“I said, I thought you had gotten more than enough attention you would’ve needed in your life!” Just as those words left his mouth, you crumpled as if a shock of pain had gone through your body.

“Why-why would you say that?” you cried out, not caring that you had school anymore as you dropped your bag on the floor, furiously wiping your tears on the back of your hand. “Don’t answer that. I know why you said it, Peter”, you said, glaring at him through the tears. Walking out of the school, you clung to your shirt. So much for not wanting to care.

Little did you know that leaving your bag at school may have been the worst decision you could ever make….

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DING DONG, DING DONG, DING DONG, the doorbell kept repeating. Your parents had gone out for the night, leaving you at home by yourself. You walked over, trying to see who would come at 4:00 in the evening.

“Y/N!”, Peter called out. But he sounded muted.

You slowly opened the door to see Spiderman standing there, holding your school bag and some flowers. “I’m sorry. I know I haven’t been spending time with you, but someone sent a message to the compound a week back. Said it was for Spiderman. They told me that they were going to go after my girl, to get revenge for stopping the bank robbery that happened a couple of months ago.”

“Uhm, so that’s why you weren’t spending time with me?”

“Well, MJ also wants me to stop spending time with you so much. Said you were kinda clingy.” He said, scratching the back of his neck.

You scoffed. “No offence, but you gotta stand up for yourself Peter!”

“I can’t just do that, she is my girlfriend.”

“More like your mom…”, you muttered, rolling your eyes.

“What?”

“Nothing”

“Ok then.”

You sighed, giving him the flowers back. “Here, give these to MJ. She will like them. Or why don’t you wilt them a bit first, so I’ll be like her soul?”

Peter looked shocked. “Why would you say that? She is the best girlfriend ever!”

Your eyes softened. So he didn’t know. “Peter, I saw her and Brad today. At the field. Making out!”

Peter shook his head, more so to himself than you. “She wouldn’t cheat on me Y/N!”

“Okay, Peter. If you wanna keep on trusting your lying, rude girlfriend. Then go ahead. Guess we are back on square one then?” Peter didn’t even say anything, but when he left, you could see he left the flowers at your door, crumpled but still smelling fresh.

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Peter stood in MJ’s room, playing with her hair softly after his fight with Y/N. But something was playing on his mind.

“MJ, did you cheat on me? With Brad? Since some people claimed that they saw you and him making out near the bleachers?”

MJ looked like a deer caught in the headlights but was interrupted(or saved) by Peter’s phone blaring loudly. Peter grabbed it, picking it up to hear Aunt May tell him something he never would have thought of.

“Y/N’s in the hospital Peter”

Peter gasped, jumping off MJ’s bed. “What happened”, she asked, looking annoyed.

“Y/N’s in the hospital! I have to go there…” Peter said, freaking out now. He looked at MJ, hoping to see some type of understanding in her eye, but she just glared at the phone.

“So what? It’s not like you can speed up her healing process. Whatever happened to her? Did she cry so hard her eyes fell out?”, MJ asked bitingly, rolling her eyes. Peter stood there, shocked.

“MJ, she is my best friend! I have to go see what happened to her.”

She laughed cruelly, “Oh please, you haven’t been her best friend for a long time. Let’s not act as if you care. Plus, you promised to meet my parents tonight.”

Peter shook his head firmly. “No-no MJ, I can’t just sit here having dinner with your mom and dad while Y/N’s in the hospital.”

MJ scoffed, looking down at Peter. “Okay, then here is what’s gonna happen. If you go to the hospital tonight, we’re over.”

Peter stuttered, looking at her in disbelief. “Wha-why?! What’s wrong with you? I have to go see her MJ!”

“No, you don’t. She will be fine. I’m sure it’s nothing major knowing Y/N. Always makes such a big fucking deal about everything”

Peter chuckled humourlessly and turned towards the window. “If you are going to make me choose between my best friend and my girlfriend, then I don’t know what to say to you, Michelle.”

MJ nodded, flipping him off. “Oh please, more like the girl you love and your girlfriend.”

And with that, Peter jumped out the window, tears already gathering in his eyes.

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Peter quickly ran into the apartment, seeing May sitting down in the kitchen, talking to someone on the other side.

“Oh okay, I’ll tell him. Please keep me updated”

May turned around when she heard Peter slam the door shut. He ran over to her, eyes bloodshot. “Wha-what happened?”

May sighed, looking at Peter sadly. “It’s not your fault Peter”, she started, and that was when Peter broke.

“May-ple-please, what happened to her!?”

“Remember how you got that call, that those guys will be after someone you know? Well, they must have seen you go to Y/N’s house in the afternoon, and then targeted her.”

“Shit May! It’s my fault...Wait, do they know I’m Spiderman? Because then you have to go somewhere. I’ll call Happy!”, Peter said, rushing around.

May put her hand on his shoulder, “Peter, they don’t know you are Spiderman. All they saw was the city’s hero dropping off a package to Y/N’s house.

“How did she even get out?!”

May sighed. “Fought out of the van, but just as she was running, they shot her in the leg and stomach. Then came up and hurt her a bit more before leaving her on the street”

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7:51 pm Peter, Peter there are some guys standing outside my apartment. These look like the guys who you took down a few months ago, remember? The bank robbery. Anyway, please call me back, I’m worried.

8:05 pm Hey, please pick up. The guys are now banging open the apartment door. I think I heard a gunshot, Peter! Please please come here…

8:15 pm Oh god, Peter. They are coming up the stairs, and they aren’t stopping. I locked the door and I’m staying hidden, but I’m scared, Peter. Please come here. I think they already shot someone downstairs...Ohmygod, I can hear them on my floor, Pete-

8:17 pm Peter, they are outside my door. I shut off all the lights and am hiding under my parent’s bed. You let out a quiet gasp, then started whispering. “They are inside Peter! I can hear them. At least three voices. Please come here, I need Spiderma-

There you are, a gruff voice called out as you let out a pained squeak.

8:26 pm Pete-Peter, they bought me down. Chucked me out the window. Peter, I don’t know where I am just that I’m in some type of van. I kept my phone next to me, and all-ugh-the guys have gone out for something, wait they’re coming ba-

As he played each message on the way to the hospital, Peter could feel himself getting more and more worried. The guys from the bank robbery. The threat. Y/N now in the hospital. Because of Spiderman. Because of him. Because he didn’t stay next to her when it mattered. Because he blew her off for his probably cheating, heartless girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend.

Arriving at the back of the hospital, he quickly shed his suit, running in. “Um, hello. I’m trying to find Y/N, Y/L/N? She was brought in today evening.

The nurse nodded, pointing to the room down the hall. “She is in there.”, she said, sounding sympathetic. “Sorry..”

Peter didn’t even stick around to see why she was sorry for him. Instead, he ran to the room. No one was here, only a couple of doctors here and there. He went next to the room, seeing your parent’s standing beside you, your body covered in gashes and bruises, while gauze covered several parts of your leg and stomach. Peter walked in, going straight to Y/N, but just as he was about to reach you, your heartbeat flatlined, a loud BEEEEP resonating in the room….

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Tagged: @idkatee @eternalscribblesforthesoul @loudbluepancake @poisondevotion @scram1326 @t-hollanderr @305weasley @starknik22 @marvelfansworld @lou-la-lou @lomlparker

Wow! Cliffhanger...ohhh. Anyway, thanks for reading this. It was really fun to write, and I highly enjoyed it. The next part won’t be out for at least a week, since I gotta study for exams. If you wanna be tagged in my next part, as well as other posts, just comment or send me a quick message… Thanks so much, and until next time :)

#peter parker fluff #peter parker x bestfriend reader #peter parker x reader imagine #peter parker angst #black and white #fluff #violence #peter parker #spiderman #mj #michelle jones #min yoongi #haikyuu x y/n

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ldouble · 3 years

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Can’t Help It | Antonio Dawson x Reader (Chicago PD)

summary: You never expected flowers to be delivered to you. You weren’t one for girlish things, for goodness sake you were a cop who liked strapping a gun more so than clicking into heels. With this, it’s a pleasant surprise when you are delivered flowers not once, not twice, but three times in the span of a week. For Antonio, your partner and the guy who definitely did not have feelings for you, its more suspicious.

You stare at empty board, the lack of thumbtacked pictures a rare sight. This was the Intelligence Unit. There was always a case. Sometimes you thought the crimes rolled in like such clockwork you could have a TV show.

Wednesday. 9 PM Central.

With the clear board, you were sure to get cancelled.

You didn’t want anything up there. The first piece of evidence or any sort of lead usually meant someone was dead. You didn’t wish that at all.

The sight just made you uneasy.

Work wasn’t supposed to be mundane. You were supposed to be constantly thinking. Gears shifting as you tried to catch up with whatever or whoever you were after.

Drug cartels. Sex trafficking. Gang related violence.

It made its way to this board. And you sure as hell always found your way back to it.

The sound of a phone brought you back. The rough voice of your partner cueing in that your team was up to bat.

You looked to Antonio, your arms crossed, half your mind still on the blank panel, for answers.

Even fewer leads sat with him, his face stone cold and unreadable. That was weird. After working together for years, literally saving each others lives (after nearly losing each other one or twice) you could always read Dawson. His quiet demeanor was easy for you to pick up on, you yourself one to speak without words. You thought the time spent wordlessly communicating - either over beers at Molly’s or the barrel of your gun prior to a riot - would help you figure out who was on the other end of the phone.

His eyes met yours, a low ‘mhm’ escaping his lips before he let the receiver clack gently against its holder. “Delivery for you.”

“Screw up your address-”

Ruzek called after you, your last names barely heard as you skipped down the steps to meet whoever was at the cage entrance.

“Didn’t order anything.” You called before lowering your voice. “Especially nothing I’d get sent here.”

Your mind wandered to the Wine of the Month club you just subscribed to, and for a second you started believing Adam that you really had fumbled the address. But upon opening the cage door to see a patrolmen standing with your package, you knew you definitely didn’t mess up.

You told the officer just that, laughing at the sick joke it was. Sergeant Platt was having none of it, yelling up at you (without so much as lifting her gaze from her desk), “Take the goddamn flowers.”

So you did. You awkwardly and begrudgingly, took the goddamn flowers.

The goddamn flowers that had you sneezing upon arriving back in the bullpen.

A low whistle from Kevin was heard despite the allergy response. You didn’t know which one had caught the attention of the entire squad. Honestly, you didn’t know which was worse.

“Nobody give me that look.” You spat, concluding it was neither whistle nor wheeze that had everyone curious. Rather it was you, dressed in dark jeans and an ever darker long sleeved shirt, holding a budding bouquet of bright yellow-

“Are those sunflowers?” Jay asked, leaning closer to take a look.

“Yes.” You huffed, setting down the gift like it was a bomb. That’s what it felt like. Like any second something was going to go off. 3....2...

“Who got you flowers?!?” Adam buzzed, jumping up to peer at the present.

“No one.” You quickly said, hating this. Hating the attention. The attention brought on by some stupid-

“Nice greenery.” Voight said from his classic perch of leaning against the door of his office.

At the sight of your boss you gulped. You were chummy enough with him but knew even he wouldn’t appreciate a dispute over something as stupid as this.

So you took a breath, smiled, and agreed with him. “Yeah, nice.” You peered at the object in question...just like you would a suspect.

Jay called you out on it, coming to look at it beside you. He hip checked you. “Whose it from?”

“Great question.”

“There’s usually a card someone.”

You looked over your shoulder at Antonio whose attention now seemed completely enthralled with his computer. You knew for a fact there was nothing on there of importance. if there was, he wouldn’t be asking about flowers. Flowers you never would have gotten because you wouldn’t be here but rather out on the case that filled that goddamn blank board.

“You a frequent customer of ‘Ode a la Rose’, Dawson?” Ruzek asked, coming up on the other side to look at the business ribbon tied to the vase.

“No.” You titled your head at your partner who quickly avoided eye contact after looking up for a mere second. He clicked away, his mouse suddenly much louder to you. “But I know a bouqet of flowers when I see one.”

That had you rolling your eyes back to the problem at hand.

You really didn’t know where to start, that is until Voight walked right up and plucked the paper envelope from between the....blooms? Was that they were called?

Reading your mind Jay and Ruzek leaned in at the same time, whispering, “Buds.” in your ears.

You sighed, watching them return to their desks before opening up the letter.

You don’t know why you needed a breath but you did. It was all so bizarre. Remembering your boss’ words, the very ones you had agreed with, you concluded it to be nice. Nothing less and nothing more.

The card certified that, its blankness leaving the mystery solved.

“What’s it say?” Kevin asked from across the aisle as you sat down in your chair.

“Nada.” You replied, tossing into the bin at your feet.

“Yeah, right.” Antonio said, standing up and crossing the room. When he went to dive through the can beneath your desk you rolled away, the invasion of space surprising.

What was more surprising, the look of jealousy you swore you saw on his face.

Again, your guess was confirmed when Jay asked if Antonio was jealous somebody else was congratulating me on a case well solved before he could.

You didn’t like what Jay said but it was better than clutching onto a defensive statement with no proof. You were a detective. Couldn’t argue with evidence. And Antonio storming over to dig through trash...pretty convincing.

“I told you, I’ll take a free beer over flowers any day.” Your hand graced your partners arm. It stole his attention from the empty paper he was analyzing, his eyes finding yours for a moment. The way they raced across your face, taking you in like someone he was saving, crushed you.

More than that, it terrified you. Because it seemed to terrify Antonio.

You sneakily took the note from his hand, shaking your head with a light laugh. You were hoping he didn’t notice how forced it was because you really couldn’t sit here one more second with him looking at you like that. Worrying you. Terrifying you.

“It’s all good. Probably just some appreciation for your girl.”

You had stood at this point, reaching around to dump the flowers but your hand was caught. Antonio met your gaze, his tongue quickly wetting his lips in thought. A million things went through his head before he plucked the note from you.

“Keep em. Till I get you that beer.”

You watched him walk away, your eyes tearing away when you heard Adam cracking another joke about how sunflowers resembled your bubbly personality. When you slapped his head in warning you chanced another glance at your partner.

Sauntering down the hall a flash of white caught your eyes.

The once pristine note, white as day, was now crumbled in his hand. You watched it soar into a nearby trashcan, hitting the rim and bouncing onto the floor. The slam of the cage, announcing the exit of your partner, couldn’t even take your eyes away.

----

Molly’s atmosphere would always put you in a good mood. There was nothing like sitting with your colleagues, amongst the other servicemen and women of Chicago, after a long day.

You hadn’t even made it to the bar when Otis called your name, waving you over.

Leaving Ruzek and Kevin to chat it up with some of the Firehouse 51 guys, you made your way through the throngs of people.

“What’s up?” You asked over the cheers of a home run being hit.

“You tell me.” The fireman said, a suggestive tone on his lips.

You turned to your coworkers, now joining you, shrugging your shoulders. Their equally confusing looks send you repeating the action back at him. Even then, its hard to force up your arms in chagrin when theres an icy feeling down your back.

The Russian fireman rolled his eyes before disappearing below the bar. Your head tipped forward to follow only to bounce back at his sudden reappearance. Its not his dark curly hair that scares you, but rahter the bright array of...flowers.

He placed it on the counter with a thud. Identical in nearly every way to the vase gifted to you two days ago, the only difference is that the blossoms have grown. Double the amount of stems sit in the square jar.

The aroma of spring met your nose despite the smells of the bar. Mixed with beer and greasy food, your lunch is prepared to make a reappearance.

But its the sight of Antonio, followed closely by Jay, that sends the meal back down. You have to gulp it down again when he gets closer, the look of anger directed towards the flowers, terrifying you once again.

“You got to be kidding.” Jay mumbled, tracing over the business seal.

“When did you get these?”

“Who delivered them?”

“What’d they say?”

The men around you fire out questions but none of them register. You’re always one to investigate but never before had you been so involved. Never before had you been the lead.

You liked the board empty. You’d take a clear slate and nothing to do over thumbtacking your own picture up any day.

Especially today.

Antonio tried to find your eyes, silently communicate among the raising volume of the bar, but you ignored them. There’s something to be said. But you don’t have the words.

The message envelope does.

You ripped through the flowers, tossing stems and wrecking the beauty of the gift, until you find what you’re looking for.

A gasp escaped your lips once you’ve read it, your head following to hang low.

“What’s it say?” Someone asked. You didn’t catch who, the neatly typed and printed words consuming everything in you.

Someone grabbed it but you release the words into the air before they can be read again.

If you could’ve stopped them you would. No one else should have had to read those chilling words. No one except you.

And your detective friends.

“I scent you this.” You looked up at Antonio, his brows furrowed as they came up from the note. “Can’t wait to watch you wilt.”

“We’ve got a gardener on our hands.”

Your head slowly turned to Otis, innocent and unknowing Otis, who thought it all to be a cute little love note.

You told him it wasn’t.

“More like a weed killer.” A faux smile found your lips right before your eyes found the door, your feet following quickly.

The hot summer air was less of an escape than you’d have hoped. Still, you pushed on, farther from the bar and the noise and the people and everything.

Your arm was caught just before a passing car took you out, sucking you back into the real world.

Antonio’s eyes, the fullest of concern you’d ever seen them, sent you pushing him back. You’d take reality but not from him. Not right now.

“You can’t just leave.”

“Let my pedals fall, won’t you, Dawson?”

“No.” His hands found my arms, my bare skin burning. There was no anger in his action. If anything you were producing the heat, frustrated beyond belief.

Antonio saw it, squeezing gently to bring you back. You couldn’t the strain breath that you released.

“He’s in my head.”

“How do you know it’s a he?”

“Women don’t send flowers.” You deadpanned. You took a step back upon seeing the rest of your coworkers stirring a few feet away. They held a respectable distance but some things just needed to be said - partner to partner.

And boy were some things about to be said.

Cops had no on and off switch. Their minds were always in investigation mode. You were your lead, your evidence, your victim, your everything.

And you felt like you couldn’t even breathe at the moment.

“Just let me go home.”

“Not with some guy-”

“He’s in my head, man.” The crack in your voice scared you but you pressed down the fear, going straight up to your partner. Chest to chest you tapped a finger on his temple. “He’s in my head and I can’t help it.”

“You’re in his and I can’t help that.” Antonio huffed.

You didn’t know who was more upset with the situation - you or him.

But that’s what partners were for. To have your back. Even when you didn’t have your own.

The thought of Antonio guarding you, unattended and unfocused, had you shaking your head.

It wasn’t right. None of this was.

You told him just that. To which he tried whispering your last name not as your partner but as your friend. You could tell by the way he said your first name...something he never did.

Desperate times, desperate measures.

“Save your detective work for the office.” A choked laugh escaped you as you slipped by him, heading towards Kevin. “Something tells me this is just poor planning on some gardener’s part.”

The flower puns had been over ages ago. They never really had a place at all.

But again....desperate times, desperate measures. Dark humor was your desperation.

You plucked the flowers from Adam’s arms, meeting his eyes with a nod.

You heard Jay say your name but it was no use. If Antonio couldn’t get through to you, it’d take Voight. And your boss never frequented this establishment at this hour.

Like you would hear him over the buzzing. You wanted to believe a bee was enjoying your unexpected gift but you knew that wasn’t true. The only thing ringing was your heart, beating faster than ever before.

You turned on your heel, only dropping your “I’ve Got It All Together” smile when you threatened them not to follow you. It wasn’t until you got home did it all fall apart, the vase crashing to the ground. The only reason you didn’t hear it was because of Antonio’s voice in your head.

“I can’t help that.”

He meant it like he couldn’t help but worry.

But combined with the concern he radiated, you thought your suspicions to be true.

He couldn’t help. No one could.

----

Your hand hurt from clutching your gun in your sleep.

At the thought of how pathetic that was, you flexed your fingers before shaking them out to study the card.

The wording, the gift, everything, really nothing, made sense.

You had racked your brain for cases that it could connect to. It wasn’t uncommon to be tracked down by former...clients.

Your job was to put people in jail. Jail wasn’t always a life long sentence. Finding you, the person who’d put them there, could possibly be a life long commitment.

The knock of your door made you freeze. You weren’t able to pinpoint a crime that could lead to threats in the form of flowers but you were able to recognize that knock anywhere.

A confirmation through the peephole had you standing with your hand on your hip as Antonio walked into your apartment.

He rambled on and on, jumping between the points of the mysterious flower deliveries and how there was no way you were going to let him stop from figuring this out. On a tangent about your lack of respect to the Senior Detective of the unit (a title he only used when he wanted authority) you wrapped your arms around him.

Suddenly your outburst against the second in command didn’t matter, his own arms looping around your lower back.

“You look like shit for having slept in your car outside my place.”

His chuckle vibrated through you - the sound the most pleasant thing you had heard since entering Molly’s over 12 hours ago. Since then it had been your partner yelling at you and the eery silence of your apartment.

Neither were a match for Antonio’s laugh.

Which, speaking of, quickly died out as he gave you a once over. You could hear the quip on the tip of his tongue, how the bags under your eyes made him think you spent the night in the passenger seat, but it never came.

All that stayed was the worry in his eyes. You wiped your hands over them, forcing them closed. “Don’t look at me like that.” You whispered.

Without moving he replied, “When this is fixed, I’ll stop.”

“Then keep them closed.” You headed toward the couch, heaving a sigh and setting your head on the wall. “I can’t figure it out.”

“What do you think I’m here for?” You felt the couch dip beside you, the weight shifting as Antonio looked over the files sprawled on your coffee table. After a moment you joined him, your eyes quickly glazing over at the papers you’d practically memorized.

“Had he sent some blood or common drug I would’ve pinned him.” You waved a hand over the evidence. “I’ve got nothing.”

“You have to, or else you wouldn’t know who he was.”

“Antonio, I don’t-”

“You do.” He interrupted, a hand finding your knee. He’s quick to remove it, clearing his throat and referencing the table again. “We’re cops. We know more than we think.”

You sighed, wanting to agree but not seeing enough evidence to do so.

Flowers. Scents. Spring.

You were linking the whole ordeal to cotton candy (somehow) when someone else knocked on the door. You didn’t even bother standing, knowing Antonio (who had been on watch all night) wouldn’t let you answer it.

So you weren’t surprised at all when he returned, the rest of the squad entering.

“Still picking petals?” Kevin asked.

“He kills you, he kills you not.”

Adam’s joke impressed no one, his hands flying up defensively. “We not in the mood for jokes or what?”

“We’re not.” Voight’s voice run out strong. It both reassured you and frightened you. This all was so odd. How everyone was here. Except the guy tracking you down.

“No jokes when one of our own is on the line.”

“Line.” You mumbled, the word sticking with you.

“What is it?” Jay asked, crouching down in front of you. It was his classic, “witness remembers something” action, which you didn’t appreciate. There was no time to blow him off, tell him you weren’t a victim in this, because you were just getting somewhere.

Antonio caught on, shoving Jay away for you.

You didn’t even need to say thanks, silently communicating it without as so much as a look.

“What did you say Adam?” You stood, heading towards your bookcase.

“I don’t think I’m supposed to repeat-”

“Say it again.” You insisted turning from the shelf for a mere moment to give him a look. “Please.” You said, your tone lighter.

“He kills you, he kills you not?” He mused, avoiding eye contact with Voight.

“That’s a bad line, man.” You heard Kevin say under his breathe.

“Exactly.” You excited, grabbing the book you were looking for.

“Exactly what?” Antonio came up beside you, his eeys darting between the page and your face. You said nothing - out loud or silently - which he impatiently couldn’t wait for. “Exactly what?”

“Exactly this.” You pointed to the page. “He loves me, he loves me not.”

Confusion and what appeared to be fear raced across Antonio’s face. Jay asked if you could fill him in before you got a chance to question your partner’s response to your revelation.

“It’s a line.”

“We know.” Voight said.

“A line from a case.” You went on to say, heading back toward the table. “There was a guy at the University of Chicago, posed as an English major, sucked girls with the whole ‘I’ll read you poetry’ thing.”

Papers were flying everywhere and Kevin was trying to keep them in order, that is till Antonio started digging with you.

“I know this one. He brought girls in and then,”

“Raped and murdered them. Leaving nothing but a note that said,”

“He loves me, he loves me NOT,” Voight answered, remembered. the case he handed over to you and Antonio.

“He definitely did not.” You stood, file in hand. “He left that line and-”

“A flower.”

You looked up to Antonio, his gaze pointed at the pile of what was your second bouquet, sitting in the dustpan where you left it when you couldn’t bring yourself to throw it out.

His eyes found yours after a moment and you couldn’t help but smile. You had solved it.

Of course, you had solved it three years ago.

Jay reminded you of that point when he took a look at the report.

“The clues he’s leaving aren’t keeping him too well hidden. Why send the cop who put you away flowers?” Kevin spectated.

“Paid in cash.” Adam added, rubbing his chin in thought. “Might want a chase.”

“Who leaves a calling card like that and wants a chase?” Voight pondered.

“He’s not the one being chased.” You said, the room quieting from the many guesses being vocalized. “I am.”

The knock of the door piqued everyone’s interest, each head whipping towards it. Then you all looked at each other. No one else who needed to be here wasn’t.

Antonio connected those dots first, undoing his gun from its holster and walking towards the door.

It was no point for him to ask who was there. You already knew.

You just made it to see the delivery boy, eyes wide as Antonio pointed the barrel at him.

You took the smallest of steps forward, further intimating the boy and causing the vase to drop. Triple the size of the first one, flowers spewed everywhere, a white card sliding across the floor to your feet.

You bent down, opened it and read it silently. When you looked back up at Antonio you couldn’t help the words that escaped.

“He’s not asking to be found. He’s already picked me out from the bunch.”

----

I wanna smell you. Just you. You don’t bloom, you lose it all.

The last part of the note didn’t need to be repeated in your head. Not when you were there right at that moment.

Lurie Garden looked beautiful on the Spring Saturday. Lavender wafted through the air and all colors spread through the field. The Bean was barely visible over the high walls. If you stood in the penny fountain you wouldn’t have been able to see 20 feet into the greenery. Not with the spurts of bushes that traveled higher and higher the further into the season.

3 Pm was peak time. Little kids ran around, parents following quickly. You had spotted more than one older couple, walking through the fields to literally smell the roses.

Like on every other OP, you thought of if you’d get there. Make it through this.

Good cops were good people. And no good person walked into a dangerous situation without playing with the idea that they wouldn’t see the light of the next day.

Your eyes found the sun, beating down on you. When you couldn’t take it any longer your refocused, finding the very couple that sparked your philosophical train fo thought. A green ring formed around them from the light exposure. They looked angelic. Happy. Perfect.

“Everything looks perfect.”

You toed the gravel, Ruzek’s voice loud and clear in your ear piece. No one had said much the last 15 minutes you spent waiting for your guest.

Mark Cameron, ever the ‘fake’ student, was running late for class.

Only you would be penalized, though, if you slipped up.

The kid, no college graduate, was still smart. When you’d busted him he had a barely alive girl in his arms. When unarming you he called out every weapon.

Hence your lack of protection right now.

No gun. No knife. You didn’t even have the pin you wore for highly specialized ops, its edge sharper than any pocketknife you could’ve snuck into your pant leg.

“You’re going to be fine.”

You turned halfway before stopping yourself. Antonio’s voice hadn’t come form your ear piece but rather behind you. Posing as a fellow garden goer, he stood the other way, admiring the monkshood you just looked at (15 minutes had given you plenty of time to read up on the plants. That and you needed something to do other than wait).

He was effortless when it came to undercover ops. So it took everything in you not to tell him he was blowing it. Cameron could show up any second. Antonio knew this. Never one to break protocol it wasn’t right to see him doing just that.

“Let’s hope.” You breathed, bending down to smell.

“He’s not in your head. I can’t help you if you’re in yours.”

You didn’t respond - not knowing what to say as well as gettin interrupted by COMMS.

“Cameron just entered the North East corner.”

Kevin went on giving description - jean jacket, information packet in hand, etc. - but you didn’t care.

You remembered that sweet couple without a care in the world and you needed to see Antonio once more. You needed to believe him he’d help. You needed your partner.

“Thought you might need this, honey.”

Cameron’s voice was icy in your ear. You fought the urge to grimace, instead smiling up at him and accepting the garden sheet he was extending to you.

“Thanks. Was dying to know what smelled so bad.”

“So you say.” He whispered directly into your ear piece. “What do they think?”

Jay mumbling something foulw as cut off as Cameron picked apart the tech. You couldn’t help but slam your ear into your shoulder, his touch radiating goosebumps off of you. The exposed movement was worth it when you caught no sight of Antonio - who had thankfully cleared the area.

There was no one in your row. No one you could really see either with the sloped ground and the high stalks of greenery.

You hoped your team had you. You knew they did. It was just hard to believe when you didn’t have yourself.

Cameron had found you. Found a way into your work and your bar and your home. More than that, he found his way into your head. And Antonio would never admit it but Cameron got into his too.

Partners. Had each other’s backs but also had each others brains.

You hoped Antonio’s wasn’t as corrupted as your felt right now.

“I told you to come alone.”

The stomp of his foot on the ear piece emitted a high pitched frequency just loud enough for you to catch.

Your lips formed a straight line as you told yourself not to panic. Something about you being the target made this op different. You cared about victims more than you did yourself - evident in the way you put your life on the line.

But this...this focus on you, on your friends, made breaking up a drug cartel seem like heaven.

Being here, with Cameron, even in a beautiful field of flowers, was actual hell.

“You know, I’d make some cruel joke about no flower growing alone but I don’t think you’d appreciate that.”

Cameron pretended to weigh the options. Coming to a decision a sick smile grazed his face before his hand found your hip. It hurt, a pressure point being hit, but you didn’t let it show.

“Good choice. Makes you love you a bit more.”

His eyes wandered to the flower I was still gripping, its orange petals crumpling with the tense hold I had on it. His own hands found one near by, picked it and brought it up to my nose. His brows raised, asking me to pluck a petal. I did as told just as he said, “Or love you not.”

“Sir!”

You spun around to the voice, only having his hand grip into you harder at the sight of a park ranger approaching.

“You can’t pick the flowers, sir.”

“My fault!” Cameron chuckled, his neck settling on your shoulder. Again, he put more force than necessary, your collarbone taking the brunt of it. “My girlfriend here wanted to see if I still loved her not. You know the rhyme.”

The ranger gave a tight smile, clearly weary. She shook off the feeling, going back into work mode. “I’m going to have to write you a warning.”

“Ma’am-”

You attempt at reconciliation was lost as Cameron pressed his hand and neck harder into you - equal points of pain rolling through. He was all bone and it hurt like hell.

“That won’t be necessary,” He leaned forward, bringing you with him. “Jan.”

“Sir, it’s policy of the park not to-”

“It’s-”

This was going all sorts of wrong.

No ear piece. This ranger. A much more aggriavted Cameron than you wanted.

Maybe this was it. Your final chance to smell the roses.

“You need to leave, now.” Th ranger said, summoning the most authority she could in her voice. Cop or not you could see her wavering.

You could also see a crowd forming. Nothing interested tourists quite like a public conflict.

“I said, no.”

“Sir!”

The ranger stepped forward, clutching what you assumed was a baton.

Cameron, ever one to see something for more dangerous than it was, though it a gun, and was quick to pull his own out.

Where else could it go than up against your head.

He held a firm choke hold, tossing you around as you showed the neely joined audience exactly what you had. It was all it took for your team to come out, their own guns blazing.

Screams. People running. Dust picking up.

You wished for the smallest deliver of flowers. No mess. No note.

This was so much worse.

You stayed strong, though. You knew there was more coming.

“All so protective of your girl when a guy sends some roses, huh?” Cameron asked Kevin and Ruzek, whipping you around to talk to both of them.

“Put the gun down.”

“Let her go.”

Now you understood why no hostage felt safe in this moment. Guns pointed at you. Words their first line of defense.

This wasn’t help, you wanted to tell Antonio. This was a placeholder for help.

“Yeah, right.” Cameron snarled. His nose inhaled your scalp, posseviley claiming you. “She smells like mine.”

Threats were repeated. Voight and Al and Jay appeared. All who was missing was your partner.

And without your partner you weren’t you.

You closed your eyes, hating this. Hating this because it wasn’t right. Antonio should be here. Having your back. Helping.

So you did what any cop would do. You proved you were than just your partner or your team or your badge.

You opened your eyes, now facing the fountain just a few rows ahead. In it you barely saw your reflection. if the image of you being held wasn’t enough to spark something, the shadowy person just past you was.

In one swift moment you hit Cameron’s instep, freed your hand, twisted his shooting hand, which caused him to fire into the fields, and threw him over your back, made him hit the ground and had you pinning him down.

The next thing you knew there was a gun, another one, pointed mere inches from his face. You didn’t need to look up the leather jacket arm to know who it was. So you didn’t. Not until Kevin stood Cameron up and Ruzek handcuffed him.

That’s when you turned to Antonio. Fell into his arms. Breathed the scent of the flowers for the first time.

He whispered encouragement to you, assuring you were fine, saying how horrible that guy would suffer.

None of it mattered. All that mattered was him. You were ready to say that after you pulled back to look at him when his eyes found the ground. With you still firmly held in his arms he reached down, a cheap connivence store bouquet of flowers in his hands.

You couldn’t help the choked laugh that escape you

“Thought this might be better than the beer. Ya know, for catching the guy.”

You accepted the gift that had fallen out of Cameron’s grasp, tilting your head. “Yeah, but you helped.”

Antonio shrugged, forcing the flowers out of your hand as he brought you closer.

“I can’t help it.”

The End.

#antonio dawson #antonio dawson x reader #antonio dawson fanfiction #chicago pd #hank voight #jay halstead #kevin altwater #adam ruzek

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utterlyinevitable · 3 years

Note

Can u do a headcanon or fic as part 2 for that mc has a musical talent one where ethan gets a keyboard for her birthday?😊

For anon, @thegreentwin and @lucy-268 ❤

Read Part 1 here.

Music & Secrets (Part 2)

Ethan and Bryce arrived at Odette and the gang’s shabby, yet homely, garden apartment early. They came separately but showed up together. Well, actually, Ethan made it to the building’s front door 2 minutes before his gym acquaintance. The attending was struggling to type in the code, open the door, and balance the birthday gift all at once. Bryce noticed Ethan’s struggle and jogged to help him get through the front door, offering to share the weight of the juggled present teetering in his arms.

Ethan gratefully relented as the two most important men in Odette’s life navigated through the corridors to the familiar, ajar apartment door.

“Dirty 30!” Bryce exclaimed ceremoniously over the expertly wrapped package he helped Ethan haul into the apartment.

The roommates looked to Bryce, to Ethan, then down to the ridiculously long gift wrapped in duck egg blue and white stripped paper with a comically dainty bow placed in the uppermost corner.

“Why’s it so big!?” Elijah asked, deep brown eyes gleaming at the possibilities.

Bryce shrugged and plopped his side of the weighted rectangular object onto the scuffed wood floor carefully. He bounded over to the kitchen to peck Odette on the cheek and grab a beer from the fridge, making himself right at home like always.

Now left alone, hovering in the foyer, Ethan took to placing the package carefully against the wall, then busying himself by rubbing his palms down the front of his button down shirt to expel any creases. It’s not like he hasn’t interacted with this group of colleagues before - they’ve got to know one another rather well over the last two years - but there was something different about being one of the carefully selected individuals invited to their home for a party.

Not just any party.

Odette’s birthday party.

Never had they celebrated a milestone together before.

As Ethan shifted in place he wondered if he really should be here, if he should have really gotten such an ostentatious gift. She didn’t ask for it - what if it was a mistake?

Should’ve just gotten a card and some flowers. Lahela’s gift fit in the pocket of his jacket. That’s more representative of our friendship. Right?

Before Ethan could run a marathon of doubt Odette moved to greet him, eyeing the parcel resting to his right, then looking him up and down - noting how something about him was uncharacteristically shy. They - Odette, the gang, and Ethan - have worked together for over three years, at the very least they were all pub friends, there was no reason why he should feel so out of place in such a warm, loving, environment.

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” she said softly with a private smile as soon she she was situated a mere two steps before him.

Just like the calming salt-filled breeze wafting off the Bay and up to his balcony, the air around Odette had Ethan’s rigid shoulders rounding, jaw loosening, entire body enraptured.

“I know.”

The corners of his mouth tugged upwards.

Their eyes - deep azure and sparking emerald - met, speaking volumes they wouldn’t dare say out loud. The animalistic side of him fought to ogle her in that new strappy turquoise dress that accentuated her long legs and curvy waist, fabric pleating effortlessly around her salaciously round hips, and - dear god - the bodice fitted all too well and Ethan would need to swallow the offending lump forming in his throat. The overbearing, and commanding part of Ethan Ramsey fixated on her naturally painted features, waiting for one of them to make the next move.

Sienna got there first, breaking the moment the two diagnosticians were having. “What is it!?”

Ethan took a half step back and made a motion to the present with an invitingly raised brow. Odette’s eyes glowed a shade of enticing light green Ethan had never seen before. That in itself was worth it; he convinced himself in that moment that her reaction to the actual object could not supersede the bemused and satisfied lightness he was feeling right now.

Odette couldn’t help herself. Her hands reached the paper even before her feet could follow. Dropping to her knees, filed nails tore the wrapping paper right off as unladylike as possible - not a single care for the purposefully chosen decoration.

She’d only gotten a fifth of the way through before she recognized the logo on the box underneath and froze in place.

No. It couldn’t be.

Odette’s neck craned ever so slowly, turning to Ethan who’s lips pulled into the most genuine smile she’s ever seen on him.

She had no words; mauve painted lips parted, only the most necessary of breaths leaving her lungs, emeralds glassing over. She knew Ethan was wealthy and enjoyed spending money on those in his life. But this was too much.

Much too much of a gift for a good friend.

Odette turned back to the most thoughtful gift she’s ever received. Her jaw slacked further and her big eyes barely blinked as she gawped at it.

“Shall I place this in your room?”

All Odette could do was nod.

Ethan helped her back onto her feet before lifting the package and making his way down the corridor he’d gotten accustomed to over the last few years. Late nights and nightcaps spent in the living room, and early mornings he’d stop by to force her out of bed for a case or to join him for the rest of his jog.

When he was out of sight and most certainly hearing range, the gaggle of doctors shared the exact same look. Sienna the only one to whisper-exclaim; “Oh my god!” through her grin.

Odette bit her lip, not sure of what to make of the moment. Her thoughts were blank, yet her chest was fluttering faster than she could keep count. She glanced between all her friends’ elated and encouraging faces for any semblance of the explanation she was too stunned to come up with. The only sentiment she found was an astounding wordless command: Go with him!

Odette rose her brows. Took a deep breath. Then turned on the balls of her bare feet, making her way to her bedroom where her dearest friend was waiting.

Before rounding the corner to her open bedroom, Odette took one more cleansing breath and shook her head. There was no reason to feel so discombobulated; this is Ethan!

They’ve been through so much and have become the closest of friends. Why is she getting knots in her stomach and a lightness in her chest at the thought of being alone with him right now?

When she entered, Ethan was sat at the edge of her bed, hunched over with forearms resting on his thighs, intently reading through the assembly instructions. His baby blues were squinted and she could pick out nearly all of the lines and divots usually carefully masked with his signature stoic expression. She couldn’t help but chuckle to herself at the sight.

“You should start carrying your readers, old man.” He was only a few months shy of the big 4-0.

“I wouldn’t need to if they didn’t print it impossibly small.”

She sauntered over and gently snatched the booklet from his hands. Her eyes roamed over the packet. And of course;

“You’ve got a point.”

She handed the booklet back to him, her attention caught by the fully opened box propped up next to her pillows. The ivory-looking keys glittered back at her, and the fifteen year old prodigy she thought she’d long suppressed begged to break free.

Ethan couldn’t help but watch her ogle the object. Her freshly painted fingers barely grazing the keys as if she’s afraid or shocked or... he’s not really sure what to make of it. All he knew was that she was holding herself up straighter than five minutes ago.

“Is this the right one? The saleswoman said it’s the perfect compact option that doesn’t compromise on quality.”

There was a bated pause. Only a beat before she responded - thought he knew her well enough to know her mind was elsewhere than she’d let on.

“It’s perfect,” the words came out breathy. Odette tore her eyes from the piano to smile at him, “Just unexpected.”

The two of them spent the next forty minutes building the keyboard stand with the allen key Ethan absolutely detested, and the foldable stool she had to scower around for the tiny toolbox her older brother made sure she kept on hand. Then eventually they cleared some space from under her window so she could bask in the natural light while playing to her hearts content.

Ethan put on the final touches by pinning back her curtains for a better view of the small plot of greenery her bedroom was fortunate to overlook. He took a step back to be at her side. The two of them admiring how the dark colors of the keyboard contrasted with the whites of her minimal décor, yet looked so perfectly at home - like it was always meant to be there.

Like it was always meant to be in her life.

Funny how that thought crept up on him. It’s exactly how Ethan felt about Odette. He may have adamantly refused her friendship their first 15-months, but he always knew she was special. For a man that didn’t believe in higher powers, that .01% has come to accept his need for her in his life.

He’d never know she feels the same way about him.

With the grand gesture illuminated by the mid-autumn rays, Odette took a magnetic step forward. Sitting down on the stool, her hips wiggled in the seat to test out its comfort level. Satisfied, her fingers began hovering a waltz over the keys, still so hesitant to touch them. It’s been nearly a decade since she’s last let her emotions wistfully speak for her.

“Go on, try it out.” Ethan’s gentle baritone cadence urged, knowing she’s dying to without her having to say it. She had that look on her face that he knew all too well - that glassy, dazed expression that meant her mind was moving faster than her muscles could comprehend.

Odette’s front teeth sunk into her lip, angling herself away from him as much as possible and wishing she didn’t ask Sienna to put her hair into an artistic bun. This would be so much easier if her bleached blonde locks could curtain her from her onlooker.

Ethan stepped back to sit on her bed and give her space.

She took another breath. Shallower this time as the fear, excitement and desperation began to culminate in her fingertips.

The pad of her thumb grazed E, the ivory warm to the touch and the sensation not as distanced as she expected. Even though she hadn’t elicited a single sound from the instrument the key rang in her ears. Her other hand came into place. A single cord beckoned for her attention. Odette pressed lightly, enough for the note to sing from the speakers. Her lips turned upwards. Every new touch coaxed out such sounds that drowned out the rest of the world. Her eyes fluttered shut as the sounds began vibrating off her walls. This room never felt more like home.

And, soon, she began to play.

From memory.

The song she’d have ingrained within her bones forever - the song she demoed that led to her development and publishing deal.

A song Ethan couldn’t place. Didn’t know the tune. A crooked smirk was pulled from him at the thought of her writing something this beautiful. He’s been in awe of Odette Hall for as long as he’s known her, and watching her - getting to experience this secretive side of her - Ethan couldn’t find the appropriate phrase in his elaborate vocabulary to accurately explain just how awestruck he was right now. How he adored everything about her. How he couldn’t fathom never witnessing her play or never solving a case with her ever again.

And as he leaned back on her box spring bed, fingers fisting in the floral patterned duvet and his deep azure eyes hypnotized by his life’s most incredible surprise, he wanted to know so much more.

And as the melody reached the living room, the good-natured group of third-year residents conspired to set a plan in motion.

________________________________________

A/N: In this world, Ethan and MC aren’t and never have dated. Maybe in canon she was on the Raf route? idk. But E and MC have been strictly platonic for three years and the feelings have been growing. Hence the really thoughtful piano and why she trusts him with her secrets more than her friends. They’ve got an attachment and mild codependence brewing ☺

I’m not planning on making this a series but can be persuaded to do another part if y’all want 😅

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wonjaekook · 3 years

Text

beneath the daylight moon

CHAPTER 3.

Read Chapter 2 here!

“Why do we sometimes see the moon, even during the daytime?”

Jaehyun didn’t know, nor did he care to notice that such a thing existed; it was a mystery to him, but you were a bigger enigma.

Jaehyun lowered his phone from his ear, nearly dropping it as he stared at the man opposite him. You and Jaehyun both spoke up at the same time, two voices raised in unison to ask the same thing. A name, which in this case served as a question of its own.

“Johnny?”

It took Jaehyun a moment to process that you had just said his best friend’s name and he had to muster all the self-control that he could manage to not to turn and look at you in shock. Instead, he swallowed hard, continuing to stare at Johnny. He rose from the bench slowly, but quickly hurried over, a short laugh leaving his throat as he embraced him.

“When you asked for my address, I thought you were going to send me a package or something,” Jaehyun said through a grin, giving his friend a solid smack on the shoulder as they part, “not this.”

“Getting into the building was the hard part. I could’ve just gotten your address from Mark. Thankfully, your grandma was home to buzz me in. I think she loves me already.” Johnny’s familiar grin was like a piece of home. One would think that Jaehyun had gotten used to moving around, as he’d done so his entire life, but being in a new place was always somewhat strange. It was nice to see his friend again.

“Of course she does,” he said, unable to hide the happiness in his voice. “Are you here for business or for pleasure, then?”

“Why not both?” As Johnny started to talk more, Jaehyun remembered you. He did his best to resist looking over his shoulder at the place where he left you, but shifted on his feet impatiently as time went on. “...so, I hope your weekend is free so we can check the place out.”

Jaehyun nodded somewhat absentmindedly. “Yeah, sure, I’m free.”

“Since I’m here, do you want to do something now? Unless I interrupted you here?” Johnny’s eyes were warm, a soft caramel brown that shined with obliviousness.

“I can finish this up tomorrow afternoon.” He said it loudly enough that he hoped you heard. Though he didn’t leave off with much more to say to you, he felt like the conversation wasn’t even close to over. That’s how it always goes with you - something left unsaid, unfinished. One of the two of you always has to leave and, this time, it’s him. “I’ll make you something good for dinner as a welcome back meal.”

“I thought you’d never offer.” Johnny turned back towards the entrance to the roof, then stopped a moment later and faced outwards again, taking in the view. “By the way… it’s really nice up here.”

Jaehyun turned as well, following the general sweep of Johnny’s gaze, except really looking towards where he stood talking with you a few minutes ago. To his disappointment, but no great surprise, you were gone. “Thanks. I guess it is.”

In your room, you’re alone. After feeling Jaehyun’s touch, a warmth you were no longer accustomed to feeling, your contactless existence felt even more hollow. You’ll meet with him tomorrow, you decided, if not just to brush your hand against his once more. Also, because you have to talk about him. About visiting your body. And about Johnny.

Johnny... he’s back. He’s here. The notion terrified you and excited you at the same time. If your sister sees him…

You supposed you’re not the only ghost around these parts anymore.

After talking with you today and then having spent time with Johnny, one of the warmest presences in his life, Jaehyun lied in bed at the end of the night feeling far more relaxed than he had for quite a few days. That is, until he dug out the piece of paper your sister had given him. With his phone in one hand and the paper with her number scrawled on it in the other, he hesitated. The message was fully typed out, just a “Hey, this is Jaehyun from down the hall. Could you send me what hospital and room number Y/N is in?” but he couldn’t send it. He preoccupied himself with double-triple-quadruple checking that he typed her number in correctly, read his message over and over again for grammar and spelling mistakes, dwelled on other ways he could phrase it.

He thought about the look in your eyes on the rooftop. Though you had asked him to go, that lack of conviction on your face was what was making this message take fifteen minutes to send instead of just one. He usually thought of himself as an optimist, though now his mind was in a jumble, trying to figure what would really be the best thing to do. His thoughts spiralled in and out of doubt, wondering if you truly wanted him to do this, wondering if this will even work. Wondering, once again, if history was repeating itself.

Then, he remembered some wise words from his grandmother. ‘If you can try, you should. It may just be worth it.’ Though she probably hadn’t meant that saying for something like this, they were the last push he needed. He pressed send.

You watched from the hallway between your room and your sister’s as her phone lit up. Her hair was arranged in its usual nighttime style and she was just about to crawl under the covers of her bed when her eyes caught on the received text message. The small, pleasant smile that graced her worn face made you mirror her look. You could only hope that the news makes her sleep well tonight.

The text that Jaehyun was greeted with, about five minutes after he sent his own, was very straightforward. It contained the exact information he had asked for, including the address of the hospital, and ended with a ‘I don’t know how you know her, but thank you for caring.’

That night, his dreams were soundless, sightless, but filled with a kind of warmth that he couldn’t describe with words. It wasn’t at all a nightmare, but he still woke up with a heavy feeling in his chest.

This time around, Jaehyun didn’t avoid meeting you. If anything, he stretched the definition of ‘afternoon’ to be far earlier than most people think of it. He arrived on the roof at 11:30 in the morning and, at first, shuffled around the area, absentmindedly staring at different pots and gardening fixtures that he’d installed up here as he wished that time would move faster. After about fifteen minutes were spent unproductively, he decided that he might as well make use of his time. He spent another hour and a half heaving the bags of fertilizer that he brought up previously to where he needed them, packed it into the planters, and pulled weeds. The manual labor made him work up a sweat. Though he had gotten into the habit of bringing his own towel to wipe it away, a part of him still wished he had your handkerchief. His thoughts briefly wandered to you again - how you had handed him the item, what it means to you - and that seemed to be enough to summon you.

From the doorway to the stairs, you stood watching him for a moment. He wiped away sweat, shined in the sun, still glistened slightly despite the hat that he had started wearing, and crouched in front of a planter so that he could get a better look at the nothing that appeared to be growing in it. He didn’t notice you at first because your footsteps were soundless.

“That’s where you planted them, right? The Four O’clocks?” You saw his muscles tense in surprise, though that was the most reaction you got for sneaking up on him. Still, an apology left your mouth. “Sorry.”

He shook his head. “Don’t apologize, I just didn’t notice you until now.” His eyes shifted back to the planter in front of him. “And, yeah. They haven’t popped up yet for some reason, though. I’ll have to do more research.”

He stood, brushed his gloves against each other to get some of the extra dirt off, and removed them, stepping over towards where he had left some of his other stuff. As he walked, you trailed along next to him, watching the way a drop of sweat slid down from his hairline into his shirt. It had been a long time since you’d felt temperature - neither a cold breeze nor the sun’s warmth had touched your skin. You weren’t sure if you missed it or not. The only time you had really felt any heat were the times you touched-

The times you touched Jaehyun.

Something inside of you twinged with both pain and hope. If fate existed, he must be a sign of something good to come in your future, right? The key to all of this. Though just yesterday both of you realized that neither one of you had the answer to what was happening to you, you felt like all you could do was cling to even the smallest bit of feeling that he was returning to your life.

“I texted your sister.” He said, snapping you out of your thoughts. A small towel was in one of his hands, which he had clearly used to wipe away sweat while you were trapped in your thoughts. There was a small smile on his lips that you quickly mirrored.

“I know.” Slowly, you reached for his hands, taking one of them in your own, his palm gently held between yours. The warmth seemed to seep into your very being. You swore you could even feel the slight slick of sweat on his palms. “Jaehyun, thank you.”

He tilted his head and his smile became puzzled. “I haven’t even visited you yet.”

“Even just contacting my sister meant the world to her. And that means even more to me.” You tentatively released his hand, the feeling of aliveness quickly leaving your body. “When are you going to go?”

“I was thinking tomorrow.” The immediacy struck you. Tomorrow was so… soon. When you had forgotten your doubts for the last little while, they returned again.

“Tomorrow… tomorrow is good,” you forced yourself to say. The determination on his face told you more about him - once he’s set his mind on something, it’s hard to get him to diverge from that path. He was dead set on helping you.

Silence flowed between you for a moment, only the distant rushing of traffic from the small city below infiltrated the bubble of the rooftop. Jaehyun broke eye contact with you, his tongue flicking out as he nervously wetted his lips. “How do you know Johnny?”

You took a deep breath, like you would if you were trying to ease your nervousness when you were in your own body. “It’s not so much that I know him. It’s more my sister.” You stepped towards the railing at the edge of the building, looking out at the city and the blue sky above. It was far too early for a daytime moon, being a bit past noon. “They were a thing in high school. People really thought they would end up together forever, but college got in the way of that. Now, she’s with that… that piece of human trash that calls himself her boyfriend.” Though your tone had started off pleasant, wistful, remembering a softer past, it quickly turned bitter. Being stuck in the state you were in, you had spent more than enough time wandering aimlessly around your apartment, watching him do nothing all day, watching him waste time and resources. A part of you really believed that her current boyfriend was just a placeholder for the hole that Johnny left when he went away, but you didn’t tell Jaehyun that. It might be better just to leave your hypotheses to yourself for now.

Since you were staring out, speaking to the city air instead of facing Jaehyun, you couldn’t gauge his reaction. The more of your explanation he heard, the more surprise showed in his eyes. After you finished speaking, you took a moment, glared down at the city below, and then composed yourself and turned back around to look at him. He stepped forward, joining you against the railing. “That… explains a lot.” There was a strange smile on his face, like he was finally understanding something. “Johnny never really dated seriously in university. Always seemed kind of hung up on someone from the past. He never named her to me, in all the years I’ve known him.”

“You know him from college, then?”

He nodded. “Yeah. He’s my best friend. Small world, isn’t it?” You realized the particular irony of the statement to your situation, as you couldn’t leave this building, never mind the town, and let out a snort of laughter. “I guess that explains why he suggested we start the restaurant here.”

You stood in silence again, staring out at the rooftop garden instead of at the street below this time. Though some parts of the garden were still rough around the edges, it no longer looked like the roof was abandoned. The area teemed with new life, tiny splotches of green disrupting the brown of the soil and fertilizer as most everything that he’d planted had started growing by now. Everything except the Four O’clocks. “Jaehyun?” He looked towards you, humming in acknowledgment. “Even if visiting my body doesn’t help, I’m still glad that I met you.”

“If only it was under better circumstances,” he agrees. His eyes fell on the wall that led to where the mural was. “Hey, when you wake up, do you want to finish that mural? I think it would really tie this place together. I’ll even buy the paint for it.”

You looked in the same direction as him, the image of the unfinished painting clear in your head. Right now, you really had no desire to do anything with it, but you supposed that Jaehyun made a good point. “I guess. It would be nice to have a brush in my hand again.”

The sound of a car honking loudly from below shattered the tender moment, startling both of you. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he fished it out, glancing at the incoming message from Johnny.

‘Where do you want to go for lunch?’

“Shit.” He pushed off of the railing, standing up straight. “I forgot that I’m meeting up with Johnny and Mark in an hour.” He started to gather his stuff from the top of the crate where he had left it before glancing over and catching your eyes. “I’ll see you tomorrow? You won’t run away again?”

You shook your head. “See you tomorrow, Jaehyun.”

When he walked to the roof exit, he turned around to look at you again. You were seated on the old crate that he first saw you on, in those same dark denim overall shorts with the paint splashes and white tee. Like you could sense him staring at you, you turned slightly. As you did so, your image seemed to waver slightly, as if the sunlight was moving through your opaque being; a strange mirage in the afternoon air. He blinked and you appeared normal again, so he raised a hand in a final farewell for the day. After you returned the gesture, he disappeared into the stairwell.

For the rest of the day, he intermittently thought of you. Johnny and Mark largely kept him distracted, helping him plan some of the items he’ll have on the menu of his restaurant, what the interior could look like, what to name it. As they drove around after lunch, the conversation shifted.

“Dude,” Mark said, “I heard that Ten is also in town right now. You should visit him.”

“I haven’t seen him in years.” Johnny said, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “It would be nice to catch up.”

Jaehyun chimed in at that. “Ten from high school?”

“Yeah. I’m kind of surprised that you remember me talking about him.”

“Do you still talk to anyone else from back then?” There was a slight insistence to Jaehyun’s voice that perplexed Johnny. Jaehyun knew he probably shouldn’t have been pushing this hard, especially since his best friend never opened up to him about it before, but he couldn’t help it. “There’s this girl who lives on my floor who seems about your age.”

“Are you trying to get me to hook you up with someone? It’s about time.”

“No,” Jaehyun said firmly, his eyebrows furrowed. “And you know I wouldn’t have a problem with that if I wanted to talk to a girl.”

“Tell that to your ex. If I hadn’t pushed you to talk to her-”

“I don’t want to talk about her.” There was a snap to Jaehyun’s tone that he usually didn’t use and it cut off the conversation quickly. Mark shifted uncomfortably in his seat, checking his phone. Jaehyun almost decided to drop the topic entirely, but he felt like he owed it to you to ask. “The girl from my floor is named S/N L/N.”

The tapping of his fingers against the wheel stopped. Slowly, Johnny’s grip tightened. Normally, Johnny was in complete control of his emotions. Now, he didn’t seem angry, but it clearly evoked something in him when Jaehyun said your sister’s name. “Yeah. I know her.”

Mark nudged Jaehyun, raising his eyebrows in an attempt to communicate with him nonverbally. Jaehyun ignored the signal. “Were you close?”

Johnny shrugged, forcing himself to relax slightly as he drove. “You could say that.”

No one spoke for a while, until a familiar, nostalgic song played on the radio, reigniting the conversation. Jaehyun planned on leaving the conversation at that, inviting the two over for dinner. As afternoon turned to evening, they returned to his apartment complex. When he stepped out of the car, he couldn't resist looking up. The roof seemed like such a long way from here. He shook his head slightly to clear it and led his friends to his apartment. The elevator ride was short and empty of anyone but them, with Mark gushing about eating his food again. When the doors opened to his floor, he got out and nearly walked right past her. Johnny didn’t, though.

As soon as he exited the elevator, his friend saw her. Jaehyun stopped walking when he saw that Johnny wasn't with him and Mark. Johnny was having some sort of staredown with your sister. She had the same bag on her shoulder that she did the last time Jaehyun saw her, though the sunglasses were missing this time, leaving her expressions largely unguarded.

She seemed to swallow heavily, taken aback by this ghost from the past. “John.”

“S/N.” All Jaehyun and Mark could do was watch. They stared at each other for a moment longer before Johnny once again forced himself to relax a bit and offered her a small smile. “Jaehyun was telling me about how you live on the same floor.” “What are you doing back here?” She said, cutting right to the chase. She seemed far more outwardly unhappy to see him than he did to see her.

“Visiting. Probably going to move back soon, though.” He was watching, carefully assessing her reaction. He stood tall, his hands in his pockets, casual. She appeared much more stiff, weighed down more by life than he had been in the years since they’d seen each other.

“I thought you wanted to get out of this town?” There was a certain bitterness to her voice that was very personal. Almost resentful.

“You still remember that?”

“How could I forget?”

Jaehyun and Mark glanced at each other, wondering if they should do something. At those words, though, Johnny’s smile brightened slightly. “I’m glad I’m unforgettable.”

“This isn’t about you anymore.” Johnny’s face fell slightly at that, eliminating the slight cheer that he had just gained. “I have to go.” As she reached the elevator, she turned back to them, looking Jaehyun in the eyes. Her eyes were piercing, though they didn’t seem to hold any malice, only confusion. “You’re really strange, Jaehyun.”

It crossed Jaehyun’s mind that he might have started something far beyond his depth or control. After the elevator doors closed with her behind them, Johnny turned back towards him and Mark. “Dinner?”

As he cooked, Jaehyun watched the sun set outside the window adjacent to the kitchen section of the apartment. From here, he couldn’t see if the moon was out yet, but he thought about it and he thought about you. He wondered if you were thinking about him, too.

The way you thought about Jaehyun was with the sort of desperation someone who was hanging onto the edge of a cliff thought about a rope. Right now, he was your lifeline for more reasons than one. In your dark room, the emptiness felt suffocating. You lied sideways on your bed, staring at the ceiling, untaken by the sleep you no longer require. Back when you were alive, you might have taken the time to paint him, capture the way he had made you feel in the short time you’ve known him and the few conversations you’ve had with him. Then, you would have opened your sketchbook and flipped through the drawings from better days, ignored the darker sketches of more recent times.

You wondered if your sister had flipped through those drawings since it happened, seen the last picture you created. It was a self-portrait of sorts, though your eyes were filled with black and your limbs were strung up like a marionette. Out of control in your own life, close to being soulless. You didn’t know nor remember what had possessed you to draw it and you wished you had finished with something brighter. It didn’t matter anyways - the book was stuck on your shelf with some of your other things, out of reach of your touchless world. What did matter was what’s going to happen tomorrow.

The more you thought about it, the more the doubts bounced around in the transparent space of wherever you would call your mind now, the more Jaehyun visiting your body in the hospital seemed like a terrible idea. It has been a long time that you’ve been like this and it’ll probably be an even longer time if you somehow wake up. You weren’t sure you were ready to be exhausted like that again.

You thought about your sister and her hunched figure over the dimly lit coffee table at night, the bills piling up, each dollar that leaves her bank account only adding a single grain of sand to the hourglass of the life she’s built here. She never really talked finances with you, but you knew it was never easy. You covered rent, but she tried to keep all of her other bills away from you. You dreaded more than wondered what would happen should that hourglass finally become empty. How much time does this life have left?

It only took you a moment to leave your room and reach her. She was exactly where you pictured her, though she wasn’t staring at the bills, trying to crunch numbers anymore. Her gaze was on her lump of a boyfriend asleep on the couch. “S/N,” you couldn’t help but whisper, “just leave him. Go to bed.”

For a heartbeat, it almost seemed like she heard you, or was at least about to pay herself a courtesy, as she rose from her place at the table and walked the short distance to the hallway adjoining the living area to the bedrooms. Then, she stopped, stared at the ground, and turned slightly, laying a hand on his shoulder. He began to stir as she spoke. “Honey…” the word rang bitter in your ears, “come to bed.”

The look he gave her through bleary eyes showed a type of spiritual rotting that had its roots deep in his core. “Bitch, I was asleep. Can’t you leave me in peace for one night?”

“You’ll sleep better in bed than on the couch…” The meekness with which she spoke had you curling your hands into tight fists, your nails digging into your palms. Both she and you knew that no matter what she did, she would always be wrong in his eyes. Always. If she hadn’t woken him, he would’ve gotten angry in the morning instead, bemoaning how she hadn’t woken him and gotten him to sleep on the bed instead. You’d seen that exact argument happen before. You couldn’t say how many times you’d seen this exact scene, too.

He grunted, slowly getting up. “Is that so?” He tilted his head, cracking his neck in something of a stretch. “You think you know better than me?”

“No,” she flinched as he raised a hand, “I’m sorry.”

The grin that filled his face wasn’t bright. It was crooked, sick, and it made you want to vomit when you knew you weren’t even capable of doing so. Back when they first started dating, he was much better at hiding the pleasure he takes in “besting” her, but now he didn’t even try. As he walked past her, he bumped her shoulder with his arm, making her draw herself in, attempting to minimize the space she took up. After he was gone, more safely away from her in their bedroom, she sank down onto the couch, wrapping her arms around her torso. She stared at the scattered bottles and trash on the small side table next to the soft. It took about a minute before she leaned forward, resting her face in her hands, slow tears falling down her cheeks. You couldn’t bear to look at her like this. Back when you were in your own body, you never knew she cried like this. When you couldn’t stand to watch the fighting without doing anything anymore, you would just lock yourself in your room and pray no one got hurt. Every bit of it, you regretted. You should’ve stood up to him more, stood by your sister, shared her pain. Regret was a bitter taste.

“Y/N,” you heard from her, a quiet plea into the night, “I’m sorry. Please come back.”

You’d heard her cry out for you before, but this time it hurt even more than usual. Your hands were still curled in fists and, after the feelings of regret and helplessness and pure rage boiled over, you lashed out, like you could hit one of the bottles on the table. The silence shattered as your hand made contact with the object, sending it clattering onto the wood surface of the side table, then rolling onto the floor. Your sister’s head snapped up, her eyes following the bottle. The last round of tears fell as she blinked rapidly and scrubbed at her eyes, trying to figure out what caused the bottle to move. She finally got up uneasily, now just dabbing gently at her eyes, before she picked up the bottle to dispose of it.

As she started to warily clean up the rest of the trash, you stared at your hands. There was no way…

It was late by the time your sister joined her boyfriend in bed and it was only slightly later when Jaehyun settled down to sleep. Johnny hadn’t spoken about Stella for the rest of the night and Jaehyun hadn’t asked. He agreed to meet him in two days to check out locations for the restaurant, and that was that. In some ways, he was grateful. The more he involved himself in this situation, the more he felt like everything was spiraling out of control. But, in the opposite way, he wished something more had changed. He just hoped that visiting your body will lead him to something better.

It took a little while, but he eventually fell asleep.

He didn’t remember arriving in the hospital, just opening the door to your room. Your hair was longer than it was when he saw you on the roof and you appeared almost skeletal, your cheekbones hollow and eye sockets sunken in deeper than they should be. Hadn’t the doctors been taking care of you?

When he leaned over, taking your hand, your eyes immediately flickered open, as if you’d been waiting for him. He blinked and you transformed, your skin glowing with life and hair full and luscious. “Jaehyun, you saved me.”

Your voice came out as a warble, confusing and bird-like. Not at all how you sounded when he talked to you before. He tried to speak, but you cut him off. “Y/N-” “You saved me, you saved me.” You repeated, the mantra becoming a sort of chant as you stared at him, unblinking. The fingers on the hand that he was still grasping began to turn into talons, sharp and digging into his skin. “You saved me, you saved me, you saved me.”

He awakened in a cold sweat and bolted into an upright sitting position. The city birds that hung out outside his window were chirping, faintly reminding him of the way your dream-self had sounded. He shivered and pressed his face into his hands. Why did he keep having nightmares about you?

The sunlight streaming through the window was a small comfort, reminding him that things were fine. He considered going back to sleep, but figured that if his body wanted him to get up, he might as well. From what he saw on the hospital website, visiting hours didn’t start for a little while, so he had time to get ready and do some work on the garden before he left. The physical labor took his mind off of things for a while, but the car ride to the hospital certainly didn’t. His car felt far too empty and quiet even with one of his favorite playlists on. He considered himself lucky that the drive was short, though most of the medical traffic for the more rural nearby towns flowed to this hospital because it’s the nearest city, small as it is. The parking garage felt miserable, drab and lifeless, and the inside of the hospital itself felt no different. Stark white, sterile except the dirt streaks on the tiles from visitors’ feet, walls largely undecorated save for large signs warning about various diseases.

The lady at the front desk didn’t ask too many questions when he signed in and said your name. She simply gave him a visitor pass and let him through, scrawling down his name in a sign-in book. Your room was on the fourth floor, so he made his way to the elevator, passing by a few people who appeared far more tired than he did. They’d clearly spent a lot of time here. Some had red eyes from crying, some were simply hunched over, staring at nothing. The elevator was empty and stayed that way for the entirety of his short ride. On the fourth floor, there were fewer people, these strangers milling and sitting about. One guy, maybe around his age, was seated on a bench, staring at an apple that Jaehyun assumed he had placed down next to him. He glanced at the strange boy but kept walking, eventually standing in front of the door that he had been directed to by both the check-in lady and your sister.

The doorknob turned easily, though the door creaked as he pushed it, showing signs of age that the hospital had tried to simply paint over. He let himself in and closed the door behind him, finally turning around and allowing himself to look at your body.

Thankfully, you weren’t as skeletal as he feared you would be. He almost laughed at how different the room arrangement was from his dream as well, the relief making him relax slightly. Your body looked to be in quite good shape despite the amount of time that you’d been in a coma. Patches of your hair were clearly shorter than the rest, where he assumed you had to have some sort of surgery, though signs of said operation were no longer quite visible. IVs were stuck in your skin, providing you with the fluids that you needed to stay alive. Whatever this version of alive was. Your skin didn’t have quite the same sheen to it that it did when he talked to you, but you looked largely the same, like you were asleep. It was almost strange for him to see you in different clothes than your usual paint-stained overalls and white tee, the blue and white hospital gown seeming unnatural. He had only ever seen you in the warm outside lighting of the rooftop, so seeing you under this white fluorescent lighting was almost a strain to his eyes. The thought crossed his mind that you looked far better surrounded by green and brown and blue than you did by all of this white.

“Hi, Y/N,” he said quietly, walking closer to your body. There was an empty vase at your bedside, so he opened his bag, revealing the flowers that he had purchased on the way here. It was a pretty standard arrangement of pink roses and baby’s breath, but it brightened the room immensely. “It’s kind of strange to see you here. I hope these help. I would have brought you flowers from the roof, but they aren’t ready yet. Sorry.”

He didn’t know what he was looking for as he talked. Maybe a flicker of your eyelids, a twitch of your fingers. The air conditioning kicked on suddenly and the blast of chilly air made a few locks of your hair shift ever so slightly, almost tricking him into thinking that you moved on your own. After waiting for a moment, he finally reached for your hand. Your skin was colder here than it was when he touched you before. Your hand slotted into his nicely, but it was limp, unresponsive. A few minutes of nothing passed, time he spent just looking at you and repeating ‘please wake up’ in his head, before he quietly tucked your hand back under the covers of your bed.

“I hope you wake up soon,” he said, “so we can properly meet.”

As he exited the room, he kept his head down, mindlessly walking back to where he remembered the elevator being. The hallway was straight and long and, with his lack of attention, he ended up slamming into someone’s shoulder relatively hard. Both he and the other person staggered slightly, stopping in their tracks.

“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking,” he said quickly, glancing sideways at the boy he had run into. He was the same guy he had seen sitting on the bench before, staring at the apple next to him. The look on his face was an extreme reaction, pure shock covering his features. Jaehyun cringed to himself. “Hey, I really didn’t mean-”

“You can see me. You can touch me.” The guy interrupted him, raising a hand to point at him. “It’s been so long since anyone’s been able to do that!” Oh shit.

“Look,” Jaehyun said quickly, panic immediately filling him, “I’m not trying to become some sort of ghost-whisperer. I’m already trying to help someone and I can’t handle more and more of you.”

“No, listen-” As Jaehyun tried to turn around, pretend like this never happened, the boy grabbed his arm, his fingers sharp as they dug into his skin slightly. “I saw you go into that girl’s room. From the sounds of it, you didn’t get what you wanted. I can help you.”

Jaehyun narrowed his eyes at that. “If you can help me, why are you still like this?”

“I can help you. And her.” Jaehyun’s eyes shifted towards the door that he had just left behind, then back to the boy gripping his arm. “But I need your help first.”

#btdm #beneath the daytime moon #jaehyun fic #nct fluff #nct angst #jaehyun scenarios #nct jaehyun scenarios #nct scenarios #btdm collab

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bush-viper-cutie · 4 years

Text

Love Me Roughly: Motel for the Night

Pairing: Snape x fem!reader

Word Count: 2,008

Rating: E for Everyone

Plot: Severus has arrived to his new city and must now find a place to stay and get in contact with the wizards who can safely find him a new home.

A/N: This is part 2 of 7 for the week 1 schedule for Snape Appreciation Month! Thank you @snapeloveposts for organizing this!

DISCLAIMER: I have edited (drawn over the original) the artwork (taken from a 80′s bodice ripper novel) for the purpose of this short series and will post more information about the original work here.

Posted: 6/2/20

Chapter List

<-- Last Chapter Next Chapter –>

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The plane ride wasn’t as agonizing as he thought it would be. In fact, he slept for the majority of it. After finding his seat, and after seeing that take off went alright he closed his eyes until a woman with a snack cart came by. It reminded him of the Hogwarts Express, except with only orange juice and peanuts. He closed his eyes again and woke up once the descending turbulence hit.

Everyone stood and grabbed their luggage and Severus followed along. He felt very much like an outsider, needing to observe everyone else to know what to do, which he normally avoided doing by researching and studying but of course he did not have any time for that during his tenure at Hogwarts and as a spy under both Dumbledore and the Dark Lord.

He exited the plane and looked around the airport once more, grabbing another coffee to wake himself up – “Caramel Vanilla with extra whipped topping and hazelnut” – and found his way to the exit. The doors were sliding open as people neared them and the night-time wind finally reached his body.

Severus shivered and clung to his muggle coat, “Fuck that’s cold.” He reached for his knitted hat and shoved it over his head, making sure his ears were covered, and wound his scarf around his neck tight. No way was he catching a cold the first day of freedom.

He pulled his trunk along and exited the airport. The air wasn’t as chilly as he initially thought so he let his scarf down so he could breath in the Alaskan air. He wasn’t sure exactly what time of night it was, but the stars were shining bright in the sky.

He walked over to a taxi-cab line and waited his turn. He finished his coffee and looked around for a bin to throw the empty cup away.

“Over there.”

Severus turned to see it was the same woman as before who had sat next to him in London. He nodded his thanks and threw his cup in, walking back and nodding again to her for helping him and not cutting in line while he was gone.

“Are you from London, or from here?” she gave him a short but polite smile.

Does it matter? Go away. He nodded and looked ahead, turning his back to her.

“I’m from here,” she said a little louder, obviously trying to keep up the conversation.

The line moved and he was able to get the next cab, putting his trunk in the back and opening the door. The man asked where he was going and he responded with “motel” only to be asked which one. How am I supposed to know? What do I say?

“Oh! Go to Aurwa, it’s cheap but one of the nicer ones!” she lowered her hands from her mouth and gave hm a thumbs up.

“Aurwa,” Severus rolled his eyes and climbed in.

The ride was around twenty minutes and he found himself a little pleased to have gotten the suggestion from the woman. The motel looked rather nice and the sign at the entrance mentioned a sauna and free breakfast. He paid the driver and got his trunk out, breathing in the air again.

It was only a few degrees colder than what he was used to and the greenery around the area surprised him. He had thought it would be snowing and that the land would be covered in a white blanket of glitter and day dreamed on the plane that he’d be able to wear layers upon layers with the perfect excuse to cover most of his face.

He sighed and entered, heading straight for the front desk. He rang the bell and an elderly woman came out from behind a door. She opened up a binder and uncapped a pen, holding it ready to write down his request.

“One room …” he looked around even though it was just him and the old woman in the tiny room. “And the number for this city’s worst plumber...”

The woman looked confused but wrote it down and stated the price of an available room per night. He paid and took the keys from her and headed to the very last room with his number on it. He jammed the keys inside and held his breath as he turned the knob and opened the door.

He reached for the lights and flicked them on, letting out his breath as he realized the room looked decent. He had slept in much, much, worse in the past. He closed the door and locked it. He shut the curtains and took out his wand to clean up all the dust off the bed, floor, and drawers.

He moved onto the bathroom and used Scourgify on every surface. He stripped down to just his underpants, throwing his clothes on his bed, and remembered he had his strawberry cheese filled bagel in his trunk still and that book...

He took them out and walked back to the tub, turning it on and sat on the toilet lid eating his bagel as it filled. He licked his fingers and slid out of his underpants, tossing them onto the sink’s edge and lowered himself into the tub.

He levitated the book above his face and sunk deeper under the water, forcing his bent knees out, as he began to read.

‘Robin flung a tight satin robe around her naked body and ran to the balcony doors, closing them shut. She sat at her dresser and rang a little gold bell, calling for her beloved friend and butler, Stephano.’

After about forty minutes of dozing off in the warm water, someone knocked on the door. He wrapped a towel around himself and picked up the note that had been slid under the door. It was the number for the worst plumber in Fairbanks.

He sat on the edge of the bed and dialed the number, hearing an annoying ringing and finally an answer.

“Prosaic Pipes! How can I help you?”

He hesitated at the sound of the cheerful voice coming through the phone. He sighed and laid back on the bed, “I’ve just moved to Fairbanks. I need a home and the Blue Jay package… At the Aurwa motel room 30.”

There was a click and the line cut. Severus placed the phone back, dressed in his wizarding clothes, and waited. Within minutes there was a scratching at the door. He opened it and looked down to see a tiny dog looking up at him with a blue package on it’s back like a tiny backpack.

The dog barked and entered before he could reach down and untie the package.

“Hey,” he turned and followed the dog to the bed where it had curled up with its ears perked.

He scoffed and removed the Blue Jay package, avoiding the dog’s little tongue as it tried to sniff and lick him. Inside was a black bank key with a thorn sticking out from the loop. He pricked his finger and watched as his blood dissolved and the key turned bright gold like the Gringotts ones. He picked up the note from inside the package and read his appointment time for tomorrow behind the motel in the forest, “… ‘seventeen steps deep’.”

“Great, thank you… dog. You may now leave.”

Severus pointed to the open door, but the little dog stayed at the foot of his bed. He growled and picked the dog up, placing it outside. The dog ran back in as Severus closed the door and jumped back onto the bed.

“Do I look like a dog person to you? I’m not going to feed you.”

The dog barked and wagged its tail.

“No, I said I WASN’T going to feed – ” another bark “you… Alright fine, if I do will you leave and go back to wherever you came from?”

The dog barked again and stood, wagging its tail so hard his little body shook. He picked the dog up and left the room, heading to a vending machine. He scanned all the options for the most dog-like food item and bought a jerky stick.

“Here,” he unwrapped it and handed it to the dog, “Deal’s a deal so – ”

The dog took it and ran around the corner, back towards his room.

“No,” Severus chased after it and caught it scratching at the door still wagging its tail.

He gave up and let the dog in, deciding to ignore it until it came time for his appointment in several hours. The sun was starting to rise and he could either stay awake until it was time to leave or rest. Guessing by how hard it was getting to keep his eyes open he decided to take a nap.

“Just a few hours,” he sighed and took off his clothes and slipped into his night shirt. He slid into bed and frowned. The dog was looking at him and refused to budge as he slid his feet under him. “Excuse me. But this is not your bed nor will I accept the company.”

The dog tilted his head and barked, wagging his tail. He stood up, finally letting Severus extended his legs, and walked over the sheet and nuzzled under Severus’ arm.

Appalled, he pushed him aside, “No. Sleep over there. On that side.”

The dog jumped back over his body and nuzzled under his arm again, licking his chin repeatedly until Severus turned around. The dog followed again but this time kept his tongue to himself and Severus sighed, giving up.

“If I wake up covered in slobber, I will NOT buy you another jerky,” he pushed the dog slightly more under his arm, pleased with the extra warmth.

He picked up his wand and summoned his book, ready to continue where he left off.

‘Stephano finally arrived with the tray of honey glazed crème brulee and set it down on the nightstand by her bed. Robin sighed and thanked him greatly, asking if he could do her one more favor. She pulled down the robes that were covering her naked body to around her bare shoulders and pointed to a spot on her bare neck that had been so sore lately.

Stephano could practically read her mind, using everything he knew about his oldest friend to perfectly predict everything she wanted ahead of time. He pulled back his tight sleeves with his large manly hands to reveal incredibly large bulging muscles perfect for the job on her dainty bare neck.’

. . .

“Mmm, stop it,” he pushed the dog away and opened his eyes.

The tiny dog had his tongue out ready for another lick. Severus sat up and rubbed his eyes, looking around the room for a clock. He squinted and read the time, seeing that it was only an hour until the meeting time.

“Are you trained as an alarm clock too?”

He got up and stretched, cracking several bones, and scratched his back. He buttoned up his clothes and made himself a sandwich from the food he had backed from home.

Chomping on a large pickle he looked down at the tiny dog, “Let’s go get your jerky, then.”

The minutes ticked by as he observed the dog bite at each end of the stick until a piece came off and swallowed it whole, only to throw it back up and finish chewing it. He wasn’t sure what animal he would have wanted to be, but he certainly would never want to be a dog. Or a cat for that matter.

He saw how students treated every cat that crossed their path in the corridors. Hugs, pets, and kisses from complete strangers? Perhaps a bird though… Ah, what he would have given to be a pigeon perched above Lockhart’s desk, sending down little surprises every hour…

“Well, your time is up. Let’s go give you back to your irresponsible owner and get myself a new house, preferably with a large bath.”

~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~

Chapter List

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donghyuwus · 4 years

Text

Haechan | Trip to Trouble Pt.2

pairing: haechan x fem!reader

genre: thriller, mystery, adventure, action, drama, crime, fluff, angst and light smut (most of these will apear in future parts)

warnings: mention of alcohol addiction, blood, murder, guns and i know it is a sensitive topic right now but the y/n person is a cop, don’t worry i stand by acab (bastards not bad) but i just had to do it for this one to fit it in the story line

words: 2209

summary: this train ride usually consisted of the same people, same events and same routine. however this time it was different. you get the choice to do something that will affect one person on this train and won’t affect you, in return a whole load of cash? easy right. little did you know what you were getting yourself into.

disclaimer: english is not my first language so sorry for my spelling or grammar mistakes, i tried my best. + this is based on the movie the commuter :)

other parts: one

Donghyuck’s POV

‘What kind of person are you?’

I raised my eyebrows at the question but kept on ticking away at my phone, pretending I was caught up in my game. Instead I was typing down that sentence, maybe could come in handy later. What does she even mean by that? What kind of person are you? Quickly I looked up from my phone and glanced over when the sound of heels clicking away echoed throughout the compartment. She left after asking the girl the question one more time, I looked over at her, the girl, I bet I was showing the same expression. Utterly confused, but something in her eyes glistened like she got excited maybe hopeful. However she stayed seated and didn’t go to the bathroom were the money supposedly should be. My eyes studied her face, she was biting her lip now, her face looking stressed, like she was having an inner conflict. That’s when her eyes suddenly shot up and met mine, even though this exact scene had happened time and time again it startled me just as bad as the first time. Quickly I looked away, not wanting to look suspicious and making it clear that I knew what had just taken place there. The feeling of getting caught staring making my cheeks heat up. Fuck why did this always happen? I tried distracting myself by this time truly playing a game. There was a burning sensation to look at her one more time. Something about her is just so interesting to me and I couldn’t place my finger on what. We never had a conversation, I just don’t know how to get up to her. Funny for someone in my field who is trained to do stuff like that, why couldn’t I do it with her?

The compartment door opened and closed, I looked up to see y/n gone from her place. I shut off my phone and put it in my leather jacket, counting to 10 before getting up and following here, shooting a smile at George and Lilith who happened to notice me leaving. In the distance I could see her opening another door and disappearing trough it.

Your POV

It was small and there was an awful smell in the bathroom. Why were you even in here? Were you really expecting that much money to just lay around here? You hoped so, you really did. Quickly you looked around, not wanting to be in here for too long and maybe draw attention to yourself. Your fingers touched behind the small space between the mirror and the wall, nothing. Your eyes peaked trough the hole in the sink, nothing. You even was as crazy to think that it maybe was hidden in the toilet itself. A sigh escaped your lips when there wasn’t really any place left to search. Closing your eyes you let out another sigh, you were disappointed in yourself for even having a spark of hope in the first place. Were you really that ridiculous? There wasn’t any way you could escape your job as a cop and deep down you knew that and had to live with it. You despised it, but it was the only thing available to you which would pay decent without having a degree, you couldn’t afford to go to college. However you did have a lot to learn. The job itself was okay, you liked the thrill it sometimes had but you hated the system behind it all, how corrupt it all was, the men who would boss you around only because you are a woman and being promoted was almost impossible. It was unfair. Life itself was unfair You stood there for a few minutes in silence, trying not to cry because you were rethinking your whole life and it was tearing your down. You opened your eyes and looked up, not letting the tears that were covering your eyeballs fall down. That’s when you noticed one of the tiles in the ceiling being missed-placed. Your heart stopped for a second, it couldn’t be what you thought it was. Standing on your tippy-toes you reached for the tile and poked it which made it fall down but you caught it on time, placing it on the floor before reaching for the empty space. Your fingers touched around the space surrounding the hole, dust, dust, dust- you held your breath. Slowly you pulled it away from the place in the ceiling and trough the hole and there it was. A big bundle of green cash laying in your hand. The person on the bills staring back at you just as hard as you were.

Time. You had forgotten the time, you were in here a little too long now. Quickly you put the cash stack in the inside pocket of your coat, which you had put on again when you left your seat. You swiftly grabbed the tile from the floor and placed it back in its previous position before opening the door and leaving the bathroom. Now it was time to get off and start a new life. The joy you felt in your body was out of this world, all sorts of new plans already creating and building in your head. Slowly the train came to a stop once again, more and more people started waiting around you, also waiting to leave this place. The familiar voice spoke trough the speakers, informing people about the stop and were it would be heading next, it was only a blur on the background, your head was somewhere else. Soon after the train fully stopped, the doors opened and everybody started moving, including you. You were just about to get of the transport vehicle when you bumped into someone, who you assumed, was about to get on.

They locked eyes with you before handing you quite a heavy package. It was a girl, around the age range of 16 ‘till 18. She looked scared, really scared, terrified even. ‘You can’t leave.’ Confused you shook your head. ‘What?’ A whistle, she backed away. ‘They won’t let you do that. They will find you.’ And with that she left and the doors closed in front of your eyes, before you knew it the train was on its way again. You were standing there like a statue when you noticed how weird and suspicious you were looking. As fast as you could walk you made you way over to the last compartment, the air-conditioning was broken in that one for the longest time now and nobody every sat there because of it. You would have some time alone to think. After passing seat after seat and person after person, you finally arrived at the last compartment and you were right, there was no one there. Even the lights were shut off in here. You made your way over to one of the 4-seaters with a table and placed the package down while sitting down yourself, facing the door so you could see if anyone would come in here. For a few seconds you just sat there, staring at the brown packaging. You were curious but scared at the same time, the words of that girl never leaving your mind. ‘They will find you.’ Who is they? Was Savannah working with multiple people? People who would track you, find you and maybe.. Suddenly Savannah didn’t look as friendly in your memories as she did before. You felt a shiver go down your spine and shook your head and body. ‘Focus y/n.’ You whispered to yourself with your eyes closed. When you opened them again your hands reached for the package in front of you. Opening it very carefully and dropping the insides on the table.

Your mouth opened slightly when you saw what it had contained. A small Nokia flip phone, a gps-tracker, you recognized it from your work, you had even trained to place these things on spots they wouldn’t be noticed by the person who they wanted to track. But the thing that shocked you the most was the black handgun. What have you gotten yourself into? Just as that question popped up in your head, the Nokia started ringing. You picked it up after a few seconds of doubting to do so. When you did, a familiar voice spoke in your ear. ‘So you found the money? Great. Now all you have to do is find the person.’ Savannah sounded annoyed in a way, like she was in a hurry. ‘I don’t want to do this anymore. Why did you give me a gun? What is up with that girl? What have you done to her, she looked terrified?’ She sighed. ‘You should have thought about the consequences before taking that money y/n. Now go and find Prynne, again they have and know something they shouldn’t.’ ‘Prynne?’ ‘Yes, they go by that name. It isn’t their real name however, it is to cover their identity. You need to find them before the last stop and finish the job.’ You held your breath. ‘Finish the job doesn’t mean what I think it means right?’ Another sigh across the line. ‘Why would the gun be there otherwise, don’t make a scene, nobody needs to know you are a killer otherwise it would be quite sad of that money you did it for, wouldn’t it?’ Angry you stood up and stomped to the other side of the compartment. ‘No, I won’t do this. I am not a killer. You can have your money back.’ ‘Tsk, tsk. Again, should have thought about that. By the way Henry looks so cute in that Gravity Falls t-shirt, would be such a shame if it was smeared in blood, right?’ Your feet came to an abrupt stop when you heard your little brother’s name. Your breathing came to a stop when she described which shirt he was wearing today, you had seen him in it before leaving for work, he had given you a hug in it, wishing you a nice day. Your heart came to a stop when you heard what came after all that and when you realised you had no other choice if you wanted your brother to be safe.

‘You leave my family out of this.’ A laugh. ‘Finish the job y/n or I can’t make any promises.’ And with that she finished the call. Your heart still wasn’t working properly when you turned around to grab the belongings that were now yours. That’s when you noticed something moving away from the windows next to the doors to enter the compartment. You grabbed your stuff and quickly but swiftly made your way over to the doors and opened them, the gun still in your hand, ready to defend yourself if Savannah decided to be funny and send someone to kill you instead. However there was no one there. ‘Great now I am going crazy as well.’

Donghyuck’s POV

Just in time I could hide in the bathroom close to the doors. She was observant and I was slagging. ‘Great now I am going crazy as well.’ I raised my brows at her sentence. I dropped myself to the floor and peaked trough the small line between the door and the floor. She sighed and plopped on the ground, the gun still in her hand, holding it with a firm grip, like she is afraid of loosing it, afraid of not being able to defend herself. It went silent when she buried her face in between her knees, until I heard light sobs. My heart sank. I wanted to get away from my hiding spot and calm her down but I couldn’t, not right now. A few minutes passed by and I decided that laying on the ground the whole time probably wasn’t the best tactic, there would be a chance of her noticing me, so I got up and instead was now staring at the sink. Someone hadn’t fully turned off the tap and now droplet after droplet fell down in the sink. It was an okay form of entertainment until y/n would leave the hall. After a while I noticed the sobs had stopped, I could finally leave. Just when I was about to turn around and leave I was met by my reflection, he wasn’t alone, a girl was pointing a gun at his head. Y/n. I slowly turned around with my hands in the air and now met eyes with the girl in real life. She was standing against the door, blocking my exit. Her eyes were puffy and red, her cheeks just as red, her hair messy. She looked hot? What is up with me today? Maybe the slight panic made me go crazy. How was I so stupid not to lock door, I was trained for situations like this, yet here I am making mistake after mistake. This mistake led to her holding me at gunpoint. Her legs were a little shaky but the hand with the gun was all steady. Her eyes were piercing trough mine, looking defeated, angry and something else I couldn’t quite place. She opened her eyes and asked me something with a soft yet confident voice.

‘Prynne?’

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danadeservesadrink · 4 years

Text

Do You Believe in Fate?

Chapters 1 and 2 available on AO3 Do You Believe In Fate (2750 words) by Samwritess

Posting both chapters 1 and 2 together here! Hoping to make this a longer series with tons of fun prompts and cute fluff!

Words: 4k

Rating: T for now

Tagging @today-in-fic

“Dana Scully speaking”

“Hi, um, I think I have your pants”

“Excuse me”

“I’m sorry that came out wrong…”

“Who is this?”

“Um, sorry, this is Fox Mulder, I live in the Guardian apartment complex on Columbia St. I think I keep getting your mail”

“Oh. Are you in apartment 52? I used to live there.”

“Yes. That makes sense, actually, but um I’ve gotten some letters and today I got a package with some pants”

“You opened my mail?”

“I only opened it because I thought the shipping information would have a phone number.”

“I see. You know you probably could have looked me up before you rifled through my Loft purchases”

“Didn’t think of that. Anyway, I have your pants.”

“Thank you for letting me know. Are you planning on returning them or are you also a size 0?”

“No, no right, I’m sorry. Where would you like me to meet you?”

“I’m actually in D.C to pick up some supplies from my office on Tuesday. Would the coffee place on the corner of 11th work?”

“Yea that’s perfect actually. What time?”

“Let’s say noon?”

“Great. I’ll see you then Fox”

“See you then Dana”

He knew it was her before she even walked into the shop. He saw a glimpse of red hair about a block down and got to spend the entire block watching her small figure push through the pedestrians on the sidewalk and he felt like he knew her in seconds. She was wearing probably exactly the same pants he had in the box sitting next to him. Probably ordered them as backups for her backups. Navy goes with everything. She walked with her head down, and even with her small frame she seemed to get people to move out of her way with no effort. Dana Scully was a no fuss, no frills, independent woman. And god damn if that wasn’t his kind of woman.

When he figured out she had lived in his apartment, he knocked on the door next to him to get the inside scoop. The gunmen had lived in the apartment for a few years longer than he had, so maybe they had seen this woman around before. It took three seconds after he mentioned her name for Frohike to start gushing about her. “She’s got these blue eyes that stare right into your soul Mulder, red hair like fire, and God her voice...” he hadn’t shut up about her until Langley interrupted. It seems like Frohike’s adoration was more of the ‘we met in the laundry room once and I think I’m in love with her’ type. And with Frohike, you never really know if the woman will live up to his fantastical expectations. Apparently the last they saw of her was about two months before he moved in she packed up and left in quite the hurry. “God we were disappointed when you moved in after she moved out”. So far she fit the description.

She walked in the shop and before the twinkling of the bells had ceased to announce her presence she had spotted him and begun her march over to his table.

“How did you know it was me?” he smirked as she came to a halt next to his little table in the corner.

“How many other people sit in a coffee shop with a week's worth of letters and a Loft package?”

She takes off her sunglasses and he gets to take in all of her face for the first time and it almost knocks the wind out of him. Those blue eyes looked right through him. He had to tell Frohike he was right later. She wrinkled her brow when he spent too long staring so he started to shove the package in her face before she thought he was too much a creep.

“Can I buy you some coffee?” he tried to stand but it was awkward and he got way too close to her as he clamored his way up. He could smell her perfume and he swore he would never forget it. She stepped back.

“It’s no problem. I should be going anyway.” She started to back away from him and he felt a little piece of him move with her.

“No please I insist” He reached out to her and she backed up again, fumbling with the packages she was now holding. “At least let me help bring the packages to your car”

She huffed and shifted to packages again, clearly fully capable of carrying them back herself.

“Listen, Fox. I’ve got an office to drag back to Annapolis and I really don't need your help. What I do need is to get going” She turned and walked back out of the shop and someone must have slipped something into his coffee that morning because he found himself slipping through the door behind her, abandoning his half finished decaf in the bin on the way out.

Maybe it was because Mulder had never felt as much connection as when she looked at him with those baby blue eyes. He had been with more women than he cared to admit, been in love with a fair few, but Miss Dana Scully with her navy blue Loft pants that she probably owned six pairs of had stolen his heart entirely. He felt this infatuation overtake him and every cell in him was screaming not to let her go. So he followed her out onto the busy street and walked next to her as she practically sprinted through the afternoon foot traffic.

“Why are you following me?” She huffed as she tried picking up the pace, but his long legs easily kept up with her tiny strides.

“Do you believe in fate Dana?” She turned to look at him as if he had grown a second head, and at that moment a passerby jostled her shoulder, causing her to trip forward, losing her balance and crossing her feet over, bumping right into his side. He grabbed her elbow to steady her and for the second time met those ice blue eyes. He thought time stood still. If the hard corner of the cardboard package hadn't been poking him in the ribs it would have been the most romantic moment of his life. Fuck, it was still the most romantic moment of his life, with her breathing heavy and the two of them staring at each other on a crowded sidewalk, pressed together by circumstance and fate.

“Logically I’d have to say no.” She breathed out, but the blush on her cheeks told him he wasn’t the only one who felt this.

It took another shoulder to hers from an old woman with an umbrella and too much perfume to knock her back into herself. She stepped back from him clutching the package into her chest like it was Kevlar.

“I have to go. Please don't follow me again.” He watched as she walked away into the crowd, her red hair enveloped into the mob of civilians like a balloon into the sky. Never to come back.

I’ll see her again, he thought. I have to.

---

“Dana Scully speaking”

“Hi, it's me again.”

“What do you want?”

“You got another package. I didn't open it this time”

“Oh. Thank you.”

“When would you like me to return it? I don’t know if you’ll be in town any time soon…”

“I have a friend’s wedding in a week on Tuesday in Alexandria. I can pick it up then.”

“Ok sure I should be home. What time should I expect you?”

“I’ll probably come earlier in the morning on my way to the ceremony if that's alright”

“Of course.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you then.”

“See you then.”

---

He was sweating. This isn’t even a date and he was practically sweating through his shirt at the idea of Dana Scully showing up at his apartment door. He hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind and he’d seen her for maybe 20 minutes tops. He had come home that day and pounded a beer like his life depended on it. The gunmen called his apartment not long after to check on him because apparently Frohike thought “he might have suffered a stroke when he saw her”. He walked into their apartment and was handed a glass of whiskey and an invitation to spill it all about the girl he was now undoubtedly infatuated with. Maybe it was love or maybe just obsession but he was stuck with the image of only her in his head. And she was going to be at his door any minute forcing him to have to look into those beautiful eyes and not have an absolute breakdown.

He was busy deciding between continuing to stare at the clock waiting for her arrival and calling her again when the wrap of knuckles on his door sounded through the apartment. He sprinted to the door, took a second to compose himself and opened it to greet his fate.

“Wow”

She was in a little navy dress that hugged her hips and cut deep down her chest, revealing freckled collarbones to match freckled knees. Was it bad that those knees almost brought him to his? Of course Miss Dana Scully didn't wear little black dresses. She had a little navy dress that matched all of her navy pants and was just as sexy and somehow even more alluring. His eyes followed her freckles from her clavicle to her shoulder and up her neck like connect-the-dots and yet again he looked into the eyes of an angle, noting how the deep blue of her dress made them look even more piercing. She broke his gaze to stare down at herself with an embarrassed blush and smooth the front of her dress.

“Come in. Please.” He stepped aside and her strappy heels clicked into his apartment. He fought every brain cell telling him to drink in her figure from behind. He was a selfish bastard but later tonight he’ll remember her walking through his door in that little navy dress and dream that it was just for him, not for some high-school friend’s wedding 20 minutes away in Alexandria.

“So…” She took a careful look at the room and he suddenly remembered she used to live here. She touched the counter top like she was familiar with the dust that had settled there. Something in her eyes looked almost sad, like she was reconnecting with an old friend. “I like what you've done with the place.”

“Thanks. It’s a great apartment. I was lucky to get it.” She grimaced and it dawned on him why he happened to be so lucky, her having moved out halfway through her lease with the landlord practically begging him to pick it up. He shoved his hands in his pockets like maybe that would stop him from saying something stupid. She hummed and looked up at him expectantly.

“Oh right. Package.” He almost forgot why she was actually in his apartment.

He heard her chuckle as he walked into the kitchen to grab the box from behind the counter. It was significantly heavier than the last time. If it was clothes it was some diamond studded platform boots by the weight of it. He found her staring at the fish when he returned.

“This is heavy. You want my help with taking it down to your car?” He couldn’t help himself.

“Actually, under normal circumstances I would say I can handle it, but these heels aren’t exactly made for transporting boxes of baby food.” She laughed again and he tried to hide his shocked expression.

“Baby food?” She recognized his confused gaze and explained.

“It’s for my sister. She likes to order her baby food in bulk because apparently they don’t sell it in non-organic grocery stores. She must have used my account by accident and they sent it here.”

He really was a lucky son of a bitch.

He gestured towards the door and she walked first, him following her with the package in his arms. They boarded the elevator together and it was just goddamn unfair how those heels made her the perfect height so that if he glanced over he could see straight down that little navy dress of hers. Unfair.

She clicked her way off the elevator and dutifully he followed her to the parking deck. She popped her trunk open and he plopped the case of organic baby food in.

“Well, I think I finally changed all my accounts to my new address, so hopefully this problem gets solved” She must have seen his face fall because she blushed again. “Thank you for all your help Fox.”

“Mulder. I even made my parents call me Mulder. Hated my first name. Hope that's not too strange” He doesn’t know why he was telling her, if she was going to exit his life after today. Maybe the dress had truth-inducing powers.

“Mulder.” She tasted his name like a cherry on top of a sunday, the way that would leave a red stain on her lips like the lipstick she had on now. The way that dress was cut made him think that she was the kind of girl that could secretly tie a cherry stem into a knot with her tongue. “It’s certainly not weird. Being a doctor I get called Scully most hours of the day.”

Dr. Dana Scully . It fit her perfectly.

“Well Dr. Scully, Dr. Mulder is always ready to be your personal mailman.” Her eyebrow quirked up, obviously impressed with the title.

“M.D?” she questioned like a judge running a trial.

“PhD in Psychology. Oxford University.” He stood up a little taller. She smirked.

“Impressive. Although I would be careful calling yourself a doctor unless you can complete a surgery with a Myers-Brigs test” Her eyes lit up when she challenged him. He was more than willing to submit to her.

“Nah I’ll leave the surgeries to your…” He grabbed her wrist and her eyes widened, “capable hands”. If pedestrians were not there to bump them together, he figured fate wouldn’t mind if he gave it a helping hand. The energy between them was palpable.

Psychology may not complete surgeries, but it did give him the ability to peg Dr. Dana Scully down to a tee. If he had to guess, she went to undergrad somewhere close to home, but went far away for medical school, probably the best school she could get into. She gets the buttoned up look and her quick pace from a military background, probably her father. A gold cross like the moon in a sky of stars on her chest said she was religious, likely from childhood. But that low-cut dress and strappy heels made him think there were many many layers under the stiff exterior.

“Where did you go to school?” he released her hand and tried to inhale without giving away the fact that he’d barely taken a breath while she was in his grip.

“University of Maryland for my bachelors, then Stanford for medical school. Impressed?”

She licked her lips and he wanted to peel back every layer of her, including that tantalizing dress of hers.

“Very.”

“Well Dr. Mulder, I need to head to the ceremony.” It was goodbye again and he hated every second of it. Now or never.

“Listen, Dr. Scully . If you're ever in D.C again, you should give me a call. I would really like to take you to dinner some time.”

He wanted to bottle the grin she shot back at him. The color of her blush should be sold on every makeup counter because it was the perfect shade. Everything about her made him fall harder and faster.

“I just might take you up on that. It’s been a while since I’ve gone to some of the good restaurants around here.”

“I’ll take you to your favorite” He’d take her to a dumpster behind a pizzeria if that's what she wanted. Just to get to see her again.

Her phone rang and she answered, a voice through the phone likely asking her where she was, as she responded with “I’m just leaving, I’ll be there in 20.” She sighed and hung up, then looked back up at him again with a small smile.

“Enjoy your wedding.”

“I will. Goodbye Mulder.”

“Bye Scully.”

He walked on air back to his apartment.

#the x files #The X Files Fanfic #txf fanfic #txf #Dana Scully #Fox Mulder #msr #msr fanfic #msr au #sam writes

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tangledcassandra · 4 years

Text

Never Quite Eden

Cassunzel Week Day 2: Secrets and Promises

Title: Never Quite Eden

Description: She came a-calling Hair like the sun's rays Between her visits I counted the days She slid from my grasp My one true soulmate Back on my own now But such is my fate

[Read on AO3]

The day was clear as Cassandra scanned the beach from her vantage point atop the lighthouse. There was a breeze, or a bit more than a breeze, as was common on the beachfront. She breathed in the salty air, gripping the railing as she stared in the direction of town.

Cassandra would never have said that she was unhappy. In truth, she had never felt that way. She acknowledged that a job such as hers was not suited for everyone. But it suited her, and she would have been content to live out her days, watching the waves roll in and the ships sail by, with naught but the gulls and seals to keep her company. She was satisfied with her position, with her life, and with the loneliness that came with it.

But that had changed the day Rapunzel invited herself in.

Her visits were the highlight of Cassandra's week. Indeed, the most exciting thing she'd had to look forward to up to that point in her life was her monthly delivery of fresh produce. That, and the occasional visit from her dad, although she couldn't really look forward to that seeing as his appearances were random and unplanned.

Rapunzel had taken to showing up once a week, on the same day, usually at a regular time of the afternoon. As that time approached, Cassandra started to feel giddy, like when her father would bring her an interesting trinket for her childhood birthdays.

It wasn't just the excitement from the break in the monotony that was her life that made her anticipate their regular meetings. Rapunzel, with her overly friendly nature and disregard for respecting other's property and their want for privacy, had somehow wormed her way into her life and then stuck there. And for some reason, unlike all others before her, Cassandra did not find her company unpleasant.

Any moment she would see her strolling along the sand, picnic basket in hand. It was a part of their routine. Cassandra would watch her approach, resisting the urge to run out and meet her halfway as her heart raced with elation. Rapunzel always brought some kind of sweet or savory goody to share, which was probably a large part of the reason Casandra kept letting her come back. She wasn't much of a cook, and the tasty gifts from her new friend were a welcome break from canned and pre-packaged meals.

More than that, it was actually nice to have someone she could call a friend.

She sighed as she tore her eyes away from the coastline. A watched pot never boils, she reminded herself, resolving to keep busy until her friends arrival. Surely there was something she could spruce up in the kitchen. Maybe tidy her bed. Make sure the few dishes she owned were clean. Things she didn't normally think about when she didn't have regular company. Yeah, she could make the place a little nicer while she waited.

* * *

Her home was small, and it wasn't long before she was making her way back up to the lookout, thinking fondly of the time she and Rapunzel had spent together. Cassandra had never asked anyone to go out of their way to visit her. She wouldn't dream of inconveniencing another person. But Rapunzel, for some reason she still couldn't ascertain, had sought her out on purpose. And after the first time, she'd just kept coming back.

She scanned the beach again, looking for the familiar figure. Not many people came out this way, being as the weather was almost never agreeable enough to be enjoyable. Plus, being a port town, there weren't many children or families; mostly retirees whose sailing days were far behind them, but who liked to regale their tales and swap stories with the fresher seafarers.

She's not usually this late, Cassandra mused, noting that the sun had long passed the halfway point in the sky. Something twisted in her gut, a seed of doubt about the legitimacy of their relationship. It lingered and grew as the day wore on, despite her best efforts to keep herself occupied. She'd be here. She'd never stood her up before. Something must have come up to delay her, but she'd be here.

* * *

The sun began to fall behind the ocean, creating an array of beautiful pinks and oranges and purples across the sky. Normally Cassandra would appreciate such a beautiful sunset, despite having seen thousands like it, but this evening it brought her no joy.

She slammed her fist against the metal railing, winching from the jolt of the pain. She should have known.

Rapunzel had plenty of other friends besides her. Ones who lived much more interesting lives. Ones who were happier and more upbeat. People who were much better company than herself. No doubt she had gotten caught up with them and forgotten all about her. Something in the back of Cassandra's mind always told her it would happen. So why was she so surprised?

It was nice while it lasted, she tried to console herself as she swallowed back the lump in her throat. A bit too nice. She'd let herself get accustomed to having someone around every once in a while. Gotten used to having a friend. She shouldn't have let herself open up. Let herself be vulnerable. Let herself hope they could ever be something more-

She scrubbed at her eyes, trying to quell the tears running down her cheeks, before she gave in, letting out a sob as she stood hunched over the railing. This would pass. She might be sad for a while, but she could go back to her old way of living, no problem. She'd never needed anyone before and she surely didn't need anyone now. Rapunzel wasn't much of a friend anyway if she was willing to abandon her so easily. To forget her so carelessly.

She rubbed away any remaining tears with her shirt, making her way downstairs. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't yet eaten that day. It made her think of all the wonderful things Rapunzel used to make for her. Used to.

She stood in the kitchen, forcing down half a can of beef to hopefully keep her belly quiet. It was her own fault for thinking that someone might actually like her. That anyone could enjoy her presence for an extended amount of time. What a stupid thing to think. Who did she think she was? Letting herself get a big head just because someone showed her a bit of kindness.

With little else to do, she laid down in bed, hoping the sweet release of sleep would provide some comfort.

* * *

So the week came and went, with no sign of her now former friend.

* * *

Cassandra was hard at work, cleaning the glass of the lantern room, making sure there were no blemishes that would distort the light that it emitted. Some part of her was trying to stuff down the lingering thought in the back of her mind that today would normally be the day Rapunzel made an appearance. But not anymore. Not since she'd failed to show last week.

She scrubbed a little harder at a particularly stubborn smudge on the glass.

"Cass!"

She thought she heard her name faintly on the breeze, but it was probably just her imagination playing a cruel trick.

"Cassandra!"

She whipped around as the sound echoed up the stairs, still quiet when combined with the sound of the wind and waves, but more distinct now. She set down her tools and headed for the space below.

She wanted to take the steps two at a time, but years of trekking up and down the lighthouse stairs had taught her that caution was the key. Her journey felt painfully slow as she descended the spiral, hands on the banister to avoid slipping. She stopped on the bottom step, slightly out of breath as she watched the blonde lighting the last of the lamps.

"Rapunzel?" she stood, stock still, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Cass!" she turned on her heels, rushing over to envelope her in a hug. "I'm glad you're alright. I was worried when it was all dark in here and you weren't waiting for me," she skipped back over to the table where she'd set her basket.

"I missed you so much last week!" she chattered as she began to set the table. "I'm sorry I didn't make it. I was sick and couldn't get out of bed."

"You-you were?"

"Mhmm. But to make up for it I brought two dishes. Dinner and dessert. And you can keep the leftovers. I've got shepherd's pie and-" she looked up to see Cassandra still frozen where she stood. "What's the matter?"

"I thought you forgot about me."

"Forgot? Oh Cass, I would never forget you," she walked around the table so she could grasp Cassandra's hands in her own. "I care about you so so much! Coming to see you is like, the best part of my week."

"But your other friends-"

"Are not like you. I like that sometimes it's a challenge to get a smile out of you, because then I know it's genuine and you're not just doing it to be nice. You like my cooking even when I don't think it's my best work. You inspire me to work hard even if I'm not the best at something. Everything about you is so interesting. You're the most fascinating person I've ever met. I love you for who you are. "

"You what?"

"I like you for who you are?"

"'Love.' You said-"

Rapunzel stared at her for several moments, the wheels in her head turning as she processed what she had just let slip and the implications of it.

"Oh! Well, of-of course I love everything about you. And I like you as a friend, certainly. Not that I don't not love you- that makes sense, right? It's just such a strong word and we've never- never talked about that sort of thing. But-" she tucked a stray hair behind her ear as she gathered up her courage, "If I were to, say, maybe like you- as more than a friend, that is- would that be okay?"

"I might- I might like you better than a friend, too. So that... would probably be okay."

"Then it's a good thing I brought dinner and dessert," she grinned. "It sounds like we have a lot to talk about."

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@cassunzelweek

#tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #rapunzel #cassandra #cassunzel #fanfiction #home brew #Never Quite Eden #cassunzelweek #cassunzel week #cassunzel week 2020

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ddaengyoonmin · 5 years

Text

Chapter one

Pairing: Jungkook x reader, eventual Ot7 x reader in later chapters

Genre: Angst, fluff, uhh maybe smut eventually??

Theme: Based kinda on sword art online a lot of similar ideas and themes kinda combining the idea of them trapped in the game, but the world is closer to ALFheim online

Word count: 2.1k+

Warnings: Swearing?..I swear a lot it can’t be contained. Giant Bees?? Not too much to warn about for this chapter but future chapters might get crazy

*check my master list for the prologue, I suggest reading it first*

Next -> Chapter 2

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A bright light shone in from a missing blind. One of your bothersome, but too cute to be mad at cats must’ve broken it, you made a mental note to fix that later. It woke you up earlier than usual for a Friday, probably not a bad thing, you had a big day ahead of you. Working from home had its advantages such as being able to create your own schedule.

You had set the day aside to mentally prepare for and then try out your dreaded birthday gift you had received just the day before.

The clock read 8:00 am. You sighed as you pulled yourself out of bed, startling the young calico cat who had been sleeping on your stomach throughout the night. “Sorry velvet” you mumble sleepily. Though she should be used to the rude awakenings by now, given that you on the other hand had not gotten used to having a cuddly cat and always seemed to accidentally throw her off your lap in the mornings. Your other cat Tiger always kept to herself and usually slept on the top of her cat tree or on a top shelf in one of your closets.

Last year when you bought your new apartment you had marveled at the spaciousness of the classy two bedroom layout. You debated on turning that second bedroom into a room for Tiger to have all to herself, but decided that would only feed into your family’s idea you were becoming a crazy cat lady hermit. Instead it became your office, and today it was the room you decided you would try out the full dive gaming experience headset in. You had a comfortable black leather office chair that you usually spent most of your days in while you worked on your designs. You figured that would be fine to recline in while you went into the game.

After getting yourself a filling breakfast you fed Velvet and Tiger a little extra, not knowing how long you’d be in the game. Part of you hoped that your mom would be satisfied if you just tried it for 30 minutes or so, then you could get back to the practical reality you preferred to live in. But you still wanted to be prepared in case the impossible happened and you actually enjoyed yourself.

You picked up the sleek looking packaging that held the headset and the game you had been given. You let out a sigh and looked over to your pets, “lets give this a shot huh?” you said, looking at them as if they could understand you.

When you arrived to your office you plopped down into your comfy chair and finally opened the packaging. The headset was shiny and heavy, looking similar to a motorcycle helmet. In the back by the base of the neck there was a long wire the same shade of silver as the rest of the headset. You pulled out the instructions from the box and skimmed it over.

“Internal battery, internal memory to store data, in game items, and achievements”

“Pre-programmed with Faerie Realm installed, no updates or installation required”

“To enter the game is simple, put on the headset and click the large button on the side of the headset and say the command ‘LINK START’”

You felt skeptical of this whole thing, but you reasoned that they wouldn’t sell it to the public if it was unsafe.

With one last see ya later to Tiger and Velvet you plugged in the headset and carefully placed it over your head. It was a snug fit and there were straps to secure it underneath your chin.

A small wave of nervousness ran over you, you took a few deep breaths and put your pointer finger to the side of the headset and held the button. Loud and enunciated so as not to mess this up somehow, you said the command…

“LINK START”

Almost instantly, like falling asleep suddenly, everything went dark. It only lasted a few seconds until you were standing in a bright, white, empty room with no doors or windows. You looked to your left and right in a slight panic, you felt like you could hear some music start to play.

Then, catching you off guard a giant holographic screen projected onto the wall in front of you.

“Welcome new player!” A chipper voice rang out from the direction of the screen “It’s time to chose your fairy race, and dive into the world of Faerie Realm! Point your hand straight out fingers spread out to the screen and swipe to the right to scroll through the choices, make a fist for 10 seconds at the screen on the page of the Fairy race you choose and you will move on to the next step!”

On the screen an example character popped and you giggled at it. It was an image of you, but not totally you. Your hair was longer than in real life and it was dyed a turquoise shade of blue, you were wearing a tight royal blue and white dress that was much shorter than anything you’d ever worn before.

You had to admit from a designers point of view, that it was pretty interesting how they’d managed to do that. The thing that really caught your eye was that coming from behind your back was a pair of beautiful shimmering turquoise wings matching the hair, they were slightly transparent and had a light blue glow coming off of them. The title under this character “Water Fairy”

You scrolled over the other choices shortly, five options of fairy races each with different styles, perks and nerdy sounding stats you didn’t even bother to read. You were mostly focused on the look, and none stood out as much as the first you had seen and you settle on the Water Fairy, holding out a fist to the screen as it instructed.

The next step you were prompted to complete was to choose a username. You decide on “Velvet Tiger” in honor of your bestfriends at home. Once you held out your fist again to declare that you were sure of your name, the room turned dark again. Next you felt like you were falling, falling falling, and the perky voice echoed around you “Have fun in Faerie Realm!!”

With a loud thud you felt yourself hit grass, strangely you felt no sort of pain from your fall, odd.

You picked yourself up from the ground and brushed the dirt off of what you now realized was the same blue dress from the screen. You pull your now extremely long hair in front of your face to see it was indeed also the hair you had seen on yourself in the preview. “Color me impressed” You chuckled aloud.

You started to look around to get a bearing on your surroundings. “Umm...what exactly am I supposed to do?” You spoke aloud again, not sure if you were hoping someone would answer or that some sort of screen would pop up at your question. But nothing happened.

You were alone in the middle of the most perfect flowering field you’d ever seen in your life, it was beautiful, cream colored daisies scattered all around you. It was sunny and bright and the temperature was perfect. You could feel a light breeze press on your cheek, you brought your hand up to your face. “Woah…” you muttered. It was crazy to think none of this was real.

A noise suddenly snapped you out of your state of awe. You cocked your head to the side slightly. It was a humming noise getting louder and louder by the second.

To your surprise and horror the objects in question made themselves visible. “What the fuck!!!” You scream, and immediately start to book it in the opposite direction.

BEES? But not just regular bees, a swarm of GIANT bees about the size of your cats were headed straight towards you. You found yourself screaming out a series of fucks and holy shits as you tried to outrun the swarm, they were catching up faster than you could run. ‘Thanks mom, this is real fun’, you thought.

You were about to get to a treeline that was up ahead when you tripped and fell flat on your face, you winced, not because it hurt, (you realized this game must not let you feel pain, which is nice), but because you were just embracing the fact that giant bees were about to be your ‘game over’ only 5 minutes into the game.

A loud POW sounded out right behind you and you covered your ears and buried your head into the ground. A crackling noise like fireworks followed. And then...a beautiful sound.

“You okay miss?” A silvery voice spoke from above you.

You uncovered your ears and lifted your head up from your embarrassing position you had assumed when you thought your demise in this game was upon you.

What you saw when your eyes met the figure standing over you took your breath away. You had to try and keep a straight face and contain your awe so as not to further embarrass yourself.

The man standing over you looked like an angel covered in black. He had on a tight fitting black shirt with a gray jacket that was styled fitting to the theme of this game draped over top, and tight black skinny jeans to go with. From behind his back you could see a pair of shimmering translucent wings similar in design to yours but the color was a charcoal black.

He extended a strong looking hand towards you, but you were still frozen in a combination of awe and embarrassment. He retracted his hand, chuckled, and ran his fingers through his pitch black hair. You scurried to get up on your own snapping out of your daze and standing eye to eye with the man you asume must’ve just saved your ass from the killer bees.

“Um, thank you” You nervously mumbled his way. His eyes were kind as he met your gaze with a smile. You had to force yourself to keep your eyes on his as they seemed compelled to trail over all of his body. “You’re welcome” His smile grew bigger than it previously was. “You’re lucky I got here when I did! They were gearing up for some power stings that definitely would’ve sent you to a black screen at your level”

“At….my level?” You said with confusion. “Yeah, I can see your level right there” he pointed just to the left of your face. You for the first time notice a small screen was there that had your username, level, health and an option for ‘menu’ listed. “Oh..” you managed an awkward smile. You realized you could see his too, ‘Kookie, level 10, full health’ listed on the screen hovering next to him.

“I’ve been here since 12am when it opened” he said sheepishly running his hand through his hair again. “Games are kinda my thing and when I heard this was coming out I wanted to get ahead right away...did you just get here or something?” He questioned.

“Yeah, literally just a few minutes ago” you laughed “That was about to be a real short run” you winced at the not too distant memory. “I...uh..games aren’t really my thing”

He smirked at your comment “You don’t say?” he teased. You stuck your tongue out at him, then immediately felt embarrassed. Not totally sure what came over you to do that to a total stranger, but hey, it is just a game and he started it right? So you shook off the awkward feeling and decided to just go with it. He laughed a full belly laugh at your action and shook his head “Ok, I like your style ma’m, so I’m gonna take pity on your and show you the ropes here” He spoke cockily.

“Oh? And what makes you think I need your help?” You tried to come back with, only eliciting further laughter from him. “You’re right,” he put his hands up in fake defeat “those bees were completely defenseless to your ‘duck and cover in the middle of a field’ fighting methods”

You pouted slightly at the mention of that embarrassing part of the incident that had just occurred you are hoping to just pretend didn’t happen.

“Fiiine” you sighed “I really don’t know what I’m doing here, but don't take me for some damsel in distress that's going to worship you as her hero now or anything like that” His eyebrows raised high taken aback by your bluntness. “Of course. I have no doubt you take care of yourself well in the real world, on first impressions you seem to be a strong, independent woman…I admire that in a lady” he assured in an honest and serious tone, but then He stopped and took a few steps closer to you standing so close it sent a shiver up your spine.

He leaned in to your ear, tone changing from his previous statement into a more smooth and sultry whisper “But this isn’t the real world...you’ve stepped into my world now.” He pulled away, a smirk on his face.

Your eyes widened. What have you gotten yourself into…

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#ot7 x reader #bts au #bts angst #bts fluff #bts x reader #bts smut #bts fanfic #bts fic #jungkook x reader #jhope x reader #jin x reader #jimin x reader #namjoon x reader #taehyung x reader #yoongi x reader

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harrystyltistical · 5 years

Text

Milkshakes and more Pt.2

NSFW smutty asf woops

3k+ words

triggers: daddy kink, spanking

The following days consisted of you driving yourself mad, Harry was touch starving you, the only time he’d even kissed you was when you’d say goodnight to him. Along with the fact that watching Harry act like such a gentleman around all your family when you knew how dirty he could be was admittedly a turn on.

It’d crossed your mind more than once to sneak into the bathroom with him when he went to shower, specifically when he’d texted you to bring him clothes when he forgot to take them to the bathroom, opening the door wearing nothing but a towel, his curly hair wet and flopped carelessly to the side and dripping down onto his chest. For the first few days you’d controlled yourself, heeding Harry’s earlier warning, but eventually it all got too much and you sent Harry a photo of your boobs just after you’d gotten out of the shower just to get a reaction out of him. Another time you came downstairs to wake him up and crawled in bed with him, leaving kisses along his neck and nipping every once in awhile in the hopes he’d take you to the bathroom and bend you over the sink.

There were a few dirty jokes tossed around between the two of you, mostly when you played a game where you had to wink at your teammate to let them know they were on your team and they would have to glance at a location so you could deliver the package and win. One time when you got caught winking at each other you’d exclaimed “It wasn’t like that, I was just trying to wink at him! Deliver the package, y’know.” resulting in a wave of shocked laughter and Harry smiling and blushing into his hands.

Harry winking at you shouldn’t have set you off like it did, but everytime he did he would have this cocky smirk on his face like he knew what he was doing to you, and the truth was he did. All week he would do little things to tease you subtly and all you could think about was the sweet, sweet revenge you’d get next time you spent Christmas with his family.

When it was time to go home, the ride to the airport, the plane ride and the car ride home were all silent, except for a few comments to each other about what to eat and such. You weren’t sure what to do, you weren’t even sure he remembered what happened in the parking lot of the Ross or if he did and he was just holding off to tease you, but regardless all the waiting was driving you crazy.

When you arrived back to your shared apartment it was still quiet, you looked at Harry expectantly as he toed his shoes off next to the door, but he just raised his eyebrows at you as he walked to the bedroom with a handful of the gifts the two of you had gotten. You followed and watched as he set them down in their respective places, gift cards in the dresser, clothes in the closet, your hands sat in your lap waiting patiently for an order that never came. That night he walked into the room after a shower and crawled in bed with you, turning off the lamp and turning on his side. You cuddled up to him, rubbing his chest lightly and drawing small shapes until you both fell asleep in eachothers arms.

The next day Harry had some recording to do at the studio and you tagged along, which turned out not to be a great idea as hearing him sing and the faces he made while doing so just made the itch in your stomach worse. He looked like he was enjoying himself and all you could think about was wrapping your lips around his cock as you stare up at him and watch as his face contorted in pleasure.

The day after that was the same, you went out to lunch with his team and couldn’t keep your eyes off him. Eventually you decided to make a move, placing a hand on his thigh, he let it sit there until you slid your hand up, resulting in him grabbing your wrist and lightly digging his nails into your skin before placing your hand back in your lap. You spent the next few minutes building up the courage to do what you were about to, glancing at him and around the table to make sure no one was paying much attention. If Harry was mad when you grabbed his thigh he was pissed when you grabbed his bulge and rubbed lightly and it showed as he grabbed your wrist again and dug his nails in harder this time, actually taking the time to look at you before placing your hand in your lap and leaving a squeezing hand on your thigh as a reminder to behave. You were sure that you’d earned yourself something, but that night there was still nothing.

It wasn’t until the third day that you decided to take matters into your own hands, putting on a lacey red lingerie set he bought for you last valentines day that you knew drove him crazy under your usually sweatpants and crop top. Today was perfect for what you wanted, a lazy day at home usually spent cuddled up and watching movies, but this time you had something else in mind.

You walked out of the room, seeing Harry standing in the kitchen making tea. You walk up to him, hugging and staring up at him.

“Hi baby.” You mumble

“Hi angel.” Harry replies, placing his hand on your lower back to pull you closer and leaving a kiss on your forehead. You bite your lip, leaning up for a kiss and smiling when he leaned down to give you what you wanted. You put your hand on the back of his neck to hold him to your lips, standing on your tippy toes to reach his mouth, the two of you swaying lightly as you kissed. As nice as the moment was, you decided to end it by moving his hand under your shirt so he could feel your bra and biting down lightly on his lip.

Harry freezes for a second when he feels the lace of your bra, pulling away but staying close to your lips. When you opened your eyes Harry looked a little shocked, but mostly pissed, a subtle smirk playing on your lips as you pull off and begin to walk away. You didn’t get far before Harry was grabbing your arm and dragging you to the bedroom, sitting you on the bed and standing in front of you. You once again avoided his gaze, staring at his shirt instead, too scared to even try and look him in the eyes.

“Wha’s your problem, hm?” He snapped, grabbing your chin and tilting your head up to look at him “Acting like a little fucking tease.”

“I’m the tease? You were teasing me the entire time we were at my aunt’s,” You respond boldly, gaining some confidence as you stared up into his eyes “I was just trying to get what you basically promised me.”

“I didn’t promise you anythin’, pet, and you better watch that tone, s’not my fault you’re entitled. Is that it? You think I owe you a fucking just because you can’t keep your mind off my dick, eh? Think you can just put on some lingerie and everything will be as you wish? Don’t think I’ve forgotten what a horny little slut you were being, sending me a picture of your tits knowing damn well someone could’ve seen, or what about when you told me in front of everybody you wanted to get off on my leg.” He paused, your legs were now clamped together in a desperate attempt to suppress some of the pressure “Just like I said before, don’t know how to follow orders, told you to behave and instead you were teasing me at every chance you got, even grabbed my dick in the middle of a restaurant. Need to be taught a lesson, think I’ll have to remind you who’s in charge.” Harry says, taking a step closer to you and licking his lips.

Whatever confidence you had gained was gone now and you felt totally submissive staring into his lust filled eyes. He pushes you so your back is against the bed, kissing you hastily as your hands shoot up to his neck, he grabs your wrists and lightly pins them above your head, knowing you like it better when he’s rough.

“Since you think it’s okay to grope daddy in public, no touching.” He whispers in your ear as he attacks your neck with harsh kisses, pausing every once in awhile to leave a mark. He lifts your shirt up, running his hands along your sides until the tips of his fingers meet the lace of your bra, moving one of his hands forward to grope you lightly and tangling the other in to your hair. You push your hips up into his, feeling his bulge brush against your clothed core as he let out a quiet moan, giving a harsh smack to your ass.

“On your knees.” He demanded, as he stood there he must’ve decided you were taking too long as he grabbed you by your hair and pulled you off the bed, forcing you down to your knees, clearly done with your bullshit. You stand on your knees, glancing up at him as you go to undo his pants to check if it’s okay, unbuttoning them and pulling them to the floor when he nodded his head. His hand still in your hair, he buries your face in his bulge, you smirk and stick your tongue out to lick him over his underwear causing him to groan and pull you away.

Harry slides his underwear down the rest of the way, hissing lightly as he freed his member from the confinements of the cloth prison and stroking himself a few times lightly before putting the tip at your mouth. You open your mouth, licking at the tip and only taking it in your mouth when Harry glared down at you, swirling your tongue around it as you suck lightly. The view just as good as you imagined as you stare up at him innocently.

You begin to take more of him into your mouth, gagging lightly when he’d hit the back of your throat.Harry let out soft moans, bucking his hips lightly and pushing himself further down your throat. You get an idea, deciding to do something you’d never managed to do with Harry before and trying to take all of him in your mouth. Everytime you tried before Harry would tell you it’s okay and you don’t have to, that he didn’t want you to choke, but this time you were determined.

Pulling away to take a breath you swallow the spit that built up in your mouth before putting his tip back in your mouth and slowly working your way down his cock. Tears pricked at your eyes as you tried to control your gag reflex as you force him down your throat. You close your eyes, focusing on his moans and moving your hand up to hold his hips.

You were confused when Harry pulled you off just as you were about to take all of him, pulling you up and throwing you against the bed.

“Don’t know how to fucking listen do you, pet?” He says pulling you to the edge of the bed by your legs.

“Wh-what do you mean?” You say, furrowing your eyebrows, Harry sighs and shakes his head.

“No touching, I fucking told you, and you were doing so well. On top of that, you were teasing me and I let it slide, but you still misbehaved, knowing better than to force me down your throat and to top it all off you forgot to address me as daddy.” He explains, shaking his head and sitting next to you, picking you up and bending you over his lap. You let out a shaky breath, knowing what’s coming.

“Now, let’s see if you atleast remember why we do those things so I can decide how severe of a punishment i should give you.” He says, massaging your ass.

“No touching because I grabbed your dick at lunch the other day, no teasing because i’m not in charge, I can’t take too much of you because I might get hurt and I call you daddy because you’re in charge,” your voice muffled by his thigh as you explain quickly, going to defend yourself “but daddy, I wanted to make you feel good and--” your sentence is cut off by a harsh smack to your ass followed by his large hand massaging the spot.

“Didn’ ask for explanation, now did I? Count, or am I gonna have to punish you for that too.” He says, smacking your ass again, sending a spark between your legs.

“One.” you breathe out, trying not to squirm around too much. He kept going, all the way until twenty, when he delivered a particularly hard smack. He motions for you to sit up, to which you do, standing on your knees as your ass was surely as red as a tomato and would hurt to sit on.

“Thank you.” You say, wiping away some of the tears that made their way down your face. Harry gives you a small pout, putting his hand in your hair and giving you a slow kiss which you whine softly into.

“What’s wrong, love?”

“Ass hurts.”

“Awh, does it?” He asks, looking concerned as you nod. He gives another harsh smack to your ass “Maybe if you listened your ass wouldn’t hurt.” He says in a condescending tone, sitting you down and pulling off your top and pants. You whimper at the feeling of the cool bed sheets against your burning red ass, lifting your hips to help Harry get your pants off.

Once he’s got them both off, he climbs on top, rubbing his thumb across your cheek as he kisses you. As the kiss goes on and gets more heated he lightly grinds his hips into yours, a harsh hand grabbing at your thigh as he kisses from the side of your mouth to your jawline, down your neck and over your lace covered breasts, along your stomach and stopping only when his soft pink lips met the hem of your underwear.

Harry runs his hand from your knee to the inner part of your thigh, pulling the band and letting it flick against your skin. He moves his hands so that they’re wrapped around your thighs and he’s holding your legs open as he leaves wet kisses along your thigh. Once he’s made his way down to the dip between your legs and your core, he begins a routine of little sucks, bites and licks in that order.

When Harry stops kissing at your thigh you assume he’s going to pull your underwear down, his face hovering over your clothed core and purposely breathing through his mouth so you can feel his warm breath on your wet pussy, but instead he moves to the other thigh and continues his routine of kissing down it and then sucking, biting and licking, holding your hips down each time you would try to buck up and get more than what he was giving you. When he’s done with that thigh he licks over the lace, tasting where you juices had leaked through your underwear and moaning at your taste, kissing lightly against you.

“Harry, please just-- give me something.” You beg, whining and bucking up your hips again. He sighs, but stands up, grabbing the hem of your underwear and pulling it down roughly.

“Such a whiny little slut, so fucking impatient I can’t even take my time, can’t wait for me to fuck you, hm? Have to beg for me hurry up and touch you? Fucking lucky I’m even giving in, could’ve waited so long, driven you insane.” Harry rants, mostly to himself, before leaning back down and licking a slow stripe starting from your entrance and ending just before your clit, sucking harshly at the bundle of nerves. You moan out in pleasure, so glad to finally have some sort of relief.

It isn’t long before Harry’s fucking you with his tongue and moaning into you, sucking on your clit and licking you up and down before sticking his tongue back in. When his jaw began to hurt he used his middle finger instead, sticking it inside you and relishing in the noise you made, finger fucking you as he sucked at your clit.

“Fuck, another finger, daddy, want another finger inside me.” You say as you began to get closer to the edge, Harry shook his head as he pulled away from you, popping his finger in his mouth and denying you your orgasm.

“Who the fuck do you think you are, pet? Making demands like you run the place, begging me to fuck you instead of asking like a nice little girl.” Harry says, grabbing his dick and running the tip through your soaking folds, groaning at the velvety feeling “Guess I’ll jus’ have to fuck the attitude out of ya.” He concludes, pushing into you slowly.

You moan as you feel Harry fill you up, trying to remember not to touch him as you buck your hips up into his.

“Since you think your opinion is so important that you need to voice it at every little moment, wanna fuckin hear you. Want you to tell me what you think about me fuckin the brains out of ya, hm?” Harry says, bringing up the pace gradually until his hips are slamming into yours and you’re screaming his name. His hand moves from your boob to your throat has he lightly chokes you, both of your hands wrapping around his wrist and staring up at him as he fucks you like he has something prove, his other hand reaching down to play with your clit.

The mixture of Harry’s hand around your throat, his dick pounding you, his hand playing with your clit, the sound of the headboard banging against the wall, the look on his face as he fucks you and the dirty thoughts in your mind all send you toppling over the edge, screaming out to let him know you’re cumming.

“Cum on my cock, princess. Go ahead, fuckin earned it, sucking my cock so good. Gonna fucking behave now, aren’t ya?” He says, talking you through your orgasm, slowing down a little to let you catch your breath.

Harry’s grip on your throat tightened as he neared his own release, letting out choked moans and half sentences before pulling out and releasing his load onto your stomach. You swipe some up on your finger and pop it into your mouth to taste him as you looked him in the eyes.

“Don’t even get me started.” Harry says, out of breath and laughing lightly. You both sat in silence once again as you recovered from your orgasms, trying to catch your breath.

“Fuck, I’ve been waiting for that for like a week.” You say when he lays next to you, running your fingers through your hair and breaking the silence.

“Me too, I almost broke when we were in the car.” Harry mumbles, shaking his head and wiping the sweat from his forehead. You cuddle up to him and smile, running your hand across his stomach soothingly.

“Love you, handsome.”

“Love you, angel.”

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mininori · 5 years

Note

[ There were a lot of good ones for them but this is a classic ] Prompt; ‘I’m not sure if I want to hug you or slap you.’

The light from the fridge was the only light that surroundedthe farmhouse in the dead of the night.

2 AM; a perfect time for snacks. Well, if one was pregnant.Which Minori just happened to be five months pregnant. The thought of a snackhadn’t left her mind for what felt like hours. She tried sleeping to avoid hercravings. She tried listening to music to help alleviate the cravings. Shetried water, milk, whatever. This wasn’t even the first time, or the secondtime. Third, fourth, fifth…. It seemed like ever since Minori had gotten pastthe first trimester of throwing up, gagging, crying, and having no appetite,she was being woken up in the middle of the night not by Chase forgetting toput the heater on a certain temperature or Chase holding her too tightly, butthe visions of disgusting meals that only a pregnant person would eat- likethis pregnant woman.

Hazel orbs fixated on a few pieces of cheese- no, that wouldmake her sick again. And maybe she would throw up? Chase had brought home somesoup from the bar- yet, it had meat in it and Minori only ate seafood and nowwas having to eat chicken. Cut up mangoes with garlic salt? No, hersister-in-law (who DIDN’T have children and said multiple times at their sexreveal party a few weeks ago that she and Miller would NEVER have children, sowhy was she telling Minori ANYTHING) said that it would cause her to have acidreflux. Condiments, leftovers from dinner two nights ago, some of her ownvegetables, the gross smoothie that Jin claimed (according to Chase) was forkeeping down food- yet it was the exact opposite. Food the pregnancy farmerdidn’t want- food the babies didn’t want too.

Babies.

This was a wanted pregnancy, these babies were wanted. Minori poked the top of her pregnant belly as she tried to wake one ofthe twins up. Twins. Goddess, they were having twins. “What do you two evenwant to eat?” She asked her stomach, asif the children inside knew and could answer. The only answer she got was fromone of them, the more active twin – who they just found out was a girl (theother, the one they dubbed as the quiet one despite moving just a little lesswas a boy; two of each. She totally didn’t cry to her mother about it.)- as she kicked from her side of the womb gently.

As if telling her just from the kick itself, Minori grabbedthe small container of mushrooms. For fucks- “Really?” She looked down at thebump. “Really? You two want me to cook mushrooms in the dead of the night whiledaddy is asleep?” Saying “daddy” felt weird, but she had to start somewhere. Her eyes wandered around, looking forsomething to use the mushrooms. “Where did daddy put the barbecue?” She askedher stomach again. It wasn’t like they could talk back, and if they could, thenthat’d be trouble. They’d tell Chase all about the cravings they were forcingher to have and-

“Didn’t Marian tell you to stop going through the fridge inthe middle of the night?”

Minori looked up from the fridge door just as the voicespoke up, spooked even though there was only one person who it could be. Sheturned, looking over at the man with messy orange hair, an unwashed t-shirt,and the ugliest sweats that she had tried to get him to get rid of for the pasttwo-ish years. “He didn’t say that.” Minori responded as she absent mindly restedher hand on top of her bump; a habit she recently picked up. It was small-small for someone who was having twins- but it was there. The bump was there,as clear as the day.

The babies were there, regardless of how big the bump was.

Chase let out a sigh as he turned the kitchen lights on. Thebright light illuminated the kitchen with post it notes covered on the fridgeof what to buy, what not to bring home from work (Chase), and what time thedoctor’s appointments were. Few boxes sat on the kitchen counter, filled with necessitiesfor the babies they hadn’t put away in the unfinished nursery (despite everyonesaying that the twins should and will sleep with them for the first fewmonths). Next to the fridge just happened to be a countdown to how many dayswere left until the arrival of them. Everyone they knew had the countdown-Minori’s parents, Marian, Yolanda, Harvey… Everyone who needed to know on thatday in June had it. Bosses, family members, the doctor who was meant to deliverthem of course needed to know.

They’d be lucky to make it to June at 36 weeks exactly. Buthigh risk pregnancies rarely ever made it that far, according to Marian. Therewere worries of the twins coming early due to Minori’s height and size, preeclampsia,bed rest was a constant threat looming over their heads. The previousmiscarriages just proved another factor to consider this pregnancy, this wanted,healthy pregnancy ‘high risk’.

Days were marked with red on when the twins would beconsidered healthy to be born. Weeks were counted. Calories, weight, any sideeffects, her work; all measured.

“Why are you up?” Minori asked, as she tried to avoid thequestion Chase asked her from before. No, really, she was actually avoiding it.Completely. To get it out of her mind, to leave the

“Bambi.” Ah, the perfect excuse. It was true that the catbecame more attached to Chase in the past few months as he had to do everythingfor her. And, well, that when Minori left the bedroom for any reason (morningsickness, couldn’t sleep, cravings such as these), the ragdoll would changepositions from sleeping on the loveseat in their bedroom to sleeping on top ofChase. “But I could ask the same about you.” Chase crossed his arms against hischest as he rested the weight of his body on the counter. “Why are you up,Mimi?”

She thought, she actually thought for a moment. A goodexcuse could be used for this moment. “Babies.” Okay, so she blurted out thetruth. Still holding the package of mushrooms in one hand and her stomach withthe other. One of the babies kicked right where her hand was. She didn’t carefor what reason, either from hungry or just reminding her they were there. “That’swhy I have these.” She held the mushrooms up high. “I wanted to cook these withbarbeque sauce and I wasn’t going to wake you up cause you didn’t get homeuntil late and plus, why would I wake you up?”

Her rant was interrupted by the sound of Chase laughing. Hislaughter was obnoxious, loud in the dead of the night, yet felt relaxing. Likea weight lifted off her shoulders. But, it was annoying. Minori could onlyfrown as Chase continued his fit of laughter. “You’re telling me-“Chasewheezed. “You wanted to eat mushrooms at two AM? And that’s why you snuck out?”

“And barbeque sauce!”

“You’re not helping your case, Mimi!” Chase exclaimed as hegrabbed the package from his wife’s hand to her dismay. “Besides, you can’tcook?! Were you not going to wake me up while you burned our house down forsome mushrooms?” Yeah, no. She wasn’t going to eat any of this. Not today, nottomorrow, not anytime.

Minori pouted as she watched Chase put the food on top ofthe cabinet. High enough where she could never grab it. “I’m not sure if I wanna hug you or slap you.”If she wasn’t pregnant, or at least didn’t have her stomach sticking out, shewould have climbed up there now, spat her tongue at him, and hopped downwithout any hesitation. But she had the stomach. She had the babies.

Chase rolled his eyes, not even letting his wife’s commentget to him. This wasn’t even the first time she said something like this. “Mimi,you can’t be eating this stuff at 2 AM.”

Minori let out another huff. “The babies wanted something andI couldn’t sleep!”

“Mims.”

“Chase!”

The chef could onlylet out a sigh. There was no use winning any of this. He would say one thing,she may eat the mushrooms raw to prove him a point. And if he said somethingelse, she may start crying about getting “fat”. “Come on, let’s head to back tobed.” Chase said as he wrapped his hands wife’s midsection. It was so differentfrom before, larger, wider, but something they wished for. She knew how hewanted a family- how he wished for the family he never had. “I’ll cook you breakfasttomorrow.” He grinned at her as his smile reached purple hues. He removed hishands from her, beckoning her back to the comfort of their bed for sleep.

Maybe a few hours in Chase’s arms wouldn’t be that bad.

Besides, she always slept better with his arms around heranyway. She took her husband’s hands,cuts still fresh from his hours at work, following him back upstairs to theirbedroom. “Lily and Logan are gonna be pissed you won’t let them eat.” She saidas her hand, once again, found itself resting on top of her stomach.

“Yeah, no, we aren’t naming them that.”

#chase to the finish #drabble #not the one u asked but i couldnt stop thinking of pregnant mimi being well. not mimi.#i have a lot of hcs now hehehehe

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letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked · 6 years

Text

New Beginnings (Part 4)

Frank Adler x OFC

A/n: It’s been a hot minute… sorry! Life, you know? Anyways, enjoy!

Warnings: Evelyn… or should I say “evil-lyn”? IDK lol

Main Masterlist // Series Masterlist

There were three rules Annie told herself she was going to follow, when she arrived in Florida.

Number one, she was going to see the ocean. The closest thing she’d seen to an ocean was Lake Superior in Duluth, with its vast, open water… but it wasn’t the same. She wanted to smell the spray of salt in the air and feel real ocean sand under her feet. Though the salt would definitely fuck with her curly hair, turning it into a complete frizz-ball, she was ready to take the necessary steps – and buy enough leave-in conditioner to fill a gallon bucket – to see the water.

The second rule she told herself was that she was going to move on. After the death of her parents, breaking up with Lance, and leaving the comfort of her home state… it was time. It was her decision to make the move, and she had to put on her big girl panties and deal with the repercussions. Even though she missed Gavin and Gracie with her entire heart. She was going to make new friends, start getting back out there and date, and explore her new environment – see rule number one.

The last rule was that she was going to stay relatively drama-free. That rule had already been broken, the day she got the call from Gracie saying that her brother’s brakes had been tampered with, and her little stalker had sent a letter to her new address – further proving that he would follow her to the ends of the earth. Drama free might have been on her wish list of life goals, but… it was easier said than done.

She was lucky, though. She had people who made the entire thing bearable. Mary and Roberta were over the second that Annie was back from work, she’d made a few new work friends, and Frank had been exceptionally nice to her since watching her break down on her back porch. He’d even gone out of his way to invite Annie and Elena to the beach with him, Mary, and Roberta – helping her check off rule number one on her list.

Thankfully, it was not an ‘adults wearing a swimsuit’ type ordeal. She didn’t know if she could physically handle seeing Frank in a swimsuit, without needing to baptize herself in the ocean to cool the hell off. Shirts were left on, toes were dipped in the chilly water, and sandcastles were made. Annie had practically annoyed the other two adults to death with her need to document the girls having fun in the sand – especially when she’d gotten an adorable picture of Mary on Frank’s shoulders – until Frank had finally had enough, taking her phone away and telling her to enjoy living in the moment.

What he didn’t understand, was that she wanted to re-live the happiness she was feeling at that moment, over and over again.

That’s why she wanted to document it.

“Knock knock!” Annie heard Mary yell from the back door, knocking on the storm door, which had been opened to let the breeze waft through the kitchen. “Can Roberta and I come in?”

“It’s open!” Annie called back, changing her shirt into something more comfortable. “I’ll be out in a second! There’s lemonade in the fridge!”

Pulling on a slouchy top, she heaved a sigh at the sight of the bright sunburn that burned over her entire upper body. She’d worn SPF fucking 50 and still got burnt! Stupid pale ass skin. At least it wasn’t as bad as it had been the day after they’d gotten back from the beach. That had been a nightmare of cranked-up AC, aloe gel, a shit ton of cold water, and some ice packs. She’d banished herself to the indoors until the burn was more of an angry, peeling pink.

Walking into the kitchen, she saw that Mary had another stack of books in her possession, containing facts about the Mexican culture.

“-and they have this holiday. It’s the one that was on that movie Coco. It’s called, ‘Día De Los Muertos’. Day of The Dead.” She explained to Elena, who didn’t look the slightest bit interested in what Mary had to say – considering she was wolfing down a stack of banana slices. “It goes from October 31st, to November 2nd. It’s super interesting. We should try to help you learn about it, and maybe even celebrate it. I think you’d enjoy it.”

“You finally sat down and watched Coco, huh?” Annie chuckled, smoothing down Mary’s hair before taking a seat next to Elena and stealing a piece of her banana when she wasn’t looking. “What did you think?”

“I can see why it won so many awards.” She replied, shrugging her shoulders and brushing her bangs away from her face. “Plus, I think it’s a good thing for the both of you to celebrate. It’s supposed to be a way to remember those in your family who have died. I don’t know if you believe in praying, or not – that’s your business – but it’s a way to pray to your loved ones who are gone.”

The pang that Annie got in her chest at the mention of her parents almost made her unable to swallow the little chunk of banana she’d stolen from Elena. She had a feeling that the pain would never go away… but would only become a dull pain as time went on. “I’ll think about it. It might be easier to teach Elena about it when she’s older, so she can understand what she’s celebrating.”

“You have a fair point.” Mary replied, sipping her glass of lemonade. “Frank told me that he can’t be the one to decide what I want to believe in. He said that I had to figure that out for myself.”

“Well, don’t tell Frank, but I agree with him.” She smiled at the young girl, snatching another piece of Elena’s banana – unfortunately getting caught and earning herself a whine from her daughter – before standing from the chair and walking over to her freezer. “I almost forgot. I got you something.”

Roberta’s face lit up in humor, knowing exactly what Annie was about to pull out of her freezer.

“What? What did you get me?” Mary switched into child-mode, practically bouncing in her chair at the idea of a surprise. “What is it?”

“Close your eyes.” Annie commanded, hand on the handle of the freezer, “And no peeking.”

The little girl did as she was told, scrunching her eyes closed, her entire face scrunching up along with them. She looked as if she’d just eaten something completely sour. “I’m not looking.”

Annie ripped open the door, taking the small package out of the freezer – the loud crinkle of the wrapper making Mary literally bounce in anticipation.

With a large grin, Annie held out the gift, so it was right in front of Mary’s face, “Okay, you can open your eyes.”

Mary’s eyes opened so comically fast, she looked as if she’d been a cartoon with her eyes about to bug out of her head. Once the gift registered, her eyes lit up in excitement, a shrill squeal escaping as she held out her hands to take the SpongeBob popsicle that Annie was currently offering. “A SpongeBob!”

The thing was a large popsicle bar that was shaped like SpongeBob SquarePants, colored yellow with the telltale buck-teeth and tie. The eyeballs were these weird black-colored gumballs that either fell off or turned your teeth black when you chewed it. Annie had showed a picture of it to Mary days prior, to which Mary had informed her that she’d never even tried popsicles that were shaped like characters. She’d only ever had the ones that come in the plastic tube that Mary had called a freezer pop, and Annie had called it a freezie – sparking a debate about the different terminology between Minnesotans and Floridians.

Apparently, Minnesotan’s were weird for saying ‘hotdish’ versus ‘casserole’.

Handing Mary the wrapper, Annie was glad to watch the girl act her age. She’d begun to appreciate the moments that the young girl would act like a normal eight year-old girl. Mary was one of a kind, but she was still so young. It was easy to forget, since she held more knowledge than most adults, and – after all the bullshit that Frank went through for Mary – Annie was determined to help her feel like she was having a normal childhood.

Frank didn’t ask her to do that – obviously, since he didn’t even know Mary told her about the court case and Mary’s mother – but she was going to do it, anyways.

“What do you say, Mary?” Roberta raised a brow at her as Mary tore through the packaging to get to the goods. “Mary?”

“Sorry!” Mary stiffened, turning to Annie with wide eyes, “Thank you for getting this for me.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” Annie snorted, snatching the wrapper to toss in the trash. Her lips were lifted in humor, watching as Mary eyed the colorful pop greedily before damn near taking a chunk out of the top.

Turning to the sink to wash the sticky juice from her finger, she heard Elena whine for a bite – completely disregarding the delicious fruit she had in front of her and wanting the SpongeBob pop.

“You can have a bite, Elena.” Mary replied, her tone serious as she held the bar out halfway to the toddler. “But you have to say ‘please’.”

“Peeeeesh.” She whined out, making grabby hands at the bar. “Peeeeees.”

“Close enough.” Mary sighed, letting Elena take a small bite off the corner. “But you can’t have the gum. It’s bad for toddlers. You could choke.”

“That’s right, baby.” Roberta agreed, glancing at the pair over her book she’d grabbed from her bag on the floor. “You be careful with the gum, too. Don’t go swallowing it.”

As Mary started spouting facts about how long it took for the human body to digest chewing gum, Annie noticed movement outside the window above her sink.

Someone had pulled into the little parking area in front of Frank and Mary’s house.

It was an expensive car, the sleek body sticking out like a sore thumb among the older, dirtier cars in the area. The car was shiny and black, windows tinted dark enough that Annie couldn’t see the shape of the person driving.

That was, until the driver opened the door.

It was a woman. An older woman. She was dressed in a pristine pair of slacks and a crisp, white blouse. Her strawberry blonde hair was perfectly curled, and her face was hidden behind a pair of large designer sunglasses. She leaned back into the car, grabbing a large bag, before power-walking down the little path to Frank’s front door.

As she knocked on the front door, Annie turned to the ladies at the table in confusion, “Mary, honey, is Frank expecting someone? There’s a woman knocking on your door.”

Roberta’s demeanor immediately changed from her usual care-free self, to defensive and tense. Her shoulders stiffened as she quickly turned to glance out the kitchen window, narrowing her eyes at the woman who was knocking on Frank’s front door – face scrunched up in annoyance. “That’s Frank’s mom. Evelyn Adler.”

“Evelyn’s here?” Mary’s eyes lit up, as she wiped the colorful juice from her face with the back of her hand and set the pop on the wrapper. Annie, watching the sticky mess that Mary had made on her face and on the back of her hand, quickly grabbed a rag and wet it in the sink to help her clean up. “She said she was going to bring me more books!”

“Well, clean your face first.” She chuckled, handing Mary the rag before wiping her own hands on a towel hanging on the oven handle. “You don’t want to mess up Evelyn’s nice, white shirt with your SpongeBob hands.”

“Roberta, look.” Mary pointed to the melting SpongeBob, which only had one eye. “He looks like Fred.”

That loosened Roberta up a bit, as she snorted at the young girl’s antics. “Go say hello to Evelyn, before she leaves because she thinks you’re not around.”

The little blonde booked it towards the back door, screaming out her grandmother’s name in joy as she bound down the little, cement steps and ran to Evelyn – who looked shocked that Mary was coming from a random house.

“Do we go out there?” Annie asked Roberta, watching as Evelyn handed Mary the bags.

“You go out there with Elena,” The older woman replied, pulling her cellphone out from her bag. “I’ll call Frank and let him know that his mother is here.”

Oh, god. Did Annie really want to meet the infamous Evelyn Adler? After all the stories about the court case, and how Mary felt that her grandmother only wanted custody of her because she was smart? She’d rather punch the woman in her perfect teeth than have a civilized conversation with her, but… she’s an adult. She has to at least attempt to be the bigger person.

“Come on, Mija.” Annie cooed at Elena, holding her hands out to the toddler. “Wanna’ go outside to play with Mary?”

“May!” She screeched, attempting Mary’s fairly easy name. “Momma! May!”

“Yes, silly girl.” She snorted, sliding her out from her booster chair. “Mary.”

Hiking her up on her hip, Annie walked through the kitchen – nabbing her sunglasses off the counter and sliding them on – before throwing open the back door and stepping into the warm sunlight. The sun was too hot on Annie’s sunburn, but she ignored it – letting Elena down, so she could run to Mary.

“MAYYYY!!!!”

“It’s Mary, goofball.” Mary giggled, holding out her arms and crouching down to scoop up the small, curly-haired toddler. “Evelyn, this is Elena. Annie’s her mom. They live next door.”

“Hi!” Annie jogged over, a smile on her face. Fake it ‘till you make it, bitch. She outstretched her hand, praying that Evelyn wouldn’t copy the way she first met Frank, and leave her hanging. “I’m Annie.”

“Evelyn Adler.” With a mild look of distaste, Evelyn grasped her outstretched hand and shook it gently. Holy crap, this lady’s British? Why doesn’t Frank have an accent? Because that wouldn’t be fair to the world. “Charmed.”

“Nice to meet you.” Annie shoved her hands in her shorts pockets, awkwardly. Stop thinking about her son while she’s standing there. This woman looks like she could read minds. “Frank’s on his way home from work, I think, if you wanna’ wait for him. I have some lemonade in my kitchen, if you’re thirsty.”

“How old is your daughter?” Evelyn asked, ignoring Annie’s offer and watching as Mary and Elena played with a random kickball in the yard. “She looks barely two.”

“She’ll be two in just a few months.” A small pang of distrust squeezed Annie’s chest, as she watched the disgusted look on Evelyn’s face. “She’s kind of short, but I think that’s my fault. I got the short gene.”

“You have a toddler in these living conditions?” Evelyn scoffed, glancing around at the brightly colored houses in distaste. “The bugs alone is reason enough to have this place condemned.”

Now hold on a damn minute.

There was nothing wrong with the eclectic houses in the little community. In fact, most of them were freshly painted and there were talks of putting in a small playground. There were only bugs outside. Where they belonged. You hadn’t even seen a spider, yet, in your house. And what was with that tone? What was she trying to imply?

“Though I suppose I’m not surprised that Frank would choose a dump like this to raise my granddaughter.” She continued, glaring at the small pile of tools that littered Frank’s front step from his little project that morning. “He’s always been more concerned about what’s best for him.”

“Now, hold the hell on.” Annie held up her hand, tone firm. “I might not have known Frank for very long, but you’re one hundred percent wrong. He’s only concerned about what’s best for Mary. Frank’s number one priority has always been Mary. Can you say the same?”

“Excuse me?” She took a step back in outrage, hand flying to her chest like she hadn’t ever been offended like that in her life. Ever the victim, Evelyn? “Who the hell are you to judge me, you little harlot.”

Don’t lose your cool, Annie. Don’t lose your cool.

“Woah, now, lady.” Annie’s arms crossed over her chest as she tried to keep her voice down, so the girls didn’t hear them. “Who the hell are you calling a harlot? Anyways, what kind of mother says shit like that about their own child, huh?”

“What do you know about parenting?” She sneered, standing tall and looking down at Annie like she was beneath her. “What kind of mother-”

“Evelyn, what the hell?” Suddenly Frank was standing in front of Annie, shielding her from Evelyn’s wrath with his towering stature. Everyone has a towering stature compared to you, Annie. His arms were crossed defensively, as he glared down at the older woman with the same level of distaste. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Annie glanced over at the young girls, who were too enthralled by the kickball and ignoring the arguing adults altogether. Good. The girls didn’t need adult drama in their life. Roberta was sitting on Annie’s step, watching the girls but sneaking glances over at the scene unfolding before them. Stepping out from behind Frank, Annie took a few steps back and watched the younger girls. She snuck glances, like Roberta, and listened to the two while standing on the sidelines – hoping it’d be perceived as moral support, rather than eavesdropping.

“I came to bring Mary some more books.” Evelyn sighed, running her perfectly manicured fingers through her hair in frustration. “Honestly, Frank, do you even care about her education? She needs more books.”

“She goes to her classes, she has her books, you get her books… She’s fine, Evelyn.” Frank nearly growled, which sent a small shiver down Annie’s spine. Down, girl. “I told you that you could come see her, if you were civil. What I just walked in to was the opposite of civil.”

“Oh, please.” Evelyn laughed, condescending tone in full force. It was a surprise that anyone talked to this woman willingly. “That little squabble was merely me putting a little harlot in her place.”

Annie whipped around with a glare, watching the older woman watch her with a glint of satisfaction in her eye. Turning to Frank, Annie calmed her demeanor, “I’m going to walk away before I sucker-punch the elderly.”

As Annie turned back around, a warm hand was suddenly wrapped gently around her wrist – holding her in place. “Hold on, Annie.” Annie glanced at Frank in confusion, but his scowl was directed at his mother. “Evelyn’s leaving.”

“Do I at least get to say goodbye to my granddaughter?” Evelyn’s face faltered slightly, but she caught herself and crossed her arms over her chest. “Or are you going to keep that from me, as well?”

Frank’s shoulders dropped slightly, and his hand slipped from Annie’s wrist – taking his warmth with it and leaving her skin to tingle. “Of course, you can. If she wants a relationship with you, I’m not going to keep that from her.”

Evelyn’s only response was a hum, as she walked towards the young girls and called out Mary’s name. Annie couldn’t hear the quiet conversation between Evelyn and Mary, but Mary sprung forward and wrapped Evelyn in a hug – laughing when Elena did the same. Evelyn’s demeanor shifted into a happier one, as she gently patted the toddler on the head and bid her goodbye to her granddaughter.

“I’m sorry about her.” Frank’s deep voice cut through the silence, and Annie’s eyes flicked over to the seething man. His shoulders were tense as he shoved his hands in his pockets and tried not to glare in Evelyn’s direction while the young girls were watching. “This is the first time we’ve seen her in person for… a while.”

Annie watched his eyes track the older woman’s movements until she was back in her shiny car, speeding off towards the town. She could hear Roberta – ever the mind reader – calling the girls inside to have some more lemonade and finish their snack. “You don’t have to apologize for her, Frank.”

“I know, it’s just…” He cut off, turning quickly and stalking towards the garage, hands shaking by his sides. Annie jogged after him, as he continued, “God! She’s just…” He whirled around at Annie, startling her into freezing on the spot – a small pang of anxiety and panic squeezing at her chest. If he were a cartoon character, his tanned face would be flaming red and steam would be shooting out of his ears. “What the hell were you two arguing about?”

She hesitated for a moment, not sure how to proceed. She could straight up tell him the bullshit that was spouting out of his mother’s mouth – possibly pissing him off further. She could pretend like it was no big deal – though, he would more than likely know that she was omitting the truth. She didn’t want Frank to be upset, but at the same time… Evelyn made her bed.

She settled for a happy medium.

“You.” She shrugged, adjusting her sunglasses and running a hand through her annoyingly frizzing hair. She needed to hit up a salon for some better hair product. This salty humidity was ruining her hair. “The girls didn’t hear anything, though.”

He stared at her for a moment, analyzing her – though she wasn’t sure if it was because he thought she was lying or what was going on in that head of his. Though, secretly, she didn’t mind him staring at her. This just wasn’t the situation she had in mind when she fantasized about him doing it… Knock it off, Annie. Jesus Christ.

Turning back around, he stomped over to his front step, gathering the leftover tools that he’d left there from that morning’s project. His hands were trembling as he threw the tools into his metal tool box with loud clangs, cutting through the silent breeze of the late afternoon. Annie was waiting for the moment. The moment he lost it.

It was like he was toilet cleaner and tin foil in a Gatorade bottle…

He was about to explode.

“Fuck!” He dropped a screw driver onto the sidewalk, before tossing his entire toolbox onto the ground – making Annie jump in place, heart pounding from the sudden clang of metal. Here’s the explosion. “God dammit.”

She watched as he slid onto the steps, running both hands through his hair – nearly ripping out the soft-looking strands – and trying to breathe properly.

Annie knew exactly what it felt like to be that frustrated. Though, she had a great relationship with her mother, she was very aware of what it felt like to be on the edge of a breakdown because of another human being. She felt that way every time she encountered her stalker. It was a feeling that left a knot in your stomach, and made you want to pull your hair out.

Taking a tentative step forward, she slowly approached him like he was a wild animal – ready to spring and attack. “Frank.”

He glanced up at her, and the mother inside of her nearly keeled over in heartbreak. Those were the eyes of a young kid. One who desperately wished for the love of a mother who didn’t give him the time of day. The look of a child who just wanted to desperately be loved. The shine of heartbreak in those beautiful blue eyes nearly brought her to tears.

He must have sensed the sympathy radiating from Annie’s petite form, because his face immediately became impassive, a wall building up before her very eyes. God… this guy was just as damaged as she was. His shoulders tensed slightly, eyebrows pulling together for a moment as she watched him get worked up, again.

Suddenly, he sprung up, scaring Annie slightly as she took a giant step back. “She’s a real piece of fucking work, I swear to god.” He began pacing, back and forth in the grass a few feet away from the steps, where Annie retreated – sitting down and watching him pace like an angry zoo animal. “She comes out of nowhere – out of nowhere – and suddenly wants a relationship with Mary? Why? Because she’s a genius?” He stopped, throwing his hands up in the air for a moment – as if shouting to the high heavens. “If she gets her fucking claws into her, she’s going to end up like my fucking sister.”

Annie was taken aback by that statement, though not completely shocked.

From what little she knew about the situation, he was pretty accurate.

“Over my dead fucking body is Mary going to end up like Diane!” He nearly shouted at Annie, as she sat there patiently, waiting for him to let it all out. Clearly, he needed it. This man needs a therapist. Who didn’t nowadays? He went back to pacing, scratching at his tamed beard for a moment while he pieced together what was running through his mind. “She fucking disowned Diane when Mary was born. She doesn’t deserve any moment of Mary’s time.”

He stopped, glancing at Annie’s house as if Mary could suddenly hear every word he was saying, shoulders sagging.

It was Annie’s turn to talk, now.

She sprung up, brushing off the back of her shorts and smoothing down her slouchy shirt. “Alright, get in the truck.”

Turning to her, his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as he tilted his head, “What?”

“Get. In. The. Truck.” She repeated slowly, gesturing to her old pickup with the best mom-face she could muster. “You’re going to give me directions to the nearest drinking establishment, and we’re going to talk about it.”

“You don’t have to-”

“Too bad.” She began walking towards her house, Frank slowly following behind her. His lips twitched slightly upwards as her tiny frame bossed at him, but she was too busy taking charge to notice. “I’m going to ask Roberta to watch the kids and grab my purse. Truck’s unlocked. Get in it, Adler.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Part 5 ...coming soon to a tumblr near you!

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

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joshslater · 6 years

Text

Hitting Jock Bottom

I felt like shit. The throbbing headache told me to stay in bed. Actually, wise from hangovers past I should go and drink water and then take a nap and hope things would turn out better the next time I wake up. Those thoughts quickly went through my mind, still foggy from whatever had transpired the night before. I didn't remember what had happened nor how I had gotten here, but this was definitely not my bed.

Harsh white light lit the sparse, tiled room as I opened my eyes. I was strapped on some sort of gurney that was tilted at an angle between lying down and standing up. My body was secured, but I could move my head around enough to see that I wore something resembling a dark blue wetsuite. Cables and tubes where attached to various points and snaked away to a cluster of machines and drip bags to my right. Still groggy, and more confused than scared, I was trying to sort through all the different sensations. Most prominent of all was something big was stuck in my mouth, and I felt like I needed to take a dump.

*squeak*

The sound when I bit down resembled a doggy squeaky toy.

*squeak*

Before I had any time to consider this new, perplexing weirdness a door opened and closed behind me and a man in white shirt, tie and labcoat came into view.

"I do apologise, we are a bit understaffed at the moment. I try to be present for every arrival". He checked something on one of the machines next to me. "Good, good. Just waking up I see. Welcome to Goldfarb Body Shop and Repairs. I imagine you are feeling some confusion at the moment. It's perfectly normal when our services are purchased for someone else. My name is Rob, and I will take care of your process initiation."

My head still hurt like hell and very little of this made sense, beside the feeling confused part. Rob was in his forties and looked every bit like a lab technician. A lab technician who was high on sugar and couldn't wait to talk to other people.

Rob picked up a clipboard and quickly eyed the first two pages. "Let's start with the basics. As I think I heard, you have already figured out how to use the signalling device in your mouth piece. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but we've had so much problem with people just screaming. Totally ruins the schedule. I would like you to signal once for yes, twice for no and three times to have the question repeated. Do you understand?"

*squeak*

"Excellent! Are you Jonathan Brent, social security number 078-05-1120?"

*squeak*

"Great. It would be so embarrassing to have the wrong person. In the old days we used to invite people to retreats through sham lottery winnings and have them participate in yoga and meditation, and slowly work with them from there, but the way technology has progressed we don't need any cooperation at all anymore. A bit less personal but so much more efficient."

He looked at the clipboard once again. "So someone has purchased, for you, one of our discount packages. Great value! This one is called 'jock bottom'. We are so lucky to have such a creative sales and marketing team. This bundle contains four transformation modules, well three of any substance. We have Muscleman, Meathead, Cunting and then our QA/Design module. I'll explain all of them briefly."

Muscleman, Meathead and Cunting. Whatever this place was and what they were planning to do, I didn't like the sound of any of them. Well, muscleman didn't sound terrible, but I've never been that interested in anything physical. I do the occasional jog and play some volley at the beach, but nothing regular. And I don't even know what cunting means.

Rob continued "Muscleman is about 50% of the transformation effort in the bundle. We'll use state of the art, fast acting genetic editing and gene therapy to overhaul the genetic makeup of your body. Then a combination of stem cells, hormone manipulation and viral reconstruction to actually express those genes as physical changes. In addition to biochemistry we have a set of contraptions that can force tissue to build how and where we want it."

He was looking up from the clipboard and looking into my eyes. "It gets much easier if you cooperate with all given instructions. We will not sacrifice the quality of our work, it just take different amount of time to get there. The changes are pronounced, profound and permanent, to quote our motto."

This is terrible! Somehow someone somewhere has paid these guys to force me into becoming a some sort of body builder. Who does that? How is that technology even possible?

"The Muscleman module also has a small educational component where we ensure that the target has the needed knowledge, skill and motivation to keep the body in great condition long after QA acceptance. This is done, in addition to reinforcing genetic changes, through psycotherapy and metabolic conditioning." Rob was clearly reading marketing text from the clipboard. "The end result is multiple layers of reinforcing behaviors. Eating triggers restlessness triggers excersie. Excersise triggers hunger trigers eating."

"Now the second module is the Meathead module. It's about 20% of the transformation and is a bit more involved than it first appears. First it reinforces the mental conditioning from the Muscleman module, and adds significantly more knowledge and interest in physical activities. But it also removes some of the previous drives and abilities of the target."

This was getting worse and worse.

*squeak* *squeak*

Rob looked up from the clipboard, distracted from his reading. "What? Ah. No? No, it's all already being ordered and paid for, but don't worry, there will be plenty of opportunity to give feedback and consent later. Where were we, yes Meathead. We will run a series of tests in an MRI where we will map your brain. Then we'll insert articulated, microscopic wires through your nose and into your brain, cut out small sections and replace them with stem cells with DNA we coded. You'll see major results instantly after the operation! We'll then stimulate the brain with the right chemicals, electrical impulses and sensory data, and you'll know 50 different ways of excersising your deltoid in no time." He looked up again, excitedly going off script. "We have this cool transcranial stimulation head gear you put on, and then every movement you do while you wear it you will be able to replicate exactly afterwards. Dead lifts, break dance, karate chops, you name it! Super cool. Well, you will not use it for karate or dancing though."

No fucking way! Replacing parts of the brain. Reprogramming? These people are sick.

"Then we have the Cunting module. This is also mainly a behavior module, but it will turn you into a very submissive, very promiscuous homosexual. The principle is the same as the Meathead module, but instead of cramming sports teams and being rewarded for squatting correctly, you'll be flooded with gay porn and being conditioned with chemically induced orgasms on anal stimulation. I can promise you that you will love it. After all, the point is that you should love it so much you would arrange your life around sucking dick, getting fucked and working out."

WTF!

"The last 10% is spent on quality assurance and design. We'll remove genetic problems, administer a broad set of vaccinations, slow down aging, etc. This is a standard module for all our work. Good for you to know is that it includes HIV immunity and protects against all known long term STDs. The design part is that one of our character designer will spend 30 minutes to review your build and allocate some minor work to make it coherent. Since there is no purely cosmetic change included in your package, except for the muscles, perhaps the designer will move the hairline forward to make a more youthful look, or broaden the nose a bit to make you look imposing."

Getting massive muscles and being forced to keep them was a survivable event. Some people get stuck in wheel chairs. Some people need to inject insulin daily. Having to eat clean and go to the gym was really nothing compared to that. Having the brain rearranged was way worse, but I could suffer a stroke. Becoming some sort of muscle-homo-sub was something different entirely. How the fuck could I get out of this?

"We're a bit pressed on time, as I mentioned, so I'll get right to it. We have a set of customization options to run you through. All are simply select one option out of three. Just signal once for option one, twice for two, three times for three and four times to have them repeated."

"The first option is selecting the major profile for the Meathead module. This one is important and informs a lot of the following customizations, so pay attention. Option 1 is called 'jock' and is the standard athletic option. Lot's of interest in sports, both as a participant and as an observer, spending your nights in areans or sports bars. Option 2 is called 'douche' and is the party and exhibitionist option. You'll spend your time in bodybuilding competitions, getting photographed, or clubbing. Finally option 3 is called "bear" and is the strongman option. This includes lumberjack, handyman or motorcycle specializations, with nights in leather bars or truck stops."

I'm not playing this fucking game. If I'm not saying anything it is something that happens to me, not something I've done.

"Once for jock, twice for douche, thrice for bear. You should know that the Muscleman module isn't affected, so the muscled build will look the same regardless of option here. The focus is primarily muscle size and secondly strength. Agility, stamina or coordination are not something actively worked on, but possible to train yourself of course."

We look at each other in silence. I can't tell from his voice if he is mocking or serious when he misunderstands my silence.

"I know it is difficult to make a decision. I'll put a time limit of 30 seconds per question and pick something for you. We do typically alter the body hair to match each major theme. Jock gets pretty standard body hair, but clean back and chest, douche gets no hair below the neck and bear gets hair everywhere. There is also some differences in skin tanning."

After presumably 30 seconds he continues.

"OK, let's go with option 1. Jock is our most popular option. It's in the name of the package after all. Let's continue with some specifics. For every question you can either select what you find most exciting today, or what you would like to find exciting. If you pick something you already love, that will make the transition easier. So, what sport are you most interested in. One football, two hockey or three soccer?"

I continue my silent treatment. I'm not much into any of them anyway.

"OK, let's go with soccer. That's big internationally, so there is always something to watch. Next, what would you prefer out of basket, baseball or lacrosse?"

...

"Nothing? Not yet a sports fan, eh? Let's mix it up with something more niche and pick lacrosse. Final sport, MMA, Boxing or Wrestling?"

I have looked at a some wrestling, but being a fan is a bit of a stretch.

"Let's go with MMA then. Final question in this module: do you prefer Sweatpants, basketball shorts or compression shorts? I should mention that the questions going forward are a bit reflective. With the full homosexual module, there is really no difference between what you like to wear and what you are attracted to."

How could I relate to that question, even if I wanted to answer. Would I like to be attracted to men in sweatpants? I don't want to be fucking attracted to men at all!

"Basketball shorts then! We're almost there. Just a few simple customizations in the cunting module. What excites you the most? Licking asses, licking feet or licking armpits?"

Fuck! I can't let it be asses. What is best of feet or armpits? What is least worst?

*squeak* *squeak* ... *squeak*

"Oh, we got some interest. Licking armpits it will be. What ejaculations would you be most excited about? In your mouth, in your ass, or both at the same time?"

Is being fucked better or worse than giving a blow job? You would be more in control of a blow job, but you would have to do all the work for it. Both at the same time is clearly worse. Why do I even have to think about this?

*squeak*

"Excellent! An upcoming supreme fellator. Finally an ethnic question. What would you find most attractive? Middle eastern men, northen Latin American men or west African men?"

For a split second I felt very racist as I rejected each of the alternatives. What would be worse though? I imagine trying to find muslims to suck off could backfire in so many ways? Black or Latino then? I really have no idea what their gay communities look like.

*squeak* *squeak* *squeak*

"West African men it is. So, if I've noted everything down correctly you want to become a jock with special interest in soccer, lacrosse and MMA, attracted to West African men wearing basketball shorts, who you most would like to lick their armpits and have them ejaculate in your mouth. Is that correct?"

*squeak*

"Excellent! It's such a waste of time when people don't consent after all that work. All of this would be a loss and we would have to refund the money."

FUCK! *squeak* *squeak* *squeak* *pfff* ...

Rob turned a small knob on the mouth piece that turned off the toy sound.

"So, we will go right ahead and synthesize the DNA and inject that in a few hours. Then you'll basically be knocked out and in fever for the better part of a week while the major rewrite happens. We'll do the brain mapping towards the end and perform the minor surgeries after that. Then one week of initial programming while the surgeries heal and the initial set of tissue stem cell injections start to grow. Week three and forward will be a daily rotation of gym time, injections and programming, mostly in the fuck lab. With your cooperation we could be done as quickly as 10 weeks."

FUCK NO! FUCK NO!

"While we wait for those viruses to be completed we are going to run you through a cleansing sequence. You can see it as a full body enema, so we can implant a new set of bacteria more helpful to our goals."

He pressed a few buttons and the gurney tilted back almost to a flat position. Some sort of numbing fluid was spraying in my mouth after which something started extending down my throat. At the same time I could feel the plug in my ass inflating and altering its configuration.

Part #2

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